Whistled through this one quickly getting over half in on the first pass and dealing with the remainder without too much fuss, until stuck trying to work out how the wordplay of 11A could possibly fit CREEPING which I had written in.
I particularly like the wordplay in 12A and 23A where the wordplay delivers too much then takes away a bit.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | FRENCH KISS | Nick’s fresh debacle which has one open-mouthed (6,4) (NICK’S FRESH)* AInd: debacle |
| 9 | FEMUR | Gaffe: Murdoch reveals part of member (5) Hidden in gafFE MURdoch First one in |
| 10 | DOGSBODY | Rogue southern corporation’s doormat (8) DOG (Rogue ) S[outhern] BODY (corporation) |
| 11 | BRIEFING | Low-down conduct surrounding “Inflexibly English” Farage’s origins (8) BRING (conduct) around I E F from I[nflexibly] E[nglish] F[arage] LOI Creeping, from “Low down conduct”, fits the crossing letters but not the wordplay |
| 12 | IGNITE | Kindle: after getting leg over, it turns to jelly (6) Concatenate(LEG<,IGNITE) = GELIGNITE (jelly) |
| 14 | TYNWALD | Parliament‘s time before (yawn) sad Liberal Democrats vastly reduced (7) T[ime] (YAWN)* AInd: sad, L[iberal] D[emocrats] |
| 17 | EMINENT | Exalted, those people commonly elected to attend hospital (7) ‘EM (those people, commonly) IN (elected) ENT (hospital) |
| 19 | AGONY | Shag on, youth – it covers the pain (5) Hidden in shAG ON Youth |
| 23 | RICHES | Wealth of birds dumping pervy sot (6) [OST]RICHES – SOT* AInd: pervy |
| 25 | HELLFIRE | Damnation! What will Sugar do? (8) Ref: Alan Sugar: He’ll Fire |
| 26 | NIGHTJAR | Flier‘s thing managed to give an unpleasant shock (8) THING* AInd: managed, JAR (unpleasant shock) |
| 27 | HAREM | Group of wives wants hot member with electronic insert (5) H[ot] then E[lectronic] in ARM (member) |
| 28/7/13 | ONCE UPON A TIME | How Cinderella gets a start, seeing a Mountie ponce around! (4,4,1,4) (A MOUNTIE PONCE)* AInd: around |
| 29 | BRANDY SNAP | You can get your teeth into this book with sexy pic (6,4) B[ook] RANDY (sexy) SNAP (pic) |
| Down | ||
| 2 | REFORM | Better backing, er, female alternative over male! (6) RE (ER<) F[emale] OR (alternative) M[ale] |
| 3 | NUMBER TEN | Less feeling – figure it’s no place for Miliband (6,3) NUMBER (Less feeling) TEN (figure) |
| 4 | HEROISM | Daring the woman with “Hey, S&M!” (7) HER (the woman) OI (hey!) SM (S&M) |
| 5 | INDIGO | Violet‘s one doing splits (6) I DOING* AInd: splits |
| 6 | SIGNIFY | Resign if you’re mean inside (7) Hidden in reSIGN IF You’re. Rare sighting of a mid-clue definition |
| 7 | URBAN | Like Hampstead‘s head’s cover lacking on top? (5) [t]URBAN |
| 8 | OLD STYLE | Temperature taken inside Dolly’s bust – ultimately quite quaint (3-5) T[emperature] inside (DOLLYS)* AInd: bust, [quit]E |
| 15 | WIND FARMS | Empty talk by members about Farage’s capital energy sources (4,5) F[arage] inside WIND (empty talk) ARMS (members) |
| 16 | AMBITION | Obit (Amin) : pathetic object (8) (OBIT AMIN)* AInd: pathetic |
| 18 | NOSE JOB | Has the low-down on reported task of nozzle modification (4,3) Homophone: “Knows” Job. HInd: reported |
| 20 | GALAHAD | Noble fellow shagged after grand party (7) GALA (grand party) HAD (shagged) |
| 21 | SHERPA | Female resistance against old man who’s expert on mounts (6) SHE (female) R[esistance] PA (old man) |
| 22 | CRIMEA | Renewed Cameron not working – stifling independence, creating a war zone (6) (CAMERON – ON (not working) )* AInd: renewed, around I[ndependence] |
| 24 | HUHNE | Points not accepted by this speedy politician (5) CD referring to him Chris Huhne and his well publicised travails |
A farmer came into a pub, stood next to a woman at the bar and ordered a glass of champagne.
The woman notices and says asks, ‘I just ordered a glass of champagne, too! What a coincidence‘
The farmer says. ‘I am celebrating’
‘This is a special day for me too, I am also celebrating!’ says the woman.
‘What a coincidence!’ says the farmer!
They clinked glasses and the man asked, ‘What are you celebrating?’
‘My husband and I have been trying to have a child and today I find I’m pregnant!’
‘What a coincidence,’ he says. ‘I’m a chicken farmer and for ages my hens have been infertile, now they’re laying fertilized eggs.’
‘Great!’ says the woman. ‘How did your chickens become fertile?’
‘I used a different cock,’ he replied.
‘What a coincidence‘…
Many thanks for the blog. I enjoyed this puzzle, and it revealed its secrets at a satisfying rate.
I wondered whether 24d was not merely a CD but also a charade of N + E (“points”) next to (“by”) HUH (“not accepted”)? As in “you think so, huh?” meaning “I don’t accept that’s right”…
Hi Giudice
I think you’re right. There is more going on in that 24D HUHNE clue.
To misquote Dr J, describing a clue as a CD is the last refuge of a scoundrel 15^2 blogger (this one anyway)
Oh thank you, Giudice,
I got the Huhne clue as a definition but was feeling somewhat deflated and disgruntled since I could not parse it. I was disappointed that there did not appear to be a solution. You have now given that, I think and turned an unsatisfactory clue (in my mind) into an excellent one that I probably would never have solved. I too solved this one at quite a good rate for me but it was very satisfying- especially with the extra input.