This puzzle was not a hard as some Eye grids of late, till the last few – notably those <50% checked lights.
Particularly fine smut in clue for 15A
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SKIMPY | Inadequate ‘supreme leader’ in clutches of agent (6) KIM (‘supreme leader’, self-proclaimed) inside SPY (agent) |
| 4 | ODD SOCKS | Rum punches absent-mindedly put on plates? (3,5) ODD (rum) SOCKS (punches). In the def: plates = feet |
| 10/11 | A PAIN IN THE ARSE | Glass-bottomed, as a result of this (you might hear) annoyance? (1,4,2,3,4) Homophone: PAIN “PANE” |
| 12 | BAD TIMING | Timid, quaking in middle of shag – poor synchronisation? (3,6) TIMID* AInd: quaking, inside BANG (shag) |
| 13 | DROLL | Farcical figure captivating Right (5) R[ight] inside DOLL (figure) |
| 14 | ABANDON | Rock concert will doubtless have … Chuck (7) … A BAND ON. Pretty obvious once seen but I did not get it till I had all 3 crossing letters |
| 15 | SPOKEN | Oral sex, followed by screw with a pole (6) S[ex] POKE (screw) N (pole). Now that’s the kind of clue we come to the Eye to see |
| 19 | ICE AGE | Period of major freeze that is restricting Cameron’s lead – decline (3,3) C[ameron] in I.E. (that is) AGE (decline) |
| 21 | CRACKER | Joke TV series that gets pulled (7) Triple Def! |
| 25 | LIMIT | End removed from member before sex check (5) LIM[b] IT |
| 27 | CLIMB-DOWN | Withdrawal of Conservative blue when branch intervenes (5-4) LIMB (branch) inside C[onservative] DOWN (blue) |
| 29 | NUDGE | Say Brown makes a comeback: a pushy thing to do? (5) (E.G., DUN)< (say, brown) |
| 30 | TWO-FACED | Mugged more than once? That’s devious (3-5) “Mug” = face, so more than one might be two-faced |
| 31 | STARCH | For pompous formality, trust Archer (not more honest) (6) Hidden in truST ARCHer, and/or remove TRUER (more honest) from around it |
| Down | ||
| 1 | SHABBY | Quiet, soft baby, as some see Corbyn? (6) SH (quiet) BABY* AInd: soft |
| 2 | INAUDIBLE | One bun Delia buggered up (too soft) (9) (I (one) BUN DELIA)* AInd: buggered up. I initially wrote in UNAIDIBLE (is there such a word?) which buggered up solving 1A for a while |
| 3/23 | PENSION SCHEME | Continental board plot, an opportunity for fraudulent mis-selling? (7,6) PENSION (Continental board) SCHEME (plot) |
| 5 | DOTAGE | Party leader quits podium, exhibiting second childhood (6) DO (party) [s]TAGE |
| 6 | SPEED UP | Increase the rate of drink, imbibing piss on date (5,2) PEE (piss) D[ate] all inside SUP (drink) |
| 7 | CURIO | Arse on mythological priestess, a collectable item? (5) CUR (arse) IO (mythological priestess) |
| 8 | STERLING | Pop star entertains Brenda “large” – “First class!” (8) ER (Brenda) L[arge) inside STING (pop star). Sterling as an exclamation, or maybe an adjective. |
| 9 | LIAISON | It takes brave sort to stifle a terrorist organisation’s illicit carry-on (7) A IS (terrorist organisation) all inside LION (brave sort). Last one in. Tricky, and not helped by the 3/7 crossers which were certainly needed. |
| 16 | KEEP ORDER | Look the other way on getting directive, as cops are supposed to do? (4,5) PEEK< (look the other way) ORDER (directive) |
| 17 | DIPLOMAT | A PM told to dance with Italian negotiator (8) (A PM TOLD I[talian])* AInd: to dance |
| 18 | TRAIPSE | Parties in disarray proceed wearily (7) PARTIES* AInd: in disarray |
| 20 | GO TO SEA | Put out, quit dodgy seat – Corbyn’s number two intervenes (2,2,3) GO (quit), then [c]O[rbyn] inside (SEAT)* AInd: dodgy |
| 22/28 | CABINET MINISTERS | Hedging bets incriminates ‘Team Dave’ (7,9) (BETS INCRIMINATES)* AInd: Hedging |
| 24 | ENMESH | She screwed around with men? Get knotted! (6) (SHE MEN)* AInd: screwed around |
| 26 | MANGO | A bloke needs lots of dosh, old fruit (5) MAN (a bloke) G[rand] (a lot of dosh) O[ld] |
I was walking through the cemetery the other morning and went past a bloke standing behind a gravestone.
“Morning”, I said. “No,” he replied, “Just having a pee.”
Yes, it did seem surprisingly like a zipless doddle, to start with. It was 9dn that exercised me most and was my last one too. I got stuck on notions like “brave” probably being an anagrind, and then standard alternating vowel-consonant patterns, like “visitor”. It wasn’t until I started doing mental scans of all alternatives for segments that the truth struck. The last time we had “liaison” as a solution was in #532, but then as a hidden string.
I couldn’t decide if 21 really was a triple def, or if the first half gave us “crack” + “ER” (in a rare non-Brenda appearance). It’s interesting that the two interpretations work.
Also I had no idea that “pension” had a “board” (as in accommodation) meaning in French, so just crossed my fingers on 3 making sense.