Solving was fast enough here with most clues answered on the first pass – then only 9 left. So this counts as at the easier end of the Eye crossword spectrum.
The bottom right corner held out longest with the Sphinx remaining mysterious until Mudbath gave its H. However 18A GAMIN was last – still not convinced by the wordplay explanation there.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | CURSED | Odious credit overlaps exploited (6) CR overlaps USED to make C–U–R–SED |
| 5 | PLUMBAGO | Graphite pencil’s top a pain in the arse almost? (8) P[encil] LUMBAGO Plumbago is a name for graphite as in a pencil “lead”, misnamed really from lead the element (Plumbum). Also refers to a style of pencil drawing |
| 9/20 | STAR TURN | Great performer makes rounded arses roll (4,4) RATS< (arses, reversed) TURN (roll) |
| 10 | BELL RINGER | No stranger to clangers, Thatcher advisor appearing before press deserted by leader (4,6) [Timothy] BELL (Thatcher advisor) [w]RINGER (press, without its “leader”) |
| 11 | LARYNGITIS | Ego-nursing, twisted snarly git dreaded by Voice contestants (10) (SNARLY GIT I (Ego) )* AInd: twisted. First one in. The anagram of “snarly git” jumped out at me. |
| 12/14 | KNOW WHAT’S WHAT | Got the hang of it? Wow, thanks – thaw out (4,5,4) (WOW THANKS THAW)* AInd: out |
| 13 | THROW | Cast of Hamlet “gutted” about Barney (5) H[amlet]T< ROW “Barney” |
| 15 | CHICKLIT | Like Bridget Jones gets Conservative countryman fired up? (5,3) C[onservative] HICK (countryman) LIT (fired up) |
| 16 | SETS SAIL | Trump at first is less obnoxious around one – moves off craftily (4,4) (T[rump] IS LESS A (one))* AInd: Obnoxious. I didn’t spot the anagram indicator as such, and got stuck thinking the answer started with T |
| 18 | GAMIN | Urchin backing – not good (5) GAMIN[g] Can gaming mean backing? My last one in. See Comment #2: Backing e.g. a horse, is betting on it. |
| 21 | SHAGGED OUT | Tired, being screwed unconscious (7,3) Charade of “being screwed” and “unconscious” |
| 24 | BLUE CHEESE | Obscene tacky stuff that stinks? (4,6) BLUE (Obscene) |
| 25 | ASBO | Pest control measure, like at box office (4) AS (like) B[ox] O[ffice] |
| 26 | SCIMITAR | Blatant racism: it’s a double-edged sword? No (8) (RACISM IT)* AInd: blatant |
| 27 | SPHINX | Second hip replacement at new times, which is unfathomable (6) S[econd], HIP* AInd: replacement, N[ew] X Times. |
| Down | ||
| 2 | ULTRA | Istanbul: trashy houses outside (5) Hidden in IstanbUL TRAshy |
| 3 | SPRAYER | Spin-doctor’s first appeal for airbrush practitioner? (7) S[pin-doctor] PRAYER (appeal) |
| 4 | DEBUG | Pathetic GB due to get rid of pests (5) (DUE GB)* AInd: pathethic |
| 5 | POLITICAL CAREER | Capitol, maybe, after capturing Illinois with dash (when will Trump’s come to an end?) (9,6) (CAPITOL IL[linois])* AInd: maybe, CAREER (dash). I had POLITICAL in place early on but the Career/dash penny didn’t drop till near the end. |
| 6 | UNRESTING | Badly run internet undercover operation liable to end up 21? (9) RUN* AInd: Badly, E-STING (internet undercover operation) Definition refers to 21 Shagged out/tired |
| 7 | BANGKOK | City needs to hit Dick soundly (7) BANG (hit), KOK Homophone cock (Dick) |
| 8 | GREGORIAN | Engineered a rogering of a certain religious leader (9) (A ROGERING)* AInd: engineered |
| 13 | THE PUBLIC | Article related to genital area, includes fifty people generally (3,6) THE (article), L (fifty) in PUBIC (genital area) |
| 17 | SUNBEAM | Rag and shaft hot Ray (7) SUN (Rag) BEAM (Shaft) |
| 19 | MUD BATH | Slanderous stuff hit hard – good for pain in the arse, perhaps? (3,4) MUD (Slanderous stuff) BAT (hit) H[ard] |
| 22 | GUESS | Shot kinky gusset end off (5) (GUSSE[t])* AInd: kinky |
| 23 | URBAN | Townish type initially ditching top cover (5) [t]URBAN T from Type initially. This is very familiar – I even made this wordplay the title of a blog in homage to a very similar previous clue: <link> |
I’m blogging this after seeing the BBC and RSC’s “Shakespeare Live!” event. I saw it at my local comfy cinema (it’s a modern one with sofas). I find it makes a big difference seeing these shows on a big screen. Here is a memorable sketch that is already available online:
I heartily recommend these shows simulcast to cinemas. It is so much easier and cheaper than e.g. going to a London theatre.
2016 continued its relentless celebrity culling. So I’m just going to end with couple of Victoria Wood links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNcWtaL3KYU
Glue/cheese typo? I suppose that something cheesy could be tacky but I thought this clue was a little weak.
Got gamin from word-search but couldn’t get the parsing so thank you for that. I guess gaming (as in taking a risk) can be construed as backing.
I was also not convinced that odious and cursed are synonyms but the parsing was good for it!
Re 18 Across. “Backing” is word used instead of “Betting”. As in “I backed the favourite to win”.
BTW. Any way you can not put geoblocks on your videos etc?
Cheers.
Winsor: You’re right. The wordplay was tacky for CHEESE derived from Cheesy, but my brain typed GLUE after typing BLUE.
Makes me wonder what’s more addictive, Glue-sniffing or Cheese-sniffing
And yes for 18A of course, when you back a horse you bet on it.
Antti: Sorry I am not technical on this stuff and certainly don’t know how to make these videos non-geographical. I thought I was just popping in some links but the actual video got embedded.
Here are the bare URLs but I expect YouTube restricts access from abroad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEs8rK5Cqt8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNcWtaL3KYU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkfuE3Rt8IE
Yes, it is youtube who geoblock at the request of the copyright holder.
I seem to recall only having “v” rather than “Voice” for the LARYNGITIS clue.
How disappointing that “No stranger to clangers […]” (4, 6) was not cluing SOUP DRAGON.