This took me a long time because these crosswords with many references to a single clue can be hard to get started on if you can’t see, as I couldn’t immediately, the gateway clue. They effectively rule out many of the clues, to begin with anyway. But eventually I got going and it was a nice crossword.
22 being TRUMP, you’d have expected this to be another of those crosswords which refer to the Great Man’s eccentricities. But apart from one or two references to them, some only oblique, many of the clues which refer to 22 only use the — very helpful — letters of the word as anagram fodder.
| Across | ||
| 1 | TOSSPOT | See beyond endless baloney in stupid individual (7) |
| tos{h} spot | ||
| 5 | VAGRANT | Bum tax overwhelming old lady (7) |
| VA(gran)T | ||
| 9 | PALANQUIN | Right-wing politician squeezing in a naughty quickie usually heads for people-carrier (9) |
| Pal(anqu)in, the anqu being a n{aughty} q{uickie} u{sually} — Sarah Palin | ||
| 10 | MATER | Parent – one breeding? (5) |
| 2 defs, one referring to the Latin term, the other being a possibly made-up word derived from ‘mate’ | ||
| 11 | ASS | 22’s bottom pinched by America’s sweetheart (3) |
| Hidden in AmericA’S Sweetheart — the American spelling of this word indicated by “22’s”, since 22 is Trump | ||
| 13 | PROMISCUITY | 22 is coy, I suspect, making a habit of it? (11) |
| (trump is coy I)* — referring I think to Donald Trump’s boasting about his sexual misdemeanours | ||
| 15 | ALPS | Extremes of antipodal parts in range (4) |
| a{ntipoda}l p{art}s | ||
| 16 | SPERM COUNT | The measure of the man once 22’s excited? (5,5) |
| (once Trump’s)* | ||
| 19 | AMELIORATE | Better to cover up old cad in filmed romance (10) |
| Ameli(o rat)e — the film Amélie | ||
| 20 | MISS | 22’s broad failure (4) |
| 2 defs, the first one referring to the US word for a woman | ||
| 21 | TRANSLUCENT | Sheer rapture initially in maverick sultan taking 22’s money (11) |
| r{apture} in (sultan)*, then cent [Trump’s money] | ||
| 23 | ELM | Wood in model, maybe (3) |
| Hidden in modEL, Maybe | ||
| 24 | NOISE | Sound runner, one boxed in (5) |
| no(1)se — a nose runs, so it can be fancifully called a runner in the same way as a river is often a flower, in crosswords at any rate | ||
| 25 | IMPRUDENT | I end in trouble with 22, getting rash (9) |
| (I end trump)* | ||
| 28 | ANTONYM | Man with morals, principally – or the opposite? (7) |
| Antony m{orals} | ||
| 29 | IMPEACH | Stupid leader must go, beautiful thing to prosecute (7) |
| {d}im peach | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | TOP BANANA | Leader, flipping dope – mad, not all there! (3,6) |
| (pot)rev. banana{s} | ||
| 2 | SOL | One virtually getting a shiner (3) |
| sol{e} — the shiner is the sun, or sol | ||
| 3 | PIN-UP | Beauty in baby seals (3-2) |
| p(in)up — the baby is a pup and it seals ‘in’ | ||
| 4 | TAU | Almost stretched to the limit, Greek character (3) |
| tau{t} | ||
| 5 | VINAIGRETTE | Invite detective to move hat forward slightly, as dressing (11) |
| vi(Naigret)te — the first letter of Maigret has moved forward slightly from an M to an N — ‘invite’ must be seen as ‘in vite’, something that irritates Ximeneans but very occasionally appears in the Independent; it’s more often seen in Mudd’s puzzles in the FT (Punk is Mudd in the FT) | ||
| 6 | GAMECOCK | Willing to have tilt, crowing fighter (8) |
| game [= willing] cock [= have tilt] | ||
| 7 | ATTRIBUTIVE | First of terms in Chambers cut, however I have to be adding something grammatically (11) |
| at(t)ri{a} but I’ve, the single t coming from t{erms} | ||
| 8 | TARTY | Easy as pie, uncovered? (5) |
| 2 defs, the first one used in a sexual sense | ||
| 12 | SUPREMACIST | Sad case is 22, bigot (11) |
| (case is trump)* | ||
| 14 | OPPORTUNISM | Taking advantage, 22 poison, unfortunately (11) |
| (trump poison)* | ||
| 17 | TEST MATCH | Try to compare some days of ins and outs? (4,5) |
| test [= try] match [= compare] — referring to the possible stoppages caused by rain in a test match | ||
| 18 | EINSTEIN | People finally elected mug – genius! (8) |
| {Peopl}e in stein — this clue also perhaps being thematic | ||
| 21 | TANGA | Shortly written up, relation that’s brief (5) |
| (agnat{e})rev. — referring to this | ||
| 22 | TRUMP | American success ultimately left behind (5) |
| Is this 2 defs and then wordplay or is it just one def? After all, President Trump might be seen as an American success — anyway the wordplay is {lef}t rump | ||
| 26 | PSI | Greek character past it, oddly (3) |
| p{a}s(t} i{t} | ||
| 27 | ERA | Time the bitter saga ends (3) |
| {th}e {bitte}r {sag}a | ||
*anagram
Not as good as his Paul in the Graun, The gateway fell easilyand there were a few chiuckles but i wasnt happy with TARTY and as for 21d I threw in the towel. i couldnt see ant word that fit wordplay and couldnt find a def.I dont know agnate.
But I did like the Graun puzzle.
I enjoyed this just as much as the Paul one. Got the gateway clue straight away which helped. The several anagrams using this was clever I thought. Got stuck in the bottom left (ass left), until NOISE was solved and this led to the rest, with TANGA as last one in – a toughie. PALANQUIN seemed to ring a bell and a quick check in my dictionary confirmed it. Thanks to S & B.
Thanks for blogging, John.
Another one to get the gateway clue quickly, but it took a while to see that it was mainly being used as anagram fodder. 1ac hits the spot for The Trump, though.
I’ve enjoyed Punk puzzles more, but this was fine as an idea, and fine mainly in its constructions. Failed on TANGA: knew neither AGNATE nor TANGA, so even with the crossing letters I was stymied. Bit unfair for a daily cryptic, perhaps.
In TEST MATCH, I suspect Punk is referring to the batsmen coming ‘in’ and ‘out’ rather than rain interruptions. Entirely off-topic, may I just record that I met Andrew Strauss last night because he came to officially open the new pavilion at my cricket club. Personable fellow who spoke well and made the evening special for us.
Yes, Trump is a real gift to the world of crosswords, isn’t he?
[please, don’t delete ‘of crosswords’]
This puzzle was as Paul as Punk can be.
More smut than usual in his Indy dress.
From a naughty quickie and bum tax to sperm count and Trump’s broad & bottom.
Surprised to see what’s happening in 5d (VINAIGRETTE) in The Independent.
But I like these things (as long as they’re offered in small doses).
I thought it had to be TANGA at 21d (my last one in) but I didn’t make a real effort to explain.
So, thanks for that John (and for the rest of the blog, of course).
Many thanks to Punk for an amusing crossword.
hi John,
In what sense is a “tosspot” a “stupid individual”?
baerchen@5: Collins has ‘a stupid or contemptible person’ as one of the senses of tosspot. I must admit that I never looked this up and assumed it was OK, which it is although when I read your post I wondered.
@John
OK thanks; I don’t have Collins. Only an idiot suggests a dictionary is wrong, but a “tosspot” is someone who drinks to excess, ie someone who tosses back a pot containing alcohol.
Somewhere along the line, this seems to have become conflated with “tosser”, which means something else entirely.
Took us ages to get the gateway clue although we guessed what was going on in some of the references to it. Then it took ages to get ANTONYM (we were thinking of the opposite of having morals rather than just the opposite, and finally we were on the point of cheating when we realised 21 had to be TANGA even though ‘agnat-‘ made no sense to us.
Anyway for anyone else puzzled by it, agnate, according to Chambers, can mean “related on the father’s side” or simply “related” and, as a noun, “a person related in this way”.
And a tosspot, again from Chambers, can be ‘an incompetent, unpleasant or foolish person (probably by confusion with tosser)’.
Apart from splitting ‘invite’, VINAIGRETTE also raises again the old question of what does moving forward (or backward) in the alphabet mean?
So not as satisfying as some puzzles, but thanks, Punk and John.
Sorry, John @6 (and baerchen). Didn’t refresh before clicking ‘submit’
Interesting about TOSSPOT. I have never equated it with ‘heavy drinker’, but only with the definition given, synonymous with TOSSER; so I didn’t give the clue a second thought. Words mean what you want them to mean, and all that.
thanks John and Punk. Loved this. (My other half is out for the day, and I can hardly wait to regale her with all the fun on her return.)
May I suggest that those commenters unfamiliar with what a tanga is should perhaps stay in more.
Very enjoyable, many thanks Punk. Haven’t done the Paul yet.
Thank you John, I needed your parsing for VINAIGRETTE which used not one but two devices I wasn’t expecting. I’ll try and be more on my toes next time.
Having trump used in the various clues was fun and clever – a great idea.
Had no problem with TANGA, last one in was TOSSPOT.
I liked PIN-UP, SPERM COUNT, ANTONYM, MATER, ATTRIBUTIVE, and more.
Great stuff, thanks.