The usual mix of excellent surface readings, political targets at home and across the water, and a lower-than-usual reading on the Smut-ometer from Cyclops this fortnight…
An impressive, if maybe sub-Araucarian and even sub-Paulesque, long anagram for NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE at 12A. A sad-but-true definition – it is ‘in perpetual crisis’, as we approach yet another winter…plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose…
The Trump (FLORID TYCOON) makes a return at 10A and 2D, after being strangely absent from the last puzzle I covered – 608 – but FLORID RAMBLING could also be aimed at Boris, who gets a mention at 11A. In fact, if Boris were to encourage Donald to take up jogging on his state visit, and took it a bit more UP-TEMPO from the GET-GO, then their BODY LANGUAGE might be a bit more FLORID and they might wish they had paid more attention to the NHS in the first place…
4D is a scathing comment on Theresa May’s FLAGSHIP POLICY on grammar skools, holed below the waterline by her snap misjudgement, whereas 7A combines a surface reading about the ‘Labour leader’ with a solution of FAIRLY WELL so Jeremy 1, Theresa 0 there from Cyclops, it seems!
Hope I haven’t missed anything below – thanks to Cyclops, and hope you all enjoyed the extra hour’s sleep due to the clocks going back (in the UK, at least) this morning!
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 7A | FAIRLY WELL | Carried by Elf, Labour leader thriving to a moderate extent (6,4) | to a moderate extent / FAIR_Y (elf) around (carrying) l (Labour leader), plus WELL (thriving) |
|
| 9A | CERT | See 27ac (4) | see 27A / see 27A |
|
| 10A | GET-GO | E.g. got over Trump’s beginning (3-2) | (American, i.e.) Trump’s beginning / anag, i.e. over, of EG GOT |
|
| 11A | HIGHBROW | Intellectual pissed by Boris’s opening argument (8) | intellectual / HIGH (pissed, drunk) + B (opening letter of Boris) + ROW (argument) |
|
| 12A | NATIONAL | /13/15 All the Conservatives in a frenzy about hot replacement for shaky leader? Not very – it’s in perpetual crisis (8,6,7) | it’s in perpetual crisis / anag, i.e. frenzy, of ALL THE CONSERVATI(V)E(S) IN A + H (i.e. with H – ‘hot’ – replacing one ‘S’ – leading letter of Shaky – and without one V – not ‘very’) |
|
| 13A | HEALTH | See 12ac (6) | see 12A / see 12A |
|
| 15A | SERVICE | See 12ac (7) | see 12A / see 12A |
|
| 17A | UP-TEMPO | Make it hotter, love – quick! (2-5) | quick (e.g. musically) / UP TEMP(erature) (make it hotter) + O (zero, love) |
|
| 20A | FLORID | Red-faced, filling female top with gold (6) | red-faced / F (female) + L_ID (top), around OR (gold/yellow, heraldic) |
|
| 22A | PIPE DOWN | Tube out of action? Hush up! (4,4) | hush up / PIPE (tube) + DOWN (out of action) |
|
| 24A | RAMBLING | Digressive leader ultimately dawdling (8) | digressive / R (ultimate letter of leadeR) + AMBLING (dawdling) |
|
| 26A | LOTUS | Sporty car produces piles over bum’s inside (5) | sporty car / LOT_S (piles) around (over) U (inside letter of bUm) |
|
| 27A | DEAD | /9 Obsolete Conservative needs, er, time? Sure thing (4,4) | sure thing (in betting terms) / DEAD (obsolete) + C (conservative) + ER + T (time) |
|
| 28A | CHANCELLOR | Angela’s opportunity to stagger back? (10) | Angela (Merkel) / CHANCE (opportunity) + LLOR (roll, stagger, back) |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | LANGUAGE | See 25dn (8) | see 25D / see 25D |
|
| 2D | TYCOON | Empty tacky sweet talk: new description of Trump? (6) | description of Trump? / TY (TackY, emptied) + COO (sweet talk) + N (new) |
|
| 3D | KEYHOLE | Solution put on orifice for a sort of surgery (7) | sort of surgery / Key (solution) + HOLE (orifice) |
|
| 4D | FLAGSHIP | /23 Victory line, maybe, such as May’s shelved grammar school plan? (8,6) | such as May’s chelved grammar school plan? / FLAGSHIP (e.g. HMS Victory) + POLICY (line) |
|
| 5D | SCAB | Crusty old clot in clueless cabinet (4) | crusty old clot / hidden word in ‘cluelesS CABinet’ |
|
| 6D | DRY OUT | Gasping to reveal someone’s sexuality? Keep off the booze! (3,3) | keep off the booze! / DRY (gasping, dry-throated) + OUT (to reveal someone’s sexuality) |
|
| 8D | RETRIEVER | Screwed terrier, biting very English, fetching type (9) | fetching type / RETRIE_R (anag, i.e. screwed, of TERRIER) around (biting) V (very) + E (English) |
|
| 14D | ANECDOTAL | Unreliable NATO deal negotiated to restrict cocaine (9) | unreliable (as in evidence) / ANE_DOTAL (anag, i.e. negotiated, of NATO DEAL) around (restricting) C (cocaine) |
|
| 16D | CODPIECE | Toolbox company, Germany, wants scrap (8) | toolbox (‘tool’ box!) / CO (company) + D (Deutschland, Germany) + PIECE (scrap) |
|
| 18D | PAWNSHOP | Lending establishment’s bound to go after dupes (8) | lending establishment / PAWNS (dupes) + HOP (bound, leap) |
|
| 19D | EPIGRAM | Saying “Naff image, right, covers party leader?” (7) | saying / E_IGRAM (anag, i.e. naff, of IMAGE R – right) around (covering) P (leading letter of Party) |
|
| 21D | LEAKED | Pissed, revealed sensitive info. (6) | double def’n / to LEAK can be to urinate/piss; and also to reveal sensitive information |
|
| 23D | POLICY | See 4dn (6) | see 4D / see 4D |
|
| 25D | BODY | /1 One into bondage, ugly sort, may show your words to be false (4,8) | (this) may show your words to be false / BODY LANGU_GE (anag, i.e. sort, of BONDAGE + UGLY) around A (one) |
|
After my failure last time, I was shocked that I really rattles through his one. ‘Leaked’ was the last one in. Was this really so much easier? Or might I have been on a higher plane for some reason?
@Winsor – since you completed it easily, I’d say you were certainly HIGHBROW. Personally, I struggled through after intensive head scratching at the beginning. I was also late in on ‘Leaked’. Thanks @MC_Rapper67.