This looked small after the gigantic Christmas grid. Thanks to Mike for a spectacluar blog for that last time.
This one was a gentle start to the year, only 7 to go after the first pass scattered all over the grid and they were soon dispatched before I’d finished my pint.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ETHEREAL | Airy-fairy Mrs May, trapped by emotional extremes, gets rid of Boris finally (8) THERE[s]A (S lost from [bori]S) inside E and L ( from E[motiona]L ). First read and first one in despite the convoluted wordplay. As soon as I spotted “emotional extremes” delivers E…L the answer was clear. |
| 6 | SPOUSE | Bill to Hillary: “suppose president’s first to go mad” (6) (SUPPOSE – P[res] )* AInd: to go mad. Last one in but for no good reason. I hadn’t given it much attention till it ended up last. |
| 9/15 | INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR | Elected, fit – response to stimulus is e.g. unwelcome “pussy-grabbing” (13,9) IN (elected) APPROPRIATE (fit) BEHAVIOUR (response to stimulus) |
| 10 | IDOL | Wedding vow needs latitude, darling (4) I DO (Wedding vow) L[atitude] |
| 11 | ELECTORATE | Who’s responsible for Brexit? Elite circle (tear spilled) (10) ELECT (elite) (O TEAR)* AInd: spilled |
| 12 | DENTIST | Retreat with tits out, as one who might be on the pull (7) DEN (retreat) (TITS)* AInd: out |
| 14 | CHABLIS | Bill Cash snapped “Get rid of Labour leader”, which is very dry (7) (BILL CASH – L[abour])* AInd: snapped |
| 16 | SPREADS | Ed’s half into pisspoor Spears covers (7) [e]D inside (SPEARS)* AInd: pisspoor |
| 18 | CASHIER | He is in banking; he is pissing around in Rolls Royce? (7) (HE IS)* AInd: pissing around, inside CAR |
| 21 | GREY MATTER | Ex-PM: question intelligence (4,6) WORDPLAY GREY (ex-PM) MATTER (question) Earl Grey now best known for tea than for being a PM |
| 25 | INCRIMINATORY | Screwed in minicar by politician, making you look bad (13) (IN MINICAR)* AInd: screwed, then TORY (politician) |
| 26 | GENTRY | Upper classes want short military officer put on trial (6) GEN[eral] (military officer, short) TRY (put on trial) |
| 27 | GET DRUNK | “Go on the piss,” grunted rum King (3,5) GRUNTED* AInd: rum, K[ing] |
| Down | ||
| 2 | THIRD | Dished dirt about hot bit (5) DIRT* AInd: dished, around H[ot]. I was doubtful about the def. as first |
| 3 | EPAULETTE | Attlee up for resurrection with English military-style decoration (9) (ATTLEE UP)* AInd: resurrection, E[nglish] |
| 4 | EXPRESS | Tabloid lover no longer smooth (7) EX (lover no longer) PRESS (smooth) |
| 5 | LOOTER | Penis hoisted by, er, booty-seeker (6) TOOL< (Penis, hoisted) ER |
| 6 | STRETCH | Do a warm-up exercise: after second time, vomit (7) S[econd] T[ime] RETCH AInd: vomit |
| 7 | ON AIR | Broadcasting negative raised by Sky (2-3) NO< (negative, raised) AIR (sky) |
| 8 | SWEET WINE | Weinstein, not popular, amazingly takes Private Eye for a drink (5,4) (WEINSTE[in])* AInd: amazingly, around WE (Private Eye). The clue that gave me the most trouble. I was trying to shoe-horn in “US” instead of “WE” for Private Eye |
| 13 | EXPERTISE | Sex? Tripe, gruesome – requires energy, ability! (9) (SEX TRIPE)* AInd: gruesome, then E[nergy] |
| 17 | DUALITY | Two-faced quality of the French and Italy, sadly (7) DU (“of the” in French) (ITALY)* AInd: sadly |
| 19 | ABREAST | Keeping pace with a tit (7) Double Definition |
| 20/23 | STRING VEST | Underwear row – Sun skewers old soldier (6,4) STRING (row) S[un] inside VET (old soldier) |
| 22 | YACHT | Maxwell’s property he went off ultimately? (5) CD referring to Robert Mawell’s yacht the Ghislane, and the manner of his exit by falling of it |
| 24 | SPY ON | Issue surrounding Trump’s and May’s ends – keep under observation (3,2) SON (issue) around [trum]P [ma]Y |
Crass smash’n’grab of a recent little gem from @Brian_Bilston :
Bradman, Boycott, Boon and Botham,
Benaud, Broad and Brearley.
Speaking words of Wisden,
Letter B.
Thanks or this. I found it quite easy too (for me, hat is!). However, I did get into quite a knot to start when had ‘serapes’ for 16A- it works too!!! But my crossings went all to hell so I had to start again.
Another great puzzle by Cyclops! YACHT was my LOI, but I knew nothing about Mr. Maxwell or his untimely death by accident. I basically had Y_C_T, so the answer was quite obvious, though I had trouble parsing out the clue. Usually I see “ultimately” in a cryptic clue, I’m thinking the last letter of the preceding word. Early on I was almost certain there was an F in it(at the end of “off” in the clue). With some answers you never know sometimes until it becomes “ultimately” apparent! Have to admit I’ve been doing this puzzle for a while now, and it never ceases to surprise me a little seeing words like “pussy” and “tits” allowed in the clues! Has Cyclops ever used PECKER before? I saw it in Paul’s last Prize puzzle for the Guardian. I’ve seen “todger” used before, but I don’t recall PECKER. I’d have remembered it for sure.
Cyclops tends to stick to home-grown (British English) double entendres. (‘Pecker’ only becomes vulgar slang in US English.)
Thanks, beermagnet, re. the Christmas special. Impressed that you completed this before you finished your pint – that is the way to solve!
Patrick J Berry at #2 – Cyclops gets away with a lot more in Private Eye than any setter would do in a mainstream daily – both in language used in clues/answers and in ‘taboo’ subject matter. Would any UK paper have published 10D in the Xmas special, with ‘DI’ indicated by ‘car crash victim’? I doubt it…
Paul in the Grauniad is probably the most risqué of the current mainstream setters, and some of the newer Indy setters do try and push the boundaries a bit…
> Has Cyclops ever used PECKER before?
What! You don’t remember PECKER as clue and answer in #594 and #541!? 😉
And a quick search of my (incomplete) archive finds it too in numbers 154, 161, 269, 293, 404 and 509. In a few it’s used as a pun on HEN, though the surface meaning is quite other. There’s only a couple of peckers up, and even then …
#154 Don’t despair. See what Viagra can do for you. (4,4,6,2)
Can someone help with 617….not with answers but with structure. One clue on the internet says the answer is 8 and 7 letters. (8A). My only answer is 4,4,7. Can someone confirm that the magazine (which has not yet arrived in Germany!) shows the same? Am I barking up the wrong tree? Or just plain barking?
It’s correctly (4,4,7) in the mag. and at http://www.private-eye.co.uk/crossword. The only (8,7) instance I’ve seen, now you’ve mentioned it, is the the Across Lite version. Is that the one you mean? In any case, you’re now excused barking.
Lemming…thank you very much. It was, indeed, in the Across Lite version.