A quick solve this time which is just as well as I am a bit under the weather (*)
Special mention to the wordplay of 17A for giving me a chuckle, and the surface reading of 27A.
(*) It’s one of those types of flu that make you ache in the joints – I blame the novichuks in the Siberian snow.
I’m fine for a couple of hours after a couple of Beecham’s “All-in-one” – looking at the packet they have enough paracetamol, codeine and 1,3,7-trimethyl-xanthine to perk up a horse.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 8 | HEATHROW | Where to take off the PM having a tiff? (8) HEATH (PM, Ted Heath) ROW (tiff) |
| 9 | STYLER | Nasty Leroy’s centre for the fancy hairdresser? (6) Hidden in the centre of: naSTY LERoy |
| 11/20d | NIGEL FARAGE | Defender of Trump, Reagan – file doctored around end of Spring (5,6) (REAGAN FILE [sprin]G)* AInd: doctored. I shall bite my tongue. |
| 13 | NUMERAL | “Figure‘s off menu” – Republican vice president (7) (MENU)* AInd: off, then R[epublican] AL [Gore] |
| 15 | RESCIND | Cancel Cinders after interference (7) (CINDERS)* AInd: interference |
| 16 | SCANDAL SHEETS | “Conservative leader in beachwear – fancy these?”: Daily Mail, Sun etc. (7,6) C[onservative] inside SANDALS (beachwear) then (THESE)* AInd: fancy. I didn’t get this till all the crossing letters were in place, then only from the letters really deducing the wordplay later. |
| 20/12 | FOREIGN SECRETARY | Boris: alien – official! (7,9) FOREIGN (alien) SECRETARY (official) First one in because my eye was immediately caught by this clue. Sorry. I thought this just too obvious. Looks like he will go down as the most well-known FS of all time given that he is still there after all this time despite making continuous efforts to get sacked from the start |
| 22 | MOURNER | Sorrowful type, Norm, breaks with EU, being on Right (7) (NORM EU)* AInd: breaks, then R[ight] |
| 23 | REKINDLED | Brenda, over generous, was a ruler aroused again (9) ER< (Brenda, over) KIND (generous) LED (was a ruler) |
| 24 | LOLLY | Lie about Corby’s end: money (5) LOLL (lie about) [corb]Y |
| 26 | GENDER | Name involved with greed, sex (6) (N[ame] GREED)* AInd: involved |
| 27 | BREAK-UPS | EU spark snuffed after Britain splits (5-3) B[ritain] then (EU SPARK)* AInd: snuffed. Little bit of anti-Brexit sentiment in the clue there |
| Down | ||
| 1 | SHINING | Excellent rubbing up (7) Double Def. |
| 3 | CHILDREN | Our future: rich lend indiscriminately (8) (RICH LEND)* AInd: indiscriminately |
| 4 | CONSUL | Discuss Theresa’s chief absent government representative (6) CONSUL[t]. CONSULT (discuss) lose (absent) the T given by T[heresa] (Theresa’s chief). This ended up being the Last One In. |
| 5 | STRESS | Merest trace of semen put on hair highlight (6) S[emen] TRESS (hair) |
| 6 | FLEA-BITTEN | Be anti-Left, turning shabby (4-6) (BE ANTI-LEFT)* AInd: turning |
| 7 | PRAYED | Petitioned, had fun changing political sides (6) PLAYED (had fun) SWAP L/R (changing political sides) |
| 10 | ICARUS | In public, a Russian whose descent was tragic (6) Hidden in: publIC A RUSsian. Given when this clue was composed, is Cyclops being “Mystic Meg” about recent events in Salisbury? |
| 14 | MUCKRAKING | Regular activity of 16: “being creative” about shambolic ruck (10) MAKING (being creative) around (RUCK)* AInd: shambolic. It was after getting this I realised what 16 must be. |
| 17 | ANNALS | Records of an arse, without name, Southern (6) ANAL (of an arse) around N[ame], then S[outhern] |
| 18 | EQUAL PAY | Peer prattle about where the Beeb’s failed (5,3) EQUAL (peer) YAP< (prattle, about) |
| 19 | GREYISH | Hires gutless guy out – a bit like the PM once (7) (HIRES G[u]Y)* AInd: out Ref. John Major, known as the greyest PM |
| 21 | IN NEED | Accepted Eden messed up – wanting (2,4) IN (accepted) (EDEN)* AInd: messed up |
| 22 | MODERN | ‘Progressive’ Miliband gets up in the early part of the day (6) ED< (Miliband, gets up) inside MORN (the early part of the day) |
| 25/2 | LOUD BANG | Disturbing report of ostentatious screw (4,4) LOUD (ostentatious) BANG (screw) |
<Ben Elton 80’s voice> Little bit of #StopBrexit propaganda in the blog title there.
No need for recourse to John Major for greyness (19d), given Cyclops’ recent penchant for Lord Grey (PM 1830-34). He’s featured in #616 and #619 too.
May I be the 94th to suggest that 16A should read C in SANDALS? But get well soon.
Lemming: Oh Yes!
Winsor: I fixed the Sandals.
I got well now (Hurray!) but that means I have to go to work (Boo!), but also I can have a beer or two again (Hurray!)
I hope you are feeling better, beermagnet. Hate to think anyone on these blogs would be under the weather! At least the clues in this puzzle must cheer you up! I too think Cyclops meant Lord Grey instead of John Major when he used GREYISH. Last time I’d ever heard of John Major was on a British episode of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”, when Colin and Ryan were improvising a Home Shopping show and Colin suggested Major would make a good doorstop. A little stiff, was he? Here in the US we have Al Gore. I’ve heard a lot of jokes about his being stiff. EQUALPAY confused me a little because I couldn’t quite parse it out. Particularly because at first I thought “Beeb” meant Justin Bieber, not the BBC. I eventually figured it out. My LOI was SHINING. And if your LOI has been shining for 4-6 hours, consult a physician. LOL Sorry, I couldn’t resist! That’s the kind of line if you did it out loud, you’d probably have to sound like Groucho Marx, it’s that corny! Another risque, riotous puzzle from Cyclops! I’ve only ever read that part of the Private Eye, but clearly based on the cryptic alone the Eye must really see all!