Thanks to Paul for a difficult one, due to the number of British politicians to be recalled. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Warmer on entering flat in south-central England? (9)
BEDSPREAD : [RE(with reference to/on) contained in(entering) PAD(informal term for a person’s home, especially an apartment/flat)] placed after(in) BEDS-(as a prefix specifying where something is, in this case BEDS/short for Bedfordshire, a county in south-central England).
Defn: … when one is asleep in bed.
6 Old Czech dissident, keep left (5)
HAVEL : HAVE(to keep possession of) + L(abbrev. for “left”).
Answer: Vaclac, who later became President of Czechoslovakia.
9 See 26
10 When twin has dropped in, visiting house, passing comment (4,5)
LAST WORDS : [AS(when, as in “as you walk into the room”) + “twin” minus(has dropped) “in” ] contained in(visiting) LORDS(one of the two Houses of Parliament).
Defn: .., ie. on passing from this world.
11 Where test may be good after racket covered up by politician (10)
HEADINGLEY : [G(abbrev. for “good”) placed after(after) DIN(a racket/a lot of noise)] contained in(covered up by) HEALEY(Denis, a former British Labour Party politician).
Defn: Cricket ground in Leeds where a Test match may be held.
12 Star reversing in luggage van (4)
VEGA : Reversal of(reversing) and hidden in(in) “luggage van“.
14 Beside fire, quivering with anticipation (7)
ATINGLE : AT(beside/next to, as in “at the wheel of the vehicle”) + INGLE(a domestic fireplace/fire).
15 Sprinkles powder on tidied hair, both at the back and fringes (7)
DREDGES : Last letters, respectively, of(…, both at the back) “tidied hair” + EDGES(the fringes of an object).
17 Politician serving suggestion with eggs, reportedly? (7)
HAMMOND : Homophone of(…, reportedly) “Ham and…”(what one might suggest serving with eggs).
Answer: Philip, British Conservative politician.
19 Self-pitying politician, finally removed (7)
MAUDLIN : “Maudling”(Reginald, former British Conservative politician) minus its last letter(finally removed).
20 Sinister character I back (4)
IAGO : I + AGO(back in time).
Defn: … in Shakespeare’s play, Othello.
22 Before getting squeezed round back of cupboard, leaning to one side (10)
PREJUDICED : PRE(prefix signifying the time before an event) plus(getting) JUICED(squeezed, say, fruits) containing(round) last letter of(back of) “cupboard“.
25 Other art, I suspect, is rougher (9)
THROATIER : Anagram of(… suspect) OTHER ART, I.
Defn: … in voice.
26, 9 Politician 18 hit once (5,5)
BROWN SUGAR : BROWN(Gordon, British Labour politician) + SUGAR(like “darling”/answer to 18 down, a term of endearment).
Defn: … by the Stones.
27 County politician ousts king (5)
CLARE : “Clarke”(Kenneth, British Conservative politician) minus(ousts) “k”(abbrev. for “king”).
Defn: … in Ireland.
28 Awkward without 18? (9)
GRACELESS : -LESS(suffix signifying without something) placed after GRACE(Darling/answer to 18 down, an English heroine).
Down
1 So-called rubbish artist (5)
BOSCH : Homophone of(So-called) “bosh”(rubbish/nonsense).
Answer: Hieronymus, Dutch painter.
2 Barking, mog admits arrogance (9)
DOGMATISM : Anagram of(Barking) MOG ADMITS.
3 Where American car may be a great deal below average, man! (7,3)
PARKING LOT : LOT(a great deal of/much) placed below(below, in a down clue) [PAR(average/the norm) + KING(a man/a piece in chess)].
Defn: Americanism for a car park.
4 In the end, provocative footwear used, oddly, for pastoral work (7)
ECLOGUE : Last letter of(In the end) “provocative” + CLOG(footwear with a thick wooden sole) + 1st and 3rd letters of(…, oddly) “used“.
Defn: … in the form of a short poem.
5 Is card between pair of diamonds swell? (7)
DISTEND : [IS + TEN(a playing card with 10 pips) ] contained in(between) D,D(a pair of abbrev. for “diamonds”, the suit in a deck of playing cards).
6 Politician dismissing case of rabble (4)
HOWE : “shower”(slang for a group of people considered worthless or incompetent, which might describe a rabble/a crowd of people regarded as inferior) minus its 1st and last letters(dismissing case of …).
Answer: Geoffrey, former British Conservative politician.
7 See 24
8 Point penned by editor in politician’s comic (3,6)
LES DAWSON : [S(abbrev. for “south”/a compass point) contained in(penned by) ED(abbrev. for “editor”) ] contained in(in) LAWSON(Nigel, British Conservative politician).
13 A blunder with fee almost embarrassed — to be paid back (10)
REFUNDABLE : Anagram of(… embarrassed) [A BLUNDER plus(with) “fee” minus its last letter(almost)].
14 Not believing when a jerk admits crime (9)
ATHEISTIC : A + TIC(a jerk/a habitual twitch of a muscle, most often in the face) containing(admits) HEIST(a crime, specifically a robbery).
16 Sweet thing, a Scot unfortunately beset by wind (9)
GALACTOSE : Anagram of(… unfortunately) A SCOT contained in(beset by) GALE(a strong wind).
18 Politician‘s baby (7)
DARLING : Double defn: 1st: Alistair, British Labour politician; and 2nd: Like “baby”, a term of endearment.
19 Island where politician arrived without me (7)
MAJORCA : MAJOR(John, British Conservative politician) + “came”(arrived/reached here) minus(without) “me“.
21 A pain going uphill, plod (5)
GARDA : Reversal of(… going uphill, in a down clue) [A + DRAG(a pain, figuratively/something tedious one has to suffer)].
Defn: …, which is slang for a policeman.
Answer: A member of the Irish police force.
23 Europeans dressed up in lederhosen, a disaster (5)
DANES : Hidden in reversal of(dressed up in, in a down clue) “lederhosen, a disaster“.
24, 7 Top always top in dominant European country (4,5)
CAPE VERDE : CAP(a top/a lid, eg. of a bottle) + EVER(always/at all times, as in “ever the politician, he…”) + 1st letters, respectively, of(top in) “dominant European“.
Thanks Paul and scchua
Theme obvious; some of the thematics not! You would need to be at least as old as I am to remember Maudling.
Mixture of easy (VEGA, DANES etc.) and hard. I didn’t parse 1a.
Not sure that DOGMATISM is the same as arrogance. You would have to be rather lazy to pronouncs Hammond as “ham and”.
I like ATINGLE and GRACELESS.
Seems this one split the audience but I loved it especially the timing and construction of hEADINGLY(This keyboard’s gotta go)
Thanks scchua and Paul
Thanks both. Difficult puzzle I agree. I think all the politicians were Chancellors of the Exchequer.
Many thanks to Paul for a very entertaining puzzle, and to scchua for the parsing. Having been a subeditor in the dim and distant past, I found this much easier than most of Paul’s offerings. I think ‘bedspread’ refers to the coverlet covering the bedclothes: this used to be a thin, decorative cover, to be removed before getting into bed, but it could also be a lightly padded quilt — and therefore a ‘warmer’.
When I saw all the politicians I was worried that the puzzle would be too UK-centric for this expat. Well it certainly was UK- centric (pace 3d), but thankfully the characters were prominent enough. One of those mentioned I was at school with – didn’t like him at all.
I had the feeling that there was more gk than normal (not that you can objectively measure that) but in the end it was not too difficult or obscure for a weekday, but it did make you think a bit. Some lovely touches, for example in 26,9 it was a real trick to think of hit meaning anything other than punch in that context.
Altogether a lot of fun. Thanks Paul and scchua.
Really enjoyed this. I have recently re-read Edmund Dell’s The Chancellors, and it helped (!) With thanks to Paul and to scchua.
Had Hurd in for 6 down so Last Words were those exactly, last ones in. Didn’t know that definition of dredges, either…
I would have imagined it was an unwelcome theme at the moment!
As a non-Brit, I found this very difficult, and I needed a lot of help from google for the GK such as the comic Les Dawson and various politicians such as Nigel Lawson, Alastair Darilng, Reginald Maudling, and John or Denis Healey. It was a case of attempt to solve and then run to google to check if a politician existed. Also needed to google a list of Irish counties, even though I heard of County Clare in the past.
My favourites were BROWN SUGAR, ATHEISTIC, BOSCH, LAST WORDS, IAGO.
I could not parse BEDSPREAD, GRACELESS – both of which I see now also required GK which I did not know.
New word: GALACTOSE.
Thanks Paul and scchua.
Thanks Paul and scchua. Quite a tricky one. Favourites were 10a LAST WORDS (“passing comment”, very good) and 26,9 BROWN SUGAR. Least favourite was 1a BEDSPREAD – the combination of the vague definition (“warmer”) and convoluted wordplay made it very difficult. I hadn’t come across that meaning of DREDGES in 15a.
muffin @1: unless you are stressing the “and” in ham and eggs I think Hammond eggs is a pretty good soundalike.
Yes, I thought oh no, do I have to re-read Trollope, but no, Maudling was the only nho and it didn’t matter. Dredge for sprinkle powder, on the other hand, was a ‘wot, shurely not’, but there it was in the Collins. Grace and Darling were gimmes, been to her little museum near Whitby, and have the picture by George Zobel. Liked the confluence of Clare and garda. Seen heist in a tic a few times before. And shower as in ‘a right shower of bleeps’ is not an Ozism at all, but it surfaced from somewhere.
Enjoyable, thanks Paul, and thanks Scchua, lovely pics as usual.
… and meant to say, raining at 11ac, ho hum.
I don’t think Gordon Brown was a Conservative…
Tony @12
Neither was Denis Healey.
“Dredge” as in “sprinkle with dust” is common in cookery books, usually referring to sugar or flour.
Bracoman @3: Yes, I checked them all. Paul managed to suqeeze in eight of the last ten Chancellors, one way or another, plus Reginald Maudling, the fifteenth most recent. Quite a feat!
grantinfreo @10: Grace Darling Museum near Whitby? It was in Bamburgh last time I went.
cholecyst@15, yes sorry, it’s an Oz tourist-slash-memory thing; Whitby was where that day just before, and 120 miles for us is just up the road.
Thanks to Paul and scchua for a steady solve, helped by the fact that I am old enough to remember all the chancellors.
I once gave evidence to a House of Lords committee on risk. There were three former chancellors on the committee. It was a bit daunting.
…was where we were, meant to say
Thanks both. Enjoyed this.
Anyone else put in IVAN at 20a? (I + VAN=back).
Thanks Tony Guilfoyle. Blog now corrected from blue to red for Brown.
Sorry, muffin@13, did I say Healey (at 11 across) was Tory?
Sorry scchua – I misunderstood Tony Guilfoyle’s comment.
Thanks to Paul and scchua. I also found this tough going, even though I am old enough to remember all the politicians (there have been a lot of them and missed the chancellor bit). Last ones were Garda and Iago, but liked Les Dawson, last words and brown sugar. Thanks again to Paul and scchua.
Another non-Brit who struggled: like michelle, I did a lot of guessing at names and then checking to see if they were British politicians. Particularly difficult were 11a and 8d, where the entire clue, not just the politician, required knowledge of British culture–didn’t give me anything to start with. That said, it’s always a learning experience, and as an American I had no trouble with 3d. I loved PREJUDICED! Thanks to Paul, and today especially to scchua for the much-needed explanations.
…oh, and 6d also was a total mystery, as “shower” is not used in that sense in the US.
Iroquois@23
I suspected 11a would have something to do with cricket (which I love), and when I had ADING I quickly guessed HEADINGLEY – if HEALEY was a politician (I ran to google to check).
For 8d I suspecetd it would be EnD or EsD so I guessed and googled Les Dawson or Len Dawson, and then had to check if there was a UK politician named LAWSON. Not my favourite way to solve, but I got there in the end. I probably should have known Nigel Lawson because I am fan of Nigella Lawson’s cookery shows on TV.
Shirl – yes, IVAN for me too.
Impressed by the theme.
Many thanks to Paul and Scchua.
Can I very gently point out that the problem with IVAN is that the VAN(guard) is the force at the front, not at the rear?
…though I suppose the guard’s van is at the rear of a train (or used to be) 🙂
Yeesh. Not exactly a love-letter to the overseas readers. But I DID finish, with rather a liberal use of the “check” button. LES DAWSON was the only plausible name that fit, and I needed Wikipedia’s handy list of cricket grounds for HEADINGLEY. But that’s not cheating when the setter puts us down so deep a well of Britain-specific general knowledge.
I’m amazed I finished. I qualify as an Anglophile here, but even I can only name the prime ministers, along with a few of the opposition leaders from my adult lifetime. But some of the non-pol clues were quite clever, which just about made it worth persevering.
Who could forget the naughty bits of Reginald Maudling?
Oh, and Michelle: there is indeed a notable Len Dawson–but he’s a Hall-of-Fame quarterback! Not likely to appear in a puzzle this British.
Many of the politicians were “my era” so I ended up not having too much trouble with this. I didn’t spot the Chancellor connection though.
I liked the topicality of HEADINGLEY (raining when I last looked). It was good to see a reference to Dennis HEALEY and Geoffrey HOWE so close together on the grid. If only politicians these days had the wit and style shown by the “savaged by a dead sheep” comment.
Thanks to Paul and scchua
DNK galactose or eclogue but they are clear from the clues and crossers.
17a brought a groan …Hammond Eggs please.
LOI Dredges. 26a had me baffled for a bit, wondered if there was some obscure one hit wonder band called Darling, then Brown Sugar dropped, another groan since l’m a Stones fan.
Have to look up some Les Dawson on YouTube.
That’s what I love about these puzzles, they remind you of things forgotten.
As always thanks Paul and thanks bloggers.
Enjoyed this although a trick was missed in 8d to clue “Ed” with “Miliband.
Thought the theme might cause problems as there are quite a few politicians out there but in the end it didn’t.
Thank you Scchua and Paul!
A good bit of fun today.
Elcogue new to me.
Thanks to Python for Maudling.
Headingley is my favourite, especially given today’s events.
Maybe just a coincidence but a Mrs Dawson was one of the shipwrecked people Grace Darling and her father saved…
I didn’t enjoy this much as I was doing it as I spent much of the time grumbling that “politician is too wide a field – it could be virtually any name” and then came here to realise that as usual it was my shortcoming in not seeing they were all chancellors. The only clues i ticked were BROWN SUGAR and LAST WORDS – and HEADINGLEY is well timed. Thanks to Paul and scchua for the blog and parsing 1a and 6d.
How come no-one has mentioned that G online has a Pan puzzle from 1933!
WhiteKing – I was wondering the same but I doubt with 1ac being a metric area that the extraneous puzzle dates from 1933 despite what the website says. Personally I think it’s next week’s Quiptic – the number is right. Thanks to Paul for a real toughie. Very glad I twigged the chancellors early or might never have finished.
It seems I have duplicated WhiteKing’s experience – I didn’t enjoy this much either. The vague indication ‘politician’ got very wearing after a few clues. I am genuinely relieved now, though, to see how well Paul has managed to get all those Chancellors into this grid – they are all well-known to Brits (depending, I suppose, on one’s age). If I had somehow worked out how to narrow the search on encountering the thematic clues, I would have enjoyed this and finished it, and that’s the thought I shall take away with me.
Thanks to Paul and scchua.
I loved this puzzle – probably because I’m British and old enough to remember all the politicians (though not a fan enough to spot that they all had the same job!) so consequently it wasn’t too hard for me, despite being set by Paul.
I too loved BROWN SUGAR and LAST WORDS, but I also loved ECLOGUE for reminding me of my school days when I was a bit in love with Latin, reading Virgil’s Eclogues. I haven’t come across any more modern ones. Thanks to scchua for pointing out that the first E comes from the end of provocativE and not the end of thE as I’d parsed it. I had it in mind that clogs were provocative footwear, having probably been worn by cotton workers revolting against the new machinery… funny the thoughts that puzzles conjure up.
Thanks both,
The puzzle helped fill a four hour sojourn in Bristol airport, courtesy of easyJet. I thought I’d never recall the chancellors, but it came good in the end. I smiled at the humour of using a cat to clue an answer beginning with ‘dog…’.
Epic fail.
My experience was very similar to michelle@8 in terms of trying to solve this – too much cheating, guessing and looking things up to be satisfying. Not complaining as it is a brutish crossword and I learned a lot!
I did like “Brown Sugar” which featured in my recent Stones concert, though I do cringe at the lyrics these days.
Thanks to Paul and scchua.
British not ”brutish” (I sound like a Kiwi) but it was a funny and perhaps apt typo!
“Brown sugar” was the only track to guarantee everyone getting on to the dance floor at discos in the 70s.
An old joke from TW3 came to mind.
When the Profumo business was dying down, Macmillan was talking to Christine Keeler:
“So, what are you going to do now?”
“Well, I think I might go back to modelling”
“Oh God, don’t say he’s involved as well”
@muffin 44: you must have forgotten Jeff Beck’s Hi Ho Silver Lining then…
@Jovis 45: thanks for the laugh!
I needed help to finish this, although I think I had actually heard of all of the politicians in the end. I didn’t know about Grace Darling, Headingley, or the meanings of “plod” and “shower”.
I still don’t understand how 1a works. How can “in” mean “after”?
Ted @47
I too couldn’t parse 1a unaided. When I finally worked it out (with some help from the blog) I took ‘Beds pad’ to mean ‘pad in Bedfordshire’. i.e. ‘flat in south-central England’). The question mark hints that a liberty might have been taken with such a phrase. (To make BEDSPREAD, RE enters BEDS PAD.)
Ah, I see. Thanks!
Thanks to Paul and sschua.
A strange smorgasbord from these islands, with GARDA and CLARE v much out of place in a tour of UK Chancellors but no moreso than HAVEL and CAPE VERDE i suppose… Didn’t really have time for it on the day and it is now tomorrow. Who’s your man DARLING? Not for this Goldilocks because I can’t retain political piffle it seems. (Apart from Maggie May and Teresa Thatcher.)
Finished but not parsed fully. Never heard of Brown Sugar. Favourite was 11a. Near where I was born and where I saw a day of the 1948 Ashes test on which Neil Harvey scored a century on debut. Being only 10 at the time my memories were of Bradman being hit in the box and Loxton hitting sixes. I got in on a press ticket. The man on the turnstile let in the, to me, senior citizen in front asking if he represented Children’s Newspaper. My friend’s mother pointed at John and me, said “Dandy and Beano” and we were in.