Oh what fun!
We only wish we could say that about the theme.
Knut’s puzzles are often topical and we cannot remember not enjoying solving any one of them. Some of the clues today contained thematic references as well as the four highlighted entries. There were however a number of others that we thought about adding.
9a – too many contenders in Parliament to list
14a – We never would have said it years ago, but Ken Clarke is a possibility. However a check online revealed that the New Statesman referred to Jeremy Corbyn as a man with great integrity in June 2016
25a – The Government is refusing to release details contained in any email connected to the proroguing of Parliament
5d – What is happening to the Libdems?
18a – What Boris Johnson implied about the proposed new runway at Heathrow and not leaving the EU on the 31st October
Thanks Knut.
Across
1 Dicing with communism turned out to be Corbyn’s worst nightmare (7,8)
DOMINIC CUMMINGS
An anagram of DICING and COMMUNISM – anagrind is ‘turned out’
9 Horrid old boy, Oscar, American, outside no.11 (9)
OBNOXIOUS
OB (old boy) O (Oscar) US (American) around NO XI (eleven)
10 Gammon I treated, infused by saltpetre (5)
NITRE
Hidden inside or ‘infused by’ gammoN I TREated
11 Breaking news: English politician in government stepping down at next election (7,8)
JUSTINE GREENING
JUST IN (breaking news) E (English) GREEN (politician) IN G (government) – clue as defintion
14 Order mortifying neat, honourable gentleman (3,2,9)
MAN OF INTEGRITY
An anagram of MORTIFYING NEAT – anagrind is ‘order’
18 Absolutely no place for the Edstone, said Miliband (4,2,4,4)
OVER MY DEAD BODY
A play on the fact that the infamous ‘Edstone’ outlining Labour policy under Ed Miliband could be placed over his body
22 Withdraw offensive Tory poster, having left off 1A’s slogan (4,4,7)
TAKE BACK CONTROL
TAKE BACK (withdraw) CON (Tory) TROLl (‘offensive poster’ – online) losing L (left)
25 Echo Neeson’s revolting message? (1-4)
E-MAIL
E (Echo in the phonetic alphabet) LIAM (as in Liam Neeson) reversed or ‘revolting’
27 Very active base, new group run by Rees-Mogg to call back (9)
ENERGETIC
E (base) N (new) ERG (group run by Rees-Mogg) and CITE (call) reversed or ‘back’
29 Second page: the leadership bullied the ex-Chancellor (11,4)
SPREADSHEET PHIL
S (second) P (page) and an anagram of THE LEADERSHIP – anagrind is ‘bullied’. Philip Hammond’s nickname was Spreadsheet Phil.
Down
1 Odd bod Major in the frame? (8)
DOORJAMB
An anagram of BOD MAJOR – anagrind is ‘odd’
2 Furs ordered by flirtatious girl (5)
MINKS
Sounds like (‘ordered’) MINX (flirtatious girl)
3 Nothing new (9) (3)
NIX
N (new) IX (nine)
4 Bring up the field, Brian is batting (5,2)
CLOSE IN
CLOSE (as in Brian Close the cricketer) IN (is batting)
5 Parcel delivery firm to press for a huge rise (7)
UPSURGE
UPS (parcel delivery firm) URGE (to press for)
6 Liverpool striker nursing the onset of gum disease (5)
MANGE
MANE (Liverpool striker Sadio Mane) around G (first letter or ‘onset’ of gum). Those of you who know us, will have guessed correctly that we had to check this one on the internet.
7 Butt/cask knocked over (3)
NUT
TUN (cask) reversed or ‘knocked over’
8 Small shelf on which to put slipper? (6)
SLEDGE
S (small) LEDGE (shelf). The slipper refers to the ‘runners’ underneath.
12 Deduce a terrible fire? No, no (5)
INFER
INFERno (terrible fire) without NO. This has us thinking for a while as we thought ‘terrible’ may be an anagrind – but where did the ‘N’ come from? Then the penny dropped.
13 Run into … into bars at the opening (5)
INTRO
R (run) inside or ‘into’ INTO
15 He’s good at serving eggs in Norfolk on vacation (5)
NOVAK
OVA (eggs) inside NorfolK – first and last letters only or ‘on vacation’ – a reference to Novak Djok0vic, tennis player
16 Managed to admit party element “somewhat toxic” (5)
RADON
RAN (managed) around or ‘admitting’ DO (party)
17 Phoning in sick, I call foul – like the business of Boris bikes? (8)
CYCLICAL
A homophone (phoning in’) of SICK and an anagram of I CALL – anagrind is ‘foul’
19 American woodpeckers regularly nicking bits of your cake (and The Queen’s!) (7)
YUCKERS
Alternate or ‘regular’ letters in YoUr CaKe and ER’S (the Queen’s). We’ve not heard of these birds before.
20 Dump former partner on holiday island in The Med (7)
EXCRETE
EX (former partner) CRETE (holiday island in The Med)
21 Son, very French, beginning to suffer tension (6)
STRESS
S (son) TRES (very – in French) S (first letter or ‘beginning to’ ‘suffer’)
23 Upending a huge chunk of wood (5)
BALSA
A reversal or ‘upending’ of A SLAB (huge chunk)
24 Gag when rolling cheroot, blowing rings (5)
RETCH
An anagram of CHERooT without or ‘blowing’ OO (rings) – anagrind is ‘rolling’
26 First-class resistance song (3)
AIR
AI (first class) R (resistance)
28 Contemptible person, guilty at regular intervals (3)
GIT
Regular letters in GuIlTy
Another splendid crossword from Knut – and full of references to the mess in which the country now finds itself
Thanks to Knut for the entertainment and B&J for the blog
Just brilliant: puzzle and blog. Huge thanks to all three.
Incredible set of solutions. I wondered about Corbyn’s worst nightmare (7,8), general election?
Thanks Knut, B&J
Knut does crosswords that Private Eye would kill for.
He is my best way of catching up with latest news- just as Doonesbury was the best way of catching up with US politics in his heyday.
Mike Doonesbury’s slogan: “Reagan is no racist-he’s disadvantaged all the poor not the blacks per se”
We’d cry if no one made us laugh.
Brilliant Knut. Very clever and funny. Excellent entertainment.
I assumed 14a was a sarcastic reference, maybe that says more about me.
I’m impressed with the grid fill, and i’ve always been impressed with your political anagrams etc.
Thanks, a brilliant start to the day – now waiting for court verdict
oops, and many thanks J&B
Likewise, I thought this was great fun and towards the easier end of the Knut spectrum, for which I’m not complaining. One small nitpick: I think the clue for 8D should have had ‘slippers’, as normally sledges have two, hydrofoil-style. Many thanks Knut and B&J.
Great stuff as ever
Thanks to K, B&J
Fun Fun Fun!
Depends on what you mean by it, though.
1ac: ‘Corbyn’s worst nightmare’? And of a lot of other people with some braincells.
Perhaps even BoJo’s.
I never saw a smile on Cummings’ face. What gave him the right to run the country?
Actually, I think, this man doesn’teven deserve to be something irrelevant as a crossword entry.
Thanks B&J, you forgot to mention the very topical 28d.
As to the non-political part of this puzzle, one of my last ones in was 4d.
It was clear that it had to be CLOSE IN but – as a cricket non-entity – I had to check who Brian was.
Not sure whether the clue needs “is” but Knut could easily have avoided that by writing “ ’s” instead.
I also wondered why Knut put 9 in (), in 3d.
But hey, that’s just nitpicking at a crossword that stopped the rain pouring down here this morning!
Many thanks to Bertandjoyce & Knut.
many thanks to Bert & Joyce (see you in York?) for the blog and to those who have commented. I always enjoy compiling crosswords but this one gave me particular pleasure for some reason.
Best wishes to all, Rob/Knut
There was another word that would have fitted into 6d, but I was fairly confident Rob/Knut wouldn’t have used it.
It’s all been said above. Just Brilliant!!
A well-devised crossword but we could have done with something to take our minds off current affairs!
Thanks to Bertandjoyce and Knut
Very nice, but I give up. Why is 1a JC’s worst nightmare? It seems to me he’s the gift that keeps giving.
What am I missing?
hi @Dansar
I was attempting to use the figurative definition of “worst nightmare” in the surface reading and its literal interpretation in the answer, if that makes sense.
Thanks Knut, I get that but I literally thought I was missing something!
E.g. JC had professed to waking up in a sweat about DC and I’d missed it. I think he need worry no longer.