A nice medium-difficulty puzzle from Knut today. More than the usual number of subtraction clues, which can be tricky because what you have to subtract is out there to be found, but fortunately none of them was too hard.
Definitions in goldenrod (sorry, too light and somewhat illegible, but too late to alter now. Won’t do it again), underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
It’s not all that difficult to see the theme, with today being Election Day. Knut has provided a reasonable balance, with Jeremy on the left and Boris on the right, but some would grumble at the fact that there are answers referencing The Brexit Party and lament the lack of anything about the Liberal Democrats in the grid, just a passing reference in the clues to Jo Swinson.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | FRONTBENCHERS | Brontës angrily tangling with French cabinetmakers! (13) |
| (Brontes)* and the result put in Fr….ench…. | ||
| 9 | EASTER EGG | Hunt’s target next spring? (6,3) |
| CD I suppose, although its niceties escape me. Something political presumably, referring to Jeremy Hunt, but greater minds than mine will understand. [As Simon S@2 points out, probably not poliical, just the fact that at Easter children often take part in an Easter Egg hunt] | ||
| 10 | RHOMB | Angular figure in dapper Homburg (5) |
| Hidden in dappeR HOMBurg | ||
| 12 | ELF | 3 helper found inside the borders of China (3) |
| The china is delft, so it’s {d}elf{t} — an elf is a Noel helper | ||
| 13 | ORAL | Test gold, aluminium (4) |
| or Al | ||
| 15 | LATER | Thatcher’s modernising successor firing son in due course (5) |
| Nothing about Margaret: a roof thatcher’s modernising successor is a slater, so it’s {s}later | ||
| 17 | YOLK SAC | Mum’s food parcel – 50 kilograms – in a cosy bundle (4,3) |
| L k in (a cosy)* | ||
| 18 | AMPERES | Having got undressed, campers rest in standard units (7) |
| {c}amper{s} {r}es{t} | ||
| 19 | HER | Three Rs regularly bypassed that girl (3) |
| {T}h{r}e{e} R{s} | ||
| 20 | OSTERIA | 7 I ate outside simple Italian restaurant (7) |
| Since 7 is ROOSTER, this is hidden in roOSTER I Ate | ||
| 22 | AVOCADO | American vocal duo left uniform off – one has leathery skin (7) |
| A voca{l} d{U}o | ||
| 24 | BLUNT | A James The Fourth Man? (5) |
| 2 defs: a James is James Blunt, and Sir Anthony Blunt was possibly The Fourth Man | ||
| 25 | DIET | Pass time in parliament (4) |
| die [pass, as in pass away] t | ||
| 26 | SIN | Swinson: neglecting wife and child is a moral failing (3) |
| S{w}in{son} | ||
| 28 | NEHRU | Former PM famously collared? (5) |
| CD — Nehru was the Indian Prime Minister and he wore a distinctive collar; and there I was going through all the UK Prime Ministers, Blair, Brown, Heath, (no), someone earlier, North (no), can’t think of anyone else … | ||
| 29 | INAMORATO | Lover boy keen to mask revolting smell (9) |
| (aroma)rev. in into [keen] | ||
| 31 | GET BREXIT DONE | Getting hold of Juncker finally, I beg to extend – breaking my commitment (3,6,4) |
| {Juncke}r in (I beg to extend)* — referring to Boris’s commitment to ‘get Brexit done’ in a certain time, and his eventual begging for an extension | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | RESTFUL | At peace, basking in purest fulfilment (7) |
| Hidden in puREST FULfilment | ||
| 3 | NOEL | Disheartening Dickens work, perhaps A Christmas Carol (4) |
| no{v}el — the ‘Dickens work, perhaps’ is a novel | ||
| 4 | BYE | Extra Times edition’s leader (3) |
| by e{dition} — a cricket extra | ||
| 5 | NIGEL FARAGE | Politician 12 held prisoner in Islington lock-up? (5,6) |
| 12 being ELF, it’s N1 g(elf)arage | ||
| 6 | HARTLEPOOL | Target for 14 (he goes out with a trollop) (10) |
| (he a trollop)* — Richard Tice is standing for Hartlepool | ||
| 7 | ROOSTER | Run over East German – I hesitate to say – cock (7) |
| r o ost er — whenever you see East German in a crossword there is a strong likelihood that it will be the German for ‘East’, since ‘ost’ appears in so many English words | ||
| 8 | JEREMY CORBYN | Jack ruins ceremony by inviting Republican party leader (6,6) |
| R in (J *(ceremony by)) | ||
| 11 | BORIS JOHNSON | Old Etonian boor joins NHS carve-up (5,7) |
| (boor joins NHS)* — obviously this was going to be the answer since it’s today and Jeremy Corbyn is on the left of the grid, but ‘Old Etonian’ isn’t a very tight definition | ||
| 14 | RICHARD TICE | 5’s chairman: wealthy, top fighter pilot about to dish dirt (7,4) |
| 5 being Nigel Farage, we have the chairman of the Brexit Party — (rich ace) round *(dirt) | ||
| 16 | A SORE THUMB | An outstanding member when hammered? (1,4,5) |
| CD | ||
| 21 | TOUGHIE | Thug? That’s a tricky question (7) |
| tough i.e. [thanks Hovis@1] | ||
| 23 | ABSTAIN | Don’t vote for Arron Banks’ small-minded Tory arrant immigration nonsense, for starters (7) |
| First letters | ||
| 27 | VOID | Blank tape containing nothing (4) |
| v(0)id — videotape | ||
| 30 | ALI | The greatest Liberal seated in first class (3) |
| A(L)1 — ‘I am the greatest’ | ||
For 21d, I had TOUGH (thug) + I.E. (That’s).
Thanks Knut and John
I don’t think there’s anything political, other than Hunt as political misdirection in the clue, in the solution to 9A.
It’s just that a common kids’ spring pastime is an Easter Egg Hunt.
Tongue-in-cheek quibble about 15: I don’t think slaters succeeded thatchers. In those times roofing materials depended on material available locally, and reeds & slates were found in different parts of the country (cf the geographical difference between churches with steeples and those with towers).
Hovis@1 me too re TOUGHIE.
This puzzle along with Picaroon’s in the Graun make a perfect warm up for the big deal about unfold.
Both superb.
Thanks all.
No surprise to see it’s Knut today. The Bojo and Brexit clues particularly good, though thanks a bunch for repeating the slogan on the one day it won’t be all over the media. John, are you an old Etonian? I can think of no other reason why you’d think old Etonian is not a sufficiently precise definition.
Funnily enough, I googled ‘Brown the fourth man’ for 24a and found a novel ‘The Fourth Man’ by AH Brown.
Thanks Knut, John
Thanks for the blog, John.
Brilliant puzzle!
I loved the picture in 1ac, which was a great start.
Excellent and hilarious surfaces throughout but special mention for NIGEL FARAGE, JEREMY CORBYN, BORIS JOHNSON, GET BREXIT DONE and ABSTAIN.
Many thanks to Knut for giving us something to smile about.
I vote 11D as clue of the century (so far)
Thanks Hovis and Simon S: blog amended.
No Copmus, I’m not an Old Etonian! But there are lots of people over history who have been Old Etonians, and quite a lot of people who are alive today who are Old Etonians. My point was that it isn’t precise because it doesn’t send you towards Boris any more than to say David Cameron. But then perhaps you’re right: river doesn’t send you to Dee any more than it does to Ure.
Well there’d have to be a topical Knut crossword today of all days and I’d agree with Eileen that this was brilliant.
Thanks to Knut and John
hi John, thanks for the blog. I drafted a few versions of the grid before settling on this one. One iteration had LIBERAL DEMOCRAT in the centre but in the end I decided that the gag in the wordplay for the clue to HARTLEPOOL was too tempting to resist. (The anagram fodder is there for a reason).
I must add my slight bewilderment to your comment about “Old Etonian” as the definition for BORIS JOHNSON, especially in light of the surface reading, which captures precisely the image I wanted to convey.
Best wishes to you and thanks to all who have commented on the puzzle.
Rob/Knut
A game of two halves for me: top half went in like an express train, bottom half like a shunter. But very enjoyable for all that so thanks to Knut and John.
Thanks to John and Knut
Great humour, great fun, great working of the fodder especially with Hartlepool and the our glorious leader, but I was a bit dubious about my LOI “osteria” – inside or outside?
Or neither?
It is very late in the day now (or early?) but I’ve just returned home from hiding my head in the sand.
Yesterday I read an article in a (non-tabloid) Dutch newspaper with the header “WTO has become a paper tiger – how bad is that?” after the USA this week apparently blocked the appointment of new judges dealing with conflicts arising between nations about trade. Very interesting and alarming too – not really a big story in the UK, though. But, I quote, “countries that are not a member of a strong economic bloc (like the UK after Brexit) will be the biggest victims on the international platform (as they will be totally overpowered)”.
Does Boris know? So, 5d (Velia, ft, last Monday) and 31ac today!?
Lovely Knut crossword, very different from Picaroon’s approach to the same event.
My last one in was ELF (12ac) but, actually, unparsed.
I didn’t have a closer look at how 5d worked, I’ve seen enough of the man recently.
But N1 for (the postcode of) Islington, well, that’s a nice find as part of the theme but, at the same time, parochial.
Why should I know that? Perhaps, that’s even a reason why so many people voted to leave.
Apart from wanting to praise Knut’s effort to bring the country together in one crossword,
I mainly write this post because of what Dansar said about the use of ‘outside’ in 20ac.
I had the same ambiguous feeling.
Yes, ‘A inside B’ can be seen as A being part of B.
But ‘B outside A’ is not the same for me, it feels more like B goes around A.
I said it not so long ago somewhere else, it’s the thin line between containment and hidden indicators.
There’s an overlap, true, but the setter still has to be careful.
I know what the setter means and for the majority of solvers it’s fine – but is it?
Many thanks for John for the blog & Knut for the fun (great fun, actually).
No, this didn’t ring our bells – we came to the crossword as a way of getting away from all the political hoo-hah!
Just got around to this. Very nice, almost cheered me up