Private Eye (Cyclops / 674) Quarantine Crisis

by

A fairly standard Eye this time. Enjoyable but not difficult.

Whistled through solving this.  Only 4 unsolved after the first pass and the whole thing wrapped up in under half an hour including scribbled notes for this blog.
Please recommend the Eye crossword to people dipping their toe into the world of cryptic crosswords.

 

Across
7 PLUG IN Make a connection with Putin’s no.1 (clumsy oaf) getting elected (4,2)
P[utin] LUG (clumsy oaf) IN (elected)
8 SABOTAGE Thwarting action means (a) less than half of Boris gets leg over (8)
A ((a)) BO[ris] all inside STAGE (leg)
11 NORTH Lord was with this ex-PM (5)
Cryptic clue with reference to Lord North
12 PISS-TAKER Who mocks the urethra? (4-5)
Double-Definition in imitable Eye style
13 FANCY THAT Just imagine putting Tory leader in Ascot wear! (5,4)
T[ory] in FANCY HAT (Ascot wear)
14 ERECT Up before court (5)
ERE (before, poetic) CT (court, abbrev.)
16 LIMPET Hard to shake off, this independent politician, stuck in obstacle (6)
I[ndependent] MP (politician) in side LET (obstacle)
18 BUSTED American in debt unceremoniously thrown in jail? (6)
US inside (DEBT)* AInd: unceremoniously
21 LIEGE Lord Archer-style statement, say, read backwards (5)
LIE ([Jeffrey] Archer-style statement) EG <
22/5 QUOTATION MARK One’s captivated by strange Ottoman quirk – speech written after it? (9,4)
(OTTOMAN QUIRK + I )* AInd: strange
24 COMMITTAL Money initially taken by Romney in fuel pledge (9)
M[oney] MITT [Romney] inside COAL (fuel)
27 TAKE CARE  Commit auto theft on reaching Spain – watch what you’re doing (4,4)
TAKE CAR (commit auto theft) E (Spain)
28 CRISIS Credit given to fundamentalists for disaster (6)
CR[edit] ISIS (fundamentalists)
Down
1 SPIN-OFF A consequence of what PR advisors do in bad taste (4-3)
SPIN (what PR advisors do) OFF (in bad taste)
2 QUARANTINE A couple of pints needed to take in article in English: ‘Covid-19 Result’? (10)
AN (article) inside QUART (a couple of pints), IN E[nglish]
3 MIGHTY May, last of Tory powerful! (6)
MIGHT (may) [tor]Y
4 FORTRESS Refs sort out defence (8)
(REF’S SORT)* AInd: out
6 SECRETE Cover up discharge (7)
Double Def
9 ASSET Dog’s failed to start? That’s an advantage (5)
[b]ASSET
10 UPSHOT Result of getting excited before sex: blistering (6)
UP (getting excited) S[ex] HOT (blistering)
15 EYEWITNESS It’s sweeney, unfortunately, who looked on as crime was commited? (10)
(IT’S SWEENEY)* AInd: unfortunately
17 PRECINCT Trump finally about to meet supreme commander on time (shopping centre) (8)
[trum]P RE (about) C-IN-C (supreme commander) T[ime]
18 BROLLY Boris’s opening spin on unknown cover-up (6)
B[oris] ROLL (spin) Y (unknown)
19 PLACATE Humour of actress’s first appearance after lap dancing (7)
(LAP)* AInd: dancing, CATE [Blanchett] Last one in. The definition in the sense of appease rather than anything do to with comedy, plus just the first name of any actress made this difficult even with all the crossing letters.
20 INCENSE “Anger” … that’s how change might be presented to an American, reportedly (7)
Homophone of “in cents” HInd: reportedly
22 QATAR State of Queen when mounting a seaman (5)
Q[ueen] A TAR (a seaman)
23 ASPIRE Aim at ‘snake resentment” (6)
ASP (snake) IRE (resentment)
25/26 MIKE PENCE Keen PM ‘ice-breaking’ for a Trump sidekick (4,5)
(KEEN PM ICE)* AInd: breaking

In memory of Tim Brooke-Taylor let’s dig out a classic
Now there’s only one of the original Four Yorkshiremen left

13 comments on “Private Eye (Cyclops / 674) Quarantine Crisis”

  1. Thanks as always, for the solve but you’ve published this before the competition is closed.
    Due to Easter, there’s a three week wait for the next Private Eye, so the crossword is open for entries until the 17th.
    I don’t think it matters much, as anybody entering will probably have done so by now. It’s just that I do like the fact you normally wait until after the cut-off date – it takes away any temptation I have to cheat. Especially now that guy on some money saver website, who used to publish the answers straight away, no longer does so.

  2. I had completely missed the fact that the last issue of the mag was for 3 weeks, and there was an extended deadline on the crossword, and had published the blog on the Monday as usual.
    As soon as I saw Pajodr’s comment above I bumped the blog to now (Sat 18th).

  3. In 19dn, PLACATE, another factor increasing the difficulty was the word “first”, which doesn’t quite seem to me to work cryptically. Perhaps there’s a reading I haven’t considered?

    In 20dn, you seem to be using “hlnd” for ‘homophone indicator’, which seems a bit odd.

    In 23dn, I think “at” must be part of the definition, although, strictly, that’s a def for ASPIRE TO, isn’t it?

    I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue’s own tribute to Tim Brooke-Taylor here:

    https://isihac.net/tim-brooke-taylor/

  4. Tony.

    In 19D I took “first” to indicate we were to use Cate Blanchett’s first name

    20D. My shorthand HInd for Homophone Indicator, like AInd for Anagram Indicator, has crept in. It won’t seem odd when everyone uses it as they surely will

    23D I’m willing to accept at is part of the def. or a noise word – either way the clue works fine

    And thinks for the link I am listening to some of them right now.

  5. Ah, ok, that’s a capital I for Indicator, not a small L as I read it. Bound to catch on.

     

    [Onomatopoeia, haha!]

  6. Thanks beermagnet & RIP TB-T

    Although I had slotted in 8a = sabotage I couldn’t parse this fully with STAGE = LEG. I can’t believe this eluded me until your explanation.

    Also, it  took a little while for me to realise that “actress’s first appearance” referred to an actress’s first name. Quite a nice clue really!

    I’ve now got the latest edition and looking forward to a distracting solve.

  7. While I appreciate we should not talk about puzzles that are not closed, I would like to point out an error in the AcrossLite version…..which is not in the hard copy, which came today. 4A should have the structure (8,2,3,4) and not simply (8). I hope I have not transgressed a cardinal rule. if so, sorry!!!!

  8. Winsor@7 — I don’t think there’s a rule about correcting errors and omissions!  The most annoying omission I’ve seen recently was in the BBC Music Magazine, whose crossword no. 340 was printed without its last two down clues.  I don’t think they printed any apology either.

  9. @John E……maybe they are thinking of having a competition where everyone makes up their own clues and submits for assessment. Two competitions in one!!!!

  11. @Winsor, what you’ve noticed isn’t unusual in the Across Lite versions, where solutions  spread across multiple lights typically have the lengths given for the individual lights.  So, for example, “Freedom of the press” in #635 is described in its two lights as (7,2) and (3,5) respectively.  Though even that convention does seem to have been broken here, by clueing #675 15d as “See 4ac (9)” rather than “See 4ac (2,3,4)”.

  12. >Especially now that guy on some money saver website, who used to publish the answers >straight away, no longer does so.

    I may as well admit that it was me who initiated the process and helped PE in putting an end to the practice.  It was forums.moneysavingexpert.com where they were published.  When it was stopped, from #656 on, I understand that the numbers of entries decreased by more than 40%; giving us honest toilers a substantially better chance.

     

Comments are closed.