Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the Jumbo Cyclops special. This year he has chosen to visit the ‘Pseuds Corner’ feature for the theme… (is anyone else just itching to put an apostrophe in ‘Pseuds’ – before or after the ‘s’?! – but it seems there isn’t one in the published magazine…)
The preamble states that:
“Running clockwise around the perimeter, starting top left, is a quote (with a minor change) appearing in Pseuds Corner in 2020, plus the perpetrator’s name (2 words), and the publication in which it appeared (2 words).
The 56 letters of this entry not crossing with normal solutions are:
AAAAAA B CC D EEEEE G HHH I I I I I I LL MMM NNN OOOO P RRR SSSS TTTT UUU WWW Y”
In some recent Specials the theme has involved several items from an Eye feature, but here we only have the one – albeit a long perimetral one. As usual, I had sent my stack of saved-up Eyes to my overseas-living brother in September, when he tangentially spent some time in Paris on his way from Myanmar to Madagascar, so I might have been a bit stuck if I needed to search for the quote…
There was no way I was going to guess it from the enumeration either! So on with the solving…which proceeded at a steady pace. Just like the traditional Christmas dinner is sort of a Sunday roast dinner with lots more stuff and a bit more ceremony about it, so this was just like a normal Cyclops, but with lots more clues – far too much too eat in one go!
After two or three sessions, of maybe 15 minutes each, I was starting to get a ‘framework’ around the edges, to try and hang a some words on. The start looked something like ‘I PLAY THE PIANO EACH MORNING…’…something I guess a lot of people do! And the bottom left looked like there could be a name – RUFUS? My subconscious, plus some crossing letters, suggested WAINWRIGHT to go with RUFUS, although I had no idea (and even now not much more of an idea) who he is or what he does…
I hadn’t helped myself by putting in TOILETS instead of URINALS at 33A, and consequently I hadn’t quite finished the top left corner, so the publication looked something like ?T???? ?I?E?…the STRAITS TIMES? (Too long, I know…)
Down at the bottom right, there seemed to be a BATHROBE appearing, and something a bit longer than MARMIT-ISE or MARMALISE…maybe, eventually, MEMORIALISE? And bottom left looked like PANDEMIC…an all too familiar word, right now!
So, given that the preamble described him as the ‘perpetrator’ of this preposterous statement, I could make an accusation, in true Cluedo style, that we had:
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT, in the conservatory, in his BATHROBE, playing the PIANO EACH MORNING, for AT LEAST TWO HOURS, to MEMORIALISE THE PANDEMIC. And the last piece of the jigsaw, once I had seen the error of my ways with the URINALS, was the SUNDAY TIMES.
This all sounded feasible and, rather than thumb through what back-issues I had left, I chose to do a quick search of the Times site (I subscribe, as it is the only way to get access to their puzzles, including the Listener) and proved my suspicions – guilty as charged!
The minor change mentioned in the preamble was ‘every morning’ in the original to ‘each morning’, to trim it to the available perimeter.
I have to admit I didn’t bother to check through those helpfully provided ‘unches’, but hopefully they came in handy to some solvers? Unusually, for a grid of this size, it isn’t quite a pangram, being a J and a Q short of the full set.
And that, I think, is that. I haven’t spent any time commenting on individual clues or favourites – too many to choose from really, and who wants to have to pick their favourite sprout over a nice crunchy roast potato or a light and fluffy Yorkshire pudding? It was all good Cyclops-ean fare, with just a couple of Trumpian references, to go with the subsequent ‘trumping’ caused by the aforementioned sprouts.
From a solving point of view, I found it overall less satisfying than trying to find several thematic items around the grid, as with some recent Xmas specials. But my mind can only boggle at the creativity and imagination necessary to find something like this – amongst the vast mass of Eye output – and then craft it into a grid and serve it up on our Christmas tables… (I wonder if Cyclops chose this quotation himself, or maybe the editor had one of his minions trawl through the year’s columns to commission some options for Cyclops to use?…)
Either way, many thanks to Cyclops for the challenge – a pleasant way to while away some of the Christmas holiday.
(I apologise in advance for the lack of numbering in the grid – I just type it into Excel and then paste it into a GIF animator – and also for any typos or omissions in the grid/below. It was a bit of a slog to get it all parsed and blogged!)
Update: Many thanks to Tony Collman (a frequent commenter on the Eye blogs) for supplying a numbered version of the grid:
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 13A | ENVIOUSNESS | Measure against debts by FBI agent leads to resentment (11) | resentment / EN (measure) + V (against) + IOUS (debts) + NESS (Eliot Ness, prohibition era FBI agent) |
|
| 14A | CATATONIC | Maybe Tom needs a stimulant, being rigid? (9) | rigid / CAT (maybe tom) + A + TONIC (stimulant) |
|
| 15A | SPLIT | Opening gob, Labour leader causes division (5) | division / SP_IT (gob) around (opened by) L (leading letter of Labour) |
|
| 16A | INCISOR | Is nothing right in the wake of elected Conservative (mouthy thing)? (7) | mouthy thing / IN (elected) + C (Conservative) + IS + O (zero, nothing) + R (right) |
|
| 17A | TOP UP | Arse-over-tip lay involves work – replenish drink (3,2) | replenish drink / T_UP (put, or lay, reversed, or arse over tip) around (involving) OP (opus, music, work) |
|
| 18A | HO-HUM | ‘House cuts employment’ stink? That’s routine (2-3) | (something) that’s routine / HO( |
|
| 19A | EARLOBE | Peer gets award for fleshy bit of organ (7) | bit of organ / EARL (peer) + OBE (Order of the British Empire, award) |
|
| 20A | YEARBOOK | Periodic review of bakery fiasco (balls crushed) (8) | periodic review / YEARB_K (anag, i.e. fiasco, of BAKERY) around (crushing) OO (spheres, or balls!) |
|
| 22A | BOTTLE-OPENER | A cricketer, after courage, might use it to access booze? (6-6) | (one) might use it to access booze / BOTTLE (courage) + OPENER (cricketer) |
|
| 24A | MASKS | Minister chiefly demands Covid cover-ups (5) | Covid cover-ups / M (first, or chief, letter of Minister) + ASKS (demands) |
|
| 27A | DOMESTICATE | Tame assignation interrupted by some awkward jerk (11) | tame / D_ATE (assignation) around (interrupted by) OMES (anag, i.e. awkward, of SOME) + TIC (jerk) |
|
| 28A | OUTBOX | Sent stuff in this to beat opponent on points? (6) | to beat opponent (in the ring) on points / (or maybe a double defn?) depending on your choice of e-mail software, when you send an e-mail it normally sits in your OUT BOX until it is sent…and the same was probably true in the old days of physical ‘in/out trays/boxes’ in offices? |
|
| 30A | KEEP ON AT | Hold back NATO manoeuvres – badger (4,2,2) | badger / KEEP (hold back) + ON AT (anag, i.e. manoeuvres, of NATO) |
|
| 33A | URINALS | Convenient places for members to spout in (7) | CD / A ‘Ronseal’ clue – does what it says on the tin! |
|
| 35A | ACCLAIMED | Famous Bill gets chlorine lined up (9) | famous / AC (account, bill) + CL (chlorine) + AIMED (lined up) |
|
| 37A | DOCTOR WHO | Interfere with organisation shunned by Trump’s TV series (6,3) | TV series / DOCTOR (interfere with) + WHO (World Health Organisation, shunned by Trump) |
|
| 38A | THIRD-READING | Night raider casually kidnaps a Democrat, after which an act is passed? (5,7) | after which an act (of parliament) is passed / THIRD REA_ING (anag, i.e. casually, of NIGHT RAIDER) around (kidnapping) D (Democrat) |
|
| 40A | TENSE | Figure endless rumpy-pumpy will make you rigid (5) | rigid (again!) / TEN (figure, number) + SE( |
|
| 41A | IN LIMBO | Awaiting action from elected member, love? (2,5) | awaiting action / IN (elected) + LIMB (member) + O (zero, love) |
|
| 44A | GRANADA | Broadcaster’s old lady needing a lawyer (7) | (UK TV) broadcaster / GRAN (relatively old lady) + A + DA (District Attorney, lawyer) |
|
| 46A | BORNE | PM is lacking: North East suffered (5) | suffered / BOR( |
|
| 47A | WORKING PAPER | Labour gets in a lot of money daily? That should prompt discussion (7,5) | (something) that should prompt discussion) / WORK (Labour) + IN + G (grand, £1000, a lot of money) + PAPER (daily) |
|
| 51A | REWRITTEN | Thoroughly edited on Twitter, perhaps – time lost with name (9) | thoroughly edited / RE (on, with reference to) + WRITTE (anag, i.e. perhaps, of TWIT( |
|
| 53A | INSTANTLY | Mo heartlessly put on the spot (9) | on the spot / INSTANT (mo, moment) + L( |
|
| 54A | NEO-NAZI | Right-wing fanatic zone in a muddle (3-4) | right-wing fanatic / anag, i.e. muddle, of ZONE IN A |
|
| 55A | NEARSIDE | British Left’s ungenerous arrogance (8) | British Left (side of a car) / NEAR (miserly, ungenerous) + SIDE (arrogance) |
|
| 56A | UTMOST | Drunken sot, top off, must last (6) | last / anag, i.e. drunken, of SOT + (M)UST (with top off) |
|
| 57A | BANG THE DRUM | Show enthusiastic support for shag – time he had a drink (4,3,4) | show enthusiastic support for / BANG (shag, have sex with) + T (time) + HE D (he’d, he had) + RUM (a drink) |
|
| 60A | ASHES | What’s become of the late person who was fired? (5) | CD / A ‘late’ (dead) person who has been ‘fired’ (cremated) will end up as ASHES |
|
| 62A | OKLAHOMA CITY | ‘State Capital’, the musical with sex featured in empty cemetery (8,4) | State Capital / OKLAHOMA! (a musical) + C_Y (empty C |
|
| 64A | DOORKNOB | Party plonker grabs alternative means of entering chamber? (8) | means of entering chamber / DO (party) + KNOB (plonker), around (grabbing) OR (alternative) |
|
| 66A | SAMURAI | Military type’s strange aura – “I’m after sex” (7) | military type / S (abbreviation for sex, although your blogger still isn’t sure about this!) + AMURAI (anag, i.e. strange, of AURA IM) |
|
| 68A | FIRST SERVICE | & 61 Before anything else, do some mating (if botched, you may have another go) (5,7) | if botched (in tennis) you may have another go / FIRST (before anything else) SERVICE (do some mating, usually of a male animal mating with a female) |
|
| 70A | OVERT | Open secret – head of counter-intelligence given the boot (5) | open / ( |
|
| 71A | AMBIENT | Musically relaxing? Contradictory Val’s pissed off (7) | musically relaxing / AMBI( |
|
| 73A | FUNGI | Tomfoolery with soldier’s mouldy things (5) | mouldy things / FUN (tomfoolery) + GI (US, soldier – I’ve always thought this meant something like General Infantryman, but it is in fact an abbreviation of Government Issue, or General Issue – presumably referring to their uniform, or weaponry?) |
|
| 74A | IN THE LOOP | Having, say, a wee pint, but kept aware of what your group’s up to? (2,3,4) | kept aware of what your group’s up to / IN THE LOO (having, say, a wee) + P (pint) |
|
| 75A | SHINING HOUR | End of pin stuck in his groin – uh, horrible! Make the most of this time (7,4) | make the most of this time! / SHINI_G HOUR (anag, i.e. horrible, of HIS GROIN UH), around N (end of piN) |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | LOVE CHARM | Nothing on chain attached to member that could bring romance? (4,5) | (something) that could bring romance / LOVE (nothing, score of zero in, e.g. tennis) + CH (chain) + ARM (bodily member) |
|
| 2D | YOOFS | Section in Tokyo of seriously belittled teenagers (5) | belittled teenagers / hidden word in, i.e. section of, ‘tokYO OF Seriously’ |
|
| 3D | HISTRIONICS | The bloke’s threesome, sin involved with “C”, is play-acting (11) | play-acting / HIS (the bloke’s) + TRIO (threesome) + NICS (anag, i.e. involved, of SIN with C) |
|
| 4D | PLENTY | Fast time in ‘hollow penis surgery’? That’s quite enough! (6) | that’s quite enough / P_Y (hollowed out P |
|
| 5D | ANSAPHONE | Hansen (OAP!) organised a commercial message taker (9) | message taker / anag, i.e. organised, of HANSEN OAP. NB. Not sure why it has to be a ‘commercial’ message taker? Maybe indication of a trademark, but I think the trademarked version is with an F – AnsaFone? |
|
| 6D | OCCUPATIONAL | & 26 Risked by one who’s regularly on the job? (12,6) | CD / An OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD is a risk taken by someone in their line of work… |
|
| 7D | AITCH | One urge that’s commonly dropped (5) | (something) that’s commonly dropped / A (one) + ITCH (urge) |
|
| 8D | HAT SHOP | Cover-ups here of hash and pot distribution (3,4) | cover-ups (for the head) here / anag, i.e. distribution, of HASH and POT |
|
| 9D | OINTMENT | Some joint men toke as preparation (8) | preparation / hidden word in, i.e. some of, ‘jOINT MEN Toke’ |
|
| 10D | NUCLEAR REACTION | With UN backing remove block on legal case which could be explosive (7,8) | (something) which could be explosive / NU (UN, backing) + CLEAR (remove block) + RE (on, with reference to) + ACTION (legal case) |
|
| 11D | NOSTRUM | No way to get booze as a medicine! (7) | medicine / NO + ST (street, way) + RUM (booze) |
|
| 12D | FOLIO | Grease love all over, following heading of fact sheet (5) | sheet / F (head, or first letter, of Fact) + OLIO (OIL – grease – plus O – love, all over) |
|
| 21D | BASTARD | A celeb restricted by Boris and Donald initially – “Fake!” (7) | Fake! / B_D (initial letters of Boris and Donald) around (restricting) A + STAR (celeb) |
|
| 23D | ESTIMATE | Reckon poor Keir Starmer, no leader, is to drop the three R’s – time to intervene (8) | reckon / ESTIMA_E (anag, i.e. poor, of ( |
|
| 25D | SINEW | Is about to mount virgin – produces tissue (5) | tissue / SI (is, around) above (mounting) NEW (virgin) |
|
| 26D | HAZARD | See 6dn. (6) | See 6D / See 6D |
|
| 29D | ODD ONE OUT | Nonconformist Party: overthrown, finished and no longer in power (3,3,3) | nonconformist / OD (do, or party, overthrown) + D ONE (over) + OUT (no longer in power) |
|
| 31D | PROWL | Pair with solemn type? Creep! (5) | creep / PR (pair) + OWL (solemn type) |
|
| 32D | IDLE | See 46dn. (4) | See 46D / See 46D |
|
| 34D | IBIZA | It’s Boris’s idea Zambia actually is primarily an island (5) | an island / initial, or primary, letters of ‘It’s Boris’s Idea Zambia Actually’ |
|
| 36D | CON ARTIST | Critic on art is trendy hoaxer at heart (3,6) | hoaxer / hidden word, in the middle of, i.e. at the heart of, ‘critiC ON ART IS Trendy’ |
|
| 39D | EXALTED POSITION | Trump’s perception of his presidential standing? “Amazingly OTT, so I explained!” (7,8) | Trump’s perception of his presidential standing / anag, i.e. amazingly, of OTT SO I EXPLAINED |
|
| 42D | MAPPA | & 67 Man paid Trump to act up – no time, right for a world plan? (5,5) | world plan / anag, i.e. to act up, of MAN PAID ( |
|
| 43D | NEWSROOM | Its team deals with the latest mistreatment of women, or accepting Coronavirus finally (8) | its team deals with the latest / NEW_ROOM (anag, i.e. mistreatment, of WOMEN OR) around (accepting) S (coronaviruS, finally) |
|
| 45D | AMISS | Author welcoming Sun? Wrong! (5) | wrong / AMI_S (author, Martin or Kingsley?) around (welcoming) S (sun) |
|
| 46D | BONE | & 32 Screw Eric for completely avoiding work! (4,4) | completely avoiding work / BONE (screw, see ‘shag’, above!) + IDLE (Eric Idle, ex-Python and impresario) |
|
| 48D | KEYING | Some lackey in garage, disfiguring a car (6) | disfiguring a car / hidden word in, i.e. some of, ‘lacKEY IN Garage’ |
|
| 49D | PIONEER | Explorer, first person acceptable to poke a lord (7) | explorer / P_EER (lord) around (poked by) I (first person) + ON (acceptable) |
|
| 50D | FAIT ACCOMPLI | Done thing: weirdly apt, if comical (4,8) | done thing / anag, i.e. weirdly, of APT IF COMICAL |
|
| 52D | WRATH | What about seizing Rex’s spleen? (5) | spleen / W_ATH (anag, i.e. about, of WHAT) around (seizing) R Rex) |
|
| 54D | NATIONALISM | Patriotic fervour shown by country against Islam, perhaps? (11) | patriotic fervour / NATION (country) + ALISM (anag, i.e. perhaps, of ISLAM) |
|
| 57D | BATTERSEA | Rough up the main area of London (9) | area of London / BATTER (rough up) + SEA (the main) |
|
| 58D | RINSED OUT | One hit with turd is given a light wash (6,3) | given a light wash / anag, i.e. hit, of ONE + TURD IS |
|
| 59D | CLIFF TOP | Aged pop star going to pot, upset – big fall possible from this situation (5,3) | big fall possible from this situation / CLIFF (Richard, aged pop star) + TOP (pot, upset) |
|
| 61D | SERVICE | See 68ac. (7) | See 68A / See 68A |
|
| 63D | HARLECH | Topless cleaner and dirty old man coming to town (7) | (Welsh) town / ( |
|
| 65D | ETRIER | Mountaineer’s aid, ecstasy – row about ‘climber’s foot’ (6) | mountaineer’s aid / E (ecstasy tablet) + T_IER (row) around R (last letter, or foot, of climbeR) |
|
| 67D | MUNDI | See 42dn. (5) | See 42D / See 42D |
|
| 69D | TROVE | Rich source of voter manipulation (5) | rich source (usually of treasure) / anag, i.e. manipulation, of VOTER |
|
| 72D | BEGUM | Titled woman, say, interrupting tramp (5) | titled (Muslim) woman / B_UM (tramp) around (interrupted by) EG (e.g., or ‘say…’) |
|
For the record, the Rufus Wainwright quote appeared in Eye 1528 (p. 37).
But surely it’s a corner of pseuds, not a corner belonging to them…?H
HNY.
Thanks very much for going to all this trouble mc_rapper67 – probably took you longer than the solve itself! I can’t spot anything you missed and the gif effect works really well.
I dimly remembered some of the perimeter quote from its original appearance but had BATHROOM for a while, figuring that of course a pseud has a piano in their bathroom, so the list of unches helped me a great deal in sorting that out eventually!
Lots for me to enjoy, the hidden inclusions such as OINTMENT and KEYING, neat anagrams eg FAIT ACCOMPLI (the definition could have been more cryptic/misleading perhaps eg It’s over…), and others favourites were AITCH, HARLECH and MAPPA MUNDI. A couple of new words or phrases but nothing unfair nor uncheckable I think.
The winner of my cheque for £0.00 is NEARSIDE: many clues sent me the wrong way for a while but this was the dastardliest as I spent what seemed like hours groping for a word commencing BL and meaning arrogance.
Thanks Cyclops and best wishes for 2021 to you and all solvers, I wonder what the overarching themes of the year will be?
As if I haven’t said enough, with AMBIENT it was also nice to see a musical clue where the solution wasn’t one of the Italian instructions like Adagio, Crescendo etc – though it didn’t stop me searching through a list of these to see if any would fit!
Thank you so much for this! I got about two thirds of the way through but the bottom half of the grid stumped me. The puzzle kept me occupied nicely through the holidays.
John E at #1 – thanks for the information – much appreciated.
NeilH at #2 – I take your point, and a HNY to you too (although my comment was more of a gentle pull on the chain, to see it if flushed any pedants out from their corner!).
The Wikipedia entry for Hyde Park’s Speakers’ Corner does have an apostrophe…but maybe Wikipedia is not the gold standard for English language and grammar/punctuation?…
You could argue that some pundits actually try to get themselves into Pseuds Corner these days, so they could be seen as taking it over, in the same way the speakers at Hyde Park have appropriated that particular area. Anyway, correspondence closed? (Or we’ll be here debating it until next Christmas!)
GazzH at #3 – thanks for checking through – much appreciated – and for your clue analysis. I didn’t even think of BATHROOM at the bottom right corner, maybe because I was ‘blocked up’ with the urinals/toilets in the top left quadrant, and/or I couldn’t imagine anyone having a piano in theirs, tinkling the ivories whilst tinkling?… (;+>)
Andrew Cotgreave at #5 – glad to be of help. Sorry to hear you didn’t finish, but as long as you enjoyed the challenge and the diversion then all well and good…
I got on to ‘I PLAY THE PIANO EACH MORNING’ first, as well, but like Gazzh I spent some time pondering the absurdly pseudish ‘IN MY BATHROOM’ as a possibility. I also guessed RUFUS next, so googled “Rufus pianist” and kicked myself when the familiar name came up.
I did have a notepad file on the side with the all the extra letters, and crossed them out as I worked out the words, but in the end I just Googled so much as I’d gleaned, including the name — which brought the quote itself up with the source. I didn’t need a Times subscription to see it, either, as it was included in the display for the hit.
Annoyingly, the Sunday Times itself was only hit no. 2 … after theanswerbank. Why aren’t these people prosecuted for depriving us genuine entrants of a fraction of our rightful probability of winning a cash prize?!
Deepest thanks to Cyclops, not just for setting an excellent puzzle, but for giving me the possibility of even entering, by helpful tutoring in the use of Crossword Compiler on the blog for 691. It was all worth it in the end and had the further benefit that I had a numbered pdf to pass on to mc. Win! Win! (But I don’t think I’ve won the draw).
Happy New Year, one and all.
I too got fixated on ‘bathroom’ and only resolved it after some days when, in a fit of boredom I decided to check all the given letters list. I ended with a spare b and e but had used an extra o and m!! Simple!!!
A philosophical question that Cyclops might see and answer: Is the big loop an aid to solving the clues or the final objective? I must say I always see it as the final objective and shy away from looking through past issues- not the least coz I give them all away as the year goes by!!!!
I’m also not enamoured of the phrase ‘shining hour’. Have I missed something?
Tony Collman at #7 – well done for persevering on the Crossword Compiler front, and thanks for the numbered grid. Maybe if you do win you could buy that printer you are always going on about not having (;+>)
Winsor at #8 – sorry to hear you got stuck in the bathroom as well! ‘SHINING HOUR’ was probably one of my later ones in…it had to be that from the anagram and the crossers, but I wasn’t familiar with the term, and it isn’t in Chambers or Collins (not that Cyclops claims to stick to these, so no complaint there). It feels like a bit of an Americanism? In the end I go-ogled it and found various references to ‘making the most of one’s time’, which kind of fits with the definition. I was prepared to give Cyclops some slack on this one, given he’d had to set 78 clues for this monster!
Winsor@8: I was not familiar with this expression either, but had heard things like “your time to shine” – now I find online that it comes from a 1715 exhortation to children to work hard all day, like a busy bee: https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/Improve+the+Shining+Hour – but I would classify it as obscure!
[mc_rapper@6: that gives me an idea for something for GnomeMart to sell: “Tinkle while you tinkle with this piano stool commode!” They could get Rufus W to endorse it.]
Many thanks mc_rapper67 and Cyclops, what tremendous work! Thanks also to Beermagnet for 2020. Favourites 15a, 60a, 4d, 8d, 9d,21d.
I didn’t know that ‘hit’ was an anagram indicator in 58d although there was a clear anagram of ‘one turd is’. Live & learn.
55d was another I didn’t know until referring to Chambers crossword dictionary that ‘Near’ = ‘ungenerous’, I don’t think I’ve ever heard it used in that way on the ‘mean streets’ (excuse the pun).
Shining Hour – I’ve always taken it to mean a moment in time when when one has excelled or reached the pinnacle in some activity etc. I’m pretty sure it is also used in this way. Thanks for the link Gazzh@10 and Winsor@8 for highlighting.
All the best to everyone for New Year.
As an aside, I was hoping to be a smart arse by resolving the ‘corner’ issue by seeing how the Eye referred to either Pedants, Pedant’s or Pedants’ Corner, but they actually call it Pedantry Corner. That’ll learn me!
Ha! I could buy a printer tomorrow if I wanted (assuming the right shops are open). I just resent the idea of doing that when the one I’ve got is only two years old, and there can’t be that much wrong with it. Also, I bought a complete set of inks for it when I thought I’d got it working again. Anyway, I’m too busy doing things like …er … reconstructing Cyclops’ Christmas Crossword in Crossword Compiler.
I had to confirm SHINING HOUR and NEAR (in that meaning) as well as ETRIER, but they were all gettable from wordplay.
62ac (OKLAHOMA CITY) Of course, strictly speaking, the musical is “Oklahoma!” (with exclamation mark). https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/theater/broadway-shows-get-the-point-again.html
36dn (CON ARTIST) It’s not a simple hidden and the answer isn’t just “in” the phrase: it’s at the very centre (or heart), sandwiched between five letters at either end.
Looks like I invoked one of the recently introduced highlighting features without meaning to!
Tony @13
Sorry but I removed your strong…/strong HTML tags before your subsequent comment was posted, because they appeared to be superfluous.
Tony Collman at #12 – good luck with your printer maintenance! Unless your name is ‘COLIN and PAT MOORE’ then you haven’t won this one…me neither…(;+<) Ho-hum, but well done to them…onwards and upwards to Cyclops 693. Have applied tweaks as per your comments on 62A and 36D.
Thanks, Gaufrid. Don’t know what I did to introduce the strong marking. Fat fingers, I suppose? You were quick off the mark, btw!
Thanks, mc. At least I’ve learnt a couple of CC tricks, even if I haven’t won the £250. I suppose I’ve also proven a printer isn’t “essential”, so I’ll wait till we’re allowed to going shopping before I reconsider my aversion to the throwaway society.
Franko @11 – it used to be called “Pedants Corner”, with variants including Pedants, Pedants’ , Pedant’s and even Ped’ants (or similar), and many letters appeared in said corner on the subject until the current heading was installed as a sort of uneasy truce.
Thanks Steve @18. Peace in our time!