So, after the exigencies of the Xmas monster, we expect not just return to normal, but a more gentle puzzle to let us get over the new year hangover. What we got was an odd puzzle.
Odd grid: There are so many black squares in the first and last column I thought it was a smaller puzzle than usual. Some sort of optical illusion because there are the standard 26 clues to be solved.
And it was reasonably gentle.
I was reasonably merry when solving it, so lost track of time and didn’t make such detailed notes as usual when blogging ( i.e. hardly any). I believe I had only a handful to solve at the end of the first pass, most in the top right corner. Looking at those clues I cannot see anything particularly hard there besides some ambiguity about 9A, my last one in. As I speak British English I would say pooh – poop, which seems to me intrinsically American, is more likely the answer from the wordplay
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 8 | REMINISCE | Look back to find Cyclops is being cuddled by sincere drunk (9) I’M< (Cyclops is, looking back) inside (being cuddling by) (SINCERE)* AInd: drunk First One In. When reviewing I realise “Look back” must be doing double duty in that interpretation. Perhaps it is better described by: (I’M (Cyclops is) inside SINCERE)* all anagrammed by drunk |
| 9 | POOP | There’s nothing in drink number two (4) O (nothing) inside POP (drink) Last One In I wrote in POOH expecting to find a drink called POH – but couldn’t – before thinking of POP |
| 10 | VISTA | By way of securing rebellious Democrat finally for Panorama (5) VIA (By way) around (securing) rebelliou[S] Democra[T] |
| 11 | LITERATE | Low-in-calories, arse on ecstasy learned (8) LITE (low in calories <shudder>) RATE (arse) E[cstasy] |
| 12 | SIGHTSEE | Soldiers backing these manoeuvres look like tourists (8) GIS< (soldiers, backing) (THESE)* AInd: manoeuvres |
| 14 | GOBBY | Holding book to use as a basis for action, like Katie Hopkins? (5) B[ook] in (holding/held by) GO BY (to use as a basis for action). If you don’t know who KH is – well done – keep it up. |
| 16 | DIGRESS | To depart from the script is dregs, atrocious (7) (IS DREGS)* AInd: atrocious |
| 18 | ANTIQUE | Outdated Corbyn ultimately in quite a mess (7) [corby]N inside (QUITE A)* AInd: mess |
| 20 | GIDDY | Scatterbrained insult about unfilled 24 hours (5) DIG< (insult, about) D[a]Y (24 hours, unfilled) |
| 21 | FOREMOST | Cardinal‘s soft – more when pissed (8) (SOFT MORE)* AInd: when pissed |
| 23 | SWINDLER | Liberal Les, full of gas, associated with Republican cheat (8) (LES)* AInd: liberal, around (full of) WIND (gas), R[epublican] |
| 25 | NIGER | Country gets Farage to change political allegiance? (5) Nigel Farage change his L to R (Left to Right) |
| 27 | SNUB | Cold-shoulder American arse on the rebound (4) BUNS< (American for buttocks, reversed) |
| 28 | STRAW POLL | Post-war organisation repeated large test of opinion (5,4) (POST-WAR)* AInd: organisation, then LL for repeated Large |
| Down | ||
| 1/24 | PREVAILING WIND | Accepted victory has gone over Donald’s head – a likely blow for a particular region (10,4) PREVAILING (accepted) WIN (vistory) D[onald] |
| 2 | AMIS | Martin‘s inappropriate, getting end away (4) AMIS[s] (inappropriate, shortened) Ref. Martin Amis Wiki |
| 3 | ANNALS | Records about an arse crushing North – and South (6) ANAL (about an arse) around N[orth], then S[outh] |
| 4 | PSALTER | Trump’s last season – needs, er, book of Psalms (7) [trum]P SALT (season) ER |
| 5 | PENTAGON | Prison label above military establishment (8) PEN (prison) TAG (label ) ON (above) |
| 6 | OPPROBRIUM | After surgical procedure with biro, rump’s in terrible state – public censure ensues (10) OP (surgical procedure) (BIRO RUMP)* AInd: in a terrible state |
| 13 | HARD DONE BY | Grim, finished, close to how a sulking Trump feels himself to be? (4,4,2) HARD (Grim) DONE (finished) BY (close to) |
| 15 | YOURS TRULY | What Eye crossword solvers have in all good faith – Cyclops! (5,5) DD/CD thingy |
| 17 | SPYGLASS | Spot on bottom of alluring girl that gets you visually closer to the action (8) SPY (spot) [allurin]G LASS (girl) |
| 19 | A FAR CRY | Carry mobile in pursuit of a female? That’s not the same thing at all (1,3,3) (CARRY)* AInd: mobile, after A F[emale] |
| 22 | RENOWN | Celebrity place known for divorce and welcome new beginnings (6) RENO (place known for divorce) W[elcome] N[ew] |
| 26/7 | GOOD SORT | Person who’s quite acceptable to dogs or bats (4,4) (TO DOGS OR)* AInd: bats |
Investigating scientific pets, I was looking for a book about Pavlov’s dog and Schrodinger’s cat.
The librarian said it rang a bell, but she didn’t know if they had a copy or not.
Thanks, beermagnet. Like you, I first entered POOH at 9A, but, on checking Chambers, with the H it is just a fictional teddy bear or an exclamation of disdain, not a no.2! I also thought POOP was more of an Americanism, but Chambers has it as just ‘slang’. Incidentally, Chambers does have an Americanised definition of POOP as informal for ‘information, the facts‘. Which is a tad ironic, in the era of ‘fake noos’…
I particularly enjoyed the surface read of 13D – to paraphrase George Bush…’…read my lips…two more days…’!
I think 15dn is a charade, not a double definition:
YOURS: What Eye crossword solvers have (by convention, of course, ‘I’ means the setter, ‘you’ the solvers) + TRULY: in all good faith
What a hilarious surface in 6dn.
Re the scientific pets, it’s meaningless to talk about the book being on the shelf or not … until you look.
Tony Collman at #2…re. surface read at 6D … “…did you hear the one about the constipated mathematician? He worked it out with a pencil…”
My big problems were caused by having EYEGLASS to start and also by seeing KH as rabid!!!! It works too…with RAID as the action. Of course, that also buggered PENTAGON!
Mc, can’t guarantee it was the same mathematician, but I once heard — in the sixties, I think it was — about one who worked it out with pencil AND paper. There’s probably an app for it now …
Thanks so much! New to the crossword and this really helps! I got about all but 7 by myself, wahey. Anna
Thanks beermagnet, I am another who took a while to twig POOP (sorry for that mental image) and agree the grid layout isn’t too helpful as we don’t get many first letters as crossers ( i tried looking for a NINA but such a limited set of letters was also odd).
My LOI was GOBBY as I couldn’t think of a word to describe KH that would be allowed in a crossword, even a less formal one like the Eye. Interesting to see AMIS appear here from AMISS having been clued the other way round at Xmas, and I am sure some of the others have coincidentally popped up elsewhere not too long ago, which helped me out.
AnnaC for a newcomer that is a great effort and before too long you will be polishing it all off and grumbling about not winning the prize like the rest of us, hope you keep going!
Spare a thought for those of us who used to use a slide rule
Thanks beermagnet and Cyclops. Tony @ 6 -thanks for highlighting 6d, for some reason I missed the chuckles on that one at solve time. beermagnet @ 8, I only ever used a slide rule at school and I vaguely remember we had to construct a paper one using logartihms but I could well be talking a load of 9a. Thanks for the laughs on this blog and congrats to AnnaC. Re 14a I couldn’t quite parse this one, GO BY = ‘to use as a basis for action’. Anyone want to give an example as I just can’t think of this meaning?
Franko, “When Don Manley sets crosswords, he goes by what Azed says”. I think you’ll probably be familiar with the phrase ‘going by the book’ (as all policemen do, haha).
beermagnet, 🙂
[bm, you’ve actually reminded me that when I started my Physics degree in 1972, we all used slide rules. That’s all except for one young man whose family was so rich that they could afford to furnish him with something barely known at the time, called an ‘electronic calculator’, which cost £200. By way of comparison, the weekly rent on a two-bedroomed flat at the time was less than £10. We were allowed to use our slide rules in exams, but it was ruled that richboy was not allowed to use his calculator as he would have an unfair advantage by virtue of his extra means, so he had to get a slide rule anyway.]
@Tony….my first brush with an electronic calculator was on my Physics course in the first year (1974…which makes you a real old git!). A box bigger than a laptop and 240 volts needed….but it had a memory and could do square roots!!!! Before that, I was forced to use log tables……a slightly worse option than a pencil.
[Winsor, young fella-me-lad, I don’t know what country you went to uni in, but this device could be held in the palm of one hand, a little smaller than the earliest mobile phones. I don’t know what functions it had, because that lad sat at the front and I sat at the back, so I never got a close-up look at it.]
Thanks Tony @10 (re goes by), I had a blindspot on that one for some reason but all is now clear.
I am tempted to mention abacuses or even better notched sticks as foolproof ways of calculation.
Don’t forget Napier’s bones!
I liked the crossword too and am just catching up on blogs. I was another bear for 9a and assumed POH was a tea I hadn’t heard of.