I have to confess that I have left this to the last minute, so about 10 days have passed since I solved this, and I don’t remember too much about the experience…
There is a mini-theme of ‘technical issues’ affecting something called ‘GB News’…about which I know next to nothing, except that there was a recent Eye cover about it. As with many aspects of modern life, I tend to apply the principle of JIIIWGA – Just Ignore It, It Will Go Away. It usually does…
I do recall that for some reason my eye drifted down to 28A THE END soon after getting 1A GB NEWS – maybe a prediction here from Cyclops?
The use of Boris as anagram fodder in BOISTEROUS, and C as Conservative leader in COMICS all adds to the myth that Boris is some sort of likeable buffoon.
Cyclops has it in for the Onanists this fortnight – with SPECS being required for ‘persistent masturbators’ at 4D (for the record, my short-sightedness is hereditary, ahem, and contact lenses are wonderful things!), and 23D SWIFT being constructed from the W of Wankers, plus FIST.
To conclude – thanks to Cyclops, and I trust all is clear below. (Just to clarify – I did the clue parsing and grid soon after solving, it was just the blog-y bit I left to the last minute…)
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | GB NEWS | Right-wing broadcaster corrupted Ben’s good wife (2,4) | right-wing broadcaster / anag, i.e. corrupted, of BENS + G (good) + W (wife) |
|
| 5A | CATALYST | Whip: “Lay off senior Tory leaders!” which makes a change (8) | (something) which makes a change / CAT (whip, lash) + ALY (anag, i.e. off, of LAY) + ST (leading letters of ‘Senior Tories’) |
|
| 9A | GAP YEAR | Poor pay, wearing no longer fashionable clothes – 2020, in effect, for students? (3,4) | 2020, in effect, for (many) students / G_EAR (clothes, not sure why ‘no longer fashionable’) around (worn by) AP Y (anag, i.e. poor, of PAY) |
|
| 10A | COMICS | Clowns about, so I’m forced to accept Conservative leader (6) | clowns / C (circa, about) + OMI_S (anag, i.e. forced, of SO IM) around (accepting) C (leading letter of Conservative) |
|
| 11A | STIR | Jail shift (4) | double defn. / a jail, or prison, can be a STIR; and to STIR can be to move, shift |
|
| 12A | SWORN ENEMY | Yes-men worn out by one who’s determinedly against them? (5,5) | one who’s determinedly against them? / anag, i.e. out, of YES MEN WORN |
|
| 13A | INFAMY | Reduced intelligence, a property of Cyclops – shame! (6) | shame! / INF( |
|
| 15A | CELERY | Unstable celebrity bit off some salad (6) | some salad / subtractive anagram, i.e. unstable, of CELE( |
|
| 18A | BELONG | Become affiliated – take your time (6) | become affiliated / if you take your time, you might BE a LONG time? |
|
| 19A | SILENT | Is screwed and given a grant? That’s dumb (6) | dumb / SI (is, screwed – either anagram or reversal) + LENT (given a grant) |
|
| 21A | BOISTEROUS | Boris to sue about being disorderly (10) | disorderly / anag, i.e. about, of BORIS TO SUE |
|
| 24A | SOCK | To bang is an outrage when not hard (4) | to bang / S( |
|
| 25A | ISSUES | See 6dn. (6) | see 6D / see 6D |
|
| 26A | GRIMACE | Depressing expert’s smirk (7) | smirk / GRIM (depressing) + ACE (expert) |
|
| 27A | OXYMORON | Stupid contradiction of love kiss planted on celebrity’s rear end and tit (8) | stupid contradiction / O (zero, love) + X (kiss) + Y (rear letter of celebritY) + MORON (tit, contemptible person) |
|
| 28A | THE END | In fact, he endorses death (3,3) | death / hidden word in ‘facT HE ENDorses’ |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 2D | BOGOTA | Airline, about to go bust, gets foreign capital (6) | foreign capital / B_A (British Airways, airline) around OGOT (anag, i.e. bust, of TO GO) |
|
| 3D | ESPERANTO | Not a peer’s bad language (9) | language / anag, i.e. bad, of NOT A PEERS |
|
| 4D | SPECS | Remedy for persistent masturbator’s problem? Second lot of muscles (5) | remedy for persistent masturbator’s problem?! / S (second) + PECS (pectorals, lots of muscles) |
|
| 5D | CURSORY | Superficial arseholes associated with leaderless politician (7) | superficial / CURS (arseholes, scoundrels) + ( |
|
| 6D | TECHNICAL | & 25 Essential Chic – US version that put a dampener on 1 ac. (9,6) | (something) that put a dampener on 1A (GB news) / anag, i.e. version, of ESSENTIAL CHIC US |
|
| 7D | LEMON | First of Lord Gnome’s topless dancing is a useless disappointment (5) | a useless disappointment / L (first letter of Lord) + EMON (anag, i.e. dancing, of ( |
|
| 8D | SYCAMORE | May score if scrambling tree (8) | tree / anag, i.e. if scrambling, of MAY SCORE |
|
| 14D | AGGRESSOR | After a gallon, Roger’s about to grab sex, being an offensive sort (9) | an offensive sort / A + G (gallon) + GRES_OR (anag, i.e. about, of ROGERS), around (grabbing) S (sex, abbreviation) |
|
| 16D | LANDSCAPE | Picture country’s contraceptive ending in failure (9) | picture / LANDS (country’s) + CAP (contraceptive) + E (end letter in failurE) |
|
| 17D | TENOR SAX | Sex rat on ‘manoeuvres’ – blow it! (5,3) | blow it (to make music!) / anag, i.e. manoeuvres, of SEX RAT ON |
|
| 19D | SHOTGUN | Got pissed to avoid going round for firearm (7) | firearm / SH_UN (to avoid) around OTG (anag, i.e. pissed, of GOT) |
|
| 20D | SCREEN | Observed taking credit for protection (6) | protection / S_EEN (observed) around (taking) CR (credit) |
|
| 22D | STUMM | Belly involved in S and M – keep quiet! (5) | keep quiet! / S_M around (involving) TUM (belly) |
|
| 23D | SWIFT | Classic writer ruined by onset of wankers fist (5) | classic writer (Jonathan) / anag, i.e. ruined, of W (first letter, or onset, of Wankers) + FIST |
|
Ah Cyclops – a dose of currentish affairs with a salacious twist. Always raises smiles.
GB NEWS was a guess as we know nothing of it down here. Some of the others had me raising the odd eyebrow but my eChambers agreed with Cyclops so I had to accept them.
And thanks for the blog mc.
Thanks for the blog, GB NEWS is meant to be a TV equivalent of a Murdoch newspaper, fortunately it seems to be losing viewers and presenters at the same rate.
Is GEAR out of fashion already as a term for clothes? Only just learnt that one.
CELERY is not really an anagram at all , no letters mixed up, or for BIT, quite unusual really.
I will not even start on CATALYST ……
I do agree that portraying our Liar in Chief as some harmless Bertie Wooster figure is very dangerous and exactly what he wants.
Only one objection from me…….in my time, wanking makes you deaf….as in the joke of the guy mumbling to you and when you respond “Pardon/wot?”, he says “Wanking makes you deaf!”
Thanks mc_rapper67, once I realised how to spell STUMM it was SOCK that caused me the most problems, these subtraction clues often do as I find the grammar of the wordplay somewhat, er, cryptic – and now I think of it you could just about add that to the onanistic theme (sorry for lowering the tone – and I like your variation on the old wives’ tale Winsor).
Roz@2 I did GRIMACE when I saw the def of Catalyst, would you approve of “…which should help for a change”? And I still use GEAR for clothes so it must be well past it.
TENOR SAX misled me nicely for a while and I thought INFAMY was good too.
Thanks mc_rapper67 and Cyclops. I’m with Roz @2 for 15a. I noted on my copy ‘why unstable’ as it seemed a straight subtraction. A few really neat ones in this puzzle (28a, 4d and 20a) which either made me laugh or smile at the cleverness of Cyclops. I had a bit of a struggle confirming the variant spelling STUMM in 22d but it was there in Chambers crossword dictionary. Winsor @ 3 good joke ,but I’m in the eyesight camp. Mind you I schould keep schtum as I wear glasses and have a touch of tinnitus so I’m covering all bases, so to speak.
Mystogre @1, GB NEWS really is dross so you’re not missing anything. Gazzh @4 -my schoolboy chemistry makes me think you and Roz @1 have a point.
Thanks for the various comments and feedback…much appreciated.
Mystogre at #1 – when you say ‘down here’, I imagine you are sipping cocktails on the Riviera, or maybe even further ‘down there’ in the Antipodes?!
On CELEBRITY/CELERY – quite right, it isn’t really an anagram – maybe more of a letter-bank? (I’m sure I’ve seen something very similar elsewhere very recently…)
On CATALYST – maybe not in a chemistry sense, but Chambers also has it as: noun – a person who causes or promotes change by their presence in a situation or their input into it (figurative), so maybe if the clue had said ‘who’, rather than ‘which’?
On STUMM – I did wonder about the spelling, but just put it in from the wordplay/crossers without checking – shtoom, schtoom, shtum, shtumm or stumm all seem to be equivalents…with STUMM matching the Yiddish derivation from the German for ‘silent’.
Winsor at #3…Pardon?! For those NOT of a sensitive nature (you have been warned), you may wish to follow this link to a classic from Ivor Biggun, then test your resolution with this salutory tale from Kevin ‘Bloody’ Wilson. (CORRESPONDENCE CLOSED!)
mc @ 6 thanks for the further clarifications, CELERY has been seen very recently, still a “live” crossword so I can’t say where.
For CATALYST , Gazzh @4 has a very neat improvement and your idea of “who” is much better.
STUMM has so many spellings , I never worry about which one goes in.
@Gazzh Thank you for breaking the embarrassment seal on not solving SOCK.
BOISTEROUS could have been SOBRIETOUS, which puzzled me for a while ………
mc_rapper7 @ 6 your reference to KBW has today reopened a world of then-hilarious but now-massively-non-PC memories from student days. 🙂
Collins has “8. informal
up-to-date clothes and accessories, esp those bought by young people” under GEAR, so maybe Cyclops’ suggestion is that it still means clothes, but not necessarily up-to-date ones any more?