A puzzle with a political theme this week by Vlad.
Timon and I managed to finish this off fairly quickly over lunch in the interval of a croquet tournament without any dictionaries or electronic aids, just one answer needing checking at the end. We enjoyed the Johnsonian references which we thought would be appreciated by most Guardian readers. No major quibbles, apart from the definition at 12 across. Many thanks to Vlad.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9, 8 | LEVELLING DOWN |
Making flat denial at first, then have to reveal a U-turn in government policy? (9,4)
|
| LEVELLING (making flat) D(enial) OWN. Not only is “levelling up” a Government policy, there is even a Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (I mention for the benefit of overseas solvers). | ||
| 10 | IDAHO |
Said one was equipped for work in the Garden State (5)
|
| Sounds like “I’d a hoe” (which you might use in the garden). | ||
| 11 | GAGSTER |
Nameless criminal and comic (7)
|
| GA(n)GSTER. | ||
| 12 | OVERRUN |
Heavily beaten by mistress (face obscured) with belt (7)
|
| (l)OVER (mistress with first letter omitted) RUN (belt). While I can understand the wordplay, I have trouble with the definition: I can’t find any definition of the past participle of the verb “to overrun” which exactly or even nearly equates to meaning “heavily beaten”. | ||
| 13 | ADDLE |
Confuse with nonsense — initially, they wouldn’t leave (5)
|
| (tw)ADDLE. A nicely misleading surface. | ||
| 14 | SLOGANEER |
One may come up with ‘The Future’s Green’, also ‘Green Revolution’ (9)
|
| *(ALSO GREEN). | ||
| 16 | CRONY CAPITALISM |
Conservative pals may coin it freely — that’s about right with this (5,10)
|
| *(C PALS MAY COIN IT + R). This phrase is older than I had realised, apparently dating back to the 1980s (in the context of the Philippines) but has certainly been used recently to describe the activities of the current UK government (e.g. in respect of contracts for PPE awarded during the first stages of the pandemic). | ||
| 19 | RESILIENT |
One right suppressed among others — tough! (9)
|
| 1 LIEN (right) inside REST (others). | ||
| 21 | LATER |
Are talk shows being withdrawn next? (5)
|
| Hidden and reversed inside “are talk”. Arguably, the clue works just as well without “being”. | ||
| 22 | RANCOUR |
Talked of private grudge (7)
|
| Sounds like “ranker” (another word for a private soldier). | ||
| 23 | POMPEII |
After year out, south coast team’s internationals destroyed City (7)
|
| POMPE(y)II (internationals). Pompey is the nickname of the League One team Portsmouth FC.
|
||
| 24 | WAIVE |
Abandon a lot of mates outside America (5)
|
| A(merica) in WIVE(s) (mates). This was our last one solved, and I needed to check the dictionary definition of WAIVE before being sure. | ||
| 25 | WORLD KING |
On the job with lady occasionally entertained — which a certain politician aspired to be? (5,4)
|
| LD (occasional letters in LaDy) inside WORKING (on the job). Famously, Boris Johnson as a child expressed the wish to become “world king”. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CLOG DANCER |
One taking steps to record driver originally going through sign (4,6)
|
| LOG (record) D(river) inside CANCER (astrological sign). If you’d like to see some clog dancing there’s some towards the end of this video of Mount the Air by the Unthanks (whom I was lucky enough to catch live recently in Birmingham). | ||
| 2 | AVOGADRO |
A good rave largely annoyed an Italian law man (8)
|
| *(A GOOD RAV). Avogadro’s law states that at equal temperature and pressure equal volumes of gases contain the same number of molecules. We went wrong here because I confidently, but wrongly, assumed that the answer was ADVOGARO, which I thought was the Italian for advocate (in fact, it’s AVVOCATO). | ||
| 3 | BLITHE |
Was effective around left — that bloke’s happy (6)
|
| L(eft) inside BIT (was effective), HE. | ||
| 4 | LIAR |
Complain about one ‘inadvertently misleading’ Parliament? (4)
|
| RAIL (rev). Another Boris Johnson reference. | ||
| 5 | AGRONOMIST |
Crop expert disheartened fighting simpleton over time (10)
|
| AG(g)RO, SIMON (simpleton, rev) T(ime). | ||
| 6 | CINERAMA |
Movies (American) shot at one time in this … (8)
|
| *(“shot”) AMERICAN. I suspect that this should be classified as a semi & lit clue, as the last few words are really only there for the surface reading. | ||
| 7 | CARRIE |
… horror one for PM’s ‘closest adviser’? (6)
|
| Double definition, I suppose, referring back to “movies” in the linked clue and to Mrs Carrie Johnson. | ||
| 8 |
See 9
|
|
| 14 | SCARECROWS |
Mark and Charlie worse off without — they’re not exactly smart in their field (10)
|
| SCAR (mark) and C(harlie) in *WORSE. “Without” is the inclusion indicator. It’s reminiscent of the old joke about scarecrows: they’re outstanding in their field! | ||
| 15 | REMARRIAGE |
On motorway, transport’s beginning to conk out — hitching again! (10)
|
| RE (on) M(otorway) (c)ARRIAGE. | ||
| 17 | YELLOWED |
Cry due to looking old (8)
|
| YELL OWED. | ||
| 18 | IN THE AIR |
Inherit a settlement, generally felt to be imminent (2,3,3)
|
| *(INHERIT A). | ||
| 20 | SINK IN |
Finally register wrong family (4,2)
|
| SIN KIN. | ||
| 21 | LAMBDA |
Boy gets lots of information in a letter (6)
|
| MB(a megabyte, or a lot of information) inside LAD, A. | ||
| 22 | ROWS |
Wake up hearing arguments (4)
|
| Sounds like “rouse”. | ||
| 23 | PARK |
Green area is quiet place of refuge (4)
|
| P(quiet) ARK (place of refuge). |
I echo all that bridgesong (thanks) says. I especially like IDAHO as a perfect clue.
But – funny story about my LOI (1D). Having all the crossers I could imagine no possible solution other than FLAG DANCER (whoever he might be), and bunged it in before dropping asleep. I then had a vivid dream featuring a CLOG DANCER (really) – even parsed it while still asleep – and then awoke to a bizarre AHA moment. It’s not the first time I’ve solved a clue while asleep, but this was the first time I’ve corrected an erroneous answer.
My reason for mentioning this is because I’d be interested to know if anyone else is a similar crazed-crossword-dreamer?
Re 12a: they were overrun / they were heavily beaten?
I found this less hard than some of Vlad’s weekday offerings, but still, not easy.
I understood OVERRUN in the military sense.
Also, for those unfamiliar with US state nicknames, the clue for IDAHO has a nice misdirection as the Garden State is New Jersey.
Thanks Bridgesong, especially for the tip about the Department of Levelling Up which I’ve just looked up.
What a strange name for a government department. It comes across as a joke, cooked up at a Conservative Party party. They can’t be serious! The name in itself just seems to reinforce the imbalance.
I was addled by ADDLE, and also needed your help with AGRONOMIST and . Not sure about the definition of ‘fighting’ for aggro but I’m sure someone will put me straight. SCARECROW was funny. CRONY CAPITALISM very clever.
Thank you, birdsong, for all the lovely parsings. And introducing me to the policy of levelling up (which at least sounds better than the American “trickle down”).
I agree with Lord Jim @2: If a country is overrun, it is badly beaten.
My quibble is with 24a. WIVE is definitely a verb, not a noun in the sources I have checked.
I knew of AGGRO, but didn’t know how to spell it. And had convinced myself that shot = RAM, so had 6d as RAM in CINE (movie) + A[merican]. Can’t believe I missed the anagram!
Oops! bridgesong not birdsong!
Really enjoyed this. Thought it looked tough at first then I got the two anagrams in the top half and was able to get all but one (3d) in the top half quite quickly.
Found the bottom half much tougher not helped by having “remarrying” (which I couldn’t parse) for 15d. Once I worked out that 25a must be WORLD KING I realised my mistake and managed to finish the rest.
Didn’t get 3d.
Favourites included: IDAHO and ADDLE which both made me laugh CARRIE, LEVELLING DOWN, RESILIENT (found LIEN in the recesses of my memory somehow), SCARECROWS
I even spotted the rather depressing theme.
Thanks Vlad and bridgesong
This was a beautiful prize
What brilliant and fun eureka-producing neural circuitry, rodshaw @1, I’m envious! Me, I just plodded along as per, but quite happily. 23ac had me thinking Footy team named after Roman general, really?! As curious as a Dept of Levelling! Hey ho, nowt as quair as fork, as they say. As for the World King, well of course, I mean how hard can it be? All fun, ta BnP.
Thanks bridgesong. Not being familiar with the British political scene I didn’t find this easy and needed some confirmation from Google. With most of the crossers in I toyed with ‘revolving door’ for 9,8 for a while but couldn’t make it work. LOIs, I’m ashamed to say were 6d and 24a (Calgal, wives is a plural noun and lots of means the last letter is deleted), I knew the answers but took far too long to see why.
As always with Vlad, I approached this with trepidation, which seemed justified when I went through all the across clues without and still had a blank grid. Then I got AVOGADRO (confused memories of chemistry classes) and suddenly it started to get much easier from there. I appreciated Vlad’s approach to the theme – the gentleman who took away my European citizenship without even asking me (there may be a trace of RANCOUR here). I didn’t actually know about the WORLD KING aspiration, but it came as no surprise.
I remember going to see films like the Battle of the Bulge in CINERAMA on holidays in London back in the 60s. The anagram was a surprise, and I wondered if it was deliberate. The Wikipedia entry says it wasn’t. It also seems that what I saw wouldn’t have been the original three camera and three projector setup I’d always thought it was; by the time I saw it this rather awkward system had been replaced by a single 70mm system.
Thanks, Vlad, thanks bridgesong.
Calgal @5: WIVE is definitely a verb. Absolutely, it is. In Birmingham it’s how we attract another’s attention on the street …
I found this quite testing – typically so for Vlad – but that might be because I am so unenamoured by current politics, I don’t follow the shenanigans as closely as I should. (Didn’t know about Bojo’s aspiration for global rule, for example. He’s certainly a crown something or other. Changing hands, probably)). And, no offence to Vlad whatsoever, I occasionally despair when the politicians creep into the crosswords and I am reminded far too early in the day of the shower in control. (Before I’ve encountered the control in the shower, perhaps …)
CLOG DANCER, CINERAMA, SLOGANEER and SACRECROWS were favourites (though I’m wondering if I should be recognising politicians in Mark and Charlie?
Thanks Vlad and bridgesong.
A super puzzle, but with its pointed references all the more so in these torrid days.
Calgal@5, I think the wordplay is for WIVES (mates, the plural of mate), with the last letter dropped. Wife being the noun, wives being the plural, wive being “a lot of” the plural, etc.
Apologies if I have misunderstood.
PostMark @12… Your wive on the street reminded me of Jasper Carrott and his Kipper Tie with milk and two sugars please.
I found this a challenge and needed help with LEVELLING DOWN, and also the Boris reference for WORLD KING. Pompey was also new to me despite having watched the EFL highlights all last season. I got there in the end
Gave up on the lower half, did not finish this puzzle. Failed to solve 23ac (never herd of Pompey / the nickname of the League One team Portsmouth FC.), 24ac, 25ac, 22d, 23d.
Of the ones I solved, I did not parse
5d AGRONOMIST
6d CINERAMA
15d RE + M + [c]ARRY + ING? whoops got this one wrong
Thanks, both.
Thanks for the blog, perhaps my favourite puzzle so far this year, Fiona Anne and MrPostMark have hoovered up my favourites , perhaps I can add AVOGADRO, for the “law man”. Looking at the crossing letters it must have been very difficult to find a word to fit here.
[ Commercial break – Our resident essayist MrPostMark has produced another fine puzzle, there is a link on General Discussion from Blah @ 30?? ( about) . Highly recommended , any Small Faces fans ? ]
Like Fiona Anne and Michelle I immediately thought REMARRYING for 15D , fortunately I had the crossing letters when I came to put it in the grid so was able to rethink.
Unlike many, I found this unusually hard, and it took most of the week, so thanks, bridgesong, for the blog. (I also started looking for the Italian for advocate.)
I think 24a parses as A = American in WIVE (verb) = abandon a lot of mates, as when people take a wife, they give up their other sexual partners (supposedly, but perhaps not B Johnson). Then you have the &lit of WAIVE = abandon.
I was put in mind of the song in Twelfth Night, “when I came, alas, to wive, … by swaggering I could never thrive” – as experienced by many of us (but not Johnson?).
Pompey is not only Portsmouth’s football team, but also the general naval nickname for the city and its dockyard.
With LIAR, I recall Ian Blackford, the current Scottish National leader in the House of Commons, refusing to concede the word ‘inadvertently’ in describing the PM’s misleading Parliament (he knew he could not say ‘lied’), so he withdrew from the House.
This puzzle brought many smiles, albeit some more grim than grin. CRONY CAPITALISM indeed. Tough but fair, I thought. Thanks to Biggles A and PJ for clarifying the parsing of WAIVE. AGGRO was a synonym of BOVVER in one era. Special thanks to Vlad for dreaming this up.
I found this a fun prize level, also with WAIVE in last. My immediate thought for CLOG DANCERS was also the Unthanks, who I’ve seen live a few times, first at Folk by the Oak, where they (but not me) are returning in a couple of weeks.
[Portsmouth AFC aka “Pompey” is a proud club with a very long history. The Pompey Chimes too. A city with a fine naval history. I had Mike Oldfield of “Tubular bells” fame linked in my head. But it seems I was recollecting Mike Oldfield’s later instrumental single “Portsmouth” which featured a different (also long-lived) tune with a naval connection.]
What a great brain you have rodshaw@1. It is amazing how the subconscious works sometimes but this is another level. My experience was similar with that clue as CLOG dancing is something i’ve not thought about for years.
Thanks Vlad for a great themed crossword at this time. Sticking the boot in in all the right places. Of course it will all be like water off a duck’s back but hey ho. Can see how it would be difficult for non Brits but hope they agree that it was worth it for the laughs.
Many thanks to bridgesong for the excellent blog.
My favourite was AVOGADRO the lawman.
I’ve probably said this before, but I like to do crosswords to get away from the real world. However as we’ve got a Johnson theme I’d like to add SCARECROW to it in a nod to his dishevelled appearance.
Thanks Vlad and bridgesong.
Vlad’s wonderful surfaces, fuelled by outrage, but tempered by wit, kept me motivated to a kind of completion on this one. A few mistakes revealed this morning. I was another FLAG DANCER, and I had AFTER rather than LATER, so missing out on LAMBDA. No problem with WAIVE (agree with PJ@13) or OVERRUN which is also common in sport signifying a heavy defeat. Agree with Roz that this was one of the best puzzles of the year so far with the surface of CRONY CAPITALISM alone being worth the price of admission. Thanks Vlad for both the puzzle and the sentiments.
Great crossword with so much humour and home truth.
Rodshaw@1 Mrs P also has on occasion woken me up in the middle of the night having dreamed the answer to a puzzling clue…..
Thanks to Vlad and Bridgesong
Good invective against the current government with their CRONY CAPITALISM.
I thought the surface for LEVELLING DOWN was priceless; I liked the SLOGANEER with his ‘also Green Revolution; and the not exactly smart SCARECROWS [could be Mark Francois/Harper and Charlie Elphicke, Conservative UK politicians].
Thanks Vlad and bridgesong.
Thanks Vlad and bridgesong. I spelt rancour wrong with a K. Does that count as a DNF? I sometimes take an intractable clue to bed with me, and by the time my head hits the pillow I have it cracked (which means I have to get up again for the next one).
So clever to get the political references in without any clue seeming forced. My sleeping brain concocts impossible crossword clues rather than answers. I am another who considered “revolving door” for a while.
I thought this was just right. Needed a little tapping to break the shell….and the contents were perfectly cooked! Gives the lie to those who think they’re too clever to bother with the surfaces (there may even be one such today who could be revising her/his opinion!)
I tend to agree with those who’d prefer their puzzles to be untarnished by politics or religion; but this deserved to be an exception to prove [as in test: waterproofed, shockproofed etc.] that preference by dint of the humour.
A great crossword I thought.
Many thanks, Vlad and bridgesong
This looked tough but the long central anagram got me on my way. Probably the first and last time that I’m going to be grateful for CRONY CAPITALISM.
It was a pleasant surprise to see AVOGADRO, which was very nicely clued.
Over the past nine months, as I’ve become more experienced, I’ve tried to ignore the surfaces, since they mislead me. That said, there were some lovely surfaces in this one.
Thanks Vlad for gently putting the boot in whilst keeping us smiling and bridgesong.
PS when I did maths A-level, our teacher said we’ll dream solutions. I did – especially for the calculus problems. So far, nothing for crosswords.
I love JT puzzles especially when he puts the cruciverbal boot into UK politics
This was a hoot!Thanks all.
14a, 16a, and 2d were new to me for different reasons but gettable from the anagrams. 2d was outside my GK and needed to be checked in Google. I thought the definition in 9a 8d was rather forced, even with the ? but then I prefer crosswords to be free from politics. Never mind, it takes all sorts. I liked 10a and the misdirection that had to be pointed out to me.
Thanks to Vlad and bridgesong.
Thanks bridgesong, I got confused on how the last A in Lambda got there, couldn’t see the wood for the trees, and thanks for Unthanks, have heard and liked them on the radio so good to hear more. Paddymelon@4 aggro is common slang for scrapping as in “there was some aggro after the match/ down the pub/ in the biscuit aisle”. Rodshaw I once got vital inspiration while running a bath and often go to sleep on a clue hoping to wake up with brain cells recharged and firing but to solve in your sleep is remarkable, chapeau. Worthy prize challenge, REMARRIAGE, IDAHO and AVOGADRO on my podium, thanks Vlad.
I was away last weekend, so just looked at this puzzle this morning. Didn’t get far with it before resorting to the check button. Some British references were too British for me this time. Never heard of the team Pompey or of levelling up (or down) of of BJ’s “famous” childhood wish.
To see some more clog dancing in its American form, watch the Fiddle Puppets at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8EfUo5fz00.
Thanks, Vlad and bridgesong.
Many thanks to bridgesong for the excellent blog and to others who commented.
Apologies to those who dislike politics in crosswords (which I understand) but it’s hard to resist with this current shower.
Apologies if I sounded churlish about the Johnson et al theme in a splendid crossword, Vlad. The “current shower” bring out the worst in me.
Thank you for the enjoyment you regularly give us.
Forgot to do this one last week and just ripped through it after seeing it in 225.
Only one quibble : Mb is not information it is storage. A blank file contains no information but may be any length.
Thanks Vlad and bridgesong …. for ADDLE explanation in particular.
People can actually sleep when they still have a clue to solve ???
For people who do like politics in their crossword there is always the Cyclops puzzle from Private Eye every two weeks, I am sure people can find this easily ? Set by Brummie I am told.
It is also rather smutty so be warned but I know some people like that as well.
I know this is off-topic here, but has anyone seen this month’s Genius solution? Looking forward to it, as it had us completely stumped….
Tim@38 consider this:
1 bit of information is 1 or 0 (full or empty).
8 bits of information is 1 byte.
1000 (or 1024) bytes of information is 1 kb.
1000 (or 1024) kb of information is 1Mb.
I loved this. The theme was right up my street and I spotted it early. As well as the obvious ones, a few answers were I thought tangentially linked: SCARECROWS (for his general appearance), REMARRIAGE (for one of his hobbies) and ROWS (what he does with Carrie after too much red wine)…
…and WAIVE, of course. “Britannia waives the rules” will be one of this appalling government’s main legacies.
9ac/8 Great clue, very funny but I don’t think LEVELING DOWN is actually a thing, is it? Makes it very hard indeed for those not up on Westminster politics if not.
12ac OVERRUN Collins:
1. (transitive)
to attack or invade and defeat conclusively
13ac ADDLE – should be ‘leaves’, really, for the cryptic grammar, shouldn’t it?
23ac POMPEII Having to know Pompey was tough, particularly, but not only, on the foreigners.
25ac WORLD KING I hadn’t heard of Johnson’s childhood ambition, but I’m sure he hasn’t given up on it yet, so I got it anyway.
5dn AGRONOMIST One of the few phrases I’ve always remembered from school Russian lessons was, inexplicably, ‘syelskokhozyaestvenny institut’, meaning ‘agronomical institute’ (where ‘Piotr’ hoped to go, apparently). ‘Agronomical’ was as new to me as the Russian word for it at that time. Finally, its day came …
6dn CINERAMA What a great anagram, but I don’t think the cryptic grammar is quite right.
14dn SCARECROWS When I heard it, it was a farmer who won the Nobel Prize who was outstanding in his field (agronomy, perhaps?)
15dn, REMARRIAGE The beginning to ‘conk’ is C, of course. Another Johnson ref?
21dn, LAMBDA I don’t think I parsed this one. Can’t think why, but I didn’t see that MB (Mb) is “lots of information”. Thanks for pointing it out, bridgesong.
For 1d came to mind (DNK the Unthanks)
sorry can’t fix comment, but link does point as intend
Peter M, yes, I was also going to mention “The Cloggies: an Everyday Saga in the Life of Clog Dancing Folk” the long-running cartoon by Bill Tidy that ran in the satirical magazine Private Eye from 1967 to 1981 (especially after Roz mentioned Private Eye above. Certainly, it’s what first brought clog dancing to my attention (in the seventies).