Cyclops 736 – Fake Principles

16 comments on “Cyclops 736 – Fake Principles”

1. Thanks for the blog, I did not really notice the US slant until you grouped them together.
   I thought this was pretty good overall but I agree about the double-duty for CLIMATE CRISIS. Not totally happy with “carbon-free” for SHOWCASED.
   At least we have been spared Johnson trying to grab all the attention for the last 10 days.
   I wonder if ER will continue to be used, it is very useful. I have seen GR and even CR for former monarchs.

2. A quick U-turn on SHOWCASED, just read again how you have put “carbon-free” for CASH only so it works fine.

3. I enjoyed your blog, MC Rapper, almost as much as the Finbar Saunders-esque puzzle and made the same boo-boo re CLIMATE CRISIS, at first, until Mel C came along to force a rethink.
   Remembering Brenda in the previous outing (735) helped me twig Brian’s ID in 9 and the suggestion for Wills is good but, like Roz, I think ER is just too useful to be binned just yet.
   Enjoyed the American entries, especially FAKE NEWS but my fave was
   also my last one in, THUMBS UP.

4. Thanks to all for this puzzle and the solutions. I can see that catastrophe MIGHT be doing double duty but even if it is left off the definition, CC is something the govt is paying lip service to….along with a lot of other issues! that may not be catastrophes!! On a related note, I spent ages trying to see how ‘change’ could be fitted to ‘catastrophe’!!!

5. Not sure why William should be called Budgie – Did he have anything to do with his aunt’s foray into light entertainment.
   Besides, I thought “Budgie” had been reserved as a term of endearment for Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget expected in a few days time – looks pretty and makes a lot of noise, but like all birds shits on us all from a great height.

6. Is there anyone who didn’t write in CHANGE before realising the crossing letters don’t work?

7. beermagnet at #5 – I was thinking more about his previous service as a helicopter pilot…and then I couldn’t think of any famous helicopters! (There might have been one in ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ as well?…)

   roz at #1 – yes, it was rather enjoyable to watch Boris sulking in the back row of the ex-PM’s block today…

   roz at #1 and Diane at #3 – I’m sure ER will be too useful to give up, but it may have to start being flagged as e.g. ‘former leading lady’…

8. I had the letters for CRISIS before reading the clue, I always do the Across and then Down in order .
   Pretty sure the helicopter was Harold in TTTE.
   Beermagnet@5 you are very cynical. The budget will reduce taxes, increase spending and lower borrowing. The principle of magical thinking.

9. I’m sure ER will continue to be used and quite correctly: monarchs aren’t (usually) stripped of their title upon dying, are they? It won’t even be necessary/helpful to specify ‘former’ queen, as there’s none reigning presently.

   “Knucklehead” in 15ac was deceptive. At first I thought it was being used like this (old news):

   Firstly “traitor”, then “knucklehead”, nothing like “war criminal”

   In 17ac, COSH, I thought “under” was a surprising choice for an across clue, especially as ‘by’ seems to work fine. Am I missing something in the surface?

   “Spice” in 22ac is definitely a reference to those exuberant Girls this time! (Or was the fan Beermagnet?)

   @Mc, I think you are right about double duty in 8dn. Could perhaps be unambiguously avoided by inserting ‘which’ before “our”, giving a definition of ‘[that] which our politicians only pay lip service to’?

   Beermagnet@5, re Budgie, I think it might be connected with this.

10. Thanks mc_rapper67, nicely put, another generally strong puzzle I thought, though 9a was old news by the time I got to it! Also I didn’t realise that 5d could be (4,3) as well as (7) – Google tells me the latter has become much more common over the last decade which is probably why.
    I did wonder if the acknowledgement of the non-PC nature of 23d would provoke comment, perhaps there will be letters to the editor (and don’t we usually see it clued with a US hint?).
    But I am above all delighted to have made the same initial parsing error as Roz re: Carbon-free and to have corrected it myself before the blog came out – a rare triumph!
    Tony Collman agree with your improvement to 8dn (and yes I was a CHANGEr too at first) but can’t help with any surface enlightenment for 17a, sorry.

11. Tony@9,
    A Freudian slip, perhaps, where the setter had ‘under the cosh’ in mind?

12. The Eye’s latest “End of an ER Souvenir” edition is a classic showcase for their inimitable brand of “Insulting the powerful? Not exactly seemly to include a joke (4,7)” — a timely clue that appeared in today’s Guardian cryptic (no. 28868).

13. Brilliant clue, John E @12. Thanks. (I was worried for a minute the answer was TONY COLLMAN and I just couldn’t see how it worked.)

14. Diane@11, interesting idea. Like a sort of semantic leakage between clue and answer? Or maybe Cyclops had been considering some cluing ideas referring to that expression before settling on the charade, so had it floating more to the forefront of consciousness? Does read like a down clue though, doesn’t it?

15. Yes, it does.

16. Just a quick note…..puzzle 737 seems to have a mistake in the AcrossLite version……18 Ac, should be 2,6 and not 8!!!!

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