A late and rather hastily compiled blog – not sure what has happened to the regular blogger so please accept our apologies for any errors.
Knut is known for his topical themes. Fairly obvious what the theme was today with two Speakers or “ORATORS”.
LINDSAY HOYLE (the current speaker) an anagram (”wheels’) of SHINY ALLOYED. Pugin designed the interior of the Houses of Parliament which has green seats.
HIC (Latin for here) with ET AL (and elsewhere) around
R (last letter of warrior) in an anagram (‘lavish’) of EU TOMB. Umberto Eco is a writer.
ILL (feeling unwell) SAY (perhaps)
O (ordinary) inside or ‘boring’ an anagram (‘ground’) of MENIALS
MARTINi (gin cocktail) without or ‘abandoning’ i and EAU (French for water)
MAMA (mother) around or ‘collecting’ G (good)
Alternate letters (‘regularly culled’) of ClAmPdOwN
SPEAKEr (1across) without R (Republican) plus A and SleazY (first and last letters only or ’empty’)
RHETt (Butler the film actor known for character in Gone With the Wind) without T (time) and yORICk (jester without the first and last letter or ‘discovered’) Thanks Petert and Dormouse
ArtisT (first and last letters or ‘discontented’) with OR and OR (gold around the outside or ‘framing’
I (one) inside or ‘introduced to’ HARDY (rugged) E (European)
Hidden or ‘eaten’ and reversed or ‘back’ in msC IN AGROnomy
WORK OVER (duff up) TIM (tiny bloke as in Christmas Carol) and initial letter of Earn
IN (india’s openers) on HALE (healthy) R (runs)
NO I (one) CID (detectives) reversed or ‘upset’ around or ‘accepting TAT (rubbish)
YALL (you folks in Southern US) with Y (yankee) moving down
HOUSE (domestic) RULES (local laws) – a cryptic definition?
First letters of Yomp Over Brecon Beacons and last letter or ‘ending’ in Llandeilo
ERRING (making a mistake) around or ‘bedding’ A (American)
An anagram (‘sack’) of MY THICK CRAVEN – the US Republican Speaker who took 15 ballots before he was elected to the House of Representatives
An anagram (‘liberal’) of TORY PACT INANE
An anagram (‘new’) of FOREST SITE
MIGHT (power) around or ‘consuming’ bAKER (without B or ‘un-British’)
REV (clergyman) I (one) inside PEW (church seat)
ANTONY M (Mark Antony) ally of 4D (Caesar J)
Hidden or ‘set in’ WaterloO RD ERith
COE (as in Sebastian Coe) around or ’embracing’ K (King)
Thanks B and J and thanks Knut
Sadly, after a brief struggle I revealed 1 across and 8 down, both nho. Decided today is way outside my GK.
Better luck tomorrow
Maybe 19a SPEAKEASY, 21A RHETORIC and at a stretch 3D DICTATION are also intentionally part of the theme. Sad that Knut’s efforts have not been much recognised here, but thanks anyway to him and B&J for stepping in at short notice.
Thanks Knut for an array of likable clues including HAIR DYE, WORK OVERTIME, DICTATION, ALLY, and EARRING. I had to reveal 1a (unknown to me) and the clever ILL SAY. I couldn’t parse ANTONYM. Thanks B&J for coming to the rescue with the blog.
I enjoyed this. RHETORIC was clever with the filmed Butler, (OTT is part of the definition) I’LL SAY defeated me as I failed to imagine the apostrophe. Thanks to Knut and B and J.
Thanks Petert – blog corrected.
Thanks both. A political theme tends to be off-putting for me, though I did know LINDSAY HOYLE and worked out KEVIN MCCARTHY despite not knowing of him, as if there is a super-turn-off it’s foreign politics. Still compared to the Tyrus puzzle 10 days ago featuring Michelle Morne etc. this was a walk in St James Park. In other news, I had previously always thought a rug was a wig and not something ever requiring HAIR DYE
Although the GK was also outside my wheelhouse, I did manage to complete without cheats. I spent a little too long thinking 27a was going to be WORK WEEKENDS with “wee Ken” as the ‘tiny bloke’.
Alas, poor ‘oric. Great crossword. With the crossers hinting at Hoyle for the second word in 1A, Google gave me nho Lindsay and the unwanted American for 1D followed. ANTONY M my red-hot favourite and I liked UMBERTO, RHETORIC and ORGANIC. Big ups for the whimsical tone. Thanks Knut and B&J (didn’t know the Latin but I do now and the clue was solved anyway).
Not too difficult, particularly once we’d twigged the theme – and HOUSE RULES ties in with the theme too. We liked UMBERTO for the misdirection in ‘Eco warrior’ and ANTONYM.
Thanks, Knut and B&J.
Been out this evening and have only just got round to finishing this (although I had to guess MARTINEAU).
In 21ac, Rhett Butler was a character in Gone With the Wind, the actor was Clark Gable. (Gone With the Wind was my mother’s favourite film. I think she even saw it during an air raid.)
Thanks Dormouse – blog corrected. I should have realised my mistake but it was all done in a bit of a hurry with no checking by Bert either.
ANTONY M rang a bell.
It has been used several times over the years, as far back as
September 30, 2011 in Financial Times 13,812 by Falcon blogged by Gaufrid (RIP) clued as “M[ark] (a relation of Caesar J)”
and
May 25, 2012 in Guardian Cryptic 25,645 by Araucaria (RIP) blogged by by PeterO clued as “Friend of Caesar, J., or the opposite”
PeterO called it “A real chestnut”.
Still fun, chestnut or not. Also loved the “Eco warrior” and “duff up tiny bloke”. Very late to this but it was well worth catching up with. Thanks, Knut and B&J.