As is usual from Cyclops the clue surfaces are at their story-telling best, and in the usual Private Eye style giving the usual suspects a knocking.
Solving was, in retrospect, usual, but only after shaky start – I was annoyed not to be able to cold-solve the 1D or 24D clues to get starter letters.
Anyway I had as near as dammit half the answers in by the end of the “first pass” (all clues attempted at least once). The rest were picked at till they fell – “Oh! The joys of having a few letters in place” – until I was left with 4D: Even with all crossing letters I was scratching around trying to justify CRADLE as “Labour needs”, trying to work Ed Balls into it somehow. But as is often the case the light dawned and I have to give it the “Top Clue” accolade for misdirection if not downright difficulty. Then, when I looked at the clock, it hadn’t been that long really: Done within 45 mins. At least I didn’t have to leave it till another day as has been known.
To all of you in Nottingham today for the S&B bash: Have one for me!
After I recover from getting my new hip next month and can walk again I’ll make a point of coming to the next.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 8 | CORDON | Wow! Trump’s first half barrier! (6) COR! (Wow!) DON[ald] (Trump’s first half) First one in (though not first read – couldn’t cold solve those left-hand side down clues) |
| 9 | ARSONIST | Bum, lacking energy, is not turning into criminal (8) ARS[e] (Bum, lacking energy) (IS NOT)* AInd: turning. I’ve noticed there’s an awful lot of illicit fire-starting in Cyclops-land |
| 11/12 | PUBLIC ORDER ACT | Out with organisation! Do what Sunak’s government suspiciously rushed through (6,5,3) PUBLIC (out) ORDER (organisation) ACT (do). Not very suspicious really, they’re just going through with criminalising any dissent against the Government. More fool them: They might not like it when they’re not in Government, when Judge Dread, sorry Keir Starmer, takes over. |
| 13 | IVANA | Trump‘s article in vain – crap (5) A (article) inside (VAIN)* AInd: crap. For the definition I suppose any Trump will do. |
| 14 | BEER GUT | Pot makes you piss good in Hamburg (4,3) BEER (makes you piss) GUT (good in Hamburg, that is in German). I suppose I should be thankful “beer” isn’t clued as just “piss” this time. |
| 17 | AMPLIFY | Fail dismally to rein in politician – Tory’s last boost (7) (FAIL)* AInd: dismally, around (to rein in) MP (politician) and [tor]Y |
| 19 | VETERAN | Much experienced, but put off having to go topless in transit? (7) [d]ETER (put off, topless) inside VAN (transit) |
| 20 | RANCOUR | ‘Dashed ball hosted by bounder’ creates bad feeling (7) RAN (Dashed) O (ball) inside (hosted by) CUR (bounder) |
| 22 | TASTE | Crap, having swallowed second drug sample (5) TAT (crap) around (having swallowed) S (Second), then E (drug) |
| 25 | ROD | Bar with nothing to separate opposing US parties (3) O (nothing) between (separating) R[epublicans] and D[emocrats] (opposing US parties) |
| 26 | BATTLEFIELD | It felt bad playing around the French combat zone (11) (IT FELT BAD)* AInd: playing, around LE (the French) |
| 27 | DOSSIERS | Cyclops wearing Tramp’s briefs (8) I (Cyclops) in DOSSERS (tramps) |
| 28 | SEAMEN | Crew members come around one? (6) A (one) in SEMEN (members’ come). Biggest laugh in the puzzle! Yes, I know the definition could be “Crew members” – I prefer to read it this way. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | SCEPTICAL | Unconvinced about church’s involvement in plastic surgery (9) (CE + PLASTIC)* AInd: surgery. Church = CE from Church of England |
| 2 | ARABIA | Sub-continent of America lifted controversial technology ban (6) A[merica] then AI (controversial technology) and BAR (ban) both reversed (lifted) |
| 3 | NOMINATION | I’m not wasting time mixing with people sought by Biden and Trump (10) (I’M NOT – T[ime])* AInd: mixing, NATION (people) |
| 4 | TRUDGE | Labour needs good, Balls-free, backing to get in fair and square (6) G[oo]D< inside TRUE (fair and square) Last one in and, by my estimation, by far the hardest clue in the puzzle. |
| 5 | DOER | Party turning on agent (4) DO (party) RE< (on, turning) |
| 6 | DISASTER | Many a government policy is savagely satirised, with loss of ego (8) (SATIRISED – I)* AInd: savagely. Q. Has there ever been a government with such disastrous policies? A. Yes, the last three or four ! |
| 7 | STATE | King Brian nominally over this panic? (5) Double Def. One is “panic”, the other the rest of the clue |
| 10 | COWBOY | Ranch hand who’ll give you an reliable erection (6) Double Def. one of them cryptic I am pretty sure this is a clue mistype and it should read unreliable both for sense and because it is preceded by “an” instead of “a” – then it would refer to “Cowboy builders” who reputedly do slapdash building work for cash up front. Alternatively it is a reference to Brokeback Mountain. (Not) |
| 15 | GET STUFFED | Olive might eff off! (3,7) Double Def. Three DDs in a row? That’s just the way down clues go – You’d never solve them in that order |
| 16 | UNBENDING | Stiff finally, you pay special attention at climax (9) [yo]U, then N.B. (pay special attention, Nota Bene), ENDING (climax) |
| 18 | PARADISE | Soldier to be killed takes shilling – bliss! (8) PARA (soldier), then S[hilling] inside DIE (to be killed) [ Oh God. I’ve got that Andy Fairweather-Low earworm now. ] |
| 19 | VERILY | So, one Labour leader should be put inside? Quite right! (6) I (one) L[abour] inside VERY (so) When I came to this I already had the crossing letters and was fully expecting the answer to be VIRILE |
| 21 | OUTCRY | Openly gay and keen for public disapproval? (6) OUT (Openly gay) CRY (keen) |
| 23 | STEAMY | Each male in the pen is lustful (6) EA (each) M[ale] inside STY (pen) |
| 24 | PRUDE | Pence: simple prig (5) P[ence] RUDE (simple) |
| 26 | BLIP | Profitable company hoards lithium – sign of peak activity? (4) BP (Profitable company) around (hoards) LI (Lithium, Li). Likely prophetic clue |
I’m afraid I have no idea where this is from, or its veracity, but still when I stumbled across this about J. L. Carr, I thought it worth sharing:
beermagnet — You are correct about the UNRELIABLE mistype in 10D (I contacted the setter to query it). I found 4D to be easy to parse but slightly off-centre as a definition of LABOUR — the basis of the clue seems to be Chambers’ “to walk with labour or effort”.
Thanks for a great blog and fascinating snippet at the end . A typically fine Cyclops with many good clues. Thanks to John @1 for confirming unreliable. I just thought misprint? and the defintion itself was very easy with the letters in the grid.
I agree that TRUDGE is excellent, a lot of work to get that DG, I checked the definition the other way . Labour – to move slowly and with difficulty.
I did notice the three double definions as I attempt the Down clues in order, good to see Brian and GET STUFFED is one of my favourite phrases.
An almost complete solve for me (though over a week rather than 45 minutes!) – except I had cowboy but didn’t write it in as I couldn’t figure out the second half. I think I’d have been stuck even without the misprint. Thanks for the blog!
I puzzled over OUTCRY but wrote it in as the letters fit. I can’t reconcile ‘cry’ and ‘keen’. One is a verb the other an adjective. Is there a use I’m not aware of? ‘He loves his football, yes he’s a very cry fan’.
9ac, ARSONIST: [wordplay] into [definition] is very unusual and seems distinctly dodgy to me.
14ac It could yet be beer = piss, if the structure is [def] makes you [wordplay], although I think you should really only use [wordplay] makes you [def]. A verbal phrase (makes you piss) for a noun (beer) is not common, but was, I believe, approved by Ximenes.
28ac, SEAMEN: Unfortunately your parsing doesn’t work because of the lack in the clue of the apostrophe you had to add.
1dn, SCEPTICAL: not sure what “about” is doing.
2dn, ARABIA: strangely this is not a word known to Chambers Word Wizard. Is it in their dictionary?
10dn, COWBOY: yes, unreliable. Unfortunate and annoying misprint. At least the “an” gave a hint of what it should have been, which allowed me to solve it, finally.
Tony@4, Collins online gives “lament the dead” (which usually involves a lot of crying) as second category of meaning for keen.
Thanks for the blog sand the puzzle. I haven’t written for some time…nothing to argue about!!!! I had fun with this one….mainly because it took a number of sessions to get it finished. I thought TRUDGE was relatively easy but struggled with ORUDE, DOSSIERS and OUTCRY, although I had no problem with keen being cry (both verbs, byu the way!). Little shout out to GET STUFFED and BEER GUT!!!!
TonyCollman@5> 2dn, ARABIA: strangely this is not a word known to Chambers Word Wizard. Is it in their dictionary?
Not as a headword, though it does appear within definitions, eg Arab: a native of Arabia… [1901]
beermagnet, your JL Carr snippet comes from Mr Key’s Shorter Potted Brief, Brief Lives, by Frank Key.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=d1ZaBwAAQBAJ
Thanks, lemming@8. Perhaps Chambers doesn’t use geographical regions as headwords? Or perhaps just an anomaly? Collins online has it.
Tony Collman@5 — ‘about’ is included in 1D as part of the correct definition (SCEPTICAL = unconvinced about).
Thanks *lemming* at comment #9 for telling us about that book. That “Potted Brief Lives” book sounds right up my street, one for the list.
*TonyC* I suggest the “about” in 1D Sceptical is part of definition. I’ll correct that.
I really cannot see your beef with the “into” in the ARSONIST clue. Treat it as part of the anagrind or just a noise word – it works.
Surely Arabia has always been known as a (sub-)continent, same as India.
As for SEAMEN – you’re not going to dissaude me from the most salacious reading of wordplay just for the lack of an apostrope!
And *Winsor*: Nice to hear from you. (I know you’re always here)
JohnE@11, I’m afraid I have to disagree: skeptical = unconvinced; skeptical about = unconvinced about.
Beermagnet@12, I don’t agree that “about” is part of the definition. See reply to JohnE, above.
I’m skeptical/unconvinced about the correctness of using “about” in this clue.
With all due respect to Cyclops, I think this clue would have been better cast as:
Church’s involvement in plastic surgery? I’m unconvinced
Re ARSONIST, “is not turning into” doesn’t make sense as an indication of an anagram of ‘is not’. Well-constructed clues don’t have “noise” words. The only reasonable interpretation of “into” in this clue is as a link word between wordplay and definition and ‘turning into’ would be a much better link, but “turning” is already being used as an anagram indicator. I would suggest:
Bum, lacking energy, is not, perhaps, turning into criminal
where “perhaps” acts as anagram indicator and “turning into” as the link between wordplay and def.
“Surely Arabia has always been known as a (sub-)continent, same as India.”
Why would that preclude it from the dictionary?
As for your salacious reading of the clue for SEAMEN, I suggest you discuss it with your greengrocer
Delighted to find this blog.
DNF. Strangely couldn’t find TRUDGE, not sure why not, it is pretty simple. DOH!
Andy, I wouldn’t call TRUDGE simple. That clue was very misleading and there a host of words that can fit the pattern -R-D-E
Like most things in life, it’s easy if you know