Private Eye ( Cyclops / 757 ) Redacted Normality

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I had trouble trying to choose a title for this blog.  There are so many adjectives in the answers compared to the number of nouns, and many of those adjectives lend themselves to humerous phrases, but there were not many nouns that properly (or improperly) fit.  I was tempted by Well-bred Chopper – who wouldn’t be, avoided Incontinent Coyote – as we all would, and was bored to tears with Financial Transaction.  So ended up with the subversive title you see above, after all there is no such thing as normal anymore.  Climate change has seen to that in terms of the environment, and the tory government has trashed our economy,  politics and our international reputation.

Oh God, I got myself depressed again.  Better find some comedy or a crossword to cheer myself up …

I found this crossword quite hard.  I was rudely interrupted 10 minutes into solving it and then didn’t get back to it till it was far too late really, and I was far too tired.  In fact I asleep solving it.  That has nothing to do with the crossword and all to do with me wanting to finish it off when I was in no fit state.   I think I only solved a couple of answers in the half hour before my eyelids drooped.  So the third time I tackled it, the next day, I had to go through what was already in place to check I hadn’t made any mistakes.  It still took longer than I care to admit.

Across
1 NON-FAT Johnson on fatherhood: “It’s a healthy option to some extent” (3-3)
Hidden in johnsoN ON FATherhood. How did this end up being my Last One In?
4 RED-FACED As a Republican voter, was confrontational, angry-looking (3-5)
RED (As a Republican voter) FACED (was confrontational)
10 MERRY Pissed as Robin’s band? (5)
Double Def. Merry is a very mild form of pissed, whereas Robin Hood’s Merry Men were probably the extremist wing of anti-feudal merry-makers
11 ATTENTIVE On the alert after a tense, temporary erection one has (9)
A T[ense] TENT (temporary erection) I’VE (one has)
12 TRANSACTION Deal taken by those demanding recognition of their preferred sexual identity? (11)
Def. and Cryptic def. making a charade of TRANS ACTION
14 GRIEVOUS Gove is involved with right-wing Ukrainian sources? Deplorable (8)
(GOVE IS + R[ight-wing] U[krainian])* AInd: involved.
16 LIMPID One needs Sunak to do a U-turn and break cover – that’s clear (6)
I (one), PM< (Sunak, doing a U-turn), all inside (break[-ing]) LID (cover)
19 COYOTE Beastly thing – firm, yet badly crushing ball (6)
CO (firm), (YET)* AInd: badly, around O (ball). FOI after looking at it to check 2d might end in Y
20 WELL-BRED Quite the gentleman, my Roger, in the sack (4-4)
WELL (My!) R[oger] inside BED (the sack)
23/13 OLD BOY Bold moves round edge of party – Boris, or one of his chums? (3,3)
(BOLD)* AInd: moves, O (round), [part]Y (edge of party)
25 INCONTINENT Northern Ireland backing America, say, and embarrassingly responsible for a leak? (11)
NI< (Northern Ireland, backing) CONTINENT (America, for example)
27 PETULANCE Darling, ulna’s dislocated – taking cocaine and ecstasy for bad temper (9)
PET (Darling), (ULNA)* AInd: dislocated, C[ocaine], E[cstasy]
28 TRUCE Faithful embracing Conservative leader – will that stop the quarrelling? (5)
TRUE (faithful) around (embracing) C[onservative]
29 REDACTED Cut rush to restrict Democrat legislation (8)
REED (rush) around (to restrict) D[emocrat] and ACT (legislation)
30 FRILLY Ruffled father crazy to go topless (6)
FR (father) [s]ILLY (crazy, topless)
Down
1 NAMETAG Access by bloke, upset showing ID (7)
GATE (Access) MAN (bloke) all reversed (upset)
2 NORMALITY Patel’s back covered by main Tory oddball – the usual state (9)
[pate]L (Patel’s back) inside (covered by) (MAIN TORY)* AInd: oddball.
3 ABYSS Gulf close to being swamped by dope (5)
BY (close to) inside (swamped by) ASS (dope)  Penultimate clue solved.  Americanism(s) got the better of me.  Valid though, as both Ass and Dope are American slang
5 ENTAIL Hard to leave female-only Private Eye occasion (6)
[h]EN (female only, losing H[ard]) TAIL (Private Eye). For once we have Private Eye referring to a proper private detective like Cormoran Strike, rather than being all self-obsessed
6 FINANCIAL Fail miserably to limit elected political party, money-wise (9)
(FAIL)* AInd: miserably, makes F…IAL, around (to limit) IN (elected) and ANC (political party)
7 CLIMB Conservative member’s scramble (5)
C[onservative] LIMB (member)
8 DOE-EYED Princess Di description of party executive leader given the Strobes treatment? (3-4)
DO (party) E[xecutive] EYED (given the Strobes treatment) If you need that last phrase explaining then I suggest you read Private Eye for a few weeks (I expect someone will be along to explain if you request it)
9 CATCH UP Snag in advanced stage of erection? Don’t lag behind (5,2)
CATCH (Snag) UP (in advanced stage of erection)
15 VITRIOLIC Group formed by e.g. Johnson, Adams and Dorries, engaged in civil disorder, being bitter (9)
TRIO (group [of 3 unmentionables]) inside (engaged in) (CIVIL)* AInd: disorder.
17 PERPETUAL Persistent criminal tale fabricated about Ukraine’s leader (9)
PERP (criminal), (TALE)* AInd: fabricated, around U[kraine]
18 MEANDER Cyclops, a nerd turned snake! (7)
ME (Cyclops) (A NERD)* AInd: turned.
19 CHOPPER Cabinet’s no.1 bounder and prick (7)
C[abinet], HOPPER (bounder)
21 DITHERY Hesitant to replace one article with another in journal (7)
Swap A for THE in DIARY : Swap A (one article) for THE (another) inside DIARY (journal). Excellent clue
22 SCONCE Sort of candlestick sex commonly initiated at one time (6)
S[ex] C[ommonly] ONCE (at one time)
24 DATED Unfashionable Times leader, dead nasty all round (5)
(DEAD)* AInd: nasty, around (all round) T[imes]
26 INTER What you need to do with a stiff one in wintertime (5)
Hidden in wINTERtime

No final joke today but a few recommendations for podcasts – mostly from BBC Sounds / Radio 4 and probably classed as comedy – well why not. Words aren’t only for crosswords y’know, they can be used to talk with, as long as it’s funny.

We have Women’s World Cup footie upon us.
I am a fan and I found “Maisie Adam: The Beautiful Game” a joy
Look, it’s only short – surprise yourself

Main recommendation, for the likes of all you old codgers and younger people grumbling and groaning about the current guv’m’nt etc. etc. is the wonderful
“Call Jonathan Pie”
If you’ve seen him on YouTube or Twitter then you know what to expect, but this has a story thread, characters, and a surprising amount of pathos in the last couple of episodes.  Great to see he’s been picked up by the Beeb.  Can’t help thinking a BBC2 TV version of this wouldn’t cost too much to make, would it?

I must also mention “The Skewer“, “Big” John Holmes and his gang audiophonicly mashing the news. Now in the midst of its 9th Series.
News like you never heard before – in thankfully short segments

Finally, non-BBC consumers can hear “The Bugle” , “Audio Newspaper for a Visual World”:  Andy Zaltzman still plugging away delivering important (and some unimportant) international stories in a satirical way.

16 comments on “Private Eye ( Cyclops / 757 ) Redacted Normality”

  1. Thanks for a great blog and title, it sounds like a Philp K Dick story.
    I agree this was tougher than usual but a very high standard of clues, I like to cold solve in order, even for the Downs I do not look at the grid first time, but I only got about 12.
    Using the grid after this made life much easier, it is very friendly with many first letters.
    VITRIOLIC was my favourite and I agree that DITHERY was excellent.

  2. Thanks for the blog!
    I struggled through as usual and needed a few helps towards the end. I was only totally stuck with CHOPPER – I was sure it must be the answer from the wordplay but don’t get chopper=prick, even after checking the thesaurus. To prick does not mean to chop, so I’m assuming it’s slang somewhere for “unsavoury person” but none of the entries I’ve seen suggest chopper has such a meaning.

  4. Hi Saaam, You’ve been caught out by British slang.
    Chopper and Prick (along with 1,057 approx. other words) are both terms for, how can I put this, a man’s tummy-banana.
    Chopper is relatively mild. Prick is stronger and more usually used as a derogatory term.

  5. Thanks beermagnet, sorry to hear that a man from Porlock caused difficulties but it’s a relief to learn that others found this tough too, ENTAIL took me the longest but NONFAT also a struggle, maybe as definition is in the middle and it’s not a phrase I see too often (Vs say Low fat) – is it in a dictionary?

  6. Excellent puzzle.

    Gazzh: Collins online

    Beermagnet:
    29ac, REDACTED: “cut” isn’t part of the wordplay, just the definition. REED to restrict (contain) D ACT.

    I’m a fan of the Skewer. Hadn’t heard of The Bugle, but will give it a try. Thanks.

  8. Beermagnet@4 , yes could have a thesaurus all to itself. I read that “small” is the only other word with so many synonyms.

  9. Tony@6 You are absolutely right, in the clue for 29a REDACTED “cut” is the definition and it does not do double-duty as part of the inclusion indicator. I have corrected the wordplay explanation. The clue reads very much like it is part of some wordplay – nicely misleading.

  10. Roz@8, … then the possible ways of expressing ‘small penis’ must be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Actually, I’ve always thought the term ‘chopper’ suggested a certain heft, unlike ‘prick’.

  11. Tony @10 depends what you mean by stars in the sky.
    Naked eye about 10000 over both hemispheres for the whole year , 100 X 100 so not enough .Small telescope , say 10cm reflector , perhaps 5 million. roughly 2236 X 2236 so too many.
    Perhaps the number of high performance vehicles on the road would be more accurate.

  12. I too found this a bit troubling but really enjoyed it. First pass as per Roz got me 5 clues across and only 1 downward!!!! Roz’s normal output is way past my puny efforts.
    ENTAIL was my last one in and I am very grateful for the parsing….I couldn’t get it at all.
    On the theme of members, I am afraid to add to the discussion by noting that one corner was a real problem for me since I had WELL HUNG for a while. Maybe this is a male obsession!!!!!
    I also had OLD BOD for some time too…..party = do in this case.
    But I got there in the end….and many thanks are due to Cyclops and Beermagnet.
    VTRIOLIC was my favourite!!!

  13. Thanks beermagnet and Cyclops. I found this pretty tough and was chuffed with myself when I completed it after much head scratching. I hadn’t heard of SCONCE (22d) before.
    I won’t enter into the appendage debate for fear of making a thorny object out of myself.

  14. [Roz@11, haha! My metaphor was an open invitation for a scientist to take literally! Regarding vehicles on the road, is there a set definition of ‘high-performance’? (Pretty sure my bike doesn’t count )]

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