I did that silly thing. Grab the Eye as soon as it hit the doormat and tackled the puzzle.
I must go back to my rule of reading the damn thing before I do the puzzle, or at least the cartoons.
Now I’m struggling to remember what I thought as I solved it.
What I do remember is solving did not go well.
After failing to get 1d or 16d I didn’t get any of the acrosses till 13 which is a bit of a giveaway by anyone’s standards. That didn’t help with 1d which remained unsolved till I got all the crossers – and that’s probably because I re-attempted it too soon after being defeated on the cold-solve. I think you do better after a gap before another go at a previously failed clue. What it did do is make 14d approachable: Word beginning Y referencing Ted Heath – and what a lovely clue it is – solid anagram, smooth surface. Theresa May & even Heath himself would’ve been happy with that clue I reckon. Definitely my favourite clue of the puzzle.
I’m not going to write a sentence on every clue here, but I will also give 10/12 a mention as an excellent (long) anagram with a great surface reading.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 6 | OEUVRE | Skilful operation – no bloke’s work! (6) [man]OEUVRE (Skilful operation, without MAN (bloke) ) |
| 7 | CAROUSEL | About to get worked up before girl finally gives a ride (8) C (about) AROUSE (to get worked up) [gir]L |
| 10/12 | US SUPREME COURT | “Private Eye corrupt – sue ’em!” snapped conservative-biased government institution (2,7,5) US (Private Eye) then (CORRUPT SUE EM)* AInd: snapped. |
| 13 | TEDDY | Time with current bedtime companion? (5) T[ime] EDDY (current) First one in. |
| 15 | EXPANSIVE | Talkative about sex, I nap – very English! (9) (SEX I NAP)* AInd: about, V[ery] E[nglish] |
| 16 | HARICOT | Filthy rich on overtime, but without a bean (7) (RICH)* AInd: filthy, and OT (overtime), all around A |
| 17 | PAUNCHY | One’s covered in dynamic fat (7) A (one) inside PUNCHY (dynamic) |
| 19 | POLITICAL | Partisan CIA contrived, with IT, to intervene in vote (9) (CIA + IT)* AInd: contrived, inside POLL (vote) |
| 22 | TRAMP | March will see change of heart by presidential candidate? (5) TRUMP (presidential candidate?) with “heart” changed: A for U |
| 24 | LOCUM | Deputy‘s dire column – finish off (5) (COLUM[n])* AInd: dire. |
| 25 | ANARCHIST | Archer isn’t a shit? – er, chucked out, he’d cause disorder (9) (ARCH[er] ISN’T A)* AInd: shit. |
| 27 | STEINWAY | Grand in sweaty pants? (8) (IN SWEATY)* AInd: pants, Grand = piano |
| 28 | ADVERT | Reduced commercial trade in trouble – Vladimir’s first to butt in (6) (TRADE + V[ladimir])* AInd: in trouble. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | ROBUST | Well, it’s right to have round tits (6) R[ight] O (round) BUST (tits) |
| 2 | OUTSIDER | Tories due for reconstruction, having no appetite ultimately for what Boris has become? (8) (TORIES DU[e])* AInd: for reconstruction, with DUE losing its “E” from [appetit]E |
| 3 | TRIP | Outing a dopey thing to do? (4) Double Def. |
| 4 | MAKE-UP | It might highlight king allying with EU in plan (4-2) K[ing] and EU[rope] inside MAP (plan) |
| 5 | FLATTERY | Soft soap: dull attempt to conserve energy (8) FLAT (dull) TRY (attempt) around (conserving) E[nergy] |
| 9 | SAUDI | Citizen Suella’s opening with a one-sided call for self-government (5) S[uella] A UDI (one-sided call for self-government = Unilateral Declaration of Independence) Helps to have been around in 1965 to get that one. |
| 11 | ERECT | Before court? Hard (5) ERE (before) CT (court) |
| 14 | YACHTSMAN | “Could have been Edward Heath,” May chants pathetically (9) (MAY CHANTS)* AInd: pathetically. Top clue |
| 16 | HOPELESS | Rein in your expectations, being crap (8) HOPE LESS (your expectations, rein[ed] in) |
| 17 | POLKA | Take steps to overturn state cut-back (5) AK (State, Arkansas) LOP (cut-back) all reversed (overturn[ed]) |
| 18 | CLARINET | Windy thing moderates article about ‘Johnson’s end’ (8) (ARTICLE [johnso]N)* AInd: moderates. |
| 20 | LUCRE | Ready to stick top of cock in carrot? (5) C[ock] in LURE (carrot) |
| 21 | CRAVAT | Conservative louse appropriates state formal wear? (6) C[onservative] RAT (louse) around (appropriates) VA (state, Virginia) Last one in. I certainly don’t consider a cravat “formal wear”, quite the reverse. Presumably that’s why there’s a “?” |
| 23 | PETITE | Number one covering up plonker’s slight (6) PEE (Number one) around (covering up) TIT (plonker) |
| 26/8 | CODE OF CONDUCT | House rules often ignored – “poorly concocted, found to lack precision, ultimately” (4,2,7) (CONCOCTED FOUND – [precisio]N)* AInd: poorly. Well constructed anagram but without the flowing surface of, say, 10/12 |
Edinburgh Festival is upon us and the papers have been putting out their “best jokes of the Fringe 2023” lists.
Why is it one-liners don’t seem funny anymore?
So instead like the last Eye blog I did, I’m concluding with a recommendation – from what I reckon is the best record of last year: “The Overload” by Yard Act
Yes, last year. My excuse is no-one told me about it till this year.
So spare 4 minutes to watch the video for this track. “Well worth the money” (David Thewlis)
Thanks beermagnet, I also marked 14d as a favourite. I have to mention 20d as the surface read had me laughing out loud before any attempt on a solution. Great Cyclops cheekiness! The link to Yard Act was a nice surprise, I had never heard of them and it’s a really interesting song.
Thanks to beermagnet and Cyclops.
Cambers has “cravat” as “A formal neckerchief”…
Chambers even.
7ac, CAROUSEL: I parsed this as CA (about) + ROUSE (to get worked up ) etc, which seems equally valid.
27ac, STEINWAY: really liked this one
28ac, ADVERT: I think that technically, this is an insertion of V in an anagram of TRADE*, rather than an anagram of (TRADE+V)*
1dn, ROBUST is hilarious
3dn, TRIP: is the def very slightly iffy? ‘Dope’ normally refers to cannabis, but I think TRIP is reserved for the experience of the psychedelics, such as LSD, mescaline etc. Btw, great 56-min docu from the National Film Board of Canada about the pioneers of LSD here, if anyone’s interested.
20ac, LUCRE: also highly amusing (at least for boys who never really grew up, like me). Took me a while to come up with the right word for “carrot”.
Will watch the video later on WiFi (is it funny, I wonder?), but who can forget:
Hedgehogs: why can’t they share the hedge? (Milton Jones?)
Velcro: what a rip-off! (Tim Vine)
Yard Act: yes, “well worth the money”. Thanks for that.
Thanks beermagnet and good to know I wasn’t the only one to stare blankly at this for a while – has been true of my last few Eye attempts, hope it does not mark the beginning of the end!
TonyCollman@4 I parsed CAROUSEL as beermagnet did, but like your version more( ROUSE may be less Cyclopean than AROUSE but think it fits the need “to get worked up” better), and had the same doubt about the trip.
hapdaniel@2 thanks for Chambers confirmation as like our blogger I wouldn’t have thought a cravat particularly formal.
Sorry, the hedgehog joke wasn’t Milton Jones’ but Dan Antopolski’s (2009 Dave winner).
Gutted to have got this wrong as I actually knew Dan when he was a solicitor’s runner. I remember him telling me over coffee that he hoped to break into comedy and I thought “Yeah, right”. How wrong (right?) I was!