I found this quite a gentle puzzle – maybe Cyclops is being kind to us at the start of the new year…
…or maybe he was tired and shagged out after the effort of producing the Xmas special monster.
(I’m hoping against hope that his New Year resolution was to stop using Trump and Johnson as wordplay fodder – two 2024 puzzles so far, and not a BJ or a DT in sight…fingers crossed!)
1A and 4A were pretty quick write-ins – 1A a barely disguised hidden word, and 4A with ‘that is’ as IE in PANTS followed in short order. These helped start their corresponding down clues, and it all filled up fairly quickly from then on.
A few blasts from the past in the clue fodder, with William Hague, Ed Balls and Sally Gunnell, as well as Helmut KOHL as a solution, along with a few more recent (but almost already yesterday’s fish-n-chip paper?) – Ted Cruz and Jeremy Corbyn in the clues, and Nigel FARAGE in the grid, nicely juxtaposed with TRICOLOUR just below – I’m sure he’d enjoy that!…
My favourite was probably the pithy ‘Web’s gladiatorial activity?’ for 5D NETWORK; 8D DEEP FAKE warns us of the ‘threat to democracy’ that they represent; and talking of threats to democracy, there might be an indirect Trump-ian reference in the reading of 4D POSTPONED – ‘President? No, despot, about to be suspended’!
Many thanks to Cyclops, as ever, and I trust all is clear below…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
||
| 1A | RINGS | Rounds from firing squad (5)
hidden word in ‘fiRING Squad’ |
||
| 4A | PANTIES | Underwear that is found in rubbish (7)
PANT_S (rubbish) around IE (id est, that is) |
||
| 9A | VAGUENESS | Lack of clarity from very old Tory leader losing head then getting head (9)
V (very) + ( |
||
| 10A | TOTAL | Drink taken by a Labour leader gets to do irreparable damage (5)
TOT (drink) + A + l (leading letter of Labour) |
||
| 11A | SPLIT UP | Go in for cleavage with special bust uplift? F-off! (5,2)
SP (special) + LIT UP (subtractive anagram, i.e. bust, of UPLI( |
||
| 12A | PROGENY | Issue‘s gone over with peer’s protection (7)
PR_Y (peer, look) around (protecting) OGEN (anag, i.e. over, of GONE) |
||
| 13A | DETECTION | Police work puts Cruz back on notice perhaps (9)
DET (Ted Cruz, back) + ECTION (anag, i.e. perhaps, of NOTICE) |
||
| 16A | KOHL | Old leader‘s decisive blow against hard left (4)
KO (knock-out, decisive blow) + H (hard, pencil lead) + L (left) [the ‘old leader’ being Helmut Kohl, former German chancellor)] |
||
| 17A | PISS | Turn to drink and sex to relieve yourself (4)
PIS (sip, drink, turned) + S (sex) [Cyclops often uses sex = s as an abbreviation indicator, but it isn’t in my eChambers or eCollins] |
||
| 19A | DEDICATED | Single-minded policeman Tom, say, caught in the act (9)
DE_ED (act) around (catching) DI (Detective Inspector, policeman) + CAT (tom, say) |
||
| 22A | FOOTING | Settling the bill? If not, go – get stuffed! (7)
anag, i.e. get stuffed, of IF NOT GO |
||
| 23A | FINALLY | One needs to get over being crushed by spirited female, once and for all (7)
FI_LLY (spirited female) around (crushing) NA (an, one, over) |
||
| 25A | ROOST | Bounder, senior Tory, starts to make a sleeping-place (5)
ROO (kangaroo, bounder) + ST (starting letters of Senior Tory) |
||
| 26A | AWKWARDLY | Way to enter walkway when pissed: with no elegance at all (9)
AWKWA_LY (anag, i.e. when pissed, of WALKWAY) around (entered by) RD (road, way) |
||
| 27A | HARVEST | Gather in underwear after almost having an erection (7)
HAR( |
||
| 28A | TREAD | About to be taken in just a bit? Walk on (5)
T_AD (just a bit) around (taking in) RE (about, concerning) |
||
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
||
| 1D | REVISED | Was an editor getting nobleman into grass? (7)
RE_ED (grass) around VIS (viscount, nobleman) |
||
| 2D | NIGEL | Hard right politician gets elected on doing a U-turn with Unite (5)
NI (in, elected, doing a u-turn) + GEL (unite, bring together) [presumably Nigel Farage, although there may be many other right-wing Nigels] |
||
| 3D | SCEPTIC | Corbyn’s lead snatched by “putrid non-believer” (7)
S_EPTIC (putrid) around C (leading letter of Corbyn) |
||
| 4D | POSTPONED | President? No, despot, about to be suspended (9)
P (president) + OSTPONED (anag, i.e. about, of NO DESPOT) |
||
| 5D | NETWORK | Web‘s gladiatorial activity? (7)
punning double defn. – a web – spider-made, or internet – is a NETWORK; and gladiators often fought with nets, so gladiatorial activity could be NET WORK! |
||
| 6D | IN THE SHIT | Hint: he’s playing with it, so up for a bollocking? (2,3,4)
IN THE SH (anag, i.e. playing, of HINT HES) + IT |
||
| 7D | SALLY (FORTH) | & 22dn. Ms Gunnell missing out on a medal, reportedly? Go on! (5,5)
SALLY (Sally Gunnell, British athlete) + FORTH (homophone, i.e. reportedly – FORTH sounds like FOURTH, missing out on a medal) [In fact, Ms Gunnell won many medals, usually gold – very rarely coming fourth!] |
||
| 8D | DEEP (FAKE) | & 23dn, Pissed about with a knight clad in iron – a threat to democracy? (8)
DEEP (peed, pissed, about) + F_E (iron) around (cladding) A + K (knight) |
||
| 14D | TRICOLOUR | Cor! It’s awful – Labour’s lacking a British standard (9)
TRICO (anag, i.e. awful, of COR IT) + L( |
||
| 15D | INDIGNANT | Dining out with a new Tory leader? Mad! (9)
INDIGN (anag, i.e. out, of DINING) + A + N (new) + T (leading letter of Tory) |
||
| 18D | SPITTLE | Southern political leader wants new title – hawk to produce it (7)
S (southern) + P (leading letter of Political) + ITTLE (anag, i.e. new, of TITLE) |
||
| 20D | CONTACT | Get hold of politician – time to do something! (7)
CON (Conservative, politician) + T (time) + ACT (do something!) |
||
| 21D | DRY-EYED | On the wagon, regarded as far from weepy (3-4)
DRY (on the wagon, off the booze) + EYED (regarded) |
||
| 22D | FORTH | See 7dn. (5)
see 7D |
||
| 23D | FAKE | See 8dn. (4)
see 8D |
||
| 24D | LEDGE | Balls crushed by false leg, resulting in protuberance (5)
L_GE (anag, i.e. false, of LEG) around (crushing) ED (Ed Balls, former UK politician) |
||
Thanks for the blog, it is what I call a typical January puzzle, it is the same with Azed around the time of a special.
S=SEX ? I think I only ever see it in Cyclops, I can find no justification in Chambers or Collins, There is SA for sex appeal but that is not considered the done thing.
Did Midds used to be the abbreviation for Middlesex on envelopes (maybe still is)?
Thanks, mc_rapper67 & Cyclops. My fave was 4a and agree 5d is a good’un. For 5d I went astray by putting in NETCAST which also seems to fit, but the crossing clues came to my rescue eventually.
I often used to see SEX abbreviated on forms as S (M/F).
For 1d I had similar wordplay but can’t quite see WAS AN EDITOR = REVISED.
@3 1d, on reflection, I think I can see it now. As in “She previously was an editor” could be ” She previously revised”.
8D, DEEP FAKE: not too sure about K=Knight. Not in chess notation and, colloquially, ‘a K’ means a knighthood.
18d, SPITTLE: Isn’t it phlegm that hawking produces?
K=knight is in Chambers93 and this is the primary source.
Franko @5 I think you see it , just simple tenses.
She is an editor , she revises. She was an editor, she revised.
MichaelJohn: The abbreviation for Middlesex is/was Middx.
What confuses me is why you’re asking?
Thanks for all the comments so far – much appreciated, as usual…
I’m guessing MichaelJohn at #2 was suggesting that the ‘s’ of Midds could be for ‘sex’, but as beermagnet points out, the abbreviation was Middx. I need to stop mentioning it and just accept it as a Cyclops-ism…there is no reference work mentioned, so maybe he is not bound as tightly to the BRB as other setters?
Re. K = knight, I did ponder that, given that the chess notation is N but, as Roz points out, it is there in my eChambers (Android and iPad versions) as the 8th variation of K, with K = King in cards and chess at no. 6.
Tony C at #5 = re. SPITTLE, I guess it depends on the state of your lungs – I am currently recovering from a non-Covid chest infection and am very ‘phlegmatic’ at the moment! In less chesty times, hawking might only produce spittle…
Mc@5, Collins online has, for hawk³:
2. (transitive)
to force (phlegm) up from the throat
So, I think if you were ‘less phlegmatic’, hawking wouldn’t produce anything but a sound. SPITTLE is saliva, produced in the mouth, not the lungs.
Otoh, I notice that Collins Online also has for hawk³:
3. British a slang word for spit¹ [as a verb]
However, when you spit, you don’t “produce” SPITTLE, you simply eject it from the mouth.
Thinking about it, maybe that is “producing” it from the mouth. So the clue is ok after all, using that British slang term.
Tony at #9 – you are spot on…glad we didn’t have to have a spat about this!
#7 & #8 – yes I was suggesting the s in Midds was for ‘sex’, but now I recall you’re right – the abbreviation was Middx. It’s been a long time since I saw a letter addressed to Middx or any other abbreviated county.
Just a little thought………if (when?) I get a some knighthood will it not have an abbreviation that starts with a K? I started to say a KGB but realised quickly that this has another connotation…..and is now, of course, the FSB!! And I do not have two beards so cannot have both!!!
Winsor @12, indeed, some at least. Is it a KCB or a KCMG you have your eyes on? They’re both in Chambers. And the 1901 edition has several other elderly orders.
lemming…..got to say I am not too fussy!!!
Arise, Sir Winsor (not!). You’ve probably got about 6 months to get a sizeable donation in to the Tory party to make this happen…shall we have a whip-round?…