You don’t have to leap on the mag and do the puzzle as soon as it pops through the letterbox. You have about a week to solve the puzzle so you can wait till you feel like doing it.
This time I felt like tacking it at once …
… which I did, and constructed most of this blog – inevitably excluding this preamble. I then forget about it until the last minute.
however this week I might not get a chance to finish it later because finally, finally – I will be getting a new hip this week.
I took a more leisurely solve than normal for this one. That is, I found it a bit more tricky than usual. I took my time. So I was not surprised to find over half hour had gone before I finished the first pass. There were only a few left then though and with all the crossing letters they succumbed.
Tricky clues at 17 , 8/27, 5, 11, 13, 6
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LAME DUCK | Feeble Bob, vulnerable type (4,4) LAME (feeble) DUCK (bob) |
| 5 | THRONG | Press gives minimal coverage over peer’s end (6) THONG (minimal coverage) around [pee]R |
| 10 | EXILE | Eton’s first eleven lost – side finally cast out (5) E[ton] XI (eleven) L[ost] [sid]E |
| 11 | CHARLATAN | Rogue Daily Mail finally gets at one (9) CHAR (daily) [mai]L AT AN (at one) |
| 12 | NEMESIS | It’ll be your downfall – come back one second (7) SEMEN< (come, back) I S[econd] |
| 13 | RAYNER | Deputy leader spinning yarn about rejection (6) (YARN)* AInd: spinning, RE< (about, rejection). Last one in. When I got the leading R it was obvious |
| 15 | TONIC | Philip reportedly in no way back in charge (5) NOT< (in no way, back) IC (in charge) |
| 17 | PHOTOCOPY | Waves too choppy to run off (9) (TOO CHOPPY)* AInd: waves. This one mislead me mostly because I was stuck thinking of “run off” as eloping or escaping. So I thought the def. must be “waves”. When I got a few crossing letters I was still desperately trying to make an anagram from CHOPPY, TO and R[un] with “off” as the anagrind. |
| 18 | THIN ON TOP | Spare working crown, as Charles and William have gone? (4,2,3) THIN (spare) ON (working) TOP (crown) |
| 22 | DILDO | Cover back when pursued by party stand-in member (5) LID< (cover, back) DO (party) |
| 24 | FORBID | Agency accepts alternative date for veto (6) FBI (agency) around (accepts) OR (alternative) then D[ate] |
| 25 | EYEWASH | Bollocks look clean (7) EYE (look) WASH (clean) |
| 28 | UNDERWEAR | Fail to achieve the required amount of sporting bras etc? (9) Edit: UNDER (Fail to achieve the required amount [of]) WEAR (sporting) sw239’s suggestion is much better now I have seen it |
| 29 | GRASS | Money taken by Republican buffoon – a common feature (5) G (money, a G = a Grand) R[epublican] ASS (buffoon) Grass is a feature of commons such as Wimbledon Common |
| 30 | TIRADE | “Cyclops recruited by Marketing!” rant (6) I (Cyclops) in (recruited by) TRADE (marketing) |
| 31 | STARKERS | Exposed king surrounded by gawpers (8) K[ing] inside STARERS (gawpers) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | LIE IN STATE | Peddle fake news to get elected, say, and end up like Stalin (3,2,5) LIE (peddle fake news) IN (get elected) STATE (say) |
| 2 | MAILMAN | US post-operative chief covers large state (7) MAIN (chief) around L[arge] and MA (state, MA = Massachusetts) |
| 3 | DRESS | Outfit showing force, ejecting Ukrainian leader (5) DURESS (force) remove U[krainian] |
| 4 | COCKS UP | “Boobs,” as the Viagra user said? (5,2) Double Def. for the second I’ll leave the conversation to your imagination |
| 6 | HOLLYWOOD | US film industry putting together Bush deal, say? (9) HOLLY (bush) WOOD (deal, say?) “?” used because def. by example: Deal is a type of wood I thought this was the answer but did not write it in till confirmed by a few crossing letters. Forgot about deal as a wood till blogging |
| 7 | ON THE GO | Active, functioning, he got screwed (2,3,2) ON (functioning) (HE GOT)* AInd: screwed. |
| 8/27 | GONE BUST | Knockers going after Left forced into bankruptcy (4,4) BUST (Knockers) after GONE (left). I find answers with lights separated distantly in the grid very tricky and often find myself writing the answer in the wrong spaces – which is a step up from writing the wrong answer in the right place. |
| 9 | HAIRDO | Badenoch’s last broadcast swindle cut (6) [badenoc]H AIR (broadcast) DO (swindle). Second last in but only because I failed to cold solve it and didn’t need to look at it again till right at the end |
| 14 | HYPOTHESIS | Hopes this amendment gets round party’s final proposition (10) (HOPES THIS)* AInd: amendment, around [part]Y |
| 16 | CLOBBERED | Given a beating with clothes on? (9) Double Def one of them slangy – or is it both defs that are slang – or am I imagining slang again? |
| 19 | IN ORDER | Fitting up Cardinal Howard and Cyclops? (2,5) RED (cardinal) RON (Howard) I (Cyclops) all reversed (up) |
| 20 | TODGER | Forget stupidly taking Germany for France, Dick (6) (FORGET -F +D)* AInd: stupidly, D for Germany replacing F for France |
| 21 | PIERROT | Morgan’s ultimately lacking balls – clown! (7) PIER[s] ROT (balls) |
| 23 | LEAKAGE | Ale drunk by king needs to mature? Drip! (7) (ALE)* AInd: drunk, K[ing], AGE (mature) |
| 26 | EAGER | Fervent Conservative right wing’s unrestrained rage (5) [conservativ]E (RAGE)* AInd: unrestrained. |
In the nineteenth century novels were often serialised in parts in magazines.
Just found out that “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens was originally published in two local west country newspapers:
It was the Bicester Times, it was the Worcester Times.
CLOBBERED
Given a beating: Slang/Informal
Is the other part a whimsical def?
UNDERWEAR
Fail to achieve the required amount of sporting Loved it!
Superb blog beermagnet. Thanks a lot!
Thanks for the blog , a bit light on the politics and a bit heavy on the schoolboy smut this time.
CLOBBER is given as slang in Chambers93 for both senses used in the clue, I think the clue is fine both ways.
PHOTOCOPY was nicely deceptive , MAILMAN had a good definition.
Good luck with the hip, the operation does transform lives.
Thanks for the blog. Cleared up some confusions and errors on my part.
One q – in 10a, how do we get from “lost” to just L? Is this a known abbreviation? I couldn’t see any part of the clue indicating to drop letters here.
Other boobs from me were “limp dick” at 1a, which did seem a little strong even for PE, and didn’t fit “Bob” in the clue. And I hallucinated the existence of a Howard Nun to get a maybe-justified “in under”, ‘fitting’ 19d which spoiled my attempts at 24a. Also unsure of deal=wood but scraped through the rest.
I think LOST=L comes from league tables in sports.
Played Won Drawn Lost becomes P W D L .
Re lost: of course. Thanks @Roz.
I parsed 28 as “fail to achieve the required amount” being UNDER, and “sporting” meaning wearing.
Thanks for the blog, beermagnet – I enjoyed the joke at the end.
sw239 @#5: I agree with your parsing for 28 so have editted that wordplay.
KVa @#1: I case it is not clear from other comments – Clobber is slang for clothes
Thanks everyone for the comments.
I’m back home now, newly en-hipped, scoffing painkillers in quantities and often for the next couple of weeks and waiting, waiting for the time I might be able to have a beer again. Also not allowed to drive for 6 weeks, chizz.
Thank goodness for the distraction of puzzles!
Thank you beermagnet. For 15a: ‘Philip reportedly’ = soundalike ‘fillip’: something which acts as a stimulus or boost to an activity.
beermagnet@7 (GET WELL SOON!)
CLOBBERED
clobber=clothes/personal belongings: I have come across this a few times in puzzles. I understood what you and Roz meant. That said, I could not locate ‘to clobber’ meaning ‘to wear clothes’. Therefore, I assumed that the second def was a whimsical one. And still assume it is…
UNDERWEAR
I thought your original parsing was fine. I took the italicised line (without any spli) in my post@1 as UNDER WEAR.
jvector@8
Agree
Me@9
CLOBBERED
Adding something to what said@9:
I am thankful for the responses of Roz and beermagnet. Also, I liked the clue (whether you call it whimsical or cryptic def-the ? in the clue justifies that).
Thanks beermagnet and best of luck with your recovery.
I seem to always mark the schoolboy humour ones as my favourites, 22a made me laugh.
Late thanks beermagnet, agree a great joke, hope the new joint beds in well and you are soon able to toast your improved mobility. I wonder why the Moron was allowed his official surname in 21d? Perhaps going from nickname (which after all is a word in general use and maybe less familiar even to Eye readers than Brian, Brenda etc) to shortened first name was considered too much of a step, a la indirect anagram?
Wishing you a speedy recovery Beermagnet, know is the time to tackle Torquemada.
KVa@9 you are quite right , CLOBBERED does not really mean clothed but it does in a crossword sense and it is the subsiduary part of the clue .
Now I understand that you, beermagnet and I said the same thing in different words. Still, it looked like we were disagreeing…
Blame it on my inadequate expression. I will work on it.
Thanks again.