Paul has gone all-out today with a puzzle where almost every clue has a connection to the UK general election. I suspect that some of the references will baffle non-UK solvers. I found it quite tricky in parts, but satisfying to work out. Thanks to Paul.
| Across | ||||||||
| 7 | MERCURY | Something toxic with Plaid Cymru, and Liz Trussed? (7) ER (“Liz”, the late queen) in CYMRU*, with “Plaid” (tartan) indication the anagram |
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| 8 | CAMERON | Country dispensing with old Conservative PM? (7) CAMEROON less one O |
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| 9 | COKE | Fossil fuel, Rishi’s confessed addiction (4) Double definition, the second referring to the cringeworthy episode where Rishi Sunak was asked what would make people like him more and replied that he had an unhealthy diet including Haribos and Diet Coke |
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| 10 | SPRIGHTLY | Looking to the left, further thought surely vital (9) PS (a further thought) reversed (looking to the left) +RIGHTLY (surely) |
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| 12 | CATTY | Mean Conservative, shabby, premier to go? (5) C + [t]ATTY |
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| 13 | SEVEREST | Needing regeneration, Reeves leading the way – it’s most brutal (8) REEVES* + ST. Rachel Reeves is likely to become Chancellor of the Exchequer |
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| 15 | SNAP | Party seeking Independence Day to wrap up a kind of election (4) A in SNP (party seeking independence) |
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| 16 | CARER | Horrifying thing not having capital for nurse (5) [s]CARER |
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| 17 | ROOF | Foot in door with pained expression, might one be slated? (4) The last letter or “foot” of dooR, plus OOF |
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| 18 | MORDAUNT | Politician snarky in speech? (8) Homophone of “mordant”. Penny Mordaunt, famed for her sword-carrying at the Coronation, is often touted as a possible future Conservative leader |
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| 20 | INDEX | Shower elected, given keys to number ten (5) IN (elected) + D E (two musical keys) + X (10). An index is something that shows, or a show-er |
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| 21 | DIPTEROUS | On two wings, Tories and DUP labouring (9) (TORIES DUP)* |
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| 22 | HA-HA | Trench dug, yah boo sucks! (2-2) Double definition |
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| 24 | CAPTAIN | Leader befitting in marked man? (7) APT in CAIN (as in the Mark of Cain, Gen. 4:15: “the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him”) |
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| 25 | BINFACE | Count endless data on card after opening of ballot (7) B[allot] + INF[o] + ACE (card). Count Binface is a satirical political candidate; in this election he is standing in Rishi Sunak’s constituency |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | PESO | Currency in Europe’s obsolete (4) Hidden in euroPE’S Obsolete |
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| 2 | SCREW TOP | Party held in check, closer? (5,3) CREW (party) + STOP (to check) |
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| 3 | FRISKY | Very exciting tomorrow, something Rishi deprived of? (6) FRI (tomorrow) + SKY (when asked what he had been deprived of as a child, Sunak said “Sky TV”, to derision all round) |
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| 4 | HANGOVER | Tomorrow’s headache, Matt? Member gone and Michael too – Labour’s back! (8) (Matt) HANCOCK less COCK (member) + (Michael) GOVE + [labou]R. Both these tory politicians are not seeking reelection today |
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| 5 | BETTER | What things can only get for Rishi’s campaign official? (6) A reference to the song “Things Can Only Get Better”, used by Labour in the 1997 election, and the dodgy bets on the date of the election placed by officials of the campaign and others |
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| 6 | TORY | Rishi, say, tax-cutting leader of Opposition? (4) O[pposition] “cutting” TRY (to tax) |
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| 11 | RISTRETTO | Reform tries to react, sending those coming in away – certainly not my cup of tea! (9) I interpret this as an anagram of TRIES TO REACT, less EAC, which could be “those coming in” the word REACT |
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| 12 | CONDO | 6 party, flat (5) CON (tory) + DO |
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| 14 | SIOUX | Knack lost by leader on the hustings – tribal language? (5) A homophone combo (“on the hustings”) of “Sunak” less “knack” |
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| 16 | CRUDE OIL | Offensive plugging wind – what’s the alternative? (5,3) RUDE in COIL (to wind) |
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| 17 | RED SHIFT | Astronomical effect in swing towards Labour? (3,5) Double definition |
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| 19 | DEPUTY | Rayner’s moral responsibility with record investment? (6) EP in DUTY. Angela Rayner is deputy leader of the Labour party |
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| 20 | INSTIL | Brainwash, throwing up a little corporal: it’s Nigel! (6) Hidden in reverse of corporaL IT’S NIgel. I’m not sure “instil” and “brainwash” are synonymous, but I’m disinclined to linger over a clue involving the repugnant Mr Farage |
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| 21 | D-DAY | When party leader took eve off? (1-3) ED DAVEY (leader of the Liberal Democrats) less E VE, and a reference to Sunak’s disastrous decision to miss part of the recent D-Day commemorations |
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| 23 | HOCK | Debt: remove lid from jar (4) [s]HOCK |
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I had a sneaking suspicion that this was going to impossible for a non-Brit. No matter. Maybe next time …
Enjoy your election!
Thanks Paul and Andrew
I completely missed some of the references to Rishi’s likes and lacks. I revealed BINFACE – I had never heard of the Count, and the clue didn’t make the answer at all obvious.
A tour de force, but did I enjoy it? I did like CAPTAIN.
Staggering achievement. D-DAY is superb and HANGOVER is hilarious. Could tick them all. I will remember this for a long time to come.
Ta Paul & Andrew.
No, I didn’t enjoy it. Pity, Paul is one of my favourites. I gave up and revealed several.
Thanks to both
Nearly gave up, as I found it very hard, but glad I persevered. I take less interest in politics than I used to (don’t a lot of us?) and thought there’d be things I didn’t know, but in the end everything fell into place and it was satisfying to finish unaided. Many favourites including FRISKY, CRUDE OIL, HANGOVER.
For MERCURY, ‘plaid’ means ‘party’ in Welsh – a better anagrind than ‘tartan’? Maybe not – either is pretty poor IMO. And Liz for the late Queen is somewhat tenuous. Otherwise no real complaints.
Thanks Paul and Andrew.
Very silly but much fun. Love the inclusion of Count Binface.
Very tough especially without Paul’s trademark multi word multi space long clues
Thanks Paul and Andrew
vote early! vote often!
Well done Paul! I hope I’m still laughing tomorrow. And thanks, Andrew.
Perfect for election day. I’ve never heard of Ristretto and Penny gave me the slip but otherwise this was reasonably straightforward. Thanks P and A.
While I am a non-Brit, I have been following the UK election campaign so the GK was fine for me. However, today I realised that I heard nothing about what is happening election-wise in Northern Ireland. At least Paul includes a reference to DUP in the clue for 21ac.
Favourites: FRISKY (good dig at Sunak), HANGOVER, MORDAUNT (because I thought she did seem to be very snarky in the election debate on TV).
New for me: DIPTEROUS, RED SHIFT (astronomy); the story in the Bible about the mark of Cain.
Was not sure how to parse 22ac apart from def = trench; 14d apart from def = tribal language (but that is a rather old-fashioned/passé way of referring to what is now more properly/commonly referred to as Native American nations, not tribes), 20d apart from def brainwash=instil.
I parsed 11d in the same way as Andrew: anagram of ‘tries to react’ less eac (the inner letters of ReacT).
Thanks, both.
The wordplay is clear enough, but I still don’t understand why “what’s the alternative?” is a definition for CRUDE OIL.
gladys @10: I took it that CRUDE OIL is an alternative to wind turbines.
hi gladys@10
I saw 16ac as something like, for those who (go on the offensive to) promote wind energy, the alternative is crude oil.
Yes, that makes sense: thanks everyone.
Some of this was hard work, and must have been near impossible for anyone not au fait with current UK politics. I couldn’t parse SIOUX or D-DAY and took a long time to sort out the anagram for RISTRETTO (Paul likes his coffee, doesn’t he? He’s always cluing various kinds.) But I think one or two bits of awkward cluing are the price to pay for the extreme topicality, and I was pleased to see BINFACE made it into the cast list.
I should have had a double RISTRETTO before attempting this ingenious v-day puzzle.
A few tricky parsings, and I almost hit a red wall, but the overall majority got my vote.
Thanks Paul & Andrew
Clever but trying too hard in some clues, e.g. SIOUX has no homophone indication. Couldn’t parse some and had to reveal others.
I needed help with the parsing of a few – I can now see how good D-DAY is – but I thought this was great fun, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny; I loved HANGOVER, BETTER, MORDAUNT, BINFACE.
As I was solving this I did wonder if the Grauniad had accidentally printed the next Private Eye puzzle – the overt political references, irreverance to self-important figures and *that* use of “member” are al trademarks of PE. Mind you “Liz” would have been “Brenda” in that august journal.
Inevitably some of the answers were a little easy to guess and parse later and the full-on theme meant a few compromises had to be made (“Plaid” as an anagrid – was he thinking of “plait”?). Still, it was enormous fun, superbly constructed and with some real gems. “D-Day” was an exceptional spot and there is editorial balance across the parties. Thank you Paul and Andrew – sorry to the non-UK solvers but I am glad the rest of us got to have a bit of fun.
I suppose “on the hustings’ is a homophone indicator? I think the brilliant clues, which others have already praised, more than make up for any clunkiness elsewhere.
This was chewy but fun. And I really should have got Count BINFACE sooner. Had never heard of a RISTRETTO, not sure I’ve seen it in the standard coffee shops.
Interesting how much of this election was fitted in to this.
Thank you to Andrew and Paul.
Well, that was a stumble through for me. An enjoyable take on the General Election. Liked the Rishi gaffs – Coke, D-Day. Better…
Sadly, my postal vote has not been delivered yet, thus, no vote for me as an ex-pat.
Anyway, many thanks to Paul and Andrew.
Enjoy the day and may the outcome give us hope.
Even for the Grauniad, Andrew’s Farage Derangement Syndrome is a little alarming.
Whole lotta stuff over my head here, the sword carrier, the fictional count, Sunak’s coke habit and his missing D-Day among them. Didn’t matter none, pottered thru, with check button for loi Binface. Hope the poll figures hold up. Thanks PnA.
9a Rish! on COKE: “I’m a Coca-Cola addict, I have seven fillings to show for it,” he said. “But I have one a week now. I’m only allowed one a week. So I’m an enormous Coca-Cola fan. I won’t drink Diet Coke, no Coke Zero, never any Pepsi.”…
Didn’t parse D-DAY, but what a fantastic clue!
Too much use of the crowbar to fit the theme, and some dodgy anagram indicators. Normally a Paul fan, but didn’t enjoy or finish (may be a connection there).
Thanks both.
… oh and I thought I’d heard most of the foody-latre set’s jarg, but ristretto was a newie ..
…He continued: “Actually, my favourite drink is called Mexican Coke. Because you get it and it’s special Coke. It’s the only place in the world where it is made with cane sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup, for the people who are really interested in this kind of thing.”
The bottle says it’s “RETORNABLE”. But that might be quite an expensive process, once you’ve imported it into the UK. Still, he can afford it.
Great puzzle. Thanks P&A
Agree with Auriga@7. Far too many enjoyable clues to list, and I think they have all been ticked in the comments.
Brilliant stuff as expected, with only one schoolboy-ish usage today (member=cock).
LOI MERCURY, once I figured out that Liz was her late maj.
One pedantic point: in 15A I think “a” is not part of the definition as it is what is wrapped up.
Couldn’t parse SIOUX but otherwise loved it. Now to get my ID, pop out to the village hall and see if I can help Jeremy Hunt with a career change…
Very enjoyable puzzle, even with a few quibbles (frisky=exciting?). The clue for D-DAY was inspired and HANGOVER made me laugh. Poor old Keir too boring to get a mention but he’ll have other things on his mind.
Thanks Paul and Andrew.
HANGOVER was truly phenomenal. Matt without member will live long in my memory 🙂
I had to reveal a few, but this was an enjoyable and amusing tour de force.
And (pace Ed@21) I thought Andrew’s comment on 20d entirely fair and reasonable.
As an Antipodean, I don’t mind the fun about the election and the themed crossword at this time. It is a British crossword after all. I realise it might not be so funny if I was there. We do get the news down here, but BINFACE was new to me.
SIOUX I failed to parse. I was trying to work on ‘nous’ for knack with the n missing/lost, and on the hustings as X for votes, as tribal people might do. Would never have thought of ‘on the hustings’ as a homophone indicator.
In electing today’s favourite I’ve stuck to first past the post and duly declare BETTER the winner. Followed closely by HANGOVER & COUNT
For those of you that didn’t enjoy this, take comfort in knowing that things can only get better 🙂
Cheers P&A
Inside ball today but quite a tour de force, including 21 once I read the parsing! Some inclusion clues were clever, but I did blink at several indicators that stretched too far.
As a Yank of long-standing in the UK, today I learned that “bettor” is American spelling (but why, Noah? Why?)
genius
Not just you GDU@1. I have a vote even though I live elsewhere. Haven’t taken any notice of these clowns for years so on to the Indy hoping for light relief.
I bunged in TREAT, for 16a pace Picaroon yesterday, then had to use help to get BINFACE. I then gave up. David Astle eat your heart out. There’s more interesting things to do than this. I don’t know about things getting BETTER.
I totally agree, AlanC@3.
Tough going for a non-Brit who doesn’t know all the names of the players, but possibly the cleverest and funniest cryptic I’ve had the good fortune to wrestle with.
Big thanks to Paul and Andrew. I hope your team wins!
[5d – Northern !rish band D:Ream’s Things Can Only Get BETTER (a UK No. 1 in 1994 (a 30th (Pearl) anniversary))
no longer available to the Labour Party, after Blair and Iraq]
Splendid puzzle. A bit (T)ATTY here and there, but given the pervasive theme it would have been difficult to be otherwise. Presumably Paul dashed this off quite recently and it hasn’t been lying around on the editor’s desk for months on end unlike many offerings.
Lots of clever clues, D-DAY and HANGOVER especially ingenious.
gif @26: RISTRETTO isn’t often seen in establishments catering for the latte set – they prefer their beverages to be well diluted and/or adulterated. But it’s a regular sight in Italian cafés – a ‘restricted’ (ie concentrated) espresso, about 5ml in volume.
Thanks to JH and Andrew
Fantastic. Biggest laugh for the little corporal.
(Minor quibble in that a haha is not really a trench – unless I`m missing something.)
Many thanks to Paul and Andrew.
Fingers crossed.
This was fun. 100% agree with Perfidious Albion @31 about HANGOVER. So Brill. Also liked CAPTAIN, MERCURY (taking Plaid as an archaic form of Played) and HA-HA, a great way to have a boundary without interrupting the view; and it can even be planted with bearberry if you really loathe your neighbours.
Thanks to all, have a good day. Vote. 🖖🏼
This was great fun, if very tricky in places. Did like HA-HA, and when I solved FRISKY it made me smile too, as in my mother’s generation her sister was known to her siblings as this, her forename being Francesca. Lynette known as Linty, Auriol as Podge. Echoes of those old comics such as Bunty and Girl. Anyway, more seriously, a frown with a DNF. As I haven’t been keeping much of a close eye on the Election run up, another unflattering or in this case satirical nickname BINFACE passed me by…
Raised a smile or three! Struggled with some parsing so thank you for this.
I’m usually not the biggest fan of Paul’s puzzles but this was a lot of fun, even if it was incredibly difficult. The commitment to the theme deserves huge applause, and the clues were mostly a ton of fun.
Had to reveal a fair few unfortunately, but of those I was able to solve HANGOVER is by far my favourite of the lot! Great fun for election day, thanks Andrew for the blog!
PESO, BETTER, COKE were my successes.
7a – where does “Trussed” fit in?
13a – how does ST fit in?
24a – I have zero interest/knowledge of the bible – genuine question…are biblical references becoming less relevant/important in today’s society, and, as a result, in crosswords?
20d – is there a hint to this being a reversal?
Steffen @47
“Trussed” is the containment indicator. It tells you that “ER” (from Liz) should be inside the anagram of Cymru, like a body inside a corset.
“ST” is short for “street”, it is indicated by “the way”.
24a you are probably right. I suspect Cain is well-known enough to survive while the likes of Eli are shown the door.
20d the reversal indicator is “up” (only used in a down clue)
Steffen@24 Regardless of the decline of religion/church attendance, the Bible remains a cultural touchstone for Western societies, I think. So I think references such as the mark of Cain, the prodigal son, NT and OT clued as “books”, Noah’s Ark, and other elements that have entered common knowledge will be around for a while yet. However I do think it is time to do away with more obscure stuff such as references to the minor prophets.
Thank you Paul… Great fun. Laughed several times.
Had to reveal a couple and get help with others, but fair play to Paul for an appropriate theme and clever constructions. I probably follow UK politics more than most Americans–was able to work out HANGOVER from Gove and figure out what Paul had done with Han(cock), which seems risqué in a typically Paulian way–but not enough to get the references to Rishi’s proclivities like SKY and COKE, “Things can only get better,” or Ed Davey. And I had been unaware of the schism that forced one of the Lord Bucketheads to remake himself as Count Binface.
Also DNP SIOUX (“on the hustings” seems a bit loose as a homophone indicator, though it was clear from the X) and SNAP (is “Day” part of the definition of SNP–they want an Independence Day?) And in TORY I thought it should really be “leader of the Opposition cutting tax”–I can’t see any way to make “leader of the Opposition” the subject of “cutting.”
Still very clever, ticks for MERCURY, HANGOVER, SCREW TOP, CRUDE OIL, and ROOF for me. Thanks Paul and Andrew.
[I was surprised to see that Mexican Coke is a thing in the UK. I was under the impression that US Coke is made with corn syrup because of our agricultural subsidies, and that everywhere else would use real sugar–but I guess not!]
[This puzzle reminds me that someone who recently did some work with our department is the Akshata Murthy and Rishi Sunak Professor of PPE at a college in California. One of my friends in the UK was looking at her webpage when she was giving a talk there, and was very startled!]
Another Paul crossword I didn’t dislike! Good fun in the main and no sniggering at ladies thingies either. Only one cross reference, which is ok by me. Thanks Paul, and obviously Andrew.
Utter genius! A work for today only, but such an achievement. The cleverness of the surfaces was really distracting, normally I can x-ray them quite quickly but not today.
“D-DAY” was just a fantastic clue.
Tough but fair, if you know your UK politics.
D DAY and INSTIL were great. Completely agree with Jim @32 (re Ed@21) – Andrew got it right.
Thanks Paul and Andrew
As predicted, this was rough sailing indeed here in Chicago. I had to reveal probably about a third of the answers. But then again, I’m not in the target audience. Happy 4th to my compatriots here, happy election day to those for whom that’s true, and happy Thursday to others.
Thanks for the blog , SPRIGHTLY is very neat and I like the appropriate Hitler reference in the clue for INSTIL , D-DAY a very good spot.
I first noticed the ghastly MORDAUNT in the run up to Brexit. Lying about Turkey joining the EU and the UK and other members not having a veto. When given the facts she continued to brazenly lie.
Failed on ‘Mordaunt’ and ‘Ristretto’: not really surprised.
I love ❤️ Paul’s puzzles, this was one of the best.
I’m a bit saturated with politics at the moment (dual UK/FR nationality, so 4 votes in 4 weeks!), but I’ve been following the British news enough to get and parse most of the themesters, although I missed the subtlety of the brilliant eD DAveY stunt. My last one in was MORDAUNT…a real Penny Drop Moment.
[FrankieG @40
D:Ream Northern Irish? Their key board player was (Professor) Brian Cox!]
From Derry/Londonderry affectionately known in NI as Stroke City muffin.
I’m not the world’s greatest Paul fan, but this was superb. Great technical achievement and a good test. FRISKY, HANGOVER and BETTER are all classics.
AlanC@61 , I am glad that somewhere has owned up and taken the blame.
Good stuff indeed – failed on three but no quibbles. Favourites were better, hangover and the reference to the little corporal, Nigel. Hoping things do indeed get better by tomorrow. The first word in clue for 20 across perfectly describes this last gang of buffoons. Thanks Paul and Andrew
Roz @63: 🙂
After many years working the Guardian cryptic crosswords, today’s definitively confirms my view that they are pure parse porn!
What a delight. Like Mandarin@62, I properly chuckled at FRISKY, HANGOVER and BETTER. Thanks to Paul and Andrew.
This was brilliant, and the D-DAY clue is simply genius – cleverer even than what’s in the blog, since its a reference to the _three_ leaders of the three traditional main parties: ED DAVEY, Sunak and the D-Day commemorations, and Starmer’s comments about not working on Friday evenings (reserving them for family time instead).
Loved it!
Hopeless for this Canuck, but reading the blog and comments was pure delight. I got 9a COKE but assumed it was a former cocaine addiction. At least 9 others I either couldn’t get or couldn’t parse, but I thought all of them were excellent for UK solvers – especially the hilarious 4d HANGOVER. Paul really outdid himself with this brilliant puzzle, and Andrew’s blog was excellent as well.
Happy Election Day, folks. I hope the predicted outcome materializes for a rare shift to the left – or even the centre – in today’s world. Things are looking a little more depressing on this side of the pond.
Family visiting so didn’t finish plus have been avoiding news for various reason to say nothing of being in purdah. Those clues I did complete seemed quite brilliant. Will return to it when dust has settled and can properly enjoy puzzle and blog.
I’d wondered if we might get a few topical election day references today, so obviously this more than delivered. One that I took two main attempts at, early morning and then during the evening (what with being at work in person today).
As enjoyable as it was often chewy, but the quality of even the more difficult clues has to be applauded. I didn’t like CRUDE OIL so much, but that’s a very minor quibble indeed.
Took all day, but I had little else to do other than get to the polling station. Thanks Paul for a real tour-de-force. Thanks Andrew for several parsings that defeated me – SIOUX, HA-HA (although I still don’t understand ‘trench dug’ but will go and look it up now), D-DAY and the brilliant CAPTAIN.
And here is the explanation of ha-ha for anyone else who was, like me, intrigued.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/history/gardens-landscapes/what-is-a-ha-ha
Thinking about it again, I have to withdraw my complaint about “tax-cutting leader of the Opposition”; with the hyphen it means the leader of the Opposition is cutting tax, which is what is happening here.
Too hard for this American. I failed to solve three clues and failed to parse about 10.
WAY too hard for an American – took me ages and I still had to reveal five or six clues, and even then, I could not parse them 🙁
Ah, well…
I echo Petert@18
No complaints from me, though one or two parsings less rigorous than I’d expect. (After all, Paul is one of my “top favourites” always and forever!) It was an uplifting and entertaining background solve to the blissful sounds of no politics before 10!
Thanks Andrew – exemplary as ever…
Couldn’t quite finish with a few bits of local knowledge lacking here and there. Some like D-Day I could get guess but couldn’t parse before coming here. Didn’t know about Sunak and Sky news (so called). Nearly has Binface from the word play but was unaware of him. I did think for a moment that Count could be referring to one of the humorous candidates who stand in your elections but didn’t look it up. Would have easily had Mordaunt, but I had ristretto as espresso, so incorrect crosser. Plaid did not strike me as an anagrind, so was totally lost with that one. Very clever crossword.