Cyclops on usual form.
The cast of characters remains pretty constant. Reagan still appearing after all these years. I wonder if Truss will be remembered as long? Maybe she will. We could do with some recompense for the lost billions even if it is just a few shreds of wry humour.
I found the puzzle a bit tricky in places. Solving was steady but I needed a good few crossing letters to get some of those answers. For example I couldn’t see 22a WARMTH at all till the H appeared, and similarly that pesky 24d remained elusive till the end when I had to resort to the “think of any word fitting D-T-” technique.
Favourite clues here are all for their surface readings. I cannot decide between 19a’s suggestion of drug taking in the forces, 14d’s mini-story about 60s hippy chick Cynthia, or 24a’s submissive drip.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 7 | AXLE | Rod‘s bitter about kiss? (4) ALE (bitter) about X (kiss). First one in |
| 9 | NOT TO WORRY | Wot! Tory right shortly on rampage? Never mind (3,2,5) (WOT TORY R[ight] ON)* AInd: rampage. |
| 10/11 | ELECTION GAMBLE | Attempt by his minister to win money from Rishi’s doomed venture? (8,6) Double Def. or is it a simple single cryptic def.? Essentially a statement of fact? |
| 12 | SCANTY | ‘Inadequate‘, read by gutted politician (6) SCAN (read) T[or]Y (politician, gutted) |
| 13 | PROPHECY | Player/ambassador with ‘City doesn’t have it’ prognosis (8) PROP (player, as in rugby union forward) HE (ambassador, His/Her Excellency) C[it]Y |
| 15/17 | STAR SIGN | One of 12 celebs swilling gin (4,4) STARS (celebs) (GIN)* AInd: swilling. |
| 16 | TRUSS | Get knotted, has-been PM! (5) Double Def. |
| 19 | FRACTURE | Crack cocaine introduced by RAF, true? Rubbish! (8) C[ocaine] inside (RAF TRUE)* AInd: Rubbish. |
| 21 | MUTTER | Military’s first out-and-out drone (6) M[ilitary] UTTER (out-and-out) |
| 22 | WARMTH | Cordiality, so battle period not on (6) WAR (battle) M[on]TH (period, not on) |
| 24 | DOMINANT | Like the sadistic sex worker, refrain from draping drippy man around one (8) (MAN)* AInd: drippy, around I (one), all inside (draping) DON’T (refrain) |
| 25 | LACKLUSTRE | Miss sporting result, being dull (10) LACK (miss) (RESULT)* AInd: sporting. |
| 26 | YARN | Long period, drug-free: end of addiction? Don’t swallow it! (4) Y[e]AR (long period, drug free – thus losing the E) [addictio]N |
| Down | ||
| 1 | EXPLICIT | Uncensored clip shot in Exodus (8) (CLIP)* AInd: shot, inside EXIT (exodus) |
| 2 | ENMITY | Bitterness, any time leader goes crazy (6) Edit: Correction ([a]NY TIME)* |
| 3 | STUN | Get confused and balls up (4) NUTS< (balls, up) |
| 4 | GORGEOUS | Stuff America – it possesses nothing attractive! (8) GORGE (stuff), US around O |
| 6 | FROLIC | Such fun for loony left to get in charge! (6) (FOR)* AInd: loony, L[eft] IC (in charge) |
| 8 | ECCENTRIC | Conservative centre destroyed: ineffectual chief heads for way out (9) (C[onservative] CENTRE)* AInd: destroyed, I[neffectual] C[hief] |
| 13 | PAUSE | Touches up in audition break (5) Homophone “paws” HInd: in audition. |
| 14 | HESITANCY | Lack of confidence leads to drugs being taken by Cynthia sadly (9) ES (drugs) inside (CYNTHIA)* AInd: sadly. |
| 16 | TRUTHFUL | Tory leader full of old-fashioned sorrow – not a typical politician’s sort of response? (8) T[ory] RUTHFUL (full of old-fashioned sorrow) |
| 18 | GREENERY | Ray’s alternative input into alternative energy plants etc (8) Edit: Correction. RE from ‘Ray’s alternative’ being the altrnative spelling of the note ‘Ray’ in sol-fa. So then (RE ENERGY)* AInd: alternative. |
| 20 | REAGAN | President managed to get round age difficulty? (6) RAN (managed) around (AGE)* AInd: difficulty. |
| 21 | MEMBER | Cyclops Award presented to right dick (6) ME (Cyclops) MBE (award) R[ight] |
| 23/5 | MAKE ROOM | “Move over!”– US parent going round Korea rudely (4,4) MOM (US parent) (KOREA)* AInd: rudely. |
| 24 | DUTY | Study like crazy to dispense with second job (4) (STUDY – S[econd])* AInd: like crazy. Last one in |
It’s summer! We should all get down on the beach!
It’s shocking what you might see there these days.
When I was there last a man and a woman were having an almighty row, right in front of loads of kids. Drink involved of course. Suddenly the woman smacked the guy in the head and it all kicked off. There was a massive punch-up until someone called the police. This copper turned up and had to take his baton to the man. This idiot just got more angry and managed to get the baton off the cop and began using it on both him and his own wife! Then a crocodile sneaked up and stole all the sausages.
ELECTION GAMBLE
Was looking for a wordplay and then Googled to learn the story. Agree with beermagnet’s comment.
Thanks Cyclops and beermagnet!
Thanks for a great blog, loved the joke but it is a truncheon not a baton .
ELECTION GAMBLE I would say definitely a double definition , actual betting on the date at the bookmakers and gambling with the country .
GREENERY , Ray=RE the alternative note, or the clue does not work.
Another good puzzle, many clever clues.
Thanks beermagnet and Cyclops. Super blog and crossword.
I agree with Roz@2 re GREENERY 18d.
Also I still cannot quite see the double definition 10/11a ELECTION GAMBLE.
For 2d I think ‘leader goes’ refers to the A in ANY. Therefore ([A]NY TIME)* = ENMITY
Reference 2 down what is this word “emnity” cannot find it in my dictionaries should surely be ENMITY.
Franko@3 for ELECTION GAMBLE – Some ministers were caught placing bets on the date of the election when they knew it in advance , so having an election gamble though they knew they could not lose.
Sunak did not need to call an election until January , he gambled on going early in July , a doomed venture.
Thanks Roz for pointing out that ‘Ray’ is the note from sol-fa. I felt that explanation at 18d wasn’t quite right but couldn’t see an alternative.
And Franko for pointing out the wordplay error at 2d. I’m claiming hat as a pure typo.
As for the pronounciation of ENMITY – I am one of those who are apt to swap Ns and Ms – I have to properly think before I say Anenome/Anemone.
[ I considered mentioning the policeman’s truncheon but I thought I would bring the story more up to date. The modern telescopic weapons generally carried nowadays are more often called batons. ]
Thanks,Roz@5. What was throwing me off was I didn’t realise any ministers were involved ‘his minister’. A quick Google has set me right.
Beermagnet @6 I suspected it was just a typo. Cheers Franko
I also resorted to the “think of any word fitting D-T-” technique, but I still can’t make head nor tail of the explanation
(STUDY – S[econd])* AInd: like crazy. Last one in
What does it all mean?!
Keep up the good work, Richard.
@8 Richard,The S from STUDY is removed and the remaining TUDY is an anagram with ‘crazy’ being the indicator to work the anagram out.