Private Eye has a number of parts that have provided solid amusement for many years decades. I always find a handful of cartoons that catch my funny bone. Of course there are the serious sections too, but other long standing humorous sections that somehow keep delivering include Colman CommentatorBalls and Look-a-likes.
Another is the Eye crossword.
Solving was fun and seemed to go quite fast. It wasn’t going to break any speed records but I was on course for a coveted ‘one-pass’ solve but fluffed it in the closing straight by whacking in the wrong old rocker at 6d. The way it went I filled in the grid from top left anticlockwise, so ended up with a final Y for 6d and could think of no other than the “Father of Rock ‘n Roll” himself. That stopped me solving the rest of the top right corner and when dotted the last clue read I still had half a dozen unsolved.
It didn’t take long to realise what was wrong when starting the second pass – 5a was clear from the wordplay and when you get the right kind of “rings” – so another Rock ‘n Roll pioneer had to be sought. Still. A very pleasant half hour with just one, the LOI (Last One In), that needed longer, 9d.
For 9d I needed all 3 checkers to spot the herb that fitted and think it must be right. After all nothing else fits surely.
It took “reverse thinking” of the wordplay to see the R can swap with I to make another word/name.
[ Did anyone else get a weird feeling when solving 4d? Rachel Reeves is Chancellor of the Exchequer. It’s in the Eye crossie – it wasn’t a dream after all. ]
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | MINISTRY | Little attempt to restrict second government department (8) MINI (Little) TRY (attempt) around (to restrict) S[econd] |
| 5 | CHIMES | Chief, Cyclops is linked to drugs rings! (6) CH[ief] I’M (Cyclops is) ES (Drugs) |
| 10 | MANIC | Roman ice houses – hysterical! (5) Hidden in roMAN ICe HInd: houses. |
| 11 | CHALLENGE | Labour leader eagerly starts wearing shift for a dare (9) L[abour] L[eader] E[agerly] inside (wearing) CHANGE (shift) |
| 12 | NAYSAYERS | Those who oppose any moves against speakers (9) (ANY)* AInd: moves, SAYERS (speakers) |
| 13 | YIELD | Lammy’s latest lie about Department’s return (5) [lamm]Y, (LIE)* AInd: about, D[epartment] |
| 14 | UNPAID | Pun about helper working as a volunteer? (6) (PUN)* AInd: about, AID (helper) |
| 16 | PENSION | Penis somehow working, for which granddad is grateful? (7) (PENIS)* AInd: somehow, ON (working) |
| 20 | IMITATE | Cyclops’s sex with fed – “Ape!” (7) I’M (Cyclops’s) IT (sex) ATE (fed) |
| 21 | ON CALL | Biden finally steps into local mess: “Always ready to do duty” (2,4) [bide]N inside (LOCAL)* AInd: mess. |
| 24 | AMONG | In the middle of one, Gnome all but flips (5) A (one) GNOM[e]< |
| 26 | REALISTIC | Hard-headed Republican elicits a reaction (9) R[epublican] (ELICITS A)* AInd: reaction. |
| 28 | SKINFLINT | Second family, fine material for Scrooge (9) S[econd] KIN (family) FLINT (fine material) |
| 30 | MAYHEM | Ex-PM’s on edge – chaos! (6) MAY (ex-PM, Theresa May) HEM (edge) |
| 31 | PREDATOR | Tear drop shed for Al-Fayed type? (8) (TEAR DROP)* AInd: shed. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | MOMENTUM | Left wing group has little time to take on males heading corporation (8) MO (little time) MEN (males) TUM (corporation) |
| 2/29 | NANNY STATE | Condition added to butter by overprotective government (5,5) STATE (condition) after NANNY (butter, i.e. a goat) |
| 3 | SOCIALIST | Supposedly like Starmer‘s party, it’s pathetic! (9) SOCIAL (party) (IT’S)* AInd: pathetic. |
| 4 | RACHEL | Chancellor’s first real cock-up: restricting child reduction (6) (REAL + CH[ild])* AInd: cock-up. The chancellor’s first name |
| 6 | HOLLY | Rock ‘n roll pioneer Bush? (5) Double Def. Ref. Buddy Holly. I put in [Chuck] BERRY first who was the first to spring to mind fitting the final Y I had, and you get berries on bushes. (Besides, round here we have mainly holly trees) |
| 7 | MINNESOTA | State of inmates on getting pissed (9) (INMATES ON)* AInd: getting pissed. |
| 8 | STEADY | Secure each day in the pen (6) EA[ch] D[ay] inside STY (the pen) |
| 9 | PARSLEY | Herb‘s an old crown loyalist, one turned republican (7) PAISLEY (old crown loyalist, Ref Ian P) with I (one) changed to R[epublican] LOI Tricky wordplay |
| 15 | POMPOSITY | Arrogance of Post Office managerial head so perverse in sorrow (9) P[ost] O[ffice] M[anagerial], SO< in PITY (sorrow) |
| 17 | SUN-KISSED | Description of tropical island that gets tabloid smacked (3-6) SUN (tabloid) KISSED (smacked) |
| 18 | STEROID | Orbiter leader dropped drug (7) [a]STEROID |
| 19 | ALL CLEAR | Reassuring signal – nothing dirty! (3,5) Double Def. |
| 22 | HANSOM | Son, wallowing in hock, gets a cab (6) (SON)* AInd: wallowing, inside HAM (hock) |
| 23 | MARTYR | Political commentator traps disheartened Conservative who got stoned? (6) T[or]Y (Conservative, disheartened) inside (trapped by) MARR (ref. Andrew Marr, political commentator) |
| 25 | GAFFE | House before Yvette’s last clanger (5) GAFF (House, a bit slangy) [yvett]E |
| 27 | TRACT | Plot to upend vehicle in races (5) CAR< in TT (races) |
Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
FRANKLIN P JONES
Haley, as in Bill Haley and his Comets, also fits for 6D. Being earlier, arguably more of a pioneer?
Not a bush though! Holly it is…
Thanks, beermagnet, for another entertaining blog. I also made the same mistake on 6d, putting in Berry instead of Holly. Top right corner in my copy looks a bit of a mess now. Less smut in this one than we are used to, but some nice clues – favourite was 31a.
Thanks beermagnet and Cyclops. I must admit I certainly took longer than 30 minutes to solve this one. 9d was also my LOI because of the difficulty in ‘parsleying’ it. Got there in the end though after much head scratching.
Thanks Beermagnet, another fine blog.
I agree with #3 sw239 less smutty than the previous but I think a fortnight ago was ***** 5 star.
28a Skinflint. Flint is F(ine) + Lint (material).
1d Momentum; had forgotten about this group. Hadn’t missed them though….
I didn’t fall into the Holly/Berry trap – but I did confidently bung SUN-BEATEN in for 17d (it fitted and parsed okay, I thought) then took quite some time before I twigged that this was the cause of my problems with surrounding clues…
Hey ho.
Thanks Beermagnet for a fun blog!
Come back Roz eh?
At least this thread weeds out the namby-pambies.
AndyF
No I don’t miss Momentum either, but it wasn’t their policies- centrist by Scandinavian standards – but their non-collegiate attitude towards the rest of their party.
Very late to the party, but I’m case anyone’s still here – for 2d/29 can anyone give me a phrase where NANNY and BUTTER could be used interchangeably? I had this one pencilled in from the get-go from the definition but still can’t see how your but works, even after breaking out the thesaurus.
Thanks for the blog, as ever 😀
@9 Saaaaam……not the yellow fatty butter….think that a goat will butt you with her head!!!!
A nanny goat might be a head butter
Even later to the party. I was on holiday, and the Eye was waiting for me on the doormat when I got back. For 6d, not only BUDDY, HOLLY, CHUCK, BERRY, but also DYLAN fitted, as I only had the central L to help me. I thought I would check later whether dylan is the name of a type of bush, perhaps in the Australian outback (and also whether Bob Dylan was actually a Rock ‘n Roll pioneer!)