A nice solid puzzle in this issue.
Not too hard, except for the last clue – funny how it’s always the last clue solved that’s tricksiest.
Most was filled in on the first pass, but a couple resisted till the end.
In the end the whole thing was done ‘n’ dusted within a half hour so I suppose it counts as one of the easier puzzles overall.
I have a massive sense of deja vu. What’s happening? <shrug> Anyway …
Tricky awarding the “Top Clue” honour.
I was tempted by 24A but the imagery conjured by the surface reading is just too awful.
So it has to be 21A for the not-quite-so-awful imagery. Bishops seem to be capable of anything these days. Times past it was the just diagonal thing.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | APPLAUSE | Cheers when multinational acquires USA resort (8) (USA)* AInd: resort, inside APPLE (multinational) |
| 5 | PATIO | Retiring pensioner welcoming sex in paved area (5) IT (sex) inside OAP< (Pensioner, retiring) First one in. |
| 9/21d | DAILY BREAD | Living provided by Mail? Second-class, awfully dear (5) DAILY (Mail?, as in Daily Heil) B (second class) (DEAR)* AInd: awfully. |
| 10 | OVERSPEND | Pay too much for some lover’s pendant (9) Hidden inside lOVER’S PENDant |
| 11 | TICK OFF | Give a bollocking to Mark (4,3) Double Def. |
| 12 | PROSAIC | Mundane reasons for overturning US agency (7) PROS (reasons for) CIA< (US agency, overturning) |
| 13 | NAPPY | Be very critical about gutless party’s childish habit (5) PAN< (Be very critical, about) P[art]Y |
| 14 | MANIFESTO | Ex-world leader covers up finest broken political promises (9) (FINEST)* AInd: broken, inside MAO (Ex-world leader) |
| 16 | THE SENATE | Neat, these bent politicians – Republicans mainly now (3,6) (NEAT THESE)* AInd: bent. |
| 18 | DROOL | Lord Owen’s initial drunken drivel (5) (LORD + O[wen])* AInd: drunken. |
| 19 | PERTAIN | Apply drug at right time when in agony? (7) E (drug) R[ight] T[ime] inside PAIN (agony) |
| 21 | BELLY UP | Bishop rigged pulley to attain female missionary position (5,2) B[ishop] (PULLEY)* AInd: rigged. |
| 23 | POOR TASTE | Unseemly, shit Republican gets smack (4,5) POO (shit) R[epublican] TASTE (smack) |
| 24 | FLIRT | One who chats up Reform leader in broken-down lift (5) R[eform] inside (LIFT)* AInd: broken down. |
| 25 | RATTY | Democrat-type houses cross (5) Hidden inside democRAT-TYpe |
| 26 | ADULTERY | Mature blend of rye? That’s cheating (8) ADULT (Mature) (RYE)* AInd: blend. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | AUDIT | Check car presented by Treasury head (5) AUDI (car) T[reasury] |
| 2 | PRINCIPLE | Maybe Andrew welcomes island power with liberal rule? (9) PRINCE (Andrew, maybe) with IPL inside, from I[sland] P[ower] L[iberal] |
| 3 | ANYBODY | A New York institution for no one in particular (7) A NY (New York) BODY (institution) |
| 4 | SCOFF | Treasury’s coffers somewhat depleted – gulp! (5) Hidden inside treasury’S COFFers |
| 5 | PUSH OFF | Deal in drugs before sick leave (4,3) PUSH (Deal in drugs) OFF (sick) |
| 6 | THETA | Energy hoarded by that bastard character (5) E[nergy] inside (THAT)* AInd: bastard. |
| 7 | OLD SCHOOL | Eton, for many a peer getting on coach (3,6) OLD (getting on) SCHOOL (coach) |
| 8 | RESPONSE | Unstable person taking drugs, making comeback (8) (PERSON)* AInd: unstable, around ES (drugs) |
| 13 | NOTEPAPER | Peter Pan’s bollocks, containing nothing that would be of use to a writer (9) (PETER PAN + O (nothing))* AInd: bollocks. |
| 14 | MEANNESS | Ann Widdecombe finally in the shit, spiteful thing (8) ANN [widdecombe]E in MESS (the shit) Last one in. No particular reason, except not wishing to dwell on the surface reding too long |
| 15 | STORYLINE | Plot involving Sun and Conservative way of doing things (9) S[un] TORY (Conservative) LINE (way of doing things) |
| 17 | EXACTLY | Just once, behave extremely lousily (7) EXACT (behave) L[ousil]Y |
| 18 | DOLEFUL | Dreary Adolf, not one to get involved with EU left (7) (ADOLF – A + EU L[eft])* AInd: invovled. |
| 20 | ROOST | A place to sleep or maybe love, by the way (5) (OR)* AInd: maybe, O (love) ST (the way, street) |
| 22 | Strokes bottom of Tory scapegoat (5) PUTT (strokes) [tor]Y Def. Scapegoat? It think it is that a scapegoat can be moulded, like putty, into whatever is necessary to satisfy the powers that be Edit: Gah! PUTTY is wrong. It’s PATSY as Franko says at comment #1 PATS (strokes) [tor]Y I think of that as a very American term |
|
I usually put a joke at the end of the Eye blog.
Last time I left it up to the commenters to supply the chuckles, which worked quite well, but I can’t do that all the time, but I still haven’t got anything good enough. My list of crap jokes look very poor.
But wait! Why not make a “match the joke to the jokester” quiz of it …
Here are five one-liners from the Edinburgh Fringe from many years ago.
Jokes:
1. I was raised as an only child, which really annoyed my sister.
2. My mum’s so pessimistic, that if there was an Olympics for pessimism she wouldn’t fancy her chances.
3. I saw a documentary on how ships are kept together. Riveting!
4. You know you’re working class when your TV is bigger than your book case.
5. Last night me and my girlfriend watched three DVDs back to back. Luckily I was the one facing the telly.
Comedians who said ’em
A. Tim Vine
B. Stewart Francis
C. Will Marsh
D. Nish Kumar
E. Rob Beckett
I will reveal who said what (e.g. A1, B2 etc.) in a couple of days.
Please don’t make guesses in the comments just for this. It’s only a bit of fun. (Ed: In’t that what crosswords are?)
Thanks beermagnet and Cyclops. Love the jokes at the end.
For 22d I had PATSY. Strokes =PATS + Y (bottom of Tory). PATSY = Scapegoat.
I remember struggling to parse 17d and 23a but got there in the end. I had marked 21a as my fave also for its cheekiness.
Parsed 8d RESPONSE with “making” a link word; definition just “comeback” — 17d EXACTLY: Definition = “Just”; once = EX. — 22d is PATSY, as Franko@1
Thanks for the blog and the jokes , must admit I do not know any of the comedians , I sound like a high-court judge .
I agree with Franko and Frankie for various bits.
Very good set of clue but not quite so political . ROOST seemed a bit odd with an anagram for OR .
22 dn is v poor. A Putt is only one stroke not some strokes. and how is putty ever a scapegoat or a scapegoat putty?
Oh dear. I got that scapegoat completely wrong. I wonder who I can blame …
I know! The proofreader, or rather the lack of one.
Thanks Franko
And FrankieG: I also agree with you. I corrected those couple of overenthusiastic underlinings
Croc@4 the answer is PATSY , see Franko@1.
Beermagnet has just made a slip , we all do it . In fact it is surprising how few errors there are in the blogs.
LOVED this!
Best, by far, is NOTEPAPER – with PATSY and NAPPY as close runners-up.
Thank you beermagnet for the jokes and the explanations, thanks to Cyclops for another stunning crossword
Thanks Frankoe & Roz
PATSY is fine
My favourite Tim Vine:
I went on one of those “once in a lifetime“ holidays. Never again!
As promised, the answer to the “who said what one-liners” quiz:
1. I was raised as an only child, which really annoyed my sister.
C. Will Marsh
2. My mum’s so pessimistic, that if there was an Olympics for pessimism she wouldn’t fancy her chances.
D. Nish Kumar
3. I saw a documentary on how ships are kept together. Riveting!
B. Stewart Francis
4. You know you’re working class when your TV is bigger than your book case.
E. Rob Beckett
5. Last night me and my girlfriend watched three DVDs back to back. Luckily I was the one facing the telly.
A. Tim Vine
And I agree with Admin – you can’t beat Tim Vine for one liners