What we expect from Knut nowadays: a very pleasant solve and nothing very controversial I think.
There are many references to people, some of whom were unknown to me, to my embarrassment. Whether this somehow establishes a theme I’m not sure.
| Across | ||
| 1 | LAW LORDS | Western dollars corrupted Dacre’s “Enemies of the People” (3,5) |
| (W dollars)* — referring to this | ||
| 5 | DISARM | Remove gun from Detective Inspector (Special Branch) (6) |
| DI s arm | ||
| 10/11 | POLLING STATION | Revolting, sickly, nasty smell about TV channel in the home of democracy? (7,7) |
| (ill)rev. in pong, then station [= TV channel] | ||
| 12 | EQUIP | Supply election’s first gag (5) |
| e{lection} quip | ||
| 13 | NOT SO MANY | Relatively few around November said “that’s a lie, Prime Minister” (3,2,4) |
| “Not so, May” around N | ||
| 14 | PLUS CA CHANGE | Karr saw Baron Cohen taking Charlie in dive (4,2,6) |
| plu(S(c)acha)nge — the Karr reference is to someone I didn’t know and do now — saw as in saying, motto | ||
| 18 | SNAP ELECTION | Political gambit gets Latinos furious with Pence (4,8) |
| (Latinos Pence)* — Mike Pence, VP | ||
| 21 | UNPOPULAR | A bit like Corbyn, Ron Paul up for revolution (9) |
| (Ron Paul up)* — is it referring to him? | ||
| 23 | ETUDE | Notes written to help Gertrude, stripped of German rights (5) |
| {G}e{r}t{r}ude | ||
| 24 | GNOCCHI | Typical primo/starter for Cheech and Chong, going out to get Italian (7) |
| (C{heech} Chong)* I — &lit. I think — what a lot of people there are in this crossword — here are some more that I’m afraid I’d never heard of | ||
| 25 | OLD NICK | One in torment over Liberal Democrat Clegg (3,4) |
| o LD Nick — Nicholas Clegg — I’m a bit unclear about the definition here: presumably it refers to the devil, but why is the devil one in torment? The devil is one who torments people, surely? Perhaps there is some nuance that I’m missing. | ||
| 26 | DINING | Row in government at table (6) |
| din in G | ||
| 27 | STUMBLED | Son fell, having tripped (8) |
| s tumbled | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | LAPPED | Where Hollywood’s rising star Johnny drank (6) |
| LA [Where Hollywood’s = Where Hollywood is] (Depp)rev. | ||
| 2 | WALRUS | Russia supports Trump’s unfinished construction project; that’ll show Tusk! (6) |
| Wal{l} Rus — ref. Trump’s plan to build a wall between the USA and Mexico — and also ref Donald Tusk — a walrus has a tusk | ||
| 3 | ON IMPULSE | Spontaneously translated “em, upsilon” (2,7) |
| (em upsilon)* — my guess is that this was a hurried late amendment, since it’s rather an obvious anagram | ||
| 4 | DIG ONES HEELS IN | English no 1 seed desperate to put up a strong defence (3,4,5,2) |
| (English no I seed)* — very pleasant anagram which fits well into the surface | ||
| 6 | IDAHO | Plaid a “hopeless case” for part of the Northwest (5) |
| (Plaid)* [or, as is more likely, hidden in PlaID A HOpeless. Thanks Rullytully@1] | ||
| 7 | AVIFAUNA | The local birds stripped David Stubbs; nothing whatsoever covered! (8) |
| ({D}avi{d} FA Una) — Una Stubbs — I don’t think that David Stubbs (the music jounalist?) is someone I should have heard of | ||
| 8 | MONEY MEN | Knut’s chaps engage individual bankers (5,3) |
| m(one)y men | ||
| 9 | AS IT MAY TURN OUT | One possible scenario: “it’s a poor participation rate” Theresa admitted (2,2,3,4,3) |
| ((it’s a)* turnout) round May | ||
| 15 | HOOVER DAM | Wall of Jericho over damp-course (6,3) |
| Hidden in JericHO OVER DAMp — the hidden indicator ‘course’ | ||
| 16 | ASSUAGED | Having calmed down, name-dropper Julian welcomes United director (8) |
| Ass(U)a{n}ge d | ||
| 17 | CAMPTOWN | Gay community synonymous with race relations? (8) |
| camp [= gay] town — ref the song ‘Camptown Races’ — not everyone would agree that camp = gay, indeed some gays would say that to equate them is to misrepresent gayness in a harmful way, but in a crossword perhaps it’s close enough … not sure | ||
| 19 | BURIAL | Ives holding first-class return for last service (6) |
| Bur(1A)l, the (1A) being (A1)rev. — this reference is to Burl Ives (not Charles, as I originally suspected) | ||
| 20 | LEAKED | Gave story to the media, though not watertight (6) |
| 2 defs | ||
| 22 | PECAN | Write cover for California classic American Pie (5) |
| pe(Ca)n | ||
*anagram
I’d not heard of those people either, plus Julian Assange, but gettable from the cluing.
I think 6d is a hidden answer and not an anagram.
Thanks to s & b.
Thanks for parsing Avifauna. On the whole very enjoyable but I think 17 down is just wrong.
Thanks Rullytully@1. You’re probably right. Blog amended.
Karr didnt ring a bell but the clue was perfect and now we know.
Great fun as usual.
Thanks, John.
Another brilliant puzzle from Knut, with many wry topical references [I didn’t know Karr, either, though]. Favourite clues: LAW LORDS, NOT SO MANY, WALRUS and AS IT MAY TURN OUT.
The anagram fodder for 18ac is LATINOS PENCE.
Many thanks, Knut – most enjoyable.
Most enjoyable for the most part though failed miserably not knowing Burl Ives and having a blank moment with the definition.
I agree, John, re the rather obvious anagram in 3D. Indeed I couldn’t see why Knut didn’t attempt to throw one off the scent a tad with ” Mu, Epsilon. Greek letters both and possibly a better surface when using ‘translated’ as the anagrind.
Thanks for the explanations, John, and the links. I hadn’t heard of most of the protagonists, either, and I’d forgotten Ms Stubbs.
By the way, your parsing gives FUNAA. I think “covers” in this case means “is on top of” rather than “envelops”.
Thanks to John for the blog and to those who have been kind enough to comment. My original clue for ON IMPULSE was “Spontaneously covered piano with red emulsion” which Eimi quite rightly rejected on the grounds of a dodgy anagrind (it is in the Chambers list but I don’t know why either).
@jmac
I’m away from home but I am pretty sure that my use of camp is supported by Chambers 13th edition. I’m well aware that language in this area is sensitive and it wasn’t my intention to offend ; sorry if I failed here.
Warmest regards,
Rob /Knut
Not sure I follow @7Stella Heath. I think the parsing of 7D is {d}AVI{d} ie David stripped + UNA (Stubbs) with FA (nothing at all) covered (between them); which I think is what John meant, despite the typo.
This was one of some very clever clues, along with 13A, 14A, 4D, 9D.
Wonderful stuff from Knut.
As for 17D, I suppose the next thing is we’ll get a complaint about “bullying”. IMHO, entirely unexceptionable.
Phew, another gem from Knut. Thanks for the blog John.
Cheech and Chong: the man’s range of references is remarkable!
I will admit to owning a DVD of Graham Chapman’s film ‘Yellowbeard’ where they make a cameo appearance.
Thanks for dropping by Baerchen. My issue with 17down is merely to do with equivalence: not all camp people are gay, and not all gays are camp.
Thanks for pointing out the usual slips in 18ac and 7dn, Eileen, Stella Heath and gwep. Blog yet again amended.
I still don’t know who Karr is in 14a – would someone enlighten me please?
@vicky
Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr said “plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose”, helpfully translated by John bon Jovi as “the more things change the more they stay the same”
Great stuff, I did this on the train on the way to the London crossword meeting yesterday, which was very enjoyable (both the crossword and the meeting!).
I didn’t recognise Karr and Stubbs but still managed to fill the grid.
Many thanks Knut and thank you John
Did this one last night but forgot to comment on it. For me, not as difficult as some of Knut’s recent ones but as always topical and full of wit and invention.
Thanks to Knut and John
Wot Beery @16 said (except I did it today after being at the Times do in that London yesterday).