A highly political puzzle with some great clues.
You could argue that one or two of the definitions were at the outer limit of acceptability (23 and 10 spring to mind), but it was such entertaining stuff that it was forgivable. I liked the clue across the top, which started off looking like something to do with Caribbean countries but turned out to be a pointed message about the US itself under Trump.
| Across | ||
| 1/4 | BANANA REPUBLIC | Controversial Caribbean plan to embrace United States under Trump’s leadership? (6,8) |
| (Caribbean plan)* around U(nited) | ||
| 10 | UROLOGIST | Nervous consultant leaves Tyneside for a job in the private sector (9) |
| [Ne]urolgist – I suppose private referring to private parts. | ||
| 11 | DIVOT | Result of Trump’s weekend ground-breaking activity? (5) |
| CD, I think – ref to Trump’s liking of golf where divots are produced from the club impacting with the ground. | ||
| 12 | FBI DIRECTOR | He’s out exercising terrific bod! (1,1,1,8) |
| (Terrific bod)* – ref to James Comey, who was sacked by Trump in a move not at all related to the investigation into Trump’s links with Russia. | ||
| 13 | TEE | Supporter held up by 23 (3) |
| Hidden, reversed in the answer to 23 down, mEETs | ||
| 14 | LAUGHING STOCK | Clearly amused, handle butt (8,5) |
| Laughing(=clearly amoused) + stock(=handle of some implements like fishing rods). Butt as in “butt of the joke”. | ||
| 18 | SOCIAL SCIENCE | Wracked with colic, Sean Spicer gives up PR for academic study (6,7) |
| (Colic, Sean S[p]ice[r])*. Sean Spicer, if you’ve not heard of him, is Trump’s sometimes inept press secretary. | ||
| 22 | ILL | Unwell, having taken first bit of tablet (3) |
| [P]ill | ||
| 23 | MICKEY MOUSE | 28, my cue to direct Minnie Driver? (6,5) |
| (Eskimo my cue)*, ref to Minnie Mouse, who is Mickey’s girlfriend, although I’m not sure in what context he would be her “driver”. | ||
| 25/26 | WHITE HOUSE LAWN | Grassy area where the President gets shot? (5,5,4) |
| CD – I guess this referring to shot with a camera rather than the more dramatic interpretation. | ||
| 27 | MODESTLY | Fashion model entertained by Stallone, with discretion (8) |
| Mode + T (good ol’ model T) in Sly | ||
| 28 | ESKIMO | One with cold hands inside Kellyanne’s kimono? (6) |
| Hidden in KellyannES KIMOno | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BLUE FILM | In which Bill stripped during sleazy fumble? (4,4) |
| &lit – [b]il[l] in fumble* | ||
| 2 | NAOMI | I complain about Campbell (5) |
| (I moan)< | ||
| 3 | NEOLITHIC | Born ordinary, left India mostly stupid, as from the Stone Age (9) |
| Ne + o(rdinary) l(eft) I(ndia) + thic[k] | ||
| 5 | ESTATES | Swanky homes the length of the Atlantic seaboard (7) |
| E(astern) States | ||
| 6 | UDDER | Republican out of control in part of Jersey? (5) |
| [R]udder, ref of course to Jersey cow. | ||
| 7 | LOVE TOKEN | Barbie’s inscription on romantic gift (4,5) |
| Ken was Barbie’s boyfriend, so she might write “love to Ken”. | ||
| 8 | CUTLER | He has the knives out for smarter Liberal arriviste (6) |
| Cuter with l(iberal) in it, indicated by arriviste. Not sure if there is someone called Cutler in the Trump administrtion – the only one I could find was an American football player called Jay Cutler who endorsed Trump. | ||
| 9 | GIDEON | One delivering the Bible with God in spirit (6) |
| Deo in gin, Gideons being the strange people who leave bibles in hotel rooms. | ||
| 15 | UNSULLIED | Virgin, United in Dulles manoeuvre (9) |
| (U(nited) in Dulles)* | ||
| 16 | OPIUM DENS | Having stirred up demons, I sought oblivion in these places (5,4) |
| (Up demons I)* | ||
| 17 | HEREUNTO | Where UN tomorrow hosts signature to this document (8) |
| Hidden in wHERE UN TOmorrow | ||
| 19 | ALCOHOL | Everyone takes cocaine over heroin over booze (7) |
| All around c(ocaine) o(ver) h(eroine) o(ver) | ||
| 20 | SPED UP | Accelerated special edition of Pixar movie (4,2) |
| Sp(ecial) ed(ition) + Up, a film about a man who manages to elevate his house by tying thousands of balloons to it – I’d advise not trying it yourself. | ||
| 21 | WIGWAM | One going over Trump’s head to get Washington money for basic housing? (6) |
| Wig (something allegedly on Trump’s head) + WA (abbrev for Washington state rather than Washington DC) + m(oney) | ||
| 23 | MEETS | Encounters between Fox and Hunt facilitated by May, perhaps (5) |
| CD, I think – encounters between fox and hunt would be meets – not sure about “facilitated by May”. It could refer to May being a more propitious time for fox hunting but, from what I can gather, the season for the “sport” runs from August to around March. | ||
| 24 | UMAMI | Having a certain taste, Knut’s turned up to support Ms Thurman (5) |
| I’m< after Uma (Thurman) | ||
*anagram
I don’t attempt all the crosswords covered but read some blogs for their considerable entertainment. There are an awful lot of plays on people’s name is this puzzle. Minnie Driver is an actress.
So 23d might be plays on (Liam) Fox, (Jeremy) Hunt and (Theresa) May. Hence the capital letters.
Thanks for blogging, Neal.
A fun and bang up-to-date puzzle from Knut. I enjoyed the Trump references, although didn’t see the sublety of a couple of them until coming here. UROLOGIST I entered without understanding it – I’m sure your parsing is correct, Neal. WHITE HOUSE LAWN was a good clue, if a bit macabre; and I also liked BANANA REPUBLIC.
If I may occupy pedants’ corner briefly, strictly speaking the past tense of SPEED UP is SPEEDED UP; but I think to battle to protect that has all but been lost, so Knut is on safe ground.
Can’t help any further with MICKEY MOUSE or MEETS, I’m afraid.
Bravo, Knut.
Stand-up material of Stand-out quality.
Can someone explain how ‘arriviste’ indicates an inclusion in 8d? Other than that, my parsing and doubts match up with yours Neil.
Thanks, NealH.
I thought this was brilliant – Knut just keeps getting better.
I have ticks all over the place, so will just mention the double one for BANANA REPUBLIC. Some simply hilarious surfaces, particularly UROLOGIST and SOCIAL SCIENCE.
Re 23dn, I think this may be a reference to Theresa May having pledged, if elected, to have a free vote in Parliament re repeal of the fox-hunting ban.
Huge thanks to Knut – I absolutely loved it1
Eileen@5 agree entirely esp re double ticks but I managed to write DOVER and CARVER in-shoulda known better.I’m still chuckling.
Very enjoyable stuff. I flew through most of this yesterday chuckling as I went, though got done by 11a & 8d in the end (I’m a drunkard, Jim, not a golfer!). Loads of topical and fun clueing as ever with my picks of the bunch being the def of 10a, the wordplay of 7d and 1d (natch). Thanks to Knut for the smiles and to Neal for the blog.
Another excellent Knut. As Eileen says, they just keep getting better.
Superb puzzle. Loved the banana republic, Bill’s sleazy fumble and the private sector job especially.
Great puzzle with lots to laugh and smile about.
We guessed 1/4 but couldn’t work out the parsing – an amazing anagram – well done Knut.
An enjoyable end to a very wet Bank Holiday.
Thanks to Knut and NealH.