Who do we think the wastrel is? Maybot, BoJo, Trump itself? Too many to choose from
Solving kicked off from the right had side but only resulted in about 10 in at the end of the first pass. I’m not sure if this indicates the puzzle was harder than usual – probably just me having an off day. I left it till the following day then enjoyed finishing it off.
As usual, Cyclops’s clues lead precisely to the answer while providing the occasional chuckle for the surface reading, e.g. 1 Across. However I wish he would broaden his range of “targets” – I am getting thoroughly sick of Trump both in the real world and crosswords.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | GO WHISTLE | Boris’s over-hasty ejaculation, making love with legs tangled (2,7) (O (love) WITH LEGS)* AInd: tangled. The definition references one of Boris many absurd utterances < Guardian article link> This blog comes out just as BoJo is making another damaging bid for power. Why don’t we treat him as the howling toddler he his and ignore him. |
| 6/23 | DEATH KNELL | Sombre toll when the Klan led astray (5,5) (THE KLAN LED)* AInd: Astray. First one in from the gentle anagram |
| 9 | VIRUS | Little woman runs American computer attacker (5) VI (little woman) R[uns] US (American) |
| 10 | BE ADVISED | Very into novel ideas in the sack? Take heed (2,7) V[ery] inside (IDEAS)* AInd: novel, all inside BED (the sack) |
| 11 | WASTREL | Used to be Trump’s main Republican (“The Mexican is a good-for-nothing“) (7) WAS (used to be) T[rump] R[epublican] EL (The, Mexican) |
| 12 | UNDERGO | Endure less than ‘exit’ (7) UNDER (less than) GO (exit). |
| 13 | YANKEE | American: one’s who been pulled? (6) Double Def., one of them a squiffy def |
| 15 | STOCKIST | Dealer sticks to diddling (8) (STICKS TO)* AInd: diddling |
| 18 | REBUTTAL | Contradiction leads to arse being encased in concrete (8) BUTT (arse) inside REAL (concrete) |
| 22 | SHACKLE | Penetrating second male, sadly lack restraint (7) (LACK)* AInd: sadly, inside (penetrating) S[econd] HE (male) |
| 24 | ABRIDGE | America’s chief needs link to “remove some text” (7) A[merica] BRIDGE (link) |
| 26 | RENDERING | Wall to wall cover-up, maybe, in which the CIA’s an expert (9) Double Def. One referring to rendering as in plastering, the other referring to the CIA’s activities contrary to international law. |
| 27 | PIVOT | With beer gut overflowing, Cyclops has almost to swivel (5) I’V[e] (Cyclops has, almost) inside POT (beer gut) |
| 28/19 | MORAL DEFEAT | Descriptive of May’s election victory? May’s first sort of examination of French achievement (5,6) M[ay] ORAL (sort of examination) DE (of, French) FEAT (achievement) |
| 29 | TENNESSEE | May’s number taken by Elliot and leaders of every European state? (9) TEN (May’s Number, in Downing St.) NESS (Elliot, ref. Elliot Ness, untouchable, Wiki Link ) E[very] E[uropean] |
| Down | ||
| 1 | GIVE WAY | We six, up for inclusion in camp break (4,3) WE VI (six) All reversed, inside GAY (camp) |
| 2 | WORMS | Mean people’s diet famously associated with this place (5) Double Def. one of them from O-Level history (Diet of Worms, Wiki Link ). Sadly I didn’t do well in that, probably explains why this was the Last One In. |
| 3 | INSURGENT | Trendy sex impulse isn’t half revolting (9) IN (trendy) S[ex] URGE (impulse) [is]NT |
| 4 | TYBALT | Romeo hater, disheartened Conservative, upset opposition and Theresa’s lead (6) T[or]Y LAB< T[heresa], and now O-Level English Lit. getting a workout |
| 5 | EVACUATE | First Lady accepts (a) Trump’s heart is in pussy – that’s clear (8) (A) [tr]U[mp] inside CAT (pussy) all inside EVE (first lady) |
| 6/25 | DAVID DAVIS | Government negotiator “dead keen”, said collapse entails “victory” (5,5) D[ead] AVID (keen) (SAID V[ictory])* AInd: Collapse |
| 7 | ASSERTIVE | Opinionated fool, ever excited about getting it up (9) ASS (fool) IT< inside (EVER)* AInd: excited |
| 8 | HIDEOUT | Skinner’s thing: “Off with you! Retreat!” (7) HIDE (skinner’s thing) OUT! (off with you!) |
| 14 | NO-BRAINER | Underwear off, given free rein – it’s obvious what you should do (2-7) NO BRA (underwear off) (REIN)* AInd: free |
| 16 | CHERRY PIE | The woman’s covered in blubber (Penny, that is) – too much of this? (6,3) HER (the woman’s) inside CRY (blubber) P[enny] I.E. (that is). The clue is a near &Lit having an extended definition |
| 17 | FACELIFT | Wrinkly’s remedy? Mug up (8) FACE (mug) LIFT (up). This blog took hours because at this point the answer reminded me of the Soft Machine track “Facelift” and I found it on YouTube from a French TV programme I’d never seen before together with several hours of similar content. Oh well – lawn just had to remain unmown. |
| 18 | ROSTRUM | Tip of stake stuck in bollocks, strange position for the Speaker (7) S[nake] inside ROT (bollocks) RUM (strange) |
| 20 | THEATRE | Theresa, unstable – time for second drama (7) (THERESA -S +T)* AInd: unstable. Swap T[ime] and S[econd] |
| 21 | BANG ON | Roger wants ball (new)? Exactly (4,2) BANG (roger) O (ball N[ew] |
I’m not finding much funny lately. I’ll continue looking for a joke …
Fortunately I’d encountered the Diet of Worms in a recent FT; I failed to solve it there, but got the answer from this very site a few weeks ago and it stuck long enough to help me here.
Thanks beermagnet and Cyclops.
AInd, can you explain this acronym? Are there any others that you use? I have just started doing the Eye Crossword, completed 609, with a little help.I complete the Daily Express Crusader Crossword every day, and have won it 3 times, in the 3 consecutive years I won the £100,I did the crossword every day of the year that the newspaper was published, just shows how difficult it is to win.I only buy the paper for the crossword, the paper itself is a glorified adult comic haha.
Eye Crossword,my initial impression- political, rude, 2 new words discovered, uxxxxxxx and sxxxxx, and a common crossword solution dxxxxxxxx ( seen many times before ). I like your analysis of the answers, it is very helpful. I wish someone would do the same for the Crusader, very occasionally, I solve a clue but do not understand how it works, recently there was one about draining or drainage,and I could not work out how the answer was arrived at. The Answerbank is helpful, and I use it sometimes. Keep up the good work! There used to be a guy called Brian (died recently), who completed the Crusader, Private Eye and Sunday Express Skelton crosswords for many years, and he always published the solutions to all 3 on a regular basis, also the Daily Express Big Monday. I still can’t do The Skeleton yet, have tried, and will devote more time to it in the future. I’m not that keen on General Knowledge crosswords, since they just involve using Google, I used to do the ST General Knowledge Crossword, in the Newspaper ( probably the most difficult of all), extremely obscure answers, every Sunday, but don’t do it now, ATB Andrew
Edited by Admin to remove spoilers.
Andrew @2
To answer your question – AInd is an abbreviation used by some of the bloggers here, standing for anagram indicator.
To give you some advice – the rest of your contribution includes two spoilers for the current Eye crossword. This is completely out of order (contrary to the rules of this site!) for a prize crossword that is still open for entries. I hope that the moderators are paying attention!
John E I plead ignorance of the rules, since to be frank ,I have not read them, I surely will now, and it will never happen again. Many thanks for pointing out my egregious error ATB Andrew