[New comment layout] - details here
I expect there’s a fair bit of copper in one of Brenda’s crowns too.
Intro joke: What’s green and misty? (ans below)
Let’s get stuck into the detail:
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | CASUAL (USA)< (America’s comeback) inside CAL (state of Arnie) |
| 4 | STUART U (posh) inside START (surprise) Def. Royal family. I really liked this clue: Royal family’s surprise taking in of Posh? (6) |
| 9 | EPIC PI (Goody-goody) inside EC (City area) |
| 10 | DRUG PUSHER CD Dope is sometimes called shit (mind you, anything and everything seems to be called shit at some time). |
| 11 | DEFECTOR DEFEC[a]TOR |
| 12 | EXPERT [th]E (end of the) X (times) PERT (Neat) Def. Ace! |
| 13 | CHARMER H[ard] ARM (member) E[cstasy] all inside C[ondo]R |
| 17 | SHOW (WHO’S)* AInd: ballsed up |
| 18 | FELT TIP FELT (fondled) TIP (end) |
| 20 | STUDIO STUD (sexual athlete) I[n] O[utrageous] First one I got |
| 22 | ALFRESCO (FLARES)* AInd: ghastly; then CO (firm) |
| 24 | PRIVATE EYE CD/DD in inimitable Eye style. I needed an embarassingly large number of crossing letters before the penny dropped on this one. Thus “best clue award” goes here: A dick you’re holding? (7,3) |
| 25/15 | STEP DOWN STEP (measure) DOWN (fed up) |
| 26 | CANADA (AC)< (Bill back) (AND)* AInd: screwing; [Monic]A Classic Cyclops subject matter for a clue |
| 27 | HARD-ON HARD (difficult) ON (performing) |
| Down | |
| 1 | COPPER DD old boiler and PC. When I was tiny I remember granny boiling up the copper on washday. (“Don’t forget the packet of ‘Blue‘” What the hell was that stuff?) |
| 2 | SACRED COW SAC (bag) RED (scarlet) COW (woman who’s objectionable) |
| 3 | AUDIT AUDI (car) T[ories] |
| 5 | TOP SECRET (PRESCOTT + E)* AInd: confused. As the “E” was given by just “direction” it was tricky to know exactly what to use for the anagram fodder |
| 6 | AESOP A[rcher] (POSE)< Have I parsed this clue right? ‘Fabulous author’ Archer’s chief affectation, doing a U-turn (5) |
| 7 | THE CROWN DD “Brenda symbolically” and “tender? Not any more”. The most recent crown was the Churchill Crown and according to this link it continues to be legal tender, i.e. worth 5s = 25p which is just as well as there were so many made they are not the collector’s items that people might think and are typically worth, er, about 25p. [Insufficient space for beermagnet’s brother’s Churchill Crown anecdote.] |
| 8 | SUPREME LEADER (PERSUADER)* AInd: useless; around MELE[e] (a muddled bunch endlessly). The Def. “Our Gordon” refers to Eye’s characterisation of GB in the context of their page “Prime Ministerial Decree issued by the Supreme Leader” |
| 14 | AFFRONTED [s]AFFRON (Sun abandoned yellow) TED (Mr Heath) |
| 15 | DEPRESSED PRESS (newspapers) inside DEED (action). A clue construction I’ve often seen for this answer, and as such it gave me a real “Doh!” moment as it was the last answer I entered, so it must’ve fooled me the first few times I read it. |
| 16 | RHETORIC (CHERI[e] ROT)* AInd: nonsensical |
| 19 | SCREEN C[onservative] R[ight] inside SEEN (viewed) Def. trustworthiness test |
| 21 | DEVON (ONE VD)* AInd: racked |
| 23 | FREDA F (DEAR)* AInd: off |
Joke ans: Kermit the fog!
Another excellent blog. I agree with your “best clue award”, it made me chuckle when I (eventually) filled it in.
24A absolutely did not work for me, doing the electronic version.
Could some kind soul ease my distress and expand on why Goody-goody=pi?
Pi occasionally crops up in crosswords clued by e.g. “good” or “holy”. It is short for pious thus goody-goody.
I was lead astray by using drug dealer rather than pusher -Hey Ho! With 4A do not understand U = POSH.
Thanks for explaining Pi also.
Frank.
U = posh comes from U standing for Upper-class
This wiki entry explains: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_and_non-U_English
Those Mitford gels have a lot to answer for.
I can assure you I knew nothing of this until a couple of years ago when I discovered it from crosswords where it is one of a number of old conventions.
Anyway, these days most people who are obviously upper-class describe themselves as middle class (e.g. Julian Barnes, Simon Hoggart, that sort of cove) so I expect we’ll get M=posh before we know it.
Thanks beermagnet -I followed the link and it opened a little window (if you pardon the pun) on to social attitudes in the not too dim and distant.
Is there an on line version of the Private Eye crossword? I cannot find one.
Appreciate any help.
Martin
Certainly is. Here:
http://www.private-eye.co.uk/sections.php?section_link=crossword&