Private Eye ( Cyclops/668 ) Kinky Fatwa

10 comments on “Private Eye ( Cyclops/668 ) Kinky Fatwa”

1. Thanks beermagnet. Re 7d I hadn’t heard of OSTIA and it was only because Chambers Crossword Dictionary came to my rescue that I slotted it in. 2d was one that left me feeling quite smug as ARTHROPOD was unknown to me, but it sounded like it existed. A quick google confirmed it (might have been buried deep in the sub conscious).
   By the way, I like your joke, but it brought back a recent painful memory where I was charged £5.45 for a bottle of Erdinger (non alcohol beer) in a pub. Based on your moniker, you may not have any sympathy for me.

2. Scissors demo by scarily healthy looking chap.
   https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WoNCIBVLbgY

3. You may be surprised Franko, but since last summer I have downed a fair bit of low alcohol beer.
   A holiday in Suffolk where much driving was necessary brought Adnams Ghost Ship 0.5% to my attention and I developed a taste for it. Very much like the full-fat version, I now have a virtual standing order for it with Dry Drinker.  So overall I now generally drink as much beer beer but less alcohol.
   I always stick to proper beer in pubs – except occasionally a ginger beer to start – the low alcohol offerings are generally either rubbish or overpriced, or both.
   And thanks for the scissors exercise demo – I’ve only seen the inside of a gym through the windows and most people seem to be on bikes going nowhere.

4. I got OSTIA from the wordplay before confirming it was a port.

   THELMA was LOI, I think. Spent a long time failing to think of another term for a brothel madam before turning to wordsearch. Doh!

   Most amused to learn that EGYPTIAN is an anagram of inept gay.

   SAFETY PINS is obviously what they are, but I’ve never heard the full name either. Great surface.

   CONGA was the subject of the Sunday Times cluing comp one week last year and the winning entry (from one Peter Bennett of St Albans, Hertfordshire) was more Cyclopsian than Cyclops’ own clue:

   Follow the party line?

   According to a commenter on Site Feedback here at 15², it seems that what I think must have been the website of Eddie James (Cyclops), “EJ’s Crossword Showcase” is no longer available.

5. Tony @4 — it is years since that website has been live, but the archived version remains preserved in cyber-aspic and is still reachable via this abbreviations link (which I first found on Wikipedia).

6. https://web.archive.org/web/20070613055540/http://www.btinternet.com/~ed.xword/AbbrevA_C.html

7. John, thanks very much for that. In fact I realise I was on that archive not long ago from a link that I got probably got here, too, I think (maybe even from you?). I’d forgotten it was in archive form. I should keep a bookmark for it. There’s a lot of good stuff there.

8. Thanks for the explanations beermagnet. Seems like I solved this in much the same approximate order as you with the same final sticking points at the top right. I had never heard of RURAL DEAN but was clear enough from crossers and wordplay, while CARD VOTE was something I had to google after the entry to see if it was “a thing”. I looked up OSTIA too, to make sure, but once the crossers were there it was a clear favourite over the alternative. Any crossword referencing the mighty HHGTTG gets my vote, so thanks Cyclops.

9. 14D dropped me right in it. I took it as ‘eye closely’ and so my bottom left hand corner suffered. I eventually gave up on my solution and searched elsewhere and hey presto I eventually solved. But ‘unwell’ was the last in. Unusual to have two UNs in the same puzzle….albeit form differing parsings.

10. Thanks beermagnet@3, I’m also fond of Ghost Ship full-fat so must give the low alcohol version a whirl. This could be the start of an additional career for you on top of Crossword Guru, i.e. Social media Influencer. I’ve seen them referred to on daily mail online (dear lord, please forgive me).
    Gazzh @8 I remember having a very similar experience with those three clues.

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