A much more accessible puzzle this time. Nothing here to trouble us much.
Almost a record solve with only 3 left to do after the first pass and they were scattered around so the full set of crossing letters helped get them quickly enough in the end.
As is often the case the last clue solved was the first read. In this case 1d where the wordplay could be read in several different ways, e.g. revolutionary could be a reversal indicator, then the only one the works is not apparent till the answer is clear from the crossing letters.
It is fine having a milder puzzle occasionally, it is one of the reasons I recommend the Eye crossword to novice solvers – it is great fun without being too much of a stretch.
We know Cyclops can come up with some real stickers of tough puzzles in his Guardian Brummie guise, so why not keep the Eye more on the fun side.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 8 | PINNACLE | Crown‘s wretched clan trapped by hunger (8) (CLAN)* AInd: wretched, inside PINE (hunger) |
| 9/17 | FACIAL RECOGNITION | Clarification gone haywire – new technology for Big Brother’s use? (6,11) (CLARIFICATION GONE)* AInd: Haywire |
| 11 | RULER | Brenda‘s measured strip? (5) Double Definition |
| 12 | COLD SOBER | Head of country, more mature, suppressing cry, is quite prepared to take breathalyser test (4,5) C[ountry] OLDER (more mature) around (suppressing) SOB (cry) |
| 13 | NATURAL | Old bastard‘s not affected (7) Double Definition |
| 15 | DISMISS | Get out of the underworld, girl! (7) DIS (underworld) MISS (girl). Maybe the definition should be “GET OUT!” |
| 21 | HALF CUT | Modest drink and hack gets hammered (4-3) HALF (modest drink) CUT (hack) |
| 23 | FAN OVEN | Part of a ‘no venison’ type of cooker (3,4) Hidden in oF A NO VENison |
| 24 | POLLUTANT | Vote against UN’s one-time Secretary General dumping hot environmental hazard (9) POLL (vote) U T[h]ANT (UN Secretary General (1961 – 71) – H[ot]) |
| 26 | FATAL | Having a corporation brought before Gore – that’s killing (5) FAT (having a corporation) AL [Gore] |
| 27 | ENMESH | She’s about to take name ‘Cyclops’? Get knotted! (6) (SHE)* AInd: is about, around (to take) N[ame] ME (Cyclops) |
| 28 | ARMOURED | Maybe bullet-proof member meets Hislop (8) ARM (member) OUR ED[itor] ([Ian] Hislop, Privte Eye’s editor) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | UPFRONT | Frank‘s finished with revolutionary group (7) UP (finished) FRONT (revolutionary group). Last one in – but first read – as often happens |
| 2 | UNILATERAL | All urinate everywhere? Just on the one side (10) (ALL URINATE)* AInd: everywhere |
| 3 | FAIR | Impartial IRA? F-off! (4) (IRA F)* AInd: off |
| 4 | BLACKLEG | Boris opened with “want member – not a union backer” (8) B[oris] LACK (want) LEG (member) |
| 5 | JAM SESSION | Group of improvisers to obstruct Commons sitting? (3,7) JAM (to obstruct) SESSION (Commons sitting). I found this tricky for some reason |
| 7 | FLORIST | Peer almost recruited into duke’s bloomers business (7) LOR[d] inside FIST (duke) |
| 10 | PLOD | Labour leader welcomed by Hull as one who soldiers on (4) L[abour] in POD (hull) |
| 14 | RACECOURSE | Maybe Cheltenham has misused a resource to keep Conservative (10) (A RESOURCE + C[onservative])* AInd: misused |
| 16 | INNOVATORY | Novel on vain, devious Boris type (10) (ON VAIN)* AInd: devious, TORY (Boris type) |
| 18 | IN FUTURE | Get used to taking ‘FU’ time, from now on (2,6) INURE (get used to) around (taking) FU T[ime] |
| 19 | WHOPPER | Lie with bounder (7) W[ith] HOPPER (bounder) |
| 20 | INCLUDE | Embrace Cyclops and finally mention “clued fantastically!” (7) I (Cyclops) [mentio]N (CLUED)* AInd: fantastically |
| 22/25/26/6 | TEAR LIMB FROM LIMB | Use extreme violence to forcibly separate two members (4,4,4,4) Double Definition |
Sorry. No thoughts about jokes lately. It’s going to get tougher over the next few weeks and months.
A kind person came up with this card.
Google Docs version
Please feel free to share and print, for anyone in your street or community. #viralkindness
My first Cyclops — which was more accessible that I had feared. I had elsewhere seen an allusion to the Brenda/Queen thing so managed to figure out 11a. And of course fell down on the Hislop parsing.
Speaking of self-isolating I am indeed — but really only because the office is close. If anyone has any toilet paper, please email it to me.
My first Cyclops — which was more accessible that I had feared. I had elsewhere seen an allusion to the Brenda/Queen thing so managed to figure out 11a. And of course fell down on the Hislop parsing.
Speaking of self-isolating I am indeed — but really only because the office is close. If anyone has any toilet paper, please email it to me.
I didn’t find this one particularly easy for some reason.
I’ve never seen the expression COLD SOBER without the word ‘stone’ first.
In 23a, you really need ‘Part of of a ‘no venison’ oven, don’t you? The answer is part of “of a ‘no-venison'”
What is ‘FU’ time? (18d)
John Travolta has gone down with a suspected case of CoViD-19:
He got chills, they’re multiplyin’
Any thanks to both. I also found the NW corner my last to yield. But I made things difficult for myself by “pull”ing the limbs. In this part of the world, the word “stone” is always attached to COLD SOBER.
Agree above comments.
Never heard of natural meaning a bastard.
Yup!!! I’m stumped on natural bastard too!!! And, I’m in the stone cold sober group too…..but a bit of poetic licence I presume.
By the way, Beermagnet, there’s a small typo in the grid for armoured……but I liked the clue!!!
“Stone cold sober”: I agree, I nearly said something in the blog that I too have never heard “cold sober” on its own.
FAN OVEN: I think the clue is fine. The “of” is not really doing double duty if you read it as
Part “of a no venison”
“FU time”: This is probably what we used to call Prime Minister’s Questions
A “Natural” is a old “kind” way of referring to a child born out of wedlock. Crops up in crosswords sometimes.
Typo in the grid !! Aaargh!
@beermagnet
Is that American-stylee, as in “a couple moments”?
Still don’t understand FU time.
I didn’t know “natural”, but I found it in Chambers and it makes perfect sense: natural, not ‘legal’ (conceived within the legal bonds of wedlock).
Tony…I saw this as a construct to get the correct letters for the answer….but surely FU ( F**k You) time is now whenever the blonde idiot speaks to the nation (or anyone come to that!).
Winsor, thanks for trying to help. I understood the cryptic meaning and got the answer, but I don’t really understand the surface meaning. Is there, as beermagnet seems to suggest, a particular reason for Prime Minister’s Questions to be dubbed ‘FU Time’? Perhaps more likely that it’s a facetiously suggested replacement name for the BBC’s Question Time? Has someone (e.g.Boris) refused an invitation to appear, perhaps? I feel sure this must refer to some topical event I haven’t heard about.
I had BAR SESSION at 5 down, which I can see is not a familiar phrase, but seemed to fit the wordplay just as well.
ILAN@2 — Lord Gnome to the rescue!
https://twitter.com/PrivateEyeNews/status/1240187352053678082
@bridgesong…..is a group of improvisers called that somewhere? I’ve always seen it as jamming. The parsing works I admit but I am not familiar with the improvising bit.
Natural meaning bastard is positively archaic…
…because crossword setters must never use archaic language – it’s so unfair to us solvers 😉
Not unfair to us archaic solvers though 🙂
@Steven Jouanny etc
In fact, Chambers suggests that in the past, ‘natural’ usually meant legitimate and it is only “now” (I’m referring to a 1988 edition) that it usually means illegitimate.
On the question of fairness, I believe it is good practice, commonly followed, to indicate archaic language with such words as ‘formerly’, ‘once’ or, as in this case (notwithstanding the above), “old”.