Our one-eyed friend provides the fun at the back of the mag as usual.
Some relatively easy clues this time I felt, particularly those with long definitions, but not to the extent of being write-ins.
So this was a pleasant solve with about half the grid filled on the first pass, and the rest slotting in nicely when helped by various crossers.
No ambiguities this time 😉
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 7 | BLABBERMOUTH | Whistle-blower broadcast “the Labour bomb”, omitting nothing (12) (THE LABOUR BOMB – O )* AInd: broadcast. |
| 10 | COMICAL | Rich company with absurd claim (7) CO (company) (CLAIM)* AInd: absurd. |
| 11 | SOPRANO | Surgical procedure managed to cut very high singer (7) OP (surgical procedure) and RAN (managed) inside SO (very) |
| 12 | BANAL | Stock bar with booze, not amphetamine (5) BAN (bar) AL[e] |
| 13 | SANDHURST | Start to squeeze nuts hard, possibly in a place that would have a soldier pass out (9) (S[queeze] NUTS HARD)* AInd: possibly. The definition is just a little too obvious I feel. |
| 15 | EMBRYO | Labour follows its development more by vacillation (6) (MORE BY)* AInd: vacillation. |
| 16 | SPIDER | Web user, one who takes a secret look when entertaining date? (6) SPIER (one who takes a secret look) around (entertaining) D[ate] |
| 20 | BREAK FREE | Bake Off includes recipe with complimentary fly (5,4) (BAKE)* AInd: off, around R[ecipe], then FREE (complimentary) |
| 22 | RECAP | Review goes pear-shaped when Conservative leader brought in (5) (PEAR)* AInd: shaped, around C[onservative] |
| 24 | DUSTBIN | Brown collects dirty bits – refuse to be taken in by it (7) DUN (brown) around (collects) BITS* AInd: dirty. |
| 26 | HARPIST | Plucky type starts to hold arse really tight, by the sound of it (7) H[old] A[rse] R[eally] PIST Homophone “Pissed” (tight) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | ABOMINABLE | “A blasted mobile ban! Bloody terrible!” (10) A (MOBILE BAN)* AInd: blasted. |
| 2/27 | CANCEL MY SUBSCRIPTION | Irate Eye reader’s demand: “Cut Cyclops’s contribution!” (6,2,12) CANCEL (cut) MY (Cyclops’s) SUBSCRIPTION (contribution). The classic reader’s letter after a particularly offensive cover – usually followed by matching letter heaping praise on the Eye for the courage to print the same |
| 3 | OBELISK | Honoured person with endless skill managed to get an erection (7) OBE (honoured person) (SKIL[l])* AInd: managed. |
| 4 | PRESENT | Trump, say, I’d abandoned for now (7) PRES[id]ENT |
| 5 | OOMPAH | Band member’s outburst: “Balls (politician) needs a hard on” (6) OO (Balls) MP (politician) A H[ard]. Second last in – needed all the crossers to see what was going on here |
| 6 | ETNA | In secret, naturally it’s still active (4) Hidden in secrET NAturally |
| 8 | SCAB | End of Boris at Hackney? He’s despised by unions (4) [bori]S CAB (Hackney) |
| 9 | ROTTER | Swine decapitated racehorse (6) [t]ROTTER Last one in. Racehorses move a bit faster than trotting generally don’t they? |
| 14 | REDACTIONS | They may hide the text the authorities don’t want you to see, as no credit is involved (10) (AS NO CREDIT)* AInd: is involved. Another long definition that doesn’t leave much doubt |
| 15 | EMBODY | To make material, Cyclops needs backing (stiff) (6) ME< (Cyclops needs backing) BODY (stiff) |
| 17 | PORTRAIT | Picture left by artist: ‘Sex’ (8) PORT (left) RA (artist) IT (Sex) |
| 18 | GRANARY | Was a manager in Lineker’s seedy establishment? (7) RAN (was a manager) inside GARY (Lineker). All round top clue: Funny definition, solid wordplay, and a surface that reads as a comical story in 7 words. |
| 19 | PERHAPS | Source of headlines in pisspoor papers, maybe (7) H[eadlines] inside (PAPERS)* AInd: pisspoor. |
| 21 | KIBOSH | At first, Keir interrupted Boris with “Love, be silent”? Rubbish! (6) K[eir] I[nterrupted] B[oris] O (love) SH (be silent) |
| 23 | PITY | Shame our old PM lacks time at end of day (4) PIT[t] [da]Y |
| 25 | STUD | Boss who gets plenty of sex? (4) Double Def. |
Here is half a minute of something that cheered me up
Keeping laundry classic ? @acousticjason #canonind #washingmachine pic.twitter.com/Y76hcq6i0b
— Kurt Schneider (@KurtHSchneider) June 2, 2021
Thank you Beermagnet for the video…very funny but intriguing too.
I had an extremely good start in that I had 6 from 12 accross and 7 from 16 on a cold read. Taking in crossers I got to 10 and 14 respectively but needed a separate session later to finish off.
I like Portrait for the left/port mislead and struggled with Dustbin as penance for sticking with tan (tatsbin, anyone!!).
Last one in and big stars for banal. I knew it had to be but the parsing left me stumped for half an hour, before which I was not willing to save and close.
Struggled parsing Banal – still not sure why “not amphetamine” means drop an e… MDMA is E amphetamine is speed, surely?
What am I missing?
@Still………I bow to your superior knowledge. For me, drug is E, H or C if needed. Amphetamine, heroin , crack also all the same…in crossword terms. Are you a policeman/woman or simple well-read!!!!
Ha… not a police officer, just a child of the tail end of GenX. Heard plenty of slang for the different intoxicants people enjoy, before I took up crosswords!
Thanks for the tip though.. I believe X is another letter that drugs refer to. Good to know that they are interchangeable in crosswords.
Thanks beermagnet, agree that it’s good to be back on solid ground! Winsor and still/no longer struggling – I wondered that, being no expert, and looked it up: E = MDMA is variously a derivative of/structurally related to amphetamine (depending on which online source you use), so I think that’s close enough for the purpose of this crossword and certainly good enough for me. I liked HARPIST as, according to a musical mate of mine, the surface rings true! And I wondered if the (T)ROTTER referred to the horses that pull carriages in trotting races – they are probably looked down on by true thoroughbreds though.
A trotter is one of those racehorses that race in harnesses with the jockey on two wheels behind
You’re right to highlight the great surface in 18dn. Too often we go straight at a clue in analytical mode, looking for a def and some wordplay indicators to help solve and completely miss the beauty of the wood for examining the trees. 20ac was another cracker, amongst many others.
Loved the video. Here’s another short musical amusement:
https://youtube.com/shorts/ocKHPYTTrj0