Independent 11,152 by Knut

by

This wasn't the most difficult Monday puzzle, but that wasn't really the point. The point was to poke a bit of fun at the now departing government of Boris Johnson.

In that, it succeeded pretty well, managing to get lots of references to events in Boris' reign.

ACROSS
1 BOTTOM
British saying about character in AMND? (6)

B{ritish} + motto<. AMND is an abbrev for A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which Nick Bottom appears.
4 PINSCHER
Fierce-looking dog immobilises ageing diva (8)

Pins Cher (also a hom of the aptly named Chris Pincher)
10 RADICAL
Militant daughter implicated in racial unrest (7)

D{aughter} in racial*
11 TWIGGED
Figured out Fabricant finally, as he is rumoured to be (7)

[Fabrican]t + wigged. Michael Fabricant is the Conservative MP with a rather bizarre hairstyle which makes Boris Johnson's mop look neat by comparison.
12 SPREE
Peer’s wild orgy? (5)

Peers*
13 RERELEASE
Fred, Greg pleased to get stripped off, put back in circulation (9)

[F]re[d] + [G]re[g] + [p]lease[d]
15 DEPUTY CHIEF WHIP
Party organiser feeding ecstasy to drunken Dutch hippy wife (6,5,4)

E{stacsy} in (Dutch hippy wife)*
17 SUNDAY NEWSPAPER
Say The People formed columns at the weekend? (6,9)

Columns(=newspaper in the sense of columns of text) after Sunday
20 REGRETTED
Sounding rude, issued heartfelt apology in the style of Priti Patel (9)

Ref to rude being a hom of "rued" and a reference to Priti Patel expressing regret at Civil Servants leaving her department after bullying claims (but no regret at her own behaviour).
22 REACT
Respond concerning a decree in law (5)

Re + act (as in Act of Parliament)
24 CORSICA
Blimey! Even more wicked sounding island in The Med! (7)

Cor! + hom of sicker
26 CONDEMN
Denounce Conservative study swallowing millions (7)

Con + (den around m{illions})
27/28 STAMPING GROUND
Where I hang out, cheekily groping dustman (8,6)

(Groping dustman)*
DOWN
1 BURNS
Johnson loyalist who inspires boozy night in Scotland? (5)

I think this is a DD for Conor Burns, the Northern Ireland Minister, and Burns Night, which celebrates the life of poet Robert Burns.
2 TIDE RIP
Tricky current making ride uncomfortable in keel (4-3)

Ride* in tip
3 ORCHESTRATE
He is into tractors, weirdly … initially easy to arrange (11)

He in tractors* + e. This is a reference to the former MP Neil Parish who,after being caught watching porn on his phone in the Commons, said he was actually looking for something related to tractors.
5 INTERVIEW
I deploy nerve and wit in encounter with Beth Rigby? (9)

I + (nerve wit)*. I don't watch Sky but apparently Beth Rigby is a political journalist there.
6 SKI
Sunak on vacation? First sign of inflation, slide off (3)

S[una]k + i[nflation]
7 HOGWASH
Old President Bush into weed? Nonsense! (7)

(O{ld} GW (=nickname for George Walker Bush)) in hash
8 RED PEPPER
Communist pig liked by Johnson, reportedly, that can get stuffed (3,6)

Red(=communist) + hom of Peppa. This is a reference to a speech which Johnson made where he lavishly praised Peppa Pig. We'll all miss this kind of entertainment.
9 SLUR
Slight problem with speech after too much Tignanello? (4)

Not sure if this is any more than just a CD. Tignanello is apparently Boris Johnson's favourite wine and only costs £180 a bottle.
14 LIFE PARTNER
Long sentence beginning in Parkhurst? Errant, corrupt serial adulterer probably won’t get one (4,7)

Life(=long sentence) + P[arkhurst] + errant*
15 DISGRACES
I’d caress at work, embracing head of government; shameful affairs (9)

(I'd caress)* around g[overnment]
16 CONSTRAIN
Restrict Tories’ coaches (9)

Cons' + train
18 NIGERIA
Regina prepared to tour India, a Commonwealth country (7)

Regina* around I{ndia}
19 PLATEAU
Piece of chinaware set on gold High Table (7)

Plate + Au (=chemical symbol for gold). A high plateau might sometimes be referred to as a table.
21 DICK
Former senior police woman detective (4)

This is a DD, although it could just be taken as a single definition. Cressida Dick was the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner and dick was a slang term for a detective (as in Private Dick).
23 TONED
Blair casually departs, looking well fit (5)

Seems to be Tone (a casual rendering of Tony) + d{eparts}. I vaguely remember a few people calling him Tone, although I can't find much evidence for it now.
25 IMP
Mischievous devil Knut upset Prime Minister (3)

I(=Knut, the compiler) + PM<

21 comments on “Independent 11,152 by Knut”

  1. I assumed 9d was a double def, with slight = slur.
    Not being British, I came her to see what Tignanello had to do with anything. I also missed several other references but still enjoyed the puzzle very much.

    Thanks Knut and Neal

  3. Slowish start. Suspected ‘Bottom’ but couldn’t parse it and/or ‘Burns’ and we say ‘riptide’ here. Once the anagrams were identified, things fell into place rather easily for a Monday. I liked Red Peppa, ‘toned’ (‘casual’ – is that fondly looking back?) and ‘dick’. I only know of Cressida (a kind of Toyota?) through the Indy cryptic. Signed off with ‘stamping ground’ which was obvious at that point. Kia ora.

  4. Sight quibble: the international vehicle registration code for India is IND, whereas I = Italy, but the latter isn’t in the Commonwealth so that wouldn’t work. Never mind, all very enjoyable and cleverly put together in just a few days, so thanks Knut and Neal.

  5. Plenty of fun even if I only registered about half of the political gags; I’ve got so bored with the lot of them that I’m actively switching off concentration.

    Tatrasman @4: I suspect Knut is thinking of I = India from the phonetic alphabet.

    Favourites today: SPREE, DEPUTY CHIEF WHIP, CORSICA, STAMPING GROUND and HOGWASH.

    I’d never heard of the wine but then I’m normally poking about in the two for a tenner section.

    Thanks Knut and Neal

  6. Thanks Knut and NealH, this was a very enjoyable start to my Monday morning. I agree with Louise @1 re “slight” in 9d – a nicely concealed double def that took me a while to spot. Not familiar with Tignanello but the clue was a strong enough hint that it must be a kind of wine – not one they stock in my local Tesco, though.

    flashling @2 – I didn’t notice that until after I’d completed the puzzle, but it was a nice bonus on top of all the other clues that had made me smile.

    Tatrasman @4 – India is I in the Nato alphabet.

  7. I’m not quite sure why I’m beginning to find all the political themes tiresome. Perhaps it is because scandal has become the norm for this appalling government of UK.

    Well-written in my view, nonetheless. I was only given pause by AMND, which normally, as far as I know, doesn’t use the A.

  9. Thanks both. Also to those pointing out the reading of the top two across answers….worth the admission money alone

  10. Although the political situation became more than tiresome, Knut manages to inject his usual fun and cleverness into a great crossword

    Thanks to him and NealH

  11. I loved it!

    Too many ticks to list but I can’t resist highlighting 11ac, which reminded me of the still much-missed Simon Hoggart, who regularly raised the question of Michael Fabricant’s hair: see here for an example from long ago: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/may/15/houseofcommons.politics …
    … and the discussion continues to this day.

    tlp @7: AMND is the usual abbreviation here – it crops up quite often.

    Many thanks to Knut for the fun and to NealH for a great blog.

  13. Having rejigged the schedule to get this in as quickly as possible I was a bit concerned that it might be overtaken by events at the end of last week.

    But I needn’t have worried. Boris Johnson is still in Number 10. He hasn’t used the word resign. I haven’t seen a resignation letter.

    And Chris Pincher is still an MP.

  14. Thanks Knut, NealH
    It seems to me that the news has taken a turn for the worse. A constant succession of scandals is depressing but not dull. Now we must listen to weeks of the shower that propped Johnson up bigging themselves up and pretending they know how to get us out of the shit. That is both. Oh well, no foreseeable shortage of targets for setters.

  15. Superb puzzle. Loved all the political references, especially the BOTTOM PINSCHER and the Patel-type ‘apology’. Took much longer than I should have done to get TWIGGED.

    Didn’t know about Tignanello but I believe Aldi sells a similar version for £9.99.

    Ta to Knut and NealH.

  17. Good fun. Is a homophone if a synonym of the answer unusual? (As in rude – rued – regretted)

  18. Thanks Knut. I failed with BURNS and I guessed BOTTOM but everything else slipped into place quite easily even though I’m unfamiliar with most of these inside references/jokes. Favourites included PINSCHER, HOGWASH, and LIFE PARTNER. Thanks NealH for the blog.

  19. The Character’s name as given in AMND is actually Nick BOTTOM (nick = pinch?).
    All good fun, but would have been even more enjoyable if the political situation thus lampooned wasn’t so appalling.
    Thanks, Knut and NealH.

  21. I wasn’t completely familiar with the latest Johnson scandal, but this filled in the missing pieces. You couldn’t make it up. That man’s still in government? Thanks to Knut for some lol constructions and to NealH for the explications.

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