A pleasurable ordeal maybe.
No surprise that in an Eye puzzle we find ignoramuses having orgasms, party members that turn out to be dildos, and a whole ensemble spilling semen. But possibly the most disgusting part of this puzzle is the inclusion of the likes of Murdoch and Raaaab.
Solving went smoothly enough. From the first one read and answered at 7d delivering lots of first letters, through the long anagram at 15, I worked around the puzzle without much delay (about 20 mins) till the end of the first pass where I found I still had 9 I didn’t get immediately. Crossing triples and pairs in three corners. It was the double light 24,3 that started the second pass – greatly aided by the B from 24a – and made available the crossing letter to solve 8. From that the right hand corners were completed. The final trouble was 19d and 23. I don’t know quite why I had so much trouble equating “romp” with “prance”, I suppose I was thinking of a less chaste type of romp. Finishing with 23, a hidden answer, was a bit unusual. It’s a very good clue both for surface and misdirection because it fooled me to the end. As is often the case I give my top clue nod to that.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 7 | GRITTY | Determined to have good desperate try to rein in sex (6) G[ood] IT (sex) inside (TRY)* AInd: desperate. |
| 8 | DARTMOOR | Flash oftener, it’s said you’ll get prison! (8) DART (flash) MOOR Homophone “more” (oftener) HInd: it’s said. |
| 9 | IGNORAMUS | Fool doctors ruin orgasm after head disallowed (9) ([r]UIN ORGASM)* AInd: doctors. |
| 11 | PULSE | Seed bananas plus energy (5) (PLUS)* AInd: bananas, E[nergy] |
| 12 | DILDO | On back cover, ‘Party substitute member‘ (5) LID< (cover, back) DO (party) |
| 13 | REHEARSAL | Practice vehicle all but covered in concrete (9) HEARS[e] (vehicle, all but) inside (covered by) REAL (concrete) |
| 15 | ELECTION DENIERS | Wilful dereliction seen to produce such Republican lie-spreaders (8,7) (DERELICTION SEEN)* AInd: Wilful. The anagram fodder seemed to shout “election” so getting the second word was a doddle. Edit: Corrected definition underlining ad Anagram indicator |
| 19 | PISTACHIO | It’s involved with end of Trump chaos, accepting one’s a nut (9) (IT + [trum]P CHAOS + I (one))* AInd: is involved. Edit. More precise wordplay explanation: (IT + [trum]P CHAOS)* AInd: is involved, around (accepting) I (one) |
| 21 | GAMUT | Scope of state corporation’s return (5) GA (state, Georgia) TUM< (corporation, return) |
| 23 | ADMIT | Sing? In effect, I’m dancing around (5) Hidden reversed in effecT, I‘M DAncing Hidden Ind: In, Rev.Ind: around. Last one in! |
| 24 | BOSSINESS | Loveless, perverse obsessions – Raab-like quality? (9) (OBSESSIONS – O)* AInd: perverse. Possibly one of “Psycho’s” more endearing qualities |
| 25 | COLORADO | Protocol or a doubtful housing state (8) Hidden in ProtoCOL OR A DOubtful Hidden Ind: housing. |
| 26 | DEPLOY | Democrats use missing spy boss to get troops ready (6) D[emocrats] EMPLOY – M (use – spy boss “M”) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | SIGNAL | Token pathetic gains by Labour at first (6) (GAINS)* AInd: pathetic, L[abour] |
| 2 | STORMONT | Rumpus not out of place in parliament (8) STORM (rumpus) (NOT)* AInd: out of place. |
| 4 | UTOPIA | More work by Ukraine’s leader to dispatch President and one American (6) U[kraine] TO P[resident] I (one) A[merican]. The work in the definition is the book by Sir Thomas More Edit: Alternative wordplay: U[kraine] TOP (dispatch) I (one) A[merican] Dispatch is superfluous in the first parsing, President is superfluous in the second. |
| 5 | COALESCE | Sol, beaten with ace (twice) blows a fuse (8) (SOL … ACE ACE – A)* AInd: beaten. |
| 6 | ORDEAL | Trial alternative? Put cards on table! (6) OR (alternative) DEAL (Put cards on table) |
| 7 | GRIDDLE | Cook did leg exercises to contain runs (7) (DID LEG + R[uns])* AInd: exercises. First one in. |
| 10 | MURDOCH | Iris a major player in the rag trade? (7) Double Def. referencing Iris Murdoch, a major novelist, and Rupert owner of several tabloid rags, also no stranger to fiction |
| 14 | HIDEOUS | Awful cover has nothing on Private Eye (7) HIDE (cover) O (nothing) US (Private Eye) |
| 16 | ENSEMBLE | Semen spilled – practised getting rid of a costume (8) (SEMEN)* AInd: spilled, ABLE (practiced) – A |
| 17 | NEGLIGEE | Offhand gent disposed of – what a surprise! – glamorous nightwear (8) NEGLIGENT (offhand) – GENT (disposed of), then GEE (what a surprise) |
| 18 | SATISFY | Content, if stays tight (7) (IF STAYS)* AInd: tight. |
| 19 | PRANCE | Pence fled leaders of Capitol ‘excusable romp‘ (6) P[ence] RAN (fled) C[apitol] E[xcusable] |
| 20 | ARTERY | Bloody Channel Four’s final input to teary production (6) [fou]R inside (TEARY)* AInd: production. |
| 22 | MEEKLY | Periodical needs different head – not Boris-style (6) WEEKLY (periodical) swap “head” letter for something different I thought the wordplay was crying out to use something like “upturned” head. |
| 24/3 | BODY BAGS | War’s grim returns – organisation has lots (4,4) BODY (organisation) BAGS (lots) a gruesome way to end Reminds me of the trouble the undertakers had when the bloke who wrote the “Hokey Cokey” died |
O to be in Oldham when Husband’s show is there
Thanks for a great blog and Cyclops on brilliant form, ELECTION DENIERS is such a good anagram, ARTERY is a clever definition ( needs underlining , also for SATISFY) . Like you I had the upside-down ides for W/MEEKLY , your “upturned” is much better. PISTACHIO , DARTMOOR ….. many more I could mention. For PISTACHIO i had one=I being included and not part of the anagram , or it would need a Paddington stare.
Very minor quibbles , PLUS only just an anagram for PULS(E) but I suppose it still is.
Setters need a new definition for UTOPIA , if I see More work one more time …..
Thanks for the great blog. I too thought Cyclops on top form, loved BOSSINESS and MEEKLY. Unlike Roz, I was slow to pick up on ‘More work’ as I couldn’t recall meeting it at all and so couldn’t see it until it was
so obvious but I’m sure that that is just me.
Thanks Roz for pointing out the lack of definition underlining on those 2 clues, now fixed.
Also happy to provide a more precise wordplay explanation for 19 Pistachio – sometimes I feel we just need a hint towards how the wordplay works and allow the reader to fill in the gaps, but you’re right, for this one the extra “I” had to come from somewhere.
Thanks Beermagnet. This was fun and it was only when I wrote down UTOPIA that I remembered the “More work” from earlier.
Of course thanks to Cyclops for the fun.
Beermagnet , your version of PISTACHIO does work . I do not like indirect anagrams so my alternative avoided this.
Usual good fun from Cyclops, thanks! (and thanks to beermagnet, too)
Quince had “REHEARSAL/Drill gets through concrete” just 3 days ago. I suggest Quince wins for the tight, excellent surface.
In 15ac, ELECTION DENIERS, isn’t “wilful” the indicator. What’s it there for, otherwise?
In 4dn, isn’t “to dispatch” a synonym for TOP (kill)? Otherwise, what’s it doing? Oh, no, as P is from President. So what is “dispatch” doing?
IT’S ‘RAAB’, WITH TWO A’S, NOT FOUR! WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH YOU PEOPLE? CAN’T YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT? HAVE I GOT TO DO EVERYTHING MYSELF, FFS?
Tony: You are correct about 15A I have edited it.
You are also correct about 4D – I haven’t got a good solution for that except to say you can treat either ‘dispatch’ or ‘President’ as a noise word depending upon your reading (Yes, wiffle, waffle)
Also, you have to leave more than 4 minutes between messages before impersonating an ex-member of HM Government. As part of their anti-woke agenda, they have probably passed a new law to make this a capital offence. If Raaaab himself finds out I advise witness protection.
4D – How about “dispatch” meaning “to remove from their patch, ie home. So to dispatch President would be to make the President no longer resident, ie only a letter P ?
Apropos the cartoon at the head of the blog ….. I believe the alternative tag line (more in keeping with Cyclops oevre) is for the Deputy to have arrived leading a naked woman on a horse, and the Sheriff saying “No, Tex, I said round up the posse!”
Beermagnet@9, I suspect the problem in 4dn was likely caused by a late edit, either by Cyclops scanning through the clues very quickly and forgetting what his original wordplay meant and thinking he’d missed the P, or possibly a ‘helpful’ editor made the mistake? I think the clue would be ok as “More work by Ukraine’s leader to dispatch one American”, although that wouldn’t reflect well on the comedian, so maybe the powers that decree nothing negative about Ukraine must reach the presses are responsible?
Regarding impersonation, I was all right till you grassed me up 🙂
Actually, thinking about it, “President and one American” is probably even more anti-uke?