My turn to blog the cruciverbal marathon that is the Private Eye/Cyclops Christmas Special…about 2 and a 1/2 times as many clues/entries as usual, and exactly 2.5 times the Prize on offer!
Those unches (unchecked cells) around the perimeter are crying out for a perimetral theme, but the preamble states that:
“A quote appearing in Commentatorballs in 2023 is to be inserted in the three coloured rows. The quote (changed slightly to fit the grid) reads normally, top to bottom and each row starts and ends with a complete word.
Letters of the quote not crossing with other entries are: AAA B C DD EEEEEE G HHH II NNNN OO P RRR SSSSSS TTTT U W Y”
Lots of crossers to try and fill before using that checklist, but it might come in handy! And without more ado, two and a 1/2 times as much solving to be done…which probably took more like 3-4 times as long as a standard Cyclops…
Rishi Rich makes two appearances – one as anagram fodder for BRITISH ISLES, and one as a hidden word answer in flouRISHIng. Donald and Trump are both used to incorporate their first letters into wordplay, and Trump also appears in a reference to his STORMY Daniels episode. Hopefully this will be the last Xmas Crossword that Cyclops will be using those two for clue fodder…
Jeremy *unt provides the UNT in STUNT; and King Charles/Brian makes an appearance at 76A. Otherwise, a few blasts from the past – Princess Di at 23D; Jeffrey Archer at 50D; either Bush at 54D; tricky Dicky – twice, both indicating OFF, at 56A and 11D. The only Labour reference seems to be Lord ADONIS at 9D – not a Keir in sight…
And, of course, a dollop or two (and a 1/2) of the usual Cyclops-ean smuttery! A couple of ‘tits’, ‘bras’, ‘cups’, bollocks ‘large as a gong’, some ‘undone’ pants, and a tossing off… 12A looked familiar – with VOYEURISTIC defined as ‘inclined to look for sex’. A quick check revealed VOYEURISM as 16D in Cyclops 758, defined as ‘looking for sexual arousal’. But I think the two clues and treatments are different enough, and far apart enough, not to warrant further comment.
Least pleasant image was SKODA at 34D, with the K at the end of cocK inserted into S_ODA – a fizzy drink…how unhygienic!
To counterbalance that, 20A TENACITY had a poignant surface read. And my favourite was probably 28D STREAKY, with the bacon/Bacon duality and the slapdash daubs.
Anyway, back to the thematic coloured rows… I had enough crossers to have a guess at ‘PRINCESS ANNE…HAVING LEFT’ in the first one, and ‘THE ABBEY…SIDE DOOR’ in the second, which were enough pointers to place this as the day a ‘man in a hat sat on a chair‘, as reported in that esteemed organ, Private Eye. The third row seemed to include the word ‘MOUNTED’, which could give rise to some innuendo-laden guffaws worthy of a spot in ‘Commentator-balls’.
As luck would have it, I didn’t send my pile of back issues to my itinerant brother this year – he usually gets about a year’s worth when he comes back to the UK or France in the summer, but other arrangements intervened. And a quick flick through the issues from around that time led me to Issue 1598 and the following pronouncement from that doyenne of all matters equestrienne, Clare Balding:
‘…PRINCESS ANNE, AFTER HAVING LEFT (originally ‘after leaving’) THE ABBEY THROUGH A SIDE DOOR, HAS NOW BEEN MOUNTED…YES, THERE SHE IS…’
(NB. Apologies in advance for the grid clue-numbering, which goes out of synch from 28 onwards…in order to make the coloured rows un-numbered I would have had to switch off the automatic numbering and manually insert all the other numbers in the PD blogging utility…a step too far for your weary blogger! Hopefully anyone who spent a long enough period of time solving this will be able to make the necessary mental adjustments…)
A little further research confirmed that Princess Anne had been given the ‘honour’ of riding behind her brother’s carriage on the way back to Buck Pal, or wherever, after the coronation – a minor detail that escaped me at the time…
(I don’t think I ever finished checking off the letters provided in the preamble – but I probably would have had to, if I hadn’t tracked down that back issue!)
I think all that remains is for me to thank Cyclops for providing two-and-a-half times as much enjoyment as usual, filling up a hefty chunk of my holiday crosswording time, and to apologise in advance for any errors/oversights below…it has been a hard slog amongst the mince pies and sherries…I’m off for a lie-down!
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
||
| 12A | VOYEURISTIC | After your visit, corrupt drug-taking Conservative is inclined to look for sex (11)
VOY_URISTI (anag, i.e. corrupt, of YOUR VISIT) around (taking) E (drug, Ecstasy tablet), plus C (Conservative) [a voyeur is inclined to look/watch, as a substitute for actually having sex…] |
||
| 14A | RUBBER BAND | In US, Johnny joins group as a means of keeping things together? (6,4)
RUBBER (condom, or johnny, in the US) plus (joining) BAND (group) |
||
| 15A | TURN (GREY) | & 3 Visibly age when revolution takes on ex-PM (4,4)
TURN (revolution) plus (taking on) GREY (ex-PM, Earl Grey) |
||
| 17A | SKINNY | Southern folk up against the Big Apple – city goes spare (6)
S (southern) + KIN (folk, family) + NY (New York, the Big Apple city) |
||
| 18A | UNTIE | Not the first BBC release (5)
( |
||
| 19A | CHEST | Chap’s welcomed by gutless cabinet tits (5)
C_T (gutless CabineT) around (welcoming) HES (he, chap, plus contracted ‘s) |
||
| 20A | TENACITY | Figure a place like Kyiv shows resolve (8)
TEN (figure, number) + A + CITY (place like Kyiv) |
||
| 21A | HOUSE-SIT | Provide residential care in Soho – uses itemised (5-3)
hidden word in ‘soHO USES ITemised) |
||
| 24A | ISLES | See 59ac. (5)
see 59A |
||
| 25A | TRAIN | Downfall follows Tory leader’s drill (5)
T (leading letter of Tory) + RAIN (downfall) |
||
| 27A | SIPHON | Drink, darling? It’ll help you pass water (6)
SIP (drink) + HON (honey, darling) |
||
| 31A | SEDUCER | Deceiver‘s bungled rescue involving Democrat (7)
SE_UCER (anag, i.e. bungled, of RESCUE) around (involving) D (Democrat) |
||
| 33A | COBBLES | BBC lose out – they get walked over (7)
anag, i.e. out, of BBC LOSE |
||
| 35A | OPTIC | Nothing associated with Trump’s head in photo is Eye-related (5)
O (zero, nothing) plus (associated with) P_IC (photo) around T (first letter, or head, of Trump) |
||
| 36A | DARK | Not fair, sticking large cup on chest (4)
D (large bra cup size) + ARK (chest) |
||
| 38A | SURPASSED | Went beyond yanking dress up outside a school’s entrance (9)
SURP_SED (anag, i.e. yanking, of DRESS UP) around (outside) AS (A plus S – first letter, or entrance, of School) |
||
| 40A | VIOLIN | I love getting end away – awful cool but it has strings (6)
VIOL (subtractive anagram, i.e. awful, of I LOV( |
||
| 41A | ANCIENT | Old political party that is next to drop centre (7)
ANC (African National Congress, political party) + IE (id est, that is) + NT (nexT, dropping centre) |
||
| 47A | ON A ROLL | Listed as a voter enjoying a spell of success (2,1,4)
double defn. – if you are on the electoral roll, so ON A ROLL, you are listed as a voter; and if you are ON A ROLL you are enjoying a spell of success |
||
| 48A | CONSUL | Seek advice after Tory no.1 booted out diplomat (6)
CONSUL( |
||
| 49A | TECHNIQUE | Cheque in post finally – crap system! (9)
anag, i.e. crap, of CHEQUE IN + T (final letter of posT) |
||
| 53A | MESS | Hiding drugs in document – what has the government got us into? (4)
M_S (manuscript, document) around (hiding) ES (Es, Ecstasy tablets, or drugs – again!) |
||
| 55A | HARSH | King in muddle is bitter (5)
HA_SH (muddle) around R (rex, king) |
||
| 56A | TURN-OFF | Cycle with Dicky? It’s not conducive to sex (4-3)
TURN (cycle) + OFF (ill, dicky) |
||
| 59A | BRITISH (ISLES) | & 24 Best Rishi lies about abandoning energy for the country (7,5)
subtractive anagram, i.e. about, of BEST RISHI LI( |
||
| 63A | STRESS | Initiate sex before hair highlight (6)
S (initial letter of Sex) + TRESS (hair) |
||
| 65A | NEEDY | Wanting nooky endlessly eventually debilitates youth leaders (5)
first letters, or leaders, of ‘Nooky Endlessly Eventually Debilitates Youth’ |
||
| 66A | MEDAL | Made bollocks large as a gong (5)
MEDA (anag, i.e. bollocks, of MADE) + L (large) |
||
| 68A | LAY WASTE | Desolate sex act is in the past – heartlessly tiresome (3,5)
LAY (sex act) + WAS (is in the past) + TE (TiresomE, heartlessly) |
||
| 69A | DEED POLL | Achievement getting head – by which to make a better name for yourself? (4,4)
DEED (achievement) + POLL (head) |
||
| 70A | PAGAN | Be critical about state – “heathen!” (5)
PA_N (be critical of) around (about) GA (Georgia, US State) |
||
| 71A | RISHI | Leader who’s flourishing? Not quite (5)
hidden word in, i.e. not quite all of, ‘flouRISHIng’ |
||
| 72A | HOLD-UP | Snag, as bras will do (4-2)
double defn., give or take the punctuation – a HOLD-UP can be a snag, or stoppage; and bras can be used to HOLD UP, or support, chestly appendages… |
||
| 74A | DOWN | See 1dn. (4)
see 1D |
||
| 75A | METHODICAL | Systematic climate change besets carrier (10)
MET_ICAL (anag, i.e. change, of CLIMATE) around (besetting) HOD (carrier, usually for bricks or mortar) |
||
| 76A | KINGS RANSOM | Fortune our Brian’s managed – hence millions (5,6)
KINGS (King Charles, or Brian, as the Eye call him, plus a contracted ‘s) + RAN (managed) + SO (hence) + M (millions) |
||
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
||
| 1D | LOOK (DOWN UPON) | & 74 & 73 Be condescending: woo with plonk and undo pants (4,4,4)
anag, i.e. pants, of WOO + PLONK + UNDO |
||
| 2D | TENNYSON | Catch up with New York’s working poet (8)
TEN (net, or catch, up) + NYS (New York, plus contracted ‘s) + ON (working) |
||
| 3D | GREY | See 15ac. (4)
see 15A |
||
| 4D | HISTRIONIC | Theatrical male’s group can almost (10)
HIS (male’s) + TRIO (group) + NIC( |
||
| 5D | SUCCESSFUL | Fuss associated with Cyclops’ first clues – turns out to be a hit (10)
anag, i.e. turns out, of FUSS + C (Cyclops’ first letter) + CLUES |
||
| 6D | ABSENTEE | MD escapes debasement, playing truant (8)
subtractive anagram, i.e. playing, of ( |
||
| 7D | DRAT | A way to turn back time that’s frustrating (4)
DRA (A + RD – road, or way, turning back) + T (time) |
||
| 8D | CASTING VOTE | Tossing off veto a chairperson might use (7,4)
CASTING (tossing) + VOTE (anag, i.e. off, of VETO) |
||
| 9D | ADONIS | Lordly politician has trouble subverting wrongdoing (6)
ADO (trouble) + NIS (sin, wrongdoing, reversed, or subverted) |
||
| 10D | STOCKPILED | Handle a lot of money before Donald initially put away (10)
STOCK (handle, keep) + PILE (a lot of money) + D (Donald, initially) |
||
| 11D | WRITE-OFF | Conservative said Dicky’s a total loss (5-3)
WRITE (homophone, i.e. said, of RIGHT, Conservative) + OFF (dicky, again!) |
||
| 13D | STUNT | Exploit having way with Chancellor (not hard) (5)
ST (street, way) + ( |
||
| 16D | SELL | See 72dn. (4)
see 72D |
||
| 22D | ONRUSH | “Attack on Republican American hearts!” (6)
ON + R (Republican) + US (American) + H (hearts) |
||
| 23D | SPENCER | Senior hoarding money for Di once (7)
S_R (senior) around (hoarding) PENCE (money) [Princess Diana’s maiden name was Spencer] |
||
| 26D | APHRODISIAC | It arouses chaps, Radio One broadcast (11)
anag, i.e. broadcast, of CHAPS RADIO + I (one) |
||
| 28D | STREAKY | Bacon-like, as slapdash daubs are? (7)
&lit-ish/CD/double-defn?… bacon can be STREAKY; slapdash daubs of paint can be described as STREAKY. And Francis Bacon was known for his style of slapdash-looking daubed painting… |
||
| 29D | EMBED | Those people commonly plot to get implant (5)
EM (’em, or them, spoken in a ‘common’ style) + BED (plot) |
||
| 30D | NO CAN DO | That’s impossible, Bob, outside prison circle (2,3,2)
NO_D (bob) around CAN (prison), plus O (circle) |
||
| 32D | DESPAIR | Round off poems with ‘tits’ and lose heart (7)
( |
||
| 34D | SKODA | It used to be maligned, inserting end of cock in fizzy drink (5)
S_ODA (fizzy drink) with K (end of cocK) inserted |
||
| 37D | RUNWAY | Escapee abandons a route to upward mobility (6)
RUN( |
||
| 39D | SCHOOLHOUSE | Soho’s louche circles – place of class divisions? (11)
anag, i.e. circles, of SOHOS LOUCHE |
||
| 40D | VIGIL | Almost give up taking Cyclops on live watch (5)
VIG (give, almost, up) + I (Cyclops, our setter) + L (live, indication on an electric plug? – live, neutral, earth?) |
||
| 42D | ISRAELI | Netanyahu possibly has PM blowing his top (7)
( |
||
| 43D | CHANGE | A few coins are different (6)
double defn – a few coins can be CHANGE; and to CHANGE can be to differ |
||
| 44D | BOLSHIE | Bloody-minded sort of throwback, one protected by female (7)
BOL (lob, throw, back) + SH_E (female) around (protecting) I (one) |
||
| 45D | ONSET | Where to film beginning (5)
double defn., give or take the punctuation – filming is usually done ON SET; and an ONSET can be a beginning |
||
| 46D | ENNOBLE | Make distinguished east quarter of St Julien count? (7)
EN (the east-most, or rightmost, two letters, or quarter, of st-ju-li-EN) + NOBLE (count, European noble rank) |
||
| 49D | TROPE | “Get pissed” is about right as a figure of speech (5)
T_OPE (get drunk, or pissed) around R (right) |
||
| 50D | QUIVERY | Showing fright, Archer’s case put to Yard (7)
QUIVER (archer’s case, for arrows) + Y (yard) |
||
| 51D | CRIMINALITY | Crookedness of City Rail deviously hiding minutes (11)
CRI_ALITY (anag, i.e. deviously, of CITY RAIL) around (hiding) MIN (minutes) |
||
| 52D | THRIFT | Economy: the endless disagreement (6)
TH( |
||
| 54D | SUBHEADING | Not the most prominent title Bush gained perhaps (10)
anag, i.e. perhaps, of BUSH GAINED [title in a printing/newspaper sense] |
||
| 57D | RUDIMENTAL | Mali turned out to be unusually simple (10)
anag, i.e. out, of MALI TURNED |
||
| 58D | FATALISTIC | ‘Resigned‘ shown in wide italics maybe (10)
FAT (wide) + ALISTIC (anag, i.e. perhaps, of ITALICS) |
||
| 60D | ON THE JOB | Working, or knocking off? (2,3,3)
double defn. – if you are working then you are ON THE JOB; and ON THE JOB can be a euphemism for having sex, or ‘knocking off’ |
||
| 61D | TRY AGAIN | Examine an election win and have another go (3,5)
TRY (examine) + A GAIN (an election win) |
||
| 62D | HEADLINE | Sort of sex approach that makes a prominent tabloid feature? (8)
HEAD (sort of sex act) + LINE (approach) |
||
| 64D | STORMY | Corruption’s on the rise: yours truly’s a recipient of Trump hush money (6)
STOR (rot, or corruption, with a contracted ‘s, on the rise) + MY (Cyclops’, or your truly’s) [Stormy Daniels being a US porn star who had some sort of relationship with Ronald T Dump, leading to him paying her hush money before his first election campaign. (Note to Editor – am I supposed to insert ‘allegedly’ in the previous sentence?…)] |
||
| 67D | DIRT (POOR) | & 70 Tabloid hack’s info. inadequate, so destitute (4,4)
DIRT (tabloid hack’s info, usually about some sordid celebrity secret) + POOR (inadequate) |
||
| 68D | LYING | Sprawling habit of certain politicians (5)
double defn. – sprawling around can be LYING around; and certain (all?) politicians are in the habit of LYING |
||
| 70D | POOR | See 67dn. (4)
see 67D |
||
| 72D | HARD (SELL) | & 16 Pressure in store from unyielding hawk? (4,4)
HARD (unyielding) + SELL (hawk, in the commercial sense) |
||
| 73D | UPON | See 1dn. (4)
see 1D |
||
Thanks for your efforts on this Christmas special mc_rapper67. It took me a while to complete but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I managed eventually to solve it correctly, though I had to come here to clarify the parsing on a couple of clues. A smile for the Skoda clue – not so many jokes about them these days. Happy New Year.
Thanks for the blog, a marathon effort. Your grid is very impressive, I must admit I always ignore the extra bits once the clues are solved.
Very good set of clues , must be hard to maintain the standard with so many.
VIGIL- L=live is not in Chambers which is a surprise. It is used in virtually every electrical connection in every single home.
Good spot for STREAKY which gives an extra layer.
Only APHRODISIAC earned a Paddington stare.
59a/24a BRITISH ISLES – only “the country” if considered LESS !RISH BIT – otherwise ‘the geographical archipelago’.
I always enjoy this puzzle….gives me more bang for my buck.
Two objections:
Is a D cup really that large?
And in older times, Skodas were really awful and it is therefore difficult to see how they could be maligned…..anything bad about them was most probably true.
Great puzzle. I was pleased to be able to finish it and especially to work out the (near-)quote without the benefit of having the relevant issue (or any!).
IN 17ac, SKINNY, I can’t see what “city goes” is doing. NY is given by “the Big Apple”.
38ac, SURPASSED: “Yanking” seems a little dubious as an anagram indicator.
Winsor, were Skodas really that bad? Or was that just cold war propaganda aimed at stemming the flow of hard currency across the iron curtain? My dad had one and was very happy with it.
Rear-engined models such as the Škoda 105/120 (Estelle) and Rapid sold steadily and performed well against more modern makes in races such as the RAC Rally in the 1970s and 1980s. They won their class in the RAC rally for 17 years running. Wikipedia
Winsor@4 definitely yes , but not so unusual these days .
Tony@5 for SKINNY I took the Big Apple to mean New York City .For SURPASSED yank=to move actively C93 .
Well done MC for a great blog as usual!
I was very happy to solve this without having to worry about blogging it – completely failed to remember to send it in though.
I remember reading that ‘Colman/Balding-balls’ at the time but had trouble working out the “after having left” part. Thanks for looking it up – I didn’t bother myself (my dreadful pile of back issues is currently very unsorted in boxes getting kicked everyday under my desk). That change to use passive tense feels very clunky. I presume it was necessary to fit in the puzzle.
I too think there is a bit of unnecessary wordplay in that 17A SKINNY New York reference.
The one clue I had trouble with was 39D SCHOOLHOUSE – couldn’t get it till after filling in the coloured rows. I got lost in the anagramming, there seemed to be far too many Os.
Roz@6, ah, yes, you’re right: ‘The Big Apple’ is New York City; ‘New York’ is the state. The blog parsing should probably be updated.
What is C93?
C93 ls The Chambers Dictionary 1993 first edition . The definitive volume for all crosswords.
Interesting. We are decluttering, and were on the point of getting rid of my old Chambers Dict, until I read Roz’s comment. Checked, and mine is the 1993 edition. Not decluttering it any more, and if I ever do, will offer it to cruciverbalists.
Roz@9, ah, yes. Chambers English Dictionary, 7th Edn. (1988) gives that meaning, too, as an intransitive verb and marked as “fig.” (figurative). I suppose that covers it, although I’d like to have seen some examples of its use with that meaning to be sure. Maybe someone with access to the OED can provide some?
Bearing in mind the city that never sleeps- a seasonal greeting, HOLY APPEAL -WEARY OUT NY.
Like Roz @2 I appreciate the additional reference to Francis Bacon, which passed me by at solve time.
Agree with FrankieG @3 re 59a/24d. I don’t know whether the British Isles was ever a country. I suppose the country could be just in the sense of land.
I can’t quite see for 43d where one could substitute CHANGE for DIFFERENT in a sentence or phrase.
All the best and thanks to Cyclops and mc_rapper67 for these mammoth tasks.
Thanks for the comments and feedback so far – much appreciated as usual…
Roz at #2 – L = Live is in Collins, as is N = Neutral, but neither are any of my eChambers. (They both have E/e = earth, but that is a more generic usage…). Was it the indirect ONE = I in APHRODISIAC that caused the stare?
Frankie G at #3 (and others) – yes, Cyclops seems to be using a bit of geopolitical latitude in his definition at 59A/24A!
Tony Collman at #5 (and others) – I have updated the parsing of SKINNY to include ‘city’ with New York…leaving ‘goes’ as a link word?
Roz at #6 – were you agreeing with Windsor at #4 re. the largeness of D cups, or the awfulness of Skodas? (;+>)
beermagnet at #7 – your turn this year!
Mc@13, no, “goes” is a deletion indicator:
NYC (Big Apple) – C (city) = NY
Wow, finally done it.