So there I was wondering where to do my Eye crossword this time. I thought what about another time and found myself in a smoky pub in about 1972. “The Worlds End”. God it was awful! – the beer was dreadful, the atmosphere could be cut with a knife, and someone sat down at the piano and started belting out “Blue is the Colour”. One good thing was that it had lots of separate bars and there was a reasonably quiet snug where I could settle down to tackle the crossword. Of course when I finished it I found myself back in the real world. Shame.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 9 | HANOI HA! (expression of triumph – as used e.g. by David Tennant as Dr Who) ION< (charge retracted) |
| 10 | FIT TO BUST DD: 1. What to do with a bra 2. with gusto |
| 11 | TROUSSEAU T[ories] ROUSSEAU Surprisingly “crossword-common” word and wordplay. This or making ROUSSEAU from TROUSSEAU – T. It’s cos it’s a word ending in U innit. |
| 12 | MATER DD: 1. Mother 2. Someone who mates (“Oedipus! Oedipus! Wherefore art thou Oedipus”) |
| 13 | HAREMS ER< inside HAMS (joints) |
| 14/19/23 | BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT BRITAIN ‘S GOT (The country has) T[ory] A[nd] L[ib] (NET)* AInd: awful. First clue attempted and first written in mostly from the clear definition and the fact that I agree with the sentiment. |
| 17 | RIPON IPO[d] inside RN (sailors) |
| 20 | ELDER [w]ELDER |
| 22 | EPILATOR (IP ALE ROT)* AInd: ROT – doing double duty but that’s reasonably clear. I knew of Depilation, frightful activity, so put this answer in without much worry thinking it was much the same thing. Researching, I find there is a distinction between the two as explained here: Wiki Depilatory |
| 28 | ART CRITIC A[nna] RT (right) CRITIC (fault finder) Anna Sewell wrote Black Beauty and is somehow a world away from Brian of that ilk briansewell.co.uk (I’m not sure that this website isn’t a spoof) |
| 29 | WITCHHUNT CH[urch] HUNT (quest) after WIT (joker) Ref. Sen. Joe McCarthy |
| 30 | CUT IN PUTIN with a different top. I don’t understand what “beefcake” is doing in the clue: Interrupt beefcake Vladimir changing top (3,2) |
| Down | |
| 1 | THATCHER THAT (“the one over there”) CHER (the much enhanced performer) This one was very misleading. I fell for the trap of thinking that the Definition – the Tory leader – was wordplay for T. |
| 2 | ON TOUR NT (religious books) inside OO (balls), U[nderpants] R[ight] |
| 3 | DIPSOMANIA DIPS (plunges) (O[b]AMA IN)* AInd: mess. Def: Lush state. |
| 4/26 | AFTERBIRTH CD relying on the two different meanings of Labour |
| 5 | ET TU BRUTE (TUBE UTTER)* AInd: rubbish. The clue wasn’t. I award this the top clue gong: Tube utter rubbish, so even you have joined the backstabbers (2,2,5) |
| 7 | CURTSIED CUR (Dog) (DIETS)* AInd: lousy. I see at the side of the grid I anagrammed “Dog diet’s” into Dodgiest and even Stodgied (What’s that? Porridge attack?) but realised neither of these could be a “formal way of acknowledging” The Queen |
| 8 | UTERUS (TRUE)* AInd: bastard. US (American) |
| 15 | THE RAT RACE DD/CD-thingy which had me foxed. Last clue entered but when I realised the answer I couldn’t fathom why it misled me so much: Definitive nation of arseholes’ relentless competition (3,3,4) |
| 16 | IGNORAMUS (U[ranium] ORGASM IN)* AInd: explosive. |
| 18 | PRIORITY IT (sex) inside PRIORY (abbey) |
| 21 | RETICENT T[ory] I[nquest] inside (CENTRE)* AInd: debacle. I liked the definition: Frank’s antithesis |
| 22 | ELBOWS BOW (Archer’s thing) inside (Ernie) ELS (Golfer). Elbow as a verb. |
| 24 | ENTITY TIT (plonker) inside E[ast] N[ew] Y[ork] Def: Being |
| 25/6 | STATEROOM STATE (maybe Georgia) , MOOR< (Fell – as in a mountainside) |
| 27 | HO-HO HO[use] (Commons) HO[use] (Lords) “no use in either case” – definitely a ho-ho moment! Stick a 🙂 on that one. |
How times change: Years ago people felt safe when there was a Moat around their manor
Thanks for the blog. I always enjoy Cyclops and this time I thought 10ac and 5d were top flight.
Re ‘beefcake’ – Vladimir Vladimirovich likes to disport himself in a semi-nude state from time to time eg
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32299822/ – where he is known as K-G-Beefcake. (F-S-Beefcake Shirley?)