If camembert cost about £200 per kilo and had the reputation that you lost weight after eating it, it would become highly sought after and anyone who bought it would certainly lose weight.
Otherwise they wouldn’t be getting their money’s worth.
Oh OK. It probably isn’t long before camembert does cost £200 per kilo along with many other things.
Of course I am referencing the current feverish coverage of Mounjaro/Ozempic capabilities.
It seems to have created an unusual “price war” where each is trying to be more expensive than the other.
I must stop trying to make fun of them. It only encourages them.
Getting back to the puzzle. This is another one that took me longer than expected (and indeed than it should, I now see since I’ve got the answers). So it is a fact. My solving abilities are waning. I will soldier on and enjoy it while I can!
I always seem to say it – “It started so well”: I got 1A and 1D right off the bat, and then a couple of their linked clues where I had their first letters. But then I was just picking off odd clues around the puzzle. Until at the end of the first pass the grid was significantly less than half filled.
It didn’t help that I hastily wrote in PRIEST for 16A – I don’t know what I was thinking (not very much, obviously).
Another pass, or two, filled in more (including the correct 16A) until there were about half dozen to go, mostly bottom right hand corner. Then I decided to sleep on it.
Next day those remaining were solved in a trice.
I wonder what made me so slow the previous day? Worry, fatigue, aliens? Probably all three.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SADIST | Who’d love to make you smart? (6) Cryptic Def.: Smart as in a stinging hurt which is the earlier meaning. That is, “stinging hurt” came before the idea of “mentally keen”. That’s the way it was in my school anyway. |
| 4 | CIABATTA | Act a bit odd on having a roll? (8) (ACT A BIT)* AInd: odd. then A (a) Ciabatta is Italian for slipper. |
| 10 | MOCCASINS | “Cover for dogs” ludicrously portrayed in Comic Sans (9) (COMIC SANS)* AInd: ludicrously portrayed. Dogs as in feet |
| 12/11 | AWFUL SIGHT | Waving US flag with horror (5,5) (US FLAG WITH)* AInd: waving. Surface reading becoming true for more and more people around the world. |
| 13 | INDICATOR | Some finger pointing – tad ironic maybe (9) (TAD IRONIC)* AInd: maybe. Is it ironic or just “stating a fact”? – discuss. |
| 14 | HAMSTER | Poor luvvie needs rest badly, pet (7) HAM (poor, i.e. bad, luvvie (actor)) (REST)* AInd: badly. Those of a certain age will remember Hammy hamster. He wasn’t a very good actor either. |
| 16 | RECTOR | Front page right to reveal minister? (6) RECTO (front page) R[ight]. These days it seems the entire front page is reserved for presidents. |
| 19 | ODDISH | Party about to get on course? A bit unusual (6) DO< (party, about) DISH (course). Some are often a bit unusual in a party. |
| 21 | SURFEIT | More than enough froth before initially empty sex (7) SURF (froth) E[mpty] IT (sex). There is usually a surfeit of froth. |
| 23 | INCOGNITO | Apparently not yourself, pissed, noticing nothing (9) (NOTICING)* AInd: pissed, making INCOGNIT, then O (nothing). For my part I’m most myself when pissed. |
| 25 | LYCRA | Some really crap sporty wear (5) Hidden in realLY CRAp. Should be kept hidden |
| 27 | FUNGI | Soldier after amusing, cheesy additions (5) GI (soldier) after FUN (amusing). Do you add cheese to mushrooms, or mushrooms to cheese? |
| 28 | CAMEMBERT | Rather cheesy, this MP getting cuddled by whip (9) MEMBER (MP) inside (cuddled by) CAT (whip). More cheese! Plus the trope that MPs like a spot of illicit SM. Their own fault, they’ve made a rod for their own back. |
| 29 | DELEGATE | Representative of broadcast food shop scandal? (8) DELE Homophone “Deli” (food shop) HInd: broadcast, GATE (scandal). Delegate: The new boy sent to the bakery to do the sandwich run. |
| 30 | MYOPIC | Rather short-sighted, unusually coy PM guards independence (6) (COY MP)* AInd: unusually, around I[ndependence]. The snag with Independent MPs: No actual power. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | SYMPATHY | Politician in hasty arrangement has ‘end of party’ feeling (8) MP (Politician) inside (HASTY)* AInd: arrangement, then [part]Y. Sympathy? Is that appropriate for that ‘end of party’ feeling? (I’m thinking it is more likely ‘tired and emotional’) |
| 2 | DECAF | Confronted over drink that’s less stimulating (5) FACED< (confronted, over). There may be a confrontation if anyone tries to palm me off with decaf. |
| 3 | SCARLATTI | Castrati put out about Latin bloke who scored (9) (CASTRATI)* AInd: put out, around L[atin]. Early keyboard composer Domenico S wiki (even earlier than Rick Wakeman) Happy days picking out the odd Scarlatti sonata on the Old Joanna |
| 5 | INSIDER | One with special knowledge of cool drink, it’s said (7) “In cider” (cool drink) HInd: it’s said. Is it the cider inside her inside? To find out you need special knowledge |
| 6 | BASIC | PC language, so coarse cabbies be gone! (5) (CABBIES – BE)* AInd: coarse. I’m sure language can be both coarse and PC, especially if asked to code with Basic ever again. |
| 7 | TIGHTROPE | Pissed guy? Walk with care on this (9) TIGHT (pissed) ROPE (guy) Walking the tightrope? Something else I won’t be adding to the bucket list |
| 8 | ARTERY | Bloody channel‘s ‘creative’ appropriation of old monarch! (6) ARTY (creative) around (appropriation of) ER (old monarch). Excellent surface reading describing the History channel |
| 9 | VIZIER | Foreign minister‘s a scurrilous comic that is on right (6) VIZ (scurrilous comic) I.E. (that is) R[ight]. If the current turmoil in Iran pays out will we see the return of Viziers after the exit of the Imams? Secular Viziers of course, if that’s not an oxymoron. |
| 15 | MEDICINAL | You might claim booze is from Iceland – I’m dubious (9) (ICELAND IM)* AInd: dubious. Booze from Iceland is bloody expensive so it must be good for you! |
| 17 | COR BLIMEY | Wow! Green-embracing Jeremy? Not quite (3,6) LIME (green) inside (embraced by) CORBY[n] (Jeremy, not quite). Cor blimey guv’nor, the Greens don’t want nuffink to do with Jezzer. |
| 18 | ATLANTIC | It’s between Starmer and Trump mainly (8) Cryptic Def. referring the the “main” the sea/ocean between representatives of USA and UK. What’s between Starmer and Trump is our future, so time to be afraid, very afraid. |
| 20 | HAIRCUT | Pageboy‘s somewhat coquettish air? Cute (7) Hidden in coquettisH AIR CUTe. Pageboy is an example of a haircut. [Fails to stop self from providing link to a Haircut 100 track] |
| 21 | STORMY | Trump payee is raging (6) Double Def. one a weather event, the other also Double D, probably. More information readily available on the internet |
| 22 | MIFFED | MI Five’s head taken in, then put out (6) MI F[ive] FED (taken in). MI5 are probably miffed by some of the coverage they get, and that’s after it’s been surreptitiously enhanced. |
| 24/26 | GOING CHEAP | Moving bloke with electronic implant doesn’t cost much (5,5) GOING (moving) CHAP (bloke) with E[lectronic] inside. Surface reading may come true. Cyborgs will be a stepping stone to robots fully taking over removal businesses. You’ll know when “Man with a Van” ads become just “A Van”. |
I walked into a pub and asked the barman for the Wi-Fi password. He said “You’ll have to buy a drink first”.
Well, I said I was going to anyway and got a pint in, then after paying I asked what the password was again and he replied “you’ll have to buy a drink first – all lower case”.
Excellent blog beermagnet. Very witty and topical.
The password joke: Good one!
CIABATTA
Small correction needed.
CIABATT +A
Def: roll
[reminds me of a pub called The Zodiac in Edinburgh, much frequented because they had a pinball machine, there was a sign behind the bar, “WYBMADIITY?”]
Thanks for the blog and all asides , very entertaining . HAMSTER was neat , and Hammy could act , just outshone by GP and the enigmatic owl .
[ KenMac@2 I was told this one by an Irish boy , he claimed it was from Ireland but he claimed that for most things . Pubs used to have Pinball Machines ? wow , in my time it was stupid video games . ]
CAMEMBERT appeared again on Friday in the Guardian .
Thanks for the very amusing blog beermagent, and thanks to Cyclops for the puzzle. I had to resort to www and a chat with a china who also does PE to get that dogs=feet, I’d never heard of it. My father always referred to them as ‘plates of meat’. As they say, you’re never too old to learn.
An enjoyable crossword – as always, with Cyclops, and an entertaining blog – as always with beermagnet. Many thanks to both of you.
DECAF, COR BLIMEY, HAMSTER and the wifi joke all made me chuckle.
Thanks for the blog. Today I learned dogs=feet and recto=front page – but I was able to pencil in the answers for both from the rest of the clue and crossers.
Puzzled by WYBMADIITY @2. Would you buy me a drink if I thank you…?
Saaaam @7 Close.Will you buy me a drink if I tell you? 😉
Thank you for an excellent blog.
Took me a loooong time to get the reference to Stormy as a Trump payee… The man makes you forget his previous misdemeanours by continuing to add to the array of increasingly moronic stuff he keeps doing!
At least he creates a bottomless source of themes for comedians and setters alike.
Thanks Beermagnet, I had a similar experience as you, only I struggled with the top right section. I don’t think dogs meat for feet is Cockney slang, I believe it may be American
Thanks beermagnet and Cyclops. Re 10a I also did not know DOGS = FEET. When parsing moccasins, I googled dogs shoes and saw images of a bunch of dogs wearing moccasins, and thought I’d cracked it.
I marked 18d as a favourite. I’m finding it increasingly difficult to laugh at the naked greed and imperialism of our orange pal.
I didn’t think I knew dogs=feet, but then remembered Dad saying his dogs were barking, i.e. having footache.
Thanks everyone for your comments and your nice words.
On the DOGS=FEET “synonym” I thought it was CRS (Cockney Rhyming Slang) from “Dogs’ Meat” and nearly put that in the explanation.
Good job I didn’t because the consensus on the web is that it started in USA first and its precise origin is unknown.
I too particularly like the phrase “my dogs are barking”, it’s a great way to announce achy feet.
Great blog thanks. I’ve only just got round to this. I’m playing catch up after a succession of respiratory bugs.
Well, Beermagnet, it turns out that this was a three quarters of a pint solve.
It’s good to be back in the pub.
Thanks all.
PS the cognate of “smart” in German is “Schmerz”, meaning pain.