… and under us. As this grid is topped and tailed with Kate and Wills on the top and bottom, and in the middle row. All these had clues of the same kind – a clear definition plus a humourous, and likely topical definition. Plus two children’s books top and bottom.
I wonder if there are other interrelated things in the puzzle… Aha! Left and right: Eggs, Rock, Food, Nest. It’s a gannet’s checklist!
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 5 | WHAT KATY DID | Minor story revealing the actions of a familiar royal (e.g. went topless)? (4,4,3) Def. plus Cryptic Def. with reference to the dreadful grainy pix inhabiting the seedier corners of the magazine stands (and internet, err, probably). A man taking clandestine photos like this for his own entertainment would be labelled as a pervert, as a paparazzi you get paid for it. Oh I’d better include a link so we can see what Katy really did. |
| 10 | GHASTLY | Lousy experimental shag starts to turn lover yellow (7) SHAG* AInd: experimental, [T]urn [L]over [Y]ellow. Nice surface |
| 11 | FALLS TO | Becomes the responsibility of Trip, drunken sot (5,2) FALL (trip) SOT* AInd: drunken. Capitilising trip to make it look like a name may fool Sarah Palin, but it won’t fool us. |
| 12 | SIGNATORY | Gains blown by one of Cameron’s lot, so name put right at the bottom? (9) GAINS* AInd: blown, A TORY. |
| 14 | EDGED | Was on the brink of instilling good in Miliband – twice (5) G[ood] inside two EDs |
| 16 | BATTLE OF WILLS | Prince’s engagement – neither party willing to bend (6,2,5) Cryptic Def plus Def. That cryptic def: Can we really imagine the Duke of Cambridge in a fight? The only battle he’s having is with his ‘advancing forehead’. (Of course if a man is losing hair at the front it’s a sign he’s a thinker. If at the back then he’s sexy. If front and back he thinks he’s sexy.) |
| 18 | RADAR | System of detecting a would-be luvvie’s establishment, right? (5) RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts = a would-be luvvie’s establishment) R[ight] |
| 19 | SENSATION | Scandal sheet heading: “Pisspoor Etonians” (9) S[heet] ETONIANS* AInd: pisspoor |
| 21 | CURATOR | Guardian arsehole embracing another arsehole with old-fashioned ejaculation (7) RAT (arsehole) and O! (old-fashioned ejaculation) inside CUR (arsehole) |
| 23 | READIES | Pop your clogs into wobbly arse for money (7) DIE (Pop your clogs) inside ARSE* AInd: wobbly |
| 25 | JUST WILLIAM | Tales of laddish bad behaviour, Kate not being around? (4,7) Def. plus Cryptic def. What would Martin Jarvis have done without Richmal Crompton’s creation. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | SWEAT GLAND | Labour happy to secure Cameron’s end – cause of personal stink (5,5) SWEAT (Labour) [camero]N inside GLAD |
| 2/9 | FAST FOOD | Staff working on sod all: make over needed, as you’d expect from McDonald’s (4,4) STAFF* AInd: working, 0 (sod all), DO< (make, over). |
| 3 | STIFFY | Erection doubtful after second time (6) S[econd] T[ime] IFFY (doubtful). Top clue for the truthful surface reading |
| 4 | IDES | Not right, shags, middle of month? (4) [r]IDES |
| 6 | KEYHOLE | Solution applied to orifice as means of keeping eye on bedroom activities? (7) KEY (solution) HOLE (orifice) |
| 7 | DOLCE VITA | Life worth living? – and idiot put up with Lloyd Webber work! (5,4) CLOD< (idiot up) EVITA (the musical) |
| 13 | ARTHRITIS | An inflammatory thing, waving ‘IRA’ T-shirt (9) (IRA T-SHIRT)* AInd: waving |
| 15 | GALLICISMS | Sarkozy-style expressions of fiddled claims (girls having no right) (10) (CLAIMS GIRLS – R)* AInd: fiddled. Should we be using M. Hollande in clues like this now? Nah, could use De Gaulle and it would still work. Anyway, the clue surface suits Sarkozy more, allegedly. |
| 17 | FUNERAL | Sport real nuts, as happens to one who’s been stiff for a while (7) FUN (sport) REAL* AInd: nuts |
| 19 | SHREWD | Cunning woman dramatically tamed Democrat (6) SHREW (as in Taming of the … = woman dramatically tamed) D[emocrat] |
| 20/8 | NEST EGGS | Personal funds, say, put into disgraceful ‘Gents’, son (4,4) (GENTS SON)* AInd: disgraceful Edit: ‘say’ is not part of the def. and wordplay EG (say) inside (GENTS S[on])* AInd: disgraceful |
| 22 | RAJA | One pint of piss goes over Prince (4) A JAR all rev. |
| 24/18 | ACID ROCK | Do crack liberally laced with iodine to produce such a drug-inspired sound? (4,4) (DO CRACK I)* AInd: Do |
I was told I was a very naughty boy for the “joke” at the end of the last Eye blog. So this time I’ll leave you a cute cartoon by John O’Brien
Thanks, beermagnet.
Just for the record, I think you need to look at your parsing of NEST EGGS again.
Whoops. Nest eggs properly cracked now. Thanks Neil
I see that wimp, Brummie, is shooting off his mouth again in his latest blog.
The article is poison for my image, and I hereby disassociate myself completely from its contents and tone.
Yours, etc., Cyclops
[Incidentally, beermagnet, I hadn’t realised until reading your introduction with its “gannet’s checklist” just how accomplished I am – you’ve made my day, thank you!]
… make that http://www.eddiejames.co.uk/blog.html and forget my fancy link attempt