Another fun-packed episode from our one-eyed friend
This was classic Eye fare with the usual parochial nicknames littered among the clues, which of course have disreputable surface readings, and the central row answer is a long-standing eye feature. Long may it continue.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 9 | LANCASTER | A rectal adjustment with two poles which bombed (9) (A RECTAL NS)* AInd: Adjustment. First read & answered |
| 10 | ACTOR | Hurt, maybe, little Bill (balls twisted round) (5) AC (little bill) ROT< (balls twisted around). Def. Ref John Hurt |
| 11 | WATCH | Dickhead taking top off chain guard (5) [t]WAT (Dickhead, top off) CH[ain] Last answered. I didn’t think of guard = watch till I had all the crossers |
| 12 | EUPHEMISM | English “hump me” is translated as “let’s dance horizontally”, say? (9) (E[nglish] HUMP ME IS)* AInd: translated |
| 13 | ROBOTIC | Mug on old jerk’s a bit like a Dalek (7) ROB (Mug) O[ld] TIC (jerk) Crossword dalek: Enumerate! |
| 14 | NO LIMIT | Boundless Tony almost returned to crush Miliband’s unruly left wing (2,5) MILI[band] (Miliband’s left wing) anagrammed AInd: unruly, inside TON[y]< (Tony almost returned) |
| 15/17 | PSEUDS CORNER | Unprocessed crap? Right pretentious utterance – here’s our space for it (6,6) (UNPROCESSED)* AInd: crap, then R[ight] I am making no attempt to place the apostrophe |
| 21 | LE MONDE | Old men screwing around, in need of energy daily (2,5) (OLD MEN)* AInd: screwing around, then E[nergy]. This one made me work for the answer (I was not expecting a foreign daily) and gave the best PDM of the piece, so garners the favourite clue award. |
| 23 | ROBERTS | Young Thatcher, after resistance, sloshed Strobes, getting end away? (7) ROBERTS R[esistence] (STROBE[s])* AInd: sloshed. Maiden name was Iron Roberts then. Daughter of Alf Roberts from Corrie (not-a-lot-a-people-know-that) |
| 26 | GINORMOUS | Supersized Ringo sumo wrestling? (9) (RINGO SUMO)* AInd: wrestling. Adjective used mainly for Heffalumps |
| 28/27 | MAN OF STEEL | Moan about f–– LibDem leader, “superhuman sort” (3,2,5) MOAN* AInd: about, F[—] STEEL (Libdem leader). Superman’s soubriquet |
| 29 | CAMEMBERT | Rather cheesy, this MP crushed by whip (9) MEMBER (MP) inside CAT (whip) Suspect I’ve seen this construction before somewhere. Oh no! The cat ate it |
| Down | ||
| 1 | FLOWER | Clary possibly a womaniser getting up Brenda? (6) WOLF< (a womaniser getting up, reversed) ER (Brenda) Had to check this as I did not know this variety of sage I was misled into thinking of Julian C |
| 2 | UNSTABLE | Vacillating, Sun’s iffy board (8) SUN* AInd: iffy, TABLE (board) |
| 3 | SACHET | Bag contributing to balls ache – torture (6) Hidden in “ballS ACHE – Torture” |
| 4 | STRETCH | Distort the truth, say, is what Archer did (7) DD referring to m’lord’s sojourn at ‘er majesty’s pleasure |
| 5 | GROPING | Feeling good doing bondage? (7) G[ood] ROPING (doing bondage) |
| 6 | WATERLOO | John’s after wet’s final defeat (8) LOO (John) after WATER (wet) |
| 7 | ATRIUM | Obama triumphant, showing a bit of heart (6) Hidden in “ObamA TRIUMphant” |
| 8 | PROMOTER | One who upgrades hooker just a speck, right? (8) PRO (hooker) MOTE (a speck) R[ight] |
| 15 | POLYGAMY | College with highly smelly simultaneous coupling (8) POLY (College) GAMY (highly smelly) |
| 16 | DANDRUFF | Top level fallout – useless catching prince without his last two bits (8) ANDR[ew] (prince, less last 2 letters) inside DUFF (useless) |
| 18 | NORSEMEN | And not come as Vikings (8) NOR (and not) SEMEN (come) |
| 19 | REJOICE | What triumphant Maggie said about familiar old Liberal leader on the rocks (7) RE (about) JO (old Liberal leader, Jo Grimond) ICE (the rocks) |
| 20 | IRKSOME | Pain in the arse Birk so mean dropping ban (7) BIRK SO MEAN – BAN = [b]IRKSOME[an] |
| 22 | MINING | “Earth-moving” accepted in Dynasty? (6) IN (accepted) in MING (Dynasty) |
| 24 | BOSOMY | Well-endowed lad grabs a bit nearly (6) SOM[e] (a bit, nearly) inside BOY (lad) |
| 25 | SPLITS | Members’ division (6) CD referring to MPs intra-party in-fighting |
The first “box” was used in cricket in 1874.
The first helmet was used in 1974.
So, it took 100 years for male cricketers to realise that their brains could be as important as their balls.
25d possibly refers to the ballet manoeuvre.
Sidey, if so that is definitely a painful clue.