Enjoyable stuff from Mr C this time.
Over half answered on the first pass meant that there were enough crossing letters to facilitate solving those pesky final few tricky clues. Indeed there were some novel clue methods – there’s something odd about that OATS homophone which I probably haven’t explained correctly.
If you’ve been reading this blog since the beginning you may recall that when I first started blogging the Eye crossword I had just given up smoking coinciding with the pub/restaurant etc. smoking ban. Another anniversary has just passed and I haven’t had a smoke since, so it can be done! Not that I’m counting the years or days or hours or anything …
… (7 years). Anyway, it’s a good enough reason to have another pint. Cheers!
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 6 | OFF THE WALL | Wacky as a Cold War souvenir? (3,3,4) Def. & CD Referring to the way pieces of the Berlin Wall are now used as souvenirs. One of the last I answered – I spent a while trying anagrams of ASACOLDWAR thinking “Wacky” was the indicator |
| 8 | OATS | Sex serial broadcast (4) Def. & a reverse homophone. Can I call it that? The clue contains a homophone to a second def: “serial” sounds like “cereal” |
| 10/11 | STREET OF SHAME | Our press revelations the reprehensible way (6,2,5) DD One referring to the long running section in the magazine found immediately after the “news” section on the second page of actual content |
| 12 | TOSSER | Despised organ player‘s shy speech hesitancy (6) TOSS (shy – throw) ER (speech hesitancy) |
| 13 | ROYAL BOX | In which Brenda might overlook the action of one of her lot needing genital protection (5,3) ROYAL (one of her lot) BOX (genital protection – as very necessarily used in cricket) First answer solved. (Cyclops could have made the clue ruder. Wonder why he didn’t?) |
| 15 | BRIBERY | Bieber composition ‘Right for Ecstasy’ – unknown way to get co-operation from the Met? (7) (BIEBER – R + E)* AInd: composition, then Y (unknown) |
| 17 | DIMWITS | Fools one thousand at Women’s Institute beset by booze problem (7) I M (1 thousand) WI (Women’s Institute) all inside DTs (delerium tremens) |
| 20 | APPLE PIE | Multinational, sanctimonious and ultimately insatiable, which sums up good old American values (5-3) APPLE (Multinational) PI (sanctimonious) [insatiabl]E |
| 24 | OFFAL | Refuse, being disenchanted with Clinton’s vice (5) OFF (disenchanted) AL [Gore] (Clinton’s Vice) |
| 25 | SURVIVOR | Virus spread by very old Russian leader who goes on and on (8) VIRUS* AInd: spread then V[ery] O[ld] R[ussian] |
| 26 | IDOL | Big star ego round Clegg’s no.2 (4) ID (ego) O (round) [c]L[egg] |
| 27 | UNAIDED EYE | No subsidy for us, being without a monocle? (7,3) UNAIDED (No subsidy) Eye (us) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | STRESS | Highlight hair after sex (6) TRESS (hair) after S[ex]. Not sure I agree with using Sex for just S like this |
| 2 | HECTORER | Bully‘s balls hoisted – mad cheer all round! (8) ROT< inside CHEER* AInd: mad. 2nd last in. Deduced from the wordplay and (mostly) from crossing letters. Seems a very old fashioned term, and an odd verb to take back to a noun. |
| 3 | FAT FARM | Where to get rid of your pounds at an incredible rate? (3,4) CD Last in Thought it might be CAB FARE considering how much it cost last time I took a black cab in London many years ago. But it had to be something to do with losing weight. |
| 4 | FLASHY | All show, Gordon-like? (6) DD One like Flash Gordon (not G Brown this time) |
| 5 | BONAR LAW | Has-been PM broken, à la Brown? (5,3) (A LA BROWN)* AInd: broken. The “Unknown PM” |
| 7 | FIT TO DROP | Dead-beat OK for hanging? (3,2,4) DD I wrote in SET TO DROP initially |
| 14 | ORTHODOXY | Received wisdom of unashamed “Toryhood”: get vote in! (9) TORYHOOD + X (vote) all anagrammed AInd: unashamed |
| 16 | BILLFOLD | Clinton to pack up? There could well be money in it (8) Bill (Clinton) FOLD (to pack up). Def. an Americanism allowable via ref. to Clinton |
| 18 | IN SHREDS | Sums up England team’s ambitions, right? Hissed, end of Brazilian fiasco (2,6) (R[ight] HISSED [brazilia]N )* AInd: fiasco |
| 19 | MESSIAH | Who’ll save us all from Amis (he’s “diversifying”)? (7) (AMIS HE’S)* AInd: diversifying |
| 21 | PULL UP | Mount and shag on getting high (4,2) PULL (shag) UP (getting high) How could Cyclops ignore that answer’s palindromic qualities? Ans. Because it’s the wrong answer – see comment #1 |
| 23 | HAIRDO | Heath’s last vent against party, shock style (6) [heat]H AIR (vent) DO (party) |
| 24/22/9 | OLD SCHOOL TIE | Habit that Cameron and chums have in common, so too chilled out? (3,6,3) (SO CHILLED OUT)* AInd: out |
Just found out I failed my Italics exam. I got straight As.
For 21d I’ve got PILE UP (mount) rather than PULL UP. PILE (shag) + UP (getting high).
Oh Gazza I think you’re right.
PILE UP fits the definition much better than PULL UP where I was thinking of “pulling up on a kerb” = “mounting a kerb”. It also explains why Cyclops didn’t use a palindrome reference – which in itself should’ve tipped me off that that I had the wrong answer.
Hi beermagnet, I’m with Gazza on PILE UP. No £100 for you then.
ORTHODOXY had me stumped for a while, certain it must be an OLOGY, till I worked out what was going on. Quite liked the literal for APPLE PIE.
How does ID = EGO in 26a? Assuming we’re talking (Freudian) theory of personality, they are two different things. Or am I missing something?
Kev, I agree. Lazy clue.
why “ROT” in hectorer?
ROT from balls, i.e. rubbish. Reversed by hoisted. Inside CHEER* anagrammed