Alas, the dental abscess that is currently tormenting me was compounded by the fact that I woke with a migraine (and that is not a reference to my husband!) this morning. And I have work deadlines. So I have just got back to this, at 6 pm. I see it’s pretty much finished, to my relief, even if a bit short of humorous embellishments… oh, and a picture of a filled grid. I hope to have the dental problems sorted out by next time, and will do better!
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | LOOKS BAD | Appearance unattractive, so poor prospects LOOKS = appearance; BAD = unattractive |
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| 11 | MEDIC | Balls stuck in broadcasting device — quack appears? ED Balls; in MICrophone |
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| 12 | HARDLINER | McDonnell, for one, packed onto boat! HARD = packed; LINER = boat John McDonnell |
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| 13 | ANCHORMAN | Who delivers the news: “Monarch gets pissed on one”? *(monarch); AN = one |
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| 15 | ROWAN | A growing thing: getting Blair finally to admit suppressing article R = Blair finally; OWN = admit; ‘suppressing’ A = [the indefinite] article |
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| 16 | LEFT IN THE DARK | Ill-informed Corbyn’s ilk, looking very gloomy LEFT = Corbyn’s ilk; IN THE DARK = looking very gloomy |
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| 21 | RUN IN | Nick to be a candidate? Cool! RUN = to be a candidate [for office]; IN = cool, trendy. To arrest. |
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| 23 | TAX FIDDLE | “Duty to bow and scrape” carried out by some Swiss bank account holders? TAX = duty; FIDDLE = play the violin (bowing and scraping being among the actions in so doing) |
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| 25 | ANNOUNCER | I declare Widdecombe a cat, right? ANN Widdecombe; OUNCE = cat (snow leopard); R = right |
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| 26 | ETHOS | Attitude and beliefs of those screwing around *(those) |
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| 28 | TOUCHY | Sensitive reaction to pain, being thrust into Tracey’s skirts OUCH = reaction to pain; in TY = outside letters (‘skirts’) of Tracey |
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| 29 | RETAINER | Demanded by lawyer to keep Brenda? RETAIN = to keep; ER = Brenda (the Queen) |
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| Down | |||
| 1 | PLUM JAM | Chimney jack embosomed by familiar busty star: “tasty spread!” LUM = chimney (in Scotland); J = jack; in either PAMela Anderson, or (the first thought that occurred to me ) PAM Ferris… or whatever busty Pamela you wish to evoke. |
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| 2/3 | LORD ASHCROFT | Filthy rich old fart, so one is outed as would-be betrayer of Cameron Anagram of ‘rich old fart so’ minus I = one Lest we forget, here are two links: pig link 1 and pig link 2 |
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| 4 | MAYHEM | Cabinet minister on edge causing uproar Theresa MAY = cabinet minister; HEM = edge |
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| 5 | ANGLER | Baiter’s position on Labour’s end ANGLE = position; R = Labour’s end |
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| 6 | UNANSWERED | “Ineffective body with dodgy war ends around East” — as many an awkward question put to politicians UN = ineffective (I hope not) body; *(war ends E) |
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| 9 | SPRINT | Career : Boris’s last to impress S = Boris’s last; PRINT = impress |
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| 10 | DRENCH | Wet’s resistance when protected by dame R = resistance; in Dame Judi DENCH |
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| 14 | CLEANING UP | Banking, having shafted mug, is making an indecent profit LEANING = banking; in CUP = mug |
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| 18 | DRIVE MAD | To be a real pain, Dave messed with dim Boris’s heart *(dave dim R), where R = ‘Boris’s heart’ |
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| 19 | BREAST | Admit leaving Brown with impossible seat (Bristol) BR = Brown minus OWN (admit); *(seat) Bristols |
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| 20 | BERSERK | Brenda’s slicing plonker’s nuts ERS = Brenda’s (the Queen‘s); in BERK =plonker |
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| 22 | NOUGHT | Corbyn ultimately is obliged to produce sod all N = Corbyn ultimately; OUGHT = is obliged to |
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| 24 | XERXES | Old ruler rejected shagging etc. with king SEX = shagging etc; REX = king; all reversed Xerxes I |
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| 27/8/17 | HAND IN ONES NOTICE | Working on Chinese nation to accept democratic leader? Resign! *(on chinese nation D), where D = ‘democratic leader’, and ‘working’ is the anagram indicator Good anagram, I think. white |
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white
No time for hunting down jokes, so I will just leave you with this story featuring a pub we visited recently, in slightly better weather:
Thanks jetdoc -speedy recovery from your dental woes. Re 21 Across could it be “Nick” = “Run” (as in run in stocking) and “In” = “to be a candidate” with (this is where my explanation becomes a bit lame) Run In = Cool (e.g.Cool runnings)?
My reading of 21A was – ‘Nick’, as in ‘to arrest’, is the definition. To ‘be a candidate’ is to ‘run’ for office + ‘cool’ things are ‘in’ (i.e.trendy)
Same here Paulj.
Sorry about the omission — I knew there’d be something, given my chaotic state! My interpretation is exactly the same as Paulj’s, and I will edit accordingly.
You’re all correct of course! I latched on to Nick = Run and then the rest of my ‘reasoning’ was driving a square peg into a round hole.