For the most part, I found this a reasonably quick solve. But I had a bit of difficulty with 5/14d, which I got from the checking letters and then struggled to work out from the wordplay; also, I am not sure I would have got 15a without checking letters, although the wordplay is straightforward.
I urge everyone who reads this blog — even if you never do the Independent crosswords — please sign the petition linked to at the top of the screen. It is important to the whole cruciverbal world that we preserve such a valued resource, especially with its policy of giving opportunities to new setters. And I know very well first-hand how much work goes into the Inquisitor series.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | THEORY | Conjecture from politician, full of gas TORY = politician; containing HE = helium, a gas |
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| 8 | STINGRAY | Fish mean to encase artist! STINGY = mean; containing RA (Royal Academician) = artist |
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| 10 | PARKHURST | Nick’s position hurts badly PARK = position (verb) *(hurts) Parkhurst Prison, ‘nick’ being a term for prison |
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| 11 | REPEL | Labour leader’s after straying peer — turn away! *(peer); L = Labour leader |
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| 12 | ORGAN | Good, port-soaked Willy? G = good; in ORAN = port in Algeria. Willy is an example of an organ. |
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| 13 | PARCHMENT | Paper rubbishing an MP: “wife-abandoning wretch!” *(an MP retch), ‘wife-abandoning’ indicating that W is omitted |
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| 15 | MASCOT | Fetish state associated with Nicola Sturgeon, say? MA = state of Massachusetts; SCOT = what Nicola Sturgeon is an example of |
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| 17 | LACKEY | Be without our mag? Not quite — here’s one of Brenda’s maybe! LACK = be without; EY[e] = not quite our mag. ‘A footman or valet; a servile follower’, of which the Queen (aka Brenda in Private Eye) has many |
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| 20 | OVERTHROW | Balls delivered pitch to oust leader? OVER = balls delivered, in cricket; THROW = pitch |
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| 22 | MAYOR | Boris might, getting sod all right? MAY = might; O = sod all (nothing); R = right |
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| 23 | BASIC | PC language: “Stroppy cabbies be gone!” *(cabis), with ‘stroppy’ as the anagram indicator, and ‘be gone’ indicating that ‘be’ is to be omitted from the anagram Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, a family of languages which are PC in the computer sense, rather than being politically correct |
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| 25 | TOUGH SHIT | Who cares when yobs inject heroin? TOUGHS = yobs; HIT = inject heroin (or any hard drug) |
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| 26 | CREAM OFF | What fat cats like rotten: to skim profits? CREAM = what fat cats like; OFF = rotten |
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| 27 | SWANKY | Fancy Surrey’s outskirts welcoming relief? WANK = relief; in SY = Surrey’s outskirts. Surrey has quite a high proportion of such practitioners. |
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| Down | |||
| 1/24 | RETROGRADE STEP | Aged reporters faffing over Times leader, which is degenerative *(aged reporters), with ‘faffing’ as the anagram indicator; T = Times leader. Good anagram |
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| 2 | URCHIN | In favour, China — kid on the block? Hidden in ‘favour China’. Possibly a street child |
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| 3 | STATER | Commons ultimately wants vegetable as Speaker S = last letter of ‘Commons’; TATER = potato, a vegetable |
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| 4 | ANARCHIC | Lawless Jeffrey, without hesitation, gets into ’Cain’ disguise [Jeffrey] ARCH[er] (without ‘er’, an expression of hesitation); in *(Cain) Kane and Abel is a novel by said lord |
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| 5/14 | DROP EVERYTHING | Leak article about end of Nige (no other!) — switch your full attention to this DROP = leak; E = end of Nige; [the] VERY THING = no other I found this one very difficult to parse. |
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| 6 | EYELETS | Holes requiring prominent organ and balls obstructions EYE = prominent organ (referring either to the anatomical organ, or Private Eye); LETS = ball[s] obstructions — in tennis, when the ball hits the net on the way over |
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| 7 | TOP DOG | Bloody hell, grass has lifted, revealing Winner! GOD POT = Bloody hell (as an exclamation), grass, all reversed (‘lifted’, in a Down clue) |
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| 9 | ARMPIT | Member and ex-PM said “not to be sniffed at”? ARM = member (limb); PIT = sounds like Prime Minister William Pitt, either Elder or Younger |
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| 16 | CATACOMB | A groom after pussy remains to be found in this? CAT = pussy; A; COMB = groom |
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| 17 | LAWFUL | “Length”, repulsive, is sanctioned L = length; AWFUL = repulsive. ‘Sanctioned’ in the sense of ‘given permission or authority’ |
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| 18 | ROEBUCK | Broke, screwed up (shafted by uncaring Conservative leaders) creature UC = first letters of ‘uncaring Conservative’; in *(broke) |
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| 19 | GROTTY | Pisspoor Tory git turning one out *(tory gt), with ‘turning one out’ indicating that I is to be omitted from the anagram |
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| 21 | RATIFY | To authorise and make to look like an arse? Could also be taken to mean ‘make like a rat’ |
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| 22 | MOHAWK | “Mowlam the predator” hairstyle? MO Mowlam; HAWK = predator |
|
WHITE
I have been preoccupied with what may or may not happen to the Independent, so just one image for you today:
It’s a Viz Top Tip:
Convince people you have American teeth, by putting a train ticket in your mouth.
My mate Mark and I have been doing the Private Eye crossword since Christmas and this is the first one we’ve completed successfully (at least checking against your solution ;-). Hoping to win the prize!
We’re both British expats in California and cryptic crosswords provide a strong connection to our roots!
We came across Fifteen Squared searching for some help and have quickly grown to appreciate your posts.
Thanks,
Anthony Shortland,
Mountain View, CA.
Really pleased you’re enjoying it, Anthony and Mark. Keep up the good work!
Hello. I think 5/14 should be parsed as follows:
Leak article about end of Nige (no other!) — switch your full attention to this
DROP = leak; THING = Article; E = end of Nige; VERY = no other (as in “the very same/one/thing”)
DROP and THING are about (around) E+VERY