Seemed to me Cyclops was making a particular theme of solitary sexual gratification this week. No? Just me then.
I expect he didn’t really mean to milk it.

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First, further apologies — I promised to post this, already late, yesterday, but didn’t get home to my office (where this almost finished blog was waiting for me) until late.

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This crossword was unusual in two respects.
It had a large number of clues: This grid design gives 32 lights and only one clue involved two lights, whereas Cyclops often creates longer answers using more than one light.
It had “accessible” clues – all except one, 11A, “le mot sauvage et obscur” a surprisingly rare word for an Eye puzzle. I certainly had to check the dictionary.

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The usual fun from Cyclops, who has managed as ever to work all sorts of salacious references into wordplay for simple and innocent words. Clue of the fortnight, though, has to be 17a, for which the answer is less decorous. Read the rest of this entry »

How many tabloid editors or execs will end up in “Stalag Leveson”?
Expectations are being laid by the number of people that have been arrested by Operations Weeting and Elveden, but preparations are being put in place for rearguard action claiming the openness of Leveson means fair trials will not be possible. I would be beyond ironic if that defence means crooks get off.
So will anyone other than footsoldiers like Goodman and Mulcaire ever pick up their just desserts?

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As Cyclops puzzles go, I thought this was pretty straightforward — none of those stubborn clues that hold you up once you have solved everything else. As usual, plenty of witty surface readings to keep it entertaining. Read the rest of this entry »

Which Odd couple is Cyclops alluding to I wonder: Cameron and Idi Amin? Al Capone and Robin Hood?

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Oops, I hit ‘Publish’ before rescheduling this for midnight! I hope no one is discombobulated by the earliness.

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This surely rates as the gentlest start to a year yet, and the weather’s very mild for the time of year too.

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Here’s hoping you all had a splendid time over the holidays, and wishing you a very happy and (cruciverbally, at the very least) successful 2012.

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The festive season seems to have started early in the Eye with a couple of pantomimes opening.

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I tackled this one on the train home from the Derby Sloggers and Betters.

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I’m not sure why, but I found this a rather more challenging Cyclops than many recent ones, and all the better for it. There certainly seems to be a plethora of male genitalia in there. Read the rest of this entry »

50th Anniversary of the Eye and I was half-hoping for a special Cyclops.

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Even for a Cyclops, this one abounded in anatomical references. A fairly quick solve for me — nothing in the clues really held me up. Read the rest of this entry »

This was one of the fastest solves of an Eye crossword for some time.

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Apologies for the late and rather hurried posting — I had this scheduled for yesterday, but got somewhat sidetracked. Read the rest of this entry »

I expect newcomers to the Eye Crossword would find this tricky but to us long time Eye solvers this was a classic of its type.

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As usual when I blog a Cyclops, I was held up by the wordplay of just one clue — in this case, 2/11d. Otherwise, all pretty straightforward. And I am on time this week, praise be! Read the rest of this entry »

Who would have thought in 1986 that the pudgy little chap with the fearsome wit could take on the responsibilities of the sarcastic classes and make it his own.  In a way it is sad that there is still a need for Private Eye’s brand of investigative journalism, but there is always going to be a need for its humour, and  the crossword is a big part of that.

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Oh dear, two whole weeks late! Circumstances (like having to go abroad for an emergency business meeting, being ill when I got back, etc.) conspired, but that’s not a good enough excuse. Just a brief blog, then, in case anyone is still puzzled about the wordplay. I promise to do better with 450. Read the rest of this entry »

Nothing here to stop an Eye solver polishing this off with several chuckles and no doubtful edges, i.e. no need to reach for Chambers this time.

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Back from watching England decisively beaten by Sri Lanka in the ODI at Lord’s, to finish and complete this blog. What held me up as a blogger was working out the wordplay of 3d — if not blogging, I would probably just have written in the answer without worrying too much about whether it was correct or not. Read the rest of this entry »

I found I had only 8 to go after the first pass so I suppose this was easier than usual.  That’s enough blather – let’s have a look at the detail:

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Many apologies for the late posting — I wrote this last week, when away from home, but didn’t quite have it ready to post. And the last few days have been absolutely chaotic, so this didn’t get done in time.

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