I solved this one before I realised I was going to blog it and haven’t made any contemporaneous notes.
I can’t even remember which was the first clue answered, nor which was the last. I was certainly not stuck on anything at the end, just left with a smile, so that indicates the puzzle was not too hard.
Revisiting it to write the blog the only clue I suspect I might have analysed incorrectly is 4D
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SCRIBBLERS | Hacks, maybe from Sun, Cameron’s prime piss-takers, trap LibDem leader (10) S[un] C[ameron] then L[ibdem] inside RIBBERS (piss-takers) |
| 7 | CUBA | Country copper has testicles reduced by 60% (4) CU (Chemical symbol for Copper) BA[lls] |
| 9/19/27 | THIN BLUE LINE | Perhaps Met. officers‘ hint about pornographic bit of verse (4,4,4) (HINT)* AInd: about, BLUE (pornographic) LINE (bit of verse) |
| 10 | EASTENDERS | Soap arse during festivals (10) END (arse) inside EASTERS (festivals) |
| 11 | ARMREST | Member support produces resistance in master nuts (7) R[esistence] inside (MASTER)* AInd: nuts |
| 12 | ALL TOLD | A “doll” screwed officer inside – nothing omitted (3,4) LT (an officer – lieutenant) inside (A DOLL)* AInd: screwed |
| 13/15 | MITT ROMNEY | Candidate needing hand, right, with suspect money? (4,6) MITT (hand) R[ight] MONEY* AInd: suspect |
| 18 | SASHAY | Band, one with ultimately cheesy Jagger-style move? (6) SASH (band) A (one) [chees]Y |
| 21 | DISMISS | Vicious about young female’s discharge (7) SID< (Vicious, about) MISS |
| 23 | HALFWIT | Beer + comedian = twat (7) HALF (beer) WIT (comedian) |
| 26 | LAUNDERING | Doing a banker and cleaning up? (10) Double Def.? |
| 28/25 | MOBY DICK | Band on end of tiny penis? That’s novel (4,4) MOB (band) [tin]Y DICK (penis) |
| 29 | DUKE OF YORK | Royal who had lots of men “mounting” and “going down” (4,2,4) Eye-style CD referring to the old nursery rhyme “… and when he was up he was up …” Live footage of Randy Andy going down here. |
| Down | ||
| 2 | COHORT | Military unit: “nothing fits in pisspoor torch!” (6) 0 inside TORCH* AInd: pisspoor |
| 3 | IGNORAMUS | It’s grim dancing with anus ring, idiot! (9) (GRIM ANUS O)* AInd: dancing |
| 4 | BLESS | “Balls gone!” over-the-top luvvie said after a sneeze? (5) Over the top Luvvie = Brian BLESSED – ED (Balls) I think. |
| 5/22 | EASY MONEY | Yesmen ‘yo’ a dodgy fatcat’s bonus, say (4,5) (YESMEN YO A)* AInd: dodgy |
| 6 | STEEL WOOL | It’s used to scour LibDem peer, then make love at length (5,4) Libdem Peer = David STEEL, WOO (make love) L[ength] |
| 7 | CADET | Whip takes Miliband back, as one not yet ready for command? (5) ED< (Miliband this time) inside CAT (whip) |
| 8 | BARCLAYS | Boozers, home to cold, unprofessional, sullied bankers (8) C[old] LAY (unprofessional) inside BARS (boozers) |
| 14 | TRANSCEND | Go beyond rants about Conservative demise (9) RANTS* AInd: about, C[onservative] END (demise) |
| 16 | NEEDFULLY | Liberal feud hosted by twit, of necessity (9) FEUD* AInd: liberal, inside NELLY (twit) |
| 17 | OSTINATO | Uppermost in a Tory hogging constant repeated phrase (8) Hidden in: UppermOST IN A TOry |
| 20 | WINNER | Gold medallist as a pain-in-the-arse car insurance plugger? (6) Double Def. |
| 24 | AGGRO | Hassle from rag – go berserk (5) (REG GO)* AInd: berserk |
I hear Jimmy Saville’s family have removed the headstone and foliage from his grave leaving a small hole with no bush – I can’t help thinking it’s what he would have wanted.
I got bogged down in Cornwall. Eventually Moby Dick sprang to mind. This left 17d reading as ???i?a?o and I couldn’t spot the hidden word.
18a was looking ??s?a? which looked like ??sway.
Eventually sashay was dredged up from somewhere though had to see what it meant.
That meant ostinato was a possible hidden word but didn’t believe it existed until I looked it up.
Those last two words must have taken 30 mins.
Ed Balls must surely be in line for an honour for services to PE crossword clues.
I like this, btw, from the Wikipedia article on Brian Blessed: “in 2011 the University [of York]’s student body voted to name a new study space as the ‘Brian Blessed Centre for Quiet Study'”