I found this a bit tougher to get into than previous outings, but once I got going the answers and parsings materialised fairly quickly – sometimes even in the opposite order. I second-guessed myself a bit with 26d especially the parsing but now I’ve written it out I think it’s a nice clue/device.
Now I’ve done a few of these, I’ve noticed there are often errors in the Eye crosswords as published where parts of the grid are incorrectly indicated as down/across in the clues, and this time the enumeration of 16 (8 instead of 4-4 as in the .puz file I downloaded), and “23/25dn./27dn.” where they’re all across clues. Sometimes these have been corrected by the time I post the blog. Perhaps they are trying to flatter the Grauniad with imitation?
Ironically as I was compiling the blog and having written the previous paragraph, I then noticed I’d somehow made a mistake and transposed the I and first S in 8d so had to re-do the grid image… so perhaps I MISSPOKE above.
Thanks to Cyclops for the puzzle.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | FUNNY HA-HA | Rich, wants a country landscape feature that isn’t laughingly odd (5,2-2)
FUNNY (rich, as in “that’s rich”) + HAHA (country landscape feature that isn’t) – in the sense of those sunken deer walls sometimes seen at stately homes, to keep the undesirable ungulates out without spoiling the view from the house. As usual, the rest of the puzzle features several people who are more ‘funny oo-er’. |
| 6 | STAMP | Casually sat on member to make an impression (5)
STA, an anagram (casually) of SAT, + MP (member). |
| 10 | See 16dn. | |
| 11 | GLADNESS | Joy‘s end shaking in see-through material (8)
DNE, an anagram (shaking) of END, in GLASS (see-through material). |
| 12 | SLUR | Pop band to get a new leader? Insult! (4)
BLUR (pop band) with the B swapped for S (a new leader). While the substituted letter isn’t directly indicated, this was easily gettable with crossers, a knowledge of Britpop and a predisposition to insolence. |
| 13 | HYENA | Animal desire follows husband around initially (5)
H[usband] + YEN (desire) + A[round]. |
| 14 | CAP | Contraceptive financial limit (3)
Double definition, the first being another term for the contraceptive diaphragm, whose name and method of use almost do the job by themselves. |
| 15 | FIFTH | Possibly that of Beethoven .2? (5)
A sort of cryptic or maybe double definition, referring to the symphony and the number 0.2/20%/one fifth. |
| 17 | EUREKA | Endless money and electronic car … and bathtime ejaculation (6)
EUR[o] + E[lectronic] + KA (a Ford car model). With the latter two crossers I resorted to word-searching this as the only thing I could come up with was ‘stroke’ which would be somewhat premature for the definition. Thusly I deprived myself of such a moment, ho hum. |
| 20 | VIRTUE | Chastity belt finally accepted by Rugby Union in contest? (6)
T (belT finally) inside RU (Rugby Union) inside VIE (contest, as a verb). |
| 21 | NIGEL | Perverse member elected a party leader (5)
LEG (member) + IN (elected), all reversed (perverse). If Mr F ever deigns to visit my home town, where the 23/25/27 is very strong, I might be tempted to join the queue of potential milkshakers, but I expect it would be very long. |
| 23/25/27 | THE GREEN VOTE | What might well crush Reform’s hopes – or working together, even (3,5,4)
Anagram (working) of TOGETHER EVEN. |
| 28 | STORMONT | Parliament: uproar not unfamiliar! (8)
STORM (uproar) + ONT, an angram (unfamiliar) or NOT. |
| 29 | RONALD | President wants “land – or bust!” (6)
Anagram (bust) of LAND OR. |
| 30 | TRUSS | Bind for an ex-PM? (5)
Double definition. Ms ‘lost to the lettuce’ now has a YouTube channel. I wonder if that pays her more money than we still do. |
| 31 | EYE OPENER | One about to read our mag – “Quite something!” (3-6)
Cryptic definition. |
| Down | ||
| 2 | UNABLE | Not up to being featured in Sun? A blessing! (6)
Hidden (featured) in sUN A BLEssing. |
| 3 | NET PROFIT | Bust, if not pert is a nice turn-up for the books (3,6)
Anagram (bust) of IF NOT PERT. |
| 4 | HARSH | Getting runs in the midst of confusion is cruel (5)
R (runs, in cricket scoring) in the midst of HASH (confusion). |
| 5 | HEGSETH | Guy gets awfully hot for gung-ho Christian (7)
Anagram of HE (guy) + GETS, then H[ot]. Pete Hegseth, the United States Secretary of War, is avowedly keen on holy war and the Crusades. At least he’s honest (about that), I suppose. |
| 7 | TONIC | Stimulant forced into Conservative leader (5)
Anagram (forced) of INTO + C[onservative]. |
| 8 | MISSPOKE | “Avoid bonk,” said wrongly (8)
MISS (avoid) + POKE (bonk). |
| 9 | LAY AN EGG | Sex partner with a new spur is flop (3,2,3)
LAY (sex partner, as a noun) + A + N (new) + EGG (spur, as in ‘egg on’). |
| 16/10ac. | FEEL-GOOD FACTOR | Dithering defector, a fool pocketing a lot of money – just what the electorate needs at present? (4-4,6)
Anagram (dithering) of DEFECTOR A FOOL + G (a lot of money). |
| 18 | RELEVANCE | Aptness of note the French stuck on high-ranking Republican (9)
RE (note – a drop of golden sun) + LE (‘the’ in French) + VANCE (high-ranking Republican). |
| 19 | DICTATOR | Trump’s role now: one who’ll get taken down? (8)
Cryptic definition referring to one who may dictate words to be taken down/written. |
| 21 | NO ENTRY | Measure crushed by new Tory constitution – a forbidding sign! (2,5)
EN (measure in typography, the width of a letter N, c.g. en-dash) contained in (crushed by) an anagram (constitution) of N (new) + TORY. |
| 22 | ATTLEE | The PM‘s fight not started – needs energy (6)
ATTLE (battle i.e. fight, not started) + E for energy. The ‘the’ threw me off for a while, as I’m sure was intended. |
| 24 | EUROS | Tender “love god”, going round bend (5)
EROS (love god) round U (bend). |
| 26 | NARCO | Drug dealer‘s raised zero cents – career in the past (5)
O (zero) + C (cents) + RAN (career, in the past tense), all reversed (raised, in a down clue). |
Nice to hear that our bloggers too are only human and sometimes find the crosswords challenging. I’d never heard the expression ‘lay an egg’ before, though I was able to work it out and Mr Google confirmed it. Favourite was the Kegsbreath clue (apparently he is more than partial to a drop of the falling down water). Thanks simonbyc and Cyclops.
Thanks simonbyc and Cyclops. I found this tough but got there in the end. Although I couldn’t parse 1a. I still don’t understand HAHA = “country landscape feature that isn’t”. Help!!
Franko at #2 a ha-ha is a gardeñ feature you’ll find at a lot of old country houses. It’s like a sort of upside-down wall, unlike a ho-ho which is an expression said by Santa.
I’ll get my coat.
Thanks for the blog , a lot of very good clues needing a lot of thinking .
Franko @2 a HA HA is basically a ditch , you can see it when you are close to it but not from a distance . It does not spoil the view when you look over the landscape .
Perhaps The PM for ATTLEE refers to his pre-eminence in the role , although there is not much competition .
TFC @1 I assure you it’s rare that I can fully complete a cryptic without resorting to synonym searches, general research, anagram solvers, pattern-matching word searches, or repeated uses of the check button/guessing, in that order depending on how well I’m doing or patient I’m feeling. With the PE puzzles the last option isn’t available and I do have a fair amount of time to finish them, so not being able to ‘cheat’ does force me to think properly, which is more rewarding and helps me improve. That and this blog including my occasional posts helps me understand and progress. All part of the fun for me, and eventually perhaps I’ll be able to complain about all the puzzles being too easy!
Franko @ 2 et al, that’s a good point – I did have HAHA somewhere amongst my grey cells as something other than a laugh but had to Google to remember/verify. I’ve put a Wikipedia link in the blog now and will do similar in future for anything possibly obscure. Such learnings are another aspect of this stuff which I enjoy.
Many thanks Simonbyc, TFC and Roz. That word was completely unknown to me despite living in a massive country estate (just kidding).
No need to get your coat TFC@3. I did have a he-he at your ho-ho remark.
EUREKA came to me in a Eureka Moment.
I add my voice to the other complimentary ones on this puzzle.
I suppose that we had funny peculiar – as a complimentary solution to FUNNY HA HA – with HEGSETH?
Cheers all.
Many thanks Cyclops & simonbyc.
A fun and satisfying crossword – as always with this setter.
I’m another who hadn’t heard that LAY AN EGG means “flop” (I would have thought it was quite an achievement) so that was a guess.
My fave was EUREKA.
Ha has are a brilliantly simple idea: they mean that when one sits on one’s marbled terrace (drinking tea with a crooked little finger) the formal garden appears to blend seamlessly into the wilder one with its cows or sheep; the ha ha also ensures that the animals can’t wander into the formal area and eat the trimmed box hedges.
My garden is more brambles and nettles than anything else, but maybe one day I’ll dig a ha ha anyway.
I misspelt (misspoke) Hegseth as Hesgeth which stopped me getting Gladness but sorted it out in the end. Thank you for this site.