It can’t get any better than this! Or can it?
It has happened again. The fabled one pass!
I think I’d better stop now while I’m on the up.
Totally unexpected. When I was about half way through I realised I hadn’t yet put a dot next to any clue – that’s my indicator for a clue attempted but not solved.
By that time I’d filled in most of the top left and bottom right. There had been an unbroken chain of answers giving first letters of others: 1, 2, 3, 4, 9/10, 15, 16, 20, 26/27 etc.
I certainly did not think the clues had been easy that far, some of them I only spotted the answer after a good deal of thought. I thought my run couldn’t go on much further.
For most of the next bunch, even if the first letter was missing they already had several crossing letters by the time I got to read them which helped hugely.
Finally I was left with 8 symmetrically placed in top right and bottom left: 5a, 5d, 12, 7 and 23, 22, 21, 28. Solved in that order. I was over the moon when Ed Balls came out of retirement to appear in a clue. (Hang on, he’s not that old yet.)
Favourite clue has got to be 8 down for the surface. Mind you, it’s the one where I cannot think of a suitable wry comment to add in the analysis below.
So many thanks to Cyclops for making my day.
Solving order: 1 2 3 4 15 9/10 16 20 26/27 11 6 8 13 14 18 19 29 24 25 17 5d 5a 12 7 23 22 21 28.
That’s 16 clues where a had a first letter before reading the clue. This grid was very kind.
From now on I intend to try something new as a solving method: Try cold solving all the clues before writing anything in. (I might find it hard to ignore the grid.) I have heard that some people enjoy this method. I wonder how far I’ll get. I generally consider myself hopeless at cold solving.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | CRYPTO | Like Farage’s billionaire friend‘s vault – round (6) CRYPT (Vault) O (round) Would you accept personal “no strings attached” donations from this man? |
| 5 | PAUNCH | Corporation, one beset by strike (6) A (one) inside (beset by) PUNCH (strike) Another kind of corporation, which also gets ugly when it is too big |
| 9/10 | DOUBLE ENTENDRE | Parisian’s “Hear! Hear!” for Mae West’s forte (6) ENTENDRE (Hear, in French thus Parisian) twice thus double. “Is that a gun in your pocket?” etc. etc. |
| 11 | FRILLIES | Chips all over Dicky’s pretty underwear (8) FRIES (chips) around (all over) ILL (dicky) Hmmm. Chips. |
| 12 | HOT DOG | The latest party gratuitous leader – grub! (3,3) HOT (The latest) DO (party) G[ratuitous] Do not leave your dog in your car in this weather. |
| 13 | SPONGE | Bum wash (6) Double Definition Big difference between having someone sponge off you and having someone sponge you off. |
| 15 | WIPER | Female organisation rejected agent’s cleaner (5) WI (Female organisation, Women’s Institute) REP< (agent, rejected) I always remember Tony Blair’s “handbagging” by the WI. I wonder what the WI will make of Andy Burnham if he gave a speech to them? Maybe a nice Victoria sponge. |
| 18 | MATCH | Marriage that’s likely to ignite? (5) Double Definition Eccles: “I work in a match factory” Seagoon: “Do you put the heads on?” Eccles: “No. I put the gloves on, they’re boxing matches” |
| 20 | NYLONS | Hose used only by novelty sex beginners (6) (ONLY)* AInd: used, N[ovelty] S[ex] You don’t see people wearing “doublet and nylons” much these days |
| 22 | HUBRIS | Arrogance of one involved in brush-off (6) I (one) inside (BRUSH)* AInd: off. Spoilt for choice trying to decide who is the most hubristic person of the moment. |
| 24 | IN A SWEAT | Labour pursuing poor lan – “not cool” (2,1,5) (IAN)* AInd: poor, SWEAT (labour) Briefly misled by reading Ian as lan (local area network). I cannot think of a politician IAN that Labour might pursue. Most notable that springs to mind is IDS, but he’s Iain. |
| 26/27 | ELECTION PLEDGE | Choice person’s first step that’s soon abandoned by incoming government? (8) ELECTION (choice) P[erson] LEDGE (step) Cute of Burnham to dodge this by not having an election. |
| 28 | BALLSY | Very brave Ed on party’s fringe? (6) BALLS (Ed, making a re-appearance) [part]Y Ed Balls hasn’t been in the puzzles (or the news) for a while but we’ll never forget him. Especially on Apr 28 – and clue 28. |
| 29 | TREATY | Agreement to go outside to get stuffed? (6) TRY (go) around (outside) EAT (get stuffed) Some might think getting stuffed is a treat. |
| Down | ||
| 2 | REBEL | Revolting type of spin going over Braverman’s head (5) REEL (spin) around B[raverman] Archetypal rebel Wat Tyler is getting the Hollywood treatment soon: The Uprising trailer |
| 3 | PRESIDENT | “Putin’s top occupier!” – Trump? (9) P[utin] RESIDENT (occupier) Is the clue trying to imply Trump is working for Putin? Who’d’ve thought |
| 4 | OVERSEW | Love poetry by wife: “Do some needlework” (7) O (love) VERSE (poetry) W[ife] My shirt was too big. You offered to fix it with a dart. Now I’ve been stitched up. You’ve sewn your name into my heart. |
| 5 | PATCH | Pressure put on naff chat shows piece (5) P[ressure] (CHAT)* AInd: naff. I thought all chat shows were naff |
| 6 | UNNATURAL | Freakish large body on old bastard (9) UN (large body, the United Nations) NATURAL (bastard, old) Makes me think of Polyphemus in the new Odysseus film. My God he was ugly! I do hope our Cyclops is prettier. |
| 7 | CARROT | Conservative with a right load of rubbish as inducement (6) C[onservative] A R[ight] ROT (rubbish) Kemi seems to like using the stick more than the carrot |
| 8 | CORRUPT | Well, crooked Trump gets emasculated rotten (7) COR (Well) (TRUMP – M (emasculated))* AInd: crooked. Errm… |
| 14 | NUMERICAL | “I’m unclear about … about digits and the like” (9) (I’M UNCLEAR) * AInd: about. “How much!!“ |
| 16 | PINEAPPLE | Fruit long associated with multinational (9) PINE (long) APPLE (multinational) Multinationals have been mis-using fruit for years. I see Del Monte have made a pineapple pink. They’ll be after the panthers next |
| 17 | ENLARGE | Pad out regal bust after measurement (7) (REGAL)* AInd: bust, after EN (measurement) … but stay away from Kate. |
| 19 | HAIR-NET | Something to contain the shock of musical shown on web (4-3) HAIR (musical) NET (web) Juxtaposition of Ena Sharples and the musical Hair does not bear consideration |
| 21 | SUELLA | Defector to take legal action against Labour leader and city (6) SUE (take legal action) L[abour] LA (city) Probably the most predictable defection to Reform. Only this January. Feels like she’s been working for them for years. |
| 23 | SLIMY | Slippery Cyclops is grabbed by familiar film star (5) I’M (Cyclops is) inside (grabbed by) SLY (film star, Stallone) Sylvester S wouldn’t have been such a big star if he’d taken the lead in Slimy instead of Rocky. Mind you before he was a big star Steve McQueen was the lead in The Blob. |
| 25 | WHEAT | Grass poses question about Farage’s end (5) WHAT (question) about [farag]E When’s that then? Aug 13 maybe. Bin day! |
An email arrived with a fantastic offer to teach me how to read maps backwards.
I just marked it as spam.