A typical Eye crossword again this time with “suitable” clues.
Solving proceeded from the bottom left corner through the centre to the right hand side before getting back to the clue I first failed to cold solve, 1d. At that point there were only a few linked unsolved lights strung down the left-hand side.
As I said, 1d defeated me but 22d was a bit of a write in for an FOI. Maybe Cockney Rhyming Slang is my special subject? No, more likely it is euphemisms for being pissed.
22d gave first letters for three other lights, two of which were solved but the third resisted till the end.
What really helped was soon getting the multi-light answer 3/15/23 which gave many other crossers, including first letters, and massively opened up the right-hand side of the grid.
So eventually after getting 7a (about whom I will not comment for fear of attracting an 18 rating to the site ) I got that pesky 1d.
Last few went in in the other 11a, 13a, 14d, 26a and finally 28d.
13a in particular held me up – I was stuck thinking “Tulsa lacking centre” gave TU[l]SA.
That LOI, 28d, was a homophone, of course. I do find homophone clues particularly difficult when the cryptically clued “sound-alike” word is a different length from the homophone.
Favourite clue: 31a for the surface reading which can be taken as topical – though admittedly it is probably topical at any time in history.
Sorry. No “per clue” humour this month – I am not in a very jolly state lately.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 7 | RUPERT LOWE | Bear down on English far right figure? (6,4) RUPERT (Bear) LOW (down) E[nglish] |
| 9 | SCAN | Sex primarily has the power to probe (4) S[ex] CAN (has power) |
| 11 | LITHE | With the light on, male does not get stiff (5) LIT (With the light on) HE (male) |
| 12 | PLUTOCRAT | Elon Musk‘s heavenly body? Cold arse! (9) PLUTO (heavenly body) C[old] RAT (arse) |
| 13 | CANASTA | Jail like Tulsa lacking centre for game (7) CAN (Jail) AS (like) T[uls]A |
| 16 | HAM IT UP | A joint before sex, rather excited – act badly (3,2,2) HAM (a joint) IT (sex) UP (rather excited) |
| 18 | BILL | Clinton’s reckoning (4) As in Bill (aka William Jefferson) of that ilk |
| 19 | DUD | US bloke getting end away – failure (3) DUD[e] |
| 21 | ROTA | Balls on a roll (4) ROT (balls) A |
| 22 | BALLAST | Damn recruiting ex-VP to steady the ship? (7) BLAST (damn) around (recruiting) AL [Gore] (ex-VP) |
| 24 | CRY WOLF | Cause unnecessary alarm about extremely randy Casanova (3,4) C (about, circa) R[and]Y WOLF (Casanova) |
| 26 | ANNOUNCER | Broadcaster Widdecombe, catty creature on right? (9) ANN [widdecombe] OUNCE (catty creature) R[ight] |
| 29 | SKIRT | Steer clear of sexist term! (5) Double Def. |
| 30 | MARX | “Heard Carney’s a major commie!” (4) Homophone “Mark’s” as in Mark carney Canadian PM and ex-Gov. BoE |
| 31 | ALL-NIGHTER | Party that’s enduring disastrous rating hell (3-7) (RATING HELL)* AInd: disastrous. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | FROLIC | What fun for different Labour leader to get in charge! (6) (FOR)* AInd: different, L[abour] IC (In Charge) |
| 2 | FREE | In brief, Rees-Mogg on the house (4) Hidden in brieF REEs-Mogg |
| 3/15/23 | SLAP AND TICKLE | Mates turned up with delight for old-fashioned foreplay (4,3,6) PALS< (Mates, turned up) AND (with) TICKLE (delight) |
| 4 | G W BUSH | An old president needs good wife and coach to get hard (1,1,4) G[ood] W[ife] BUS (coach) H[ard] |
| 5 | SCAR | Squadron leader with automatic makes mark? (4) S[quadron] CAR (automatic) |
| 6 | INSTEP | Foot’s area: toeing the party line? (6) IN STEP (toeing the party line) |
| 8 | POTENTIAL | It takes one tit to break into China’s future capability (9) (ONE TIT)* AInd: to break, in PAL (China) |
| 10 | FORMERLY | Reform moving to left – “Why?” texted earlier (8) (REFORM)* AInd: moving, L[eft] Y “Why” Homophone Ind: texted. |
| 14 | SYLLABUS | Course programme, organised bullshit, say – hit out (8) (BULLSHIT SAY – HIT)* AInd: organised. |
| 17 | TATTOOIST | One who makes little pricks beat one way (9) TATTOO (beat) 1 (one) ST (way, street) |
| 20 | DOC | Who’ll cure fish on the turn (3) COD< (fish, on the turn) |
| 22 | BRAHMS | He scored, though half pissed (6) One half of “Brahms and Liszt” = pissed First one in |
| 25 | FUTURE | Tense, vulgar swearing online? True, sadly (6) FU (vulgar swearing) (TRUE)* AInd: sadly. |
| 27 | NERD | Wally‘s dinner date centre (4) Hidden in centre of dinNER Date |
| 28 | RING | Said “squeeze tightly”, as a token of love (4) “Wring” Homophone Ind: said. Last one in |
| 29 | SIGN | Some of us ignore a two-fingered salute? (4) Hidden in uS IGNore |
Unbelievable fact:
When Celine Dion came out as a big supporter of farmers she removed all the consonants from her name.