The official bored-at-work cryptic crossword pass it on thread.

General knowledge rather than cryptic but this was still a bit o_O in the guardian today:

Dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury (10, 3)

The middle of the 3 was the end of this clue:

Political movement founded by Yanis Varoufakis (6)

(The one below that was BREXIT)

My brain hurts trying to fit my first-choice answers for those two together and as yet I haven't found any more plausibly intersecting answers, but I'm going to assume I'm just being very stupid.

Does the Graun have a GK crossword on Saturdays, or indeed ever? I did not know this!

(I never buy it on Saturdays - too expensive and I feel overwhelmed and wasteful when a heap of supplements flops out onto the floor never to be read - but I do enjoy occasionally stealing the jumbo GK crossword from the local pub's Telegraph at the weekends.)

the GK one is in the magazine.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/10/yanis-varoufakis-launches-pan-european-leftwing-movement-diem25

So I've had enough boy = RON or lad = TED clues to see them coming and anticipate a name going in there. Is the idea behind this that Ron and Ted are youthful names, and adults would be Ronald and Theodore? They're usually short or nicknames. Or are boy and lad just signifying male? Just curious about the convention.

i think you could well be right about the short form signifying youthfulness, but i also feel like that connotation has almost disappeared from conscious thinking maybe and become simply conventional

I'd like to introduce the setters to Ron Mael. And Teddy Kennedy. But yeah, I just kind of roll with it now.

like a lot of conventions it's of a more formal era tho. and British, obviously.

This was good from yesterday's Graun:

The old racer racing around Italy? (10)

nice bit of misdirection here

Work by Joyce Grenfell initially in broadcast wins a keen fan (9,4)

yeah I was happy to get that one!

Had a tossy, turny sleep last night and came up with this one while my brain was whirling:

Tom Cruise in top bad films (6, 8)

Man I forgot about this thread

Xp nice, I often come up with clues while trying to sleep too, this from last night:

Gina G remix is a joke (3)

I never did solve that last one.

btw, isn't Rufus in the Guardian generally considered easy? (Despite his predilection for purely cryptic clues, which I often struggle with.) Because no way was I getting Sassenach or exeants.

Well that's just a vocab thing, if you're familiar with the terms both of those clues are easy. I hadn't come across exeants before but the term sassenach is fairly well-known in the uk and that clue is practically straight

Gina G remix is a joke (3)

Gag (anag of agg ('g' in 'a g'))

Gaganagofaggginag

Clue fort in part of London (4,3)
EAST END
easT end is a possible clue for T

Hadn't seen this type of clue before, you have to separate the "for" and the "t"?

And again:

Cart inspection (5)
AUDIT
Similarly, we need to separate the letters of the first word of the clue: AUDI + T

ximenes is spinning in his grave. hmmm that sounds a bit like a clue. his sex in me, deep...

Jesus fucking Christ, rufus

Guardian Cryptic crossword No 26,975, 4 Across: Unaltered, it's as I designed (2,2,2)

very poor

Serves me right, I read the first six paragraphs or so of the special instructions for the prize this morning & was like fuck this I'll take a look at the Monday

Even for rufus this one is insulting but it almost works as a joke

LOL I solved the Rufus one so quickly as STASIS (which I thought was a poor def for unaltered) and then saw the 2,2,2.

Never mind, that doesn't make stasis. I should be concentrating on work.

RACES

May be a bits-and-pieces indicator indicating the letters TT.

Why is this??

The TT Races = an annual motorbike race on the Isle of Man:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Man_TT

(tbf I'm not sure I've ever seen this in a crossword and while I could get to "race" from TT could probably not get to "TT" from "races", but I am p out of practice at the whole cryptic crossword thing)

Thanks. The clue was in yesterday's Rufus: He races in circles (4)

The crossers were _T_O, so I figured it had to be OTTO, but is there some famous Otto this alludes to, or does "he" just = "man's name?"

TT is kind of archaic but there were more meetings than the Isle of Man in the past so it used to be a better connotation maybe

http://www.arcade-museum.com/images/105/1058094102.jpg

I think "TT Races" is a general term for the event, it's always been held on the Isle of Man afaik

And yes, he = man's name

Another one I don't get: At university or to university be a bits-and-pieces indicator indicating the letters UP.

Why up?

"Up" is a snobbish British archaism meaning to be attending a university, as in "he's gone up to Oxford"

Thanks. I learned that and "stump up" in one clue.

that was the Guardian from the other day wasn't it? Seem to remember nearly finishing that one...

Yeah, the most recent Rufus. I can generally do him and the Everyman, the other days not so much.

I learn new slang every day: TROT = RED, really?

Er, yeah? Is it that you're reading as the verb 'to trot' rather than Trot qua Trotskyite?

No, I get that, but I'm American. I've just never heard anyone called a Trot. Commie, more likely.

As in "he declared that the Corporation was a ‘nest of long-haired Trots.'" I've never seen this.

Ah, it's really common over here. We do specific left-wing bickering more than fearing a general Red Menace.

Removal of Bush or Blair, unfortunately associated with Nazi (9)

I laughed so hard at this one.

ha

Ha, that's excellent. Was that in the Guardian? Sounds like one for Private Eye.

Yes, Guardian.

Lol accepted. And yeah, v Private Eye

very good

Guardian seasonal bumper prize xword has a theme of interest to those of this parish, or the adjacent one.

I've got all but two of the theme clues, can't explain two of them, never heard of one of them.

> I've got all but two of the theme clues, can't explain two of them, never heard of one of them

Xenia???

i liked this:

V Leading vocalist with a poor single (8)

have about 15 answers, have filled in exactly 1.