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

Not sure if this quite works, on several levels, but I hadn't thought up one of my own in a long time:

Ill gain (taking $1000) mistakenly cast away. (8)

today's Guardian:

Primarily pointing out Tim Henman’s earlier answer: “Djokovich is grass lover” (7)

grudging lol

before I think about that, is the misspelling of Djokovic intentional

oh wait, got the answer and the misspelling is irrelevant

yeah I c&p'ed it, it's just poor Grauniad copy editing I suppose. Though are cryptics copy edited I wonder?

Also Britpop themed clue today!

Blur in Country House, initially Oasis top it for urbanity (14)

Solved that one quickly; took me longer to figure out how they put it together. Nice.

Here's one that I racked my brain over before finally deciding that the first half of the clue is overly vague/inaccurate?

Put something together in time for Christmas and Halloween. (6)

Ha I like that! What would you use for the def?

Something to do with boiling?

this one was nice I thought, today's Guardian as per

Light grey French perfume ingredient (9)

Sweet

u won't be getting the money back from him, presumably (10)

grauniad

That is to say, to woo follows naturally (2,3)

One I get, at last!

ah very soft tho!

easy once you get it, like all the best clues

Paul today:

Stick-like and sticky? But the name hasn't stuck! (9)

today's Everyman:

Passing remark? (6,4,5)

wins, what's the answer to the one above?

thingummy

very good

I don't usually attempt the Guardian, but I finished about half of it Friday, excellent for me. My knowledge of British history, TV and motorways is not good.

Anyone want to tell me how Some can go crazy over a drink (6) makes cognac?

It's mostly obvious, though with one bit I'm not certain about. "Can go" is a "crazy" version (anagram) of cognac, without one of the Cs, which I'm guessing you can get from "some" if you know your crossword clues well enough?

No it's backwards ("over") within "can go crazy"

"some" indicates the word being hidden in a larger phrase

Oof, it's a backwards hidden word. I was trying to anagram it, in which case the extra C was throwing me.

Was about to post: Could view "some" as the anagrammer and "crazy" as the 'c'

"some" indicates the word being hidden in a larger phrase

Ah, okay, didn't know that. Not sure why I was trying to help when I'm crap at cryptics. *sigh*

Everyman:
Ankle was twisted in ballet (4, 4)

one from last week or so:
Embargo on ballistic missile (9)

Have the 1st, 2nd is anagram of "embargo on"? but can't see it

it'll come to you...

haha got it

couldn't see it earlier and no sooner have i got home than it clicked, before i lucked at the letters again.

conclusion: being at work is bad for my brain

looked at the letters

okay let's call it 50/50

Comedian in lace factory heading off for Wigan (5, 8)

Where do we stand on setters using old clues? That ballet one has been around for years.

i guess it's quite possible for separate setters to come up with near-identical clues ove time, or maybe they see it as a nod to the classics?

Still can't get koogs' last one, any pointers?

Think lace as in drink

nice

ha got it now, thx

you'd need to be of a certain age to get it though

i thought the 'igan' thing was a bit clumsy, tbh. but i liked 'lace' for 'spike'.

spoilers, btw 8)

(do you need to be of a certain age to know charlie chaplin?)

Well I would say Chaplin has more cultural resonance. I can't imagine many people below say 30 knowing who Spike Milligan was. But then again I can't imagine many people below say 30 doing the Observer cryptic crossword, so that's fine.

My plan was to think of a comedian that fitted the letters and I discovered the correct answer by clumsily attempting to reverse engineer Sarah Millican!

I figured out the 'head off Wigan' and worked backwards, still couldn't figure out why lace = spike until it was just explained.

(it's actually 'heading' which is usually N, S, E or W. but head works here also)

Thanks to the Guardian cryptic, this American now knows the meaning of to 'play gooseberry.'

Also, can anyone parse this one for me? (It's outstrip.)

Run faster in striking football kit (8)