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

(talking of hard, i don't think i've ever been as irritated with a crossword as that maskarade prize one from the other week)

There was a pop at ukip voters in the Boxing Day one, can't remember the setter

Gonna post this once more & then give solution

Director of films to include head of penis? Almost - /pianist/ (4,4)

--n-/-a--

Oops zing

Director of films to include head of penis? Almost - pianist(4,4)

--n-/-a--

Lang Lang

Thread could do w some more cryptic penile insertions

Took me a little while to come up with this one

Cheeky old man, measure with huge one out and give head direction, faint ring of a one hit wonder? (4,5)

Bit long i know but here's a clue a la wins

--n-/--u--

Objective: refuse to be heard in a thriller about a duck? (9)

I couldn't get this one for the life of me. Homonym AND a double definition!

Damn that is a tough one. All I can think is "equitable" fitting if the solution is another word for "objective", but I can't see how that works. Is refuse homonym something like nix/nicks or waste/waist? Still doesn't really help. Is duck referring to a type of duck eg pekin?

No bites for my clue so can I just

Wang Chung

>>> Is refuse homonym something like nix/nicks or waste/waist?

Neither. And part of my problem was the way I pronounce said word is not exactly a homophone with the word they're seeking, so I just didn't hear it.

Hint: G_L _ _ _ _ _ _

Goldeneye?

Yep. I pronounce 'deny' with a long e, so duh-nye just wasn't popping into my head. Plus not a fan of recent James Bond films and never heard of the duck.

today's Graun

Not too heavy a sea? That's fortunate (4,2,4)

oof, the goldeneye clue

some brilliant ones in the NYD arachne that gave us the relatively easy Rice/Brown/Garner clue upthread (er yes i've only just finished it). particularly enjoyed:

Split from husband, heading off to give birth in cowshed (5)
Do successors occupy country, having ousted last PM? (7)
Perfectly embodies the ultimate in courageous soldier material (5)
Six ducks living on Scottish islands, one with more than one tongue (8)

i think she might be my favourite setter by far

idg qiqing's clue

I'm not sure but I'll have a go at parsing it thus: wang = cheeky word for old man (penis), c - measure (celsius?), take one out of huge = hug + add N (header direction), Wang Chung = one-hit wonder. Bit of a slog imo.

AND Wang Chung had three top 10 hits here in the US.

Er, actually just two. And "Dance Hall Days" wasn't one of them.

I did suggest it was a bit long, overworked a tad, but hard to do w/o sacrificing nudgenudgewinkwinkoohergeorgeformby. Getting the n in there was a slog, but hard to do otherwise. It was initially going to be something like "curved spine" for penis but I couldn't get it to work for Wang Chung that easily and wanted it to resemble wins's clue.

I figured there would be dissent to the one hit wonder status, which is why I included a question mark. There's debate about it because they weren't really a one hit wonder but are sometimes tagged as such, AND in the UK they were known for one song afaik.

Getting a bit clever but wang is also a word meaning cheek and faint ring refers to Wang Chung meaning "yellow bell". Otherwise anagram otm.

Of course they were originally called Huang Chung which would have made it even more difficult.

Notices from Social Security about something that is to be shared. (5)

I so wanted this to be SPOTS.

It isn't?

Ha, no SPIES.

Bit of a stretch from notices to spies, I might have gone with agents (and something like concealing instead of about). Also this pie is all mine, hands off.

how is a pie something to be shared????

lol xp

"Notices" seems fine for "spies" (as verb) to me.

Was trying to make the answer "slips" somehow. Could probably psychoanalyse what people first thought of for hours.

Piece of the pie is a pretty common analogy for a share of something right? I thought the double def worked fine, "notices" being letters that could be received in the mail from SS, or another word for sees. Simple enough for my limited capacity anyway...

I came up with this one the other day: Rewoven vine mat divided country (4,3)

the 4, 3 spelling might raise some eyebrows in the UK maybe

"notices" = "spies" is perfectly cromulent imo

They are both on a continuum, just at radically different ends. "I couldn't help but notice, through my giant telescope trained on your bedroom window, your sexual predilection for dwarves." Yeah I mean that makes sense but... ok forget it jake it's crossword town.

tbh i usually admire that kind of head fake that sends you after a completely different definition, as long as it's fair

RE 4,3 spelling, wth was I thinking? Yes, make that a 7, in the US as well.

i think i've seen the 4,3 used in print? may be archaic

lol just realised where i was thinking of, may be 80s album'd

How would you feel about idk, peeve for torture?

Or to go the full Godwin, rogue for Hitler?

seems slightly on the other side of the line, not seen peeve used in that sense, but could be corrected. peeve as verb rather than noun i'm fine with, wdn't quibble "vex" or "irritate"

have seen "spies" used in the sense of "notices" plenty of times tho admittedly perhaps in older literature

but it works like that in the game "i spy" really

Ok ok ya got me.

To spy is not the same as to spy on

In the corner of the room he spied a manila folder

It's really really conmon

*common c'mon

^ socially conscious typo

Merriam Webster's word of the day is a new one to me, so:

Clue holds a question for a group of sycophants. (6)

Sinatra had a few royal birds (7)

...but Scott didn't have any

oh yeah i should've thought of that!

surprised no one got this, posted upthread

Not too heavy a sea? That's fortunate (4,2,4)

Too facile?

just as well, I got it

phew!

Something something main something.