Cyclops 490: They eat horses, don’t they?
Posted by jetdoc on March 18th, 2013
Apologies for lateness.
Cyclops on good form this week, with some amusing and at times deceptively salacious wordplay, and several references to the discovery of horsemeat in many ‘beef’ products. I think 23/9/1 has to be my favourite, though.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | ALMA MATER | Gordonstoun for Charles: “big battle with mama“ Battle of Alma; MATER = Mother Gordonstoun School, attended by Prince Charles |
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| 11/5 | HORSE TRADING | Driving a hard bargain, apparently supermarkets’ business now? Hard bargaining; a reference to the horsemeat scandal, horsemeat being what supermarkets apparently sell now |
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| 12 | REDUNDANT | ’Superfluous’ Brown interrupting Miliband during tirade? DUN = brown; in ED Miliband; all in RANT = tirade |
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| 14 | NIGELLA | Issue raised by one-time minister Cook on the box Crafty double definition — Nigella Lawson, TV cook, is the daughter of (‘issue raised by’) former Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson |
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| 15 | ENSIGN | Standard aspect of Queen’s ignorance Hidden in ‘Queen’s ignorance’ Ensign |
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| 17 | STREAK | Smear right inside rump? R = right; inside STEAK = rump (example of) |
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| 21 | EXTINCT | Next IT development swamps Conservative, quite the dinosaur C = Conservative; in *(Next IT) |
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| 23/9/1 | COME OUT IN THE WASH | Say you’re a gay somewhere off eastern England, would the stain thus disappear? COME OUT = Say you’re a gay; in the Wash, the square-mouthed bay and estuary on the northwest margin of East Anglia on the east coast of England, where Norfolk meets Lincolnshire |
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| 25 | TUMESCENT | Getting a hard-on makes gut start to erupt and whiff TUM = gut; E = start to erupt; SCENT = whiff |
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| 26 | MACAW | Bright bird holding Bill between jaws AC = Bill; in MAW (mouth) = between jaws Bright bird |
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| 28 | RHYME | Jingle right by Fanny’s entrance almost R = right; HYME[n] = Fanny’s entrance almost (hymen = a membrane that surrounds or partially covers the external vaginal opening) |
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| 29 | DYSPEPSIA | Stomach trouble from days getting pissed, imbibing drink *(days) = days getting pissed; containing (imbibing) PEPSI = drink (which is a matter of opinion) |
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| Down | |||
| 2 | SMARTASS | Pain meets Yankee bastard know-all SMART = Pain; ASS = Yankee bastard |
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| 3 | IMPEND | Loom has one political figure on arse I = one; MP = political figure; END = arse |
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| 4 | STIR FRY | A ‘dish’ can when mounting Stephen? STIR = can (both words for prison); Stephen FRY. Definition: dish |
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| 6 | MIDNIGHT | At the end of the day it amounts to hiding corruption in market extremes *(hiding), with ‘corruption’ as the anagram indicator; in MT = ‘extremes’ of MarkeT |
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| 7 | MEAT MARKET | Where to pick up someone for sex — hopefully with no trace of stallion? Another double definition of sorts, with another horsemeat reference — the Dictionary of Slang gives this as ‘A place or event where the objective of a sizeable number of those frequenting is to find sexual partners. Often used with regard to nightclubs’; also a place where one hopes the meat has no trace of horse |
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| 10 | TRAWL | Hunt, Tory, oddly boring thing TR = Tory, oddly; AWL = boring thing. Definition: hunt |
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| 13 | BEEFEATERS | Can they be sure they really are? — er, safe bet processed contains substitute, ultimately *(er safe bet); containing E = substitute, ultimately. Yet another horsemeat reference. |
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| 16 | GANGSTER | Kray type, Reg, bent and full of dread *(Reg), with ‘bent’ as the anagram indicator; ANGST = dread The Kray twins |
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| 18 | EXORCIST | Trio messed with sex, catching cold: no spirit once one has performed? *(trio sex C). Once an exorcist has performed, the ghost should have gone. |
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| 19 | ATTENDS | Is present name bestowed on duke in naff taste? N = name; D = duke; in *(taste). Definition: is present |
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| 20 | ECSTASY | It stimulates transport Double definition: the drug ecstasy (MDMA) is a stimulant; both ‘ecstasy’ and ‘transport’ can mean ‘a trance or trance-like state in which a person transcends normal consciousness’. |
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| 22 | TOMMY | Privates’ “handle“, small length, covered with trifle MM = millimetre (small length); in TOY = trifle. Tommy is a slang name (handle) for a common soldier in the British Army. |
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| 24 | MEMBER | Cyclops awardee, right dick? ME = Cyclops; MBE = awardee; R= right. Definition: dick |
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| 12/13a | WEAK BLADDER | Edward besotted with Blake’s “wee problem“ *(Edward Blake) |
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Here’s one from Facebook for you:
March 18th, 2013 at 4:51 pm
Thanks jetdoc. A pleasant diversion.
March 18th, 2013 at 6:19 pm
Thank you. Smartass took longer than it ought before I realised it was an American spelling. I seem to have forgotten all about “Kicks ass” in #313.
March 31st, 2013 at 11:39 pm
Nice puzzle, and thanks for the blog, jetdoc, to explain the witty NIGELLA.
Slowed down a bit by 9 (IN THE) being enumerated as (5), but got there in the end.