Cyclops 562, and a Christmas bonus

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A relatively gentle Cyclops puzzle, in preparation for the Christmas special. Good luck to Beermagnet for blogging that one.

What more is there to say, except to wish everyone a great Christmas and a year of happy solving ahead. Have fun!

Across
6 BAMBINO Disney’s character: negative, not grown-up
BAMBI = Disney’s character; NO = negative
8 EGGHEAD Intellectual result of a lay: the male had to get one in
EGG = result of a lay; HE‘D = the male had; with A = one, in
10 CHEAPSKATE Miserly sort of Conservative with piles — take off
C = Conservative; HEAPS = piles; *(take), with ‘off’ as the anagram indicator
11/23 TUCK AWAY Be a consumer, or cut back? —k off!
CUT, reversed; K; AWAY = off
12 BORDELLO Sex available here; Johnson is off on date — “I say, topless!”
BOR[is] = Johnson [with] ‘is’ off; D = date; [h]ELLO = “I say”, minus first letter (topless)
14 SPRING Stalk, taking in north bound
SPRIG = stalk; taking in N = north
16/17 CORPORATION TAX Pot strain avoided as much as possible by multinationals
CORPORATION = pot [belly]; TAX =strain
20 WEIMAR Weekend brief: one pound to return an old republic
W = weekend as abbreviation; I = one; RAM, reversed = pound, to return
Weimar Republic
22 AUX ARMES Gold member into kinky sex: “Let’s fight Sarkozy-style”
AU = gold; ARM = member; in *(sex)
25 FIT OF ANGER Reduced Tory gain — “eff off!” tantrum
*(Tor gain eff), with ‘off’ as the anagram indicator
27 INBUILT Constitutional — popular, independent Labour leader gets in nevertheless
IN = popular; I = independent, L = Labour leader; in BUT = nevertheless
28 SCREECH Stones, loosely attending church, sound uncomfortably shrill
SCREE = stones, loosely; CH = church
Down
1 CASH COW Bill gets up quiet Daisy? Easy, profitable enterprise
AC = bill (account); reversed; SH = quiet; COW = Daisy? (example of a cow’s name)
2 ENDS Arses’ mates taking day off
[fri]ENDS
3 EGRESS Exit Labour’s right wing from lapse
[r]EGRESS = laps, minus R (Labour’s rightmost letter)
4/24/26 SHUT YOUR FACE Blowing a fuse, Corby ditching bishop outside shelter — “Cut the cackle!”
HUT = shelter; in *(a fuse cory) = anagram minus B = bishop; with ‘blowing’ as the anagram indicator
7 BOARDROOM Management reportedly pissed off with margin
BOARD = sounds like “bored”; ROOM = margin (as in space allowed)
9 LABOUR PARTY Sweat gathering for Corbyn’s lot?
LABOUR = sweat; PARTY = gathering
13/5 LAP DANCING Strip club activity of pal, as Cyclops might clue it
‘Pal’ might be clued in a crossword this way, with ‘dancing’ as the anagram indicator
15 RIO GRANDE Fancy Dior range that’s useful to some half-soaked travellers to USA
*(Dior range)
Presumably a reference to its being a route for migrants from Mexico
18 RED WINE Left wing gain by Jeremy’s no. 2 calls for a drink
RED = left wing; WIN = gain; E = Jeremy’s no. 2
19 DEFENCE Legal plea of hack turned criminal?
ED = hack (journalist) reversed; FENCE = criminal
21 RUFFLE Upset Tory leader’s gone off chocolate
[t]RUFFLE = chocolate minus T (Tory leader)

 

WHITE

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For your Christmas bonus, and with our very best wishes, here is a special general knowledge crossword with a twist, from the Enigmatist/JETDoc Christmas card. I wish the image quality were better — I have tried png and jpg, and neither looks great. However, Sidey’s comment below provides a useful link — if you follow it, you can right-click on the image and select Save Image as; you’ll then have it on your computer to be printed out. Thanks, Sidey.

I will post the solution in January.

JET_ChristmasCard2015_export

 

JET_ChristmasCard2015_export

5 comments on “Cyclops 562, and a Christmas bonus”

  2. The last one in for me was 2 down. I could only see ENDS or ANUS as possible solutions but couldn’t (p)arse them. To my shame I elected for ANUS and duly emailed the solution to Private Eye. Thanks for your hard work and I wish yourself and beermagnet a merry Christmas.

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