A topical offering from Cyclops, and a nice antidote to the otherwise sycophantic press coverage which has been so difficult to avoid. 7/26, a tour de force, has to get the vote for clue of the fortnight; I also rather like 23d
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | BY-ELECTION | Wavering celebrity on Right deserts — another opportunity to humiliate the Lib Dems? *(celeb[r]ity on) |
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| 9/27 | CLUELESS | [Geddit?] There’s no direct clue for this one, making it a sort of &Lit (please don’t argue the finer points of whether it is or isn’t). |
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| 11 | LIKE A SHOT | Fancy a drop of whisky? Willingly! LIKE = fancy; A SHOT = a drop of whisky. Double definition. |
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| 12 | ROWED | Royal, missing flipping shag, tied knot then fell out RO = ‘Royal’ minus ‘lay’ reversed (flipping shag); WED = tied knot |
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| 13 | TROUT | Margaret Thatcher ends rather outmoded, interfering old woman! TR = final letters of ‘Margaret Thatcher’ (aargh!); OUT = rather outmoded |
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| 14/18/24 | WALK DOWN THE AISLE | What’s Kate to do: swallow it? (He, naked, explodes) Brilliant anagram! *(swallow it he naked), with ‘explodes’ as the anagram indicator. |
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| 17/25 | STARBUCKS | Global brand takes back arses’ money STAR = rats, reversed; BUCKS = money |
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| 22 | ORDINARY | Right noise stifled by excited royal getting end away everyday R DIN = right noise; *(roya) = ‘excited royal getting end away’ |
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| 28 | BLUE PETER | Oxygen-deprived penis flag? BLUE = oxygen-deprived; PETER = penis. Blue Peter |
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| 29 | SO-SO | Mediocre, turning extra large — very OS (outsize) reversed; SO = very |
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| 30 | WORKING OUT | Not an eccentric, Gok Wan in our time — calculating *(Gok W in our t). ‘Not an’ indicates that you remove ‘an’ before making the letters eccentric, i.e. making the anagram. |
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| Down | |||
| 1 | ABILITY | Skill requires ace Clinton failing to climax, having sex with Lewinsky finally A = ace; BIL[l] = Clinton without his final letter; IT = sex; Y = Lewinsky finally |
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| 2 | GET KNOTTED | Do a Kate and Wills? Piss off! Double definition (though Chambers doesn’t give this as ‘get married’) |
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| 3 | MEGASTAR | Gates, breaking into computer chips, on the up — “I’m adored by millions!” *(Gates); in RAM (random access memory) reversed (on the up) |
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| 4 | ITCHY | Feeling an urge to have sex with Conservative hotty? Not excessively so! IT = sex; C = Conservative; H[ott]Y (minus OTT = ‘excessively so’ |
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| 5 | MORTGAGEE | Banker possibly met aggro — screwed last bit of ‘incentive’ *(met aggro e). I knew how this clue worked but, even with all the checking letters in place, took a while to get the answer. |
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| 6/19a | BLOWPIPE | Weapon used by cannabis smoker? ‘Blow’ is one of the many terms used for cannabis. |
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| 7/26 | WEDDING BELLS | Union strikers? They’ll get a hearing by Kate and Wills, etc. WEDDING = union; BELLS = strikers (presumably in the sense of striking the hour etc., though I’m not sure that the bells themselves are the ‘strikers’ rather than the ‘struck’). |
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| 10 | TREK | Right of centre: Nick’s final journey TRE = right-hand letters of ‘centre’; K = Nick’s final. Given this week’s election results… |
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| 15 | OPPOSITION | Miliband & co’s much reduced work situation? OP = reduced work (though not really ‘much’); POSITION = situation |
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| 16 | STORY-BOOK | Idyllically perfect? One like Hague has to be in second reserve! TORY = one like Hague; S BOOK = second reserve |
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| 19 | PLAY-PENS | Power shag then dashes off — they should restrict the activities of brats P = power; LAY = shag; PENS = dashes off (in the sense of ‘dashing off a quick letter’) |
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| 20 | BOMBAST | Flop, like Harriet’s last rant BOMB = flop; AS = like; T = Harriet’s last |
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| 21 | REGRETS | Ultimate in ‘goer’ birds Wills (and Kate) might come to have? R = ultimate in ‘goer’; EGRETS = birds |
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| 23 | NOSH | Food: you amaze me, giving it away “No shit!” (you amaze me) minus ‘it’. |
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Finally, something that appeared on my Blackberry recently (and yes, I know it’s sexist and tasteless):
Are you insured for sex?
The correct insurance companies are:
• Sex with your wife — Legal & General
• Sex on the telephone — Direct Line
• Sex with your partner — Standard Life
• Sex with a transvestite — Confused.com
• Sex with someone different — Go Compare
• Sex with a fat bird — More Than
• Sex on the back seat of a car — Sheila’s Wheels
• Sex with a posh bird — Privileged!
…and, for anyone who hasn’t yet seen it, a link: Royal wedding
Last one was in 28a -while I have heard many euphemisms for it, Peter is not one -perhaps it is a regional thing. Peter =safe is the usual crosswordland meaning.
It is in Chambers — ‘n: a safe; a prison cell; the penis; a till (Aust); the witness box (Aust). pe’terman: a safe-blower.