Cyclops 446: The poor bloody infantry

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Back from watching England decisively beaten by Sri Lanka in the ODI at Lord’s, to finish and complete this blog. What held me up as a blogger was working out the wordplay of 3d — if not blogging, I would probably just have written in the answer without worrying too much about whether it was correct or not.

Across
6 TROOPS British ones ill equipped to, being cut by Labour’s last exercises?
R = Labour’s last; in TO; OPS = exercises. British troops are apparently ill equipped.
7 DIRT POOR Utterly lacking in scandalous info. and shit, right
DIRT = scandalous info. (as in ‘the dirt on…’); POO = shit; R = right
10 CONSCRIPT Cameron & co’s “burial place,” said recruit
Sounds like “Cons’ crypt”
11 RELIT Roof worker’s arse over tip — drunk again?
TILER, reversed. Lit can mean drunk.
12 LAGER Brenda’s supposed style: tipping back the drink
REGAL (in the style of the Queen), reversed
14 ENSHEATHE Dotty seen pressing ex-PM to put on a condom, say
*(seen), with ‘dotty’ as the anagram indicator; surrounding (pressing) HEATH (Edward Heath)
15/25 PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGE Really imaginative pre-PR fiddling by which some members hope to dodge prosecution
*(Really imaginative pre-PR). Parliamentary privilege is ‘a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made related to one’s duties as a legislator’.
20 LAST STRAW To endure an ex-minister — that would be unbearable
LAST = endure; Straw = ex-minister Jack Straw
23 SALON Large room also turned on Brown finally
*(also), with turned as the anagram indicator; N = Brown finally
24 NOOKY Maybe Yoko’s after neutral sex
N = neutral; *(Yoko)
27 CUT-PRICE Rather cheap hack linked to Katie?
CUT = hack (slightly deceptive wordplay, as we think of ‘hack’ in Private Eye) as meaning ‘journalist’; Katie Price, formerly known as Jordan
28 ALBERT Prince no longer keen to grab Brenda’s crown
ALERT = keen; B = initial letter of Brenda. Prince Albert is no longer.
Down
2 SPECTRAL Rather like a shadow leader of cabinet squeezed by stupid prat, Les
C = leader of cabinet; in *(prat Les)
3 DISTASTE … in men was the likes of Dodi — horror!
Di’s taste in men was the likes of Dodi Fayed — see this article
4 COLLATERAL Civilians taken out by US military? All clear to Rocky
*(All clear to), with ‘Rocky’ as the anagram indicator. Collateral damage is a euphemism describing civilian deaths as a result of military action.
5 BROTHEL It’s [sic!] purpose is to make clients come to LHR — be worried
*(to LHR be). Clients of a brothel would presumably expect to reach orgasm (if they weren’t put off by the greengrocer’s apostrophe).
6 TACKLE Dick, etc. when attending wedding
‘Wedding tackle’ refers to a gentleman’s dangly bits.
8/9/22 THREE-LINE WHIP Figure linked with row, best way of dealing with e.g. rebel Lib Dem MP voters?
THREE = figure; LINE = row; WHIP = best (in the sense of ‘defeat’). If you’re interested…
13 GRASS ROOTS “Cannabis radicals”, local rank and file party supporters
GRASS = cannabis; ROOTS = radicals
16 AIRSPACE Gaddafi lost control of his corrupt Paris holding account — end of regime?
*(Paris); holding AC = account. There is currently a no-fly zone over Libya
17 TESTICLE Hitler’s matchless piece of tackle?
See also 6d, above; a reference to the lyrics sung to the tune of ‘Colonel Bogey’
18 OLD NICK Getting on with Clegg? Arch traitor!
OLD = getting on; NICK = Clegg. If you’re interested…
19 ON HEAT Randy feature of Wilson, Heath
Hidden in ‘Wilson, Heath’
21 SHYER Extra coy tosser
Double definition — ‘more shy’, ‘thrower’
26/1 EYES DOWN Cyclops’ organ’s fluffy stuff, as the game caller says
EYES = Private Eyes; DOWN = fluffy stuff. A call indicating that a game of Bingo etc is about to start

Apologies for this horribly sexist joke: A group of men were sitting outside a pub when a woman walked past. One man said: “I’d give her one.” Overhearing, she replied: “I wouldn’t have sex with you if you were the last man on Earth.” He said: “Who said anything about sex? I was giving you marks out of 10.”

5 comments on “Cyclops 446: The poor bloody infantry”

  1. Thanks jetdoc. I am pleased you coiuld explain the 8/9/22 because it completely defeated me. First time for a long while actually, so Cyclops has a scalp. But, then again, the intricacies of English politics are not a big thing here. The rest raised the odd smile and snigger (as usual) and I found the whole a pleasant way to pass an hour or so, until I was whipped. Good for the soul that, on occasions.

  2. This was my fastest ever solve of a PE. Most of the solving consisted of eg 11a Um roof worker? Tiler maybe? reverse it and bingo relit.
    Now I know that this site doesn’t go in for times unlike the Times blog site but it still took me over twice as long as the fastest Times solvers solve thiers .
    Now I did have to have to have the odd pause but I really don’t think I could have done it much faster. So how on earth do Times solvers do it in sub 10 minutes?

  3. Bamberger, there’s a link on TimesfortheTimes to the thought processes of one of the championship entrants, worth a look.

  4. I know, it’s the Eye and standard rules don’t apply, but still, I have to award a demerit for having TACKLE in the grid and using “tackle” in exactly the same sense in the clue for 17d.

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