A Cyclops of average difficulty this week (seems like I always say that!), with nothing that held me up for long. I will go for 9d as my fave clue, for its complete absurdity.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | BROWNING | Poet ‘doing a Gordon’? Robert Browning; reference to Gordon Brown |
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| 8 | PELVIS | Penny and rock star moved when having a shag P = Penny; ELVIS Presley, presumably, though personally I much prefer Elvis Costello. The pelvis is moved when having a shag. |
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| 10 | FUNGI | Staleness round middle of penis? Stick iodine on growth FUG = staleness; round N = middle of penis; I = iodine |
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| 11 | SNOWDONIA | Quite peaky, this pissed Adonis comes round promptly *(Adonis); round NOW = promptly. Snowdonia is quite peaky. |
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| 12 | OPTICAL | Eye’s description when drunken sot bows out of post-coital confusion? Anagram of ‘post-coital’ minus S, O and T. Good clue. |
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| 14 | NAFF ALL | Nothing vulgar about groupie having tumble FAN = groupie, reversed; FALL = tumble. Euphemism for ‘fuck all’ = nothing |
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| 16 | NUMBER CRUNCHING | Lord Gnome’s vital statistics even more dull before consuming the hard stuff NUMBER = even more dull; CRUNCHING = consuming the hard stuff. A reference to the excellent Private Eye feature which compares statistics and thus highlights examples of insanity |
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| 19 | SHAFTED | Balls trailing after Ray screwed? SHAFT = ray; ED Balls, Shadow Chancellor and MP for Morley and Outwood |
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| 20 | NOTEPAD | ’Tone’ forced to pussyfoot being PC? *(Tone), with ‘forced’ as the anagram indicator; PAD = pussyfoot. A type of personal computer (PC) |
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| 22 | MANHATTAN | City’s major financial, etc. centre — Brown after bloke with cover MAN = bloke; HAT = cover; TAN = brown |
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| 26 | ERSATZ | Substitute arse formed (pimple turned one out) *(arse); Z[i]T = pimple, minus I and reversed |
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| 27 | DUTCH CAP | For one who’d have no conception of a European country’s fiscal measure Double definition: a contraceptive device which, according to the website, “to the best of our knowledge … is no longer being manufactured anywhere”; a fiscal measure applied in the Netherlands. |
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| Down | |||
| 1 | BONNET | Hood, good Sarkozy-style, to cover bag BON = good, in French; NET = bag, in the sense of ‘catch’ |
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| 2 | INDISCREET | Tactless girl’s puncturing sad, loveless erection DI’S = girl’s; in *(ERECTIN), i.e. ‘erection’ minus O = love |
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| 4/3 | DEAD ENDS | Numb butts not welcomed by go-ahead types DEAD = numb; ENDS = butts |
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| 5 | SVENGALI | Evil controller, Sun, leaving in disgrace S = sun; *(leaving), with ‘in disgrace’ as the anagram indicator. Svengali |
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| 6 | ISRAEL | State of our old PM releasing grip of celebrated car crash victim Former Prime Minister Benjamin DISRAELI, minus DI, Diana, Princess of Wales |
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| 7 | BUFFOON | Brown got by balls — name the joker! BUFF = Brown; OO = balls; N = name |
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| 9 | DOWNTURN | Horrible turd comes round to admit Cameron’s final decline *(turd); OWN = admit; N = Cameron’s final. Very inventive! |
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| 13 | LUCIDITY | Clear expression of woman stifling Cyclops on date with sex LUCY = woman; I – Cyclops; D = date; IT = sex |
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| 15 | FACE TO FACE | Act odd with a coffee? That’s not how the bugger would do it *(act a coffee). Depending on your definition of ‘bugger’, interpret this as you will. |
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| 17 | MEANNESS | Spiteful thing, Ann Widdecombe finally in the shit ANN; E = Widdecombe finally; in MESS |
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| 18 | GIDDY UP | Rather unsteady with an erection? Get a move on! GIDDY = rather unsteady; UP = with an erection |
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| 19 | SEMTEX | Met. in trouble (infiltrating Congress) — explosive stuff *(Met); in SEX = congress |
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| 21 | PIRACY | Depp’s movie activity, being self-righteous and vulgar PI = self-righteous; RACY = vulgar. I believe Johnny Depp was in Pirates of the Caribbean. |
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| 23/25 | ARTY FARTY | Tray misused as a windbreaker, Brian Sewell fashion? *(tray); FARTY = prone to fart, therefore a breaker of wind. Brian Sewell (do check this one out — it’s worth it… and there’s more Johnny Depp in piracy mode!) |
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| 24 | NOUS | Sod all in tabloid uplifting, which makes good sense O = sod all (nothing); in SUN, reversed, or tabloid uplifting |
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Here’s this week’s picture, for those that haven’t already seen it:
Finally, I take this opportunity to say that, on 7 July, I will be taking part in Race for Life in Finsbury Park, in aid of Cancer Research UK. If you could spare a little sponsorship money, please go to my fund-raising page.
For 10a I had ??n?i and I immediately thought of ennui which fitted staleness in my book. Couldn’t see the wordplay but nothing new there. That meant 7d was b?e?o?n and nothing would fit.
For 2d I had indiscrete which made 19a s?a?e?d. Why on earth was the answer seaweed?
Took ages to sort that out-if someone had asked me to spell check indiscreet , I would have told them they had got it wrong.
Me too Bamberger. I rationalised SEAWEED by presuming Ray meant the fish and Balls its reproduction and so there was some link to the ‘mermaids’ purses’ which wash up as Seaweed does. The hoops one jumps through to justify an answer …
You do both know that “indiscrete” is a word, but not in this context, don’t you?
Will @3 -yes but I thought that being less than cautious was spelled indiscrete. I’ll remember that.