Cyclops 483: BRIEFS encounter

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No major problems with this one… until I tried to parse 11a, which I had written in pretty much without thinking.

Across
7 BRIEFS Shorts taken by defenders
Double definition — underwear; instruction which might be taken by defence lawyers
8 SORCERER Webber’s last score mangled by Brenda — “witch!”
*(R score); ER = Brenda, Private Eye’s name for the Queen.
10 LISZT Be inclined to imbibe unknown amount being only half pissed?
LIST = be inclined (lean); Z = unknown amount. Half of Brahms and Liszt
11 NEGOTIATE Arrange brief denial by Tony half doing a U-turn — one should get put away!
Neither I nor ’im sitting next to me can quite parse this — we’re looking at NEGATE, with half of TONY, reversed, and I (one) inside it; but ‘negate’ means ‘deny’, not ‘denial’. We’re assuming ‘Arrange brief’ is the definition. Over to you…Pandean, below, has come up with an explanation, for which many thanks.
2/13 SHAKE YOUR BOOTY Ostentatiously wiggle your arse for our toy boy, as clued by Cyclops?
If you shake (make an anagram of) OUR TOY BOY, you get YOUR BOOTY; and shaking something is how Cyclops might clue it. The definition is ‘Ostentatiously wiggle your arse’.
16 MOBSTER Dotty met Boris knocking one out — criminal
*(met Bors) — anagram of MET and BOR[i]S, with ‘dotty’ as the anagram indicator.
18 KRILL Wanker ultimately into top sea food
R = Wanker ultimately (last letter); KILL = top (murder)
19 POLL BOOTH Parrot Cherie, professionally: “Vote here”
POLL = Parrot; BOOTH = Cherie, professionally
21 THROBBING Reverse of high tension knocking off on the beat
TH = HT (high tension), reversed; ROBBING = knocking off
23 OFTEN Repeatedly lose an erection, going without head
[s]OFTEN. Definition: repeatedly
24 CAPACITY Impose limit on Athens’ chief financial centre’s size
CAP = Impose limit on; A = Athens’ chief; CITY = financial centre. Definition: size
25 DEBRIS Rubbish Miliband turned Tory darling? Sod all lost!
DE = ED Miliband; reversed; B[o]RIS = Tory darling, with sod all (O) lost
Down
1 SIESTA At last Boris has a site suitable for a “short lie-down”
S = last letter of Boris; *(a site)
2 OFF THE WALL Unorthodox source of Cold War souvenir, so the tourist is told?
Double definition of sorts: unorthodox; reference to the Berlin Wall
3 TODGER Dick, pissed, got red
*(got red). ’Nuff said.
4 SCAT SNP’s chief whip’s ’hip’ vocalising
S = SNP’s chief; CAT = whip. Scat singing
5 FREAK OUT Fat Greek ultimately involved with euro fiasco — panic!
*(Fat K euro), where K = Greek ultimately
6 CREEPY Brown-nose celebrity’s butt? A bit weird
CREEP = Brown-nose; Y = celebrity’s butt
7 BALLS UP Fiasco means Labour frontbencher’s finished
Ed BALLS; UP = finished
9 INCOME Acceptable to have an orgasm? Top bankers want theirs much-enhanced
IN = Acceptable; COME to have an orgasm
13 BABY BOOMER Labour’s result, 1945–55 — Bobby Moore exchanged one for ring …
Anagram of Bobby Moore, with A (one) substituted for O (ring). Someone who was born (i.e. was the outcome of labour) during those post-war years. Officially, the baby boomer years are 1945–1964.
15 STIRRUPS … “Labour can be given a leg-up by means of these”: whip, uppity prick
STIR = whip; SPUR, reversed = ‘uppity prick’. Apparently, stirrups can be used in an obstetric context.
16 MALIGN Merkel chiefly put in order? Rubbish!
M = Merkel chiefly; ALIGN = put in order. ‘Rubbish’ can be used as a verb.
17 REHANGS Gnasher’s balls: puts back in suspense
*(Gnasher’s)
18 KITSCH School’s after equipment — cheap, vulgar stuff
SCH = School; after KIT = equipment
19 PLINTH Prince wants fabric hot bottom support
P = Prince; LINT = fabric; H = hot
20 OUTCRY Openly gay and keen to produce public disapproval
OUT = openly gay; CRY = keen
22/14 BACK PASSAGE Arse support success takes a long time
BACK = support; PASS = success; AGE = a long time

Take your pick of these from the Twittersphere (with which my spouse shares a planet):

“I won’t have a word said against Jimmy Savile. When I was just 8 years old, Jim fixed it for me … to milk a cow, blindfold.”

Top tip for Christmas: CONVINCE your friends you’re an angel by sticking a Christmas tree up your arse.

… or this, captioned by The Poke on Facebook as ‘Spectacular His’n’Hers T-shirt failure’:

5 comments on “Cyclops 483: BRIEFS encounter”

  1. Thanks for the blog jetdoc – and thanks too for this week’s funnies, well worth the visit.

    I was interested to see you too (two?) were also a bit stumped by 11ac. I eventually came up with NEG + OT + I + ATE, where NEG is short for NEGATIVE (“brief denial”), OT is as you had it (“Tony half doing a U-turn”), I is “one” and ATE is “put away”. The definition is then just “Arrange”.

  4. I thought this one was a toughie. I had four stubborn clues including the 11A one.

    Oh, and if you like seeing some funny things in the Twittersphere then this round of of the funniest 100 tweeters of 2012 had me chuckling: http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2012/12/07/the-100-funniest-people-on-twitter-2012/

    @ChribHibble The best thing about alcohol hand gel in hospitals isn’t the hygiene, but that everyone walks around like they’re hatching a dastardly plan.

    @thesimonevans ”Hello, Schrodinger’s cattery, how may I help you?” “Oh, we left Pebbles with you, just ringing up to ask if he’s OK?” ‘Yes and no.”

  5. May I put in a word of appreciation for 12/13ac. There’s something nicely elegant about an indirect reference to an anagram indicator that’s contained within the solution. I’ve tried to find whether that kind of clue has any particular name but the best I’ve come across is “novelty clue”, which is just a ragbag category that includes memorables such as HIJKLMNO.

    And 23ac gets a plaudit from me too. But you’ll get no more praise from me this year. I don’t want to get a reputation as a soft-headed southerner.

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