Cyclops 488: Beware supporter wilt! (see 3/22)

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I think there was some fairly tricky wordplay in this Cyclops — it took me a bit longer than usual. Was that just me, or do others agree?

Across
1 SCISSORS State is holding radio prankster over cutting things
SC = South Carolina; IS; containing [Jonathan] ROSS, reversed (‘over’, which I’d prefer as a reversal indicator in a Down clue)
6 BRASSY Underwear’s sexy without once being shameless
BRA = Underwear; S[ex]Y (without EX = once)
9 CREOLE Cameron’s main function to keep in check Clegg’s core, vernacular language
C = Cameron’s main (‘main’ to indicate first letter? Hmm…); ROLE = function; containing E = Clegg’s core.
Creole
10 ARBITER Archer extremely resentful: “time lost, judge”
AR = Archer extremely (peripheral letters); BIT[t]ER = resentful, minus T
11 LOOKALIKES Our feature of features doubled
Reference to the Private Eye feature Lookalikes pointing out apparent similarities between two unrelated people (or cartoon characters)
12/23 PIPE ORGAN Seed expelled initially by penis, which gets the hymn-singers going?
PIP = Seed; E = expelled initially; ORGAN = penis
Musical instrument commonly used in churches or cathedrals, that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called wind) through pipes selected via a keyboard
13 BACKUPS They stand by bets, swallowing hard
BACKS = bets (not quite valid, because ‘backs’ is transitive, whereas ‘bets’ needs ‘on’ or ‘against’); swallowing UP = hard (erect)
17 DECAMPS Dave’s top “expert“, arse-over-tip politician with singular flies
D = Dave’s top; ACE = “expert“, reversed (arse-over-tip); MP = politician; S = singular. Definition: flies
19 RECYCLE Brenda overturned by revolution — don’t waste it!
ER = the Queen (Brenda, in Private Eye), reversed (‘overturned’, another reversal indicator which really belongs in a Down clue); CYCLE = revolution
24 FRENCH KISS Nick’s fresh balls-up which has tongues wagging
*(Nick’s fresh)
26 GARMENT General habit of bloke: squeezing member
GENT = bloke; ARM = member. Definition: general habit, i.e. a general-purpose term for an item of clothing
27 ACTIVE “Performing” Bill approved? Cyclops has
ACT = what a bill may become once approved by Parliament; IVE = Cyclops has
28/15 ONE DAY AT A TIME How to get through a dry period by avoiding seeing two or more ex-political broadcasters together?
Double definition: reference to the philosophy of Alcoholics Anonymous; Sir Robin Day, former political broadcaster
29 PRETENCE Posturing after tax returns concealed by crooked creep
NET = after tax, reversed; in *(creep), with ‘crooked’ as the anagram indicator
Down
2 CORPORATE Round figure accepted by stupid prat in key part of a big company
O = round figure; *(prat); in CORE = key part
3/22a SHOCK JOCK Balls’ protector, mass of hair on top, who’s out to wind up listeners
JOCK strap, ‘an undergarment originally designed for supporting the male genitalia (with which the Shadow Chancellor shares a name) during sports or other vigorous physical activity’ (and don’t forget, chaps, supporter wilt is dangerous!); with SHOCK = mass of hair, on top
4 OVERLAP Extension where beer belly hangs out
Double definition
5 SWANKY Posh, extremely shitty, concealing self-abuse?
SY = extremely shitty (peripheral letters); WANK = self-abuse
6 BABYSIT Nappy contents not hot? Mind the mites
BABY S[h]IT = nappy contents, minus H (hot)
7 ANTIPATHY Elastic panty hose inverted tops at “Animus”
*(panty H I at), H I being the tops of ‘hose inverted’, and ‘elastic’ the anagram indicator. Definition: animus
8 SCRAP A bit of southern codswallop
S = southern; CRAP = codswallop
14 KNACKERED Worn out having a ball or two?
Double definition: very tired; endowed with male genitalia
16 MILOSEVIC Live comics about to go off atrocious leader
*(live comis), i.e. minus C = about.
Slobodan Milosevic, President of Serbia (originally the Socialist Republic of Serbia) from 1989 to 1997 and President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000.
18 PUFFERY Smoker with yen for dodgy advertising
PUFFER = Smoker; Y = yen
20 ENCLAVE Conservative Neal’s outburst (very English): “Country surrounded by bloody foreigners“!
*(C Neal VE). A piece of territory entirely enclosed within foreign territory
21 RED TOP Sun’s far right wing boss with elevated beer belly?
I’m not quite sure about the wordplay for RED; POT = beer belly, reversed (elevated). Term for a tabloid newspaper. See Neil’s comment — I’m OK about R being the right wing of ‘far’, but I still don’t really get ‘boss’. Oh, OK, the ‘boss’ of a newspaper… though I’d have said Rupert Murdoch and whiever memebrs of his family he can still trust, in this case.
25 KATIE Price of the ultimate in shit in IKEA — horrendous?
T = the ultimate in shit; in *(IKEA), with ‘horrendous’ as the anagram indicator.
Katie PRICE, formerly known as Jordan

A Top Tip for you: CONVINCE people you have Tourette’s, by naming your dog Fuckwank.

If, like me, you are really bored of horsemeat jokes, it’s been a rather bare couple of weeks for witticisms. But it’s always worth checking out the wonderful Twitmericks for topical gems like this:
A slug of the nudibranch genus
Is able to cast off its penis
Then grow one at will
A wonderful skill
That makes up for said organ’s weeness.

12 comments on “Cyclops 488: Beware supporter wilt! (see 3/22)”

  1. Thanks, jetdoc. I completely agree with you about the difficulty level – I don’t time myself on puzzles, preferring to take my time and enjoy them but, using Across Lite, there’s the built-in timer so no choice. I’m surprised to see that my times for Cyclops’ puzzles are usually very consistent but this one took 30% longer.

    My take on RED TOP: R (right hand letter of far) ED (boss which, in the clue’s context, seems fair enough.) TOP as you say.

  5. Minor pedantry – in your addendum to 21 “who’s” should be “whose”.
    (Well, this is a “literary” site!)

  7. I found this a toughie also. Regarding 13 across -is the UP bit a naughty reference to hard? Apologies, if I’m missing a completely innocuous explanation.

  8. Yes, Franko. Sorry I forgot to explain — it’s such standard Cyclops-speak that it almost goes without saying once you’re used to his style. I leave it to you as to whether it’s innocuous or not.

  9. I suspect that the “stupid prat” at 2d was supposed to be a “stupid person” to cue PRAT. Otherwise, the “stupid” is … well, stupid. Or at least, unnecessary.

  11. Thanks jetdoc – I take your point on consistency with his style. Incidentally, I did have a bit of a chuckle on 6 down ‘babysit’ which illustrates my level of humour I suppose.

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