Private Eye/Cyclops 581 Blissful Shrink

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Another mid range Eye puzzle in terms of trickiness.

Ten answered after the first pass, thus nearly half the grid filled. Bottom right corner holding out till last but even the very last answer did last long once the crossing letters appeared.

Here’s something worthy of more of an airing  – pointed out by lemming in a comment on the last blog:
This link http://www.private-eye.co.uk/pictures/crossword/download/ has over 10 years of Private Eye crosswords as puz files – all since number 300 (excluding some of the Xmas specials).
Over many years of using the Eye’s crossword online I had not noticed this.  I have sometimes wanted to get at last issue’s puzzle after the new one had appeared and thought I’d missed the boat.  Now I can.

Blogging this just after listening to the Archers “trial special” on Sunday, so avert your eyes if you don’t want to see the verdict at the end of the blog…

eye581

Across
8 CHINA Caught Hain out, getting intimate (5)
C[aught] HAIN* AInd: out. China as in Mate/Pal
9 FALL APART Clinton’s ‘late period’ to have a role – and become an ineffective mess (4,5)
FALL (Clinton’s, thus Amercian, for Autumn – late period) A PART (a role)
10 TITLELESS Just plain Mister Wally minor, entertaining the French (9)
TIT (Wally) LESS (minor) aoround (entertaining) LE (the French)
11 TRUMP Tip from smart arse candidate (5)
[smar]T RUMP (arse)
12 GODOT Exit party needs thoughtful leader – he’ll never turn up! (5)
GO (exit) DO (party) T[houghtful]
14 FLOORED Given a platform – flabbergasted! (7)
Double Def.
16 ACT OF PARLIAMENT Legislation produces altercation – a PM messed with Fox’s head (3,2,10)
(ALTERCATION A PM F[ox])* AInd: produces/messed with
19 LECTERN Left abandoned centre support for speech-maker (7)
L[eft] CENTRE* AInd: abandoned
21 STYLI Hasty Liam stifles writers (5)
Hidden in haSTY LIam
24 STRETCHER One who exaggerates NHS patient support? (9)
Double Def.
26 SEDUCTION It’s devious end, coitus? (9)
(END COITUS)* AInd: devious.  &Lit I was initially unsure how to classify the definition part of the clue.  ‘It’ is often synonymous with sex, as is ‘coitus’, however neither are precisely seduction.  So, I am happy to class this as an excellent &Lit, and declare it the puzzle’s top clue.
27 LIT UP Pissed? Brilliant! (3,2)
Double Def.
Down
1 SIT TIGHT Be an MP on high – refuse to be ousted! (3,5)
SIT (Be an MP) TIGHT (high)
2/13 SAME DIFFERENCE American, in defence, fires recklessly – no change there (4,10)
AM[erican] inside (DEFENCE FIRES)* AInd: recklessly
3 AFFECT Hollow Farage, in fact, terrible fake (6)
F[arag]E inside FACT* AInd: terrible
4 BLISSFUL Having so much ecstasy fills bus out (8)
(FILLS BUS)* AInd: out
5/25 CAUTIONARY TALE Lessons to be learnt from this account of police bust? (10,4)
Double Def. The second definition refers to the fact that police can dish out Cautions as a punishment
6 JAGUAR Merkel’s assent to protect England finally exiting – catty thing! (6)
JA (Yes, assent, as spoken by Merkel thus German ) GUAR[d] (protect, with D from [englan]D missing)
7 STUPIDITY Finished stuffing improvised DIY tits – utter folly (9)
UP (finished) inside (DIY TITS)* AInd: improvised
8/23 CUTS LOOSE Does a Brexit upset Scouse lot? (4,5)
(SCOUSE LOT)* AInd: upset.  Oh.  That’s what Brexit means!
15 FAULTLESS Exemplary, unlike a big chunk of California? (9)
Double Def.  Second one ref. geological fault lines such as San Andreas in Cal
17 AGNOSTIC Doubting? Go with “Saint”, new Conservative leader (8)
(GO SAINT)* AInd: new, then C[onservative]
18 EPITHETS Into drugs, Stone with the stupid nicknames (8)
PIT (Stone) THE* AInd: stupid, all inside ES (Es, drugs)  Last one in.  Needed all crossers to spot Stone=PIT. Prior to that thinking of Ronnie WOOD or other Rolling S’s
20 CLOUDY Vulgar to knock the stuffing out of Corby? Not very bright (6)
LOUD (vulgar) inside C[orb]Y – replacing the “stuffing” (inner letters)
21/22 SHRINK WRAP It tightly restricts head doctor with trendy patter (6,4)
SHRINK (head doctor) W[ith] RAP (trendy patter)

… it was Dame Eileen Atkins wot did it!
Absolutely nailed it.
Deserves an award, maybe a peerage, for “best impression of Henry Fonda in a radio drama”.

15 comments on “Private Eye/Cyclops 581 Blissful Shrink”

  2. (oops — belatedly realizing that it’s that same archive I’ve been hacking for the past few years. never mind, yours is actually simpler!)

  5. I can see a tentative relationship with china and ‘intimate’ as in “how are you doing, me ‘owd china”; but it is tentative at best.

  6. Not explicitly mentioned above but China is cockney rhyming slang i.e. china plate = mate

    Re 2/13 is AM a recognised abbreviation for American? Not come across that before.

    Thanks for taking over blog btw and thanks again to jetdoc for guidance over the years

  8. For 8A an intimate is a friend thus mate and Rhyming slang for Mate is Chine from Chine Plate as Franko says above.

    My dad had a friend who was just known as China – about 4 foot nothing and drove a steam roller for the road mending gang, and never seen without his steam-roller driver’s cap – great gardener.
    Never knew his real name – (I was quite small) but I still realised why he was called China – he said “Me ‘owd China” rather a lot.

    For 2/13 the AM abbreviation for American – I’m sure I’ve seen it used like that before. I suppose the most obvious examples are the airline Pan Am and AmTrak

  9. OOPS… I saw the American as SAM… but that gives one too many s’s. But then it doesn’t matter since I got the answer for the wrong reason. Plus, I didn’t submit the result anyway!

  11. Thanks beermagnet, that is entirely plausible re AM 2/13.
    Winsor you got the answer – job done in my book
    clanger9 it does seem unfair the rhyming slang. I have a mental picture of Cyclops as a pearly king who spends his days in the rub-a-dub getting brahms n’liszt while knocking out crosswords.

  12. Franko: If I could ‘old the dog straight I might take and upload a few dollies of Cyclops ‘imself at work.
    Trouble is ‘e’s actually a Brummie and probably don’t tawk lioke me.
    Hang on. I’m not a real cockerney eiver – just a Cockney Cowboy (©Jimmy Pursey 1979)

  14. @beermagnet & Franko: see, now I’m totally lost!

    Nice to see that Cock-er-nee rhyming slang still works as originally intended… 😉
    Ah’l see yaz ahl ootside, rite noo, ya clivvor sods!!

  15. beermagnet:I had a chuckle on that one. Must admit had to google dollies…which leads me on to thinking about some rhyming slang for google. How about Rich n’ Frugal?

    clanger9: Ha ha! Maybe cyclops should have all across clues in (soft) southern dialect and down clues in northern

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