After my suggestion that Cyclops 580 was maybe a tad ‘lite’ on the usual Cyclops-ean smuttiness, this one certainly redresses the balance! Some focus on the American election as well…
…giving it out in roughly equal measure – hoping that Trump remains unelected (8D) and the suggestion that HRC might be a bluff ‘candidate’ (4D).
But, oooerr missus…straight from the off we have to ‘lie back and think of England’ (1A), then find a ‘breast supporter’ (5A) and are then treated to the notion that the Sun’s Page 3 might be making a comeback (14A). And I don’t even want to spend too long thinking about The Speaker being ‘one who climaxes when placed behind the Tory leader’, let alone the mental image created by 19D!
All good not-quite-clean fun then, and a relatively gentle solve underneath all that – and to balance the Sun-bashing, we also have the Mirror referred to as a ‘mucky rag’…(26A):
Thanks to Cyclops – and roll on November and ‘Tosspot’ Trump (14D) (hopefully) remaining an unelected oddball!
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | LIE BACK | Resign yourself and think of England getting screwed? (3,4) | &lit-ish charade? / based on the euphemism ‘lie back and think of England’, referring to (unwelcome) marital duties, or ‘getting screwed’ – or possibly wedding night advice from a mother to her daughter in the early 1900s…) |
|
| 5A | STERNUM | Breast supporter turns ’em skew-whiff (7) | breast supporter (breastbone) / anag, i.e. skew-whiff, of TURNS EM |
|
| 10A | ELECTION | Hardening, switching political allegiance, could be the making of Clinton? (8) | could be the making of (Hillary) Clinton / E(R)(L)ECTION (erection, hardening, replacing R – right – with L – left, or changing political allegiance!) |
|
| 11A | SHOVEL | Sun approaches seedy house to dig the dirt? (6) | dig the dirt / S (sun) + HOVEL (seedy house) |
|
| 12A | DRAW | &24ac. Take out Nige almost, with hard approach (4) | approach / DRAW (take out) + NIG (Nige, almost) + H (hard) |
|
| 13A | THE SPEAKER | One who climaxes after he’s placed behind Tory leader will need to keep wayward member in order! (3,7) | (he) will need to keep wayward member (of parliament) in order / T (Tory leader) + HE S + PEAKER (one who climaxes) |
|
| 14A | SPOT ON | Precisely what’s special about old Page Three subjects making a comeback? (4,2) | precisely / what was ‘special’ about the ladies on Page Three (of the Sun newspaper) was that they had NO TOPS on – which makes SPOT ON when reversed, or making a comeback. |
|
| 16A | TITIVATE | Groom’s boob: that is, embracing duty (8) | groom / TIT (boob) + I_E (that is) around (embracing) VAT (duty) |
|
| 18A | ALARMIST | Panicking member overwhelmed by Article 50 – “it’s triggered!” (8) | panicking / A (article) + L (50, Roman numeral) + IST anag, i.e. triggered, of ITS), around (overwhelming) ARM (member) |
|
| 21A | MILADY | What to call a mistress one madly screwed over (6) | what to call a mistress / anag, i.e. screwed over, of I (one) + MADLY |
|
| 22A | BOTTOM LINE | Arse wrinkle: that’s what it comes down to finally (6,4) | what it comes down to, finally / BOTTOM (arse) + LINE (wrinkle) |
|
| 24A | NIGH | see 12ac. (4) | See 12 A / See 12 A |
|
| 26A | MIRROR | Good motorists often make use of this mucky rag? (6) | mucky rag (tabloid ‘newspaper’) / could also be a double defn…good motorists use their MIRRORs, the Daily Mirror is a mucky(?) tabloid/rag |
|
| 27A | INTREPID | Popular right taken in by half-hearted daring (8) | daring / IN (popular) + T_EPID (half-hearted) around (taking in) R (right) |
|
| 28A | ODDBALL | Weird: not even something Hitler missed (7) | weird / ODD (not even) + BALL (testicle, something Hitler – allegedly? – was missing) |
|
| 29A | COURTLY | Cry “lout” out, just like Brenda and entourage (7) | just like Brenda (the queen) and her entourage / anag, i.e. out, of CRY LOUT |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 2D | IDLER | Couch potato’s topless “Supermarket Queen” (5) | couch potato / (L)IDL (supermarket, Lidl, topless) + ER (Elizabeth Regina, queen) |
|
| 3D | BACKWATER | What post-Brexit Britain could become? Reverse the flow! (9) | What post-Brexit Britain could become / BACK (reverse) + WATER (the flow) |
|
| 4D | CLINTON | Material concealed by bluff candidate (7) | candidate (in US election) / C_ON (bluff) around (concealing) LINT (material) |
|
| 6D | TOSSPOT | Contemptible type of introduction for Trump: “outstanding mark” (7) | contemptible type / T (introduction for Trump) + OS (outstanding) + SPOT (mark) |
|
| 7D | RIOJA | Booze: sporting host Jack drops half (5) | booze / RIO (2016 Olympic and Paralympic sporting host) + JA (half of JAck) |
|
| 8D | UNELECTED | With luck Trump will be united and awfully decent about the Spanish! (9) | with luck Trump will be (this) / U (united) + N_ECTED (anag, i.e. awfully, of DECENT), around EL (the, definite article, in Spanish) |
|
| 9D | INGEST | Scoff: “Voted to office, gets stuffed!” (6) | scoff (food) / IN (voted to office) + GEST (anag, i.e. stuffed, of GETS) |
|
| 15D | PILLORIED | Ridiculed contraceptive alternative that is put on date (9) | ridiculed / PILL (contraceptive) + OR (alternative) + IE (that is) + D (date) |
|
| 17D | VOLUNTEER | Left, intervening in UN veto, about … about … about to step forward (9) | step forward / VO_UNTE (anag, i.e. about, of UN VETO) around (intervened by) L (Left), plus ER (RE, or about, reversed, or about!) |
|
| 19D | IMMORAL | Cyclops is having medium sort of sex – wicked! (7) | wicked / I’M (Cyclops is) + M (medium) + ORAL (sort of sex) (far too much detail!) |
|
| 20D | TRIVIA | Tories really impede leaders by way of irrelevancies (6) | irrelevancies / TRI (first letters, or leaders, of Tories Really Impede) + VIA (by way of) |
|
| 21D | MAESTRO | Rattle May at first? Rates deplorable zero (7) | (Simon) Rattle / M (May, at first) + AESTR (anag, i.e. deplorable, of RATES) + O (zero) |
|
| 23D | THROB | Unfinished article by Nick: pound (5) | pound / TH(E) (unfinished definite article, the) + ROB (nick) |
|
| 25D | GRILL | Brenda’s old man has off-colour question (5) | question / GR (George Rex, Brenda’s, or the queen’s, father) + ILL (off colour) |
|
A true crossword for me!! I had two answers on the first run and then took rather longer than usual to solve the rest using crossing letters. Knew it must be ‘election’ but could not parse to save my life! Thanks, then, to you for the solution and mightily impressed by the Cyclops mind (again) for the ability to come up with such a clue.
I was so sure that UNELECTED and ELECTION couldn’t be in the same grid that I convinced myself to read the 10-Across clue backwards, and then forced other wrong answers into the NW corner. Rats.
I am just getting started on the next one (583) in the print edition received today. In view of comments posted here on previous crosswords I thought I would have a look for 583 on the Eye website, but it doesn’t seem to be there yet.
Well I got it by using the URL in the last blog. I had to copy and paste it into word though to drop off the final 582 and get to the list of all puzzles. Then I found 583 at the bottom.
Yes, 583 is online now, but it wasn’t when I started (and finished) the print version on Wednesday. In the case of 582, the e-version was available before the magazine turned up.
I had a lot of confusion because I think I found a perfectly good other solution to 11A!
“Sun approaches seedy house to dig the dirt?”
Sun (RAG) approaches (backwards, GAR), seedy house (DEN) / to dig the dirt (GARDEN as a verb)