…or ‘One No-Trump’, maybe, as I think this is the first Cyclops in a while not to mention the orange-skinned self-publicist…thank goodness the US election is over, and we won’t have to worry about him ever again…DOH!
There was a brief reference to Hillary, to get the C in 10A VOCATION, something that she is going to have to find a new one of!
And we also have the CIA fiddling STATISTICS at 1A, although with hindsight it was more the FBI wot won it for ‘the Don’…or rather lost it for Hillary…A-level political studies exam question in 2020 – discuss…
Otherwise, we are back to more parochial/British matters – COLD BATHs, STRING VESTs (unsexy underwear!), MIGRANT WORKERS (a nod to the Brexit-eers) and a historical reference to John Major calling some of his cabinet colleagues BASTARDS (a remark probably made when he thought he was OFF AIR).
All good Cyclops-ean fare.
(I wasn’t sure which of ‘crap’ or ‘shit’ was the anagram indicator, and which the definition, in 14D. All in all, a bit of a NASTY MESS of a clue, and as an ‘average’ systems analyst myself, I didn’t want to delve too deeply into that one…)
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | STATISTICS | Way before CIA tits fiddled ‘Satisfactory’ figures (10) | figures / ST (street, way) + ATISTIC (anag, i.e. fiddled, of CIA TITS) + S (satisfactory) |
|
| 7A | COLD | & 28ac. Conservative old bat – hard cure for ‘the hots’? (4) | cure for the hots / C (conservative) + OLD + BAT + H (hard) |
|
| 9A | TRYING | Tiresome Conservative elected, yielding nothing Good (6) | tiresome / T( |
|
| 10A | VOCATION | Business’s feeble ovation going over Clinton’s Head (8) | business / VO_ATION (anag, i.e. feeble, of OVATION) around (going over) C (Clinton’s first letter, or head) |
|
| 11A | BASTARDS | Certain cabinet members once sat around in drabs, forlornly (8) | certain (Major-era) cabinet members, once / double/nested anagram – BA_RDS or B_ARDS (anag, i.e. forlornly, of DRABS) around STA, or AST (anag, i.e. around, of SAT) |
|
| 12A | COARSE | Firm behind, in need of a polishing (6) | in need of a polishing / CO (company, firm) + ARSE (behind) |
|
| 13A | MIGRANT | & 15ac. Labour executors after Ming art Reproduction – the bugbear of Brexiteers? (7) | the bugbear of Brexiteers / MIGRANT (anag, i.e. reproduction, of MING ART) + WORKERS (executors of labour) |
|
| 15A | WORKERS | see 13ac. (7) | see 13A / see 13A |
|
| 17A | IMPULSE | Independent member operation, accommodating length – fancy! (7) | fancy / I (independent) + MP (member) + U_SE (operation) around (accommodating) L (length) |
|
| 19A | THERAPY | An attempt to cure bloke recruited by battered party (7) | an attempt to cure / T_RAPY (anag, i.e. battered, of PARTY), around (i.e. recruting) HE (bloke) |
|
| 22A | SMELLY | Conniving to take Spice member off? (6) | off / S_LY (conniving) taking in MEL (Mel B, member of the Spice girls) |
|
| 24A | FOREMOST | Leading Tories of reform: one’s ousted by May’s no.1 (8) | leading / anag, i.e. reform, or TOR( |
|
| 26A | IN CAMERA | Orgasmed in Iran – moved out of public view (2,6) | out of public view / IN _RA (anag, i.e. moved, of IRAN) around CAME (orgasmed) |
|
| 27A | CANKER | Sore about tosser ditching West (6) | sore / C (about, circa) + ( |
|
| 28A | BATH | see 7ac. (4) | see 7A / see 7A |
|
| 29A | STRING VEST | Unsexy underwear girdle found in broken TV sets (6,4) | unsexy underwear / ST_ VEST (anag, i.e. broken, of TV SETS) around RING (girdle) |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 2D | TERRARIUM | Planter’s belly all over topless racing car (9) | planter / T_UM (belly) around (all over) ( |
|
| 3D | TWISTER | Tits were not quite regulated, causing awful wind (7) | awful wind / anag, i.e. regulated, of TITS WER( |
|
| 4D | SUGAR | Josh turned up with the Eye, dear (5) | dear / RAG (josh) + US (the Eye) – all turned up |
|
| 5D | INVEST | Speculate, being shirtless? (6) | speculate / if someone was shirtless, then they might be IN a VEST |
|
| 6D | SACKCLOTH | Bed Alec, ultimately reluctant, showing evidence of remorse? (9) | evidence of remorse / SACK (bed, as in hit the sack) + C (ultimate letter of AleC) + LOTH (reluctant) |
|
| 7D | CATWALK | ‘Pussy perambulation’ beneath a model (7) | (something) beneath a model / CAT (pussy) + WALK (perambulation) |
|
| 8D | LOOKS | Peers pairing John with vacuous Klass (5) | peers / LOO (toilet, john) + KS (empty, or vacuous, K |
|
| 14D | NASTY MESS | Crap systems analyst releases salty shit (5,4) | crap (or shit?) / anag, i.e. shit (or crap?) of SYSTEMS AN( |
|
| 16D | REPOSSESS | Take back regurgitated espressos (9) | take back / anag, i.e. regurgitated, of ESPRESSOS |
|
| 18D | UNLEASH | Let go Conservative leader, emerging from relative aftermath of inferno (7) | let go / UN( |
|
| 20D | ROMANOV | Royal family moron comes out with a volume (7) | (Russian) royal family / anag, i.e. comes out, of MORON + A + V (volume) |
|
| 21D | OFF-AIR | Banned by the BBC, say, produces stinking atmosphere (3-3) | banned by the BBC, say / a stinking atmosphere might be an ‘OFF’ AIR |
|
| 23D | MENSA | Smart-arse types of blokes like being tossed (5) | smart-arse types / MEN (blokes) + SA (as, or like, tossed back up) |
|
| 25D | RICIN | Tim endlessly popular? That’s toxic! (5) | (something) that’s toxic / RIC( |
|
thanks mc_rapper_67 – re 14d it reminds me of the US election a choice between crap and shit (my vote is for ‘crap’ as the anagram indicator) in any event the result is a nasty mess