More Trump-related, or rather Trump/US-dominated, cruciverbalism from Cyclops…to paraphrase various slogans…’read my lips…four more years’ (minus 50-odd days)…heaven (or your own preferred theological destination) help us…
A few nods to matters more local, and a smuttering of smut to keep it Cyclops-ean…and a hint of the Wacky Races, with DICK(Y) DASTARDLY across the third row…
On reflection, this is more a puzzle of two halves – the Across clues are almost all schoolboy sniggers – underwear, STD, caught in the hay, kinky gaiters, sex ring, penis, shag, horny thing, having got firm, and Will’s appendage…whereas the Downs are primarily political, with references to Trump, Donald, Tony, May, Brenda, Putin, Washington and Remain…but not a mention for poor old Nicola Sturgeon this time round…
My personal favourite was 23A – RHINO (horny thing’s ready!)..fnarr fnarr…followed by 6D’s reference to the reliability of EXIT POLLs…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 8A | LET SLIP | Don’t keep mum’s “restraint underwear” (3,4) | don’t keep mum / LET (restraint, hindrance) + SLIP (underwear) |
|
| 10A | HYPOXIA | Sexually transmitted disease one caught in hay, recklessly – result of getting too high? (7) | result of getting too high (in altitude!) / HY_A (anag, i.e. recklessy, of HAY) around POX (Sexually Transmitted Disease) + I (one) |
|
| 11A | REGISTRAR | Roger not stuffing without kinky gaiters – that’s official (9) | (an) official / R_R (RogeR, with stuffing, middle letters, removed) around EGISTRA (anag, i.e. kinky, of GAITERS) |
|
| 12A | PATIO | State rejected sex ring’s alfresco area (5) | alfresco area / PA (Pennsylvania, US state) + TI (‘it’, sexual relations, rejected) + O (ring) |
|
| 13A | DICKY | Unhealthy as a penis (5) | ‘slangy’ double defn(?)/ unhealthy / DICKY can mean unhealthy; or ‘as a dick’ (slang for penis) |
|
| 14A | DASTARDLY | Diabolical day Donald Trump starts salary ‘enhancement’ (9) | diabolical / anag, i.e. enhancement, of DDT (starting letters of Day, Donald & Trump) + SALARY |
|
| 16A | LARYNX | Right into shag (name unknown), screamer uses it to full effect (6) | screamer uses it to full extent / LA_Y (shag, have sex with) around R (right), plus N (name) + X (unknown, e.g. in maths) |
|
| 18A | PLEASE | Pence gutted – replaced by greens, if you like! (6) | if you like / P_E (PencE, gutted), around LEAS (meadows, greens) |
|
| 21A | EXTROVERT | Mixer produced by former non-drinker astride a dog? (9) | (social) mixer / EX T_T (former teetotaller) around (astride) ROVER (a dog) |
|
| 23A | RHINO | Horny thing’s ready (5) | slangy double defn / a RHINO is a ‘horny’ animal; and can also be slang for money, or ‘ready’ |
|
| 24A | PAPUA | Region of mediocrity decentralised America (5) | region / PAP (mediocrity) + UA (UsA, de-central-ised) |
|
| 26A | TUMESCENT | Having got firm, corporation on e-trail (9) | having got firm (see 23A!) / TUM (belly, corporation) + E-SCENT (e-trail) |
|
| 27A | CULPRIT | Conservative leader’s rip-off ‘buried’ in the last month – blame her! (7) | blame her! / C (leading letter of Conservative) + UL_T (ultimo, last month) around (burying) PRI (anag, i.e. off, of RIP) |
|
| 28A | CODICIL | Will’s appendage bones looped over, having chip on one length (7) | (last) will (and testament) ‘s appendage / COD (Doc, or ‘Bones’, looped over) + IC (integrated circuit, chip) + I (one) + L (length) |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | FLORIDA | Less than half fluent radio broadcast taken by Trump (7) | (key election state) taken by Trump / FL (less than half of FLuent) + ORIDA (anag, i.e. broadcast, of RADIO) |
|
| 2D | STAGECRAFT | Alternative facts – great theatrical stuff (10) | theatrical stuff / anag, i.e. alternative, of FACTS GREAT |
|
| 3D | FLASHY | Showing poor taste, Gordon allied with Tony finally? (6) | showing poor taste / FLASH (Flash Gordon, superhero) + Y (tonY, finally) |
|
| 4D | CHORUS | Refrain is “Endless burden, that’s what Trump represents” (6) | refrain / CHOR(e) (endless task, or burden) + US (what Trump represents) |
|
| 5D | SPYPLANE | Make out with smooth, high-up intelligence gatherer (8) | high-up intelligence gatherer / SPY (make out) + PLANE (smooth) |
|
| 6D | EXIT | & 25dn. Reliable voting indicator, once one disheartened Donald – crazy, LOL! (4) | reliable(?!) election indicator / EX (once) + I (one) + TP (Donald TrumP disheartened) + OLL (anag, i.e. crazy, of LOL) |
|
| 7D | CAROLYN | Female sporting Lycra – no! (7) | female (namke) / anag, i.e. sprting, of LYCRA NO |
|
| 9D | PARADOX | Republican party welcoming American leader in peace? That’s absurd! (7) | that’s absurd / PA_X (peasce) around R (republican) + A (leader of America) + DO (party) |
|
| 15D | DISSIDENCE | Decides sin absolved is not welcomed by Putin? (10) | (activity) not welcomed by Putin / anag, i.e. absolved, of DECIDES SIN |
|
| 17D | YEOMANRY | Any more sad, May-made-stateless land workers? (8) | land workers / YEOMANR (anag, ie. sad, of ANY MORE) + Y (MaY, without Ma, Maine – i.e. made ‘stateless’) |
|
| 18D | POTOMAC | Feature of Washington: obnoxious Trump’s overbearing manner starts to be restrained by political support group (7) | (river, geographical) feature of Washington (DC) / P_AC (Political Action Committee, political support group) around OTOM (starts of Obnoxious Trump’s Overbearing Manner) |
|
| 19D | HENPECK | Lengthen pecker? Much of it involves hassle (7) | hassle / hidden word, i.e. much of it, in ‘lengtHEN PECKer’ |
|
| 20D | HOSTILE | Aggressive sex, perverse sex, in dump (7) | aggressive / HO_LE (dump) around S (sex) + TI (‘it’, sexual relations, reversed, or perverse) |
|
| 22D | ESTATE | What’s left of New Hampshire, say (6) | what’s left (by the deceased) / New Hampshire is an Eastern state of the USA, so could be an E STATE |
|
| 23D | RESIDE | Brenda’s standing with faction ‘Remain’ (6) | remain / RE (ER, Elizabeth Regina, or ‘Brenda’, standing up) + SIDE (faction) |
|
| 25D | POLL | see 6dn. (4) | See 6D / See 6D |
|
14A – you have the ‘start’ indicating DTS (Donald, Trump, Starts), but this has ‘starts’ referring to itself – and supplies an ‘S’ too many.
Shouldn’t the words indicated be Day, Donald & Trump (DDT)?
Good spot, thanks Pajodr – have updated the parsing of 14A…
Thanks mc_rapper_67 – I couldn’t parse 23a and 28a. 23a I hadn’t heard of Rhino meaning money before but it had to be the solution.
28a I didn’t pick up on bones = doc. I remember Captain Kirk of Star Trek naming Dr McCoy ‘bones’. Is it a general slang term for a doctor?
Franco! Indeed it is. Not sure what the etymology is. Suspect something like bonemender.
I was kicking myself for not getting Papua (I had the ==pua too!) and also missing henpeck…. so straightforward. First time in ages, I have not completed! But a most enjoyable solve, overall.
Chambers has ‘bones’ as informal/nickname for a doctor. It doesn’t seem to give a derivation, but I believe it is from ‘sawbones’, which is also in Chambers as slang for a doctor/surgeon – a grisly description of what they sometimes do!…
A short form of Sawbones. First OED example is: “1837 Dickens Pickwick Papers xxix. 307 ‘What! don’t you know what a Sawbones is, Sir?’ enquired Mr. Weller; ‘I thought every body know’d as a Sawbones was a Surgeon.’”
Thank you all re ‘bones’
Re 19d -Have to confess that although I had henpeck, I’d used some very tortuous (and incomplete) logic in that a pecker could be a hen and pecker was somehow lengthening the word. It’s a wonder I can sleep at night!