Is Cyclops showing solidarity with all those commuters struggling into and out of London this August, with various stations affected by ‘improvement’ works in the quieter holiday month?…
Certainly Trump seems to have taken a bit of a back seat – only two mentions, in clues to quite pertinent entries – WAGE WAR and PARIS AGREEMENT – which may figure highly in the eventual analysis of his presidency. The surface reading of 24D is a scathing critique of the Achilles’ heel of Hillary’s candidacy…
But, closer to home, as one of those affected commuters struggling through Waterloo this month, 8D ‘Pissed off: train due’ certainly struck a chord with me, as the powers that be decided to MESS WITH the RAILWAY, causing many of my fellow MARTYRs, sorry, commuters, to SEE RED.
TENSION in SOUTHEAST ASIA, well, Asia in general, is ready to IGNITE. Who will PREVAIL? Peace, love and happiness seem NO NEARER.
And LYCRA had a recent mention, with Sir Chris Hoy suggesting men of a certain girth, who have maybe had too many SLAP-UP MEALs, should abstain from wearing it whilst cycling. What an UPSTART! As a bit of a ‘mamil’ myself I had to suck the belly in a bit after reading that…
All good fun and games – and typically Cyclops-ean fare…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 9A | LOOK SHARP | Closet king wants tart – get a move on (4,5) | get a move on / LOO (closet) + K (king) + SHARP (tart) |
|
| 10A | ROGER | Jolly before this standard shag? (5) | shag / If you put ‘Jolly’ before ‘ROGER’ you get a flag, or standard |
|
| 11A | PREVAIL | Rule: our Tony Blair should be put in bucket (7) | rule / P_AIL (bucket) around REV (Private Eye’s nickname for Tony Blair) |
|
| 12A | TENSION | ‘Unstable’ no. 10 is causing stress (7) | stress / anag, i.e. unstable, of NO TEN (10) IS |
|
| 13A | PARIS | &15 Hilton contract? Trump got out of it (5,9) | Trump got out of it / PARIS (Paris Hilton, sub-lebrity?) + AGREEMENT (contract) |
|
| 15A | AGREEMENT | See 13A (9) | See 13A / See 13A |
|
| 16A | MARTYR | TV commentator hugs disheartened Conservative who may have got stoned (6) | (somone) who may have got stoned / MAR_R (TV journalist/commentator, Andrew Marr) around TY (T |
|
| 17A | SEE RED | Blow your top after er, backing into semen (3,3) | blow your top / SEE_D (semen) around RE (er, backing) |
|
| 21A | SOUTHEAST | & 3 “USA hot seat, as I screwed up a vast continental region” (9,4) | a vast continental region / anag, i.e. screwed up, of USA HOT SEAT AS I |
|
| 23A | LYCRA | Beginnings of “landmark” (yawn!) Conservative-Republican alliance? It doesn’t suit everyone (5) | it doesn’t suit everyone(!) / initial letters, i.e. beginnings, of ‘Landmark Yawn Conservative Republican Alliance’ |
|
| 25A | WAGE WAR | Battle for higher pay, as Trump seems keen to do? (4,3) | as Trump seems keen to do / a fight for higher pay might be a WAGE WAR |
|
| 26A | MEMOIRS | May’s lead is more shaky – “Story of my life!” (7) | story of my life / M (leading letter of May) + EMOIRS (anag, i.e. shaky, of IS MORE) |
|
| 28A | TENOR | General course of May’s address: “Nothing right” (5) | general course / TEN (No. 10, Theresa may’s address) + O (nothing, zero) + R (right) |
|
| 29A | CASTANETS | Group of luvvies like hugging Nick – they click (9) | they click / CAST (group of actors, or luvvies) + A_S (like) around (hugging) NET (steal, nick) |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | SLAP-UP | & 27D. Stuffing knocked out of Libdem: applause gets wild (consumer’s indulgence) (4-2,4) | consumer’s indulgence / anag, i.e. gets wild, of LM (L |
|
| 2D | NO NEARER | Name one put on ugly rear is like a clear position on Brexit? (2,6) | like a clear position on Brexit / N (name) + O_NE + ARER (anag, i.e. ugly, of REAR) |
|
| 3D | ASIA | See 21ac. (4) | see 21A / see 21A |
|
| 4D | RAILWAY | Public transport: complain bitterly on air (7) | public transport / RAIL (complain bitterly) + WAY (air, style, mien) |
|
| 5D | UPSTART | Johnny-come-lately raises slapper (7) | johnny-come-lately / UPS (raises) + TART (slapper) |
|
| 6D | ORANGE PEEL | Political hue of DUP when united with PM (mandarin, outwardly?) (6,4) | mandarin, outwardly? / ORANGE (political hue of DUP) + PEEL (Prime Minister) |
|
| 7D | IGNITE | Set off – getting leg over before it gets explosive (6) | set off / if you added GEL (leg, over) to IGNITE you would get GELIGNITE, explosive |
|
| 8D | URINATED | Pissed off: train due (8) | pissed / anag, i.e. off, of TRAIN DUE |
|
| 14D | SAY THE WORD | End of willy to be placed between two articles in blade? Ask and I’ll do it right away (3,3,4) | Ask, and I’ll do it right away / S_WORD (blade) around A + Y + THE (two articles, ‘a’ and ‘the’, around ‘y’, last letter, or end, of willY) |
|
| 16D | MESS WITH | Cock-up by comic House leader – get involved (4,4) | get involved / MESS (cock-up) + WIT (comic) + H (leading letter of House) |
|
| 18D | RECEIVER | European community fate ultimately in the hands of Thames crook? (8) | crook / R_IVER (Thames) around EC (European Community) + E (ultimate letter of ‘fatE’) |
|
| 19D | BARRACK | Obama has to take Republican taunt (7) | taunt / BAR_ACK (Obama) around (taking) R (Republican) |
|
| 20D | ITEMISE | Document showing Independent and Express leaders spiked by manipulated Times (7) | document / I_E (leading letters of Independent and Express) around TEMIS (anag, i.e. manipulated, of TIMES) |
|
| 22D | URGENT | Sexual desire at noon – time’s pressing (6) | pressing / URGE (sexual desire) + N (noon) + T (time) |
|
| 24D | ASSESS | Clinton’s behind email state secrets headings review (6) | review / ASS (American, or ‘Clinton’s’ behind) + ESS (first letters, or headings, of ‘Email State Secrets’) |
|
| 27D | MEAL | See 1dn. (4) | see 1D / see 1D |
|
Thanks mc_rapper67, there were three answers that I slotted in but couldn’t parse fully 4d, 7d and 29a. Your explanations are crystal clear and as usual I’m kicking myself for not seeing them first time around. Quite liked 1iked 11a -simple but effective.