It is political conference season (in the UK), and Cyclops has highlighted a few pertinent aspects – without naming too many names…
…BACKSTABBING, WANNABE, PSYCHOBABBLE, (political) ROOTS, – and presumably nothing actually gets AGREED.
it is a time when everybody gets behind the leader – because you have to be behind someone to stab them in the back, of course…although this year there is more chance of Theresa saying ‘et tu, Jacob/Boris/Ruth’ than Jeremy – who seems to be saying ‘Elementary , my dear Watson’ to his newly-devout deputy…and presumably Vince Cable has been consuming a few too many COSMIC RAYS to make him believe he is the PMIW (PM in waiting…)
Some excellent surface readings – especially 22A with the (notoriously homosexual) British spy Anthony Blunt lusting after a hot male – presumably a double- or triple- Soviet/British agent…and 18D – with Putin and his cohorts put-in’ it away in their offshore bank accounts.
Oh, yes, and no mention of POTUS 45…for which we must all be thanks-giving…
(Two minor gripes/pleas for help – UKIP PARTY at 2D/16A – but the P of UKIP is ‘party’, so some tautology here, shurely? And why would only ‘casual’ drinkers use a ring-pull, at 17D?)
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 6A | BACKSTABBING | Awkward BBC asking about bill – for which Theresa May needs to be prepared (12) | for which Theresa May needs to be prepared / BACKS_BING (anag, i.e. awkward, of BBC ASKING) around TAB (bill) |
|
| 10A | LEG UP | Member in excited state – assistance! (3,2) | assistance / LEG (member) + UP (in an excited state) |
|
| 11A | GREAT BEAR | Stars calling for “awesome hugger” (5,4) | stars / double defn.-ish – the GREAT BEAR constellation is a group of starts; and could also be a GREAT (awsome) BEAR (hugger) |
|
| 12A | CORACLE | Crafty thing – phwoar! – with lace shift (7) | crafty thing / COR (phwoar!) + ACLE (anag, i.e. shift, of LACE) |
|
| 14A | DRESDEN | “China reds faked study!” (7) | china (porcelain) / DRES (anag, i.e. faked, of REDS) + DEN (study) |
|
| 15A | ROOTS | Sources of oxygen in balls: sun (5) | sources / RO_T (balls, rubbish) around O (oxygen), plus S (sun) |
|
| 16A | PARTY | See 2dn (5) | see 2D / see 2D |
|
| 20A | CAPTION | Contraceptive: on it is wrong wording (7) | wording / CAP (contraceptive method) + TION (anag, i.e. is wrong, of ON IT) |
|
| 22A | ANTONYM | Blunt ditching hot male? The opposite (7) | the opposite / ANT( |
|
| 23A | APPORTION | Share smartphone feature (gold) to get it on ‘wicked’ (9) | share (out) / APP (smartphone feature) + OR (gold, heraldic) + TION (anag, i.e. wicked, of IT ON) |
|
| 24A | EXPAT | Sex pathetic – no head and male habitual response is to go ‘exile’ (5) | exile / ( |
|
| 25A | PSYCHOBABBLE | Beiber’s intro included in new Beach Boys LP – therapeutic drivel (12) | therapeutic drivel / PSYCHOBAB_LE (anag, i.e. new, of BEACH BOYS LP), around (including) B (introductory letter of Bieber) |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | KANGAROO | Go out with anorak, pouchy Aussie (8) | pouchy Aussie / anag, i.e. out, of GO + ANORAK |
|
| 2D | UKIP | & 16 Having an erection, about to sleep with pretentious has-been politicians (4,5) | has-been politicians / U_P (having an erection) around KIP (to sleep) + ARTY (pretentious) |
|
| 3D | STAGGER | Only men, lifting, say, end of todger, act like a piss artist (7) | act like a piss-artist / STAG (men only) + GE (lifting EG, say) + R (end of lodgeR) |
|
| 4D | HIT THE SPOT | Hot pet shit spread, to taste just right (3,3,4) | taste just right / anag, i.e. spread, of HOT PET SHIT |
|
| 5D | AGREED | I’m with you: top grade sin! (6) | I’m with you / A (top grade) + GREED (one of the Seven Deadly Sins) |
|
| 7D | BRENDA | Supporter welcomes demise of our head of state (6) | our (UK’s) head of state / BR_A (supporter) around (welcoming) END (demise) |
|
| 8D | ELECTRICIAN | Vote for Roman Catholic-protected independent Paisley – who could put out your lights (11) | (someone) who could put your lights out (and charge you to fix them!) / ELECT (vote for) + R_C (Roman Catholic), around (protecting) I (Independent), plus IAN (Ian Paisley) |
|
| 9D | GRANNY SMITH | Anything goes with Mrs Batty – fruity thing (6,5) | fruity thing (type of apple) / anag, i.e. batty, of ANYTHING + MRS |
|
| 13D | COSMIC RAYS | So I’m unfortunately stuck between two Conservatives – flashy things – they come from outer space! (6,4) | they come from outer space / C_C (two Conservatives) around OSMI (anag, i.e. unfortunately, of SO I’M) + RAYS (flashy things) |
|
| 17D | RING-PULL | Uplifting assistance for a casual drinker? (4-4) | CD?/def by example? / a RING_PULL is ‘uplifting’ assistance for a drinker – to open a can of drink (not sure what ‘casual’ is needed for? Maybe a ‘casual’ drinker would drink straight from the can, but to pour it into a glass you still have to use the ring-pull…) |
|
| 18D | ENRICH | Russian leader in niche organisation to improve wealth (6) | to improve wealth / EN_ICH (anag, i.e. organisation, of NICHE) around R (leading letter of Russian) |
|
| 19D | WANNABE | Ambitious type Soubry and bishop caught by the Eye (7) | ambitious type / W_E (the Eye) around (catching) ANNA (Anna Soubry, British politician) + B (bishop) |
|
| 21D | POP-UPS | Unwanted PC messages from pisspot, novice hacks (3-3) | unwanted PC messages / PO (contraction of chamberpot, or pisspot) + PUPS (young reporters, or novice hacks) |
|
| 24D | ELBA | English pound reaches a place of exile (4) | (Napoleon’s) place of exile / E (English) + LB (pound) + A |
|
I too was a bit put off by ‘uk independence party party’ and avoided writing in that answer until the crossing letters made it obvious. I would also like to vote 1D as the easiest clue in my entire 7 years of tackling Cyclops!
Oh!!! Ye Gods and little fishes!!!! 1 D was the only one I couldn’t parse till I read the above. I had Kagool and Kanga all around the place but missed the entirely obvious (now!!!) anagram. The effort I put in to find a link between ‘go’ and ‘roo’ was huge. ‘ring pull’ and ‘expat’ were my last ones in… despite being an expat in Botswana as I was doing it.
The solution to 2/16 printed in issue 1454 is ‘UKIP party’, which goes half way towards making the case for the correctness of this usage. ‘Ukip party’ would have been even clearer, because it is as an acronym (rather than a set of initials) that Ukip works as a non-tautological ‘word’ in the everyday spoken language.
Perhaps a casual drinker is as opposed to a hard drinker? Cans of beer instead of bottles of spirits? I had the same confusion.
I think the “casual” is a necesary pointer to the fact that it’s a can. It’s the use that is casual — can be carried around for occasional, spontaneous, ad lib use — rather than the drinker. In effect, another (slightly) cryptic aspect of the definition.