To whom could Cyclops possibly be referring?…oh yes, there he is at 1A…
An enjoyable, and not too taxing, solve this fortnight, or rather this week, as Private Eye seem to have squeezed in an extra edition before their Christmas Special, which landed on my doorstep this morning…
Several digs at some familiar establishment targets in the surface readings – Blair, Corbyn, Brenda (Her Maj), the Tories – Rees-Mogg and generally…and from across the pond references to Mike Pence, and POTUS/the Trump himself.
Maybe more than the usual helping of schoolboy-ish rudery as well – CROTCH, VOMIT, COPULATE, GASSINESS and ARSE feature as/in solutions, ‘pervy’, ‘bollocks’, ‘flatulence’, ‘shit’ and ‘screwed’ are spread out amongst the clues. In counterpoint, some more classical/idyllic, even ‘OLD-SCHOOL’, references – ETRUSCAN, ELSINORE, ABACUS, RURAL, VICE VERSA and MAGUS.
I guess you could say, as I think the Bee Gees once sang: ‘It’s only words…’!
TOP BANANA, that Cyclops, and Merry Christmas to one and all…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | JACOB REES-MOGG | Apparently an upper-class twit, George, involved with job scam (5,4-4) | Apparently (is it all an act?!) an upper-class twit / anag, i.e. involved, of GEORGE + JOB + SCAM |
|
| 10A | BLADDER | Deflated by peer, Blair abandons broadcast – “Snake!” (7) | (something) deflated by peer (someone who pees) / BL( |
|
| 11A | STAYS ON | Corsets worn? Royal heir pissed off that Brenda does so? (5,2) | Royal heir (Prince Charles) pissed off that Brenda (Queen Elizabeth II) does so / STAYS (corsets) + ON (worn) |
|
| 12A | COMIC | Rich Saunders? (5) | double defn. / Rich can describe something with COMIC potential; and Jennifer Saunders is a COMIC, or comedienne |
|
| 13A | LANDSLIDE | Hardly what the Tories got in June, so a massive descent (9) | double defn. / a LANDSLIDE is hardly what the Tories got in (the) June (election); and a LANDSLIDE, or land slip, could be described as a ‘massive descent’ |
|
| 14A | SITCOM | Funny thing, to be an MP and almost put in an appearance (6) | funny thing / SIT (be an MP) + COM(E) (put in an appearance, almost) |
|
| 16A | PREVIEWS | Pervy rep, touching wives inappropriately, whiffs (8) | whiffs / PRE (anag, i.e pervy, of REP) + VIEWS (anag, i.e. inappropriately, of WIVES |
|
| 19A | COPULATE | Couple, taking Trump’s lead, discharged with a bang (8) | bang / anag, i.e. discharged, of COUPLE + T (leading letter of Trump) + A |
|
| 20A | ACTS UP | One caught short with drink is a 29 (4,2) | is a 29 (pain in the arse) / A (one) + CT (abbreviation of caught, so caught short) + SUP (drink) |
|
| 22A | ON ACCOUNT | Working with a Conservative aristocrat, getting interim payment (2,7) | interim payment / ON (working) + A + C (Conservative) + COUNT (aristocrat) |
|
| 25A | VOMIT | Bring up Vaz’s source? Give it a miss! (5) | bring up / V (first letter, or source, of Vaz) + OMIT (give it a miss) |
|
| 27A | CHAOTIC | Two Conservatives taking strange oath, one like the state of the government? (7) | like the state of the government (over Brexit?) / C_C (two Cs, or Conservatives), around (taking) HAOT (anag, i.e. strange, of OATH) + I (one) |
|
| 28A | UPRIGHT | Out of control Trump (sigh, no leader!) dumping millions for good (7) | good / anag, i.e. out of control, of TRU( |
|
| 29A | PAIN IN THE ARSE | Dodgy hen parties including one in drag (4,2,3,4) | drag / P__ IN THE ARSE (anag, i.e. dodgy, of HEN PARTIES), around A (one) + IN |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 2D | ALARM | Panic! Foreign article found in member (5) | panic! / A_RM (member) around LA (definite article, in French) |
|
| 3D | OLD-SCHOOL | Conservative getting on fishy group (3-6) | conservative / OLD (getting on) + SCHOOL (group of fish) |
|
| 4D | RURAL | Gents not elected after start of ruin of the country (5) | of the country / R (start of Ruin) + UR( |
|
| 5D | ELSINORE | Dramatic location, or senile resort? (8) | dramatic location (in Hamlet) / anag, i.e. resort, of OR SENILE |
|
| 6D | MEANS | Wicked sex, enough to get by on (5) | enough to get by on / MEAN (wicked) + S (sex) |
|
| 7D | GASSINESS | Fancy assessing flatulence? (9) | flatulence / anag, i.e. fancy, of ASSESSING |
|
| 8D | ABACUS | It would calculate USA’s ruin, being infiltrated by born again Christian leaders (6) | it would calculate / A_US (anag, i.e. ruin, of USA) around (being infiltrated by) BAC (leaders, or first letters, of Born Again Christian) |
|
| 9D | UNLESS | But not if topless, without a tabloid (6) | but not if / if you didn’t have a copy of the Sun (tabloid), you might be SUN-LESS, and taking the top off that leaves ( |
|
| 15D | TOP BANANA | Number one spinner, fruity thing (3,6) | number one / TOP (spinner) + BANANA (fruity thing) |
|
| 17D | VICE VERSA | Mike Pence partly avers “diversification”? Other way round (4,5) | other way round / VICE (Mike Pence, Trump’s VP) + VERSA (anag, i.e. diversification, of AVERS) |
|
| 18D | ETRUSCAN | Electronic survey about POTUS: “No politician; civilization no longer” (8) | civilisation, no longer / E (electronic) + SCAN (survey), around TRU( |
|
| 19D | CROTCH | Member’s position: “Corbyn’s ‘lead’ bollocks – check” (6) | (male) member’s position / C (leading letter of Corbyn) + ROT (bollocks, rubbish) + CH (check) |
|
| 21D | POTATO | Idler’s shit, full of rubbish (6) | idler (eg. couch potato) / PO_O (shit) around (full of) TAT (rubbish) |
|
| 23D | CUT IN | Conservative leader blowing top – interrupt! (3,2) | interrupt! / C (Conservative) + ( |
|
| 24D | TOUGH | A hard man ought to get screwed (5) | a hard man / anag, i.e. to get screwed, of OUGHT |
|
| 26D | MAGUS | What might you be holding against Private Eye, wise guy? (5) | wise guy / MAG (magazine, what you might be holding if you are reading Private Eye) + US (Private Eye!) |
|
thanks for the explanations mc_rapper67. There were a couple I could not fully parse although had the solutions. 12 a I suppose RIch in the sense of the expression …it’s a bit rich…… 4d I was blinkered by thinking that gents must represent two names “Ur” and “Al”. Nice clue though.
I liked 10a which provoked a bit of a chuckle.
Thanks to you, beermagnet and Cyclops and wish you all a happy Christmas