A relatively quick solve – for your correspondent at least – with this fortnight’s Cyclops…but plenty to enjoy along the way…
8A was a bit of a write-in first up – clever surface reading but a give-away enumeration, so three slots filled and lots of crossing letters served up on a plate…and it all fell into place fairly quickly from there – no LIGHTBULB MOMENT particularly needed – just sit back and enjoy the show…
Some non-PC stuff in the answers -BOLLOCKS, COITAL, URETHRA, HOTBED, GO PEAR-SHAPED and BALL AND CHAIN – and a simmering undercurrent of innuendo and smuttery in the clues – piss-taking, swinging, testicles, balls, shagging, melons and prick…phew…a little hot under the collar maybe?…
Away from all that, I enjoyed METALLIC Margaret telling the CIA to get lost in 27A, and the stupid-sounding politician (SILLY-CON) at 13A. 22A wasn’t an image I’d care to retain, with ‘two males’ lancing ‘a gentleman’s boils’…ouch.
23A was poignant, with the LUSITANIA ‘going down’ controversially – US-ITALIAN is a great anagram, although I believe she was a mainly British ship…
Not much else to add – the usual Cyclops-ean mix of subjects/targets, some nice surface reads…and no mention of RONALD T DUMP in sight!… Perhaps Cyclops is saving up something special for the big visit – Friday 13th July…what could possibly go wrong?…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 8A | NATIONAL | & 24 & 16 Successful lobby group that calls the shots? (8,5,11) | &Lit-ish/CD? / The NRA are a lobby group who ‘call the shots’ in the US, in more ways than one… |
|
| 9A | MOMENT | See 11ac. (6) | See 11A / See 11A |
|
| 10A | LAPEL | Clumsy hulk separating local Labour leaders – might be button-holed (5) | (something that) might be button-holed / L_L (leading letters of Local and Labour) around APE (clumsy hulk) |
|
| 11A | LIGHTBULB | & 9 Watts used to get this sudden inspiration? (9,6) | &Lit-ish/CD? / In a scientific sense, ‘watts’ help make a lightbulb work; and the inventor James Watt might have had a few ‘lightbulb moments’ on his way to inventing the steam engine!?… |
|
| 13A | SILICON | One element of stupid-sounding little politician (7) | one element / SILI (homophone, i.e. sounding, of SILLY, or stupid) + CON (Conservative, politician) |
|
| 15A | PALETTE | Board showing constraint, acquired by Crown (7) | (artist’s paint) board / PA_TE (crown, of head) around (acquiring) LET (constraint, hindrance) |
|
| 16A | ASSOCIATION | See 8ac. (11) | See 8A / See 8A |
|
| 20A | URETHRA | Piss-taker – in future, thrash! (7) | piss-taker(!) / hidden word in ‘futURE THRAsh’! |
|
| 22A | SIMMERS | Two males taking drug when lancing gentlemen’s boils (7) | boils / SI_RS (gentlemen) around MM (two Males) + E (ecstasy, drug) |
|
| 23A | LUSITANIA | US-Italian arrangement that went down controversially (9) | (ship) that went down controversially / anag, i.e. arrangement, of US-ITALIAN |
|
| 24A | RIFLE | See 8ac. (5) | See 8A / See 8A |
|
| 26A | SHINER | The Sun: evidence of a beating? (6) | double defn.? / the sun is a SHINER; and a SHINER can be a black eye, or bruise – evidence of a beating |
|
| 27A | METALLIC | Iron-like Margaret’s opener: “Tell CIA to get lost” (8) | iron-like / M (opening letter of Margaret) + ETALLIC (anag, i.e. to get lost, of TELL CIA) |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | ENGLISH | Hard on the heels of swinging single people (7) | (a) people / ENGLIS (anag, i.e. swinging, of SINGLE) + H (hard) |
|
| 2D | STOP | See 25dn. (4) | See 25D / See 25D |
|
| 3D | BOLLOCKS | Shy about hair balls (8) | balls / BOL (lob, or shy/throw, turned about) + LOCKS (hair) |
|
| 4D | BALL AND CHAIN | Un-PC wife: “Not both testicles with coupling” (4,3,5) | un-PC (term for) wife / BALL (one testicle, i.e. not both!) + and (with) + CHAIN (coupling) |
|
| 5D | COITAL | Love gets one into ‘talc’ variation of shagging (6) | of shagging / C_TAL (anag, i.e. variation, of TALC) around O (love, zero) + I (one) |
|
| 6D | RELUCTANCE | Tory leader unclear about extremes of Conference’s aversion (10) | aversion / RELUCTAN (anag, i.e. about, of T (leading letter of Tory) + UNCLEAR, plus CE (extreme letters of ConferencE) |
|
| 7D | STABLES | Prick takes on the French hacks accommodated here (7) | hacks accommodated here / STAB (prick) + LES (the, plural, definite article, in French) |
|
| 12D | GO PEAR-SHAPED | Develop big hips when diets do this? (2,4-6) | &Lit-ish/CD? / if your diet starts to GO PEAR-SHAPED (metaphorically) then you might develop big hips and GO PEAR-SHAPED literally! |
|
| 14D | LEADERSHIP | Editorial’s cool … on what Theresa May’s failed to show? (10) | what Theresa May’s failed to show? / LEADER’S (editorial article is) + HIP (cool) |
|
| 17D | IMMORTAL | Unfading Democrat ultimately in wrong (8) | unfading / IMMOR_AL (wrong) around T (ultimate letter of democraT) |
|
| 18D | PUBLISH | Bush, lip trembling, is to fulfil a writer’s dream? (7) | to fulfil a writer’s dream / anag, i.e. trembling, of BUSH LIP |
|
| 19D | ESSENCE | Character of German city Conservative – gutless (7) | character / ESSEN (German city) + CE (ConservativE without middle letters, so gut-less) |
|
| 21D | HOTBED | Passionate shag that might add inches to your melons? (6) | (something horticultural) that might add inches to your melons / HOT (passionate) + BED (shag, have sexual relations with) |
|
| 25D | FULL | & 2 Dot’s loaded, upsetting corporations (4,4) | dot (punctuation-ally) / FULL (loaded) + STOP (pots, or bellies/corporations, upset, or reversed) |
|