After the fun-and-games of the wonderful Xmas special, we are back to ‘normal’ Cyclops…
…with lots of Brexit-ian parallels that can be drawn – politicians are CHEWING THE CUD this weekend, before more CHEAP AND NASTY SCANDAL-ous shenanigans next week, no doubt, with not much DECORUM on any side…the vote of no confidence was STYMIEd by a NEAR MISS, while the main plan was defeated by more than a HUNDRED votes…there will be NO EXCUSES, although MAYBE a few TEARDROPs if we are PENALISED with a HARD Brexit…DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH…
Or maybe this is a random bunch of words that Cyclops fitted into a grid and set some amusing clues for?!
HOOSEGOW was new to me – gettable from wordplay but needed checking, The surface read of 24A MAY BE prescient…and that of 13A resonates with the current stand-off between the US houses…White and ‘of Representatives’…
And…not a mention of Ronald T Dump to be seen! A blessed respite…
Thanks and a HNY to Cyclops – hope all is clear enough below…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 7A | HOOSEGOW | Cons evident here when House goes corrupt – that’s a pain (8) | cons (prisoners) evident here / HO (house) + OSEG (anag, i.e. corrupt, of GOES) + OW (that’s a pain!) |
|
| 8A | GRAPPA | Good bang, old man? That’s the spirit (6) | spirit (Italian brandy) / G (good) + RAP (ban) + PA (old man, father) |
|
| 11A | WATER | See 6 Down (5) | See 6D / See 6D |
|
| 12A | SUNTANNED | Tabloid hack catches Brown and Corbyn finally showing evidence of holiday? (9) | showing evidence of holiday? / SUN (tabloid newspaper) + ED (hack, joournalist), around (catching) TAN (brown) + N (final letter of corbyN) |
|
| 13A | HUNDRED | House leader buckled under before Democrat’s chief, causing division historically (7) | division (of a county), historically / H (leading letter of House) + UNDRE (anag, i.e. buckled, of UNDER) + D (first, or chief, letter of Democrat) |
|
| 15A | SCHOLAR | Academic Mark takes hard look back (7) | academic / SC_AR (mark) around (taking) H (hard) + OL (lo, look, back) |
|
| 17A | CHEAP AND NASTY | & 18 & 19 Offensively inferior, ecstasy-taking bloke confused Sandy with Ant (5,3,5) | offensively inferior / CH_AP (bloke) around (taking) E (Ecstasy, drug) + AND NASTY (anag, i.e. confused, of SANDY + ANT) |
|
| 20A | DECORUM | It’s becoming crude with Mo getting pissed (7) | it’s becoming / anag, i.e. getting pissed, of CRUDE + MO |
|
| 22A | SCANDAL | Corbyn’s first appearance in casual wear causes public embarrassment (7) | public embarrassment / S_ANDAL (casual wear) around C (first letter of Corbyn) |
|
| 23A | HUSBANDRY | Thrift shown by old man not quite on the wagon (9) | thrift / HUSBAN( |
|
| 24A | MAYBE | The PM to prevail? Not certain (5) | not certain / MAY (the PM, as I write this!) + BE (prevail) |
|
| 26A | LESSEN | Large German city shrink (6) | shrink / L (large) + ESSEN (German city) |
|
| 27A | KISS CURL | ‘X’ put on arse and large lock (4,4) | lock (of hair) / KISS (x) + CUR (scoundrel, or arse) + L (large, again!) |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | CHEW THE CUD | Consider how to be a cow? (4,3,3) | double defn./charade? / Cows ‘CHEW THE CUD’; and if you stop to consider, or ruminate on, something you could be said to be doing the same |
|
| 2D | DON’T | & 23 & 25 & 5 Dicky buttonholed Harry – “Do have a blow” (4,4,4,6) | have a blow / anag, i.e. dicky, of BUTTONHOLED HARRY DO |
|
| 3D | TEARDROP | Cap fitted round organ by doctor – a product of blubber (8) | a product of blubber (someone who is blubbing) / T_OP (cap) around EAR (organ) + DR (doctor) |
|
| 4D | MOSSAD | Sod off with Sam’s bunch of agents (6) | (Israeli secret) agents / anag, i.e. off, of SOD + SAM |
|
| 5D | BREATH | See 2 (6) | See 2D / See 2D |
|
| 6D | HARD | & 11 Soap’s less effective with this sort of raw hatred (4,5) | soap’s less effective with this / anag, i.e. sort of, RAW HATRED |
|
| 9D | PENALISED | Given a fine penis, enhanced with lead (9) | given a fine / anag, i.e. enhanced, of PENIS + LEAD |
|
| 10D | UNUSED | Virgin mobile due to take over tabloid (6) | virgin / U_ED (anag, i.e. mobile, of DUE) around (taking) NUS (Sun, tabloid, again! – over) |
|
| 14D | NO EXCUSES | America gripped by wild sex once – don’t try to justify it (2,7) | don’t try to justify it / NO EXC_ES (anag, i.e. wild, of SEX ONCE) around (gripping) US (America) |
|
| 16D | ROYAL JELLY | Explosive put under our Brian, say, which is sustenance to the queen (5,5) | sustenance to the queen (bee) / ROYAL (our Brian, the Eye’s nickname for Prince Charles) + JELLY (explosive, slang/abbbreviation for gelignite) |
|
| 18D | ARMADA | Force a lawyer to be dominated by member (6) | (naval) force / ARM (member) + A + DA (District Attorney, US lawyer) |
|
| 19D | NEAR MISS | Close shave by girl (4,4) | close shave / NEAR (by) + MISS (girl) |
|
| 21D | REAPER | Arse takes exercise – death personified! (6) | death, personified (grimly!) / REA_R (arse!) around (taking) PE (Physical Exercise) |
|
| 22D | STYMIE | Pound Cyclops, clutching one’s hamper (6) | hamper / STY (pound, pen, for keeping animals) + M_E (me, Cyclops) around(clutching) I (one) |
|
| 23D | HOLD | See 2 (4) | See 2D / See 2D |
|
| 25D | YOUR | See 2 (4) | See 2D / See 2D |
|
I had to look up HOOSGOW, too.Interesting etymology (mangled Spanish).
I liked the clue for UNUSED.
*HOOSEGOW*
Thanks mc_rapper67. Like Tony I’d never heard of HOOSEGOW. Only a word search revealed that one for me.
After sorting hoosegow via a solver, I seemed to remember it was used in western stories. I had an uncle who read them by the hundreds (J T Edson, Louis L’Amour et al) and I got to read them too and I am pretty sure it came up in some of them, south of the border, down Mexico way!!!!