A nice, solid Cyclops-ean puzzle – nothing too mind-boggling, with some smooth surface reads and interesting clueing along the way…
in these not-quite-nearly-maybe Br-exit/Brit-in times, there is plenty to reflect the mood… BAD WILL, PESSIMIST, INACCURACY, CHEAP TACTIC (running down that clock), NO WISER (all of us?!). What is UNDISPUTED is that there are a few PLASTICINE politicians out there, and we are waiting for some clarity to COME INTO VIEW. Will Theresa May end up LEGENDARY, or RELOCATED?…
A couple of Trump-ian references – his desire for a WALL(OP), and his denial of GLOBAL WARMING. (make the most of him, setters…surely less than two years now until we see the back of him?…please! pretty please..)
Not sure about the description of Jeremy Corbyn as a PRAGMATIST at 14D – plenty of people think he is being more of an opportunist over the current chaos on the opposite benches…look behind you, Jeremy!…
All good fun…thanks to Cyclops, and hopefully all is clear below…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 9A | LEGENDARY | Foot’s comical description by Ray, translated as “Fabulous!” (9) | fabulous / LEG END (foot’s description?!) + ARY (anag, i.e. translated, of RAY) |
|
| 10A | IDLER | Deadbeat takes lid off booze – be gone! (5) | deadbeat / IDL (anag, i.e. off, of LID) + ER ( |
|
| 11A | BAD WILL | Hostility shown by leaders of Democrats with intent to split party (3,4) | hostility / BA_LL (party) around (split by) DWI (the leading letters of Democrats With Intent) |
|
| 12A | NO WISER | Ground owner is still in the dark (2,5) | in the dark / anag, i.e. ground, of OWNER IS |
|
| 13A | LAP UP | Delight in genital area on getting out of bed (3,2) | delight in / LAP (genital area) + UP (getting out of bed) |
|
| 15A | PESSIMIST | Doom merchant Times – piss off! (9) | doom merchant / anag, i.e. off, of TIMES PISS |
|
| 17A | TACTIC | Whip doing U-turn on jerk’s approach (6) | approach / TAC (CAT, lash or whip, doing u-turn) + TIC (jerk) |
|
| 19A | SHAMIR | Former leader’s share of dosh, “a miracle!” (6) | former (Israeli) leader (Yitzhak) / hidden word, i.e. share of, in ‘doSH A MIRacle’ |
|
| 21A | ARMADILLO | Protected species of member getting publicity with Dicky round (9) | protected (by their scales, not from humans) species / ARM (member) + AD (publicity) + ILL (dicky) + O (round letter) |
|
| 23A | CHEAP | Bloke full of energy gets a snip (5) | a snip / CH_AP (bloke) around (full of) E (energy) |
|
| 25A | RATE CAP | Bastard on tail of the England player? Government imposition (4,3) | (UK) government imposition (on local councils) / RAT (traitor, bastard) + E (last letter, or tail, of thE) + CAP (England player?) |
|
| 27A | WARMING | See 1dn. (7) | See 1D / See 1D |
|
| 29A | BOSOM | Tits like to hide in retreating rabble (5) | tits (subtle!) / BO_M (MOB, or rabble, retreating) around (hiding) SO (like) |
|
| 30A | RELOCATED | House’s situation changed to declare “chaos!” (9) | house’s situation changed / anag, i.e. chaos, of TO DECLARE |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | GLOBAL | & 27 Trump’s denial of this, merely a matter of degree? (6,7) | CD?/A matter of degree(s) / Ronald T Dump is in denial of GLOBAL WARMING, which in itself might also be a matter of degree(s) |
|
| 2D | AGED | Ancient penned “Leader’s done a bunk” (4) | ancient / ( |
|
| 3D | UNDISPUTED | Putin’s due to be replaced by democratic leader agreed by all (10) | agreed by all / anag, i.e. replaced, of PUTINS DUE |
|
| 4D | WALLOP | Trump’s obsession with work strike (6) | strike / WALL (something that Trump is not in denial of, although many are trying to deny hm it!) + OP (opus, work) |
|
| 5D | GYMNASTS | Angst about raising of Cyclops by small athletes (8) | athletes / G_NAST (anag, i.e. NO INDICATOR?!) around YM (raising of MY, or ‘of Cyclops’) + S (small) |
|
| 6D | VIEW | See 26dn. (4) | See 26D / See 26D |
|
| 7D | PLASTICINE | Elastic nip pants, the making of models? (10) | (something that can be) the making of models / anag, i.e. elastic, of ELASTIC NIP |
|
| 8D | PRO RATA | Reason for arse needing one in proportion (3,4) | in proportion / PRO (reason for) + RAT (arse, cad) + A (one) |
|
| 14D | PRAGMATIST | Corbyn by nature? Pillock covering up awful stigma (10) | Corbyn by nature? / PRA_T (pillock) around (covering up) GMATIS (anag, i.e. awful, of STIGMA) |
|
| 16D | INACCURACY | Fake news: Cain toyed with clerical position (10) | fake news / INAC (anag, i.e. toyed with, of CAIN) + CURACY (clerical position) |
|
| 18D | CALIPERS | In public, Ali personally measuring tool in US (8) | tool in US / hidden word in ‘publiC ALI PERSonally’ |
|
| 20D | NAIROBI | New look waistband? Capital! (7) | capital / N (new) + AIR (look) + OBI (Japanese sash, or waistband) |
|
| 22D | OSWALD | Fascist leader’s senile hugging was creepy (6) | fascist leader (Mosley) / O_LD (senile) around (hugging) SWA (anag, i.e creepy, of WAS) |
|
| 24D | PAGODA | A party opening up a tower (6) | tower / A + DO (party) + GAP (opening) – all up |
|
| 26D | COME | & 28 & 6 Appear to have an orgasm on getting elected with fixed WI vote (4,4,4) | appear / COME (have an orgasm) + IN (getting elected) + TO VIEW (anag, i.e. fixed, of WI VOTE) |
|
| 28D | INTO | See 26dn. (4) | See 26D / See 26D |
|
Failed to get 9ac & 2d, but am now forcefully applying my leg end to my ancient rear end, having read the blog. Thanks, mc.
Had to verify ‘obi’, which I previously only knew as African magic.
Does ‘so’ mean ‘like’ (29ac)?
Hi Tony – Good point on ‘so’ and ‘like’ at 29A…the two are juxtaposed far too much, especially by teenagers/millennials…’I was so like this… and she was so like that … and we were, like, so the other…’ ad nauseam…
Chambers has ‘likewise’ as a meaning of ‘so’, but you could argue that ‘like’ and ‘likewise’ aren’t necessarily synonymous…discuss! ‘He was so, like, wise…’?!
> Does ‘so’ mean ‘like’ (29ac)?
Sort of. Like (this | so) ==> Thus ==> So
I was delighted by legendary!!! Also armadillo raised a smile.
I was comfortable with like/so…..”I would like you to do it just so.” or “He think it is correct and I think so too.”.
A specialised type of Japanese obi is the “informational piece of paper or cardboard folded around or over a book or LP record, music CD, video game, or magazine” (Wikipedia definition). I have acquired plenty of CD-sized obis over the years. They make very good bookmarks.
For 25A, I took it as being E for England and CAP for player, but came to the same result.
Lemming/Winsor @ 3 & 4 – ‘let it be so’!
And thanks for that gem of information, Obi-John E-Ken-obi…@5 (;+>)
George @ 6 – I see your point, but then ‘tail of the’ becomes a bit redundant, as RAT would be ‘ahead’ of E and CAP?…But as you say, we both got to the same result in the end, so happy days!