Cyclops is right on the zeitgeist button this fortnight…
…with references to an ADDLED PARLIAMENT, the POTBOILER of a Brexit – which has been going on for an ETERNITY but has now become a bit of a TIME TRIAL – and an INSOLENT PSYCHO pulling the strings, with a nod to a possible STOPGAP arrangement and a POLLING DAY?… Are we heading for the WORST OFF RUINS of FINANCE, or do you find it all a bit STODGY, suffering from ENNUI, and you need a bit of SHUT-EYE?
Lots of Cyclops-ean material, wonderful surface reads, and a smattering of Trump – to remind us that, well, however badly off you think you are, there is always someone, somewhere in the world, worse off than you ((c) Pete & Dud?)
Thanks to Cyclops – and hope all is covered below…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | ADDLED | & 10 “Famously ineffective session of MPs” (Cyclops’ cryptic rendering of ‘ear implant’) (6,10) | Famously ineffective session (1604-1611) of MPs / &lit-ish reversed anagram?! – Cyclops might set a clue with ‘ear implant’ referred to as an ‘ADDLED’ PARLIAMENT |
|
| 5A | WORST OFF | Those on lowest income trashed by Toffs Row (5,3) | those on lowest income / anag, i.e. trached, of TOFF’S ROW |
|
| 9A | SPAR | Bath wedged against your end? Scrap? (4) | scrap (fight) / SPA (bath) next to (wedged against) R (end letter of youR) |
|
| 10A | PARLIAMENT | See 1ac. (10) | see 1A / see 1A |
|
| 11A | PSYCHO | Ultimately, Trump displays crazy, pathetic, mammoth ego – scary picture! (6) | scary picture (film) / last letters, i.e. ultimately, of ‘trumP displayS CrazY pathetiC mammotH egO’ |
|
| 12A | HESITANT | Male model with fantastic tan? Not how Trump comes across (8) | not how (the impetuous Donalt) Trump comes across / HE (male) + SIT (model) + ANT (anag, i.e. fantastic, of TAN) |
|
| 13A | STOPGAP | Stacks of cash over at retail chain – it’s only temporary (7) | its only temporary / STOP (pots, stacks of cash, over) + GAP (ubiquitous retail chain) |
|
| 15A | ASSIZES | Old-fashioned court twerp inhaling glue (7) | old-fashioned court / AS_S (twerp) around (inhaling) SIZE (glue) |
|
| 17A | SHUT-EYE | Stop reading our mag, Kip! (4-3) | double defn-ish? / if you stopped reading this magazine you might SHUT (the) EYE; and to have a kip is to grab some SHUT-EYE |
|
| 19A | TALLISH | Rather big feature of Stalin: holding back poor (7) | rather big / TA_SH (moustache, facial feature of Stalin) around (holding) LLI (ill, poor, back) |
|
| 22A | INSOLENT | Disrespectful, having capsized off the South coast? (8) | disrespectful / if you capsized a boat off the South coast of England you might end up IN the SOLENT! |
|
| 24A | EXCITE | Turn on old partner wanting sex in church (6) | turn on / EX (former partner) + C_E (Church of England) around IT (euphemism for S-E-X) |
|
| 26A | POLLING DAY | Artfully play God, holding nothing back – maybe the one that made Brexit a reality? (7,3) | maybe the one that made Brexit a reality / POL_G DAY (anag, i.e. artfully, of PLAY GOD) around (holding) LIN (nil, or nothing, back) |
|
| 27A | LOST | & 2 Abandoned lay: the failed would-be MP’s forfeit (4,7) | the failed eould-be MP’s forfeit / LOST (abandoned) + DEPOSIT (lay) |
|
| 28A | ETERNITY | “One can’t go on longer than this”: Brenda coming to end of reign, overwhelmed by it, yet perverse (8) | one can’t go on longer than this / ET__ITY (anag, i.e. perverse, of IT YET) around (overwhelming) ERN (ER, Elizabeth Regina, Brenda to the Eye, plus N – end letter of reigN) |
|
| 29A | EMBRYO | Without me member, lost way, ultimately, love – and that’s just the beginning (6) | the beginning / EMBR (anag, i.e. lost, of ME( |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 2D | DEPOSIT | See 27ac. (7) | see 27A / see 27A |
|
| 3D | LYRIC | Poetically emotional, disgustingly rich element (5) | poetically emotional / hidden word in, i.e. element of, ‘disgustingLY RICh’ |
|
| 4D | DIPLOMACY | Maybe I’d comply with American premier’s tactfulness (9) | tactfulness / anag, i.e. maybe, of I’D COMPLY + A (premier letter of American) |
|
| 5D | WORTHY | Line up your quaint VIP (6) | VIP / WOR (row, or line, up) + THY (your) |
|
| 6D | RUINS | Remains, as grizzlies head off? (5) | remains / ( |
|
| 7D | TIME TRIAL | Prison sentence comes before hearing? That puts you up against the clock (4,5) | (something) that pus you up against the clock / TIME (prison sentence) + TRIAL (hearing) |
|
| 8D | FINANCE | At last Corbyn has cut intended funds (7) | funds / FI_ANCÉ (intended) around (cut by) N (last letter of corbyN_) |
|
| 14D | POTBOILER | “Fat belly on tough old bird”: hardly high literature (9) | hardly high literature / POT (paunch, fat belly) + BOILER (tough old fowl, only suitable for boiling) |
|
| 16D | SPARE TYRE | Don’t attack Lebanese city’s central expansion (5,4) | central (i.e. midriff) expansion / SPARE (don’t attack) + TYRE (Lebanese city) |
|
| 18D | HANDOUT | Charity gets together with love in shack (7) | charity / H_UT (shack), around AND (together with) + O (zero, love) |
|
| 20D | SATISFY | Make sure your partner gets enough fist action in for example? (7) | make sure your partner gets enough / SA_Y (for example) around TISF (anag, i.e. action, of FIST) |
|
| 21D | STODGY | Very dull dirty dog put in enclosure (6) | very dull / ST_Y (enclosure) around ODG (anag, i.e. dirty, of DOG) |
|
| 23D | ENNUI | Lassitude at the heart of drunken nuisance (5) | lassitude / hidden word, i.e. (literally) at the heart of, in ‘drunkEN NUIsance‘ |
|
| 25D | CELEB | Big shot wants ad removed in stupid debacle (5) | big shot / anag, i.e. stupid, of ( |
|
I thought that this was slightly harder than usual. Did not get ASSIZES and a couple of others.
Thanks for the explanations mc_rapper67 and to Cyclops too of course. Gap was originally a US retailer I think. Is it still going? Used to be a reliable source of fairly durable underwear and the dreaded ‘business casual’ attire. I struggled for quite a while on some clues – got 1A from crossers to guess “Addled” and googling the entire phrase, then I think Rees Mogg mentioned it in parliament the other day in between naps. I did not know “Size” = “Glue” but guessed the court name which I must have come across in old novels or TV programmes perhaps. Plenty to enjoy including 11A, 19A (luckily remembered TASH from a previous failed attempt), 16D and 20D.
Thanks mc_rapper67. I went through a similar process to Gazzh@2 for 1A. Have to confess couldn’t fully parse this. Could see anagram but didn’t follow reference to Cyclops.All is now clear! Quite a tricky one, a sort of ´play within a play’.
A very enjoyable solve for me too. I had a few chuckles and favourites but lost my bit of paper with them on. A few solved by crossers and then backward parsing but no bad feelings at all.
I remembered size as glue from sizing the wall before wallpapering.
1/10 was a great clue, which I solved in stages, first realising PARLIAMENT was an anagram of ‘ear implant’, then later pulling the phrase ADDLED PARLIAMENT from the recesses if my memory.
I really liked 22a, INSOLENT, too.
In 7d, you can also read “that” as a demonstrative pronoun, so it becomes “That [the answer] puts you …” etc.
In 23d, ENNUI is more than just “hidden” in ‘drunken nuisance’: it is, as the clue says, “at the heart of” those words, with four letters before and after it.
Tony…let’s go for Pedants’ Corner and point out there are five letters each side. (Sorry!!!)
I think I’d tolerate a surround of 7-3 as being still “at the heart of”: essentially, near the middle and not the edge. Even real hearts are generally asymmetrically placed.
Thanks for the various comments/feedback…looks like most enjoyed the challenge of this one…
Gazzh at #2 – you are right – Gap was originally a US company, but has spread its tentacles over here and elsewhere – have amended to ‘ubiquitous’!
And the centrally placed ENNUI has been suitably highlighted…
@Winsor, it’s hard for me to find the words to expresss how sorry I am …
@lemming, you are very tolerant. There are many who comment on 15² who would not be at all happy to have an asymetrically placed item refered to as being ‘at the heart’, notwithstanding the biological facts about hearts.