Cyclops 664 – Electioneering Prowess

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Electioneering Prowess – that’s what it is all about, for the next few weeks…

And the first clue/entry, 7A RECTUM, obviously sums up Cyclops’ feelings about politicians, and their choice of vocal organs. Followed in short order by KNICKERS, WASTEFUL FILTHY SNEAKERS, and the hope that some of them are GUNNER be GETTING THE PUSH on 12 Dec, or shortly after. Their ELECTION-ERRING promises of GRATIS BEER HALLs and HOBNOBS are UTTER TRIPE and worth BUCKSHEE, and they are all a bunch of King CANUTEs!

I assume Cyclops had to put in ASQUITH to keep the young Victorian Mr Hislop happy, and STURGEON as a nod to those North of the border, with a little CORDON BLEU to stir up the Europhiles.

Thankfully no sign of Ronald T Dump at all this time round, but all in all a Cyclops-ean romp through current affairs and many of the usual targets…

 

Watch out for changes to Eye publication dates (and  hence prize submission dates) in the next few weeks – they usually juggle things around over Xmas, but they now have a General Election to factor in as well.

I will see you on the other side of Friday the 13th, when Cyclops will be serving up puzzle number 666…what could possibly go wrong?!…

 

Across
Clue No Solution Clue Definition (with occasional embellishments) /
Logic/parsing
7A RECTUM Forced etc into drink, many a politician talks through it? (6) many a politician talks through it?! /
R_UM (drink) with ECT (anag, i.e. forced, of ETC) inside
9A CONSUMER Boris, say, reckoning Brenda is one who’ll buy (8) one who’ll buy /
CON (Boris Johnson, say…does CON = Conservative, or con-artist?!) + SUM (reckoning, total) + ER (Elizabeth Regina, Brenda to the Eye)
10A BEER HALL Drinking place that’s a sort of rehab hell – hard going (4,4) drinking place /
anag, i.e. a sort of, REHAB (H)ELL with one H – hard – going
11A CANUTE Repulsive ruler gets stick, welcoming useless Tory leaders (6) (tidally) repulsive ruler /
CAN_E (stick) around (welcoming) UT (leading letters of ‘Useless Tory’)
12A UTTER TRIPE Bollocks, say, linked to stomach parts (5,5) bollocks! /
UTTER (say) plus (linked to) TRIPE (stomach parts)
13A RANK “Nutter drops Conservative” row (4) row /
(C)RANK (nutter, dropping C – Conservative)
14A HOBNOBS Associates male ferret with penises, by the sound of it (7) associates (with) /
HOB (male ferret) + NOBS (homophone – NOBS sounds like KNOBS, or penises)
16A ASQUITH PM, once resigned has ballsed-up all round (7) PM, once /
AS_H (anag, i.e. ballsed up, of HAS) around QUIT (resigned)
19A KERB Suppress broadcast that’s near the gutter (4) that’s near the gutter /
homophone, i.e. broadcast – depending on your accent?! – KERB (something near the gutter) sounds like CURB (suppress)
21A CORDON BLEU Jeremy’s left wing academic, lube applied, gets prestigious award (6,4) prestigious award /
COR (left half, or wing, of CORBYN, Jeremy) + DON (academic) + BLEU (anag, i.e. applied(!), of LUBE)
23A GRATIS Giuliani’s number one arsehole is not subject to a charge (6) not subject to a charge /
G (number one letter of Giuliani) + RAT (cad, rotter, arsehole) + IS
24A WASTEFUL Prodigal son welcomed by ET – awful, bizarre (8) prodigal /
WA_TEFUL (anag, i.e. bizarre, of AWFUL ET) around (welcoming) S (son)
25A SNEAKERS Ken’s involved with arses and creepy types (8) creepy types /
anag, i.e. involved, of KEN + ARSES
26A FILTHY Sooty, topless with fly undone (6) sooty /
anag, i.e. undone(!), of (W)ITH (losing top letter) + FLY
Down
Clue No Solution Clue Definition (with occasional embellishments) /
Logic/parsing
1D STURGEON Way press gets working to produce leader up north (8) leader, up north /
ST (street, way) + URGE (press) + ON (working)
2D IMPACT Independent member (a c**t) is a hit (6) a hit /
I (independent) + MP (member, of parliament) + A + C__T (!)
3D ACCLAIM Bill Clinton’s opening mail – fatuous praise (7) praise /
AC (account, bill) + C (opening letter of Clinton) + LAIM (anag, i.e. fatuous, of MAIL)
4D KNICKERS Underwear that’s so irritating (8) double defn. /
KNICKERS are underwear; and KNICKERS! can be a frustrated/irritated interjection
5D GUNNER One who’ll fire athlete changing top (6) one who’ll fire (a weapon) /
(R)UNNER (athlete) changoing top letter to G = GUNNER
6D GETTING THE PUSH Being kicked out is “the pits” – Hunt (egg-plastered) (7,3,4) being kicked out /
anag, i.e. plastered, of THE PITS HUNT EGG
8D ELECTIONEERING One with erectile dysfunction in Germany, initially appealing to voters (14) appealing to voters /
ELECTIONEER (anag, i.e. dysfunctional, of ONE ERECTILE) + IN + G (Germany)
15D BUCKSHEE County gets hard drugs for nothing (8) nothing /
BUCKS (Buckinghamshire, county) + H (hard) + EE (e’s – ecstasy tablets, drugs)
17D UMBRELLA It offers protection when bull screws around with mare (8) it offers protection /
anag, i.e. screws around, of BULL with MARE
18D PROWESS ‘Bravery’ of players who are paid to conceal stitch-up (7) bravery /
PRO_S (professionals, players who are paid) around (concealing) WES (sew, or stitch, up)
20D BETRAY Boris just started getting awfully teary – dupe! (6) dupe /
B (starting letter of Boris) + ETRAY (anag, i.e. awfully, of TEARY)
22D OSSIFY Toss if you’re around to become rigid (6) become rigid /
hidden word, i.e. around, in ‘tOSS IF You’re’

 

10 comments on “Cyclops 664 – Electioneering Prowess”

  1. Thanks mc_rapper67. I enjoyed 7a 12a, both of them provoked a bit of a chuckle.I know i’m getting them in a twist, but 4d didn’t quite work for me. Your explanation seems to be what Cyclops had in mind but I thought ‘Oh knickers’ might be ‘that’s so irritating’.
    In the spirit of 12a, I could be talking bollocks of course.

  2. Didn’t get the knickers as irritating, at all…but I dobbed it in as the only possible answer. Still not hugely convinced, if I am honest…unlike politiciaons.

    This seemed a tough one to start especially when I had all the left side done and nothing on the right. but a break and coming back got it sorted in the end.

  4. Thanks very much, John. Have to admit my go to phrases would have knickers way down the list. Rarely gets past f!!!!

  5. Thanks for the various comments – and the link from John E.

    For 4D, I used Chambers, which has three undergarment-related definitions of ‘knickers’ as a plural noun, and then ”interjection (informal): now usually a mild expression of exasperation”.

    And then exasperation -> irritation. (Which, by the way, makes for an amusing surface read as well!)

    I can imagine it was probably a fairly strong interjection in bygone times, but has been mollified/overtaken over the years by all those phrases on Winsor’s list, from f*** downwards!

  6. BTW – I forgot to give 2D a mention – I can honestly say I think that is the first time I have seen ‘c**t’ used in a cryptic clue, in wordplay or definition!… Would probably only be got away with by the Eye/Cyclops, I guess?…

  7. The beauty of the humorous device employed in 2D is that any objection would have to be explicitly spelled out by the objector.  (“Dear Mrs Trellis: we meant ‘clot’, of course — what on earth did you think we meant?”)

  8. I did a double-take on 4dn, but then decided, yes, ‘Knickers!’ means “That’s so irritating!”.

    Are there people who pronounce ‘curb’ and ‘kerb’ differently? Where do they live?

    Didn’t know a hob was a male ferret, but guessed it at the time and I know now.

    Was UMBRELLA a reference to HK, I wonder?

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