Cyclops 687 – Washington Escapade

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It is all a bit doom and gloom from Cyclops this fortnight…

…TORMENT, DEADLY, CATACLYSM, UNCONCERN, CUTBACK, ADDICTED, NARCOTICS…and a swing to the right with FASCIST and NAZI.

Then there was the WASHINGTON ESCAPADE (loved the Eye cover for this issue, especially the slow-driving black car!) and some FACT CHECKING (surely we wouldn’t need all this fact checking if politicians – of all persuasions – didn’t lie to us all the time?…Discuss).

I guess if you are of more optimistic leanings – is anyone at the moment? – you could have a LINGERIE PARTY with some ALPHA INTERNS in CHATHAM – or even sunny CADIZ, SPAIN – playing a BINGO CONTEST with a BEATNIK…for the prize of a SATSUMA, and some CHARD:

 

 

Lots of fun (or not!), if not too difficult/time-consuming overall. My LOI was FASCIST – it had to be that from the definition/crossers, but I had to check ‘FAST’ as meaning ‘sexually promiscuous’…it is there, in the BRB. I knew the expression ‘fast and loose’, but that refers more to just not playing by the rules, rather than playing the field…

Anyway, thanks, as usual, to Cyclops, and hope all is clear below…

 

Across
Clue No Solution Clue Definition (with occasional embellishments) /
Logic/parsing
1A FASCIST Far right Conservative is in sexually promiscuous embrace (7) Far right /
FAS_T (sexually promiscuous) around (embracing) C (Conservative) + IS
5A CUT BACK Prune gets union affiliation to do a U-turn and take a gamble (3,4) prune /
CUT (TUC, or union affiliation, backwards, or doing a U-turn) + BACK (take a gamble)
10A ESCAPADE Fly opened by perverse prosecutor for a romp (8) a romp /
ESCAP_E (fly) around (opened by) AD (DA, or prosecutor, backwards, or perverse)
11A CHARD About having an erection, which might be pulled in the vegetable garden (5) (something) which might be pulled (up) in the vegetable garden /
C (circa, about) + HARD (having an erection)
12A WASHINGTON President’s dirty laundry not to be broadcast! (10) (US) president /
WASHING (dirty laundry) + TON (anag, i.e. broadcast, of NOT)
13A NAZI & 27 New: A Life as a Painter – Hitler’s Lot (4,5) Hitler’s lot /
N (new) + A + ZI P (energy, vigour, hence ‘life’) + ARTY (as a painter)
14A GNOMIC Coming out – like our proprietor? (6) like our (fictional) proprietor (Lord Gnome) /
anag, i.e. out, of COMING
16A CHECKING See 23ac. (8) see 23A /
see 23A
18A ADDICTED After a date, fool getting end away with Heath is hooked (8) hooked /
A + D (date) + DIC(K) (fool, with end letter away) + TED (Ted Heath)
21A NOTARY Lawyer? No thanks – right, end of story! (6) lawyer /
NO + TA (Thanks) + R (right) + Y (end letter of storY)
23A FACT & 16 Teaching KFC about suppressing carbon a full-time job these days? (4,8) a full-time job these days /
FACT CHE_KING (anag, i.e. about, of TEACHING KFC) around (suppressing) C (Carbon)
25A CHAMBERPOT House of Lords possibly has reserve that’s handy for a peer (10) (something) that’s handy for a peer (one who pees!) /
CHAMBER (House of Lords, possibly) + POT (reserve, e.g. pot of money?)
27A PARTY See 13ac. (5) see 13A /
see 13A
28A LINGERIE Hang on, that is pants, and more! (8) pants, and more! /
LINGER (hang on) + IE (id est, that is)
29A SATSUMA Wobbly ass and a tum that’s segmented (7) (something) that’s segmented /
anag, i.e. wobbly, of ASS + A TUM
30A CONTEST Dispute rip-off examination (7) dispute /
CON (rip-off) + TEST (examination)
Down
Clue No Solution Clue Definition (with occasional embellishments) /
2D ABSTAINED Didn’t vote for awful British leaders – smeared (9) didn’t vote for (or against!) /
AB (leading letters of Awful British) + STAINED (smeared)
3D CHATHAM ‘Intercourse’ joint, dockyard town (7) dockyard town /
CHAT (verbal intercourse) + HAM (joint)
4D SPAIN Try to put a good light on annexing a country (5) country /
SP_IN (try to put a good light on) around (annexing) A
6D UNCONCERN Lack of interest in body that’s very large and firm (9) lack of interest /
UN (United Nations, body that’s very large) + CONCERN (firm, company)
7D BEATNIK Nonconformist Family Bill put up to confine English (7) nonconformist /
B_ATNIK (KIN – family + TAB – bill, all put up) around (confining) E (English)
8D CADIZ Acid distributed by unknown port (5) port /
CADI (anag, i.e. distributed, of ACID) + Z (maths, unknown quantity)
9D CELTIC Commons and Lords leaders cite bad language (6) language /
anag, i.e. bad, of CITE + CL (leading letters of Commons and Lords)
15D CATACLYSM Stay calm, somehow, after pandemic’s ultimate disaster (9) disaster /
C (pandemiC’s ultimate letter) + ATACLYSM (anag, i.e. somehow, of STAY CLAM)
17D NARCOTICS Drugs managed to turn round company jerks (9) drugs /
NAR (ran, managed, turning round) + CO (company) + TICS (jerks)
19D INTERNS “You, then us, then you ..” said Monica Lewinsky and colleagues? (7) Monica Lewinsky, and colleagues /
homophone, i.e., said – Monica Lewinsky is a famous example of an INTERN; and if it goes ‘you then us then you’ it is going ‘IN TURNS’
20D DEADLY Insensitive heartless bonk is fatal (6) fatal /
DEAD (insensitive) + L(A)Y (bonk, heartlessly)
22D TORMENT Anguish of Cyclops name being implicated in wrongdoing (7) anguish /
TOR_T (legal, wrongdoing) around ME (Cyclops) + N (name)
24D ALPHA Distinctive mark at centre of ritual phallus (5) distinctive mark /
hidden word in, i.e. at the centre of, ‘rituAL PHAllus’
26D BINGO Singer with nothing on is game (5) game /
BING (Crosby, singer) + O (zero, nothing)

10 comments on “Cyclops 687 – Washington Escapade”

  1. I wonder if one of these clues is going to turn up in pedantry corner (namely the one for CELTIC, which isn’t a single language but a group of languages).

  3. I agree John….indeed, I reckon celtic is an adjective and only applies as a language when it is applied to one of the languages used by the celts!!! I’ve never thought of anyone speaking celtic.

    Chamberpot was my favourite…..but beatnik was pretty cool as well and held me up for some time.

    Can anyone cast light on why ZIP is life? Aggh! The penny drops…as in ‘he has plenty of zip in him’!!!!

  4. Thanks mc_rapper67 and Cyclops. I thought there were a few clues that were really neat and agree with Winsor @3 fave’s as well as adding 28A LINGERIE which made me smile. I think that John E has more than a fair point re CELTIC which didn’t occur to me at the time.

    Did anyone else think that some of the placement of the answers were a dig at the current POTUS?

    e.g. FASCIST ESCAPADE, WASHINGTON NAZI, SATSUMA CONTEST. Don’t want to be disrespectful to any American solvers but genuinely wondered.

  5. Winsor at #3 – yes, Chambers has one meaning of ‘zip’ as ‘energy, vigour (informal)’

    Franko at #4 – an interesting theory!…if Trump is the satsuma, what is Biden…will he slip on any banana skins before 2-Nov?…

  6. mc_rapper67 @5 he may well slip on a banana skin (unfortunately).What fruit for Biden? Maybe a plum or more precisely a prune.

  7. I have to be honest. I got BEATNIK and NAZI PARTY without understanding why. That happens more often than I’m comfortable with.

  9. Carey Seaton at #8 – as per the comments at #5 and #3. Chambers has one meaning of ‘zip’ as ‘energy, vigour (informal)’, hence ‘life’.
    (I have updated the parsing to reflect this.)

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