A tougher than usual puzzle from Cyclops this fortnight, at least for your correspondent…
I have to admit that I have left my homework to the last minute…it is about ten days since I solved this puzzle, and I don’t remember too much about the solving process…apart from the fact that it seemed a bit harder than recent Cyclops offerings and, mercifully, there is not a hint of a Trumpian reference anywhere – unless you include the MORON at 6D.
My LOI was LAY CLAIM at 17D – very clever – and I was disturbed to read about Cyclops’ journey to ISTANBUL to have his NUTS LAB-modified. Bloody health tourists – NHS nut-mangling not good enough for you?…
My favourite was probably the CHESS in the middle of DU-CHESS-ES at 26A – with the surface read suggesting Alex Ferguson clashing with the board at Man United.
The ‘weight’ at 15D had me wondering if there was an extra E in there – until I realised that the ‘lightness’ wasn’t a physical quality of the OUNCE, it was a litero-numerical lightness.
VACCINATION is front-and-centre – a positive beacon of hope…still waiting for my call-up…it seems the last 20 years of wheezing and steroid-inhaler-puffing doesn’t cut much ice with the JCVI…
Many thanks to Cyclops – hope all is clear below, and fingers crossed for the gradual relaxation of restrictions and eventual re-opening of pubs!
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | BUTCHER | Killer arse almost on pop star (7) | killer / BUT( |
|
| 5A | DAMAGES | Female hack (Times) gets legal reparation (7) | legal reparation / DAM (mother horse, so ‘female hack’) + AGES (times) |
|
| 9A | SLANG | Was a stool pigeon taking in Latin jargon? (5) | jargon / S_ANG (was a stool pigeon/informer) around (taking in) L (Latin) |
|
| 10A | MATERNITY | Labour plays a big role in this enmity – ‘rat’ abandoned (9) | labour plays a big role in this / anag, i.e. abandoned, of ENMITY RAT |
|
| 11A | UPHOLSTER | In erect state, with tool-holder? Get stuffing etc! (9) | get stuffing, etc / UP (in erect state) + HOLSTER (tool holder) |
|
| 12A | NASAL | Nosey, flighty body, getting large (5) | nosey / NASA (flighty body!) + L (large) |
|
| 13A | VACCINATION | Conservative leader elected to interrupt holiday (it involves penetration) (11) | it involves penetration / VAC_ATION (holiday), around (interrupted by) C (leading letter of Conservative) + IN (elected) |
|
| 18A | SMALL SCREEN | Television S & M – everyone needs protection (5,6) | television / SM (S&M) + ALL (everyone) + SCREEN (protection) |
|
| 21A | ACCRA | A country’s leader, shit, losing power – capital! (5) | capital (of Ghana) / A + C (leading letter of country) + CRA( |
|
| 23A | RUM-RUNNER | Weird climber becomes a smuggler (3-6) | smuggler / RUM (weird) + RUNNER (climber, plant – e.g. runner bean) |
|
| 25A | BRAINWAVE | Boris just started on downfall – gesture “Great idea!” (9) | great idea / B (starting letter of Boris) + RAIN (downfall) + WAVE (gesture) |
|
| 26A | CHESS | Board manoeuvres – the likes of Fergie deprived of dues (5) | board manoeuvres / ( |
|
| 27A | LAMBETH | Certain sort of walk from sweet innocent type, before the shakes (7) | certain sort of walk (the Lambeth Walk – a 1930s line dance, m’lud) / LAMB (sweet innocent type) + ETH (anag, i.e. shakes, of THE) |
|
| 28A | SCROLLS | Boris finally about to get car showing pieces of Latin script? (7) | pieces of Latin script / S (final letter of Boris) + C (circa, about) + ROLLS (car, Rolls Royce) |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | BASQUE | Cuba’s questioning taking in European ethnic group (6) | European ethnic group / hidden word in, i.e. taken in by, ‘cuBAS QUEstioning’ |
|
| 2D | TRASHY | Naff attempt to hug tree (6) | naff / TR_Y (attempt) around (hugging) ASH (tree) |
|
| 3D | HIGH-LEVEL | VIP status? Pissed and flush! (4-5) | VIP status? / HIGH (pissed) + LEVEL (flush, aligned) |
|
| 4D | REMIT | Forward’s “blinking fast sex” (5) | forward (on, e.g. money) / REM (Rapid Eye Movement, blinking fast!) + IT (euphemism for S-E-X) |
|
| 5D | DETERMINE | Discourage Cyclops’s resolve (9) | resolve / DETER (discourage) + MINE (Cyclops’s) |
|
| 6D | MORON | Male alternative working for dimwit (5) | dimwit / M (male) + OR (alternative) + ON (working) |
|
| 7D | GAINSAID | Disputed election successes given support (8) | disputed / GAINS (election succeesses) + AID (support) |
|
| 8D | SPYPLANE | Make out with smooth, high-flying intelligence operator (8) | high-flying intelligence operator / SPY (make out) + PLANE (smooth, i.e. wood, with a tool) |
|
| 14D | COCKROACH | Some prick with the end of a joint, not welcome in the kitchen (9) | (something) not welcome in the kitchen / COCK (some prick) + ROACH (the butt end of a marijuana cigarette, m’lud) |
|
| 15D | ANNOUNCER | One new, lightweight, er … bloke on TV? (9) | bloke on TV? / AN (one) + N (new) + OUNC( |
|
| 16D | ISTANBUL | City in which Cyclops has nuts ‘lab-modified’ (8) | city / I (Cyclops) + STANBUL (anag, i.e. modified, of NUTS LAB) |
|
| 17D | LAY CLAIM | Make an assertion: “I went all the way”? (3,5) | make an assertion / If I claim that I went ‘all the way’ with someone, I might be making a CLAIM to a LAY, or a LAY CLAIM! |
|
| 19D | UNVEIL | Reveal big organisation’s cover-up (6) | reveal / UN (United Nations, big organisation) + VEIL (cover-up) |
|
| 20D | CRISIS | Chinese reactionary leaders leading double lives, a dire situation (6) | a dire situation / CR (leading letters of Chinese Reactionary) + IS + IS (lives, twice, or doubled) |
|
| 22D | ANNIE | Musical princess grabbing Iggy’s top (5) | (stage) musical / ANN_E (Princess Anne) around (grabbing) I (top letter of Iggy) |
|
| 24D | MEETS | Foxhunt events look to be backward – time to intervene (5) | foxhunt events / MEE_S (seem, or look to be, backward) around (intervened by) T (time) |
|
Many thanks mc_rapper67 and Cyclops. I had starred 26a,27a,17d &20d and agree 26a was a gem. I remember spending too much time on 27a wondering whether LIMPETH was a word as in Frankie Howard style ” oh limpeth ye not”. 15d- hadn’t noticed extra e to deal with thanks again.
Thanks to all for puzzle and explanations. I was concerned about the extra ‘e’ but can now rest easy again. I had a great start to this and was enchanted by Maternity, upholster, small screen and chess. Progress was great to start and I nearly got my old final target of 50% of both sets of clues done on the cold run-through…..but the downs did me over. It all seemed so easy but I had a wadge of clues to do on the left hand side on my second attempt after a night’s sleep….so I suppose it was a little more taxing than usual. I marked Lay Claim as slick and thought Vaccination was both neatly done and appropriate.
Thanks mc_rapper67 (and hope you get a jab soon, UK friends tell me they are moving through the at-risk groups fairly rapidly), I’m with you on relative difficulty and the neatness of DuCHESSes, it HAD to be right but why? And clearly I am in good company in puzzling over that ‘e’ – it was a subtler clue than I had reckoned!
I was very relieved that UNVEIL appeared as I had gone for UNSEAL initially despite feeling it a bit loose – i suppose it must always be difficult to clue a negative by splitting it into UN+the opposite of the whole word, but I think Cyclops did this one pretty well. GAINSAID caused much headscratching as I have only met it in the present tense I think. But apart from those mentioned already I will credit CRISIS, cleverly clued without reference to the usual motley crew.
Thanks for the various comments/feedback.
Franko at #1 – I enjoyed your new piece of Howard-ian vernacular!
Winsor at #2 – a similar story – I definitely had fewer than usual solved after the first couple of passes through
Gazzh at #3 – I hope the jab rollout is progressing where you are too! I only spotted the ‘extra’ e in 15D when I was parsing it for the blog – I didn’t notice it when solving…
I found this more difficult than usual, too, and needed a couple of sessions to finish. I only understood the second def for LAY CLAIM after I’d written it in and didn’t even notice the extra E in ANNOUNCER.
I had unseal instead of unveil. But unveil works better
Anthony Chambers at #6 (and Gazzh at #3) – I’d love to confirm UNVEIL/UNSEAL either way, but the latest edition hasn’t hit my doormat yet (;+<). The Eye website only seems to have the latest puzzle (updated on the Friday after Wednesday publication), not any indication of the previous solution…unless I am missing something…
I’m a subscriber so my copy of PE 697 arrived yesterday….. and they have unveil as the answer
I have just one puzzling clue left unanswered on Cyclops 697. It’s a good one
mc-rapper….I fear you misunderstood me……my old target was to get half of clues solved before the results were out!!!
Winsor at #9 – ah…apologies, I misread…anyway, targets are set in order to be exceeded…onwards and upwards!
I too entered UNSEAL in 19d. It was my last one in so I was glad to plump on it when it came to mind, and from previous experience it did seem good enough. I thought of unsealing letters and tombs, and documents in US law. I don’t now doubt that UNVEIL is better though. It’s difficult to imagine something being unveiled without it being immediately revealed, whereas unsealing sometimes just enables the revelation. Lesson: do a precautionary software word search if there’s any possible uncertainty?