Another Cyclops puzzle in the style we love.
After whipping through the top left lights, I thought I was on for a very fast solve, or even a clean sweep. But at first pass I still had 8 clues to go.
And there was a sting in the tail with what I think is a pretty tough clue (9D) and I had a ‘blind spot’ with both 19s – of course I cannot see what’s so tricky about them now.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | CYBERSEX | City’s empty, beer’s off before 10, but some people are virtually satisfied with that (8) C[it]Y (BEERS)* AInd: off, then X (10) |
| 5 | OUTFIT | Quite open about one’s sexuality, very attractive and firm (6) OUT (Quite open about one’s sexuality) FIT (very attractive) |
| 11 | TORY DONOR | One who contributes greatly to the process of Government-awarded contracts? (4,5) Cryptic Definition, or is it a straight definition? |
| 12 | LAST RITES | Starlet is crap in a final performance (4,5) (STARLET IS)* AInd: crap. |
| 14 | PAST IT | Having seen better days, the state finally admits boob (4,2) PA (the state, PA Pennsylvania) [admit]S TIT (boob) |
| 16 | HEADWIND | Sex act with flatulence, which makes progress difficult (8) HEAD (Sex act) WIND (flatulence) |
| 19 | SPLATTER | Dish, after second shower (8) S[econd] then PLATTER (dish). Last one in. I do not know why I had trouble seeing this answer till I had the leading S from Shorten. |
| 20 | EMETIC | Quote Cyclops on return, causing people to throw up (6) CITE (quote) ME (Cyclops) all reversed. Definitely seen this wordplay before. |
| 23/13 | OUT OF REACH | Afro cut executed with hoe? That’s beyond me (3,2,5) (AFRO CUT + HOE)* AInd: executed. |
| 25 | TRENCHANT | Time’s against king acquiring charm – rather acerbic (9) T[ime] R (king, R Rex) ENCHANT (charm) |
| 27 | TRIATHLON | Tory leader on trial, unexpectedly admits truth finally – what a sport! (9) (T[ory] ON TRIAL + [trut]H)* AInd: unexpectedly. |
| 28 | AVAIL | To get sick after USA’s right-wing victory is to benefit (5) [US]A V[ictory] then AIL (get sick) |
| 29 | NEEDLE | Prick – follower of Cleopatra’s? (6) Double Definition. The second referring to the obelisk that was one of many ordered by Rameses II about 3200 years ago (so nothing to do with Cleopatra) nicked from Egypt and stuck on the Victoria embankment. |
| 30 | LADYSHIP | Duke gets into shags with cool titled female (8) D[uke] inside LAYS (shags), then HIP (cool). Pleasing, well-constructed clue. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | COWSLIP | Intimidates liberal independent political leaders – a bloomer (7) COWS (Intimidates) L[iberal] I[ndependent] P[olitical] |
| 2 | BRASS | Impudence of female underwear and smalls (5) BRA (female underwear) S[mall] S[mall] |
| 3 | RESTRAINT | “Break your butt”, putting it coarsely, is not to show reserve (9) I wrote this answer in without much thought for the wordplay while solving, but I need help here: My thoughts are it is something to deliver RESTR then AINT (is not), or STRAIN (break your butt) somehow inside something giving RET |
| 4 | ESTATE | What’s left of drugs supported by gallery (6) ES (drugs, “E”s) TATE (gallery) |
| 6/10 | UNDER WRAPS | ‘Hidden drawers’ pun is recycled (5,5) (DRAWERS PUN)* AInd: is recycled. |
| 7 | FANTASIST | Who dreams of a soft drink and sits around? (9) FANTA (a soft drink) (SITS)* AInd: around. |
| 8 | TORCHED | Camembert or cheddar, burnt inside (7) Hidden inside camemberT OR CHEDdar |
| 9 | TRUSTEE | Administrator set about shafting firm (7) (SET)* AInd: about, making STE inside TRUE (firm). I found this one the hardest clue to solve. I needed all the crossing letters and then had to fire up a few back-up brain cells to see what was going on. Not the last one in only because I concentrated on it after getting that last crosser. |
| 15 | SOLITAIRE | A game one would play, given sun, sex, atmosphere and energy (9) SOL (sun) IT (sex) AIR (atmosphere) E[nergy] |
| 17 | DEMOCRACY | Protest about Republican Cathy being gutless – not welcomed by authoritarian leader (9) DEMO (protest) C (about, circa) R[epublican] C[ath]Y + A[uthoritarian] from the def., to get the A in there |
| 18 | SEATTLE | City needs to repay the debt, having pocketed American capital (7) A[merican] inside SETTLE (repay the debt) |
| 19 | SHORTEN | Drink of spirits and Ben loses head – prune! (7) SHORT (Drink of spirits) [b]EN |
| 21 | CAT-FLAP | A swinger (both ways) Tom makes use of? (3-4) Cryptic Definition. A very nice one |
| 22 | HERNIA | The bloke with rain-affected protrusion of organ (6) HE (the bloke) (RAIN)* AInd: affected. |
| 24 | FATAL | Having a corporation topping a large killing (5) FAT (Having a corporation) A L[arge] |
| 26 | AWASH | Took place in a hospital initially about to go under? (5) WAS (took place) inside A H[ospital] |
29A clue referencing Cleopatra’s Needle reminds me of a day I was working in London and had to go to another office with a colleague. He suggested we walk down Victoria Embankment – only slightly out of our way (and still had time to nip into a pub for a quick one before we were missed). At the Needle he pointed out his sometime-great grandfather’s name amongst the fulsome set of information plates at the base. It seems he was very proud his ancestor lost the Needle in the Bay of Biscay. “Well it turned up again, didn’t it!”
History link
Thanks for the blog . It is REST = Break youR butt =R AINT= is not (coarsely ).
Will comment more later when not rushing.
Probably easier to find a needle in the Bay of Biscay than in a haystack?
Thanks beermagnet, I took a while to get comfortable with TRUSTEE as well, agree with Roz@1 re parsing of RESTRAINT and think you have been generous in giving Cyclops the benefit of the doubt with the A of DEMOCRACY as I can’t quite get there despite many interpretations of “about”. But plenty of good surfaces and constructions too as you not: at the risk of encouraging inappropriate comments, I particularly enjoyed CYBERSEX.
I’vew only now realised the DEMOCRACY problem……I don’t think the A form authoritarian works for me. I suspe3ct I saw about as ca….circa? But the letter order does not then work….unless the ‘about’ does two jobs….
I could not get democracy to work at all properly.
TORY DONOR just seems to be a simple factual statement. I thought maybe a break at the hyphen for two statements ? The first is what they do and the second is what they get in return.
TRUSTEE I had no problem at all but others took a bit of thought.
Loads of brilliant clues here. Really enjoyed reading them all again.
23/13 (OUT OF REACH) — ‘executed’ seems a bit of a weak indicator.
Had to look up TRENCHANT (25ac) to verify its meaning, realizing I had always understood it as meaning something vaguely like ‘entrenched’. ‘Acerbic’ is another word I wasn’t all that sure about until recently when I had call to look it up (for another crossword, perhaps?).
What a great surface for 27ac TRIATHLON, and so far from the cryptic meaning.
2dn So perfect!
17dn DEMOCRACY — A bit strange, but didn’t notice it at the time. I think I didn’t check the anag, but just saw what it must be and wrote it in. Maybe it suffered a late edit that didn’t quite work?
Thanks beermagnet & Cyclops. I’m with Tony @6 -some lovely clues. My faves were 11a,15a &21d.
Have my doubts about 17d which was the only one I couldn’t fully parse.
In the words of ‘The sword_of_truth’ from Private Eye’s message board column, “it’s time to end the disastrous democratic experiment”.
My good guffaw was CYBERSEX – brilliant. The rest thoroughly enjoyable although I did wonder about TORY DONOR – not the answer but how to handle the clue.
I am with Winsor in using CA for “about” in DEMOCRACY. It was the only way I could get it to work.
Thanks Cyclops & beermagnet.
My understanding of Winsor’s comment is that CA for ‘about’ cannot be made to work satisfactorily in 17d. By any normal parsing conventions, this clue does not make complete sense.
I agree with those who have argued that the A in the answer to 17D cannot legitimately come from “authoritarian leader”, as these words form part of what appears to be the definition. It seems to me, as Winsor has said, that the wordplay gives DEMOCARCY, which suggests that the clue is simply erroneous. In any event, “not welcomed by authoritarian leader” seems a rather loose definition of an answer which is a noun. It could perhaps have worked better if the word “something” were to have appeared before “not”. I’d be interested to read the setter’s response to this. Perhaps he had something else in mind?