Cyclops 726 – Ugly Bear

by

There I was, two puzzles ago, suggesting that Cyclops was out of tune with events by bringing up PartyGate and leadership challenges, but all of a sudden, they are news again…I’ll get my coat…

There is more here as well – references to A WEEK IN POLITICS being a long time for Boris – last week seemed to drag on interminably, even after he fled, sorry, flew, to India – and 20D SPHERICAL, with Boris talking bollocks to the House…plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose…

There are a couple of Putin references which could maybe have been avoided, given current circumstances? I’m no woke cancel-culturist, but does the guy need any more publicity? There must be other ways to indicate a P in word-play – even if it is ‘trumP’s bottom’?

Talking of Ronald T Dump, in a blast from the past 22A is short and sweet – and maybe hopeful of the future, in its surface read?

As a bit of balance, 17A seems to refer to the current Labour leader trying to escape from the electoral shadow of doom cast by his predecessor….and for some reason 7D had me thinking of the push-mi-pull-yu ‘offering its butt’ to Rex Harrison – yeah, but, no butt…which end is the butt?!

 

Lots of fun-and-games in the surface reads of and answers to other clues as well.

Many thanks to Cyclops, and I trust all is clear below.

 

Across
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
1A BOSOM Report about star’s head and tits (5)

BO_OM (report, sound of explosion) around S (head, or first letter, of Star)
4A HOPSCOTCH Bound to be on the booze game (9)

HOP (bound) + SCOTCH (booze)
9A A WEEK IN POLITICS A long time for the likes of Boris? “Skip election – I was almost sacked!” (1,4,2,8)

anag, i.e. sacked, of SKIP ELECTION I WA(S) (almost all of Was)

[This may have been prophetic, by the time this blog is published]
10A MEAN WELL Don’t intend to upset dirty oil container? (4,4)

MEAN (dirty) + WELL (oil container!)
11A FRUIT See 1dn. (5)

see 1D
13A RANSOM Managed to have a few, dropping E – there’s a price to be paid (6)

RAN (managed) + SOM(E) (a few, dropping E!)
14A IN A SWEAT Popular article: ‘Labour’s really uncool‘ (2,1,5)

IN (popular) + A (article) + SWEAT (hard work, labour)
17A SPECTRAL Like shadow Labour leader following awful crap set (8)

SPECTRA (anag, i.e. awful, of CRAP SET) + L (leading letter of Labour)
19A GHETTO Got the shakes in a poor part of town? (6)

anag, i.e. shakes, of GOT THE
22A DRAIN Donald’s ultimate downfall: tax? (5)

D (ultimate letter of donalD) + RAIN (downfall)
24A ALLERGIC Hypersensitive to garlic – surprisingly, that includes the French (8)

AL_RGIC (anag, i.e. surprisingly, of GARLIC) around (including) LE (the, in French)
26A NUMBER CRUNCHING Figure on getting your teeth into our statistical revelations (6,9)

NUMBER (figure) + CRUNCHING (getting your teeth into)

[‘Number Crunching’ being a sporadic Eye feature, usually pointing out some hypocrisy or imbalance of (government) spending]
27A YESTERDAY In brief, dead artsy Eye? Possibly not now (9)

anag, i.e. possibly, of D (abbrev., or briefly, for dead) + ARTSY EYE
28A LOLLY Lie about Yvette’s top for money (5)

LOLL (lie about) + Y (top letter of Yvette)
Across
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
1D BEAR (FRUIT) & 11 Reportedly, bare ‘melons’, say, are a success eventually (4,5)

BEAR (homophone, i.e. reportedly – BEAR can sound like BARE) + FRUIT (melons, say)
2D SHEBEEN Dodgy booze from here – female side finally embraced by Elton? (7)

SHE (female) + BE_N (Ben Elton, comedian & author) around (embracing) E (final letter of sidE)
3D MAKING OUT Discerning when getting your end away? (6,3)

double defn. to MAKE OUT can be to discern something; and to MAKE OUT can be slang for ‘have intercourse with’, or get one’s end away!)

[I believe that in the US, making out is just kissing/necking, rather than reaching third or fourth base…?]
4D HUNTER One who seeks mangled nut crushed by female (6)

H_ER (female) around (crushing) UNT (anag, i.e. mangled, of NUT)
5D PLOT LINE Putin’s top bunch having row – that’s the way story goes (4,4)

P (top letter of Putin) + LOT (bunch) + LINE (row)
6D CHIEF Cyclops gets inside Jamie Oliver’s head? (5)

CH_EF (Jamie Oliver, example of a chef) around I (Cyclops)
7D TRIBUTE Offering doctor butt – i.e. when Rex intervenes (7)

T_IBUTE (anag, i.e. doctor, of IE BUTT) around (intervened by) R (rex, king)

[reference to Doctor Dolittle, with Rex Harrison?]
8D HESITATION Shilly-shallying, one’s taken in by The Bloke Channel (10)

HE (the bloke) + S_TATION (television channel) around (taking in) I (one)
12D PRESIDENCY Putin’s main abode, which he wants to extend? (10)

P (first, or main, letter of Putin, again?!) + RESIDENCY (abode)
15D SPHERICAL Boris’s final outrageous crap lie, taking in House initially? Like bollocks! (9)

S (final letter of Boris) + P_ERICAL (anag, i.e. outrageous, of CRAP LIE) around (taking in) H (house)

[This may also have been prophetic, by the time this blog is published!]
16D BALANCED Was a successful cashier well-rounded? (8)

double defn(?) – a successful cashier might leave the till, or the books, BALANCED; and to be well-rounded can be to be BALANCED, for example in life, generally
18D ERASMUS Times has problem backing theologian (7)

ERAS (times) + MUS (sum, or problem, backing)
20D TRIVIAL Woman, taken short during experiment, is piddling (7)

TRI_AL or TR_IAL (experiment) around VI (short for Violet, woman’s name) or IV (Ivy, woman’s name, taken short?) – take your pick

[I’m leaning towards VI as short for VIOLET]
21D CLOUDY Conservative: vulgar, ultimately lazy and not very bright (6)

C (Conservative) + LOUD (vulgar) + Y (ultimate letter of lazY)
23D NIECE He finally gets to penetrate agreeable person (relatively)(5)

NI_CE (agreeable) around (penetrated by) E (final letter of hE)
25D UGLY Like certain sisters: terribly guilty when it’s lost (4)

subtractive anagram, i.e. terribly, of GU(I)L(T)Y, losing I and T – IT’s lost!

[pantomime reference to the stereotypical ‘ugly sisters’]

6 comments on “Cyclops 726 – Ugly Bear”

  1. Thanks for the blog, I think Cyclops is on safe ground repeating “partygate” etc, there is no end in site.
    Double Putin as you say and I am not really convinced by “main” = P .
    Your homophone for BEAR is actually a little too close.
    ERASMUS made me think of another great benefit of Brexit, my students now struggle to get placements at CERN, DESY etc, perhaps I should tell Jacob R-M .
    Agree with BALANCED , definitely a DD.
    A WEEK IN POLITICS was the standout clue for me.

  2. Started strongly on this one, then got stuck with a lot of the middle clues, but forged ahead and completed (with a little help). 1D got me thinking of the other ‘MELONS’ for a while especially considering 1A (obviously all completely deliberate).
    For some reason, couldn’t parse ERASMUS (although was the only answer that fitted) but so obvious now I see it written down.
    Not sure if it’s my sheltered, oh so innocent upbringing (hmmm?) but had never heard of SHEBEEN. If nothing else, Cyclops is expanding my vocabulary (although not necessarily in the right direction).
    Thanks for the blog mc_rapper67.

  3. Thanks, Roz at #1 – duly corrected.

    And Columbo78 at #2 – glad to hear Cyclops is expanding your vocabulary!

  4. Thanks mc_rapper67, another fine summary and I wasn’t aware of the Dr Dolittle/Rex Harrison connection so that clue makes more sense now. Agree with your view of MAKING OUT in the US thanks to Happy Days. I found this harder than usual for some reason, probably my own fault eg PLOT LINE took me ages as I was convinced it was all one word.
    My only real complaint, and sorry for lowering the tone, is that I don’t think of bollocks as being even almost spherical, and while they are of course known as “balls” I would argue that this is down to the resemblence to the shape of rugby etc balls which are also certainly not spherical. So i think it is a case of “false transitive inference” or whatever the technical term may be.
    Liked the wordplay there though as well as the aforementioned standout and the surface/clue for CLOUDY.

  5. 9ac, A WEEK IN POLITICS: “This may have been prophetic, by the time this blog is published”. No such luck.

    Re 12dn, PRESIDENCY, I thought it was pin-sharp satire on Putin’s “special operation”.

    Interestingly, HOPSCOTCH became the target for the Guardian’s cluing competition on the Monday following publication of this puzzle. Current front runner, from the ever-skillful PeterMooreFuller, is:

    Bound to spoil children’s game

    LOLLY appeared in the Guardian Prize from Crucible (28,727) recently, too, with:

    Either half of sweetbread

    I had the same thought as Gazzh regarding the sphericity of bollocks, but am glad he stated it or I would never have heard of “false transitive inference”.

    Re MAKING OUT, go-to American dictionary, Merriam-Webster has:

    2 a : to engage in sexual intercourse
    b : NECK sense 1

    so getting one’s end away does seem to be the primary meaning, even in the USA. In fact, I think it’s probably arrived on these shores from the ex-colony, hasn’t it?

    Btw, I loved Holly Walsh’s exposition on the British equivalent of the American ‘bases’ metaphor for the stages of teenage sexual success, expounded from Dictionary Corner on 8 out of 10 Cats Do Countdown. Without wifi, I can’t pinpoint the exact moment, but it’s in this 11-min roundup of HW clips on YouTube:

    https://youtu.be/ucVo643bk0E

  6. The HW clip starts at 2′ 52″ if you haven’t got time for the rest (although why wouldn’t you?).

    (Thanks, Tesco).

Comments are closed.