Cyclops 732 – Etonian Philistine

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Some totally coincidental, no doubt, topical references in this fortnight’s Cyclops…

…as the ETONIAN PHILISTINE’s TURNCOAT Cabinet had a BRAINSTORM and grew some VERTEBRAE, kicking him out on his ARSE (KNOT yet!), and leaving those on the TORY HARD RIGHT with the ADVENT of a leadership CHALLENGE. Will this kick in the BUTTOCKS be a LESSON to him? His PARALYTIC WHINER FRIEND Dorries made much NOISE, and Really-Smugg was RUEFUL, ICE-COLD and NERDISH, as usual…but just to DAMPEN the mood with DREAD, ‘Big Dog’ never said the ‘R’ word*, or the ‘S’ word*…there is no ASSURANCE his SCALP has been taken…join the DOTS…will he be back? Hasta la pasta, baby – them’s the breaks…

 

 

Thanks, as ever, to Cyclops for an enjoyable solve, with some icky surface reads – 17A, 21A – and the use of ‘Archer’ in the anagram fodder for ABHORRENCE!

* resign/sorry

Across
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
8A TURNCOAT Wind film showing a party political defector? (8)

TURN (wind) + COAT (film)
9A WHINER Win her over, grouch! (6)

anag, i.e. over, of WIN HER
11A NOISE Illinois examining housing racket (5)

hidden word in, i.e. housed by, ‘illiNOIS Examining’
12A PARALYTIC Pissed off CIA and party left (9)

anag, i.e. off, of CIA PARTY + L (left)
13A ASSURANCE Fool can rue breaking promise (9)

ASS (fool) + URANCE (anag, i.e. breaking, of CAN RUE)
15A SCALP Superficially, the crown‘s trophy (5)

double defn. – the SCALP is superficially part of the crown of the head; and a SCALP can be a trophy
17A TORY HARD RIGHT Rees-Mogg and chums love getting into crack and having an erection – correct? (4,4,5)

T_RY (crack, attempt) around O (zero, love), plus HARD (having an erection) + RIGHT (correct)

[What a mental image!…]
21A CAMEL Orgasmed at length – animal! (5)

CAME (orgasmed) + L (length)!

[Ditto!]
22A VERTEBRAE Victory! English supporter, stuck in tree, breaking bones (9)

V (victory) + E (English) + TE_RE (anag, i.e. breaking, of TREE) around BRA (provider of support!)
24A CHALLENGE Labour leader eventually starts entering amendment – quite a task (9)

CHA_NGE (amendment) around (entered by) LLE (starting letters of ‘Labour Leader Eventually’)
26A DREAD Republican involved in cold terror (5)

D_EAD (cold, lifeless) around (involving) R (Republican)
27A LESSON Some clothes having been removed as a deterrent (6)

if you have removed some clothes, you have LESS ON!

[Deterrent, as in ‘teaching someone a lesson’ as a deterrent]
28A BUTTOCKS Arse, even so needs to take stock, maybe (8)

BUT (even so) + TOCKS (anag, i.e. maybe, of STOCK)
Across
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
1D ETONIAN Boris once rejected message by our ed. (7)

ETON (note, or message, rejected) + IAN (Hislop, the Eye’s editor)
2D BRAINSTORM Underwear during bad weather brings inspiration (10)

BRA (underwear) IN STORM (during bad weather)
3D ACRE Former Daily Mail boss abandoning leader for some land (4)

(D)ACRE (former Daily Mail boss, abandoning leading letter)
4D DAMPEN Wet as a politician pushed into hole (6)

D_EN (hole, lair) around A + MP (politician)
5D PHILISTINE His lip curling, Spike is a lowbrow (10)

PHILIS (anag, i.e. curling, of HIS LIP) + TINE (spike, prong)
6D KNOT Keir’s no.1 in no way secure (4)

K (no. 1 letter of Keir) + NOT (in no way)
7D PRECEPT Creep gets involved in exercise as a general rule (7)

P_T (Physical Training, exercise) around RECEP (anag, i.e. getting involved, of CREEP)
10D FRIEND Mate just before the weekend – goal! (6)

FRI (Friday, just before the weekend) + END (goal, aim)
14D ROYAL BLOOD Possibly the making of clots such as in Brenda’s lot? (5,5)

Punning CD? Brenda being the Eye’s affectionate nickname for Her Maj. The ROYAL BLOODline has produced many clots over the generations! And the ROYAL BLOOD in Brenda’s veins will coagulate to form clots, when required, assuming it works the same way as commoners’ blood.
16D ABHORRENCE Archer – no! Be prepared for horror! (10)

anag, i.e. prepared, of ARCHER NO BE
18D ADVENT A date needs outlet – “Coming!” (6)

A + D (date) + VENT (outlet)
19D ICE-COLD Frigid Charlie immersed in docile activity (3-4)

ICE_OLD (anag, i.e. activity, of DOCILE) around C (Charlie, C, phonetic alphabet))
20D NERDISH Brenda squeezed by new heart-throb, like a Trekkie (7)

N (new) + DISH (heartthrob) around (squeezing) ER (Elizabeth Regina, Brenda again!)
23D RUEFUL Parisian way with not quite satisfied penitent (6)

RUE (street, or way, in French, i.e. Parisian) + FUL(L) (not quite all of full, or satisfied)
25D ARSE Fear senator’s concealing source of politician’s words? (4)

hidden word in, i.e concealed by, ‘feAR SEnator’
26D DOTS Party has way to overturn points (4)

DO (party) + TS (ST, street, or way, overturned)

9 comments on “Cyclops 732 – Etonian Philistine”

  1. Thanks mc_rapper67, I love the summary and thanks to Cyclops also. I enjoyed this puzzle and marked 17a, 14d and 25d as particular favourites. I remember it took me while to parse 6d for some reason before arriving at “in no way” = NOT

  2. Thanks for the blog and the entertaining summary. Very good puzzle, minor quibble for two bras and two Brendas but nothing wrong really.
    I agree with you for ROYAL BLOOD , it is a bit near the knuckle for historical reasons, probably not intended. In the 19th century all the in-breeding of tho royal families of UK , Germany and Russia led to numerous instances of haemophilia in royal princes, so no actual clots.

  4. Yes Winsor@3 that is why I said princes . A faulty gene on the X chromosome and males only have one. A female would need the faulty gene on both X chromosomes so possible but much rarer. Females can be a carrier and pass it on like Queen Victoria.

  5. Thanks mc_rapper67 for a fitting blog to another entertaining puzzle from Cyclops. My second attempt. Even with the probable lead time, Cyclops is alway going to be contemporary unless there’s a change at the top. Oh wait, …

    My last two in, and I don’t know why in hindsight, were ROYAL BLOOD and LESSON. I’m very much enjoying Cyclops’ puzzles.

  6. pdp@6 glad you enjoy them , Cyclops can be a lot more political and risque than Brummie. As you say he is usually pretty much up to date unless things change rapidly.

  7. Roz@6 – in these “interesting” political times (I saw the BBC debate between the candidates up for PM), Cyclops is a very welcome respite.

  8. Excellent summary. I found this harder than usual for some reason, although I may just have been tired when I first worked on it, as I polished it off quite quickly when I returned to it.

    9ac GROUCH I’ve never understood why “over” is considered an anagram indicator. I even suggested recently that an entrant to the Guardian’s cluing competition should find a better one… and they did! (while pointing out that, although they agreed it was weak, they were sure they’d seen it used in the Guardian.)

    14dn ROYAL BLOOD “assuming it works the same way as commoners’ blood.” In many cases it doesn’t:

    Hemophilia has been called a “royal disease”. This is because the hemophilia gene was passed from Queen Victoria, who became Queen of England in 1837, to the ruling families of Russia, Spain, and Germany.

    https://www.hog.org/handbook/article/1/3/the-history-of-hemophilia

    25dn ARSE: “source of politician’s words?”. Great def!

  9. I put in STAMP instead of SCALP for 15A, another example of two different answers to the same cryptic clue.
    Double definition – superficially the picture on a postage stamp is of the Crown – either the monarch or the actual crown she’s wearing. And Stamp in the sense that people collect stamps as trophies, particularly children getting a book stamped when they visit some famous place.

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