Private Eye (Cyclops/ 779) Gargantuan Adversary

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Cyclops is always our gargantuan adversary.

But he is never a monster (except at Christmas).

I found this harder than many recent Eye puzzles.   I had to read all the way down to below the half way mark before I hit a clue I could cold solve quickly.  Once I had got 22 (that reference to Ed Sheeran was very obvious) the smaller answers in that bottom right hand corner all got filled in quickly.  However I could not brek out of it.  Both 28a and 15d, despite three of its crossing letters, proved elusive.  In fact later I found it was because of the crossing letters – one of them – that 15d would not solve.  In my haste I had whacked in GRIFT instead of GRAFT.
Anyway, 25a with its clear aphrodisiac definition gave another starting point, and the split clue 26/9 allowed the grid fill to expand into new areas.  Liz Truss may have many qualities , this is not one of them. (I know!)  I checked the anagram fodder worked after I had written in the answer only because I was going to write this blog.
I few more went in before the end of the “first pass”.  So there was more than half the grid filled, in a much longer time than usual.  The final few were dotted around the blog.  Some gave me trouble even with all the crossing letters.  Breather at 21a particularly so – I was stuck thinking “dippy” refereed to the diplodocus that used to be in the Natural History Museum so was thinking the answer was dinosaur-related.   Even then I did not understand the wordplay for that little 6d Well until, er, well after that.  I had written it in from the Def. earlier.

Across
7 WIELD Join together to secure Rishi’s end – and flourish (5)
[rish]I in WELD (Join together)
11 FALLOUT Unpleasant consequences of trip published (7)
FALL (trip) OUT (published)
12 HECKLER Blimey, Latin TV series, one to annoy a politician? (7)
HECK (Blimey!) L[atin] ER (TV series)
13 LARDER Large, more erect – not the first to show reserve (6)
L[arge] [h]ARDER
14 STRAIGHT Blunt? Yes and no (8)
Double Def.-like crypticity.  I wonder if this is a reference to Sir Anthony Blunt?
17 BROADCASTER Vulgar tosser, Clarkson? (11)
BROAD (Vulgar) CASTER (tosser)
21 BREATHER Rest about to get stuck into ‘dippy’ type (8)
RE (about) inside BATHER (‘dippy’ type)   Last one in
22 EDWARD Sheeran has series of battles with duke, a major royal (6)
ED (Ref. Ed Sheeran) WAR (series of battles) D[uke]   First one in
25 OYSTERS Rest arranged after lads head off for aphrodisiacs (7)
[b]OYS (lads, head off) (REST)* AInd: arranged.
27 ROBOTIC Nick, old jerk relying on AI (7)
ROB (Nick) O[ld] TIC (jerk)
28 BILLIARDS Right spikes legislation on AIDS treatment, for a game (9)
R[ight] inside BILL (legislation) and (AIDS)* AInd: treatment.
29 GRAFT Abuse of one’s public position is hard work! (5)
Double Def.
Down
1 TWOFOLD Wot! – stupid fellow getting on twice? (7)
(WOT)* AInd: stupid, F[ellow] OLD (getting on)
2 DEPLORABLE Bollard sprayed with pee – shameful! (10)
(BOLLARD … PEE)* AInd: sprayed.
3 PARTY Norm vacated Conservative political group (5)
PAR (Norm) T[or]Y (Conservative, vacated)
4 MANHATTAN Brown’s after bloke with topper for drink? (9)
MAN (bloke) HAT (topper) TAN (Brown)
5 PENCHANT Tendency to breathe fast embracing topless old-fashioned girl (8)
[w]ENCH (old-fashioned girl, topless) inside PANT (brreathe)
6 WELL Private Eye is going to source (4)
WE (Private Eye) WILL (is going to) -> WE’LL
8 DRONE Finished importing Republicans new weapon? (5)
R[epublicans] inside DONE (Finished)
10 SPRITE “Patel not finished infiltrating South East” – Gnome (6)
PRIT[i] inside SE (South East)
15 GARGANTUAN Large newspaper comes up with raving nut again (not Independent) (10)
RAG< (newspaper, comes up) (NUT AGA[i]N)* AInd: raving.
16 ADVERSARY Rival has a date with king since rising in mighty surroundings (9)
A D[ate] then R[ex] (King) AS< (since, rising) inside VERY (mighty)
18 ON THE AIR Making a broadcast? Note: hair needs curling (2,3,3)
(NOTE HAIR)* AInd: needs curling.
19 ABSORB Boris trashed in a book – Cyclops goes “Suck it up!” (6)
(BORIS – I)* AInd: trashed, inside A B[ook]
20 EDUCATE Teach Conservative candidate finally to embrace old money (7)
[Conservativ]E [candidat]E around DUCAT (old money)
23 DEBUG What did Fujitsu/Horizon fail to do properly? Budge, stupid! (5)
(BUDGE)* AInd: stupid.
24 GROSS Good TV personality – or offensive? (5)
G[ood] ROSS (TV personality)
26/9 SELF-AWARENESS Quality not possessed by Liz Truss? ‘Putting out feelers’ was ans. (4-9)
(FEELERS WAS ANS)* AInd: putting out.

Summer is upon us and we will all be able to catch a few rays. I hope I don’t experience the hassle I did last year. Who can believe in this day and age just wearing underwear in the garden would offend so many.
I suppose it was because it wasn’t my garden …
… or for that matter my underwear.

6 comments on “Private Eye (Cyclops/ 779) Gargantuan Adversary”

  1. Thanks for the blog, yes quite a bit trickier than the norm , not as much smut or politics either.
    STRAIGHT , I agree with your reference to Anthony Blunt, a very murky tale and an establishment cover-up for many years.
    Good set of neat clues, PENCHANT my favourite.

  2. Another enjoyable solve, thanks to Cyclops and beermagnet for puzzle and blog. 17a (larder)is somewhat relevant to my situation as we currently don’t have one. We’re in the middle of a complete kitchen install and the house looks like a bomb site. Ah well, only another fortnight to go until completion.

  3. Thanks for blog beer magnet.

    I’d never heard “Abuse of one’s public position” = graft.

    Also is Yes and no a little tenuous in terms of “straight”?

    Otherwise all lovely

  4. I did like the surface for 7a very much – quite timely with this one coming out just as the election was announced. Bravo, Cyclops!

  5. Thanks beermagnet and Cyclops. Particular thanks for explaining parsing of 21a. I got sidetracked by assuming “to get stuck into” =” eat” although I slotted in BREATHER as the solution I couldn’t parse it.
    My favourite was 17a which provoked some chuckling.

  6. Thanks beermagnet and Cyclops. I also found this harder than usual, and some I got from the def but didn’t understand the wordplay until you explained it. Examples are 14a (which I still think is tenuous) and 29a – where the second def was new to me.

    Some fun clues as ever, though, including 19d and 17a.

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