More Trump-ery from Cyclops – this idiot president is the gift that keeps on giving…but also plenty of references from this side of the pond, with Thatcher, Livingstone, Farage, ‘Regina’ and Black Rod all making an appearance in various clues.
This was a pretty quick solve for me – I think the bulk of it was written in in less than ten minutes, but there were some enjoyable moments, especially when revisited for this blog.
I (nearly?) laughed out loud on the train at 24A – with SKID MARK painting a picture of Maggie’s unpleasant offspring as a smear in the underpants!
11A (WHIPPERSNAPPER) also has a great surface read, and 16A (ABUSAGE) is a depressing summary of Trump’s first 100+days (only 1300-odd to go, unless he gets bored, or impeached, or both…fingers crossed…)
All in all, a relatively gentle Cyclops, in solving terms, but all the usual political targets and ‘smuttery’ one would expect…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | ODIOUS | Revolting party turned over debts (6) | revolting / OD (do, party, turned over) + IOUS (IOUs – debts) |
|
| 5A | MADE SAFE | Fabricated chest – protected (4,4) | protected / MADE (fabricated) + SAFE (chest) |
|
| 9A | CONFLICT OF | & 26. “War that’s not a bore” – Trump claims he has none, as President (8,2,8) | Trump claims he has none, as President / CONFLICT (war) + OF INTEREST (not a bore) |
|
| 10A | MARK | See 24ac. (4) | See 24A / See 24A |
|
| 11A | WHIPPERSNAPPER | Upstart kinky sex type who takes pictures (14) | upstart / WHIPPER (kinky sex type) + SNAPPER (someone who takes pictures) |
|
| 12A | HYGIENE | Reorganising nigh, with Eye keeping things clean (7) | keeping things clean / anag, i.e. reorganising, of NIGH + EYE |
|
| 14A | GARNISH | Grace’s tasteless welcoming of Clinton’s end (7) | grace (as in adorn/decorate) / GAR_ISH (tasteless) around (welcoming of) N (end letter of Clinton) |
|
| 16A | ABUSAGE | Maltreatment by president ‘crushing America good’ (7) | maltreatment / AB_E (Abe Lincoln, president), around (crushing) USA (America) + G (good) |
|
| 18A | STARCHY | Celebrity chain, yes, gets you stiff (7) | stiff / STAR (celebrity) + CH (chain) + Y(yes) |
|
| 21A | CARPET-SLIPPER | Give a bollocking to those who fall for comfy indoor wear (6-8) | comfy indoor wear / CARPET (give a bollocking to) + SLIPPERS (those who fall) |
|
| 24A | SKID | & 10. Smear from number two when head of State has joke with Thatcher? (4,4) | smear from number two / S (first letter of State) + KID (joke) + MARK (Mark Thatcher, son of Maggie) |
|
| 25A | ACCESSIBLE | CIA’s mingling with celebs – that’s convenient (10) | convenient / anag, i.e. mingling, of CIA + CELEBS |
|
| 26A | INTEREST | See 9ac. (8) | See 9A / See 9A |
|
| 27A | TUNDRA | Turd, an obnoxious, bleak feature of Russia (6) | bleak feature of Russia / anag, i.e. obnoxious, of TURD + AN |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 2D | DOORWAY | Black Rod’s position? “Party needs alternative direction” (7) | Black Rod’s position / Do (party) + OR (alternative) + WAY (direction) |
|
| 3D | OFF LIMITS | Not on film, so fit balls (3,6) | not on / anag, i.e. balls, of FILM SO FIT |
|
| 4D | SKIMP | Enjoy sport with member (pinch) (5) | pinch / SKI (enjoy winter sport) + MP (member) |
|
| 5D | MATURE | Spiking tea with rum? Grow up! (6) | grow up / anag, i.e. spiking, of TEA + RUM |
|
| 6D | DEFENDANT | Someone tried getting date with Ed, enfant terrible (9) | someone tried / D (date) + EFENDANT (anag, i.e. terrible, of ED ENFANT) |
|
| 7D | SUM UP | Reckon some Greek character’s into booze (3,2) | reckon / SU_P (drink, booze) around MU (Greek character) |
|
| 8D | FORCEPS | Penny, in the military, used to extract bits of organs? (7) | used to extract bits of organs / FORCE_S (military) around P (penny) |
|
| 13D | NIGHTMARE | Hospital swamped by migrant explosion – Farage’s ultimate bad experience (9) | bad experience / NIG_TMAR (anag, i.e. explosion, of MIGRANT) around (swamping) H (hospital), plus E (ultimate letter of FaragE) |
|
| 15D | NORWEGIAN | “Regina won out!” – non-EU European (9) | non-EU European / anag, i.e. out, of REGINA WON |
|
| 17D | BRACKEN | Supporter (Conservative) next to Livingstone, possibly, is a plant (7) | a plant / BRA (supporter) + C (Conservative) + KEN (Livingstone) |
|
| 19D | HUSTLER | Hooker: “Let’s break in Ben” (7) | hooker / HU_R (Ben, as in Ben Hur) around STLE (anag, i.e. break, of LETS) |
|
| 20D | ELICIT | Call forth “Skirts off Felicity!” (6) | call forth / (F)ELICIT(Y) – with ‘skirting’ letters removed |
|
| 22D | PODGE | Fatty Trump’s last retrograde, say, act (5) | fatty / P (TrumP’s last letter) + ODGE (EG – say – plus DO – act, all retrograde, or reversed) |
|
| 23D | POSIT | Advance – here’s to you getting your end away (5) | advance / P(R)OSIT (drinking toast, ‘here’s to you) without R (end letter of R, away) |
|
“Trump’s first 100+days (only 1300-odd to go, unless he gets bored, or impeached, or both…fingers crossed…)”
When you say “bored” do you mean by a 9mm (or something similar)? 😉