…that seems to be the choice, at the start of this momentous week, and Cyclops has his finger pretty much on the pulse…
…with LIKE IT OR LUMP IT seeming to sum up the ZEITGEIST for the majority of us CITIZENs. Will Theresa May STAND FAST to ENSHRINE her deal, or will her ANGRY backbenchers RUN RIOT and RIP INTO it, to maybe allow the CROWN PRINCE BoJo to claim her SCALP? Will we end up with the Norway MODEL, or will the ‘no-deal’ chickens come home to ROOST?
A classic Cyclops of political targets old – NIXON, Jeffrey Archer (again?!), Clinton, Bill Cash, even Mad King George! – and new – the Saudi CROWN PRINCE (budding dictator), May, Brenda and Trump. (Well, Brenda is hardly a new target, but at least she is still current…)
All topped off with a soufflé of innuendo – dominatrices with CAN(N)ES, OYSTERs as aphrodisiacs, getting erect quick and carnal lays…not to mention ointment on agitated loins and a large one!…Order! Order!…
NB. The answer, and surface reading, for 6D STRAPLESS sounded vaguely familiar, and a quick search found Cyclops 619, back in March, where the same word had a clue with similar undertones – reducing capital punishment by getting someone to STRAP LESS – but I think they are different enough in style and far apart enough in time not to be a particular issue.
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | DECAMP | Take off TV presenter and a rejected May (6) | take off (as in – depart) / DEC (recently disgraced TV presenter of Ant and DEC fame) + MP (PM, or Prime Minister, Theresa May, rejected) |
|
| 4A | PHYSICAL | Carnal lay with chips scattered all over the place (8) | carnal / anag, i.e. scattered all over the place, of LAY + CHIPS |
|
| 10A | STAND FAST | Get erect quick and last out (5,4) | last out / STAND (get erect) + FAST (quick) |
|
| 11A | ROOST | A place to sleep or maybe love, by the way (5) | a place (for e.g. chickens) to sleep / RO (anag, i.e. maybe, of OR) + O (zero, love) + ST (street, the way) |
|
| 12A | LANOLIN | Ointment ingredient agitated loin to right of large one (7) | ointment ingredient / L (large) + AN (an, one) + OLIN (anag, i.e agitated, of LOIN) |
|
| 13A | RIP INTO | Have a go at getting a beer in South American city (3,4) | have a go at / RI_O (Soth American city) around (getting) P_INT (a beer) |
|
| 14A | SCALP | Crown makes a superficial contribution to this victory token (5) | victory token / the crown of the head makes a ‘superficial’ contribution to the scalp.. |
|
| 16A | SENTENCE | Some words that Archer was given (8) | double defn. / a SENTENCE could be ‘some words’; and also, in relation to jail, something that Jeffery Archer was given |
|
| 19A | CLINICAL | Cold, emotionless Clinton, not backing out, takes one state (8) | cold, emotionless / CLIN( |
|
| 22A | SUSHI | “Dish” repulsed American number two? Not quite (5) | dish / SU (US, or American, repulsed)) + SHI( |
|
| 24A | RUN RIOT | Bolt with electric current inserted in balls – go berserk (3,4) | go berserk / RUN (bolt, escape) + R_OT (rubbish, balls) around (inserted into by) I |
|
| 26A | MEAT PIE | Cyclops article that is about Trump’s extremes – for individual consumption? (4,3) | (something) for individual consumption / ME (Cyclops, the setter) + IE (that is, id est), around A (article) + TP (extreme letters of TrumP) |
|
| 28A | NIXON | Nothing working for the President? (5) | president / NIX (nothing, zilch) + ON (working) |
|
| 29A | ZEITGEIST | Distort size (get it?) – that’s the spirit (9) | the spirit (of the age) / anag, i.e. distort, of SIZE GET IT |
|
| 30A | ENSHRINE | ‘Treasure’ screwed her nine times, finally (8) | treasure / anag, i.e. screwed, of HER NINE + S (final letter of timeS) |
|
| 31A | OYSTER | One yanked out of bed is an aphrodisiac? (6) | aphrodisiac / or maybe even a charade-ish cryptic double defn.?! An OYSTER could be pulled from an oyster bed to be used as an aphrodisiac |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | DISCLOSE | Run an exposé: “ex-royal’s mean!” (8) | run an exposé / DIS (Diana, ex-royal, plus contracted ‘is’) + CLOSE (mean, stingy) |
|
| 2D | CHAIN MAIL | Links man said “It could protect one’s member” (5-4) | it could protect one’s member (and other parts of the body!) / CHAIN (links) + MAIL (homophone, sounds like male, or man) |
|
| 3D | MODEL | Dome’s shambolic, ludicrous opening, a perfect example (5) | a perfect example / MODE (anag, i.e. shambolic, of DOME) + L (opening letter of Ludicrous) |
|
| 5D | HOT IRON | Fiery with press, Brand’s producer (3,4) | brand’s producer / HOT (fiery) + IRON (press) |
|
| 6D | STRAPLESS | Sort of dress said to restrain a disciplinarian (9) | sort of dress / If you wanted to restrain a disciplinarian you might ask them to STRAP LESS |
|
| 7D | CROWN | &23 Given old money, former pop star becomes budding Saudi dictator? (5,6) | budding Saudi dictator / CROWN (old money) + PRINCE (former pop star) |
|
| 8D | LOTION | Parliamentary proposal: “Leader to be replaced by Left” – a cosmetic thing (6) | a cosmetic thing / ( |
|
| 9D | CANNES | Dominatrix accessories all over new town (6) | (French) town / CAN_ES (a dominatrix’s accessories, maybe) around (all over) N (new) |
|
| 15D | PENSIONER | Chelsea type retirement income taken by Brenda? (9) | (red-coated) Chelsea type / PENSION (retirement income) + ER ( Elizabeth Regina, or Brenda, as the Eye calls her) |
|
| 17D | CASHPOINT | Old Europhobe wants location from which money can be extracted (9) | (something) from which money can be extracted / CASH (Bill Cash, Tory MP and a Eurosceptic long before Brexit!) + POINT (location) |
|
| 18D | LIKE IT OR | &21 Sad Trump lie: “OK, ’til I …” (sorry, it’s that or nothing) (4,2,2,4,2) | sorry, it’s that or nothing! / anag, i.e. sad, of TRUMP LIE OK TIL I |
|
| 20D | CITIZEN | Parisian’s frightfully nice, squashing up pimple? (7) | Parisian (for example) / CI_EN (anag, i.e, terribly, of NICE) around (squashing) TIZ (zit, or pimple, up) |
|
| 21D | LUMP IT | See 18dn . (4, 2) | See 18D / See 18D |
|
| 23D | PRINCE | See 7dn. (6) | See 7D / See 7D |
|
| 25D | NEXUS | Star turned up embracing former Bond (5) | bond / N_US (sun, star, turned up) around (embracing) EX (former) |
|
| 27D | ANGRY | Mad King George getting in no matter what (5) | mad / AN_Y (no matter what) around GR (George Rex) |
|
I romped away with this one to start but then needed a couple of sessions, after a break each time, to get completed. ‘Strapless’ was last one in but ‘sushi’ was my favourite. Still not hugely convinced by ‘any’ as no matter what.
Hi Winsor – Chambers has ‘whichever, no matter which’ as the third in the list of definitions of ‘any’. Aside of the semantics of ‘which’ and ‘what’ – I am forever telling my kids it is ‘which’ if you can count them! ‘Which shirt’ should I wear, not ‘what shirt’! – does this allay your concerns?
‘Pick any card and I’ll tell you what it it’…’No matter which card you pick, I will tell you what it is’…hmmm…bit like Theresa May, I’m not completely convinced of the argument I am trying to present!…
Concerns allayed. And also I enjoyed the little lecture about which/what. I went to grammar school so we didn’t cover such things!!!! By the time I got there it was all about communication and expression. Suited me fine.
My Dad went to a Grammar Skool (in the 50s) and he certainly lets his grandchildren know when their grammar slips – which/what, you and me vs. you and I, etc. … and don’t get either of us started on the ubiquitous use of ‘like’ to not actually mean ‘like’!…
Grammar Nazis!!!!! Let the language develop, I say. But I went in the 60s to Grammar and it was very evident….we did the Ridout book 1 in year 1 and it all got dropped from the syllabus the next year.
Don’t remember any particular problems with this, but I think I used wordsearch to find 14a, SCALP (LOI).
Didn’t know Bill for 17d, but surmised there must have been an old Europhobe called Cash.
In 31, I think “is an aphrodisiac” must have been added to make it easier. The surface doesn’t make sense to me, and “One yanked from bed” seems a perfectly good, if perhaps quite difficult, cryptic definition for OYSTER.
Didn’t Cyclops miss a trick with the ‘parliamentary proposal’ synonym for ‘motion’ in 8d?
@mc_rapper, I’m not sure that’s quite the right way to distinguish ‘what’ and ‘which’. Consider:
What/which man would suffer so?
or
What/which sorcery is this?
Maybe it’s ‘which’ where a selection is to be made from a defined, limited set?
@Winsor, I think it was you recommended Acroslite to me, which I’ve been using since then, but I don’t like the way it handles answers split across lights.E.g.:
7. (&23dn) blah blah (5)
23. See 7dn (6)
I prefer to see this as:
7,23dn blah blah (5,6)
23. See 7dn
Is there a fix for this?
“I don’t like the way it handles answers split across lights.E.g.:
7. (&23dn) blah blah (5)
23. See 7dn (6)
I prefer to see this as:
7,23dn blah blah (5,6)
23. See 7dn”
I agree, but I don’t think there is a way to change it in the app.
Also, I wish clues that have been completed were indicated in some way – it would cut out a lot of unnecessary re-reading.
Tony, I agree but I guess there is no work-around. I’m simply glad to have the system at all!!! It does me started before the issue arrives and it seems to help me to solve better…..more space I guess since I have to get a piece of paper to support anagram solving rather than trying to use the odd bits of clear area in the issue.
Will, Winsor, thanks for the feedback. I might go back to my former long-winded way of doing it by copying and pasting first the grid image (appropriately sized), then the clues into a rtf document before printing. That gives, e.g., 7/23dn but at least the full enumeration goes with the lead clue which is the main beef with the Acroslite printout.
I got “scalp” wrong for 14A… I ended up with “stamp”, which just about seemed to work and fit the letters. The victory bit is the problem but I somehow talked myself into it. How annoying!
The recently disgraced presenter (1A) is Ant, not Dec.