Quite a quick solve again.
Only half a dozen gaps after the first pass mostly in the top right where 5A Fillip and 11A Scrutineer gave me the most trouble. All the wordplay scrupulously clear.
For 27A my fingers wrote in Profligate so I had a bit of head-scratching before I realised 26d was Abyss
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | UPHOLD | Having got an erection, don’t let go of support (6) UP (Having got an erection) HOLD (don’t let go of) First read – first answered |
| 5 | FILLIP | Ex-driver’s sound boost (6) Homophone (indicated by sound) of “Phillip” Ref. Phil the Greek and his recent (eventual) promise to not drive anymore. Last one in – those homophones get me, not vice versa |
| 10/16 | FACT CHECKING | Gen. Halting’s very time-consuming task when it comes to Trump’s tweets etc? (4,8) FACT (gen, info) CHECKING (halting) |
| 11 | SCRUTINEER | Rest cure organised to accommodate elected poll-watcher? (10) IN (elected) inside (REST CURE)* AInd: organised |
| 12 | SUNDOWNER | Tabloid on depression: “here’s a timely drink” (9) SUN (tabloid) DOWNER (depression) |
| 14 | ASHORE | Like topless hooker getting off the boat (6) AS (like) [w]HORE (hooker, topless) |
| 18 | ESOTERIC | Loose corset that is contracted and concealed (8) (CORSET IE)* AInd: loose |
| 21 | TATTLE | Gossip: “two Tory leaders caught in lie!” (6) TT (T[ory], twice) inside TALE (lie) |
| 23/13/2 | SING ONE PRAISES | Pisspoor rap session singer – not right to boast about yourself (4,4,7) (RAP SESSION SINGER – R)* AInd: pisspoor |
| 25 | PISTACHIO | End of Trump chaos engineered with IT? One needs to enter “nut” (9) [trum]P (CHAOS IT + 1)* AInd: engineered |
| 27 | PROFLIGACY | Rolf turned over one grand in speedy extravagance (10) (ROLF)* AInd: turned over, and 1G all inside PACY (speedy) |
| 28/29 | NOSY PARKER | Busybody who left front of car sticking out? (4,6) Definition and Cryptic Definition |
| 30 | SORBET | Strobes’ unfinished, dodgy refresher course (6) (STROBE[s])* AInd: dodgy |
| Down | ||
| 3 | OPTING OUT | Voting Brexit? Git not up to timeless reforms (6,3) (GIT NOT UP TO – T)* AInd: reforms |
| 4 | DISCO | Hell meets Conservative circle music genre! (5) DIS (hell) C[onservative] O (circle) |
| 6 | INTERJECT | Put to rest with Jack, etc, possibly ejaculate (9) INTER (put to rest) J[ack] (ETC)* AInd: possibly |
| 7 | LINGO | Nothing’s going up – try tongue (5) NIL< (nothing, going up) GO (try) |
| 8 | PRE-TEEN | Groom penetrated by alien before adolescence (3-4) ET (alien) in PREEN (groom) |
| 9 | IRONIC | Derisive press in command (6) IRON (press) IC (in command) |
| 15 | EUROPHILE | Pathetically puerile and, oh, not Rees-Mogg? (9) (PUERILE + OH)* AInd: pathetically |
| 17 | KITCHENER | Where chopper might well be made use of by Brenda ? Lord! (9) KITCHEN (where chopper might well be made use of) ER (Brenda) |
| 19 | STIRRUP | Put your foot in it, introducing Republican to liberal purist (7) R[epublican] inside (PURIST)* AInd: liberal |
| 20 | CASUAL | Informal, anti-Trump state holding America up (6) USA< (America, up) inside CAL (California, anti-Trump state) |
| 22 | LOOK-SEE | Gents possibly seek out non-kosher butcher’s (4-3) LOO (gents possibly) (SEEK)* AInd: out Cockney Rhyming Slang: Butcher’s Hook / Look |
| 24 | GO FAR | Be a success screwing a frog (2,3) (A FROG)* AInd: screwing |
| 26 | ABYSS | Fool around near Gulf (5) BY (near) inside ASS (fool) |
Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
More words of wisdom credited to Franklin P Jones here
Slight typo…sing one’s praises.
But why is DIS for hell?
Dis = Hell is one of those things I picked up from crosswords early on and I thought it was something like a Latin/Roman reference – looking it up on Wikipedia I find:
Dis (Divine Comedy), the fictional city in The Divine Comedy that contains the lower circles of hell; also used as alternate name for Lucifer
I remembered Dis from Cyclops 626 (also blogged by beermagnet).
Thank you so much, one and all.
Really struggled with 10/16A – last one in. Also had the same trouble with ‘Profligate/cy’!
Just one query: why ‘non-kosher’ in 22D? Wouldn’t the clue still make sense without it?
Pete @5. My interpretation of 22D was that ‘look-see’ typifies a somewhat unorthodox type of English (Chinese-derived pidgin).
Chambers (1986): Dis n a name for Pluto, hence the infernal world [L. D?s, cog. with deus, d?vus.]
A crossword staple.
Oops! ‘i’ with a bar over it not rendered
John E @6 – thanks. That makes sense now.
Good people,
I thoroughly joy my fortnightly dose of Cyclops but while it once took a fortnight to do, I now get it done too quickly. I wonder if someone can recommend another weekly/fortnightly puzzle that I can access through the internet and use Across Lite to keep my few brain cells ticking over?
‘derisive’ is almost sarcastic but definitely not ironic don’t you think?
tim @11
http://en.oxforddictionaries.com/thesaurus/ironic