Cyclops 652 – Bicycle Charlatan

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I found this much harder than many recent Cyclops puzzles…

…it took several passes and an educated guess at an unknown (to me) person at 23A before I got my LOI – BICYCLE at 20A…I just couldn’t get my mind away from Sir Walter rather than a 2-wheeled Raleigh!

I’m sure many keener observers of American politics than me must be familiar with KELLYANNE CONWAY, but I had to look her up, after guess-timating the entry from wordplay and crossers. After the fact, I appreciated the way the clue references a previous, disgruntled, member of the Trump administration in John Kelly.

Some other nice touches in the ‘maximum strikes’ clue at 19A, with NATO helping to make AT NOON…the SWISS as a ‘European state overrun by Nazis’… and the hidden words used for Joe Orton. Ronald T Dump makes several appearances in clues and, indirectly, as a solution at 10A – slightly ORANGE MAN.

X/SMACKER and the ‘nursery employee’ at 9D struck a slightly familiar note, and a quick search of this site found SMACKER in Cyclops 584, clued as ‘Inappropriate nursery worker’s show of affection (7)‘. But I think any setter as prolific as Cyclops can be forgiven the odd similar clue/answer every two and a half years?!…

In the week that Theresa May slipped quietly out of the back door of No 10, without even a GOLD WATCH for her troubles, we have a BICYCLE-riding CHARLATAN (BoJo) who seems to have STABBED his main rival in the back, with the revelation of the TAINTed Michael Gove’s drug-taking activities – seems you have to live the life of a FRIGID TRAPPIST monk to be suitable for high office these days, when our holier-than-thou press EYES UP your record. By this LOGIC, any morally BANKRUPT skeletons in the closet and you will be hauled before a SELECT COMMITTEE AT NOON, before being UNSHIPped!

 

 

Hopefully all is covered below, and thanks to Cyclops for the workout…

 

Across
Clue No Solution Clue Definition (with occasional embellishments) /
Logic/parsing
1A BUCKLE & 26 UK blunder, breaking with EC? Result: collapse (6,5) collapse /
anag, i.e. breaking, of UK BLUNDER + EC
4A EDUCATED Balls, internally, no longer tender, he finally learned (8) learned /
E_D (Ed Balls, former UK politician) around (containing internally) DUCAT (old coin, i.e. no longer tender) + E (final letter of hE)
10A ORANGEMAN Round kitchen equipment guy who may well be on the march (9) (someone) who may well be on the march (in Northern Ireland) /
O (round letter) + RANGE (kitchen equipment) + MAN (guy)
11A SWISS European state overrun by Nazis (5) European /
S_S (Nazis) around (overrunning) WIS (Wisconsin, state)
12A SELECT COMMITTEE Investigating politicians Sun preferred to execute, with little support (6,9) investigating politicians /
S (sun) + ELECT (preferred, chosen) + COMMIT (execute, complete) + TEE (little support, e.g. for golf ball!)
13A STABBED Cut short initially, Bill gets to have sex (7) cut /
S (initial letter of Short) + TAB (bill) + BED (have sex with)
15A FRIGID Unresponsive fellow with hard on (6) unresponsive /
F (fellow) + RIGID (with hard-on!)

or

F + (with) RIGID (hard) on (attached) (as per Tony’s comment below)
19A AT NOON NATO on manoeuvres when maximum strikes are made? (2,4) when maximum strikes are made (by a chiming clock!) /
anag, i.e. manoeuvres) of NATO ON
20A BICYCLE Raleigh, perhaps, not fussed as regards sex revolution (7) Raleigh, perhaps (other brands are available!) /
BI (not fussed, as regards sexual orientation) + CYCLE (revolution)
23A KELLYANNE CONWAY Disillusioned Chief of Staff shows unbridled annoyance about wife being the Trump’s political advisor (9,6) Trump’s political advisor /
KELLY (John, disillusioned Chief of Staff – after 2 years, under Ronald T Dump) + ANNE CON_AY (anag, i.e. unbridled, of ANNOYANCE), around W (wife)
26A UNDER See 1ac. (5) see 1A /
see 1A
27A MISSTATES Military intelligence, southern USA, expresses ‘alternative facts’ (9) expresses alternative (or wrong?!) facts /
MI (Military Intelligence) + S (southern) + STATES (USA)
28A TRAPPIST Who doesn’t speak of the Sound of Music family supporter? (8) (monk) who doesn’t speak) /
almost a double defn? A TRAPPIST is usually a monk who has taken a vow of silence. But someone who supports the von Trapp family from ‘The Sound of Music’ could – at a stretch – be described as a TRAPP-IST?!
29A UNSHIP Sun-baked joint? Do a crafty removal (6) do a crafty removal (remove something from a craft!) /
UNS (anag, i.e. baked, of SUN) + HIP (joint)
Down
Clue No Solution Clue Definition (with occasional embellishments) /
Logic/parsing
1D BIOPSY Operation cuts lives in extremely barmy medical procedure (6) medical procedure /
B_Y (extreme letters of BarmY) around I_S (lives), itself around (cut by) OP (operation)
2D CHARLATAN Daily Mail finally advanced on Brown, the bastard! (9) the bastard! /
CHAR (household cleaner, daily) + L (final letter of maiL) + A (advanced) + TAN (brown)
3D LOGIC Lots of guys in chiffon tops, which makes you think (5) (something) which makes you think /
first letters, or tops, of ‘Lots Of Guys In Chiffon’
5D DYNAMO Active type Andy’s crappy way of working (6) active type /
DYNA (anag, i.e. crap, of ANDY) + MO (modus operandi, way of working)
6D COSMIC RAY Boris’s final appearance in farcical Ayr production: Thing From Outer Space (6,3) thing from outer space /
CO_MIC (farcical) aroiund S (final letter of boriS), plus RAY (anag, i.e. production, of AYR)
7D TAINT It’s not low-class to smear? (5) double def’n /
‘TAINT can be a non-standard, or ‘lower class’, contraction of ‘it aint’, or ‘it’s not; and TAINT can be a noun or verb meaning smear
8D DESCENDS After upsetting journalist, Conservative leader cuts posts and falls (8) falls /
DE (ed, or editor, journalidt, upset) + S_ENDS (posts) around C (leading letter of Conservative)
9D SMACKER X, who shouldn’t be a nursery employee? (7) x (representation of a kiss, or smacker) /
again almost a double defn? A SMACKER, someone who smacks, should probably not be employed at a children’s nursery (these days!)
14D BOOBY-TRAP Mistake, Labour, say, being on the rise – something to beware of (5-4) something to beware of /
BOOB (mistake) + Y TRAP (party, e.g. Labour, on the rise)
16D GOLD WATCH Blingy piece, ‘Gotcha!’ obnoxiously included ‘Loss/Draw/Win’? (4,5) blingy piece /
GO_ATCH (anag, i.e. obnoxiously, of GOTCHA) around LDW (abbreviations for Loss, Draw, Win, e.g. in a league table)
17D BANKRUPT Tip by Rex: “put out bust” (8) bust /
BANK (tip, tilt) + R (Rex) + UPT (anag, i.e. out, of PUT)
18D DIVERSE Different people like Tom Daley to come to earth (7) different /
DIVERS (people like Tom Daley, Olympic diver) + E (earth)
21D ANIMUS Bad feeling about main land of Trump (6) bad feeling /
ANIM (anag, i.e. about, of MAIN) + US (land of Ronald T Dump)
22D EYES UP Makes an appraisal of English: “I agree – finished” (4,2) makes an appraisal of /
E (English) + YES (I agree!) + UP (finished)
24D LYDIA The old country’s daily crap (5) the old country (ancient region of Asia Minor) /
anag, i.e. crap – again! – of DAILY
25D ORTON Dramatist kept in comfort – onanist! (5) dramatist (Joe) /
hidden word, i.e. kept in, in ‘comfORT ONanist’!

 

4 comments on “Cyclops 652 – Bicycle Charlatan”

  1. Thanks mc_rapper. 12 a was the one solution I couldn’t fully parse (committee). All is now clear. I liked 19a.

  2. I found this quite a bit harder, too and hadn’t heard of Kellyanne Conway either, but worked it out, confirming who the Kelly was too. Hardly a week passed before I noticed the name on the news as someone accompanying Trump to the UK.

    I parsed 15a slightly differently: F +(with) RIGID (hard) on (attached).

    I liked “when maximum strikes are made” (19a) and “the Sound of Music family supporter” (28a) as cryptic definitions and “Daily Mail finally” was a nice bit of cryptic wordplay. 11a, SWISS was an excellent surface and I got the answer from SS without being sure what state WIS abbreviated.

    Had to check LYDIA, even though I was fairly sure I’d heard of it.

  3. Franko at #1 – glad to be of help!

    Tony – your parsing of 15A is probably better (and cleaner) – I just assumed Cyclops was being his smutty old self – or is it a reflection on me?!…

    Looks like we all enjoyed 19A…

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