Cyclops seems to be as up-to-date as a fortnightly schedule will allow!…
…with some obvious references to Boris’ reported WhatsApp comments about Hancock being TOTALLY ‘eff-ing’ HOPELESS. Young Matt is now RUEING his FATEFUL and NOTORIOUS clinch with one of his AIDES, which was a bit of a GAFFE and was HYPED UP by the PRESS. He tried to STALL and SUSPEND the inevitable, but has now RETIRED (unusually for a defrocked cabinet minster, to spend less time with his family!). I suspect there is also a reference to Hancock in 5A – ‘over-promoted’ and ‘extremely horny’…(?)
Plenty of other gems – the ‘toasting’ of Barbie’s boyfriend – TO KEN!; ‘EXPLETIVE’ as a Richard Nixon speciality (a reference to all those ‘expletive deleted’ redactions in the Watergate transcripts); COPYRIGHT as something that lasts ‘more or less 70 years’; and the ‘hospital corridor trolley’ as a SICKBED at 15A is a poignant image.
Some old-ish faces, with Tricky Dicky, (John) Prescott and (Sly) Stallone making appearances in the clues – just the one Boris (plus a generic ‘Tory leader’), and two references to Cyclops himself.
A couple of minor quibbles – in 9A the ‘endlessly’ could be taken to refer to the ‘it’, rather than the ‘pull’? And in 23D – I would refer to the cubicle as the ‘stall’, and the thing I actually piss into would be the toilet, or urinal within…but very minor, and both were fairly easily confirmed by crossing letters.
To sum up – an enjoyable solve, and an impressively speedy response to recent events (unless it was just a prescient coincidence?…)
[Lastly, just noticed as I was preparing the grid, the black squares in the middle of the grid could – at a squint – represent a pixellated ‘MH’. A suitable valedictory send-off, or am I just imagining things now?…]
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | FLATTER | Liberal wearing thicker flannel (7) | flannel / F_ATTER (thicker) around (worn by) L (Liberal) |
|
| 5A | HYPED UP | Over-promoted, extremely horny deputy, given a rise, gets out of bed (5,2) | over promoted / HY (extreme letters of HornY) + PED (dep, or deputy, rising, or reversed) + UP (out of bed) |
|
| 9A | TULIP | Bulbous thing – pull it out, endlessly (5) | bulbous thing / anag, i.e. out, of PUL( |
|
| 10A | EXPLETIVE | Former prince allowed Cyclops possesses a Richard Nixon speciality (9) | a Richard Nixon speciality / EX (former) + P (prince) + LET (allowed) + IVE (I’ve, Cyclops has) |
|
| 11A | FRATERNAL | Monk-like, ran after screwing on top of lecturer (9) | monk-like / FRATERNA (anag, i.e. screwing, of RAN AFTER) + L (top letter of Lecturer) |
|
| 12A | TOKEN | Mark, Barbie’s friend, is so toasted? (5) | mark / if you were toasting Barbie’s boyfriend Ken (not literally, as he would melt!), you might say ‘TO KEN’! |
|
| 13A | LASER | US city’s electorate reduced by 90% – Republican device (5) | device / LAS (LA’s, US city’s) + E (90%, or 9 of 10 letters, removed from E |
|
| 15A | SICKBED | Hospital corridor trolley’s weak screw? (7) | hospital corridor trolley / SICK (weak) + BED (as a verb, to bed can mean to have sex with, or screw) |
|
| 18A | DELETED | The French president finally in action – removed (7) | removed / DE_ED (action) around LE (the, in French) + T (final letter of presidenT) |
|
| 19A | PRESS | Crowd before the Nazi paramilitary bunch (5) | crowd / PRE (before) + SS (Nazi paramilitary bunch) |
|
| 22A | AIDES | Presidential staff’s serious loss of immunity reported (5) | presidential staff / homophone, i.e. reported – AIDES (presidential staff) sounds like AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or severe loss of immunity) |
|
| 24A | NOTORIOUS | Complete absence of debts – Balls gets back in and it’s scandalous! (9) | scandalous / NO_IOUS (complete absence of debts!) around TOR (rot, or balls, back) |
|
| 26A | SQUEAMISH | Squash ’em tight! Cyclops enters, feeling nauseated (9) | nauseated / SQUEAM_SH (anag, i.e. tight, of SQUASH EM) around I (Cyclops) |
|
| 27A | GAFFE | House wants end to Conservative balls-up (5) | balls-up / GAFF (one’s private accommodation, or house) + E (end letter of conservativE) |
|
| 28A | TOTALLY | & 5dn. “To count, lower your expectations,” as Boris said of a certain ministerial has-been (10, 18ac.) (7,8) | as Boris said of a certain ministerial has-been (except Boris added an expletive) / TO + TALLY (count) + HOPE LESS (lower your expectations) |
|
| 29A | RETIRED | Left the room scratched? (7) | double defn. / to RETIRE can mean to leave a room, usually to go to bed; and if a contestant is RETIRED from their event, they can be said to have been ‘scratched’ |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | FATEFUL | Bulk fuel arrangement is critical (7) | critical / FAT (bulk) + EFUL (anag, i.e. arrangement, of FUEL) |
|
| 2D | ALLOA | Scottish community in denial – loathsome (5) | Scottish community (town) / hidden word, in ‘deniAL LOAthsome’ |
|
| 3D | TOP SECRET | Prescott uncertain about English (not to be made public) (3,6) | not to be made public / TOP SECR_T (anag, i.e. uncertain, of PRESCOTT) around E (English) |
|
| 4D | RUEING | EU, involved in ding-dong, full of regret (6) | full of regret / R_ING (of a bell, ding-dong) around UE (anag, i.e. involved, of EU?) |
|
| 5D | HOPELESS | See 28ac. (8) | see 28A / see 28A |
|
| 6D | PLEAT | Petition against Tory leader – gather up! (5) | gather up / PLEA (petition) + T (leading letter of Tory) |
|
| 7D | DRINKABLE | Doctor in Kentucky’s capital, fit as a half-decent wine (9) | as a half-decent wine / DR (doctor) + IN + K (capital letter of Kentucky) + ABLE (fit) |
|
| 8D | PREENED | Piss around right before Edward acted the dandy (7) | acted the dandy / P_EE (piss) around R (right), plus NED (familiar form of Edward?) |
|
| 14D | SELF-DOUBT | Flu best treated without party’s lack of confidence (4-5) | lack of confidence / SELF_UBT (anag, i.e. treated, of FLU BEST) around DO (party) |
|
| 16D | COPYRIGHT | Catch end of willy on fitting – something that lasts more or less 70 years? (9) | something that lasts more-or-less 70 years / COP (catch) + Y (end letter of willY) + RIGHT (fitting). (In general, and in the UK, copyright lasts for the creator’s lifetime plus 70 years?) |
|
| 17D | IDENTITY | What you are: bastard (deny it, twice) (8) | what you are / anag, i.e. bastard, of DENY + IT + IT (it, twice) |
|
| 18D | DEAD SET | Determined to get stiff before sex with some unearthly type (4,3) | determined / DEAD (stiff) + S (sex, abbreviation) + ET (extraterrestrial, uneartly type!) |
|
| 20D | SUSPEND | Put off by garter perversely about to be removed (7) | put off / SUSPEND( |
|
| 21D | ETCHER | Crafty type’s gofer: “F-off” (6) | crafty type / ( |
|
| 23D | STALL | Sylvester lacks one thing to piss into? (5) | thing to piss into / STALL( |
|
| 25D | OFFER | Tender dicky: going to hospital department (5) | tender / OFF (ill, or dicky) + ER (Emergency Room, US hospital department) |
|
Thanks for the blog , very comprehensive .
Are you slightly confusing Mike Hancock with Nick Hancock ?
Very understandable and Nick could not be a worse health secretary.
Agree with your quibble on 23D and your qualifier for copyright.
5A – given a rise indicates a down clue ?
20D I think of garter and suspender as very different . Maybe American, vaguely recall something about braces ?
I thought Matt Hancock was the outgoing Health Sec (not Nick or Mike!)…
Helpful exposition – thanks!
#red-faced apology – of course I meant Matt Hancock (out of sight, out of mind already!). Thanks to Roz and pdmjoker above – edits applied.
Nick Hancock was a 90s-ish TV show host/comedian, whose shows I spent many an hour watching, and Mike Hancock was a Labour/Lib Dem flip-flopper who was accused of sexually assaulting a constituent in 2014/15 – a much more serious scenario than Matt’s seemingly consensual clinch with his aide, but with similar effects on their political careers…
It is spreading ha ha. Of course it is Matt, thank you pdmjoker@2, shows how much impression he has made on everyone.
I thought this was Cyclops at his near-best and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I particularly liked the definition for Copyright which provided the best PDM for me.
One tiny niggle was the reverse indicator “given a rise” in 5A H[orn]Y PED< UP which would have been OK in a Down clue.
We haven't seen the last of Matt Hancock. He will inevitably be wheeled out as the fall guy and absorb all the blame for the Government's incompetent mishandling of the Covid pandemic, to provide cover for Boris during the inevitable inquiry. (No doubt that's what Javid's been promised)
Roz at #1, and beermagnet at #5 – good point on 5A having a Down clue-type indicator – I did wonder at the time, but forgot to mention it in the blog.
Roz at #1 – Chambers has ‘garter‘ as ‘a band used to support a stocking’, as well as ‘suspender’ (but with a N American qualification); and for ‘suspender‘ it has ‘strap to support a sock or stocking’, so I think that is close enough, if you genuflect to the Big Red Book? It also has ‘suspenders’ (plural) as braces, again, (N Am) – so your vague recall was along the right tracks…
Thank you for that, I do defer to Chambers in all things in the crossword world. However, I know that garter and suspender have the same FUNCTION but in essence are totally different. Would we be happy with BELT = BRACES in a crossword clue ? They have the same function to hold up trousers but are clearly different .
Fair point, Roz! It’s been a while since I had any practical/hands-on experience… I would try to do some detailed online research on this, but I suspect it may get me in trouble with ‘er indoors (;+>)
Ha ha it must be a male setter, will just say I would never use garters, bad for circulation.
Then (US) and now (UK)
I think the setter might be Eddie
but i wouldnt like to interrupt Roz.
Thanks mc_rapper67 and good work with the hghlighter, I agree on the poorly positioned “endlessly” in 9A too (shame as it is classic Cyclops otherwise although with the crossers the answer was clear), also with Roz@1 now she mentions it re garter/suspender differences, although I got that one without any hesitation at the time – perhaps I wasn’t thinking straight at that point? I liked the electorate reduced by 90% – maybe using a sledgehammer to crack a nut but why not? – and a great surface (unfortunately) although the definition is a bit vague.
Had another look and agree with blog and Gazzh about 9A, just move endlessly to before pull.
Gazzh also mentions 13A which I did not appreciate fully doing the puzzle. Great allusion to voter suppression , which will be coming here next, and the 90% is very original compared to just using first or last letter.
Thanks mc_rapper67 and Cyclops> I found this tough but enjoyed it. 16d was tricky for me to parse but I thought it was a good’un. I also liked 3d and 17d. I thought there must be some alternative parsing to 9a as ‘endlessly’ seemed a bit loose. So it was comforting to see similar thinking. I did wonder about 15a “hospital corridor trolley “= sickbed. Is that just a bit of humour or is it a formal definition I wasn’t aware of? Anyway all the best y’all and don’t get hung up on suspenders.
Fabulous crossword from Cyclops, thanks! I loved the snide asides in the clues as well as the lights (5a, 9a, 27a, 28a, 27d); great work as usual. I too felt 9a ws slightly off, and failed to see GAFF – generally, loved it!
I struggled with the Matt Hancock one, while knowing there was a quote somewhere…..but I needed Expletive and Deleted before it stuck home. Stall caused me some argument since I would expect to piss IN one but pissing INTO one seems like bragging to me.
Not Cyclops’s best by any margin. I wasn’t impressed with 29A (who the hell uses ‘left the room’ as an idiom these days?) also 24A was pretty rubbish. Did enjoy 8D, 16D and 18D and of course the topical 28A though.
You don’t often see a two-letter anagram, do you, but here we have two: EU > UE in 4d (involved) and RE > ER in 20d (perversely — which to me indicates an anagram, not a reversal as blogged),
To add to the transoceanic storehouse of knowledge about lingerie vocab, what is known as ‘suspenders’ or a ‘suspender belt’ here is a ‘girdle’ over there. (You see, Roz? Even men like me and Eddie James can have knowledge of such words). I wondered about garter = suspender, but took it that it was just the verb describing what a garter does (suspend) with agent indicator ‘-er’.
To my mind, a couple of Q marks could be removed from parsings:
4dn Yes, an anagram (“involved”) — as noted above
8dn Yes, Ned is a familiar form for Edward.
Tony@17 I do not know who Eddie James is ? Is it he setter ?
I think of girdle as a type of elasticated corset, very old-fashioned these days, but as you say it is different in the USA.
I think of as a garter as constricting not suspending, hence very uncomfortable.
Thanks for the continuing comments – especially Tony Collman at #17 for the forensic analysis on the two-letter anagrams…
Let’s stop lingering by the lingerie counter, and call this correspondence closed – and let’s move on to Eye 707… My paper copy still hasn’t hit the doorstep, so I will be reverting to the online copy here:
https://www.private-eye.co.uk/sections.php?section_link=crossword
Roz@18 (pace mc@19), yes, Eddie James is the setter. You probably also know him as Brummie in the Guardian.