By my reckoning, Cyclops only has one more puzzle after this to use up all his BoJo references, before he has to switch to either LiTr or RiSu… (I hope their marketing people are working on better memes than those!…)
Some fairly topical references as parliament heads into its SUMMER RECESS, with the WORN OUT BoJo becoming a virtual EXPAT on his NINTH (or thereabouts) well-subsidised holiday of recent times.
I enjoyed the use of LISZT for ‘half-pissed’ at 12A; and the KEY of DONKEY being a ‘depressed thing’… Elsewhere there are familiar references to Ronald T Dump, still railing on about ELECTORAL FRAUD at 3D; his ‘WORN OUT’ successor Biden at 5D; and Brian/Prince Charles at 17D – with the rather more obscure (to us here in the UK, at least) Ted Cruz at 24D.
And maybe 16A THE END is a final BROADSIDE against the TWO-FACED, well-CUSHIONED would-be EMPEROR…TIMBERrrrrrr!
As usual, thanks to Cyclops for an enjoyable solve, and I trust all is clear below (this is my fourth blog of the week, with a conjunction of differently frequenced cycles, so a bit of fatigue and snow-blindness may have set in!…)
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
||
| 1A | SUMMER (RECESS) | & 22 Calculating type wants nooky place as a break from political activity (6,6)
SUMMER (one doing sums, a calculating type!) + RECESS (a nook, so a nooky place!) |
||
| 4A | TWO-FACED | Frank’s opposite mugged repeatedly? (3-5)
someone with a mug, or face, might be ‘mugged’, so someone who is TWO-FACED could be said to be ‘mugged’ repeatedly! [and being TWO-FACED, or deceptive, is the opposite of being frank, or honest] |
||
| 10A | POSTERIOR | Pro put out about pathetic Tories being behind (9)
PO_R or P_OR (anag, i.e. put out, of PRO) around STERIO or OSTERI (anag, i.e. pathetic, of TORIES) |
||
| 11A | ARSON | Minister without Portfolio’s capital crime (5)
( |
||
| 12A | LISZT | He scored, being only half pissed? (5)
Cockney rhyming slang for being pissed, or drunk, is ‘Brahms and Liszt’, so being half pissed could be just Brahms, or LISZT! [he ‘scored’, in a musical notation sense!] |
||
| 13A | BROADSIDE | Strong criticism of non-PC female joining party (9)
BROAD (non-PC term for a female) + SIDE (party) |
||
| 14A | EMPEROR | End of the politician – mistake when Republican goes for supreme leader (7)
E (end of thE) + MP (politician) + ER( |
||
| 16A | THE END | In effect he endured death (3,3)
hidden phrase in ‘effecT HE ENDured’ |
||
| 19A | FILLET | A boner might well … take up all the space (getting expandable trouser tops) (6)
FILL (take up all the space) + ET (top letters of Expandable Trousers) |
||
| 21A | RESIDUE | House much reduced – I expected balance (7)
RES (abbreviation, or much reduced, for residence, or house) + I + DUE (expected) |
||
| 23A | ECCENTRIC | Conservative centre mobilised: indignant Corbyn heads for way out (9)
ECCENTR (anag, i.e. mobilised, of C (Conservative) + CENTRE) + IC (head, of first letters, of Indignant Corbyn) |
||
| 25A | NINTH | Not a good race position – element of Klan in that (5)
hidden word in, i.e. element of, ‘klaN IN THat’ |
||
| 27A | EXPAT | Crazy Texan, almost welcoming poll leader, a foreign settler! (5)
EX_AT (anag, i.e. crazy, of TEXA( |
||
| 28A | NITPICKER | Petty critic, a groomer? (9)
double defn. a NITPICKER can be a petty critic, and also an animal (or person!) grooming, or picking the nits from, another! |
||
| 29A | STEADY ON | Tony’s rattled about Gove’s right-wing bill? Stay calm! (6,2)
ST_Y ON (anag, i.e. rattled, of TONYS), around E (right-most letter of govE + AD (bill, poster, advertisement) |
||
| 30A | PLEDGE | I’m coming off the booze, I take it? (6)
CD? – someone coming off the booze might take, or sign, a PLEDGE to continue doing so. |
||
| Across | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
||
| 1D | SUPPLIER | Maybe drug dealer’s more flexible after trapping one (8)
SUPPL_ER (more flexible) around (trapping) I (one) |
||
| 2D | MOSES | Some trouble with sex initially, Grandma? (5)
MOSE (anag, i.e. trouble, of SOME) + S (Sex, initially) |
||
| 3D | ELECTORAL (FRAUD) | & 6 “Red alert! Commie leader, a foul criminal!” (Trump’s nemesis, he claims) (9,5)
anag, i.e. criminal, of RED ALERT + C (leading letter of Commie) + A FOUL |
||
| 5D | WORN-OUT | Tired argument overturned, Biden finally removed from office? (4-3)
WOR (row, argument, overturned) + N (bideN, finally) + OUT (removed from office) |
||
| 6D | FRAUD | See 3dn. (5)
see 3D |
||
| 7D | CUSHIONED | Capitol’s initial in-house shenanigans by Democrat stifled (9)
C (initial letter of Capitol) + USHIONE (anag, i.e. shenanigans, of IN HOUSE) + D (Democrat) |
||
| 8D | DONKEY | Academic, depressed thing – symbolic of the Democrats (6)
DON (academic) + KEY (thing depressed on a keyboard!) [in the US, the Republicans are symbolised by an elephant; the Democrats by a donkey] |
||
| 9D | TIMBER | Head of Marketing replacing ‘unknown quantity’ in dodgy Brexit deal? (6)
anag, i.e. dodgy, of BRE( [deal as in fir or pine board, or soft wood] |
||
| 15D | PRINCIPLE | Our Brian to seize island power with liberal rule! (9)
PRINC_E (Prince Charles, known as Brian by the Eye), around (seizing) I (island) + P (power) + L (Liberal) |
||
| 17D | ESSENTIAL | Basic senate is controlled by Republicans centrally (9)
ESSENTIA (anag, i.e. controlled, of SENATE IS) + L (central letter of repubLicans) |
||
| 18D | SEAHORSE | Hack after the drink to be found swimming in warm waters (8)
SEA (the drink) + HORSE (hack) |
||
| 20D | TORONTO | Major population centre is within grasp of senator on top (7)
hidden word in, i.e. within grasp of, ‘senaTOR ON TOp’ |
||
| 21D | RECITE | Declaim “Stick it somewhere else!” to an audience (6)
homophone, i.e. to an audience – RECITE (declaim) can sound like RE-SITE – stick it somewhere else! |
||
| 22D | RECESS | See 1ac. (6)
see 1A |
||
| 24D | NOTED | Distinguished – unlike Senator Cruz? (5)
if someone is unlike Senator Ted Cruz, then they might be NO TED! |
||
| 26D | NAKED | Clergyman hugging king with erection is unfrocked (and more) (5)
DE_AN (clergyman) around (hugging) K (king, chess notation), all reversed, or ‘with erection’, for a Down clue = NAKED |
||
Thanks for the blog, a lot of very good clues and quite a bit North American this week. Perhaps Cyclops just fed up of Johnson as well although Truss as PM is surely beyond satire.
I liked DONKEY and LISZT for the same reasons as you , TIMBER was very neat , NAKED outrageous but funny, likewise FILLET, ARSON was very deceptive.
PLEDGE was a bit weak, EMPEROR it could have said second Republican ( there are three ). I have seen SEAHORSEs on the NW UK coast and I would not call the water warm, but it is a relative term.
Indeed, thank you for the blog. I took ages to sort the depressed key thingie…but it was very neat!!!
@Roz……..maybe the additional bodily fluids and solids will have warmed the water and privded a little sustenace for said horses?
Or should we be kind and blame higher temperatures?
MOSES was amongst the last ones in….I knew it had to be that but needed Google to help me put it together.
[Roz@1 – sea horses possibly carried on floating seaweed in Gulf Stream]
[madman@3 our West coast certainly much warmer due to the Gulf stream. I have looked up seahorse and a lot of species . Most prefer warmer water but a few in much colder regions.
Thanks mc_rapper, another good summary! Agree that there were some fine clues here – in fact I really struggled in the SE with interlinked RESIDUE, SEAHORSE and PLEDGE all holding out. For a long time I assumed 30A had to end in “—DRY” which was no help at all. Eventually I got it (thanks to vague recollections of AA sessions attended by Matt Scudder in the Lawrence Block series) and that got me going again – I think it’s a pretty good slippery cd. I looked up seahorse habitats as I was sure they liked cooler waters rather than tropics but i think the definition is fine as they don’t seem to appear anywhere actually cold (eg Arctic) but are generally around temperate (eg English) and tropical coasts. I have never seen one in the wild but still hope to do so one day! [But my sympathy if your sea swims have been derailed Roz, our friends on the S coast are enforced landlubbers for a while.]
“I enjoyed the use of LISZT for ‘half-pissed’ at 12A”
I think you probably mean you enjoyed the use of ‘half-pissed’ for LISZT? (I did, too).
In 30ac, I believe it’s not so much a PLEDGE being referred to as The PLEDGE. See also https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/taking-the-pledge-gave-impetus-to-historic-religious-movement-1.229347
2dn This was a jorum for me, although once I found Grandma MOSES via Google, I remembered I’d heard of her before. I thought it was a little obscure; I’m almost certain I’ve heard of a more famous MOSES.
In 9dn, the question mark is part of the definition (despite not being underlined) as, while deal is an example of TIMBER, it doesn’t define it (but cf 18dn, where the definition-by-example “hack” isn’t indicated and the cryptic grammar would have been more correct if the clue had been introduced with ‘possibly’, or similar).
Btw, I do find it amusing that underneath “See 3dn (5)” you think it might be helpful to write “See 3D” 😉
[ Gazzh@5 no problems so far, our coast is pretty deserted and low population density plus our water company is slightly less incompetent than those in the South. I think the current situation is a very eloquent comment on Thatcherism. ]
Tony@6 re other MOSESes: “Some trouble with sex initially, for man who had great success getting his leg over ” – a lot wordier, certainly, and probably ought to have “legs” plural but surface would suffer (depending on what you think the plural of legover should be)!
Gazzh@8, despite the internet now informing me that “Ed Moses has a good case for being regarded as one the world’s greatest track athletes”, for me, he is even more obscure than Grandma. I was thinking more along the lines of:
Having some trouble with sex initially, I took a couple of tablets
Tony@9 yes that is better in both senses, bravo!