Cyclops 752 – Pig-headed Intruder

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Just like the news these last few days, this puzzle is a little Trump-heavy, with three mentions in the clues…

…but that may just be serendipitous, as the general tone of the references (and other answers – INCITE, INTRUDER) is more to the Capitol riots than his latest historical misdemeanours, although PERPETRATE does fit the bill! The surface read of 14A would solve a lot of problems…

Several other old faces pop up – the recently cuckolded Rupert; Tony Blair contributing to RIBALDRY; Bill (Clinton) getting a cocaine dose for CHIT; and Dacre – also recently in the news, will-he won’t-he finally get his much-deserved seat in the Lords?…

27A could be prophetic, given the latest news coming from Ukraine, and Bakhmut, in particular.

(And I trust our noble 15×15 admin, Kenmac isn’t upset by 7D?!

 

All good solid Cyclops-ean fun – thanks to him, and I trust all is clear below…

 

Across
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
1A SCRUMPY Senior Conservative leaders, arse-like, get strong booze (7)

SC (leading letters of ‘Senior Conservatives) + RUMPY (arse can be rump, so like an arse can be RUMP-Y!)
5A COCK-UPS Boobs tip: needing lifts (4-3)

COCK (tip? A cock has a tip, but unless it is a particularly cold day…?!) + UPS (lifts)
10A NITROGEN Republican ball hosted by jackass military leader is ‘a gas‘ (8)

NIT (jackass) + GEN (general, military leader) around (hosting) R (Republican) + O (ball, round-ish letter)
11A CHOIRS Chain and ball is about right for church groups (6)

CH (chain) + O (ball, see above!) + I_S around R (right)
12A CYBERWARFARE Russian army campaign avoiding troop casualties? Could be rawer by far in gutless crusade (12)

C_E (gutless CrusadE, i.e. without its inner letters) around YBER WARFAR (anag, i.e. could be, of RAWER BY FAR)

[would this have worked just as well without the Russian reference?…]
14A STOLID Indifferent when Trump’s head stuck in concrete (6)

S_OLID (concrete) around T (Trump’s head, or first letter)

[wishful thinking!…]
15A RIBALDRY Rudeness from Blair, somehow uninteresting (8)

RIBAL (anag, i.e. somehow, of BLAIR) + DRY (uninteresting)
17A INTRUDER Elected Trump having dumped politician: “Red oddball, unwelcome guest” (8)

IN (elected) + TRU(MP) (Trump, dumping MP, politician) + DER (anag, i.e. oddball, of RED)
20A INCITE Prompt, visible, audible (6)

anag, i.e. audible – INCITE (prompt) can sound like IN SIGHT (visible)
22A HYPOCHONDRIA Chiropody Hans almost botched causing unwarranted ill feeling (12)

anag, i.e. botched, of CHIROPODY HAN(S) (almost)
25A INSURE Cover one nipple, initially – fast! (6)

I (one) + N (initial letter of Nipple) + SURE (fast, fixed)
26A EUPHORIA Joy, finally awake, gets out of bed with frightful hairdo – date leaves (8)

E (final letter of awakE) + UP (out of bed) + HORIA (subtractive anagram, i.e. frightful, of HAIR(D)O leaving out D – date)
27A REVERSE Openings of Russia’s exhausted lines result in defeat (7)

RE (opening letters of Russia’s Exhausted) + VERSE (lines, of poetry)
28A STAYING Lockdown advice: government initially suspending (7)

STAYIN (stay in, lockdown advice, except at No. 10!) + G (initial letter of Government)
Across
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
2D CHIT Bill‘s cocaine drug dose (4)

C (cocaine) + HIT (drug dose)
3D UNROYAL Run around with nothing on and frig about? That’s common (7)

UNR (anag, i.e. about, of RUN) + O (zero, nothing) + YAL (lay, have sex with, frig?, about)

[I always thought ‘frig’ meant just (mutual) masturbation, so not actually having sex (your honour!), but Chambers has it as ‘loosely, to have sexual intercourse with’. Not sure if the looseness refers to the usage of the word or the participants?!]
4D PIGHEADED Babe possibly associated with leader and journalist? Perverse! (9)

PIG (Babe, possibly…c.f. the film Babe) + HEAD (leader) + ED (journalist)
6D OCCUR Take place with firm uplifted arse (5)

OC (Co, company, or firm, uplifted) + CUR (scoundrel, arse)
7D KNOW-ALL Ken, complete smartarse (4-3)

KNOW (ken) + ALL (complete)
8D PERPETRATE For each preferred charge, execute! (10)

PER (for each) + PET (preferred, favourite) + RATE (charge, fee)
9D ANSWER “Useless wanker’s lost heart!” rejoinder (6)

subtractive anagram, i.e. lost, of WAN(K)ERS (losing middle letter, of heart)
13D STONEHENGE ‘Rock bird’, say, overturned ancient monument (10)

STONE (rock) + HEN (bird) + GE (e.g., or say, overturned)
16D BLINDSPOT Drunk a little – hazardous point for a motorist (9)

BLIND (drunk, incapacitated through alcohol) + SPOT (a small quantity))
18D RUPTURE Upper class given devious Rupert’s protection – a breach (7)

RUPT_RE (anag, i.e. devious, of RUPERT) around (protecting) U (upper class, i.e. not non-U!)
19D RIOTER Big city has time, er, for lawless Trump supporter? (6)

RIO (big city, in Brazil) + T (time) + ER
21D CHICORY Politician loses head after fashionable coffee alternative (7)

CHIC (fashionable) + (T)ORY (politician, losing first letter, or head)
23D CRESS ‘Green stuff’ element of Dacre’s salary (5)

hidden word in, i.e. element of, ‘daCRE’S Salary’
24D KILN Hot place – climax of sexual relations needs to be taken outside (4)

KI_N (relations) around (taking in) L (climax, or end, of sexuaL)

[Phew…think I need a cold shower…!]

21 comments on “Cyclops 752 – Pig-headed Intruder”

  1. Thanks loonapick, I cocked an eyebrow at 5A too and that was the closest equivalence I could find ( does cock in a rifle sense mean something similar?). The Russians are in 12A to be topical I think, and I had the same quibble about ‘frig’ (not something I ever expected to type!). But a lot of this impressed me eg EUPHORIA.

  2. Thanks for the blog, HYPOCHONDRIA was very good in the word play and the definition. For INTRUDER the RED is reversed but I suppose technically it is an anagram as well. Like Gazzh@1 , EUPHORIA impressed me as well , excellent word play.
    Frig(ging) has some use as a euphimism for a cruder F word, so frig=lay in that sense.
    Cock and tip both just about mean to tilt but quite a stretch.
    I was hoping for some mockery of the coronation but maybe too early.

  4. To Roz’s favourites of HYPOCHONDRIA (definition) and EUPHORIA (for the ‘frightful hairdo’), I’ll add SCRUMPY (‘arse-like’!) and PIG-HEADED.
    I was also lured here by the prospect of a Brian-filled grid but it wasn’t to be.
    Still, it was a reliably good puzzle in terms of winning clues and smut level! Thanks to Cyclops and MC Rapper for the diverting blog.

  5. 5ac, COCK-UPS: I also wondered about cock=tip, but then came to the same conclusion as Lee@3: to cock one’s hat is to tip it.

    16dn, BLINDSPOT: only ever seen ‘blind’ as a qualifier for drunk but quite prepared to believe it can be used independently.

  6. [Gazza@1, some of us cocked an eyebrow at your misidentification of the blogger. (You’ve got form for this!)]

  8. Thanks for the various comments and feedback so far, much appreciated, as usual…I tip my three-cocked chapeau to you all…

    No worries, Gazzh at #7 – in fact I was honoured to be mistaken for an esteemed colleague! (I hardly noticed, as I was too busy lol-ing about you quibbling over a frig (;+>)

    In fact, you must have been equally honoured to be mistaken by Tony C at #6 for that Spurs, Lazio and England great, Paul ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne!

  10. Alan Ross coined the terms U and non-U but it was made popular by Nancy Mitford . U is very posh and non-U very common. It applies to words like napkin or serviette but I do not know which is which since I am very non-U.

  12. Thanks, Roz, at #10.

    TheFatController at #11 – I’m very much sk-on, not sk-own – not sure what that makes me?…

  13. mc_rapper67 at #12 – I’m with you on sk-on, regional differences or background, but that’s how I was taught to say it so that’s what I stick with. Incidentally, thanks for the blog (and also thanks to beermagnet and Cyclops). I appreciate being able to come here to confirm my answers. Having never attempted a cryptic crossword before a pal introduced me to Cyclops 725 a few months ago. My first few attempts were shaky to say the least, but after a while I’ve managed to get to grips with them. I even began sending entries in, with no expectation of success, but was well chuffed to win the £100 for Cyclops 750, so, not just a milestone for the setter but also for me the newbie solver.

  14. Congratulations to you FatController@13! That’s quite an introduction to the wonderful world of cryptics!

  15. Indeed – congrats to TheFatController – an impressive debut win! That’ll pay your Eye subscription for a couple of years…

    (I’d be interested to know how you entered – as chronicled on these pages the Eye entry process and winner selection is a bit shrouded in mystery – should we send in a typed list of answers, a scanned copy of the filled grid?… Will they ever reinstate postal entries?…)

    I think my first Cryptic puzzle win was a Grauniad Saturday prize puzzle back in the 90s – which a) got me hooked on prize puzzles…and b) pi$$ed off my Dad, who had been sending it off for years with no luck!…

  16. There’s a link on the Private Eye website to download an Across Lite version of the crossword and an email address to send the completed puzzle to. I usually send it as an attachment and a screen shot of the filled in grid as well, and in the subject field: (for the current issue) Crossword entry 752/1597. They don’t acknowledge receipt of your entry so for all I knew they could have been going into outer space, until that is, I got a nice email from the deputy editor asking where I’d like the cheque sent. How they select the winner remains a mystery, I’m guessing they have some sort of an email ‘big hat’ folder into which they put the entries and randomly open them till they get one with all the boxes filled in correctly.

  17. Congratulations Fat Controller you lucky lucky bustard and thanks for sharing your, er, method of entry. I have been failing to win for a few years now with just a screenshot, my last couple of entries bounced back, probably an, er again, attachment size issue, so will go back to acrosslite and crossed fingers for next time. PS who signs the cheque? If it’s Hislop or (unlikelier) Cyclops himself I might even display it on the wall of the smallest room.

  18. @Gazzh The signature is somewhat unclear, pretty much just a squiggle really, though it does appear to be I Hislop, more or less. I like your display idea.

  19. Gazzh and TheFatController, your ideas about what to do with the cheque suggest £100 doesn’t mean much to you. What a shame someone more needful didn’t win (ie me).

    Amused by the idea Gaz entertained that Cyclops might be coughing up what probably amounts to half his setting fee or more. More than unlikely, I would have thought.

  20. @Tony Collman, rest assured my lucky win was greatly appreciated, the £100 very useful, and the cheque duly cashed. With my bank lodgements are made by scanning with a phone and their app so the actual cheque may be retained to display as a memento of one’s good fortune. Once the obligatory clearing period has passed they notify you that the cash is in your account and after that the cheque is yours to do with as you will, no need to post it in so, in effect, you have the best of both worlds.

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