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A typical Cyclops – maybe a bit harder than some recent ones, for your correspondent, at least…
…as it took a few runs through, and a second session to polish off.
Not a Trump in sight, but there was a Johnson and a Biden, and a couple of Russian references, with DISSIDENCE and FOREIGN AGENTS as targets for Putin/the Kremlin.
Some throwbacks as well – David Camer(on) contributing to CAMERA; failed US presidential candidate Al Gore contributing to INFORMAL; a MEDALLION for a virile 70’s male; and a BLOTTO Mark Thatcher, presumably lost in the desert, or plotting a coup…
My favourite was probably the Brummie Ozzy Osbourne quoting his favourite poetry LOINS about the ‘Genital Area’! Closely followed by the wonderfully succinct ‘piss yourself’ for NUMBER ONE!
Surely it won’t be long before Putin and Trump – and maybe Johnson – are in jail, Biden is safely ensconced in a care home, Ed Balls is finally forgotten, and Cyclops can move on to a new generation of initially wide-eyed and well-meaning but eventually hard-nosed and cynical politicians as clue fodder…
In the meantime, more of the same please!
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
||
| 1A | BODY (BLOW) | & 26 Very disappointing difficulty getting stiff – damn! (4,4)
BODY (stiff) + BLOW (interjection, damn!…) [‘blow’ in an imprecation, to curse or confound, and usually with ‘it’ or ‘me’] |
||
| 3A | ASTONISHED | Dazed American premier dishonest, corrupt? (10)
A (premier, of first letter, of American) + STONISHED (anag, i.e. corrupt, of DISHONEST) |
||
| 10A | NUMBER ONE | Piss yourself? (6,3)
double defn. – pissing, or urination, is sometimes referred to as a NUMBER ONE; and when you look after NUMBER ONE, you are looking after yourself |
||
| 11A | AMASS | Gather Amazon’s chief needs statecraft (5)
A (chief, or first, letter of Amazon) + MA (Massachusetts, US state) + SS (steamship, craft) [‘statecraft’ is ‘lifted and separated’ here!] |
||
| 12A | FOREIGN (AGENTS) | & 21 Bending of rule a convenience for Russian anti-war critics, according to the Kremlin (7,6)
FO (of, bending round or over) + REIGN (rule) + A + GENTS (convenience, toilets!) |
||
| 13A | PLINTH | Fabric in pub for bottom support (6)
P_H (public house) around LINT (fabric, scraped linen) [a plinth is often the support for the bottom of a statue or column] |
||
| 15A | CAMERA | Snappy thing, former PM not on one (6)
CAMER( |
||
| 17A | MISSOURI | State failure to get French agreement to protect king (8)
MISS (failure) + OU_I (yes, or agreement, in French) around (protecting) R (rex, king) |
||
| 19A | ON DEMAND | Performing with damned cast whenever required (2,6)
ON (performing, on stage) + DEMAND (anag, i.e. cast, of DAMNED) |
||
| 21A | AGENTS | See 12ac. (6)
see 12A |
||
| 23A | BLOTTO | Mark Thatcher’s first ball (pissed) (6)
BLOT (mark) + T (first letter of Thatcher) + O (round letter, ball!) |
||
| 24A | FLACCID | Bill, arrested by Florida cops, looking impotent (7)
FL (Florida) + AC (account, or bill) + CID (cops, Criminal Investigation Department) |
||
| 27A | LOINS | Ozzy’s Osbourne’s poetry: ‘Genital Area’ (5)
dialectical homophone! – Ozzy Osbourne, a well-known Brummie, might pronounce LINES (poetry) as LOINS! [not sure about the two ‘s es…presumably some editorial tinkering with the original clue?] |
||
| 28A | MISSHAPEN | Wrong emphasis put on Johnson’s end – “Monstrous!” (9)
MISSHAPE (anag, i.e. wrong, of EMPHASIS) + N (end of johnsoN) |
||
| 29A | WANDERLUST | Nomadic urge of Rod – result: knackered! (10)
WAND (rod) + ERLUST (anag, i.e. knackered, of RESULT) |
||
| 30A | SIDE (DISH) | & 8 Party good-looker: something to bring to the table (4,4)
SIDE (party, in a law case, for example) + DISH (good looker) |
||
| Across | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
||
| 1D | BENEFACTOR | Patronising sort of complaint about new player (10)
BE_EF (complaint) around N (new), plus ACTOR (player) |
||
| 2D | DEMUR | Balls up at booze up leading to dissent (5)
DE (Ed Balls, up) + MUR (rum, or booze, up) |
||
| 4D | SCORN | Get to have sex almost before name produces derision (5)
SCOR( |
||
| 5D | OVERPAID | As many a public utility boss’s balls gets pressure relief (8)
OVER (usually six balls, in cricket) + P (pressure) + AID (relief) |
||
| 6D | ITALICS | They put a certain slant on what’s written (7)
CD – italics certainly put a ‘slant‘ on what’s written! |
||
| 7D | HEARTBURN | Feel passion after earth moved? Indigestion, actually! (9)
HEART (anag, i.e. moved, of EARTH) + BURN (feel passion) |
||
| 8D | DISH | See 30ac. (4)
see 20A |
||
| 9D | SENIOR | Perhaps Biden is one provoked by Right (6)
SENIO (anag, i.e. provoked, of IS ONE) + R (right) |
||
| 14D | DISSIDENCE | Substitute decides sin is something to be punished by Putin (10)
anag, i.e. substitute, of DECIDES SIN |
||
| 16D | MEDALLION | Old man involved with lie: “It could give you that 1970s virile male look” (9)
anag, i.e. involved, of OLD MAN + LIE |
||
| 18D | INFORMAL | “Relaxed, playing as well as ever” – failed presidential candidate (8)
IN FORM (playing as well as ever) + AL (Al Gore, failed US presidential candidate) |
||
| 20D | MATISSE | Times as revamped for arty type (7)
anag, i.e. revamped, of TIMES AS [‘Henri Matisse’ being the ‘arty type] |
||
| 22D | GRAPHS | They have their ups and downs performing shag with resistance and power (6)
anag, i.e. performing, of SHAG + R (resistance) + P (power) |
||
| 24D | FISTS | Dukes start to sweat wearing suits (5)
FI_TS (suits, is suitable) around (worn by) S (first letter, or start, of SWEAT) |
||
| 25D | CAPRI | Contraceptive aid, right one for island with many Catholics? (5)
CAP (contraceptive aid) + R (right) + I (one) |
||
| 26D | BLOW | See 1ac. (4)
see 1A |
||
Thanks for the blog, agree a bit trickier but very enjoyable. LOINS is inspired , perhaps it was just Osbourne’s originally with political deception, the Ozzy added later but does not need the ‘s ?? AMASS has a clever Playtex for statecraft. CAPRI had a very nice definition.
Your PLINTH needs a bit more support at the bottom.
Thanks mc_rapper67. I must have been on Cyclops’ wavelength this time as I found it easier than some of his offerings. I have selected 27a as Clue Of The Year. The image in my head of Ozzy telling us about the LOINS he had written actually made me laugh out loud. A superb clue, thanks for the giggle Cyclops.
LOINS definitely the pick of a fun bunch here. Thanks, Cyclops and mc.
Re 24A: isn’t “looking” redundant? Doesn’t “flaccid” mean “hanging limply”?
25D “CAP” was unknown to me.
So 27A “genital area” and “Loins” and the 28A reference to “Johnson” and 26D “blow” and 10A reference to “piss” and 2D “balls” and 22D’s reference to “shag” seem to indicate that today’s theme was all about penises. Or is that just my dirty mind?
I would say the “looking” is needed for FLACCID, if it was just “impotent” it would not imply visual evidence.
CAP is usually Dutch Cap, fits over the cervix, very useful and under-rated. It appears in the last line of Too Much Too Young by The Specials, got it banned by Top of tne Pops.
Thanks for the comments so far – much appreciated, as usual.
Roz at #1 – I have sorted out my ‘bottom support’, thanks!
Pamela at #4 – nice to see a new name…not sure if you are new to Cyclops, but there does tend to be a fair amount of skoolboy smuttery amongst the barbed satire…but maybe you do have a dirty mind as well!
As Roz says, I think the ‘looking’ is needed in 24A. If one is impotent, then one is probably flaccid, but one could be temporarily flaccid, so ‘looking impotent’, but actually just be resting between virile ‘exertions’!… (I shan’t comment about how long that rest period might be…(;+>)
Thanks mc_rapper, I stared at this for a good while getting nowhere and feeling decidedly FLACCID but once inspiration struck it was all over in about 20 minutes, very odd. I thought BENEFACTOR was nicely defined and MEDALLION (which I first tried to bung in from defn as Moustache, thinking of Burt Reynolds et al) reminded me of my youth. Agree with Roz on Ozzy addition and maybe some extra misdirection could have resulted from John Osborne if left as original?
Hey, mc_rapper, thanks for your comments and thanks for recognizing what might be my “dirty mind”! I have been a lurker here for a while but this has been the first time that I have posted. I was just struck by what seemed to be a theme. My thoughts seem to have been confirmed by Roz’s comment about a “Dutch Cap” which I had never heard of before. I have certainly never had one fitted over my cervix, although I’m pretty sure that my cervix has been “useful and under-rated”, at least by me. My cervix isn’t as much fun as my clitoris. Am I allowed to say that here?
It’s probably ok to mention it as a counterpoint to all the apparent penis references. Tramp once had CLITORIS as a solution in one of his puzzles, you know. They would probably frown on such unmentionables in the Telegraph but Guardian and Private Eye solvers tend to be less bashful.
I thought that Tramp puzzle was very unfair, none of the male solvers were able to find that clue.
NUMBER ONE was the standout clue for me. Wasn’t particularly impressed with Ozzie’s LOINS. It seems more likely to me that the original was just “Ozzie’s” and whoever added “Osborne’s” omitted to delete the first apostrophe.
The cap was my mum’s choice of contraceptive and its removal for just one day provided the opportunity for me to come into being!
Phew…is it just me, or did it suddenly just get a bit warm in here (;+>)
Thanks to Pamela and Tony C for sharing, and Roz for perpetuating an old cliché!
(That Tramp puzzle was here – a few amusing comments re. 21A)
Thanks, mc_rapper67, Cyclops, and ye commenters. Most amusing! Can I add 6d as a good’un?
Also, based on this blog, may I suggest that the collective noun for a bunch of Cyclops clues could be known as a “genitalia”.
Nice one – Franko – I was thinking maybe a ‘prick-le’…
The new issue has just dropped onto my doormat, and I see this puzzle was won by ‘THE VOID’…good luck to them cashing the £100 cheque!…
Ha ha mc_rapper67, I like it!
A blank cheque might be appropriate.