Cyclops 784 – Gymnast Stiffy

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This fortnight’s title alludes to the, maybe apocryphal, story/video doing the e-rounds of a pole-vaulter who successfully negotiated the bar on his way up but then dislodged it on the way down with his…

…lycra-clad ‘bulge’… not a problem that I would have … as I obviously wouldn’t be able to propel myself 5 metres upwards in the first place (;+>)

Anyway – back to the puzzle in hand, or on iPad, or wherever you choose to solve.

Too much Trump for my liking, but some prophetic/serendipitous clueing from our setter, with the online 11D TROLLing of a ‘social media mischief-maker’, and the (maybe wishful thinking) bullet/6D ROUND grazing Really-Smugg’s bottom.

Cyclops is quickly getting rid of all his Sunak references before our ex-lustrious leader buggers off to his spiritual home in SiliCON Valley, with 12A STRONGHOLD and 27A LOST referring to the grip Rishi Rich had on his party and the electorate, respectively…as well as a little dig in 21A CHEERS.

I nearly laughed out loud at the image of the epic sword-bearer Penny Mordaunt grabbing an ex-colleague by the balls in 22D PROMPT, and the surface read of 24D SPILL leaves even less to the imagination!

 

 

A minor quibble at an extra S in the wordplay of 7D DISPLEASE – an editorial or setting oversight, unless I have missed something? But apart from that (and did I mention too much Trumpery?), an enjoyable foray into the workings of the mind of Cyclops, to whom my thanks, as ever…

 

Across
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
1A MERCURY Copper gets stuck into pissed messenger (7)

MER_RY (drunk, pissed) around (stuck into by) CU (copper, element)

[Mercury being the winged messenger of the gods]
5A PRUDISH Prick, at first somewhat rough, becomes demure (7)

P (first letter of Prick) + RUDISH (somewhat rude, or rough)
9A PEER See 13ac. (4)

see 13A
10A ALTRUISTIC Public-spirited, one gets into kinky catsuit with left and right openings (10)

ALTRUIST_C (anag, i.e. kinky, of CATSUIT + L + R – opening letters of Left and Right) around I (one)
12A STRONGHOLD Keep what Rishi never had over his party? (10)

punning double defn. – a STRONGHOLD can be a castle/keep; and Rishi Sunak never really had a STRONG HOLD over some elements of his party)
13A LIFE (PEER) & 9ac. Lords member, jailbird taking piss (4,4)

LIFE_R (jailbird) around (taking) PEE (piss)

[a member of the House of Lords, not a member at Lords, home of the MCC]
14A CORNEA Eye feature – wow, almost, almost upon us! (6)

COR (wow!) + NEA(R) (almost near, or upon us)

[an anatomical eye, rather than the Eye you are reading with your eyes…]
16A LLAMA After large double, a bloke gets end away – beast! (5)

LL (large, doubled) + A + MA(N) (bloke, with end letter away)
19A GIDDY Faint insult about “Vacuous Davey!” (5)

GID (dig, or insult, about) + D(AVE)Y (DaveY, empty of middle letters, so vacuous)
21A CHEERS Conservative leader sheer crap, as seen on TV (6)

C (leading letter of Conservative) + HEERS (anag, i.e. crap, of SHEER)

[‘Cheers’ (and its even better offshoot, ‘Frasier’) being about the only decent TV to come out of America in the 80s/90s…discuss!]
23A BRAT Trump Jr. put Republican in club? (4)

B_AT (club) around R (Republican)
24A SUMMERTIME Adder, minute, say – a disappointing British seasonal event (10)

SUMMER (adder, someone who adds) + TIME (minute, say)
26A IMPATIENCE Cyclops’s game? Edginess (10)

IM (I’m, Cyclops is…) + PATIENCE (card game)
27A LOST Sunak’s top tip is to be cushioned by fortune having done this electorally (4)

LO_T (fortune) around S (tip, or first letter, of Sunak)

[A full-on &lit? the whole clue is the definition and includes the wordplay…or is that a semi-&lit as the wordplay isn’t the whole thing?….discuss!]
28A STEEPLE Arrestee pleaded “nursing big erection” (7)

hidden word in, i.e. nursed by, ‘arreSTEE PLEaded’
29A GYMNAST Many G&Ts spilled into tumbler (7)

anag, i.e. spilled, of MANY G+TS
Down
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
2D ELECTION (PROMISES) & 18dn. Choice oaths … little chance they’ll materialise? (8,8)

ELECTION (choice) + PROMISES (oaths)

[a little pessimistic, so soon after an election…but probably prophetic]
3D CARGO Automatic pass? That’s sort of pants (5)

CAR (automatic is a type of car) + GO (pass)

[I am wearing cargo shorts, or pants, as the Americans call them, as I type this!]
4D REARGUARD Detached soldiers keep going after arse (9)

REAR (arse) + GUARD (keep)
6D ROUND Bullet scraped Rees-Mogg’s backside off (5)

(G)ROUND – scraped, without G, the last letter, or backside, of rees-mogG

[another assassination attempt? They obviously aimed where they thought he was speaking from…]
7D DISPLEASE Complaint about senior party lackeys starts to generate anger (9)

DIS_EASE (complaint) around PL (starts of Party Lackeys)

[Not sure what ‘senior’ is doing here? Using its first letter as well would give DISSPLEASE?]
8D STIFFY Erection doubtful after second time (6)

S (second) + T (time) + IFFY (doubtful)
11D TROLL Social media mischief-maker: “Reform leader should be in charge” (5)

T_OLL (charge) around R (leading letter of Reform)

[serendipitous, given the role of ‘sowshall meejah’ mischief-makers in the recent troubles around the UK]
15D NEGOTIATE Get it on madly with heartless Alice then pull off (9)

anag, i.e. madly, of GET IT ON + AE (AlicE, heartless)
17D ARCH-ENEMY Liz Cheney to Trump: “Hence army needs mobilising” (4-5)

anag, i.e. needs mobilising, of HENCE ARMY
18D PROMISES See 2dn. (8)

see 2D
20D YEMEN The very old blokes’ country (5)

YE (the, archaic, or old) + MEN (blokes)
22D PROMPT Speedy Penny has old colleague grabbed by balls (6)

P (penny) + RO_T (rubbish, balls!) around (grabbing) MP (ex-MP Penny Mordaunt would have counted other MPs as her colleagues, before her recent defenestration…)
24D SPILL Sex cut short – contraceptive leak (5)

S (sex, abbreviated, or cut short) + PILL (contraceptive)
25D TALON Trump at first, almost without help, gets the crooked finger (5)

T (first letter of Trump) + ALON(E) (almost alone, or without help)

6 comments on “Cyclops 784 – Gymnast Stiffy”

  1. Thanks mc_rapper67 and Cyclops. I found this a bit tougher than usual. I had a similar dilemma with 7d, but I think SENIOR indicates using the first letters of PARTY LACKEYS. This then leaves the definition to be STARTS TO GENERATE ANGER = DISPLEASE. Apologies for caps this doesn’t represent shouting or anger. All the best

  2. Thanks for the blog , good puzzle overall , quite tricky in parts .
    A third take on DISPLEASE , senior party =P , lackey starts = L. I actually think it is a minor setting error giving an extra S .
    LOST is not &Lit ( fortunately for you, the courts are busy with other matters ) , I took it as straight wordplay and then definition.
    US TV of the 80s/90s , a vote for The Simpsons , at its best then.

  3. I had CROSSWORDS in at 26a for a while, and thought I’d done really well, until I got others which didn’t fit. Too much IMPATIENCE to get words in!

  4. Michael @3 I left 26 Ac until I had done the Downs, CROSSWORDS fits the clue pretty well, CROSS WORDS could be edginess as wordplay I thought. If I am unsure I never put it in until I have lots of letters .

  5. Thanks for the comments so far – much appreciated as usual!

    Roz at #2 – I’ll give you The Simpsons as another rare example. And thanks for your leniency on LOST!

    Michael John at #3 – an interesting interpretation of 26A – I guess I must have already had a crosser or two to lead me to IMPATIENCE…

  6. After a run of completed Cyclops (and submissions!) which started out partially as a desperate bid for the £100 due to being out of work for eight months, I only got round to looking at this one on the day submissions were due. Was too stumped and tired to get a single answer and finally took a proper look at this last night.

    Much harder than usual for me; I gave up leaving four in the SW corner because I’d put ERIC in for 23A after finding there’s an East India Club in London, which threw me off getting NEGOTIATE. I wanted PROMPT to go in but couldn’t figure a reason, would probably have gotten GIDDY and might have eventually seen STEEPLE but hidden words are rare as hens’ teeth with Cyclops in my experience and I was stuck on thinking “nursing large” referred to something surrounding the letter L which was all I had in there. I considered persevering but I have the new issue now so that’s taking priority.

    I did the same as Roz, thinking CROSSWORDS/CROSS WORDS and it was almost the first thing that went in…I had a hunch it would be a good idea to wait though. I also decided that “senior party lackeys starts” led to SLP, and arrived at DISPLEASE that way which I’m not too bothered about. I got ROUND but didn’t understand why it was so, and having read the explanation above I think I hate that one. 🙂

    Thanks all

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