Private Eye (Cyclops/789) – Flagrant Nudity

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Another fun-packed episode from our one-eyed friend

This was classic Eye fare with the usual disreputable and sometimes downright disgusting surface readings.  (27A  Long may it continue.

Solving started quickly with a write-in at 1d, but got slower and slower with the usual half dozen or so to finish off on a subsequent pass.  The last few were mostly in the top right corner where I had trouble seeing the crossing pair 12a and 6d.  But not as much trouble as 21/15  mainly because I spent the whole solve thinking the answer went in as 15 then 21, despairing that I couldn’t think of anything fitting -I-TS-I-.

I’m not sure how “thing” can give “obsess” in 30a, and I might have guessed wrong between Nudist and Nudism for 23d.
Edit: Anwer: I doesn’t.  See comments correcting my foolishness
Nudism Nudity  Obsessor Objector

Across
8 SURMOUNT Knight heard to prepare for copulation, is overcome (8)
SUR homophone “sir” (Knight, heard), MOUNT (prepare for copulation)
9 TRIBAL Bishop in court case, showing group loyalty (6)
B[ishop] in TRIAL (court case)
11 FIRST Chief takes Roger in hand (5)
R[oger] in FIST (hand)
12 BLINKERED Having a narrow view of someone coupling in the sack (9)
LINKER (someone coupling) in BED (the sack)
13/20 WINTER FUEL PAYMENT What many an oldie will lose with Bury on fire: settlement (6,4,7)
W[ith] INTER (bury) FUEL (fire) PAYMENT (settlement)
18 LOBELIA Fleshy part of organ, flipping trouble, flower! (7)
LOBE (Fleshy part of organ) AIL< (trouble, flipping)
21/15 SHITLIST Despised people put on this … this terrible tip (8)
(THIS)* AInd: terrible, LIST (TIP)
Last one in
22 FRONT BENCH Supporter of ministerial arses (5,5)
Cryptic Def. referring to the furniture in the House of Commons
25 OFF CHANCE Slight possibility of chef with can of nuts (3,6)
(CHEF + CAN OF)* AInd: nuts.
27 LEDGE Protrusion from mangled genitalia (5)
Hidden in mangLED GEnitalia
One of the finest hidden clues I’ve seen (or rather, thankfully not seen) for a while
29 GENTRY Good opening for the nobility (6)
G[ood] ENTRY (opening)
30 OBSESSOR
OBJECTOR		 Protestor‘s thing: getting round Rex (8)
OBSESS (thing?), O (round), R[ex]
OBJECT (thing), O (round), R[ex]
Down
1 AS IF Most unlikely pleasure centre provided (2,2)
[ple]AS[ure] IF (provided)
First one in, from the enumeration and the provided/if device
2 DRY RUN Test shows: “Rather boring, endless diarrhoea” (3,3)
DRY (rather boring) RUN[s] (diarrhoea, endless)
3 NORTHERLY Ex-PM, playing lyre, gets the wind (9)
[Lord] NORTH (ex-PM) (LYRE)* AInd: playing
4 SNOB Superior type of southern prick going topless (4)
S[outern] [k]NOB (prick, going topless)
5 DRAKE Playboy found under dead old seafarer (5)
D[ead] RAKE (playboy)
6 ABORTIVE Faulty vibrator (end dropped off), ultimately unsafe, failed (8)
(VIBRATO[r])* AInd: faulty, [unsaf]E
7 GLAD Eye after this seductive look (4)
GLAD EYE is a seductive look.  I’m not sure how to classify this clue. I’ll just call it an &Lit & Cryptic Definition
10 LIFESPAN Pain self-administered for as long as you live (8)
(PAIN SELF)* AInd: administered.
13 WALES The nation used to be all over the French (5)
WAS (used to be) around LE (the, French)
14 FLAGRANT Standard Trump-style speech? Outrageous! (8)
FLAG (Standard) RANT (Trump-style speech)
16 TITCH Breast chain, just a small one (5)
TIT (breast) CH[ain]
17 EYEBALLED Visually challenged, I (loudly) had sex (9)
EYE homophone “I” HInd: loudly, BALLED (had sex)
19 BRIEFING Low-down lawyer swilling gin (8)
BRIEF (lawyer) (GIN)* AInd: swilling.
23 NUDISM
NUDITY		 This state shuns cover-up (6)
Cryptic Def.  I umm’d and arr’d between Nudist or Nudism. Not sure I have it right
Edit:  I should’ve arr’d again: It’s Nudity, that is a “state”, whereas Nudism is an ideology
24 SHARK Swindler makes Sun pay attention (5)
S[un] HARK (pay attention)
25 ORGY Operatic character missing first wild party (4)
[P]orgy Ref. Porgy from “Porgy & Bess”
26 ELBA Island fit-up (4)
ABLE< (fit, up)
28 EARL Grey, say, almost before one’s time (4)
EARL[y] (before one’s time, almost)

Re: 13/20: Like many I have just received the letter telling me I am not eligible for a Winter Fuel Payment unless I apply for Pension Credit.  I doubt I would be eligible.  Maybe if I apply when only wearing one Rolex I could get away with it?

11 comments on “Private Eye (Cyclops/789) – Flagrant Nudity”

  2. I think 30a may be objector and 23d then becomes nudity. Maybe the clue ‘protestor’s thing’ best goes with ‘object’ rather than obsess….just a thought!

  3. Thanks for the blog, I agree with Franko@1 , this happens very easily , we get stuck on the same misleading track.
    A good set of neat clues .

  4. Thanks bm for the blog, and c for the even-smuttier-than-usual crossword.

    Got stuck a few times – I’d pencilled in ODD CHANCE and HEATH-ERLY (wind across the heather??) which I only managed to dislodge by resorting to a crossword solver to get BRIEFING and SURMOUNT. Had to do same for TRIBAL though that was just a blind spot before GLAD as my LOI.

    Fav among many great clues was EARL after suddenly clicking why it could be Grey.

    Agree with others above re objector/nudity – it’s reassuring to see that even great brains like the bloggers here sometimes get stuck down dead ends as I so regularly do 🙂

  5. Hello beermagnet, I’m also with Franko @1: OBJECTOR = protestor;
    object = thing, o = round, r = rex. (With the apostrophe s presumably there to help with the surface.)
    Though, like you, I originally put in nudism, which did slow me down somewhat.
    GENTRY, ELBA & GLAD were neat, FRONT BENCH made me grin.
    This was good fun – thank you for the blog, and big thanks to Cyclops for the entertainment.

  8. It happens to us all Beermagnet , I am actuallly surprised by how rare mistakes are in the blogs. The title is even better now.

  9. Am commenting to say thanks – I started trying to crack cryptics by following along with these blog posts, and this was my first ever completed Private Eye puzzle at the ripe old age of 37! Here’s to many more..

  10. Found 7 GLAD tricky, the EYE in the clue is usually a reference to the magazine and that completely threw me, the lights -L-D also suggesting -LID. Every now and then I’m completely stumped even with the right answer, which is when this blog becomes a lifesaver.

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