The political landscape continues to provide Cyclops with plenty of targets…
…with the Reform party to the fore this fortnight – with Nigel Farage getting a mention at 17A, and his fellow ringleader LEE ANDERSON and their PHONEY/AFFABLE NATIONALISM causing people to RANSACK HOTELs at the slightest PRETEXT.
Throw in an EVIL EMPIRE, a Cambridge SPY RING and a PODGY YANK and that covers a few more cultural and political targets of the last several decades bang up to the present.
My only quibble would be with SAHARA, where the wordplay seems to refer to Sarah Ferguson as Sara?
As ever, thanks to Cyclops for the pleasant diversion, and I hope all is clear below…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
||
| 7A | SABOTAGE | Getting leg over sailor love is deliberate damage! (8)
S_TAGE (leg, e.g. of a race) around AB (Able Bodied seaman) + O (zero, love) |
||
| 8A | SHOVEL | House messed up after Sun gets to dig the dirt? (6)
S (sun) + HOVEL (messy house) |
||
| 9A | HOTEL | Raffles almost the lot off? (5)
subtractive anagram, i.e. off, of almost all of THE LO( [Raffles Hotel in Singapore, originally, and probably many more locations now] |
||
| 10A | DEMON | Dome’s changed name – that’s familiar (5)
DEMO (anag, i.e. changed, of DOME) + N (name) |
||
| 12A | LEE (ANDERSON) | & 30ac. Leonard seen out to get a Reform UK member (3,8)
anag, i.e. out, of LEONARD SEEN |
||
| 13A | RANSACK | Harry bolted wine (7)
RAN (bolted) + SACK (wine) |
||
| 15A | SPY RING | Bound to take in laundry ultimately for the Cambridge lot? (3,4)
SP_RING (bound, leap) around (taking in) Y (ultimate letter of laundrY) |
||
| 17A | NATIONALISM | Farage’s thing? It’s a nominal nightmare! (11)
anag, i.e. nightmare, of IT’S A NOMINAL |
||
| 21A | PRETEXT | Cloak from a time before phone messaging? (7)
PRE (from a time before) + TEXT (phone messaging) |
||
| 23A | AFFABLE | Genial as two fellows and a bishop covered in piss (7)
A_LE (beer, piss, as in what it becomes eventually!?) around (covering) FF (two Fs, or fellows) + A + B (bishop, chess notation) |
||
| 24A | GET (KNOTTED) | & 14dn. Go through marriage ceremony? Piss off! (3,7)
punning double defn. – to GET KNOTTED can be to get married, tie the knot; and GET KNOTTED! can be an instruction to someone to go away, or piss off… |
||
| 26A | PODGY | Dubious pressure to oust Democrat, ‘Chubby’ (5)
( |
||
| 28A | ALLOT | Many accepting Labour Leader should be set aside (5)
A LOT (many) around (accepting) L (leading letter of Labour) |
||
| 29A | ACCORD | Bill Clinton’s no.1 love doctor ‘flipped’ Unity (6)
AC (account, or bill) + C (no. 1 letter from Clinton) + O (zero, love, again) + RD (Dr, or doctor, flipped) |
||
| 30A | ANDERSON | See 12ac. (8)
see 12A |
||
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
||
| 1D | ABSTINENCE | A failure to indulge can, if put in need (10)
ABS_ENCE (lack, need) around TIN (can) |
||
| 2D | STALWART | ‘Settled last conflict’: Trump’s top loyal supporter (8)
STAL (anag, i.e. settled, of LAST) + War (conflict) + T (top letter of Trump, especially in a Down clue!) |
||
| 3D | EGAD | One-time ejaculation, say, before one died (4)
EG (for example, say) + A (one) + D (died) |
||
| 4D | PHONEY | Pence, sweetheart, is FAKE! (6)
P (pence) + HONEY (sweetheart) |
||
| 5D | EVIL | It’s not good to be upstanding (4)
to LIVE, or to be, upstanding = EVIL, or really not good |
||
| 6D | ALLERGY | Regally unsound, producing an adverse reaction (7)
anag, i.e. unsound, of REGALLY |
||
| 7D | SAHARA | Desert Fergie (stuffed by opening bits of horrendous apology) (6)
SA_RA (Sara Ferguson, aka Fergie) around HA (opening bits, or letters, of Horrendous Apology) [not sure this works, as Fergie is Sarah Ferguson, with an H?] |
||
| 11D | MASCARA | A trauma covered up by the state – “it’s cosmetic” (7)
M_A (Massachusetts, state) around (covering up) A + SCAR (trauma) |
||
| 14D | KNOTTED | See 24ac. (7)
see 24A |
||
| 16D | IMMOBILISE | Half in limbo, I’m affected by Home Counties freeze (10)
IMMOBILI (anag, i.e. affected, of I( |
||
| 18D | INFLATED | Immoderate as a blow-up doll? (8)
punning double defn – if prices or stories/reputations are INFLATED they might be immoderate, or extravagant; and a blow-up doll needs to be INFLATED to be any use, m’lud! |
||
| 19D | EPIGRAM | Gnome‘s English with two farm animals (7)
E (English) + PIG + RAM (two farm animals!) |
||
| 20D | PESTON | TV pundit right to be kicked out of northern city (6)
P( |
||
| 22D | EMPIRE | Ireland welcomes politician’s “not possessed by UK now” (6)
E_IRE (Ireland) around (welcoming) MP (politician) |
||
| 25D | TUCK | Possible feature of a dive‘s grub (4)
double defn. – a dive off a board might include a TUCK; and TUCK can refer to grub, usually snacks, in a school setting? |
||
| 27D | YANK | Pull Taylor Swift, say (4)
Taylor Swift is an example of an American, or YANK! |
||
Thanks very much. I was unsure about Sara/Sarah for 7 down too. And I couldn’t parse the AB for seaman on 7 across, but it was LOI so managed it on a punt.
Enjoyable as always, but let’s not split ‘airs over an aitch. Thanks to MC and Cyclops.
Thanks mc_rapper67 and Cyclops. I got there in the end and learnt a few things on the way. 10 FAMILIAR = DEMON, GNOME = EPIGRAM (I think I was only aware of gnomic as a word). For some reason I couldn’t see ABSENCE = NEED for a while.
I didn’t spot the Sara(h) issue. It’s a little known ‘fact’ that Fergie is a real cockney sparrer and always drops her aitches.
Thanks for the blog mc_r: I share your quibble regarding Sarah F. Then again, since she’s had more significant things removed lately, namely a title plus an unmerited rent-free residence in a 30-roomed stately mansion, I suspect she won’t even notice having lost an h.
I liked EGAD and GET KNOTTED, the surface to SPY RING, and the brevity of RANSACK.
Thank you Cyclops for the fun.