Cyclops 438: Expletives deleted

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… well, most of them. I think my vote for top clue goes jointly to 23a and 4d this week.

Across
7 DORDOGNE Party leader, finally dead and gone, jostled for a place in Europe
DO = party; R = leader, finally; D = dead; *(gone), with ‘jostled’ as the anagram indicator
8 SPONGE Clean bum
Double definition
10 OWING Tony’s second victory — Gordon at first indebted
O = Tony’s second; WIN = victory; G = Gordon at first
11 IMMIGRANT Mimi screwed Hugh, the alien?
*(Mimi); Hugh Grant
12 STASIS Senior Tory’s action starts with “Southern Lives”; result — inactivity!
STA = first letters of ‘Senior Tory’s action’; S = Southern; IS = lives
14 GROWN-UP Big one? It’s good, right, to admit it?
G = good; R = right; OWN UP = admit it
16/21d OSCAR ACCEPTANCE SPEECH Expression of over-the-top gratitude when fingering a coveted male model?
Double entendre rather than double definition
19 BONKERS Mad Men on the job?
Double definition — ‘mad’ and ‘men on the job’
21 SASHAY Ostentatious movement wants state to take like, Hague’s lead
SAY = state; AS = like; H = Hague’s head. To walk or move in a gliding or ostentatious way.
23 DECEPTIVE Tricky Dicky’s debut TV piece edited (all but one of expletives deleted)
D = Dicky’s debut; *(TV piece); E = ‘expletives’ with all but one of its letters deleted. A reference to the presidency of Richard Nixon, aka Tricky Dicky — when transcripts of his internal tapes were made public, the phrase was put into the court record when the notoriously profanity-laced discussions with H. R. ‘Bob’ Haldeman and other Watergate insiders were considered to have gone beyond the bounds of common decency.
24 VOMIT Sick of Vince’s head, skip?
V = Vince’s head; OMIT = skip?
25 FAT CAT Overpaid bank chief liable to get caught in a flap?
An overweight cat might get caught in the cat flap, the invention of which is attributed to Isaac Newton.
26 SCREWS UP Roger, on drink, makes a complete balls of it
SCREW = roger, in the sense of ‘have carnal relations with’; SUP = drink
Down
1 ARTISTIC Topless slapper is sitting on jerk, being “imaginative”
[t]ART = topless slapper; IS; TIC = jerk
2/24 LONG VIEW Thought for the future consequences, taken by Sarah Palin only through a telescopic gun-sight?
Not much to say about this, so here’s a link to the fragrant Sarah Palin
3 UNDIES Comes back to life? Pants?
Un-dies
4 EPIGLOTTIS G-spot: it lies not quite crookedly, somewhere behind the tongue
*(G spot it lie), with ‘crookedly’ as the anagram indicator. Excellent clue
5 IN VAIN Where, people say, heroin should go, to no effect
Sounds like “in vein”
6 SEXTUPLET Bonking time finished to allow for product of multiple birth
SEX = bonking; T = time; UP = finished; LET = allow
7/22 DOORSTEP Holding in rippling torso, Depp’s getting end away, causing a stoop
DEP[p]; *(torso). ‘Stoop’ can mean ‘a raised platform, verandah, porch, or set of outside steps leading to the front door of a house’. Another of those clues with a scurrilous surface reading and a perfectly innocent solution.
9 EMIGRE Egyptian leader: “Grim being dislodged and finally made a political outcast”
E = Egyptian leader; *(grim); E = finally (last letter of) made
13 SCREENPLAY Script of show film, “Soft Shag”
SCREEN = film; P = soft; LAY = shag. Definition is ‘script of show’.
15 FOBBED OFF Chain removed from watch put round Roger — gave a politician’s typical dismissive response
FOB OFF = chain removed from watch; BED = roger (see 26a)
17 CASH IN To seize an advantage, Bill mounted, hard, consumed by lust?
CA = bill (AC) reversed; H = hard; SIN = lust
18 NEAR MISS Almost a bull when next to a girl?
NEAR = next to; MISS = girl. Or see the alternative explanation at comment 5
20 NICETY Agreeable politician with no alternative — that’s a fine point
NICE T[or]Y. A ‘nice Tory’ sounds a bit oxymoronic to me.

And, to conclude: Why do women rub their eyes in the morning? Because they’ve got no balls to scratch.

6 comments on “Cyclops 438: Expletives deleted”

  5. 18D I thought that the wordplay was INNER (minus the ‘IN’ and including ‘A’ before the ‘R’) ie NEAR = next to, plus MISS (girl)

    In archery or rifle shooting for example, the circle next to the BULL is the INNER.

  6. That’s a better explanation than mine, nairb — I must admit that I wrote this in without really analysing it, and I wasn’t too happy with the explanation. I just assumed that if you narrowly failed to hit the bull[seye] that would be a near miss.

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