Private Eye/Cyclops 449 – Olympic Silver

Who would have thought in 1986 that the pudgy little chap with the fearsome wit could take on the responsibilities of the sarcastic classes and make it his own. In a way it is sad that there is still a need for Private Eye’s brand of investigative journalism, but there is always going to be a need for its humour, and the crossword is a big part of that.

Across
6	OLYMPICS	Liberal, oily MPs accepting “Clegg’s leader” – another opportunity for a British fiasco? (8) C[legg] inside (OILY MPS)* AInd: Liberal.
8	POSEUR	One affected when Europe’s wrecked (Greece finally having gone) (6) (EUROPE’S – E)* AInd: wrecked. The E to remove from [Greec]E. Def: One affected
11	NEHRU	Ex-leader putting her bust into naff, unprepossessing tops (5) (HER)* AInd: bust. inside N[aff] U[npreposessing] Def: Ex-leader
12	ON THE BALL	Alert to new ideas? Not he, sadly – maybe Ed just needs to get end away (2,3,4) (NOT HE)* AInd: sadly. BALL[s] From Ed Balls with his end away. Ed Balls is now being overused in the Eye grid – he’ll be asking for appearence fees soon
13	PLACEBO	Personal problem after lay that merely makes you feel better (7) B.O. (Personal problem) after PLACE (lay)
14	RELAPSE	Return of disease – Dicky Rees guards genital area (7) LAP (genital area) “guarded by” (REES)* AInd: Dicky
15	TWENTY-FIVE YEARS	“Verify any tweet put out by Sun!”: that’s Ian’s term, as editor (6-4,5) (VERIFY ANY TWEET)* AInd: put out. Then S[un]. Can it be true? It is! Ian Hislop has been editor for 25 years now. It really doesn’t so lonog ago that I was surprised when Richard Ingrams handed over to a baby-faced twenty-something. For the decent anagram and surface, and the historical reminder, I definitely made this my top clue.
19	COVER UP	Whitewash balls inside part of bra (5,2) OVER (balls – as in cricket) inside CUP (part of bra)
22	BEARS UP	Maybe Rupert’s on the booze (keeps cheerful) (5,2) BEAR (maybe Rupert) SUP (on the booze)
25	LITHUANIA	State of endless bad odour in Italian corruption (9) HU[m] (endless bad odour) in (ITALIAN) AInd: corruption
26/10	DAILY STAR	Cheap rag makes a cleaner energy source (5,4) DAILY (a cleaner) STAR (energy source) Def: Cheap rag
27	DULCET	LibDem-Conservative leaders in “partnership performance” – how sweet! (6) L[ibdem] C[onservative] inside DUET. Def: how sweet
28	YOURSELF	Don’t feel this if you’re rough (8) CD When you feel a bit rough and seedy, you are said to not “feel yourself”

Down
1	JOIN UP	Get into the armed forces and put the pieces back together? (4,2) DD First clue looked at and entered very swiftly for a flying start with lots of first letters.
2	LYCHGATE	Maxwell’s end involved e.g. yacht – “pre-entrance to God’s house” (8) [maxwel]L (E.G. YACHT)* AInd: involved. One of these [wiki]
3	SPOUSE	Kate to Wills: “Get pickled, taking Philip’s lead” (6) P[hilip] inside SOUSE (pickled)
4	FOREPLAY	Warning: pressure by sexual partner that’s done to get you worked up (8) FORE (Warning – ref. Golf) P[ressure] LAY (sexual partner)
5	DECAMP	Balls up, luvvie-style? Get going! (6) ED< (Balls up – ‘im again) CAMP (luvvie style) I wrote in DEPART justifying PART from a Role a luvvie night take, put the crossing RELAPSE put me right.
7	COOL OFF	“Calm down!” – Cameron’s initial agitating of ‘fool’ (4,3) C[ameron] (OF FOOL)* AInd: agitating
9	ROLLERS	Posh cars, coarsened birds (7) DD 1. Posh cars, coarsened (slang for Rolls Royce) 2. Birds These ones [wiki] I wondered if I would find a slang expression suitable for the second def. to be from “coarsened birds” but no such luck.
15/21	TICKLED PINK	Victoria certainly wasn’t given the old trout treatment by gay? (7,4) TICKLED (given the old trout treatment) PINK (gay) Def. refers to VR’s legendary lack of amusement
16	TORTURER	One who, in the past, appreciated a nice rack? (8) CD which is almost a single def. I suppose the question mark pushes it towards the joke reference to “A nice rack” as something to appreciate. This appears to be a bit of relatively sexist ‘merkin slang that has crossed the pond to be used to detrimentally objectify women – if you don’t believe me just do a google image search on “A nice rack” like I did … a half-hour ago … now I must finish off this blog.
17	VIBRATO	Instruction to one who plays with sex aid endlessly … (7) VIBRATO[r]
18	AUSPICES	‘Patronage’ means one American getting shafted by Ginger? (8) SPICE (ginger) inside A US
20	VITALS	Testicles at first stored in glass bottles – very important for a body (6) T[esticles] inside VIALS (glass bottles)
23	ALDERS	After one, seniors start missing things growing big (6) A (one) [e]LDERS (seniors start missing) Def. Things growing big. I suppose that def is enough to cover trees, but I was doubtful on this one not least given ELDERS are trees as well. Anyway, certainly the last to go in.
24	PAY-OFF	Talk about sick punchline! (3-3) YAP< (talk about) OFF (sick) Def. Punchline. The end of a joke is the pay-off.

Met a chap carrying a lifesize model of a Thunderbirds puppet coming out of the hospital.  
He was looking very sad after visiting his sick friend. 
Turns out he was supposed to organise a bedside vigil.

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