The festive season seems to have started early in the Eye with a couple of pantomimes opening.
Solving-wise, I didn’t have any hold-up clues, and only needed one session to finish this. As I am a sucker for a smutty surface, top clue award here has got to go to 9/17 for its babes with their wobbling boobs.
Expectation – only a few days till Cyclops gets out his annual yuletide monster.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 8 | TWISTER | Spin exponent, Tony’s first, shrewder to capture Peter’s heart (7) T[ony] [Pe]T[er] inside WISER (shrewder) |
| 9 | BEER MAT | Queen Mother in punt, getting something to soak up the booze (4,3) ER MA (Queen Mother) inside BET (punt) |
| 10 | LAGER | Comparatively big todger’s tip has to be removed for piss (5) LA[r]GER First solved Piss = beer or similar now the first thing I consider when I see it in the Eye (sigh) |
| 11 | LIBELLANT | Long Island netball excited Robert Maxwell? (9) L[ong] I[sland] (NETBALL)* AInd: excited. Robert Maxwell, the bouncing Czech, is a pretty clear example of a libellant, so why the question mark? |
| 12 | SCRUFFY | Down at heel Clive’s first starched collar in outskirts of Sydney (7) C[live] RUFF (startched collar) inside S[ydne]Y |
| 14 | SINGLET | Finger someone with rent underwear (7) SING (Finger someone – as in grassing them up) LET (rent) |
| 20 | MISTYPE | To finger the wrong character is empty, sad (7) (IS EMPTY)* AInd: sad. I was staring at __S_Y_E for ages before I twigged the ‘gram |
| 21 | RUNAWAY | Organise a state ending for Tory fugitive (7) RUN (organise) A WA (a state – Washington) [tor]Y |
| 22 | SMART BOMB | Sadomasochism knack: move real quick (which should hit the spot exactly) (5,4) SM (Sadomasochism) ART (knack) BOMB (move real quick – as in bombing up the motorway in a Mk 3 Cortina) |
| 24 | DUNNO | Brown, on retiring: “Haven’t a clue” (5) DUN (Brown) ON< |
| 25 | EXPIRED | Newspaper boss concealing Times rip off – ‘e ran out (7) X (Times) RIP* AInd: off ‘E all inside ED (newspaper boss) Def: ran out |
| 26 | EXCRETE | Shit from partner once at holiday island (7) EX (partner once) CRETE (holiday island) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | AT A LOSS | What apathetic voters, say, wouldn’t give to keep a LibDem leader in doubt (2,1,4) A L[ibdem] inside A TOSS (What apathetic voters wouldn’t give) |
| 2 | KING PRAWNS | Priest into wanking off small marine creatures (4,6) PR[iest] inside (WANKING)* AInd: off. S[mall] |
| 3 | STIR | Prison unrest (4) Double def. |
| 4 | BROLLY | Brown ally extremely welcoming of spin: “Handy in case of downfall” (6) BRO[wn a]LLY No! ROLL (spin) inside B[rown all]Y |
| 5 | WELLINGTON | Blair cut short after gushing “A national hero!” (10) TON[y] (Blair cut short) after WELLING (gushing). I did a double take when I reached this clue as I had thought of “The Iron Duke” earlier when trying to think of “figureheads” for 24/16 |
| 6 | YMCA | May disaster involving Conservative organisation (4) C[onservative] inside MAY* AInd: disaster |
| 7 | STATUTE | Bill: a solid figure after suppressing impeachment finally (7) [impeachmen]T inside STATUE |
| 9/17 | BABES IN THE WOOD | Indeed, what boobs daughter got out and wobbled for family entertainment (5,2,3,4) (INDEE[d] WHAT BOOBS)* AInd: got out |
| 13 | FAIRY STORY | ‘Cinderella‘ Fry is a crap political animal? (5,5) (FRY IS A)* AInd: crap. TORY (political animal). Another fairly clear def. by example. Again, I presume the “?” is only for the surface joke. |
| 15 | LONG-WINDED | On gate-crashing end of Royal Wedding, drunk is Twittering (4-6) ON inside (gate-crashing) [roya]L (WEDDING)* AInd: drunk. The slightly older sense of twittering is required here – the more recent meaning cannot be described as long-winded. |
| 18 | SMASHER | Producer of pap is after Sun’s bit of totty (7) S[un] MASHER (Producer of pap) |
| 19 | BYGONES | Earth-swallowing Sony GB bust? Let them be what they are! (7) (E[arth] SONY GB)* AInd: bust |
| 21 | RUBBER | Johnny, US-style Dirty Digger – not good (6) [g]RUBBER I didn’t realise Rubber was especially a US term – common enough when I were a lad |
| 23 | AMPS | There are plenty at a rock concert like to squeeze member (4) MP (member) inside AS (like) Last answer entered – can’t now see what misled me |
| 24/16 | DICK WHITTINGTON | Private Eye bashing in-town pisspoor London figurehead (4,11) DICK (Private Eye) HITTING (bashing) inside (TOWN)* AInd: pisspoor. I see Dame Edna Everage is somehow inserted into this year’s production of DW at Wimbledon. A panto with a hint of Brechtian alienation eh? Well, Billington, what else could it be in this day and age. |
I recently heard about an old mate, a farmer. He had a brilliant idea of breeding sheep twice the size of normal ones. He re-mortgaged his house to finance it. Things didn’t go to plan. Although the sheep were larger, they weren’t as big as he’d hoped. He couldn’t afford the repayments and the bank repossessed his house and land, leaving him with just his sheep and penniless.
He was last seen on a street corner selling biggish ewes.
Thanks for explanations BM. I missed out on Fairy Story (couldn’t make it up).
Have a good Christmas and thanks again to you and jetdoc for unravelling the mysteries of Cyclops’ machinations.