Cyclops 486: Hacked off to the back teeth

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This was numbered 469 in the magazine, but is correct on the website.

Cyclops on pretty good form, I thought — some good clues, of which I particularly like 23a, for its sheer daftness. No real problems with solving — some of the wordplay was very clever, but all clues were fathomable.

Across
6 BLOODSHED Experimental holds to grip love in the sack — murder!
*(holds), with ‘experimental’ as the anagram indicator; O = love; in BED = the sack
9 LOVER Sexual partner and what he/she gets for example away?
straight definition; L[eg]OVER = ‘what he/she gets’, minus EG (‘for example’ away). Clever clue, I thought — it took me a minute or two to spot the wordplay.
10 NEGEV After brief “no”, First Lady gets end away, which is very dry
NEG[ative] = brief no; EV[e] = the first woman, minus her last letter
The Negev is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel
11 CO-STARRED Didn’t take the lead as a female student around Clinton’s accuser
COED = female student; Ken STARR is an American lawyer and educational administrator who has also been a federal judge. He investigated Bill Clinton and accused him of lying in a sworn deposition about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
12 SHORT-TERM Right in the middle of her most orgasmic, brief…
RT = right; in *(her most), with ‘orgasmic’ as the anagram indicator
15 HAVEN … shag, North Bay
HAVE = shag; N = North. Definition: Bay. I suppose this could just be taken as a reference to marine birds.
17 LEVESON REPORT Liberal, familiar ex-tabloid female editor’s listed for bad behaviour — unlikely to improve tabloid standards?
L = liberal; EVE = familiar address of Eve Pollard, who edited the Sunday Mirror, 1987–1991, and the Sunday Express, 1991–1994.
Private Eye has expressed a lot of scepticism over the effectiveness of the recommendations.
21/4 PAPER OVER Be responsible for cover-up of tabloid balls, sportingly?
PAPER = tabloid; OVER = six deliveries (balls) in cricket. Definition: Be responsible for cover-up of
23 FUTURISTS Briefly get stuffed by Wobbly Tits ’R’ Us? They’re quite forward-looking
FU = fuck you (get stuffed); *(Tits ’R’ Us).
Futurists are indeed in the business of being forward-looking. Lovely mad clue!
24 REGULATOR Change of political allegiance for lager lout, cranky independent sort favoured by 17
*(R ager lout) — with L changed to R, a change of political allegiance, and ‘cranky’ as the anagram indicator. The Leveson Report advocated independent regulation of the press.
27 ERROR Topless tearaway’s boner
[t]ERROR. ‘Boner’ can mean ‘a howler, a blunder’
29 SPAWN Did a Campbell, confiscating Brown’s penultimate egg collection?
SPAN = reference to Alastair Campbell, spin doctor; W = Brown’s penultimate. Definition: egg collection
30 STATUTORY Rank, right-wing dumping, politician made legal
STATU[re] = rank, dumping its rightmost letters; TORY = politician. Definition: legal
Down
1/2 LONG ODDS Latin gonads do when mangled (not one for risky chance)
*(L gonds do) — L = Latin; gonads without A (‘not one’). Definition = risky chance
3 BLEACH Turn white when prolific scorer grabs left testicle’s tip
BACH = prolific scorer (composer of musical scores); L = left; E = testicle’s tip
5 TRIDENT What ’s blown up to accommodate a shag? Britannia’s accessory
TNT = What ’s blown up (the explosive); ‘accommodating’ RIDE = a shag.
Weapon carried by Britannia
6 BANISH Elected, on the up, taken to party’s heart — then shut out
IN = elected, reversed; in BASH = party
7 DEVOTEE Freak Miliband rejected by electoral action (ultimately Conservative)
ED (Miliband) reversed (‘rejected’); VOTE = electoral action; E = ultimately ConservativE. Definition: freak
8 HACKED OFF Protest/action group having got the chop?
Double definition: Hacked Off, a campaign group for a free and accountable press, started by victims of hacking and other press intrusion; ‘having got the chop’
13 ONE UP Single and having a hard-on, so winning
ONE = Single; UP = having a hard-on
14 MORATORIA Temporary postponements when a motor screwed up broadcast
*(a motor); AIR = broadcast, reversed (‘up’ in a down clue)
16 VIRUS Little woman with diarrhoea — nameless cause of infection
VI = little woman (diminutive name); RU[n]S = diarrhoea, without N = name
18 PARVENU A perv possibly stood up a French upstart
*(a perv); UN = a (indefinite article) in French, reversed (‘stood up’). Definition: upstart)
19 OPPRESS After work hacks trample on the masses!
OP = work; PRESS = hacks. Definition: trample on the masses
20 ASTRAY Fags eventually pushed into this — not hard getting off the straight and narrow
AS[h]TRAY, with ‘not hard’ indicating H is removed
22 RULING Brenda’s thing: being seductive, switching sides
LURING, with the L and R swapped. What Brenda, the Queen in Eye-speak, does
26 TOSH Suharto’s homilies full of bullshit
Hidden in ‘Suhartos homilies’
28/25 RIOT GEAR Donned by cops getting in with a bad crowd?
Speaks for itself

 

Just some from Twitter and Facebook this week:

A friend was knocked off his bike by a council lorry treating icy roads last night.. “You bastard!” he shouted through gritted teeth.

PRETEND you’re a tank commander by only clearing a letterbox sized patch of snow on your car’s windscreen before driving.

TO AVOID anyone hearing you make embarrassing noises while you use the toilet, simply scream as loud as you can the entire time.

In Biology classes, I asked about the gestation period for pachyderms. But no one wanted to talk about the elephant in the womb.

6 comments on “Cyclops 486: Hacked off to the back teeth”

  3. Belated happy new year and thanks to you and beermagnet! I had slotted in Ruling for 22d but didn’t really understand it -thanks for the explanation.

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