A puzzle with some imaginative clues — I think 4d gets my vote for best initially-deceptive wordplay, though that perhaps depends on what team you support. 19d also gets a mention.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | BACHELOR | Cable’s dithering about his lead — or he’s reluctant to take the plunge? *(Cable); around H = his lead; OR |
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| 9 | REHANG | “No Bake off for Ms Brooks” article — hearing finally put in suspense again REH = Rebekah minus the letters of ‘bake’; AN = article; G = hearing finally. Definition: put in suspense again |
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| 10/22 | DOCTOR JOHNSON | Prevent Boris from reproducing “Literary giant”? DOCTOR = castrate; Boris JOHNSON (if only someone would… or preferably, had done a long time ago) Dr Samuel Johnson |
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| 11 | LAST LAP | No more going round after this, to hold out genital area LAST = to hold out (endure); LAP = genital area |
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| 12 | APRES SKI | Skip arse twerking as evening amusement *(Skip arse) |
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| 13 | LED OFF | Left before Miliband turned sour — was first to go L = Left; ED = Miliband; OFF = (having) turned sour |
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| 15 | WEDDING TACKLE | After the match, an attacking move on a player’s genitals WEDDING = match; TACKLE = attacking move on a player. Definition: genitals |
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| 18 | BRUTAL | Blunt, very hollow, protected by party backing RUT = hollow; in LABour, reversed. Definition: blunt, very. The ‘very’ confused me a bit, because I initially took it for part of the wordplay. |
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| 20 | TICKLISH | As Ken Dodd’s tense, lick his nuts? *(T lick his) Tickling stick |
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| 23 | NUTTER | Name, say, who’ll give you head offensively N = name; UTTER = say Glasgow kiss |
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| 24 | SCORER | One who got their oats cold comes in increasingly pissed off C = cold; in SORER = increasingly pissed off. Someone who has scored might have done so in the sense of a sexual encounter. |
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| 25 | SLUMMOCK | Sun: “Mum’s Bust Covered in Hair! Slut!” S = Sun; *(mum), with ‘bust’ as the anagram indicator; in LOCK. What a great word (as long as it isn’t being used by the likes of Godfrey Bloom, of course)! |
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| Down | |||
| 1 | MAJOR POWER | Britain no longer needs a has-been PM with hit sound, “Brenda” John MAJOR = has-been PM; POW = hit sound; ER = Brenda (the Queen). Definition: Britain no longer |
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| 2 | SHOT DEAD | The saddo possibly finished off by Archer not being big-headed *(the saddo). Someone might be shot dead by an archer (without a capital A) |
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| 3 | FLARES | Warning signals of the old swinger’s habit? Double definition: warning flare; flares |
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| 4 | BRASILIA | City supporters — one has trouble getting erection BRAS = supporters; I = one; AIL = trouble, reversed (‘getting an erection’) Brasilia |
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| 6 | SNIP | Vasectomy — bargain! Double definition |
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| 8 | ROLLING STONES | Old rockers swilling gin in fancy car — Blair’s? *(gin); in ROLLS = fancy car; TONES = Tony Blair’s |
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| 14 | FREE SPEECH | French view over leak chain, which is hardly encouraged by Putin FR = French; SEE, reversed = view over; PEE = leak; CH = chain Here it is again: Vlad’s Facebook movie |
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| 16 | ILLUSORY | Tricky Dicky, American politician losing head ILL = dicky; US = American; [t]ORY = politician losing head |
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| 17 | KILL TIME | Kim Il let out to relieve the boredom *(Kim Il let) |
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| 19 | T-SHIRT | Tory-originated bollocks about resistance leading to the top T = Tory-originated; SHIT = bollocks; round R = resistance |
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| 21 | CONSUL | Pass round rubbishy Sun, which is representative at a low level of our country COL = the pass so popular with crossword setters; round *(sun), with ‘rubbishy’ as the anagram indicator. A Consul represents the citizens, rather than the head of state |
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| 22/5 | JACK THE LAD | Cocky sort takes Jordan’s top off — chalked “Ta” J = Jordan’s top; *(chalked Ta), with ‘off’ as the anagram indicator |
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Some cartoons for you this week:
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Thanks Jetdoc! In a similar vein to Eric Morecombe, I managed to complete the crossword but not necessarily by using the right letters. Had 3d = Alarms and 21d = Census for no other good reason than they fitted.
There is a typo on 18ac RUT = Hollow.
Also the crossword number is 520 not 518
Re 21d did not know about COL = Pass. Thanks again
Thanks, Franko
Col. Thanks