Private Eye/Cyclops 565 Tree frog scrunch

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We’re back to a relatively easy Eye crossword this time.
Scrunch in the answers but this had far from crunchy clues.

This was filled-in in short order with only a handful of answers missing after the first pass and they didn’t stay empty for long.
Pretty enjoyable for all that.

Eye565

Across
1 DAILY EXPRESS Cleaner state required for this rag (5,7)
DAILY (Cleaner, as in char lady) EXPRESS (state, as in say).  First clue read and entered – off to a flying start
9 POWWOW Conference pressure that hurt Western and Other World leaders (6)
P[ressure] OW (that hurt) W[estern] O[ther] W[orld]
10 LEAP YEAR Skip Corby’s ultimate corny bit for 2016? (4,4)
LEAP (Skip) [corb]Y EAR (corny bit)  Def by example so “?” on the clue
11 TREE FROG Jumpy little thing‘s regret of getting tossed (4,4)
(REGRET OF)* AInd: getting tossed
12/21 UNITED STATES Side with utter sexist leader, Trump’s country (6,6)
UNITED (side) STATE (say) S[exist]
13/24 GOD SAVE THE QUEEN What Charles has to stand for, though not necessarily sharing its sentiment? (3,4,3,5)
Double Def. …. (reputedly)
15 PENALTY A good chance to score with screwing a-plenty (7)
(A PLENTY)* AInd: screwing
17 BY A NECK How the race was won? Corby, down to last 40% and a sheer audacity (2,1,4)
[cor]BY, A NECK (sheer audacity)
19 SCRUNCH Taking China’s lead, churns out champ (7)
(CHURNS C[hina])* AInd: out
22 APLOMB Cameron hiding survey dividing top social classes – that’s cool (6)
LO (survey, see) inside (dividing) PM (Cameron) all inside A and B (top social classes)
26 MALTREAT Whisky-covered, tear-spilling bully (8)
TEAR* AInd: spilling, inside MALT (Whisky)
27 REJECT Rebuff from upset Brenda: “In Paris one gets caught short” (6)
ER< (Brenda, upset) JE (one in Paris (French) though that would more likely be ON) C[augh]T
28 DIVISION BELL Which gives warning before Labour MPs probably go their separate ways? (8,4)
Cryptic Def.
Down
2 AMOUR One broadcast additional affair (5)
A “More”
3 LOW SEASON Not a busy period, as one’s silly moo comes first (3,6)
LOW (moo) (AS ONE’S)* AInd: silly
4 EDWARD V Miliband having to pull up before victory? His reign was brief (6,1)
ED [Miliband] DRAW< (pull, up) V[ictory]  One of the “Princes in the Tower”
5 PHLEGM Photograph ‘leg man’ showing self-control (6)
Hidden in photograPH LEG Man
6 EVACUEE One forced to leave seductress when penetrated by a stick (7)
A CUE (a stick) inside EVE (seductress)
7 STYLI Frosty Lib-Dems harbouring old writers (5)
Hidden in froSTY LIb-dems
8 MAJESTIC Brenda-like state – joke getting in charge (8)
MA (State, Massechusetts) JEST (joke) I[n] C[harge]
14 OLYMPIAN Drug-taking Russian athlete, maybe, of most unusual proportions (8)
Double Def.  Soon to be known as “Coe’s bane”
16 A PUT UP JOB One given a bed for the night, calling “It’s a fix!” (1,3,2,3)
Double Def.
18 CABLE TV Virgin possibly set to follow ex-cabinet minister (5,2)
[Vince] CABLE (ex-minister) TV (set)
20 CHEERIO Choir managed to take drugs for so long (7)
CHOIR* AInd: managed, around EE (drugs)
23 OUTED Where, abroad, Heath’s gay proclivity exposed? (5)
OU (where, abroad – French again) TED [Heath].  Last one in.  Just needed that leading O to make it clear.
25 EXCEL Seconds taken off bonking etc with endless battery component application (5)
[s]EX CEL[l]

I changed my ipod’s name to Titanic – and now it’s syncing

11 comments on “Private Eye/Cyclops 565 Tree frog scrunch”

  1. Back in December you added a Christmas Bonus cryptic and said you’d post the solution.
    Having not completed it, I have been waiting so as to see where I went wrong.
    Any chance of the solution on your next post?

  7. Thanks beermagnet. It’s guaranteed every time you and jetdoc find it easy, I’ve struggled. Regarding 27 acc is CT for caught a recognised abbreviation – may be cricket reports?
    Also regarding 8 down, what indicates that In Charge abbreviates to IC?

  8. IC = in charge [of] as Cpt Mainwaring IC Warmington platoon.

    CT, not an abbreviation for caught that I can find.

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