Some classic Cyclops-ean smuttery and establishment-targeting in the clue readings, with some recent and more distant references…
Private Eye/Cyclops
Private Eye (Cyclops / 697) Stomach Cruelty
Back to a milder puzzle compared to the last issue… … and whereas we had Vaccination at the heart of that puzzle we have been infested by a row of crazy Anti-Vaxxers in … Read more >>
Cyclops 696 – Istanbul Butcher
A tougher than usual puzzle from Cyclops this fortnight, at least for your correspondent…
Private Eye (Cyclops / 695) Pianola Strings
There should be more pianolas in the world. 10a Pianola was my first in from the clear anagram and cheeky definition. A schoolfriend’s mum had a pianola and I loved playing it. Everybody … Read more >>
Cyclops 694 – Flirty Oomph!
An enjoyable Cyclops, with a line-up of the usual suspects as clue-surface-reading targets…
Private Eye (Cyclops / 693) Gobby Sort
So, after the exigencies of the Xmas monster, we expect not just return to normal, but a more gentle puzzle to let us get over the new year hangover. What we got was … Read more >>
Cyclops 692 – Xmas Special 2020
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the Jumbo Cyclops special. This year he has chosen to visit the ‘Pseuds Corner’ feature for the theme… (is anyone else just itching to put an apostrophe in ‘Pseuds’ – before or after the ‘s’?! – but it seems there isn’t one in the published magazine…)
Cyclops 691 – Barbaric Narcissism
Cyclops is working the last few Trumpian references out of his system and into his clue wordplay, before Ronald T Dump is finally consigned to the S-bend of history, in a couple of puzzles’ time…
Private Eye ( Cyclops / 690) Idler Consultants
This was another puzzle on the tough side for the Eye. I certainly made heavy weather of it. It didn’t seem that way at the start. First clue solved, 12A, was after trying … Read more >>
Cyclops 689 – Poker-faced Putin
What a shame that Cyclops and other setters are soon going to have to find other ways of indicating Ps (‘Trump’s back end’) and Ts (‘Trump’s first…’). It is all going to be JBs and KHs from January onwards!
Private Eye ( Cyclops / 688) Wealth Tests
I thought I might get the whole thing done in one pass, but ran out of steam with 5 to go mainly in the top left. Just as well really. When I got … Read more >>
Cyclops 687 – Washington Escapade
It is all a bit doom and gloom from Cyclops this fortnight…
Private Eye (Cyclops / 686) Volcanic Entombment
On the tough side this time, though it may have been me having a bad solving day. In retrospect, there isn’t anything madly difficult, so I must’ve been off Cyclops’ wavelength this time. … Read more >>
Cyclops 685 – Cherish Nibbles
Is it just me, or is Cyclops getting smuttier in his clueing lately?!…
Private Eye (Cyclops / 684) Global Guidance
Another diverting solve from our one-eyed friend. Solving proceeded in a stuttering manner with about half done at the end of the first pass with solutions entered all over the grid so the … Read more >>