With apologies to anyone who struggled, I found this Cyclops puzzle quite easy.
There were a couple that I only pencilled-in early on because I couldn’t see the wordplay at the time or thought there must be more going on with the clue. But these proved right in the end and their crossing letters helped, and all the clues went in methodically from top to bottom. So in the end this did not take very long to finish.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 8 | ALFRESCO | Outside flares burst by lethal gas (8) FLARES* CO (Carbon Monoxide) |
| 9 | RAPIER | Appearing ‘in camera’, Piers’ foil (6) Hidden in cameRA PIERs. Simple hidden. First clue answered. You know, it’s all too easy to slag off someone like Piers Morgan. So you’ve really got no excuse not to do it. |
| 10 | EAGLE | Mutt with top removed is representative of America? (5) [b]EAGLE |
| 11 | BANKROLL | Fund RSB? Mug! (8) BANK (RSB? – by example) ROLL (Mug – i.e. assault, rob) |
| 12 | HACKLES | They rise in anger, journos, taking article abroad (7) LE (article abroad) inside HACKS (journos) |
| 14 | ARDENT | Keen to get an erection, but not hard on time (6) [h]ARDEN, T[ime] |
| 16/20/7 | WENT DOWN WELL | Was a success, so chased pussy? (4,4,4) Followed the cat: “Ding, dong, bell, Pussy’s in the well.” |
| 18/27 | SPIN A YARN | Archer might well “do a Campbell” over Ray appearing in article (4,1,4) SPIN (“do a [Alistair] Campbell”) RAY< inside AN |
| 21 | PECKER | Member kept up by resolute types (6) Double Def |
| 25/23 | ATTORNEY GENERAL | Tory teenager, an atrocious “live” Bobby Kennedy? (8-7) (TORY TEENAGER AN)* AInd: atrocious, then L[ive] |
| 28 | SQUAT | Crap position but it’s rent-free (5) Double Def |
| 29 | ABSEIL | Go down, say, on Cliff? (6) CD? Single Def. really with slightly saucy surface |
| 30 | REINDEER | Beastly thing that Brenda’s said to do: arse-over-tip rush (8) Homophone “Reign” REED< Last One In. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | BLUE CHEESE | Which has a strong whiff of Conservative stuff that’s popular but tasteless (4,6) BLUE (Tory) CHEESE (cheesy stuff can be popular but tasteless) |
| 2 | TRAGIC | Lewinsky sex prop and temperature raised – deplorable (6) CIGAR T all reversed (raised) |
| 3 | AS WELL AS | Not forgetting a spiffing, ace tip from Boris (2,4,2) A SWELL A[ce] [bori]S |
| 4/26 | BOOB TUBE | Skimpy top produces boner on public transport (4,4) BOOB (Boner – mistake) TUBE (public transport) |
| 5 | BRENDA | The old queen needs to stop slipping into underwear (6) END (to stop) inside BRA (underwear) |
| 6 | UPGRADED | Ukip, gutted and marked, to be modernised (8) U[ki]P GRADED (marked) |
| 13 | SWING | Put yourself about and ultimately drown in drink (5) [drow]N in SWIG |
| 15 | NEWSLETTER | Which reveals local goings-on of Virgin permissive type involving Sun (10) NEW (Virgin) S[un] LETTER (permissive type) |
| 17 | TAKEOVER | Kate’s rehabilitation a load of balls – replace manager (8) KATE* OVER (cricket) |
| 19 | AGNOSTIC | A doubter and shilly-shallying ‘antis’ go with Clegg’s lead (8) (ANTIS GO)* AInd: shilly-shallying, C[legg] |
| 22 | RANKLE | Labour’s ultimate joint peeve (6) [labou]R ANKLE (joint) |
| 24 | ROUNDS | Servings of bread sticks providing outer layer to large body (6) UN (large body) inside RODS (sticks) |
I must find a joke to steal to put at the end of this blog
Meanwhile, here’s a pig doing a line of coke…
^..^
( @ )
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I was a bit confused by 11a. I presume that RSB is a typo for RBS (unless there’s a bank called RSB that I’ve never heard of).
I was going to say more about 11a but not that it was a misprint.
I not only read it as RBS, but also cut’n’paste it twice (once for the clue, once for the wordplay) without noticing – maybe if I’d actually typed it in I would’ve noticed.
Now it’s pointed out I think it is a typo (rather than a reference to Russian Standard Bank).
What I thought was dubious was the way an acronym with “Bank” in its expansion was used by example to give BANK in the answer.
Apology accepted -I found this the hardest one I can remember. On a pint scale it would have been at least two serious sessions.
Last one in was 24d which I took to be the fat surrounding an overweight persons stomach -total drivel of course.