A fun solve as ever, and one I managed by myself this time!
I found this hit the sweet spot perfectly for me – first scan through seemed daunting with little yielding, some focused effort provided some more solutions, and so on in roughly that fashion. Some of the clues took me some time to solve and/or properly parse, including a little research here and there. Overall a nice mixture of straightforward, slightly perplexing, and challenging, with just the right amount of cheekiness.
Thanks as ever to Cyclops for the puzzle.
Across
| 1 | WHIP | Nick, the party attack dog? (4) Double definition; to steal (e.g. “my phone’s been whipped”) or a political party’s disciplinarian. It took me rather too long to remember the former definition, even with crossers. |
| 4/7 | CATCH COLD | Become snotty-nosed and collar Conservative veteran (5,4) A charade of CATCH (collar) + C[onservative] + OLD (veteran). |
| 9 | CORFU | Holiday spot in which – phwoar! – female undoes top (5) A charade of COR (phwoar) + F[emale] + U the ‘top’ of ‘undoes’. Some credit to the setter for not clueing the last two letters in a more lewd manner. |
| 10 | COME INTO | Be left to have an orgasm? Not I, sadly (4,4) A charade of COME (have an orgasm) + INTO, an anagram (sadly) of NOT I. |
| 11 | ALLY | Wife leaves twerp for associate (4) A subtraction of WALLY (twerp) less W[ife]. |
| 12 | TWO FINGERS | Whisky drink raised in vulgar defiance? (3,7) Another double definition. When it comes to scotch, I find the trick is to choose as wide a glass as possible. Regarding the ‘salute’, you might believe this has origins in ancient archers defiantly showing their un-amputated fingers, but recently I learned there’s no solid evidence for this. |
| 13 | KIND OF | Family party, fine to some extent (4,2) KIN (family) + DO (party) + F (fine). |
| 15 | TOPICS | Subjects to tabloid photos? (6) TO + PICS (photos). I’m unsure what tabloids have to do with it but does make for a smoother & more apt surface. I suppose the abbreviation is tabloid-esque. |
| 18 | SCHEME | Cyclops pursuing school online far right conspiracy (6) SCH[ool] + E (‘online’, from electronic) + ME (Cyclops) , with ‘far right’ indicating the position of the first-clued piece. |
| 19 | BIDETS | Personal cleansers supplied by – wait – disheartened Trump supporters (6) BIDE (wait, as in biding one’s time) + TS – first/last letters (disheartened) of Trump supporterS. Another that took me a while to properly unpick & parse but not unfair. |
| 21 | UNDERMINED | Put too little effort into digging for copper etc, being weakened (10) Cryptic definition evoking a lazy pitman (or woman). |
| 24 | ITCH | Yen’s in shit? Cheers! (4) Hidden in shIT CHeers. |
| 25 | DROGHEDA | Heard dog’s drunk Irish port (8) Anagram (drunk) of HEARD DOG. I’ll confess I had to research Irish ports for this but hopefully this one is now permanently stored in my crossword-brain. |
| 26 | VERDI | He scored, lover did – well, not altogether (5) Hidden in (not altogether) loVER DId, with a fun oblique definition. |
| 27/28/29 | HOME SWEET HOME | House doubly full of humbug? There’s nothing like it (4,5,4) An envelope (full of) of SWEET (humbug) inside HOME HOME (house, doubly). |
Down
| 2 | HECKLE | Bloody hell! Law enforcement leaders harass the speaker (6) HECK (Bloody hell!) + L[aw] + E[nforcement]. |
| 3 | PARTY LINE | Do row, as subdued MPs stand by (5,4) PARTY (do, the other way around this time) + LINE (row, noun). As a child I thought the idiom was towing the line and never quite understood what I was supposed to be pulling. Apparently that’s called an eggcorn though I prefer the similar, if not identical mondegreen. |
| 4/19 | COUNT BINFACE | Votes cast by Burnham’s top information expert for the ‘Refuse’ candidate? (5,7) COUNT (votes cast) + B[urnham] (‘s top) + INF[ormation] + ACE (expert). Personally I don’t think joke candidates have a place in politics but the people of Clacton have elected him twice. |
| 5 | TICK OFF | Mark Dicky’s carpet (4,3) TICK (mark) + OFF (Dicky). The definition wasn’t familiar to me, another one for the memory banks. |
| 6 | HAM-FISTED | “Hard in the morning” fellow lives with Edward – awkward (3-6) H[ard] + AM (in the morning) + F[ellow] + IS (lives) + TED (Edward). Quite a mouthful (eyeful?) when written out but easier to solve, at least for me. |
| 7 | CLING | Clearing organ out? Hang on (5) A subtraction (out) of CLEARING, less EAR (organ). |
| 8 | LITERACY | Ability to read French article about sex – risqué! (8) A charade of LITE, an envelope (about) of IT (sex) inside LE (French definite article) + RACY (risqué). |
| 14 | DREAMLESS | Democrat with papers at bar – lacking vision? (9) D[emocrat] + REAM (papers) + LESS (bar). |
| 16 | PATRIARCH | Grand old man, a rich prat’s fancy (9) An angram (fancy) of A RICH PRAT. |
| 17 | SCENARIO | Situation requires a bit of opera or I shift (8) SCENA (a scene in/bit of opera) + RIO, an anagram (shift) of OR I. |
| 19 | See 4dn. | |
| 20 | SCHISM | Church is into kinky sex, causing split (6) CH[urch] + IS inside SM (kinky sex). |
| 22 | EAGLE | Mutt, blowing top, is symbolic of USA (5) BEAGLE (mutt) minus its first letter (blowing top). |
| 23 | DUVET | Bedding Victor to fill a twosome? (5) V (Victor, phonetic alphabet) inside DUET (twosome). |