A fun solve, although (or because) it took me almost all of the available time to complete, across a number of sittings.
I’ve had a busy few weeks, with a very engaging new project beginning, lots of sea swimming, and today a full day spent getting value for money from fun fair passes with a very excited almost-8-year-old.
The above may explain why the puzzle took me so long to finish, or I could blame the heat, but as ever, in retrospect it was all very doable and enjoyable.
Thanks as always to Cyclops.
Across
| 1 | BUTTOCK | Not a complete arse – though decapitated farm animals (7) BUT (though) + [s]TOCK (decapitated farm animals). |
| 5 | REFOCUS | Friday commandeered by mad Crusoe to adjust telescope? (7) anagram (mad) of F[riday] + CRUSOE. |
| 9 | STRAPPING | Strong and into S and M? (9) Definition as in ‘a strapping lad’, with a somewhat cryptic definition, referring to saucy practices potentially involving whips, chains, or straps. |
| 10/11 | TRUMP TOWER | Old fart, one who pulls president’s erection (5,5) TRUMP (old-ish? word for fart though recently it’s become popular again…) + TOW-ER (one who pulls – tows). |
| 12 | EXTRACTOR | Fan, say, of T.Rex screwed by player (9) EXTR (T.Rex, screwed) + ACTOR (player). |
| 13 | EARFUL | Topless, weepy, getting a bollocking (6) EARFUL – tearful, i.e. weepy, minus its first letter/topless. |
| 15 | INTENSE | Powerful trendy present, maybe (7) IN (trendy) + TENSE (present, maybe). |
| 19 | EMPEROR | English politician at fault dropping Reform’s first leader (7) E[nglish] + MP (politician) + EROR – ‘error’ dropping R from R[eform]. |
| 20 | HERNIA | Protrusion of organ: the woman’s in a whirl (6) HER (the woman) + NIA – anagram ‘whirl’ of IN A. |
| 23 | RAINMAKER | One claiming to cause downfall of Iran – fantastic supreme being! (9) RAIN, an anagram (fantastic) of IRAN + MAKER (supreme being). |
| 25 | UPSET | Finished sexual initiation with alien – pissed off (5) UP (finished, e.g. “time’s up”) + S[exual] + ET (crosswords’ stalwart alien). |
| 27 | See 16d. | |
| 28 | DALLIANCE | Trifling Democrat coalition (9) D[emocrat] + ALLIANCE (coalition). |
| 29 | HURRY UP | Press on about Murphy losing head without Rugby Union backing (5,2) An envelope (without) of UR (Rugby Union, backing) inside HRYUP, an anagram (about) of [m]URPHY (losing head). |
| 30 | ELEMENT | Keele men try storing carbon? (7) Hidden in KeELE MEN Try, with a ? for a definition by example. |
Down
| 1 | BESOTTED | In the sack, drunk starts to take exercise – potty! (8) SOT (drunk) + T[ake] + E[xercise] in BE D (the sack). |
| 2 | THROW | Chuck‘s worth getting stuffed (5) Anagram (getting stuffed) of WORTH. |
| 3 | OPPORTUNE | Colleague needs right air to be suitable (9) OPPO (colleague) + R[ight] + TUNE (air, song). |
| 4 | KAISER | As Keir represented Bill? (6) Anagram (re-presented) of AS KEIR. The definition is, I believe, referring to Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor/Kaiser. |
| 5 | RIGHTING | Wifeless like Lee Anderson and making amends (8) RIGHT WING (such as this MP and Chairman of Reform UK) minus W (i.e. wifeless). |
| 6 | FATWA | Gross Washington religious order (5) FAT (gross) + WA[shington]. |
| 7 | COURTESAN | Mistress sure to rot in jail (9) OURTES (anagram i.e. ‘rot’ of SURE TO) inside CAN (jail). |
| 8 | SUPERB | Gorgeous detective casually mounts bishop (6) SUPER (abbreviation of superintendent, so detective, casually) + B[ishop] (chess notation). |
| 14 | REMAINDER | Balance requires EU supporter to accept date (9) D[ate] inside REMAINER (EU supporter). Definition as in an amount/balance yet to be paid. |
| 16/27ac | EXECUTIVE ORDER | (& 27ac.) Overexcited, rue going bananas for Trump-style legislation (9,6) Anagram (going bananas) of OVEREXCITED RUE. |
| 17 | WORKEDUP | Labour dupe agitated and upset (6,2) WORK (Labour) + EDUP, an anagram (agitated) of DUPE. |
| 18 | MALTREAT | Bully, whiskey-covered Republican, put away (8) MALT (whiskey) + R[epublican] + EAT (put away). As an enjoyer of malt whisk[e]y I was a little disappointed to have fallen for the misdirection suggesting a W. |
| 21 | BROOCH | Bling, perhaps, offered by streetwise guy round church (6) BRO (streetwise guy) + O (round) + CH[urch]. |
| 22 | OR ELSE | Rock’s at London university, failing that (2,4) ORE (rock) + LSE (London School of Economics, a university). |
| 24 | MERRY | Often seen before Christmas, pissed (5)
🎵 Merry Christmas, merry Christmas |
| 26 | SENSE | Poles, in picture, smell? (5) NS (poles – North/South) in SEE (picture), another DBE. |
18d: I suppose there must be such a thing as a malt whiskey? Or are malts all whiskies?
22d: You might want to take a quick look at this one!
MarkonSea @1:
Thanks – I did proofread a few of times but missed my mistake in 22d.
There are indeed examples of malt whiskey, such as Irish ones. It’s just a quirk of spelling, but knowing that didn’t help me with 18d!
Great puzzle Cyclops. Thanks.
Superb blog simonbyc. Thanks.
HERNIA
Took the woman’s as HER
(however, can’t say the blogger is wrong).
I found this a little trickier than the past few, but no issues and lots of fun as usual.
Thanks for the blog , I swim in the sea every day , going in five minutes , on the Lancashire Riviera .
Very good set of clues and quite tricky in parts . RAINMAKER is very neat and deceptive .
Plenty of pleasant mental clicks this fortnight as ever, thanks.
KAISER and RAINMAKER both particularly on the sweet spot, I thought.
18d: the cover in whiskey-covered Republican suggests that an R must somehow fall within whatever the whiskey is, but instead the R just follows MALT.
In effect, the R is covered by both whiskey and put away but the wording of the clue doesn’t seem to read that way.
Waiting for an op for an intense hernia but still enjoyed
Duncan@7 as a Down clue I just took MALT on top of R EAT .
Good fun, as always with this setter.
MERRY, REMAINDER and COURTESAN were my faves and ELEMENT was well-hidden, for I spent ages trying to work C for carbon into 30A, before finally noticing the solution.
Many thanks Cyclops and simonbyc
Thanks to both Cyclops and simonbyc for the entertainment, great fun as usual. As someone who enjoys a good dram I’m not bothered whether or not it has an ‘e’ in it, though some of my Scottish pals disagree with me.
Haven’t done a Cyclops in ages and what a breath of fresh air this was. Must have been on the setter’s wavelength this time as it all went swimmingly. Favourites were COURTESAN, OR ELSE and TRUMP TOWER (for the filthy surface).
Thanks both.