The news in clues
As the Artist of the Deal contemplates his bad luck in seeing a sixth former associate indicted, he can still count on the loyalty of one constituency: crossword setters. Here he is, as part of the wordplay, in Qaos’s clue …
30acFigureTrump a bum to hug his outspoken easy one (9)
[ wordplay: anagram of (‘bum’) TRUMPA, surrounding (‘to hug’) American-accent soundalike of (‘his outspoken’) ‘easy’ with synonym for ‘one’ (if you’re posh) ]
[ TRAPUM surrounding EZ with I ]
[ definition: figure ]
… for TRAPEZIUM; here he is as part of the definition when Imogen kicks off a Guardian puzzle …
1acTrump, perhaps, to slip up badly (8)
[ wordplay: anagram of (‘badly’) TOSLIPUP ]
[ definition: Trump, perhaps ]
… with a clue for POPULIST, which overlaps with one down in a way that is surely coincidental; and most statesmanlike of all, here he is in Hoskin’s prize-puzzle clue …
26acUltimately crap citizen: Trump, perhaps (9)
[ wordplay: last letter of (‘ultimately’) CRAP + synonym for ‘citizen’ ]
[ P + RESIDENT ]
[ definition: Trump, perhaps ]
… for PRESIDENT.
Latter patter
Knut shows his knack for having sport with newly coined expressions in this Independent clue …
13acMob assembling – it’s a jungle, Elysées evacuated (6,6)
[ wordplay: anagram ‘(‘assembling’) of ITSAJUNGLE, then first and last letters of (‘evacuated’) ELYSEES ]
[ GILETSJAUN, then ES ]
[ definition: mob ]
… for GILETS JAUNES. It has been bewildering to watch the America’s right try to claim kinship online with the hi-vis recusants, as if the French have ever demanded a reason for burning things in the street above and beyond being French. The gilets jaunesare also part of the French tradition of identifying movements by their dress (The bonnets rouges of 2013 aspired to echo the 1675 papier timbré revolt) or lack thereof: the barefoot va-nu-pieds of 1639, and the subject of our next challenge.
Like “Tory”, this was a term of abuse before being adopted by those it was applied to, in this case so enthusiastically that they also made it the name of an extra day in their revolutionary calendar.
Yes, we wear trousers of coarse fabric, they retorted, but reader: how would you clue SANS-CULOTTES?
Cluing competition
Thanks for your clues for KNICKER. It is an awkward word, I acknowledge, with KICKER among the fewer-than-usual ways in, as in Patjberry’s distressing short story “Football player taking man’s last money”. I also enjoyed seeing that it could be used as an adjective, like in TonyCollman’s dystopian “Kafka’s protagonist confronted by policeman pointing to this type of drawer?”
PeterMooreFuller gets the audacity award for “Small drawer”, and Cmiall an audacity mention for “A pound of kludos? Not if Connor keeps embracing rubbish starting points”.
The runners-up are Harlobarlo’s timely “Money spent when I replaced a missing journalist” and Schroduck’s evocative “What cop said of burglar getting cash”; the winner is Sandwichfeet’s “Ready source of kompromat more charming around Kremlin’s leader”.
Kludos to Sandwich; please leave entries for this fortnight’s competition and your picks from the broadsheet cryptics below.
Clue of the Fortnight
Once upon a time, the name Norman Mailer produced in my mind nothing but images of thick novels with unbroken spines. Since Alan Arbesfeld wrote a New York Times puzzle with a spoonerism theme, I have thought of his “Writer-turned-Utah carpenter?”
Now I also have this, from Picaroon:
7/20d They prevent issue in Norman Mailer’s writings? (6,7)
[ wordplay: synonym for ‘Norman’ + items that could be described as “‘mailer’s writings’ ]
[ definition: they prevent issue ]
It’s FRENCH LETTERS. Salut.
