Bojo, Corbo, and a whole lotta haiku feature in our pick of the best clues from across the broadsheet cryptics
The setter Punk – known locally as Paul (Q&A here) – seems to be discussing national affairs in an Independent clue ...
4d/25d Political institutiondispensing with French leader from afar, Marine Le Pen up to no good (8,10)
[ AFAR, minus first letter of FRENCH, plus MARINELEPENUPTO, all anagrammed (‘no good’) ]
[ anag. of AARMARINELEPENUPTO ]
2dBadly coiffured politician flipped two days in– bodyguard screened (6)
[ an MP’s nickname spelled backwards (‘flipped’), with abbrev. for ‘day’ inserted twice (‘two days in’) ]
[ BOJO backwards with two Ds inside ]
[ DD inside OJOB ]
6dBarracksa politician under Corbyn’s leadership (4)
[ A (‘a’) + abbrev. for politician, both after (‘under’ in a down clue) initial letter of (‘leadership of’) CORBYN ]
[ A + MP, both after C ]
8d Modern bits of language spreading gloominess (10)
[ anagram (‘spreading’) of GLOOMINESS ]
In the list of sources responsible for the first evidence of a word, he ranks among the great at an impressive No. 25, with 788.
25acStarts to harness an idealistic karma understandably (5)
[ it’s an acrostic: after ‘starts to’, you must then take the first letters ]
Starts to harness an
Idealistic karma
Understandably