Toughie No 2923 by Silvanus
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Silvanus has given us a fairly gentle but highly enjoyable Toughie. Many thanks to him.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Bear with opinion we formed about article on hotel (6-3-4)
WINNIE-THE-POOH: an anagram (formed) of OPINION WE containing a definite article – add the letter that hotel represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet.
9a French writer’s visiting pianist occasionally in city (9)
INVERNESS: the surname of a French novelist and the ‘S go inside regular letters of ‘pianist’.
10a Time-waster is a little scoundrel, dithering around (5)
IDLER: hidden in reverse.
11a Topless photos, there could be money in them (5)
TILLS: remove the first letter from types of photographs.
12a Asian article of clothing, reportedly (4)
THAI: a hom*ophone of a (usually male) article of clothing.
13a Ill-treatment in hospital wing (4)
HARM: the abbreviation for hospital in maps and a wing or section.
15a Student Frank extremely visible cycling in cloak (7)
ENVELOP: string together our usual abbreviated student, an adjective meaning frank or candid and the outer letters of visible. Now cycle the last four letters to the front.
17a Parted with profit day after store’s closure (7)
YIELDED: start with a word meaning profit or dividend and add the closing letter of store and the abbreviation for day.
18a Found old Conservative worried, being inspired by Liberal Democrat (7)
LOCATED: abbreviations for old and Conservative and a verb meaning worried go between the abbreviations for Liberal and Democrat.
20a Spontaneous individual assured of success (7)
NATURAL: double definition, the second describing someone with an inborn aptitude.
21a Sound of perhaps husky female at rear of court (4)
WOOF: the abbreviation for female follows a verb to court.
22a Discover pair of smalls worn by American (4)
SUSS: two occurrences of the clothing abbreviation for small go round an abbreviation for American.
23a Heard cry from cat, unwell in garage, possibly (5)
MUSIC: hom*ophones of a cat’s cry and a synonym of unwell make what garage is an example of. Sadly no examples of this genre were available for me to include at time of publication.
26a Enhance stew with no end of lamb (5)
RAISE: remove the last letter of lamb from a verb to stew.
27a Deny covering for this regularly absent broker in Wall Street? (9)
NEGOTIATE: a verb to deny or contradict contains ‘for this’ after regular letters have been deleted. The verb to broker is, according to the BRB, a US term.
28a Relish vaguely unknown place to worship film star (7,6)
SHIRLEY TEMPLE: assemble an anagram (vaguely) of RELISH, an algebraic unknown and a place of worship.
Down Clues
1d Those reporting to authorities corruption in football referees? (7-7)
WHISTLE-BLOWERS: double definition, the second cryptic.
2d Unusual number ready in Bulgaria for revolution (5)
NOVEL: an abbreviation for number and the reversal of the Bulgarian currency.
3d Aussie vehicle seen underneath crashed lorries? That’s doubtful (10)
IRRESOLUTE: the abbreviation down under for a pickup follows an anagram (crashed) of LORRIES.
4d Beat constable leaders overlooked for highest position in service, maybe (7)
TREETOP: start with a beat constable (STREET COP) and remove the leading letter of each word. We usually get a few queries when this type of service is seen.
5d Yes, playing with cats will bring delight (7)
ECSTASY: an anagram (playing) of YES and CATS.
6d Nothing to follow essentially cold current savoury dish (4)
OLIO: the letter that looks like zero follows the central letters of cold and the symbol for electric current.
7d Shout from New Yorker also aboard ship (9)
HOLLANDER: a verb to shout with a conjunction meaning also inside it. I’ve been using this verb to shout all my life so I’m glad that the BRB calls it ‘dialect’ as well as North American.
8d Charlie stops Native American pocketing fantastic emerald, note the very best (5,2,2,5)
CRÈME DE LA CRÈME: a Russian doll construct – insert what Charlie stands for in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet inside an anagram (fantastic) of EMERALD and put all that inside a Native American. Finally add a note from tonic sol-fa.
14d Unit to measure heart’s maintaining rhythm (10)
CENTIMETRE: a synonym of heart or core contains a synonym of rhythm or tempo.
16d Triumphs in small Australian state over right-wingers (9)
VICTORIES: the abbreviation (small) of an Australian state is followed by some right-wing politicians.
19d Boy consumes new peeled fruit served up daily (7)
DIURNAL: a boy contains the abbreviation for new and the inner letters of fruit. Now reverse the lot.
20d Posy of flowers, say, gone rotten (7)
NOSEGAY: an anagram (rotten) of SAY GONE.
24d Time for wife during flood to make an impression (5)
STAMP: start with a verb to flood or saturate and replace the abbreviation for wife with that of time.
25d Food store distribution very neglected (4)
DELI: remove ‘very’ from a distribution.
The clues I enjoyed most were 21a, 23a, 27a and 4d. Which one(s) raised your spirits?
