Toughie 210

Toughie No 210 by Notabilis
A Pleasant Surprise

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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****

The reason for the surprise is that Tilsit was due to do this review but has had to go for a scan this afternoon, so you’re stuck with me! That’s a pleasant surprise for me, not necessarily for you!
I really enjoyed the puzzle, but I’m sure that if Tilsit were doing the commentary he would complain about the “cornery” grid, which really splits it into four separate areas. In fact I had completely finished three-quarters of it at one stage and still had the top left-hand corner totally blank.
Comments as usual are welcomed and appreciated.

Across Clues

1a  Fires fed by woman with hot tip (9)
{BAKSHEESH} – the definition is tip and it’s a word from Persian which is constructed from BAKES (fires) with SHE (woman) inside and finished off with H(ot).

9a  Rot’s beginning in thick bit of wood crack up on the boards? (6)
{CORPSE} – put R (beginning of Rot) inside COPSE (dense area of woodland) to get an informal term for breaking into a fit of giggles on stage.

10a  Bitter German’s certainly not cut up (9)
{JAUNDICED} – the definition is bitter. Start with JA (yes, certainly, in German) and add an adjective meaning not cut up.

11a  Don’t hold back rent twice! (3,3)
{LET RIP} – two different meanings of rent.

12a  Coronation Street delayed when one’s missed match (9)
{CORRELATE} – the affectionate nickname for this soap is CORRIE. Add LATE and remove the I (one’s missed) to get a verb meaning match.

13a  Someone holding another’s hat above the peak (6)
{CAPTOR} – a charade of CAP (hat) and TOR (peak).

17a  Sports are what kept princess awake (3)
{PEA} – do you remember the Hans Christian Andersen story about the very sensitive princess? This is what kept her awake even though she had umpteen mattresses. Sports are PE – add A (are). I was a bit surprised to find that A is a recognised abbreviation for ‘are’.

19a  Small vehicle circling craft in the drink (7)
{MARTINI} – the small vehicle is a MINI – put ART (craft) inside.

20a  River blockage keeps slowing down westbound duck (7)
{MALLARD} – river blockage is DAM – put inside this RALL (short for the musical term rallentando, becoming slower) then reverse the whole lot (westbound, in an across clue).

21a  Burst into song? (3)
{POP} – double definition.

23a  Kundera’s hero in parts behaving less 29 (6)
{RASHER} – a hidden word means behaving in a way less like 29a. I wish the setter could have linked this to 30a as well.

27a  Not normally rue day, nor every day? (4-5)
{YEAR-ROUND} – an anagram (not normally) of RUE DAY NOR.

28a  Have potential for cloaking rolling fat? It does (6)
{CAFTAN} – have potential is CAN – put an anagram (rolling) of FAT inside (cloaking) to get a garment which hides one’s body shape.

29a  Days lived surprisingly sensibly (9)
{ADVISEDLY} – an anagram (surprisingly) of DAYS LIVED.

30a  Mark seen in bacon and right through other meat (6)
{STREAK} – put R(ight) inside a nice bit of rump or sirloin.

31a  Get to the bottom of babble about troubled teen (9)
{PENETRATE} – babble is PRATE – inside this put an anagram (troubled) of TEEN.

Down Clues

2d  An area dwindling south of America? (6)
{AMAZON} – this is a beautiful all-in-one clue. Put A ZONe (an area dwindling, i.e. without its last letter) after (south of, in a down clue) AM (America) to get the geographical area where the rainforests are indeed dwindling.

3d  One has to watch small part of log (6)
{SENTRY} – someone who is a lookout is constructed from S(mall) and ENTRY (part of a log).

4d  Suppress swallowing cap of boletus up like some mushrooms (6)
{EDIBLE} – to suppress a syllable in verse is ELIDE (for example, using o’er instead of over) – insert the first letter (cap) of Boletus and then reverse the whole lot to get an adjective meaning able to be eaten, like some mushrooms.

5d  Energy stored by sulphur explosive put in protective case (7)
{SHEATHE} – the definition is put in protective case, and this verb is made by putting together S (sulphur), HEAT (energy) and HE (high explosive).

6d  Jumping up to a level with expenditure of energy? (4,5)
{POLE VAULT} – another nice all-in-one clue – what’s needed is an anagram (jumping) of UP TO A LEVEL without one of the Es (with expenditure of energy).

7d  Song originally accompanied by religious series of actions? (9)
{SPIRITUAL} – why stop when you’re on a roll? – we have yet another fine all-in-one clue. String together S (initial letter of Song), PI (religious, short for pious), and RITUAL (series of actions) and you get a black American religious song.

8d  Outlaw not quite accurate when holding agents up (9)
{DESPERADO} – accurate is DEAD ON – take off the last letter (not quite) and insert REPS (agents) backwards (up) and you have an outlaw.

14d  Vague horror on the increase around bankers’ district (9)
{IMPRECISE} – put together IMP (wicked spirit, horror) and RISE (increase) and insert EC (postal district of the City of London, where the bankers hang out when they aren’t off spending their bonuses) and you get a synonym for vague.

15d  It may come from clashing forces, sir! (9)
{CROSSFIRE} – a “nearly” all-in-one comes from an anagram (clashing) of FORCES SIR.

16d  Absent smile might result from blowing it (5,4)
{MILES AWAY} – the definition is absent and the answer is what you might write in a clue if you wanted to signal an anagram of smile, preceding it with “blowing” as the indicator.

17d  Narrowly defeat seed (3)
{PIP} – double definition.

18d  Unit needed for electric guitar? (3)
{AMP} – an abbreviation with two meanings.

22d  Late bloomer’s core vegetation yields resistance (7)
{OVERDUE} – bloomer’s core is the letter O – follow this with VERDURE (vegetation) without R(esistance) to get a synonym for late.

24d  Ship’s company’s reported for voyage (6)
{CRUISE} – a homophone (reported) of a word meaning ship’s company is a voyage.

25d  Definitely not from resident in close (2,4)
{NO FEAR} – start with NEAR (close) and insert (resident in) OF (from) to get an interjection meaning definitely not. Are you happy with of as a synonym for from?

26d  Decorative chain lifted from hostel knapsack (6)
{ANKLET} – hidden (from) and reversed (lifted) in the clue is a decorative chain.

There are some really good clues here (so much so that, having written up the down clues, I’ve increased the Enjoyment stars from 3 to 4). I liked 10a, 12a, 6d and 7d, but my clue of the day is 2d. Agree or disagree? We’d love to hear your views, and please don’t forget to vote below.