Toughie 215

Toughie No 215 by Firefly

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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

I struggled more than I usually do with a Firefly puzzle despite getting the 4d/16a/18a combination, that is the key to several other clues, very early on.  Very enjoyable stuff, with only a few “easy” clues.

Feel free to add your comments.

Across

7a River about to rive prison vessel (9)
{CATAMARAN} – River TAMAR and A(bout) inside CAN (prison) results in a twin-hulled boat – about = a fooled me for a while

8a Lily takes fortune to America (5)
{LOTUS} – this lily is a simple charade of LOT (fortune / fate) and US

10a A steep adjustment for currency (6)
{PESETA} – an anagram (adjustment) A STEEP gives a currency

11a 16 to fail in payment (8)
{DOLOMITE} – you need 16a = rock for the definition, then put OMIT (fail, as in fail to do) inside DOLE (payment)

12a Homeric tussle inducing horrified expression (6)
{RICTUS} – nothing whatsoever to do with Homer, but this horrified expression is hidden inside HomeRIC TUSsle

14a Protection from head to foot? (6)
{TOECAP} – or more accurately protection from TOE to CAP

16a See 4 Down (4)

17a Girls for all seasons? (5)
{SPICE} – an allusion to the SPICE Girls

18a See 4 Down (4)

19a Quondam matrix (6)
{FORMER} – a rather tricky double definition – quondam is the Latin for former, and a FORMER is a type of matrix

21a Where sixth sense leads to the centre of Granada? (6)
{ESPANA} – a charade of ESP (sixth sense) and ANA (centre of GrANAda) gives the location of Granada in the vernacular

24a Ambassador’s support is initially tentative for linguist (8)
{HEBRAIST} – the charade is easy – HE (Ambassador) BRA (support) IS T (initially Tentative) – but I had never heard of this Hebrew linguist

26a Sings with abandon about European 16 (6)
{GNEISS} – an anagram (with abandon) of SINGS around E(uropean) for another kind of rock

27a Head confiscating last letter from sneak, plus next one (5)
{SKULL} – a synonym for head comes from SKUL(K) without the K (confiscating last letter from sneaK) but with an L (plus next one)

28a Smooth bit of stuff, tenor’s 16? (9)
{SANDSTONE} – SAND (smooth, as in to use sandpaper) S (bit of Stuff) and TONE (tenor / drift) gives yet another rock

Down

1d Rake over limits of experiment with trainee (5)
{CADET} – as this is a down clue we can put CAD (rake / scoundrel) over ET (limits of ExperimenT) for this military trainee

2d Nonconformist minister’s first to state number escaping from prison (8)
{MAVERICK} – this nonconformist is built up from M (Minister’s first) AVER (to state) and then remove the N (number escaping) from (N)ICK (prison)

Which leads to a famous Maverick:

ARVE Error: need id and provider

3d Degree conferred on mariner in 16 (6)
{BASALT} – continuing today’s main theme combine BA (degree) and SALT (mariner) for yet another rock

4d, 16a & 18a Difficult-to-beat restaurant – the Granita? (4,4,4)
{HARD ROCK CAFÉ} – HARD (difficult) ROCK (beat) and CAFÉ (restaurant) for a restaurant that could have been called the Granita

5d ‘Modifier’, if pushed in training, gets course advantage (6)
{DORMIE} – an anagram (in training) of MOD(IF)IER without the IF (if pushed) gets an advantage on the golf course

6d Fliers (not English) fateful ‘Few’ trounced (9)
{LUFTWAFFE} – these wartime fliers are an anagram (trounced) of FAT(E)FUL FEW without the E (not English) – excellent, almost all-in-one, surface reading

9d Casual mistake with article (participle missing) (6)
{BLITHE} – this synonym for casual is BLI(P) (mistake) and THE (article) without the P (Participle missing)

13d Northants nearly lose – one run in it (5)
{SHIRE} – Northants is an example of this type of county – SHE(D) (nearly lose) with I (one) and R(un) inside

15d Jerseys isolated when covered in spots (4,5)
{POLO NECKS} – these sweaters are derived from LONE (isolated) inside (when covered in) POCKS (spots)

17d Sally’s largely regretful to be given restriction (6)
{SORTIE} – a sally, as in a sudden rushing forth of troops, is derived from SOR(RY) (largely regretful) and TIE (restriction)

18d Composition’s a winner within Tory circle (8)
{CONCERTO} – a musical composition is constructed from CERT (a winner) inside CON(servative) (Tory) and O (circle)

20d You’d be unfortunate to lose more than one 16 (6)
{MARBLE} – a small rock and a play on losing one’s MARBLEs

22d Pad built in past? Quite the reverse with this edifice (6)
{PAGODA} – an anagram (built) of PAD inside AGO (past) – no the other way round to get this building

23d Taking advantage of some humus in garden (5)
{USING} – this answer is hidden inside humUS IN Garden

25d Precisely where grass is put here? (2,1,1)
{TO A T} – just a week ago this expression, meaning precisely, turned up as part of the wordplay in T 211 – and if you put OAT (grass) under T you could say that it has been put to a T

Thanks for the challenge Firefly, and I hope I’ve analysed it correctly.