Toughie 312

Toughie No 312 by Kcit

Deciphering the Enigma

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

I was progressing steadily through this puzzle, but at the last hurdle was held up for some time by 29a, a reminder to me of how important it is to read every word of the clue carefully, and the reason I’ve given it four stars for difficulty rather than three. Apart from that I thought that it was a fairly average, typical Toughie.
As always we’d love to get your views – please leave a comment!

Across Clues

3a  How some riders travel round quiet road near city? (6)
{BYPASS} – put the method of transport of some riders (on the beach perhaps) round P (quiet) to get a ring-road.

6a  Summon odd bits of beer and cake (4)
{BECK} – put together the odd letters of BeEr and CaKe to get a verb (short for beckon) meaning to summon (and also most of the name of a famous German beer).

8a  Liquor? Duke tucks into very acceptable article (5)
{VODKA} – put D(uke) inside V(ery), OK (acceptable) and A (indefinite article).

9a  Fossil? Outrageous losing old rocks on board (11)
{STEGOSAURUS} – “on board” indicates that the outer letters of the answer are SS. Between them put an anagram (rocks) of (o)UTRAGEOUS (losing the O(ld)). I’m not sure what the surface reading is meant to convey.

10a  Behold display of raging river (5)
{LOIRE} – join together a short word meaning behold and a synonym for anger (display of raging) to get the longest river in France.

11a  Explosive takes care of confectionery (5,6)
{JELLY BABIES} – a charade of an informal word for gelignite and a verb meaning takes care of or pampers will give you these sweets.

16a  Wartime machine repelled a bomb, limiting opening for Germany (6)
{ENIGMA} – reverse (repelled) A MINE (a bomb) and insert (limiting) the opening letter of G(ermany) to get the German enciphering machine of WWII. The codebreakers at Bletchley Park regular broke the supposedly unbreakable codes used by these machines, to play a major part in shortening the war.

17a  Talk endlessly about little time to produce flower (5,3)
{SWEET PEA} – Put SPEA(k) (talk endlessly) around a synonym for little and T(ime).

19a  Composer airs his gripe with variations (8 )
{RESPIGHI} – an anagram (with variations) of HIS GRIPE produces the name of an Italian composer (hitherto unknown to me). “airs” seems to be present purely for the surface reading.

20a  The Terminator, clearly without heart, dull, not fashionable (6)
{CYBORG} – The Governor, in his most famous film role, was one of these. Start with the outer letters (without heart) of C(learl)Y and add BOR(in)G (dull without IN).

22a  Components of case fee fixed after male’s taken in (6-5)
{CHARGE-SHEET} – a list of what an accused person is being tried for in court (components of case) is made from a synonym for fee, followed by a word meaning fixed with HE (male) inside (taken in).

25a  Single woman, subject of ancient tax? That’s not new (5)
{WIDOW} – the ancient tax, roughly based on the size of one’s property and first introduced in 1696, has its N removed (not New) to leave a woman who is once again single. Gerard Hoffnung told of a mix-up between these two words in a foreign hotel brochure, but I can’t find that clip so here’s an even funnier one detailing a bricklayer’s description of why he needs sick leave.
ARVE Error: need id and provider

27a  Extra payment to sort out enemy dragon? (6,5)
{DANGER MONEY} – an additional payment for exposure to risk is an anagram (sort out) of ENEMY DRAGON.

28a  Nervous adolescents with misplaced energy? (5)
{TENSE} – start with a word for adolescents and move one of the Es around (misplaced energy) to get a synonym for nervous.

29a  To move aside, though not initially needing to (4)
{SHUT} – this is the last answer I got and the one which caused me most problems. The definition is that little word “to” lurking inconspicuously right at the end of the clue. The reason that I was held up was that I was looking for a word from which to remove the initial letter of To, but, in fact, it’s the first letter (initially) of Needing that has to be discarded from a verb meaning to move aside (often used to mean diverting rolling stock to another track).

30a  Fool in school becoming telltale (6)
{SNITCH} – we want a synonym for fool inside (in) an abbreviation for school.

Down Clues

1d  Shape of violets and lilies primarily (4)
{OVAL} – this shape is made from the initial letters (primarily) of four words in the clue.

2d  European waterway — it’s area acid polluted (8,3)
{ADRIATIC SEA} – this expanse of water in Europe is an anagram (polluted) of IT’S AREA ACID.

3d  Extreme sport requiring you to be high — or low, apparently (4,7)
{BASE JUMPING} – this extreme sport requires one to launch oneself off earthbound (and therefore relatively low) objects, such as skyscrapers or cliffs, with an inbuilt parachute.

4d  Excluding T bone in Spanish dish (6)
{PAELLA} – excluding T bone should really be read as “excluding T from bone” or “bone (excluding T)”. You get the first Spanish dish that most people will think of by taking the T from a kneecap.

5d  Immediately gripped by second cry from bird (5,3)
{SNOWY OWL} – immediately is NOW. Surround (grip) this with S(econd) and a verb meaning to cry or wail.

6d  Lack of clarity with British promotional material (5)
{BLURB} – something that cannot be seen clearly (lack of clarity), and also the name of a defunct band, is followed by B(ritish) to get promotional material (as written on a book cover for example).

7d  Oil company’s head dispensing with courtesy (5)
{CRUDE} – unrefined oil is made from the first letter (head) of Company followed by an adjective meaning impolite (dispensing with courtesy).

12d  Why battery’s failing in Welsh resort (11)
{ABERYSTWYTH} – an anagram (failing) of WHY BATTERY’S generates this Welsh seaside resort.

13d  Quick-witted comedy with one impression? It’s extravagant (11)
{IMPROVIDENT} – follow an abbreviation for quick-witted and unscripted comedy with I (one) and an impression or hollow to get an adjective meaning lacking foresight.

14d  Unwilling to be seen without a good trimming ultimately, being this? (6)
{SHAGGY} – a semi-all-in-one requires a word meaning unwilling to be seen being put around (without) A, G(ood) and the last letter (ultimately) of trimminG.

15d  Satisfied with most of a heap of verses? (6)
{METRIC} – combine a verb meaning satisfied (a demand, for example) and most of RIC(k) (heap) to get an adjective meaning consisting of verses.

18d  Church crudely means to suppress second bishop? (8 )
{CHESSMAN} – start with an abbreviation for church and add an anagram (crudely) of MEANS with an S (second) inside (to suppress) to end up with a bishop maybe (or possibly a king).

21d  Seed plant no Scots raised in position (6)
{PEANUT} – reverse (raised) a Scots word for no inside a verb meaning to position.

23d  Sun moves from covering moorland (5)
{HEATH} – start with a covering (for a sword, possibly) and remove the initial S (Sun moves) to leave a moorland.

24d  Just clever, having no need of book (5)
{RIGHT} – a word meaning just or equitable is made by removing the initial B (no need of Book) from a word meaning clever or quick on the uptake.

26d  What sounds like a process for milk product (4)
{WHEY} – a word that sounds (vaguely!) like a synonym for process or method is the watery part of milk that was so much enjoyed by young Ms. Muffet.

The clues I liked included 17a, 29a, 14d and 18d, but my favourite was 28a. Leave us a comment, telling us what you thought of it.