Toughie 426

Toughie No 426 by Osmosis

The Grumpy Old Man Reloaded

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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **

I have enjoyed many previous puzzles from Osmosis, but I found this one to be a bit of a slog for little reward.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.

Across

1a    Clubs are controlled by cards opening to steward for entry (6)
{ACCESS} – put C(lubs) inside some playing cards and add S (opening to steward) to get an entry

4a    In school, fun’s sadly out of order (8)
{CONFUSED} – Inside a coeducational school put an anagram (sadly) to get a word meaning out of order or muddled

9a    Tortuous match, West Indies overpowering English county finally (6)
{TWISTY} – to get a word meaning tortuous take an international cricket match, put W(est) I(ndies) instead of E(nglish) and then add Y (countY finally)

10a    Unmatched? Don’t look so narrowly (8)
{PEERLESS} – a word meaning unmatched could mean don’t look so narrowly if split (4,4)

12a    Beach strip enlightened tourist’s rear, it’s said (8)
{LITTORAL} – a coastal strip of land is built up from a word meaning enlightened followed by T (tourisT‘s rear) and a synonym for spoken (it’s said)

13a    One going for a drag queen after kinky behaviour agreed (6)
{SMOKER} – someone going outside to a cigarette is built up from Elizabeth Regina preceded by the abbreviation for kinky behaviour and a short word for agreed

15a    Recreation, to doctor, meant Internet (13)
{ENTERTAINMENT} – a synonym for recreation is an anagram (to doctor) of MEANT INTERNET

18a & 24a    Retailer of Windows 2.0? (6-7,8)
{DOUBLE-GLAZING SALESMAN} – a cryptic definition of someone retailing home insulation

22a    Wine, as dry as this, spat out? (6)
{BEAUNE} – this wine sounds like (spat out) something often regarded as being dry

24a    See 18a

26a    A way into resorts? (8)
{AVIATION} – run together A, a Roman way and an anagram (resorts) of INTO then read this all-in-one clue again to get the definition

27a    Creature, retracing furrow, stalled regularly (6)
{TURTLE} – a creature is built up by reversing (retracing) a furrow and adding the even letters (regularly) of sTaLlEd

28a    Type of residence converted — Edward was poorly (8)
{DETACHED} – a type of residence is built from TED (Edward) reversed followed by a word meaning suffered or was poorly

29a    Article published — ‘Hospital transferred capital’ (6)
{TEHRAN} – follow the definite article with a word meaning published and then move the H (Hospital transferred) to get the capital of Iran

Down

1d           Barbarian one fired army up (6)
{ATTILA} – combine A (one) a word meaning set fire to and the Territorial Army, reverse the lot (up) to get a famous Barbarian

2d           Business in Treasury only half done (first in uncorks booze) (9)
{COINTREAU} – combine CO(mpany) IN TREA(sury) and U ((first in Uncorks) to get some booze

3d           Stoutish crook, hard to miss, doesn’t get involved (4,3)
{SITS OUT} – an anagram (crook) of STOUTIS(H) without the H (hard to miss) gives a phrasal verb meaning doesn’t get involved

5d           Price’s dropped from demonstrated appliance (4)
{OVEN} – drop the PR(ice) from a word meaning demonstrated to get a kitchen appliance

6d           Chiefs supporting Middle East country, alienated axis (7)
{FOREMEN} – these chiefs come from a word meaning supporting together with a Middle East country without (alienated) the Y-axis

7d           Slithery creature, moving earth, finds rat (5)
{SNEAK} – take a slithery creature and move the E(arth) from the end to the middle to get a rat

8d           Summit in Denmark — ‘Is European island to be separate?’ (8)
{DISCRETE} – run together D (summit in Denmark), IS and a European island to get a word meaning separate

11d         Heavy fire gets soldier in elbow (7)
{BARRAGE} – heavy or continuous fire is generated by putting the Royal Artillery in a word meaning to elbow

14d         Fruit not all there (7)
{BANANAS} – a double definition

ARVE Error: need id and provider

16d         Measuring instrument therefore used by Mike chopping tree (9)
{ERGOMETER} – this instrument for measuring work done comes from the Latin for therefore, M(ike) in the NATO phonetic alphabet and an anagram (chopping) of TREE

17d         Bill and Jack start to hire joiner, an expert (1,3,4)
{A DAB HAND} – a charade of a bill or circular, a jack or sailor, the first letter of H(ire) and a joining preposition results in an expert

19d         Midday meal almost over at one (fruitcake) (7)
{LUNATIC} – put most of a midday meal around AT I (one) to get a fruitcake or nutcase

20d         Frozen thing that is outside church with baby (3,4)
{ICE CUBE} – the frozen water that you add to a drink is derived by putting the Latin for “that is” around the Church of England and a baby animal

21d         Aussie ignores advice with oxygen, regarding some peaks (6)
{ANDEAN} – take someone from the other side of the world (literally “with feet opposite”) and remove the advice and the chemical symbol for Oxygen to get a word meaning of a major mountain system running the length of the Pacific coast of South America

23d         Street fighter switched, becoming such a celeb? (1-4)
{A-LIST} – take a ST(reet) and a former World boxing champion, switch them around and you have a grouping of major celebrities

25d         My electronic hub (4)
{CORE} – combine an interjection like “my!” with E(lectronic) to get a hub

I have looked back over the clues and I’m still feeling grumpy.  Better luck next week, perhaps!