Toughie 459

Toughie No 459 by Cephas

The Finishing Touch!

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

While not difficult, this is a bit tougher than many of Cephas’s previous puzzles.

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    Some bar food shortly (4)
{CHOC} – part of a bar of the favourite food of most women (and some men)

3a    Win I have running (10)
{SUCCESSIVE} – combine a win with I’VE (I have) to get a word meaning running or following one another

8a    Sign over a book for Shelter (4-2)
{LEAN-TO} – put a sign of the zodiac around A New Testament to get a shelter

9a    Investigated once article’s dug up (8)
{EXAMINED} – a verb meaning investigated is a charade of once or former (as in a former partner), the indefinite article and dug up from underground

10a    What to put first after health? (6)
{SAFETY} – fill in one of the blanks – “______ First” or “Health & ______”

11a    A youth following remains in a state of collapse (8)
{RUINATED} – put A and a 1950’s youth after remains (of an old building) to get a word meaning in a state of collapse

12a    Person of conviction (8)
{PRISONER} – an old chestnut! – a cryptic definition of a person who has been convicted of a criminal offence

14a    In case lecturer is French (4)
{LEST} – a word meaning “in case” is built up from a L(ecturer) anf the French for “is”

16a    Second present is white (4)
{SNOW} – a charade of S(econd) and the present time or nowadays gives something white – A White Christmas, perhaps

18a    Superior’s drive to dominate (8)
{BESTRIDE} – an adjective meaning superior followed by a drive (in a car) gives a word meaning to dominate – it would wreck the surface reading but, being pedantic, shouldn’t it be superlative rather than superior?

19a    Having power to restrain Eric excited in bay (8)
{COERCIVE} – an adjective meaning having the power to restrain is an anagram (excited) of ERIC inside a bay, possibly one used by smugglers!

20a    Executive committee’s model reproduction (6)
{ECTYPE} – an Executive Committee is followed by a model or kind to get a reproduction or copy

21a    A lemon is mixed with hard particles of wheat (8)
{SEMOLINA} – an anagram (mixed) of A LEMON IS gives the particles of fine, hard wheat that do not pass into flour in milling, used to make puddings

22a    Believer stopped short accepting student’s first essay (6)
{THESIS} – take a word that means someone with religious beliefs, drop the final letter (stopped short) and then put it around (accepting) S (Student’s first) to get an essay

23a    Infringe against senior clergyman over the internet (10)
{CONTRAVENE} – a word meaning to infringe is a charade of against (6), the address for a senior clergyman (3) and a prefix used for transmission over the internet (1)

24a    Easterner from Tahiti not Italian (4)
{THAI} – someone from an Eastern country is an anagram (from) of TAH(IT)I without IT(alian)

Down

1d    Enormous diminution in fuel (8)
{COLOSSAL} – another old chestnut gives an adjective meaning enormous by putting a diminution inside a fuel

2d    Try to study first offence against dignity (8)
{CONTEMPT} – put to try to persuade after to study to get an offence against dignity

3d    Plot succeeded over party policy (9)
{STORYLINE} – the plot of a play is a charade of S(ucceeded), a political party and a policy or approach

4d    Finishing touch put on by cook? (6,2,3,4)
{CHERRY ON THE CAKE} – a cryptic definition of a phrase meaning a finishing touch – I wanted to put icing, but it doesn’t fit!

5d    Half rushed over to study group (7)
{SEMINAR} – a half (of a house, perhaps) is followed by a word meaning rushed reversed (over) results in a study group

6d    Arsonist’s key? (8)
{IGNITION} – this type of key sounds as if it could be used by an arsonist but is actually used by a motorist

7d    Finished each new day extremely drained initially (5)
{ENDED} – a word meaning finished comes from the initial letters of five words in the clue

13d    Ground-rent originated below here (9)
{EPICENTRE} – the origin of a sudden violent shaking of the ground, typically causing great destruction

15d    Sarah means to become representative! (8)
{SALESMAN} – the affectionate version of Sarah is followed by an anagram (to become) of MEANS gives a representative – Willy Loman, perhaps

16d    Aware opinion excluded large number (8)
{SENTIENT} – an adjective meaning aware is derived by removing M (1,000 in Roman numerals / a large number) from an opinion or thought

17d    Runner at risk we removed (5-3)
{WATER-SKI} – a long narrow runner fastened to the foot to enable the wearer to slide across a lake is an anagram (removed) of AT RISK WE

18d    Collapsible shield? (7)
{BUCKLER} – this type of shield sounds as if it is collapsible

19d    Hundreds utilise internal unit of flow (5)
{CUSEC} – put C and C (hundreds in Roman numerals) around a word meaning to utilise to get a unit for measuring volumetric rate of flow

Nothing really stands out for me today, but I quite liked 3 down.