Toughie 481

Toughie No 481 by MynoT

Hints and tips by Bufo

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

I lost interest in this puzzle when I was half-way through it but managed to struggle to the end eventually. At this point I had 3 or 4 tentative answers and several others which I hadn’t fully understood. I have since resolved all of my uncertainties

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Across

1a    Sign to return here? (2,4)
{DA CAPO} A cryptic definition. The Chambers definition is: (music) an indication that the performer must return to the beginning of the piece. MynoT uses a lot of musical terms in his puzzles and I often have difficulty with them.

5a    Suits one giving way to guesswork and doubts (8)
{SUSPECTS} Replace the I (one) in SUITS by a shortened form of speculation (guesswork) to give “doubts”

9a    Courteous woman is clothing accountant with, initially, evening coat (10)
{MACADAMISE} A courteous form of address to a woman is put round a Chartered Accountant (or chief accountant). This is followed by IS E(initially, evening) to give “to coat” in the sense of “to cover (a road) with small broken stones”

10a    Lots of current tent sites not opened (4)
{AMPS} Remove the first letter from places where you’ll find lots of tents and you get units of electric current

11a    Ceremony with character adds to a sudden slowdown (8)
{RITENUTO} Another musical one. A ceremony + the 13^th letter of the Greek alphabet (character) + TO give a musical passage containing a sudden slowing-down of tempo

12a    Sham’s manufacturing us dope (6)
{PSEUDO} An anagram (manufacturing) of US DOPE gives “sham”

13a    Drink from West African not Chinese (4)
{ASTI} I decided that he answer had to be that Italian white wine much beloved of crossword setters but it took me a long time to work out the wordplay. Remove HAN (Chinese) from the middle of an inhabitant of central Ghana

15a    Sir Herbert’s knowing about music but essentially wooden (8)
{TREESHIP} The Sir Herbert in question was an English actor and theatre manager (1853-1917), a half-brother of Sir Max Beerbohm. Take his surname + ‘S + “knowing about the latest trends in music” and you get one of those words that appears in Chambers and possibly nowhere else. Can anybody suggest a sentence which uses this word?

18a    Dismal expression of good fellow Bill in solitary confinement (4,4)
{LONG FACE} G (good) + F (fellow) + AC (bill) all go inside “solitary” to give a dismal facial expression

19a    Watched by 16 we can be found keeping opponents apart (4)
{EWES} WE goes between two bridge opponents to give something 16 down look after

21a    Straight from here to broadcast (6)
{HETERO} An anagram (broadcast) of HERE TO gives straight (i.e. not gay)

23a    Hot pipe to be returned before any manifestation (8)
{EPIPHANY} A reversal of H (hot) PIPE is followed by ANY to give the manifestation of a god (or Christ to the Wise Men of the East)

25a    Lady’s got nothing for gardener (4)
{HOER} Put O (nothing) inside “belonging to a lady” to give a gardener who might be removing weeds

26a    ‘Make better honey’ I declaim after sample from apiary (10)
{AMELIORATE} A (sample from apiary) + honey (as used in pharmaceutical products) + I + “declaim” gives “make better”

27a    Wandering insect following president and bishop (8)
{ABERRANT} The nickname of the 18^th President of the USA + the abbreviation of a title of respect for a bishop + an insect gives “wandering”

28a    He had proof as answer to Wood (6)
{ANSELM} An abbreviated form of answer + the name of a tree gives a saint who was Archbishop of Canterbury (1093-1109) and devised a proof for God’s existence

Down

2d    A diploma one frames (5)
{ABACI} A + a short form of baccalaureate (diploma) + I (one) gives frames for counting

3d    Becoming aware of long broadcast in shade (9)
{AWAKENING} A homophone (broadcast) of a synonym of “to long” goes inside a covering (especially of canvas) used to shelter something from the sun

4d    Ordinary at Easter in Notre Dame is not unclear (6)
{OPAQUE} O( ordinary) + the French word for Easter minus the final letter S (is not) gives “unclear”

5d    Shopfitter heeds wild animal (4,2,3,6)
{SHIP OF THE DESERT} An anagram of SHOPFITTER HEEDS gives another name for the camel

6d    More drowsy fish return to jetty (8)
{SLEEPIER} A reversal of long smooth fishes + a jetty gives “more drowsy”

7d    Cheer earl that’s out of office (5)
{ELATE} E (earl) + “out of office” gives “to cheer”

8d    Bewildered perv I date in transport (4,5)
{TAPE DRIVE} An anagram (bewildered) of PERV I DATE gives part of a computer

14d    Southern donkey’s failure for producer of suspended particles (5,4)
{SMOKE BOMB} S (southern) + a slang term for a donkey + a failure gives something that will produce suspended particles after it explodes

16d    They were visited by night while seated (9)
{SHEPHERDS} They were seated on the ground when they were visited by a divine messenger

17d    Farewell remark about amateur artist (8)
{SAYONARA} “Goodbye” in Japanese id given by “to remark” + “about” + A (amateur) + RA (artist)

20d    The lowest points start to appear after a white note (6)
{MINIMA} A musical note + A (start to appear) gives the lowest points

22d    Flynn changed sides: that was a mistake (5)
{ERROR} Change L (left) to R (right) in the forename of Mr Flynn, the Australian actor noted for his swashbuckling roles

24d    In South Africa (and elsewhere) this day is celebrated (with greetings inclined to come from 27?) (5)
{NATAL} This is part of South Africa and this Day is celebrated in parts of Canada (according to Wikipedia) and the rest is a reference to the Nina along the diagonal from bottom left (27a) to top right, which was highlighted in pink squares in the newspaper, but not online.