Toughie 489

Toughie No 489 by Kcit

Hints and tips by Bufo

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

I had no problems at all with this one. I solved it without breaking sweat and could understand all the clues without difficulty.

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Across

1a    Stormy southern trip curtailed in Norwegian waters (5,6)
{NORTH UTSIRE} Part of Norway that is well-known to devotees of the Shipping Forecast is given by an anagram (stormy) of SOUTHERN TRI (trip curtailed)

7a    Magazine priest rejected showing a mixture of things (7)
{AMALGAM} A reversal (rejected) of an abbreviated form of magazine and a Buddhist priest gives a mixture (especially of mercury with another metal)

8a    Bound to include third of receipts if reversing shortfall (7)
{DEFICIT} A reversal of a word meaning “bound” containing C (third letter of receipts) and IF reversed gives a shortfall

10a    Evil spirit to act like vampire, mostly with youngsters around university (8)
{SUCCUBUS} A female demon believed to have sex with sleeping men is given by what vampires do to get blood (minus its last letter) + youngsters around U (university)

11a    Mate’s to spoil water trip (6)
{MARROW} A dialect word for a mate (used in the far North of England) is given by “to spoil” + a journey in a boat propelled with oars

13a    No lover of ribaldry — lacks playfulness, initially abusive (4)
{RUDE} A word for a person having or affecting an attitude of extreme propriety loses the letter P (playfulness, initially) to give “abusive”

14a    Soothes everyone: takes new course, ousting leader (10)
{ALLEVIATES} Everyone + “takes new course” (minus its first letter) gives “soothes”

16a    Banner promotes this development of process in incorporating hospital (10)
{CENSORSHIP} A banner is someone who bans something. What they promote is given by an anagram (development of) of PROCESS IN containing H (hospital)

18a    Soldier’s end in battle providing shock (4)
{MANE} A soldier + E (end in battle) gives a shock of hair

21a    A fenland lake overseas (6)
{ABROAD} A + a lake associated with Norfolk (fenland) gives “overseas”

22a    Given extra power, very much increased power after due changes (6,2)
{SOUPED UP} A slang term for “increased the power of” is derived from “very much” + “increased” + an anagram (changes) of DUE + P (power

24a    Drivel bringing one in for a trivial manoeuvre (7)
{TWIDDLE} Take a synonym of drivel and replace A by I (one) to give a trivial manoeuvre (a twirl)

25a    Children’s author exercised a little (7)
{RANSOME} “Exercised” + “a little” gives the author of Swallows and Amazons, etc.

26a    Material in a red shirt, we fancy (6,5)
{HARRIS TWEED} An anagram (fancy) of A RED SHIRT WE gives a cloth associated with (the southern half of) a Scottish island

Down

1d    Religious woman holding a church degree with distinction (7)
{NUANCED} A female member of a religious order goes round A. This is followed by CE (church) + D (degree) gives a word meaning “gave a subtle distinction to”

2d    Say one unionist is taken in by eminent scientists under royal patronage? (6)
{REGIUS} EG (say) + I (one) + U (unionist) is taken in by RS (Royal Society)

3d    United in no more than wordless singing without a sense of fun (10)
{HUMOURLESS} U (United) goes inside wordless singing OR LESS to give “without a sense of fun)

4d    (Description of unfinished) business? (2-2)
{TO-DO} the answer means a bustle or fuss and also goes before “list” to give a list of things to be done

5d    Not quite the done thing, if daring in execution (5,3)
{INFRA DIG} An anagram (in execution) of IF DARING gives a Latin phrase meaning “beneath one’s dignity”

6d    Runs into bar for a bit (7)
{EXCERPT} R (runs) goes inside a preposition meaning “bar” to give an extract

7d    Take heart, after he’s ditched non-representational style (8,3)
{ABSTRACT ART} A word for take (purloin) + heart minus HE gives painting or sculpture that does not depict a person, place or thing in the natural world

9d    Rebuilding won’t work, interrupting unsettled sleep for urban dwellers (11)
{TOWNSPEOPLE} An anagram (rebuilding) of WON’T + OP (work) inside an anagram (unsettled) of SLEEP gives urban dwellers

12d    Encountered actor excited about King and I — one appreciates ability (10)
{MERITOCRAT} “Encountered” + an anagram (excited) of ACTOR goes round R (king) and I to give one who appreciates people being in prominent positions because of their ability

15d    Think about mother’s source of fragrance (8)
{POMANDER} “Think” goes round MA (mother) to give a ball of mixed aromatic substances

17d    Unseemly row during endless recess in city (7)
{NORWICH} An anagram (unseemly) of ROW goes inside a recess (with the last letter removed) to give an East Anglian city

19d    Metal figure, notice, encapsulating sculpture of Rodin? (7)
{ANDROID} AD (notice) goes round an anagram (sculpture of) of RODIN to give a robot in human form

20d    Marine creature’s hum pervading ocean? Not quite (6)
{SPONGE} A hum (smell) goes inside SE (sea without its last letter) to give a marine creature.

23d    This is some house, mister! (4)
{SEMI} A house in hidden in “house mister”

An easy week for me this week. I hope for something more challenging next time.