Toughie 520

Toughie No 520 by Micawber

Mid-week Mastery

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

If we get a Micawber (or an Elgar or a Notabilis) on a Wednesday it seems to mean a puzzle with all the cleverness and wit of these setters but not quite as fiendish in terms of wordplay as we’ve come to expect of them on a Friday – that’s fine by me. I enjoyed it a great deal when I solved it and I enjoyed it all over again when I wrote the review; I hope you enjoyed it too – let us know in a comment.

Across Clues

1a  Italian and Polish launches tracking infantry sporadically (2,4,3,6)
{IN FITS AND STARTS} – we want a phrase meaning sporadically. String together the abbreviation for Italian vermouth, a verb meaning polish or smooth with abrasive material and a synonym for launches. Finally put all this after (tracking) the abbreviation for infantry.

9a  Life drawing taken by boy I fancy (9)
{BIOGRAPHY} – a drawing expressing the relationship between two or more variables goes inside (taken by) an anagram (fancy) of BOY I to make a life story.

10a  Cloth — chintzy, perhaps, with a hint of damask (5)
{TWEED} – start with an adjective meaning chintzy or affectedly pretty and add the first letter (hint) of D(amask) to make a rough woollen cloth.

11a  Half-hearted cry down under? (5)
{BELOW} – this is nothing to do with Australia. Remove one of the repeated letters (half-hearted) from the middle of a deep loud cry to leave an adverb meaning down under.

12a  Bright pupil hiding in sanctuary with holy books (9)
{REFULGENT} – this is an adjective, new to me, meaning casting a flood of light, radiant or beaming. Put the letter used for a learner (student) inside (hiding in) a sanctuary and finish with the abbreviation for the books forming the second part of the Bible.

13a  Ringing tirade about organ’s about-turn (8)
{RESONANT} – put a tirade or angry outburst around a bodily organ which is reversed (about-turn) to make an adjective meaning ringing.

14a  Dedication for cuddly toy being carried? (5)
{TOTED} – a past participle meaning carried could be, as (2,3) what you’d write on a present for your cuddly bear (if you were in the habit of giving presents to inanimate objects, that is).

16a  Variable speed limit initially put on first part of circulatory system (5)
{LYMPH} – this is a colourless fluid containing white blood cells (part of circulatory system). An algebraic variable and a measure of speed are preceded (put on first) by the first letter (initially) of L(imit).

18a  Strips one of Coe and James in turn (8)
{DISROBES} – a verb meaning strips is a reversal (in turn) of a choice between the Olympics supremo Lord Coe and the late “Carry On” actor Mr James.

22a  Effect of excess radiation from nuke stores abandoned when energy’s spent (9)
{SUNSTROKE} – this may be the result of too much radiation. It’s an anagram (abandoned) of NUK(e) STORES with one of the E(nergies) dropped (spent).

23a  Contend river must be diverted from French marshland (5)
{ARGUE} – a marshland and bird sanctuary on the south coast of France (between Montpelier and Marseilles) has an English river removed (diverted) to leave a verb meaning to contend.

24a  Pulled aboard dhow’s stern (2,3)
{ON TOW} – this is a term meaning pulled (like the caravans which clog up the narrow roads in Summer round where I live). Start with a phrase (2,2) used to describe moving aboard a vehicle, then add the last letter (stern) of (dho)W.

25a  Where three little pigs might get houses? Third of bricks, after a fashion (9)
{STYLISTIC} – this is an adjective meaning relating to (after) a fashion. If you wanted to buy a house then you would probably check a catalogue of properties to find one that suited your requirements. You now have to imagine (the question mark indicating that this is a bit off-the-wall) where the three little pigs might look (3,4) for a suitable abode. Follow this with one-third of the word bricks.

26a  Film with muted line in body disposal (6,9)
{DOUBLE INDEMNITY} – an anagram (disposal) of MUTED LINE IN BODY gives us the title of a superb 1944 film in which a smouldering Barbara Stanwyck persuades an insurance agent to murder her husband for the insurance money. This has a lovely surface.

ARVE Error: need id and provider

Down Clues

1d  I’m having the local tipple outside Berlin’s foremost boozer (7)
{IMBIBER} – this is a semi-all-in-one. To get this boozer start with I’M and add the German word for beer (local tipple) around the first letter (foremost) of B(erlin).

2d  Does potter like leggings with the bottom cut off? (7)
{FOOTLES} – how you might describe leggings with the last letter (bottom, in a down clue) cut off gives a verb meaning potters or engages in harmless but not very productive activity.

3d  Surrender one piece of cloth wrapped around another? (5,2,3,5)
{THROW IN THE TOWEL} – a phrase, derived from boxing, meaning to surrender is literally one piece of cloth containing another (I had to look up this in Chambers which defines it as a piece of fabric spread over a piece of furniture … to improve its appearance or protect it).

4d  Hoping to catch a secret cell (8)
{ASPIRING} – to catch here means to hear, so we want a homophone of a cell of secret agents (1,3,4).

5d  Leave diminutive flower in yard, love — no, the other way round (3,3)
{DAY OFF} – the definition is a short period of leave. Put the common abbreviation for a flower that you see everywhere at this time of year inside Y(ard) and the letter used for zero (love in tennis). No – forget that, you need to do it the other way round.

6d  Iron fist of Stalin, taking aim at riot violently (15)
{TOTALITARIANISM} – a system of centralised and dictatorial government, as practised by Uncle Joe, is an anagram (violently) of STALIN and AIM AT RIOT.

7d  Stagger shock therapy when put back in institution? (2-5)
{RE-ELECT} – this is a verb meaning to put back (into that institution by the Thames in SW1, for example). A verb meaning to stagger is followed by the abbreviation for a therapy involving electric shocks.

8d  Having had enough, editor intervened and quietened down (7)
{SEDATED} – a transitive verb meaning quietened is made by putting the usual abbreviation for editor inside a word meaning replete (having had enough).

15d  Amazed, saying: ‘What was wrong with natural colour?’ (4-4)
{WIDE-EYED} – a term meaning amazed or astonished sounds like (saying) a question asking for the reason a different colour has been applied (3, 4).

16d  Roped in girl that’s got a big vocabulary (7)
{LASSOED} – a past participle meaning roped is a charade of a girl and a reference work where the full version runs to twenty volumes.

17d  Island I travel round endlessly to find Native American sacred object (7)
{MANITOU} – this spiritual being or sacred object is a charade of an island in the Irish Sea, I and a verb to travel round without its final letter (endlessly).

19d  Instal surveillance on unfinished upper room and car (7)
{BUGATTI} – a make of high-performance car from the first half of the last century is formed from a verb meaning to install concealed listening equipment followed by all but the last letter (unfinished) of an upper room.

20d  Incomplete version of ‘The Cloudy Sky’ (7)
{SKETCHY} – an adjective meaning incomplete or lacking in detail is an anagram (version) of THE C(loudy) SKY.

21d  One’s a pretentious type about specialist arboriculture (6)
{BONSAI} – a charade of I (one), A and a pretentious type are all reversed (about) to make a Japanese word for the cultivation of miniature trees.

This had too many good clues to list them all, but I particularly liked 11a, 18a, 26a and 15d. My favourite was 18a. Let us know what you liked in a comment.