Toughie 593

Toughie No 593 by Petitjean

Hints and tips by Bufo

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

A good challenge from Petitjean today which includes several bits of popular culture. This suits me because I’m much happier with popular culture than with obscure classical composers and the like that I’ve never heard of.

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Across

8a    Heading to Rhodes aboard old airline with the Monarch Mini-Break (8)
{BREATHER} R (first letter of Rhodes) goes inside an airline that merged with BOAC in 1974. This is followed by THE R (Monarch) to give a rest taken to recover breath

9a    Harvester meal does not include drink but has unlimited bread to start (6)
{REAPER} Someone who harvests is formed from a late-night snack from which the first three letters (a word meaning “to drink”) have been removed. This follows the middle three letters of bread

10a    Korchnoi zugzwang traps retreating piece (3)
{UZI} A piece (gun) is hidden in reverse inside KorchnoI ZUgzwang

11a    G for joint of mutton? (5-3)
{SCRAG -END} A cut of mutton (from the neck area) could be used in a cryptic clue to indicate the letter G

12a    Singer welcoming return of sanctimonious nonentity (6)
{CIPHER} A female singer who came to prominence as a duo with her husband and whose career has spanned six decades goes round a reversal of “sanctimonious” to give “nonentity”

13a    Ex-manager entertaining England with lewd retort tailored for 4 down perhaps (5-6,4)
{SEVEN-LETTER WORD} Take the first name of a former England soccer manager (the Swedish one) and put it round E (England). Than add an anagram (tailored) of LEWD RETORT to give something of which 4 down is an example

15a    Big-name rock’n’roller concealing good tenor voice (7)
{DOMINGO} The surname of an early rock and roll star (big in more than one sense of the word) whose biggest hit was Blueberry Hill goes round G (good) to give the surname of one of the Three Tenors

18a    Without hesitation discordant chorister is not one to take off (7)
{OSTRICH} An anagram (discordant) of CHORISTER without the ER (hesitation) gives a bird which cannot fly

21a    Twice 13 yet still one short here? (8,7)
{FOURTEEN LETTERS} The number of characters in two 13 across‘s is one less than the number of characters in this answer

24a    Church official not very mobile before joint operation (6)
{MERGER} A church official loses the initial V (very). This is preceded by M (mobile) to give the joint operation

25a    Ill-informed about outskirts of Toxteth, find one’s way through (8)
{UNTHREAD} “Ill-informed” goes round TH (first and last letters of Toxteth) to give “to find one’s way through”

26a    Monkey is evenly dappled (3)
{APE} Take the even letters of dApPlEd

27a    Feverish — somewhere ultimately between hot and cold — with compulsive twitching (6)
{HECTIC} “Feverish” is derived from E (the last letter of somewhere) between H and C (hot and cold) followed by a compulsive twitching

28a    Longship Raider’s new jockey losing lead (8)
{NORSEMAN} A person who made raids in a longship is derived from N (new) + a word for a jockey with the first letter removed

Down

1d    Accident reported in Knightsbridge nursery (6)
{CRECHE} A word for a nursery (for infants) might sound like an accident as spoken in an upper-class accent

2d    Charge covering a fine house wine served in this (6)
{CARAFE} “Charge” goes round A F (fine) to give a vessel from which wine is served

3d    Given time sporting cheerleader gets urge for fun event (5-6,4)
{THREE-LEGGED RACE} T + an anagram (sporting) of CHEERLEADER goes round “to urge” to give a fun athletic event for teams of two

4d    Learned first part of etiquette: grabbing it is impolite (7)
{ERUDITE} “Learned” comes from E (first letter of etiquette) + IT inside “impolite”

5d    Off-and-on players perspiring in these? (7,8)
{CRICKET SWEATERS} These are items of clothing worn by sportsmen who may be standing on the “off” or on the “on” side of the pitch

6d    Warm, open, flexible workforce (8)
{MANPOWER} An anagram (flexible) of WARM OPEN gives “workforce”

7d    After Police nothing Clapton put out is particularly fast (8)
{METEORIC} An abbreviation for the London police force + O (nothing) inside the first name of the guitarist Mr Clapton gives “particularly fast”

14d    Energy is one third vigour plus a bit of muscle (3)
{VIM} Energy is derived from one-third of the word “Vigour” + M (bit of muscle)

16d    Counter stink in US involving New York art museum and nude bottom (8)
{ODOMETER} A counter (for measuring distance) is obtained form the US spelling of a word meaning “stink” going round an abbreviation for a New York art museum + E (last letter of nude)

17d    Angry about equipment getting wet (8)
{IRRIGATE} “Angry” goes round equipment to give “to wet”

19d and 22d    He backed his wife missing start to walk with English painter (3,6)
{IKE TURNER} The answer is the husband of a very successful female singer (simply the best!) who sang with her in the 1960’s on hits such as River Deep and Mountain High. His name is derived from “walk” without the first letter + the surname of an English artist

20d    Add essence of rum after taking top off acrid-smelling ointment (7)
{UNGUENT} U (middle letter of rum) goes inside “acrid-smelling” with the first letter removed to give an ointment

22d    See 19 down

23d    Flying Squad officer protecting a president (6)
{REAGAN} The name of one of the main characters in the TV series The Sweeney (Sweeney Todd = Flying Squad) goes round A to give a former president of the USA

I enjoyed this one and thought it was about the right standard for a Toughie