Toughie 605

Toughie 605 by Osmosis

Hints and tips by Bufo

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

I found this one a bit of a struggle but got there in the end. I’ll be interested to see if others struggled or whether it was just me having an off day

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Across

6a    Limousines monarch requires at sporting activity (6-7)
{ROLLER SKATING} An informal name for cars of a particular make that are often used as limousines is followed by a monarch going round AT to give a sporting activity

8a    African country loses lake and peninsula northwards (6)
{IBERIA} Remove L (lake) from the name of an African country and you get the name of a peninsula to be found north of Africa across the Med

9a    Runner falls over, drinking maritime spirit (8)
{POSEIDON} It took me some time to justify this answer. The runner is an Italian river. This is followed by a reversal of a word meaning “falls” then by a 2-letter word meaning “drinking” (as in “What are you on?”). The answer is the Greek god of the sea

10a    Hire out Alpine house, neglecting tea (3)
{LET} “To hire out” is obtained by removing CHA (tea) from an alpine house

11a    Tiny bird briefly hides behind fish (6)
{WRASSE} A small bird with the last letter removed goes round an American’s behind to give a fish

12a    Type of statement from record company — it’s peripherally edited (8)
{ITEMISED} A word that may describe a statement (financial record) is derived from the name of a record company inside ITS followed by ED (edited)

14a    Authorise energy company to get name replaced by mid-November (7)
{EMPOWER} Take the name of a UK-based electricity and gas supply generation company and change N (name) to EM (the middle two letters of November). This gives “to authorise”

16a    Crown controls rifle certificate (7)
{PROBATE} The crown (top of the head) goes round “to rifle” to give a certificate showing that a will has been proved

20a    Retired hooker, say, probes extremely shady tactics (8)
{STRATEGY} A reversal of a hooker + EG (say) goes inside SY (first and last letters of shady) to give tactics

23a    Groom exhausted by end of honeymoon (6)
{NEATEN} “To groom” = N (last letter of honeymoon) + “exhausted”

24a    Leo caught both sides of argument (3)
{CAT} Leo = C (caught) + the first and last letters of ArgumenT

25a    Lady’s OK residing on cloudy river in Midlands (8)
{CHERWELL} “Lady’s” (a possessive pronoun) + “OK” follows C (cloudy) to give a major tributary of the Thames that flows through the English Midlands

26a    Janitor regularly assumes leather for self-protection (6)
{AIKIDO} Alternate letters of jAnItOr go round leather to give a Japanese martial art

27a    ‘Actress: My Role in Norma’s Split’ (7,6)
{MARILYN MONROE} An anagram (split) of MY ROLE IN NORMA gives an actress originally named Norma

Down

1d    Clipped Alfa Romeo key ring outside (8)
{ALFRESCO} ALF (Alfa with the last letter removed) + R (Romeo) + a key on a computer keyboard + O (ring) gives “outside”

2d    Nadal latterly storms through Eastbourne’s outsiders, creating talk around court (8)
{LEGALESE} L (the last letter of Nadal) + storms (high winds) inside EE (first and last letters of Eastbourne) gives jargon used in courts

3d    One month in first-class college, germ-free (7)
{ASEPTIC} An abbreviated form of one of the 12 months goes inside first-class then C (college) to give “germ-free”

4d    Fabulous dog, porky around backside (6)
{LASSIE} A fictional collie dog is formed from a porky (pie) round an American’s backside (cf 11 across)

5d    Swinging family, one seen in minimal clothing (6)
{BIKINI} Swinging (in a sexual sense) + family + I (one) gives skimpy beachwear

6d    Dress right, with German mate (film actor) (6,7)
{ROBERT MITCHUM} Dress + RT (right) + the German word for “with” + a mate gives an American film actor (1917-1997)

7d    Sticky stuff on green? Notice golf executives initially become furious (2,4,3,4)
{GO OVER THE EDGE} Sticky stuff + green + “to notice” + GE (first letters of Golf Executives) gives “become furious”

13d    Quack by duck or noise by animal? (3)
{MOO} A quack (doctor) + O (duck) gives an animal noise

15d    How backstroke contestant ends (3)
{WET} Take the last letters of hoW backstrokE contestanT

17d    Security guard on night patrol primarily eats Mexican food (4-1-3)
{RENT-A-COP} A security guard (probably hired for a specific occasion) is formed from “on” + NP (first letters of Night Patrol) round a Mexican pancake

18d    Awful spelling? Deficiency in graduate report’s disheartening (5,3)
{BLACK ART} Awful spelling (as in casting a spell) is given by a graduate + RT (first and last letters of report) round a deficiency

19d    Unoccupied City lecturer invited in once to play twister (7)
{CYCLONE} CY (first and last letters of City) + L in an anagram (to play) of ONCE gives a twister

21d    Dawn gets two golds, the second in Argentina (6)
{AURORA} The dawn is formed from the atomic symbol for gold + another word for gold inside the IVR for Argentina

22d    Musical brothers see conducting minister uplifted (6)
{EVERLY} The surname of a pair of musical brothers who had many hits in the 50’s and 60’s is formed from a see containing a reversal of a minister

[Here’s one of the all-time classic Rock’n’Roll records.   BD]

ARVE Error: need id and provider

It was OK but not the greatest puzzle I have ever solved