Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Toughie No 665 by Kcit

Hints and tips by Bufo

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

You always know what you’re going to get with Kcit. Yet another fairly gentle puzzle.

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Across

1a    Everyone attending is not out to lunch (3,5)
{ALL THERE} This phrase meaning ‘not out to lunch’ or ‘completely sane’ suggests that everyone is attending

5a    Funny programme — it has company engaged in S&M (6)
{SITCOM} A funny TV programme is made up of IT + CO inside SM

9a    Business share prompting a lot of admiration (9)
{ADORATION} Business + share = a lot of admiration. I’ve never been fully convinced that business = *** even though it is used fairly often in clues.

11a    Hold on — just over 50% recycling? (5)
{CLING} use 5 of the 9 letters of RECYCLING

12a    Happy, it would seem, to include one not mentioned (6)
{UNSAID} A word that could be coined to mean the opposite of unhappy goes round I (one) to give ‘not mentioned’

13a    Guess I’m tucking into what’s left (8)
{ESTIMATE} ‘Guess’ = IM inside the property left by a deceased person

15a    College, to keep going, prepares facilities for sportsmen (8,5)
{CHANGING ROOMS} C (college) + ‘keep going’ (4,2) + ‘prepares’ = places that sportsmen use before and after performing

18a    Greeting that could make someone tingle (4,4,2,3)
{LONG TIME NO SEE} A greeting used by people who have not seen each other for a while is an anagram (make) of SOMEONE TINGLE

22a    Regular payments before parents may import one (8)
{PREMIUMS} Regular payments, e.g for insurance, = before + parents (female ones) round I (one)

23a    Tense tirade about University student declining to study (6)
{TRUANT} T (tense) + tirade round U (University) gives someone who bunks school

26a    Start occupying 21 rooms (5)
{INTRO} A start is hidden inside ****** rooms, where ****** is the answer to 21 down

27a    Get opinion of European about a foreign embassy (9)
{CONSULATE} “Get opinion of” + E (European) goes round A to give a foreign embassy

28a    Sailor to achieve aim (6)
{TARGET} Sailor + ‘to achieve’ = aim

29a    Rural activity supporting economy, ultimately involving others (8)
{FORESTRY} An activity practised in woodland = ‘supporting’ + Y (last letter of economy) round ‘others’

Down

1d    Bill and Paul excitedly combined operations in holiday venue (8)
{ACAPULCO} An abbreviation denoting ‘bill’ + an anagram (excitedly) of PAUL + CO (combined operations) gives a holiday destination in Mexico

2d    Not entirely relaxed about King’s appearance (5)
{LOOKS} Take a word meaning ‘relaxed’ with the last letter removed and put it round K (King) to get ‘appearance’

3d    Hurrying to secure European trial (7)
{HEARING} ‘Hurrying’ goes round E (European) to give a trial

4d    Log mostly rolled over in attack (4)
{RAID} A reversal of a log (record) with the last letter removed gives an attack

6d    I am heroic without hesitation, being misrepresented as theatrical villain (7)
{IACHIMO} An anagram of I AM HEROIC with ER (hesitation) removed gives the name of a character from Cymbeline

7d    Items of armour required — I’ll be beset by scoundrel and fools (9)
{CUIRASSES} Pieces of armour for covering the chest and back are derived from I inside a scoundrel followed by fools

8d    French artist capturing girl’s foremost source of attraction (6)
{MAGNET} The name of a French painter goes round G (first letter of girl) to give something that attracts

10d    Old storm at sea appearing in no novel (8)
{NOSTROMO} An anagram (at sea) of O (old) STORM goes inside NO to give a novel by Joseph Conrad

14d    A dubious action involving masseur’s beginning on bodily form (8)
{ANATOMIC} A + an anagram (dubious) of ACTION goes round M (first letter of masseur) to give an adjective to do with bodily form

16d    Modern stadium, one subsequently occupied by part of London university (3-6)
{ALL-SEATER} A stadium which doesn’t cater for standing spectators = A (one) + ‘subsequently’ round a constituent college of the University of London

17d    Cook coating each article with a light touch (8)
{FEATHERY} ‘To cook (e.g. bacon or chips)’ goes round ‘each’ + the definite article to give ‘with a light touch’

19d    Is nothing in American city unpleasant? (7)
{NOISOME} IS O (nothing) goes inside an American city to give ‘unpleasant’. I didn’t know this American city but Wikipedia tells me that there are cities with this name in Alaska, Texas and North Dakota

20d    Routine number of performances kept up by comedienne’s latest feed (7)
{NURTURE} A reversal (kept up) of ‘routine’ and ‘number of performances’ comes before E (last letter of comedienne) to give ‘to feed’

21d    Special work for newspaper? Hurry (6)
{SPRINT} S (special) + ‘work for newspaper’ gives ‘hurry (run fast)’

24d    Separate aim of an audition? (5)
{APART} Split this word meaning ‘separate’ into (1,4) and it’s what you go to an audition hoping to get

25d    Expecting to receive endless data (4)
{INFO} Remove the final letter from ‘expecting to receive’ (2,3) to get data

I’m hoping that one of these days Kcit will surprise me and come up with a real stinker