Toughie 693

Toughie No 693 by MynoT

What an Effin’ Toughie!

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

The first thing I did with this Mynot puzzle was to determine which letter he has reached in his journey through the alphabet. Once that was established it was a fairly easy solve which I might well have given ** for difficulty had I not stalled on the last couple of clues.

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Across

1a    Southern sailor has angles on marine creatures (10)
{STARFISHES} S (Southern) + sailor + angles (as a verb) = marine creatures

6a    Little news of priestess embracing right-wing party (4)
{INFO} An abbreviated form of a word meaning ‘news’ is formed by putting the name a priestess of Hera who was seduced by Zeus round an abbreviation for an extreme right-wing political party

8a    Joints for eastern wives (8)
{FORERIBS} Joints (cuts of beef) are formed from FOR E (eastern) + wives. This word does not appear in Chambers and I had to resort to a big Websters (and Google) to verify it

9a    Exactly memorised start time covering each year (3,3)
{OFF PAT} ‘Exactly memorises’ = the start + T (time) round an abbreviation for each year (per annum)

10a    Solution in coalition (8)
{INFUSION} A solution in water of a vegetable substance (e.g. tea) = IN + coalition

11a    Close to promiscuous, heartless boy (4,2)
{FAST BY} ‘Close to’ = promiscuous + BOY without the middle letter

12a    Pipe sounding ‘Gone Away’ (4)
{FLUE} A pipe for conveying hot air, etc., is a homophone of ‘gone away’

14a    Loose alien priest in diocese (3,4)
{SET FREE} ‘To loose’ = an alien (extraterrestrial) + an abbreviation for father (priest) inside a diocese

18a    Nude elf — dressing up is required! (7)
{NEEDFUL} An anagram (dressing up) of NUDE ELF = ‘required’

20a    Good fliers count in Germany (4)
{GRAF} G (good) + the branch of the armed services concerned with flying = a German count

23a    Edith has left to join originator of fish dish (6)
{PILAFF} The surname of a French singer called Edith goes round L (left). This is followed by F (first letter of fish) to give a highly spiced Asian dish

24a    In part of fish I note space (8)
{INFINITE} IN + part of a fish + I + a musical note = space (something with no determinate bounds)

25a    Expedition’s at a distance in South Island (6)
{SAFARI} An expedition = ‘at a distance’ inside SI (South Island)

26a    End stormy sail in beautiful surroundings (8)
{FINALISE} ‘To end’ = an anagram (stormy) of SAIL inside ‘beautiful’

27a    Fine summer in France for holiday (4)
{FETE} F (fine) + the French word for summer = a holiday

28a    Accommodation for boss, one mostly recently (6,4)
{STUDIO FLAT} Accommodation (a small apartment) = boss + I (one) + ‘recently’ (2,4) with the last letter removed

Down

1d    Whipping up loud fuss about reserve is enough (8)
{SUFFICES} An anagram (whipping up) of F (loud) FUSS goes round ‘reserve’ to give ‘is enough’

2d    Off course in a heap of snow (6)
{ADRIFT} ‘Off course’ = A + a heap of snow

3d    Warning with spotlight peripherally lighting up group (6)
{FOREST} A warning (on a golf course) + ST (first and last letters of spotlight) = the acronym for a pressure group that campaigns from a pro-smoking perspective

4d    Very low speaker to make an advance to solicitor holding bit of freehold (9)
{SUBWOOFER} A loudspeaker for reproducing the lowest frequencies = an advance + a solicitor containing F (first letter of freehold)

5d    No penalty as Celtic player’s unimpeded (4-4)
{SCOT-FREE} ‘Entirely free from penalty’ = a person from north of the border (two of which were in Celtic’s starting line-up yesterday) + ‘unimpeded’

6d    Swarmed over jester in India once (8)
{INFESTED} ‘Swarmed over’ = the name of the jester in Twelfth Night inside a poetic name for India

7d    Trick boyfriend with torch (8)
{FLAMBEAU} A trick + a boyfriend = a flaming torch

13d    Mad naif dunce not likely to succeed (9)
{UNFANCIED} An anagram (mad) of NAIF DUNCE = ‘not expected to win’

15d    Enfield’s got a broken rake (8)
{ENFILADE} An anagram (broken) of ENFIELD A gives ‘to rake’ or ‘to fire across the entire line of one’s enemy’

16d    Smelly plant flourished by water near outskirts of Bayonne (4-4)
{FLEA-BANE} A plant whose strong smell is said to drive away certain insects = FL (flourished) + running water (2) + the first two and last two letters of Bayonne

17d    Blitzed figs gel softly for drinks (3-5)
{EGG-FLIPS} An anagram (blitzed) of FIGS GEL P (softly) gives drinks

19d    Officer holding unusual belief as aid to survival (8)
{LIFEBELT} An abbreviation for lieutenant (officer) contains an anagram (unusual) of BELIEF to give an aid to survival in the water

21d    Barber’s fair go for styling (6)
{FIGARO} The barber of Seville is an anagram (for styling) of FAIR GO

22d    For offspring fill in first-class return? On the contrary (6)
{FILIAL} ‘For offspring’ = a reversal of first-class inside FILL

That’s it for 2011. A Happy New Year to everyone and may 2012 bring us many challenging and entertaining puzzles.