Toughie 750

Toughie No 750 by Micawber

A Very Good Friday

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

Welcome to the first holiday weekend of the year and we are treated to a splendid Toughie by Micawber who for me if one of the finest of the new setters on the block. Our genial setter produces lovely clues, some with a topical bias and some that make you smile. Quite a few cryptic definitions in today’s puzzle, so a little thinking outside your Easter egg box may be required.

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Across

1a    Current international movements a response to ‘One good turn deserves another’? (5,5)
{TRADE WINDS} We start today with a double cryptic definition. The first refers to currents blowing toward the thermal equator and deflected westward by the eastward rotation of the earth, the second suggests swapping turns, but you need to pronounce the second word as if it has a “y” in the middle

6a    Knock back brandy and stuff (4)
{CRAM} The name of a sort of brandy is reversed to give something that means to stuff.

9a    Making money, millions, thanks to Sarkozy’s investment in fossil fuel (10)
{COMMERCIAL} Inside a type of fossil fuel goes M (millions) plus how Nicolas Sarkozy says thanks gives you a word that means cash generating.

10a    And I forgot to mention — liberal unionist got in (4)
{PLUS} The definition in this clue is “and”. An abbreviation meaning something added has L (liberal) + U (unionist) inside.

12a    A sacrifice, to marry sadly without love (6)
{MARTYR} A word that refers to a sacrifice is an anagram of TO MARRY minus O (love).

13a    Risk to make peace? (8)
{ENDANGER} Something that means to risk is cryptically described (3,5) as being to make peace, i.e. not to continue with hostility or rage.

15a    Not a screwball sitcom, funny about heartless men of letters (6,6)
{COMPOS MENTIS} A Latin phrase that means sane, not deranged is an anagram (funny) of SITCOM with a word that is cryptically defined as ‘men of letters’ [imagine if Rufus had put this part of the clue in one of his puzzles, what would he be referring to?], minus its middle letter (heartless)

18a    Signal of everyone staying at home? (7,5)
{TRAFFIC LIGHT} A phrase for a type of signal is the description of the bank holiday roads when nobody is going out.

21a    See you around Thursday (in passing) (2,3,3)
{BY THE BYE} A phrase that refers to in passing is an expression that means “See you” or “Farewell” around TH (Thursday).

22a    I’ve a ghostly air, perhaps to transfix (6)
{IMPALE} How a ghost would describe itself, when fused together, provides a word meaning to transfix.

24a    Instrument of ivory with note missing (4)
{OBOE} A type of musical instrument is found by taking O (of) and adding a word that means ivory minus N (for note).

25a    E.g. hock, lip or cheek as basis for recipe? (5,5)
{WHITE SAUCE} The basis for many dishes in cookery is revealed by identifying the type of wine that hock is and adding to it a word that means impertinence.

26a    Stripped back as part of redundancies (4)
{NUDE} Reversed inside the word REDUNDANCIES is a word that means stripped.

27a    Underworld figure, risqué, controlling clubs for wealthy elite (10)
{PLUTOCRACY} The word that relates to Government by the wealthy elite (hmm… we have 50 % of them at the moment!) is found by taking the name of one of the main gods of the Underworld in mythology, adding a word that means risqué or spicy and then inserting C (for clubs, in cards).

Down

1d    Book about company not yet out? (2,4)
{TO COME} A phrase that means not yet available is revealed by taking a word for a volume of a book and placing it around CO (company).

2d    Advance money, in terrible surroundings, to find attractive rate (6)
{ADMIRE} A (advance) is added to a word that means dreadful or terrible and inside this goes M (money). This reveals something that means to find attractive.

3d    English opera at first opens pianissimo, crescendoing in the middle occasionally (5,2,5)
{EVERY SO OFTEN} Quite complicated this one. After E (English) goes the definition of the musical definition ‘pianissimo’ with O (the first letter of opera) inside it and the middle letters of CRESCENDOING afterwards, to reveal an expression that means occasionally.

4d    Old American food container missing base and lid (4)
{INCA} The name for one of the old inhabitants of (South) America is the name for a metal container minus its first and last letters.

5d    Detective professing limits to knowledge, but identifying problem (10)
{DIAGNOSTIC} An abbreviation for a detective is added to the name for someone who probably won’t be interested in today’s reasons for the holiday. This gives you an adjective that means identifying a problem.

7d    Downgrade Eurozone’s foremost member in valuation (8)
{RELEGATE} Another nice topical clue. A word that means downgrade is found by taking E (Eurozone’s first – foremost), adding something often defined in crosswords as a member and placing it all inside something that refers to a valuation.

8d    Suspect source of damp and decay (8)
{MISTRUST} Something that means suspect is found by taking words that mean fine damp spray and metal decay.

11d    People mentioned in France’s ‘I accuse’ forced to accept consequences (4,3,5)
{FACE THE MUSIC} After F (France) goes an anagram (forced) of “I ACCUSE” with something that refers to ‘those people’ inside. This gives a phrase that means to accept the consequences of an action.

14d    Strangely happy tale essentially receiving zero credit — spurious (10)
{APOCRYPHAL} A word that means spurious or by word of mouth is an anagram of HAPPY, plus AL (the ‘essential’ bit of TALE) with O CR (zero credit) inside.

16d    Raising objections, by nature awkward (8)
{STUBBORN} Reverse something that relates to objections and add a word that means ‘nature’ to give a description of someone who is awkward or obstinate.

17d    Drew on shoddy material to shorten dictionary (8)
{TATTOOED} A word sum. Cheap and nasty rubbish (often antique) + TO + the abbreviation for a famous dictionary (not the Big Red One) gives a word meaning to drew or etched on someone.

19d    Gap year’s coming up around second of October (not November) (6)
{LACUNA} The name for a gap in poetry is found by reversing a word relating to a year, removing N (for November) and inserting C (second letter of OCTOBER).

20d    This is the reason for report — to Inquisition? (6)
{HERESY} I suspect this clue may bring out the Marmite brigade! If you think of a way of saying “This is the reason that the Spanish Inquisition investigated things” and turn it into a homophone. This will give you the charge that most of the Inquisition victims faced. Usually…….

ARVE Error: need id and provider

23d    Revise test? No, don’t revise (4)
{STET} An anagram (revise) of TEST gives a printer’s instruction meaning ‘let it stand’.

Thanks to Micawber for a splendid challenge that heralds a really good day of puzzles. Check out the other puzzles today in the Guardian, FT and Times, all splendid!