Toughie No 765 by MynoT
One ‘ell of a puzzle
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
MynoT continues to work his way through the alphabet in this puzzle and has now reached the letter L. It was a fairly gentle solve with the four 13-letter anagrams and the presence of the L’s adding to the gentleness.
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Across
1a Men cycle in terribly harsh weather (10)
{INCLEMENCY} An anagram (terribly) of MEN CYCLE IN gives harsh weather
6a Too much left in breadbasket (4)
{GLUT} A surfeit (too much) = L (left) inside breadbasket (stomach)
9a Wild eagle consuming a bit of kitten making unintended escape (7)
{LEAKAGE} An anagram (wild) of EAGLE goes round A K (first letter of kitten) to give an unintended escape
10a Disappointed with bad service and stuffing (3,4)
{LET DOWN} ‘Disappointed’ = a service at tennis which clips the net + stuffing (e.g. for pillows)
12a Honourable milksops aren’t crooked (13)
{SPORTSMANLIKE} ‘Honourable’ is an anagram (crooked) of MILKSOP’S AREN’T
14a Accountant’s regular but not acceptable as temporary employee (6)
{CASUAL} An abbreviation denoting an accountant + a word meaning ‘regular’ with a U (acceptable) omitted = a temporary employee
15a During New Year festival, rent former partner’s TV news service (8)
{TELETEXT} The Vietnamese new year festival (when there was once an offensive) goes round ‘to rent’ and ‘former partner’ to give a TV news service
17a Overlooks hurt leg and cold in nets (8)
{NEGLECTS} ‘Overlooks’ = an anagram (hurt) of LEG + C (cold) inside NETS
19a Old king’s a dry one, facing the Italian (6)
{ATTILA} A king of the Huns = A + dry (not drinking alcohol) + I + an Italian word for ‘the’
22a Sundry allies consume fluid (13)
{MISCELLANEOUS} ‘Sundry’ is an anagram (fluid) of ALLIES CONSUME
24a One end of pedal missing from heavenly instrument (7)
{CELESTA} Remove I (one) and L (last letter of pedal) from ‘heavenly’ to give a keyboard instrument
25a Let off sailor to work out (7)
{ABSOLVE} ‘To let off’ = an abbreviation denoting sailor + ‘to work out’
26a Vegetable sounding like a pea? (4)
{LEEK} A homophone of this vegetable means ‘to pee’
27a They weigh fencing equipment used by American gardens (10)
{STEELYARDS} Weighing machines = a literary term for a sword + the American term for gardens
Down
1d Run slowly using horse track, disregarding British habit (4)
{IDLE} ‘To run slowly (like an engine)’ = a path for people riding horses from which BR (British) and a synonym of habit have been removed
2d Will’s sections being liberal in motives (7)
{CLAUSES} Sections of a will = L (liberal) in motives. I was disappointed that the answer wasn’t a Shakesperean word for sections
3d Intricacy of astrolabe seen in disorder (13)
{ELABORATENESS} An anagram (in disorder) of ASTROLABE SEEN = intricacy
4d Chooses wiring without leads to run in conduits (6)
{ELECTS} ‘Chooses’ = wiring from which RIC (first letters of Run In Conduits) has been removed
5d Newspaper feature by journalist with poles of support (8)
{COLUMNED} A feature in a newspaper + ED (journalist) = ‘with poles of support’
7d Hero-worship for returning number one is found among the French (7)
{LIONISE} ‘To hero-worship’ = a reversal of NO. I (number one) and IS inside a French word for ‘the’
8d Peripheral brown flower on lake not new (10)
{TANGENTIAL} ‘Peripheral’ = brown + a flower missing a letter N (new) + L (lake)
11d Loudest ninety broadcast in a partisan manner (13)
{TENDENTIOUSLY} An anagram (broadcast) of LOUDEST NINETY = ‘in a partisan manner’
13d Thrifty Italian author with no unfinished book left (10)
{ECONOMICAL} ‘Thrifty’ = the surname of Umberto, the Italian author, + NO + an Old Testament book with the last letter removed + L (left)
16d Stout holy man with a large imperfection (8)
{STALWART} ‘Stout’ = the usual abbreviation for a holy man + A + L (large) + an imperfection
18d American soldier’s meeting that French girl in spirit of dance (7)
{GISELLE} The usual abbreviation for an American soldier + ‘S + ‘she’ in French = the title character in an opera whose ghost, after her premature death, protects her lover from the vengeance of a group of evil female spirits (Thanks to Wikipedia for that information)
20d Narrow urinals smashed (7)
{INSULAR} ‘Narrow’ is an anagram (smashed) of URINALS
21d Take inspiration at Greater Manchester village (6)
{INHALE} ‘To take inspiration (breathe)’ = IN + a village south-east of Altrincham in Greater Manchester
23d This could enlarge short boys? (4)
{LENS} A piece of optical apparatus that can magnify things is the plural form of the diminutive form of a boy’s name
A reasonable though somewhat unexciting puzzle. Perhaps it’s time for MynoT to take a break from his journey through the alphabet.
1* difficulty for me – don’t think I have seen such neat handwriting on a crossword grid for a long time – very simple once I realised what letter of the day was. Thanks to MynoT and Bufo too.
I’m sure that this will not have been enough of a challenge for the really experienced people – I’ve finished it without any help so it can’t have been very tough. I enjoyed it and it is lovely to be able to do a toughie just occasionally – it really helps to get rid of a few of the “bees in my bonnet” that seem to put me in the wrong frame of mind to be able to do them. 6a and 23d took me the longest. With thanks to MynoT for boosting the confidence and to Bufo for the hints.
There were a few to make me pause and a few more that were enjoyabe – all in all I liked it. Thanks to MynoT and Bufo
A gentle one today – perhaps there will be a sting in the tail of Firefly tomorrow!
Thanks to setter, and to Bufo.
I know this off topic but the link to today’s back page blog seems to have gone missing.
Is it me or has a minor gremlin struck?
No, it’s still there!
Did you bookmark it before 7:50am? I changed the addresses of all posts to include day as well as month and year because none of the links on Google were working.
I am going from the May page and have no bookmark to this crossword.
The URL is http://bigdave44.com/2012/05/03/dt-26856/ which I think is the same as your
No joy using either Firefox or IE. Links to the other May blogs are fine.
Mystery!
It really is a mystery – i can’t recreate the problem
You have reappeared. Wonder whether anyone else was affected.
I didn’t enjoy this one, too many anagrams and some poor clues, still, I couldn’t have made up a crossword so it is pretty cheeky of me to complain. thanks anyway to MynoT and bufo. Again off topic, why am I having to fill in my details before every post? am I doing something wrong?
I agree with BigBoab. Too many anagrams and generally one big yawn
You’ve dropped the @gmail.com from your alias, so your comment had to be moderated. The new one is better!
Good heavens – I’ve finished a Toughie – albeit yesterday’s and even though I did need a couple of hints. Still don’t understand 27a? But it seems from reading above that this one was relatively easy so perhaps I shouldn’t approach another one with too much confidence??