Toughie 895

Toughie No 895 by Busman

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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

Busman’s recent puzzles have been a significant improvement on his earlier ones, and this is no exception. Perhaps a notch up from a standard back-page puzzle, but not too difficult.

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Across

1a    Mathematician’s measurement mid-June? (6,2,6)
{HEIGHT OF SUMMER} – could mean how tall is a Mathematician

9a    Sixties teenager’s first point for milliner maybe (7)
{MODISTE} – a sixties teenager who rode a scooter followed by first as an ordinal number and a compass point

10a    Record-breaking autumn, apparently, hasn’t begun (3-4)
{ALL-TIME} – start with what could be autumn (4,4) and drop the initial F (hasn’t begun)

11a    Average tinker’s no joiner (2-2)
{SO-SO} – a tinker or rascal without the “and” that joins the two parts

12a    Alright! In uproar, ref strode around, impassive (5-5)
{POKER-FACED} – two letters that mean alright followed by an anagram (In uproar) of REF all inside a verb meaning strode

14a    Homes … or ‘omes? (6)
{EARTHS} – homes for badgers or foxes or, preceded by H, another word for homes

15a    In which posh canapes may be cooked (8)
{SAUCEPAN} – an anagram (cooked) of the single-letter that represents posh and CANAPES

17a    Spoke twice to get measurement? (8)
{DIAMETER} – two opposite spokes combine to make this measurement of a circle

18a    Assemble register at university (4,2)
{ROLL UP} – a register followed by the two-letter word meaning at university

20a    Display ground outside, at the front (10)
{EXPOSITION} – a ground or situation preceded by a prefix meaning outside

21a    Food and ride expenditure, for starters (4)
{FARE} – the initial letters (starters) of four words in the clue

23a    Evert  to make an appearance (4,3)
{TURN OUT} – a double definition

24a    Very silly, because 1 precedes 9 (7)
{ASININE} – a charade of a two-letter word meaning because, I (Roman numeral for 1) and 9 spelled out as a word

25a    Almost crazed mastermind’s 3As (2,4,2,6)
{AS NEAR AS DAMMIT} – an anagram (crazed) of MASTERMIND’S AAA

Down

1d    Common  phrase for gnashers (9,5)
{HAMPSTEAD HEATH} – a double definition – the second one being the full rhyming slang for “gnashers” – as I have said many times before, the whole point of Cockney rhyming slang is that the rhyming word is, unlike here, dropped; e.g. apples (and pears, stairs), boat (race, face)

2d    Trading estates needed where river’s quiet with boats under test (10,5)
{INDUSTRIAL PARKS} – an Asian river followed by the musical notation for quiet and boats used during a flood, the last two elements being preceded by a test

3d    Cooked meat from the mess (4)
{HASH} – a double definition

4d    King from Borneo (6)
{OBERON} – Shakespeare’s Fairy King is an anagram (from) of BORNEO

5d    Interval piece for one who’s out of this world (8)
{SPACEMAN} –can interval followed by a chess piece

6d    Criminal testosterone? (10)
{MALEFACTOR} – split as (4,6) this could be testosterone

7d    A Sicilian Pope’s rewritten mass in religious doctrine (15)
{EPISCOPALIANISM} – an anagram (rewritten) of A SICILIAN POPE’S followed by M(ass)

8d    Gift new design dept redesigned to overcome resistance (7,7)
{WEDDING PRESENT} – an anagram (redesigned) of NEW DESIGN DEPT arouns (to overcome) R(esistance)

13d    So … eight make a duck — total sixty (10)
{THREESCORE} – what happens when eight batsmen out of eleven make a duck (5,5)

16d    He’s willing to have exam list overturned (8)
{TESTATOR} – an exam followed by the reversal (overturned) of a list

19d    Boozers like diet drinks? (6)
[ Newspaper version – Boozers like diet drink with first slug of scotch – thanks Pegasus]
{LOCALS} – could be like diet drinks, if split (2-4)  [like a diet drink (2-3) followed by the initial letter (first) of Scotch]

22d    Mrs T‘s comment, in short: ‘Some of humanity is for turning!’ (4)
{TINA} – the initial letters (in short) of a famous quote from Mrs Thatcher are hidden (some) and reversed (for turning) inside the clue

The usual bright start to the Toughie week.