Toughie 1004

Toughie No 1004 by Warbler

Normal Service is Resumed

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***

After last week’s genuinely tough celebratory puzzle it’s back to Thursday normality this week with a very benign puzzle. Actually it’s a very pleasant puzzle with some nice clues but it caused me no problems whatsoever.

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Across

1a    Famous person with share in a 10 (11)
{CELEBRATION} An abbreviated form of a famous person + a share

9a    When cooked American sour corn becomes bitter (9)
{RANCOROUS} An anagram (cooked) of A (American) SOUR CORN

10a    If I was employed in this do we get equal pay? (5)
{PARTY} This answer provides the definition in several other clues. If you put the letter I somewhere inside the answer you get a word meaning equality in status, especially in pay

11a    Musician in combo occasionally is living in the heart of Bootle (6)
{OBOIST} Alternate letters of cOmBo + IS inside the middle two letters of BoOTle

12a    Deviously a ploy involves principally underhand practices that flatter (4,2,2)
{PLAY UP TO) An anagram (deviously) of A PLOY round the first letters of Underhand Practices That

13a    Imagine going round old Irish 10 (6)
{SOIREE} ‘To imagine’ goes round O (old) IR (Irish)

15a    Film course in which last two characters swap places with king (4,4)
{STARTER} The first course of a meal with the last two letters transposed + K (king)

18a    Fluff scattered in most of barge causes a to-do (8)
{KEFUFFLE} An anagram (scattered) of FLUFF inside a barge (boat) with the last letter removed

19a    In the end man doused in booze. On this certainly! (6)
{BENDER} The last letters of maN douseD inside an alcoholic drink = a drunken spree

21a    European’s let slip, arrest lacking support by unknown spy (8)
{EMISSARY} E (European) + ‘let slip’ + AR (arrest – rest) + an unknown

23a    Nameless parvenu misbehaves in 10 (4-2)
{RAVE-UP} An anagram (misbehaves) of PARVEU, i.e. parvenu minus N (name)

26a    Paper’s no good back-to-front, dear (5)
{SUGAR} A reversal of a newspaper and an abbreviation meaning no good (or useless)

27a    Food obsessive mixed nori with touches of turmeric and ipecac (9)
{NUTRITION} An obsessive + an anagram (mixed) of NORI T I (where T and I are the first letters of turmeric and ipecac)

28a    Understand three got drunk, or 10 (3-8)
{GET-TOGETHER} ‘To understand) + an anagram 9drunk) of THREE GOT

Down

1d    Scoundrel’s holding note to be paid for novel (7)
{CURIOUS} Scoundrel’s goes round a signed piece of paper acknowledging a debt

2d    Jargon used in selling objets d’art (5)
{LINGO} Hidden in selLING Objets d’art

3d    Half bohemian folks redesigned one of many in library (9)
{BOOKSHELF} An angarm (redesigned) of BOHE (half of Bohemian) FOLKS

4d    Australian cat. It’s very small (4)
{ATOM} A (Australian) + a male cat

5d    Latin island’s empty theatre cut off from communication (8)
{INSULATE} The Latin word for ‘island’ + TE (first and last letters of theatre)

6d    Frosty  old waitress (5)
{NIPPY} 2 meanings: frosty / a waitress in a Lyons teashop

7d    Ironic to get cut where craft’s made good (3,4)
{DRY DOCK} Ironic + ‘to cut’ = a place where ships are repaired

8d    Made ready prior to cut (8)
{PREPARED} A prefix meaning ‘prior to’ + ‘cut’

14d    To trespass in firing range with government artillery leaving, that’s wrong (8)
{INFRINGE} An anagram (wrong) of FIRIN NGE, i.e. firing range minus G (government) RA (artillery)

16d    Have another look at a burrow after cat swallows mole’s tail (2-7)
{RE-EXAMINE} A + ‘to burrow’ after a type of cat round E (last letter of mole)

17d    Music-maker‘s linear adjustment in court (8)
{CLARINET} An anagram (adjustment) of LINEAR in CT (court)

18d    10 joint has drink (5-2)
{KNEES-UP} A joint of the leg + ‘to drink’

20d    One worries about long retirement in the beginning (7)
{REPINER} ‘About’ + ‘to long’ + R (first letter of retirement)

22d    Rewards at last for good child (5)
{SPROG} S (last letter of rewards) + ‘for’ + G (good)

24d    Woman trapped by rising high tides (5)
{EDITH} Hidden in reverse in higH TIDEs

25d    Essential oil‘s excessive odour’s not grim (4)
{OTTO} An abbreviation meaning ‘excessive’ + O (odour – dour)

Maybe I’ll break sweat next week