Toughie 1030

Toughie No 1030 by Messinae

And It’s Goodnight from Him

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

This is not the most difficult of Toughies but it’s one that I enjoyed. There is a bit of a mini-theme relating to old comic actors.

Do let us know how you got on with it.

Across Clues

1a  Fletcher or Arkwright heard song of Venice (10)
{BARCAROLLE} – the cunning old lag or the parsimonious shopkeeper are examples of what sounds like (heard) a part played by a very versatile comic actor who, sadly, is no longer with us.

ARVE Error: need id and provider

6a  Vulcanian site or, alternately, Neptunian (4)
{ETNA} – alternate letters of Neptunian.

9a  Computer checking soldier’s spelling (5)
{MAGIC} – a non-PC computer contains (checking) an American soldier.

10a  Decline in sporting behaviour around the present era (9)
{DECADENCY} – a word for sporting behaviour or good manners contains the abbreviation for our current era.

12a  Marine nudism’s rampant in times when it’s hot lately (6,7) (revised on-line clue)
12a  Marine nudism rampant when it’s hot lately (6,7) (paper and original on-line clue)
{INDIAN SUMMERS} – there is an error in the original clue where the anagram fodder is one letter short. In the corrected clue we need an anagram (rampant) of MARINE NUDISM’S.

14a  Like polo team to drink (4,4)
{CREW NECK} – a charade of a team (especially one on a boat or ship) and a verb to drink.

15a  Celt to put in gun (6)
{BRETON} – TO gets inserted in a type of machine gun.

17a  Plays jazz live — blow saxophone primarily (6)
{BEBOPS} – string together a verb to live or exist, a slang word for a blow and the primary letter of saxophone.

19a  A banker’s corrupt state (8)
{NEBRASKA} – an anagram (corrupt) of A BANKER’S.

21a  Who perhaps can issue erudite wit (6,7)
{DOCTOR JOHNSON} – a good semi-all-in-one. A title (that of Who on TV, for example) is followed by another slang term for a can or lavatory and a child or issue.

24a  Spiny anteater finally taken in by abler vet recovered (9)
{VERTEBRAL} – the final letter of (anteate)R goes inside an anagram (re-covered) of ABLER VET.

25a  Doll not PC — how surprising! (5)
{GOLLY} – double definition, the first a sort of doll that is no longer deemed acceptable.

26a  Sport with politician in historic Parliament (4)
{RUMP} – this is the name given to the remnants of Charles I’s parliament after it had been purged of members sympathetic to the king. A fifteen-a-side sport is followed by the usual abbreviation for an elected politician.

27a  Agent for clergyman reduced men (10)
{PROCURATOR} – string together the prefix meaning for or in favour of, a junior clergyman without the final letter (reduced) and the abbreviation for rank-and-file soldiers.

Down Clues

1d  Hope perhaps to secure money, lot of money (4)
{BOMB} – a forename (that of Hope, for example) contains (to secure) M(oney).

2d  Music style Cambridge college served up in fashion (7)
{RAGTIME} – reverse a college in Cambridge (the one in New England rather than Old England) inside a word for fashion or craze.

3d  Decrepit canon stumbling like Frank Spencer (8-5)
{ACCIDENT-PRONE} – an anagram (stumbling) of DECREPIT CANON.

ARVE Error: need id and provider

4d  Decree to remove current munitions (8)
{ORDNANCE} – remove the abbreviation for electric current from a decree or edict.

5d  Destructive creature mostly in place (5)
{LOCUS} – a destructive creature without its final letter (mostly).

7d  Beat fellow touching (7)
{TANGENT} – a charade of a verb to beat and a posh fellow.

8d  Cat has deep lumps on tip of nose (10)
{ABYSSINIAN} – string together something very deep, the plural of the word for the projecting lump at the base of the back of the skull (not a word I was familiar with) and the first letter (tip) of N(ose).

11d  Rum’s ingredient in drunken marauder’s rage (8,5)
{DEMERARA SUGAR} – an anagram (drunken) of MARAUDER’S RAGE.

13d  Underwater explorer drives madly round island (5,5)
{SCUBA DIVER} – an anagram (madly) of DRIVES going round a Caribbean island.

16d  Concerned with head lice, chap scratched (8)
{CEPHALIC} – an anagram (scratched) of LICE CHAP.

18d  Toss butter to make stiff (7)
{BUCKRAM} – a verb to toss (like a bronco, perhaps) followed by a butting animal.

20d  Top record by tenor (7)
{SINGLET} – a record with one tune on each side followed by T(enor).

22d  Magician carrying off trick — one of 12 (5)
{JUROR} – a magician with a trick or hoax removed. This clue doesn’t work very well in Scotland where the 12 are actually 15.

23d  Scottish town sheltering English philosopher (4)
{AYER} – a town in the west of Scotland containing E(nglish).

I liked 9a and 21a but my favourite today is 1a. What did it for you?