Toughie 1120

Toughie No 1120 by Beam

Another anagram-free zone

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

I spent a long time on this including a 5-10 minute period in the middle when I didn’t solve a single clue. I ended up in 5-star difficulty territory for the first time in ages but, as I wrote the review, I couldn’t see any reason why it should have taken me so long. Certainly the complete lack of anagrams and multiword answers didn’t help.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.

Across

7a    Darling’s cross, flipped over, arriving at threshold (8)
{DOORSTEP} A reversal (flipped over) of “darling’s” and cross (or crucifix)

9a    Try again putting the man in stir (6)
{REHEAR} Try again (in a legal sense) = a pronoun denoting the man inside ‘to stir’. I was puzzled by the use of the word for ‘to stir’ but Chambers does define it as ‘to rouse, stir up (now dialect)’

10a    Part of ship made from hardwood (4)
{HELM} H (hard) + a variety of wood

11a    Nearly sick with desire facing charge for show (10)
{ILLUSTRATE} ‘Sick’ with the last letter removed + desire + charge = ‘to show’

12a    Sweet pout embracing sailors vacantly (6)
{MOUSSE} A sweet (dessert) = a pour round SS (first and last letters of sailors)

14a    Dance in buff and work on desperate man (8)
{FANDANGO} Buff (enthusiast) + ‘to work’ following the name of the Dandy‘s desperate man

15a    Shocking device setting last of clue inside puzzle (6)
{TEASER} A weapon that incapacitates by giving an electric shock goes round E (last letter of clue). This shocking device doesn’t seem to be in Chambers

17a    Choice expression of shock getting award (6)
{BESTOW} Choice (as an adjective) + an interjection expressive of shock (or pain) = ‘to award’

20a    Almost preferred to get round unnatural truncated goodbyes (8)
{CHEERIOS} ‘Preferred’ with its last letter removed goes round ‘unnatural’ with its last letter removed

22a    Part of mushroom encircling top of stalk (6)
{MORSEL} The name of a mushroom goes round S (first letter of stalk)

23a    Crew become old crew with time on board (10)
{MANAGEMENT} ‘To crew’ + ‘become old’ + crew + T (time)

24a    Nit, perhaps, not in school (4)
{SECT} Remove IN from the type of creature that a nit is an example of

25a    Bones from digit risk losing extremities (6)
{HUMERI} Bones found in arms = a digit on the hand + risk, with both parts having the first and last letters removed

26a    Propositions oddly perter girls, not one small! (8)
{PREMISES} The odd letters of PeRtEr + girls with one letter S (small) removed

Down

1d    Keep retaining a little up top (8)
{FOREMOST} A keep goes round a reversal of ‘a little’

2d    Dance for maiden (4)
{PROM} ‘For’ + M (maiden)

3d    Other half is trouble for other half (6)
{STRIFE} A man’s other half is his trouble and ******

4d    Parking, almost begrudge church attendance (8)
{PRESENCE} P (parking) + ‘begrudge’ with the last letter removed + CE (church)

5d    Subsequently, following Buddhist’s end is next world (10)
{THEREAFTER} T (last letter of Buddhist) + a future life following death

6d    Mob from Triad got gang periodically (6)
{RAGTAG} Alternate letters of TRiAd GoT gAnG

8d    A sauce elevated very strong dish (6)
{PILAFF} A reversal of A sauce (cheek) + an abbreviation meaning very strong (or loud) = a highly spiced rice dish

13d    Red meat in special cut half of fellows missed (10)
{SHAMEFACED} Red (embarrassed) = meat inside S (special) and cut (removed) with one letter F (fellow) removed

16d    Huge lair with rodents all endlessly producing plague (8)
{EPIDEMIC} Huge (4) + lair (3) + rodents (4). All three parts have the last letter removed

18d    Went on the pull, admitting Romeo pulled (8)
{WRENCHED} ‘Went on the pull (looking for girls)’ goes round R (Romeo)

19d    Adult strips, rampant in bed (6)
{ASLEEP} A (Adult) + a reversal (rampant) of ‘strips’

21d    Cartwheeling in stunt, vanish unevenly into chasm (6)
{HIATUS} Reverse alternate letters in STUNT VANISH

22d    Mother having heart reproduced issue (6)
{MATTER} A 5-letter word meaning mother with the middle letter put in twice

24d    Spoken aloud in delivery initially (4)
{SAID} The first letters of Spoken Aloud In Delivery. The whole clue provides a definition

Enjoyable nevertheless