Toughie 1155

Toughie No 1155 by Micawber

A Good Serving of Peas

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

This is turning out to be an excellent Toughie week (so far) with the excellent Petitjean yesterday and today a Micawber on top form.

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 Clues

1a  Rejected sweets, under pressure (8)
{STRESSED} – reverse some sweets or puds.

5a  Meagre spread — odd bits of corn garnished with mushy peas (6)
{SCRAPE} – the odd letters of corn are contained inside an anagram (mushy) of PEAS.

9a  Extended passion bridge partner’s held from a distance (4-5)
{LONG-RANGE} – start with an adjective meaning extended and add a word meaning passion or wrath with the abbreviation for a bridge player held inside it.

11a  Install powerful leader (5)
{PUTIN} – very topical! Split (3,2) to mean install.

12a  Two peas reportedly — note where you’d see them burst out (6)
{POPPED} – what sounds like (reportedly) two peas and a musical note go inside where you’d see two identical peas.

13a  African state gets this cop’s bias exposed, serially (8)
{ETHIOPIA} – expose, by removing the outer letters, four consecutive words in the clue.

15a  Teaches throwing perhaps to geeks (13)
{TRAINSPOTTERS} – split as (6,7) this could mean teaches would-be artisans to throw things on a wheel.

18a  Sequence inevitably following flush? (5,8)
{CHAIN REACTION} – we’re in the smallest room here and it’s got a proper dangly thing rather than one of those nasty modern push-button efforts.

22a  Hang around outside toilet, turning crazy (8)
{DOOLALLY} – we haven’t moved far from the previous clue. A verb to hang around or dawdle goes round the reversal (turning) of an informal word for toilet.

23a  Tap dancing cue — enter during ‘Grease’ (6)
{FAUCET} – this is what our transatlantic cousins call a tap. Put an anagram (dancing) of CUE inside some grease or lard.

26a  Spice French novelist brought from East (5)
{SUMAC} – if you read the answer from East to West you get the surname of a French author, philosopher and Nobel Prize winner. He also played as goalkeeper for a university team in Algeria.

27a  Presumably deep enough for the Spanish carrier, and Russian, heading to port (9)
{NAVIGABLE} – a semi-all-in-one. Heading to port tells us to construct the clue from right to left. So, we need to string together ‘the’ in Spanish, a container or carrier and a common Russian male name, then reverse the lot.

28a  Something loud audibly grates (6)
{ANNOYS} – the answer sounds like something loud (1,5).

29a  Deviously lure lamb into shelter (8)
{UMBRELLA} – an anagram (deviously) of LURE LAMB.

Down Clues

1d  Sympathetic to number one spy, I felt moved (4-4)
{SELF-PITY} – an anagram (moved) of SPY I FELT. I think that you have to assume an additional word, such as ‘being’ at the start, otherwise the definition reads like an adjective rather than the required noun.

2d  Go to the top of steps in preparation for delivery (3-2)
{RUN-UP} – this is what a bowler goes through prior to delivering the ball. Change the hyphen to space and you have a phrasal verb meaning to climb steps. Thanks to Jezza.

3d  Colleague making nurse go crazy (7)
{SURGEON} – an anagram (crazy) of NURSE GO produces a colleague of the nurse.

4d  Swine leaves birds for ages (4)
{EONS} – remove the swine from homing birds.

6d  Upset, head will have a fit if this is right! (7)
{CAPSIZE} – wonderful! Split the answer (3,4) and the wordplay becomes clear.

7d  Part of mean tip, a stingy Italian diner might offer these (9)
{ANTIPASTI} – hidden (part of) in the clue.

8d  Unruly teen with aggression outwardly of one blowing top? (6)
{ETNEAN} – an anagram (unruly) of TEEN followed by the outer letters of aggression give us an adjective meaning characteristic of the usual European volcano.

10d  Heading in goal with power? (8)
{ENTITLED} – put a heading (at the top of a document, for instance) inside a goal or aim.

14d  Old correspondent exchanging last letters — attention finally undivided (4-4)
{OPEN-PLAN} – O(ld) followed by a friend (usually abroad) with whom you correspond (these days presumably via Facebook or Twitter rather than airmail) with the last two letters reversed. Finish with the final letter of (attentio)N.

16d  One broadcasting from a twelfth-century church interior (9)
{ANCHORMAN} – in the twelfth century English churches were built in the style of our recently-arrived conquerors. So we want A (from the clue) and the relevant architectural style with the abbreviation for church inside.

17d  Mum holds up one article after another repeatedly as something loathsome (8)
{ANATHEMA} – another affectionate short word for mum follows (holds up) one article after another after another.

19d  Governed during uprising, in painful chaos (7)
{ANARCHY} – reverse (during uprising) a verb meaning governed or administered and put it inside an adjective meaning painful.

ARVE Error: need id and provider

20d  What Richard III wanted, perhaps  that would prevent loss of power? (7)
{CHARGER} – double definition – another word for what Shakespeare had King Dick offering half his kingdom for and what you need to keep your battery or mobile topped up.

21d  Port, old, handed round unopened (6)
{ODESSA} – O(ld) followed by the reversal (round) of a verb meaning transferred by hand without its opening letter.

24d  Labour and Conservative leaders turning up in secret council (5)
{CABAL} – the usual abbreviation for Labour followed by the leading letters of A(nd) and C(onservative) with the whole lot being turned upside down.

25d  Man United forwards resurgent after 0-5, showing a bit of life potentially (4)
{OVUM} – start with what looks like zero, then add the Roman numeral for five and the reversal (resurgent) of the leading letters (forwards) of M(an) U(nited).

It’s a real difficulty picking out a limited number of clues to mention from a host of possibilities, but I’ve decided to put 15a and 18a on the rostrum with the gold medal going to the brilliant 6d. I won’t be at all surprised if you have a different selection, but please do tell us what it is.