Toughie No 1212 by Micawber

Hints and tips by Bufo

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

For the second week running I filled in the right-hand side without much difficulty and then stalled on the left-hand side. Today this was more down to me than the setter because I missed one or two fairly obvious answers and should have made much quicker progress. It was another enjoyable and challenging puzzle. Thursday’s are definitely looking up

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Across

1a    Preserve riverside where old vessels go (6,4)
{BOTTLE BANK} ‘To preserve’ + the side of a river = where old glass vessels are put for recycling

6a    Gamble on a prototype (4)
{BETA} ‘To gamble’ + A = a word denoting a version of a product being tested under working conditions

9a    Results of cutbacks perhaps cause urban blight? (10)
{SCARCITIES} Shortages (which may result from cutbacks). Split it (4,6) and it could mean ’cause urban blight’ or ‘disfigure urban settlements’

10a    Have stirred supine cat (4)
{PUMA} A reversal (supine) of ‘have stirred (got out of bed)’ (2,2) = a large wild cat

12a    Time to return saucer that contains curd (4)
{TOFU} T (time) + a reversal of a flying saucer = a food made from soy bean curd

13a    Leaps around in circle, having another episode (9)
{RELAPSING} An anagram (around) of LEAPS in a circle

15a    Yorkshire town, damp and leafy? (8)
{WETHERBY} A Yorkshire town with a racecourse = ‘damp’ (3) + a word that could possibly mean ‘leafy’ (5)

16a    Southern elite are loudly evident (6)
{SCREAM} S (Southern) + elite

18a    That’s horrible, getting negative about love (6)
{NOUGHT} ‘That’s horrible!’ (3) inside a word expressing negation (3) = love (zero)

20a    Pilot mad, being put out by privileged traveller (8)
{DIPLOMAT} An anagram (put out) of PILOT MAD

23a    Gives off liquid through points (9)
{PERSPIRES} ‘Through’ (3) + points (as on churches) (6)

24a    State of America, in south? Not so (4)
{UTAH} A (America) in UTH (SOUTH less SO). The whole clue enhances the definition

26a    Flower of Erin cut off (4)
{IRIS} ‘Of Erin’ with the last letter removed

27a    Mixing wines with grain for official ceremony (8-2)
{SWEARING-IN} An anagram (mixing) of WINES GRAIN

28a    Dale‘s second of FBI agents to suffer 95 per cent cut (4)
{GLEN} Take a word meaning FBI agents (1-3) and replace the second letter by another Roman numeral with one-twentieth of its value

29a    Believe character in suit with way of parting one from money? (6,4)
{CREDIT} ‘To believe’ + a word for a character (a comical or eccentric person) which is also something found in a suit (hearts, clubs, diamonds or spades)

Down

1d    Policeman / on call (4)
{BUSY} 2 meanings: a slang word for a policeman or a detective/on call (engaged on the telephone)

2d    What could make this melt (4,3)
{THAW OUT} The first word is an anagram of WHAT and the second word is an anagram indicator. Thus **** *** = WHAT

3d    Such reptiles chewed up chairs (12)
{LECTURESHIPS} An anagram (chewed up) of SUCH REPTILES = chairs (in universities)

4d    Find oneself internally pulsating in poolside outfit? (8)
{BATHROBE} ‘To find oneself’ (2) round ‘pulsating’ (6) = a loose-fitting garment worn before and after swimming

5d    Point of what French masculine nouns do? (6)
{NEEDLE} French masculine nouns **** ** (i.e. they must be preceded by the masculine form of the definite article)

7d    Learned to top and tail raw veg following Escoffier’s lead (7)
{ERUDITE} A French word for raw vegetables served as a hors d’oeuvre with the first and last letters removed follows E (first letter of Escoffier)

8d    A Spanish club dropping a fellow to consolidate (10)
{AMALGAMATE} A + a Spanish football club based in a city on the Costa del Sol with the letter A removed + fellow

11d    International sect controlled by a dogmatic type, one supervising workers (12)
{APICULTURIST} I (International) and a sect Inside A dogmatic type = someone who keeps bees

14d    Wander along with online test for bird identification (4-6)
{SWAN-UPPING} ‘To wander along’ or ‘to arrive aimlessly’ (4,2) + a test to check the accessibility of nodes or users on a computer network = an annual expedition up the Thames for the marking of young water birds. I’d never heard of the computer test

17d    Wooden, sedate treatment (5,3)
{FIRST AID} Wooden (made of the wood of a particular conifer) + ‘sedate’ = immediate treatment of an injured or sick person before full medical attention

19d    British weather over eastern country (7)
{UKRAINE} British (2) + wet weather (4) + E (eastern)

21d    I may lag badly, suffering such pain (7)
{MYALGIA} An anagram (badly) of I MAY LAG = pain in a muscle (which may make you lag badly)

22d    An American example is Miller: ‘Little Brown Jug’ (6)
{BREWER} Miller is a company based in Milwaukee. An abbreviation for ‘brown’ + a jug

25d    Muslim festival enthralling northern woman (4)
{ENID} A Muslim festival round N (northern) = a woman’s name

I hope for something as good next week