Toughie 1656

Toughie 1656 by Giovanni

Hints and tips by Kitty

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

 

Warmest greetings all from warmest Surrey where many people are out enjoying the weather, and so too are a hoard of horrid flying bitey things.  Or maybe they have just all chosen me for their dinner.

I found this very tough.  Usually I prefer this setter in his gentler mode, but if I subtract the negativity which came from the reviewer’s fear, I think I actually enjoyed it much more than usual.  So I shall be liberal with stars on both counts, and you may merrily disagree with me in the comments if you have a different view!

The definitions are underlined in the clues below, and you’ll find the answers inside the I have no idea boxes.  The exclamation mark is not an imperative – click only if you wish to reveal all.

Do leave a comment telling us how you found it and what you thought.

 

Across

1a    Deficiency of blood sugar approaching danger level? That’s false (12)
HYPOCRITICAL: The (shortened version of the) condition of having an abnormally low blood sugar level followed by “at the point of disaster.”  False or insincere; two-faced

8a    One to show man embracing woman (5)
RODIN: We need a man’s name enveloping a woman’s name.  Both short forms, as may be guessed from the length of the clue, but checking letters might be required for help narrowing down the options.  The answer is a sculptor and artist, so one would exhibit him (i.e. his works).  Unless I’m missing something, I’m not sure whether the definition here is tight enough for complete satisfaction   The answer is the sculptor of the famous The Kiss, making the clue a nice all-in-one.  Thanks for the clarification CS and Gazza!

9a    Not half unwell in bed, is ill on account of drinks (9)
COCKTAILS: The second half of a word for unwell inside a bed and followed by “is ill”

 

11a    What’s very bad about substitute not quite able to play in any position? (9)
VERSATILE: Very bad or despicable around five of the six letters (not quite) of an adjective meaning substitute

12a    Soldier leading his colleagues in historic district (5)
MANOR: A trooper followed by a usual crosswordland collective of soldiers.  This is historically the district over which the court of the lord of the ***** had authority

13a    It’s problematical when article is wedged between back-to-back items of furniture (9)
DEBATABLE: The indefinite article is sandwiched (wedged) between two pieces of furniture, the first being reversed (back to back)

16a    Part protected by water barriers (5)
SEPTA: An abbreviation for part inside (protected by) a large expanse of water.  Partitions separating two chambers in the body

18a    One found guilty of fraud – how low can you get? (5)
NADIR: The lowest point.  Also the surname of the fraudster Asil.  Thanks to Verlaine for identifying the person in question for me

19a    Article in case stuck in tree, not stiff (9)
LITHESOME: Another grammatical article, not the one in 13a, and “in case” all stuck inside a fruit tree

20a    Roman below – when given grant such becomes not at all sweet (5)
INFRA: Latin for below.  Appending grant to the end of this produces a word meaning malodorous

22a    Annoying ringing sound around compound (9)
PESTERING: A sharp ringing or whistling sound around a volatile chemical compound

25a    Acclaiming return of number one Liberal, I celebrate (9)
LIONISING: The reversal (return) of number (abbreviated), one (Roman numeral) and Liberal (abbreviated), after which we turn round the right way again and add the I from the clue and celebrate, perhaps from the rooftops

26a    Huge honour given to some that shouldn’t get honour (5)
OBESE: An honour and then the subtraction of a different honour from SOME (from the clue).  Rather an accurate surface these days

27a    There may be something in here that will have to be got off one’s chest (6,6)
BREAST POCKET: A cryptic definition of a pouch in which you might keep something close to your heart

 

Down

1d    Foreign city hospital getting exposed in time after being built up (9)
HYDERABAD: The city is the capital of southern India’s Telangana state.  Start with H(ospital) and append a reversal (after being built up) of a five letter word for exposed inside a period of time (the one in which Rome was not built)

2d    With no hesitation indulge a beast of symbolic significance (5)
PANDA: Take a word for indulge or humour and remove from the end of it a two letter hesitation, then add the A from the clue.  The beast is the symbol of a well-known charity, significant for being a high-profile endangered species which prefers eating to breeding

ARVE Error: need id and provider

3d    Plants needing minimal cold protected by man on island (5)
CACTI: The abbreviation for cold inside a jazz man, followed by the abbreviation for island

 

 

4d    Home building material – builder finally brought in a bit more (9)
INCREMENT: Our usual crossword home and a building material containing (brought in) the final letter of builder

5d    Swell cuties – men getting jittery (9)
INTUMESCE: An anagram (getting jittery) of CUTIES MEN.  I think I’ll refrain from illustrating this one …

6d    Strange story featured in a newspaper’s leader (5)
ALIEN: The story is an untruth and it sits between A from the clue and the first letter (leader) of newspaper

7d    It’s coming from above, using divine portal possibly? (12)
PROVIDENTIAL: An anagram (possibly) of DIVINE PORTAL

10d    Instruction for making a ledge taking up a lot of room? (6-6)
SPREAD-EAGLED: A neat reverse clue.  The first word of the answer is an instruction to make an anagram of the second; this process produces A LEDGE

  

14d    Surprisingly, artier mother embraces the ultimate unknown poetic style (5,4)
TERZA RIMA: This is an anagram of ARTIER followed by a term for mother.  Inside this goes a mathematical unknown – the final one, alphabetically speaking.  The poetic form is first known to be used by Dante in his Divine Comedy, which literally translates from the Italian as “third rhyme” and it’s a three-line stanza using chain rhyme in the pattern A-B-A, B-C-B, C-D-C, D-E-D:

Ode to the West Wind
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1820)

 

O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed

The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow

Her clarion o’er the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odours plain and hill:

Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;
Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh hear!

 

The rest can be found here

15d    Writer of song with no commercial value (9)
BALLPOINT: A love song minus the two letters at the end which are short for a commercial.  This is followed by use or purpose, as in “what’s the *****?”

17d    Quickly losing love, this person’s held to be important (9)
PROMINENT: Take a six letter word meaning quickly or at once and remove from the end of it love, or O.  (There is love at the heart of it too, but that is not lost.)  Then insert a pronoun the setter would use to indicate that something belongs to him

21d    Level of defeat (5)
FLOOR: A level of a building or a verb, to beat

23d    Indication to musicians to play last bit of the song (5)
SEGNO: From the Italian for signal, this is a musical marker usually indicating the beginning or end of a repeat, and is an anagram (to play) of the last letter of thE with SONG

24d    IT work (1-4)
E-BOOK: This work is a volume or publication in a digital format

 

Thanks to Giovanni for the tussle.  My three picks today are all in the middle of the downs: 5d, 10d and 15d.  Which did you think were swell?