Toughie 1861

Toughie No 1861 by Firefly

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **

Thanks to Firefly for a puzzle which was fairly straightforward though I can’t honestly say that I enjoyed it a great deal since it didn’t seem to have much in the way of sparkle. Do feel free to point out what I’ve missed and call me grumpy!

Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you thought of it.

Across Clues

1a Where you may find the pets, possibly — and l’enfant terrible! (3,7,4)
THE NAUGHTY STEP – THE followed by a reverse anagram which gives us ‘pets’.

9a Vessel‘s quicker without check (8)
SCHOONER – a comparative meaning quicker or earlier contains the chess abbreviation for check.

10a Pasty left from supper eaten by a bird (5)
ASHEN – the leftmost letter of supper goes inside A and a domesticated bird.

12a Finished bronze from the East, with Eastern content (4)
NEAT – reverse a verb (or noun) meaning bronze and insert the abbreviation for Eastern. I was a bit dubious about ‘finished’ but it is one of the meanings given in Chambers.

13a Spring resort routine is to don outers for esplanade, and footwear (10)
ESPADRILLE – insert a resort with a mineral spring and a word meaning routine or a repetitive procedure into the outer letters of esplanade.

15a One article’s retrieved from spilt tea leaves – cheers! (8)
ELEVATES – an anagram (spilt) of TE[a] LEAVES after we’ve removed one of the indefinite articles.

16a Centre of stabiliser split by sailors (6)
KERNEL – the bit of a ship that stops it rolling over is split in two by the abbreviation for our senior service.

18a Devotion shown by star adopting gutless Etonian (6)
NOVENA – we had this Roman Catholic devotion as recently as last Wednesday’s back-pager. A star that suddenly increases in brightness contains the outer letters of Etonian.

20a General is in tears (8)
SWEEPING – the single-letter contraction of ‘is’ followed by a present participle meaning ‘in tears’.

23a Pipes playing Tam’s new air (5,5)
WATER MAINS – an anagram (playing) of TAM’S NEW AIR.

24a Compass points bracketing centre of Sao Paulo (4)
SPAN – two cardinal points contain the central letters of Sao Paulo.

26a Spray in season when nitrogen’s short (5)
SPRIG – one of the four seasons without the chemical symbol for nitrogen.

27a Peevish omission that goes against the grain … (8)
CROSSCUT – charade of an adjective meaning peevish or irritable and an omission or excision.

28a … in deleting Kent after redraft — this can create rows (8,6)
KNITTING NEEDLE – an anagram (after redraft) of IN DELETING KENT.

Down Clues

2d Rising, oddly drained, leave all I can see in Vatican City? (7)
ENCLAVE – reverse ‘leave all I can see’ then take away the odd letters to leave what Vatican City is an example of.

3d Criterion’s to lose its upper tier soon (4)
ANON – start with a word meaning criterion or yardstick and lose its first letter.

4d Dread being trapped by German desperado (8)
GANGSTER – a word for dread or anxiety is held inside one of the abbreviations for German.

ARVE Error: need id and provider

5d Utter thanks to unknown American for treatment en route? (6)
TARMAC – what sounds like a short word of thanks (to some people perhaps, but not to me) is followed by an informal way of addressing an unknown male person in the USA. I do wish that setters would recognise that half the native English speakers in the world do pronounce the rhotic R.

6d Lag protected by seedy criminal — it’s unrealistic (6-4)
STARRY-EYED – a verb to lag or loiter goes inside an anagram (criminal) of SEEDY.

7d Level with Alec — he longed to take part (7)
ECHELON – hidden in the clue.

8d Inform chappie I may be in after one — then finally all there? (11)
INTELLIGENT – put together a verb to inform and a posh chappie and insert an I. Precede all that with the Roman numeral for one and the final letter of ‘then’.

11d New bunks not damaged? Not to anyone’s knowledge (11)
UNBEKNOWNST – an anagram (damaged) of NEW BUNKS NOT.

14d Expert in the carriage trade? (10)
WAINWRIGHT – mildly cryptic definition of someone who might have manufactured the subject of Constable’s most famous painting. I didn’t know the term ‘carriage trade’ which is a North American term for the wealthy clientele of a business (those who, in earlier times, could have afforded a private carriage).

17d 10’s offspring boarding vacant swing for a final effort (4,4)
SWAN SONG – a synonym for 10a and a male offspring go on board the outer letters of swing.

19d Warhorse medic managed to corral easily at first (7)
VETERAN – the abbreviation for an animal medic and a verb meaning managed contain the first letter of ‘easily’.

21d The setter’s bash is appropriate (7)
IMPOUND – join together “the setter’s” put into the first person and a verb to bash.

22d Exercise characteristically energetic, but not made crystal clear (3,3)
T’AI CHI – an anagram (energetic) of CHARACTERISTICALLY after we’ve removed the letters of ‘crystal clear’. ‘Made’ is the indicator informing us that the letters to be removed are not in the order specified.

25d Man perhaps gets footloose girl to do a handstand (4)
ISLE – a girl’s name (the late Ms. Tanner of Weatherfield, perhaps) loses its last letter then what’s left is reversed.

The best clue for me was 1a. Which one(s) gave you a lift?