Sunday Toughie No 73 by Robyn
Review by Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 18th of June 2023
Across
1a Reluctant to splash the cash, your old clothes split (7)
THRIFTY; How your was said in days of old THY, surrounds (clothes) a split, cleft or fissure RIFT
5a Metal-plated, hard axe (7)
CHOPPER; A metal COPPER, around H for hard
9a Faceless menial character in Dickens (5)
RUDGE; A menial or DRUDGE, loses it’s first letter to be the title character of BARNABY RUDGE, a Dickens novel
10a This makes more tasteful, oddly small medicine boxes (5,4)
TABLE SALT; Odd letters of S(m)A(i)L are boxed by medicine in TABLET form
11a Model players plugging smooth covers of Lindisfarne (10)
SANDCASTLE; This childhood model of a much larger building is constructed from to smooth with a gritty substance SAND, a group of theatrical players CAST, and the covering letters of Lindisfarne LE
12a In Europe, Mr Right gets snaffled by that woman (4)
HERR: That women or HER, snaffles R for right to be HERR how a Mr is referred to in Germanic parts of Europe
14a Visit friend in Cambs city with great official residence (6,6)
ELYSEE PALACE; A city in Cambridgeshire ELY, to visit or physically observe SEE, a friend or PAL and a synonym of great ACE become the official residence of the President of the Republic of France
18a Chaos swine introduced to very mature forum (7,5)
MESSAGE BOARD; Chaos or MESS, and very mature or AGED, containing a swine or BOAR
21a A German referendum option? Vote for strongman (4)
AJAX; A from the clue, one of the options in a German yes/no referendum JA, and the mark they make on the ballot paper X, make an ancient Greek strongman AJAX
22a Net shot, with Chelsea showing good defensive record (5,5)
CLEAN SHEET; An anagram (shot)of NET and CHELSEA
25a After worship, devout women will gather old money and clothing, say (4,5)
MASS NOUNS; A worship or MASS, some devout NUNS around O for old, A collective term that denotes something that cannot be made plural. Money and clothing being definitions by example (say)
26a What’s held by motivator — a TED talk (5)
ORATE; A lurker (what’s held by) the next three words in the clue
27a Go wild in carnival location, tucking into shrimp (3,4)
RUN RIOT; The location of a well known carnival RIO is tucked into a synonym of shrimp, the smallest of a litter RUNT
28a Dramatic figure generating a lot of interest? (7)
SHYLOCK; A cryptic definition of the ruthless Shakespearean money lender from The Merchant of Venice
Down
1d Party time! #WelcomingKing! (6)
THRASH; T for time and the more usual name for the # character HASH, welcomes the Latin abbreviation for King R to a wild party or THRASH
2d Embarrassed-looking figure having had a makeover (6)
REDONE; The colour one goes when embarrassed RED, and a figure or number ONE, make over or REDONE
3d British comic with head in some pain? (6,4)
FRENCH LOAF; The comedy partner of Jennifer Saunders Dawn FRENCH, and an informal head LOAF, make “pain” in some parts of the world
4d Still lives showing fantastical inventions (5)
YETIS; Still or YET, and lives or IS are the fantastical inventions of hypoxic mountaineers in the Himalayas
5d Foreign gent rented vehicle in France to go round (9)
CABALLERO; A Spanish horsey chap formed from a vehicle for rent or hire CAB, the French term for to go ALLER, and the round letter O
6d Intimidated after losing head, and not settled (4)
OWED; Intimidated or COWED loses its head and is what is not settled in a debt
7d Clap me wildly before extremely adroit bit of setting (5,3)
PLACE MAT; An anagram (wildly) of CLAP ME and the outer or extreme letters of AdroiT, very adroit bit of setting too Thanks Robyn
8d A lot of red flags about English people not working (8)
RETIREES; I got the ending of this wrong at first. Most of the colour REd, a synonym of flags TIRES, around E for English
13d Blithe in case of faults, politico gives unlikely account (5,5)
FAIRY STORY; Very topical in the week that BoJo’s lies were exposed, The case letters of faults FS, around a synonym of blithe AIRY, , followed by a politico on the right of the spectrum TORY, creates a tale to mislead his colleagues.
15d Small man’s going to clubs, perhaps, in 1980s gear (5,4)
SHELL SUIT; S for small, an elision of what a man’s going to do He will becomes HE’LL, and clubs as an example of one of the four groups of playing cards SUIT. I wouldn’t have been seen dead in one of them then or now.
16d This person raised brother, eating cooked meal one makes mummy? (8)
EMBALMER; This person or ME is reversed (raised in a down clue) EM, An abbreviation for brother BR, around (eating) an anagram (cooked) of MEAL, EMBALMER one who makes mummy’s of Egyptian Pharaoahs
17d Fool like half-cut vocalist who may perform a hit (8)
ASSASSIN; A fool or ASS, like or AS, and the first half of a vocalist or SINger, may perform a gangland “hit”
19d Pleasure boat boy turned over after games (6)
PEDALO; A reversal of a boy LAD and a crickety over O follow some abbreviated games or PE
20d Speed skater going off course (6)
STREAK; An anagram (going off course) of skater
23d Not large blunders in architectural features (5)
APSES; Blunders or LAPSES lose the L for large to be the semicircular or polygonal recesses found in some architectural features
24d Not supporting ChatGPT, say, penning books (4)
An abbreviation for the “thinking” behind ChatGPT Artificial Intelligence or AI, pens the collection of books that form the latter half of the Bible NT. An ANTI is one who is opposed to or not supporting something