Toughie 232

Toughie No 232 by MynoT

All U Ever Wanted!

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

I started this very slowly, getting 10a, 9d and 18a as straightforward, and then started to struggle. Then I realised what I was dealing with and things got a bit easier. If you hadn’t already noticed, the only vowel used in this crossword is a U.

There is one thing that bothers me, I wonder what MynoT is going to do next?

As usual please feel free to leave a comment.

Across

7. Kind of whole food but not English (9)
{UNHURTFUL} – The definition is kind. UNHURT (whole), plus FU(e)L (food) minus the E (not English).

8. Quiet game with barrels for Bush (5)
{SHRUB} – SH (quiet), RU (Rugby Union – game) and B (barrel(s)).

10. Shut up! That’s bad language (6)
{PUSHTU} – An anagram (that’s bad) of SHUT UP is the official language of Afghanistan.

11. Riding by way of street required for taking off vertically (8)
{UPTHRUST} – UP (riding) THRU (by way of, of American origin, but it is in Chambers) plus ST (street).

12. Disturbance caused by American following a mass of ordinary people (6)
{RUCKUS} – RUCK (a mass of ordinary people) plus US (American).

14. Ben perhaps replaces one in military group not being injured (6)
{UNHURT} – Replace the I in UN(i)T (military group) with Ben HUR.

16. Body to throw right to left (4)
{HULL} – The body of a ship is constructed from HU(r)L where the R is replaced by (to) L.

17. Fiddles about around her heartless expression of doubt (5)
{SHRUG} – GU (alternative spelling of GUE) is a kind of viol used in Shetland (according to Chambers), so the plural of fiddles is GUS, now reverse (about) around remove (heartless) the E from H(e)R and you should end up with an expression of doubt.

18. Friar’s food (4)
{TUCK} – A straightforward double definition.

19. A rising surge could be made of sulphur with no end of amatol (6)
{UPRUSH} – An anagram (could be made of) of SULPHUR without the L (no end of amatol) is “a rising surge”.

21. Robin Goodfellow has hesitation, then changes ends to make a mess of things (4,2)
{MUCK UP} – Robin Goodfellow is also known as PUCK, UM is hesitation, now reverse it (changes ends).

24. Slices of cone become dull when smothered by fumes out East (8)
{FRUSTUMS} – The definition for this is “Slices of cone” and the answer is made up of RUST (become dull) inside (smothered by) FUM(e)S without the E (east).

26. Sulphur doesn’t start to be thrown out by what a volcano does (6)
{UPHURL} – Another SULPHUR anagram, this time remove the S (doesn’t start) and you have a word associated with what happens when a volcano erupts and starts throwing out ash, magma etc. Although the word used here does appear in Chambers, there is no definition, only “uphurl transitive verb”, however a search on the web, does show the word used in a poetic context (at least) in association with volcano’s.

27. Namely strange 12 (5)
{SCRUM} – SC (scilicet – Latin) and RUM, is also another word for a 12a.

28. Black pudding in Black Forest (9)
{BLUTWURST} – To answer this clue you need to know what the German word is for Blood Sausage.

Down

1. Full-length and unadulterated (5)
{UNCUT} – A word usually associated with a film that has not been edited.

2. Reach out and steal electronic device (4-4)
{PUSH-PULL} – PUSH (reach out) plus PULL (steal) is according to Chambers “denoting any piece of apparatus in which two electrical or electronic devices act in opposition to each other, used eg of an amplifier in which two thermionic valves so acting serve to reduce distortion”

3. Rang for special bargain (6)
{STRUCK} – Past tense of – to announce by a bell for example or to reach an agreement on price on something for sale.

4. Teacher’s turning over carpet with a bit of underfelt (4)
{GURU} – Carpet is RUG reversed (turning over) plus the first letter (bit of) U(nderfelt).

5. Place for head-covering? Around top of head (6)
{CHURCH} – A CURCH is a covering for the head (a kerchief), now place this around the first letter (top) of H(ead) and you have a place where a male would not normally wear a hat.

6. Edits leaflet with indication of respect for American to create a foundation (9)
{SUBSTRUCT} – SUBS (edits) TRACT (leaflet), now replace A (American) with a U (the Burmese title of respect, as in U Thant, the former UN Secretary General) for a word that means to build beneath or lay as a foundation.

9. Holy man spoke and got hanged (6)
{STRUNG} – ST (saint – holy man) and RUNG (spoke on a wheel).

13. To play with sweep on street with spirit (5)
{STRUM} – ST (street) and RUM (spirit).

15. Tipper put Mr Duck in trouble (4,5)
{DUMP TRUCK} – An anagram (trouble) of PUT MR DUCK is a lorry that can be emptied by raising the front of the carrier to allow the contents to slide out the back.

17. At school stomach’s quiet (6)
{SCHTUM} – SCH (school) and TUM (stomach).

18. Not lying in the full endless furrow (8)
{TRUTHFUL} – Remove the last letters (endless) of TH(e) and FUL(l) and place RUT (furrow) inside.

20. Open local one’s shed (6)
{UNSHUT} – UNS (a local, dialect version of one’s eg thick-uns, or thin-uns) followed by HUT.

22. Show when usefulness initially replaced a bit of artistry in skilled trades (6)
{CRUFTS} – Artistry in skilled trades is CRAFTS, now replace the A with the first letter (initially) of U(sefulness) and you have a famous dog show.

23. This could sweep up pieces of 8 (5)
{BRUSH} – An anagram (pieces) of 8a is also a cleaning implement.

25. Fabric’s acceptable for international mood (4)
{SULK} – SILK (fabric), now replace I (international) with U (acceptable) for a type of mood where someone is sullen, silent or aloof.