Toughie 242

Toughie No 242 by Giovanni

Cooking the Books!

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

A really enjoyable challenge from Giovanni today, but it contained a rare flaw from our setter.  The answer to 4 down contained a misspelling.  However all is well now and a correct spelling and clue have been inserted.    I have known Giovanni for a number of years and on checking with him, and realising a slip had been made and being the professional he is, he was mortified. A quick exchange of mail and all resolved.   This didn’t distract too much from the overall puzzle, which was to his usual standard.

A good balance of all types of clue in the puzzle with a couple  of fairly tricky explanations.  However fairness is paramount at all times, and aspiring setters should study the wording and phrasing of the clues to see how he achieves the clever surface reading.

Have your say after the review, but do remember that new posters may wait a little while (sometimes a few minutes, possibly an hour or so) to have first posts approved.  This just prevents those nasty spammers from gluing up the works.  You can also rate the puzzle with the star rating.

[I have now been able to access the new version, but only from the Play Puzzles / Crossword Puzzles page, not from the home page. BD]

Across

1a           Grandfather, one way or another? (3,5)
{OLD TIMER}  A clever double cryptic definition to start with.  A Grandfather can be two things.  A clock and a relative, and the definition fits both!

6a           Card game circle emerging from our community work (6)
{EUCHRE)  Our community work would be EU (our community) CH(O)RE without the O (circle emerging from) gives a card game

9a           The afternoon begins with reforms (6)
{AMENDS}  I think we had this a while back, but not as elegant as this.  If the afternoon begins (PM starts), then what has finished, i.e….  a word meaning reforms.

10a         Obvious moral story in which a king gets taken out by companion (8)
{PALPABLE}  A moral story is a PARABLE and if you take out AR (King) and place it by PAL (companion), you get a word meaning obvious.

11a         Individual is coming to island after break of day (8)
{DISCRETE}   D = break of day + IS  + CRETE (Island) = a word meaning individual or particular.

12a Very good protective material is free (6)
{SOLUTE}   SO (very good) + LUTE (clay, cement or other material used as a protective covering, an airtight stopping, a waterproof seal, etc) give a word meaning free.

13a         Hindu custom’s observed at start of party to bring comfort (12)
{SATISFACTION}  I checked with a Hindu friend who told me that SATI is another name for SUTTEE the Hindu funeral custom.  So we have a word sum of SATI’S + FACTION give a word meaning comfort.

16a         The female takes male name with husband being a writer (7,5)
{HERMANN HESSE}  Another word sum.  HER (The female) + MAN +  N ( male + name) + H (Husband) + ESSE (Being).  No surplus words or padding.  Beautiful.   Hesse was a German writer who created Siddartha and Steppenwolf (whose name was purloined by the seminal band)

Time for some music….  One of the first records I bought.

ARVE Error: need id and provider

19a         Bring up in quiet flat (6)
{SMOOTH}  MOOT (to bring up) inside SH (quiet) gives a word meaning flat, even.

21a         Golfer carried in a No.5 wood (8)
[MAHOGANY}  The golfer is the Ben HOGAN inside MAY (Month No 5) to give the elegant sophisticated wood.

23a         Explorer without a single gun, an angel? (8)
{INVESTOR}  An explorer would be an INVESTIGATOR.  Take away I GAT (a single gun) and you get a theatrical “angel”, i.e. one who backs productions financially.

24a         Female going after gents? My word, a scrubber! (6)
{LOOFAH}  Nudge nudge, wink wink from Giovanni.   One that made me smile.  LOO (Gents? Note the question mark which is important.) + F (female) + AH (My word!).

25a         Mark poor work learner brought in (6)
{BLOTCH}  BOTCH (poor work) with L (learner) inside, gives a word meaning a mark.

26a         Material obtainable with money, notes (8)
{CASHMERE}  CASH (money) +  ME and RE (notes) = a material used in making warm coats.

Down

2d           Effective restraint will bind devil, that’s clear (6)
{LIMPID}  Effective restraint =  LID with IMP (devil) inside gives a word often associated with pools and ponds..

3d           Leg in spasm? Here’s something from the chemist (5)
{TONIC}  Oh dear! The non-cricketers will start wailing.  LEG here refers to the ON side, so ON goes in TIC (Spasm)

[4d        Terrible snob, mater gets a cook (3,6)
This is the originally published clue which leads to an incorrect spelling of the answer]

4d        Cook could offer men sorbet (3,6)
{MRS BEETON}  Still a nice clue.  An anagram (could offer) of MEN SORBET gives the lady who wrote the seminal cookery work.    There is an online project to make the whole work available on line and here it is:

5d           Quash with iron again? (7)
{REPRESS}  If you iron something again , you could be said to RE-PRESS it, but as this is not strictly a word, Giovanni has included a question mark.

6d           What sex expert offers isn’t complete drivel — listen! (5)
{ELLIS}  The sex expert sought after here is Havelock Ellis.  It’s a hidden answer, concealed inside “complete drivel – listen”

7d           Lady is adorable, but a loose woman not of the upper echelons (9)
{CHARLOTTE}  “Adorable” is CUTE and “loose woman” is HARLOT inside.  If she was not of the upper echelons she would be NON-U (see previous references to U and NON-U), which means remove the U.

8d           Maybe father will get respect (8)
{RELATION} – a double definiion

13d         Quiet and somehow not solemn (9)
{SOMNOLENT}  An anagram (indicated by somehow) of NOT SOLEMN gives a word meaning quiet, restful.

14d         Dramatist creating hussy done up with lace (9)
{AESCHYLUS}  A Greek Dramatist who I think died when a bird dropped a tortoise on his head.  An anagram of HUSSY and LACE.

15d         Revolutionary period sees truncation of male reign possibly (8)
{GERMINAL}  Nice to see that the hackneyed anagram of MALINGER  wasn’t used.  Here we have an anagram of MAL (TRUNCATED MALE) + REIGN that gives a month from the French Revolutionary Calendar

17d         Grand house, fine for accommodating male or maiden (7)
{HOMERIC}  HO (House) + M (maiden) + ERIC (male) HO (House) + M (Male or Maiden) + ERIC (a fine) [thanks Gazza]

18d         International exhibition a bit much (6)
{UNFAIR}  UN (international, United Nations) + FAIR (exhibition) =  a word meaning a bit much.

20d         Hair — with loss on top one gets to brood (5)
{HATCH}  Hair =  THATCH without its top on, so loses its first letter.

22d         Half of space allocated for meal — it’s curry (5)
{GROOM}  Half of DINING ROOM (space allocated for meal) gives a word meaning to curry as in groom a horse.

Thanks to Giovanni for a splendid puzzle and I’ll see you all next week.