Toughie 328

Toughie No 328 by MynoT

Weights and Measures

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

I can’t pretend that I enjoyed this puzzle very much. In fact it was a bit of a slog with a fair few obscure words and not many laughs. You may, of course, disagree – we’d love to get a comment with your views.

Across Clues

7a  Office worker’s god is London lawyer (7)
{TEMPLAR} – put together a temporary office worker and LAR (Roman household god) to get a lawyer with chambers in the Temple in London.

8a  Stop a lecturer that’s 100kg (7)
{QUINTAL} – a word which used to mean a hundredweight (112 lbs) but now means 100kg is formed from an organ stop followed by A L(ecturer).

10a  Sun could be normal in unusually hot tropical period (5,5)
{SOLAR MONTH} – we have to start with S(un) and follow this with an anagram (could be) of NORMAL inside a second anagram (unusually) of HOT. We end up with one-twelfth of a tropical (or astronomical) year.

11a  In Europe count a king among the Spanish (4)
{EARL} – a British nobleman of equivalent rank to a European count is made by putting A R(ex) inside the Spanish definite article.

12a  Example of ancient bit of sculpture destroyed (8 )
{INSTANCE} – an anagram (destroyed) of ANCIENT and S (bit of S(culpture)).

14a  In old uniform spirit is motive force (6)
{ENGINE} – put the sort of spirit that comes in a glass inside ENE (an old way of spelling e’en or even, meaning uniform).

15a  Support in election resolved into merrymaking (11)
{CELEBRATION} – put BRA (support) inside an anagram (resolved) of ELECTION.

19a  By fifty-one lakes in France we’ll gather them in spring, perhaps (6)
{LILACS} – start with the Roman numerals for fifty-one and attach the French word for lakes to get what Ivor Novello wrote about gathering in the Spring. Here’s an unorthodox version of his song:
ARVE Error: need id and provider

20a  Flourishes of Bulgarian kings having no right to consume port (8 )
{CADENZAS} – Bulgarian kings were called Czars. Remove the R (no right) and put a Middle Eastern port inside (to consume) to get virtuoso passages or flourishes by a solo instrument or voice.

22a  Frigid leman somewhat vain (4)
{IDLE} – a word meaning vain is hidden (somewhat) in the clue.

23a  Mark one who galloped from Ghent to Aix (10)
{EVANGELIST} – the answer is someone who brings good news and this applies both to the writer of the second Gospel (Mark) and one of the horsemen who brought good news from Ghent to Aix in Browning’s poem.

25a  Time in French city for apples (7)
{RENNETS} – put T(ime) inside the name of the capital city of the region of Brittany to get some old varieties of apple.

26a  Bait and handle contemptible creature (7)
{LUGWORM} – something used as fishing bait is a charade of LUG (handle) and a worthless, contemptible creature.

Down Clues

1d  Famous woman taking two drugs (7)
{HEROINE} – a charade of two drugs produces a brave and admired woman.

2d  Homer had several. Elephant has one (4)
{EPHA} – a homer is a Hebrew dry measure, equal to ten of what appears once in elEPHAnt.

3d  Charlie’s design on one member of group like alligators (6)
{CAIMAN} – an alternative spelling for a crocodilian animal, similar to alligators, which is native to Central and South America. Start with C (Charlie, radio code letter) and add a synonym for design or purpose and AN (one).

4d  Most reedy attempts in groove (8 )
{RUSHIEST} – put attempts (to try to win a coconut, for example) inside RUT (groove) to get a very unlikely-sounding superlative meaning most full of reeds. I’ve no idea what the surface reading is trying to convey.

5d  Take in petticoat, being insufficiently developed (10)
{UNDERGROWN} – put R (take) inside the type of garment that a petticoat is to get an adjective meaning developed less than normal.

6d  In going astray one finds jewelry (7)
{EARRING} – put A (one) inside a present participle meaning going astray or making mistakes.

9d  Damaged car air inlet between races (11)
{INTERRACIAL} – an anagram (damaged) of CAR AIR INLET.

13d  What Katisha would have hoped to be, had she been Russian (10)
{TSESAREVNA} – In the G&S comic opera The Mikado a female character called Katisha hoped to marry Nanki-Poo and thus become the Princess Diana of Japan (i.e. wife of the crown prince). Had this happened, and had she been Russian rather than Japanese, this is the title she would have had (or, at least, one of the many anglicised spellings of that title).

16d  Enclose nuts, Prime Minister (8 )
{ENSHEATH} – the definition is to enclose – put a word for units of measurement in printing (for which nuts are an alternative) in front of a Prime Minister of the 1970s. I presume that the surface reading is meant to be a recommendation to the PM that crazy people should be incarcerated!

17d  Record about one that’s cunning and insincere (3-4)
{LIP-DEEP} – put an old vinyl record around I (one) and add an adjective meaning cunning to get a description meaning insincere. I’ve never come across this, but I presume it means that a person’s sincerity doesn’t extend past what they say.

18d  Composer of amorets (7)
{MAESTRO} – an anagram of AMORETS (love songs) gives us another word for a composer.

21d  Dutch disease brought to light (3,3)
{DUG OUT} – an abbreviation for Dutch is DU. Add a disease that affects the big toe to get a phrasal verb meaning brought to light or unearthed.

24d  Mosaic code’s new fabric (4)
{LAWN} – put what was laid down by Moses (Mosaic code) in front of N(ew) to get a type of fine linen (fabric).

I liked 15a and 21d, but my favourite clue today was 5d. Let us know your views via a comment.