Toughie 344

Toughie No 344 by MynoT

Alphabet Spaghetti

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

MynoT always has something clever in his puzzles and, having failed to notice the message around the periphery in his last puzzle, I was determined to spot the trick this time. He does give us a good hint in 6a – as well as producing a pangram containing all 26 letters, he has placed each letter in alphabetical order in the answers, so that 6a-26a in turn contain A-M and 1d-21d contain N-Z. As I usually do with MynoT’s puzzles, I found this one tough going, with my man Chambers on overtime, but there was a sense of satisfaction when the final answer went in.
Let us know what you thought of it in a comment.

Across Clues

6a  Setter’s 21 at heart, putting them all in order (13)
{PANGRAMMATIST} – MynoT (setter) tells us what he is by reference to the range of letters specified at the heart of 21d. In the rest of the clue he gives a hint as to what else we should be looking out for.

8a  Kindly and gracious spirit returns to occupy inner room (6)
{BENIGN} – apparently, in Scotland, BEN is not just a mountain, it’s also the inner room of a house. Reverse (returns) an alcoholic spirit inside it.

9a  Obtained a hundred and twenty-four sheets to put on end of bed (8)
{ACQUIRED}- the definition is obtained. String together A, C (a Roman hundred), a word for the twentieth part of a ream and the final letter (end) of beD.

10a  Loud noise is standard in Germany industry (3)
{DIN} – double definition, the second being a standard for connecting audio and video equipment (Deutsche Industrie Norm).

11a  Barrels only used by gunmen (6)
{SOLERA} – a charade of a word meaning only and the Royal Artillery (gunmen) gives us casks used in sherry production.

12a  Fake core ruined green nut (8)
{ECOFREAK} – this one made me laugh – it’s an anagram (ruined) of FAKE CORE.

14a  Dutch spirit is always to follow senior officer (7)
{GENEVER} – put a synonym for always after the abbreviation for a senior army officer to get a type of Dutch gin.

16a  Irish spirit is cause of misery enveloping woman (7)
{BANSHEE} – put a feminine pronoun (woman) inside a source or cause of misery.

20a  Agents in performance held by old Soviet police chief (8)
{BACTERIA} – these agents play a vital role in global ecology. Put ACT (performance) inside the surname of the much-feared head of the NKVD under Stalin.

23a  Prophet, priest and God (6)
{ELIJAH} – we want an Old Testament prophet. Put together an Old Testament priest and an abbreviation for the Hebrew God Yahweh (Jehovah), which is now used as the name of God by Rastafarians.

24a  Ray’s missing note in music (3)
{SKA} – start with a large fish of the ray family and remove TE (missing note) to leave a form of Jamaican music similar to reggae.

25a  Gentlemen concealed perverted goals (8)
{HIDALGOS} – these Spanish gentlemen are made from a verb meaning concealed followed by an anagram (perverted) of GOALS.

26a  Shudder about death with time coming to the fore (6)
{TREMOR} – start with RE (about) and an old English (and current French) word for death, then move the T to the front (time coming to the fore).

27a  Frenchwomen pool drink in NW town (9,4)
{ELLESMERE PORT} – this industrial town at the southern end of the Wirral peninsula is the site of a large Vauxhall car plant. String together a French feminine plural pronoun (Frenchwomen), a synonym for pool or lake and a fortified wine (drink).

Down Clues

1d  Local poverty: not a cent (8)
{INDIGENE} – remove the C (not a cent) from a word meaning poverty or need to leave a term (noun and adjective) meaning native or local.

2d  Old French movement collecting silver leaves (8)
{FRONDAGE} – put the chemical symbol for silver inside (collecting) the name of a 17^th century insurrection in France which led to a civil war. The answer means palm or fern leaves.

3d  Enter on list: ‘Redcap’s found one in fish’ (7)
{EMPANEL} – we want a verb meaning to enter the names of prospective jurors in a list. Put the abbreviation for a military policeman (redcap) and AN inside a fish. The surface reading doesn’t make any sense.

4d  Prohibition announced for Scottish founder of dynasty (6)
{BANQUO} – we want a charade of a prohibition and a Scottish verb (short form of quoth), meaning said or announced, which often appeared at the end of a poem followed by the poet’s name. This should give us the name of a character who appeared in Shakespeare’s Macbeth and who in real life was thought to have been the ancestor of the Stuart dynasty.

5d  That is to say that is right official (6)
{VIZIER} – we want two abbreviations from latin which mean virtually the same thing. The first is an abbreviation of videlicet (namely, that is to say) and the second an abbreviation of id est (that is). Finish off with R(ight) to get a high official in Muslim countries at one time.

6d  Before start of evening pub returns flower and gets another to represent as a feature of life (13)
{PHENOMENALISE} – the definition is represent as a feature of life. It ends with the first letter (start) of Evening, but before that we need the abbreviation for a public house, a plant of the buttercup family which has to be reversed (returns) and another flower, this time a shortened form of fleur-de-lis.

7d  Part of Henry V’s rousing description of soccer? (3,5,5)
{THE GAME’S AFOOT} – double definition, the second cryptic.

I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game’s afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry ‘God for Harry, England, and Saint George!

13d  Not all the money needed for enjoyment (3)
{FUN} – start with a sum of money that has been accumulated and drop the final D (not all) to leave a synonym for enjoyment.

15d  Struggle for some viewers (3)
{VIE} – when doing such a puzzle as this one you feel grateful for a gimme – hidden (some) in the clue is a verb meaning to struggle.

17d  Dread of woman on the windward side (1-7)
{A-WEATHER} – this term means on the windward side and if you redefine it as (3,2,3) it could read as a word meaning reverential wonder or dread, AT and a feminine pronoun (woman).

18d  Loge for five girls? (5,3)
{SPICE BOX} – cryptic definition of a container in which to keep aromatic substances used as condiments.

19d  To circulate on island, this will get you everywhere (7)
{PASSKEY} – a verb meaning to put into circulation (e.g. counterfeit coins) is followed (on, in a down clue) by a low-lying island or reef, especially in the Caribbean (there being some well-known ones in Florida). The definition is something that will open all doors.

21d  Plant note about misplaced zeal (6)
{TEAZLE} – the seventh note in tonic-sol-fa surrounds (about) an anagram (misplaced) of ZEAL to get a plant with prickly flowers.

22d  Rose carpet of South America (6)
{RUGOSA} – a sort of carpet precedes the abbreviations of O(f) S(outh) A(merica) to get a SE Asian rose with dark green wrinkled leaves and deep pink flowers. Chambers seems to be unaware of this word, so it’s fortunate that the wordplay is straightforward.

The clues I enjoyed today included 16a, 23a, 25a and 7d, but my favourite (by a mile) is 12a. Let us know what you think in a comment.