Toughie 387

Toughie No 387 by MynoT

Out of the frying pan, into the ….

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

ARVE Error: need id and provider

Having worked out that Mynot’s latest project is to work through the Classical Elements, and Earth and Air having already been covered, I was expecting either Fire or Water and it turned out to be the former.  I have highlighted the main clues with a thematic answer in green.  Although all three Fire signs of the Zodiac are all present, two of them appear in modern form.

Across

1a    Infatuated with bustle and girdle (7)
{ADORING} – a charade of bustle or fuss with to girdle or encircle

5a    Appropriate objective for 8 (4,3)
{TAKE AIM} – combine synonyms for to appropriate and an objective give what 8d does

9a    Jazz fan starts to employ Reinhardt to provide entertainment (5)
{CATER} – this old-fashioned word for a jazz fan is combined with the initial letters of (starts to) Employ Reinhardt to give a word meaning to provide entertainment

ARVE Error: need id and provider

10a    Altar base could well be made of this (9)
{ALABASTER} – an anagram of ALTAR BASE gives a translucent form of gypsum that the altar base could well be made

11a    Bright ones mostly to be found here (with initial rejects!) (4,6)
{EAST SUSSEX} – the town that forms most of the first two words (after removing the initial letters of the answer / with initial rejects) is in this county

12a    Book of deeds (4)
{ACTS} – a double definition, the first of which refers to a book of the New Testament

14a    Having crushed my pomace fill fire in bowl (7,5)
{OLYMPIC FLAME} – an anagram (having crushed) of MY POMACE FILL gives a fire kept alight in a bowl every four years

18a    Black coat worn by most recent new champion smelt here (5,7)
{BLAST FURNACE} – B(lack) and a type of coat surround (worn by) a synonym for most recent and are followed by N(ew) and a champion to get somewhere a mixture of iron ore, coke, and limestone is smelted

21a    Celebrity left on one leg (4)
{LION} – a celebrity (and a Fire sign) that is a charade of L(eft) I (one) and the leg side in cricket – another outing for ON, that most annoying of link words

22a    Promiscuously erotic Li Po shielded people maintaining order (4,6)
{RIOT POLICE} – an anagram (promiscuously) of EROTIC LI PO gives people who use shields while maintaining order

25a    Spice Girl in sin bin regularly starts to seek escape (4,5)
{STAR ANISE} – an aniseed-flavoured spice is built up by putting a girl’s name inside the odd letters (regular, which can be used for odd or even letters) of SiN bIn and then adding the initial letters of (starts to – again!) Seek Escape – seems a bit contrived in order to get Spice Girl into the wordplay

26a    Ram airliners regularly (5)
{ARIES} – This Ram is also a Fire sign! – once again you need the odd (regular) letters but this time of AiRlInErS

27a    Property river’s swept away in time spent drinking (7)
{SESSION} – take a synonym for property or belongings and remove (swept away) an Italian river’s (not forgetting the ‘S) from the outside to get time spent drinking

28a    Legendary bird found in American state capital (7)
{PHOENIX} – having wasted time trying to fit ROC inside an American state, the penny dropped that this was a legendary bird that rose rejuvenated from its ashes and is the state capital of Arizona

Down

1d    Bowman fiddling in orchestra not drunken sot (6)
{ARCHER} – the last of our Fire signs is an anagram (fiddling) of (O)RCHE(ST)RA without the rearranged (drunken) letters of SOT – nice to see a setter telling you to remove letters that are not in the same order as they are in the word, many don’t

2d    Old baronet to employ Angle (6)
{OBTUSE} – a charade of O(ld) with BT (baronet) and to employ gives an angle of between 90˚ and 180˚

3d    Weak bishop that is free without (10)
{IRRESOLUTE} – to get a synonym for weak take the Right Reverend (bishop) and put Id Est (that is) and a word meaning free outside (without)

4d    Good headgear found where 24 takes place (5)
{GHATS} – combine G(ood) with headgear (remembering that this word is a mass noun!) gives level places on the edge of a river where Hindus cremate their dead (24d takes place)

5d    Rage and it could become his profession (9)
{TRAGEDIAN} – an anagram (couldbecome) of RAGE AND IT gives this Shakespearian actor

6d    Chief of a thousand Chinese (4)
{KHAN} – a central Asian or Persian chief is constructed from the metric symbol for a thousand and a member of the native Chinese people, as opposed to the Mongols, Manchus, etc

7d    Dictator taking vehicle about desert (8)
{AUTOCRAT} – a dictator that is a charade of a car, an abbreviation for about and a word meaning to desert

8d    Evangelist’s soldiers: they 5 across (8)
{MARKSMEN} – split this as (4’1,3) and you get an Evangelist’s and soldiers – these people will 5a before firing

13d    No time for a romance at a party for amateur (10)
{AFICIONADO} – remove T(ime) from A and a synonym for romance, the add A party to get an amateur who is an ardent follower

15d    Islander finds gold in shaken Martini (9)
{MAURITIAN} – someone from an island nation off the coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean is found by inserting the chemical symbol for gold inside an anagram (shaken) of MARTINI

16d    Pillars of damaged silks to follow order (8)
{OBELISKS} – these pillars come from an anagram (damaged) of SILKS) after the Order of the British Empire

17d    In SW Pacific state Victor earns rupees for urns (8)
{SAMOVARS} – inside a country in the southwest Pacific put the letter represented in the NATO phonetic alphabet by Victor and follow this with R(upee)S to get Russian metal urns

19d    Fix one on small cog (6)
{PINION} – combine to fix with I (one) and ON to get a small cog

20d    Old kingdom, new Earl (6)
{WESSEX} – a double definition, Prince Edward being the second one

23d    Actor on Thursday has sixth sense (5)
{THESP} – a shortened word for an actor (maybe a 5d) is derived from TH(ursday) and a sixth sense

24d    It’s a terrible way to go (4)
{SATI} – an anagram (terrible) of IT’S A gives a temple in India, devoted to the wife of Rama the former Hindu practice of a widow throwing herself on to her husband’s funeral pyre.

I wonder what the next Mynot puzzle will bring?