Toughie 809

Toughie No 809 by Shamus

It’s all Greek to me!

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

I breezed through this until I reached the SW corner. Up to then I was giving it barely 2* for difficulty and then 23 across and 21 down brought me to a complete standstill until I eventually dredged up the answer to 21 down. That left 23 across for which I had to resort to making up words from the wordplay until I came up with an answer that seemed reasonable even though I’d never heard of it. Despite my difficulties getting these last couple of answers I decided on 3* for difficulty on the basis that the rest of you will be more familiar with Greek cuisine than I am.

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Across

8a    Proper conduct having taken in cold food abroad (4)
{TACO} Right or proper conduct (e.g. in Confucianism) goes round C (cold) to give a Mexican pancake

9a    Fellow in the same place producing pork pie (3)
{FIB} F (fellow) + an abbreviation denoting ‘in the same place’ = a pork pie (lie)

10a    Enticement in a liberal law after switching sides (6)
{ALLURE} Enticement = A + L (liberal) + a word for a law with the letters R (Right) and L (left) transposed

11a    Earnings largely cut by paper in which setters are exhibited? (6)
{CRUFTS} Earnings with the last letter removed goes round a pink newspaper to give somewhere setters (dogs) are exhibited

12a    Uncommunicative cretin stupidly holding electronic timetable’s cover (8)
{RETICENT} ‘Uncommunicative’ = an anagram (stupidly) of CRETIN round E (electronic) + T (first letter of timetable)

13a    Militant unionist in road getting round ban without a new challenge to authority? (15)
{INSUBORDINATION} An anagram (militant) of UNIONIST IN ROAD goes round B (ban with A N omitted) to give a challenge to authority

15a    Charge girlfriend? (7)
{MANDATE} A word for a charge when split (3,4) might suggest a girlfriend on a night out with a bloke

17a    Eccentric comedian missing first part of a game? (7)
{ODDBALL} ‘Eccentric’ = the surname of a comedian from Knotty Ash with the first letter removed + an item used in many games

20a    Frock with garb tailor altered in territory overseas (4,2,9)
{ROCK OF GIBRALTAR} An anagram (altered) of FROCK GARB TAILOR gives the site of a British colony

23a    Person consuming very similar restricted foreign fare (8)
{SOUVLAKI} An informal word for a person goes round V (very). This is followed by a word meaning ‘similar’ with the last letter missing. The answer is a Greek dish of lamb similar to a shish kebab. Made-up words I rejected were bodvyaki and covveaki

25a    Group of individuals in house right to enter short function (6)
{COHORT} A group of individuals = HO (house) R (right) inside the abbreviation for a trigonometrical function

26a    March is not seen in blissful state (6)
{PARADE} A march (or ‘to march’) = a blissful state from which IS has been removed

27a    Foreign character accommodated in superior hotel (3)
{RHO} A Greek letter is hidden in superioR HOtel

28a    Lecturer dismissed aggressive youth (4)
{LOUT} L (Lecturer) + ‘dismissed’ = an aggressive youth

Down

1d    Unproductive lawyers’ fee falling short (6)
{BARREN} ‘Unproductive’ = lawyers collectively + a fee (for use of another’s property) with the last letter removed

2d    Perplex politician with an empty store of money? (8)
[CONFOUND} ‘To perplex’ = a politician of a particular party + a store of money containing O (nothing). The store of money is empty because it’s got nothing in.

3d    Criminal oafs without fear getting one in an uncomfortable situation (1,4,3,2,5)
{A FISH OUT OF WATER} An anagram (criminal) of OAFS WITHOUT FEAR gives someone n an unaccustomed or unsuitable situation that makes them ill at ease

4d    Doubt possibly about King beginning to emerge and become prominent (7)
{OBTRUDE} An anagram (possibly) of DOUBT goes round R (king). This is followed by E (first letter of emerge) to gibe ‘become prominent’

5d    One determining roles caught by a deception with inspector and minister (7,8)
{CASTING DIRECTOR} The person responsible for finding actors for the roles in a film = C (caught) + A + a deception + the abbreviation for a Detective Inspector + a minister

6d    Evoke priest with short name (6)
{ELICIT} ‘To evoke’ = the name of an Old Testament priest + ‘to name’ with the last letter missing

7d    Endless jar producing smile (4)
{GRIN} ‘To jar’ loses its last letter to give a smile

14d    Game fellow abandoned wise sort (3)
{OWL} Remove F (fellow) from game (birds) to get a creature considered to be wise

16d    Regular features in Cold War promoted trouble (3)
{ADO} Reverse (promote) alternate letter in COlD WAr to get trouble

18d    Sprinter restored to health, we hear, in secluded place (8)
{BOLTHOLE} The surname of a Jamaican sprinter + a homophone of ‘restored to health’ = a secluded place

19d    Impressionist’s art found in operatic character with contralto really pouring out heart? (7)
{MIMICRY} The art practised by an impressionist (e.g. Mike Yarwood) = the leading female role in the opera La Bohème + C (contralto) + the first and last letters of really

21d    Fibre that’s not good I removed in short low vehicle (6)
{KEVLAR} A lightweight synthetic fibre of exceptionally high strength and heat resistance = ‘not good’ with the letter I removed inside a low racing vehicle with the last letter removed

22d    A university concealed by neat courtyard (6)
{ATRIUM} A + U (university) inside ‘neat’ = a courtyard

24d    Stretch of romantic country with a lot of desert (4)
{OMAN} A country with a lot of desert is hidden inside rOMANtic

How do you mark the difficulty of a puzzle where you fill in 95% of the squares with no problem and then spend ages getting the last 5%?