Toughie 840

Toughie No 840 by Micawber

Situation Normal – Absolutely Fabulous, Unparalleled

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

As always it’s a real treat to have a Micawber to blog on a Wednesday. He doesn’t give us the hardest Toughies but he’s right at the top of the entertainment league table as far as I’m concerned.
Let us know how you fared and please take the time to click on one of the stars below to record how much you enjoyed it.

Across Clues

1a  Expect the worst from this potato salad (7,3)
{MURPHY’S LAW} – probably not a warning label that you’d see on the chilled cabinet at Tesco’s  –  this is a charade of an informal word for a potato and a salad dish.

6a  Stigma of Saint Mercedes? (4)
{SCAR} – one of the abbreviations for saint is followed by what Mercedes may be an example of.

9a  It’s essential for campanulae to rise up (5)
{REBEL} – not knowing much, if anything, about flowers I had to look up campanula. The best-known member of the family is apparently the harebell, and since the –ae ending in latin signifies a plural we have to add an S. After all that we just want the middle (essential) five letters.

10a  Worked out, lacking energy — gaining nothing, drove off (9)
{EXORCISED} – start with a verb meaning worked out, in the gym perhaps, then replace the second E with an O (lacking E(nergy), gaining nothing).

12a  Private treatment room‘s rising scale in what’s charged — fat sum’s about right (9,4)
{ISOLATION WARD} – insert three consecutive notes (rising scale) from tonic sol-fa into an electrically-charged particle then add a slang word for a large quantity of money (fat sum) containing R(ight).

14a  Fit and healthy, endlessly exercising with muscular movement (8)
{ATHLETIC} – drop both end letters of healthy and make an anagram (exercising) of what remains, then add a muscular spasm.

15a  Asian writer backing Brick Lane’s Monica (6)
{NEPALI} – reverse (backing) a writing implement and add the surname of Monica, the author of the novel Brick Lane.

17a  Hot haggis entree? (6)
{PIPING} – double definition, the second a description of the accompaniment to the entry of the great chieftain o’ the puddin-race at a Burns Night supper.

19a  God in demand for multitude (8)
{PLETHORA} – a Norse god goes inside a demand or appeal.

21a  Player striking mid-on? But it’s not cricket! (6-7)
{CENTRE-FORWARD} – this striker is a charade of synonyms for mid and on.

24a  Brings up what and where batsmen are (9)
{INCREASES} – when split (2,7) this is what batsmen are (assuming that their flannels have been ironed) and where they are when facing the bowling.

25a  Dumb rock ‘n’ roll casualty seen here? (5)
{INANE} – where a casualty may be seen (by a doctor) (2,1,3,1) has one of its constituents reduced to a single letter in the same way as rock ‘n’ roll.

26a  Larger beasts decapitating farmyard predator and prey (4)
{OXEN} – a farmyard predator (one that has a particular liking for chicken) and its prey both lose their initial letters (decapitating).

27a  Dons help my carousing — they contribute part of claret (5,5)
{LYMPH NODES} – an anagram (carousing) of DONS HELP MY gives us where white blood cells (part of claret) are formed.

Down Clues

1d  Spoils of war? (4)
{MARS} – a verb meaning spoils is also the Roman god of war. I’m not sure that the second bit works.

2d  Criticise churchman leaving work after massage (7)
{RUBBISH} – a senior churchman loses the abbreviation for an artistic work and what’s left gets appended to a verb meaning to massage.

3d  Keep calm and don’t give opponent a break before South defers to North (4,4,5)
{HOLD ONE’S NERVE} – start with a phrase, from tennis, meaning to deny your opponent a break, then replace the final S(outh) by N(orth).

4d  Resurgent oil state features in revised OSCE plan (8)
{SCENARIO} – I had to look up OSCE which is the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Either I’m woefully ignorant or this body keeps a very low profile, because it’s not a small outfit, having nearly 3,000 staff. Reverse (resurgent) a Middle-Eastern oil state inside (features in) an anagram (revised) of OSCE.

5d  Web company, one controlling international sauce (5)
{AIOLI} – the identity of a web company and ISP (which is not doing as well as it used to) is followed by I (one) and has I(nternational) inserted (controlling).

7d  Tapioca fool’s soaked in sparkling wine (7)
{CASSAVA} – a fool is inserted in a Spanish champagne-substitute.

8d  One with wings, decorated, six feet under — Soviet military chief perhaps? (3,7)
{RED ADMIRAL} – double definition, the second cryptic. The first is a flying creature (one with wings) which is brightly decorated and has six legs. The second (possibly now deceased) was also highly decorated but only had two legs.

11d  Deep thought process making denser (13)
{CONCENTRATION} – double definition.

13d  Stimulant beverage (not tea, by the sound of it) served up with a bit of chocolate (10)
{CAPPUCCINO} – this is a lovely all-in-one clue. String together a) a stimulant or pick-me-up, b) an informal word for a serving of tea (actually a contraction of ‘cup of’) and c) a bit of C(hocolate). Then take out the letter that sounds like tea and reverse the lot.

16d  Loses cool trousers and top (6,2)
{FLARES UP} – a charade of trousers which were fashionable in the 1970s and an adjective meaning top.

18d  Doubly hurt, I lost swagger (7)
{PANACHE} – two words meaning hurt are joined and the I is lost from the first.

20d  Professional worker to support aged (3,4)
{OLD HAND} – a manual worker follows (to support, in a down clue) a synonym for aged.

22d  Dodgy as Ray? (5)
{FISHY} – double definition – ray is falsely capitalised.

23d  Naafi snafu? (4)
{MESS} – double definition. Snafu is an American military slang word for a chaotic state – it’s an acronym for ‘situation normal – all fouled up’ (that’s the polite version, anyway).

As always with Micawber there are too many favourite clues to list them all, so I’ll just mention 1a, 12a, 8d and 13d. How about you?