Toughie 844

Toughie No 844 by Giovanni

Hints and Tips by Gazza

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

I came across a new ‘portmanteau’ word the other day – Investigoogle – this is a verb describing a detective using the internet to do research on a crime. I had to look up several answers in Chambers today because there were a few words I didn’t know, but Giovanni is pretty good at making the wordplay relatively simple for unusual words so I don’t think that the unknown words made the puzzle overly difficult – and I did enjoy the challenge.
Let us know how you fared and please click on one of the stars below to rate the puzzle for enjoyment.

Across Clues

1a  A ‘monsieur’ (not English) read in translation ? (5,7)
{ANDRÉ MAUROIS} – an all-in-one clue. This French writer has been extensively translated into English. His name is an anagram (in translation) of A MONSI(e)UR READ.

9a  Compact art form given a change of direction (4)
{FIRM} – start with a visual art form and change the L(eft) to R(ight).

10a  One prominent feature in British Academy — not the stuff for ordinary mugs (4,5)
{BONE CHINA} – insert ONE and a prominent facial feature into the abbreviation for British Academy.

12a  Ham? Party has too much to begin with (6)
{OVERDO} – ham is a verb here. The usual festive party is preceded (to begin with) by an adverb meaning too much or left unused.

13a  Finds much amusement with old Arabs in college? (3,1,4)
{HAS A BALL} – the people of an ancient kingdom which existed more or less where Yemen is today go inside the main building of a college (where meals are taken) which is sometimes used to mean the college itself.

15a  Cross-dresser has upset nun already (5,2,3)
{DANNY LA RUE} – a drag artist born with the much less exotic name of Daniel Carroll is an anagram (upset) of NUN ALREADY.

16a  Philosopher offers jargon for the audience (4)
{KANT} – this German philosopher’s surname sounds like (for the audience) the language used by a specific group or profession.

18a  Pitch is where it should happen (4)
{TOSS} – double definition, the second referring to the pre-match ritual (which normally takes place on the pitch) to determine which cricket team will bat first.

20a  A policy to have 50% of kids injected with a hormone (10)
{ADRENALINE} – A and a policy or stance surround (have … injected) the second half of a more formal word for kids plus A.

23a  Mathematical chart has number attached to cat and sheep (8)
{NOMOGRAM} – string together an abbreviation for number, a slang word for a domestic cat and a male sheep.

24a  Record-holder‘s short rest before historic victory (6)
{SLEEVE} – I suppose a record-holder these days might be an I-pod, but what we want is one from an earlier age. A rest without its final P precedes the abbreviation for a historic victory formally celebrated in Britain on the 8^th of May 1945.

26a  Worker given discharge, twitching where it’s very cold (9)
{ANTARCTIC} – a charade of a) the usual industrious insect, b) a luminous electrical discharge between two electrodes and c) a nervous twitching.

27a  Transport condition is indicated by this finally (4)
{SHIP} – double definition, the second indicating that words ending with this suffix often denote a condition or state (the state of being a friend, for example).

28a  I worried about body of people being uprooted (12)
{DERACINATION} – start by reversing (about) another way of saying ‘I worried’ or ‘I was concerned’ then add a body of people united by common descent, history or language and  inhabiting a particular territory.

Down Clues

2d  Deans may get drunk when church remembers its saints (4,4)
{NAME DAYS} – an anagram (get drunk) of DEANS MAY.

3d  Examine topless dress (4)
{ROBE} – a verb to examine or explore loses its top letter. Can I resist the temptation? Of course not – here’s a possibly unwise choice for a wedding dress.


4d  Bloke entertains duke coming in to give orders (10)
{MANDAMUSES} – this is a legal term for orders imposed by a higher court on a lower one. A more formal word for bloke is followed by a verb meaning entertains or makes someone laugh, then D(uke) is inserted (coming in).

5d  Call nude ‘silly’ having no bottoms on, exposing everything? (6)
{UNCLAD} – an anagram (silly) of CAL(L) and NUD(e) without their bottom letters.

6d  Old relations not at home in Scotland — foreign island looked for (7)
{OKINAWA} – this is a Japanese island (the site of a significant battle in WWII). String together O(ld), a synonym for family or relations and a Scottish adverb meaning not at home.

7d  Disease? There’s mark left unfortunately, always (7,5)
{SCARLET FEVER} – bring together a residual mark on the skin, an anagram (unfortunately) of LEFT and a synonym for always.

8d  One unlikely to fly over a long time? Yes and no maybe! (6)
{PIGEON} – the end result here is something that could, maybe, be a long-distance flier. Start with something that definitely can’t fly (and which features in an expression stressing the unlikelihood of something happening) and follow this (over, in a down clue) with a very long period of time. I don’t fully understand the last three words of the clue; the ‘no maybe’ could be indicating that only certain breeds of this creature can sustain long flight. Do you have a better explanation?

11d  What would offer an element of reliability? (4,8)
{GOLD STANDARD} – cryptic definition of something of a very high, consistent quality against which other things may be compared. The element involved is a yellow precious metal.

14d  Bird hurting without tail and restricted (10)
{SANDMARTIN} – this is a small bird (which Chambers has as two words (4,6)). A present participle meaning hurting or stinging loses its final G (without tail) and has AND inserted (restricted).

17d  Satellite still moving in (roughly) a circle (8)
{CALLISTO} – this is one of the satellites of Jupiter. An anagram (moving) of STILL is placed between the two-letter abbreviation for roughly or approximately and a circular letter.

19d  Wicketkeeper lets tons drop — one expected to take loads (7)
{SUMPTER} – I’d never heard of this old word for a packhorse or mule, but the wordplay makes it easy to find. Start with another word for wicketkeeper and move the T down a bit (lets tons drop).

21d  Plant is submerged under Italian river with the passing of time (6)
{IBERIS} – another new word for me – this is another name for a plant like the candytuft (I’ve never heard of that either!). IS gets positioned after (submerged, in a down clue) the river of Rome without its initial T (with the passing of time).

22d  Fungus in food briefly stored under stove (6)
{AGARIC} – a staple food without its final E (briefly) follows (stored under) the proprietary name for a type of stove.

25d  Tail spy, missing nothing (4)
{SCUT} – someone sent ahead of a main force to spy out the strength and disposition of the enemy loses the letter that looks like zero.

The clues I liked best today were 1a, 10a, 15a and 24a. Let us know what you liked.