Toughie 873

Toughie No 873 by Osmosis

Eh… What’s up, doc?

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

Bufo is away today, but both of us will be in Derby on Saturday, so why not come along as well.

This was a fairly typical Osmosis puzzle, not too easy and not too difficult.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.

Across

1a    Artist runs house, in principle, contrarily (6)
{WARHOL} – R(uns) and HO(use) inside a theoretical principle extracted from practice or observation reversed (contrarily)

5a    Wipe over arm edging that’s in dirty colour (8)
{BURGUNDY} – reverse (over) a verb meaning to wipe then follow it with a firearm and the outer letters (edging) of DirtY

9a    Battle site gunners ignored aimless strategy by returning victuals (10)
{GETTYSBURG} – an anagram (aimless) of ST(RA)TEGY without the RA (gunners ignored) followed by the reversal (returning) of some victuals

10a    Group of women endlessly rabbit? (4)
{HARE} – a group of women in a Muslim house without the final letter (endlessly)

11a    Alcohol restricts the source of one’s writing, according to author (8)
{METHINKS} – some supposedly undrinkable alcohol around a writing material

12a    Discover, with one representing university later, a root vegetable (6)
{TURNIP} – a phrasal verb meaning to discover (4,2) in which I (one) replaces the second U (University later)

13a    Dance that expresses joy and spirit (4)
{HAKA} – an expression of joy followed by an ancient Egyptian word for the spirit or soul within a person

15a    Legendary horseman finds clean ground by chance (8)
{LANCELOT} – an anagram (ground) of CLEAN followed by chance or fate

18a    Weak spot, lacking resistance by paramilitary unit (8)
{FECKLESS} – a spot without the R(resistance) followed by a Nazi paramilitary unit

19a    Dressing boy amuses some looking back (4)
{MAYO} – hidden (some) and reversed (looking back) in the clue

21a    Nag lothario? (6)
{CHASER} – double definition – an equine nag and a lothario

23a    Commoners repeated phrase loudly after service (4-4)
{RIFF-RAFF} – a musical phrase played repeatedly, often one played on a guitar, followed by the musical notation for loudly itself preceded by a military service

25a    Appeal, as Kent’s tail-ender leaves crease (4)
{PLEA} – drop (leaves) the final T (KenT’s tail-ender) from a crease or fold in cloth

26a    Boss adheres to financial promise — shrewd in an academic way (10)
{STUDIOUSLY} – a boss followed by (adheres to) a promise to repay a loan and an adjective meaning shrewd

27a    Reader’s assistant easily disheartened, say, by young lady (8)
{EYEGLASS} – the outer letters (disheartened) of EasilY followed by the abbreviation of say or for example and a young lady

28a    Refuse to convert grey study (6)
{MIDDEN} – here convert seems to indicate a reversal of a three-letter word meaning grey – just add a study to get this refuse heap

Down

2d    Songstress said real men oddly unavailable (5)
{ADELE} – the name of this popular British songstress is derived from the even letters (oddly unavailable) of three words in the clue

ARVE Error: need id and provider

3d    Chat about head of broadsheet in journalist’s car (9)
{HATCHBACK} – an anagram (about) of CHAT followed by the initial letter (head) of Broadsheet inside a slang word for a journalist

4d    Recording about immorality shows behind (6)
{LOSING} – a record of a ship’s performance and experiences arouns an act of immorality

5d    Perhaps fare at Christmas, as EU delegates here, shoots up (8,7)
{BRUSSELS SPROUTS} – the main city where EU delegates can be found followed by a verb meaning shoots up

6d    Port stirred into Italian food (8)
{RIGATONI} – a Baltic port followed by an anagram (stirred) of INTO

7d    Doorman sees drug-dealer quietly leaving (5)
{USHER} – remove the P (quietly leaving) from a drug dealer

8d    Hall of residence staff redirected Mick, half-cut on right wing (9)
{DORMITORY} – a staff is reversed (redirected) and followed by MIck without its second two letters (half-cut) and a right wing politician

14d    US writer left to take a breather, partly in agreed surroundings (4,5)
{ALEX HALEY} – this US writer, best known as the author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family, comes from L(eft) and a verb meaning to breathe out with a two-letter word of agreement outside (surroundings)

16d    Animated character turning red, fumed about learner driver (5,4)
{ELMER FUDD} – the archenemy of Bugs Bunny comes from an anagram (turning) of RED FUMED around the letter displayed by a learner driver

17d    Breaking ranks with Abe Lincoln here (8)
{NEBRASKA} – an anagram (breaking) of RANKS with ABE gives the US state of which Lincoln is the capital

20d    Positively assert broadcast should contain very loud male (6)
{AFFIRM} – a verb meaning to broadcast around the musical notation for very loud and followed by M(ale)

22d    Upset girl covering ‘North and South’ (= mouth, an example of such) (5)
{SLANG} – a short word for a girl around N(orth) and followed by S(outh) all reversed (upset in a down clue) – north and south = mouth is an example of this

ARVE Error: need id and provider

24d    River Swale’s banks treacherous (5)
{FALSE} – a Cornish river is followed by the outer letters (banks) of SwalE

That’s all folks!