Toughie 889

Toughie No 889 by Dada

Hints and tips by Bufo

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

I was late starting today having had to make time to go for a flu jab so I was glad that the puzzle was not too taxing and didn’t cause much head-scratching. Nevertheless it was very pleasant and there are some nice concise clues (and I haven’t had many of those recently).

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Across

7a    Unable to play snooker, 50 breaks doubtful (8)
{CLUELESS} Take a “word” that shows that you are lacking a vital piece of snooker equipment and put an L (50) in it

9a    A place for a wide street (6)
{AVENUE} A + a place (for a sports event, concert, etc.)

10a    Kiss  Hollywood legend (4)
{PECK} 2 meanings: a kiss / the surname of a Hollywood legend

11a    Emperor unfortunately ain’t docile (10)
{DIOCLETIAN} The name of a Roman emperor is an anagram (unfortunately) of AINT DOCILE

12a    Wintry  drink (6)
{BITTER} 2 meanings: wintry  /a type of beer

14a    Pure hallucinogenic delusion (8)
{UNSOILED} An anagram (hallucinogenic) of DELUSION

15a    Country in smear articulated (6)
{GREECE} A European country sounds like ‘to smear’

17a    Consequence of some scores, ultimately (6)
{RESULT} This word meaning ‘consequence’ is hidden (some) inside the clue

20a    Fish thrash about (8)
{FLOUNDER} 2 meanings: a flatfish/to thrash about

22a    Queen accompanying the last William, recalled European city (6)
{VIENNA} A reversal of a British queen and the regnal number of the last King William

23a    One after drug going through coats, where delicate lifting is required? (10)
{SPILLIKINS} A ball of medicine and I (one) inside the coats of animals = a game in which slips of wood have to be picked out of a pile without disturbing the others

24a    Gunman‘s horse (4)
{COLT} 2 meanings: the man who invented a revolver/a young male horse

25a    Energy used primarily to crack nut (6)
{BOUNCE} U (first letter of used) goes inside nut (head)

26a    Retiring role mine, keeping shtoom for a start? (8)
{TRAPPIST} A reversal of a role + a mine round S (first letter of shtoom). The whole clue provides the definition

Down

1d    Peg held up by affair that’s brief (8)
{FLEETING} A reversal of a peg used by golfers goes inside an affair (a brief sexual relationship)

2d    Yank‘s an idiot (4)
{JERK} 2 meanings: to yank/an idiot

3d    Turner‘s ‘Bacchanalian Evening’? (6)
{BENDER} 2 meanings: something that turns/a drinking bout

4d    Northern English town wheels over fabric (8)
{CARLISLE} Wheels (personal transport) + a cotton fabric

5d    Spinner, county’s top figure getting ten out (10)
{CENTRIFUGE} A rotating device = an anagram (out) of C (first letter of county) FIGURE TEN

6d    Killer copper, a little bloody? (6)
{CURARE} A poison = the atomic symbol for copper + a little bloody (like steak)

8d    Old Eastern commander sending ball of flame round corner (6)
{SHOGUN} A former governor of Japan = a ball of flame (as seen in the sky) round ‘to corner’

13d    Painfully awful mixture of gruel and tonic (3-7)
{TOE-CURLING} An anagram (mixture) of GRUEL TONIC

16d    Swimmer on the water, colleague on the road (2-6)
{CO-DRIVER} A common food-fish + water that flows

18d    Lacking shade, temperature slightly down? (8)
{TONELESS} T (temperature) + e.g. nineteen as compared to twenty

19d    Bacon, say, with flan on menu, but no starters (6)
{ARTIST} The Bacon is Francis Bacon (the twentieth century one). Remove the first letters from a flan (4) and a menu (4)

21d    Faithful type with deity buddy up (6)
{LAPDOG} A reversal of a deity and a buddy

22d    Untouched meat – the way to prod it? (6)
{VESTAL} Untouched (virgin) = calf’s flesh round an abbreviation denoting ‘way’

24d    Garment‘s carbon copy (4)
{CAPE} The atomic symbol for carbon + ‘to copy’

Nice but not tough