Toughie 1034

Toughie No 1034 by Micawber

The Winner Takes It All

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

Thanks to BD for agreeing to swap Toughies this week, allowing me to blog this hugely enjoyable puzzle from Micawber. Do let us know what you thought.

Across Clues

1a  Primate of Canterbury region tense after royal address (8)
{MARMOSET} – an abbreviation for ‘of’ (as used in many Irish surnames for example), the region of the UK in which the city of Canterbury is to be found and T(ense) all follow a variant spelling of how female members of the royal family like to be addressed.

6a  Program with design to attach (6)
{APPEND} – a charade of the abbreviation for a computer program and another word for design or aim.

9a  ‘Money, Money, Money’ featuring Abba’s number one — concerning this? (6)
{MAMMON} – three occurrences of M(oney) contain the first letter (number one) of A(bba) and that’s all followed by a preposition meaning concerning.

ARVE Error: need id and provider

10a  What a contemptible person hanging round pub (8)
{ALEHOUSE} – a common way of requesting a repetition (what?) with A and a contemptible person around it.

11a  Cut back on firm fish (8)
{PILCHARD} – reverse a verb to cut and add an adjective meaning firm or unyielding.

12a  Regressing, live in Pacific island, topless — a simple form of life (6)
{AMOEBA} – a verb to live or exist is reversed (regressing) inside a state (actually consisting of two main islands) in the Pacific without its first letter (topless).

13a  Wacky diplomat takes time touring India on first overseas trip (6,6)
{MAIDEN VOYAGE} – synonyms for wacky, diplomat and time are strung together containing the letter represented by India in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet.

16a  Indicator of successful flotation for footwear brand (8,4)
{PLIMSOLL LINE} – a mark on the side of a ship which disappears below the surface if a ship is overloaded could also, cryptically, be a footwear brand.

19a  Ripe, a nutritious source of snack (6)
{PEANUT} – the source of this snack is the first part of the clue.

21a  Greek inventor reconditioned used Lada (8)
{DAEDALUS} – an anagram (reconditioned) of USED LADA produces the name of an old Greek inventor (and unsuccessful pioneer of unpowered flight).

23a  Fifth ace, perhaps, from Wimbledon outsider (4,4)
{WILD CARD} – double definition. In some games this (often a joker) could be declared as a fifth ace for example. It’s also the term used for a ‘grace and favour’ invitation to a sports event granted to someone who has not officially qualified (often given to British tennis players to allow them to make a fleeting appearance at Wimbledon).

24a  Wrongly learnt? From the bottom up, the buck stops here! (6)
{ANTLER} – an anagram (wrongly) of LEARNT gives us the furthest limit of a buck or stag if you work upwards from the bottom.

25a  E.g. Livingstone with border to explore (6)
{DREDGE} – an abbreviated title (that of the explorer Livingstone, for example) is followed by a border.

26a  Noel playing with echo characteristic of modern rock (8)
{HOLOCENE} – a geological term describing the current era is an anagram (playing) of NOEL with ECHO.

Down Clues

2d  Middle Eastern agents embracing prohibition on the ascendant (6)
{ARABIC} – the abbreviation for the US spying agency contains a prohibition or restriction, then it all gets reversed (on the ascendant, in a down clue).

3d  Reproduce sp-speech aid (5)
{MIMIC} – the abbreviation for an aid to make speech more audible with its first two letters repeated to match the clue.

4d  Ruin is a Norman city-state (3,6)
{SAN MARINO} – an anagram (ruin) of IS A NORMAN.

5d  Non-duck to walk like duck? Nonsense (7)
{TWADDLE} – start with the word TO but without the letter that resembles zero or a cricket duck then add a verb to walk like a duck.

6d  Don’t apply to circus (5)
{ARENA} – split as (3,2) this could mean don’t apply or be of no relevance.

7d  Working girl to do secretarial job for master (9)
{PROTOTYPE} – the abbreviation for a working girl (i.e. a girl working in the sex trade) is followed by TO and a verb to do a secretarial job.

8d  Tempt horses with these three things just below eye level (8)
{NOSEBAGS} – … one in the middle and one under each eye.

13d  Old man and woman, for Spooner, both lacking some faculty (3,3,3)
{MUM AND DAD} – the two faculties that Spooner’s version would lack relate to speech and mental health.

14d  It’s immoral, daily paper retaining old phone messages (9)
{VOICEMAIL} – string together something immoral and the title of the daily paper which supported Oswald Mosley in the 1930s and insert (retaining) O(ld). Superb surface relating to the phone-hacking scandal.

15d  Covert sect without leader sounds increasingly strange (8)
{ULTERIOR} – a religious sect without its leading letter is followed by what sounds like a comparative meaning more strange or frightening.

17d  Affectedly superior young man, one brought before court? (2-2-3)
{LA-DI-DAH} – start with a young man and I (one). Now think of a phrasal verb (3,2) meaning brought before the court and apply the second word of it to the first.

18d  Dish to go round with ease among audience introduced (6)
{TUREEN} – a verb to go round or revolve has what sounds like ‘ease’ inserted.

20d  Research the Yorkshire lineage (5)
{TRACE} – the abbreviated form of ‘the’ used in Yorkshire speech is followed by a word for lineage or ethnic group.

22d  Old American Aids drug given to Europeans (5)
{AZTEC} – the abbreviation for azidothymidine (an antiviral drug used in the treatment of Aids) is followed by the abbreviation for the community of European states that was replaced by a union in 1993.

I’ve spent a long time trying to pare my list of favourite clues down to a manageable level and this is what I’ve ended up with: 9a, 8d, 14d and 17d. Which ones appeared on your list?