Toughie 1150

Toughie No 1150 by Excalibur

The Week Starts Here!

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

Greetings from the Calder Valley. I managed to stage an escape from the clutches of Matron yesterday and came home to the milk I had left out when the ambulance arrived to ferry me off, which appears to have turned into that little-known Calderdale Cheese, and bread that Alexander Fleming would be interested in studying. However I am feeling much better, and thanks to everyone for their nice wishes off and online.

We start the Toughie week with the monthly offering from Excalibur, which very much fits into the Tuesday Toughie gentle pigeon-hole. Nothing too taxing although there were a couple of unfamiliar definitions, and a couple of the clues, you wrote the answer in and had to work out why afterwards, which to me isn’t the point of a cryptic.

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Across

1a Tell-tale item of apparel? (5,5)
{GRASS SKIRT} We start with a cryptic definition, where the whole clue is a definition and the two halves each define one of the two words. A slang word for a tell-tale, usually a police informant is added to the name for a piece of clothing. This gives a piece of clothing which is obvious when seen. Red-faces here because from checking letters I wrote in DRESS SHIRT at first.

9a Cockney would sound consumed with loathing (4)
{HATE} If you remember that in Crosswordland Cockneys always drop their aitches, you need a word that means loathing that would sound like a word meaning consumed to a Cockney.

10a Definitely drive. Train is out (3,7)
{FOR CERTAIN} An expression that means definitely is revealed by taking a scientific word meaning drive or energy and adding an anagram (is out) of TRAIN

11a Lessens, reducing by a pound — wrongly, one feels (6)
{SENSES} Here we have a clue referred to as a subtractive anagram, remove the abbreviation for pound from LESSENS and then rearrange what’s left (wrongly) to give a word meaning one feels.

12 a One way or another, ring me during exhibition (7)
{SOMEHOW} To find a word meaning one way or another, take a letter for a ring and add ME and place both inside a word for an exhibition.

15a Lessons it’s time to take to heart. We’re not here forever (7)
{MORTALS} Take a word that means lessons (usually of a religious nature) and place T (time) in the middle of it to give you the name for people living today in the world.

16a Material, unfashionable, making comeback (5)
{NINON} The name for a material that is light and lace-like is found by taking a way of saying something isn’t fashionable (two words) and reversing it.

17a Sinister vessel that came to bad end (4)
{DARK} An adjective meaning sinister or shady is found by taking the name of a (biblical) vessel and placing D, the last letter –end- of BAD.

18a Said, ‘Heavens, a little terrier!’ (4)
{SKYE} The name for a breed of terrier is a homophone for the place above our heads.

19a Hard for cycling, walk about last quarter mile (5)
{STEEP} The sort of road that would make it difficult to ride a bike is found by taking a word meaning walk, and placing it around E the last letter (last quarter) of MILE.
21a Question ‘How can we reduce ours?’ — Answer fast! (7)
{WEIGHTS} This was one of the clues I found difficult to explain – once you see the answer it’s obvious. Basically I’m thinking it’s a cryptic definition of sorts. Would you talk about reducing weight in the plural like that or just use the singular form? To answer the question an alternative meaning of FAST would be the answer, rather than speedily responding. It just doesn’t seem right to me.

22a Is packed off day before. Don’t go along (7)
{DISSENT} Take IS and a word meaning packed-off and place D (day) before the phrase to give something that means to not go along with things.

24a Deny the existence of endless teenage rioting (6)
{NEGATE} Remove the last letter of TEENAGE (endless) and rearrange the letters (rioting) to give something that means to deny the existence of something.

27a Couldn’t face it, being refused admission (6,4)
{TURNED AWAY} A double definition here with something that means refused admission is something that you did when you couldn’t face something placed in front of you.

28a She put an end to the rags-to-riches girl (4)
{ELLA} Take the name of a girl featured in a fairy tale by Charles Perrault. The last part of her name is also a girl’s name and this is what you need.

29a He takes big risks with mountainous wave (4-6)
{HIGH ROLLER} The name for someone in the city or the gambling world who speculates a lot is also a way of describing a big wave for a surfer.

Down

2d Do, in other words, set up sanction (4)
{ROOK} Do here is a verb meaning to fleece. A reversal (set up in a down clue)of a conjunction meaning in other words followed by the two letters used to signify agreement to something (sanction).

3d Watch mutt put inside safe (6)
{SECURE} Something that means safe is found when you take something that means watch and insert a synonym for a dog or mutt.

4d What blood will do after he makes incision? (7)
{SURGEON} A cryptic-type definition which refers to a person who would make an incision. When the name is broken down it describes how blood flows after the incision.

5d One shot in foreign land (4)
{IRAN} After I (one) goes a word meaning shot, as in sped off, which leads to the name of a Middle-Eastern country.

6d Bouncing tennis ball through nerves (7)
{TENSION} A letter that represents a ball has an anagram (bouncing) of TENNIS to give a word meaning nerves.

7d Decrepit animal, prevent from straying (10)
{RAMSHACKLE} Take the name of a male sheep and something that means secure (prevent from straying) to give a word meaning decrepit.

8d Tenacious and stern, is training pet to go outside (10)
{PERSISTENT} Something that means tenacious is found by juggling (training) the letters of STERN IS and placing PET around them.

12d Snake, being this, dies as the outcome? (10)
{SIDEWINDER} a type of self-referential clue where the name of a variety of snake is found by forming a clue that leads you to the word DIES. In other words, make an anagram of it.

13d Boy given heavy blow with strap (10)
{MARTINGALE} The name for a type of strap for a horse is found by taking a boy’s name and adding the name for a strong wind.

 

14d County flags (5)
{WILTS} A double definition. The shortened name of a county means that same as flagging, as in the sense of tired.

15d Cut, in a manner of speaking (5)
{MOWED} A word that means cut, as in grass, is a homophone of a word that refers to manner or style.

19d Prison term that will make a bigger man of you? (7)
{STRETCH} A slang word that means a prison sentence can be cryptically described as what you would get if you had a spell on a mediaeval rack.

20d To take first step, I will get aboard to look round (7)
{PIONEER} A verb that means to institute or take the first step in a venture is made up by taking I and something that means you are aboard something, and placing that inside a word that means see or look round.

23d Small, gets to go on all fours and scribble (6)
{SCRAWL} After S (small) goes a description of how you move on when on all fours, and you’ll have a word that refers to untidy handwriting.

25d Drawing, not having seized victory, is a bore (4)
{DRAG} Take a word that means victory out of DRAWING to give you something that is a bore or a pain.

26d Food’s palatable if chewing the fat (4)
{FARE} The final clue was the last one I entered, and I am still a bit unsure about it. A general word for food is a homophone (indicated, I think, by ‘chewing the fat’) for a word meaning palatable, acceptable.

Thanks to Excalibur for a pleasant gentle start to the Toughie week. I’ll see you later in the week, all things being equal.