Toughie 3015

Toughie No 3015 by Firefly
Hints and tips by Gazza

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

Thanks to Firefly for an enjoyable puzzle with a theme. Thanks largely to the education offered by crosswords in the past I did know all the theme elements.

Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.

Across Clues

1/5a Typist’s control shown in bearing and response (8,6)
CARRIAGE RETURN:   join together synonyms for bearing and response.

5a See 1 Across

9a Sacking second-class subeditor upset newcomer (8)
OUTSIDER: remove the letter used to mean second-class from SU[b]EDITOR and make an anagram (upset) of what remains.

10a Seated in graceful and authentic 1 Across (6)
LANDAU: hidden.

12a 1 Across is due attention (9)
DILIGENCE: double definition, the second a noun meaning due attention or dedication.

13a Hardy unveils suckers (5)
OLLIE: remove the outer letters from things that get sucked.

14a Loving dip off the coast of UAE (4)
FOND: start with a type of dip involving a hot sauce into which small morsels are dipped. Now remove the outer letters (coast) of UAE.

16a Stanhope, short of capital, set out again as 1 Across (7)
PHAETON: a very neat clue because stanhope is another example of 1 Across. Remove its first letter and make an anagram (set out again) of the rest.

19a Blunder with signs of hesitation over strike-breaker (7)
ERRATUM: two different expressions of hesitation bracket an informal word for a strike-breaker or disloyal individual.

21a Cultivated husband’s leading dictionary (4)
HOED: the genealogical abbreviation for husband precedes an abbreviated dictionary.

24a Starts to take action using parasol effectively for shade (5)
TAUPE: a ‘first letters’ clue.

25a In roadside kiosk, ring FIRE, then HOSPITAL (9)
TOLLBOOTH: string together a verb to ring (a church bell, possibly), a verb to fire or kick out and the map abbreviation for hospital.

27a Strangely, loco’s hard to start for train (6)
SCHOOL: an anagram (strangely) of LOCOS and the starting letter of Hard.

28a In audition, hot meal precedes Charlie getting lead without notice in 1 Across (8)
CURRICLE: what sounds like a hot or spicy meal is followed by the abbreviation for Charlie (i.e. cocaine) and ‘lead’ without the abbreviated notice.

29a Less tender song? (6)
NUMBER: double definition.

30a Expand radio station in the middle of Exeter, with completion on schedule (8)
ESCALATE: the name of a UK classical music radio station goes inside the central letters of Exeter with the final letter of schedule bringing up the rear.

Down Clues

1d Masses held in chapel initially, before controversy with bloodhound (6)
CROWDS: the initial letter of chapel, a controversy or quarrel and what bloodhound is an informal term for in the CID.

2d Maestro needing bit of percussion? (6)
RATTLE: double definition, the first the name of a well-known conductor.

3d The setter quavers, we hear, getting chilly (5)
ICING: split 1,4 this sounds like how the setter would say that he quavers or trills.

4d Picked up coat from girl on eBay, oddly on revolutionary retreat (7)
GLEANED: the outer letters of girl, the odd letters of eBay and the reversal of a retreat or hideaway.

6d Studied bundle that’s turned up prior to lecture (9)
ELABORATE: reverse a bundle (of hay or cotton, perhaps) and add a verb to lecture or speak publicly.

7d Swell‘s behind time after mostly inappropriate … (8)
UNDULATE: an adverb meaning ‘behind time’ follows an adjective meaning inappropriate or disproportionate without its last letter.

8d … employment in North America with a new start in theatre — it’s sickening! (8)
NAUSEANT: a synonym for employment goes between the abbreviation for North America and A, the abbreviation for new and the starting letter of theatre.

11d Tweet from Papa — “Extreme pressure besieging base” (4)
PEEP: the letter represented by papa in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet is followed by the abbreviation for ‘extreme pressure’ containing the letter used as a base in logarithms.

15d Where one’s specs are, precisely — over the pond! (2,3,4)
ON THE NOSE: a phrase used in North America to mean exactly could be where one’s specs sit.

17d In France, setter (with his heart!) takes drop (8)
JETTISON: assemble the first person pronoun in French, the central letters of setter and a verbal phrase (2,2) meaning regularly takes (drugs, perhaps).

18d 1 Across is unpolished in send-up of The Fairy Queen (8)
BROUGHAM: an adjective meaning unpolished (like a diamond) goes inside the reversal of the name of a fairy queen in Romeo and Juliet.

20d Violet Elizabeth’s teacher in story? (4)
MYTH: young Miss Bott (from the Just William stories by Richmal Crompton) was famous for saying “I’ll thcream and thcream ’till I’m thick”. Bearing in mind her speech impediment how might she address her female teacher?

21d Attempts to steal hose? (4-3)
HOLD-UPS: double definition.

22d Copyright within “dark” music beginning to appear, I understand (6)
GOTCHA: insert the letter used in the copyright symbol into a style of music with dark, melancholy themes then append the start letter of ‘appear’.

23d Comestible‘s said to make you smile? (6)
CHEESE: what a photographer might ask you to say.

26d Pouch containing last fragments of china vessels Wheeler initially unearthed, brought up to capital of Brunei (5)
BURSA: the last letters of ‘china vessels Wheeler’ and the initial letter of ‘unearthed’ are all reversed and preceded by the first letter of Brunei. The answer (not a word I knew) is a zoological term for a pouch or sac.

My top clues were 13a, 16a and 20d. Which one(s) fitted the bill for you?