Sunday Toughie No 135 by Zandio
Review by
Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 25th of August 2024
Across
1a Star date number one: ‘Costume for Kirk’ (as Scotty might say?) (6,4)
SUNDAY BEST: Synonyms of our Star SUN, a date or DAY, and number one BEST– What any Scot may invite you to wear to attend his church or Kirk SUNDAY BEST what you wear to church
6a Long watercourse without delta opening (4)
ITCH: The letter that delta suggests is removed from a watercourse DITCH minus D, leaves to long or desire ITCH
9a Daily maybe writing off last Conservative executive (10)
REGULATORY: Happens on a daily or similar basis REGULAR, lose its last letter REGULA, and add a Conservative or TORY, REGULATORY an executive body used to control
10a I flew here? (4)
IRAN: I from the clue and flew at pace RAN, to arrive here? IRAN
12a Gala glorifies talent shows (6)
FIESTA: A lurker (shows) hidden in words two and three
13a Chopped up cacti, as grasping one is a pain (8)
SCIATICA: An anagram (chopped up) of CACTI, AS and the letter that looks like one I SCIATICA a pain from a trapped nerve
15a Love, say, Jeremy’s clues – they can be enriching (8,4)
TREASURE HUNT: A synonym of love or value highly TREASURE, and the oft-mispronounced surname of a political Jeremy HUNT, leads to something enriching a TREASURE HUNT
18a European final, Italy caught going to parties – they should tighten things up (7,5)
ELASTIC BANDS: Abbreviations of Europe E, Italy I, and caught C, around a synonym of final LAST together with parties or groups of musicians perhaps BANDS E(LAST)I(C BANDS tighten things up
21a Partygoer needs place to sleep, home in the East End (8)
DORMOUSE: A place to sleep (in groups) and how someone from the East End may refer to his residence, this rodent is mainly nocturnal and can therefore attend a lot of parties, in particular he was a guest at the tea party in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
22a Irregularly fancied Dorset – admits visiting regularly (6)
DREAMT: Alternate letters (visiting regularly) of DoRsEt AdMiTs, DREAMT, lead us to an intransitive verb to contemplate an imaginably possible but unlikely relationship
24a Perhaps oral discharge upset maiden (4)
EXAM: To discharge or cut AXE is reversed EXA and adds a cricket scorer’s maiden M
25a Googled to get gold, say, from this event? (6,4)
TRIPLE JUMP: To get gold from Googled you must hop, skip and jump from the first letter to subsequent letters a total of three times or in other words a TRIPLE JUMP
26a Growth of support on course to crush resistance (4)
TREE: The support that may be used on a golf course TEE, around the abbreviation of resistance R
27a John’s avoiding one’s places to go! (10)
APOSTROPHE: Zandio teased us with this clue in the comments on his Friday backpager but I didn’t have time to appreciate the name-check then. It is a little bit lavatorial, Using John’s or one’s to refer to the loo or what you do there is to avoid mentioning the unmentionable, they both use this punctuation mark to indicate where some letters go unmentioned As Gazza pointed out in the hint blog removing the answer we seek from John’s and one’s turns them from possessives to euphemisms (Johns & #ones) for things lavatorial
Down
1d Head of task force probing London area fire (6)
STRAFE: The head of task T, and a military force The RAF, in the area that London lies within SE to fire or S(T)(RAF)E
2d See following shooter lifting gold? (6)
NUGGET: A synonym of see GET, following a reversal (lifting) of a shooterGUN becomes NUG
3d Repeated stress of tackling tricky teasers? (12)
ALLITERATION: The practice of repeated stressing of the same sound at the start tackling tricky teasers with the question mark being an example of ALLITERATION
4d Rabid dogs may do it or be carrying it (4)
BITE: One word from the clue BE, carries another IT Rabid dogs may B(IT)E
5d Shift rust on car lout trashed, ignoring old design (10)
STRUCTURAL: Two anagram indicators (shift) and (trashed) as the anagram of RUST goes on the anagram of CAR LoUT after O for old has been ignored
7d Expression in America for bus garage? (8)
TERMINUS: IN from the clue and one of our usual Americas US, follows a synonym of an expression TERM(IN)US being th garage for a fleet of buses
8d Democrats maybe supporting male suppression, ultimately all women do? (3,5)
HEN PARTY: A political group such as the Democrats PARTY, supports a nominative male pronoun HE, and the ultimate letter of suppression N
11d Loan a cracking vehicle with variable notice for specific period (8,4)
CALENDAR YEAR: A from the clue and to loan or LEND in a vehicle or CAR, followed by a mathematical variable Y and to notice or catch the sound of something EAR a specific period or C(A)(LEND)(AR) (Y)EAR
14d Notice components rotating – one should keep timer on (10)
WATCHSTRAP: A synonym of notice WATCH, and a reversal (rotating) of components PARTS becomes STRAP A WATCHSTRAP may keep your timer on your wrist
16d With English coming in, repeatedly pop on titfer and tie (4,4)
DEAD HEAT: Informal synonyms of pop DAD,and titfer tat HAT both contain an E for English A DEAD HEAT or tie
17d Conduct Grieg air Rachmaninoff’s packaged up (8)
CARRIAGE: A reverse lurker (packaged up) conduct or CARRIAGE
19d Revalue property in city guide getting stick about parking (6)
GAZUMP: Before Google Maps Phyllis Pearsall provided an invaluable city guide A (to) Z, it is in a synonym of stick or adhere GUM, and is followed by the map symbol for parking P GAZUMP to raise the price of a property after an offer has been accepted but before the contract is signed
20d Street with drills going over and over again. It’s plain … (6)
STEPPE: An abbreviation of street ST,and some drills or training that has been reversed EP, and reversed again PE
23d … when drill’s interrupted we’ll get echoes
APES: The same drill PE, interrupts a synonym of when AS APES or repeats like an echo