Toughie 3529

Toughie No 3529 by Stick Insect
Hints and tips by Whybird

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

Greetings from the Wirral!  Heatwave, eh?  Well, I suppose the rain is warmer than normal. At least the exterior painting was done yesterday, as my back and limbs will attest…

If last Tuesday’s Chalicea was a time machine, today’s Stick Insect is one for the In Crowd (which to my shame I didn’t realise was originally by Dobie Gray). I thought this was spot-on for a Tuesday – plenty to think about, but nothing obscure and all very clearly and fairly clued.  And very enjoyable to boot! Some of the parsing took some effort (10d and 15d, I’m looking at you…) even when the answer was plain.  I’ve given my rosettes this week to 13a, 18a and 20a.   Thank you, Stick Insect, for a wonderful work-out.

Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.

Across Clues

1 What US drinkers use in error, eating a food aunt prepared (4,8)

SODA FOUNTAIN Insert (eating) an anagram (prepared) of “a food aunt” into a three-letter error (or vice) to get a soft-dinks dispenser predominantly found in North America 

8 Iron door keeps in air (5)

RONDO A musical form is lurking (keeps in) within “Iron door”

9 Rascal fast when stealing the writer’s tool (9)

IMPLEMENT A three-letter rascal, followed by the pre-Easter fasting period into which is inserted a two-letter word for how our setter may refer to themselves, to yield a synonym of tool.

11 Enterprise perhaps succeeded in going after opportunity (9)

SPACESHIP A terms for “opportunity” (or room) followed by the single letter “succeeded” and a three-letter “in” as in “trendy” (our first Dobie moment) to get the type of vehicle of which the USS Enterprise is an example

12 Dance adapting some Latin American styles, originally spinning (5)

SALSA A type of Latin-American dance is found in the initial letters, reversed (originally spinning) of “adapting some Latin American styles”

13 North Carolina cast is colour-blind (3-6)

NON-RACIAL The letter representing North followed by an anagram (cast) of “Carolina” gives a synonym for “colour-blind” in the sense of ethnicity. A very clever clue and lovely surface. 

16 About charity, saint’s quitting kingdom (5)

REALM Another name for a “kingdom” is formed from a two-letter “about” (or on) followed by four-letter synonym for “charity” but lacking the single letter representing “saint” 

18 Arab losing head with opening of tax inspection (5)

AUDIT A type of inspection (often associated with accountancy) is formed by removing the initial letter (losing head) from a resident of a large Arab nation, followed by the initial letter of “tax”.  Another lovely surface.

19 Anticipation of battle over minerals (9)

FORESIGHT A synonym of “anticipation” (or planning ahead) is formed from a five-letter “battle” surrounding (over) another term for “minerals”

20 Due to receive deed as it pertains to factor? (2,3)

IN FOR What you could be said to be if you are “Due to receive” is also how you may describe the location of a synonym for “deed” when looking at the word “factor”. Thankfully the “?” provides a strong hint that this clue is asking something a little left-field

22 Occasions of plundering fruits after alumnus moves right to the front (9)

ROBBERIES Take the two letter abbreviation for “alumnus”, followed by small fruits, then take one of the letters for “right” from the fruits, and move that to the beginning – exactly as the clue tells you – to give criminal events.  

25 Inert cooks cutting bananas, sources of nourishment (9)

NUTRIENTS An anagram (cooks) of “inert” is inserted (cutting) into a synonym of “bananas” in the sense of “mad” to get another term for “sources of nourishment”

26 Almost deliver working refrigerant (5)

FREON A synonym of “deliver” in the sense of “release” but lacking its final letter (almost) followed by the usual two-letter “working” gives a brand name for a family of refrigerants

27 Those without parties reliant on entering half-empty pubs (12)

INDEPENDENTS Insert a 9-letter synonym for “reliant on” into (entering) a four-letter type of “pub” from which one of the two identical middle letters has been removed (half-empty) to get a term describing eg those MPs not affiliated to a political party

Down Clues
1 Students brought up a couple of names adopted by Edward Brown (9)

SUNTANNED A synonym of “brown” – clement-weather induced – (ignore the capitalisation) is formed by reversing (brought up)  the three-letter body representing students and following that with an informal name for someone called “Edward” into which is inserted “a” from the clue and two single-letter “names”

2 Around centre of Poole made electronic semiconductor (5)

DIODE A semiconductor component typically allowing current flow in a single direction is found by surrounding the middle letter of “Poole” with a (3,1) way of perhaps saying “made electronic”.  Or, alternatively, insert the central letter of Poole into a three letter synonym of “made” followed by the single letter abbreviation for “electronic”.  

3 Religion of India I thought foolish ultimately (5)

FAITH A word meaning “Religion” is found in the final letters (ultimately) from “of India I thought foolish” 

4 Not in our plan, worried about turning up (9)

UNPOPULAR Our second “Dobie moment”. What you could be if you are deemed to be “Not in” is formed from an anagram (worried) of “our plan” surrounding (about) “up” from the clue, in reverse (turning) 

5 Greatly values elders, say, protecting area Nancy’s supported by (9)

TREASURES Take the generic term for the type of plant of which “elders” are an example and insert the usual single-letter “area” and the three letter French word (indicated by Nancy’s) for “supported by” (or on) to get a word meaning “greatly values”

6 Perfect diamonds shared in unconscious trade (5)

IDEAL “Diamonds shared” means that the usual letter indicating “diamonds” as a suit is common to the two part solutions from the rest of the clue.  In this case, a two-letter psychoanalytic term for the unconscious part of the psyche and a four-letter synonym of “trade” which combined with common letter gets a term meaning “perfect”

7 Out to lunch, a tin opener’s saving time in packaging (12)

PRESENTATION An anagram (out to lunch) of “a tin opener’s” into which is inserted (saving) the usual single-letter “time” gets a synonym of “packaging” (think PowerPoint slides – or acetates!)

10 Distressing stuff involving university director’s captured in whistle-blowing finally (12)

TRAUMATISING A “Russian Doll” clue. Insert (involving) the usual letter for “University” into a three-letter “stuff” as a verb.  Insert that combination (captured) into a famous French director and actor and follow that with the informal term meaning “whistle-blowing” or “grass on” all of which gives a synonym for “Distressing”.  I’m not sure what the “in” is doing here. It seems to be redundant if it is meant to be part of the “director’s capturing”, and it doesn’t seem to add much to the whistle-blowing. It fits the “Dobie theme”, though – although of course I may be missing something!  *** PER Jezza and FrankieMillwall – to whom, thanks… It is “French director’s possessive plus “in” from the clue with the final letter from “whistle-blowing”.  It still just abpout fits the Dobie theme, though.  The curse of having a semi=parsing and a deadline for posting a blog!***

14 Hell perhaps following sentence (9)

AFTERLIFE Hell being the place where the unrighteous may spend this period formed by a charade of a synonym of “following” and a very long prison term. 

15 Home substitutes for Milan team in thwarting conclusion (9)

INFERENCE My last one in. Start with a 12-letter word meaning “thwarting” (or meddling), and replace the five-letter abbreviated name of one of Milan’s major football teams with the usual two-letter term for (to be at) home to get a synonym of “conclusion”.  For me, this clue isn’t helped by the incorporation of the “home” term as part of the football team, nor the presence of the term as part of the clue. Plenty of Dobie to discuss, though.

17 American head suppresses smile in irritation (9)

ANGRINESS The single letter “American” and a common Crosswordland “head” surrounding (suppresses) a type of smile to get a synonym for “irritation”

21 Stage a show of force overcoming quiet resting place (5)

FUTON A type of Japanese bedding is found by taking a (3,2) expression for “stage a show” and replacing the musical abbreviation letter for “quiet” with the letter used for “Force” in eg physics 

23 Founded Swiss city, ten times greater in the end (5)

BASED The Roman numeral at the end of a Swiss city on the banks of the Rhine is replaced by the Roman numeral after a ten-fold increase get a word meaning “founded”

24 The Spanish flipper is delicate (5)

ELFIN An adjective meaning “delicate” is framed from “The” in Spanish and a synonym of “Flipper” as eg an aid for swimming

 

And with that, I shall… …Drift Away