Sunday Toughie No 185 by Light
Review by Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 10th August 2025
Across
1a Yak lying down on bedding (6,4)
PILLOW TALK: Yak is an informal term for loose chat or TALK; to do so when lying down on a PILLOW may lead to a Doris Day and Rock Hudson film.
6a Some land fenced by Hever Castle to the west (4)
ACRE: A lurker (fenced by) that is reversed (to the west) in an across clue. Hidden in HevER CAstle.
9a Picked up open old tin (5)
FRANC: A homophone (picked up) of a synonym of open FRANK, old tin is the definition of a former currency, the FRANC.
10a Graves will probably be dug by this aficionado (9)
OENOPHILE: Nothing to do with coffins or cemeteries, those who “dig” the produce of grapes grown in the Gironde department. A OENOPHILE is a lover of wine. (When Lento was Largo I toyed with this being EUROPHILE and Graves referred to Robert Graves, who wrote a lot about Europe and the Romans, but his war poetry reminded me that much of his time in Europe was during the Great War, with not a lot to love)
12a Famous person from Hugh Laurie drama and Homeland, possibly (9,4)
HOUSEHOLD NAME: A medical drama that had Hugh Laurie in the leading role of Dr. Gregory HOUSE, and an anagram (possibly) of HOMELAND.
14a Crack radius and maybe ulna when Gloucester’s back goes in flying (8)
AIRBORNE: Lego™ time. An alphanumeric synonym of crack or the best A1, the abbreviation of radius R, the part of the body that ulna is an example of BONE, but the back of Gloucester R, goes in. A1(R)BO(R)NE.
15a Close to second adult quitting mission, extremely strict (6)
ALMOST: Do you remember the mission that Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett undertook, The ALAMO, Remove the second ‘a’ for ‘adult’ ALMO, and append the extreme letters of ‘strict’ ST, and you are close to the answer ALMOST.
17a Love piano in which Astaire film? (3,3)
TOP HAT: A synonym of which THAT, contains a score of love O, and an abbreviation of piano P.
19a Fragile ego principally smitten with Mars trips (8)
GOSSAMER: An anagram (trips) of EGO, the principal letter of Smitten S, and MARS. I thought about The GOSSAMER Albatross, it was a very light bicycle-powered aeroplane that crossed The English Channel in 1979
21a King’s work involved gripe about messenger (7,6)
CARRIER PIGEON: The first published work of Stephen King CARRIE, an anagram of GRIPE, and a usual about ON. It used to fly about with messages, a CARRIER PIGEON.
24a Practise writing English with hack (9)
PROSECUTE: Writing that is not in verse PROSE, a synonym of hack CUT, and E for English.
25a Learner driver stuck in pit, getting AA (5)
MILNE: A pit for the extraction of minerals MINE, around the letter that a learner driver is obliged to display L. A.A. MILNE the author of Winnie the Pooh.
26a Carefree sound of pair in the middle of rendezvous in New York? (4)
EASY: Ahh an indicated Americanism. How someone from New York would say the middle pair of letters of rendezvous EE ZEE becomes EASY.
27a Captivated, lust misled me occasionally, on reflection (10)
MESMERISED: A reversal (on reflection) of a synonym of lust DESIRE, and occasional letters of MiSlEd Me
DESIRE-MSEM becomes MESMERISED.
Down
1d Seabird dropping in gust (4)
PUFF: A seabird PUFF(IN) drops in for a gust or PUFF.
2d Thrash metal ultimately driving out Erica’s first husband (7)
LEATHER: The ultimate letter of metal L, and an ericaceous plant (H)EATHER without the first H for husband.
3d Words that launch an invention for children? (4,4,1,4)
ONCE UPON A TIME: If you invent a story for children this is how it may begin.
4d Worthless type now drunk around noon (8)
TWOPENNY: An anagram (drunk) of TYPE NOW and N for noon.
5d Amp taken out of shed slowly (5)
LENTO: A type of shed that is up against another structure LEAN TO, loses the abbreviation for Amp A. LENTO is a musical instruction to play slowly. For a while I had LARGO, which means Very Slowly, but the middle checker made me rethink.
7d Smart Pep keeping Kovačić in the centre for City (7)
CHICAGO: Nothing to do with the Man City or their central midfielder Mateo Kovačić, but a very smooth surface nonetheless. A synonym of smart CHIC, and some pep or vigour GO, around the centre of KovAčić A. The city of CHIC A GO
8d Perhaps lead on a Republican Yankee in primary (10)
ELEMENTARY: I am tempted to play Tom Lehrer singing the periodic table again, but we have had that quite a few times recently. Lead as an example of one of the 192 “parts” of the periodic table known to Haarvaard ELEMENT, goes on A from the clue and the abbreviation of Republican R, and the letter that Yankee suggests Y.
11d Goes off crew in a boat (6,7)
PADDLE STEAMER: A preposition for each or a PER, contains gone off as in what may happen to eggs ADDLES, and a crew or TEAM. P ADDLES TEAM ER
13d This could be present one is expecting (10)
PARTICIPLE: I should have paid more attention during grammar lessons. One is expecting is an example of a non-finite form of a verb, active in meaning, referring to roughly contemporaneous action. Apologies to my English teachers.
16d ELO music in play for London theatre (8)
COLISEUM: An anagram (in play) of ELO MUSIC
18d Copies last couple of ingredients to go with salmon and bagel (7)
PARROTS: A young salmon up to two years of age, before it becomes a smolt PARR. Bagel as another score in tennis O, and the last two letters of ingredients TS. Copies you like talking birds PARROTS.
20d Tears from crook nabbed by M&S (7)
MANGLES: A crooked shape ANGLE in between M&S
22d Wake seen in river that runs through York (5)
ROUSE: Fross? No. R for river goes in the larger river that runs through York the OUSE.
23d Price departs, but this keeps The Animals going! (4)
FEED: The price charged FEE, with an abbreviation of departs D. Another smooth surface and the perfect opportunity to listen to Eric Burdon and Alan Price again.
Compiler
Light
Hi John
Assuming you’re on prize Toughie duty today, the interactive puzzle (Firefox / iMac) has ‘Kova?i?’ at 7d. It should be Kovačić. Obviously, some software doesn’t like the diacritics.
It’s fine in the facsimile of the newsprint version, so hopefully fine in the actual newspaper too.
Thanks
Michael
That’s all Folks…