Toughie 3660

Toughie No 3660 by Notabilis
Hints and tips by Gazza

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

It was a delightful surprise to find the name of Notabilis on today’s Toughie. We haven’t had a puzzle from him since Toughie 3036 almost exactly three years ago and his clever and very entertaining puzzles have been much missed. I do hope that today’s appearance signals his return on a regular basis. Many thanks to him for today’s splendid puzzle which is not fiendishly difficulty; I only needed to verify the 26a trickster.

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

Across Clues

1a How Billingsgate smells with loch being distant (10)
OFFISHNESS: how Billingsgate smells (2,4) and a well-known Scottish loch. Those who’ve solved today’s back-pager may experience a sense of déjà vu.

6a Stoker was so-called black sheep (4)
BRAM: the abbreviation for black and a horny sheep.
9a Forces member to admit Republican immorality, backing famous people (10)
SERVICEMAN: reverse a word for famous people and insert the abbreviation for Republican and a synonym of immorality.

10a Spanish city dumping millions of citrus fruit (4)
LEÓN: remove the abbreviation for millions from a citrus fruit.

12a Early developer in ruins by Rome (6)
EMBRYO: an anagram (ruins) of BY ROME.

13a Try very hard object, one deplorably lacking polish? (2,3,3)
GO ALL OUT: a synonym of object or target and an uncouth individual (one deplorably lacking polish).
15a Stage area banged up face (12)
MOUNTAINSIDE: assemble a verb to stage or present, the abbreviation for area and a synonym of ‘banged up’.

18a Day wearing strict uniform in more ancient out-of-the-way place (4,8)
HARD SHOULDER: insert the abbreviation for day into an adjective meaning strict then insert the letter that uniform represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet into a comparative meaning more ancient.
21a Awkward week in Yule marred with din (8)
UNWIELDY: insert an abbreviation for week into an anagram (marred) of YULE DIN.

22a Precious metal nugget, never quite enough for Ring obsessive (6)
GOLLUM: stick together a precious metal and a synonym of nugget both without their last letter (never quite enough).

24a Regular participants in quite a hot state (4)
UTAH: regular letters from ‘quite a’ and the tap abbreviation for hot.

25a One wandering giant almost cuts mate like a saw (10)
PROVERBIAL: a wanderer and a truncated adjective meaning giant go inside a synonym of mate.

26a Trickster said to be subdued (4)
LOKI: the name of this Norse god of trickery sounds like an adjective (3-3) meaning subdued or understated.

27a Yankee must stop senseless rant, whatever happens (2,3,5)
IN ANY EVENT: insert the abbreviation for Yankee into an adjective meaning senseless. Finish with a verb to rant or sound off.

Down Clues

1d Cloaked in bile, this pearl-clutcher would make lad unproductive (6)
OYSTER: if you cloak your answer in the word BILE then split what you have 3,7 you’ll see a lad unproductive.

2d Class using the method of ukulele player (6)
FORMBY: charade of a synonym of a school class and a preposition meaning ‘using the method of’.
3d Crustacean rests at sea, poked by Woody and Chuck (5,7)
SPINY LOBSTER: an anagram (at sea) of RESTS into which are inserted an adjective meaning ‘like a wood consisting of coniferous trees’ and a verb to chuck.

4d A Christmas Carol very far away from Bleak House, say (4)
NOEL: remove the abbreviation for ‘very’ from what Bleak House is an example of.

5d Fitting time of year allowing application of salt etc? (10)
SEASONABLE: this could mean ‘allowing application of salt etc.’.

7d Chorister ignoring saint represented in oratory (8)
RHETORIC: an anagram (re-presented) of CHORI[s]TER without an abbreviation for saint.

8d Singer-songwriter Swift eviscerated in main area, LA, with no adult present (8)
MINSTREL: insert the outer letters of Swift into ‘main area LA’ after removing every abbreviation for adult.
11d Younger blend adapted to operatic setting (12)
GLYNDEBOURNE: an anagram (adapted) of YOUNGER BLEND.

14d Some classic metal song (3,3,4)
ANY OLD IRON: string together a synonym of some, an adjective meaning classic and a type of hard metal.

16d Half for Prometheus topping off double, which he normally drinks? (3,5)
THE USUAL: start with the second half of Prometheus and add an adjective meaning double without its top letter.
17d Con‘s dull Scouse mate flipped at the centre (8)
DRAWBACK: bring together an adjective meaning dull or dreary and a dialect word for a mate in the Merseyside area. Now reverse the central two letters.

19d One has scaled back scheme after reducing reserve (6)
PLAICE: drop the last letter from a synonym of scheme and add a word meaning reserve or formality.
20d Piece of jewellery cross for the price of rings (6)
AMULET: a cross or hybrid with a preposition meaning ‘for the price of’ ringing it.

23d In France and Germany, to and from river (4)
AVON: a French preposition meaning ‘to’ and a German preposition meaning ‘from’.

My ticks went to 1d, 8d, 16d and 20d. Which one(s) shone for you?