Sunday Toughie 235 (Review)

Sunday Toughie No 235 by Silvanus

Review by Sloop John Bee

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This puzzle was published on the 26th of July 2026

As this is my last review blog, and the hints blog was rather brief, I have gone a bit overboard today. I will continue hinting on Sundays, but Gazza will be reviewing the Sunday Toughie going forward

I hope I have not made the mistake of not checking the fodder for anagrams and apologise to Light for that error last week.

Across 

1a Creature, rabbit, briefly seen by River Dee, perhaps (10) 

NATTERJACK: Take an informal synonym of to rabbit or chatter inanely NATTER, make it brief by removing the last letter NATTE, then put it back as a river abbreviation R, and finally add the forename of the comedian Mr  JACK Dee for a NATTE(R)JACK

6a Taking coat from stylish young woman (4) 

LASS: A synonym of stylish CLASSY loses its coating letters for a LASS or young woman

9a Writer, man Hislop regularly is cutting about (7) 

KIPLING: A man on a chessboard KING, contains a reversal (about) of regular letters of Hislop ILP become PLI in KING is KI(PLI)NG

10a Style improvement, it lengthened pockets (7) 

ENTITLE: How you “style” or name yourself is pocketed in the other three words 

12a Fixed earlier, printer deemed to be broken (13) 

PREDETERMINED: An anagram (to be broken) of PRINTER DEEMED 

14a Current champ tours Olympic city (6) 

MUNICH: To champ or eat noisily MUNCH, contains the physics symbol of electric current I MUN(I)CH the city which hosted the Olympics in 1972

15a Former Wimbledon champion (not British) essentially encouraging novice (8) 

NEWCOMER: An Australian Wimbledon champion John NEWCOM(B)E, loses his British abbreviation B and adds the essential or central letter of encouraging R, for a novice or NEWCOMER

17a Obtain survey Neil oddly defends, rounding numbers (8) 

INTEGERS: Odd letters of survey Neil  S_R_E N_I, contain a synonym of obtain GET, SRE(GET)NI, then reverse them (rounding) for some positive whole numbers or INTEGERS 

19a In the morning, energy drink will stop flipping problem (6) 

ENIGMA: An energy abbreviation E, a drink known as Mother’s Ruin GIN, and a morning abbreviation AM, are reversed (flipping) for ENIGMA, A problem or puzzling riddle 

22a Where one might shoot, which could suggest thin gun? (7-6) 

HUNTING-GROUND: A reverse anagram, where the anagram indicator goes into the grid along with what can be formed from an anagram of the fodder, which in this case is “thin gun” If THIN GUN is GROUND it would become a HUNTING-GROUND 

24a Stand before door that revolves (7) 

ETAGERE: A poetic synonym of before ERE, and the door into a garden perhaps GATE, are reversed (revolves) for an ETAGERE, a French display stand for small objects or ornaments 

25a Attack famous surgeon behind back of pub (7) 

BLISTER: A pioneer of sterile surgery Joseph LISTER, follows the back of pub B. BLISTER is to attack with scathing words 

 

26a Drop something in the garden? (4) 

SHED: A double definition, something you may have in the garden or to drop a skin or carapace 

27a Support son facing awkward tenth green, one birdie ultimately missed (10) 

STRENGTHEN: A son abbreviation S, is followed by an anagram (awkward) of TENTH GRE(E)N, but one of the examples of the ultimate letter of birdie E is eliminated 

Down 

1d Ancient Greeks worshipped her near landing-place reportedly (4) 

NIKE: Homophones (reportedly) of a poetic near NIGH, and the place where a boat may land QUAY. NIGH QUAY becomes NIKE, An Ancient Greek goddess, nowadays more often associated with a brand of running equipment

2d Elevated shot, notice tennis players will use it (7) 

TOPSPIN: A shot of whisky perhaps NIP, and to notice or see something SPOT, are reversed (elevated in a down clue) for a shot that tennis players will use TOPSPIN 

3d Engineer, i.e. MSc, working as secret influential adviser (8,5) 

EMINENCE GRISE:  A posh French way of describing those who exercise power in the background, originally the nickname used to describe the grey robes of Pere Joseph(1577 – 1638), the Capuchin monk who served as secretary to Cardinal Richelieu, Chief Minister under Louis XIII of France. An anagram (working) of ENGINEER I E MSC 

4d Day after rock star almost gets nicked (6) 

JAGGED: Almost all of the rock star Mick JAGGEr, followed by a day abbreviation D. Nicked or JAGGED 

5d Somewhere revel carousing around, keeping comparatively smart (8) 

CLEVERER: A lurker (keeping) within the clue, that is reversed (around) in the first three words  

7d Titular Shakespeare role, male last to die maybe (7) 

ANTONYM: A titular Shakespearean role ANTONY and Cleopatra, and a male abbreviation M. A definition by example (maybe) as last is a word opposite in meaning to die and therefore an ANTONYM 

8d Boy racer, possibly amphetamine addict (10) 

SPEEDFREAK: A double definition of an enthusiast of fast driving or a habitual user of amphetamine as a recreational drug.  An attendant at a driver awareness course once met such a boy racer, who when asked how fast he had ever driven said “at least 633 mph”, as the attendant at the awareness course was Richard Noble, whose world record was an average of runs in opposite directions

 

11d Slow, as in late to make latte, say? (4-9) 

TIME-CONSUMING: The difference between latte and late is due to it having “eaten” a “t” abbreviation. To make late into latte it would have to consume a T 

13d Succeeded boarding ship mines damaged, creating mischief (10) 

IMPISHNESS: A genealogy abbreviation of succeeed S, in (boarding) an anagram (damaged) of SHIP MINES. S SHIP MINES becomes IMPISHNESS 

16d German condemned probing newspaper piece (8) 

FRAGMENT: An anagram (condemned) of GERMAN in a business newspaper the FT. F(GERMAN)T becomes a piece or FRAGMENT 

18d Expression about Harry’s weight (7) 

TONNAGE: An expression of style TONE, about to harry or pester NAG. Weight or TON(NAG)E 

20d Choose KLM for flights and share costs equally (2,5) 

GO DUTCH To choose to fly KLM or (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij voor Nederland en Koloniën (Royal Dutch Airlines for the Netherlands and Colonies)) or to share the cost of a meal perhaps, would both be to GO DUTCH 

21d Dumping married rock singer (6) 

TREBLE A synonym of rock TREMBLE, dumps the married abbreviation M for a TREBLE singer

23d Smirk of embarrassment when spilling tea (4) 

GRIN: A feeling of embarrassment CHAGRIN, “spills” the informal noun for tea CHA, it starts with, leaving a smirk or GRIN 

 

Compiler 

Silvanus 

I wish my successor Gazza all the best and if you want the parsing notes I have made for #236, just ask 

That’s all Folks…