Toughie 3198

Toughie No 3198 by Robyn

Hints and Tips by crypticsue

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

Robyn always seems to get the difficulty level of his crosswords just right – I thought this one was just right for a Wednesday Toughie

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought

Across

1a    Something that stimulates and forms Etonians, say (5,7)
UPPER CLASSES A stimulating drug and some groups of children taught together (forms)

9a    Skips with German, caught by cartography experts (5)
OMITS The German word for with ‘caught by’ or inserted into the abbreviation for the organisation responsible for the preparation of maps in Great Britain and Northern Ireland

10a    Feeling excitement, personnel gets into fieldwork? (9)
THRILLING The abbreviation for the department formerly known as ‘Personnel’ inserted into part of a verb meaning to work the land

11a    People applying tips from Enid leaving sugary fruits (10)
CANDIDATES The ‘tips’ from EniD ‘leaving’ an adjective meaning preserved in sugar and some fruits

12a    Give a poor rating to electronic Windows feature? (4)
PANE Misleading capitals time – an informal way of saying criticise harshly (give a poor rating to) and the abbreviation used to show that something is ‘electronic’

13a    Unfinished gizmo working for dabbler (7)
WIDGEON A gizmo or gadget without its last letter (unfinished) and the usual two-letter ‘working’ combine to give a type of duck (dabbler)

15a    Fawns with a doe? It’s leaping around (7)
TOADIES An anagram (leaping around) of A DOE ITS

17a    Spotted rabbit maybe going first, one cutting through wood? (7)
BUCKSAW A synonym for spotted goes after (rabbit going first) a male animal such as a rabbit. I made the mistake of asking whether Mr CS had heard of this ‘woodcutter’ – should anyone need a five-minute lecture on the subject, I know the very man!

19a    Associate engaged by American for Unesco, say (7)
ACRONYM An intimate friend (associate) inserted into (engaged by) an abbreviation for American – the spellchecker, the dictionary and I all agree that UNESCO should be capitalised!

21a    Hands round lead from informant and drug nark (4)
RILE Here nark means to annoy or irritate. The abbreviations for your hands go round the ‘lead’ of Informant, the result finished with an abbreviated drug

22a    Slack off, penning one word the wrong way in contract (10)
ABBREVIATE A verb meaning to subside (slack off) ‘penning’ the Roman numeral for one and a reversal (the wrong way) of a ‘doing’ word

25a    Wood taken for sculpting art from Asia (3,4,2)
TAE KWON DO An Asian martial art is an anagram (for sculpting) of WOOD TAKEN

26a    Carmaker‘s marketing about to receive big blow (5)
SKODA A reversal of some abbreviated marketing goes ‘about’ an abbreviation for a big ‘blow’ that would render someone unconscious

27a    Help when pouring precipitation fills borders of these flowers (3-9)
TEA-STRAINERS The outside letters (borders) of ThesE and some precipitation filling some flowers

Down

1d    Trouble afoot with no British in von der Leyen’s group, say (5)
UNION Remove the abbreviation for British (no British) from a foot ‘problem’ to get a group such as the one led by Ursula von der Leyen

2d    Polish cat goes around being very bold (9)
PUSHINESS An informal cat goes round a verb meaning to polish, eg shoes

3d    Check son must go and learn new skills (7)
RETRAIN Remove the abbreviation for son (son must go) from a synonym for check

4d    Unwrapped cargo breaks in case of greatest size (7)
LARGEST The inside (unwrapped) letters of cARGo inserted into (breaks) a conjunction meaning in case of/for fear of

5d    Bar member‘s kind after opening of sherry (4)
SILK An informal term for a King’s Counsel (member of the Bar) – a synonym for type or kind goes after the ‘opening’ of Sherry

6d    Possibly stripping down, i.e. to plain pants (9)
EPILATION An anagram (pants) of IE TO PLAIN

7d    Hosting Oscars, host that’s uncomfortable is a childish beast (3-3)
MOO-COW A Master of Ceremonies (host) ‘hosting’ two of the letter represented by Oscar in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, the result followed by an interjection of pain (that’s uncomfortable)

8d    Scary female going out topless with nothing on (6)
OGRESS The first letter of the act of going out is removed, making it ‘topless’, and the letter representing nothing is put in its place

14d    It reveals bust firm on line has cut excise (9)
DECOLLETE A low neckline (it reveals bust) – an abbreviated company and the abbreviation for Line inserted into (has cut) a verb meaning to excise or remove

16d    Climbing in Sierra, I’m off round Vietnam’s capital (9)
ARRIVISME An anagram (off) of SIERRA IM put ’round’ the capital letter of Vietnam

17d    Happen to put on judge’s wig (6)
BERATE Wig in the sense of give someone a good telling off – a simple way of saying happen and a verb meaning to judge or assess

18d    Clothing stores dispense with event on Zoom? (7)
WEBINAR Some clothing ‘stores’ an informal verb meaning to dispense with

19d    Earlier computer technology keeps using theory (1,6)
A PRIORI Some abbreviated computer technology ‘keeps’ an adjective meaning previous or earlier – a Latin expression meaning  using pre-existing knowledge

20d    Frenzied lady and e.g. Hamlet live towards the north (6)
MAENAD A mythological follower of Bacchus gives her name to a term for a female beside herself with frenzy – a reversal (towards the north in a Down solution) of the nationality of someone such as Hamlet and part of a verb meaning live

23d    Holes in the wall plugged by round building blocks (5)
ATOMS The round letter inserted into some ‘holes in the wall’ where you can obtain cash

24d    Milk suppliers picked up milk exploitatively (4)
EWES A homophone (picked up) of a verb meaning to milk exploitatively