Toughie 3573

Toughie No 3573 by Chalicea
Hints and tips by Whybird

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

S’mae a chroeso i Ddydd Mawrth!  Today finds The Present Lady Whybird and I in the North Wales village of Dolgarrog to celebrate a couple of anniversaries, notably our Wooden anniversary.  As well as being the site of the world’s first man-made surf lagoon (sadly not currently operational) Dolgarrog has a poignant memorial garden commemorating the worst dam disaster in Wales, which includes some of the massive boulders washed down the hillside by the torrent almost hundred years ago to the day. On a less sombre note, the autumn colours in Bodnant garden are spectacular, although the hawfinches in Caerhun churchyard are as elusive as ever…

Chalicea has given us a very enjoyable, and (with one exception) not too tricky puzzle to start the Toughie week, so many thanks to her. Parsing 20a, and then having to use one of my lifelines to confirm my suspicions, has necessitated the extra half-star for difficulty. My favourites today are 22a and 15a, with the latter being my overall winner, even as a non-golfer.

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

Across Clues

1 Peace-keeping body does better – removes upper limits (6)

UNCAPS The two-letter abbreviation for usual international organisation followed by a synonym of “does better”

4 Excellent shot in middle of singles (8)

SMASHING An overhead tennis shot followed by “in” from the clue and the middle letter of “singles”

9 Peculiar regime for one settling overseas (6)

EMIGRE An anagram (peculiar) of “regime”

10 All-embracing chosen ones accepting Conservative in charge (8)

ECLECTIC Insert the single letter abbreviation of “Conservative” into a noun meaning “chosen ones” (think the process of choosing a government) followed by the usual abbreviation for “in charge”

12 Piece of meat and old fine wine in Burgundy containing the French vitamin (10)

RIBOFLAVIN A three letter cut of meat followed by the letters indicating “old” and “fine”, and what Burgundians would say for “wine” in their native tongue, into which is inserted one of the French words for “the” 

13 US vehicle‘s valuation from time to time (4)

AUTO Take the alternating letters (from time to time) of “valuation”

14 Carry large leaves or a mortar porter (3)

HOD Remove the letter indicating “Large” from a synonym of “carry” (or contain) to get an implement traditionally used to carry building materials

15 Polygraph, possibly – does it say where golf ball landed? (3,8)

LIE DETECTOR The role for which a polygraph is often employed could also cryptically be described as an aid for golf shots, especially those ending up in the rough (or worse)

18 Most cowardly individual avoiding an eastern US national park (11)

YELLOWSTONE Remove one of the letters representing “east” from how you might describe, in coloured terms, the most cowardly person

20 Impediment to fret about (3)

BUR Invert a synonym of “to fret” (or chafe) to get a word meaning impediment. Yes, it’s in the BRB (thanks for confirming this, Gazza).  This took longer to parse than the rest of the grid did to complete, given that the “fret” synonym also works as a synonym of “impediment”, and also the temptation to equate “impediment” with a place to get drinks. Both of these only hit one or  two out of three of the key components (half of the clue and/or the checkers)

21 Sets down lyrics (4)

LAYS A double definition, the second being a type of lyric or narrative poetry intended for singing

22 £50 in cash to get Yorkshire folk’s current plaything (5,5)

DOLL’S HOUSE Insert the letters indication “pound” and 50 in Roman numerals into a four-letter casual term for “cash” and follow that by a major river in Yorkshire.  A pleasingly different and clever way of indicating this usual-suspect river

24 Piano transcript material stored digitally (4,4)

SOFT COPY The adjective equating to “piano” as a musical instruction followed by a synonym of “transcript”.  The opposite sense for a tangible, eg paper, version is more often encountered

25 Top person rode back clutching Italian vermouth (6)

EDITOR Reverse “rode” from the clue and insert a two-letter name for Italian vermouth to get the top person in eg a newspaper

26 Erratic persons ultimately produce answer (8)

RESPONSE An anagram (erratic) of “persons” followed by the final letter (ultimately) of “produce”

27 Change southern sorceress (6)

SWITCH Take the letter indicating “southern” and follow that with a synonym of “sorceress”

Down Clues
1 Bring to light empty locality – weird! (9)

UNEARTHLY A word meaning “bring to light” (or dig up) is followed by the first and last letters (ie empty) of “locality”

2 Plagiarised chapter derided (7)

CRIBBED The single letter abbreviation of “chapter” followed by a synonym of “derided” (or teased)

3 List of financial assets of oil port in trouble (9)

PORTFOLIO An anagram (in trouble) of “of oil port”

5 Working coalmen hoist powered devices (7,5)

MACHINE TOOLS An anagram (working) of “coalmen hoist”

6 Haggard character with day in shelter (4)

SHED The lead female character in Rider Haggard’s most famous work followed by the letter indicating “day” to get a synonym of shelter as a type of building  

7 Somewhat quaint rustic put into someone’s care (7)

INTRUST The solution is lurking amongst (somewhat) “quaint rustic” 

8 Proceed circling becks endlessly for lizard (5)

GECKO Remove the first and last letters (endlessly) of “becks” and insert the remainder into a two-letter word meaning “proceed”

11 Foolishly shore up a scab’s legal writ? (6,6)

HABEAS CORPUS An anagram (foolishly) of “shore up a scab” gives a legal writ used to determine whether the detention of a person is lawful

16 Narrowly observe detective’s make-up (9)

EYESHADOW A charade of a three-letter word meaning “narrowly observe” and a synonym of “detective” gets a type of make up worn around the organ used for the observing

17 Element seldom encountered on this planet (4,5)

RARE EARTH Any one of a class of chemical elements, currently of much interest in semiconductors and batteries, is formed from a synonym of “seldom encountered” followed by (on in a down clue) the name of the planet we are on (or around, just in case any space station residents are checking in…) 

19 Temporary interruptions of work in decisive games with no pressure initially (3-4)

LAY-OFFS Remove the usual letter for “pressure” from a series of games, typically at the end of a season or tournament, which are used to determine a given outcome

20 Flier‘s down, beginning to transmit appeal (4,3)

BLUE TIT A common bird species is formed by taking a colour used to describe the state of being “down” (or sad) then adding the initial letter of (beginning to) “transmit” and a two-letter word meaning (sex) appeal (or vermouth, per 25a.

21 Unhappy roles for one who doesn’t win (5)

LOSER An anagram (unhappy) of “roles”

23 Screech owl’s seized ape (4)

ECHO The solution, a synonym of “ape” in the sense of “copy”, is lurking (seized) in the letters of “Screech owl”