Sunday Toughie 242 (full review)

Sunday Toughie No 242 by Silvanus
Full Review by Gazza

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This puzzle was published on 13/09/26

A very enjoyable puzzle from Silvanus this week.


Across Clues

1a No avoiding unfortunately new cuts in opera (3,8)
DON GIOVANNI: an anagram (unfortunately) of NO AVOIDING into which the abbreviation for new is inserted (cuts) provides the title of a Mozart opera.

7a Difficulty keeping on the move exposed enemy (7)
HOSTILE: a difficulty (if you’re in one you’re advised to stop digging) containing (keeping) the inner (exposed) letters of ‘astir’ (on the move).

8a Motorists like going on about capital city (7)
CARACAS: one of our motoring organisations and a preposition meaning ‘like’ follow (going on, in an across clue) a 2-letter abbreviation meaning about or approximately to make the capital of Venezuela.

10a Star detailed flipping time period for treatment … (5)
USAGE: reverse (flipping) our very own star without its last letter (de-tailed) and add an historic period of time.

11a … reminiscent of essentially problematic case (9)
EVOCATIVE: the central letter (essentially) of ‘problematic’ and a grammatical case used in addressing a person or thing (if you studied Latin at school you’ll remember it lurking between nominative and accusative). Caesar used the vocative case of ‘Brutus’ in his supposed saying ‘Et tu Brute’.

12a Resultant commotion finally stops European making legal claim (7)
ENSUING: the final letter of commotion goes between (stops, i.e. plugs) an abbreviation for European and a present participle meaning ‘making a legal claim’ or ‘bringing a legal action against’.

14a Gutless sign that is most dishonest (7)
SNIDEST: the outer (gutless) letters of sign followed by the full form of the Latin phrase meaning ‘that is’ (2,3).

15a Before work a police officer gulps large drink (7)
ALCOPOP: prior to the usual abbreviation for an artistic work we need A and an informal word for a police officer bracketing (gulps) the abbreviation for large.

18a Discover dad’s sister when undressed has heavenly body (7)
UNEARTH: strip the clothing (i.e. the outer letters) from a relative who is your dad’s sister and add the heavenly body on which we all live.

20a Figure from Oz partied wildly (9)
TRAPEZOID: an anagram (wildly) of OZ PARTIED.

21a Skip using leg splint, on reflection wrongly removed (5)
CAPER: start with ‘calliper’ (a type of metal splint fitted to a leg to provide support) then remove an adverb meaning wrongly (as in ‘it *** becomes you to criticize others’) which is reversed (on reflection).

22a Free publication (7)
RELEASE: double definition, the first a transitive verb.

23a Outside American university scour ground to find husky (7)
RAUCOUS: outside abbreviations for American and university we need an anagram (ground) of SCOUR.

24a Learned name adopted by endlessly brave, fearless person (11)
DREADNOUGHT: a verb meaning learned (from books?) and the abbreviation for name are contained (adopted) inside an adjective meaning brave and persistent (doughty) without its last letter (endlessly). We’re more likely to see the answer as a type of battleship.

Down Clues

1d Alarms papers raised ahead of PM boarding ship (7)
DISMAYS: reverse (raised, in a down clue) an abbreviation for papers used to prove who you are and add the surname of PM Theresa inside (boarding) our usual abbreviated ship.

2d Interference in love lives maiden virtually admits (5)
NOISE: there’s some Yoda-speak here – a word, from French, identifying a married woman’s maiden name loses its last letter (virtually) and contains (admits) the zero-resembling letter and a verb meaning lives or exists.

3d Bird, one returning to eat Charlie’s salad plant (7)
ICEBERG: stick together a diving waterbird (grebe) and the Roman one. Now reverse that (returning) and insert (to eat) the letter that Charlie represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet.

4d Reeves perhaps succeeded restricting debt, being brutal (7)
VICIOUS: the forename of comedian Reeves (the comedy partner of the very entertaining Bob Mortimer) and the genealogical abbreviation for succeeded contain (restricting) our usual abbreviation for the acknowledgement of a debt.

5d Major’s wife tells untruths, it’s said to become regular (9)
NORMALIZE or NORMALISE: John Major’s wife’s name (in his fictional diaries in Private Eye he always got her name confused with that of his chancellor Norman Lamont) followed by a homophone (it’s said) of a verb meaning ‘tells untruths’.  I’m not sure if his wife told untruths but Major himself was wont to say ‘I’m just popping out for a Hot Curry!’.

6d Crazy singer overlooked by current bank (7)
INCLINE: the surname of singer Patsy who sang Crazy is preceded (overlooked, in a down clue) by an adjective meaning current or fashionable.

7d Teacher, you heard, clad in Elizabethan garb married Daisy (11)
HOUSEMASTER: the letter that sounds like ‘you’ is contained (clad) in a word for breeches in Tudor times (as in ‘doublet and hose’). Add the abbreviation for married and a plant like a daisy.

9d Sister’s upset with what clothing items? (5-6)
SWEAT-SHIRTS: an anagram (upset) of SISTER’S WHAT.

13d Curse awful rat epidemic I’d eliminated (9)
IMPRECATE: an anagram (awful) of RAT EP[id]EMIC after the I’D has been eliminated.

16d Was slow in ultimately changing England batsman (7)
CRAWLED: the England batsman is Zak Crawley; we just need to change the ultimate letter of his surname.

17d Move on from Dundee Corporation, heading north (7)
PROCEED: hidden (from) in the clue and reversed (heading north, in a down clue).

18d Suffer collapse when cycling (7)
UNDERGO: cycle the last two letters of the answer to the front to get a phrasal verb (2,5) meaning collapse.

19d Sympathy with criminal charge Left is backing (7)
RAPPORT: start with a (North American) informal word for a criminal charge which is backed, i.e. followed, by the word for the left side of a ship.

21d Needing breather after core of reactor gets stuck (5)
CLUNG: we need a bodily organ which breathes after the central (core) letter of reactor.