Toughie 1029

Toughie No 1029 by Notabilis

Old English Heritage

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

A proper Toughie from one of the masters of the genre. One or two of this week’s Toughie setters could well look at this puzzle and learn how it ought to be done.

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Across

1a    Laws should be clear on beef that’s been processed (11)
{ENFORCEABLE} – an anagram (that’s been processed) of CLEAR ON BEEF

9a    Art deserving sincerity? (7)
{EARNEST} – an old-fashioned way of saying “is deserving”, as in thou art deserving

10a    Rodent brought back by feline and ovine males (6)
{MARMOT} – a feline male and an ovine male all reversed

12a    Writers this writer’s absorbed (7)
{PENSIVE} – some writing implements followed by “this writer (the setter) has”

13a    In hindsight, old priest’s clear about stretching (7)
{TENSILE} – the reversal (in hindsight} of an Old testament priest, the S from ‘S and an adjective meaning clear of all deductions

14a    Concerned with knight, backed one who’s upstanding (5)
{RISER} – a two-letter word meaning concerned with or about followed by the title afforded to a knight, all reversed (backed) gives someone who stands up (is upstanding)

15a    Type of wave going round beam, towards item on mosque floor? (6,3)
{PRAYER MAT} – a long-lasting artificial wave in hair around a beam and followed by a two-letter word meaning towards

17a    Dealt to cover withdrawal of LSD, given drug treatment (9)
{MEDICATED} – a verb meaning dealt or distributed around the reversal (withdrawal) of another word for the drug LSD

20a    Old English masking even parts of proper word organiser (5)
{ROGET} – start with a five-letter word meaning proper or correct and replace the even letters with O(ld) and E(nglish) to get the compiler of an organised list of words

22a    Keeps being coquettish, dropping head and turning part of face (7)
{NOSTRIL} – start with a phrasal verb meaning keeps being coquettish (6,2), drop the initial letter (head) and reverse (turning) what’s left

24a    One makes a little piercing cry about political reformist (7)
{BRADAWL} – a cry around the three-letter abbreviation for a political reformist

25a    Take on politician left over among the once rejected (6)
{EMPLOY} – the usual politician followed by L(eft) and O(ver) all inside (among) the reversal (rejected) of the old-fashioned definite article (the once)

26a    Time ran out for old clothing (7)
{RAIMENT} – an anagram (out) of TIME RAN

27a    New Mexico article leading to rows in American state not applying to butcher people? (11)
{UNMANLINESS} – the abbreviation for New Mexico followed by the two-letter indefinite article and some rows all inside the two-letter abbreviation for American gives a quality (state) that does not apply to people who are more butch

Down

2d    Once called doctor to nurse that is worse off (7)
{NEEDIER} – a three-letter word meaning the name by which a women was once called before marriage followed by the abbreviation of D(octo)R around (to nurse) the Latin abbreviation for that is

3d    Seen in front, he’s potentially ideally placed? (2,3,4)
{ON THE SPOT} – a hidden phrase (seen in) that Virgilius would have been proud to have conceived

4d    Briefly wake space traveller (5)
{COMET} – most of (briefly) a phrasal verb meaning to wake (4,2)

5d    Order phoned in live (7)
{ARRANGE} – a verb meaning phoned inside one meaning to live

6d    Touch of love denied Bottom, taken by weaver as a form of discrimination (7)
{LOOKISM} – a touch of the lips without (denied) its final letter (bottom) inside a machine that weaves cloth – a delightful allusion to Nick Bottom, the weaver in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

7d    Nature of allure surrounding stage crew? (11)
{TEMPERAMENT} – a verb meaning to allure around (surrounding) a stage or period of time and the crew of, say, a ship

8d    Greek god flipped choice between male heir and king (6)
{KRONOS} – the reversal (flipped) of a choice between a male heir and a K(ing) (3,2,1)

11d    Male school group allowed to stop the versatile sportsperson (11)
{HEPTATHLETE} – the male pronoun followed by a group of parents and teachers at a school followed by a verb meaning allowed or permitted inside (to stop) THE

16d    Banal read edited for Star (9)
{ALDEBARAN} – an anagram (edited) of BANAL READ

18d    They have rubbish jobs, shifting smut in Home Office (7)
{DUSTMEN} – an anagram (shifting) of SMUT inside a small home office

ARVE error: need id and provider

19d    Set of petals and crumbs on Iberian dish (7)
{COROLLA} – an interjection meaning crumbs! followed by an Iberian savoury dish of different sorts of meat and vegetables

20d    Spending money on a stamp succeeded (7)
{READIES} – a two-letter word meaning on or about followed by a stamp for impressing coins and S(ucceeded)

21d    A lot of China is grand — enjoyed the rest? (6)
{GLAZED} – G(rand) followed by a verb meaning enjoyed resting

23d    Firm metallic combination has aluminium kept at lowest level (5)
{LOYAL} – an adjective meaning firm or faithful is derived from a combination of two or more metallic elements with the chemical symbol for aluminium moved to the end (kept at lowest level)

The blue marker was out in force today!