SOLARIA: remove the second occurrence of the letter resembling zero from what could be a diva’s performance (4,4).Ģ2d Say nothing over one ignoring a hot dish from the East (5) The capital F in the definition is relevant.Ģ0d Nothing missing from diva’s performance, say, in spa rooms (7) PAPACY: charade of an affectionate word for father and an adjective meaning ‘with speed’. Did anyone else, with a few checkers, try to justify ‘wannabee’ at first?ġ8d Father with speed identifying Father’s position (6) UNCEASING: the ultimate letter of theatre goes inside a present participle meaning opening (some luggage, say).ġ7d Consumer wanting their own point accepted by channel (8)ĬANNIBAL: a pointy thing goes inside a watery channel. WHITE-OUT: this sounds like a query about the usefulness of selling (3,4).ġ6d Theatre ultimately invested in opening, not ending (9) GRANDEUR: the regnal ciphers of our previous and present monarchs (2,3,2) containing an abbreviation for university.Ĩd Fix Maine? Little money there to secure it (6)ĬEMENT: the standard abbreviation for Maine is secured inside the small monetary unit in use there.ġ4d Audible comment about pointlessness of selling things in blizzard conditions (5-3) ORGAN: start with a part (and former county) of South Wales and remove the informal adjective meaning alluring.ħd Recent British monarchs touring university in high style (8) TIMOROUS: a verb to pass over or leave out is reversed and that’s followed by a verb to fire or enthuse without its last letter.Ħd The Telegraph, say - not alluring in part of Wales (5) TRIP: a suggestion or hint contains (involving, for the second clue in a row) the abbreviation for Republican.ĥd Afraid, when climbing, to pass over most of fire (8) RECONDITE: a religious practice or ceremony contains a supporter or backer without the first letter.Ĥd Go over suggestion to involve Republican (4) WHACK: an uncomplimentary word for a reporter follows the starting letter of week-long.ģd Arcane religious practice involving supporter, not leader (9) PLASTIC: insert a verb to stay or endure into a shot or snap.Ģd Reporter attending start of week-long strike (5) VIOLA DA GAMBA: knit together a female Shakespearean character and a Portuguese explorer (2,4) containing the abbreviation for black to get a musical instrument resembling a cello. HANDEL: split the composer 1,3,2 to understand the wordplay.Ģ6a Suit line adopted by boys in uniform (5)ĬLUBS: the abbreviation for line is inserted in junior members of a youth organisation.Ģ7a Stone used in wall, say, in brief (9)īARRISTER: the abbreviation for a stone (14lb) inserted in what a wall is an example of.Ģ8a Shakespeare character, explorer carrying black instrument (5,2,5) PLEASANT: a verb to long contains a restraint without its final H.Ģ3a Composer giving us a lot of hell? (6) ICARUS: reverse a verb to fit or match without its final letter around a word for the passenger compartment of an airship.Ģ1a Long to suppress most of restraint? That’ll be nice (8) PRICE TAG: a self-righteous moral type contains the reversal of A and an informal word for a detective.ġ9a Flier, not fully fit, seen returning around part of airship (6) PURULENT: a verb to make a bet contains a synonym of regulation.ġ8a Moral type keeping a detective back - what’s the cost? (5,3)
ORDNANCE: the abbreviation for rank-and-file soldiers and a verb to caper containing the chess abbreviation for knight.ġ3a Farm animal that is eating river shellfish (6)ĬOWRIE: a farm animal and the abbreviation for ‘that is’ containing the abbreviation for river.ġ5a Make a bet about regulation regarding discharge (8) TAKING: a royal person follows a short word of thanks.ġ2a Soldiers caper, stealing knight’s weapons (8) GORGE: stick together a try or attempt and a verb to storm and delete the first letter of ‘anything’.ġ1a Attractive Royal appearing after cheers (6) POWER STATION: a semi-all-in-one clue where the answer is an anagram (wrongly seen as) of POOR IN WATTS containing the abbreviation for energy.ĩa An old word, failing to capture a disorder (9)ĪNARCHISM: start with AN and a term for an old word and remove an A.ġ0a Try anything, initially, to escape storm in valley (5) Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.ġa This would be wrongly seen as poor in watts, without energy (5,7)
A lot of the clues did seem rather ‘samey’ and 17 out of the 30 clues require us to insert or delete a single letter. I made harder work of this than I should have (which I put down to watching the Olympics at the same time as solving). Toughie No 2687 by Kcit Hints and tips by GazzaīD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **/***