Toughie 438

Toughie No 438 by Osmosis

Hints and tips by Tilsit

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

Greetings from Calderdale’s Finest NHS Facility, where I have been holidaying since last Friday’s blog. As usual with the Toughie, the Friday puzzle is the toughest of the week and with Osmosis, it’s usually one of the toughest of all. However, one or two clues today left me a bit cold, and seemed forced rather than O’s normal excellent surface reading. In addition there were a couple where the clue was forced to produce a good surface reading, which spoils the enjoyment for me. That turned the puzzle into a bit of a slog and I was relieved rather than satisfied after solving it.

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Across (by Tilsit)

7a    Fluttering, one chirps, soft to loud? (9)
{ROSEFINCH} An “all-in-one” clue to start with today. It’s an anagram (indicated by fluttering) of ‘one chirps’, but with the ‘p’ swapped for an ‘f’ (soft to loud). The whole clue then leads you to think that you are looking for a bird, and sure enough there’s one revealed by unscrambling the letters. This wasn’t a bird I had heard of. A couple of weeks back, contestants on the quiz show Pointless had to name native British finches and this wasn’t one of them. Good clue, though….

8a    Burns evident, with afternoon temperature somewhere around 34º (5)
{RABAT} … although this less so. I’m puzzled by the use of evident, an adjective meaning “clear, obvious etc.”. Shouldn’t it be evidently? I assume Burns refers to Robert, the poet, although a check with Scottish friends reveals he is not normally known as “RAB”, although the diminutive “Rabbie” is widely-known. Thus I think our setter is saying it must be obvious that Burns would be called this. Add to this A (afternoon) and T (temperature) and you’ll get a place that’s 34º north of the Equator.

It looks like a day of long explanations…..

10a    Channel surfer heads for the esplanade, after more waves (6)
{REMOTE} Does the TV gadget surf channels or is it the person who uses it? After an anagram (indicated by waves) of more, add TE (heads, i.e. first letters of The Esplanade)

11a    Escort stand turning where old cars exhibited (8)
{BEAULIEU} A word sum. Escort (BEAU ) + stand (LIE, as in golf) + U (turning. Is there such a thing as a U turning? U turn yes, not sure about turning, though.

12a    Chauvinistic individual when between the sheets (6)
{BIASED) Individual (I) + when (AS) when it is “between the sheets”, i.e. IN BED. Very subtle, not sure all will appreciate that even when explained. Chauvinistic is the definition.

14a    ‘Age varies in controlled accommodation’, boss of 50 states (6)
{REAGAN} Shurely former boss of 50 states. I’m not keen on “quote” clues, following their over (mis)use by another setter; to me it’s lazy setting no matter how nice the surface reading is, Sorry, don’t like this one at all. An anagram (indicated by varies) of AGE inside RAN (controlled).

16a    Chubby swimmer given 500-1? (4)
{DACE} Back to more amusing territory. There’s an old joke:-

Q What’s brown and sticky? A: A stick. So what swims and is chubby?……

The Roman Numeral for 500 is added to ACE (1) to give a fish that’s a member of the aforementioned family.

17a    Refuse centre in resort accepts any rubbish (3,2)
{SAY NO} SO (centre in resort) has an anagram (indicated by rubbish) of ANY to give a two word phrase meaning to refuse or deny.

18a    Formula often backfires, picking out horse (4)
{FOAL} A hidden reversal. Hidden, going backwards in “Formula often” is the name for a horse.

19a    Roofman perhaps sells back one that’s missing (6)
{SLATER} The name for someone who works on a roof can be found by taking a word meaning “sells” and reversing it and removing I.

21a    Potter, Whirlwind (taking frame), in lead for a change (6)
{DAWDLE} Nothing to do with J White of the green baize and embarrassing hair transplant adverts. WD (the “frame”, outer letters, of whirlwind) goes inside an anagram (indicated by for a change) of LEAD. Nice clue.

24a    Male cook worked here in Italy (4,4)
{LAKE COMO} An anagram of MALE COOK leads you to this beautiful location in Italy, the deepest lake in Europe and home to one of the memorable finals of Jeux Sans Frontieres.

Which allows me to play this, albeit from a French heat, but it’s so hysterically funny….

ARVE Error: need id and provider

26a    Parrot caged amongst others — name: Kevin (6)
{KEEGAN} Listener Crossword Solvers have a head start on this one. One of the finest setters of the crossword in recent years is named after a New Zealand parrot and it makes an appearance here. Inside the aforementioned avian, add E.G. (amongst others) and after it place N (for Name) and you’ll get a well known soccer player and underachieving manager with the forename Kevin.

27a    One unwilling to chase back in games? (5)
{SLOTH} A sort of all-in-one clue. S = Back in gameS and then add LOTH (unwilling) to get the name for a lazy person.

28a    Vocal prompt to errant surgeon treating patient that’s put to sleep? (9)
{HYPNOTISE} I’m sure this must have seemed a good clue on the drawing board, but when written down it just doesn’t work for me. It asks us to believe that a vocal prompt for a wayward surgeon would be “HIP, NOT EYES”? It sounds as though the definition “put to sleep” was agreed and the rest of the clue hammered to provide surface reading.

Down (by Big Dave)

1d    Bike lay idle (5)
{MOPED} – Jasper Carrot’s funky bike can also mean lay idle

ARVE Error: need id and provider

2d    Blondie’s agent for each song obtains unknown bit of income (8)
{PEROXIDE} – Tilsit and I agree that “Blondie’s agent?” would have been a really nice clue – put a word meaning each and a song or poem around (obtains) an unknown quantity and I (bit of Income)

3d    Repellent master circles compound for ages (6)
{RIPENS} – put a schoolmaster reversed (repellent) around (circles) a compound or enclosure to get a word meaning ages or matures

4d    Electronic payment system set up for blackleg (4)
{SCAB} – reverse (set up) what was formerly the Bankers’ Automated Clearing Services, now known only by its acronym, to get a blackleg

5d    Perennial trouble experienced in retirement (6)
{DAHLIA} – to get this perennial reverse (in retirement) synonyms of to trouble and experienced

6d    PM – not working. AM — acting with new film crew member (9)
{CAMERAMAN} – take the name of the current Prime Minister, drop the final ON (not on / working)

9d    Pair of hands, all fingers and thumbs, grab outside of red mullet? (6)
{HAIRDO} – take the first two letters (pair of) HA(nds), add the number of fingers and thumbs and put it around (grab) the outside letters of R(E)D to get something of which a mullet is an example – Chambers wonderful definition is “A hairstyle that is short at the front, long at the back, and ridiculous all round”

13d    Perhaps antiperspirant commercial features Arcadian spirit (5)
{DRYAD} – split as (3,2) this Arcadian spirit could be an antiperspirant commercial

15d    Plastic label woven into man’s clothing (9)
{MALLEABLE} – a word meaning plastic or supple is generated from an anagram (woven) of LABEL with a man outside (clothing)

17d    Pretty face to strike gold, marrying shy aristocrat (4,2)
{SORT OF) – a phrasal adverb meaning pretty or rather comes from the first letter (face) of S(trike) followed by the heraldic term for gold then (marrying) an aristocrat without (shy) the final letter

18d    Latest outbursts impede scaling of vocalist (8)
{FALSETTO} – an anagram (outbursts) of LATEST inside (impede) OF reversed (scaling) to get a vocalist with a range or register above its natural one

20d    One comparatively drunk throws up terribly, emptying an amount here (6)
{TWENTY} – the expression alluded to here is “pissed as a ****” – reverse the subject of Ken Livingstone’s hobby and add the outside letters of T(erribl)Y (emptying) to get an amount that is also the number of this clue (here)

22d    Operative runs declining place in south-east (6)
{WOKING} – take a word meaning in operation and remove the R (runs declining) to get a place in south-east England

23d    Slip, fall to ground, pass out (5)
{LAPSE} – a slip is constructed from a word meaning to fall to the ground by removing the COL (pass) from the beginning

25d    Steer around tracks, seeking African creature (4)
{ORYX} – put another name for a steer (male cattle) around the abbreviation for the tracks that a train runs on to get an African antelope

I struggled with this in the early hours of the morning and, after using three hints, was the first to complete – at the time of writing only 10 more have achieved that feat (at least two of these are regular readers of the blog and a third is the CluedUp subscriber who has turned cheating on the site into an art form – and he needed four hints to achieve his “time” of 11minutess 37 seconds), a figure that will, no doubt, soar after this blog is published.

I thought that the grid was atrocious and should have been buried without trace many years ago, and some of the clues, especially the truly dreadful 28 across, should have been rewritten before publication. Clues like 8 across where the checking letters are ?A?A? (Chambers has 179 matches, none of which is the answer) deserve a clue which has at the least a decent definition and at best good wordplay.

Please note that this review contains the personal views of Tilsit and myself.  BD