Toughie No 683 by Messinae
Easy Solving
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Messinae entertains us today with a fairly easy but enjoyable puzzle.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
Across
1a Black dogs — they’re seen all over the world (3-7)
{JET-SETTERS} – a charade of a black variety of lignite and some dogs gives these people who travel widely and frequently for pleasure
6a River following round German domain (4)
{ODER} – put R(iver) after O (round) and the German internet domain, then read this &Lit clue again to get this river of central Europe that forms the northern part of the border between Poland and Germany
9a Plunders castles (5)
{ROOKS} – a double definition – plunders or cheats and castles in chess
10a Nature worshipper has trousers finally taken by robbery (9)
{PANTHEIST} – this nature worshipper (strictly speaking one who worships all gods) is a charade of some trousers without the final S (finally taken) and a robbery, especially a particularly clever or spectacular theft
12a Civil reserves brought out – one’s waited for this (6,7)
{SILVER SERVICE} – an anagram (brought out) of CIVIL RESERVES gives a method of serving food in restaurants in which the waiter uses a spoon and fork held in one hand to transfer food from the serving dish to the diners’ plates
14a Heartless game breaking in to say prayers (8)
{EVENSONG} – drop the middle I (heartless) from the meat of a wild animal hunted for sport (game) and put it inside the Latin for say or for example to get this church service
15a Ancient tax from charity fundraiser (6)
{GELDOF} – a tax paid by landholders to the crown in late Anglo-Saxon and Norman times is followed by a preposition meaning from to get the charity fundraiser associated with Band Aid and Live Aid
17a Paints run in starting lines (6)
{OCHRES} – to get these paints manufactured from native pigments which are composed of fine clay and an iron oxide put R(un) inside the starting lines for games of darts
19a Enticing one to take a personal problem in hand (8)
{LABOURER} – put someone who entices around A from the clue and a personal hygiene problem to get a hand or manual worker
21a Mediaeval punishments — something to chew over by royal lackeys (7,6)
{DUCKING STOOLS} – these Mediaeval punishments are created by reversing (over) something to chew and following it with a royal and some lackeys
24a Sectarian to move freely in Arab country (9)
{ORANGEMAN} – to get this Irish sectarian put a verb meaning to move about freely inside an Arab country
25a Juliet’s after this land (5)
{INDIA} – … in the NATO phonetic alphabet
26a It’s said to exercise sheep (4)
{EWES} – this word meaning to exercise sounds like some female sheep
27a Those on bridge perhaps as the fleet is scuttled (5,5)
{FALSE TEETH} – these may be found on a dental bridge – they are an anagram (scuttled) of AS THE FLEET
Down
1d Method of rigging judging panel (4)
{JURY} – a double definition – a method of temporary rigging for a boat and a committee of adjudicators
2d Little piggy that is following blows (7)
{TOOTSIE} – this little piggy is the kind that went to market! – put the Latin for that is after some blows on a horn
3d Any Genesis lit up Radio 2’s output (4,9)
{EASY LISTENING} – an fairly obvious anagram of ANY GENESIS LIT gives a description of Radio 2’s output, but I’m not too keen on “up” as an anagram indicator
4d Something fishy about political course — it’s almost worthless (8)
{TUPPENNY} – put a type of fish around a university course in politics to get a very cheap price (less than 1p in decimal currency!)
5d Olympic symbol is resounding (5)
{RINGS} – a double definition – the Olympic symbol and a word meaning is resounding
7d Dared to restrain one idolised (7)
{DEIFIED} – put a verb meaning dared or challenged around I (one) to get one meaning idolised
8d Physicist’s tedious routine with woman’s car (10)
{RUTHERFORD} – this New Zealander is regarded as the founder of nuclear physics – you get him from a charade of a tedious routine, the femal possessive pronoun (woman’s) and a make of car
11d Tho’ reptiles go writhing, he’ll study them (13)
{HERPETOLOGIST} – an anagram (writhing) of THO REPTILES GO gives someone who studies reptiles
13d Who’ll get silver for holiday place? (6,4)
{SECOND HOME} – a double definition – a description of the winner of the silver medal and a house used mainly for holidays
16d Unfortunate knights beheaded as battle was fought here (8)
{HASTINGS} – an anagram (unfortunate) of (K)NIGHTS without the initial letter (beheaded) and AS gives the site of a famous battle
18d What replaced the acre? (7)
{HECTARE} – an anagram (replaced) of THE ACRE gives a metric unit of area, equivalent to about 2.471 acres
20d Those left to live outside University (7)
{RESIDUE} – what is left behind is created by putting a verb meaning to live somewhere around (outside) U(niversity)
22d School master gives poor mark (5)
{GAMMA} – a collective noun for a school of whales followed my a master’s degree gives a poor, or third grade, mark in an exam
23d Two mums prepare potatoes (4)
{MASH} – combine mum (mother) with mum (quiet) to get a word meaning to prepare potatoes
ARVE Error: need id and provider |
A very pleasant puzzle for a Tuesday.
I thought this was the perfect Toughie for a Tuesday – very enjoyable with lots of lovely d’oh moments, including, for me anyway, 15a. Thanks to Messinae for a nice start to the Toughie week and to BD for the nice illustrated explanations.
Agree with CS above!
Thanks to Messinae and to BD.
15a my last in,D’oh indeed. Very pleasant solve. Thanks Messinae and BD
Thanks to Messinae and to BD, a fun puzzle, not too difficult and very enjoyable, and an excellent review.
Thoroughly enjoyable start to the Toughie week some lovely double definitions favourites were 15a 13d and 23d thanks to Messinae and to Big Dave for the comments.
Thanks to Messinae, and to BD for the review. 23d made me smile.
27a and 2d were my favourites in a very entertaining and not too difficult (for me) puzzle. Thanks muchly to Messinae and to BD for the review.
Not too difficult but very enjoyable. Rated all the clues except 15 which was last one in. Favourites were 2 8 10 and 13. On the whole a really good workout.
Many thanks to Messinae for the crossword and to BD for the review. Lots of very enjoyable clues so hard to pick a favourite but all over far too quickly.
Thanks to Messinae for the puzzle and to Big Dave for the review & super hints. I don’t venture into Toughieland very often, but was glad I did on this occasion. Felt that it was almost do-able, just needed 6 hints to finish. Favourites were 18d & 27a. The latter made me laugh, as I had an image of clockwork false teeth scuttling round the Conning Tower of a submerging submarine
Thanks to Messinae & BD. 1st time I completed the toughie without hints. 13d & 23d were my favourites.