Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Toughie No 781 by Petitjean

Hints and Tips by Bufo

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

I found this to be a puzzle that was enjoyable even though I struggled with it throughout. The design of the grid means that the puzzle is effectively four minipuzzles linked by the four 3-letter words in the centre. I did these minipuzzles in the order NW/SW/SE/NE and none of them were easy. Perhaps I haven’t yet got back into gear having had a week off last week.

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Across

1a           Bury is put first — and second! — of towns to be out of work (3,2,4)
{LAY TO REST} ‘To bury’ = ‘to put’ + the first and second letters of TOwns + ‘to be out of work’

9a           Out of keeping to get away with clue (3-3)
{OFF-KEY} ‘Out of keeping’ = ‘to get away’ + ‘clue’

10a        Prize mongrel male dog chewing ends of lead (4,5)
{GOLD MEDAL} A prize given to winners = an anagram (mongrel) of MALE DOG round the first and last letters of LeaD

11a        Wordplay deemed expert (6)
{PUNDIT} A play on words + a word (from the French) for ‘deemed’ = an expert

12a        Pain getting to grips with weird musical intro playing chords (9)
{STRUMMING} A pain goes round ‘weird’ and the first letter of Musical to give ‘playing chords’

13a        Mushroom in stove; finish off side dish (6)
{AGARIC} A mushroom = a type of stove + a side dish with the last letter removed

17a        Get boomerangs for one-year-old (3)
{TEG} A reversal of GET gives a sheep in its second year

19a        Restaurant’s tax reviewed with half of earnings disguised (7)
{TAVERNA} A Greek restaurant = a reversal (reviewed) of a type of tax + an anagram (disguised) of EARN (half of earnings)

20a        Fiery genius collapsed outside ring (7)
{IGNEOUS} ‘Fiery’ is an anagram (collapsed) of GENIUS round O (ring)

21a        Double back? (3)
{BET} This could be a double (money staked on two horses) and also means ‘to back ( or stake money)’

23a        Retired copper in birthday suit, wanting date, gets hot for palace worker (6)
{EUNUCH} A reversal of the atomic symbol for copper and ‘in birthday suit’ with the letter D (date) omitted goes before H (hot) to give someone who could be a worker in a palace

27a        Question mild being pleasant to drink in large quantities (9)
{QUAFFABLE} An abbreviation for ‘question’ + ‘mild’ = ‘pleasant to drink in large quantities’

28a        Total mistrust way off commonplace (6)
{TRUISM} An anagram (total) of MISTRU (mistrust with ST (street) removed) gives a commonplace. I’m not convinced by ‘total’ as an anagram indicator

29a        Charlie the Rolling Stone penning Devil: The Ultimate In Cool (9)
{SIMPLETON} This is nothing to do with Charlie Watts. A charlie = an anagram (rolling) of STONE round a devil and L (last letter of cooL)

30a        Feisty female is absolute cracker with no heart but close to perfection (6)
{AMAZON} A feisty female = A (absolute) + a cracker eaten during Passover with the middle letter removed + N (last letter of perfectioN)

31a        Impatience shown in sampling single half of the black stuff (9)
{TESTINESS} ‘Impatience’ = a sampling + the second half (last 4 letters) of a drink referred to as the black stuff

Down

2d           A soldier secures means of escape for guinea pig (6)
{AGOUTI} A + the abbreviation for an American soldier) goes round a means of escape to give a South American rodent related to the guinea pig

3d           Latin hymn is very close to monotony (2,4)
{TE DEUM} The name of a Latin hymn expressing praise and thanksgiving becomes ‘monotony’ if one letter is changed

4d           Sounds spacious, but cold and damp (6)
{RHEUMY} A homophone of ‘spacious’ = ‘cold and damp’

5d           Good health entails exercises (7)
{SLAINTE} A Gaelic word for ‘Good health!’ used as a drinking toast is an anagram (exercises) of ENTAILS

6d           ‘Brilliant’ — Government source, following essential change in sewage (9)
{EFFULGENT} ‘Take an 8-letter word for sewage and transpose the middle two letters. Put G (Government) after these transposed letters and you get ‘brilliant’

7d           Non-slip surface of skateboard’s child-resistant (9)
{SKIDPROOF} ‘Non-slip’ = S (first letter of Skateboard) + ‘child-resistant’

8d           One’s small show of nerves happens in anticipation of mass delusional belief (9)
{MYSTICISM} One’s (belonging to one) + S (small) + a nervous twitching + ‘happens’ + M (mass) = delusional belief

14d        Desire for transport? (9)
{STREETCAR} Desire is this transport in the title of a Tennessee Williams play

15d        Genial Lulu losing front end in crash with car and van (9)
{AVUNCULAR} ‘Genial’ is an anagram (in crash) of ULU (Lulu minus the first letter) CAR VAN

16d        Topical jokes prevail with one hitting target (5,4)
{CRACK SHOT} ‘Topical’ is preceded by jokes to give an expert marksman

17d        Cost of cigarette (3)
{TAB} 2 meanings: cost (or the bill)/cigarette

18d        Fool ignoring the French official (3)
{GIT} A fool is obtained by removing LE (the French) from the front of a shortened form of a word meaning ‘official’

22d        Learned after end of college improper sexual activity stops (7)
{ERUDITE} ‘Learned’ = E (last letter of collegE) + ‘improper’ round an informal term for sexual intercourse or activity

24d        Could be postman’s indisposed previously to the letter (3,3)
{OFF PAT} The name of a TV postman follows ‘indisposed’ to give ‘to the letter’

25d        Set to Virginia — that’s popular (4,2)
{WADE IN} ‘To set to’ = the surname of a former tennis player called Virginia + ‘popular’

26d        Book is imminent or is already out (6)
{BLOOMS} B (book) + ‘is imminent’ = ‘is already out’

Thanks to Petitjean for an enjoyable puzzle