Toughie No 1026 by Excalibur
Problems on the Green?
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment **
This is unmistakeably an Excalibur puzzle, i.e. it’s pretty quirky. Even for a Tuesday I think it’s a pretty easy Toughie, so I’ll be surprised if the hints are in great demand.
Do let us know how you got on and please rate the puzzle for entertainment by clicking on one of the stars below.
Across Clues
1a Bad short game — disgusting (3-7)
{OFF-PUTTING} – an adjective meaning bad or rotten is followed by what golfers refer to as their short game, i.e. their play on the green.
9a To which you go married, coming back single. Right? (4)
{RENO} – semi-all-in-one. This is a city in Nevada once known as the divorce capital of the USA for the speed with which you could get unhitched there. Reverse (coming back) a word for single and R(ight). I do like Zsa Zsa Gabor’s quote: ‘I’m an excellent housekeeper. Every time I get a divorce I keep the house.’
10a Deny agreement I’d entered being overturned (10)
{CONTRADICT} – an agreement contains I’D reversed.
11a Had list within; left out name of two English kings (6)
{HAROLD} – HAD with a list or register inside but with one L(eft) omitted.
12a Puts down under ‘Membership fees’ (7)
{SUBDUES} – a charade of a prefix meaning under and membership fees.
15a Expand passage through mountain (7)
{BROADEN} – a passage or route goes inside a Scottish mountain.
16a Runs scared, finally lost ground (5)
{RACES} – an anagram (ground) of SCARE(d) with the final letter lost.
17a So half beer imbibed is singularly bitter (4)
{ALOE} – ‘singularly bitter’ because this bitter drug is more usually seen in the plural. Half of the word SO goes inside (imbibed) a type of beer. A trademark Excalibur yoda-like clue.
18a Tells of year in military force (4)
{SAYS} – insert Y(ear) in one of our ‘special’ military forces.
19a Shows devotion in point to points (5)
{DOTES} – a point or spot is followed by two cardinal points.
21a Fed up, turned myself in, showing weakness (7)
{DEMERIT} – an adjective meaning fed up or exhausted is reversed (turned) and how the setter would refer to herself goes in it.
22a When a duet’s played at Haydn Centre (7)
{TUESDAY} – I believe that there is a Haydn Centre in the city of Eisenstadt where he was born but I don’t know if a duet is played there on this day. It’s an anagram (played) of A DUET’S followed by the central letter of (Ha)Y(dn).
24a Tried to amend early overstatements (6)
{STROVE} – an anagram (to amend) of the early letters of OVERST(atements).
27a Hauled off to be executed (7,3)
{CARRIED OUT} – double definition.
28a Certainly lost in action (4)
{DEED} – start with an interjection expressing agreement (certainly!) and drop the IN.
29a Cruel business in which workers realised their worth (5,5)
{SLAVE TRADE} – cryptic definition of the cruel business that some of our ancestors took part in, involving the sale of workers to the highest bidder.
Down Clues
2d Board with party of climbers (4)
{FOOD} – a charade of a festive party and OF, all reversed (climbers).
3d Stoned, made a match (6)
{PITTED} – double definition, the second meaning matched two individuals or teams against each other in a contest.
4d Every term that comes round is interminable for one (7)
{TEACHER} – I am sure that some of these must enjoy their work but this particular one apparently doesn’t. A synonym for every has TER(m) without its terminating letter put around it.
5d Plant from the Emerald Isle hard to remove (4)
{IRIS} – remove the H(ard) from an adjective describing someone or something from the Emerald Isle.
6d Understands, putting arms round the female (7)
{GATHERS} – an informal (mainly US) word for handguns (but actually the abbreviation for types of machinegun) contains a feminine pronoun.
7d Applause for encore? It’s old (6-4)
{SECOND-HAND} – double definition, the first a cryptic description of what a performer doing an encore may get at the end.
8d ‘How astonishing,’ one thinks (3,4,3)
{YOU DON’T SAY} – a reply expressing astonishment could also indicate that one is thinking something but not putting it into words.
12d And, when tide’s about to turn, resign (5,5)
{STAND ASIDE} – AND (from the clue) and a synonym of when with TIDE’S around (about) but with the last letter moved to the front (to turn).
13d It shows what stage you’ve got to in your romance (10)
{BOOKMARKER} – cryptic definition – it could go in a romance or in any other literary genre. This word is more often seen without the last two letters.
14d In recollection to erstwhile students, you put your foot in it (5)
{SABOT} – reverse (in recollection) TO (from the clue) and one-time university students who have successfully graduated.
15d Said to cover up and get head protection (5)
{BERET} – this sounds like a verb to cover up or hide underground. Does it? Not to me.
19d Orders harsh cuts unionist rejected (7)
{DIRECTS} – an adjective meaning harsh or grave is followed by C(u)TS from which the abbreviation for unionist has been expelled.
20d Incident in the east — mistakenly is sure to insert ‘north’ (7)
{SUNRISE} – an anagram (mistakenly) of IS SURE gets N(orth) inserted.
23d Poster: last in first half of series (6)
{SENDER} – a synonym for last or conclusion goes inside the first three letters of series.
25d Motorists taking in eastern state air (4)
{ARIA} – conventionally in crosswords motoring organisations are known as ‘drivers’ or ‘motorists’. Insert the standard abbreviation for a small state in the eastern USA.
26d Back having a ball day after (4)
{FUND} – a word for enjoyment (having a ball) followed by D(ay).
The clues I liked best were 9a and 29a. How about you?
I really enjoyed this. Several clues stand out…1A, 9A, 13D, 14D, 20D. Lovely stuff. Many thanks to Excalibur and to Gazza for the review. Loved the billboard in 9A!
I’m sorry but there’s no way 15d works as a homophone, other than that a straightforward solve favourite 13d thanks to Excalibur and to Gazza.
Oh, I don’t know. My old dad wore one and always pronounced it that way.
Maybe a Lloyd Grossman type of pronunciation??
Every clue a delight to solve. A belter of a crossword. I particularly loved 9 and 12 across and 13d. Don’t understand the ‘yoda-like’ comment about 17a. It seems to me like a standard construction.
A normal construction would be: x contains y to give z.
Excalibur often does it as: y, x contains (it) to give z.
So, whereas we might use a sentence like ‘I eat bran for breakfast’, Excalibur (or Yoda) might deliver this as ‘Bran I eat for breakfast’.
15d only makes sense if you also pronounce the word that coal is delivered in as being “sex” and that “nets” are are not something your Nan put up at the windows but are a food source.
Very gentle but enjoyable crossword. Thanks to Excalibur and to Gazza for the hints.
I have solved 7 cryptic crosswords today and apart from a fairl.y impenetrable Alchemi, the testing of which is proving testing (sorry), this Toughie took me the longest time of all to sort out, especially the SW corner which gave me considerable grief. 4*/1* for me.
Aloe, Aloe, Aloe! What’s going on ‘ere then?
Excalibur doesn’t seem to be very popular with the Bloggers.
I enjoyed it … Thanks to Excalibur.
Excalibur isn’t popular with some of the bloggers. She’s OK by this ex-blogger. Remember why I resigned?
Thanks to Excalibur and to Gazza for the review and hints. Very difficult, could only solve 14 before resorting to the hints. I just don’t get Excalibur, can’t get on the right wavelength.
CS puts me to shame – have only managed 6 crosswords today! Not sure which took me the longest but probably either this or the FT (although I didn’t get one in the Grauniad but had never heard of it when I checked on 225). I enjoyed this puzzle very much, particularly, as one of these, 4d, although I’ve only ever felt this way about the first term which does drag on – bring on the 4 term academic year!
We really enjoyed this one and found it about average difficulty for a Toughie. We did wince a bit at the homophone in 15d but did grin as well, noting “There’ll be comments”. The NW corner (where we normally like to start) was the last to yield today.
Thanks Excalibur and Gazza.
Excalibur does seem to divide people. I agree with CrypticSue about the toughness of this – one of the toughest Excalibur’s I can remember, but I rather enjoyed it. 2d, 4d and 28a are excellent clues. Having said that – 8d really doesn’t work for me and 15d is one of the dodgiest homophones we’ve had in ages – it relies on both elements being pronounced as “berry”, when in fact there are common alternatives for both – especially the hat, which only Expat Chris’s and my dad pronounced like that!
But thanks to Excalibur, and also to Gazza.
Forgot to say thanks to Excalibur and Gazza. Thanks
re 15d I saw the homophone as a word meaning to inter, cover up. As usual I will be wrong of course. Thanks to Excalibur and Gazza
… but most people don’t pronounce bury and beret the same.
They do in East Anglia, maybe not in Devon but hey ho
I’m not belittling you, andy. I’ve genuinely never heard beret pronounced other than in the French fashion. The differences in national and regional pronunciation are why some people don’t like homophone-type clues at all.
My parents and grandparents pronounced it “berry”, they were all from London except my Gran, who came from Starcross in Devon.
Thank you Gazza, I’ve lived and worked in so many countries I’m with those that struggle with homophones, mea culpa
Berry. That’s how my father pronounced it, and he was Gloucestershire born and bred. He left school at 14 to work to help his family out, so maybe not as well educated as some and therefore not aware it was a French word. He wouldn’t have given a toss if he were aware. And good for him.
Where I come from the town BURY is pronounced BURRY and the hat pronounced BERRY. Homophones are not my favourite type of clue!
Confess to raising an eyebrow (part of my rather limited exercise regime) at 15d but then like Andy thought of how it would be peonounced locally and it would probably be “berry” .
I agree with CS and Halcyon re difficulty as I was held up in the SW where I thought the clues “weaker” or perhaps I was thicker .Enjoyed it generally though .
Thanks to Excalibur andto Gazza .