Toughie No 1070 by Shamus
Who wants to be a crossword solver?
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
This puzzle by Shamus is an excellent start to the Toughie week, and above-average for a Tuesday.
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 Young offender wearing headgear? That’s clear (6)
{LIMPID} – a youg offender or mischievous child inside a three-letter informal word meaning a hat
4a Kim’s hair’s straggling without a brush (8)
{SKIRMISH} – an anagram (straggling) of KIM’S H(A)IR’S without the A
10a Breather with no end of panting by a guy that’s embarrassed (3,2,4)
{ILL AT EASE] – an organ used by a fish in order to breathe without (no) the final letter (end) of pantinG followed by the A from the clue and a verb meaning to guy or make fun of
11a Swarm around — get prepared? (5)
{BESET} – split as (2,3) this could mean to get prepared
12a Mad addict losing head in grip of fool (7)
{BERSERK} – an drug addict without (losing) his initial letter (head) U inside a fool
13a Evidence of a poet with mellow pedigree (7)
{LINEAGE} – part of a verse (evidence of a poet) followed by a verb meaning to mellow
14a Ape with tail moving for all to see — and aquatic rodent (5)
{COYPU} – a verb meaning to ape or imitate with the final letter (tail) moving back one position followed by the classification that indicates a film is fit for all to see
15a Offer comment with a Northern collection of art closed? (8)
{ANNOTATE} – the A from the clue and N(orthern) followed by a phrase (2,4) that indicates a famous art collection is closed
18a In Irish house, return to remove flower (8)
{DAFFODIL} – inside the lower house of the legislature of the Republic of Ireland put the reversal (return) of a verb meaning to remove, as in to remove a cap
20a Auntie’s inspiration‘s floral tribute to be picked up (5)
{REITH} – the name of the man who played a major part (inspiration) in the growth of the BBC (Auntie) sounds like (to be picked up) a floral tribute
23a Fool, one that might be apparent, we hear, with cape (7)
{AIRHEAD} – a word that sounds like (we hear) someone who might be “apparent”, or “presumptive”, followed by a cape or promontory
25a Cricketer dropping first of edges, supported by leader in gully and slip (2,5)
{GO WRONG} – the name of a former English cricketer (the one who once buzzed an England warm-up match with a biplane!) without (dropping) the initial letter (first) of Edges followed by a two-letter word meaning supported by and the initial letter (leader) of Gully
26a Raise army around island (5)
{HOIST} – an army around I(sland)
27a Former holiday period with time travelling west, captured in edited reels (9)
{ERSTWHILE} – start with the holiday period seven weeks after Easter that no longer warrants a bank holiday, move the T(ime) to the left and then insert inside (captured) an anagram (edited) of REELS
28a One indulging in beef, reportedly, and lamb initially is a picture (4,4)
{MONA LISA} – what sounds like (reportedly) someone indulging in a beef or complaint followed by the initial letter of Lamb, IS and A
ARVE Error: need id and provider |
29a Recitation of poet once in coastal city (6)
{SYDNEY} – sounds like (recitation of) the name of a 16th Century poet
Down
1d Relaxed call in effect? (4-4)
{LAID BACK} – this could be an instruction to reverse a verb meaning to call on the telephone
2d Prank interrupting senior minister is nonsense (7)
{MALARKY} – a prank or caper inside the surname of the current Home Secretary
3d Work of thin European expert gets exposed (2,3,4)
{IN THE BUFF} – an anagram (work) of THIN followed by E(uropean) and an expert
5d Lacking degree initially, risk doom telling unstable student of politics abroad (14)
{KREMLINOLOGIST} – an anagram (unstable) of RISK (D)OOM TELLING without (lacking) the initial letter of Degree
6d Cousins, maybe, died with one in service (5)
{ROBIN} – the first name of former skater Cousins is derived by putting an abbreviation for died and I (one) inside the Senior Military Service
7d Popular second quiz presenter not having arrived for the moment (7)
{INSTANT] – a two-letter word meaning popular followed by S(econd) and the name of the quiz presenter best known for inviting people to become millionaires, the latter without (not having) the abbreviation for ARR(ived)
8d Loathing out-of-order description of Cooper’s trademark? (6)
{HATRED} – if this word meaning loathing is split as (3,3) and the two parts reversed (out-of-order) it could be a description of Tommy Cooper’s trademark headgear
9d Cook has ended snack following cold ham to demonstrate this? (14)
{CACKHANDEDNESS} – an anagram (cook) of HAS ENDED SNACK preceded by C(old) gives behaviour likely to be demonstrated by a ham or amateur
16d Casual line retained by actor before a play’s finale (9)
{THROWAWAY} – a three-letter word for a line inside the name of the actor best known for playing Morse and Kavanagh (and Jack Regan) followed by the A from the clue and the final letter (finale) of play
17d Violent behaviour hurt eg discontented guy needing treatment (8)
{THUGGERY} – anagram (needing treatment) of HURT EG and the outer letters (dis-contented) of GuY
19d A rule reportedly put into legal question (7)
{ARRAIGN} – the A from the clue followed by what sounds like (reportedly) a rule
21d Upstanding look in untrained figure abandoning church, one from Africa? (7)
{IVORIAN} – reverse (upstanding) all of a look or demeanour inside an untrained person without the CE (church)
22d Twig in measure of water (6)
{FATHOM} – two definitions – a verb meaning to twig or comprehend and a measure of the depth of water
24d Praise one that’s left union over French department getting promotion (5)
{EXTOL} – a former marriage (union) partner followed by the reversal (getting promotion) of a French department in the Midi-Pyrénées region
There are some pictures of last Saturday’s meeting in the Gallery
Good start to the Toughie week, favourites were 12a and 16d thanks to Shamus and to Big Dave for the comments. Coincidentally The Reith Lectures was broadcast on Radio 4 this morning.
An excellent puzzle from Shamus today. I liked the inclusion of the former cricketer in 25a; he is the most laid-back, unfazed personality I’ve ever seen on television!
Many thanks to Shamus, and to BD for the comments.
It was raining – I had a go. I’m definitely not Toughie material.
Thought I’d done quite well getting the first two across answers and quite a few others. The problem was that I had hoodie for 1a – it made perfect sense to me at the time but didn’t do much for the top left corner of the crossword.
Having now finished it with a lot of help from the hints, and quite a few answers too, I thought it was dead clever.
With thanks to Shamus and BD.
Kath
You did not mention a certain actor.. or are you gradually building up an immunity to the pictorial hints?
Thanks for remembering but I couldn’t allow myself to be seen in tears on the Toughie blog which always feels like a more serious affair! Anyway I remember him as Morse rather than whoever he was in the Sweeney. However, now that you mention it . . .
I think he was a most talented actor whatever part he played (I preferred his acting in the serious roles, as opposed to the sitcom).
Not sure about what sitcom he was ever in. I mainly remember him as Morse (as everyone knows since I bang on about it endlessly) and Uncle Tom.
A bit of a struggle for us, but we did get there in the end. We remembered the minister in 2d from several months ago when we had to look via Google and then made the error of referring to ‘a guy’. Today’s pic avoids that happening again. A couple in the SE corner were the last to yield. Tougher than we have come to expect on a Tuesday.
Thanks Shamus and BD.
I remember the “guy” error very well ,smashing puzzle today as was the cryptic at least for me .
Thanks BD and Shamus too .
Aimed at a certain age group mehinks! Actor, skater and cricketer? No problem for me, as I am of that age, but if you happen to be young then it’s probably difficult. Is this the future of cryptics?
Anyway, fun so ta to Shamus