Toughie No 1140 by Kcit
Hints and Tips by Bufo
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
How much correlation is there between the difficulty of the puzzle and the length of the blog? This is a short blog.
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
6a Roughly where fight fans gather? (5,5)
{ROUND ABOUT} This term for roughly (approximately) can be split (5,1,4) to tell you where fight fans gather
8a Reduced inclination to consume a vegetable (4)
{BEAN} ‘Inclination’ with the last letter removed goes round (consumes) A
9a Hinder South American city’s appearance in advert (9)
{POSTERIOR} Hinder (at the back) = the most common South American city in Crosswordland inside an advert
11a Bounder hogging river ferry (2-2)
{RO-RO} A bounder (animal that bounds) goes round (hugs) R (river)
12a Adverse comments changed, with gallery opting out (3)
{MUD} Take a 7-letter word meaning ‘changed’ and remove the 4-letter name of an art gallery
13a Elite US lawyer accepting very good soft drink (5,4)
{CREAM SODA} an elite + an abbreviation denoting a US lawyer round ‘very good’
16a Produce I uprooted, turning over soil (4)
{TURF} Reverse produce after removing (uprooting) the letter I
17a Show leaf to insect (7)
{PAGEANT} A show = a leaf (of a book) + an insect
18a Busy bar in time becoming a refuge (7)
{HARBOUR} An anagram (busy) of BAR inside a unit of time
20a Cross article on King’s Head’s opening (4)
{ANKH} A form of the indefinite article + the initial letters of King’s Head
21a Network of bars no longer broadcast hit parade (9)
{APARTHEID} An anagram (broadcast) of HIT PARADE
23a Legislation depriving treaty of power (3)
{ACT} Remove P (power) from a treaty
24a Cut block back, not up (4)
{ABED} A reversal of ‘to block’ with the last letter removed
25a In a climax to competition I win game without life (9)
{INANIMATE} IN + A + the last letter of competitioN + I + win (chess) game
29a Light green at first then blue (4)
{GLOW} The first letter of Green + blue (depressed)
30a Who’d be hopeless types circling Lido ineptly? (10)
{GONDOLIERS} Hopeless types (persons who are dead or ruined beyond recovery) round an anagram (ineptly) of LIDO. The whole clue provides the definition
Down
1d Course to such a degree at University (4)
{SOUP} A course (of a meal) = ‘to such a degree’ + ‘at University’
2d Common sense has lifted no burden (4)
{ONUS} Common sense with the letters NO reversed
3d Bet loses initial money received (4)
{TAKE} Remove the first letter from ‘bet’ to get an amount of money (such as that obtained from admission charges)
4d Observe ass in upland (7)
{MONITOR} An ass (fool) inside a wide expanse of uncultivated upland
5d Entertainment venue just reduced to dust (10)
{FAIRGROUND} Just (equitable) + ‘reduced to dust’
7d Call another time, missing one time to see querulous woman (9)
{TERMAGANT} ‘To call (name)’ + ‘another time’ with the letter I (one) removed + T (time)
8d Time on board, making provision for in-flight catering? (4,5)
{BIRD TABLE} Time (prison sentence) + a board
10d Gang disposing of money in brewer’s product (3)
{TEA} Remove M (money) from a gang
13d Hermit perhaps unable to disperse vision in sky (4,6)
{CRAB NEBULA} A creature that has a hermit variety + an anagram (to disperse) of UNABLE
14d Cosmetic certainly kept during rising distress (3,6)
{EYE SHADOW} ‘Certainly’ and ‘kept’ inside a reversal of ‘distress’
15d Shock — nasty giant’s inclined to consume Jack? (3-6)
{MAN-EATING} A shock of hair + an anagram (nasty) of GIANT
19d Italian dish including spinach in a way (7)
{LASAGNE} Spinach in Indian cuisine goes inside a way (thoroughfare)
22d Males try to attract attention (3)
{HEM} A male pronoun + an abbreviation for ‘male’
26d Honoured figure, one following party line? Just the opposite (4)
{IDOL} A party and L (line) following I (one)
27d One’s turned around — a big shot sent skyward (4)
{AXIS} A reversal (sent skyward) of A high-scoring shot in cricket
28d Get close, with head right down (4)
{EARN} Take a word meaning ‘close’ and move the first letter to the end
A typical Kcit puzzle
Enjoyable enough but hardly a toughie, thanks to KciT and to Bufo for the hints.
A couple to think about, but apart from that, no hold-ups. Thanks to Kcit, and to Bufo.
SE corner and a couple of others a complete mystery to me. I don’t think I’m yet on the toughie wavelength.
Thanks to Bufo for sorting out them out for me.
Gentle fare on offer today favourite 8d thanks to Kcit and to Bufo for the comments.
If this is a typical Kcit crossword then I like them. It was quite tricky enough for me.
I had more trouble with the three and four letter answers than the longer ones.
I particularly liked 8 and 19d.
With thanks to Kcit and Bufo.
I agree – I have a life outside crossword puzzles.
The number of short word answers tended to hold us up somewhat as they always seem to, and a couple took quite a while to tease out the wordplay. 12a is an example where the association of Tate Modern and “modified” for “changed”, both misdirected us until the penny dropped. We thought it was a lot of fun and really enjoyed it. 8d amused us most.
Thanks Bufo and Kcit.
Just stuck on 12a. 3 letter clues are horrible!
I don’t recollect doing one of this setter’s puzzles before, but he/she and l clearly operate on different wavelengths. I got there in the end (bar 16a which still eludes me) but had to draw on a couple of Bufo’s hints to break into the SE corner. I thought 8d was clever, so accord it favourite status. Overall, a bit closer to 3* for me in terms of difficulty.
Thanks to Kcit and to Bufo for the review and hints. I just couldn’t get on the setter’s wavelength, only managed 10 answers. Enjoyed getting a few from the hints, but had to look up 14. Couldn’t get anywhere near them, even with the hints. Way beyond my abilities.
I found this much more difficult than most but got there in the end. Like others I found the short answers the more tricky ones. Thanks to Kcit and Bufo.
Glad to see I am not alone I Always struggle with Kcit ‘s 3 and 4 letter solutions which he seems to consistently use .
Other than that no grumbles and agree with the majority re 8d
Cheers Bufo and Kcit