Toughie No 1419 by Petitjean
8 across and good? No. Just good
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
I made heavy weather of this. In particular the NW corner took me longer than it should have done. But I enjoyed it and I thought it was a worthwhile Toughie
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
7a Make less of daily coming and going (7)
COMMUTE: 2 meanings: make a punishment less severe/the daily coming from and going to work
8a New or traditional music place (7)
NORFOLK: N (new) + OR + a traditional type of music = a place in Eastern England
10a Wanting East-ender arrested by non-uniform policemen (10)
INCOMPLETE: It took me ages to work out that this is an anagram (non-uniform) of POLICEMAN round T (last letter of EasT)
11a English degree now and then gives you advantage (4)
EDGE: E (English) + alternate letters of DeGrEe
12a Where Blanc and White achieved their famous appellations? (8)
KITCHENS: I don’t really understand this one but Blanc and White are Raymond Blanc and Marco Pierre White and the answer is where you’ll find them at work
14a Heartless wimp appearing in film is unappealing lump (6)
COWPAT: The first and last letters of WimP inside ‘film’ gives an unappealing lump that you might find in a field of cattle
15a Paddy a true rogue displaying a degree of warmth (11)
TEMPERATURE: A paddy + an anagram (rogue) of TRUE
19a Could it be roadie with prog rock trio being entertained by that woman? (6)
HELPER: A prog rock trio (taken from the initial letters of the surnames of its members) inside ‘that woman’
20a Flower sap used in manufacturing (8)
INDUSTRY: An Asian river (flower) + ‘to sap’
22a Want servant to get the old west-facing shed (4)
LACK: Remove EY (a reversal of YE) from a servant
23a Neither short nor long hot pants elegant ex-Australian Ken’s put on (4-6)
KNEE-LENGTH: An anagram (pants) of ELEGANT KEN minus A (Australian) + H (hot)
25a Hants runner’s base in which working parts are put through their paces (4,3)
TEST BED: A Hampshire river (runner) + a base
26a Former partner getting fat for instance (7)
EXAMPLE: A former partner + ‘fat’
Down
1d Animated animal’s low note first shown by satellite (7)
MOONLIT: An animal’s low (noise) + N (note) + ‘animated’
2d Boundless riches that could be explosive (4)
AMMO: Remove the first and last letters from riches regarded as the root of evil
3d Basic / fastening (6)
STAPLE: 2 meanings: basic (as of a commodity)/a metal fastening
4d Daunting hairstyle is failure in the main (5,3)
POWER CUT: This could be taken to mean a daunting hairstyle. It fact it is a failure in the main (wire conducting electricity)
5d Is this what the Child Catcher was then? (10)
AFTERWARDS: Split (5,5) it could mean in search of children in the care of a guardian
6d Plaintive like Cage composition — thousands dropped off (7)
ELEGIAC: An anagram (composition) of LIE CAGE, i.e. LIKE CAGE minus K (thousands)
9d This should stop leaves being problem that hampers rail transport (3-8)
TEA-STRAINER: The leaves will be in liquid being poured from a pot. A problem goes round rail transport
13d He spat cake out? One wouldn’t be so wasteful (10)
CHEAPSKATE: An anagram (out) of HE SPAT CAKE
16d Pet that’s gone feral? 13 deprived of central heating and sun flying round centre of Cambridge (8)
PARAKEET: An anagram (flying) of the answer to 13 down minus CH (central heating) and S (sun) goes round R (middle letter of Cambridge). I’m not sure why this pet bird has gone feral
17d Opposed access being limited in upcoming study (7)
NEGATED: A means of access inside a reversal of a study
18d Unstable litter bin not popular for building (7)
BRITTLE: An anagram (for building) of LITTER B, i.e. LITTER BIN less IN (popular)
21d Superior kid with kiss for daughter (2,4)
DE LUXE: Take a 6-letter word meaning ‘to kid’ and change D (daughter) into X (kiss)
24d Underwriter‘s final statement — last quarter comes out on top (4)
NAME: An underwriter at Lloyd’s is the last word of a prayer with the last letter placed first
I’ll have to stock up on goats before next week
The NW corner was the bit that held me up the longest too. If you lived down in the SE you’d know exactly why the 16ds are feral
Thanks to Bufo for the review and Petitjean for a proper Toughie.
I’m another who was held up in the NW corner. I also had problems with 9d where having S_R_I_E_ as the second word had me thinking of some sort of services – when the penny dropped that became my favourite clue. Thanks to PJ for his second enjoyable puzzle this week and to Bufo for the review (the sub-heading did make me laugh!).
Finally found the key.
When I looked for synonyms of uniform, it’s the antonyms that made me think they were lovely anagram indicators.
It’s funny how one solution can unlock the whole corner.
The second word of 25a gave me a bit of trouble too.
Favourite is 9d. I remember train operators always complaining that it was the wrong sort of leaves on the tracks that caused delays.
Thanks to PJ and to Bufo.
NW corner was my stumbling block, too. I had the ‘moon’ part but was convinced that the answer was the name of an animated cartoon character. I had no idea who the two in 12A were so missed out there also. By the way, Bufo, now knowing that they are chefs, I believe the appellations refer to Michelin stars. I also did not get the second word of 25A. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of a test bed. Other than those three, I thought this was fun. 14A is my favorite. Thanks, PJ and of course Bufo.
Same NW corner problem. Like Chris, had the moon bit, but was trying to justify pig, cat, dog, rat etc. Thought this was a very clever clue. Couldn’t solve 7a, 12a or 3d either, but should have. Fair game. Absolute best was 5d – maybe not very pc, but clever and fun (for him maybe!). Thanks guys
Just sat outside and fed the young birds sultanas whilst I slowly made my way through the puzzle, the SE corner took ages and last one in was 16d ,which was somewhat convoluted .the key being the r for s, I was delighted that Bufo awarded a ****,it did require lots of head scratching on my part but worth it in the end ,and **** for enjoyment-what a pleasant day.
Elgar tomorrow
Oh dear – total defeat. I shouldn’t have read CS’s comment in “the other place” this morning – it meant that I went into this one already knowing/thinking that I wouldn’t be able to do it.
I managed a few answers and then trotted off up the garden to do some useful stuff and see if brain was capable of thought – it wasn’t! Oh dear again!
I should have been able to do this – I read Bufo’s hints and for every clue just thought, “Oh yes, of course”. Thanks Bufo.
Oh well – you win some, you lose some. My excuse is that I’d already shot my bolt on the Ray T.
With thanks to Petitjean for the second time this week and thanks and admiration to Bufo.
I’m usually on PJ’s wavelength but I found this one hell of a struggle – like others the NW corner was particularly obstinate. It was also a bit short of his LOL moments, but having said that I can’t complain about any of the more difficult clues which were also among my favourites – 25a, 4d, 9d and 22a. I still hope there’s more to 12a but I can’t add anything to your analysis Bufo. Many thanks for the blog and thanks to PJ for passing most of a day!
We were totally defeated by the NW corner and ended up going back to the website and revealing a few letters to get a completion. However the other three quarters had all gone together satisfactorily after a lot of work so will have to be satisfied with that.
Thanks Petitjean and Bufo.
Near defeat in the upper half . Better down south. Just one question ,in the hint for 15a, am I to understand Paddy=temper ?
Thanks Toro and Petitjean.
Yep. Getting in a right paddy is getting angry.
That is new to me , thanks. I wonder if it is English or American slang .
This is one that cannot be blamed on America!
Last in19a ,favourite (just) 14a , very enjoyable and as usual an excellent review .Thanks to both