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Toughie 1825

Toughie No 1825 by Dada

Hints and tips by Gazza

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

Dada’s not at his most inventive today but he’s still given us a number of chuckles in an entertaining puzzle. Unlike yesterday the short answers all went in fairly quickly for me, helped by the fact that there are several ‘old friends’ amongst them.

Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you thought of it.

Across Clues

1a Discharge in space, they say? (5)
RHEUM – sounds like space or scope.

4a Recognise there’s little time to lose before democratic reforms (8)
ACCREDIT – remove a 2-letter abbreviation for a short period of time from ‘democratic’ and make an anagram (reforms) of what you have left.

10a Rapid winds into which hollow tree flies (7)
DIPTERA – put the outer letters of tree into an anagram (winds) of RAPID.

11a Country doctor exposed hardliner (7)
IRELAND – for our third anagram in a row we have to doctor the inner letters of [h]ARDLINE[r].

12a Turner losing head, contemptible type (4)
HEEL – remove the initial letter from something that turns or revolves.

13a Weak tie (5)
DICKY – double definition, the second a type of tie worn on formal occasions.

14a Lean cut in box (4)
SPAR – drop the last letter from an adjective meaning lean or thin.

17a US Civil War general’s captivated by exciting piece of papal regalia (10,4)
FISHERMAN’S RING – insert the surname (and the ‘S) of the Unionist general famous for his march through Georgia (and who, subsequently, had a tank named after him) into a present participle meaning exciting or inspiring.

19a Relative carrying on with family member, a brother primarily amoral (14)
UNCONSCIONABLE – a male relative contains ON, a descendant, A and the first letter of brother.

22a Perfect, time and time again (4)
MINT – an abbreviation for a period of time followed by the abbreviation for time itself.

23a Hunger cut by 20 per cent by northern politician (5)
GREEN – drop the last letter of a 5-letter word meaning hunger or voraciousness and add the abbreviation for northern.

24a Dubious poem fairly vacuous (4)
IFFY – the name of the Kipling poem often voted the nation’s favourite followed by the outer letters (vacuous, i.e. empty) of ‘fairly’.

ARVE Error: need id and provider

27a Fine journey beyond a US city (7)
CHICAGO – an adjective meaning fine or elegant then a verb to journey preceded by A.

28a Former officer with energy set off (7)
EXPLODE – charade of a prefix meaning former, an uncomplimentary slang term for a police officer (derived from the long arm of the law in Toytown) and the abbreviation for energy.

29a Creature is among rocks around river (8)
ORGANISM – an anagram (rocks) of IS AMONG contains the abbreviation for river.

30a In recession, US city not of sound character (5)
TONAL – string together the abbreviation for a large US city and NOT then reverse it all.

Down Clues

1d Out-of-this-world effect as snooker player breaks off, potting first of five (3,5)
RED SHIFT – this is an example of the
Doppler effect. The result of the first shot in a frame of snooker (4,3) (assuming a minimal level of competence from the player) contains the first letter of ‘five’. It seems to me that ‘effect’ is being used both as part of the definition and part of the wordplay.

2d Quick to communicate (7)
EXPRESS – double definition, the second a verb to convey in words or gestures.

3d Face bristle standing (4)
MEET – reverse a verb to bristle or be plentiful.

5d Yellow bird, as it happens, another colour (7-7)
CHICKEN-LIVERED – concatenate a domestic bird, an adjective used by broadcasters to mean ‘as it happens’ and a primary colour.

6d Regretted being churlish, by the sound of it? (4)
RUED – homophone of an adjective meaning churlish or ill-mannered.

7d Absolutely above censure, giving little away (7)
DEADPAN – an adverb meaning absolutely or totally is followed by a verb to censure or criticise.

8d Rock cladding walls for unheated house (5)
TUDOR – a high rock contains the outer letters of unheated.

9d Source of illusions is wonderful and grows rapidly (5,9)
MAGIC MUSHROOMS – an adjective meaning wonderful and a verb meaning grows rapidly or proliferates.

15d A model written up for old storyteller (5)
AESOP – A followed by the reversal of a verb to model. A really old chestnut.

16d It’s suggested the phone remained silent for primate (5)
ORANG – if you split the answer 1,4 it could mean that one didn’t get any calls.

18d Yes, with great efficiency? (4,4)
VERY WELL – double definition.

20d Old female ruler in old Chinese port (7)
NANKING – charade of an elderly female relative and a ruler. It’s an old Chinese port because it’s name is spelled differently these days.

21d Sandy has nothing on, the clown! (7)
BUFFOON – an adjective meaning sandy-coloured followed by the letter resembling zero and ON.

22d Ultra-masculine Scot, sexy before scratching bottom? (5)
MACHO – start with a male Scottish forename (not Ian, the other one) and add an adjective meaning sexy without its last letter.

25d Fabrication that’s fibrous (4)
YARN – double definition. The fabrication could be a tall tale.

26d Jam lids lifted (4)
SPOT – reverse a word meaning lids to get a jam or pickle.

The clues competing for favouritism for me were 22a, 16d and 22d. Which one(s) raised your spirits?

9 comments on “Toughie 1825

  1. I found lots to enjoy, thank you Dada and I’d go for **/****

    My list of clues for special; mention is slightly different to Gazza’s: I’d go for 13a, 22a, 24a and 16d

    Thanks to both of you for your parts in my cruciverbal entertainment

  2. Let myself down a bit by lack of knowledge of fly families and papal regalia and tried to be too clever with 23a (found a politician named Raven).
    19a took quite some time both to work out and to spell!
    Took ages to parse both 11a & 8d – silly girl.
    I’m sure we had 26d in a slightly different guise yesterday?

    Hadn’t quite decided on my favourite from this enjoyable puzzle until I saw Gazza’s pic for 22a – has to be the winner!

    Thanks to Dada and to the shining knight for a great blog although perhaps not for that particular depiction of the famous poem………

  3. A **** difficulty but I got there.I think my difficulties lay in the fact the Dada clues are that little bit different.
    My top choices are the same as CS with 24a my favourite.
    I knew the class or is it family of flies but had to google the Popes paraphernalia.
    Thanks to both Dada and Gazza.

  4. I got on much better today, and while it took me quite a while, and needed a little Google-aid, I managed to finish. I found it a very enjoyable puzzle. Many thanks to Dada and Gazza.

  5. Never thought I’d see 9d in a Telegraph puzzle. Didn’t know 17a but the wordplay led me there. 28a just pipped by 5d for top spot.
    A slightly quirky puzzle, but all the more engaging for that reason. Thought 1d somewhat 24a.
    Many thanks to Dada and to Gazza for the pic at 1d – I’ve been trying to perfect that shot for years (with a touch of right hand side).

    1. Surprisingly, today is at least the third appearance of 9d in the Telegraph.

      Tue 17 Jan 2012 DT 26764 Hallucinogen, marvellous to shoot up (5,8)
      Sat 29 Jul 2006 QUICK 25057 Hallucinogenic fungus (5,8)
  6. I quite liked 9d, and I’m impressed that Gazza found a suitable illustration for 22d.

    I know nothing about papal regalia and got myself in a mess by trying to fit FOSTER (another civil war general) at the start of the answer.

    Many thanks Dada and Gazza

  7. Absolutely cracking picture choice for 22d, Gazza!

    Some cheeky and witty wordplay to appreciate too. Definitely worth reading some of these blogs even when one hasn’t got around to actually solving. (No puzzles today leaves room for two tomorrow. I’m not sure how much longer I can keep this one a day thing up … )

    Thanks to Dada and Gazza.

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