Toughie No 1950 by Firefly
Hints and tips by Bufo
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Another steady solve with nothing requiring too much thought.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.
Across
1a & 4a Glibness possibly producing a ‘9-cum-24’ outcome? (5,8)
MIXED BLESSING: The answer provides wordplay leading to GLIBNESS with the first word being an anagram indicator and the second word an anagram of GLIBNESS. The 9 and 24 in the definition refer to the answers to 9 across and 24 across
4a See 1 Across
8a Ulster hugged by sibling on the left (8)
SINISTER: ‘Ulster’ inside a female sibling. Who cares that Ulster and Northern Island are not the same thing?
9a Certain naval officers with sex appeal regularly in view (8)
POSITIVE: Petty officers + sex appeal + alternate letters of IN VIEW
11a Ophidian having rest on pitch (7)
ASPHALT: An ophidian (snake) associated with Cleopatra + a rest or ‘to rest’
13a Wings of Ugandan barrage ancient, but sound (9)
UNDAMAGED: The first and last letters of UGANDAN + a barrage + ‘ancient’
15a Vision in trousers — the design’s smashing (4-11)
LONG-SIGHTEDNESS: An anagram (smashing) of THE DESIGN’S inside trousers (not shorts)
18a Daughter takes the Underground west, given advance payment as a newcomer (9)
DEBUTANTE: D (daughter) + a reversal (west) of the Underground + an advance payment
21a Timepiece put back post-daylight (7)
SUNDIAL: Daylight + a reversal of ‘put’
22a In jam, Tories veer off (8)
CONSERVE: Tories + an anagram (off) of VEER
24a Retrospectively, Lloyd Webber’s musical background is unfortunate (8)
NEGATIVE: A reversal (retrospectively) of an Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical and background or general information
25a & 26a Risky route indicated by poles, maybe? (8,5)
SLIPPERY SLOPE: The answer provides wordplay leading to POLES with the first word being an anagram indicator and the second word an anagram of POLES
26a See 25 Across
Down
1d Botched dish led man into trouble (10)
MISHANDLED: An anagram (into trouble) of DISH LED MAN
2d Greek historian‘s cross, English number to call cut short (8)
XENOPHON: A letter shaped like a cross + E (English) + an abbreviation for ‘number’ + ‘to call’ with the least letter removed
3d Abandons a way to access records (8)
DISCARDS: A and an abbreviation denoting ‘way’ inside ‘records’
4d Gas escape rising right inside local (4)
BURP: A reversal of R (right) inside a local
5d Wriggle as old attendant finishes early mass (6)
SQUIRM: An old attendant with the last letter removed + M (mass)
6d Hanging around ruined buildings after coach coming round leaves (6)
IDLING: An anagram (ruined) of ILDING, i.e. BUILDINGS minus the BUS (coach) on its outside
7d Audible pace in passage (4)
GATE: A homophone (audible) of a pace or way of walking
10d Unusual items –- like jar from Jaafra, possibly? (8)
ODDITIES: Note the positions of the letters J, A and R in JAAFRA
12d This writer didn’t urge never-ending embraces (8)
TURGENEV: The surname of a Russian writer is hidden in DIDN’T URGE NEVER-ENDING
14d Besides endlessly and incorrectly incorporating falsehood, verse occasions doubt (10)
DISBELIEVE: An anagram (incorrectly) of BESIDE (BESIDES with the last letter removed) goes round a falsehood and V (verse)
16d Dishes dirt initially on Andersen –- a dark soul at heart (8)
DHANSAKS: Indian dishes of meat and vegetables cooked with lentils = the first letter of DIRT + the first name of Mr Andersen who wrote fairy tales + A + the middle two letters of DARK SOUL
17d Without any ingredients, former partner’s put on new nail polish after dreadful ‘slap’ is abandoned (2,6)
EX NIHILO: A Latin term meaning ‘out of nothing’ = a former partner + an anagram (new) of NAIL POLISH minus the letters of SLAP. I didn’t know this term but had no problem working it out from the wordplay
19d Upwardly mobile setter an elitist? It shows restricted growth (6)
BONSAI: A reversal (upwardly mobile) of a personal pronoun denoting the setter and A and an elitist
20d Serve up in best protective cover (6)
TOECAP: A reversal of an unplayable serve in tennis inside ‘best’
22d Fleeces for inmates? (4)
CONS: 2 meanings: fleeces or swindles/inmates in a prison
23d Every second of recital’s incandescent; every lyric manifesting desire (4)
ENVY: The second letters of RECITAL’S, INCANDESCENT, EVERY and LYRIC
This seemed a quick review to write with there only being 27 clues
Not that difficult – which seems to be the case more Thursdays than not. I liked the linking of the solutions at the top and bottom of the puzzle
Thanks to Firefly and Bufo
We found this a steady solve and satisfying to boot. 3*/3.5*
Bufo, in 15a we didn’t have trousers around the rest of the answer; we thought the first five letters of the answer were the trousers. Guess the clue works whether “in” is considered a containment indicator or simply a way of joining the two halves of the clue together (as it often is)?
We noticed the letter ‘V’ was quite prevalent – five (V) of them, in fact. 6d was our favourite.
Thanks to Bufo and to Firefly.
You’re right about 15a. I made it more complicated than it is
I agree it was a nice steady solve. 16d was my favourite and the last one in after a fair bit of head scratching.
Thanks to F and B
I have previously found Firefly to be a bit strange, but I think I am warming to his style. Enjoyed this a lot, even the cross-referenced clues which normally put me off right from the start. I spent ages trying to remember the Greek historian at 2d, only to slowly discover I was trying to remember the wrong fellow anyway! Should have concentrated on the clue rather than trying to remember.
Good fun, so thanks to Firefly and to Bufo for the review.
This seemed tricky but still solved in normal time – maybe it was all the double unches.
Thanks bufo for (1) i imagined 9-cum-24 was some sports jargon i hadn’t come across and ignored it and (2) in 24a i was stupidly thinking of a ski slope which is often signposted (indicated) by poles (regularly displaying the piste number), i guess that might be a bit specialist
Nice having the two inverse anagrams symmetrically top and bottom and cleanly across a row.
I liked the poetic 23d, though the not dissimilar 14d seemed less exciting to me. Also liked 20d and 16d.
many thanks Firefly
Like Jules, my last one in was 16d – kept trying to put Mr Anderson’s forename at the end of the answer. I did need to check with Mr Google that I’d correctly worked out the names of the Greek historian and the Russian author and 17d was definitely a ‘bung it in and check later’.
4d made me smile and I did like the correlation between the top line and the 9/24 combo.
Thanks to Firefly and to Bufo – particularly for the full parsing of 10d which had passed me by.
Tell me folks, in the Toughie are multi-light solutions allowed? Are themes allowed? Linking of one clue to another or several others? I see that most of these great puzzles don’t feature such things, but that some do, well, occasionally at least! I’d like to know.
Another very enjoyable puzzle, and I too liked the ‘across the clues’ trick.
There were all sorts of things that were unfamiliar to me in this, and disappointingly I went down to defeat only with 16d, and is my vote for least favourite! In general I found the bottom quarter much trickier than the upper three quarters. Lots of double unchecked letters to make things just a little more challenging. Many thanks to all.
Looks like you may have made a mistake with your alias!
We had trouble in the SE. In 24a we had difficulty justifying GEN = background and ‘unfortunate’ as a synonym for the answer. This all made the new word to us for 16d very tricky. Needed to reveal a letter to sort out that lot. Suspect that all the double unches added to our problems. The rest of the puzzle had all gone together without very much resistance.
Thanks Firefly and Bufo.
Not often I tackle a Toughie but after getting 1 and 4 across I persevered and whoopee I finished … and enjoyed. Thanks to Firefly and Bufo.
Enjoyable especially 15a and 16d: didn’t know 17d but worked it out. I had “LAGS” at first for 22d until I got 22a.
Yes – ‘lags’ sounds suspiciously familiar at this end!
Didn’t do very well this morning when I first had a look but by this evening everything fell smoothly.
Just 19d which I started to parse as I’m a nob and actually checked if Bonami existed.
Apart from this senior moment, I have nothing to declare.
Thanks to Firefly and to Bufo.
Loving your senior moment, JL! Worry not, you will always be an extremely ‘bonami’ to all of us on the BD blog.
I hit a few spots of difficulty but my solve for the most part fit Sheffieldsy’s description of steady and satisfying. Thanks to Firefly and Bufo.
Easy going throughout, though with a sting in the tail at 16d. No, I didn’t know the dish, and it took an absolute age to get it! So ** for difficulty without 16d, *** with it.