Toughie No 2145 by Petitjean
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
If we need a ‘mad hat’ for most Petitjean Toughies then we certainly need an even wackier one for today’s puzzle. Clue after clue are testament to his unique sense of humour and the whole thing is most enjoyable.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you thought of it.
Across Clues
7a Part of outfit in which hot musician plays? (9)
SWEATBAND: what a perspiring musician might play in.
8a Sounds like leakier source of ink (5)
SEPIA: this sounds (to some) like a comparative meaning leakier.
10a Far-flung kudos right for anyone’s puzzle (6)
SUDOKU: an anagram (far-flung) of KUDOS followed by the film classification meaning ok for all to see.
11a Tan but ashen surprisingly (8)
SUNBATHE: an anagram (surprisingly) of BUT ASHEN.
12a Dated bonnet that’s somewhat battered? (3,3)
OLD HAT: a bonnet that’s seen better days.
14a Target part of cereal to make sweet (6)
ENDEAR: charade of a synonym for target and the seed-bearing head of a cereal plant.
16a Female cops defect (4)
FLAW: the abbreviation for female and an informal word for the cops.
17a Cold joint plus seconds comprising accompaniment to 24 (5)
CHIPS: concatenate the abbreviation for cold, a bodily joint and the abbreviation for seconds.
18a Document that’s a dead giveaway (4)
WILL: cryptic definition of one’s last wishes.
19a Unknown in City to quit permissible working (6)
USABLE: start with an adjective meaning permissible or pardonable and remove the three letters consisting of an algebraic unknown inside the postal area for the City of London.
21a Strum sporadically alongside crooner’s pipes (6)
TUBING: even letters of ‘strum’ followed by the first name of an old American crooner.
24a Main course? (4,4)
FISH DISH: cryptic definition of a meal that may have originated in the sea.
26a Subordinate‘s record duty-bound (6)
DEPUTY: an old record format is held inside the word ‘duty’.
27a For example holding five volts will make you smart (5)
SAVVY: a synonym meaning ‘for example’ contains the Roman numeral for five and the abbreviation for volts.
28a Pushy me’s taken ‘a la Spooner’ side dish for 24 (5,4)
MUSHY PEAS: “Pushy me’s” is how Spooner might have rendered this side dish.
Down Clues
1d Just pound off pants (5)
AWFUL: an adjective meaning just or valid without one of the abbreviations for a pound sterling.
2d Scrabble broken up by unknown author’s strict rules (5,3)
CANON LAW: a verb to scrabble or scratch contains the abbreviation used to identify an unknown author.
3d Seaman drunk and confused (6)
ABLUSH: stick together an abbreviation for seaman and a word for an habitual hard drinker to make an adjective meaning confused or embarrassed.
4d Our treat and responsibility (4)
ONUS: split 2,2 it’s our treat.
5d Ignore flash modem and call (6)
DEMAND: remove the flash or short time from ‘modem and’.
6d Where stoned dons dine? (4,5)
HIGH TABLE: cryptic definition of where stoned dons might dine in college.
9d Not melodic, lacking time, key and bar (6)
UNLESS: start with an adjective meaning not melodic and remove the leading T(ime) and also the first occurrence of a musical key.
13d It isn’t commonly corrupt (5)
TAINT: double definition, the second a verb to corrupt or contaminate.
15d Traditional taste of Monbazillac is Salciccia knocked back (9)
CLASSICAL: luckily for me we don’t need to know what Monbazillac and Salciccia are to notice that the answer is hidden in reverse.
17d Believe it’s money in the bank (6)
CREDIT: double definition, the second what you are in if you’re in the black.
18d Airline wiped PIN in error (8)
WINDPIPE: an anagram (in error) of WIPED PIN.
20d Function for which Antipodean delivers apiary? (6)
BEHAVE: an Antipodean might possibly pronounce an insect home thus. I’ll be interested in KiwiColin’s view of this one.
22d Rewound tape had back-to-front leader (6)
BUDDHA: reverse a verb to transfer recorded material to a new tape and add ‘had’ after you’ve moved its last letter to the front.
23d Roles reversed in second part of ‘Crime and Punishment‘ (5)
STRAP: reverse theatrical roles to get an implement used for corporal punishment. It’s slightly unfortunate that the fifth word of the clue appears in reverse in the answer.
25d Spoils Yank (4)
HAUL: double definition – yank is falsely capitalised.
I could pick out lots of clues but I’ll just choose three cryptic definitions for my podium – 12a, 18a and 6d. Do let us know which one(s) provided the salt and vinegar for your meal.
Fabulous – a nice theme and splendid throughout – thanks to the keepers of the legacy and to Gazza
Gazza has said it all in his introduction. What a joy this was to solve and what a joy to listen to Sultans of Swing while reading the review, even though it will be over ten minutes before I can upload my comment. Many thanks, Gazza.
20d is hideous but it did make me laugh out loud when the penny dropped.
My podium choices are 12a, 6d (my favourite), 18d & 23d.
It’s always a great relief when another Petitjean puzzle appears. Sadly this situation can’t go on for ever but let’s keep enjoying them while the supply lasts.
Why did I think the late lamented Petijean was female? Such elegant clues perhaps. The name should have given the game away.
Just beaten by 5d.
3d was a word new to me. It was gettable but ugly.
Favourite? 6d.
Thank you Gazza. Your reticence over the regrettable 20d was admirable!
I thought 20d was brilliant – but I take your point.
I started at a steady pace, but ground to a halt with five to go. After the dog walking brain clearance, the last few fell in without too much further resistance. A look back at 10ac and 19ac sorted out any doubts about the parsing of those two. My only slight quibble would be for 12ac. I don’t think the answer equates to worn or damaged, only to old fashioned, but maybe I’m missing a nuance somewhere. I suppose it might be that the setter slightly overstretched the synonym in order to continue the ‘takeaway’ theme. I also wondered if 27ac might be an abbreviation, in some parts of the country, for those horrible pinkie brown things that sit in a dish of water on the hot shelf?
All in all another classic from the great legacy, and thanks to Gazza for his great selection of illustrations.
I can only add my admiration of this lovely puzzle!
Had lots of fun with this 8a/6d/13d are my picks.
Many thanks to the keepers, and special thanks to Gazza.
What a great puzzle. I put a dot besides clues worthy of note so I can report them here. However, I have ended up with so many, I’d be here all afternoon listing them. But, if pushed, I will single out 20d and 22d. Also, he got me with 24a, I wrote in Hard Tack which seemed to be an obvious and clever Petitjean answer – how wrong I was. (Although, I do like my answer!). Let’s hope there are plenty more in the archive. Any clues, Mr Editor??
Back in September the editor commented:
“The good news is that there will be more to come for a while yet — certainly into 2019.”
Thanks, Gazza – that is good news.
You’ll be pleased to here that there are still a few left in the vault.
20d Strewth, Mate, it sounds OK to me?
It’s excellent news that there’ll be more from Petitjean. Certainly an original thinker, his puzzles are always a lot of fun. I’ll have to speak to my antipodean friends about 20d naturally, but in an odd way it just added to the general humour of the whole thing.
Thanks to all concerned, living or otherwise: this was great stuff.
I am managing to keep my cool about 20d (just), by assuring myself that it is ‘that lot across the ditch’ who are being accused by PJ of murdering vowel sounds in this way. It did make laugh out loud when I twigged it.
With 19d I had the right answer but had not totally sorted out what had to be removed from what.
Huge fun from start to finish and much appreciated.
Thanks Petitjean and Gazza.
Kiwi Colin is right. One really must tell the difference between the accents of Australia and New Zealand. I have to be careful when I visit my daughter. Do NOT confuse the American accent with those who live north of the border. The Canadians, rightly, do not like it!
I think 20d is just another example of non-Australians finding it impossible to replicate the Australian accent. I don’t think it sounds Kiwi either. Otherwise I found this very enjoyable.
This is a very late post because I am attempting this several days late. Many thanks to setter and blogger.
As Gazza said, the mad hat was certainly in evidence today!
Think I spent longer on the intersecting 8a & 6d than on the rest of the puzzle put together but the latter turned out to be such a treat that it was well worth the effort.
20d was one of those ‘surely not’ moments – should have remembered that with PJ anything’s possible!
Podium places awarded to 12&18a plus 6&13d.
Many thanks to the keepers of the PJ pearls and to Gazza for a great blog and excellent choice of music.
20d – Does anyone remember ‘Let Stalk Strine’ by Afferbeck Lauder?
I was delayed by putting “high tide” for 24a. Eventually sorted. Very entertaining.Thank you Gazza and Petitjean.
Another very entertaining, wacky and fairly challenging puzzle from the late P. 5d: This is one of those “deletion” clues with a built-in lurker to boot! How often does that happen?
Lovely stuff, much enjoyed.
Many thanks skywards to PJ and westwards to Gazza.