Toughie No 2466 by Silvanus
Hints and tips by Wilson Keppel and Betty
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Good morning from the heart of Downtown LI. Where the sunshine is being bullied away by rain clouds which don’t look too threatening yet. We will see.
Silvanus has given us a lightly testing Toughie today with enough anagrams to give a head start to solvers.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.
Across
1a On vacation, repeatedly exasperating guests before noon order such dish (4,8)
EGGS BENEDICT: Remove the central letters of the three words following the words on vacation repeatedly. Add the abbreviation for Noon and add an official order or proclamation issued by one in authority. What a nice way to begin a crossword. More hollandaise please.
8a Place of retreat when becoming overwhelmed by Love Island? (5)
OASIS: Our regular two-letter substitution for when is preceded by the letter representing the love score in tennis and followed by an abbreviation for island
9a Net prices fixed for review once again (9)
REINSPECT: Anagram (fixed) of NET PRICES
11a ‘Estimated period to complete work is surprisingly elastic’, this writer interjects (9)
TIMESCALE: An anagram (surprisingly) of ELASTIC sits around a pronoun personal to the setter
12a Bread for variety of birds (5)
PITTA: A double definition. The first being edible as a kebab only after a skinful of beer
13a Obstinate type describes elected American congressman originally as very unimportant (9)
MINUSCULE: A four-part charade with instructions. 1 A four-legged obstinate type. 2 A word meaning elected. 3 The regular abbreviation for America as a country not as a continent. 4 The abbreviation for congressman. The word describes suggests what goes where.
16a Record second case of occultism in Derby home (5)
EPSOM: Begin with a record. One of those shiny black round types of records usually containing four tracks. Add the abbreviation for second. Add the external letters of the word occultism. A topical clue for the time of year
18a Faithful ally, excited to receive Oscar (5)
LOYAL: An anagram (exited) of ALLY surrounds the letter suggested by Oscar in the phonetic alphabet
19a Turn away from East London footballers, shortly after endless team reverses (9)
DISORIENT: A word describing a team but minus its last letter is reversed and followed by an East London football team based in Leyton
20a Errors when texting certain blood donors, we hear (5)
TYPOS: Keyboard errors are also a homophone describing those having the most common blood group
22a Regulations initially one changes, covering fifty competitions (9)
RIVALRIES: Begin with the initial letter of the word regulations. Add the letter that looks like the number one. Add a synonym of the word changes which needs the Roman numeral for fifty inserting
25a Untrustworthy daughter, she is not reforming (9)
DISHONEST: The abbreviation for daughter is followed by an anagram (reforming) of SHE IS NOT
26a Tail end of film we skipped (5)
STERN: A type of film such as The Magnificent Seven needs to lose the word WE
27a Having lost weight, injured otters eat well; do they always avoid slugs? (12)
TEETOTALLERS: Anagram (injured) of OTTERS EAT (w)ELL. The letter W is taken out by the words having lost weight
Down
1d Eyes on Amy wrongly getting reward for little effort (4,5)
EASY MONEY: Anagram (wrongly) of EYES ON AMY
2d He and CO seen together, symbolic of what? (5)
GASES: I’m no chemist but I think He is Helium and CO is Carbon Monoxide. Not liquids and not solids.
3d Pouch aboard airline guards regularly ignored (5)
BURSA: The abbreviation of our national nationalised airline is split by every other letter of the word guards
4d Silent first officer, inept to forget uniform (9)
NOISELESS: Split 2,1 how a first officer might be referred as, or indeed the big cheese of any organisation. Actually, an abbreviation of number and the number one itself. This is followed by a synonym of the word inept minus the letter suggested by uniform in the phonetic alphabet
5d Show contempt for dad overturning fruit split (9)
DISAPPEAR: an informal verb meaning to speak disrespectfully to is followed by the reversal of an endearing term for one’s father and a fruit grown in an orchard
6d Split, Croatia’s top port? (5)
CLEFT: The initial or top letter of the word Croatia is followed by the side of a ship known as port by seamen
7d Intended new model will break virtually all rules (12)
CONTEMPLATED: The abbreviation for new and a model (a shaped piece of rigid material used as a pattern for processes such as cutting out) sit together inside a set of rules minus its last letter
10d Amusing trait strangely causing great distress (12)
TRAUMATISING: Anagram (strangely) of AMUSING TRAIT
14d Spend lots of money installing switch in jet (6,3)
SPLASH OUT: A jet of water perhaps has a switch inserted. The type of switch that may turn sadists and masochists on and off
15d Experienced university oarsman’s back on river (9)
UNDERWENT: A single-letter abbreviation for university and the final letter (back) of oarsmaN are followed by a Lake District river.
17d Shabby state of children in over half of Essex (9)
SEEDINESS: Your children or your issue or an archaic biblical term for one’s offspring is followed by the word IN from the clue and over half of the letters of the word Essex
21d Reportedly took steps to apply adhesive (5)
PASTE: What an expectant father did in the waiting room sounds just like an adhesive used when wallpapering
23d Retired relatives keeping energetic (5)
VITAL: the answer lies hidden within the words of the clue. The word keeping hints as much. The word retired suggests it is hiding in reverse.
24d Yarn, story about vacuous showgirl (5)
LISLE: A fib surrounds the external letters of the word showgirl
Lovely crossword from Silvanus as per usual. Always intrigues me when ‘yarn of the day’ or something similar turns up in both DT crosswords
Thanks to Silvanus and WKB
Yes, I couldn’t believe it! It’s not exactly a household word!
Cannot quibble on a **/**** as per WKB.
Very entertaining puzzle with nothing too obscure and the cluing logical throughout.
Although 1a was one of the first solutions, it was the last to parse by a mile!
Liked 22a and 15d,
Thanks to our setter and WKB- The mistake pic made me smile.
A very nice Tuesday Toughie.
1a I must admit that I missed the third “vacation” – just happy to get the first two. (Thanks WKB).
I experienced much difficulty in solving 15d, my COTD – Lovely surface, nice misdirection!
Thanks to Silvanus.
There is no indication of how many words we need to vacate Stan. It took me a while to spot it
Wonderful Silvanus–just tough enough for me. Many favourites but 1a, 13a, 20a, and 5d and 15d stand out. 19a was my LOI and probably the COTD. A joy to work, as always. 2.5* / 4* Thanks to Miffypops and Silvanus. I’ll read the review now.
Just beaten by 2d. Never thought of helium. 1a a delicious start to any crossword.
While on the subject of food, we have just had a flyer from Courtyard Dairy in Settle. I believe we have to thank one of our bloggers for introducing us? Thank you, we enjoyed their cheeses.
that may have been me. I have just had an email from them too. I amgoing in person to collect another tranche this weekend.
I found this enjoyable fro start to finish and at just the right level for me, Thank you Silvanus and WKB
I had three quarters of this in in pretty good time, thinking “it’s not much more difficult than this setter’s Friday back pagers”. However the last quarter earned its “Toughie” epithet and I eventually came up two short.
Very enjoyable, I particularly liked 27a for its surface, the simple but smooth 16a and 5d for the misdirection.
Many thanks to Silvanus and to MP for the top notch entertainment.
I’m very out of the habit of even trying Toughies but decided to have a go today and I’m glad I did.
It was difficult enough for me and I didn’t get 17d or 19a.
I didn’t get the long anagram at 27a either – thinking of the beastly slimy chomping things rather than drinks.
Thanks to Silvanus and to MP.
Such a miserable afternoon and my knee playing up so decided I wouldn’t have a bath tonight (my bath is sunken and getting out is becoming increasingly difficult) and of course I cannot do the crossword in the shower! I really liked 15d but was defeated by 17d as I could only think of shoddiness and I don’t do football so thanks to the trio for the answer. We have salmon for dinner but I think I’d prefer 1a for a change. We have a family word for feeling unsettled or restless – mongy. Generally speaking bloody fed up. Thank goodness for the crossword. 👏
Setter here, many thanks to WK & B and to everyone else who took the trouble to comment.
I was just as surprised to see LISLE appear twice today, these coincidences do happen occasionally though.
Many thanks for another very enjoyable puzzle Silvanus
Thanks very much for popping in, Silvanus. Although this was quite a light Toughie, I really enjoyed it – lovely cluing and super-smooth surfaces.
24d is a bit like London buses. You wait for years for one to appear, and then two come along at once.
12a was a new meaning for me.
20a & 21d were impeccable homophones for me; and 27a, 6d & 15d won the very close battle to make it onto the podium.
Brilliant stuff!
So good of you to pop in, Silvanus, nice for us to know that a setter bothers to look at our comments.
You had me completely won over with 1a – my absolute favourite breakfast – and that remained in pole position despite stiff competition from the likes of the very amusing shabby state of Essex children.
I learnt something new in that I discovered that I’ve spent my entire life using the ‘variant’ spelling of 13a. Ah well, who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks!
Thank you so much, we seem to have waited a long time for you to reappear in the Toughie slot.
Thank you, Silvanus, for a most engaging and delightful Toughie. I always feel your presence when working on one of your gems. I thought that ‘disappear’ and ‘disorient’ were about as coy as one could get, but I loved the whole puzzle. Come back soon.
Very enjoyable. We are only at the close of Tuesday but I think we’re getting a little more stretch on both puzzles this week. 1a was my favourite today and 22a beat me. Thanks all.
I really enjoyed this one. Set off at a cracking pace & rattled through the top half thinking it was easier than the back pager. Below was a different kettle of fish though. 22a was my last in & even though I had the correct anagram letters I wasn’t looking beyond bullets or slimy things for ages. Must confess to revealing the 22a/23d V checker but an otherwise unaided finish. As usual for me in Toughiedom a couple of parsings were beyond me. Got the last bit of 1a but unlike Stan who holidayed twice I never left Harpenden & was nearly but not quite there with 17d. Plenty of crackers to choose from but I’ll plump for a podium of 1,19&27a with 15d just missing out. Top spot to 1a now WKB has explained it to me.
Thanks Silvanus & MP for the review- what is it about inebriation & kebabs?
Hi, Huntsman. Doing well today? I missed the ‘Stan who holidayed twice’ allusion. Enlighten me, please.
comment #3 from Stan refers to 1a – he vacated ExasperatinG and GuestS to get the eggs but should have vacated before as well. BeforE adding N for noon and the orders to get benedict. My first in and like Jane not bettered (but equalled) in many other clues.
Your ‘vacations’ are in ExasperatinG’ , ‘GuestS’ and BeforE. Follow those with the abbreviation for noon and a type of official order.
Sorry, John, your comment appeared as I was typing!
No worries. Time for bed said Zebedee.
We had problems in the East side. Not surprisingly the wordplay for 19a was something unfamiliar to us but with a bit of Google help eventually got it.
Thought 1a was a particularly good clue and nicely set the tone for the rest of the puzzle.
Thanks Silvanus and MP.
Got here very late and most everything has been said. Lots of fun and too many favourites and a couple of new meanings to add as well. Pitta as birds have not passed here before but I have added them to the passerines which is another bird term learned here. Bursa as a pouch another learning moment and Mr Google taught me more about bursitis than I really needed.
I will take my eggs benedict with extra bacon. Thanks to Silvanus and WKB
PS re 6d we don’t want what a seaman calls left but what a landlubber calls port.
Thanks for pointing that little error out John Bee. Obviously I’m not getting enough cheese
Always love the little stories told in the clues when it comes to Silvanus.
Quite a few ticks today, thanks.
I simply love eggs benedict.
Thanks also to whatshisname for the fun review.
I really enjoyed that! Many thanks to Silvanus for such a brilliant crossword. It took me ages and several attempts and some help with extra explanations from the hints but it has left me feeling pleased as punch to have completed it. Thanks to WK and B for the extra help and lots of laughs.
Thanks to Silvanus and to WKB for the review and hints. A super puzzle from Silvanus. After three days, on and off, I finally had to concede defeat, and look at the hints. Frustratingly I had the fodder and most of the checkers in 27a, but just couldn’t get it. Also needed the hints for 22,26a and 17d. Favourite was 8a. Was 3*/4* for me.