Toughie 2747 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 2747

by Gazza  

Toughie No 2747 by Hudson

Hints and tips by Gazza

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

I always enjoy Hudson’s Toughies but I was slightly disappointed by this one. It continued the run of floughieness that we’ve had all week and it seemed to lack a bit of the sparkle that we usually get from him.

Thanks to Hudson.

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

Across Clues

8a Table water in Yorkshire returned sample of bacterium (8)
LISTERIA: a table or register and the reversal of a Yorkshire river.

9a American tax adviser deleting content, image online (6)
AVATAR: string together an abbreviation for American, a type of tax and the outer letters of adviser.

10a Fine tungsten-tipped pan (3)
WOK: an informal response meaning fine or satisfactory preceded by the chemical symbol of tungsten.

11a Makes cross in church, starts off new sermon every Sunday (8)
INCENSES: IN, one of the usual abbreviations for church and the starting letters of the last four words.

12a Glossy appearance of fish retired chap netted (6)
ENAMEL: a slithery fish contains the reversal of a synonym of chap.

13a Craft takes high water around edge of reef, a hidden danger at sea (5,5,5)
GREAT WHITE SHARK: an anagram (craft) of TAKES HIGH WATER containing the first letter of R(eef).

15a Send back mushrooms starter, oddly lacking vision (7)
SPECTRE: reverse some mushrooms and append the even letters of starter.

18a It warms bishop, gaunt, esurient, drained (7)
BLANKET: assemble the chess abbreviation for bishop, an adjective meaning gaunt or thin and the outer letters of esurient.

21a OMG! Sun’s politics disturbed a writer on the paper (6,9)
GOSSIP COLUMNIST: an anagram (disturbed) of OMG SUN’S POLITICS.

24a Substitute some players at Zurich (6)
ERSATZ: hidden in the clue.

25a Batting knocking the stuffing out of Derbyshire lower order comprehensively (2,6)
IN DETAIL: assemble an adjective meaning ‘currently batting’, the outer letters of Derbyshire and a word describing the lower order (i.e. normally numbers 7 to 11 on the team sheet) of a cricket team.

26a Twelve leaving party for Japanese school (3)
ZEN: drop the festive party from a word meaning twelve.

27a Son caught naked left barely legible note (6)
SCRAWL: paste together abbreviations for son and caught, an adjective meaning naked or unvarnished and the abbreviation for left.

28a Indian-style rattan door, including frames (8)
TANDOORI: our second hidden word.

Down Clues

1d Champion whiskey bar? The one in the Crown (6)
WINNER: glue together the letter which whiskey represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet, a bar or pub and the number one character in the TV series The Crown.

2d Goddess subsequently entering advanced area (6)
ATHENA: if you’ve already done the back-page puzzle this should be a doddle. Insert a word meaning subsequently between abbreviations for advanced and area.

3d This angry exchange standing on floor (9,6)
CROSSWORD PUZZLE: an angry exchange (5,4) precedes a verb to floor or bewilder.

4d Case of Mauritius walnuts overturned (7)
LAWSUIT: our third hidden word – this one is reversed.

5d British duke pedalling furiously, gobbling wife’s tart (8,7)
BAKEWELL PUDDING: start with an abbreviation for British and add an anagram (furiously) of DUKE PEDALLING containing the genealogical abbreviation for wife.

6d Mum competed, taking on terribly hot gruelling event (8)
MARATHON: an affectionate word for mum and a verb meaning competed containing an anagram (terribly) of HOT.

7d Happy pedestrianised zone finally enclosed (8)
CAREFREE: a way of describing pedestrianised (3,4) containing the final letter of zone.

14d Sheep trapped by drain (3)
EWE: just the inner letters of a type of drain.

16d Yes, perhaps Genesis could be used for examples in this area (4,4)
PROG ROCK: Yes and Genesis are two examples of the purveyors of this genre.

17d One in desperate need of help by Friday? (8)
CASTAWAY: cryptic description of a Daniel Defoe character.

19d 10,000 flipping fish! (3)
KOI: join what looks like ’10’ and an abbreviation for thousand then reverse it all.

20d My international hotel’s Greek location (7)
CORINTH: staple together an exclamation meaning “my!”, an abbreviation for international and the letter for which hotel is used in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet.

22d Bad form, pinching inventor’s first idea (6)
NOTION: a way of saying ‘bad form’ (3,2) containing the first letter of inventor.

23d Those missing lessons — five down — they’ll go downhill rapidly (6)
SKIERS: start with a word for those who bunk off school or evade work and remove the Roman numeral for five.

My ticks today went to 25a and 19d. Which one(s) raised your spirits?

 

26 comments on “Toughie 2747”

  1. A very enjoyable puzzle as usual from Hudson. All over in a reasonable time helped by the four long answers writing themselves in. Thanks to Hudson and Gazza for their efforts today

  2. Pretty straightforward but no less enjoyable for that. Favourite was 25a. Thanks to Hudson and Gazza.

  3. It took me a while to get onto the right wavelength but then everything came together nicely and I enjoyed it a lot.

    My podium comprises 25a (I don’t think many no. 7s will appreciate being considered as part of the tail, Gazza), 7d & 20d.

    Many thanks to Hudson and to Gazza.

    2. The Magnificent Seven … Adam Gilchrist, Alan Knott, Deryck Murray, Rod Marsh, Godfrey Evans, Ian Healy & Jack Russell.

      And that’s just the wicket-keepers!

  4. I agree Gazza. The LHS put up a bit of a fight but the RHS was mostly a write-in. But it was still a fun solve. 1d had a refreshingly different way of clueing ER which took me a while to twig.
    Thanks for the blog and thanks to Hudson for the puzzle.

  5. It would be nice to get more Toughie’s that sit between “Floughie” level and Elgar level (although I do enjoy his challenge every so often). By Thursday I’d hope for something that fits that brief. As ever always appreciative of the setter’s efforts and Gazza’s hints and tips.

  6. I don’t mind the odd week of easier Toughies, as I’m sure we shall get our comeuppance in due course; Hubris is generally followed my Nemesis. As a cricket nut, 25a was my COTD.

    Thanks to Hudson for an enjoyable puzzle, and to Gazza.

  7. Since I finished my first two Toughies this week I thought I would have a go at this one.

    Hard work, but very enjoyable. Started very slowly but speeded up once I had cracked 13A. My favourites were 10A, 3D & 19D.

    Many thanks to Hudson and Gazza.

    Would anyone like to enlighten me regarding ‘Floughieness’?

  8. I can usually forgive Hudson for only giving us a 1* Toughie as his crosswords are always such fun to solve. Not so today, a fairly average mid-week 3* back page crossword is not what we expect either from this setter or the Toughie crossword itself. Sorry Hudson, but thank you to you and Gazza

    I do hope Sparks brings a good amount of toughness tomorrow – I’m starting to wonder whether I’ve missed some sort of announcement about all the Telegraph crosswords this week being deliberately pitched at the very straightforward end of the spectrum in order to encourage new solvers.

  9. Another enjoyable floughie. I ticked quite a few so hard to pick a winner. Thanks to Hudson and Gazza.

  10. Far from being easy I had difficulty getting into this one. However, once I got going I sailed along enjoying the journey. 16d was new to me and I do think 21a was a very clever anagram.
    Make the most of this because it’s Friday tomorrow!

  11. Very enjoyable puzzle with my favourites being 8A, 10A, 4D and, finall, 19D being the star. Lots of comments about “floughies” etc but, let’s not forget, every crossword is easy if you know the answers!! This was 2*/4* for me; thanks Hudson

  12. The two long anagrams were easily guessed once a couple of checkers were in place but all the checkers were certainly required here for 16d! 14d rather surprised me, didn’t realise it was considered fair game to use the contents of a word that doesn’t appear in the clue.
    Top three for me were 6,7&20d.

    Thanks to Hudson and to Gazza for the review.

  13. Unlike CS, who seems to get her feelings hurt by a less strenuous Thursday Toughie, I found this quite enjoyable and worthy of its presence here today. But what do I know anyway? I must set my standards higher! The RHS was the first to yield, but the LHS took some effort, and I finally needed a bit of electronic help to finish. I especially liked the three-letter clues. Thanks to Hudson for the enjoyment and to Gazza for the review.

  14. I found this a lot of fun. Initially I thought I was going to struggle but as ever a combination of a few checkers and wavelength adjustment helped considerably (not to mention 2d!)
    Needed the hint to see 8a…doh!!
    9&25a plus 7&19d stood out for me.
    Thanks to Hudson and Gazza for a top puzzle and review.

  15. At 23d I arrived at the correct answer but from the wrong kind of truant. An unparsed “skippers” as in those who skip school.
    Desperately looked for a link between PP and bakewell pudding DOH !
    Thanks all

  16. Having just completed the RayT back page puzzle, it was areal surprise to see the 2d clue here. An amazing coincidence.
    The 4 long answers went in without too much fight so plenty of checkers to help along the way.
    An enjoyable solve.
    Thanks Hudson and Gazza.

  17. Gazza, the 28a pic reminded me of that Pete and Dud “unidexter” Tarzan sketch from way back in the day: I’ve nothing against that Indian restaurant’s new name, but then neither has it on one side now its leg’s fallen off. :-)

    2. I’ve nothing against your right leg. It’s perfect for the part…..
      Pete was a lovely fella – albeit he was always p****d when I used to chat to him in Hampstead.

  18. Unlike most of you, I struggled to finish this, with the NW corner being quite recalcitrant. It wasn’t until I realised I had misspelled a word that it all fell into place.

    The word I slipped up on? CROSSWORD. ::sigh::

    Thanks to Hudson and Gazza.

  19. Fully agree that it was very floughie. It was a breeze until 7d, my last in, which was a head scratch as I struggled to come up with the correct definition synonym or peg the 7 letter pedestrian zone – the latter only twigged after the former eventually dawned on me. Can’t say I agree with Gazza in terms of it lacking sparkle because I thought it good fun & elegantly clued throughout. Agree with Robert on the 3 letter clues (10a&19d) with 25a my pick ahead of 7d.
    Thanks to Hudson & Gazza.

  20. Thank you for the entertainment, Hudson. Somehow I’ve picked up the belief that Ray T crosswords are beyond me and Hudsons are more on my wavelength. I suppose I’d better re-evaluate that now the same clue (pretty much) has appeared in both!

    And thank you for the hints, Gazza. I like to think that I would’ve got their on my own eventually†, but I had limited solving time and you helped me to meet my deadline.

    I particularly liked 3d and 4d; my favourite is 25a for combining so many different bits of wordplay on the same theme.

    Is 5d a tart? There’s a similarly named tart, of course, but they are distinct delicacies, and I thought that 5d specifically not having ‘tart’ in its name meant that it wasn’t one?

    † I’d certainly like to think that. Whether it’s true is something we’ll never know.

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