Toughie 2835 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 2835

Toughie No 2835 by Giovanni

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

Is Giovanni mellowing (or was this puzzle originally intended for the back page)? There are quite a few gimmes here and although he includes his usual ration of religious terms there’s nothing that was new to me – that’s a first for a Giovanni Toughie. Thanks to him for the puzzle.

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

Across Clues

5a Appearing to have a high temperature with disease building? (7)
FLUSHED: stick together the short name for a winter disease and a small building.

7a Contribution to service? Note donations falling short (5)
PSALM: charade of the abbreviation for a note and charitable donations without their last letter.

9a Port having no time to provide security (6)
ANCHOR: a port in Alaska without its time or historic period.

10a Swimming in Red Sea close to the edge (8)
NEARSIDE: an anagram (swimming) of IN RED SEA.

11a Timely expression of support given with letter read out (5,2,3)
RIGHT ON CUE: an exclamation (5,2) indicating full agreement (mainly North American) followed by what sounds like one of our letters.

13a Like Cinders, initially awkward and reticent? (4)
ASHY: the initial letter of awkward and an adjective meaning reticent.

14a US soldiers invading in a significant way, showing great authority (13)
MAGISTERIALLY: insert the abbreviation for US ordinary soldiers into an adverb meaning ‘in a significant or important way’.

16a Bluff Henry has ring — but surely not this one! (4)
HALO: bluff, in the sense of good-naturedly hearty, was a term applied to this English king. Append the ring-shaped letter to his shortened name to make an attribute which he patently didn’t deserve.

17a Warning that is left before final scene (10)
PORTENDING: what’s left at sea precedes a word for the final scene of a play or film.

19a Squalid place with old heretic making a bit of money (8)
DENARIUS: bring together what can be a squalid place and the founder of a Christian heresy (one that Giovanni is fond of using which is the only reason I’ve heard of it). The answer is what the ‘d’ in l.s.d is derived from.

20a Plant that’s yellow getting pulled up (6)
ORCHID: our usual yellow tincture and a past participle meaning pulled up or rebuked.

22a Feature of vehicle’s alignment that is coming back into fashion (3-2)
TOE-IN: reverse the usual abbreviation for ‘that is’ and insert it into a word, from French, meaning fashion. The answer relates to the convergence of a pair of wheels so that they are closer at the front than at the back.

23a Hard stuff, metal — need somehow to clamp it (7)
DENTINE: a specific metal is clamped inside an anagram (somehow) of NEED.

Down Clues

1d Gospel? It’s unopened book of the Bible (4)
RUTH: what gospel is an informal word for without its initial letter.

2d Egyptians having pronounced beautiful round figures (8)
PHARAOHS: a double homophone of a synonym for beautiful and round figures or letters.

3d Record former requirement prior to a test (1-5)
L-PLATE: knit together a type of record and an adjective meaning former or previous.

4d US general and journalist got together (10)
MARSHALLED: assemble the surname of a WWII US general (who is remembered for his plan to provide post-war aid for European countries) and our usual abbreviated journalist.

5d Kingdom offering enjoyment starts to get irresponsible (5)
FUNGI: a synonym of enjoyment and the starting letters of the last two words of the clue.

6d Curse deadline arranged for being free of dangerous weapons (13)
DENUCLEARISED: an anagram (arranged) of CURSE DEADLINE.

8d Seized advantage when morris dancers function, we hear, with extra aspiration (4,3)
MADE HAY: what sounds like a springtime festival when Morris dancers traditionally strut their stuff has an H inserted.

12d I may adore Mary and hate Gloria perversely (10)
HAGIOLATER: an anagram (perversely) of HATE GLORIA.

14d Fellow entertaining English is French and least likely to be generous (7)
MEANEST: a fellow contains the single-letter abbreviation for English and that’s followed by the French word for ‘is’.

15d I leap around church, stuck in a freezing place (8)
ICEBOUND: I and a leap contain one of the usual abbreviations for church.

17d Amenable and upright character engaged by factory (6)
PLIANT: the perpendicular letter is contained in a factory or workshop.

18d Natural place known for its water springing up (5)
NAIVE: reverse the name of a French place known for its expensive bottled water (although it’s sold mainly in plastic rather than bottles).

21d Pal lacking a prominent feature (4)
CHIN: drop the A from the Cockney rhyming word for pal or mate.

The clues which appealed most to me were 13a, 20a and 8d. Which one(s) reached out to you?


20 comments on “Toughie 2835

  1. All done and dusted in 2* time, another great tussle from Giovanni – thanks, and ta in advance to Gazza, whose help I need parsing a couple.

    Nope – still don’t “get” 20a. Please enlighten me, someone!

    Ah – the penny has dropped.

  2. Oh, I should have recogned Giovanni – I never bother to look to see who it is until afterwards, and today I forgot. The weird thing is, I thought this was quite hard and then looked at my time and it was barely into 2*… I spent too long trying to find a port with a ‘t’ in it, and it was only after I bunged in the answer that I realised what ‘time’ was. I’d never heard of 22a but it was obvious what it had to be, and I freely confess I did not bother to check. Not really interested in cars… but that doesn’t really excuse 3d being my last one in, where I was absolutely convinced that there had to be an ‘ex’ in there.

    Anyway, very enjoyable, if a bit gentle for a Thursday. I wonder what tomorrow will bring…

  3. Pretty straightforward except I had to check the heretic in 19a, I needed the hint to parse 22a as the word for fashion was new to me and I certainly hadn’t heard of 12d. Realising it was an anagram and all the checkers in place I still had to use e-help. Favourite was 8d. Thanks to Giovanni and Gazza.

  4. Who else but Gio? I learned a bit from Google about the heretic and puzzled over why King Hal should be any less deserving than umpteen popes but otherwise plain sailing. Favourite was 8d.
    Thanks to Giovanni and Gazza.

  5. Slow start but picked up pace with recourse to google on a couple of meanings. Thanks to Giovanni and Gazza.

  6. As others have said, a very typical Giovanni puzzle. I preferred the North to the South, where I needed a touch of electronic help. Plenty to like though including 7&11a plus 3,8&21d.
    Many thanks to Giovanni and Gazza for the workout.

  7. The amount of black squares left room for only 26 answers. I feel cheated when these grids are used. Typically Giovanni in execution. No more to be said. Thanks to Giovanni for the puzzle and also to Gazza for hinting it

  8. Very frustrating. Beaten by 19a which I couldn’t get even after revealing the first letter & then reading the hint. A shame as I found the puzzle otherwise reasonably straightforward & certainly easier than the last 2 days. As per I needed Mr G on a couple of occasions – to confirm the definition synonym at 5d & that 12d meant what I thought it did. 11a my favourite & thought 6d a neat anagram & surface read.
    Thanks to both Gs

  9. As is to be expected, our reviewer is more clever than yours truly – I didn’t have a clue when it came to either Mary’s worshipper or the vehicular alignment. Add to that the fact that I invariably spell those Egyptians incorrectly and did need to acquaint myself with the old heretic – all in all, my usual level of performance when faced with a DG compilation!
    I did enjoy the 10a anagram and my other picks would be those already mentioned by Gazza.

    Thanks to Giovanni and to Gazza, particularly for his illustration of 22a – who knew!

  10. Needed e-help to complete 20A, the BRB to confirm 12D, and the hints to parse 20A, but otherwise OK. Favorites 9A and 8D. Thanks Giovanni and Gazza.

    1. Welcome to the blog, Bamboozled Bob.

      If you check Chambers you’ll find:
      or: (Noun) the tincture gold or yellow,
      chide: (Verb transitive) (chiding; chid or sometimes chided or chode(archaic); chid or chidden or sometimes chided).

  11. I found this the most accessible Giovanni I can remember–but, like Huntsman, it was 19a that kept me from an unblemished solve. Had to go to the well of electronic letters to draw from, and with the D and the R, the penny dropped and I remembered that old coin. I was pleased to remember 12d from my old university days, and it’s my COTD (of course, the anagram helped). I also liked 11 and 14a. Thanks to Gazza, whose review I’ll read now, and to Giovanni.

  12. Late in the day but just wanted to thank The Don for a very fair challenge that was most enjoyable to complete. Thanks to Gazza, too. 8d my favourite,

  13. A few head-scratching moments but all very fairly clued. A pleasure to solve.
    Thanks Giovanni and Gazza.

  14. You know it’s a Giovanni puzzle when you’re googling to check the name of a 3rd century heretic. Nuff said.

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