Toughie No 2910 by Logman
Hints and tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Tougher than I’d expected from Logman, but about right for a mid-week Toughie. If I hadn’t seen Logman’s name on this week’s Toughie setters list, not to mention blogging a Giovanni Toughie last Wednesday, I might have been misled into thinking this was the work of the latter as it has so many ‘fairly clued words you might not know’
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought
Across
7a Not bothered, seeing Trump in without direction (9)
UNRUFFLED A verb meaning to trump, possibly derived from a card game of the same name, inserted into a way of saying ‘without direction’
8a Winger‘s celebration before end of match (5)
GALAH An (unindicated) Australian cockatoo (winger) is obtained by putting a celebration or festivity before the ‘end’ of match
10a St Peter maybe held back after reflection (6)
DENIER Someone who declares something not to be true (as St Peter did) is a reversal (after reflection) of a way of saying ‘held back’
11a Be reluctant to leave extremely impressive wear (8)
LINGERIE A verb meaning to be reluctant to leave and the ‘extreme’ letters of ImpressivE
12a Tree or fruit mainly seen across west of Yemen (6)
BANYAN Most of a type of fruit goes outside (across) the letter at the ‘west’ of Yemen
14a Impetuous revolutionary captures useless soldier on horse (6)
HUSSAR A reversal (revolutionary) of a synonym for impetuous ‘captures’ the abbreviation meaning useless or unserviceable
16a Crude account for the Spanish in bank (4)
RACY Take a synonym for bank in the verbal sense and replace the Spanish definite article with the abbreviation for account
17a Raw recruits lacking no weaknesses (5)
VICES Remove the NO (lacking no) from some raw recruits
18a Short story about soft mineral (4)
TALC A truncated (short) synonym for story and the Latin abbreviation for about
19a Folk out in the cold (6)
ETHNIC An anagram (out) of IN THE followed by the abbreviation for Cold
21a Governor settled charge in America (6)
SATRAP A governor of an ancient Persian province – a simple way of saying settled and an American slang term for a criminal charge
24a Work of strategist sweeping across line (8)
PLANNING Sweeping or moving a camera about to take a panoramic image into which is inserted (across) the abbreviation for Line)
26a Sporty artist given smack when drunk (6)
RAKISH An abbreviated artist with the way someone who was drunk might say a noisy touch of the lips
27a Sweat if American rejected party (Republican) (5)
SUDOR A reversal (rejected) of the abbreviation for American, followed by a party and the abbreviation for Republican
28a Editor flipped at missing directory for biblical exhortations (9)
DECALOGUE A name given to the Ten Commandments (biblical exhortations) – a reversal (flipped) of an abbreviated editor and a directory without (missing) AT
Down
1d Take over from a lover once on air? (5)
ANNEX A homophone (on air) of a previous lover
2d Worthy adversary’s last on mail run after correction (8)
LUMINARY The last letter of adversary goes after an anagram (correction) of MAIL RUN
3d Show signs of wear after a fine fight (6)
AFFRAY A verb meaning to show signs of wear goes after A (from the clue) and the abbreviation for Fine
4d Give a lift to outcast with no heart for dance (4)
REEL Another reversal (give a lift to) an outcast without its middle letter (no heart)
5d Stands when covered in fish (6)
EASELS A conjunction meaning when ‘covered’ in some fish
6d Very well — make matters worse and cry, lacking credit (9)
CAPITALLY A three-word phrase meaning to make matters worse and CRY (from the clue) without (lacking) the abbreviation for credit
9d Islands‘ popular game coming to premature conclusion (6)
INCHES The ‘usual’ synonym for popular and Rabbit Dave’s favourite (indoor) game without its last letter (coming to premature conclusion)
13d Cuts health budgets at last (5)
NICKS An informal term for [good] health and the last letter of budgetS
15d Fruit worker has a look into competition (9)
CANTALOUP One of crosswordland’s usual workers, A (from the clue) and an archaic interjection meaning look, all inserted into a competition with an ornamental vessel as a prize
17d Fall guy requiring energy outside court one (6)
VICTIM An informal word meaning energy or vigour goes ‘outside’ the abbreviation for court and the letter representing one
18d Cheers a new start to knowledge in reformed youth (5,3)
THANK YOU A (from the clue), the abbreviation for new and the start to Knowledge inserted into an anagram (reformed) of YOUTH
20d Such a financially aware person may be found in pain on domestication (3-3)
NON-DOM Hidden (found) in paiN ON DOMestication
22d Hotel in deal with enemy at the door (6)
THREAT The letter represented by Hotel in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet inserted into a verb meaning to deal with
23d Poseur‘s rising obligations under pressure (5)
PSEUD A reversal (rising) of some obligations goes under (in a Down solution) the abbreviation for Pressure
25d Nice article occupying gazette’s cover giving great joy (4)
GLEE The French (as used in Nice) definite article ‘occupying’ the outside (cover) letters of GazettE
Another quite testing Toughie, although not as difficult as yesterday’s offering. Any obscurities were very clearly and fairly clued, so no complaints from me. 28a proved to be my favourite, ahead of 14a. Many thanks to Logman and CS.
Sue – the hint for 11a needs a tweak.
I’d like to say I’d put the wrong thing to see if anyone noticed but I think it was more to do with wondering what sort of 11a would count as being ‘impressive’
I found this very tough – right on my limit, but I got there in the end in spite of three new words for me: 8a, 27a & 28a which as CS says were all fairly clued.
The word domestication in the clue for 20d seems rather to give the game away.
One question about 9d. Is there more than one Inch Island? If not, the definition doesn’t appear to work.
Many thanks to Logman for the challenge and to CS for the review.
The BRB does list it as a Gaelic word for an island so Logman would seem to be on safe ground.
The only problem is that Inch does not pluralise to Inches in Gaelic.
There are many islands called “Inch” and sometimes Innis , such as Innisfree , a famous poem by Yeats. The place name Inch is often qualified by which particular Inch , such as Inchydoney.
Thanks for that, Una. That’s good to know.
Helluva a lot tougher than I expected too. Have only got 14 answers in & need a lie down.
An enjoyable midweek Toughie – thanks to Logman and CS.
I didn’t know the 8a winger (I wonder if Jane did) but the wordplay was clear. When I looked up the answer in the ODE the definition said that said winger has a ‘rosy pink head and underparts’. I initially read the last word as underpants, which made me laugh.
My ticks went to 14a, 6d and 13d.
No, Gaza, I had to enlist Mr G to help with that one. What an unfortunate-looking winger!
I have seen plenty of galahs in Australia. Beautiful birds, if somewhat noisy! Galah is also Aussie slang for a fool or idiot.
That’s where a lifelong interest in words comes in handy. Years ago I wondered why Australians called a fool a 8a. Once looked up, never forgotten, although I don’t think I’ve used that particular piece of knowledge very much until today
A proper midweek toughie with some easier clues and some requiring considerable head scratching.
Several obscurities but all fairly clued. I do wonder how others manage without the BRB. I often have to check on meaning / spelling and sometimes to find out if a word exists at all.
Anyway it was a pleasure to solve thanks to Logman and CS for the blog. ( Never seen a 12ac before, fascinating and well worth a Google)
**/****
I’d heartily agree with CS – if I hadn’t known better I could have quite happily attributed this one to DG.
No particular favourite to mention although the impetuous revolutionary did raise a smile.
Thanks to Logman and to CS, especially for the illustration of the winger on a bad hair day!
Like others, I found this tough, but I got there in the end.
I loved the “make matters worse” wordplay in 6d.
Thanks to CS and Longman.
Although not as difficult as yesterday, still quite a challenge, with the last half a dozen needing a lot of thought.
6d my definite favourite, 28a amused and quite liked 14&17a along with 13d.
Many thanks to Logman for the puzzle and Cryptic Sue for the explanations.
Very fairly clued , just failed to get 8a despite seeing them in Oz and 27a which I’d never heard of before . 10 and 11a were my favs in an enjoyable puzzle .
Managed to solve them all but 6d in this very absorbing and clever gift by our Wednesday maestro. Even though I’m familiar with the British use of 6d, I just could not come up with the phrase to ‘make matters worse’, so I think that little devil has to be my COTD. What a splendid workout this was. As I am wont to say in the presence of such great stuff, not a dud in the grid. Thanks to CS and to Jay-as-Logman.
Yep, another tough Toughie.
20d is my favourite.
27a completely new to me, as far as I can recall.
Thanks to CS for the much needed help with my last few and thanks to Logman for the challenge.
From this side of the world 8a was familiar to us in both literal and figurative usage. Flocks of them are ubiquitous in some outback areas of Oz. The answer that did trail the rest by a country mile was 6d. Took ages to twig the wordplay.
A good challenge and enjoyable solve.
Thanks Logman and CS.
A struggle from start to finish which at least I eventually managed at the 3rd attempt albeit after reading the hints for 6d&10a (latter particularly disappointing not to have got). Never seemed to be wavelength & even the easier ones felt like hard work. 8&27a new words to me & had to google the card context of ruff to cotton on to the parsing. 28a my pick of the clues.
Thanks to Logman & CS
Even with all the help (thank you so much), including from some of the comments, I ended up having to uncover six answers. Some of them were clues where I worked out how to get to the answer but I didn’t know the necessary stuff to sort it out. Ah well, we all have our limits.