Toughie No 3047 by Kcit
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Kcit has given us an enjoyable pangram today. Thanks to him.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
1a Sparkle from French wife in short chemise? (7)
SHIMMER: put the abbreviated title of a French married woman into another word for a chemise without its last letter.
5a Coarse stuff upset farm animal (7)
BUCKRAM: charade of a verb to upset or go against (the system, perhaps) and a farm animal.
9a Was mad — wanted to unseat Conservative (5)
RAVED: a verb meaning wanted badly without the single-letter abbreviation for Conservative.
10a He has followers — a rowdy group picketing the opening of recycling plant (9)
ZOROASTER: an informal word for a rowdy group contains the opening letter of recycling. Add a type of flower.
11a Family angry about limitations to genetics? It’s a point of departure (5,5)
KINGS CROSS: synonyms for family and angry contain the outer letters of genetics to make a point of departure (to Hogwarts school?).
12a Jack, working, accommodating one associate (4)
JOIN: the abbreviation for a Jack in card games and an adverb meaning working with the Roman numeral for one inserted.
14a Dealer who must be allowed some slack? (4,8)
COAL MERCHANT: cryptic definition of a dealer who might deliver slack in a sack.
18a Time to start meal enshrining a success by American economics writer (6,6)
LAUNCH WINDOW: string together a meal containing A, a synonym for success and the surname of an economics writer who gave his name to the New York equivalent of our Footsie.
21a Bearing west around capital of Greece, attaining another city (4)
RIGA: reverse a bearing or demeanour around the first letter of Greece.
22a Going over slope, check part of car (5,5)
BRAKE LIGHT: a verb to check or harm contains a verb to slope.
25a Produce narrative: pointed article about a group of sailors (4,1,4)
SPIN A YARN: an adjective meaning pointed or thorny and one of our indefinite articles contain A. Finish with the abbreviation for our sailors.
26a Vestment rolled back — hot period (5)
EPOCH: reverse a long cloak worn by some clergy and add the tap abbreviation for hot.
27a Former common feature of past, present and future? (3-4)
ONE-TIME: what unduplicated feature is found in each of the three words?
28a Outstanding confusion about line following random path (7)
AIMLESS: a two-letter abbreviation that can mean outstanding is followed by a confusion or muddle containing the abbreviation for line.
Down Clues
1d Street vehicle not initially good outcome in alley (6)
STRIKE: the abbreviation for street and a young child’s vehicle without its initial letter.
2d Coin and note put into one aperture (6)
INVENT: the abbreviation for note is inserted between the Roman numeral for one and an aperture.
3d Various aids to blocking a great deal of digital wealth creation (5,5)
MIDAS TOUCH: an anagram (various) of AIDS and the word TO are contained in an adverb meaning a great deal.
4d Uncovered damage to skin (or cut) (5)
RAZOR: a word for a slight damage to the skin loses both its outside letters and that’s followed by OR.
5d Swiss city’s cash accommodating European composer (9)
BERNSTEIN: the capital of Switzerland and the ‘S are followed by a dated slang term for cash containing an abbreviation for European.
6d Grumpy person, in third pub on the crawl, turned up? (4)
CRAB: reverse what could be (3,1) the third pub you visit.
7d Reasonable component of education native initially dismissed (8)
RATIONAL: a letter standing for one of the three ‘basics’ of education followed by a native without his/her first letter.
8d Steep climbing in the morning — rocky terrain, admitting no second appearance (8)
MARINATE: reverse the abbreviation for ‘in the morning’ and add an anagram (rocky) of TERRAIN after you’ve removed one occurrence of the only letter that appears twice in it.
13d Spades, followed by hearts in excellent call? It’s an instructive period (6,4)
SCHOOL TERM: the cards abbreviation for spades is followed by an informal word for excellent or fashionable with the cards abbreviation for Hearts embedded in it. Finish with a verb to call or name.
15d Crewe also struggling, not given capital’s treatment (5-4)
LOWER-CASE: an anagram (struggling) of CREWE ALSO.
16d Recycled cola bottles unpaid worker picked up outside (8)
ALFRESCO: an anagram (recycled) of COLA contains the reversal of an unpaid worker in feudal times.
17d Lot of paper swamping business meeting causes difficult situation (8)
QUAGMIRE: a lot of paper (well, 25 sheets) contains the abbreviation for a meeting which public companies have to hold once a year.
19d I quit over new and concerning snub (6)
IGNORE: I and a verb to quit contain (over, in a down clue??) the abbreviation for new. Finish with a preposition meaning concerning.
20d Desires game to be curtailed after it (6)
ITCHES: a curtailed board game follows IT.
23d Crucial opening for Africa involves northern country there (5)
KENYA: a synonym for crucial and the opening letter of Africa contain the abbreviation for northern.
24d Vehicle put a strain on electric current (4)
TAXI: a verb to put a strain on and the symbol for electric current.
I’ve selected 27a, 1d and 3d for the medal positions. Which one(s) did you choose as the crème de la crème?
Very enjoyable, as is usually the case with this setter.
Like our blogger on my back-page blog I have several ticks but the simple and smooth 9a&2d along with the clever 27a&1d were my particular cream of the crop.
Many thanks to Kcit and Gazza.
Absolutely wonderful puzzle from Kcit – for me not a particularly Thursday-level Toughie but what ingenuity in the clue construction, the shoals of red herring, the humour. One of the most enjoyable Toughies for a long time. 16a was a successful biff but I couldn’t parse the middle – having been conned into looking for a homophone to go inside the jumbled cola. Even then it took a while to twig that ‘picked up’ signalled a reversal.
Ticks littered the page afterwards – Hon Mentions to 11a, 18a, 27a, 1d & 5d (but there could have been another dozen in that list) while COTD went by a whisker to the laugh-out-loud brilliance of 3d.
3 / 4.5
Many thanks indeed to Kcit, and of course to Gazza, too (especially for the cartoons!)
A light for a Thursday Toughie, but enjoyable pangram. My favourite was 27a
Thanks to Kcit and Gazza
Found the NE the hardest and tried mob for the rowdy group in 10a but I didn’t think Tik Tok followers of Morbaster were the ones required.
Thanks to Kcit for the great fun and to Gazza for the review.
A top notch puzzle and hugely enjoyed. Misdirection all over the place so heaps of penny-drop moments.
Thanks Kcit and Gazza.