Toughie 3097 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3097

by Gazza  

Toughie No 3097 by Dada
Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

StephenL has still not fully recovered from his bout of sickness but hopes to be back in the blogging chair soon. In the meantime I get to blog a Dada Toughie. I thought it was enjoyable but fairly gentle, even for a Tuesday Toughie. So, how did it compare with Sunday’s prize puzzle – I await your verdict with interest.

Thanks to Dada.

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

Across Clues

1a Composer with Figaro’s job? (6)
BARBER: double definition – a US composer and Figaro’s trade (not too tricky for me as the answer is part of the title of a play by Beaumarchais which was one of my set books at school).

5a Fish after small fruit (8)
SHADDOCK: the clothing abbreviation for small and a popular food fish.

9a Expert bringing coaster into use (10)
CONSUMMATE: a verb to use or deplete containing the sort of coaster you rest your drink on.

10a Build towards motorway (4)
FORM: a preposition meaning towards and the abbreviation identifying a motorway.

11a Rosy, ruddy (8)
BLOOMING: double definition, the second a very mild swear word.

12a County staff back and prepared (6)
DORSET: join together the reversal of a staff and an adjective meaning prepared.

13a A little shallow, a dirty channel that’s mainly dry (4)
WADI: hidden in the clue is a word, from Arabic, for a watercourse that’s dry for most of the year.

15a At home, travel abroad for break (8)
INTERVAL: an adverb meaning at home followed by an anagram (abroad) of TRAVEL.

18a Free throw, mine (4-4)
OPEN-CAST: an adjective meaning free or unobstructed and a verb to throw.

19a Top primate: he has my vote! (4)
APEX: a primate from the animal kingdom and the letter used to register a vote.

21a Person in automobile club (6)
DRIVER: double definition, the second the sort of club that Huntsman might use.

23a A single member down by the sea, zero earlier (3-5)
ONE-ARMED: glue together a preposition meaning by or ‘close to’ and the short name of a specific sea. Precede that with the letter that resembles zero.

25a Sharp intake of breath while visiting doctor (4)
GASP: insert a synonym of while into one of our usual abbreviations for a doctor.

26a One’s hooked a roach: get excited reeling in biggun, finally (10)
COATHANGER: an anagram (excited) of A ROACH GET containing the final letter of biggun.

27a Easy raid has become complicated, probably (1,4,3)
I DARE SAY: an anagram (has become complicated) of EASY RAID.

28a In essay, side penned (6)
TRENDY: a verb to essay containing a side or edge.

Down Clues

2d Maldivian circle, a ring (5)
ATOLL: A and a verb to ring.

3d European banks to American (9)
BOSTONIAN: a European from a Balkan country contains TO.

4d Wait on chief (6)
REMAIN: a preposition meaning on or about and an adjective meaning chief or principal.

5d Unfortunately, lady is ignorant about first of citations, informal reference (5,10)
SLANG DICTIONARY: an anagram (unfortunately) of LADY IS IGNORANT contains the first letter of citations.

6d Relation breaking code in advance (8)
ANECDOTE: this relation means a story, say, being related. Insert an anagram (breaking) of CODE into an advance or stake in card playing.

7d Animal biting fox’s head, put off (5)
DEFER: a grazing animal contains the head of fox.

8d Referee originally in the middle, not in time for match (9)
CORRELATE: insert the original letter of referee into a synonym of middle then append an adjective meaning ‘not in time’.

14d Written symbol proves an ‘indrance to itself? (9)
AMPERSAND: a verb meaning “proves an ‘indrance” without its initial H to match the clue followed by what the answer means (itself).

16d Change back various things (9)
REARRANGE: charade of a word meaning back or hind part and a term for various things or a variety.

17d Don’t allow supporters in camp (8)
BARRACKS: split your answer 3,5 to understand the wordplay.

20d Very spicy — and fresh! (3-3)
RED-HOT: double definition, the second meaning recently received.

22d Bigwig superior to queen, spiteful type (5)
VIPER: the abbreviation for a bigwig precedes the regnal cipher of our late Queen.

24d Polish servicemen disarm traps (5)
EMEND: polish here is a verb hidden in the clue.

My ticks today went to 23a, 14d and 17d. Which one(s) got your vote?

 

15 comments on “Toughie 3097”

  1. Proper job. Good solid Tuesday Toughie, which for me posed its greatest challenge in the NW – I worked clockwise from the NE to finish with the expert, which I biffed but could not parse. Great variety of clue types, and the anagram at 5d held out on me for far longer than it should – I needed five of the checkers in the second word before it dawned. 5a one of my favourite fruits, albeit under its more common name.

    Hon mentions to 1a, 23a, 14d and the very clever lurker in 28d.

    Many thanks indeed to Dada and to Gazza (great illustrations, as ever!)

  2. 9a was also my downfall; having bunged it in I could not parse it. Everything else was pretty much par for a Tuesday Toughie slot, with 14d proving to be my favourite.

    Many thanks to Dada for the challenge, and to super sub Gazza. Hope to see SL back in the saddle soon.

  3. I solved this in three quarters of the time it took to solve the Sunday crossword. The Tuesday Toughie is supposed to be about the same as a difficult Friday cryptic and that was my experience first thing this morning. Lots to enjoy but my favourite is 14d

    Thanks to Dada and Gazza

  4. I had a couple of GK problems with this one but the Sunday puzzle had some rather more tricky wordplay so I guess it evens out.
    Ticked clues here were 18&25a plus 14d. Large tick for Gazza’s great cartoons!

    Thanks to Dada and to the afore-mentioned Gazza for the review.

  5. Ultimately defeated by the NW so needed the hints for 1a, 9a, 11a 3d and 4d. I did toy with the right answer to 1a but couldn’t make anything else fit. Favourite was 24d. Thanks to Dada for the beating and Gazza for the hints

  6. I did not find this as easy as the above but then a Toughie is, to me, a real challenge. 5d was interesting. I’d never heard of a slang dictionary so it took a while to unravel
    Now to look at the back page
    Get well soon StephenL

  8. We must be a bit rusty after our week away from puzzles as we found this one quite tricky, particularly in the NW.
    Did eventually get everything sorted and appreciated all the Dada cleverness.
    Thanks Dada and Gazza.

  9. I had abandoned this after answering just one clue in 3 1/2 minutes. But I picked it up again after a bit of encouragement from Steve Cowling. In the end I answered all but four clues correctly with a bit of help from the thesaurus and checking the dictionary, and the other four with Gazza’s hints. I hadn’t heard of 5a or a 13a, but I could work out 5a from the clue and the checkers. I thought 6d was remote, while I found 3d and 9a too abstruse for my patience. But at over 85% compete before heading to the hints I feel like I punched above my weight. Thanks Gazza for the hints. Even though this is a Toughie, and to me, would have been 4 1/2* for difficulty if it had been a back-pager, I still found it more accessible than the Sunday crossword!

  10. Late as usual but that Tour de France won’t watch itself. The contre-la-montre really was the race of truth today.
    As others the tricky stuff was particularly in the NW not that anywhere else was a doddle but some definitions seemed straight out of Dada’s special thesaurus.
    The slang dictionary was new to me too and I even had Urban pencilled in until I realised the fodder didn’t fit
    Get well soon Stephen and thanks to Gazza for the hints and cartoons
    Thanks to Dada too

    1. Yes, the order of the top two on the podium now decided. What I find depressing about watching the TdF on TV every year is that every other advert seems to be for a funeral plan.

      1. I do think you are probably right but the Queen stage today will no doubt see a big attack from Pog – equally sure Ving can at least keep up if not counter. It has been the most exciting TdF for a long time
        I get depressed by the funeral plans too – arranging Mama Bee’s was bad enough – I refuse to think about my own yet

  11. A day late to this. Great guzzle. Add me to those who found the NW trickiest but it was last in 23a that extended the solve time past Sunday’s one. 5a&d both unfamiliar to me & requiring post solve confirmation. Fav a toss up between 14d&23a with 3,8&17d fighting it out for bronze.
    Thanks to D&G with continued best wishes to Stephen

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