Toughie No 795 by Busman
A Capital Puzzle
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
While not the hardest of puzzles, this is much better than the early Busman puzzles in the Toughie series and I enjoyed solving it. The handful of trickier answers are well clued.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
Across
1a A cold flagstone cracked in summer residence (6,8)
{CASTEL GANDOLFO} – an anagram (cracked) of A COLD FLAGSTONE gives the Pope’s summer residence
9a Course it’s Algernon’s aunt! (7)
{AUGUSTA} – a double definition – the golf course that hosts the US Masters tournament and Algernon’s aunt in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
10a Mark returns everything on 1/12 (7)
{CEDILLA} – this diacritical mark, which is placed below the letter c to indicate that it is pronounced as an s, is derived by reversing a three-letter word meaning everything, and the date represented by 1/12
11a Number? About twelve (4)
{NOON} – the two-letter abbreviation for number is followed by a word meaning about to get twelve midday
12a State capital’s poor supply of candy (6,4)
{LITTLE ROCK} – the state capital of Arkansas suggests a poor supply of candy
14a All the letters are devastating (6)
{LETHAL} – an anagram (letters) of ALL THE gives an adjective meaning devastating
15a Preface to comment on past health? (4,4)
{WELL THEN} – a phrase that may preface a comment is also a statement about past health
17a Top dressing? (8)
{OVERCOAT} – a gently cryptic definition of an item of clothing
18a Cutter’s suit (6)
{SWORDS} – a double definition – a weapon that cuts and a suit in the tarot pack
20a One out walking in the buff — lover of last night? (10)
{PROMENADER} – this person who is out walking is also a buff (fan) who is a lover of the last night of the concerts at the Albert Hall
21a Leading drummer tailed (4)
{STAR} – to get this adjective meaning leading drop the final letter (tailed) from the surname of the drummer with the Beatles
23a Capital! Top flier going tail first (7)
{NAIROBI} – to get the capital of Kenya start with a two-letter adjective meaning top and a flier (bird) and then move the final letter to the beginning (going tail first)
24a Penguin’s nemesis embracing ordinary rower (7)
{BOATMAN} – Put the nemesis of the cartoon character The Penguin around (embracing) O(rdinary) to get this rower
25a They know their place, we hear (14)
{ICHTHYOLOGISTS} – these experts should know all about the fish that sounds like (we hear) place
Down
1d Zapping on a booze cruise? (7-7)
{CHANNEL-HOPPING} – this verb meaning zapping the TV remote control could also refer to being on a booze cruise
2d The French discretely invested in bullion libraries — any one of four, or 21 (4,2,3,6)
{SIGN OF THE ZODIAC} – if the French feminine definite article were to be inserted (invested) into bullion libraries the result would be bull, lion, libra, aries and any one of these four define the answer, as could the answer to 21 across (although I would have thought that it was a group of 21 acrosses)
3d Card player, West, losing first holding ace (4)
{EAST} – this card player is derived by taking (W)EST, dropping its initial letter (losing first) and inserting (holding) A(ce)
4d Bars cut crust (6)
{GRATIN} – start with some bars, drop (cut) the final G and the result is a golden brown crust of buttered breadcrumbs and/or cheese
5d Fastidiousness having links with NHS body (8)
{NICETIES} – this fastidiousness is constructed from some links preceded by the body within the NHS that provides advice on the use of medicines, surgical procedures, etc.
6d Eccentrics, as club members (10)
{ODDFELLOWS} – what could be, if split as (3,7), eccentrics are actually members of a secret benevolent society
7d Eagerly begin novel and suffer (4,2,4,5)
{FALL ON HARD TIMES} – combine a phrasal verb meaning to begin eagerly and add a novel by Charles Dickens to get a phrase meaning to suffer
8d Prepare for a swimming holiday? (4,4,6)
{PACK ONE’S TRUNKS} – this cryptic definition of to prepare for a holiday suggests that swimwear is to be included
13d Traps Burmese possibly taking naughty touches (7,3)
{CATCHES OUT} – a phrasal verb meaning traps is derived from the domestic pet of which a Burmese is an example followed by an anagram (naughty) of TOUCHES
16d Discernment of Troy? (8)
{SAGACITY} – if this discernment or wisdom is split (4,4) it could describe Troy
19d Book in which cure includes tips of rue and burdock (6)
{HERBAL} – this book containing descriptions of plants with medicinal properties, the most famous of which was written by Culpeper, is created by putting a verb meaning to cure or make well around the initial letters (tips) of Rue and Burdock
22d Bikini bottom dropped — smack! (4)
{TANG} – drop the final A (bottom in a down clue) from a brief string-like bikini to get a smack or taste
Some really good stuff in this puzzle – more like this please Busman.
Very enjoyable even if only 2* tough for me. I was delighted to immediately remember the residence in 1a even if I did have my o’s and a’s slightly wrong in the second word to start with. Particular favourites were the lovely 25a and 1d. Thanks to Busman and BD too.
Really enjoyed this one, some very clever cluing involved, favourites were 5d 15a 16d and 25a thanks to Busman and to Big Dave for the comments. Dave your missing an L in 1a.
Thanks – now sorted
Well I ventured into this because of spare time and my fellow bloggers saying it wasn’t too bad on the regular puzzle. All I can say is I wouldn’t want a hard one. Got off to a flying start on 1a and then ground to a halt. Will go through the answers to try and learn but obviously I’m not ready for these yet. I even bought a paper which I’d already read on iPad just to have a go. Oh well…
Wozza that’s how I started, and for that matter with the back page too, the ones you cant see, first check the blog to see if the explanation helps, if not, just ask, there are so many great people here to assist. I totally missed the Tarot suit in 18a
… and I didn’t know anything about 18a – which is why I put “spades” – oh dear. Though that a spade could be described as something that cut – perhaps through earth, weeds etc.
This was good fun and completed without recourse to hints, electronic help for 25a all because I couldn’t see the ‘i’ in place. Oh hum…………….liked 1a/d
Pouring with rain so I had time to have a go. I managed a few and realised that I wasn’t going to get much further without an answer for 1a – could see it was an anagram but I really didn’t have a clue so I read the hint (and looked at the answer). That was all I needed to finish it apart from 18a – started off with “spades” for that which really didn’t help at all with 6 or 7d. Decided that it really wasn’t spades and all was well. I did need the hints to explain a couple – 9a and 2d.
I enjoyed this and thought there were some really good clues – 15 and 25a and 1, 5, 7 8 and 22d.
With thanks to Busman and BD for explaining the bits which were far too clever for me!
21a reminds me of John Lennon being asked if Ringo was the best drummer in the world. His reply was “He’s not even the best drummer in the Beatles”!!
I’m with Wozza on this one! Apart from 1 and 12A, and 19D completely incomprehensible; but I’ll be back to have another go tomorrow!
Thanks to Busman & Big Dave. Found this very difficult, could only get 10 answers. Looked up the rest, seemed very obscure to me.
Very enjoyable crossword and not overly difficult. Thanks to Busman and to BD.
Thanks to Busman! Very difficult for me today but also very enjoyable. Pleased, that I continued with the struggle to the bitter end. (Al fresco for once this “summer?)
I have never been able to spell ICHTHYOLOGISTS – and maybe I never will again!
apart from 18a most went in ok, and am with CSue got my vowels in a mess with 1a. 1D fave. Thanks to Busman and BD
Hmm. 25a. Find a homophonne of a word and then find a word for that word. A clue to a clue? Ximenes wept. Sorry Busman but a step to far for me.
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