Toughie No 1007 by Kcit
Do They Think it’s Thursday?
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment **
What’s going on, then? I thought I had an understanding with the High Command at Telegraph Towers that Wednesday Toughies would be puzzles of some substance (only joking). This one, I thought, was pretty lightweight and could easily have appeared on the back page.
Do leave a comment with your views and please take the time to click on one of the stars below to record your enjoyment factor.
Across Clues
1a False rumours stop women leaving hospital units (7)
{CANARDS} – an informal (mainly North American) verb to stop or put an end to is followed by hospital units without the W(omen).
9a Revolutionary comrade beginning to taunt US politician (8)
{DEMOCRAT} – an anagram (revolutionary) of COMRADE followed by the beginning of T(aunt).
10a Following behind, having taken front off fence (7)
{RAILING} – drop the front letter from a present participle meaning following behind or dogging (no! not that sort of dogging).
11a Organ playing in display of skill that’s high-handed (8)
{ARROGANT} – an anagram (playing) of ORGAN goes inside a display of skill.
12a Football and rugby, say, tossed around these leather items (6)
{STROPS} – reverse (tossed around) what football and rugby are examples of.
13a US lawyer rejected version of events I’m giving US counsel (10)
{ADVISEMENT} – reverse (rejected) the abbreviation for a public prosecutor in the USA and follow this with an anagram (version) of EVENTS I’M to make a North American word for counsel.
15a Yank to have success with girl (4)
{PULL} – double definition, the second an informal verb meaning to succeed in initiating a sexual liaison (not necessarily with a girl – in these modern times other combinations are available).
16a Wise man accepting hard quantity of ice will show loss of size (9)
{SHRINKAGE} – a wise man contains (accepting) H(ard) and an enclosed area of ice.
21a Confusion occurring in Times sometimes (4)
{MESS} – hidden (occurring in).
22a Polluted air: guy involved in treatment exaggerated picture (10)
{CARICATURE} – insert an anagram (polluted) of AIR and a slang term for a man (especially if he’s a jazz enthusiast) inside a treatment or remedy.
24a It’s settled: stop completion of motorway (6)
{COLONY} – the first five letters of the answer come from the punctuation mark a word meaning stop (a type of punctuation) is followed by the last letter (completion) of motorwa(Y). Oddly, even though a punctuation mark which corresponds exactly to most of the answer is present in the clue it appears not to be used in the wordplay. Thanks to Jezza.
25a Determined whisper not given any credence? (3,5)
{SET ASIDE} – a charade of an adjective meaning determined and a whisper that someone at the back of the auditorium can hear but the person next to the speaker on stage cannot.
27a I’m covered in glue as a result of hobby (7)
{PASTIME} – I’M contained in a verb to glue. ‘As a result of’ is just padding.
28a Newspaper, say, to cease providing material (8)
{ORGANDIE} – a newspaper, especially one promoting the views of its proprietor, followed by a verb to cease or stop functioning.
29a Keeping nothing wrapped in cord (7)
{STORING} – the letter that looks like zero goes inside a type of cord.
Down Clues
2d Acres have the capacity, so plant (8)
{ACANTHUS} – string together A(cres), a verb meaning to have the capacity or capability and a synonym for so.
3d College has a couple of lines on alarm about University lecturer (3,5)
{ALL SOULS} – this is an Oxford college with no undergraduates. A and a couple of L(ine)s precede a distress signal containing U(niversity) and L(ecturer).
4d Extinct group unexpectedly is around, I initially admitted (10)
{DINOSAURIA} – an anagram (unexpectedly) of IS AROUND followed by I and the initial letter of A(dmitted).
5d Try to show courage, lacking character in the end (4)
{HEAR} – a metaphor for courage without its last letter.
6d Gloomy — short time, then uplifted (6)
{MOROSE} – an abbreviated word for a short time followed by a past tense meaning uplifted or became more cheerful.
7d Quantity of water from river filling cup (7)
{BREAKER} – insert R(iver) into a drinking container.
8d Build with no hint of reliability? It’s about time for law (7)
{STATUTE} – remove the R(eliability) from a word meaning build or physical height and in its place insert T(ime).
11d Period in December not initially certain to provide exciting event (9)
{ADVENTURE} – the period leading up to Christmas in the Christian calendar is followed by a synonym for certain without its initial letter.
14d Horse-drawn carriage and boat displayed with theatrical skill (10)
{STAGECRAFT} – a charade of a horse-drawn carriage and a sea-going vessel or boat.
17d He copies bird’s Latin listing — that will be shown up (8)
{EMULATOR} – string together a flightless bird, L(atin) and a listing of who’s scheduled to do what tasks, with the last word reversed (shown up, in a down clue).
18d Unanimous description of how two halfwits could appear? (2,3,3)
{AS ONE MAN} – fairly weak cryptic description of how two halfwits could appear (if you combined them).
19d Doctor is cross making cut (7)
{SCISSOR} – an anagram (doctor) of IS CROSS makes a verb to cut.
20d Pupil, say, given place in professional squad, not amateur (7)
{PROTEGE} – insert the abbreviation for say or for example in a professional squad or side (3,4) then remove the 2-letter abbreviation for amateur.
23d Wrong to block firm with European function (6)
{COSINE} – a wrong or misdeed gets inserted (to block) between the abbreviation for a firm and E(uropean).
26d Platform reputed to have ends switched (4)
{DAIS} – start with an adjective meaning reputed or reported and swap the first and last letters.
None of the clues really stood out for me today. Let us know what you liked.
Definitely not toughie standard, but i did enjoy solving it.
Thanks to kcit, and to Gazza.
Hint to 24a I think needs a correction.
Thanks, Jezza. I think I was drifting off by the time I got there.
I wondered whether (the) ‘stop’ was the first five letters, followed by the last letter (completion of) motorwaY
You could be right, but is a colon a stop? The more I look at this clue the less convinced I am on how it’s meant to work.
OK – I’m convinced – Mrs Bradford lists colon under stop (but not vice versa). So that means the actual punctuation mark is not used at all in the wordplay,
Yes, agree it was easy.
24a was reminiscent of yesterday’s apostrophe (He’s)
I have to agree with the other contributors today, very gentle but really quite enjoyable, thanks to Kcit and to Gazza for the very entertaining review.
Kcit puzzles are always enjoyable as was this and the difficulty matched the time I had available .
Re 24a I did come across the attached explanation when trying to justify the answer :
In prose, a colon really does only one thing: it introduces. … you’re introducing because readers must first come to a stop, and so they pay more attention to it.
Thanks to Kcit and Gazza .
I agree this was more back page than Toughie thanks to Kcit and Gazza.
Well, I enjoyed it!! Obviously about our level!!! Sometimes these Toughies are beyond we lesser mortals!
I really enjoyed this because I could do a lot of it !
Agree that it was a pleasant solve but over much too quickly. We had actually finished both puzzles in less time than we sometimes take for the Back-pager alone.
Feeling we still needed more, Colin took yesterday’s advice and printed off the Arachne from the Grauniad. That took much longer and what a superb puzzle!
Thanks Kcit and Gazza.
Two enjoyable crosswords today. Down to the last six in the toughie but keep being interrupted.
Having read gazza’s really clear hints I filled in my gaps without needing to look at the answers.
Had this been on the back page I’m pretty sure I could have finished it on my own but it was called a Toughie and was in the middle of the paper which meant I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it. One day, next winter maybe when there is less to do outside, I will get over this self imposed mental block!
I’m sure this was a straightforward Toughie – I enjoyed it.
With thanks to Kcit and gazza.
This filled a quick break between doing my expenses and going to work on nights – a couple in the NW corner held me up but otherwise all ok. Thanks to Kcit and to gazza. On Facebook Elkamere has reiterated his apology for an obscure word for today’s Toughie.