Toughie No 1515 by Messinae
Hints and tips by Bufo
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I was surprised when I’d finished to see how little time it had taken me. It felt like much longer. The long entries at 15,20,25 and 9 down were quickly written in and were a great help in making progress. There were a couple of unfamiliar words but nothing that held me up for any significant time
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 Cut took effect spanning very little time (6)
BISECT: ‘To cut into two equal parts = ‘took effect’ round an abbreviation for a short interval of time
4a RSC plot works including high-class Pygmalion perhaps (8)
SCULPTOR: An anagram (works) of RSC PLOT round U (high-class) = Pygmalion’s “occupation”
10a Aristocrat with sad show on daytime TV (9)
COUNTDOWN: An aristocrat + ‘sad’ = the name of a long-running Channel 4 game show broadcast in the afternoon
11a Fairy left in danger (5)
PERIL: A fairy in Persian mythology + L (left)
12a Drunk digger was in front (7)
PICKLED: A tool for breaking ground + ‘was in front’
13a Express again left large number behind (7)
REDRAFT: ‘Left-wing’ + a large number
14a Body of law put number in prison (5)
CANON: A 2-letter abbreviation for ‘number’ inside prison
15a/20a/25a Something heard at Twickenham wows lethargic townies terribly (5,3,5,7)
SWING LOW SWEET CHARIOT: A song sung by rugby supporters at Twickehnam is an anagram (terribly) of WOWS LETHARGIC TOWNIES
18a Tree from river in Germany (8)
TAMARIND: A river on the Devon-Cornwall border + IN + the IVR letter for Germany
20a See 15 Across
23a Stuffed pasta recipe see soaked in garlic dressing (7)
RAVIOLI: R (recipe) + V (vide = see) inside a Provençal garlic-flavoured mayonnaise
25a See 15 Across
26a Disease, gruesome mostly, Goons originally introduced (5)
LURGI: A 5-letter word meaning ‘gruesome’ with its last letter removed goes round G (first letter of Goons) to give a dreaded non-specific disease introduced in The Goon Show
27a Releases hunter set loose (9)
UNTETHERS: An anagram (loose) of HUNTER SET
28a Pest letting off energy, having pinched female and left (8)
GREENFLY: A garden pest is an anagram (letting off) of ENERGY round F (female) and L (left)
29a When Parliament’s not working on tax (6)
RECESS: ‘On’ (2) + a tax
Down
1d What hiker needs to drive away wolves? (8)
BACKPACK: A bag carried by a hiker = ‘to drive away’ + a group of wolves
2d In due course leading Conservative gets in touch (7)
SOUPÇON: ‘In due course’ goes round ‘leading’ and C (Conservative) to give a touch or very small quantity
3d A stock of cards collected by agents in Spanish region (9)
CATALONIA: A + the stock of cards remaining after the deal inside the US intelligence service (agents)
5d Detain narcotic criminal to give evidence against (14)
CONTRAINDICATE: An anagram (criminal) of DETAIN NARCOTIC
6d Fat Greek character wearing hat (5)
LIPID: A fat obtained from bodily tissue = a Greek letter inside a hat
7d Warplane damaged leading to fuss (7)
TORNADO: A variable-sweep wing combat aircraft = ‘damaged’ + ‘fuss’
8d Rehearse, with regard to being delayed (6)
RELATE: Rehearse (or recount) = ‘with regard to’ + ‘being delayed’
9d Bishops in sports ground such as 15, 20, 25 (5,9)
LORDS SPIRITUAL: A London cricket ground + the type of song that the answer to 15, 20, 25 is
16d Old flame’s covering, stirring male angst (3,6)
GAS MANTLE: A gauze covering that becomes incandescent when heated is an anagram (stirring) of MALE ANGST
17d Using numerical data I caught out some politicians (8)
STATISTS: Remove IC (I caught) from numerical data to give someone who believes in Government control of social and economic affairs
19d Unfavourable commercial jingles? (7)
ADVERSE: A commercial + the type of composition that includes the words of most jingles
21d Baleful look from the vile yes-man (4,3)
EVIL EYE: Hidden in thE VILE YEs-man
22d Worker has good bit of grub (6)
PROLEG: A member of the poorest labouring class + G (good) = part of an insect larva’s body. I didn’t know the word but it sounded right
24d Some stars working round carnival site (5)
ORION: ‘Working’ round a South American city where a carnival is held just before Lent every year
It’s very peaceful now. All this week we’ve had builders,plumbers, electricians and plasterers in knocking hell out of the kitchen but they all seem to be on strike today. Wait – the plasterer’s just returned
A very pleasant not too toughie week so far. Still laughing at the surface of today’s 16 down. An excellent clue
***/***
Apparently I’ve lost the ability to find ‘hidden’ answers today. Failed on the back page, failed to see 21d here.
Quite a lot of this went in smoothly. Like Bufo the long answers helped. I wasn’t familiar with the spelling of 26a but it was fairly clued. 22d was a completely new word but it seemed to work. For whatever reason the NW corner was my last in, although I’m not sure why now.
Favourite is the 15, 20 & 25a combination. Enjoyable solve.
Many thanks to Messinae and to Bufo for blogging. You have my sympathies re getting work done. When I did my main bathroom two years ago it never seemed to end. And the extractor fan still sounds like a jet taking off.
What with a spider in the en-suite and jets arriving / taking off in your main bathroom (due to a lack of a 3rd strip at Heathrow), where do go to ablute?
Ahh yes the great Heathrow debate…is there a fate worse than Heathrow? Yup, Gatwick.
The spider was dispatched last week after my mother arrived at an unexpected moment when I was on the phone. With much courage, and as I thought of Queen and country, I bravely shoved her into the arachnid infested room with the words, “You deal the bl***y thing, I’m going to sit on the island in the kitchen”!
And I did.
I am wine tasting at our local Majestic on Monday evening. I will let you know if anything interesting pops up. Any preferences?
I think your Mother is very brave and you must be very well-to-do if you have an island in your kitchen. Is it Lindisfarne?
Oh yes! Need ideas for Christmas/boxing day and stuff for me at any time. Wanting something unusual for Christmas day (red and white). Thanks.
Would love to have an actual island in my kitchen, with a moat.
And a drawbridge, of course.
Yeah! I’m going to Google castles for sale.
I used to have a yearning for Waterford Castle but discover that it’s now a golfing resort – don’t think I’ll bother putting in an offer after all……
Nice play on words…putting.
I could admit to it being unintentional – but I won’t.
I loved 26a – which is really an all-in-one clue Also liked the rather cunning 2d.
Thanks to Messinae and to Bufo for the blog.
Needed the review to understand the parsing of the parliamentary recess. Didn’t know that tax.
The song didn’t come to mind at all. Had to wait for the maximum checkers before finally getting it and everything fell into place nicely.
Thanks to Messinae and to Bufo for the review.
It’s a very forgettable song. England supporters use it as a soporific to send their team to sleep. This worked well during the World Cup.
An enjoyable, albeit not over taxing, toughie for a Thursday. Got the 15, 20, 25 straight away but that did not put me off – if ever there was a dirge to drain the spirit from player and spectator – this one takes top place on the podium. It is also one of the reasons I don’t go to many matches at Twickenham. One of the reasons I do go is ‘Miki’s Fish Bar’ on Whitten High Street. Best fish and chips ever.
Anyway, too many good clues to single out one, so I will just thank Messinae for the puzzle and Bufo for his blog which I will now read.
Stuff I really liked and stuff I didn’t
I was very happy to get the song, I was avoiding it, as I was worried more specialist knowledge would be needed. The 9d was new term to me but couldn’t be anything else. I also liked 28a (pest pinching females), 29a (not working on tax), 16d (old flame with the male angst) and 17d (using numerical data I caught out)
I also agree 26a is special.
I really did not like “behind” in 13d, which could be AFT, I think the clue is better without it. Almost liked 23a (miffypops would not) but the “see” isn’t smooth in the surface, I struggle to make it work. I thought 22d was quite hard, with a fairly unusual word for most of the wordplay and an obscure answer. Though technically fine, I wasn’t keen on “releases” and “sets loose” possibly having identical meanings either side of “hunter” in 27d. wasn’t convinced about “drives away” for “back” in 1d.
A good solve though, and perhaps for the wrong reason the long anagram did (eventually) make me smile a lot, many thanks Messinae, and many thanks bufo for the review
Just about to start this one so thought I’d take a quick look at Bufo’s rating first. 2* for difficulty? I’ll let you know later!
Looks as though I am destined to be forever at odds with our ‘call it as you see it’ Brian. I loved today’s back-pager and really didn’t care for this one at all. Waded it through it with much prompting from Mr. Google but only 28a&24d raised a slight smile.
Thanks and apologies to Messinae and gratitude to Bufo for making me understand, if not appreciate, all the wordplay.
When we were in UK last May we were introduced to 10a so this potential stumbling block was not there. 22a was a new word that we had to check in BRB.
Getting the song starting in 15a quite early on gave heaps of checkers that proved useful. Good level of difficulty and good fun.
Thanks Messinae and Bufo.
Whoops, we meant 22d
I thought this was an excellent crossword with some real smile clues such as 15,20&25, 10a and 7d. So much better than the dreadful thing produced for today’s back page. So perhaps (!) don’t mind suffering a Ray T when there is a great Toughie like this.
Thx to all
Elgar tomorrow
I had to look up the meaning of Pygmalion in the BRB, even though it has come up before , though a while ago.I never heard of the disease at 26a, but I wasn’t the most ardent of Goon fans.
I thought we got a satisfying number of anagrams to get things going.
Impossible to pick one favourite.I really the surfaces of 1d, 10a, 12a and 21d.
Thanks Bufo and Messinae.
I tried this today and didn’t think it obviously tougher than the back page. I enjoyed it and three clues for the price of one in 15, 20 & 25 helped me to get off to a fairish start. Good clue for an awful song.
Spotted a couple of things I’ve got used to since starting crosswords – peri , which I remembered, and ‘can’ for prison, which I didn’t.
‘Cess’ is new to me, even more retro than ‘lurgi’!
Thank you to Messinae and Bufo for the hints and review.
Not that hard, because I did it in 2* time while watching Worcester play Gloucester in the Challenge Cup, but quite enjoyable. 2*/3* is about right. As a Cornish resident, I’ll go for 18a as favourite. With a ladder and some glasses, as the song goes, I could see the Tamar from here (if it wasn’t for the inconvenient shape of Kit Hill in between). Thanks to Messinae, and to Bufo for the review.
I am in a minority of one here, because i didn’t find it all that easy and in fact I gave up with half a dozen to go and much more pressing things to do, like make mince pies and cook dinner. Maybe my brain is fried from Christmas prep overload on top of work deadlines. Maybe I’m just extra thick today. The review was therefore very much appreciated.
Worry not, Chris – you’re in a minority of two. Mr. Google had a lot of work to do in order to get me through this one and I still needed the review to parse quite a few of them.