Toughie No 1540 by Excalibur
Hints and tips by Toro
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***/****
A surreal treat from Excalibur: no fewer than 16 definition clues (cryptic, straight-plus-cryptic, or double-straight), a playful parallelism, and a shapely trio. Plus the obligatory Yoda-isms (but only two, despite the Space Invaders motif in the grid).
Definitions are underlined. 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 Fearfully lacking in mobility (6,5)
SCARED STIFF Cryptic definition of a phrase meaning petrified
9a Day at end of June, perhaps? (4)
DATE D(ay) + AT + (Jun)E
10a I’m clever. Have sprayed myself with insect repellent (2,5,2,2)
NO FLIES ON ME Cryptic definition of a phrase meaning I’m clever or savvy
11a A vegetarian would, if served it (4)
BEEF Something a vegetarian would not eat, which is also a word meaning to complain
14a Thought, that’s good, having got head round it (7)
OPINION An edible head or bulb around good or devout
16a Make speech and renounce rights? (7)
DECLAIM The solution could be construed as a verb meaning to retract an assertion of one’s right to something
17a Blasted hole’s found in back, made by rambler (5)
NOMAD The hole-shaped letter inside a mild expletive like blasted, reversed
18a Rebounding, ball is in goal. Fait accompli (4)
DONE The ball-shaped letter inside a goal or objective, reversed
19a Rings about times to see ‘Man from Berlin’? (4)
OTTO The ring-shaped letter either side of two instances of T(ime)
20a Send miles, getting in row heading west (5)
REMIT M(iles) inside a row or line, reversed
22a Tormented, it’s difficult to conceal simmering ire (7)
HARRIED Difficult or tough around an anagram of IRE
23a Have a right to remove food dished out? (7)
DESERVE The solution could be construed as a verb meaning to take away food brought to the table
24a Idle learner: yahoo (4)
LOAF L(earner) + a yahoo or numbskull
28a Very disturbed as result of quake? (5,6)
BADLY SHAKEN Cryptic definition of a phrase meaning very disturbed or in shock
29a Playful ‘Apres mon roi!’ (4)
ARCH If placed after MON, the solution would give a word for king (or queen)
30a Glance that shows you’ve been recognised? (7,4)
KNOWING LOOK Cryptic definition of a glance that expresses recognition of a fact or tacit understanding
Down
2d Key question is, what’s the breed? (4)
CHOW A musical note or key + a question word
3d Are leaving earlier, out to annoy (4)
RILE Anagram of EARLIER after subtracting the letters of ARE
4d Assume water has penetrated to linger over (5,2)
DWELL ON To assume or put on (a hat or mantle) around a water source
5d Blast off for ’19’ (4)
TOOT Anagram of 19a
6d Didn’t feel well (7)
FUMBLED Cryptic definition of a verb meaning to grope or to handle inexpertly (in the past tense)
7d Embitters equally perhaps and sets off (5,1,5)
MAKES A START Read (5,2,4), the solution could mean imparts an equally bitter taste to
8d Not put upon by others (4-7)
SELF-IMPOSED Cryptic definition of a word meaning foisted on oneself
12d Stay in front and don’t let go of dog (4,3,4)
HOLD THE LEAD The solution could mean to keep a rein on a dog
13d At which to do a foxtrot but not fast? (6-5)
DINNER-DANCE Cryptic definition of an event that might involve doing the foxtrot but does not involve fasting
15d On record as rank-and-file journalist? (5)
NOTED Read (3,2), the solution describes someone who is not in the most senior post on a newspaper
16d Name and number needed, keen to follow (5)
DAVID A Roman numeral + keen or fanatical
20d I fear troubles, getting Navy to curb or stop (7)
REFRAIN R(oyal) N(avy) around an anagram of I FEAR
21d Squeals about drains (5,2)
TELLS ON Squeals about or grasses up, and drains or takes a toll on
25d Gurgle loudly, then quietly (4)
FLOW Musical abbreviation for loudly + quietly or sotto voce
26d Great! Unbelievable! (4)
TALL Great in height, and not credible
27d It’s ten after one — and cold (4)
ZERO The number that turns one into ten when placed after it, and a low temperature
29a earned the biggest smile, but I enjoyed all of it, including the playful clueing of the Os in 17,18,19a, and the parallelism between 16a and 23a. There were a fair few iffy clues too, and I thought some of the cryptic defs were rather weak. But with Excalibur I somehow just don’t care.
Over to you – please rate and comment on this puzzle below.
We know to expect interesting construction and word order from this setter, but it still it took me a while to see why 29a (Playful “apres mon roi”) was right – playful indeed. “It’s ten after one” (27d) also took me a while to get my head around (read zero for “it”), nice clue. I liked 3d (are leaving earlier), 15d (rank-and-file journalist), the all-in-one 9a (day at end of june, perhaps) and all the long clues, though 8d seems only mildly cryptic
Despite 4d being my FOI, NW was my last quadrant.
Many thanks Excalibur and thanks Toro
I wholeheartedly agree with the ‘surreal’ tag. Like Dutch I had to read 9a, 29a & 27d a few times to make sure that the answers I had fitted well with the parsing. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable puzzle to solve with the SE corner last to cough up it’s answers.
Thanks to Excalibur for the challenge and Toro for his review.
Excalibur put me in a good mood all day. A sunny crossword. June in January. I particularly liked 6d (didn’t feel well) 14a (thought, that’s good) 13d (at which to do a foxtrot) and 27d ( It’s ten after one) Thank you Excalibur and Toro. Come again soon
No grumbles from me, except to note that 11A appeared with very similar wording somewhere quite recently. I checked off a number of clues, including 10A, 17A, 23A, 29A, 7D and 13D, but favorites among those are 29A and 7D. Thanks to Excalibur and to Toro.
Yikes! I see why it’s called the toughie. Managed perhaps half a dozen before needing to resort to the tips. Could understand where most of the answers came from though, and everyone has to start somewhere. First timer.
Excalibur is an extremely idiosyncratic compiler who takes some getting used to. Even our “resident” speed-solver crypticsue struggles with her sometimes. It sounds like you’re not one to be deterred, though, so do keep at the Toughie.
Don’t give up Peta. Like Toro said, Excalibur is a very ‘idiosyncratic’ setter. I’m sticking with trippy. :yes:
You’ll get there.
Thank you for the encouragement, not had much time for anything today, but I will be back.
Trippy!
A psychedelic puzzle of the highest order. Loved it. I think I smiled all the way through solving this. Not easy mind but with a lot of favourites to add colour to a grey day. Loved 10, 23 and 29a. For whatever reason 26d made me laugh.
Add me into the happy surreal camp, wonderful stuff.
Many many thanks to Excalibur and to Toro for a great blog. Have you started your next puzzle yet?
Of course I haven’t…
That’s the spirit Toro! :good:
Invented quite a few idioms before being stuck with some unhelpful checkers such as Scared Solid in 1a which gave me Immured in 6d as in bedridden.
Keep the lead in 12d and Earth Shaken in 28a.
10a was new to me and so was 30a.
7d made me laugh.
The two de-,in 16a and 23a were fun.
Favourite is 29a bien sûr shortly followed by 7d.
Thanks to Excalibur and to Toro for the review.
I initially thought ‘frozen solid’!
i also had earth shaken at first
It’s always a great pleasure to cross swords with Excalibur!
Surreal? Psychedelic? It all seemed quite normal to me!
A real delight from start to finish. The pesky little 4 letter words were the biggest hurdle with 29a and 27d being the last two for us to parse. A big Aha moment for both of them when the pennies dropped. Not sure which one to pick as favourite between those two and 10a but wouldn’t dare nominate more than one considering who is sitting just across the breakfast table at present. Good fun.
Thanks Excalibur and Toro.
Some good ‘smile’ moments here although I wasn’t very keen on 7d (sorry, JL) and didn’t manage to fully parse 27d.
SE corner was last in as it took a long time to twig 28a (with the checkers in the first word I was trying to get ‘fault’ into it) which left me with 26&27d as the last to fall.
Best for me were 10&29a.
Thanks to Excalibur and also to Toro – liked the pic. for 13d!
Lovely stuff for us with Mrs Sheffieldsy filling in half before I even got to it. She then announced she was going out and I had to finish it!
Strangely, needed the blog to to even solve, let alone understand, 9a and had self empower for 8d – somehow convincing myself that there wasn’t actually a tense mismatch. Favourites were 6d, 7d and 29a.
3/3 stars for us. Thank you Excalibur and Toro.
Blimey. What was that? very interesting and very enjoyable. i had to deconstruct a few I had in Declare, No Fleas, Earth Shaken but got here in the end ith a smile.
Trippy, that’s what it was. Or 26d.
3*/4* or thereabouts. No major problems, apart from 27d which I just didn’t twig. I nearly went for 16d as my favourite clue (for no better reason than that I am one), but then cracked 7d which I feel deserves the accolade even more. Thanks to Excalibur, and Toro for the review.
I got about three quarters way through and then had to use the hints.Terrific stuff.
Thanks Excaliber and Toro.