Toughie 1566

34 comments on “Toughie 1566”

1. Well, I did complete, but needed the hint to understand 3d. I still don’t understand 6d, even with the hint. Last to go in, but absolute favorite was 5d. 7d was cute too.
   Thanks guys

   1. For 6d start with ‘elaborate’ (detailed) and remove the reversed bundle from the front.

      1. Oh my goodness – thank you. Although as a horse owner I wouldn’t call a bale a bundle – you need a tractor to lift a bale the size they are these days!

2. I found this quite hard – I wasn’t sure I’d parsed 3d (can’t account for “expected”), but my parsing is the same as bufo’s. I didn’t understand the definition to 4d – wasn’t sure what kind of tack – so “repeated instances of” just clues a plural? Ugh. Took me a while to see some of the other parsings, e.g.15a (daughter is leaving unconnected island, very clever), 6d (but I often find these subtractive charades difficult), 1d where I wanted to use C for source of coal, etc. – but an enjoyable struggle overall

   Favourite is 14a, clever use of barrack.

   Many thanks Kcit and Bufo

   1. For 3D, I thought the ‘last bit was the Scottish ‘ane’ , meaning one, around C for musical note.

      1. If that’s the case, I think Kcit’s taking a bit of a liberty by not using a ‘dialect’ indicator. Having said that, I think they work either way – which shouldn’t really happen in a crossword.

         1. That’s a good point from you both. If it is dialect then there should be something to indicate the ‘Scottish’ part of it. I saw sturgeon used as an indicator recently.

            Either way I just bunged that one in only half parsed.

            1. I’ve told you before – never, ever, ever mention THAT women’s name

               I’m still your friend though

               1. I did think about putting asterisks for the whole name!!

3. I loved it. Challenging but a great deal of fun. The only clue I didn’t warm to was 4D. Although I had parsed it the same as Bufo, It didn’t measure up to the rest of the puzzle for me. I double-checked 9A, 5D, 8D and 15D. Somewhere I have a recipe for 9A cake. Top spot goes jointly to 8D and 15D. Many thanks to Kcit and Bufo.

   1. I agree about 4d. Awful.

4. I seem to agree with everyone else about this. Like Bufo I found it hard to get started [and I agree with the ratings] I had to look twice at both 3d and 6d. People may have had difficulties with em because the former has a redundant “expected” and the latter really shouldn’t start with the indefinite article. Also agree that 5d is today’s top clue.

   Many thanks to Kcit and Bufo.

5. Really enjoyable challenge from Kcit and it did take a bit brain power to gain a toehold in the grid. However, once there, the rest went in quite smoothly. Too many ticks in the margins to pick one favourite.

   Thanks to Kcit for the fun & mental workout and to Bufo for his review.

6. Have never heard the phrase in 9a in any context . Other than that , most enjoyable ( except I had 11a as conqueror, so caused a delay )
   Thanks to setter and bufo

   1. It’s a type of cake , I believe, a fruity Madeira cake.

      1. I thought it was the kind of herb or cultivar that kept growing after being cut like my basil plant. Endless supply..But wouldn’t make a cake with it.

         1. It’s a type of cake, but some herbs are also called cut-and-come-again.

         2. You should try growing basil in my neck of the woods J-L…… Impossible.

            1. Nothings impossible! Basil does like it warm though. I grow mine in big pots that can be moved around if necessary, or you can even grow it indoors on a windowsill. Cuttings will root and plants will thrive in just water, so I believe.

               1. I’ve tried growing it indoors but the smell always reminds me of cat pee……….

                  1. And that’s basil ruined for me.

   2. I didn’t know it either – but brb says abundant supply, as in being able to have a slice of cake again and again

   3. Then not a single one of you is a gardener – oh dear. (Please note, yet again, the lack of an exclamation mark).
      9a are plants, usually salad plants or herbs, which respond pretty well to having several leaves removed from them at any one time – you can use them and the rest of the plant carries on growing quite happily until you want some more.

      1. PS – it really wouldn’t work with a cake – a cake would just get gobbled up and it wouldn’t grow again.

      2. I am so a gardener! I grow all my own herbs. Used to grow veggies too, until the tree rats (known to some as squirrels) became too numerous.

7. Defeated by the south east corner , well by 22a in particular. An unusual definition and a very hard anagram.
   I really liked 9a , 5d, 17d, and 18a.
   Thanks Bufo and Kcit.

8. Great fun.
   Took a while to get the West Indies music as Windies didn’t make much sense at first. Never heard behing shortened before.
   No problem with the expressions and idioms, or the Public Address system in 3d. Used it so often at the theatre.
   But enough about me.
   I thought this was a superb crossword with a nice variety of clues and lovely sounding words.
   Hard to explain really but that’s how I saw it.
   Thanks to Kcit and to Bufo.

9. We managed to get the two long down answers quite quickly which gave us lots of checkers to play with. Still not a quick solve with several that were bunged in and then justified later. very clever and a lot of fun.
   Thanks Kcit and Bufo.

10. micawber tomorrow

    1. 

11. I loved this – I finished it although that doesn’t mean I understood how I arrived at every answer.
    I’m not going into detail – it’s late – I’m hungry and we’re about to have supper.
    I did get into a terrible pickle with 10a – dim, or what – couldn’t get beyond the one letter abbreviation for right.
    Just to be bloody minded my favourite clue was 9a. I also liked 11a and 1d.
    With thanks to Kcit and to Bufo.

12. Definitely a **** for difficulty, but very satisfying and enjoyable to solve.

13. Unlike Bufo, I had a slow start, a slower middle and a very tardy end!
    Definitely had an issue with some of the parsing – thanks for the clarifications, Bufo.
    Very much liked 9a – as with Kath, I thought in terms of growing salad items – but my favourite was 7d. The phrase always puts me in mind of the old TV series with the novice ‘Glasshopper’.

    Thanks to Kcit – found this one far more difficult than your previous one – and thanks again to Bufo.

14. Really enjoyable solve and quite tricky.

    Lots of smiles with 9a, 11a and 1d being some.

    Favourite is 14a by a mile.

    Many thanks to Kcit and to Bufo for a great blog.

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