Toughie 1754

41 comments on “Toughie 1754”

1. In 23a could open = upon show ?

2. Am I improving (unlikely!) or are they getting easier? I breezed through last week and am doing the same this week so far! We must be due a stinker!

   Didn’t know 2d could be a past tense till today. Don’t quite get 10a. Shouldn’t there be a t and another s?

   Liked 4d.

   Thanks to Beam and Buford.

3. Took some time to finish this one – and wouldn’t have done so without Bufo’s hints. Many thanks! Can’t quite make out why the ‘Open’ in 23a.

   1. Wintrev, I thought “open” was simply to indicate that you wear 23a outdoors in South America.

      1. I thought it just meant loose or unfastened, i.e. open at the neck.

   2. I think it could refer to the character in CHIPS plus o, but thereagain, it might not.

   3. Although I got the answer to 23a because it couldn’t have been much else I assumed I was missing something and that all would become clear from the hints – now I think that maybe we’re all missing something.

      1. Perhaps we need someone to shed a Ray of light on this for us?

         1. 

4. I absolutely loved this but certainly found it very tough particularly (for the second time today) in the NW corner. I wasn’t 100% sure about 23a, but, like Bufo, in the end I assumed it was a simple cryptic definition.

   My page was littered with ticks, and, perhaps controversially for some commentators, my favourite was the homophone 12a.

   Many thanks to Beam and to Bufo (or is it Buford with a silent “rd”?)

   1. Thank auto correct for that one!

      1. 

5. Rabbit Dave and Gazza – if that’ s so, why a capital ‘O’ for ‘Open’?

   1. False capitalisation to make one think of the South American Open as a sporting event.

      1. I was about to say just that, but luckily I refreshed and saw your reply first!

         Am I right, Gazza, that it is considered OK to use false capitalisation to mislead but it is not acceptable to use false de-capitalisation?

         1. You are. You can’t use lower-case ‘man’ for the island – that’s why it’s always the first word of the clue when it means the Isle.

6. Enjoyed this . Difficulty *** . 11 a long time to click. 2d ABODE = STOOD ? But had to be. Got 3d but not the parsing …? Got 10 a but HAS = ENDURED ?
   Yes, pomcho worn in cold of Andes in OPEN air. Liked 12a and other homophones.
   We re going to get a stinker very soon !!!

   1. EndureS = HAS as in suffers an illness for example?

7. I loved it.
   I made a mess of untangling 28a but that was much easier once I stopped thinking that the ‘prof’ was the master – oh dear.
   As I’ve already said a bit earlier I still think we’re missing something with 23a – I even thought I might be missing another lurker but it isn’t.
   I liked 15a and 8 and 14d. My favourite was 11a.
   Thanks to Beam and to Bufo.

8. I thought this was very good. Re 23a, apart from adding to the surface, I assumed the “open” was referring to the hole where the head goes…

   2*/4*. Many thanks to Beam, and to Bufo

9. Brilliant – of course – even though it did take me for ever to work out 2d.
   In company with others, I decided I must be missing something with 23a – hopefully Mr. T will enlighten us when he pops in later.

   Plenty of ticks dotted about the page but I think my favourite has to be 28a.

   Devotions to Mr. T as ever and many thanks to Bufo for the review.

10. Both lurkers were so well hidden that I didn’t see them until after solving.
    12a was a brilliant clue.
    Thanks Beam and Bufo, as I needed a few hints.
    It’s very very stormy outside.

11. Absolutely no doubt about what one we would pick for favourite. When we met 19a nothing else stood a chance. Great fun and word count just what we expected too.
    Thanks Beam and Bufo.

    1. My grandfather was an Anzac but I’ve probably told you that before.

       1. Yes we did know that, and you can feel justified in being proud of him. That whole Gallipoli story is just amazing.

12. Please , can someone explain 3 d . I m probably being thick , but…?

    1. AB = Half of ON = O. Half of DECK = DE. Both half cut.

       1. Thanks Yes, got . THREE d. . NOOK is retreat ?

          1. Sorry wrong clue. Nook = Retreat is just the sort of stretched synonym this setter (RayT as a back page setter) is noted for. I am sure that if you look in the BRB for both retreat and nook they will cross refer.

             1. MP. Sorry to intrude, but is Nook = Retreat really a “stretched” synonym? To me it’s just a normal, common, everyday synonym (they do cross-refer in the Chambers Thesaurus) – but then my hobby is semantics and I’ve been solving avidly since 1970, so I might be a bit biased. I’m beginning to doubt myself now…

       2. Sailor = AB.

          1. Yes, I suppose nook is OK ; Probably lost plot somewhere thinking snoo was short snoop , then , oh yes , see less last e . then…. ! Duh !
             I dont use references or other aids, apart from the odd google to check. Too little time in Sao Paulo office doing it before troops arrive !
             Thanks again Miffy

13. Once again I have been idling the afternoon away so got on with this puzzle by allowing my grandson to watch too much telly. As always a delight from start to finish which I did with Bufo’s help for the last few. 3d is an excellent example of why we enjoy this setter so much. To clue a four piece charade using just eight words (28ac) is sublime. Stomp tonight at Warwick Arts Centre. Wow.

14. Evening all. Setter here with thanks to Bufo for the decryption and to all for your observations.

    RayT

    1. Good evening, Mr. T. Can you throw any more light on 23a for us – did we miss something?

       1. Not really.Bufo had it right in the review.

          RayT

15. I’m surprised, and indeed rather smug, to discover that I completed well inside 3* time – albeit that I hadn’t considered the verb at 2d so had to resort to the hint. I enjoyed 17d though, at least I did when I figured it out, so that’s my favourite. Thanks to RayT/Beam, and Bufo.

16. Oops…I made a mess of 26A with darts (well, it fitted the checkers but granted not much else) and so was wrong on 22D. All went well with the rest. 17D and 23A were last two in and I had definite trouble with those. Lots to like, and for me it was 11A, 19A, 1D and 17D that came out tops. Thanks Beam and Bufo.

17. I was heading for something like */** time, but came a little unstuck in the SE corner, so let’s call it ***. Lots of nicely constructed clues – even when stuck, I always felt that if I persevered with the cryptic then I’d get there in the end. In retrospect the SE shouldn’t have held me up for so long, with 23ac and 24d being pretty obvious (at least looking back), but the cryptic for 27ac gave me real issues, and without that I couldn’t think of anything that looked likely for 17d. A good, enjoyable puzzle.

18. We didn’t start this until after midnight, but gave up quickly as we were both too many sheets to the wind. We continued this morning and made slightly heavy weather of it (two meteorological references already).

    Many lovely clues in this but ABODE was our favourite.

    Thanks to Bufo and Ray T.

19. Have to admire 28a, 6d, 27a, 4d and others, but didn’t think much of the surface of 1a.
    Also pondered 23a – get the misdirection, but surely ‘Coverage of…’ would make more sense in that context?

    Still, who am I to query the Maestro… Many thanks to Mr T and to Bufo.

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