Toughie 2137 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 2137

by Gazza  

Toughie No 2137 by Donnybrook

Hints and tips by Gazza

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

Donnybrook’s last Toughie was a tutorial in the classics but this one is far more user friendly. Thanks to him.

Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you thought of it.

Across Clues

8a She might be found in India, applied to feeding minor (7)
LIONESS: the letter for which India is used in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet and a preposition meaning ‘applied to’ are inserted in an adjective meaning minor or inferior. I presume that the definition is meant to be the whole clue, the problem being that she is not to be found feeding her young in India, at least not in the wild.

10a Job description? (7)
PATIENT: cryptic definition – the capital letter is essential for this particular Job.

11a I’m in as Con, corrupt, having no cause for alarm? (9)
INSOMNIAC: an anagram (corrupt) of I’M IN AS CON.

12a Where one sees stem and large stalk (5)
PROWL: the part of a ship containing the stem is followed by the abbreviation for large.

13a Round container Popeye ultimately dropped in sea (5)
OCEAN: the round letter and a metal container with the last letter of Popeye inserted.

14a Outside of Tours, a friend there gives wave (7)
TSUNAMI: stick together the outer letters of Tours and a (male) friend there (2,3).

17a Before working hours, find time to make time? (6,9)
FOURTH DIMENSION: prior to an adverb meaning working or ‘in operation’ we need an anagram (to make) of HOURS FIND TIME. This doesn’t quite work for me.

19a Spot youngster spinning cloth (7)
BUCKRAM: join together a spot or stain and a youngster or rookie then reverse it all.

21a Doctor straddling old exercise bike (5)
MOPED: one of the many abbreviations for doctor contains the abbreviations for old and exercise.

24a Having shortened text, depart peculiar vocabulary (5)
LINGO: weld together a word for a text without its last letter and a verb to depart.

26a Process that confuses millions invested in capital part (9)
RIGMAROLE: insert the abbreviation for millions into a Baltic capital and append a theatrical part.

27a Call informers about potential lead (7)
STARLET: this is someone who may, in future, be a leading lady. Stick together an abbreviation for call (??) and some informers or traitors then reverse the lot. Unless I’m missing something the abbreviation stands for an instrument (or its number) rather than a verb to call using it.

28a Sound from kitchen aboard ship (7)
GALLEON: charade of what sounds like a type of kitchen and a preposition meaning aboard.

Down Clues

1d Last month, university student overturned skip (6)
ULTIMO: abbreviations for university and student followed by the reversal of a verb to skip or miss out.

2d Regret very much in hearing influential thinker (8)
ROUSSEAU: homophones of a verb to regret and an adverb meaning very much.

3d One concluding art with no merit should be scrapped (10)
TERMINATOR: an anagram (should be scrapped) of ART NO MERIT.

4d See impact that’s explosive in continuum (5-4)
SPACE-TIME: an anagram (that’s explosive) of SEE IMPACT.

5d Tramp lodged in waste-pipe (4)
STEP: hidden in the clue.

6d Iron Lady displays top fashion (6)
FEDORA: concatenate the chemical symbol for iron and a female name to get something worn on the head.

7d Swiss town stables unbelievable horse (8)
STALLION: the name of a Swiss town (of which I’ve not heard) contains an adjective meaning unbelievable or far-fetched.

9d Almost broke cover (4)
SKIN: an informal adjective meaning broke or strapped for cash without its last letter.

15d Dread, thus considered, that can’t be handled? (10)
UNNAMEABLE: description of something that you can’t put a handle to.

16d Outline from an unintelligent judge (9)
ADUMBRATE: split the answer 1,4,4 for A and ‘unintelligent’ and a verb to judge.

17d One tells stories, but fails to move (8)
FABULIST: an anagram (to move) of BUT FAILS.

18d Unseemly and annoying child catcher? (8)
IMPROPER: weld together an annoying child and a catcher (possibly a cowboy catching a steer).

20d Novelist showing briefly conflicting political positions (6)
CONRAD: assemble abbreviations for two political positions, the first from the right and the second from the left.

22d Proper woman retiring as governess (6)
DUENNA: an adjective meaning proper or rightful followed by the reversal of a woman’s name.

23d Back by midnight? That’s very curious! (4)
AGOG: an adverb meaning back in time followed by the middle letter of night.

25d Try to quit search on Net producing lustful gaze (4)
OGLE: a modern verb meaning to do a search online without the word for a try or attempt.

I liked 10a and 18d but my favourite was 11a (for the clever definition). Do let us know which one(s) appealed to you most.

19 comments on “Toughie 2137”

  1. I enjoyed this very much, but it took me a good long time, and was more than ** in difficulty for me. I would be embarrassed to admit how long it took for the penny to drop in 10a, but drop it did, and I think is my vote for favourite. (The word play in 25d took me longer than it should have as well!). My last in was 8a – I couldn’t really make sense of the definition. I thought 19a was clever, but it’s cousin in 27a didn’t work as well for me (I had trouble withe the ‘call’ part). Thank you to Donnybrook and Gazza.

  2. I concur with 10a, but many good ‘uns.

    I really like 8a too, which Wiki backs up: there is a lion population in India, in the Gir Forest. The page says that it was more widespread in earlier times, but nevertheless it is very much at large in the subcontinent.

    Thanks Gazza and Donny.

    1. Thanks – I didn’t know about the lion population in India. My criticism of the 8a clue was, therefore, ill-founded.

  4. Very enjoyable crossword from one of our new setters.
    Quite a lot of ticks on my copy.
    Mostly in the downs.
    Hesitate between 17 and 23d as favourite.
    Liked 20d too. Incidentally, Joseph Conrad’s last novel “the rover” was set in Hyeres.
    Thanks to Donnybrook and to Gazza for the review.

  5. I wouldn’t call it gentle, but I wouldn’t call it difficult either. For me a nice steady solve that I completed in between breaks from putting up Christmas lights outside, making our evening meal and collecting grandchild number three from school. I can’t remember how many Donnybrook puzzles there have been, but for me personally it was the most enjoyable so far. Yesterday’s could have been in Latin as far as my brain was concerned, but this gave me renewed confidence in my ability to tackle a toughie. Thanks Donnybrook – nice one.

  6. This one kept us smiling all the way through. Loved the disguised definitions, particularly 11a but also ‘stem’ in 12a.
    A real pleasure to solve.
    Thanks Donnybrook and Gazza.

  7. My heart sank when I finally fathomed the anagram in 4d. I did dutifully try to understand the science involved but had to call it quits – 17a was just the icing on the cake!

    Fortunately remembered the Swiss town from a previous crossword encounter but dithered about 5d as it seemed to be too simple, which bothered me.

    Going with the flow, I’ll award top spot to 10a – hidden in plain sight and an excellent deception.

    Thanks to Donnybrook and to Gazza for the blog. Interesting choice of governess!

  8. A lovely outing in crosswordland with Donnybrook.

    My favourite is the juxtaposition of political positions at 20d, but there was quite a bunch to pick from.

    Thanks Gazz for a brilliant blog, thanks to Donnybrook for a nice one.

  9. I thought that the back page one was a bit trickier than usual this morning. Turns out I’d clicked toughie by mistake, new website and all that. Haha

    1. Hello, on the subject of the new Telegraph website has anyone found a way to get quickly to printing? Seems to be another upgrade which leaves us worse off, or have we missed something obvioys?
      Thanks
      Chris and Richard

      1. Welcome to the blog, Christopher.
        I use a PC where, once I’ve selected a puzzle, a print button is shown (which does work).
        It may be worth explaining what device & Operating System/browser you’re using.

  10. It’s so long since I’ve had the time to try a Toughie that all my feelings of being defeated before even looking at it came back to me.
    I certainly found it more than a 2* difficulty but did finish it and I did enjoy it.
    I don’t understand anything about 17a or 4d (what it’s all about rather than how the clue worked) but I’m quite sure that no-one would expect me to! Oh dear!
    I thought the ‘call’ in 27a was to do with tennis but I just as likely to be wrong about that.
    My favourite was definitely 10a but lots of other good clues too.
    Thanks to Donnybrook and to Gazza.

    1. My University Professor (Professor Hans Heilbronn) explained time as the fourth dimension to me by saying that if two aircraft occupied the same position in three-dimensional space, they would only crash if they were there at the same time

  11. It’s been a long day and I’m grateful for gazza’s hints.

    Sion of course is a very famous Swiss town. But then I lived in Switzerland for seven years. Lucky me, now I’m in macclesfield.

    I liked 14a, and, after gazza’s illustration, 22d.

  12. Too late – I agree with everyone. Does Donnybrook live in Donnybrook Australia? I have a cousin there, but I expect you are going to tell me it is the size of Birmingham and it is needle in a haystack territory.

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