Toughie No 2199 by MynoT
Hints and tips by Kitty
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hello everyone. I found this MynoT offering pleasant and easy-going: most went in like a dream, but I had a complete mental block at 2d, despite generous checking letters.
Definitions are underlined in the clues below and indicators are italicised when quoted in the hints. You’ll find the answers inside the I’m not angry, just disappointed buttons. Apologies for the lack of pictures. Blogging time these days has to come out of (an already reduced) sleeping time, and something has to give.
Across
1a When arranged start to sell property (6)
ASSETS: A charade of when (2), arranged or in order, and the first letter of (start to) sell
4a Snoopers going around to find poverty (8)
POORNESS: SNOOPERS anagrammed (going around)
9a Turn round Early English dish (6)
TUREEN: The first word of the clue taken as written goes round the abbreviation for Early English (a new abbreviation for me)
10a With the Spanish girl, boy is exhilarated (8)
ELEVATED: “The” in Spanish followed by a girl’s name and then a boy’s name. True, we’re not given any further clue as to the names, but the boy is obvious from both checkers and the part of speech of the definition, and the first two letters of the answer are also clear, which doesn’t leave much more work to do
11a So-called swallow was a model (8)
SUPPOSED: Swallow (a drink) followed by “was a model”
13a Grasp returning wolf that ate egg left (6)
FOLLOW: The reversal of (returning) WOLF from the clue has been wrapped around (that ate) the egg-shaped letter and the abbreviation for left. Past-tense indications like this get picked up on in Rookie corner, so it’s interesting to spot them in the wild. I’ve seen another recently, though can’t remember where
15a Relevance of a very quiet pupil I initially chose with skill (13)
APPLICABILITY: A charade of A (from the clue), the musical abbreviation for very quiet, the symbol for a learner, I (from the clue), the first letter of (initially) chose, and a synonym of skill
18a Importance of indication providing one positive particle (13)
SIGNIFICATION: Another charade: an indication (4), providing (2), the Roman numeral one, and finally the positive (or “pussytive”) particle we saw a few weeks ago
22a Key French art about keep fit (6)
ESCAPE: This computer key is the combination of the French equivalent of the art in thou art, the two-letter abbreviation for about or roughly, and some school exercise lessons
24a My back route in outskirts of Salisbury gets agreement (8)
SYMPATHY: MY reversed (back) and a thoroughfare go inside the outer letters of (outskirts of) Salisbury
26a Elks confused by school outline (8)
SKELETON: An anagram (… confused) of ELKS by a certain public school near Windsor
27a Nothing in code gets one gloomy (6)
MOROSE: The letter used to denote nothing inside a type of code. (That letter in that code is — — — , while the number is — — — — — )
28a Article of clothing which could be resisted (5,3)
DRESS TIE: An anagram of (which could be) RESISTED
29a Old bit of vinyl aboard ship is rotting (6)
SEPSIS: A type of record inside SS (aboard ship) and then the IS from the clue
Down
1d Swear, visiting cricket match? (6)
ATTEST: Split (2,4) this could mean present at a cricketing event
2d Hand out two punishments in travel at rush hour? (5-4)
STRAP-HANG: Each part of the answer could mean to mete out a type of punishment. To travel standing, hanging by a strap. Travelling at rush hour is of course punishment in itself. I’m very fortunate in being able to walk to work, but even that has proved to be a choice between breathing in many car fumes or being chased by dogs. Gets the heart pumping!
3d Skating combination to upset S Coast resort (3-4)
TOE-LOOP: TO form the clue and the reversal of (upset) a Dorset town with a large harbour, home to Brownsea Island and some beautiful red squirrels
5d Some common lynxes may be unique (4)
ONLY: The answer is contained in some of the clue
6d Downpour largely submerges old instrument cases (7)
RAVIOLI: Cases of filled pasta. Most of (… largely) some wet precipitation surrounds (submerges) an old stringed instrument
7d Acclaim part of index to list (5)
EXTOL: Anther hidden answer contained in part of the clue
8d How not to enter this answer, perhaps rightly? (8)
SIDEWAYS: Two definitions: the answer is entered into the grid at right angles to, er, the answer … perhaps not leftly!
12d Priest on team with Romeo’s magic potion (6)
ELIXIR: The biblical priest most familiar to crossworders goes before (on, in a down answer) the Roman numerals denoting a sports team of that number of player and the letter encoded in radio communications by Romeo
14d This flies — is a railway able to? (6)
CANARY: When split (3,1,2), this could ask the question posed in the clue (with the railway abbreviated)
16d Noising it abroad will do for these firings (9)
IGNITIONS: NOISING IT made into an anagram (abroad)
17d Estimated animals going to area around London died (8)
ASSESSED: Some beasts of burden are followed by the region of England around London and the abbreviation for died
19d Journalist’s announcement to produce a profound effect (7)
IMPRESS: The journalist might, if wanting to let people know he/she’s a journalist, declare the letters of the answer, split (1’1,5)
20d Pick up troublemaker going on ramble (7)
IMPROVE: A three-letter cheeky troublemaker precedes ramble or wander
21d Fruit not hot in these schools (6)
LYCEES: A Chinese fruit without (not) the tap abbreviation for hot
23d In these days corded cloth is different fabric (5)
CREPE: Inside the abbreviation for Common Era (these days) goes some corded cloth
25d Practising philosopher‘s casual greeting with soldier (4)
YOGI: An informal greeting plus an American soldier
Thanks to MynoT. How was it for you? Hopefully not 23d!
These hints and tips are for anyone who might find them of use. Asides and illustrations are to add a personal perspective and some colour. The forum is for everyone. Do leave a comment if you need anything clarified, have any corrections or suggestions, or if there’s anything else you’d like to say.
Easy-going is a good description of this puzzle – thanks to MynoT and Kitty. My major source of entertainment came from wondering at what speed Rabbit Dave would hit the ceiling when solving 10a!
None of the clues stood out for me.
I don’t mind the boys name girls name clues in any level of puzzle. I certainly don’t mind them in a Toughie
RD is actually working abroad for the next couple of days – but I’ll be sure to tell him!
I also could not see 2d and 3d. The rest were straightforward
My thoughts entirely. Most enjoyable though. 😊
Somewhat less tricky than today’s back pager completed at a (Toughie) fast gallop, an ideal start to the Toughie week – **/****.
Ditto on Gazza’s RD comment!
I am not sure that I have ever heard the 28a terminology, although it was fairly obvious, *** yes, bow *** yes, but not the answer.
Favourite – a toss-up between 6d and 8d.
Thanks to MynoT and Kitty.
This should have been pleasant and easy-going, but I made much heavier weather of it than I should have. In 18a I wasn’t familiar with the definition term for importance, and neither could I make sense of the positive particle. While the definition in 2d was descriptive, I had not heard of the term. Although I got 23d from the checkers, I needed Kitty’s review to make sense of ‘these days’. I did get it all sorted out, but it was a struggle, and took a couple of sittings. Many thanks to all.
Very easy going is an even better description. I think this must have been my fastest ever Toughie solve. I’d just go for 22a and 8d as my joint favourites.
A pleasant solve that all went together smoothly.
Thanks MynoT and Kitty.
Needless to say, I’d forgotten about the positive particle but the grey matter must have retained some memory of it as I was quite happy to slot it in. Having said that, the answer was unfamiliar with that ending and I also haven’t heard of the expression used in 28a. Perhaps as well that the latter was an anagram!
Favourite was 6d.
Thanks to MynoT and to our hard-working Girl Tuesday for the blog. Thank you for finding time to include the lovely pic of a 14d.
Mostly pretty straightforward, though my lack of French (Italian is far more useful in crosswords I find) held me up on 22, before giving 23. 2.5* maybe!
Like Al I have no French, no other foreign language either for that matter, apart from words like the, beer and wine. Funny that. I wasnt in a high enough class at school, they didn’t think us thickwits would need it. However, the nearest I could get on the Google translator for “art” was is = est not es! Are was sont. Perhaps someone could enlighten me for future reference. Apart from that I had no particular problems. Thanks to My not and Kitty for the partial explanation.
You are correct Taylor that are is “sont” but only when the pronoun preceding it is “they”. When the preceding pronoun is you (singular) it changes to “es”. For future reference it may be useful to learn Etre, the French verb “to be”. Even knowing that however, the answer eluded me!
Es = thou or art apparantly, My French is worse than schoolboy. Ca = About = Circa a latin word abbreviated to CA or sometimes just C. PE = Physical education. A trawl through Usual Suspects and Wolves in sheeps clothing under the cryptic crosswords header at the top of the page might prove useful. I hope this helps.
Hi Taylor. Here “art” means “are” — as in “thou art” — so what you need is the French for “are” (as it appears in “you are”). This is one which crops up from time to time, and I for one remember being flummoxed on first encounter.
More French vocab in BD’s mine here.
Sorry that should say MynoT, don’t you just love predictive text.
Thank you for your enlightenment and edification. I’ll try to remember it, although it’s difficult when one doesn’t have knowledge of at least some of the language to put it into context. I still have to look up words like of, so etc. They go in and straight out. Perhaps Miffypops suggestion is the most practical.
I am very late to this one – I was on a train when I did this one last night. An enjoyable puzzle that needed a bit of thought in a few places.
Thanks to Kitty and MynoT