Toughie 2250 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 2250

Toughie No 2250 by Osmosis

Hints and tips by Dutch

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BD Rating – Difficulty **/***Enjoyment ****

Another lovely pangram by Osmosis which didn’t cause me any great difficulties.  Last ones in were 20d and 28a

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

1a    Son wears leather, inspired by father — it’s in the blood (6)
PLASMA: The abbreviations for son goes inside (wears) a verb meaning to leather or beat, then the lot goes inside (inspired by) a word for father

5a    Like to probe those people over battle site (3,5)
THE ALAMO: A French (1,2) phrase meaning like, or in the manner of, goes inside (to probe) a pronoun meaning those people, followed by the cricket abbreviation for over

9a    Floor covering someone pursued, rejecting cream mostly (6,4)
QUARRY TILE: A word for someone pursued, or a hunted animal, plus a reversal (rejecting) of a word meaning cream without the last letter (almost)

10a    Racket flick ultimately might produce this (4)
DINK: A 3-letter word for racket plus the last letter (ultimately) of flick. A semi-all-in-one, though my sports vocab did not include this word

11a    In very dry area, note regulars in ram-raid going after spirit (8)
KALAHARI: A 3-letter spelling of a note plus the even (regular) letters in ram-raid follow (going after) an Egyptian spirit or soul

12a    Greek goddess, flanked by banks of Tigris in ancient city (6)
THEBES: A daughter of Zeus and Hera goes inside (flanked by) the outer letters (banks of) Tigris

13a    Image of thief running riot hard to remove (1-3)
E-FIT: An anagram (running riot) of THIEF without (to remove) the pencil abbreviation for hard

15a    Number two of sergeants given case (8)
SEDATIVE: The first two letters of sergeants plus a grammatical case

18a    Half of South African cricket club welcome trousers in green (8)
ZUCCHINI: The first two letters (half) of a 4-letter South African native, the abbreviation for cricket club, then a 2-letter welcome or greeting that contains (trousers) IN from the clue

19a    Beef stock in cooker, from five to ten (4)
OXEN: Another word for cooker in which the Roman numeral for five is replaced with the Roman numeral for ten

21a    Dim pupil once taking time with exercise (6)
OBTUSE: The abbreviation for an old (once) pupil, the abbreviation for time, and a word meaning exercise

23a    Casualty admits Rupert, having fallen in hole (8)
APERTURE: The abbreviation for a hospital casualty department contains (admits) and anagram (having fallen) of RUPERT

25a    Rose produces this extravagant ring (4)
OTTO: An abbreviation meaning extravagant or too much plus a letter that looks like a ring. The answer is a fragrant oil

26a    Eric’s mate knocked back roll, holding onto key that belongs to car? (10)
ALTERNATOR: A familiar version of Eric Morecambe’s mate plus a reversal (knocked back) of a word meaning roll or roster comes after (holding onto) a key on your computer

27a    Smell round side of lamppost affected where terrier potentially goes (4,4)
BOOT CAMP: An unpleasant odour, a letter that looks like a round, the last letter (side) of lamppost and a word meaning affected

28a    A Sound of Music retro production, initially shown in thespian circles (6)
OOMPAH: A reversal (retro) of: the first letter (initially) of production inside (shown in) an amateur thespian and two letters that look like circles

Down

2d    Old driver to praise quality of road (5)
LAUDA: A verb meaning to praise plus a letter indicating one type of road quality

3d    Using scornful language, artist’s upset by actors in charge (9)
SARCASTIC: The reversal of the abbreviation for artist (including the ‘S), a word for the set of actors in a play or movie, and the abbreviation for in charge

4d    Sun maybe leading with article on US city, regardless of circumstances (3,3)
ANY DAY: A 24-hour period of time of which Sun is an example, with first (leading with) an indefinite article and the abbreviation of a large east coast US city

5d    Pianist has split pants in rock spoof (4,2,6,3)
THIS IS SPINAL TAP: An anagram (pants) of PIANIST HAS SPLIT

6d    Organised occasion with fish served late in day for Pope? (8)
EVENTIDE: A 5-letter organised occasion and a 3-letter fish

7d    Shelf life primarily shown on rim (5)
LEDGE: The first letter (primarily) of life plus another word for rim

8d    Stratagem to get staff to go to work (9)
MANOUEVRE: A verb meaning to staff plus a work (of art, perhaps)

14d    Heard cry from golfer swinging towards section of wood (4-2-3)
FOUR-BY-TWO: Homophones of (heard) a warning cry from a golfer, a person who swings both ways, and a preposition meaning towards

16d    Sort of aquaculture tutor trained to join force on inlet (5,4)
TROUT FARM: An anagram (trained) of TUTOR, the abbreviation for force, and another word for inlet

17d    Method of presenting film in camera rolls (8)
CINERAMA: An anagram (rolls) of IN CAMERA

20d    The British and Irish cook odd fish (6)
WEIRDO: A pronoun describing the British people, the abbreviation for Irish, and a verb that can mean cook, as in ** dinner

22d    Former athlete, losing sex appeal, in bar providing security (1-4)
U-BOLT: A retired Jamaican sprinter’s full name from which is removed (losing) the abbreviation for sex appeal and IN from the clue

24d    Wolfgang’s agreed to pass port and wine (5)
RIOJA: The German (Wolfgang’s) word for affirmative follows (to pass) a Brazilian port

Lots of nice clues but my favourite, 11 on a scale of 1 – 10, has to be the long anagram 5d. Which clues did you like?

11 comments on “Toughie 2250

  1. Good to see the best of all Rock n Roll movies feature in a crossword and I note your final comment, Dutch!

    For what it’s worth I parsed the brilliant 18a as half of the Afrikaans for “South” rather than half the the SA inhabitant but concede your version fits better.

    Thanks for the blog and thanks to Osmosis for a magnificent puzzle [PJ and Oz in the same week is a rare treat}.

  2. Great puzzle from Osmosis, I do like a pangram. COTD 18A and 28A for the smile. ***/****

  3. Managed this in the end-not all parsed though. Did anybody else waste time trying to fit “Broccoli” into18a? (Well it does have
    the “CC”. Like Halcyon I too parsed the ZU as half of ZUID. Like Dutch my last two in were 20d and 28a and my favourite 5d. Not seen “pants” as an anagram indicator before.

  4. Good puzzle – thanks Osmosis and Dutch. 4d was my last answer and I took an embarrassingly long time to twig what sort of Sun was involved.
    The clues which made my podium were 18a, 28a and 20d.

    1. You were not alone re 4d , and I agree with your podium places. Thanks Dutch and Osmosis.

  5. Another great puzzle – I’m glad I wasn’t the only one to be slow in getting the 28a / 20d intersecting entries. I had the wrong second word in 4d, and thank you Dutch for the explanation. Many thanks to all.

    1. if a *** is a type of thespian like lizard is a kind of reptile or fir is a kind of tree, then isn’t it ok?

  6. Not a quick solve at all for us. Perhaps if we had heard of 5d it would have helped, it took us ages to sort out the first part of 20d and like Gazza we tried several options for SUN in 4d before we found the right one. We did spot the pangram.
    Highly entertaining with lots of clues to like but we’ll go with 28 for favourite.

  7. Nice finish to a not so tough week.
    But had a pleasant ride.
    I too love Spinal Tap. Such a fun movie.
    Thanks to all the setters and bloggers.

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