Toughie No 2268 by Petitjean
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Petitjean gives us a full serving of quirkiness today and a lot of laughs to boot. How we’ll miss him when his treasury of puzzles comes to an end!
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Potter hero‘s peak — description of doughnut originally not end of story (8,5)
BENJAMIN BUNNY: the Potter is not Dennis or Harry but Beatrix. String together a peak in Scotland, how you might laconically describe a doughnut (3,2,3), the original letter of ‘not’ and the last letter of ‘story’.
9a Furnishing a piece of cake to accompany church music (4,5)
EASY CHAIR: assemble an adjective meaning ‘a piece of cake’, an abbreviation for church and another word for a song or tune.
10a Murdoch needs European cash? (5)
RUPEE: how you might address old Mr Murdoch, the media mogul, very familiarly is followed by the single-letter abbreviation for European.
11a City engineer lied about hospital (5)
DELHI: an anagram (engineer) of LIED containing the abbreviation for hospital.
12a Kindle missing chapter and English log-off (4)
EXIT: start with a verb meaning to kindle or arouse and remove the single-letter abbreviations for chapter and English.
13a See 21a
15a Second of violins coming in curiously fortissimo (7)
NOISILY: an adverb meaning curiously or ‘in a prying manner’ contains the second letter of violins.
17a Stop rubbish being dumped in holy place (7)
STATION: put a word for rubbish into a term for Jerusalem.
18a/22a Eat junk and die? (4,3,4)
BITE THE DUST: literally this idiomatic phrase might mean to tuck into junk or dirt.
20a Eulogy — mine’s about praise (7)
PLAUDIT: a synonym for a mine contains a verb to praise.
21a/13a/25d Archer behind schedule? The truth emerges in the end (4,4,4)
TIME WILL TELL: a short way of giving the name of a legendary Swiss archer (4,4) follows a verb to schedule.
22a See 18a
23a His nibs enterprisingly setting out a dramatic talent? (5)
IBSEN: hidden in the clue. ‘His’ seems to be just there for the surface reading.
26a Sun out in midweek issue? (5)
ENSUE: an anagram (out) of SUN inside the middle bit of week.
27a Filled with energy the littlest one has nothing in addition (9)
THEREUNTO: insert the abbreviation for energy into THE and the littlest animal (in a litter) then append the letter resembling zero.
28a Elfin starters ordered in moderation (4-9)
SELF-RESTRAINT: an anagram (ordered) of ELFIN STARTERS.
Down Clues
1d Typical drunk bartender at Bud (5-3-6)
BREAD-AND-BUTTER: an anagram (drunk) of BARTENDER AT BUD.
2d Portion of Fontina salad billed? (5)
NASAL: a hidden word. Billed here means ‘possessing a beak’.
3d Cunning cockney beekeepers by the sound of it — or record collectors? (10)
ARCHIVISTS: join together an adjective meaning cunning and a cryptic word for beekeepers (based on the living quarters of their bees) delivered in the Cockney way.
4d See under current article ludicrously (7)
INANELY: that very useful (to setters) see in Cambridgeshire follows an adjective meaning current and a grammatical article.
5d ‘What’s good for golfers?’ they tweet (7)
BIRDIES: these are holes completed in one stroke better than the par score.
6d Mean fellow? (4)
NORM: double definition, the second a short man’s forename (the forename is short, not the man).
7d You wanting nothing shopping centre provided; that is key for showing signs of improvement (9)
YUPPIFIED: we have to marshal a lot of little bits here: a) ‘you’ without the letter that resembles nothing, b) the central letters of shopping, c) a conjunction meaning provided, d) the abbreviation for ‘that is’ and e) a musical key.
8d Cockpit in sports car not about suppressing unwanted noise, but it should keep you dry (10,4)
WELLINGTON BOOT: knit together a nautical term for a cockpit (thanks BRB), IN and the designation of a high-performance car. Now add an anagram (about) of NOT containing a noise of vocal disapproval (unwanted, presumably, by those at whom it’s aimed).
14d A nicer bear mauled sharpshooter (10)
CARABINEER: an anagram (mauled) of A NICER BEAR.
16d Peak in Himalayas shrouded in swirling mist occupies narrow strips of land (9)
ISTHMUSES: the first letter (peak) of Himalayas is contained in an anagram (swirling) of MIST and that’s followed by a verb meaning occupies or engages.
19d Central belt in East Torquay almost entirely renovated (7)
EQUATOR: the abbreviation for East followed by an anagram (renovated) of TORQUA[y].
20d Conceivably 5 Down’s leggings? (7)
PUTTEES: who but Petitjean could write this clue? Very cryptically indeed the answer could describe the sort of golf shots normally required for the answer to 5d on the golf course.
24d Scot is climbing mount (5)
SINAI: stick together one of our usual Scottish male forenames and IS then reverse it all.
25d See 21a
I’ve gone for the quirkiest clues today – I chose 1a, 21a, 3d and 20d for my goody bag. Do let us know which one(s) made you chortle.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious – completed at a Toughie gallop – **/*****.
Favourite – 5d/20d.
Many thanks to the keepers of the Petitjean legacy and Gazza.
Splendid – my favourite was 20d.
Thanks to all concerned
Why!? A birdie might well be achieved with a putt by a putter (both in the sense of the club, and the wielder thereof), but where does the “ees” bit come in? I’m stumped! (to extend the sporting metaphor…).
Welcome to the blog Basil
The ‘conceivably’ and the question mark indicate that we’re in ‘mad hat’ territory here. A golfer gets birdies from putt-ees (i.e. little putts, cryptically).
“Puttettes” surely… “Puttees”? I think the setter must have had a stroke (ha ha!) when he wrote that one.
If bootees can be small boots then puttees can be small putts, can’t they?
Well, yeeees, I suppose so. but I think an “et” or “ette” formation as a diminutive is much more common than the “ee” formation. Maybe it’s just me; I don’t like the clue.
Another outstanding Petitjean puzzle from beyond the grave. Hopefully there are still some more ahead for us to enjoy. I certainly appreciated 1a, 17a, 7d and plenty of the others.
A lunchtime (extended) treat **/****. COTD 20D but needed a hint for 27A thanks for the assistance.
Not really persuaded by 1&3d and I reckon the definition for 7d is very much a matter of opinion!
Thought that 20d perhaps referred to the people making the 5ds rather than a golf shot?
Top two for me were 1a and the 21/13/25 combo.
Many thanks to the keepers of the pearls and to Gazza for the review. I never did manage to acquire any of the coins shown by your 1a hint – somehow it didn’t seem to be ‘playing the game’ to simply purchase a set!
Could you expand a bit on your 20d comment, Jane? I don’t really understand what you’re saying.
In your hint you refer to ‘the sort of golf shot’ whereas I thought of the person making the shot being described as the ****ee.
I don’t much like a word ending -ee being a “doer” (and the late and much missed Tstrummer who was a stickler for good English would have disliked it intensely).
I don’t like it either but it still seemed likely!
Ah – Tstrummer – greatly missed indeed.
Loved it, particularly 5/20D and 1A. Many thanks to the keeper of the Petitjean legacy and to Gazza.
A joy from start to finish. With the exception of the extraneous [but forgivable] “His” in 23a a perfectly clued and supremely witty puzzle. PJ at his very best. Will we ever see his like again?
Favourites? All the ones those above have identified, plus the tour de force that is 7d.
Thanks to all those who enable us to continue to enjoy PJ’s work and to Gazza for an appropriately entertaining blog.
Enjoyed this more than the back page. 21a favourite. Ta to all.
A really enjoyable Wednesday Toughie from Petitjean.
Thanks to Gazza for the review … especially for explaining 1a.
Ps I thought the Archer used a different weapon from the one used in the cartoon for 21a.
Yes – legend has it that he used a crossbow.
Wonderful puzzle – 7d my favourite! Many thanks to all.
I am grumpy because of the heat and don’t like 27a. Not a nice word. But thanks to all – how am I going to face the ironing?
Do as I do and only buy drip dry, non iron items!
Fantastic stuff. It’s a marvellous surprise to find one of these now and then and they never fail to entertain.
Thanks to Gazza and PJ.
I was so looking forward to today with the appealing prospect of puzzles from two of my favourite setters to tackle. My normal routine is back-pager over breakfast and Toughie over lunch, but domestic events have expired against me today and I got to the point where I even considered not trying the Petitjean. Fortunately sanity prevailed and I can only echo Sheffieldsy. “Fantastic stuff. It’s a marvellous surprise to find one of these now and then and they never fail to entertain”.
It doesn’t get any better than “description of doughnut”, and, as always, it’s so reassuring not to see “it’s the last one” in the small print.
Many thanks to Gazza and to the keepers of the PJ legacy.
An absolute pleasure and privilege to have another special PJ puzzle to solve.
Much appreciated and enjoyed.
Thanks Petitjean and Gazza.
There are more yet …
That’s excellent news. Thanks.