Toughie No 2540 by Kcit
Hints and tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
It is a good job that this crossword was nicely at the easier end of the Toughie spectrum, taking slightly longer than a Friday backpager, as my morning turned out to be a lot busier than I’d expected for a birthday in lockdown. The grid was one of those where one corner was solved at a time, with quite a bit of ‘remove a letter’ going on, and even a bleep from the repetition radar
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.
Across
8a Something to follow tango, even (7)
UNIFORM Something that follows Tango in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet can also be defined as ‘even’
10a Short story and French article trailing volume set during holiday period (7)
NOVELLA Insert the abbreviation for Volume into a holiday period that will be here before we know it, and then add the French female definite article
11a US military gear? Nothing was run by sailor (5,4)
OLIVE DRAB The letter representing nothing and a synonym for was, the cricket abbreviation for run and one of the abbreviations for sailor
12a Region is deficient in pragmatic behaviour (5)
REALM Remove the IS (is deficient) from some pragmatic behaviour
13a Drink and chat with son about origin of life (5)
GLASS An informal word for a chat and the abbreviation for son go ‘about’ the first letter (origin) of Life
14a Sinister: oxygen getting less, after suppression of oxygen (7)
OMINOUS The chemical symbol for Oxygen, a word used in maths to mean less, into which is inserted (after suppression) the chemical symbol for Oxygen
17a Having nowhere else to turn before we arrived here on tour? (2,3,4,6)
IN THE LAST RESORT If you arrived here on a tour, you’d definitely have nowhere else to turn
19a Spoke without end about a strange retreating warrior (7)
SAMURAI Remove the final letter (without end) from a way of saying spoke and insert A (from the clue) and a reversal (retreating) of a synonym for strange or odd
21a Some woodwind identified in studies in sound (5)
REEDS – A homophone (in sound) of a verb meaning studies
24a Kind of friend to include love in the mix (5)
ALLOY The letter representing love in tennis scoring inserted into a kind of friend
26a Bob perhaps missing launch with part in theatre work (9)
OPERATION This Bob was a very funny actor – remove the first letter of his surname (missing launch) and add a part or portion
27a Resident of Middle-earth not yielding collection of trees (7)
ORCHARD A resident of Tolkien’s Middle Earth and an adjective meaning not yielding
28a Peak volume in middle of week then quiet (7)
EVEREST The second use of the abbreviation for Volume inserted into the middle letters of wEEk and then another way of saying quiet is added at the end
Down
1d Kept excavating capital of Greece for sea creature (6)
DUGONG A way of saying kept excavating followed by the capital letter of Greece
2d Member of political party is upset over soldier hissing (8)
SIBILANT An abbreviated member of a political party and IS (from the clue) are reversed (upset) and then put over (it is a Down clue) one of crosswordland’s soldiers
3d Curse, standing under wide sign in part of department store (10)
WOMENSWEAR A verb meaning to curse goes under the abbreviation for Wide and a sign
4d After demolition, one’s left with broken house (9)
KNEBWORTH Remove the I (one’s left) and an anagram (after demolition) of WiTH BROKEN will produce the name of a stately House in Hertfordshire, famous in the past for rock concerts
5d Write articles about dismissing leader when finished (4)
OVER A journalist might do this with a news story – all you need to do is dismiss the ‘leader’ or first letter
6d Hispanic US city? Power in US city very much linked to Spain (2,4)
EL PASO Start with the IVR code for Spain and link it to an abbreviated US City into which you’ve inserted the abbreviation for Power, then finish with an adverb meaning very much
7d Way of working with group after blight does for monkey (8)
MARMOSET – An abbreviated way of working and a group go after a verb meaning to blight
9d King avoiding observances for deity (4)
MARS The chess abbreviation for King ‘avoiding’ or being left out of a synonym for observances
15d Ship‘s unwelcoming response meeting wave (10)
ICEBREAKER An unwelcoming response and a wave coming on shore
16d Equipment from the past brought in to crush endless flowers (9)
MARIGOLDS Some equipment and an adverb meaning from the past brought or inserted into a verb meaning to crush without its final (endless) letter
17d Privy to sealing off main areas when appropriate? (2,6)
IN SEASON A two-word phrase meaning privy to ‘sealing’ of a large part of the earth known as ‘main’
18d Cruise company with this would be a joke (3-5)loc
ONE-LINER A type of joke could also describe a very small cruise company
20d Evil male supported by literary heroine (6)
MALICE The abbreviation for Male supported by (in a Down clue) a literary heroine
22d Fool brought in for one reason (6)
SANITY An informal fool inserted into an adverb meaning for example (for one)
23d Present judge is outspoken (4)
HERE A homophone (is outspoken) of a verb meaning to judge
25d Vote for right in 2020? (4)
YEAR An archaic way of saying yes (vote for) and the abbreviation for right
Once I’ve scheduled this blog, I’ve got some time to relax before a video chat with the family when our grandson is home from school. Then I’ll be celebrating with cake and some lovely local sparking rosé
A very doable Toughie I thought, and of roughly the same degree of difficulty as the Ray T cryptic. 27a stood out for me alongside 1d and 19a. Great fun.
Many thanks to Kcit and the birthday girl.
Pretty straightforward for a Thursday Toughie I thought, although I had to use Google to verify the 4d house. Thanks to Kcit and thanks (and Happy Birthday) to CS.
Top clues for me were 1d and 22d.
I agree with CS-not too hard. I liked 14A and smiled at 17A and (particularly) 18D. Thanks to KCIT and CS.
How strange. I found this very difficult and only solved about 6 clues. Just not my cup of tea.
Cup of tea? I’d rather have a 13a of that delicious fizz! Happy Birthday CS
Happy birthday! Thank you for all the blogging and commenting you do.
Not too tricky but enjoyable to solve
Thanks Kcit and CS – Happy Birthday from me too :rose:
Despite having everything else filled in 4d proved very elusive. Trying the vowels as the first letter provided no joy nor did the letter S. I mentioned this to the sainted smartarse who suggested that a K might be possible and the stately home jumped out at me along with a thousand memories of that day back in 1976 when Hazel and I hitch hiked from Coventry to London and caught a train to wherever to see The Rolling Stones for the third time that year.
Happy days. Thanks to Kcit for the challenge and CrypticSue for the blog. Happy Birthday too. It’s just over a year until my next birthday.
So, when is that?
I also struggled with 4D and it was my final entry. I thought the puzzle to be hardly tougher than a standard back page cryptic.
Made 7d difficult by putting in “novelet” (French ‘and’) for 10a! After some time realised what the monkey was and improved my spelling of the short story. The rest was fairly straightforward. Thanks to all and many happy returns.
Nothing came to mind on a quick read through but a steady solve once underway,
4d was last in, solvable once the checking letters were in place.
Anyway an enjoyable romp and a **/*** for me ,fair cluing with no obscurities, liked my first in 27a and the surface of 16d.
Probably a 5* Elgar tomorrow!
Sparks tomorrow
Just me then – I’d have found it easier to solve half a dozen Ray T offerings!
Got there in the end, minus the stately home, hadn’t registered the anagram fodder.
18&22d vying for top spot.
Thanks to Kcit and to the birthday girl – enjoy your cake and bubbly.
Unusual for me to be in synch with Cryptic Sue’s rating but I found today’s toughie very straightforward.
Got most answers from the parsing and had to check a few if they fitted the definition.
Favourite 4d.
Thanks to Kcit and to CS.
4d was somewhere that neither of us had ever heard of so a real challenge for us. Twigged that it was probably and anagram so a bit of judicious Googling found it. The rest went in relatively smoothly. 18d was our favourite.
Thanks Kcit and CS.
PS Happy Birthday Sue.
Thank you to everyone who posted birthday wishes on this page rather than the back page blog
I’ve had a lovely day but I’m now going to concentrate on celebrating rather than crosswords so I’ll ‘see’ you all tomorrow
Got everything, with a wee bit of electronic help, except the stately home. I ended up with something like INKBEROT–and finally just screamed! (Just kidding.) And haven’t I actually been there, to Knebworth I mean, during one of my UK sojourns? Anyway, I loved this puzzle, especially the paltry cruise line with very little to offer! Much joy and pleasure from the puzzles today, on my mother’s 104th birthday. And again, Happy Birthday, Sue, and thanks for the review. Many thanks to Kcit too.
The poor cruise line was my favourite too
Happy birthday to your mother :rose:
In case you’re still around, Robert. Just watched a programme about the Booker shortlist including interviews with the authors. With the best will in the world, it seems like a very depressing selection – talk about doom and gloom!
All the best to your Mother Robert. Have you read Jeanette Winterson? I’ve enjoyed everything of hers that I have ever read
Just cannot get on to Kcit’s wavelength – haven’tsolved one by my own efforts yet :-( Ah well, nil desperandum or sommat.
Mostly ok, with 1d and 27 raising smiles. Started 17a with “at”, so the SW didn’t work until this was corrected, and needed the hint for 4d, which seemed to be much harder than the rest.
Very late dip into this & fell 3 short. Needed the hints for 1d, 11a & most annoyingly 4d, where I nearly made the same journey from Coventry in 76 to see Stones. Unlike others I found it tougher than the last couple of days. Another vote for cowboy cruise outfit.
Thanks all.