Toughie 2595 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 2595

by crypticsue  

Toughie No 2595 by Kcit

Hints and tips by crypticsue

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

Kcit’s turn to provide our Thursday Toughie entertainment

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

1a    Mentioning cut in content of fruitcake? (6)
RAISIN Cut the final letter from a synonym for mentioning

5a    Cybernetics book in support, backing science (8)
ROBOTICS The abbreviation for Book inserted into a support, followed by a reversal (backing) of the abbreviation for science

9a    Fighting? Son in outburst is receiving restraint (10)
FISTICUFFS The abbreviation for Son inserted into an outburst followed by IS (from the clue) ‘receiving’ a restraint

10a    Energy corporation backed without comment? (4)
MUTE A reversal (backed) of the abbreviation for Energy and the part of the body known as a ‘corporation’

11a    French newspaper used to absorb a drink (8)
LEMONADE The name of a French newspaper to ‘absorb’ A (from the clue)

12a    Part of chain? Refuse 40% of chain (6)
BRANCH The husks of grain left over as refuse once flour has been sifted and 40% of the letters in CHain

13a    Too small to block a great deal? Not entirely (4)
ALSO The abbreviation for Small to block almost all of a way of saying a great deal

15a    Jerk, lacking completeness, adopting inclination regarding completeness (8)
HOLISTIC Almost all (lacking completeness) of an upward jerk ‘adopting’ a synonym for inclination in the sense of leaning over

18a    Old woman getting more elegant — she’s had lots of admirers (3-5)
MAN-EATER An informal term for a mother (old woman) and a synonym for more elegant

19a    Bats heading off in horde (4)
ARMY Remove the heading from an informal term meaning crazy (bats)

21a    Border flower put at the front will lead to chaos (6)
MAYHEM Put a flower in front of a border

23a    Old British currency’s restricted limits to usual wealth (8)
OPULENCE The abbreviation for Old and some British currency ‘restricting’ the limits to UsuaL

25a    Plans to return to get unwanted mail (4)
SPAM A reversal (to return) of some plans

26a    Current and power securing sources of every town’s light — such as this? (10)
STREETLAMP A current of water and the abbreviation for Power ‘securing’ the sources of Every Towns Light

27a    Breakfast food in kitchen store unopened after finishing off meat (8)
PORRIDGE Somewhere to store food in a kitchen, unopened or without its first letter, goes after a type of meat without its last letter (finishing off)

28a    Strong male, important after our team slips (6)
MIGHTY The abbreviation for male and a synonym for important without (slips) a pronoun used to signify ‘our team’

Down

2d    Endure a lesser song that has not succeeded (5)
ABIDE Here you have to remember when 45 records comprised of two songs – remove the abbreviation for Succeeded from the way we used to refer to the lesser of those songs

3d    Extremely limiting volume in gabbling etc, in this way primarily? (5,4)
SOTTO VOCE First (primarily) you need a word meaning in this way, followed by the insertion into an anagram (gabbling) of ETC, an adverb meaning extremely, which itself ‘limits’ the abbreviation for Volume.

4d    Potent drink? Note people getting uppity after swallowing half of it (6)
NECTAR The abbreviation for Note and a reversal (getting up) of people ‘swallowing the second half of iT

5d    Resort hosting new student and something for the old hand (9,6)
REFRESHER COURSE A synonym for resort ‘hosting’ a university or college student in their first year (new student)

6d    Many Americans are keen on this immoral dance (8)
BASEBALL A synonym for immoral and a dance

7d    Cheers with adoption of current measure in US city (5)
TAMPA An informal way of saying thank you (cheers) with ‘adoption’ of a measure of electrical current

8d    Charlie and Mike probed by a detective chap’s line of questioning (9)
CATECHISM Letters represented in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet by Charlie and Mike ‘probed’ by an informal term for a detective and the male possessive pronoun (chap’s)

14d    Keeps articles in records: nothing identifying dog (5,4)
LHASA APSO A verb meaning keeps and two indefinite articles inserted into some records and then followed by the letter representing nothing

16d    Get moving as a way of creating gale? (5,1,3)
SHAKE A LEG To create GALE you might use an anagram indicator plus A, and a particular part of the body

17d    It is found in Eastern sea with a list (8)
ITEMISED IT (from the clue) and IS (from the clue) found in between the abbreviations for Eastern and a sea

20d    Record of history is silent about exploit (6)
MUSEUM An adjective meaning silent goes about a verb meaning to exploit

22d    Pigeon in roost at the outset (5)
HOMER Where you are when you are ‘in’ and the letter at the outset of Roost

24d    Dancer’s colleague to turn up on time (5)
COMET A verb meaning to turn up goes on the abbreviation for Time

 

28 comments on “Toughie 2595”

  1. Slow start but rapidly picked up the pace once a few checkers were in place. My favourites were 27a and 2d. Love a bran muffin so question the synonym in 12a. Very enjoyable. Thanks to KCit and CS.

    1. I did say it to myself while both solving and blog drafting, but thought I’d see if anyone else had noticed

  3. I found myself on a roll, unexpectedly, as the bottom half filled in nicely and then the top slowly yielded to a magical finish, with such gems as 3d and 8d and my favourite–because my sporting life has rather been defined by it–6d. A fine complement to today’s Ray T, and another thing of beauty to me. Thanks to CS, whose parsing of 2d cleared that one up for me, and to Kcit for the enjoyment.

  4. A pleasant puzzle (though I thought it suffered a bit from a lack of variety, e.g. no double definitions, no cryptic definitions and only one straight anagram). Thanks to Kcit and to CS.
    My ticks were awarded to 13a, 2d and 24d.

    1. Still struggling with this compound anagram concept. I need an idiot guide & a load of examples.

      1. See section 9.6 of a “A brief guide to the construction of cryptic crossword clues” by Michael Callaghan (Prolixic – who is particularly keen on this type of clue). It’s available as a pdf file via the Rookie Corner Puzzles index.

  5. Really enjoyed this one, particularly for its humour which is a sure-fire way to win me over.
    Fighting it out for podium places are 18a plus 6,16,20&24d – one of the best reindeer clues in quite a while.

    Many thanks to Kcit for the fun and to CS for the review – I know that you’re the fount of all knowledge but are you actually sure that your pic is of 24d?

  6. Can’t say I noticed a lot of truncated words but probably because I was just pleased with a swift solve. A delightful stroll after yesterday’s arduous slog & all the more enjoyable for it. Remembered the pooch at 14d from a fairly recent crossword which rather bucks the recent form book of instantly forgetting all new information acquired. Will now read the review but reasonably happy all parsed correctly though probably not. Favourite was 16d.
    Thanks Kcit & CS.

  7. I was quite pleased to have solved a Friday Toughie until I realised that it was only Thursday. That’s what comes of not having pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. Bunging in what fit the checkers led me to most of the solutions. Heigh Ho. A filled grid is a filled grid. Ta to all concerned

  8. No complaints from me either. Like Jane, I always appreciate a dash of humour, and as MP says, a filled grid is a filled grid. 18a and 24d take the top spot.

    Many thanks to Kcit for the fun and to CS.

  9. Like others I completed this in a reasonable time, for me that is. Happiness is a completed toughie, so I’m happy. I needed help to parse 2d, 3d and 16d but I don’t think that 26 out of 29 is too bad. Favourite was 9a. Many thanks to Kcit and CS.

  10. Quite a technical solve where the answers were well hidden in the wordplay.
    Both RayT and Kcit are giving us some cuffs and restraint today. Is it a sign of confinement?
    Liked the surface in most clues.
    Favourite 26a.
    On Monday, in the extra puzzle, there was a clue about another Santa helper:
    End of year hold up involved reindeer (7)
    Thought it was rather good.
    Thanks to Kcit and to CS for the elaborate review.

  11. I found this a good deal more than ** in difficulty, but very enjoyable. 18a was my standout favourite. Many thanks to Kcit and crypticsue.

  12. I managed to fill the grid correctly, but a number of clues remained unparsed.

    Even with the hints, I still can’t see 3d nor 28a. I really don’t like it when that happens.

    Thanks to Kcit and CS.

    1. 3d is a mix of words inserted into others. SO (in this way)TOO (extremely)V (very) and an anagram of ETC

      28a is M (make) and weighty without the WE

    2. 28a male is m then remove our team (we) from weighty
      3d so (in this way) then an anagram of etc & contained within it too (extremely) with v for volume inside that.

      Or at least that’s what I did.

      1. TOO (extremely) contains (limiting) V[olume] i.e. TOVO. That goes inside an anagram (gabbling) of ETC, so we have TTOVOCE. Finally stick at the front (primarily) SO (in this way).

  13. Thought it was going to be beyond me, but gradually all clues fell into place, with NW being the last to yield. Actually spotted the reverse anagram straight away. Yay! Took me into 5* time, but enjoyed the challenge. No standout favourites. Thanks to Kcit and Cryptic Sue.

  14. I found this quite challenging, enjoyable and witty, though I do agree with Gazza in that it was a bit limited in the style or variety of cluing.
    I particularly liked 9,11& the clever 13a plus 16d but my favourite was probably 18a, having fallen victim to a few over the years!
    Many thanks to Kcit and the enviably clever CS for making it all sound so easy.

  15. Parsing 2d was the last hurdle to cross for us. Had the right answer but the wordplay eluded us for ages.
    A pleasure to solve with lots of ticks and smiles.
    Thanks Kcit and CS.

  16. Dreadful. Hated this, and couldn’t parse a big portion of the few I did get “right”. I do better with Elgar, and that’s saying an awful lot.

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