Toughie No 2701 by Gila
Hints and tips by Miffypops
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A delightful puzzle from Gila today which played very nicely until the end when Gazza’s advice for when all else fails came to the rescue at 19 across
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.
Across
7a Complete first section of windmill, house and hotel inside Lego set (5-3)
WHOLE HOG: I see four parts to this clue. The initial letter of the word Windmill. The two-letter abbreviation for house. The abbreviation for Hotel. The word LEGO. Arrange as indicated by the clue to find a phrase meaning to do something as completely as possible
Thus says the prophet of the Turk,
Good mussulman, abstain from pork;
There is a part in every swine
No friend or follower of mine
May taste, whate’er his inclination,
On pain of excommunication.
Such Mahomet’s mysterious charge,
And thus he left the point at large.
Had he the sinful part express’d,
They might with safety eat the rest;
But for one piece they thought it hard
From the whole hog to be debarr’d;
And set their wit at work to find
What joint the prophet had in mind.
Much controversy straight arose,
These choose the back, the belly those;
By some ’tis confidently said
He meant not to forbid the head;
While others at that doctrine rail,
And piously prefer the tail.
Thus, conscience freed from every clog,
Mahometans eat up the hog.
You laugh — ’tis well — the tale applied
May make you laugh on t’other side.
Renounce the world — the preacher cries.
We do — a multitude replies.
While one as innocent regards
A snug and friendly game at cards;
And one, whatever you may say,
Can see no evil in a play;
Some love a concert, or a race;
And others shooting, and the chase.
Reviled and loved, renounced and follow’d,
Thus, bit by bit, the world is swallow’d;
Each thinks his neighbour makes too free,
Yet likes a slice as well as he:
With sophistry their sauce they sweeten,
Till quite from tail to snout ’tis eaten. By William Cowper
9a Fashionable dance music (3-3)
HIP HOP: A word meaning fashionable or trendy is followed by the type of dance sung about by Danny and the Juniors at Woodstock. Together these words make the name of a style of music unlikely to be listened to by most cryptic crossword solvers
10a Fellow eats a new type of Asian food (6)
PANEER: This fellow is a member of the nobility. He sits around the letter A from the clue and the abbreviation for new
11a Where you can see lots more and also move around (8)
SALEROOM: An anagram (move around) of MORE and ALSO. The lots here are items for auction
12a Cheese pieces next to eggs on the counter (8,6)
STINKING BISHOP: Two chessmen need to be placed after the reverse (on the counter) of the common name for the eggs of headlice
15a Try crazy flips (4)
STAB: A word meaning crazy can be reversed (flipped) to make an informal noun meaning an attempt or a go at something
17a Parent of son expelled by teacher (5)
MATER: A regular name for a teacher needs to lose the abbreviation for son to leave the Latin name for one’s mother
19a Prefer to put back sandwiches containing pork, perhaps (4)
TREF: When all else fails, look for a lurker. The answer lies hidden within the words of the clue as indicated by the word sandwiched. It is reversed as indicated by the words put back
20a Nice tutors freely smile and seemed so willing at heart (14)
MESDEMOISELLES: An anagram (freely) of the central letter (at heart) of the word willing together with the words SMILE and SEEMED SO will when solved lead to some female teachers, natives of Nice on the French Riviera
23a Literate: upper-class chap entertained by two senior journalists (8)
EDUCATED: The single letter often used to denote upper class is followed by a synonym of a chap (possibly a Jazz music fan) together these sit betwixt the abbreviations for two senior journalists
25a Bot maybe makes all gadgets genuinely operate together from the outset (6)
MAGGOT: The initial letters (from the outset) of six consecutive words in the clue
27a Most dry grain’s bagged by weight (6)
WRYEST: The abbreviation for weight surrounds the plural of a grain plant
28a Doctor given time at the end with a number of Italian royals (8)
MEDICEAN: A medical practitioner is followed by the last letter of the word time, the letter A from the clue and the abbreviation for number
Down
1d Branch of religion found in southern Haifa, oddly (4)
SHIA: The abbreviation for southern is followed by the odd numbered letters of the word that follows it in the clue
2d Provide info for student inhibited by signal at home (4,2)
CLUE IN: A hint or tip surrounds the usual letter denoted by the word student. This is followed by a word meaning at home
3d Clubs banished from prisons for quite some time (4)
AGES: The abbreviation for clubs (in a pack of cards perhaps) is to be removed from barred prison cells
4d Hot food is not healthy, covered in sliced potato mostly (6)
CHILLI: A word meaning not feeling well is surrounded by most of a sliced deep fried potato that goes down well when eaten at the seaside with battered fish
5d So that’s your game … wearing old, jaunty headgear! (5,3)
OPERA HAT: The abbreviation for old and a synonym for jaunty, lively, cheekily self confident sit around an exclamation meaning that’s your game or I see. Thanks to the ever jaunty Cryptic Sue for assistance with the parsing of this one
6d Poison diffused at this point somewhere up high (10)
IONOSPHERE: An anagram (diffused) of POISON is followed by an adverb meaning in this place
8d Coming from the south, I’m not impressed about French leaders being gallant (7)
HEROISM: A three-letter informal exclamation which shows a lack of interest or enthusiasm surrounds the French word for leaders, leaders who rule and may be married to Queens
13d Back of crypt in Notre Dame renovated to make space for art (4,6)
TATE MODERN: The final letter of the word crypt is followed by an anagram (renovated) of NOTRE DAME
14d Reached cave without using river (3,2)
GOT TO: A cave such as Santa Claus might sit in needs to lose the abbreviation for river and then be split 3,2 to give a suitable answer
16d Plot to incorporate one group split in two (8)
BISECTED: A plot such as might be found in a garden contains the letter that looks like the number one and a group of religious idealists possibly
18d Customer picked up medicine and got back on with things (7)
RESUMED: A regular partaker of what’s on offer is reversed (picked up) and followed by an abbreviated medicine
21d Property in Spain, say (6)
ESTATE: The IVR code for Spain is followed by a word meaning to say something
22d Gift of support that’s taken on a charity’s case (6)
LEGACY: A support which might hold up a table for example is followed by the letter A from the clue and the outer letters (case of) of the word charity
24d Deposit of soft sludge rising from the ground (4)
DUMP: Begin with the musical notation for soft. Add a sludge comprising of earth and water. Reverse (rising) what you have
26d Fine wine, unopened (4)
OKAY: A naturally sweet Hungarian wine needs to lose its first letter
A nice start of the week Toughie although when I was playing ‘guess the setter’, I didn’t think of Gila. Thanks to him and MP
Beaten by 19a. Is it a Jewish word?
It is – it means not Kosher just like something containing pork
Thank you I thought it had to be something like that. I wonder to how many of us it was a new word and will we remember it for future use?
I did know it so I must have read it and retained it for future use
Beaten by 3, 19a, 20a and 27a. The rest was good fun though. Annoyed by 20a as we had something similar the other day which I did manage to solve. Hey ho. Thanks to the setter and MP
The “similar to 20a clue” appeared in last Thursday’s Ray T……I remember it well !
Like others beaten by 19a so needed MP’s hint to get over the line. Disappointing as I don’t finish many Toughies unaided.
Enjoyed the challenge so thank you Gila and MP for the needed hints.
A delightful and entertaining puzzle for the Toughie slot. 12a and 13d were on the top of my podium. The parsing of 5d was beyond me so thanks to CS/MP for that.
Thank you to Gila for the challenge and to MP for his review.
Got there but had to check definition of 19a and didn’t know my Hungarian wines. 12a was my favourite clue and a lovely cheese. Thanks to Gila and MP.
Continuing what seems to be a bit of a theme, beaten by 19a…..furious that I didn’t spot the lurker, even with an obvious indicator it was so cleverly disguised…..and the parsing of 5d. Very enjoyable all the same, tough but not mind bendingly so.
I think my favourite was 27a.
Many thanks to Gila and to MP for a top puzzle and review.
Although I didn’t finish it on my own, I did enjoy this nice Toughie very much. Didn’t know the cheese and couldn’t get ‘sport cap’ out of my mind for 5d (shame on me, an opera lover!), so thanks to MP for helping me along, with those two and a couple others. I did know the Jewish term but missed the lurker. Thanks to Gila and to MP, especially for the amusing Cowper poem.
I didn’t know 19a either
I shall be listening to De La Soul, Three Feet High and Rising for tomorrow’s solve
Thanks to Gila for the puzzle and MP for the blog
Well I managed to complete this despite never having heard of 10a, 19a or the wine in 26d or 20a and 25a in that sense. I also needed the hints to parse 8d, having no French, and 18d. So electronic help required for a couple of the nho’s. Having said that a completed grid is a completed grid so I’m happy. Thanks to Gila and MP.
I, too, was beaten by 19a together with 20a and 28a. Fortunately, I knew the wine in 26d. I got 24d but couldn’t see the parsing of it so my thanks to MP for the explanation.
Many thanks to Gila for the puzzle and to Miffypops for the hints.
Mostly straight forward except for last in 19a, as per most bloggers I suspect, when all seemed lost then Gazzas advice came from the blue and a visit to the dictionary confirmed the reverse lurker!
Failed to parse 8d, a bit of an iffy clue, thanks to MP for the parsing, remembered the french kings but not sure about the three letter word regarding not impressed-is the grammer correct for the definition, heroic ok but not heroism?
Anyway enjoyed the solve,favourite was 12a
I’ve never heard of stinking bishop cheese, despite my Gloucester farming association. I do enjoy a nice stinky cheese, I wonder if they sell it here.
It really lives up to its name, Merusa. It does stink but the taste is gorgeous. It’s a bit expensive, though being about £30 for 500gms.
Ooops, maybe I won’t begetting any after all!
Not begetting, rather, be getting!
It’s my son’s favourite and that of Wallace and Grommit too.
If you can get your hands on it try some Bishop Kennedy from Scotland, delish!!
Received the dreaded incorrect message from the online Telegraph. Blowed if I could find anything wrong. Eventually realised that I had spelt 28ac with a second ‘i’ rather than an ‘e’. I can’t find the word in the dictionary but I would have thought the ‘i’ spelling was more logical.
Aside from that, a super Toughie to start the week.
You were correct miff!
As usual
Beaten by 19a. Now the challenge will be to remember it for the next time it pops up in a crossword.
Challenging in places for us and we feel pleased that we had remembered the 12a cheese.
Thanks Gila (who was Mr Ron at our solving time) and MP.
I had no idea who the setter was. I had to text Weavers Chris to find out
This was rattling along pretty well, til I had three left, 5d, 19a, and 27a. Once I’d untangled 5d, 19a had to be the lurker I thought earlier, but didn’t know the word, so LOI. COTD for me was 27a. Nothing was unsolvable from the clues, so really enjoyed it, a pleased to have it filled in with no hints required! ***/*****
Well I wasn’t beaten by 19a but only because I had a glance at the difficulty rating before a late night stab at this & couldn’t help but read the comment about Gazza’s advice so would almost certainly have been otherwise. There were a couple of bung ins too. Couldn’t parse 5&8d, the first 5 letters of 20a were a bit of a punt requiring confirmation & vaguely remembered the cheese but thought it steaming rather than stinking until I twigged the wordplay.
All good fun & a stern enough start to the new Toughie week.
Thanks to Gila & Miffs