Toughie 2842 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 2842

Toughie No 2842 by Logman

Hints and tips by crypticsue

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BD Rating – Difficulty *Enjoyment ***  

Another week when the backpager (which I use to warm up my brain for the Toughie) took twice as long as the supposed Toughie. The latter took me what I’d consider to be a ‘standard’ time for a Jay backpager.  I think one of my fellow bloggers will be very happy with the choice of things to eat in this crossword 😉

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

7a    Got rid of some lines and made less (9)
DECREASED With a hyphen after the first two letters, this solution could mean ‘got rid of some lines’

8a    Prepare for success, perhaps having space by top of garden (5)
GROOM Some space goes after the ‘top’ of Garden

10a    The man’s offspring half-heartedly expressed disapproval (6)
HISSED The male possessive pronoun (the man’s) and another word for offspring without one of its middle letters (half-heartedly)

11a    Stops prescribed drugs with nothing in (8)
STATIONS Some drugs prescribed to inhibit cholesterol with the letter representing nothing inserted

12a    Supply small amount of money to get boost (6)
FILLIP A verb meaning to supply and an abbreviated way of writing our smallest amount of money

14a    Gelded, oddly, by prison doctor (6)
JUGGLE Doctor here being a verb meaning to manipulate. The odd letters of GeLdEd go after a slang word for a prison

16a    Sort of basket game adopted by the Greeks initially (4)
TRUG An abbreviated game ‘adopted’ by the initial letters of The and Greeks

17a    Twist as priest featuring in Hard Times (5)
HELIX The Old Testament priest who often features in crossword clues inserted (featuring in) between the abbreviation for Hard and the letter used in multiplication sums to mean times

18a    Status of Conservative dismissed by eccentric (4)
RANK Dismiss or remove the abbreviation for Conservative from a derogatory term for an eccentric person

19a    Staple food may see a strike backed by millions… (6)
MANIOC A verb meaning to strike and A (from the clue) reversed (backed) and put after the abbreviation for Million

21a    …in effort to incorporate objective (6)
TRENDY An effort ‘incorporating’ an objective

24a    Fare cut the old American rejected? (4,4)
CHOP SUEY A verb meaning to cut and a reversal (rejected) of the archaic (old) word for the and the abbreviation for American

26a    Banks offering no end of help in responses (6)
RELIES Remove the letter at the end of helP from some responses

27a    Food could be ultimately thrown in fire (5)
SNACK The ‘ultimate’ letter of throwN inserted into a synonym of fire in the sense of dismiss from a post

28a    Port may be answer, with both sides saving money (9)
ARCHANGEL The abbreviation for Answer and the letters representing both sides into which is inserted (saving) some coins of low value (money)

Down

1d    Say one’s in since getting protection (5)
AEGIS The abbreviation for for example (say) and the letter representing one inserted into a conjunction meaning since

2d    Swimmer‘s spirit largely bolstered by support (8)
BRISLING A Norwegian sprat sold here in tins – most of a synonym for spirit or vivacity held up (bolstered by, in a Down solution) a support for an injured arm

3d    Delinquent son raised subject to Russian losing head (6)
VANDAL A reversal (raised) of a boy (son) under (subject to) a Russian without his first letter (losing head)

4d    Seagulls cry like cats as at the end (4)
MEWS To cry like cats followed by the ‘end’ letter of aS

5d    Giving ammunition to a Republican dynasty (6)
ARMING A (from the clue), the abbreviation for Republican and a Chinese dynasty

6d    Don Juan’s second wild affair bears unwanted child (9)
FOUNDLING An anagram (wild) of DON and the second letter of jUan inserted into an informal term for an affair

9d    Stymie sailors reportedly supporting veto (6)
BANJAX A slang verb meaning to frustrate (stymie) is obtained by putting a homophone (reportedly) of some sailors under (supporting) a verb meaning to veto

13d    Experimental patch used to cover eye in speech (5)
PILOT A patch of land to ‘cover’ a homophone (in speech) of eye

15d    A sign of life possibly from British, suppressing each obsession (9)
BREATHING The abbreviation for British ‘suppressing’ in a Down solution, an abbreviation for each and an informal term for an obsession

17d    Minor setback which exposed copper on top of perjury (6)
HICCUP The inside (exposed) letters of wHICh, the chemical symbol for copper and the ‘top’ of Perjury

18d    River rising fast is evocative (8)
REDOLENT A reversal (rising) of a Central European river followed by a period of fasting

20d    Effect of international legislation harbouring politician (6)
IMPACT The abbreviation for International and a piece of legislation ‘harbouring’ an abbreviated politician

22d    Coarse — and enthusiastic seeing husband put down (6)
EARTHY Take a synonym for enthusiastic and put the abbreviation for Husband further down that word

23d    State of currency keeping me in (5)
YEMEN The monetary unit of Japan (currency) into which is inserted ME (from the clue)

25d    Soaring tax must cover university accommodation (4)
YURT A reversal (soaring) of a verb meaning to tax must ‘cover’ the abbreviation for University

 

24 comments on “Toughie 2842

  1. I shall beg to differ from CS’s assessment of the difficultly of this puzzle, which I thought was several orders of magnitude tougher than a back-pager from Jay. However I did enjoy it very much, in stark contrast to today’s (non-Jay) back-pager.

    19a was a new word for me, which I eventually settled on after spending some time trying and failing to parse “maniac” as the answer. My BRB then confirmed that 19a really did exist.

    My top three were 17a, 24a & 9d, but many more came into contention.

    Many thanks to Logman and to CS.

  2. A pleasant puzzle with the added attraction of having only a single tiny anagram. Thanks to Logman and CS.
    I didn’t know the 19a word.
    My nominations for the honour board are 9d, 13d and 17d.

  3. Completed in two sittings and with some help from my search engine for the fish and staple food. Otherwise I enjoyed the tussle, appreciating some clever misdirection. I agree with RD above that this was harder than the usual Jay backpager. Thanks though to Logman and CS.

  4. I didn’t know 19a, 2d, or 9d, so I just decided to go the sporting way, instead of bunging-in my answers, and seek several letters by the almsman online. Enjoyed the rest of this witty Toughie, which I’d rank several rungs higher on the toughie ladder than our blogger does. I think that 17a and 18d are my co-favourites. I did finish but technically a DNF. Thanks to CS and Logman.

  5. Probably giving up too early but I know the combo of 9d and 14a would never have crossed my mind. Now to look at the back page. Wednesday is not my favourite day here.
    Something quite different. I was issued with a weeks worth of wrongly dated vouchers in March and I cannot get the DT to make good the cash I had to fork out. After 6 weeks all I’ve had is a request to resubmit my problem. Flogging and dead horse spring to mind!

  6. Very enjoyable indeed.
    Unlike our esteemed blogger I found it slightly harder than the back pager, and there’s one I’ve yet to fully parse….but I don’t give up easily.
    Ticks throughout the grid, 12,17&21a plus 9 (splendid word) &17d, with top spot going to the amusing 24a.
    Many thanks to Logman and CS for the fun.

  7. With the exception of 19a, 2d and 4d I found this reasonably straightforward but certainly not easy. I’ll try to remember the words I don’t know. Favourite was 9d. Thanks to Logman and CS.

  8. I invariably say that I prefer Jay in his back-page guise but today this Logman Toughie came as a huge relief after the back-pager!
    Podium here housed 19&24a plus 9&18d.

    Thanks to Logman Jay and to our super-solver for the review.

  9. I’m another who would rate this harder than CS.
    For me there were four new words.
    All rather a tussle which reduced the enjoyment.
    As always thanks to Logman (for 9d ing me)and to CS for explaining 19ac.
    ***/**

  10. Definitely more of a challenge than the back pager but as a Toughie it’s supposed to be although, for me, probably not by as much as RD suggests compared to a Jay back pager, so a Toughie **/****.

    19a did require BRB confirmation.

    Candidates for favourite – 12a, 17a, and 9d – and the winner is 9d.

    Thanks to Logman and CS.

  11. Very hard indeed.
    I knew 19a, but I needed a lot of assistance.
    I liked 9d, 17a and d and 24a.
    Thanks to all concerned.

  12. Good puzzle and, for me, a proper Toughie and considerably more challenging than a Jay grid – it took me nearly twice as long as today’s backpager. Spent almost as long in the NW as I did on the rest of the puzzle, and afterwards for the life of me could not work out why I had been so stubbornly perplexed. I dragged the fish and cassava from the depths of my memory, and somehow recalled that the 4a were what they were.

    9d my COTD – great word, combined clue and answer made me smile.

    2.5 / 3.5

    Many thanks to Logman and to CS

  13. I found this tough but perfectly doable, with 9d my favourite clue, a word I dredged up from somewhere in my memory bank. The lack of anagrams did not occur to me until I read Gazza’s comment at #2; my admiration for our setter went up a notch as a result.

    Thanks to Logman and CS.

  14. Fewer gaps in my knowledge for this one than the back page although I did need to check 19a. Most enjoyable. Rather partial to 2d. Thanks to CS and Logman.

    1. Janie, one of the meanings of “to coin” as a verb is “to stamp” as in making coins.

    2. J, from Wiki:

      Striking a coin refers to pressing an image into the blank metal disc, or planchet, and is a term descended from the days when the dies were struck with hammers to deform the metal into the image of the dies.

  15. A very late pre lights look at this (& after a tincture too many). Lovely puzzle & a tad harder than the back-pager for me. Shy of 2d &19a but they can wait until morning as the eyelids have had enough. No particular favourite but solidly clued throughout
    Thanks Logman & CS

  16. I have to go with the general flow here – 19a a new word for me, and the only one I didn’t get on my own. Harder than the back-pager – probably a **/***. A very pleasant way to start my day (even though for me it is always the next day) – thanks to setter and blogger.

  17. I thought it was definitely worthy of being a Toughie. The grid of four mini crosswords didnt help, the top left corner containing too many clues that I didn’t get, hence no checkers and resorting to bigdave.

  18. Sometimes, I fall on a crossword that I find so interesting that I can’t put it down until I finish.
    This was one of them.
    Couldn’t wait to find a minute to have a look at it again and again as I have been a bit busy of late.
    And two days later, it is done.
    The new word for me was 9d.
    Thanks to Logman for the great workout and to CS for the review.

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