Toughie No 3014 by Donnybrook
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
A nice early in the week Toughie from Donnybrook
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought
Across
1a One having seat in AA, partner dishevelled Irishman brought in (15)
PARLIAMENTARIAN An anagram (dishevelled) of IN AA PARTNER with an Irish man’s name ‘brought in’ or inserted
9a Hidden in underground cell, edges away from rodents (7)
CRYPTIC An underground cell and some rodents without their outside letters (edges away)
10a One who chronicles onslaught repulsed first (7)
DIARIST A reversal (repulsed) of an attack (onslaught) followed by an abbreviated way of writing first
11a Woman takes engagement rings back (5)
AGNES Hidden in reverse (rings .. back) in takeS ENGAgement
12a Hawk from marines operating in venture (9)
WARMONGER The abbreviation for the Royal Marines operating in, or inserted into a bet (venture)
14a Robust defending principle of judge and one revolutionary prophet (6)
ELIJAH An adjective meaning robust or healthy ‘defending’ or going round the principle (source or origin) letter of Judge and the letter representing one, the result then reversed (revolutionary)
16a Low attack involving Northern Line (8)
MONORAIL The noise made by a cow (low) and a verb meaning to attack verbally, into which is inserted (involving) the abbreviation for Northern
18a Thankless task keeping the French within school framework (8)
SKELETON Remove the informal thank you (thank less) from taSK and then insert the French definite article into a public school
19a Making arrest, East German police succeeded (6)
STASIS To make a synonym for arrest, take the East German police and follow with the abbreviation for succeeded
21a Industry in OPEC areas reorganised (9)
AEROSPACE An anagram (reorganised) of OPEC AREAS
25a White-haired Scottish cyclist crossing American river (5)
HOARY The surname of a well-known Scottish cyclist ‘crossing’ the abbreviations for American and river
27a Old clubs song about Newton’s instrument (7)
OCARINA The abbreviations for Old and Clubs followed by a song into which is inserted the abbreviation for the SI Unit of Force (Newton)
28a Water provided as dry heat spreading (7)
HYDRATE An anagram (spreading) of DRY HEAT
29a Technique Freud employed changes as I recite on sofa (4,11)
FREE ASSOCIATION An anagram (changes)of AS I RECITE ON SOFA
Down
1d Might this cause rocky break-up? Choose times for admission to A&E (7)
PICKAXE A synonym for choose and the letter used to mean times in a multiplication sum inserted into (for admission to) A and E (from the clue)
2d Material in youngster’s drawer Conservative ignored (5)
RAYON Something a child uses to draw without (ignored) the abbreviation for Conservative
3d Run out of road across the pond, not having planned to leave (9)
INTESTATE Remove the cricket abbreviation for run from an American (across the pond) road
4d Mother and wife coming round about tropical parrot (5)
MACAW A informal mother and the abbreviation for wife ‘coming round’ the Latin abbreviation for about
5d Clear article raised deepest point (5)
NADIR A reversal (raised) of a verb meaning to clear and an indefinite article
6d Last couple abandoning fashionable mission (5)
ALAMO The last couple of letters ‘abandoning’ an originally French way of saying fashionable gives us a mission where a famous battle was fought in the Texas Revolution
7d Something from Sturgeon, good girl after one transgression (9)
ISINGLASS The abbreviation for good and a girl go after the letter representing one and a transgression to produce a material obtained from the swim bladder of a sturgeon fish
8d One sure to succeed Brown going up river (7)
NATURAL A reversal (going up) of a brown colour followed by a Russian river
13d Annual account seen by Rushdie not small (7)
ALMANAC The abbreviation for account goes after (by) the forename of Mr Rushdie the author without the abbreviation for small
15d Upstanding character, anti-beer, having strayed? (9)
INEBRIATE A letter(character) that is vertical (upstanding) and an anagram (having strayed) of ANTI BEER
17d Art Deco had endlessly bizarre shapes (9)
OCTAHEDRA An anagram (bizarre) of ART DECO HAd (‘endlessly’ telling you to omit the d)
18d She leaves hotel — a rising tide brings fish (3,4)
SEA WOLF Remove the H (the letter represented by Hotel in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet) from ShE, add A (from the clue) and a reversal (rising) of a tide
20d Protein source Spooner’s son spotted (3,4)
SOY BEAN How the dreaded Reverend would say that a son [had been] spotted
22d Hindu deity in verse penned by certain Muslims (5)
SHIVA The abbreviation for Verse ‘penned’ by some Muslims
23d Gather in Panama’s Sasardi (5)
AMASS Hidden in panAMAS Sasardi
24d Avoiding extremes, witches reformed moral system (5)
ETHIC An anagram (reformed) of wITCHEs ‘avoiding’ or omitting the outside letters (extremes)
26d Craftsman on the fiddle a dull one (5)
AMATI A famous maker of violins – A (from the clue) a synonym for dull and, once again, the letter representing one
Excellent Toughie, I take my metaphorical hat off to the setter.
7d new for me but very sympathetically clued so easily obtainable from checkers and wordplay.
I thought both 9a and 3d were worth the entrance fee alone and they are joined on my extended podium by 18a and the super-clever 15d. The Spoonerism raised a laugh too.
Many thanks to Donny and Cryptic Sue.
Fast out of the stalls & like Senf’s horse of old just kept galloping for a 2.5* time completion which for a Toughie is remarkably pacy for me – probably enough to alert the drug testers. 1a&d both nice starters but top 2 for me are 3&15d. Very enjoyable albeit possibly easier than a few of his back-pagers.
Thanks to Donny & CS.
I admit a slight pursing of lips when I spotted that the difficulty was rated just *.
The clues I couldn’t solve were 3d and 6d, which are very similar clues in that you have to remove a letter or two from another word.
I liked 13d, 15d and20d .
Thanks to Donnybrook and CS.
I think CS is usually at genius+ levels when it comes to solving crosswords, and so what we mere mortals achieve is often in no way comparable!
Wonderful puzzle, so many chuckles. OK, not really that Tough, but when something’s this good who cares? Freud stupidly held me up even when I had four of the checkers in the second word, but when the penny dropped so did 18d. Tried to convince myself that there is a river called the Housy – and apparently it is a nickname for the Housatonic river in New England. But there ain’t no violin maker called U*a*i, and when the light dawned on the river, the last two were done. Yep, good Spoonerism. Hon mentions to 9a, 29a (great surface & answer), 13d & 18d, with COTD for me to 1d – laughed out loud at that one.
2* / 4*
Many thanks to NYDK & CS
I think this is the first time I have completely solved a Donnybrook, but at the outset it didn’t seem to be going that way. After filling most of the S I headed N and eventually 1ac clicked. From then on it was easy sailing apart from 16ac, 18ac and 25dn but I got there. All fairly clued. I didn’t parse 6dn, but the hint confirmed it.
Thanks to Donnybrook and Sue for the blog.
A pretty gentle Toughie, but enjoyable nonetheless. Top place for me was between 3d and 6d. !8a was a well-hidden reverse lurker – hidden from me for a while anyway.
I agree this was sufficiently gentle not to have been out of place as a back-pager, but it was certainly a lot of fun.
Full marks to the setter for clearly indicating the American road in 3d, and this one makes it onto my podium alongside 15d (great all-in-one!) and 29a.
Many thanks to Donnybrook and to CS.
Donnybrook’s puzzles are always enjoyable and this was no exception. Thanks to him and CS.
I ticked 16a, 18a and 6d but my favourite was the very deceptive 3d.
An enjoyable and friendly challenge for the second Toughie of the week – **/****
Candidates for favourite – 16a, 7d, and 26d – and the winner is 7d.
Thanks to Donnybrook and CS.
Very happy to complete this Toughie, whatever the star rating! Lots to like, especially 10a, 18a and 3d. My favourite was the very clever 15d, which raised a smile. Thanks to Donny and Cripticsue
A most enjoyable puzzle, one that could quite easily have graced the back page. I liked 3 and 6d very much, but for once in a blue moon I have 20d as favourite – I’m not usually a great fan of Spoonerisms, but that one floated my boat. 14a ran it very close. Thanks to Donnybrook and CS.
Thoroughly enjoyable with plenty of laughs along the way, none louder than upon solving 18a, my favourite. Not too difficult but highly entertaining.
My thanks to Donnybrook and CS.
I found this pretty tough in places but I got there and parsed it all, not always the case for me. I got 1a with just the checking letter from 1d , don’t ask me how but it helped no end. Lots of top clues my favourite being 3d. Thanks to Donnybrook and CS.
Amazing, finished unaided 2 days in a row. Had to check the Hindu deity. It’s taken quite a long time though. Thanks to Donnybrook and CS
Firefly tomorrow for the hat trick Manders then probably wise to declare as it’s Mr Impenetrable on Friday…..
If it’s Elgar on Friday, can’t understand the clues let alone answer them!
When we noted the letters used in 1d we immediately went into pangram alert mode. Quite unnecessarily as it turned out.
Thoroughly enjoyable solve with smiles and chuckles al the way through.
Thanks Donnybrook and CS.
Today it’s the substraction indicators that rocked my boat.
Edges away from rodents, thankless task, run out of road and she leaves hotel made great surface read.
Thanks to Donnybrook and to CS.
Very much enjoyed this one with just the thankless task giving me pause for thought and requiring an application of the tea tray!
My top three were 9a plus 1&7d but several others came into contention.
Thanks to Donnybrook and to CS for the beautifully illustrated review – are those Scops owls in the 9a picture?
They certainly look like Scops owls.
We were sitting on the back-porch last night enjoying some unseasonably mild weather here in TN when suddenly there was the unmistakable hoot of a Great Horned Owl, which is quite rare in these parts. It got nearer and nearer and we could hear it walking through the leaves. Our dog went beserk and him being about 15lbs was ushered indoors and not allowed out until this morning for his own good. Pretty mean things those Great Horned Owls but magnificent all the same.
Would concur with CS’s ratings and say thanks to all.
Absolutely delightful. Solved joyfully last night in a blissful trance of sorts, all the while singing “Surrey with the Fringe on the Top’, thanks to 7d and my boyhood love for the musical ‘Oklahoma’, which was (for me at age 8 or 9) the first and probably only time I’ve ever heard the word (have I ever heard it otherwise?). No problem with the Spooner except that 20d is one word over here, the American penchant for compounding the obvious. Favourites galore but 15d, 3d, & 9a (though any of about 10 others could go here) lead the award winners. Thanks to CS and Donnybrook, in his glory.
Just finished a cracking Dave Gorman puzzle (Django to us) in today’s Graun – reckon you’d enjoy it.
I found this way more than 1 x * difficulty but eventually finished all but 6d which at this hour I still cannot parse.
An excellent puzzle as usual from Donnybrook and thanks to CS for the blog.
A LA MODE without the DE
Thanks for the explanation, CS. I didn’t connect it to a mission.
As mentioned, the subtraction indication is beautifully handled here, in a puzzle of great precision and no great difficulty. I belted through it, and it was over too soon as a result. Lovely stuff in puzzle and blog, thanks both.