Toughie No 3078 by Musaeus
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
A fairly typical Musaeus Toughie. Musaeus is one of those setters, just like Chalicea, where you can be certain that they have found the synonyms or definitions in the BRB, so if you aren’t the blogger, you don’t necessarily need to check the dictionary yourself!
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought
Across
1a Froth seeing somewhat crazy second bed (6-4)
CUCKOO-SPIT An informal way of saying slightly crazy, the abbreviation for second and an informal name for a bed
6a Knight of the Garter embraced by monarch (4)
KING A preposition meaning by ’embraced’ by the abbreviation for Knight of the Garter
9a A part of unusually rich poem (5)
LYRIC Hidden in (a part of) unusualLY RICh
10a Exciting ten days for us followers? (9)
ENTOURAGE An anagram (exciting) of TEN followed by a two-word phrase meaning ‘days for us’
12a Coat with this material is not commonly worn on impulse at the front (8,5)
EMULSION PAINT An anagram (worn) of ON IMPULSE goes before (at the front) of an informal (commonly) way of saying is not
14a OK, apparently cricket ground welcomes runs (8)
APPROVAL The abbreviation for apparently and a [London] cricket ground ‘welcomes’ the cricket abbreviation for runs
15a Master flying jet (6)
STREAM An anagram (flying) of MASTER
17a Near fine upper class (3-3)
TOP-HAT A preposition meaning near and a slang adjective meaning fine
19a Chauffeur maybe found by old hill shrouded in haze (8)
MOTORIST The abbreviation for Old and a hill ‘shrouded’ or inserted in a haze
21a Leave behind US author with Twitch’s flexing of literal facts (6,7)
POETIC LICENCE A synonym for leave in the sense of permission and a twitch go behind an American poet
24a Growing feature of avenue? Earth perhaps and endless grass (5,4)
PLANE TREE A celestial body such as Earth and a type of grass without its last letter (endless)
25a Marching staff keep playing (5)
BATON If split 3,2 this marching staff would mean to keep playing [cricket]
26a Bank reversed charge, right (4)
REEF A charge and the abbreviation for right reversed
27a Tart‘s imagery focusing on appeal (10)
CHEESECAKE A type of dessert (tart) or imagery focusing on sexual appeal Guess which definition I’m going to illustrate!
Down
1d Sniffles caught by elderly (4)
COLD The cricket abbreviation for caught and a synonym for elderly
2d Vehicle, very close to aggressive and amiss, to swerve thus (5,2)
CARVE UP A vehicle, the abbreviation for Very, the letter at the ‘close’ of aggressivE and a simple way of saying amiss
3d Cliched start in a poem — continue working (4,4,1,4)
ONCE UPON A TIME An anagram (working) of IN A POEM CONTINUE
4d Nursery worker‘s flapping made sense for the most part (8)
SEEDSMAN An anagram (flapping) of MADE and most of SENSe
5d Name dropped in explosive prefatory matter (5)
INTRO Drop the abbreviation for name from a short form of a type of explosive
7d Conceive fancy peace song? (7)
IMAGINE A triple definition clue, the first two relating to synonyms of the solution; the third being the name of a famous peace song
8d Visitor I finally defeat is to reckon without specific thought (10)
GUESTIMATE A visitor, I from the clue, and a verb meaning to finally defeat in a game of chess
11d Powerless to grasp snub of utterly absorbing read (13)
UNPUTDOWNABLE A synonym for powerless into which is inserted (to grasp) a way of saying snub or humiliate
13d Refuse when recycled appears wet (5,5)
WASTE PAPER An anagram (recycled) of APPEARS WET
16d Firm‘s do supported by island (8)
CONCRETE Do or swindle supported, or followed, by (in a Down solution) a Greek island
18d Eat before appointment (7)
PREDATE A prefix meaning before and an appointment
20d Unfortunately I retain an inclination to indolence (7)
INERTIA An anagram (unfortunately) of I RETAIN
22d Wood that forms the braces of William Tell’s bow (5)
LARCH The letter found twice (braces in the sense of pairs) in both William and Tell followed by a verb meaning to bend in a curve (bow)
23d Vocally opposed to advanced payment (4)
ANTE This advanced payment is a homophone (vocally) of a preposition meaning opposed to
As usual with CS reviews I’d go a star harder! I just couldn’t see 1a until nearer the end so went round the houses. I particularly liked 24a, 7d and 22d which was my last in. As well as “pairs” double els are “braces” in their own right -as I now dimly recall from school algebra.
Thanks to Muses and CS.
A decent puzzle but not one that will last long in the memory – thanks to Musaeus and CS.
The clue that I liked best was 22d.
I’m afraid I indulged in a fair bit of ‘well, I suppose so’ as I worked through the clues and certainly needed CS’s assistance when it came to the parsing of 17a – what a strange piece of slang terminology for ‘fine’!
The answer that worked best for me was 18d.
Thanks to Musaeus and to CS for the review.
Great fun, a most enjoyable Toughie even if it was towards the gentle end of the spectrum with some odd surface reads. I do hope some of the backpage-only company give this accessible puzzle a go. 17a was a head-scratcher and, like Jane, I do appreciate CS’s explanation for the answer on which I had settled as my LOI.
COTD for me was 21a, with runner-up 22d.
Many thanks indeed to Musaeus and CS
Completed with a modicum of electronic assistance.
Top clues for me were 24a and 16d.
Ta to setter and hinter for keeping me occupied on this v. hot afternoon. Just thankful that we are not further west or south.
All very straightforward until 17a – it was a case of take your pick from man, hat or cat & fortunately picked the right one. Not sure I entirely understand the explanation either. 11d my fav – made me think of Robert
Thanks to Musaeus & to CS
17d The solution means upper-class. The first two letters are ‘near’ and the rest of the letters are a slang word meaning fine, excellent (especially of music) or, when talking about a woman: sexy
Thanks Sue – now I understand Jane’s comment. The slang term a new one on me & can’t say I pegged the first 2 letters as meaning near either
Like others we failed to parse 17a as we had not previously heard of the slang term. Suspect that when used to describe a sexy woman it would often be misinterpreted.
A pleasant solve for us.
Thanks Musaeus and CS.
Ultimately defeated by 17a which I had to reveal the answer and I still don’t understand it, I can’t see either synonym and I’ve never heard of the term before. Apart from that the rest was quite solvable although parsing some of them was another thing altogether. I wasn’t sure if 11d was a real word. Favourite was 1a. Thanks to Musaeus and CS.
Near and to are shown as synonyms of each other in Chambers Crossword Dictionary. Phat is in the BRB
I was pleased to nearly finish a toughie! And I really enjoyed it.
I also struggled with 17a as I’d not heard of the slang for fine. The only one I’m stuck with is 18d as I can’t see the answer as a definition of eat. If anyone should read this late post, I’d be grateful for further explanation.
Many thanks to Musaeus and crypticsue.
The dictionary defines 18d as ‘to eat, to prey upon’ or ‘to hunt prey’
The word has been mentioned quite a lot in the current series of Springwatch!
Thank you crypticsue. I kept seeing it as pre-date!!!! I couldn’t see predation in there at all. How silly!! Thank you so much for explaining it to me.