Toughie No 3085 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie No 3085

by StephenL  

Toughie No 3085 by Donnybrook

Hints and tips by StephenL

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***/****

Hello everyone from an (at the time of writing) cloudy and cool South Devon coast

Tuesday regular Donnybrook kicks things off this week with a relatively light but fun Toughie. Getting the four long perimeter clues almost immediately got me off to a great start and provided lots of useful checkers.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

1a Credit note with me for review: this locates hidden charges (4,8)
MINE DETECTOR: Anagram (for review) of CREDIT NOTE plus ME.

9a Class system (5)
ORDER: Double definition.

10a Dante wild with rage in open-air restaurant (3,6)
TEA GARDEN: Anagram (wild) of DANTE and RAGE.

11a Diamonds and heroin on vessel: an unknown quantity (4,5)
DARK HORSE: The abbreviation for Diamonds, a biblical vessel and a slang term for heroin.

12a Stuffing rook into pot is cruel (5)
HARSH: Pot here is an informal word for another drug! We need to insert the abbreviation for Rook into it.

13a Port and nuts passed back to rank chap? (9)
ROTTERDAM: Append a reversal (passed back) of a synonym of nuts in the sense of crazy to a particularly unpleasant chap, rank here being an adjective.

16a Quite attentive to personal hygiene? (5)
CLEAN: Double/cryptic definition, the less obvious being an adverb used to express the completeness of an action.

18a Italian musician needs decision to avoid court (5)
VERDI: Remove the abbreviation for CourT from the end of a decision or outcome

19a Horrendous heat burns — person prostrate on beach (9)
SUNBATHER: Anagram (horrendous) of the following two words. Good fodder.

20a Few crossing motorway in old battle zone (5)
SOMME: A simple synonym of few goes around the abbreviation for Motorway.

22a Outrageous for one sector finally to fail us (9)
EGREGIOUS: An abbreviated way of saying “for one” plus a sector or area without its last letter (finally to fail) plus US from the clue.

25a Alaskan city has an unpleasant duty collecting silver (9)
ANCHORAGE An from the clue and a routine or unpleasant task, which goes around the chemical symbol of silver.

26a River sources only running high in New England (5)
RHINE: The initial letters (sources only) of the following five words.

27a Sophisticate — fellow on brink of victory one’s denied? (3-5-4)
MAN-ABOUT-TOWN: Start with a three-letter synonym of a fellow or chap then add a phrase (5,2,3) meaning on the brink of victory and remove the letter representing one from the final word. Enumerate as per clue.

Down

1d Youth on scooter run overtaking Muse and church official? (9)
MODERATOR: A term for a (sixties) youth often seen on a scooter (actually still seen today) and the abbreviation for Run go around (overtaking) the Muse of Poetry.

2d Player religionist eviscerated in Japanese drama (5)
NORTH: Place the outside letters (eviscerated) of ReligionisT inside a traditional Japanese masked drama.

3d Discourage Morse creator missing dash dot dot dash? (5)
DETER: The Morse here is the fictional detective. We need to remove the letter represented by dash dot dot dash from his creator’s surname.

4d End complicated with master builders for instance (9)
TRADESMEN: Anagram (complicated) of END and MASTER.

5d Three fellows in line, each wanting last dance (3-3-3)
CHA-CHA-CHA: Three synonyms of a fellow without (wanting last) the last letter repeated. Lol.

6d No spring chicken? More daring to go topless (5)
OLDER: Remove the initial letter (go topless) of a comparative adjective meaning more daring or confident.

7d Senior cabinet minister provides rally in reshuffle (4,5,4)
LORD PRIVY SEAL. Anagram (in reshuffle) of the preceding two words. Good spot re the fodder.

8d Seductive women spread henna round about locks (13)
ENCHANTRESSES: Place an anagram (spread) of HENNA around a single letter abbreviation for about and append some locks.

14d Author from Australia brought in beer and fruit on the turn? (5,4)
EMILE ZOLA: The author here is (as I suspected) not Australian. We need to reverse (on the turn) the three elements of the clue which are a green citrus fruit, followed by some beer into which is inserted an informal name for Australia.

15d In Paris, some trouble to follow for each wild ruffian (9)
DESPERADO: The French word for some, a preposition meaning for each and a term for trouble.

17d African international impressed by The Piano after editing (9)
ETHIOPIAN: Insert the abbreviation for International inside an anagram (after editing) of THE PIANO.

21d Minute beach crab regularly disappearing in spiritual centre (5)
MECCA: The abbreviation for Minute (as a noun not an adjective) plus alternate letters (regularly disappearing) if bEaCh CrAb. Rather peculiar surface read.

23d Butler in film, right hand dry, grabbing last tip from duke (5)
RHETT: The abbreviation for Right Hand and an abbreviated way of saying dry in the sense of not drinking alcohol go around (grabbing) the final letter of dukE.

24d Reclusive star in dress circle (5)
GARBO: A synonym of dress or clothing and the letter that looks like a circle.

Thanks Donny. My winners were 11a plus 3&7d with top spot going to the excellent 5d. Which ones were your highlights?

 

 

33 comments on “Toughie No 3085”

  1. For only the second time completed this without any help – didn’t even open the BRB. As you can tell I’m very proud of myself! As well as its gentleness I found this very enjoyable with clues both clever and amusing with no obscurities or out of the way GK . The peripheral answers gave a good foothold and even though I’m not a fan of anagrams I do find them helpful when attempting the toughie. I especially liked 11a, 14d and today’s favourite 1d. Thanks to Donnybrook and StephenL

  2. A gentle but rewarding puzzle – many thanks to Donnybrook and SL.
    The highlights for me included 11a, 22a, 14d and 24d.

  3. A highly enjoyable puzzle with some lovely surface reads. It would not have been out of place on a Monday or Tuesday backpage, and I do hope it gains the wide audience it certainly merits.

    Lovely surfaces, plenty of humour. Hon Mentions to 1d, 3d, 4d, with COTD to 14d.

    <1* / 4*

    Many thanks to Donnybrook & Stephen

  4. I found this considerably more straightforward than yesterday’s back pager and infinitely more fun. I didn’t know the slang term for heroin and justified it to myself as an anagram of Leander’s lover and ‘S’ for ship. Oh well! I got there anyway. Thanks to Donnybrook and SL.

  5. I won’t be the only one who wasted time searching for an Australian author will I?

      1. You’ve expanded your alias so this needed moderation. Both versions of your alias will work from now on.

  6. I rather liked the Butler, but there were a good many here worth the entry fee. Almost but not quite easy enough for a back-pager in my view, but a splendid choice for a Tuesday Toughie.

  7. Good Toughie fun from Donnybrook which brought my sanity back after ‘struggling’ for an unnecessarily long time with China in the back pager – **/****

    Candidates for favourite – 13a, 27a, 6d, and 14d – and the winner is 27a.

    Thanks DYBK and StephenL.

  8. It was an abandoned gold mine which I visited when working in 25a. A terrific place if you enjoy the great outdoors and it still has a frontier atmosphere to it.

    25a became one of my favourites along with 3d and 14d.

    Thanks to Donnybrook and StephenL for several explanations.

  10. I struggled through this and completed it. So no surprise to see it ranked a 1 for difficulty!
    I too wasted time seeking an Australian writer – Edith Pota, perhaps, before the penny dropped.
    Must try harder.
    Thanks to setter.

  11. Excellent! Not tough but great fun from start to finish.

    Lots of ticks with 14d my favourite.

    Many thanks to Donnybrook and to SL.

  12. Left a comment quite a while ago but either I forgot to press ‘post comment’ or it’s disappeared into the ether!
    Anyway – very enjoyable puzzle from NYDK with my only issue being one of the definitions in 16a. Can someone put that particular ‘quite’ into a sentence for me?
    Top three here were 19&22a plus 14d.

    Thanks to Donnybrook and to Stephen for the review.

      1. I knew you’d have the answer, Gazza, what would I do without you! I’d never use it like that but I have heard it used that way before now – is it more of an Americanism?

        1. Glad you asked the question Jane. I assumed a double def, moved on & quite/clean forgot to go back & parse the first bit

  13. A very pleasant and not too difficult Toughie to brighten up a dull afternoon. 14d was my top clue. Thanks to Donny and SL.

  14. Good puzzle. Not too may issues, although I biffed Archangel at 25a before realising I was in the wrong country!
    I did not know how to spell Mr Butler’s first name, but I do now. I probably should have known it, as Gone With The Wind was the first film that the present Mrs Shabbo and I watched together when we had just started “walking out” about 100 years ago. I got up to go at the end, delighted that there was still time for a quick pint before closing time, only to be advised that this was only the interval! How the relationship survived this ignominious start is quite beyond me!

  15. Great guzzle. Ticks aplenty – 11,12,22&27a plus 5,7,14&23d the standouts for me with 27a my fav. Had to check out the Japanese drama & didn’t really justify the first bit of 16a but otherwise surprisingly plain sailing for a Donny production.
    Thanks to Donny & to Stephen – wasn’t aware of that Eagles Legacy compilation which I see is 8hrs 26mins worth of music.

  16. Thanks all for the comments, and big up to StephenL for the blog.

    Cheers
    Donny.

  17. Another ‘smile all the way through’ puzzle from this setter.
    Thanks Donnybrook ans SL.

  18. Thanks to Donnybrook for a puzzle in just the right slot for the first Toughie of the week.
    “J’accuse” him of causing much confusion about Aussie authors, I was toying with Clive James, Ngaio Marsh and other antipodeans for too long. I remembered Ngaio was actually a New Zealander and had a look at the wordplay. When the penny dropped I bet it could be heard by the 2Kiwis
    14d has to be my COTD
    Thanks to SL for a great blog.

  19. I found this Toughie a delight from start to finish. ***** for enjoyment. My fave was 14d, but I also particularly liked 11a, 18a, 27a, 23d and 24d. But there are so many other excellent clues…
    Thank you very much Donnybrook. And my appreciative thanks to Stephen L for a really good blog which I enjoyed reading. I needed the explanation of 16a, otherwise all was fine.

  20. 1*/4* …
    liked 19A “Horrendous heat burns — person prostrate on beach (9)” ….. amongst others.

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