Toughie No 3089 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
View closed comments 

Toughie No 3089

by StephenL  

Toughie No 3089 by Robyn

Hints and tips by StephenL

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

Hello everyone from a cloudy South Devon coast after a night of much-needed rain.

Robyn gets to serve first this week and has come up with an ace of a puzzle, full of his trademark slight of hand and misdirection.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

1a Constrained by expenditure, has he recycled material? (6)
REHASH: Hidden (constrained by). Took me a while to see this as somehow one doesn’t expect to start with a lurker.

4a Person in suit: bright worker, say, pocketing one grand (8)
LITIGANT: A synonym of bright or illuminated and a working insect go around the letter representing one and the abbreviation for Grand.

9a Knight like a nobleman? Almost (6)
NEARLY: The abbreviation for kNight and a whimsical way of saying like a nobleman, one who ranks above a viscount.

10a Small container delivered, not at all malleable! (8)
STUBBORN: Put together the abbreviation for Small, a three-letter container and a synonym of delivered.

11a Make weaker children’s book devoid of craft (5,4)
WATER DOWN: Remove (devoid of) the “craft” from a 1970’s novel by Richard Adams.

13a Not seriously uncertain, funding houses (2,3)
IN FUN: Hidden (houses)

14a Shocking obstruction from elite, endlessly wealthy crook (8,5)
ELECTRIC FENCE: A charade of a synonym of elite in the sense of leading, a synonym of wealthy without its last letter and a criminal who typically handles stolen goods.

17a I’m unlikely to catch bishop, say, with quantities of booze (13)
BUTTERFINGERS: A charade of the abbreviation for Bishop, a synonym of say or speak and some small quantities of spirits.

21a Extra portion, as far as young animal’s concerned (3-2)
TOP-UP: If you split the solution, a synonym of refill, 2,3 you’ll see the wordplay.

23a Versatile novel, maybe The Brothers Karamazov (9)
RELATIVES: Anagram (novel) of VERSATILE.

24a In Paris, a stall introduces right floor covering (8)
UNDERLAY: A French indefinite article plus a synonym of stall or divert into which is inserted (introduces) the abbreviation for Right.

25a Ponder case of amateurish teacher in madrassa (6)
MULLAH: Append the outside letters (case of) AmateurisH to a synonym of ponder or deliberate.

26a Laughter about a bounder back in trouble (8)
HEADACHE: Place an interjection representing laughter around (about) A from the clue and a reversal of three-letter bounder.

27a Perhaps facing north and then east in turn (6)
VENEER: Insert the abbreviations for North and East into a synonym of turn or change direction suddenly. Very smart.

Down

1d Celebrity on news admitting this is painful (6)
RENOWN: The usual two-letter preposition meaning on or regarding and two cases of the abbreviation for New into which is inserted an interjection meaning “this is painful”

2d Limiting consumption, try and consume pulse (9)
HEARTBEAT: Place synonyms of try in a legal sense perhaps and consume around (limiting) the abbreviation for consumption in a medical sense. Very clever and my favourite today.

3d Liberal punching Bush, perhaps in moment of overindulgence (7)
SPLURGE: Insert (punching) the abbreviation for Liberal into a bush that may be found in a garden. Ignore the false capitalisation.

5d Like a camper van from Leith, touring Scottish island as planned (11)
INTENTIONAL: Start with two words (2,4) that could describe how a camper sleeps perhaps. Add the initial letter (van) of Leith and place them around a Scottish island popular in crosswordland. Excellent.

6d Essentially, wearing silk? (2,5)
IN BRIEF: The solution could whimsically mean wearing silk, the second word and silk both being informal words for a lawyer.

7d Remote, sweet area to the north (5)
ALOOF: Reverse (to the north in a down clue) a type of sweet or dessert and the abbreviation for Area.

8d Nurse inhaling bit of pot is occupied (8)
TENANTED: Place a synonym of nurse as a verb around (inhaling) a “bit of pot” when the pot maybe holds money.

12d After fashioning fur boot, hate making pants (3,2,6)
OUT OF BREATH: Anagram (after fashioning) of the following three words. The pants are not an item of clothing!

15d Capital remains very poorly invested in Nationwide’s banks (9)
NASHVILLE: Insert the usual remains (from a fire perhaps), the abbreviation for Very and a synonym of poorly into the outer letters (banks) of NationwidE.

16d Unreasonable adult dog biting character from Athens (1,3,4)
A BIT MUCH: The abbreviation for Adult and a female dog “bite” a two-letter Greek character

18d Flipping great Hitchcock film about top spy in shops (7)
EMPORIA: Reverse (flipping) the two letters that could represent great or excellent and a (1948) Hitchcock film into which is inserted a single-letter spy.

19d Drug taking around umpteenth rave (7)
ENTHUSE: Place a phrase (1,3) that could mean drug taking around the letters NTH (umpteenth). Rave here is a verb.

20d Ancient queen from France is this lady (6)
ESTHER: The French word for is and a pronoun meaning this lady.

22d Vow to turn up wearing secretary’s platforms (5)
PODIA: Insert (wearing) a reversal of a wedding vow into the abbreviation for a secretary or Personal Assistant. Lol surface read.

Excellent throughout but the top seeds for me were 27a plus 3&5d. Which were your winners?

 

 

 

23 comments on “Toughie No 3089”

  1. Super puzzle, hugely enjoyable and, for a Toughie, very accessible – I do hope it gets the wide audience it deserves. Plenty of wit and humour throughout, great surfaces and clever construction. Hon Mentions to 9a, 11a, 27a, 1d, 3d (big LOL moment), and COTD 15a.

    1* / 4*

    Many thanks indeed to Robyn and also of course to Stephen.

  2. In the six hours since I solved the Toughie, the piece of paper has gone missing. I do remember that Robyn gave us a just right for a Tuesday Toughie and that I enjoyed it very much

    Many thanks to Robyn and Stephen

  3. A cracking puzzle – many thanks to Robyn and SL.
    I had ticks against 11a, 8d, 19d and 22d with my palme d’or being awarded to 17a.

  4. I thought this was excellent – nicely challenging and a joy to solve although I was defeated by part of the parsing of my answer to 5d.

    Too hard to pick a favourite from such a good selection.

    Many thanks to Robyn and to SL.

  5. Very accessible puzzle. Perfect level for a Tuesday. Had to look up the teacher at 25a to check my answer but otherwise finished unaided. Yippee!

    My faves were 5d and the apt 17a. Thanks Robyn and Stephen.

  6. I always find it incredibly hard to tune into Robyn’s wavelength when he’s on Toughie duty so this has taken me quite some time to unravel. I often wonder why he’s in the Tuesday slot and not saved for later in the week.
    Clever wordplay and use of synonyms in this one for which I salute him.
    Ticks here went to 11,14&17a plus 8&22d.

    Thanks to Robyn and to Stephen for the review.

    1. I often wonder why he’s in the Tuesday slot and not saved for later in the week.
      I’m with you there – Thursday would be an ideal spot in my opinion. :D

      2. Normally I’d agree with Gazza although I’d then suggest Wednesday would work equally well as Thursday, but I thought Robyn had succeeded in making today’s crossword perfect for a Tuesday

  8. 17a and 5d were my co-favourites from a most enjoyable and highly entertaining puzzle. I thought this was pitched perfectly for a Tuesday Toughie, making it, as someone said earlier, very accessible to a wider audience.

    My thanks to Robyn and SL.

  9. Compare and contrast with today’s Backpager . Clues were all parseable and many were very witty . An absolute pleasure from my favourite setter . Thanks to both .

  10. A smashing puzzle.though I didn’t find it particularly easy.
    A considerable number of clues had me ferreting away trying to find the definition.
    My favourite is 17a followed closely by 14a,11a , 10a , and 15d.
    Thanks to Robyn and StephenL.

  11. Top puzzle and great fun. Difficult but not too much. Favourite was 11a, my foi and it set the tone. There were lots of contenders. Thanks to Robyn and SL.

  12. Many thanks to everyone for dropping in, and especially to the estimable StephenL for the excellent blog.
    These days, I can rarely remember much about crosswords I’ve written, so when I see the proofs, I can look at them with fairly fresh eyes. Anyway, I remember liking this one when it re-emerged from the Telegraph pipeline, so I’m glad most people enjoyed it, and I hope it might tempt a few of the back-page crowd over here to Toughie-land.
    Have a great week, everyone!

    1. Thanks for popping in Robyn, it’s always appreciated, and of course for another top-notch puzzle.

  13. I’m with you Jane [see 6 above] and find Robyn tricky to get into. But this was fun, despite a late and brain-addled start. Faves were the clever, neat little 27a plus 5 and 19d.
    Thanks Robyn, thanks SL.

  14. Late to this as engaged by the TdF,
    I do like Robyn and this seemed on a par with his Sunday Toughies, and as All the Sunday Toughie settera and Mr Lancaster have said that Tuesday Toughie is the level aimed for, I think this is in just about the right place.
    Thanks to Robyn and Stephen.
    I really liked the facing material when the penny dropped

  15. A day late to this one as still playing catch up. Great stuff with ticks all over the shop. Didn’t find it anywhere as easy as other evidently did but got there in the end.
    Thanks both

  16. Fairly new to the Toughie and thought I might actually finish this one. However 27a & 20d beat me. Looking at the explanations, I would never have solved 27a.
    Thanks.

  17. Fairly new to the Toughie and thought I might actually finish this one. However 27a & 20d beat me. Looking at the explanations, I would never have solved 27a.
    Thanks.
    P.S when I tried to post it kept telling me I’d already said that. Trying again with this addtion.

Comments are closed.