Toughie No 3092 by proXimal
Hints and tips by Dutch
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Nice and easy suits me fine today, I’ve hardly slept.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.
Across
1a Take off electronic band (6)
STRIPE: A word meaning take off or remove plus the abbreviation for electronic
4a Unearthly flying carpet’s left (8)
SPECTRAL: An anagram (flying) of CARPET’S plus the abbreviation for left
9a Force return of answer to “do you use hair wax?” (6)
LEGION: The reversal (return) of a (2,1,3) answer to the clue’s question
10a Retreating ass and sheep start to get hurt (8)
SMARTING: The reversal (retreating) of a 3-letter ass and some sheep, then the first letter (start) to ‘get’
11a Rogue caught accomplice dividing plunder (9)
SCALLYWAG: The abbreviation for caught and a 4-letter accomplice go inside (dividing) a slang word meaning plunder or loot (noun)
13a Poorly penning vacuous dodgy poem (5)
IDYLL: A word meaning poorly contains (penning) DodgY without the inner letters (vacuous)
14a Chap covered in feline spit rejected esteem for idle kitty? (7,7)
DORMANT ACCOUNT: A 3-letter chap is surrounded (covered) by the reversal (rejected) of a feline and a spit plus a word meaning to esteem
17a I said surfing around Croatia regularly is surprising (7-7)
EYEBROW-RAISING: A homophone (said) of “I”, then a word for surfing on the net goes around the even (regularly) letters of Croatia
21a Take out line for slow speech (5)
DRAWL: A word meaning take out (eg raffle ticket) plus the abbreviation for line
23a Sent back quote with egg mass and height being speculative (9)
THEORETIC: A reversal (sent back) of a word meaning to quote, some fish eggs, and the 2-letter abbreviation for height
24a Tramp outside crashes now and then by trailer (5,3)
HORSE BOX: A 4-letter tramp goes outside the even (now and then) letters of ‘crashes’, then the letter that can be used as an arithmetic symbol meaning ‘by’
25a Name of woman that should be entered here (6)
INGRID: Split (2,4), we have a suggestion of where to put the answer
26a Bronze lavvy functions (8)
TANGENTS: A word meaning bronze and a word meaning a loo
27a Use slate, but not on yard (6)
DEPLOY: Take a 7-letter word meaning to slate, remove the short word that can mean ‘on’ or ‘concerning’, and add the abbreviation for yard
Down
1d Climbing mountains quiet tonic? Not much (6)
SPLASH: The reversal (climbing) of some mountains plus an interjection meaning ‘quiet!’
2d Fit and graduate part, complicated actions (9)
RIGMAROLE: A word meaning to fit, a graduate, and an acting part
3d It’s difficult to settle for the Parisian in outskirts of Birmingham (7)
PROBLEM: A word meaning ‘for’, then the French (Parisian) for ‘the’ goes in the outer letters (outskirts) of Birmingham
5d Author hosting male relative consumed fruit (11)
POMEGRANATE: A 3-letter American author contains (hosting) the abbreviation for male, an elderly relative, and a verb meaning consumed
6d Jacket around back of organ (7)
CARDIAC: An informal shortening of a woolly jacket then the reversal (back) of the Latin abbreviation for ‘around’
7d Top intellectual showering (5)
RAINY: Take a 6-letter word for intellectual and remove (top) the first letter
8d Member country degrading it’s validity (8)
LEGALITY: A 3-letter member or limb, then a country in which the “IT” is shifted downwards (degraded)
12d Suffered lack of humour stuck in hut on wet ground (4,7)
WENT WITHOUT: Some 3-letter humour goes inside (stuck in) an anagram (ground) of HUT ON WET
15d Bizarre contents in funny Matt murals (9)
UNNATURAL: Inner letters (contents in … )
16d Loaves baking still lacking body (8)
HEADSHOT: A word meaning loaves plus a word meaning baking or very warm
18d Excuse having run over priest the night before (7)
RELIEVE: The abbreviation for run, a biblical priest, and a word meaning the night before
19d Extracting device from embassy, ring Europol (7)
SYRINGE: Hidden (from … )
20d Bitingly cold participating in daily swimming (6)
ACIDLY: The abbreviation for cold goes in an anagram (swimming) of DAILY
22d Name of man is a cover, not Paul originally (5)
AARON: A from the clue, then a protective cover worn when cooking but without the first letter (originally) of Paul
My favourite today is the woman’s name (25a). Which clues did you like?
Very gentle for a Friday but fun whilst it lasted. 24a, 1d and 16d were my favourites.
Thanks to Dutch and proXimal.
Concluding a very enjoyable week of Toughies, I found this not overly difficult but a lot of fun and full of smiles.
A plethora of contenders for podium places, I’ll mention 25a&27a plus 7&12d but my top three are 1,16&20d. Good stuff
Many thanks to ProXimal and Dutch, hope you sleep better tonight.
Super puzzle, a cracking end to the DT cruciverbal working week – I’d figured it was neither of the usual Friday setters, if only because it took me little more than lunchtime to complete, but what a rewarding challenge it was. A real “follow the instructions” puzzle, with wit and amusement throughout.
The old podium is a little crowded today – some extensions required to accommodate 17a, 24a, 25a & 15d, with COTD to the laugh-out-loud brilliance of 9a.
2.5 / 5
Many thanks to Proximal & Dutch – fingers crossed you get some better sleep!
Surprisingly gentle for a Friday Toughie (perfect!) but what a treat, expertly done. 16D is especially lovely. Huge thanks to ProXimal, and Dutch, of course.
So dispiriting to be congratulating myself on having completed a Friday Toughie only to find that it’s been rated ‘nice and easy’. Ah well, such is life!
Love the words in 11a & 2d and I also gave prizes to 24&25a.
Thanks to proXimal for allowing me a chance today and to Dutch for the review. So sorry to hear that you’re still below par, I do hope you see an improvement very soon.
Very gentle for a Friday Toughie and by proXimal’s usual standard too. I thought 24a was clever and also liked 1d and 16d [the cunning definition].
Thanks to proXimal and Dutch.
9a was a real groaner where you need to get the answer to understand the clue! Brilliantly done. Great week of enjoyment from the DT crosswords. Thanks proXimal and Dutch for the review.