Toughie 3102 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3102

by crypticsue  

Toughie No 3102 by Hudson

Hints and Tips by crypticsue

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

It is always a pleasure to solve and then have the opportunity to blog a Hudson Toughie

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought

Across

1a    Move golf range (6)
GAMBIT The letter represented by Golf in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet and the range or scope of something

5a    Start to sample hot curry from the East infused with hint of coriander leaf (8)
SHAMROCK The start of Sample, the abbreviation for Hot, a reversal (from the East) of a type of curry into which is inserted (infused with) the first letter (a hint) of Coriander

9a    Liverpudlian giant so involved in the basics of education? (5,5)
RINGO STARR An anagram (involved) of GIANT SO inserted into the three letters associated with the basics of education

10a    That is inspired by German car study (4)
VIEW The abbreviation meaning that is inserted into (inspired by) a German car

11a    Abusing sense of duty, you sadly lacked finesse (8)
DEFTNESS An anagram (abusing) of SENSE oF DuTy without YOU, ‘sadly‘ telling you that the letters aren’t in that order in the anagram fodder

12a    I am unfortunately returning this Italian banger (6)
SALAMI A reversal (returning) of an informal way of writing I am and an interjection meaning unfortunately

13a    Almost naked aristocrat (4)
EARL The inside (naked) letters of an adverb meaning almost

15a    Shade indefinite number, sort by value (4,4)
NAVY BLUE The letter indicating an indefinite number and an anagram (sort) of BY VALUE

18a    They identify broken horses, according to Spooner (4,4)
NAME TAGS How the dreaded Reverend might refer to some broken in inferior horses

19a    Shuttle transports this with amphibian (4)
WEFT The shuttle of a weaving loom transports these threads – the abbreviation for With and a newt (amphibian)

21a    Downsize quiet area for bowling (6)
SHRINK An instruction to be quiet and an area for bowling

23a    Instantly updated minutes in cup game against Madrid? (8)
REALTIME The abbreviation for minutes inserted into a description of a possible cup match against a Madrid football team

25a    Instruction to leave second offensive (4)
STET A printer’s instruction to leave the original undeleted – the abbreviation for Second and an offensive in the Vietnam War named after their new year which is when the actions took place

26a    Roaming app reaches Hare and Hounds (5,5)
PAPER CHASE An anagram (roaming) of APP REACHES

27a    Marcus occasionally entertains noble relations (8)
ACCOUNTS The occasional letters of mArCuS ‘entertains’ a member of the nobility

28a    Desperate chap bitten by dog perhaps a former teacher (6)
PEDANT The Desperate chap in The Dandy comic inserted into (bitten by) a domesticated animal (dog perhaps). One of the definitions of the solution is a Shakespearean schoolteacher which is, I assume, why the word ‘former’ is included in the clue

Down

2d    Father’s quick beer around four? (5)
ALIVE Quick being an archaic or Biblical  word meaning existing. A beer goes round the Roman numeral for four

3d    Black marble lines eastern trinket (9)
BAGATELLE The abbreviation for Black, a type of marble, two abbreviations for Line (lines plural) and the abbreviation for Eastern

4d    Bed cover yours truly folded over above the midsection (6)
TESTER Here ‘yours truly’ refers to the role Hudson has in relation to this crossword. The first three letters of that role are reversed (folded over above the midsection) to produce a canopy over a bed

5d    Standard Oil’s tar sands trip established reserves (5,3,7)
STARS AND STRIPES Hidden in (reserves) oilS TAR SANDS TRIP Established

6d    Even parts of Hamburg reject English endorsement, which is harsh (8)
ABRASIVE The even parts of hAmBuRg and a reversal (reject) of the abbreviation for English and an endorsement on a passport

7d    Show turning away adult party (5)
REVEL Remove (turning away) the abbreviation for Adult from a verb meaning to show

8d    Sweet Prime advert (5,4)
CREAM PUFF The best of something (prime) and praise intended as an advertisement

14d    Cheap tat I chucked out, being indifferent (9)
APATHETIC An anagram (chucked out) of CHEAP TAT I

16d    Vacuous blonde wife longed to be possessed (9)
BEWITCHED The outside (vacuous) letters of BlondE, the abbreviation for wife and a synonym for longed or desired constantly

17d    Counter-revolutionary product of racketeer? (8)
BACKSPIN A movement of a tennis ball (product of racketeer) going against the direction of travel (counter-revolutionary)

20d    Flog popular Rupert Bears (6)
LARRUP Hidden in (bears) popuLAR RUPert is an informal word meaning to flog or thrash

22d    Apart from unlimited quantities of beer and whiskey, nothing! (2,3)
IN TWO Remove the outside letters (unlimited) from some quantities of beer and then add the letter represented by Whiskey in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet and the letter representing nothing

24d    Mother is working for an artisan (5)
MASON An abbreviated and informal way of saying mother is followed by the adverb meaning working

 

27 comments on “Toughie 3102”

  1. This was an extremely enjoyable puzzle from the ever-reliable Hudson. Thanks to him and CS.
    I did like the innovative way of signalling an archaic meaning in 2d.
    Is 8d a sweet or is it a cake?
    My ticks went to 18a, 23a, 16d and 22d with my favourite being the brilliant 5d.

      1. I assumed that was what was meant by sweet but would you have the answer as a dessert?

        1. Gazza, I think the French and Italians eat them as desserts using the alternate name profiteroles.

    2. It didn’t occur to me that it was archaic so I found the indicator a tad confusing! Worked out what it meant though.

      I’m happy with sweet meaning any sugary treat, whether it’s a course in a meal or just a snack on its own (or to accompany a nice cup of tea!)

  2. Enjoyed the puzzle. Frustratingly fell short at 4d having forgotten the four poster canopy & failing to twig the yours truly (tried to shoehorn me into the answer) in the wordplay. Got it eventually but needed some trial & error cheating. Slow to get 11a also but otherwise it all went in a wee bit quicker than the back-pager. 5a comfortably atop the podium with 16d&18a in silver & bronze. Lovely stuff…
    Thanks to Hudson & Sue

  3. I thought this was excellent with 5a my favourite of many contenders.

    I think 23a might be slightly better as “… cup game in Madrid?”

    Many thanks to Hudson and to CS.

  4. After the ‘tussle’ with the back pager, I was not sure about taking on a challenge from Hudson as I have had mixed success with his puzzles. However, I am pleased that I decided to take the ‘plunge.’ Very enjoyable and not too demanding – 1.5*/4*

    Candidates for favourite – 1a, 25a, 5d, 17d, and 22d – and the winner is 22d.

    Thanks to Hudson and CS.

  5. That’s two top-drawer Toughies in two days. This one was a bit slow to start but then all fell nicely into place. Today’s votes go to 9a, the tour-de-force at 5d, the equally good hidden clue at 20d and the clever 22d.
    Thanks to Hudson and CS.

  6. Took me rather longer than our blogger’s rating would suggest it should but I did enjoy the challenge. Failed miserably with the parsing of 4d, despite having no trouble getting the answer so thanks to CS for the explanation of that one.
    I think the dreaded reverend was probably referring to horses that have been ‘broken in’ rather than those which are lame or inferior – always think that’s a dreadful expression to describe ‘schooling’ as it implies breaking their spirit.
    Top three for me were 1a plus 16&20d.

    Thanks to Hudson for the puzzle and to CS for the review and illustrations.

  7. This was most enjoyable
    COTD has to be 1a
    Good luck in your caretaker role CS and many, many thanks for accepting the challenge

  8. Top quality entertainment from a setter at the top of his game. 5 and 9a came close to being my favourites, but that accolade has to go to the 15 letter piece of brilliance that is the lurker at 5d.

    Many thanks to Hudson for fun challenge, and to CS.

  9. Decided to have a stab here having failed with today’s backpager. This one is much more doable and enjoyable. I can only assume someone thought it would be fun to switch the two puzzles around. Strange that I don’t see more people commenting on here? Thanks to Hudson and CrypticSue, so glad I ended up here.

  10. I made a comment yesterday that I frequently seem to find the level of difficulty of a puzzle quite different from the blogger – and today is no exception. I found the back-pager pretty straightforward (not requiring [to me] rarely used words to be dragged out of the depths of memory) and I found today’s toughie to be of similar difficulty to yesterday’s. I was rather annoyed with myself for not associating the “desperate chap” to the comic hero considering I have seen this (or similar) in clues several times before. 20d is a new word to me, the Hare & Hounds an unknown, the former teacher puzzling & the Vietnamese offensive was only vaguely known.
    2d was not difficult to guess the answer but I could not convincingly fit it to “Father’s quick”. Since I only come across quick in this sense in biblical quotes (other than crosswords, of course!) I assumed the father to be a priest.
    It was fun to solve so thanks to Hudson and thanks to CS for explaining 2d and 28a

    1. Hint now amended – I’ve also altered yiour alias as using capital letters online is considered to be ‘shouting’

  11. Difficult but doable and not quite as easy as others found it. Needed the hints to parse 2d and 4d. Some good clues favourite being 20d, splendid word. Thanks to Hudson and CS. Just heard that Sinèad O’connor has died aged 56!

  12. Agree with everyone else – this was a super puzzle. Thanks, Hudson, and thanks for the blog, cs – needed the hint on 4d to trigger the memory of that word for a bed canopy. Otherwise plain enough sailing and very enjoyable.

  13. Took us a while to sort out 11a so we’ll make that one our favourite in what was a really good fun solve.
    Thanks Hudson and CS.

  14. I thought this was fantastic. Not overly tricky but thoroughly enjoyable with great cluing throughout. Particularly liked 4d, 25a, 19a (LOI) and the 2 excellent lurkers (5d, 20d). Couldn’t parse 2d but difficult to see how it could have been anything else.

    Many thanks to Hudson and to CS for explaining 2d.

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