Toughie No 3107 by Django
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ****
A very entertaining puzzle from Django with plenty of anagrams – thanks to him.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Meeting about situation where we tire Bon Jovi out when cutting a disc (3,9)
JOB INTERVIEW: an anagram (out) of WE TIRE B[o]N JOVI after we’ve cut out one of the circular letters.
8a Book with three articles about big character of Dot Cotton perhaps being spotted in Square (7)
BANDANA: the abbreviation for book and three indefinite articles containing the big letter of Dot.
9a Went round in circles as terms for Building Society assessed (7)
GYRATED: the terminating letters of Building and Society followed by a verb meaning assessed.
11a Get carpeting — maybe Persian — with voucher (5,2)
CATCH IT: join together a creature that could be a Persian and a voucher.
12a This writer’s invested in material about refugees (7)
EMIGRÉS: insert the contracted form of ‘this writer is’ (from the setter’s viewpoint) into a durable fabric and reverse it all.
13a On reflection declare ra-ra skirts more unusual (5)
RARER: hidden in reverse.
14a Clue for how to make sci-fi show (6,3)
DOCTOR WHO: a reverse anagram which leads to the answer ‘how’.
16a Mister Ben returns — university student is finally the animator (9)
NEBULISER: reverse ben and append abbreviations for university and student, IS and the final letters of thE and animatoR.
19a Google rival with old house (5)
BINGO: Microsoft’s heavily promoted rival to Google and the abbreviation for old.
21a Takes in retro vest worn by athlete during penultimate match (7)
IMBIBES: insert a vest worn by an athlete into a penultimate match in a knockout competition and reverse it all.
23a Family member with cataract, essentially it’s foggy (7)
UNCLEAR: a male family member and the central two letters of cataract.
24a Force finding drunk hit car after ignoring limits on motorway (7)
MILITIA: a slang adjective meaning drunk and ‘hit car’ after we’ve removed the outer letters of both words follow what looks like a North-South UK motorway.
25a Warning in sale, as gold is shifted (7)
CAUTION: start with a public sale and move the chemical symbol for gold.
26a Nurse interfered with tree pruner — risk-taker (12)
ENTREPRENEUR: the qualification of a registered nurse followed by an anagram (interfered with) of TREE PRUNER. George W Bush is credited (probably falsely) with saying “The problem with the French is that they don’t have a word for ************”.
Down Clues
1d Porter blended into filling drink (7)
JANITOR: an anagram (blended) of INTO goes inside an informal word for a glass of beer.
2d Swimmer crossing lake for ramble (7)
BLATHER: a swimmer or someone taking a dip contains the map abbreviation for lake.
3d I’d seen assorted apartment blocks getting minor changes in the main (4,5)
NEAP TIDES: an anagram (assorted) of I’D SEEN with the abbreviation for apartment contained within it.
4d Good score from Texan golfer, occasionally (5)
EAGLE: regular letters from Texan golfer. Very neat!
5d I turn green initially, seeing psychological thriller (7)
VERTIGO: I and a turn (in a board game, say) are preceded by the heraldic term for green to make a Hitchcock thriller.
6d Embarrass oneself and worry over part of murder (3,4)
EAT CROW: a verb to worry and one of the creatures for which murder is a collective noun.
7d Without Pence working on basics with Trump, a desire to hide the full facts is revealed (12)
OBSCURANTISM: an anagram (working) of ON BASICS TRUM[p] without the abbreviation for pence. Very topical indeed considering what’s happening in Washington later today.
10d Harry Houdini’s wrong — week to escape is humiliating (12)
DISHONOURING: an anagram (harry, in the sense of harass) of HOUDINI’S [w]RONG without the abbreviation for week.
15d Charlie, 23 — cycling around middle of Cumbria gets blister (9)
CARBUNCLE: start with what Charlie represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet then add the answer to 23a with its last two letters cycled to the front having the middle letter of Cumbria inserted.
17d Airline only travelling beyond Belgium’s capital once (7)
BABYLON: start with a UK airline and add an anagram (travelling) of ONLY after the IVR code for Belgium.
18d Nipper hit over rear mostly (7)
LOBSTER: a verb to hit a ball into the air and a synonym for rear without its last letter.
19d Since worker’s touring around America (7)
BECAUSE: a working insect contains an abbreviation meaning around or approximately and an abbreviation for America.
20d Defer fine somehow — females evicted and poorer (7)
NEEDIER: an anagram (somehow) of DE[f]ER [f]INE after we’ve evicted the two abbreviations for female.
22d Monkey affected by sulphur (5)
SCAMP: an adjective meaning affected or theatrical follows the chemical symbol for sulphur (or sulfur as we’re now urged to spell it to bring us into line with the international standard).
The clues I liked included 11a, 14a, 19a and 4d but my favourite was 7d. Which one(s) took your fancy?
Another absolute belter from Django. I know he can be a tad wordy but his surfaces always gleam with wit so that never bothers me. 14A and 16A are simply masterful. Huge thanks to him – and Gazza, of course.
Splendid crossword, solved in a Wednesday time.
My favourite was 8a but all the ones mentioned by Gazza were also on the list
Many thanks to Django and to Gazza
Excellent even if there were four anagrams that involved the deletions of abbreviations.
I especially liked 8,11&14a plus 3d.
Many thanks to Django and Gazza.
7d was a new word for me but having all the checkers I simply played around with the letters I had left until I came up with what looked like a word then Googled it and it was indeed and meant exactly what it said on the tin. A thoroughly enjoyable crossword which unusually for me I managed to fully parse. Favourite was 16a. Thanks to Django and Gazza.
Enjoyable and gentle for a Thursday. With the days of moaning about the long wordy clues well behind me, I have 8a as my favourite clue. Thanks to Django and Gazza.
In the past I have mentioned the wordiness of some of this setter’s clues, but the topical humour he manages to inject into them more than compensates for a little verbosity. Like our blogger, I cannot look beyond 7d for a favourite. Terrific entertainment.
Thanks Django and Gazza.
Decided to tackle this toughie as I recover from knee replacement from last week at this time. All going well so far.
Enjoyed the puzzle and rate it 2*/4*
Favourites include 14a, 25a, 2d, 10d & 19d with winner 2d
As to the comment in the hint for 22d, I’d never heard of the effort to eliminate ‘ph’ in words with the so called new international standard of ‘f’ … what a load of tommy rot!!
Well it is going to be when “H freezes over” that my first name is going to be spelt ‘Filip’
Having said that I think a nice phillet of phish is in my phorseeable phuture phor tonight’s pheast of seaphood.
Thanks to Django & Gazza
22d There’s no effort to eliminate ‘ph’ in words generally but this applies specifically to Sulfur which has been the preferred spelling of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) since 1990, and is the default form employed by many scientific journals.
Appreciate the extra info Gazza. Thank you.
However, I will continue to buck the trend (…be obstinate?!…) and spell it with ‘ph’ anyway as to me it just looks wrong and looks like an Americanism spelling in my opinion.
Lovely witty puzzle; clever topical clues. 14a and 7d get my votes.
Thanks to Django and Gazza.
Super puzzle – reasonably straightforward and a lesson in how to employ wit, topicality, and humour without resorting to the obscure and bizarre. Precisely and fairly clued throughout.
So many clues deserve the podium, but I will limit to 14a, 5d & 7d.
Many thanks indeed to Django, and to Gazza.
Terrific guzzle. 7d was an absolute beaut of a surface read but 14a just edges it as my pick of the bunch. Best of the week for me & by some margin too.
Thanks to D&G – will read the review later
A thoroughly enjoyable romp. Lots of ticks but we’ll go with 14a for favourite.
Thanks Django and Gazza.
Thanks Gazza. Thanks all.
Great fun, more so than the backpager today. Thanks.
I usually enjoy the pictures that Django paints with his clues but today( last night) I was just lost in a blizzard of words. Not his fault at all just my head in a bad place.
Reading the clues back I see that they are just as witty and well crafted as usual so definitely on my braincells being a bit crooked.
Thanks to DJ and Gazza