Toughie 3122 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3122

by crypticsue  

Toughie No 3122 by Django

Hints and Tips by crypticsue

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

I really enjoyed this ‘perfect for a Wednesday’ Toughie from Django – had there not been so many clues requiring us to “take a first and/or last letter”, I’d have awarded the full 5* for Enjoyment

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought

Across

1a    Domestic appliance — occasionally diesel power discharges audibly (4-6)
DEEP FREEZE The occasional letters of DiEsEl, the abbreviation for Power and a homophone (audibly) of a synonym for discharges  [We toyed with going to look at this yesterday but decided walking to Dreamland from the Turner Contemporary was just too far for Mr CS’s ‘waiting for replacements’ knees!]

6a    Be quiet in pursuit of whoever set this trap (4)
MESH An instruction to be quiet goes after (in pursuit of) what Django would say if asked who set this crossword

10a    Removed 50 per cent of sign language (5)
FARSI Removed in the sense of distant followed by the first 50% of SIgn

11a    East European travelling to the west hiding university expert’s jewellery, say (9)
VALUABLES A reversal (travelling to the west) of an East European into which is inserted (hiding) the abbreviation for University and an adjective meaning clever or skilful (expert)

12a    Company call to stop charging everyone for drink (7)
ALCOHOL An abbreviated company and a call to stop inserted into (charging) a synonym for everyone

13a    Area of potential trouble excited spy (7)
HOTSPOT A slang term for excited and a verb meaning to spy or detect

14a    One promoting mobile app for dating’s wanting female (12)
PROPAGANDIST An anagram (mobile) of APP fOR DATINGS without (wanting) the abbreviation for Female

18a    So gym-culture made Rocky’s difficult opponent (4,8)
UGLY CUSTOMER An anagram (made rocky) of SO GYM CULTURE

21a    Bitter about essence of Captain Scarlet possibly being changed (7)
ALTERED A drink of which bitter is an example goes ‘about’ the letter in the middle (essence) of capTain, the result followed by a colour (scarlet possibly)

23a    Perhaps Joy Division initially escaping loss of status (7)
EMOTION The initial letter of Division ‘escaping’ a loss of status or reduction in rank

24a    Host of guests writing cool new number one? (9)
INNKEEPER The ‘usual’ cool or fashionable, the abbreviation for New and the football player who has a number one on the back of their shirt

25a    Stiff and pompous journalist withdraws support (5)
STILT Remove the usual abbreviated journalist from an adjective meaning stiff and pompous

26a    And the rest homes primarily make an impression (4)
ETCH The abbreviated way of writing ‘and the rest’ and the primary letter of Homes

27a    More or less content to leave partner with the last word assuming terms of joint tenancy alarm you (6,4)
PRETTY MUCH The outside (content to leave) letters of PartneR, the solution to 26a (possibly the last word you wrote in the grid before you looked at this clue) into which is inserted (assuming) the ‘terms’ of joinT tenancY alarM yoU

Down

1d    Settle conflict after case of divorce (6)
DEFRAY Settle in the sense of pay. A brawl (conflict) goes after the ‘case’ of DivorcE

2d    Fertilise the garden finally with flush (6)
ENRICH The final letters of thE gardeN with a more formal way of saying flush with money

3d    Schoolchild’s instrument put under stairs in black box? (6,8)
FLIGHT RECORDER A musical instrument most schoolchildren learn to play goes under a series of steps (stairs)

4d    Woman tempted to tackle North Pole, ordered small jackets (9)
ENVELOPES According to the Old Testament, the name of the first woman to be tempted into which is inserted (to tackle) the abbreviation for North, the result followed by an anagram (ordered) of POLE and the abbreviation for Small

5d    Renault scraping behind Hertz garages in reverse — duck! (5)
ZILCH Insert the first three letters of a Renault car (scraping behind) into the symbol for the SI Unit of Frequency and then reverse!

7d    Uplifting illicit pill, ecstasy’s somewhat oval (8)
ELLIPTIC Hidden in reverse (uplifting) in illiCIT PILL Ecstasy

8d    Stall in the man’s Independent gallery (8)
HESITATE The man is, the abbreviation for independent and an art gallery

9d    In a bad temper as container ship heartlessly ignoring cry (14)
CANTANKEROUSLY A container, a ship that carries liquids and a synonym for heartlessly ‘ignoring’ the synonym for cry at the start

15d    Following journey across lake, promise to leave husband and travel widely (5-4)
GLOBE TROT A verb meaning to journey into which is inserted (across) the abbreviation for Lake, followed by a promise to marry without (to leave) the abbreviation for Husband

16d    Supposed to have put on musical in retirement (8)
PUTATIVE PUT (from the clue) and a reversal (in retirement) of crosswordland’s favourite musical

17d    Note — first to scale mountain’s rising first — it’s close but not that close (8)
PLATONIC The first note of a scale follows a reversal (rising) of a mountain

19d    Setting story next to motorway underpass’s opening (6)
MILIEU A story goes after an abbreviated motorway, the result followed by the opening to Underpass

20d    Ultimately cuts down long grass (6)
SNITCH The ultimate letters of cutS and dowN followed by a verb meaning to long for something

22d    Drug cheat sprinter remains out after admitting 5 positives at the start (5)
DOPER A sprinter without the remains of anything burnt, into which is inserted the letter representing the solution (and definition) of 5d and the ‘start’ of Positives

 

20 comments on “Toughie 3122”

  1. There were a couple of chuckles in this but not as many as usual for Django and a few surfaces felt a bit forced. Fave clues were 3d – which took me a lot longer to see than it should- and I was utterly baffled by the parsing of 27a until I solved 26, so those 2 deserve a prize. Is “writing” just a link word in 24a?
    Thanks to Django and CS.

    1. Hi Halcyon. Yes, it’s a link word, but whereas many link words take the form of “revealing/revealed by” etc I think this fair if you instead see it as an explicit instruction.

  2. You’ve gotta love old Django, 27a was that long it could have done with being split into chapters! As enjoyable, fresh and entertaining as ever though and relatively approachable, I found it somewhat easier than yesterday’s.
    Never heard the expression at 18a but it was sympathetically clued.
    I’ve said it many times before but I love how this setter incorporates real life into his clues and with that in mind I’ll highlight 14a (great spot) 21(lol) plus the clever 15&17d with top spot going to 23a.
    Many thanks indeed to the setter and Sue for the blog

    Here’s a great cover version of a Joy Division classic

  3. Great fun – thanks to Django and CS.
    I conferred ticks on 13a, 9d, 17d and 20d with my favourite being 27a (‘the last word’ – brilliant).

  4. Typical Django with lots of words and complex parsing. This proved to be quite a battle, but worth the effort as each piece fell slowly into place. There was quite a delay for me between getting a completed grid and completely parsing everything due to the “last word” in 27a and “heartlessly ignoring cry” in 9d.

    Thanks to Django for the enjoyable tussle and to CS for the review.

  5. Lots to enjoy here. 27a was a peach which I was scratching my head to parse for quite a while after bunging in the answer.
    Didn’t the council keep removing that Banksy due to Health & Safety fearing someone would get stuck in it 😁?

    1. They did, but soon returned it once the 1a had been ‘made safe’. It then moved to Dreamland where it is now on display. They are now offering shares in the artwork to members of the public

  6. Great fun. As ever with DG guzzles sorting out the whys comes way later than the answers. Disappointingly I fell two shy on the parsing front (‘twas the last word & the call that did for me) but as they were the ones tricky enough to delay RD then I won’t be too hard on myself. 27a liked them all but if forced to select a podium it’d be 14&18a with 5&22d sharing third spot.
    Thanks to Django & to CS for explaining it all

  8. Largely straightforward, clever and mid-weekish, but rather surprised to come here and see it was by Django, as I felt it some way off his usually very high standard. A few awkward surfaces, repetitive clueing (lots of add / remove letter clues) and some rather verbose clues all took the shine off for me as I completed the grid rather 9d. Evidently I got out of the wrong side of my bed this morning!

    Thank you Django, and thank you CS.

  9. Blimey that was hard. Needed the hints to parse 27a, 9d and 22d. On first pass I had one answer. Very satisfying to solve though. Favourite was 24a. Thanks to Django and CS.

  10. Well, I loved this and thought it was very Django – quirkily clever, on point and occasionally rather long! But that never bothers me as he always tells a story. And 18a had his name written all over it. Brilliant! My only question is … when he is usually so fastidious (skates/fish, etc) about declaring DBEs, why is there no such qualifier for Renault? Surely a car brand to define a model type is the very definition of a DBE? It reads much better without one, of course, but I’m just curious. Thanks to all, as ever.

    1. I don’t think Renault is a DBE for CLIO. Because other manufacturers don’t make Clios.

      A Clio is a type of Renault in the same way that a Tiger is a type of Big Cat.

      1. Many thanks for this. Well, when you put it like that, it makes perfect sense. Thank you. And more soon please!

  11. Well above my pay grade but I did enjoy the Margate references.
    I did my teenage years there. Saw Hawkwind at Dreamland I think in 1971/2
    Happy days
    Thanks for the crossword the hints and the memories

  12. 9d was our last one in and took longest to twig the wordplay.
    Lots of chuckles along the way in what we found to be an enjoyable tussle.
    Thanks Django and CS.

  13. Django’s wordy clues are certainly the antithesis of those that Beam will provide tomorrow (or next Thursday, whatever). Good fun to solve either way.

  14. Very clever word play. I am always sorry I mostly don’t get more time to wrestle with the toughies – I just loved the simplicity of 26a. Thanks for your masterly decryption CS.

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