Toughie No 3132 by proXimal
Hints and tips by Dutch
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ****
proXimal provides a welcome respite from the usual tortuous Friday toughie. Once I had a way in, this went fairly smoothly. NW was last. Nice smooth surfaces
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.
Across
1a Fixed up a cross casing witch in coffin (11)
SARCOPHAGUS: An anagram (fixed) of UP A CROSS contains (casing) a 3-letter witch
7a Grumble from fifty involved in strike (5)
BLEAT: The Roman numeral for 50 goes inside (involved in) a word meaning to strike or hit
8a Dreams of devotee when taking part in matches (9)
FANTASIES: A 3-letter devotee, then a word for ‘when’ goes inside some sporting matches
10a Document bearing little boy’s name (7)
DOMINIC: The 3-letter abbreviation for document containing (bearing) a word meaning little
11a Space firm with German article that converts messages (7)
ENCODER: A printing space, an abbreviation for firm, and a German article
12a Instruments avid folk use after removing cases (5)
VIOLS: Remove outer letters from 3 words in the clue ( … after removing cases)
13a Shortly top and tail bananas to make curative (9)
ANTIDOTAL: An anagram (bananas) of TO(p – shortly) AND TAIL
16a Fruit, carrying it by large boat without restrictions (9)
LIMITLESS: A citrus fruit contains (carrying) IT from the clue plus the abbreviation for large, then the abbreviation for steamship
18a Revolutionary tricks with tube (5)
STRAW: A reversal (revolutionary) of a word meaning tricks or crafts and the abbreviation for with
19a English politician bound to be discharged (7)
EMPTIED: The abbreviation for English, a politician, and a word meaning bound by rope
22a Uneasiness from this writer going round French city without leader (7)
MALAISE: A pronoun suggesting ‘this writer’ (from proXimal’s perspective) goes round a French city missing its first letter (without leader)
23a Keep tabs on uniform found among model’s attire (9)
TRACKSUIT: A word meaning to keep tabs on or to follow, then the letter with radio code uniform goes inside (found among) a word meaning to model or pose
24a Dog lead in the bar (5)
TRAIL: The first letter (lead) in ‘the’ plus a bar or rod
25a Department with command to store hydrogen bomb (5,6)
DEPTH CHARGE: The 4-letter abbreviation for department and a word meaning command (as “in command”) contain (to store) the chemical symbol for hydrogen
Down
1d Gang in heathlands climbing misty location (5,4)
STEAM ROOM: A 4-letter gang or crew goes inside (in) the reversal (climbing) of some heathlands
2d Marks, those found on board (7)
RATINGS: Two meanings, the first referring to grades, the second related to a ship
3d Turned on big Old Firm battle oddly lacking referee (9)
OFFICIATE: A word meaning turned, a big old firm, and the even (oddly lacking) letters of battle
4d Unopened beef joint (5)
HINGE: A beef or complaint without the first letter (unopened)
5d Looked pleased to embrace new church (7)
GLANCED: A word meaning pleased contains (to embrace) abbreviations for new and church
6d Cast one that’s in another cast (5)
SHIED: The Roman numeral for one goes inside a word meaning cast. The first cast means threw; the second means discarded
7d Sack bad people, tons giving aggravation (11)
BEDEVILMENT: A word for sack as in place of retirement, a word meaning evil, another word for people and the abbreviation for tons
9d Suspect owls call here, finding a rejected part of mouse (6,5)
SCROLL WHEEL: An anagram (suspect) of OWLS C(a)LL HERE, with the A rejected
14d Screen one illuminated showing sporting event (4,5)
TEST MATCH: A word for screen and something that illuminates if you strike it
15d Redeveloped main street apart from southern end (9)
TERMINATE: An anagram (redeveloped) of MAIN (s)TREET (apart from southern)
17d Imagine watery vessel in sound (5,2)
THINK UP: A word meaning watery, as a soup or gruel might be, plus a homophone of a drinking vessel
18d One making tribute acts disheartened and upset musician (7)
SALUTER: ACTS from the clue without the central letters (disheartened) and reversed (upset), then the player of a stringed instrument
20d Cloth put beneath piano (5)
PLAID: A word meaning put (past tense) goes beneath the abbreviation for piano
21d Picked up note that’s money (5)
DOUGH: A homophone (picked up) of a musical note
Plenty to like “tribute acts”, “southern end”, “looked pleased”, etc. My favourite today was the story about the owl and the mouse. I had the right mouse but still took me a while to see the answer. Which clues did you like?
For once, I can join in with the Friday Toughie gang – proXimal was being very gentle with us and I wondered whether the Thursday/Friday puzzle combo had gone awry.
Have to admit that 9d was a ‘guess the definition’ – didn’t realise that it had a ‘posh’ sounding name and the parsing of 3d took a while despite the answer being fairly obvious.
Podium places went to 7&10a plus 14&17d.
Thanks to proXimal for the ego-booster and to Dutch for the review – loved the linguistic sheep!
Yes, pretty gentle (and very enjoyable) for a Friday Toughie. I’d have completed it in less than half the time had I not decided very early on that the beef in 4d was rankle, but once 1a finally convinced me I’d need another complaint for the joint, the final few clues fell like a house of cards. Hon Mentions to 9d and 25a.
Many thanks to ProXimal and Dutch – yes, excellent sheep!
Oh yes – I also had ankle problems!
Very irksome when two possible words parse perfectly!
To be fair to the setter I don’t think beef and rankle are synonyms.
I think it’s the verb v noun issue but that particular joint was a real red herring.
Well that was a pleasant surprise. Thanks to proXimal and Dutch.
End the week on a high with an unaided Toughie solve! Is it really Friday? Lots of great clues, 9d & 17d particular faves. Great fun. Thanks proXimal and Dutch.
Very enjoyable! No matter what the difficulty the X-man invariably comes up trumps.
I was held for a short while with 2d, as with the checkers I had at the time I confidently entered “notches” as marks on a (head)board! Ah well, didn’t cause too much trouble.
I particularly liked 23a plus 3,5&7d with top spot going to the super 18d.
Many thanks to ProXimal and Dutch.
What Jane said except that for me brain fog descended at last in 18a & I bunged in screw first then twigged it at the second stab.
Thanks to proXimal (you’re welcome any Friday in this slot) & to Dutch whose review I’ll now read
Re 18d, a person who plays the lute is known as a lutenist. A luter is someone who applies lute to objects, lute being a form of sealant. The clue does not therefore really work.