Toughie No 3137

19 comments on “Toughie No 3137”

1. Very enjoyable but quite a head scratcher for me, perhaps the Tonic and Gin was having a greater effect than I had anticipated.

   Some words that I had never encountered before – 9a (very unhappy when I found out what was the main ‘ingredient’ for the ‘delicacy’ and how it is ‘prepared’ – barbaric) and 8d both of which required e-help – and 13a which was verified with the Crossword Dictionary.

   Candidates for favourite – 11a, 2d, and 4d – and the winner is 4d.

   Thanks to Chalicea and StephenL.

2. As a rare commenter (who was encouraged – and surprised, to read yesterday that 30,000 people view this excellent blog), I found this Toughie worth the concentrated efforts this morning – especially after nearly giving up on one of last week’s blisteringly difficult puzzles.
   FWIW, I read the daily blog in order to read Brian’s (sometimes) acerbic and amusing comments, as much as to solve the odd clue !
   Thanks to Chalicea and StephenL.

   1. You should comment more often Hugh.
      Brian…rarely vanilla, I’ll leave it at that!

3. Not one of Chalicea’s better puzzles, I thought with regret. Some clues were unusually laboured and seemed to be obscure for the sake of being obscure. Strangely enough 9a came to mind almost instantly on reading the clue, and I don’t know from where I dragged up 13a. The mathematician featured only a week or two ago (possibly in The Times, but I though it was a DT puzzle) and was fresh in the memory.

   A sound pangram and an otherwise satisfying lunchtime solve.

   Thank you to Chalicea – sorry I wasn’t able to fully appreciate your puzzle! – and to Stephen.

4. Required a fair bit of research to verify the answers, all fairly clued. I did know the mathematician but not the terms in 9a (thankfully now illegal), 13a and 21a which gets my podium vote for the surface and misdirection.
   A couple of Aussie themed clues from Chalicea today! I needed the explanation for 1d as it eluded me.

   Thanks Chalicea, and StephenL of course

5. I found this a tad more tricky than usual for Chalicea but, as always, enjoyable. I had trouble parsing the Australian in 7d and, like others, hadn’t come across 13a in that sense [altho Mrs H, an Essex lass, knew only that meaning]. Favourites were 21a and 20d which I stared at for ages, with all the checkers in place, before resorting to dealing with the wordplay. It’s such a peculiar word.
   Thanks to Chalicea and Stephen.

6. Well, this was enjoyable enough in a very gentle way despite Chalicea’s usual over-reliance on Chambers. 9a is a case in point which, sadly, I did know – I only wish I didn’t. Yes, the dictionary definition is “delicacy” but, bearing in mind that it is, quite rightly, pretty much universally banned, can it really still be classed as such? Not that it should ever have been, in truth, but that’s another matter. I do think a cleverer clue could have been used here to better effect. But it was fun, as always. Thanks to all.

   1. Sadly ‘universally banned’ does not mean ‘no longer practiced.’

   2. Who can forget the crunching of Ortolan by Gigi in that wonderful Maurice Chevalier film.

      Mind you, one of the famous songs in that film would nowadays probably result in a knocking on the singer’s door by the local constabulary.

      1. Great clip – has quite forgotten it

7. I’m used to this setter’s random terminology being Scottish so the Aussie references came as something of a surprise today – many thanks to our blogger for doing the homework on those! Least said about 9a the better……….
   Top clues for me involved the sleazy nob and 5d’s successful outfit with a nod to 21a although I hate the use of the abbreviated word at the end of it.

   Thanks to Chalicea and to Stephen L for the review – still not finding your wavelength on the music front!

8. I did not find this as ‘easy’ as the official rating suggested in the introduction, but it was more enjoyable than the preamble proposed. I thought this was a genuine Toughie, harder than this setter’s regular compilations, and all the more challenging and rewarding as a result. 12a and 5d were my favourites of many.

   Thanks to Chalicea and SL.

9. I’m clearly having a bad day on the crossword front. Certainly not an unaided finish (2 letter checker reveals required) & a lamentable failure to twig “crystal clear” wordplay at 13a made worse by the fact the answer contained a missing letter for the pangram. Both of the peripheral verticals were head scratchers even with all the checkers in – never come across the word at 8d before & the less said about Aussie slang the better. Had forgotten the Vietnamese festival & not sure if it was the same for the Tibetan critter or it was completely new to me. Ah well tomorrow’s another day
   Thanks to Chalicea for a trickier than usual guzzle & to Stephen for the hints

10. I struggled with a four clues today, all in the NW. Perhaps my Australian slang needs a brush up.

    Thanks to Chalicea and Stephen.

11. I found this very tough with numerous new to me words/phrases. No real favourite. Thanks to Chalicea and SL for help parsing.

12. Another delightful puzzle from this setter and we were quite prepared for the fact that we would probably learn a couple of new factoids during the solving. Noting that a pangram was in the offing was a help with the last few entries.
    Thanks Chalicea and SL.

13. Thank you StephenL. Apologies to those who expected more of a Chaliceasy but I do come in for a few grumbles when they are considered too ‘easy’ for a Toughie so went for some slightly tougher clues. As for the 9a – I did expect you to find it in the clue but not eat the poor things. I suspect that consuming them is not currently practised – or enjoyable.

    1. Thanks for popping in Chalicea and for a fun puzzle, both appreciated.

    2. 9a is still a valid word. It’d be a sad day if the DT crossword had to come with “trigger warnings”

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