Toughie No 3163 by Silvanus
Hints and tips by StephenL
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hello everyone from a sunny/rainy/sunny….you get the idea, South Devon coast. As Gazza very kindly covered for me on Tuesday I’ve returned the favour today.
Silvanus is today’s setter and he’s given us a very fine, not overly tough puzzle that I enjoyed solving a lot.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.
Across
1a Flipping huge country market (4)
SOUK: Reverse (flipping ) one of the abbreviations for huge and follow it with an abbreviated country most of you will be very familiar with.
3a Heartfelt plea, rude almost, to safeguard free green energy (3,2,5)
CRI DE COEUR: Place a synonym of rude or short less it’s final letter around (to safeguard) a verb meaning to free or clear plus an adjective associated with the green movement and the abbreviation for Energy.
9a Duke initially lacking focus (4)
FIST: Remove the centre letter (lacking focus) of a synonym of initially. No aristocrats required here.
10a Public school run by cranks content to abandon timetable (10)
WINCHESTER: Piece together a synonym of cranks as a verb, the outer letters of TimetablE and the abbreviation for Run.
11a Wine from African country Joy finishes off (7)
CHABLIS: Follow a 4-letter African country with a synonym of joy or elation and remove the final letter of each. Very smart.
13a Alumni gathering, maybe about to attend wedding (7)
REUNION: The usual preposition for about and a synonym of wedding or partnership.
14a Extremely plaintive call South American mammal returns, roaming (11)
PERIPATETIC: The outer letters of PlaintivE plus a reversal of a synonym of call or praise and a mammal found in the wetlands of South America amongst other places. Great word that I use whenever the opportunity arises.
18a Kurd bullied occasionally in EU country creates deception (11)
FRAUDULENCE: Occasional letters of kUrD bUlLiEd inside a geographically close EU country
21a Chapter removed from impressive book, for example … (7)
EPITOME: Synonyms of impressive or grand and a (large) book with the abbreviation for Chapter removed. I liked the well-disguised definition here.
22a … collection of poems that florist has put together? (7)
GARLAND: Cryptic definition, the solution (a collection of short literary pieces) also being an assembly of flowers. You can ignore the ellipses
23a Papers backed upset Asian PM admitting old drink problem (10)
DIPSOMANIA: A reversal of the usual abbreviated papers plus an anagram (upset) of ASIAN PM into which is inserted the abbreviation for Old.
24a Iranian ready with substance China’s wanting (4)
RIAL: Ready here is a noun, in a financial sense. We need a synonym of substance with a synonym of China (in the sense of pal) removed from its front. Super!
25a Wet ball hit high, one pulled very quickly? (5-5)
WATER-SKIER: Wet as a verb plus a ball that is hit much higher than intended!
26a Scrap half of the letters we write? (4)
ATOM: Split the solution, a synonym of scrap as a noun, 1,2,1 to reveal the (clever) wordplay.
Down
1d Computer data stored on disk is sensitive issue (4,4)
SOFT COPY: Follow a synonym of sensitive with one of issue or edition.
2d Penning article, purist’s shattered mentally (8)
UPSTAIRS: Anagram (shattered) of PURIST’S around an indefinite article. Lol.
4d Checks before insuring houses (5)
REINS: Hidden (houses)
5d Given award last month, getting harangued afterwards (9)
DECORATED: An abbreviated “last” or final month plus a synonym of harangued or preached to.
6d Dim student breaks new cup and saucer, right? (11)
CREPUSCULAR: Anagram (new) of CUP and SAUCER with an insertion (breaks) of the abbreviation for student all followed by the abbreviation for Right. Great spot for the fodder, skilfully assembled. The solution refers to dim in the sense of a lack of light rather than intelligence.
7d Call for fast time prior to road cycling (6)
ENTAIL: Fast here is go without or restrict food. The period people do that in plus a major road. Now cycle the first letter to the end.
8d Enthusiastic sound of excellent band (6)
RARING: A homophone (sound of) a synonym of excellent (more frequently associated with unusual) plus a band or something round.
12d Privilege, after following ordinary friend around, to see Victor’s celebration (3,2,6)
LAP OF HONOUR: Start with a reversal of an informal friend, add abbreviations for Ordinary and Following and finish with a synonym of privilege. I feel “old” would have been better than “ordinary” but it appears in 23a
L15d Essentially impertinent comment about commercial logo (9)
TRADEMARK: The essential letter of imperTinent and a synonym of comment or note around the usual abbreviated publicity.
16d Historian American names in top celebrity category (8)
ANNALIST: Put together an abbreviation for American, and a way of describing a supposedly top level category of actors and insert between the two a couple of instances of the abbreviation for Name.
17d Swinger dancing nude embraced by Victoria, perhaps (8)
PENDULUM: Anagram (dancing) of NUDE inside or embraced by something of which Victoria is an example in a food sense. Not a sponge cake!
19d Food and drink ends being dumped in field (6)
MEADOW: A staple food (but not for veggies) and a synonym of drink as a verb lose their final letter (ends being dumped). Similar idea to 11a, I really like both.
20d Second-rate poll idiot held up (6)
TINPOT: Piece together synonym of poll as a verb, add a fool or idiot and reverse them both (held up in a down clue). I was spoilt for choice for illustrations here!
22d Fellow’s told to produce mask (5)
GUISE: A rather good homophone (told) of some fellows or chaps.
Thanks Silvanus, plenty of podium contenders but I’ll mention 10,11,21&24a plus 6&17d. Which clues brightened your day?
Absolutely wonderful! My second 5* puzzle of the day, and unbridled pleasure from start to finish.
22a involved a new meaning for me, and although I knew 6d from a long time ago it took a while to remember it.
From an extra long list of ticks, I will just mention 23a, 26a, 1d, 6d & 16d.
Many thanks to Silvanus and to SL.
Super puzzle. Disappointed to have been not quite up to fully completing the examination paper. Needed the hint for 20d (context of poll eluded me) & both the pesky 4 letter ones at 9&24a were definition bung ins where I ought to have pegged the wordplay. 6d&14a both wonderful words that I sort of knew the meaning of but confirmed anyway & can’t say they’ve ever troubled my vocabulary. As ever spoilt for choice for podium candidates but I’ll highlight 10,14&23a along with 2,15&17d as particular likes. 26a may well have bagged top spot but have seen it before (Dada puzzle maybe) so my fav has to be the nude swinger with his plums.
Thanks to Silvanus & to Stephen for an excellent review – must say I find the Beatles video rather creepy
Having Ray T and Silvanus on the same day is definitely crossword nirvana for me. Two superb puzzles that sat alongside each other perfectly. And both needing the trusty pin to find a favourite, that accolade going to 24a in this case.
My thanks to Silvanus and SL.
Excellent puzzle as I would expect from Mr Smooth and a new definition learnt from 22a – not that I’m likely to remember it!
A couple of hesitations on the spelling front but checkers came to my rescue so I don’t have to admit to them……….
From a long list of favourites, I eventually settled on 1,24&25a plus 15,17,19&20d. 10a would have got a mention if I didn’t automatically associate it with that dreadful song!
Many thanks to Silvanus and to Stephen for the review.
Would that song be ********** Cathedral?
Indeed it would!
A super puzzle – thanks to Silvanus and SL.
I had to check that 22a can mean a collection of poems.
Honours awarded to 11a, 24a, 26a and 17d.
An absolutely excellent puzzle! Great clues with smooth, exemplary surfaces and a toughish but very enjoyable tussle. I didn’t know that meaning at 22a. Too many fine clues to pick any favourite. I can’t really rate the difficulty as I don’t access many Toughies on the day/in real time, but for enjoyment a definite 4.5*.
Many thanks to Stephen and to everyone who solved the puzzle and has left such nice comments. Last week, the Telegraph ran a very interesting obituary for the former Head of 10a, John Thorn, who was definitely far from a crank, according to a good Wykehamist friend of mine!
Many thanks for popping in Silvanus and for another in a long line of super puzzles. Nice to have finally blogged one of your Toughies as well as a handful of your back-pagers.
Another in your increasingly long line of excellent puzzles, Silvanus – it’s always a complete pleasure to solve them.
Lots of ticks on our pages too and a thoroughly enjoyable solving experience.
Thanks Silvanus and SL.
The third superb Toughie on the bounce this week – hugely enjoyable and a pleasure to solve. Needed Stephen’s hints to unravel a couple of parsing so many thanks to him and to Silvanus.
A late comment from me to say what an excellent Toughie this was. I was a little slow to get going, but once I did I enjoyed it very much.
Top clues for me are 11a, 14a, 26a, 6d (a favorite time for cats, I believe…), 17d, 19d and 22d.
Much appreciation to Sylvanus. I have just printed off today’s Cryptic so I have more enjoyment and brain strain to come!
Much appreciation, too, to StephenL for the fine review and illustrations.
…and an even later comment from me upon my return from a couple of days in Suffolk.
A great puzzle with just the right degree of difficulty for a Toughie.
Too hard to pick an overall favourite clue in a puzzle of such quality.
Thank you Silvanus and Stephen L.
Enjoyable puzzle, well worth the extended efforts. Thx to all.
2*/4* ….
liked the tipsy Asian PM in 23A .