Toughie 3230 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3230

Toughie  No 3230 by Dharma

Hints and Tips by crypticsue

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty *Enjoyment ***

I was surprised to find that this Dharma Wednesday Toughie was  1a, I don’t know why but I was expecting something quite a bit trickier

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought

Across

1a           Easy street just ahead, having employed ace earlier (15)
STRAIGHTFORWARD The abbreviation for street, just or fitting, in advance (ahead) into which is inserted (having employed earlier) the abbreviation for Ace

9a           Tax cut by August, not the last for Rolling Stone (7)
VAGRANT An acronym for a type of tax into which is inserted (cut by) almost all of a synonym for august or imposing

10a         Complete six deliveries each (7)
OVERALL The cricket term for six deliveries of the ball and a synonym for comprising every individual (each)

11a         Singer (metal head) missing note displays annoyance (9)
RATTINESS Someone who ‘sings’ or informs, a type of metal and a headland without (missing) one of the abbreviations for Note found at the end of the metal or the beginning of the headland

12a         Warrant ends in your alibi arrested by police (5)
MERIT The ‘ends’ of youR and alibi ‘arrested’ by the informal name for the London police

13a         Prime minister’s detailed record at first appals (7)
DISMAYS The surname of a former Prime Minister and an S (‘s) follows a truncated musical record

15a         Wearing fancy dress women rob Edward’s hosts (7)
ENROBED Hidden in words 4, 5 and 6 of the clue

17a         Team touring Portugal heads to resort spa and rests (7)
SPIDERS A team ‘touring’ the IVR code for Portugal followed by the ‘heads’ of Resort and Spa

19a         In America maybe one’s on track to deliver? (4-3)
MAILCAR A cryptic definition of something used to deliver American post

21a         One oddly fat in clothing of Levi’s trousers (5)
LIFTS The Roman numeral for one and the odd letters of FaT inserted into the outside letters (clothing) of LeviS

23a         New girlfriend initially put on short underwear, it’s staying on! (9)
LINGERING The abbreviation for New and the initial letter of Girlfriend go after (put on) some truncated underwear

25a         Church worker perhaps taken on by team to provide wine (7)
CHIANTI The abbreviation for church and one of crosswordland’s workers, the latter inserted (taken on by) the number of people in a football team, for example

26a         Bread roll I peck after tea (7)
CHAPATI – Some tea and a reversal (roll) of TAP (peck like a woodpecker) followed by I (from the clue)

27a         No time to meet wife, prepared dating hints regardless (15)
NOTWITHSTANDING NO (from the clue), the abbreviations for Time and Wife followed by an anagram (prepared) of DATING HINTS

Down

1d           Priest given boost, inspired by Genesis cut (7)
SEVERED A reversal (given boost) of an abbreviated priest inserted into (inspired by) the origin of something (genesis)

2d           Conservative alarm, wanting introduction to Farage? (5)
RIGHT A synonym for alarm without (wanting) the first letter of Farage

3d           Still ridiculous wearing current rug? Quite the opposite (9)
INANIMATE Quite the opposite indicates that the symbol for electrical current and a rug are being worn by a synonym for ridiculous

4d           Popular places for retirement and nurseries (7)
HOTBED Popular and some places for retirement

5d           Table or game under table? (7)
FOOTSIE The nickname for the Financial Times Stock Exchange Index or to make furtive flirtatious advances (possibly under a table) with amorous intentions

6d           Discharge ambassador, nobbled by drink (5)
RHEUM The abbreviation for the title of an ambassador inserted into (nobbled by) a type of drink

7d           Admiral’s first to board ocean rib to perform exercises like these (9)
ANAEROBIC The first letter of Admiral inserted into (to board) an anagram (to perform) of OCEAN RIB

8d           Give permission to break contract — get cancelled! (7)
DELETED A verb meaning to give permission to ‘breaks’ a contract

14d         One’s tight covering of bandage material is out of the ordinary (9)
SKINFLINT A covering and some bandage material into which is inserted oF (from the clue) without the abbreviation for ordinary

16d         Call up this person in prison and create huge fuss (5,4)
RAISE CAIN A verb meaning to call up and the first person singular inserted into a slang name for a prison

17d         Caught foolish criminal element (7)
SILICON A homophone (caught) of an adjective meaning foolish and a slang word for a convicted criminal

18d         Brought up the French angle — looking after number one (7)
SELFISH A reversal (brought up) of the French plural definite article followed by a verb meaning to angle

19d         Dude, American jazz fan following Kiss and Queen? (4,3)
MANX CAT A male person an American might call a dude and a jazz fan, the latter following the letter representing a kiss

20d         Manipulating ship’s gear (7)
RIGGING A double definition

22d         Wrong road for mountain, one in the Middle East (5)
SINAI A moral offence (wrong) and the road that goes from London to Edinburgh

24d         Discovered viral quiz show, one in the Middle East (5)
IRAQI The inside (dis covered) letters of vIRAl and a television quiz show  I’ll be interested to learn what others think about the ‘one in the Middle East’ appearing in two clues in a row

 

I will be out when this post is published – I have to drive Mr CS to his four-week post knee op appointment with the consultant – but will deal with any issues on my return

 

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19 comments on “Toughie 3230

  1. Personally, I thought this was Dharma’s best yet – a real peach. Not tricky, but no slouch by any means. Some delightful Lego (eg, 1a) and smart, lateral thinking. A fair few fabulous surfaces (17a, etc) and dollops of wit (23a). I thought 19a was slightly limp and 21a, despite its lovely definition, didn’t quite work for me. That apostrophe, albeit necessary, was oddly annoying. But who cares with so much to love? Great stuff. Huge thanks to Dharma and Sue. Good luck to Mr CS.

    1. ALP – have you seen Zandio’s detailed explanation in 30550 as to how he intended “agrarian epoch crops twice in rotation” to work? SJB expressed the hope you would see it before you head off to the land of goulash!

      1. Ah, ta lots for that heads up. I shall look right now – I remain curious. Cheers. Much appreciated.

  2. An enjoyable and swift completion which, like CS, I found pretty 1a – few complaints would have been merited had this appeared mid/late week on the back page. 14d was my last in, trying to work out the elements of the word play, though as with a few others I was content to move on swiftly with a correct biff. Some good surfaces, vaguely annoying that there’s no obvious reason for peck in 26a, an admirable shortage of anagrams. Highlights for me were 23a, 18d & 19d.

    Many thanks to Stephen/Dharma & CS

  3. What a splendid Toughie! Despite CS’s 1* rating, I found this really tough but I did enjoy it a lot. I needed to do quite a bit of reverse parsing having solved several clues initially from the definition and checkers.

    My only slight queries are that I am not entirely convinced that “still” is quite the same as the answer to 3d, and isn’t the “one in the Middle East” unnecessary in 22d?

    Many thanks to Dharma and to CS.

    1. “one in the Middle East” is indeed unnecessary in 22d and I wondered whether it was a copy-and-paste typo given its appearance immediately afterwards in 24d – though I’d have thought a ? might have been merited in 24d because of the many other types of “one” that there are in the ME.

      1. It must have a mistake surely? Especially as the repetition isn’t ironic or funny, which intentional repetitions can be.

    2. Surely the 3d answer means “still” in the sense of inert/inactive/motionless/unmoving?

  4. I’m perfectly happy with the repetition in 22 and 23d and I think we’ve seen it a couple of times before – usually with completely different interpretations of the duplicate text.
    I found the NW corner a good deal less 1a than CS did – I had 1a and 2d but otherwise had to work all the way around till I twigged 13a and the rest followed.
    BTW Sue – I think 26a can be parsed as “reverse [roll] I peck after tea”
    Fave clue 6d but I liked all the trademark musical allusions too – though 11a took some time sifting out Mr Scabies and the Masked Singer!
    Thanks to Dharma and CS

  5. Enjoyable puzzle with a few clues perhaps alluding to Budget Day – thanks to Dharma and CS.
    I started with the wrong first letter for 19a but that didn’t last long.
    I think the roll in 26a is a reversal indicator, i.e. reverse ‘I peck’ (like a woodpecker?) after the tea.
    My podium features 9a, 13a and 5d.

  6. This one wasn’t anywhere near as quick a completion as Dharma’s last Toughie puzzle (so not a solitary * difficulty for me) but do agree it was probably largely 1a 27a a few head scratchers. Can’t say I was entirely sure what the difference was between the 7d exercise with & without the prefix but I know now – either looks a bit much for me. Last 3 in were 9&11a + 1d & they took up nearly half of my solve time. Don’t recall seeing given a boost as a down clue reverse indicator before. Plenty of ✅s – 9,11&13 for the across podium & 3,16&19 for the downs.
    Thanks to Dharma & to Sue.
    Ps first became familiar with the 16d idiom from a lyric in this Van song

  7. I thought that suggesting one star for difficulty was a little ungenerous, but then these things are subjective. I found it a good challenge, with a couple of parsings stretching things out a bit. Of many fine clues, I liked 13a and 5d the best.

    My thanks to Dharma and Sue.

  8. Knowing our setter’s penchant for music that’s well out of my comfort zone, I approach his puzzles with some trepidation but, in the event, I didn’t need to worry unduly today. Having said that, I didn’t find it as 1a as our reviewer did although I did manage to untangle 26a more easily than she appears to have done!
    Favourite by a country mile was 5d.

    Thanks to Dharma and to CS for the review.

  9. I thought I was staring down the barrel of a second consecutive dnf after my first pass through then the scales fell from my eyes and things became a little more 1a. Not that I didn’t find it difficult because I did but I enjoyed it immensely. Needed the hints to parse 11a,5d and 14d (I wondered where the ‘F’ came from). Favourite was 17a. Thanks to Dharma and CS.

  10. Thanks to Sue for the well illustrated blog and to everyone for taking the time to do the puzzle and comment, very much appreciated. Pleased it went down well with a fairly wide spread of favourites.
    Halcyon and Gazza were spot on re the parsing of 26a so ta to them for that.

  11. An enjoyable solve for us with the last two to go in being the Middle Eastern ones.
    Thanks Dharma.

  12. Re 8d, contract and deed are not necessarily synonymous. Deed is a formal legal term and while it is possible for contracts to be made by deed, the vast majority are made by signature only or even verbally.

  13. I found this trickier than some have suggested but enjoyed it in two halves pre and post work.As Genesis might have suggested it was a real Battle of Epping Forest
    Starting 19a with an R was my main undoing and sorting that out led me to the rest
    Thanks to Dharma and CS

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