Toughie No 3236 by Sparks
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ****/***** – Enjoyment *****
A most enjoyable Friday Toughie – It is a pangram but if Sparks has done his usual thing of hiding something in the grid, I haven’t spotted it yet!
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought
Across
1a Postponing, with daughter, not mum, making painstaking enquiries (7)
DELVING Replace the interjection to be quiet (not mum) at the start of a synonym for postponing with the abbreviation for Daughter
5a Bony langur falters after adult (7)
ANGULAR An anagram (falters) of LANGUR goes after the abbreviation for Adult
9a Fish, skate, Moorish bar prepared (8,7)
ARBROATH SMOKIES An anagram (prepared) of SKATE MOORISH BAR produces some haddock treated in a particular way by people from a Scottish seaside town
10a Line divides whole ghetto (4)
SLUM The abbreviation for Line ‘divides’ the whole
11a IT corporation‘s software student beginning to engage (5)
APPLE Some abbreviated software, the abbreviation for student and the ‘beginning’ to Engage
12a Comfortable spring (4)
WELL An adjective meaning comfortable or a source of water (spring)
15a Thwart before opening (7)
PREVENT A preposition meaning before and an opening
16a Expert example of West’s patrols, but not post-partition China’s (7)
MAESTRO A forename (the actress Ms West being an example of someone with this name) and letters from paTROls once you have removed (post-partition) some informal friends (Chinas)
17a Deliver clean breaks for King (7)
RICHARD A verb meaning to do house cleaning inserted into (breaks) another meaning to deliver
19a Comfort: heating creamed vegetables, maybe, in retirement (5,2)
CHEER UP The abbreviation for Central Heating followed by a reversal (in retirement) of some creamed vegetables
21a Cure untrustworthy bloke, as stated (4)
HEAL A homophone (as stated) of an untrustworthy bloke
22a European insulates cold tap, say (5)
DANCE Someone from a particular European country ‘insulates’ the abbreviation for Cold
23a Augmentation, initially, in the capacity of water (4)
AQUA The initial letter of Augmentation followed by a Latin word meaning ‘in the capacity of’
26a Grasped one joining conga dancing contest (3-3-5,4)
EGG-AND-SPOON RACE An anagram (dancing) of GRASPED ONE and CONGA
27a Dubious American power dissenting body welcomes (7)
SUSPECT Abbreviations for American and Power ‘welcomed’ by a body of dissenters
28a Freezing zone vacated following payment or backing (7)
SUBZERO The inside (vacated) letters of ZonE following an abbreviated payment, a reversal (backing) of OR (from the clue) being added at the end
Down
1d Composes appeal on drink (5,2)
DRAWS UP A synonym for appeal and a verb meaning to drink
2d Former job centres take pains with head-to-toe gender reassignment (6,9)
LABOUR EXCHANGES To take pains with followed by gender reassignment where the first letter (head) goes to the end (toe)
3d Image of old boundary stream lacking polish (4)
ICON An old boundary in Italy crossed by Caesar without (lacking) the verb meaning to polish
4d Deteriorate, as Trump for one might do? (2,2,3)
GO TO POT An informal way of saying deteriorate; thanks to Halcyon for reminding me that there is a snooker player with the surname Trump who might well do the solution
5d Biblical character slaughtered lamb as first of offerings (7)
ABSALOM An anagram (slaughtered) of LAMB AS and the ‘first’ of Offerings
6d Almost leave idiot (4)
GOOF A slang term for a stupid person (idiot) is almost all of a two-word phrase meaning leave
7d Stop sheep fitting (9,6)
LEICESTER SQUARE A stop on the London Underground – a breed of sheep and a synonym for fitting
8d Cordial carols essentially performed unaccompanied around India (7)
ROSOLIO I hadn’t heard of this sweet cordial made from raisins but the wordplay is clear – the ‘essential’ letters of caROls, and a piece performed unaccompanied into which is inserted the letter in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet represented by India
13d Met up for coffee (5)
DECAF A reversal (up) of a synonym for met up
14d Shetland girl possibly left following start of Jailhouse Rock (5)
JEWEL A female sheep (Shetland girl possibly) and the abbreviation for Left go after the ‘start’ of Jailhouse
17d At last, perhaps fixes ends of hose filling cylinders (7)
REHEELS The last being one used by a cobbler – the ‘ends’ of HosE inserted into (filling) some cylinders
18d Sedated criminal is determined (4-3)
DEAD-SET An anagram (criminal) of SEDATED
19d Giant cuts quashed by extremely canny Conservative (7)
CYCLOPS Cuts the ends off ‘quashed’ or put under the extreme letters of CannY and the abbreviation for Conservative
20d Lay brother’s not right for late vespers? (7)
PLACEBO Evening prayers for the dead – a verb meaning to lay and a contracted form of brother without (not) the abbreviation for Right
24d Shortened guard protects base of expansion joint (4)
KNEE A truncated verb meaning to guard ‘protects’ the letter at the end (base) of expansioN
25d Cold shoulder of lamb unsafe, withdrawn centrally (4)
SNUB Hidden in reverse (withdrawn centrally) in lamB UNSafe
Although my memory can be somewhat selective, I thought this was one of the most enjoyable and entertaining Toughies we have seen for some time. 16a and 7d took the honours this afternoon from a long list of potential winners. I certainly found it less brain-mangling than yesterday’s Artix. Great stuff.
Thanks Sparks for the fun, and to Sue.
There seems to be a bit of an ovine theme to this. I found it slightly less taxing and slightly less fun than yesterdays offering, tho I did smile at 1a when the penny dropped.
Re 4d Dr Google tels me there is a famous snooker player called Trump.
Thanks to Sparks and CS.
An enjoyable pangram – thanks to Sparks and CS.
I agree with halcyon that the Trump in 4d is Jedd rather than Donald.
On my podium are 16a, 2d and 14d.
What an absolute treat. 26a was just a joy, 7d was sweet and 2d made me smile. I do agree with halcyon that this was less taxing than yesterday but, personally, I enjoyed it even more. A couple of tricky words and some knotty parsing but superbly doable and very Friday-friendly. Huge thanks to Sparks and CS.
2D my favourite in this excellent offering from Sparks. Thanks also to Siouxie.
This was a most enjoyable and doable Friday Toughie. It was so welcome after yesterday’s brain-mangling from Artix which I would never have solved if it hadn’t been for Gazza’s explanations. I had ticks all over the place but my favourite was the well constructed 16A.
Many thanks to CS and to Sparks for such a great puzzle.
So near but yet so far – eventually defeated by the wretched coffee which I drink all the time apart from one ‘full throttle’ first thing in the morning! Couple of answers I needed to ask Mr G about – the cordial and the late vespers – but otherwise all my own work.
Another vote here for 2d as favourite.
Thanks to Sparks – hope Tia is keeping well? – and to CS for the coffee!
If we had heard of the 9a fish we would have saved ourselves quite some research time, but we did find it, and thoroughly enjoyed the solve with lots of chuckle-worthy clues.
Thanks Sparks and CS.
A couple of learning points. Most enjoyable. Thanks to CS and Sparks.
I haven’t looked at yesterday’s Artix Toughie but if YS reckons it was brain mangling maybe that one was Friday a day early. I found this one a good deal more straightforward (though still demanding for the likes of me) than usual. The only one unparsed was 4d – as a snooker fan & player I’m well aware of Judd but won’t be too hard on myself because if you see deteriorate & Trump in the same sentence why wouldn’t you think Donald. Got 20d from the wordplay & had to research what it had to do with vespers & also confirm the cordial. 2&7d my picks of the 4 good long ‘uns & 3d the pick of the wee ‘uns but 16a was my overall favourite. Very enjoyable.
Thanks to Sparks & Sue.
A rare foray into the Friday Toughie land for me these days, but most enjoyable it was.
Thanks to CS and Sparks.
First rate. Thank you, Sparks!