Toughie 3249 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3249

by ALP  

Toughie No 3249 by Donnybrook
Hints and tips by ALP

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***/****

I love MasterChef – happily back for its umpteenth season – almost as much as crosswords. But I have made a howling hash of both, from failing to clock The Iliad (the shame of it) last week to wilfully blowing the chance to appear on my favourite programme. I once interviewed Gregg Wallace and John Torode and it went so swimmingly they invited me onto their show. I then, however, inexplicably wrote about the painfully vain Torode’s “Churchillian” jowls and, worse, revealed the real reason why Gregg’s secret nickname is “spanky”. Both were, to say the least, less than pleased. Unsurprisingly, my invite was swiftly and heartbreakingly withdrawn. So I will try hard not to shoot any more of my toes off today. Thankfully, Donnybrook made it easy for me with a straightforward little number that, despite a couple of naughty words (yes, I’m looking at you 9a), offered breezy clues and even a dollop of sauce. I enjoyed this and was all set to give it a **** but the last couple of downs just slightly took the shine off, right at the death. Still fun though. All yours.

Across

9a Compound spoiled iced tea that’s swallowed before noon (9)
ACETAMIDE: ICEDTEA, spoiled, swallowing/containing the two-letter “before noon”. Where’s Terence when I need him? This goes STRAIGHT in the bin on the list.

10a Classy business graduate holding rook in dark place (5)
UMBRA: The usual one-letter posh/classy + business degree, holding/containing R[ook].

11a Wretched call to punish murderous scoundrel? (7)
HANGDOG: An imperative call to say “kill (that) cur” in two words (4,3). It’s either a call to punishment that’s deadly + a scoundrel or a call to punishment (tacitly harsh) + a (low?) scoundrel. It works either way (and it may well be the second) but I prefer the former parsing because, whereas this form of punishment is certainly deadly, a scoundrel is, surely, low (etc) by definition. Discounting that rather unfunny old Steve Martin and Michael Caine flick, are there really grades of scoundrel? Perhaps.

12a Hard to stop literal mind occasionally showing disease (7)
TYPHOID: H[ard] stops/is inserted into a (typing) literal + mInD.

13a Crawler‘s second year chap not partying (9)
SYCOPHANT: S[econd] + Y[ear] + CHAPNOT, partying.

15a Sweetmeat almost cut in two by American (5)
HALVA: The verb for “cut in two” loses its last letter (almost) +/by the usual American. I’m off to Turkey shortly and I will NOT be eating this. Yuk!

17a Brutal police make move seizing revolutionary tapes (7)
GESTAPO: Move/turn seizes/contains TAPES, revolutionary.

19a Last to seek dispute, posh girl’s around for basic industry (7)
LEGWORK: [see]K + dispute/argument + a (jolly hockey sticks) girl, reversed/around.

20a Unerringly Phidias captures character in carving (5)
GLYPH: Lurker, hidden in the first two words. Thank goodness for that – saved me the trouble of Googling Phidias. Actually, it didn’t. He was, of course, a Greek sculptor from 400-summat BC. Naturally.

21a Action taken about Scots man is portrayed as evil (9)
DEMONISED: Action/feat surrounds the Scots for (hoots?) “man” + “is” from the clue.

24a Slave gathering in fine wrapping .material (7)
TINFOIL: Slave/work contains “in” from the clue + F[ine]

26a Botch Schubert badly having neglected overture? (7)
BUTCHER: [S]CHUBERT, badly. Is there any other kind of Schubert?

28a Film buff denied start in study (5)
ETUDE: The usual two-letter film + (in the) buff, minus its first letter.

29a Giedroyc reportedly tolerated in city (9)
MELBOURNE: Sue Perkins’ chum + a homophone (reportedly) of tolerated/endured.

Down

 1d Disappointment hit home, leaving yours truly a little sad (6)
BATHOS: Cricket’s “hit” + ho[me] (leaving yours truly) + a bit of S[ad]. Not a word I’ve seen since university and not one I’ve missed!

2d Playwright in ocean indeed a criminal from the south (4,1’5)
SEAN O’CASEY: The usual ocean plus indeed/sure + A (from the clue) + criminal/prisoner, reversed (from the south). Not an old playwright you hear much of in the Tel. Good to see.

3d Madam Weisberg’s top immoral houses (4)
BAWD: W[eisberg] housed by immoral/evil. What a splendid word this is.

4d Way to enhance performance in Sex and the City (6)
VIAGRA: The Roman “sex” + the Taj Mahal’s city. I rather wanted the wordplay to be six words not four, but no. Fun.

5d Abstemious duck guzzling energy drink (8)
TEETOTAL: Crosswords’ second most usual duck contains E[energy] + drink/dram.

6d Experience an early spring travelling down the lane? (4,3,3)
JUMP THE GUN: After my Homeric gaffe last week I did spend slightly too long looking at the parsing here, trying to find some hidden meaning. But I think it’s just a cryptic definition for an expression that means “to start prematurely” derived from a sprinter (in a lane) springing out of the blocks too soon.

7d Spanish runner featured in outside broadcast (4)
EBRO: Not a runner from 6d but another kind of runner altogether. Another lurker, hidden in the last two words.

8d Book bound to last from Spooner’s forbidden journalist? (8)
HARDBACK: A gentle Spoonerism of banned/blocked + a synonym of journalist that is often seen (quite wrongly) as an insult but is actually a badge of honour on Fleet Street. Enjoyed this.

14d One missile-launcher that should get the pulse going (10)
PEASHOOTER: The sort of missile-launcher that William Brown might have used (no, not a catapult, the other one!). This pulse has nothing to do with heartbeat. Made me smile.

16d Majority in ship keeping two creatures apart (5,5)
LION’S SHARE: The usual two-letter ship inserted between two animals, one fierce and one fast.

17d Ambitious type never opening highly impatient message? (2-6)
GO-GETTER: Take the first letters off (never opening) two words for highly impatient/excitedly eager and a (written) message. Smart.

18d Preparing non-universal leaf mould, squeeze once (3,5)
OLD FLAME: LEAFMO[u]LD, prepared.

22d Structure with dangling forms in Alabamian city (6)
MOBILE: Double definition for a structure you might see hanging over a baby’s cot and a city in Alabama.

23d Diana, blonde bombshell in France and county here (6)
DORSET: The British bombshell who often visited Weymouth (her husband was in Portland jail!) and who wasn’t quite Monroe and certainly not Bardot + the French for “and”. Grand to see the best county get a look-in.

25d Perhaps senate vote against peacekeepers (4)
NOUN: The vote that’s not an “aye” + the usual peacekeepers. Hmm.

27d One on left and right splitting total (4)
TROT: R[ight] inserted into/splits a (basically, just shortened) total. Another hmm.

There are five anagrams (including two semi-partials) in 30 clues so Mustafa G, for one, won’t be happy as this blatantly contravenes his strict 1:8 rule! But I had sport here and I have no doubt you’ll all make light work of it. I especially enjoyed 11a, 3d, 4d and 14d. However, I’m honour-bound to pick 8d (I’ve certainly been there!) as my favourite. What did you make of it?

29 comments on “Toughie 3249”

  1. An excellent puzzle to kick off what promises to be a first-class Toughie week – thanks to Donnybrook and ALP.
    Reading ALP’s hint for 1d I see that I got the wrong answer, opting for a gentler hit.
    Accolades handed out to 11a, 4d, 6d and 14d.

  2. Just right for a Tuesday with the usual Donnybrook fun. My favourite was 14d

    Thanks both

  3. Really enjoyed this super puzzle – especially that I am typing this while playing ‘Back:n:Black’ at a decent volume, now on to their versions of Thunderstruck & Let There Be Rock … happy days!

    While part of me says “to my shame”, I’m not really bothered that I’ve never heard of the long-dead playwright, as easily deduced from the wordplay. And OK, so 9a was the archetypal grasscutter to the batsman needing a 6 from the final ball. But such minor niggles when the whole was so much fun. Podium places to our familiar old friend 14d, 20a, 3d, 5d & 6d.

    I’ll go with 2* / 4*. Many thanks to Donny and ALP (surprised J&G were so grumpy – I’m sure both have had much worse written about them, and assuming its your article I found, you were very gentle!)

    1. Blimey, great sleuthing. They certainly moaned about the original interview that appeared in the paper. It may have been latterly softened online (no idea) but no, I don’t think I was harsh at all. The rescinded invite may, of course, have also had summat to do with the fact that J and G actually invited me onto “Celebrity” MasterChef. Their PR quite literally spat out her coffee when they said that. Gregg even gave me a hand-written invite to that effect. Now, I know the “celebrity” bar is fairly low on reality TV but I’ve never met anything like even the lowest of the lowest criteria!

      1. ;) PR not good at controlling her reactions, then. Maybe you should apply to Sleb MC as a one-time hack (see if they remember you!) and budding crossword setter?

        Original and Sleb MC tend to go unwatched now chez Grumble, but ProMC is a diary event, similarly Great British Menu.

  4. Didn’t find this as much of a breeze as our reviewer appears to have done but it was satisfying to end up with a completed grid despite 9a’s attempt to prevent it. Favourite was the missile-launcher with mentions for 11,17&24a.

    Thanks to Donnybrook and to ALP for the review – I’d have given a lot to see you as a contestant on MasterChef!

  5. An enjoyable and gentle start to our Toughie week. Liked 8D very much but my podium has to be 14D.
    Many thanks to ALP and Donnybrook.

  6. I agree with ALP that 6d is just a [rather dud] cryptic def but there’s a really funny one to make up for it at 14d. Otherwise a good snigger at 4d. I too went for the P-word at 1d – I considered the B-word and decided the decision didn’t matter very much.
    Thanks to DonnyB and ALP.

  7. Good fun and fairly light for a Toughie that was nonetheless a joy to solve. I couldn’t see beyond 14d for a favourite. Re the picture at 18d; rumour has it that at the next match between the two sides, an FA Cup quarter final possibly, the Wimbledon team presented Gazza with a cricket box before kick off. I was at St James’ Park but cannot attest to the veracity of the claim unfortunately.

    Thanks to Donny and ALP.

    1. I wonder what VAR would have made of Vinny’s antics – he didn’t even get a yellow card 😁

  8. If I have a go at a toughie, then Tuesday is my day as the offerings later on in the week are well above my pay grade. Apart from two clues where I needed some of Alp’s hints this Donnybrook was right up my street. Never heard of the compound at 9a (I was / am a scientific dullard) and the playwright only rings a vague bell, but the rest were full of fun. Even the Spoonerism worked for me. My podium comprises 23d, 16d and top of the pile, 14d. Thanks to Donnybrook and Alp.

  9. A gentle Toughie but good fun. Never heard of the playwright but wordplay was enough to get him. I liked 14d a lot.
    Any excuse for a Withnail clip, eh ALP? Great stuff! See you played safe with the Matrix though for the blue pill. Heehee.
    Thanks to the NY Doorknob and ALP for the entertaining review.

    1. 26a was a gift. How could I not? And it’s one of the very few swear-free Withnail clips to boot.
      Re 4d, I SO wanted to post Punk Rock Loser by the Viagra Boys but it would have got me in lumber..

  10. Somehow I managed to fit this in today in between taking Mrs RD to and from hospital to get her new knee re-set and manipulated after her recent fall when she wrenched her knee as well as cracking a rib. The surgeon expressed himself pleased with the procedure today and her rib is already less painful (although today’s painkillers will have helped today).

    I thought this was the perfect Tuesday Toughie – nicely challenging and good fun from start to finish. With plenty of ticks, 14d was my favourite.

    Many thanks to Donnybrook and to ALP.

  11. Nice puzzle with many a good one. I’ll plump for 17D.

    Thanks Donny and ALP.

    1. Huge thanks for popping in – always much appreciated by us all – and for yet another bobby-dazzler.

  15. We also had 1d technically incorrect. Really enjoyed the solve with head-scratching needed for a few clues like 9a. 14a our favourite too.
    Thanks Donnybrook and ALP.

  16. An amusing puzzle with a couple of headscratchers, I took was pathetic before bathetic, but got it sorted with a bit of help from the Dorset Hack
    Thanks to Donny and ALP

    1. Yes, many went for P over B. Possibly most, in fact. Perhaps “disappointment” was a tad loose. My personal reasons for going straight for B were a) a bat is more of a hit than a pat (in real life, anyway) and b) while a disappointment can be a pity, it is most certainly an anti-climax. But the difference is, undoubtedly, wafer-thin. Thank you for the “Dorset Hack” epithet. I’ll take it!

  17. 1*/4* ….
    liked 18D “Preparing non-universal leaf mould, squeeze once (3,5)”

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