Toughie 3269 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3269

by ALP  

Toughie No 3269 by Musaeus
Hints and tips by ALP

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

It seems, as ever, preposterous for me to be critiquing a pro – today of all days! But here we go. This really grew on me. Very gentle in the main and ever-so gentle up top. But there is the odd flick of trickery, a likeable trace of quirk and some of the parsing certainly kept me on my toes – notably 10a and  7d. All yours.

 Across

1a Charm of parent’s bed (6)
MASCOT: (One of your) parent[‘]S + (child’s) bed.

4a Play the part in current hype (3,3)
ACT OUT: (Alternating) current + (to) promote or advertise.

8a This is left after burning tree (3)
ASH: What’s left after burning (wood, etc) is also a tree.

10a Starts endless low grade rows (4-3)
LEAD-INS: Low grade (of ore, in Chambers) minus its last letter, to give a three-letter “word”. Not a synonym I’d come across but it’s followed by a fairly usual four-letter word for rows/loud noises and the definition is clear.

11a Nothing helping address (7)
ORATION: The usual ‘nothing’ + helping (of food).

12a What is the focus for Detective Frost? (5)
CRIME: The (central) focus of DeteCtive + frost/ice. Lovely, but does it really need the “what is” that stops it from being a full &lit? Just curious.

13a Formal lease isn’t to be broken (9)
ESSENTIAL: LEASEISNT, broken. Not a synonym that jumped immediately to mind but it is, of course, in Chambers.

14a Fleeced outside function when purchasing that bloke’s ecstasy (7,6)
SEVENTH HEAVEN: Fleeced (as sheep, etc) outside/contains (formal dinner, etc) function, with “that bloke” (2) inserted/purchased. Tremendous, but shouldn’t ecstasy ideally be capped up for the surface?

17a Affected by an academic ironically I’ll ring the changes (13)
CAMPANOLOGIST: Affected (4) + “an” from the clue + a (facetious) scientist, etc. It’s actually in Chambers. Well, I never! Another winner.

22a Moralist troubled by indefinite number showing loss of grace or inebriety? (6,3)
MORTAL SIN: MORALIST, troubled, + the abbreviation for an “indefinite number”.

23a Constant unrefined oil (5)
CRUDE: The symbol for “constant” + unrefined or coarse.

24a Dog leaps in playfully (7)
SPANIEL: LEAPSIN, playfully.

25a Wonder if unit captures reversing vehicle (7)
MIRACLE: A unit of distance contains/captures the usual vehicle, reversed/ing.

26a Green group, a rival of backing energy? (3)
FOE: Of, reversed, plus E[nergy]. Slightly unnecessary double definition, I thought. The extended surface doesn’t quite work for me.

27a Comparatively slow fighter short of first base (6)
DULLER: A combatant in a bygone two-man challenge, missing the first of its two logarithmic bases.

28a Craft heading to Third World (6)
PLANET: An (air) craft + T[hird]. Nicely disguised.

 Down

1d Playful mischief from maiden who’s a guest at a wonderful tea party? (6)
MALICE: The usual maiden + you-know-who from a Wonderland/ful tea party.

2d Kent/Sussex area with channel showing Coast (7)
SEASIDE: The usual Kent/Sussex + A[rea] plus (TV) channel.

3d Postponed over fine (2,3)
ON ICE: O[ver] + fine/agreeable. Very clean.

5d It’s bound to work as one group quip about beginning from nine (5,4)
CHAIN GANG: A group (of shops, say) + quip/joke, with N[ine] inserted.

6d Opening scripture studies for foremost female in service (7)
ORIFICE: Religious Instruction takes the place of the first of two F[emale]s in a synonym of service or duty. Smart.

7d Mess that’s most frequently seen in tight corner (6)
TANGLE: This would seem to be a double definition of sorts as a word meaning both “mess” and “tight corner”. The “most frequently” does rather baffle me unless it refers to the most frequent letter in “tight” which is, of course, T. And then you would need to add a five-letter word for corner. A tad convoluted, surely? I certainly don’t think T is an abbreviation for “tight”. Or is it simply an all-in-one cryptic-ish definition? I don’t think so but I’m really not sure and I may well be missing summat. Tight can, of course, mean drunk and there is the boxer’s corner (of the ring) where you might well find one of these, but neither seems especially relevant. Again, it’s that “most frequently” that keeps sticking. One for my many betters to clarify/explain, I think!

8d Sadly fearless tones make others sit up and listen (6,7)
ASSERT ONESELF: FEARLESSTONES, sadly.

9d Board keep standing for a well-known celeb? (9,4)
HOUSEHOLD NAME: Board/place in lodgings + keep/have + standing/reputation. Liked this.

14d So among classicists (3)
SIC: Lurker, hidden in the third word.

15d Bring to the fore new pie and mash store being vacant (9)
EMPHASISE: PIEMASHS[tor]E, new.

16d This oddball overturned barrel (3)
NUT: Barrel/keg, reversed.

18d Flying service is excellent, bar getting miles in (7)
AIRMAIL: The usual excellent (2) plus the usual bar/rod, with M[iles] inserted.

19d A little scam supporting starter often (7)
SOUPCON: Scam or trick follows/supports what is often consumed as a starter. I enjoyed this but I have no real idea what the surface means!

20d A woman who inspires daughter is tickled pink (6)
AMUSED: A + woman who inspires (artists, writers, etc) + the usual daughter.

21d Late split trapping Chancellor of the Exchequer (6)
RECENT: The Chancellor’s generic abbreviation (2) inside split/rip.

23d Pink pen having only one nib to replace (5)
CORAL: Pen (for cattle) with only one of its two “nib(s) to Replace”. Ie, lose one R! Made me smile, not sure I’ve seen ‘nib’ used like this before.

A fair few gimmes, some novel parsings, a spot of misdirection and just five anagrams made for a fun solve. I particularly enjoyed 12a, 14a and 23d. What did you make of it?

43 comments on “Toughie 3269”

  1. I found this a bit trickier than I’d expect on a Tuesday but I enjoyed the solve. My favourite is 17a

    And if anyone at the DT is listening – please can we have a smaller grid so that all the clues fit on one piece of paper

    Thanks to Musaeus and ALP

  2. Once again the new puzzles site annoyingly tried to force me to waste a whole sheet of paper to print the last clue so once again I just printed the first page and manually wrote in the missing clue.
    This is a pleasant puzzle that didn’t cause too many problems though I needed the BRB to confirm the 10a low grade. Thanks to Musaeus and ALP.
    I think the 5d definition is the first six words of the clue. The first letter of the 7d answer is the most frequently seen letter in tight.
    I liked 12a (omitting the first two words, as ALP says, would have transformed it into a superb clue), 9d and 23d.

    1. I did ponder that possibility re 5d. On reflection, you are, of course, right. I will amend. Thank you, too, for the clarification re 7d. An odd one that.

      1. In 7d, I have Mess as the definition with the rest word-play: the frequent T + ANGLE (corner). And I’m sticking to it because I cant’ make the other suggestions work. Am I wrong?

        1. I think it has to be that, yes. There is nothing else – as far as I can see – that covers all the bases. But it is just slightly odd that “tight corner” effectively also works as a second definition. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a clue quite like it before!

            1. I did from the start! I decided to leave it like that to be honest as there is still a vague conundrum in my head. Twas ever thus!

    3. You can try setting the print settings to “print on both sides”.
      A smaller grid would help save ink, as well as allowing all the clues to fit on one sheet.

  3. 7d, parsed as Gazza suggests, was my fave, along with 6d and the nice cryptic definition in 5d. Agree 12a would be much improved if terser.
    Thanks to Musaeus and ALP.

  4. Like CS, I found this a bit trickier than I would expect for a Tuesday Toughie but just as enjoyable – ***/****

    Like CS and Gazza, somewhat annoyed over the ‘orphan’ last Down clue. If I had seen it I could have selected ‘print on both sides’. Oh well, as I don’t expect to print anything today, the second sheet is already back in the printer, suitably oriented, for tomorrow’s back pager.

    Slightly confused by ‘starter often’ in 19d perhaps ‘frequent starter’ would be better.

    Candidates for favourite – 14a, 27a, and 20d – and the winner is 14a.

    Thanks to Musaeus and ALP.

  5. Seem to always be a few rather curious clues in this setter’s puzzles but most of this one was quite straightforward.
    Top three for me were 1,8&20d with hon mentions for 12&23a.

    Thanks to Musaeus and to ALP for the review – slightly improved clips today, sir, I gave you Brownie points for Winston, David Attenborough and the Chain Gang!

  6. For some reason I had it in my head that I was solving a Chalicea puzzle. Anyhow it went in pretty smoothly & was very enjoyable. Quite agree that 12a would have read much better without the what if but it was still my favourite. Have to say I found the definition synonyms at both 1d&13a surprising & also bunged in 10a & forgot to go back & parse it.
    Thanks to Musaeus & to ALP – had a 5 bob patent on the likely music choices & came up trumps with The Jam & Anita but Sam did me for 2 doubles & the treble as thought you’d plump for

    1. Ha! You know me spookily well. I did filrt with Nina, so to speak. Otis and Jackie too. Showaddywaddy, not so much! But, in the end, I figured Sam – just – had the edge.

        1. Certainly, Chrissie was in the mix, too. And even Bobby Scott. An embarrassment of choices!

      2. Talking of Nina, I reckon her “To Love Somebody” knocks spots off the Bee Gees’ original version.

        1. Very true. Not to mention Janis. To be honest, I think every single cover – and there have been plenty – beats the original, with the notable exception of Michael Ball!

      1. There are exceptions, of course. I think Soft Cell just about has/d the edge on Gloria Jones, for example. But I largely agree, yes!

        1. Then there’s the Yes version of the Beatles “Every little thing” and, of course Mr Hendrix’s version of “All along the watchtower”.

          1. I think this subject came up some years ago, and my contribution at the time was to say almost anything written by Bob Dylan. There are too many great songs to list but The Byrds version of My Back Pages is one of my all time favourites.

            1. Indeed. I hope it goes without saying that anyone who think Leonard Cohen’s original Hallelujah is better than Jeff Buckley’s cover is dead to me!

      2. Indeed. Matthews Southern Comfort had a No 1 hit in 1970 with their version of Woodstock. It was a fine record but, for me, not a patch on Joni Mitchell’s original.

  7. I have been complaining to the DT Puzzles team for months about the new website; fonts are terrible, certain crosswords overlap onto second page and the Atlantic is always on two pages one for the grid and one for the clues. Old website was much better; don’t have much faith in the technical support actually testing this website out for people who a tally pay for it and want to print on ONE page per crossword?

  8. Nothing too strenuous here apart from the parsing issues mentioned by our blogger. 20d hit my funny bone and was my favourite this afternoon.

    Thanks to both Musaeus and ALP.

    Since the arrival of the new puzzles section, my aged iPad does not have the capacity to upgrade to the required standard, so I read the paper on the tablet, then do the puzzles on a combination of Android phone and laptop, apart from the Quickie and backpager which are still accessible as they have yet to transfer across. For how long I know not.

  9. ALP, I’ve got my pendantic head on and I was just wondering about 5d. I have the same parsing as you up to the comma in the hint then: containing N(ine). To me, “about” is a containment, not an insertion, indicator. Nitpicking, I suppose – that’s if I’ve got it right.

    1. You’re right, of course. “About” is indeed a container. It just seemed a simpler explanation, as A containing B is, effectively, B inserted into A. Nowt wrong with nitpicking. Pick away!

      1. Nay lad, am non havin’ that. Thes a significant diffrance between containment and insertion indicators. Tha canner mix ’em up willy-nilly me owd!

        *Dialect inspired by your “summat”.

        1. Ha! Now, you really are being pedantic. I could, of course, have said, quite correctly, A about B = A around B, but that just looked ugly to me on the page. I was in no way meaning to suggest it was an insertion not a containment. Just another way of writing it. Having said that all, my preference for a pretty surface over correctitude is just one of the many reasons I got yet another spanking from Prolixic today. So you’re probably sort of right!!

  10. Hmm. This was mostly not too difficult but a curate’s egg for me with a lot of good clues and some which were “nearly but not quite”.

    Even with your explanation, ALP, I still don’t understand the parsing of 10a. Are you referring to LEAD as a low grade ore? I can’t see anything in Chambers to reflect that.

    What is “what is” doing in 12a? 14a is too contrived for my taste. Surely “inebriety” in 22a isn’t a mortal sin? At least I hope not! “Most” tends to imply more than two occurences; perhaps “more often” would read better in 7d. I’m not keen on “nib” to mean the first letter in 23d.

    Perhaps I am just having a bad day…

    Thanks to Musaeus and to ALP.

    1. Ha! No, you need you need to add an N to LEA and then check Chambers’ second definition, #7. Nib was a new one to me, too. A definite hmm but one that grew on me. And you’re not wrong – it was quirky in places, certainly.

      1. Thanks, ALP. A tad obscure and a new one on me despite having spent my working life in the chemical industry.

  11. …and of course there’s Hendrix’s “All along the watchtower” but I may be straying into contested territory here.

  12. I found this fairly straightforward for the most part though I’ve no idea what the green group is. I didn’t have a problem with 7d. Hard to pick a favourite but I’ll go with 6d as it took a while to for the penny to drop. Thanks to Musaeus and ALP.

    2. I assumed the green group was Friends of the Earth, it was the rival that bothered me.

  13. I needed help with a couple but otherwise an enjoyable solve. As I only needed Alp’s hints for two, I have added its to my collection of Toughies either solved unaided or nearly solved unaided as this was. I think the list stands at 8 at the moment but I often don’t have time to look at the Toughie so that’s my excuse.

    Having rung bells for years, 17a was a favourite but my COTD is the charming bed at 1a.

    Many thanks, Musaeus for the fun and to ALP for the hints.

  14. Light and enjoyable. Playful and malice raised an eyebrow, and I can’t see what inebriety has to do with mortal sin.

    HMs to 12a, 19d and 20d.

    Many thanks to Musaeus and the Borderline Mad Genius.

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