Toughie No 3277 by Dada
Hints and tips by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***/****
This was jolly: a fun, albeit slightly odd, mix of gimmes and chew. And some novelty (21a!) too. As ever, I had no idea how to rate this for difficulty. It’s not quite a one but it’s certainly not a three. So, rounding up for a change, I’ve deemed it a two. Do feel free to gun me down! All yours.
Across
1a One’s required to see device dispensing spirits put on bottle (5,5)
OPTIC NERVE: Spirit dispenser (in pub) + bottle/courage.
6a Seal circling a Pacific island (4)
GUAM: Seal/glue circling/round A.
9a Welcome table found in wood for peasant (10)
PHILISTINE: Welcome/hello + table (a bill, say) found in/inside a common type of wood.
10a German river that flows into Cologne, did you say? (4)
ODER: A homophone of what’s intrinsic to (flows into?) cologne. Or it’s just a homophone of (a synonym for) cologne with the “flows into” merely a link. Or the definition is the first four words – but if that’s not padding, I’m a Dutchman! Erm, not sure. what precedes/flows into cologne, when written (3,2). Of course it is! Thanks Gazza.
12a Pretty morsel chopped up for bird (6,6)
STORMY PETREL: PRETTYMORSEL, chopped up.
15a Case of one type of light on work of art (6)
OEUVRE: O[n]E + (ultraviolet) light + the usual “on”.
16a Make lighter mountain packs properly (8)
BRIGHTEN: (Scottish) mountain packs/contains properly/correct.
18a Man joining group rehearsed move (3,5)
SET PIECE: The usual “group” is joined by (chess) man
19a In moat he swims (2,4)
AT HOME: MOATHE, swimming.
21a Where a toerag is romantically linked with more than one person? (6,1,5)
MENAGE A TROIS: I can only imagine that this is sort of an all-in-one. What we seem to have is an anagram of ATOERAGIS (romantically?) linked with/following a word meaning more than one person (specifically more than one chap). Whether these arrangements invariably involve a “toerag” I really have no idea. But please do jump in if this parsing is one of my late-night specials!
24a Building dumped (4)
SHED: Double definition.
25a President plastered walls in a flat (10)
PEDESTRIAN: PRESIDENT, plastered, walls in/contains A.
26a Programmer, when speaking, closing notes (4)
CODA: Homophone of computer programmer.
27a This period proves troublesome for publishing office (10)
EDITORSHIP: THISPERIOD, troublesome.
Down
1d Sorry nothing works (4)
OOPS: The usual nothing plus the usual works.
2d Tarot’s first card, The Fool (4)
TWIT: T[arot] + the usual card or joker.
3d Internal organs in batter gripped by sticks (12)
CHITTERLINGS: Someone who bats/strikes gripped by/inside sticks/hangs (onto). A surprisingly sweet clue for summat so unspeakably foul to eat!
4d Whole tree in ground (6)
ENTIRE: TREEIN, ground.
5d Film about Yankee in local plantation (8)
VINEYARD: Film (VHS?) about/around Y[ankee] inside local/close.
7d Got used to odd nurse (10)
UNDERSTOOD: TOODDNURSE, used.
8d American with chopper finally cutting tree, one coming down (10)
MARYLANDER: [choppe]R cuts/inside a tree (hawthorn) + someone or something descending (to earth).
11d Is one removing the burden for a strong competitor? (12)
WEIGHTLIFTER: A word for a muscular gym/sports type could, when split (6,6), suggest someone who takes the dumb-bells off them. Easier to solve than to explain!
13d Notes that may be provided by the Speaker of the Commons? (5,5)
HOUSE MUSIC: What “notes” usually refers to, specifically a genre that suggests the Speaker’s place of work. Hmm.
14d Dunce cap worn here, cross to begin with (10)
MUTTONHEAD: Cross or mongrel (to begin with) + where a cap is worn (2,4).
17d Neck cut by rock aboard ship (5-3)
SCRAG-END: Rock/cliff aboard/inside (to) ship/deliver.
20d Once silver lining seen in warm chap (6)
ARGENT: [w]AR[m] (lining seen in warm) + one of the usual chaps.
22d Friends dressed in black I think (4)
KITH: Lurker, hidden in the last three words.
23d Steal Skittles on the counter (4)
SNIP: (Nine, etc) skittles (ie, not the sweets) reversed. Fun surface to finish.
Much enjoyment here. Seven anagrams is perhaps a tad on the high side but they were welcome, especially early doors. There are a couple of slightly quirky parsings (10a, 21a, etc) but nothing too exotic. I particularly liked 25a, 26a, 3d, 5d, 14d and 23d. How did you get on?
On the cusp between a Friday backpager and a Tuesday Toughie, although if I’d been able to spot the tree in 8d and parse 5d earlier than I did, it would have been more of a backpager
Just wondering how many people won’t know the Mother Carey’s Chicken in 12a
Thanks to Dada and ALP
There’s a cliff on the Pembrokeshire coast called Mother Carey’s Kitchen, presumably a play on Mother Carey’s Chicken. Amongst climbers it’s often known as Mother Scary’s Kitchen as climbing there is a serious proposition! Only climbed there once on a flat calm, summer day and it was still quite exciting!
I should have guessed this might be a Dada from the surfeit of anagrams! I found about 2/3 of this puzzle a 1-2* level of challenge but the remaining clues were well disguised and rather stiffer, such that overall it came in at a 3*. By and large very enjoyable, though I disliked 8d (specifically the synonym for ‘one coming down’, though it is entirely fair), 14d (NHO) and 21a which felt as though it were an amusing surface in search of a clue, but not really getting there. I’ll go for a podium comprising 25a, 3d (for the smile when the penny dropped) and 13d (ditto).
3* / 3*
Many thanks to Dada and ALP
Lovely early week Toughie – thanks to Dada and ALP.
Neither of the homophones worked for me though 10a is quite neat (I took ‘flows into’ to mean precede as ‘Eau de …’).
Top clues for me were 25a, 17d and 23d.
As ever, you’ve nailed it. Of course, ta!
So did I – didn’t understand the explanation & just assumed that was what ALP was saying.
I seem to recall Steven L saying there wasn’t much difference between a Dada Toughie & his prize puzzles. Well there was here in my view. A number of pennies were slow to drop but the generous anagram count certainly helped albeit I saw osprey first in the fodder & it fitted with the two checkers I had in. A one sitting solve in a respectable time with no letter reveal & all parsed other than didn’t really get the men bit 21a (great pic incidentally) so better than average for me. 3d pick of the clues for me.
Thanks to Dada & to ALP
Ps Agree with MG’s ratings.
A few tricky entries but compensated for elsewhere. Thought our blogger might have sacrificed one of his music clips in favour of a pic of a 12a but ’twas not to be! Ticks went to 1&12a plus 1&11d.
Thanks to Dada and to ALP for the review.
Shouldn’t it be storm rather than stormy for 12 across?
It’s their alternative (popular) name.
Fairly straightforward in the main though I needed the hints to parse 21a and 5d. Favourite was 17d. Thanks to Dada and ALP.
I found this really tough, especially the SW half, but as others have said, the anagrams helped. Some of em were damn fine anagrams too – 7d, 19a and the cracker at 21a.
Thanks to Dada and ALP -good to see Seasick Steve is still going and as eccentric as ever.
The parsing of 5d escaped me, but otherwise a fairly swift solve. I liked 21a. Thanks to Dada and ALP.
We also missed the parsing of 5d. Lots of clever clues and particularly enjoyed the wince making homophone for 10a.
Thanks Dada and ALP.
Enjoyed solving this a lot thank you Dada apart from the NW corner which eluded me so grateful to you for putting me out of my misery ALP, and for explaining the bit of 21a that isn’t “a toerag is”. Much fun though. My prize goes to your illustration at 14d.