Toughie 3278 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3278

by crypticsue  

Toughie  No 3278 by Serpent

Hints and Tips by crypticsue

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****

Serpent returns with an enjoyable  Wednesday Toughie.   He has used that grid with the Ls (and +s) in it again, but it still isn’t his 50th Toughie (it is his 37th) so I will have to keep looking to see what he has ‘hidden’ or connected in the grid

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought

Across

1a           Do what one is told to control horse in a similar way (10)
COMPARABLY Do what one is told ‘controls’ or ‘restrains’ a type of horse

6a           Article about uncertainty or doubt is lacking in sophistication (4)
NAIF A reversal (about) of an indefinite article followed by a conjunction indicating uncertainty or doubt

10a         Extreme state (5)
UTTER An old friend of a double definition, the first an adjective, the second a verb

11a         White-collar criminal fleeced investors (9)
PECULATOR Someone who pilfers or embezzles – ‘fleece’ or remove the outside letters from people who take risks when buying or selling shares (investors)

12a         Book series contains line one reads casually (7)
BROWSER Abbreviations for Book and series ‘contains’ a line or rank of people or things

13a         Express contempt for freedom of movement in demonstration (7)
DISPLAY A slang verb meaning to express contempt for and some freedom of movement

14a         After restructuring, this rep’s wage could be what other members of company don’t receive (5,7)
STAGE WHISPER An anagram (after restructuring) of THIS REPS WAGE

18a         Having taken ecstasy, engineer even represses awkward nature (12)
PERVERSENESS An anagram (engineer) of eVEN REPRESSES once you have removed the abbreviated way of referring to the drug Ecstasy

21a         Socket on preamp regularly dropped connection (7)
RAPPORT A computer socket goes on or after the even (regularly dropped) letters of pReAmP

23a         Revolutionary county court stops time in jail (7)
STRETCH A reversed (revolutionary) abbreviated county ‘stops’ or takes inside an abbreviated court

24a         Enact changes to embrace new role and open-mindedness (9)
TOLERANCE An anagram (changes) of ENACT ‘embraces’ another (new) of ROLE

25a         Praise former duty of reporter (5)
EXTOL The usual two-letter former and a homophone (of reporter) of a tax or duty

26a         Clobber useless individuals (4)
DUDS Informal clothes (clobber) or useless or ineffective people or things (individuals)

27a         Cheat man investing money for group (10)
CONTINGENT A verb meaning to cheat and a man into which is inserted (investing) a slang word for money

Down

1d           Caught spouse looking round (6)
CHUBBY The cricket abbreviation for Caught and an informal way of referring to a male spouse

2d           Sheep and working dog changing places (6)
MUTTON An adverb meaning working and a slang word for a dog ‘change places’

3d           Blanket covering table (6-3-5)
ACROSS-THE-BOARD This expression meaning blanket or applying in all cases could, without the hyphens, mean covering the table

4d           Vegetable pasta’s prepared, but no time to include a bolognese sauce (9)
ASPARAGUS An anagram (prepared) of PAStAS (without the T – no time) includes a meat sauce used in dishes such as Spaghetti Bolognese.  My original hint did include the A (from the clue) but as Halycon pointed out, that gives you one A too many in the solution

5d           Sensible cap restricts university courses to begin with (5)
LUCID A cap or top ‘restricts’ the abbreviation for University and the first letter (to begin with) of Courses

7d           Vegetarian cooked polenta with last of cheese (8)
ANTELOPE An anagram (cooked) of POLENTA with the last letter of cheesE

8d           Agricultural land may spread south of distant road (8)
FARMYARD An anagram (spread) of MAY goes after (south of) an adjective meaning distant, the result finished with an abbreviated road

9d           This doctor might make nurse go (7,7)
PLASTIC SURGEON I like these clues where you have to start with an anagram indicator and then make an anagram (might make) of words in the clue, in this case NURSE GO

15d         Exposed snakes exhibited distress (9)
WINDSWEPT Here snakes is a verb to be followed by a simple way of saying exhibited distress by crying

16d         Ran newspaper piece about cost of owning property (8)
OPERATED A newspaper article printed opposite the editorial column and usually expressing the personal opinions of the writer goes ‘about’ a cost of owning property

17d         Storage medium disrupted by waveform is badly damaged (8)
CRIPPLED A storage medium ‘disrupted’ by a little wave

19d         Utrillo’s first seen in National Gallery exhibit (6)
STATUE The first letter of Utrillo seen in a synonym for national

20d         Man briefly rented place in the Alps (6)
CHALET Almost all (briefly) of an informal word for a man followed by a synonym for rented

22d         Represent gentleman’s exterior to a T (5)
TANGO An anagram (represent) of the ‘exterior’ of GentlemaN and TO A (from the clue)

 

14 comments on “Toughie 3278”

  1. Very, very friendly for a Serpent. Loved this: fine story-telling and wall-to-wall elegance. 1a is smart, 9d tickled me and 16d is the best clue for this word that I’ve seen. 22d’s anagram construction is unusual and fun. And, though simple, 11a reads beautifully. 10a’s a bit of a yawn and I don’t quite see why 6a needs “uncertainty” as well as “doubt” but, aside from that, it was an absolute hoot. A crowd-pleasing “toughie” that really delivered. Many thanks to Serpent and CS. Delighted to hear that Sue can’t spot any hidden message (and surely, this being Serpent, there will be one?) as I certainly haven’t clocked one. And if she can’t see it, I don’t feel so bad!

  2. One of my first few foray’s into The Toughies, having been doing the ordinary cryptic for several years now. Took me several hours, but an enjoyable slog! Especially liked learning new words for me, such as 11a and 26a. 9d was my favourite!

    1. You’ve changed from your full name to an alias. Both will work from now on

  3. I found this considerably easier than yesterdays. There is an arguably surplus “a” in 4d [and in your parsing Sue]. Top clue for me was 21a.
    Thanks Serpent and CS.

    1. So there is – I think I’d moved on to how much 4d there would be in the bed for tonight’s dinner

      1. You too! We have loads but it’s been so wet this year the slugs are nibbling it. Never seen that before.

  4. Very enjoyable indeed – thanks to Serpent and CS.
    I have loads of ticks including 11a, 23a, 1d, 2d and 15d.

  5. Super puzzle, some lovely clues, 2d & 22d were my favourites.

    Thanks to CS & Serpent.

  6. It took me time to get into the rhythm of this very enjoyable puzzle, but once there, all fell into place. I couldn’t parse the first part of 9D even though it was the obvious answer. I know from your explanation Sue, that there is a subtlety here and I’m trying to get to grips with it. I also couldn’t parse 16D. However I completed so I mustn’t beat myself up but just keep on learning.
    Lots to like but my favourite is 3D.
    Many thanks to CS and Serpent.

  7. Many thanks for crypticsue for the excellent blog, and to everyone who has been kind enough to comment.

    There isn’t anything hidden on this occasion. Just for a change I built the puzzle around the four long entries.

  8. Great puzzle, thank you Serpent – loved the surfaces, variety and wit. You were so gentle with us that I wonder what torture your next offering will bring!

    Thanks to Sue.

  9. Couldn’t get going until I cheated and looked up 1a in the blog.
    Finally finished it after a bit of a slog.
    Thanks to CS and Serpent.

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