Toughie 3297 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
View closed comments 

Toughie 3297

by ALP  

Toughie No 3297 by Prime
Hints and tips by ALP

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***

I have absolutely no idea who Prime is, but welcome to the party! It took me a second to adjust to the style but this was pretty much a hop, skip and a jump after that. Plenty of anagrams to gift a toehold if needed and some gimmes to boot. Jolly. All yours.

Across

1a Sweet father texted you: it’s a boy (5,5)
FRUIT SALAD: (Religious) father + how one might text “you” + ITSA from the clue + the usual boy. Nice, gentle start this. Super. Do these sweets (that’s what jumps to mind, not the “pudding”) still exist? Used to love ‘em back in 1842. And apologies for the appalling “tune” but they’re such nice chaps!

6a Raging tough, nothing less? (4)
THUG: TOUGH, raging, minus the usual “nothing”.

10a Slight element of self-indulgence (5)
ELFIN: Lurker, hidden in the last hyphenated word.

11a Show broadcast to crowd, mostly angry (6,3)
DOCTOR WHO: TOCROWD, broadcast + angry/heated, minus the last letter (mostly).

12a A rotten choir’s desperate for this? (13)
ORCHESTRATION: AROTTENCHOIRS, desperate.

14a Reading French article describing sex? Obscene! (8)
LITERACY: One of the usual French articles describes/contains the usual “sex” + obscene/saucy.

16a Soldiers from Tennessee maybe chasing 8 dogs (6)
CORGIS:  Our usual US soldiers chase/follow a synonym of 8d.

18a No coat for Jordan, wearing frock (6)
ORDAIN: Take the outer letters (no coat) off Jordan and add the two-letter word for “wearing”. I do love the word “frock” but apparently I’m not allowed to call them this anymore. I have no idea why!

20a Space had Moore excited (8)
HEADROOM: HADMOORE, excited.

22a Clean meat contained nuts (13)
DECONTAMINATED: MEATCONTAINED, nuts.

26a Horror of headless horseman with horse (9)
NIGHTMARE: The usual (chess or jousting, take your pick) horseman, missing its first letter/head + a (female) horse.

27a Newspaper cost could make you furious (5)
IRATE: One of the usual papers (not the FT on this occasion) + cost/price.

28a What’s part of a ladder called? (4)
RUNG: A double definition that reads like a quick!

29a Point into middle distance (10)
CENTIMETRE: Point or moment into/inside middle or heart.

Down

1d Worry student, beginning to overeat, will leave piece of broccoli? (4)
FRET: Delete the usual student + O[vereat] (will leave) from a word for a piece of broccoli.

2d Frank‘s revolting face (7)
UPFRONT: Revolting/rising + face (ie not the back).

3d Refresher note (5)
TONIC: Double definition. Summat refreshing and/or a musical (note).

4d German car consequently missing first house (8)
AUDIENCE: The usual German car + a synonym for “consequently” missing its first letter. Nice (theatrical) def.

5d Berkshire town‘s introduction of Aberdeen Angus? (5)
ASCOT: A[berdeen] + what Angus is often, by example.

7d Scientist working with birds (7)
HAWKING: Double definition. Liked this.

8d E.g. some dons suspect my word (8,2)
GOODNESS ME: EGSOMEDONS, suspect.

9d Picture designer with a large work mounted (8)
POLAROID: French (fashion) designer/label after/with A + L[arge] + the usual work.

13d A provider, perhaps British, crazy to host strange men (5,5)
BLOOD DONOR: B[ritish] + crazy (as a noun) hosting/outside strange/peculiar + the usual military men. I did like the “A” in the def. Smart.

15d Rule one: empty the Kindle again (8)
REIGNITE: The usual “rule” and the usual “one” + T[h]E.

17d Deposit amount of money for American, getting excited about it (8)
SEDIMENT: American money (10 cents), with excited/roused to ecstasy outside/about.

19d Shape study to contain more or less pizzazz (7)
DECAGON: The usual-ish study (ie, not con) contains more or less/roughly + pizzazz/zip.

21d Plainly seen eating a cold ham (7)
OVERACT: Plainly seen/evident outside/eating A + C[old].

23d Love assistant transported back in time (5)
AGAPE: The usual (office) assistant reversed (transported back) in(side) the usual time (not T) = the sort of love that only exists in dictionaries, crosswords and the bible. Probably.

24d Man following short cut in principle (5)
AXIOM: The ubiquitous Man (ie, the island) follows cut/lop, less its last letter.

25d Announced precursor to crop yield (4)
CEDE: A homophone (announced) of what precedes a crop. Fun.

Five anagrams, no exotica and solid wordplay. Seemed very Tuesday-ish to me. No stand-out favourite but I did enjoy a raft of clues: 6a, 14a, 18a, 26a, 29a, 7d and 25d. What did you all make of it? And who on EARTH is this?!

23 comments on “Toughie 3297”

  1. Oooh, a new Toughie setter! As somebody who often doesn’t get on with Tuesday backpagers, I thought I’d give this a go instead, and am glad that I did: a few answers on the first pass, then more appearing at a steady rate until, eventually, a full grid — with lots of entertainment along the way.

    Thank you to our setter. I had so many potential favourites, including 1d (“broccoli”), 4d (“house”), and 24d (“Man”, with that everso-important capital M). For a favourite I couldn’t pick between my first in, 1a’s sweet, and my last in, 16a’s 8 dogs. I hope to see more Prime puzzles soon.

    Thank you to ALP for explaining the ‘excited’ in 17d.

  2. I loved this. Whoever Prime is, thank you and come again soon. Smiles all the way through. All straightforward until slowing in the SE corner. Too many favourites to mention. Thanks to ALP and especially Prime

  3. A nice just right for a Tuesday Toughie. The across clues were nice and straightforward so there wasn’t a need for too much searching as to which solution went where in the unnumbered grid

    Thanks to Prime and ALP

  4. Prime sets for the Independent as Twin and the Times Literary Supplement as Agenor.
    We’ve seen him here before for the Cross Atlantic puzzle too, I think.

    2. Thanks, Twm. I see Prime has confirmed this on Twitter.

      Colin’s Cross Atlantic puzzles usually have a fun twist, and are usually on Fridays (except for last Friday, when another setter’s puzzle had a timely theme). Worth looking out for, even for solvers who don’t normally do the Cross Atlantics.

  5. Welcome to our new Toughie setter and thanks to him/her for an enjoyable puzzle. Thanks also to ALP for his usual very entertaining review.
    For my podium I’ve chosen 1a, 7d and 13d.

  6. I liked this a lot. It felt like a novice setter so I’m surprised to hear Prime sets for other outlets, Nice simple clues with credible surfaces. My picks are 1a [yes, fruit salad sweeties, they were a while ago] 15d [empty the Kindle] and 19d.
    Thanks to Prime, come back soon, and ALP [an eclectic mix today – are The Wiggles for real?]

    1. Oh come come! Have you no heart, man?! My daughter used to LOVE them. But hey, at least Jane might appreciate the (ghastly) earworm. She will of course, as ever, absolutely hate the rest!!

      1. It amused me that the one clip I could bear to listen to all the way through was the one you felt it necessary to apologise for including! Hadn’t heard it before so no ear worm but it did make me smile.

  7. A warm welcome to Prime. As CS said, this was just right for a Tuesday Toughie and I hope we can look forward to more like this in the Tuesday slot. Some of your puzzles elsewhere can be little monsters!
    27a was only too true – definitely my reaction when ‘they’ bumped up the price of the DT by another 50p per issue! My newsagent reckons that they’re trying to force us all to use the on-line version – maybe some of us will just swap to a ‘puzzles only’ subscription!
    Top three for me today were 1,5&7d with the gold medal going to 1d.

    Many thanks, Prime, hope you stay in the Goldilocks zone. Thanks also to ALP for the review.

  8. A most enjoyable if gentle Toughie, so thank you and welcome to Prime. I do hope we get to see more of you here courtesy of DT Towers. Completed from S to N with only pause really for 23a, entered “on trust” and confirmed post hoc with the BRB. Plenty of ticks, so will limit podium places to 16a, 15d, and 14a, with runners-up 1a, 26a & 9d.

    Some … interesting music choices. The Muse track is interesting and suggests they should be paying royalties to Dr Who and Blondie. Art of Noise – a wonderful blast from the past and the only one listened all the way through, and unlike Jane I certainly couldn’t manage more than about 5 seconds of the abysmal Fruit Salad!

    Many thanks to Prime & ALP

    1. Ha! I fear “interesting”, “eclectic” and “unlistenable” all mean pretty much the same thing. My work here is done! But I bet you’ll be humming Fruit Salad to yourself later., much to your annoyance. Damn my eyes!

      1. Not a chance, I turned it off too swiftly for it to have become an earworm, unlike the Muse track. I see I used “interesting” twice: poor proof-reading I’m afraid, and I should have used something different – maybe “challenging” instead of the first instance of interesting!

  9. What a confident and terrific start as a Toughie setter. Lots of solid, concise clues, with my favourites being the anagrams at 12 and 22a, mainly for the surface readings. More please.

    My thanks to Prime and ALP.

  10. I struggled in places, mainly in the north, but having completed it I couldn’t see why. Like others I thought this was top notch. I didn’t know that meaning of 23d but I do now. Almost impossible to pick one favourite but I’ll go with 7d. Thanks to Prime and ALP.

  11. An enjoyable start to the Toughie week from our new setter who’s style I had to steadily get to grips with. Once on his/her wavelength it became a different but nice Tuesday solve. I had lots of ticks 1,14,18A, and 1,4,13D to name a few. My favourite was 25D.
    Many thanks to ALP and a welcome thank you to Prime.
    I don’t know if anyone else who prints off had the same problem this morning but both of today’s crosswords were not numbered.

  12. Our solving time was extended by having to sort out the numbering first, but once that was done it all flowed smoothly for us.
    Thanks and welcome Prime, and ALP.

  13. Well Prime is welcome back anytime in my book. Not particularly tough which was precisely the sort of puzzle I was looking for at the end of a long day. Top 3 clues for me in no particular order were 1&14a plus 4d & fav music was You Wish but liked Muse also.
    Thanks to Prime & ALP

Comments are closed.