Toughie 3313 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3313

by ALP  

Toughie No 3313 by Dharma
Hints and tips by ALP

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

It’s always fun to see Dharma back to kick things off. This took me a second just to remind myself of his style but then it all came together pretty briskly. Some very decent surfaces, fair definitions and nothing too outré. Very Tuesday, I’d say. All yours.

Across

1a Bad-tempered driver clipping rear of another (6)
CRABBY: (Taxi) driver contains/clips [anothe]R.

4a Knocking back the booze? Order Carol’s round (8)
SWILLING: To order/command, with (to) carol on the outside/round = drinking a lot of booze or any liquid, really.

10a Bandleader John possibly admitting uninitiated affair (9)
ELLINGTON: Tiny Dancer singer John contains/admits affair/dalliance, minus its first letter.

11a Uber taxi’s beginning to cut university student price (50 per cent off) (5)
ULTRA: T[axi] inside/cuts the usual university and student + a price/charge, minus its last two letters.

12a Stops car after stint sharing miles (7)
TERMINI: Stint/ period + popular small car are “blended” by sharing the first word’s ultimate M[ile] and the second’s initial M[ile]. I do like clues like this, even though they’re far easier to solve than explain!

13a Turned up hem in the middle and knitted (7)
EMERGED: [h]E[m] + knitted/joined.

14a Trouble from appendix during puberty occasionally (5)
UPSET: (Epistle’s) appendix inside/during pUbErTy.

15a Culmination of quarrel over daughter started by Oxford model? (4,4)
LAST WORD: Quarrel/spat, reversed (over) + the usual daughter, following (started by) a (cobbler’s) model used to make an Oxford, etc.

18a Legitimate to claim jail not working as act of retribution (8)
REPRISAL: Legitimate/genuine contains/claims a synonym of “jail” minus its two-letter word for “working”.

20a Unseats first character from contests with aim to unseat the other? (5)
OUSTS: Tournament contests in which mounted combatants used to try and unseat their rivals, minus the first letter/character.

23a Disturbs pets (7)
TOUCHES: Double definition. The first is specifically in Chambers and the second isn’t (exactly) but it’s by far the more obvious synonym.

25a Attracted to that place, like to go back in May? (7)
THERESA: “That place” + the two-letter “like” reversed. “Attracted to” is just a link.

26a Create division with skilful or witty remark (5)
CRACK: Triple division – verb, adjective, noun. Nice.

27a Came out with or without medical supply? (9)
EXCLAIMED: A preposition for “without” that also means “old” + MEDICAL, supply.

28a What VAR could do with public order, taking time out (8)
OVERRULE: Public/clear + order (of a court, say), minus the usual “time”.

29a One holding Kindle say, changing hands to find article (6)
LEADER: A word for someone using a Kindle (or, preferably, a proper book!) with its initial “hand” switching from Right to Left.

Down

1d Maybe saw scanner checking ambassador’s head (8)
CHESTNUT: (Medical) scanner checks/contains the usual “ambassador’s” + one of the usual heads.

2d Draws return game 50-50, inspired by host (7)
ALLURES: The Roman numerals for 50-50 + (the best) game/sport (2) inside/inspired by a “synonym” of host/a big number, all reversed/returned.

3d Trains essentially went all over the place under British Rail (9)
BANNISTER: TRAINS+[w]EN[t], all over the place, after/under the usual “British”.

5d Secure title with scores engineered in period of low light? (6,8)
WINTER SOLSTICE: Secure/gain, then TITLE+SCORES, engineered.

6d Insect repellent’s core requirement on river (5)
LOUSE: [repe]L[lent] + the usual (Yorkshire) river.

7d Number one governor from the south promoting north (7)
INTEGER: The usual “one”, then governor/ruler reversed/from the south, with its N[orth] “promoted”.

8d Organs of state entering case for governments (6)
GLANDS: State/nation inside/enters G[overnment]S.

9d Material‘s clean and appropriate for the audience (9,5)
STAINLESS STEEL: A synonym for “clean” plus a homophone of “appropriate”/for the audience. Reads well, this.

16d Total of all he owes written off (9)
WHOLESALE: ALLHEOWES, written off.

17d Perhaps Cuban heels finally breaking near Lidl, virtually ruined (8)
ISLANDER: [heel]S breaks/inside NEARLID[l], ruined.

19d Cheer enthralling start to Manchester United match (7)
EMULATE: Cheer (up) enthrals/contains M[anchester] + the usual “united”.

21d Spirited horse pounding 1,000 metres should be checked (7)
STEMMED: Horse (especially, according to Chambers, a spirited one, apparently) (im)pounds the usual 1,000 and metres.

22d Facing workers’ organisation, company boss ultimately superior (6)
STUCCO: Setters’ favourite worker’s organisation (3)  + the usual “company”, with [bos]S starting/superior.

24d One putting up prices steeply in March meeting resistance (5)
HIKER: (to) march + the usual resistance.

A nice mix of clues. Some well-worked word combinations (Uber taxi/British Rail, Cuban heels, etc), a fair bit of containment as well as elision, five anagrams and a very sharp triple definition made for a very jolly solve. I particularly enjoyed 12a, 14a and 26a but I think (largely for its surface) my vote should go to 9d. How did you get on?

16 comments on “Toughie 3313”

  1. Crikey ALP & I thought this was pretty tough – as Bobby Jones said of Jack when he won the Masters in 65 you play a game with which I’m not familiar. Can’t really claim an unaided finish as I used the check function midway through & made a correction en route but at least I got there eventually albeit with a helluva lot of whys arriving on a later bus. Very enjoyable as always with Stephen’s puzzles. The 2 long ‘uns at 5&9d were my picks but with a good few ticks elsewhere.
    Thanks to Dharma & to ALP – as an avid Dan fan Stephen may well have expected their great take on a Duke number

    1. Thanks for the appropriate track, very much enjoyed listening to that again, reminding me what a superb album Pretzel Logic is.

  2. 1*? You cannot be serious. This took me well into 3*, nearly 4* time. OK it’s the start of a toughie week, maybe a bit rusty – or not. I found a lot of the clues quite complex and perhaps a bit wordy but there’s nothing to cry foul about. Top picks for me were 26a, 27a, 3d [lovely surface] and 22d.

    Thanks for the blog [I never want to see Theresa May dancing again] and thanks to Dharma for the contest.

    1. Yep, sorry about the dance clip. I just couldn’t resist it. Beyond absurd. I may well have underestimated the difficulty, judging from your (and Huntsman’s) reaction. So sorry about that, too. I just locked onto his wavelength pretty early on. I’ll be very interested what the consensus is.

  3. */**. For me, I still find SL’s style a little odd. Sometimes he seems quite “strained” to produce the answer, rather than “flowing”.

  4. An entertaining Toughie ideal for Tuesday – thanks to Dharma and ALP.
    Highlights for me were 15a, 20a and 9d.

  5. Thought this was quite a workout for the Tuesday slot, particularly on the parsing side, but it all came together eventually – much to my relief. My favourite was the clean material with lesser places claimed by 10a & 5d.

    Thanks to Stephen/Dharma and to ALP for the review.

  6. I thought this was more difficult than the usual Tuesday Toughie and took me quite a while to get onto the Setter’s wavelength.It was an enjoyable tussle and I got there in the end.
    Lots to like, picking 1, 12, and 26A and 5, 7,and 22D.
    Podium goes to 15A.
    Many thanks to ALP and Dharma

  7. Continuing what for me seems to be a DT trend of having a late-week Toughie appearing on a Tuesday, I certainly found this no 1* puzzle, with the SW taking absolute ages and a couple of letter reveals where I’d been going down the wrong track. I felt that some clues sacrificed clarity in their pursuit of a good surface read (a number though had distinctly odd surfaces), with some dubious synonyms (ie I didn’t like them, and sod the dictionary!), and a little unnecessary padding & verbosity. Ah well, a wavelength thing and I was nowhere near it today. Probably this confounded heat. Grump grump grumble. I much prefer winter!

    Many thanks to Stephen and ALP.

    1. Clearly, I’m in the minority today. Nothing new there. Perhaps – for once –  there was some benefit to tackling this at midnight, rather than in the heat of the day. I do take your point that, in some clues, surface came first. But I’m a sucker for a surface, so I wasn’t unduly bothered. I absolutely agree with you re the dictionary though. In the real world, I trust Chambers about as far I can throw it. Summat I often do, in fact!

        1. Good grief. That’s certainly a title I’ll never forget! Some lunatic did try to make me eat roadkill badger vindaloo once. Er, no thanks.

  8. Thanks to ALP for his usual spot-on review and to everyone who solved and commented, all appreciated.

  9. Great puzzle. Just right for a Tuesday. 10a gets my vote. Thanks to ALP and Dharma.

  10. We had to work quite a lot harder, particularly in the NW, than our blogger is reporting but really enjoyed the solve.
    Thanks Dharma and ALP.

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