Toughie No 3314 by Prime
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
Prime’s second Toughie was slightly more difficult than his first [Tuesday]Toughie, making it about right for a Wednesday
Is there a 15a? There are several political references and some to America, but I’m not entirely convinced it amounts to a 15a, although I expect several people will turn up to tell me I am wrong!
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought
Across
1a Dominance, say, found in fringe entirely abandoned by Left (8)
HEGEMONY Leadership or dominance over others – Abbreviated for example (say) inserted into a fringe and a synonym for entirely ‘abandoned’ by the abbreviation for Left. A word I vaguely knew but found out more about after it appeared in a detective novel, where two characters were discussing how to pronounce it, the BRB also giving two different pronunciations
5a Winning electoral area to the north (6)
UPWARD A synonym for winning and an electoral area
10a US insignia smooths journey among peers (5,3,7)
STARS AND STRIPES Smooths with abrasive material and a journey inserted into (among) looks with a fixed gaze (peers)
11a Wife from LA oddly restless (3,4)
OLD LADY An anagram (restless) of LA ODDLY
12a Grab statement from reporter? (7)
IMPRESS Grab here is a slang word meaning to interest or have a profound effect on. A reporter might introduce himself by saying xx xxxxx
13a Enjoy this hot, fresh meal (5,3)
GREEN TEA Fresh or new and a meal
15a Talk about this enemy base (5)
THEME When talking about the enemy, one might say us and xxxx. The letter that is the base of the natural system of logarithms should be added at the end
18a Leading element of Tory cuts? (5)
TAXES The ‘leading’ element of Tory and part of a verb meaning cuts with a particular tool
20a Bird with sex unknown stalking men in the Middle Ages (8)
ETERNITY A bird, one of the two letter words meaning sexual intercourse and a mathematical unknown go after (stalking) the letter in the middle (misleading capital”) of mEn
23a Mixture of medium and longer bananas (7)
MONGREL M (medium) followed by an anagram (bananas) of LONGER
25a Prime Minister appeared finally, later on (7)
CAMERON Appeared, the final letter of lateR and ON (from the clue)
26a A recent deletion marred understanding (7,8)
ENTENTE CORDIALE An anagram (marred) of A RECENT DELETION
27a Who relaxes around tense celebration? (6)
EASTER Someone who relaxes ‘around’ the abbreviation for Tense
28a District court backing secure outside games area (8)
PRECINCT The abbreviation for court goes after (backing) a verb meaning to secure into which is inserted an abbreviated games area
Down
1d Welcome splash for magazine editor (6)
HISLOP An informal greeting and a synonym for splash combine to give the surname of the editor of Private Eye
2d Race two monkeys, with Independent and Times carrying publicity (5,4)
GRAND PRIX Monkey is a slang term for 500 pounds, so if we have two monkeys we need another for 1,000 pounds. This should be followed by the abbreviation for Independent and a letter used to mean times in a multiplication sum, into which is inserted the abbreviation for public relations (publicity)
3d Dispatch problem generation (7)
MESSAGE A problem and a period of time (generation)
4d French city and US city welcoming African politicians (5)
NANCY An abbreviated US city ‘welcoming’ the abbreviation for an African political party
6d Take off during separate section of defence (7)
PARAPET Mimic or imitate (take off) inserted into (during) a verb meaning to separate
7d Rich taste, but not at first (5)
AMPLE Taste or try a small portion without its first letter
8d Criminal tried to frame military unit for tragedy (8)
DISASTER An anagram (criminal) of TRIED ‘framing’ an elite military unit
9d Judge’s loose ties prevent king from moving? (8)
ESTIMATE An anagram (loose) of TIES and what a chess player does to prevent a king from moving
14d Melancholy of Birmingham? (3,5)
THE BLUES The nickname of Birmingham City Football Club is also an informal term for melancholy
16d Consider it a tenner, after wrangling (9)
ENTERTAIN An anagram (after wrangling) of IT A TENNER
17d Put foot down over energy charge (8)
STAMPEDE The past tense of ‘put foot down [heavily]) goes over (in a Down solution) the symbol for Energy
19d Alien re-echoed in Aliens, in retrospect (7)
STRANGE A synonym for re-echoed inserted into a reversal (in retrospect) of two aliens
21d Wandering about after change of domain (7)
NOMADIC The Latin abbreviation for about goes after an anagram (change) of DOMAIN
22d Swallow protected by birdwatching establishment (6)
INGEST This verb meaning to swallow or take into the body is hidden in the last two words of the clue
24d Turn up attack records (5)
NOTES Reverse (turn up) a two-word way of saying attack
25d Leader taking over for a chorus (5)
CHOIR The cricket abbreviation for Over replaces the A in a person presiding over a meeting (leader)
Oops this may be a duplicate comment.
I haven’t done a crossword sent by Prime before. Gentle but enjoyable */*** for me. Maybe needs beefing up a bit for a Wednesday Toughie? 2d worthy of a mention.
Hope Richard’s funeral went off well yesterday and there were smiles as well as tears.
I think I missed the debut of this quirky/original setter but I certainly enjoyed this. Lots of clever constructions and well-hidden bits. I’m not entirely convinced that 5a means “to the North” but someone may enlighten me. Favourites were 1a, which took a fair bit of parsing, 20a [men in the Middle” was naughty but nice] and the 2 monkeys at 2d.
Thanks to Prime and to CS for the blog.
I did wonder about it but decided one probably has to go “up” if going to the North – from anywhere.
I too should have mentioned 20a – apart from the clever misdirection it creates a wonderful image; almost like Ray T perhaps.
Up isn’t always North. Up line trains go to London so Leeds to London is “up”!
I think yesterday’s and today’s Toughies could have swapped over because this felt like a Tuesday. That said, it was still an enjoyable solve.
I’ve picked 12A, 2,9 and 24D, with 18A as favourite.
Many thanks to CS, and Prime…nice to meet you.
Enjoyable and not too taxing – thanks to Prime and CS.
Both the 15-letter across clues fell very early and that opened up the grid.
I’m not sure there’s a 15a in the grid; if there is I haven’t spotted it.
Highlights for me were 10a, 20a and 2d.
Haven’t quite got the measure of this setter as yet but this seemed to be a fairly uncomplicated ride for a Wednesday.
Rather taken with 1a – just like the sound of the word – and thought 17d had an excellent surface read.
Thanks to Prime and to CS for the review.
Very enjoyable – 20a was especially strong. I’ve certainly never heard a reporter say 12a in real life, but no quibbles at all. Thanks to Prime and CS.
I had two answers to 1a both of which I could parse but neither led me to the answer to 1d as I didn’t realise i was looking for a person’s surname so a dnf. I made fairly hard work of the rest. No real favourite but thanks to Prime and CS.
1a and 1d were both stumbling blocks for us. Never heard of 1d but a Google search for magazine editors found him. The rest of the solve flowed relatively smoothly.
Thanks Prime and CS.
Not sure what happened to my earlier post. Enjoyed the puzzle & was thankful that it was a good bit less taxing than Dharma’s Toughie yesterday. The 2 long ‘uns going straight in helped & there were a few gimmes which provided checkers for the others. Had ticks against 1,20&28a together with 2d.
Thanks to Prime & to Sue.
Cracking puzzle, great fun, witty and well constructed. Many thanks to Prime and CS
CS I think your hint for 2d is missing the publicity bit. A very clever clue nonetheless, along with several others. Not sure I’ve been aware of Prime as a setter before, but really enjoyed this. Thanks Prime, keep sending them in! And thanks to you of course CS. Enjoyed the tussle to get this done.
I’m not surprised – it was one of a couple of clues where the parsing took a bit of work
This is Prime’s second Toughie, the first one appeared earlier in July