Toughie 3318 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3318

by crypticsue  

Toughie  No 3318 by Robyn

Hints and Tips by crypticsue

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

I was delighted to find a Robyn Toughie to solve and blog , this one was, for me, anyway, more difficult than usual

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought

Across


1a           Metallica’s opening with kind of rock track in some gigs, perhaps (6)
MEMORY Gigs here refer to an abbreviated computing term – the ‘opening’ of Metallica, a kind of rock music and an abbreviated railway (track)

4a           Scuttles vessel carrying holidaymaker? (8)
SCAMPERS Runs hastily (scuttles) – an abbreviated vessel ‘carrying’ someone who holidays in a tent

9a           Mexican dish with coating of mozzarella in US city (6)
TACOMA A Mexican dish and the ‘coating’ of MozzarellA combine to make a city in Washington State

10a         Path of projectile, say, from soldier returning a shot (8)
PARABOLA An abbreviated soldier and a reversal (returning) of A (from the clue) and a ball lifted in a high, slow arc (shot)

11a         Fabled female driver, say, nearly exhausted by speed (4,5)
WOOD NYMPH A type of golf club (driver, say), the outside (exhausted) letters of NearlY and some abbreviated speed

13a         Light fixture (5)
MATCH Something that lights or a contest or game

14a         Serious test in Lent, with one tempted to tuck into large starter of linguine (8,5)
ADVANCED LEVEL The L in Lent is a misleading capital as what we require is a synonym for lent (money perhaps) and the first person in the Bible to be tempted inserted (tuck into) between the abbreviation for Large and the ‘starter’ of Linguine

17a         White cue ball almost hit with firm shot (13)
LIEBFRAUMILCH An anagram (shot) of CUE BALL and almost all of HIt plus FIRM

21a         More sage in stew I served (5)
WISER Hidden in steW I SERved

23a         One receiving deliveries of whiskey in eccentric country (9)
BATSWOMAN   The letter represented by Whiskey in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet inserted between an informal synonym for eccentric and a country on the Arabian Peninsula

24a         Guy backed holy book showing mythic final battle (8)
RAGNAROK A verb meaning to tease (guy) and a reversal (backed) of a Muslim holy book – the day of doom in Scandinavian mythology

25a         Parisian who occasionally nicked fruit (6)
QUINCE The French (as used in Paris) word for who and the occasional letters of NiCkEd

26a         Sprains dogging the German weightlifters (8)
DERRICKS Twists or sprains going after (dogging) the German definite article

27a         Way virtuous person catches plane? (6)
STREET An abbreviated virtuous person ‘catches’ a large woody plant (plane?)

Down

 

1d           Label seen on record books cut around the edge (6)
MOTOWN Cut (grass perhaps) goes around the edge or outside the abbreviation for the books in the first part of the Bible

2d           Mike and Barney greeting cook (9)
MICROWAVE An abbreviated microphone (mike) and an informal noisy quarrel (once again the upper-case B in Barney is there to mislead) and a gesture of greeting

3d           From a capital, very entertaining old ruling family (7)
ROMANOV From the capital of Italy and the abbreviation for Very ‘entertaining’ the abbreviation for Old

5d           When riding, one must steer through the cars moving around (5-6)
CRASH-HELMET An  essential (one must) when moving around traffic – a verb meaning to steer inserted into an anagram (moving around) of THE CARS

6d           Granny protecting one lake affected by pollution (7)
MIASMAL An informal way of writing mother’s mother (Granny) ‘protecting’ the Roman numeral for one and finishing with the abbreviation for Lake

7d           Stole aboard alien warcraft (1-4)
E-BOAT A garment worn round the neck goes ‘aboard’ Crosswordland’s favourite alien

8d           Article that female hawk eats, hard item in the main (8)
SEASHELL An indefinite article and ‘the female spoken of’ inserted into (eats) a verb meaning to hawk

12d         Mind lapse from knight breaking e.g. gold ingot (6,5)
MENTAL BLOCK The chess abbreviation for knight ‘breaking’ what a gold ingot might be an example of

15d         Force tough guys roughly into front of van (9)
VEHEMENCE Some tough guys and the Latin abbreviation for roughly inserted into the letter at the front of Van

16d         Was blooming loud cow extremely excited? (8)
FLOWERED The musical abbreviation for Loud, a cow and the extreme letters of ExciteD

18d         Alarm I used to protect one flash car or another (7)
FERRARI Some alarm and I (from the clue) ‘protect’ an abbreviated flash car

19d         50 diamonds, possibly, a wife’s stuffed in case (7)
LAWSUIT The Roman numeral for 50 and what diamonds are in a pack of cards between which are stuffed A (from the clue) and the abbreviation for Wife

20d         Throw a wobbly still outside? (6)
UNSEAT How one might describe a jelly that is still wobbly goes ‘outside’ A (from the clue)

22d         Sweeten Italian sauces with a twist (5)
SUGAR Reverse (twist) some Italian meat and tomato sauces

22 comments on “Toughie 3318”

  1. The second ’emo’ in only a few days, and that’s possibly two references too many for me – and while I had the answer, and the parsing, the definition escaped me until coming here. Life in the NW would have been easier had I not taken one of the irons from the bag, while I always think of 1d as being the style of music rather than the label, so was trying to trim back EMI and some books. 5d just doesn’t make sense to me – the answer and parsing were clear, but how does “crash-helmet” = “when riding one must”??? One must what? One must crash helmets? Or some bizarre activity involving being mounted on a crash helmet? What am I not seeing please?
    Otherwise a reasonably straightforward and very enjoyable puzzle, one which could have swapped places with yesterday’s Toughie. I’ll go for 14a, 26a & 15d on the podium.
    Many thanks to Robyn & Sue

    2. MG. It’s not “one must” in that sense. It’s: When riding, a singular requirement/obligation.

    3. Thanks both, but I’m afraid that still just doesn’t make sense to me. Are you able to construct a sentence where you can replace “when riding one must” with “crash-helmet”, please? Because I can’t, whether as a noun or verb.

        1. You’ve changed your alias so this needed moderation. All three of your aliases will work from now on.

        2. Certainly it’s a case of ‘you’re a bloody fool if you don’t wear one’, James, and while legally required on a motorbike as you say, is optional on riding push-bikes and horses.

          But the clue’s definition (“when riding one must”) still doesn’t make any grammatical sense for an answer of “crash-hemet”, whether noun or verb, however clever the wordplay undoubtedly is.

  2. Superbly cunning word selection: gigs, Lent, front of van, etc. Some real zingers here, as ever. 6d is an absolute peach. Huge thanks to Robyn and CS.

  3. The usual excellence from Robyn with smooth surfaces and deceptive definitions throughout. Thanks to him and CS.
    I thought Robyn had ratcheted up his difficulty level somewhat when I was solving the puzzle but when I’d finished I couldn’t see why. 24a was a new term for me but clued in a friendly way.
    It’s quite a coincidence that the 1a ‘kind of rock’ I’d never heard of on Sunday has turned up again just three days later.
    My ticks went to 11a, 14a, 2d, 5d, 6d and 20d.

  4. I found this tough going today even though the wordplay was fair. I also felt 5D needed something more to make it a satisfying parse.
    However It was pleasing to complete.
    My favourites were 4A, 6 and 8D.
    Many thanks to CS and Robyn.

  5. Put me down as another who found this one quite tough – I definitely needed the odd nudge from our blogger to get me through the last few despite 24a being the only unknown.
    Ticks went to 14,23&25a plus 22d which amused.

    Thanks to Robyn and to CS for the review and the nudges.

  6. What a cracker – 4/4 for me. Some very fine clueing here, especially 1a [some gigs] 5d [when riding one must] 6d “granny!’ 18d [the 2 flash cars] and 20d [wobbly still]. My only quibble is the assumption that emo is some kind of rock – really?
    Thanks to Robyn and to CS for the blog.

  7. Arrgh! To the setter: who are you, and what have you done with the real Robyn?

    This was my second curate’s egg of the day. I found it very tough and only bloody mindedness and a bit of help from CS got me over the line. There were a lot of brilliant clues but a few hmms.

    I am with Mustafa both regarding “emo” in 1a and the incomprehensible definition for 5d. Including “vee” in 16d didn’t help my blood pressure, and “unset” in 20d is a step too far in my book.

    How lovely though to see the correct word for a female cricketer!

    Thanks, I think, to Robyn, and thanks too to CS.

    1. Have to admit my first thought on solving the female cricketer was that you would approve wholeheartedly, RD!

      1. Re 23a, sorry but in these enlightened times “batsman” and “batswoman” are no longer politically correct. We now have the awful word “batter”. As I pointed out in the blog to yesterday’s back-pager, “batter” means a male person at the crease; the female equivalent should be a “battress”. The politically-correct gender-neutral word is “batperson”. Goodness only knows what John Arlott and his colleagues would have made of all this nonsense.

  8. 1a, 6d (a new word for me) and 20d were all bung-ins so I needed the hints for the parsing. A lot of the rest I found very difficult but as difficult as yesterday’s dnf (by a distance I might add). Favourite was 12d thanks to Robyn and CS.

  9. I think Robyn must have a moody child into music dad doesn’t understand, we had Fall out Boy to clue Emo on Sunday (13d) and now again today
    Still it was right for me for a Wednesday
    Thanks to Robyn and Sue

    1. Oops it was Zandio Sunday and Robyn today – maybe they both have someone going through a Goth phase

  10. Felt we were working hard while we were solving this but the cleverness kept us smiling all the time.
    Thanks Robyn and CS.

  11. Super puzzle but right on the limit of / probably just beyond my solving level. Started late last night & completed 50% then managed to very nearly grind out a finish this morning. Annoyingly needed the hint for 24a despite having heard of the word (from song lyrics) & pegging the guy synonym. Not exactly unaided either as I hit the check facility twice en route but at least no letter reveals. Ticks aplenty: 11,14&17a plus 2d would be my picks.
    Thanks to Robyn & as ever to Sue.

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