Toughie No 3321 by Donnybrook
Hints and tips by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ****/*****
Very gentle, rather lovely. Unusually, the anagrams were the stand-outs for me today. 3d/1d is arguably the oddest-looking clue I’ve seen in a while … but I, for one, loved it. There’s a generous dollop of culture here: music – huzzah! – theatre and poetry are all covered. Some travel too, and the bible even gets a look-in. Thank goodness Brian doesn’t do the Toughie as this would, no doubt, give him the vapours. Lots to enjoy: playfully brisk. All yours.
Across
9a Go round with zero speed? (5)
OOMPH: The usual “round” and “zero” plus (unit of) speed. BBC1, 8pm. Need I say more?!
10a Smooth and white party in atomic plant (9)
ALABASTER: (Political) party in(side) A[tomic] + daisy-like plant/flower.
11a Corrupt, like Mr Putin, at last in his citadel (7)
KREMLIN: LIKEMR+N, corrupt. Not quite an all-in-one. Nice spot.
12a In East, travelling around old nation (7)
ESTONIA: INEAST, travelling, around/containing O[ld].
13a Wait with North American Democrat (5)
BIDEN: To wait/remain + the usual “north”.
14a Sweet-sounding line by the writer causing hatred (9)
MELODIOUS: L[ine] by/after the writer (of this crossword) + causing hatred/hateful.
16a Were Eden folk got in trouble by this? (4,2,9)
TREE OF KNOWLEDGE: WEREEDENFOLKGOT, in trouble. Tickled me, this.
19a Rely on offence being taken in studies (5,4)
LOOKS INTO: Rely on/depend on, taking in the usual “offence”.
21a Sip beer regularly in teetotal land (5)
TIBET: sIpBeEr inside the usual “teetotal”.
23a Boy keeping rodents back in tens (7)
DECIMAL: The usual “boy” that’s not “son” keeps/contains the “rodents” that aren’t, for once, rats. All reversed/back.
25a Musician who may require a grand opening? (7)
PIANIST: Which musician might need a “grand” that needs to be “opened” before playing? Fun.
27a Banish out-of-practice princess are we told? (9)
RUSTICATE: Homophones (are we told) of “out-of-practice” and a/the princess.
28a Dull sound from strong man on time (5)
THUNK: Strong man/beefcake on/after the usual time.
Down
1d See 3d
2d Threaten little devil with death (6)
IMPEND: The usual “little devil” + death/finish.
3d/1d Just after stopping US hit men, look out for 25: 14 28 they called him! (10,4)
THELONIOUS MONK: A sneaky synonym (in Chambers) of “just after” stops/enters USHITMENLOOK, out. The definition lies in 25a, 14a and 28a (ie, what he was, plus his nickname). Bonkers but brilliant, rather like the great man himself!
4d Confining antelope Geordie mother shows bottle (6)
MAGNUM: The Geordie for “mum” confines/contains a type of antelope. I do think “catching” might have been slightly less odd for the surface.
5d Station attendant leaving one little room (8)
WATERLOO: Attendant/server, minus the usual “one”, plus (the) little(st) room in the house.
6d Sail back with wife (4)
WAFT: Back/behind with/after the usual wife = (to) sail, as in to glide or float.
7d Place outside behind Californian university (8)
STANFORD: (To) place (upright) goes outside behind/supporting.
8d Paper‘s byline initially hard to see when changed (10)
BROADSHEET: B[yline] + HARDTOSEE, changed.
13d Struggled again losing million in racket (10)
BATTLEDORE: Struggled/fought + again/extra, minus M[illion] = the old racket that one only ever sees in crosswords.
15d Italian poet embracing one Latvian amateur (10)
DILETTANTE: The best-known (certainly the only one I can remember!) Italian poet embraces/contains the usual “one” and a native of Latvia.
17d Expert in possession, be carrying ball and run about (8)
EXORCIST: (To) be/live carries/contains the usual “ball”, “run” and one-letter “about”. Excellent definition.
18d Relationship with regal lunatic in drama (4,4)
KING LEAR: Relationship/family + REGAL, lunatic. Could almost be read as an all-in-one.
20d Sea hawk over small creature hunted (6)
OSPREY: The usual “over” and “small” + creature hunted (generically).
22d We hear coastal road comes to port (6)
BEIRUT: A homophone of how one might describe a coastal road, when expressed (3,5) = a once-glorious port city.
24d Cause serious harm month after month in France (4)
MAIM: M[onth] follows a French month.
26d Rough-mannered person in County Kerry (4)
TYKE: Lurker, hidden in the last two words.
There’s a bit of everything here: six anagrams, a couple of homophones, 2.75 all-in-ones, a lurker and an alternate, etc. I especially liked 16a, 27a, 8d, 17d, 18d and 22d. That seems a lot but then I did really like this. Still (yes, it is an anagram and not for everybody, but it’s one that’s impossible to forget!) 3d/1d gets my vote. How did you get on?
Lovely crossword just taken over the border into Toughieland by a couple of clues in the SW..
My favourite clue was 3/1d and the accompanying Spoonerism 14/28. I also liked 13d as it is such a nice word
Many thanks to Donnybrook and ALP
I thought that this was a mite trickier than we normally get on a Tuesday but full of fun. Thanks to Donnybrook and ALP.
I ticked lots of clues including 25a, 27a (out-of-practice princess – brilliant!), 18d and 22d with my favourite being the expert in possession (17d).
A gentle start to the Toughie week with a broad range of clues. I too thought 3 and 1D was a very long-winded clue which for me was the least satisfying. I enjoyed most of the puzzle with 16 and 25A and 17D deserving a mention.
Today’s favourite was 27A because it was clever and brought a chuckle.
Many thanks to ALP and Donnybrook.
This was (very!) quirky and great fun. Just right for a Tuesday Toughie.
The setter has contrived to produce possibly the worst ever “homophone” in 22d, and surely the definition for 13d should be “old racket”.
I thought 16a was just a very weak definition until I spotted there was wordplay as well making it a splendid &lit and earning it the accolade of my favourite.
Many thanks to Donnybrook for the entertainment and to ALP.
Yes, I was mildly surprised to see no indicator for 13d too, but it’s such a crosswordy word, so it didn’t bother me unduly. Quirky is, of course, spot on. 16a isn’t quite an &lit though – because of the “by this”.
Semi @lit, perhaps?
Unquestionably, yes!
What a brilliant puzzle; thanks to setter. Very enjoyable and features my favourite jazzman, the wonderfully eccentric TM! Saw him at the Festival Hall a couple of times in the sixties; on one occasion he just disappeared from the stage mid performance and reappeared magically, just in time for another solo, with a second to spare!! */***** for me. Apart from 3/1 favourite was the brilliant 22D. Excellent Donnybrook
DYBK at his Tuesday Toughie best!
Candidates for favourite 23a, 25a, and 27a but they have been left in the dust by the 3d/1d combo!
Thanks to Donnybrook and ALP.
I’m with ALP re 3d/1d; with Gazza re 27a and 17d and with deebee re the wonderful Mr Monk. Thanks for the taster ALP, the rest of that concert will be tonight’s music – he wasn’t the easiest guy to accompany but those 3 gents are with him all the way – fabulous stuff. I rather liked Falco too, must be getting soft in my old age.
Thanks for the blog and thanks Donny for a super puzzle.
Falco, eh?! It was either them or Sting and I just couldn’t! As for Monk, quite. The word “genius” is too often thrown about willy-nilly but he certainly was one. As you say, his musicians really had their work cut out to keep up with him.
I didn’t find this as ‘gentle’ as our reviewer apparently did but it was certainly enjoyable apart from the 3/1 combo which was slotted in long after every other clue had been solved.
Plenty of ticks awarded – 16&27a plus 6,18,20&22d with 27a taking the gold.
Thanks to the quirky Donnybrook and to ALP for the review. Two clips that I really enjoyed this time, namely the Magnum theme and Le Beirut – things are looking up!
Blimey, thank goodness I was sitting down!! You almost got some Sting to boot but that was just a bridge too far for me!
I’d never heard of the pianist and I didn’t understand the clue. Advert staring at the checking letters for an age I decided to make a name up however unlikely and Googled it and to my astonishment the answer came up. Call it cheating if you like but it would have been a dnf otherwise. Favourite was 27a. Thanks to Donnybrook and ALP.
Agree that quirky is exactly the right description and a huge dollop of fun to boot. Last in by quite a margin was 17d.
Thanks Donnybrook and ALP.
26d gave me a laugh, lots of rough types in County kerry.
Also nice people . My grandmother came from there.
Very pleasant puzzle from Donnybrook.
Thanks to all concerned,
Oh boy! Melodious Thunk! Quite made my day. Chapeau, Donnybrook!
Enjoyable and straightforward. Dredged up from somewhere the dated and rather specialist GK for 3d/1d after getting the other three clues, but only from the resulting homophone. A very clever but entirely unfair clue for anyone who has never heard of the person, or is probably under about 55/60yo I imagine.
27a COTD with 16a and 18d runners-up.
Many thanks to NYDK & ALP
55/60+? How dare you!! Ha. But to be fair, that is probably 99pc of our demographic, no?!
A day late to this but glad I tackled it. Harder for me than a a single * difficulty but still reasonably gentle for a Tuesday. Winner by a country mile was the 3/1d combo (+14/28a & 25a) – who cares if it was long winded. Last in was the very slow penny drop at 22d & unlike RD I rather liked the homophone. Other ticks were 16&27a plus 17&18d.
Thanks to Donny & to ALP – you’d have been instantly struck off my Christmas card list had Napoleon edged out Terry & Julie 😀 – as close to perfection as a song can get in my view: shame he’s such an arse.
Ha, a pretty subtle musical reference there. Phew! But that was NEVER going to happen. Och, I was convinced I’d got the difficulty rating universally right for once. Blast..