Toughie No 3324 by Osmosis
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
We know what to expect from Osmosis – clever wordplay, a dearth of anagrams and very nearly but not quite a pangram (only one letter missing this week as far as I can see). I enjoyed it a lot – thanks to our setter.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Grant mostly securing international alliance’s progress (5,2)
SHAPE UP: this was my last to parse as I was looking for a verb or noun meaning grant but Grant is the forename of a Conservative politician and minister who was quite prominent until last month. We need his truncated surname containing a 2-letter international alliance.
5a Taxi rejected pals to avoid Mike, legendary drinker (7)
BACCHUS: reverse a taxi and add a word for pals without the letter that Mike represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet.
9a Motown diva shown formal pants (5)
DROSS: how the name of a Motown diva might be written formally (not G Knight but …).
10a When separated, stroke form of chin (6-3)
SQUARE-CUT: if the two parts of the answer are separated by a space this becomes a cricket stroke.
11a See lake very briefly in secure vehicle (10)
LOCOMOTIVE: string together an exclamation meaning ‘See!’, an Italian lake and the abbreviation for very inside a verb to secure.
12a Body of water French one beginning to explore (4)
MERE: the French word for a body of water and the first letter of explore.
14a Actor‘s learning past dialect (6,6)
NORMAN WISDOM: a synonym of learning or erudition follows a French dialect.
18a Book venue for better sort of Deep Purple performance at last (6,6)
CASINO ROYALE: where a better may chance his/her arm at roulette, say, is followed by a shade of deep purple and the last letter of performance.
21a Plague-ridden village given another variable test (4)
EXAM: start with the name of the place in Derbyshire which promotes itself to tourists as the ‘plague village’ and replace the algebraic variable in its name with a different one.
22a Searcher, due foremost on Snowdon, flaps (5,5)
BINGO WINGS: assemble the name of a search engine, an adjective meaning due or outstanding and the foremost letter of Snowdon.
25a Bearer of keys returned gold ring chaps locked away (9)
MELLOTRON: join together our usual tincture of gold and a verb to ring or chime. Reverse that and enclose it within a synonym of chaps.
26a Think the world of today occasionally coarse (5)
ADORE: an abbreviation meaning today or the age we live in followed by occasional letters from coarse.
27a Check one travelling iron has power commonly (7)
REPRESS: rivet together the abbreviation for a commercial traveller and a verb to iron with one of the two abbreviations for power at the junction discarded.
28a Joiner tracks timber line somewhere in US (7)
OAKLAND: a joiner or conjunction follows a type of timber and the abbreviation for line.
Down Clues
1d Love pill, a dose’s somewhat uplifting (3,3)
SOD ALL: hidden in reverse. I’m slightly surprised to find this in the Telegraph.
2d This minute champion gains weight (2,4)
AT ONCE: a word meaning champion or expert contains a big weight.
3d Site of classic records electronic band acknowledges (5,5)
EPSOM DOWNS: assemble some musical records, an old English electronic band (new to me) and a verb meaning acknowledges or admits.
4d After work, rising model gets advance (5)
POSIT: reverse our usual abbreviated work and add a verb to model.
5d Fruity Vouvray drained eating local cheese (4,5)
BLUE VINNY: an adjective meaning fruity or smutty and the outer letters of Vouvray containing a local.
6d Wheels hitting parking sign? That’s fishy (4)
CARP: what wheels is an informal word for and the mapping abbreviation for parking.
7d Husband last to board defaced Dacia estate (8)
HACIENDA: the genealogical abbreviation for husband and Dacia without its first letter containing a synonym of last or final.
8d This author maintains vacuous language deliberately chosen (3,5)
SET TERMS: a description of Osmosis (this author) and the outer letters of maintains.
13d Flannel used in bedroom when steamy? (6,4)
PILLOW TALK: cryptic definition of intimate conversations in bed.
15d Audibly petulant sneak clipped Fiesta (5,4)
MARDI GRAS: a homophone of a dialect adjective meaning petulant or sulky and a sneak or rat without the last letter.
16d Best entering residence from below! (8)
SCREAMER: an adjective meaning best or elite inserted in the reversal of the estate agents’ abbreviation for residence. It’s a bit difficult to see but the final character of the clue is underlined as the definition.
17d Shellfish key for leader in smack (8)
ESCALLOP: start with a verb meaning smack or thump and replace its first letter with a keyboard key.
19d Wool market shutting in November (6)
ANGORA: a market in ancient Greece containing the letter represented by November in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet.
20d Marine figure departs for booze cruise destination? (6)
OSTEND: charade of the abbreviation for a marine or sailor, a 2-digit number and the timetable abbreviation for ‘departs’.
23d Island inhabited by new crazy Alaskan (5)
GONZO: a Maltese island containing the abbreviation for new gives us a US slang word meaning crazy or bizarre.
24d Perhaps chestnut boxer Louis keeps first in kennel (4)
JOKE: the first name of heavyweight boxer Louis contains the first letter of kennel.
My printout boasts ticks galore including 5a, 18a, 22a, 27a and 5d. Which one(s) did the business for you?
Great fun and do-able – just the job for a sunny Friday. It was good to see a lovely old S Yorks dialect word at 15d and a nod to the plague village at 21a – is Osmosis from that part of the world? Top spots from me go to 1a, 9a and 27a.
Thanks to Osmosis and to Gazza – for enlightening me re the definition at 15d and for the song at 3d – I’ve heard of OMD but never realised it was one of theirs.
I wish now that I’d listened to the OMD song a bit longer before copying the link into the blog. I enjoyed it until the moment when the vocalist appeared.
Yes, that’s a reasonable reaction. The keyboard riff is everywhere but I can’t remember – possibly on the telly.
14a Gazza, your anecdote in the review of DT 26263 in October 2010 still makes me laugh:
Mention of Norman and the sad news, yesterday, of the death of one of our most popular comedians reminds me of a story which I think I’ve told before, but which bears repetition. At a session of the European parliament an MEP from Normandy was holding forth about a problem particular to his region and boasted “Ce problème sera résolu par la sagesse Normande”. He was then astonished by the laughter coming from those listening to the English translation who had heard “This problem will be solved by Norman wisdom”.
Thanks, Franco. That still makes me laugh and is certainly worth repeating.
Oof, that was no slouch. Some lovely little touches in here. Searcher, joiner, etc. I’m no fan of indicators as they generally get in the way but I am curious as to what the “rules” are. With 1a’s Grant (mighty glad it wasn’t just me who took an age to parse that one!) you’d certainly expect an indicator on the back page. Can Toughies just ignore such things? I’m not agin it at all, just interested. Having said that, 10a’s “when separated” seems overly proper as I would have thought the hyphen could just be ignored for the WP. No? Just when I think I’m getting a hang of it all, Osmosis goes and pulls the rug from under me! Twas ever thus. 16d is hilariously smart but 5d is the out-and-out star for me. Delicious. Many thanks to O and G.