Toughie No 3335 by Django
Hints and tips by Gazza
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Django has given us a relatively gentle but extremely entertaining puzzle. Many thanks to him.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a They sometimes change profiles – this might make nurses go for cruciverbalists (7,8)
PLASTIC SURGEONS: a very neat way of clueing a reverse anagram with ‘nurses go’ being the fodder.
9a US means to pay China in defeat (9)
CHECKMATE: the US spelling of a (rapidly disappearing) means of payment and what china means in rhyming slang.
10a Done for honour (5)
TOAST: double definition, the first an informal word for facing destruction or defeat.
11a Iron ring melting without resistance in forge (5)
FEIGN: the chemical symbol for iron and an anagram (melting) of [r]ING without the abbreviation for electrical resistance.
12a Choose right poem for conductor (9)
ELECTRODE: charade of a verb to choose, an abbreviation for right and a synonym of poem.
13a Shell motor oil conclusively leaving a spot (8)
CARAPACE: what motor is an informal word for followed by an alternative way of saying ‘a spot’ without the concluding letter of oil.
14a Terms of your mortgage agreement may help – advice is key once more (2-4)
RE-TYPE: the terminating letters of six words in the clue.
16a Fix about two (6)
REPAIR: a prefix meaning about and a set of two.
18a Mark Rylance on vacation with associate (8)
REMEMBER: the outer letters of Rylance and another word for an associate in a society.
22a Engagement working at brothel (9)
BETROTHAL: an anagram (working) of AT BROTHEL. Very chuckleworthy.
23a Tinker capturing doe initially going after a fawn (5)
TOADY: a verb to tinker or dabble containing the initial letter of doe after A.
24a Blunt characters from Peter Sellers (5)
TERSE: hidden.
25a Greta Thunberg ultimately falling out with worker on road causing delay (9)
RETARDANT: GRETA loses the ultimate letter of Thunberg and that’s followed by a usual worker insect after the abbreviation for road.
26a Free school sorts out defects? (7,3,5)
CROSSES THE FLOOR: as Shabbo would say defects here is a verb masquerading as a noun. An anagram (out) of FREE SCHOOL SORTS gives us a phrase which describes what a politician who defects to the other side does in the House of Commons.
Down Clues
1d Mild cleaning product I top up (7)
PACIFIC: string together the name of a proprietary cleaning product, I and a synonym of top then reverse it all.
2d Basil Fawlty, say after show’s focus changed for American studio (7)
ATELIER: start with Basil’s profession and change the central letters of ‘show’ to an abbreviation for American.
3d Spooner’s ire with tank being given order: stop at nothing (4,2,9)
TAKE NO PRISONERS: not a Spoonerism but an anagram (being given order) of SPOONER’S IRE TANK.
4d Blend of fuel key with energy (8)
COALESCE: a type of fossil fuel, a keyboard key and the physics abbreviation for energy.
5d Revolutionary new cycling arena maybe lopsided (6)
UNEVEN: start with the abbreviation for new and append what an arena may be an example of with its letters cycled. Finally reverse it all.
6d Understands article – one who gambles on golf regularly seeing defeats (4,3,6,2)
GETS THE BETTER OF: assemble a verb meaning understands, a grammatical article, ‘one who gambles’ and regular letters from ‘golf’.
7d Discovered moral politician’s place for prayer (7)
ORATORY: the inner letters of moral and a right-wing politician.
8d Cover of single about remaining for Take That! (2,5)
SO THERE: the outer letters of single contain an adjective meaning remaining or extra.
15d It’s often done by drivers from Holland outside City Hall at the back (8)
DECLUTCH: an adjective meaning ‘from Holland’ contains the postal area of the City of London and the rear letter of hall.
16d Essentially pierced lobe of the ear without emotion? (7)
ROBOTIC: the central letters of ‘pierced’ and ‘lobe’ followed by an adjective meaning ‘of the ear’.
17d Doctor too poor to get little jumper (7)
POTOROO: an anagram (doctor) of TOO POOR produces a little Australian jumper. A new word for me.
19d Swagger of supporter before onset of violence and trouble (7)
BRAVADO: cement together our usual feminine supporter, the first letter of violence and a synonym of trouble or fuss.
20d Opening of rum before Pearl’s house party? (7)
ROYSTER: the opening letter of rum and where a pearl has its home make a verb to party. I think the question mark is there because of the non-standard spelling of the answer.
21 Men wearing four different suits forming musical combo? (6)
CHORDS: the abbreviation for serving men (and presumably women these days) goes inside the abbreviations for the four card suits.
The top clues for me were 1a, 10a, 23a, 25a and 20d. Which one(s) fitted the bill for you?
“Django has given us a relatively gentle but extremely entertaining puzzle.” …. Abso-blooming-lutely, Gazza. What a splendid and highly enjoyable puzzle. Ticks all over the place, some very creative clueing, a lot of humour. A real lunchtime treat.
Podium contenders start with 2, 3, 16, 20 & 21d, also 14 & 25a. I cannot begin to pick only three from that list, let alone a COTD.
Many, many thanks, Django, and likewise to Gazza.
Still no tougher than Tuesday [I suppose tomorrow will address that] but good fun. I’m not entirely happy with “essentially pierced lobe” in 16d [which, to my mind indicates “e”] but such things are allowed these days. Favourite clues were 1a [neatly done] 10a [surprisingly tricky but obvious once you solve it] and the rather devious reverse cycle in 5d.
Thanks to Django and Gazza.
Very gentle today, but a pleasant solve nonetheless. My favourites were 3d and 13a. I’m sure tomorrow will be a different matter!
Thanks Gazza and Django
When I saw it was Django on Toughie duty, I had to give it a go.
1a baffled me for a while and I needed Gazza’s help to parse the second half of the clue. Brilliant!
I also enjoyed the anagrams at 22a and 26a and the non-Spoonerism at 3d.
Two really outstanding puzzles today. We are being spoilt. Thank you Django, Gazza and CL.
What an enjoyable workout! Took ages to get the terms of the mortgage agreement and loved the clever 2d. Are the last two words in 1a simply a heads-up that a reverse anagram is in play?
Thanks to setter and parser alike.
1a Yes – ‘this might make … for cruciverbalists’ is what tells us that a reverse anagram is involved. It would work without the ‘for cruciverbalists’ but that makes the clue read a bit better.
A great mid week Toughie with lots to enjoy from start to finish. My favourites were the same as Gazza
Thanks to Django and Gazza
What a great combo of a splendid puzzle and an entertaining review. Just what the doctor ordered to brighten up a miserable day.
With lots of ticks to choose from, my favourite was 1a with 9a & 10a joining it on the podium.
Many thanks to Django and to Gazza.
I only had to check 17d and 20d but both fairly clued. No problems elsewhere in this highly entertaining puzzle. Favourite was 6d. Thanks to Django and Gazza.
A very enjoyable, albeit gentle for a Thursday Toughie. I needed Gazza’s parsing for confirmation of a couple of bung-ins. I have so many ticks but I’ll give my podium to 15A.
Many thanks to Gazza for the blog and his usual humour which has brightened up a gloomy day and of course to Django for the enjoyment.
Sorry 15D
It took us a little time to get started but once we got going it flowed much more smoothly with lots of chuckles along the way. 15d was our last in and favourite.
Thanks Django and Gazza.
Terrific puzzle. Thought this would have to go some to match the back-pager but reckon I’d call it a dead heat – it’s another ***** for enjoyment. 1a got us off to a cracking start with plenty of goodies (too numerous to list) to follow. Struggling to think of a day recently when I’ve enjoyed both puzzles so much.
Thanks to D & G – great review & cartoons.
And the late bonus of Picaroon (Robyn) in the Graun the icing on the cake.
Fun and a nice level of challenge that suits me. I didn’t find it as straightforward as several other commenters above, but I got there in the end. Thank you Gazza for explaining 5d’s arena.
Lots of clues that made me smile, including 14a (“advice is key”) and 9a (“US means to pay China”). Thank you, Django. I don’t often do the Toughie and made the mistake of forgetting to look at it all, till spotting the setter’s name on Big Dave’s homepage last night, so I started it before bed and finished this morning.