Toughie No 3338 by Hudson
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty */** – Enjoyment *****
Another fine crossword from Hudson – it did require a little spring cleaning in the back of the memory but I really enjoyed solving and preparing the Hings and Tips (apart from the ear worm produced after parsing 10a!)
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought
Across
1a Attack grey rabble in retreat (7)
BOMBARD A reversal (in retreat) of a grey colour and a rabble
9a Turning over jotter, Bilk penned the words for an oratorio (8)
LIBRETTO Hidden (penned) in reverse (turning over) in words three and four of the clue
10a Dub voice of Korean rapper in broadcast link (3-4)
LIP-SYNC The Korean rapper responsible for Gangnam Style inserted into a homophone (broadcast) of link
11a Agitate violently, calling for no clues to be amended, very invested (8)
CONVULSE V (very) ‘invested’ into an anagram (amended) of NO CLUES
12a Charm senior detective, Head of Special Branch (6)
DISARM An abbreviated senior detective, the ‘head’ of Special and a branch
13a Old buffoon setter’s boring imprecise let-down (10)
ANTICLIMAX An archaic (old) word for a buffoon (5) and an adjective meaning imprecise or loose into which is inserted the way our setter might say I am (setter’s) Google Images wasn’t very helpful but who can resist a return to the Asterix books?
15a Secular Tory quits brief (4)
LAIC An abbreviated Tory ‘quits’ an adjective meaning brief
16a Charles pens missive trashing large part of Northants (9)
KETTERING Charles III ‘pens’ a missive without (trashing) the abbreviation for Large
21a Long, endless period (4)
YEAR Long or desire without the last letter (endless)
22a One in shell suit ordering crispbread? (6,4)
SPIDER CRAB An anagram (ordering) of CRISPBREAD
24a Former president getting in 50-50, by close of play perhaps 60-40? (6)
LIKELY The nickname of the 34th American president inserted into two lots of the Roman numeral for fifty and followed by the ‘close’ of plaY
25a Hellish ref getting round in pub, Arsenal gutted (8)
INFERNAL A reversal (getting round) of REF inserted into a pub and followed by the outside (gutted) letters of ArsenaL
27a Deny stock market guru claims Visa going bust (7)
DISAVOW One of the founders of the Index used by the New York Stock Exchange, into which is inserted (claims) an anagram (going bust) of VISA
28a Oliver’s walls recently given new facade in the rococo style (8)
ORNATELY The outside letters (walls) of OliveR and a synonym for recently where the first letter (façade) is replaced by the abbreviation for New
29a Embarrassed a fake journalist (7)
ASHAMED A (from the clue), a synonym for fake and an abbreviated journalist
Down
2d Earliest Texaco rig in Alabama folds (8)
ORIGINAL Hidden in words three, four and five of the clue
3d German chancellor twice caught charging money to his compatriots (8)
BISMARCK An adverb meaning twice, used in musical directions to indicate that something should be repeated and the cricket abbreviation meaning Caught inserted into old German currency
4d Top runner who announces “this is rigged” when lapped by dodgy racer (10)
RINGMASTER Something rigged on a ship inserted into (when lapped by) a clues horse or athlete running under a false name
5d Oscar put on hat in pool (4)
LIDO The letter represented by Oscar in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet goes on or after a cover (hat)
6d Rubbish tee shot – golfer Ernie’s out of bounds (6)
DRIVEL A golf shot from the tee and the middle letter (out of bounds) of the surname of Ernie the golfer often found in crosswords
7d Stargazer recycling empty bottles, nothing left (7)
PTOLEMY The famous astrologer of Alexandria (stargazer) An anagram (recycling) of EMPTY ‘bottles’ the letter representing nothing and the abbreviation for Left
8d Something in the armoury US writer doesn’t have, it’s said (7)
POLEAXE Homophones (it’s said) of an American writer and a way of saying doesn’t have
11d Church herald working to support Queen (9)
CATHEDRAL An anagram (working) of HERALD ‘supporting’ in a Down solution, an animal, the female of which is known as a queen
14d Characters in Bible Belt regularly shackled, getting painful swellings (10)
CHILBLAINS The regular letters of bIbLe BeLt inserted into some shackles
17d African country hosting my mounted 1,000 horse event (8)
GYMKHANA An African country ‘hosting’ a reversal (mounted) of MY and the letter symbolising 1000
18d Manage to nurse a sick, upset woman with many sisters (8)
CALLIOPE A synonym for manage ‘nurses’ A (from the clue and a reversal (upset) of a synonym for sick – She was the chief of the Nine Muses (woman with many sisters)
19d Raconteur Springfield unveiled on All Saints’ Day (7)
USTINOV The inside (unveiled) of the stage name of the 1960s singer (Springfield) on the abbreviated date of All Saint’s Day
20d Row over some material (7)
TIFFANY A silk-like gauze. A slight quarrel (row)and a synonym for some
23d Performing volte-face, Qatar readily admitted mistakes (6)
ERRATA Hidden in reverse (performing volte-face … admitted) in qATAR REadily
26d Elderly Scottish Highlands landowner having filling removed, getting gold crown (4)
AULD A Highlands landowner without his middle letters (having filling removed) ‘crowned by’ or going after the chemical symbol for gold
This was an absolutely top-notch Toughie although I was defeated by 18d.
My page is littered with ticks, and I’d like to give a special mention to the homophone in 8d – brilliant.
Many thanks to Hudson and to CS.
Another one with an excess of personal names: where would setters be without that golfer? I found it quite tough [a middling 3*] and liked the top runner at 4d and the fifty fifty at 24a.
Thanks to Hudson and CS.
I thought Hudson had increased his difficulty level a bit today, or possibly it’s because I’m suffering from a severe bout of man flu. Whichever is the case this is a cracking puzzle – thanks to Hudson and CS.
I very much liked 24a, 4d (top runner – brilliant), 14d, 18d and 19d.
Predictably harder for me than our reviewer’s rating but fully concur with the full 5* for enjoyment. 8,18&19d were the 3 holdouts at the end (even with all available checkers) but the pennies dropped eventually & for that reason they can have the podium spots. Ticks aplenty elsewhere with 16,24&27a plus 4d particular likes. Couldn’t figure out the why at 13a.
Thanks to Hudson & to Sue
Crikey, 13a’s parsing took some teasing out. Very smart indeed. Cracking lurker at 9a – interesting to see that past tense of “penned” without a “by” or “in”, etc. Lots to love here. 4d’s definition is masterful, 18d is the best clue for this that I’ve ever seen and 14d’s “shackled” tickled me. Many thanks to Hudson and CS.
Found this a bit more of a challenge than I would normally expect from this setter and danced around the grid en route to the finish line. Studiously avoid anything to do with rappers so had to rely on wordplay and checkers for 10a and that’s the first time I’ve come across 20d as a material – live and learn!
Top three for me were 12&22a plus 4d with hon mentions going to 6&8d.
Thanks to Hudson and to CS for the review.
An excellent puzzle with lots to like. There were a couple I don’t think I would have got, had it not been for the first class wordplay. I have no interest in Rap and for that reason 10A defeated me. Out of the many ticks I’ll pick out 22A 6D with 24A my favourite.
Thank you CS for the parsing, especially of 10A, and to Hudson for a most enjoyable challenge.
Absolutely brilliant. The most fun I’ve had with a Toughie since the last most fun Toughie, whenever that was! OK, so I found it rather more challenging than Sue (natch, par for the course) but how immensely satisfying: the clangs of pennies dropping must have reverberated across the neighbourhood.
Pictured the Korean (could even remember the dance) just before getting the answer; was pleased to see and parse 15a, laughed out loud when 24a, 9d and 18d all dawned. I’ll go for 4d as my COTD, but those other 5 clues ran it desperately close and all have jostled their way on to the podium, just keeping out 6d & 7d.
Marvellous, Hudson, thank you so much. And thanks too to Sue.
The Korean rapper was a complete bung-in as that style of music is not my specialist subject, but that was my only unknown, as it were. My runaway favourite was the super clever 4d, although the brilliant 8d was a very close second.
Many thanks to Hudson for a fine challenge (one and a half stars for difficulty – really?), and to Sue.
4d was the one that took most head-scratching for us and was our eventual favourite although there were plenty of other contenders.
Thanks Hudson and CS.
Oi oi! I finished a Toughie……unaided!
I had some spare time so thought I’d get back on the horse.
This was, of course, hard work but the clues were within my reach which was satisfying. This means that the clues were beautifully constructed as I knew where Hudson was going. Interesting to see lax and its homophone coincide…ish. What a great homophone 8d is as is the crispbread anagram.
19d was most definitely one of the best in the business when it comes to being a raconteur.
Not easy to pick a podium but I’ll go with 24a, 18d and 19d.
Many thanks to Rock and she of the crypt (1.5 stars? You’re a different level)
4*/5*
A quick PS…
Is Hudson an alias of one of the regular back page setters?
I’ve had a search at the top of the blog but can’t find the info.
He’s Knut in the Indy and Julius in the FT
Thank you
Much harder for me than CS’s rating. Never heard of 10a. 22a brilliant anagram, but the best for me were the two reverse lurkers in 9a and 23d stood out.
Thanks for hints CS, and to Hudson of course