Toughie No 3341 by Weatherman
Hints and tips by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment *****
Who’s this new blade, eh? Well, he’s a top-notch setter many of you will know by his other moniker. He got kicked upstairs to NTSPP obscenely quickly from Rookie Corner and made his Independent debut (not as Weatherman) last month. But this is just the first, I’m sure, of many Toughies. I won’t steal the poor chap’s thunder by outing him but I imagine he’ll pop in later to say 19a and claim this little beauty. Who wouldn’t? Pretty friendly, smooth as you like and very smart, though he’s clearly borrowed Chalicea’s magic dictionary for a couple! Quintessentially Tuesday, I’d say. Welcome to the party, Weatherman.
Across
1a Series on Sky Atlantic? (7)
AIRLINE: Series/string on/after, er, “sky”
5a Live well in Berlin, acquiring flipping concerning drinking problem (4,3)
BEER GUT: The two-letter (to) live + the German (in Berlin) for well/good, acquiring/containing the usual concerning, reversed/flipped.
9a Check I’m going to relax (5)
CHILL: The abbreviation for “check” + another way to say “I’m going to”. I actually got sent a request for an alternative JLH track after I’d posted this one. Who am I, Jameela Jamil? But how could I refuse. And you can never get too much John. So you’ve got two for the price of one. Take your pick!
10a Stop and start on time after golf shot (9)
TERMINATE: T[ime] + start (to grow), with its G[olf] shot/deleted. Smart.
11a Sports nut getting fitter, wanting suitable exercise tracker (9)
PEDOMETER: Sports/games + another slang nut like nut (but not loaf!) + “fitter” from the clue, minus/wanting its inherent synonym for “suitable”.
12a Recording of old princess wearing gold ring (5)
AUDIO: Our old/late princess wearing/inside the more usual “gold” and the usual “ring”.
13a Nitrogen-fuelled rocket’s navigation aid (5)
SONAR: The abbreviation for “nitrogen” fuels/goes inside (to) rocket/fly.
15a Start to chew the fat, going back to take in a grand building (9)
CATHEDRAL: The start to “chew” + “the” from the clue + a reversed synonym for “fat”, with “a” from the clue taken in/inserted.
18a Master grabs student before mass, causing turmoil (9)
MAELSTROM: (Musical) master grabs/contains the usual “student” + the abbreviation for “mass”.
19a Welcome love ending misery (5)
HELLO: The usual “love” follows (ending) misery/nightmare. Choices, choices. Lionel, NO. Adele, NO. Jerry Maguire, possibly. Buck Owens, maybe. Dylan, very nearly. Heck, let’s go glam.
21a See you in uniform, following war reporter (5)
ADIEU: The abbreviation for “uniform” after the first war reporter you’ll think of!
23a Alert distributed to hen party (2,3,4)
ON THE BALL: TOHEN, distributed, and the synonym for “party” that’s not “do”.
25a Programme made by our dad almost came out (9)
DOCUDRAMA: OUTDADCAM[e], out.
26a Very old ex-Tory leader cancels (5)
VOIDS: The usual “very” and “old” + a former Tory leader famously known by his initials.
27a Fire again, just over the French in retreat (7)
RELIGHT: Just/fair contains or (goes) over the French for “the”, reversed/in retreat. I have to say this video reminded me, disturbingly, of Jose’s appalling, self-confessed penchant for tight black polo necks. I can only pray to God he doesn’t share Mark Owen’s evident love of crop tops! Dear, dear me.
28a European houses adopting new standards (7)
ENSIGNS: The usual “European” + (star) houses, including/adopting the abbreviation for “new”.
Down
1d Recognises mushroom seen in book (7)
ACCEPTS: Setters’ favourite mushroom in(side) a (biblical) book.
2d Steps to put an end to drought? (4,5)
RAIN DANCE: A cryptic definition for the jaunty steps one might perform to end a dry spell. How could I resist this little ditty? I know Jane will just LOVE it!
3d Close to tears after I bash religion (5)
ISLAM: The close to “tearS” after “I” from the clue + (to) bash/beat. The clue could actually have been just (the last) three words but this way is much more fun.
4d Vehicle set off, about to enter a race (6,3)
ESTATE CAR: SET, off, + the one-letter “about” inside “a” from the clue and (to) race.
5d British nurse caught leaving wearing less (5)
BARER: The abbreviation for British + a synonym for a “nurse”, leaving/minus the usual “caught”.
6d The blaze spreads, engulfing India’s former head of state (9)
ELIZABETH: THEBLAZE, spreading, contains I[ndia].
7d Police pull up outside university (5)
GUARD: Pull/tug, reversed/up, outside/containing the usual “university”.
8d Whistle-blower infiltrates industry plant (7)
TREFOIL: Our favourite “whistle-blower” infiltrates/goes inside industry or work.
14d Does cur get briefly abandoned, becoming this? (6,3)
RESCUE DOG: DOESCURGE[t], abandoned. Nice all-in-one.
16d Take a risk – support keeping president and prime minister around (5,4)
TEMPT FATE: A (golf) support keeps/contains the (good grief!) 27th US president + the usual abbreviation for prime minister, reversed/around.
17d Undoing general’s reforms before one’s introduced (9)
RELEASING: GENERALS, reforms, with the usual “one” inserted.
18d Suggest doctor takes drug for wind (7)
MEANDER: Suggest/indicate + the most usual “doctor”, taking/containing the usual one-letter drug.
20d Bobby regularly stays in parts of Ukraine, Belarus etc (7)
OBLASTS: bObBy + stays (the course). Not a word one sees every day but more than fair.
22d A little princeling, one who thinks he deserves it? (5)
INCEL: A lurker, hidden in the third word. The “it” here is, of course, refers to crosswords’ usual “it”. Tickled me this. Could easily be read as an all-in-one. But I don’t know enough about them to know whether they are, in fact, little princelings. Sounds plausible, mind.
23d Illusions of perception and related trickery, primarily (2,3)
OP ART: Acrostic. The first word could serve as the defintion on its own but it’s best read as an(other) all-in-one.
24d Pop icon trapped by hotel visitor (5)
ELVIS: Another lurker, hidden in the last two words. Pop?! Well, he was/is popular, to be fair.
A raft of variety here: a fair bit of containment, a spot of replacement, a couple of lurkers, a cryptic definition, some all-in-ones and an acrostic, etc. Six anagrams in total but one is very much a partial. There are one or two slightly exotic words/GK but it’s all very fairly clued. Velvety surfaces to boot. A cracking debut. I especially enjoyed 1a, 5a, 11a, 14d and 22d but I think 10a just about breasts the tape. What did you make of it?
PS It would be rude not to sign off with an appropriate classic …
Always good to see another setter making it to the big time (again since he was elsewhere in August) but I did think this a little tricky for a Tuesday, although that could have been a wavelength thing
Thanks to Weatherman and ALP
Lovely to see a new setter especially one as enjoyable as Weatherman. Not too taxing but every clue brought a smile. I’m already looking forward to his next contribution. 20d is about the only solution I had to get the BRB out for. Come back soon weatherman
Thanks to him and ALP
Re 20d – I paused and was mulling over StAyS as I had the ..S_S checkers in place already, but when thinking of synonyms for Bobby had an “I wonder” moment, and the penny dropped. A very clever clue.
Yes. That’s the joy with Weatherman. There were so many very clever clues. Some misleads as well as you found. A crossword I was almost disappointed to finish!
Really enjoyed this super puzzle. Proof yet again of the vital contribution made to our pleasure by Big Dave, Rookies Corner and Prolixic, in addition to the other sites on which rookie setters are able to cut their teeth. Weatherman clearly a graduate cum laude, though I’ve not really got a clue who our new setter is, but welcome and congratulations on a top-notch Toughie.
I was putting the bars in, saw The King, so started in the SE and progress was swift until the NW, which held me up only for a short while. Evidently I was fortunate to tune-in quite easily. Plenty of ticks everywhere, from the LOL 5a to the “oo-er missus” of 18a, the great surface read in (the admittedly parochial / UK-centric) 21a, and my other podium nominations 22d (quite brilliant surface), 18d (good red herring) and amusing old friend 2d.
Many thanks “Weatherman” and ALP
This had a very good mix of clues, and was refreshingly novel to solve. not particularly difficult, but hard enough to make a Toughie slot. 18d was my favourite from a wide choice.
Congratulations and thanks to Weatherman and ALP.
A cracking debut and great fun. I was a bit cross with 1a at first, thinking “hmm should have a Virgin in it” but Prof Google tells me it’s the National Carrier of the Faroe Islands – so there!
I particularly liked 5a [well in Berlin] 28a [once I’d figured out the Zodiac connection] 14d [nice smooth and apt all-in-one] and 22d [I think we can call that an all-in-one too – it doesn’t really need the “one”].
Thanks to Weatherman, keep em coming, and thanks to ALP [you’ve really spoiled us today].
Ha, I can but bow to your knowledge of 22ds! Goodo. I felt I had to try and atone for my ghastly Nellie Wallace lapse last week..
A few bung-ins that I needed the hints to parse, no idea who the war reporter is, and I found the rest pretty hard but I got there in the end. Satisfying to finish though. Favourite was 18a. Thanks to Weatherman for the entertainment and ALP.
Kate Adie, Wikipedia has it all, but I particularly remember her reporting from Tiananmen Square, Yugoslavia, and of course the Gulf War
Well, the Cat Stevens and Take That tracks were fine but as for the rest of the racket……….. Particularly nasty of our reviewer to mention Lionel re: 19a and then not play his lovely piece but I suppose I should expect nothing less from him.
Racking my brains to remember the particular Rookie who got booted up so rapidly by Prolixic, I suppose it will come to me in time, but I was disappointed that our setter wasn’t The Weatherman who walks – very nice chap.
Quite a lot of ticks on my paper – 5,13&21a plus 1,2&14d all worthy of mention but I’d be grateful if someone would be kind enough to explain 22d to me.
Thanks to our Weatherman who isn’t walking and to ALP for the review.
Ha! There’s no WAY you’re ever getting any Lionel from me. Sorry about that. Incel = involuntary celibate. So they’re pretty cheesed off, I imagine, about not getting any “it”!
Thank you – my research led me to ‘reverse rape’ which wasn’t very helpful!
Yikes. Yes, I don’t think it’s a word that merits too much research. I imagine the Google results are pretty horrifying. Just have a nice cup of tea instead and listen to some lovely Spear of Destiny!!
Think I’ll settle for a glass of wine and a read of the paper, thank you!
Welcome to Weatherman who’s started his Toughie career with a cracking puzzle. Thanks to him and ALP.
Top clues for me were 5a, 10a, 13a, 21a and 22d.
Excellent stuff. Creative clueing and smiles aplenty. A brilliant debut puzzle.
Congratulations, Weatherman. I hope you pop in to take your plaudits.
Thanks ALP.
I rarely venture in to Toughie land but I couldn’t help but think of my father when I saw this one….not only did he teach me how to solve the Telegraph cryptic (thanks Dad!), he was also a weatherman! So here goes….
Excellent crossword, thank you Weatherman. Many good clues but as I was born in Salisbury and it has a particularly fine 15a, that can be my clue of the day. Thanks to ALP, I needed help with a couple of parsings.
Gentle (except a quick google of 20d) but great fun. 8d gets my vote.
Thanks to Weatherman and ALP.
You really couldn’t wish for a better debut. An excellent puzzle with so much to like. Favourites 5A and 2D.
Many thanks to ALP and congratulations to Weatherman.
Evening all – thank you for the kind comments, I’m delighted you’ve found so much to enjoy. I hope to be back soon. And thanks, of course, to ALP for the marvellous review.
Weatherman (aka Amoeba)
Huge thanks for popping in, and for an absolute cracker. See you again soon!
Good of you to pop in, Weatherman. Be happy to see you again but if you can avoid any more 22d’s I’d be grateful!
22d was new to us and our BRB was no help either. A bit of Googling was needed. Everything else flowed relatively smoothly and we really appreciated and enjoyed the solve.
Thanks Weatherman and ALP.
Great puzzle, with meticulous clueing. My memories of learning Russian in the 60s didn’t help with 20d, but the recent reporting of Bad Vlad’s invasion of his neighbour did help.
Thanks to Weatherman and to ALP, whose hints I shall now read!
Cracking debut & thoroughly enjoyable from first to last. Had to consult Mr G for a post completion check for last in 20d & got no further than PE with the why at 11a but managed the rest ok. ✅s all over the shop: 5,10,18&26a plus 2,14,16&22d particular likes.
Thanks to Weatherman (already looking forward to your next one) & to ALP – super review & music choices but if Spear of Destiny wasn’t Jane’s cup of tea heaven knows what she would have made of Tom Waits’ Make it Rain, which I thought you might pick. I’d have plumped for Foy Vance
Oh, that’s lovely. Is that the original? I only knew Sheeran’s cover – its only saving grace being that it cropped up in Sons of Anarchy! How funny though. I do love a bit of Tom and he SO nearly made the cut. But as you say, that would have been even more unpopular..
Foy Vance wrote it yes. That live album is excellent.
I needed quite a bit of help to finish this — I blame it on the Weatherman:
Both the bits I could do and those I couldn’t were impressive, and it all made sense in the end. My top couple were 21a with the war reporter and 22d for the definition. Welcome and thank you to the setter for the entertainment, and thank you to ALP for enabling those of us who aren’t Toughie-level to give it a go.
I was lured into downloading this puzzle by ALP’s email alert comments, and glad I did so. My printout is littered with ticks (10, so too many to enumerate) and only 1 exclamation mark, which was for 22d, a term I was unfamiliar with but which made the clue much better once I looked it up! I thoroughly enjoyed Amoeba’s NTSPP offering so will delve back into the RC archive for more fun and games.
My thanks to both Weatherman and ALP.