Toughie No 3348 by Osmosis
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
A typically enjoyable puzzle from Osmosis which is perhaps slightly gentler than what he usually provides. The puzzle has zero anagrams, 25/26th of a pangram and a plentiful supply of abbreviations (I’m glad I’ve set up a shortcut for that word in Microsoft Word).
Thanks to Osmosis.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Home of Kronenbourg beer hosting heads of Stella Artois and Carlsberg (6)
ALSACE: We want the region of France where Kronenbourg is brewed. Put a type of beer around the leading letters of Stella, Artois and Carlsberg.
4a Clothing company, as it were, still reported (3-5)
TWO-PIECE: if three’s a crowd what’s company? Add a homophone of still or tranquillity.
9a Ornate centrepiece in iron company replicated (6)
ROCOCO: the central letters of iron and two abbreviated companies.
10a Angler knocked back roll and cold drink (8)
PISCATOR: assemble a roll or register, the tap abbreviation for cold and a verb to drink then reverse the lot.
12a Maniacal, largely European guards kept fit regularly (8)
FRENETIC: an adjective meaning from a European country without its last letter contains regular letters from ‘keep fit’.
13a Lewis’s partner westbound discovers old address (6)
SIRRAH: Lewis is not the Oxford detective but a Scottish island. Reverse the name of the island that it’s paired with and connected to.
15a Rock figureheads at this place launch career again (5,8)
MOUNT RUSHMORE: string together a verb to launch or initiate, a verb to career and an adverb meaning again.
18a Dressing likewise around coaster, vessel buoyant (6,7)
TOMATO KETCHUP: put an adverb meaning likewise or additionally around a protective coaster and append a sailing boat and an adjective meaning buoyant or thriving.
22a Modify Tesla, among others, in spring (6)
REVISE: insert the abbreviation for what a Tesla is an example of into a verb to spring.
24a Deafening silence perhaps after studio finally axes Flash Gordon, Blessed being dismissed separately (8)
OXYMORON: cement together the final letter of studio, standard axes or coordinates, a flash or short time and what’s left of Gordon after the separate letters of God (Blessed) have been dismissed. Very clever!
26a One improvises with a large slicing tool (2-6)
AD-LIBBER: start with A and insert the clothing abbreviation for large into a gardening tool.
27a Swinish behaviour here possibly finished when first husband gone (6)
TROUGH: an adverb meaning finished without the first of the genealogical abbreviations for husband.
28a Succeeded in French? (8)
SWEARING: the genealogical abbreviation for succeeded and a present participle meaning ‘in’. French here is what’s meant in the excuse ‘Pardon my French”.
29a Take off connector, bypassing singular engineer (6)
ASCEND: a grammatical connector containing abbreviations for singular and engineer.
Down Clues
1d Notice spiritual class felt void, lacking guidance (6)
ADRIFT: an abbreviated notice, the abbreviation for a school lesson pushing religion and the outer letters of ‘felt’.
2d Second mass park function uplifted active parent (6,3)
SOCCER MOM: rivet together a short time (second, the same as the ‘flash’ in 24a) and abbreviations for mass, playing park and a mathematical function. Now reverse it all.
3d Artist‘s hat replaced by autumn time in country house (7)
COCTEAU: start with a country house and replace ‘hat’ with an abbreviated time in autumn to get the name of a French artist.
5d Maestro and wife face losing piano (4)
WHIZ: the genealogical abbreviated for wife and an informal word for the human face without the abbreviation for piano.
6d After sixteen pints, is alcoholic’s belly ready for food? (7)
PECKISH: an old measure of capacity for dry goods (equivalent to two gallons) followed by IS and the central letter of alcohol. I originally tried to make ‘piggish’ work here until 10a put paid to that thought.
7d Roofless hub in Florida key (5)
ENTER: the US spelling of a word meaning hub without its top letter.
8d Less refined English craft here rendered by Jürgen (8)
EARTHIER: an abbreviation for English, a synonym of craft and the German word for ‘here’.
11d Some peek at Simon’s towering bloomer (7)
MISTAKE: hidden in reverse.
14d Journalist on Times entertaining without underlying theme (7)
SUBTEXT: an abbreviated journalist (not ‘ed’ this time) and two occurrences of the abbreviation for time containing a preposition meaning without.
16d Sidekick possibly writing song that’s suitable (9)
OPPORTUNE: an informal word for sidekick, a single letter that can mean ‘writing’ and a synonym of song.
17d Film with Ford Galaxy perhaps handling brutal climbing (4,4)
STAR WARS: what a galaxy consists of containing the reversal of an adjective meaning brutal or gritty.
19d Tradesman’s first question with local: status of windows here? (7)
TASKBAR: splice together the first letter of tradesman, a verb to question and a local.
20d Bony thing emptied earlier into decomposed matter (7)
HUMERUS: decomposed matter containing the outer letters of ‘earlier’.
21d Universal greeting about peace, as hippie appears? (6)
UNSHOD: the abbreviation for universal and a non-verbal greeting containing a request for peace.
23d See you collecting university prize (5)
VALUE: a Latin word for farewell (see you!) containing an abbreviation for university.
25d Material Girl (4)
JEAN: double definition, the first a heavy cloth.
I liked 28a, 7d and 17d but my clue of the day is 24a. Which one(s) appealed to you?
Loads to like, and gentle-ish for a Friday. Loved 15a, 28a, 3d’s construction (odd surface though) and 6d. I can only admire 24a’s super-sharp parsing. Thank goodness for the gimme def. Oof! Lovely puzzle. Many thanks to Osmosis and Gazza. Tip-top cartoons, as ever.
Great fun and, yes, a bit on the gentle side for Osmosis although I needed Gazza’s help to parse [the company bit of] 4a. 28a is super clever, 6d made me laugh and 24a is an Osmosis tour de force. I particularly like the reference to the Blessed Brian [who played Prince Vultan as Wiki reminds me].
Thanks to Setter and Blogger.
What a cracking end to the Toughie week, with the brilliant 24a taking pole position on my grid. It may have been at the ‘easier’ end of our setter’s spectrum, but it was a delight to solve, first clue to last.
Many thanks to both Osmosis and Gazza.
A rare foray into Osmosis territory for me. Gentle it may have been for you A Teamers but the likes of me still needed 5 letter reveals to complete the grid & Gazza’s help to understand one or two of the whys. To be fair I didn’t spend too much time on it as Fri Toughies are above my pay grade so pleased enough with my efforts. Enjoyed it despite feeling out of my depth.
Thanks both.
Super, super puzzle. There were moments when I wondered what “they” had done with Osmosis and who this imposter might be, but there was sufficient complexity & profound mystery in three of the four corners to assure me that this was the “real thing”. I spent far too long thinking of McLaren, Hathaway, Morse et al and there was a loud clang when the penny dropped. I spent far too long trying to put T in rest at 22a, and my LOI, 28a, only made sense as I finally decided to write it in. Groaned at the face – cannot recall its last appearance, and I doubt I shall do so next time, either. Kicked myself over the parsing of the R in 16d. Some bizarre surfaces, but it’s a Friday Toughie.
Podium to my first one in, 17a, the brilliant 24a (so happy I parsed that one, too!) and 15a, but many could as well have taken their places.
Many thanks to Osmosis and Gazza – brilliant cartoons, as ever.
We had an only partially parsed item of mediaeval male clothing for 4a which meant we could not get 5d. Apart from that we managed everything else and enjoyed the cleverness of this fun puzzle.
Thanks Osmosis and Gazza.
It took me a very long time to dismiss ‘cod piece’ as being a possible answer!
The SE took as long as the rest of it put together. 24a unlocked it though, an excellent clue, only surpassed imho by 28a which I thought was brilliant.
Thanks Gazza and Osmosis