Toughie 3350 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3350

by crypticsue  

Toughie  No 3350 by Django

Hints and Tips by crypticsue

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty * – Enjoyment ****

Django set us a friendly Toughie, on the cusp between a Friday backpager and a start of the week Toughie.  As I was solving the crossword, I said to Mr CS that there is an awful lot of ‘do something with a letter’ going on in quite a lot of the clues.  I haven’t marked them all in red, but you should see what I mean!

Across

1a           Perhaps atlas goes after my dad’s upset with cover from Ordnance Survey (8,4)
DOMESDAY BOOK A bound collection of sheets of paper such as an atlas goes after an anagram (upset) of MY DADS and the ‘cover’ from OrdnancE

8a           In Rome, see a jerk breaking into vehicle (7)
VATICAN A (from the clue) and an involuntary jerk ‘breaking into’ a vehicle

9a           Delighted former journalist holds key (7)
EXALTED A former abbreviated journalist ‘holds’ a key on your computer keyboard

11a         Person who says things as they are extremely rude and very famous (7)
REALIST The ‘extreme’ letters of RudE and an informal term for the most famous group of celebrities

12a         Man ringing conclusively wrong number back creates resentment (7)
DUDGEON An originally US informal term of address for a man ‘ringing’ the last (conclusively) letter of wronG, the result followed with a reversal of an abbreviated number

13a/19a Film star regularly objects to Elvis changing line to ultimately bed Priscilla (5,5)
BETTE DAVIS The regular letters of oBjEcTs To followed by ELVIS, changing the abbreviation for Line to the ultimate letters of beD and PriscillA

14a         Taking just seconds, Horizon enables Post Office to infiltrate finances deliberately (2,7)
ON PURPOSE The second letters of hOrizon and eNables and the abbreviation for Post Office ‘infiltrating’ a synonym of finances or available funds

16a         Damage done on dropping wine over skirt (9)
DETRIMENT DonE (from the clue) ‘dropping’ the ON and a deep-red Spanish wine often found in crosswords which goes ‘over’ the skirt or edge of something

19a         See 13 Across

21a         Boring advice to maintain moving parts? (3,4)
OIL WELL A hole made to search for a particular substance (boring) or advice to maintain moving parts

23a         Old silver coin by piano swapped for pound – it’s supposed to be golden (7)
SILENCE An old silver coin where the letter used in multiplication sums or measurements to mean by and the musical  abbreviation for Piano (softly) are replaced by the abbreviation for Pound (Sterling)

24a         Doctor – do I try squeezing tip of lymph gland? (7)
THYROID An anagram (doctor) of DO I TRY ‘squeezing’ the tip of lympH

25a         Breather in hotel bar at last – drinking beer (7)
INHALER IN (from the clue), the letter represented by Hotel in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet and the last letter of baR ‘drinking’ some beer

26d         Casting comic according to Spooner’s notes? (7,5)
FOLDING MONEY Spoonerize synonyms for casting and comic or amusing

Down

1d           Diminish terms for quad bike race including group of motorists (7)
DETRACT The terms or last letters of quaD and bikE and an abbreviated race into which is inserted (including) an abbreviated motoring organisation

2d           West maybe assuming Asian country exporting atomic powered device (7)
MACHINE The forename of the American actress whose surname was West ‘assuming’ an Asian country without ‘exporting’ the abbreviation for Atomic

3d           Complaint of one from France following introduction to Sooty & Sweep (9)
SUNSTROKE The French word for one follows the ‘introduction’ to Sooty, the result followed by a synonym for sweep

4d           Right also about this writer (5)
AMEND A conjunction indicating also goes ‘about’ how Django would refer to himself (this writer)

5d           Skin of beautiful snake in waste container (7)
BLADDER The ‘skin’ of BeautifuL and a type of snake

6d           Very active in April for example but not the 1st of May – self-confidence needed (2,3,2)
ON THE GO A division of the year (April for example) without the first letter of May followed by some self-confidence

7d           Day before and railway union say public supports call to strike (9,3)
EVERYBODY OUT The day before and an abbreviated railway, a number of persons having something in common (union) and a one-word way of saying in the open (public)

10d         £500 with 50 per cent off at first as my repair is oddly discounted for ages (7,5)
DONKEYS YEARS Take the slang term for £500  and change the Roman numeral for 1000 at the front of that word for another worth half that amount, then add the even (oddly discounted) letters of aS mY rEpAiR iS

15d         Metal and plastic suits a mop (9)
POTASSIUM An anagram (plastic) of SUITS A MOP

17d         Sporting cry of friend in basement of frat house (5-2)
TALLY-HO A friend inserted between the ‘basement’ of fraT and an abbreviated house

18d         Supply cod slices unwrapped for freezing (3-4)
ICE-COLD An anagram (supply) of COD sLICEs – ‘unwrapped’ instructing you to omit the Ss

19d         Mounted policeman discovered rhino is strong swimmer (7)
DOLPHIN A reversal (mounted) of a slang name for a policeman and the inside (dis covered) letters of rHINo

20d         Most importantly nurse replaces it in a way that’s bent? (7)
VENALLY Replace IT in a synonym for most importantly with the abbreviation for an Enrolled Nurse

22d         Full portion of salade niçoise (5)
LADEN Hidden in the last two words of the clue

 

 

17 comments on “Toughie 3350”

  1. Top entertainment — my favourite recent crossword, with lots of fun clues and everything being gettable. A few bits of wordplay I thought I was going to need help with parsing, but they came to me eventually.

    Also, all the solutions were words I knew, which wasn’t the case for either the Monday or Tuesday backpagers this week, so in some ways I found this easier than either of those.

    For my favourite I’ll pick 14a, for yet another clue by Django (or alter ego) on the Post Office Horizon scandal, and also ‘just seconds’ in the wordplay, which took me a while to work out.

    Other highlights include: 4d (“Right”) for so many possibilities for what most of the words could be indicating, combined with the definition being a verb that very much doesn’t look like one; 10d (“£500 with 50% off”) for being so clever; 1a (“Ordinance Survey”) for the definition; 19d for “Mounted policeman”; and 23a (“Old siver coin”) for the wordplay.

    Thank you so much to Django — that really started my day in a good mood. And to CrypticSue, for making me realize 8a’s definition is far better than I thought it was, by underlining the 3rd word not just the first 2.

  2. Brilliant. I loved it!
    Bunging in petticoat at 16a slowed me up a tad, but in fairness, that was never going to work.
    It is very difficult to pick a favourite from so many great clues, but, if pushed, I’ll probably go for Sooty & Sweep in 3d.
    Thank you Django. More of the same please.
    Thanks also to CS, of course, for unravelling all of this fun.

  3. Really entertaining stuff – thanks to Django and CS.
    There are loads of clues to like including 8a, 14a, 3d, 5d and 6d.

  4. Top puzzle and top entertainment with a some brilliant clues. All parsed on my own which is not always the case so that’s a bonus. Lots of contenders for favourite but I’ll go with 10d. Thanks to Django and CS.

  5. From the actresses of antiquity through the many decades to the Horizon scandal. An enjoyable puzzle, almost over too soon. Almost, because when entering 1a without parsing the clue I misspelt it, resulting in head-scratching trying to get 2d to start with an O … Mind you I was also trying to spell the actress (vaguely recalled, thank you Kim Carnes) with a Y not an E, because that too had been a write-in with out reading the full clue, which didn’t help either. Found I’d biffed quite a lot of clues from the definitions, something I tend to do when a puzzle is overly verbose. Was relieved to have had the M in place when I got to the Spoonerism. Thought “tip of lymph” misleading: could be L or H.

    COTD 14a, just for being so up-to-date, runner-up 3d.

    Thanks to Django & Sue

  6. Simply superb! I loved it all from start to finish with 14a my favourite.

    Many thanks to Django and to CS.

  7. One of the most straightforward toughies for a while but none the worse for that. So many great clues it’s hard to pick a winner but the 4 outside ones were all nicely constructed. The wordiness of some of the clues did have me pondering somewhat but all worked well.
    Thanks to Django for the fun and CS for the blog and great illustrations.

  8. I don’t usually attempt the Toughie but there were encouraging noises on the cryptic blog that it might be achievable.

    It was a DNF for me but I managed the majority of it and could appreciate the humour and cleverness of the clueing.

    Favourites for me were 5d, 19d and 8a.

    Thanks to CrypticSue for the helpful hints and to Django.

  9. A straightforward but enjoyable Wednesday Toughie. Lots to like but I’ll go for my 1st one in,14A, because of it’s construction.
    Many thanks CS and Django.

  10. Lots of fun to be had without too much of a brain-mangling. Just what we like.
    Thanks Django and CS.

  11. 4 great peripherals & a host of good ‘uns within. 14a has to take top spot for topicality if nowt else but there enough ticks for 3 podiums. The whys of a good few came after the answer but ‘twas ever thus for me with Mr Gorman’s Toughies – even the easier ones. Loved it – *****+ for enjoyment
    Thanks Django & Sue

  13. What a delight from start to finish! I can’t choose a favourite clue… Like Huntsman, this has to have *****+ for enjoyment.
    Many thanks Django. And many thanks, too, to Crypticsue.

    1. It does seem to have vanished so I’ve asked some people who may know to see if they can shed any light on the matter

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