Toughie No 3363 by Serpent
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
We have a very enjoyable puzzle from Serpent today. Thanks to him. He often hides something in the grid but I can’t find anything today – can you?
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Wrongly taken lives right doctor conceals (15)
MISAPPROPRIATED: one of our abbreviations for a doctor contains a verb meaning lives and an adjective meaning right or suitable.
9a Make regular sailor upset with men (9)
NORMALISE: an anagram (upset) of SAILOR MEN.
10a Foot gets inflamed when twisted (5)
SERIF: reverse a verb meaning ‘gets inflamed’ or rouses.
11a Falsely accuse those introducing asylum seekers essentially (7)
ASPERSE: the letters introducing asylum and seekers followed by an adverb (3,2) meaning essentially.
12a Means of avoiding store returning charged item (7)
EVASION: reverse a verb to store or hoard and add a charged electrical item.
13a Reporter’s not at all religious (3)
NUN: this sounds like an adverb meaning ‘not at all’. Religious here is a noun.
14a Loan what is left by Independent politician (7)
IMPREST: a word for what is left follows abbreviations for Independent and politician.
17a Reduce the value of French region (7)
DETRACT: the French ‘of’ and a word for a large area of land.
19a Stays determined to stop island crushing resistance (7)
CORSETS: an adjective meaning determined goes inside a Greek island. Finally insert the abbreviation for electrical resistance.
22a Depression caused by violent, heated outburst (7)
CALDERA: cryptic definition of a volcanic crater.
24a I’m rather disappointed by student making boring point (3)
AWL: a short expression of disappointment and our usual abbreviated student. There’s an apocryphal story that when shooting the film ‘The greatest story ever told’ John Wayne was asked to repeat his line ‘Truly this was the son of God’ with more awe so he said it again preceded by ‘Aw’.
25a Liberal politician dismissing bent cop at the start (7)
INITIAL: remove the jumbled (bent) letters of COP from an anagram (liberal) of POLITICIAN.
26a Have too much of each in public (7)
OVEREAT: insert the abbreviation for each into an adjective meaning public.
28a Smelly product of plant contributing to biofuel emissions (5)
ELEMI: hidden.
29a Firm is at odds with a client (9)
INELASTIC: an anagram (at odds) of IS A CLIENT.
30a Deter an election potentially creating international accord (7,8)
ENTENTE CORDIALE: an anagram (potentially) of DETER AN ELECTION.
Down Clues
1d Piece risks accommodating popular feature on English language (8,7)
MANDARIN CHINESE: a piece in a board game and a verb meaning risks contain an adjective meaning popular and a facial feature. Finish with an abbreviation for English.
2d Band splits up (5)
STRAP: reverse a verb meaning splits.
3d Plain look that is introduced by priest (7)
PRAIRIE: a synonym of look or demeanour and the abbreviation for ‘that is’ are preceded by an abbreviation for priest.
4d Let guards train in uniform (7)
RAIMENT: a verb to let or hire contains a verb to train a weapon.
5d Falsely claim cardinal died after prior (7)
PRETEND: a cardinal number and the genealogical abbreviation for died follow a prefix meaning prior.
6d Second of this month (7)
INSTANT: double definition, the second a rather outdated, usually abbreviated, word used in business correspondence meaning ‘of this month’.
7d End of gnat’s body eaten by another insect (9)
TERMINATE: the central letters of gnat are contained in an insect that lives in a mound.
8d In English, it’s not a clear piece of writing (8,7)
DEFINITE ARTICLE: an adjective meaning clear or distinct and a piece of writing (in a newspaper perhaps).
15d Relevant point in a part of the Bible (9)
PERTINENT: insert a word for a sharp point between a preposition meaning ‘a’ or ‘for each’ and the abbreviation for part of the Bible.
16d Drunkard shouts out at regular intervals (3)
SOT: remove regular letters from ‘shouts’.
18d Period drama recreates revolutionary circles (3)
ERA: hidden in reverse.
20d Vocal cover-up and mounting interference stopped by individual’s case (7)
ELISION: a word for electrical interference has inserted in it (stopped, as used in 19a) the outer letters of individual. Reverse it all.
21d Saint’s cross with line in irreverent work (7)
SALTIRE: insert the abbreviation for line in an irreverent work.
22d Cupboard love? Not quite (5,2)
CLOSE TO: another word for a cupboard and our usual love-resembling letter.
23d Attract slippery character over to sheltered area (7)
LEEWARD: a verb to attract or pull and a slippery creature all reversed.
27d Additional tax rebate cut by two-thirds in error (5)
EXTRA: an anagram (in error) of TAX RE[bate]. 
I liked lots of clues including 19a, 24a, 15d and 22d with my favourite being 8d. Which one(s) did the job for you?
This was a very nicely compiled puzzle that was a pleasure to solve. I had one or two sticky clues that I couldn’t parse at first, but all became clear in the end. I am going to be lazy and go with our blogger’s favourite, 8d.
Many thanks to Serpent and Gazza.
Very sharp, very lovely. Super surfaces. 1a’s neat, 10a’s fun and 13a’s nounal “religious” was whip-smart. 8d’s a snorter. Many thanks to Serpent and Gazza. I also looked for summat (oh, how I looked) in the grid, and failed. But if you can’t find one, there can’t be one, so I’ll happily stop now!
A very enjoyable and entertaining Thursday Toughie. Lots of good clues to like, but I thought 22D deserved to be singled out as it felt so neat.
Many thanks to Gazza for the blog and usual humour and to Serpent.
Great fun, as others have said. Very satisfying. Lovely surfaces. A good balance between the challenging, the thought-requiring, and the few gimmes. Loved some of the disguises and deceit. Highlights for me were COTD 22d, joined by 11a and 4d.
Thank you so much Serpent and also of course Gazza.
On the friendly side for a Serpent but as enjoyable as ever
Many thanks to him and Gazza
What a cracker! Certainly not easy but all fairly clued. So many contenders for favourite but after several changes of mind I’ll plump for 22a. Thanks to Serpent and Gazza.
Enjoyed this one, perhaps because 1a and 1d went in pronto and made it that much easier to crack. Tops were 25a [sadly, rather topical] 1d [quite a tour de force] and 7d [cleverly misleading]. I think Serpent is becoming known for not hiding anything in the grid.
Thanks to him/her and to Gazza for the blog and ‘toons.
Getting the four perimeter answers without too much fight certainly helped a lot.
Plenty to enjoy and chuckle over here.
Thanks Serpent and Gazza.
The 4 peripherals went in without much bother then it was a bit of a scattergun approach to tackling those that lay within. There were a couple of unfamiliarities at 14&22a – the former easily gettable from the wordplay but even though I correctly figured the all in one nature of the other I had to leave it to last & search volcanic terms to get the word so a DNF or FOBC (only by cheating). 15d unparsed also which was unforgivable given tining is a treatment on greens on a golf course. Very much enjoyed the puzzle.
Thanks to Serpent & to Gazza for his usual top notch review & cartoons
Many thanks to Gazza for the great blog, and to everyone who has taken the time to solve the puzzle and leave a comment.
I did try to hide a 12-letter word or phrase in the four 3-letter words read clockwise round the centre. MINERAL WATER looked promising (using MIN, ERA, AWL and RET), which is why ERA and AWL are in the grid. Unfortunately, MIN isn’t a word and I couldn’t find another 12-letter phrase that would work. Next time…
Thanks for looking in, Serpent, and thanks for a great puzzle.
This is a new personal record for me now! My third completed Toughie on the run!! (Took me all day though!! Feeling v proud! Last in, 20D. Tough, but very enjoyable!!
Well done. 2here do you play your golf?
Well done! Do have a go at today’s Toughie and let us know how you got on.