Toughie No 3367 by Kcit
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment **
This is just about as straightforward as any Thursday Toughie I’ve blogged and I didn’t really warm to it. You may agree or disagree – please let us know. Thanks to Kcit.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Not entirely stupid about cooked fish – enough for a meal? (7)
DISHFUL: an adjective meaning stupid or slow-witted without its last letter contains an anagram (cooked) of FISH.
5a Shouts pained comment, beset by alarms? (7)
BELLOWS: an expression of pain inside a synonym of alarms.
9a Working in restaurant, overlooked accommodating party for theatrical show (7,3,5)
WAITING FOR GODOT: assemble ‘working in a restaurant’ and a verb meaning overlooked containing a festive party.
10a Return of marine creature, seen around 1,000 bodies of water (5)
LAKES: reverse a marine creature around the abbreviation for 1,000 in metric units.
11a Dismiss clergy in sign of repentance? (9)
SACKCLOTH: combine a verb to dismiss and a generic word for clergy.
12a Overalls good – are needed in sandy areas (9)
DUNGAREES: insert the abbreviation for good and ARE in sandy hillocks.
14a Kidneys? Not eating a lot for starters (5)
OFFAL: string together a preposition meaning ‘not eating’ or ‘abstaining from food’, A and the starting letter of lot.
15a Unduly active promoter? (5)
HYPER: double definition, the second someone who talks up something intensively.
16a Flop around stone base in storm (4,5)
DUST DEVIL: a synonym for a flop or damp squib contains the abbreviation for stone. Add an adjective meaning base or wicked.
18a Peers accepting article without borrowed terms (4,5)
LOAN WORDS: another word for peers or nobles contains a grammatical article and the abbreviation for ‘without’.
21a Sensible thinking about Northern contributions to language (5)
NOUNS: an informal word for sensible thinking or common sense contains the abbreviation for Northern.
22a Emerging from management not likely to succeed? (3,2,3,7)
OUT OF THE RUNNING: a phrase meaning ‘emerging from’ and a synonym of management. The third word of the answer doesn’t seem to be catered for in the wordplay.
23a Language appropriate to tutor disregarding India (7)
FORTRAN: a computer language is constructed from a preposition meaning ‘appropriate to’ and a verb to tutor without the letter that India represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet.
24a Introduce piano and wind instrument keeping constant time at the end (7)
PRECEDE: string together the abbreviation for piano, a wind instrument containing an abbreviation for constant and the end letter of time.
Down Clues
1d Father was first to swallow whiskey and took things slowly (7)
DAWDLED: an informal word for father and a verb meaning ‘was first’ with the letter that whiskey represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet inserted.
2d Unable to proceed with wall preparation, something to cover damage (8-7)
STICKING-PLASTER: a present participle meaning ‘unable to proceed’ or ‘becoming immobilised’ and what’s used for wall preparation.
3d Statement of equality succeeded in markets (5,4)
FAIR’S FAIR: a word for a market or bazaar is repeated with the genealogical abbreviation for succeeded inserted between the two.
4d About to avoid bodies of water in African city (5)
LAGOS: shallow lakes without a 2-letter preposition meaning ‘about’.
5d Work to accommodate patients – records shelved here? (9)
BOOKCASES: a verb meaning ‘work to accommodate’ or ‘arrange a reservation’ and a synonym for medical patients.
6d Reason officer’s upset about American soldier (5)
LOGIC: the reverse of the abbreviation for a senior army officer contains the abbreviation for a US soldier.
7d Curious lad remade a virtue of popular choice (4-2,9)
ODDS-ON FAVOURITE: assemble an adjective meaning curious or strange, a synonym of lad and an anagram (remade) of A VIRTUE OF.
8d Bag made from piece of cloth, not wide but having a bit of extra length (7)
SATCHEL: remove the abbreviation for wide from a sample of cloth and add the first letter of extra and the abbreviation for length.
13d Doctor phoned in, having injected initially risky brain chemical (9)
ENDORPHIN: an anagram (doctor) of PHONED IN with the initial letter of risky inserted.
14d Regulation formerly restricting racket amongst artillery (9)
ORDINANCE: a Russion doll clue – an adverb meaning formerly contains the abbreviation for our artillery regiment which in turn contains a synonym of racket.
15d Power of France? Keep at a distance (4,3)
HOLD OFF: bring together a synonym of power or influence, OF and the IVR code for France.
17d Italian course showing dip in road (7)
LASAGNE: a verb to dip goes inside a minor road.
19d English force turning up in conflict – very thin rations? (5)
WAFER: abbreviations for English and force get reversed inside a word for armed conflict.
20d Drink including your medicine (5)
SYRUP: a verb to drink includes the abbreviation for your.
Nothing stood out for me today. Which clue(s) did you like?
I thought this was a bit on the light side but still characteristically kcit. I liked 3d, which was, shamefully, my last in and 14d which, whilst fairly obvious in the solving, took some teasing out in the parsing.
Thanks to kcit and Gazza.
Kcit always provides a Toughie at the extremely friendly end of the difficult spectrum and this one was no exception
Thanks to him and Gazza
Not too taxing, no, but I enjoyed it. I didn’t love 5d’s “work to accommodate patients” but it reads well. 9a caught my eye, 4d provided a nice alternative to the back page and 7d tickled me. Many thanks to Kcit and Gazza. That last cartoon made me smile. But then I am 12!
As others have mentioned above, this was very gentle, but also very enjoyable.
Two bodies of water for the price of one!
3d my favourite.
Thanks Kcit and Gazza
This was certainly a lot easier than we might expect for a Thursday, and I enjoyed it more than our esteemed blogger. 3 and 4d were my particular favourites. No doubt we shall get a rude awakening tomorrow.
My thanks to Kcit and Gazza.
Think I enjoyed this rather more than Gazza seems to have done but that probably speaks volumes about the difference in our solving ability! Took me quite some time to sort out the ‘statement of equality’ but must admit that I didn’t have a problem with 22a, which was probably my favourite and joined on the podium by 2&7d.
Thanks to Kcit and to my knight in shining armour for the review and cartoons – just knew there would be a named disorder that covered the behaviour of my grandson!
This was definitely a very gentle offering for a Thursday, but nevertheless it was an enjoyable solve. There were no standout clues, but I’m not implying that’s a negative.
Many thanks to Gazza as always for the chuckles and to Kcit
Yep, definitely enjoyed this, even if Kcit was being rather kind to us this late in the week. Took me longer than it should have done to dismiss “renal” at 14a. Honours to 1d & 11a.
Many thanks to Kcit & Gazza
With you all the way on ‘renal’!
Don’t expect you likes 3d though, after yesterday’s actor’s enumeration!
I do think that for names an effort should be made, but I’m otherwise resigned to the sad loss of the possessive apostrophe in crosswords – I blame the greengrocers!
The four long answers went in relatively easily which meant plenty of checkers on offer. A pleasant solve that went together smoothly for us.
Thanks Kcit and Gazza.
Pretty floughie but my brain quite appreciated the respite after yesterday’s ordeal with Django. Had to check what last in 23a was (having never heard of it) but the wordplay made it easily gettable. Winced at the memory of having once backed a 7d at Newbury (listed hurdle race, small field) with a substantial wad that was quickly 22a, tailed off then pulled up – horse not right. No real fav but enjoyed the puzzle rather more than our esteemed reviewer.
Thanks to Kcit & to Gazza.
Thanks Gazza for a couple of pointers. A bit easier than yesterday, so a few bung-ins in unparsed. Didn’t know 18a or the language in 23. Didn’t get tripped up by the missing apostrophe in 3d though!
Nice one Kcit