Toughie No 3378 by Prime
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment **
Having looked back at Prime’s previous Toughie crosswords, I don’t think even the one with the numberless grid put up quite as much of a fight as today’s Toughie. For me, definitely a Friday Toughie rather than a Wednesday one.
My thanks to Mr CS who helped with a couple of bits of parsing from the other side of the kitchen table while listening to me muttering the clues out loud.
Please let us know what you thought
Across
1a Cheer 9 flying this? (10)
HELICOPTER An anagram (flying) of CHEER and the solution to 91
6a What poisonous gas goes round where flights begin? (4)
OCHE A reversal (goes round) of an interjection of enquiry (what) and the chemical symbol for a poisonous gas. The flying objects are not aeroplanes!
9a Speculative root of negative breaking story (5)
PILOT The mathematical symbol for the imaginary square root of -1 ‘breaking’ a story
10a Fake UN agency’s series of fourteen stars? (6,3)
DOCTOR WHO Falsify or fake and the abbreviation for the United Nations Health Organisation
12a Running without effort, moving quietly to the last activity of the line (13)
TRAINSPOTTING Running at a pace between walking and running goes outside ‘without’ effort in doing something, where the musical abbreviation for quietly moves to the end of that word
14a Lead dropped from disaster movie – one with a plant (8)
WISTERIA Remove the first letter (lead dropped) from an American disaster movie and then add the Roman numeral for one and A (from the clue)
15a What’s splintered after playing cricket, say? (6)
INSECT A splinter group goes after a synonym for playing
17a Rude sound when husband shifts (6)
EARTHY Take an adjective meaning (amongst quite a few definitions) sound, and shift the abbreviation for Husband further down the word
19a Battle to weaken throne (8)
WATERLOO Weaken or dilute and an informal name for the lavatory (throne)
22a Instruction for MPs while their pen wavers (5-4,4)
THREE-LINE WHIP An anagram (wavers) of WHILE THEIR PEN
24a Part of order somehow folded down (9)
ODDFELLOW A member of a secret benevolent society is an anagram (somehow) of FOLDED followed by a synonym of down
25a Like some sultanas from an impaired box? (5)
OMANI Found ‘boxed’ in frOM AN Impaired
26a Enjoys hot mess (4)
HASH A synonym for enjoys and the abbreviation for Hot
27a Materials using unusual prose style (10)
POLYESTERS An anagram (unusual) of PROSE STYLE
Down
1d Time to rise and renounce Catholic faith (4)
HOPE A reversal (to rise) of a point of time without (renounce) the abbreviation for Catholic
2d Car accessories in vinyl – nearly brand new (1-6)
L-PLATES A long playing record (vinyl) and almost all of a description of something brand new
3d Possible ingredient of snack box containing too much corn (7,6)
COTTAGE CHEESE A box or framework ‘containing’ the abbreviation meaning Over The Top (too much) followed by something with popular appeal (corn)
4d Washington taking against following games in particular (8)
PEDANTIC The abbreviation for school games is followed by a preposition meaning against is inserted (taking) into the abbreviated federal district where Washington is situated
5d Take off two heads, the first being uncovered (6)
ESCAPE Two headlands, the first one having its outside letters removed (being uncovered)
7d Pen with another farm animal needing service (2-5)
CO-WRITE A farm animal and a form of observance (service)
8d Stretching, Noel got in a muddle? (10)
ELONGATION An anagram (muddle) of NOEL GOT IN A
11d Anxious after missing intro, don’t record catchy tunes (2,11)
ON TENTERHOOKS dONT (from the clue) ‘missing’ its intro, a verb meaning to enrol or record and some catchy tunes in pop music
13d Craving for dessert that’s small and dry, in truth (5,5)
SWEET TOOTH Small and tee-total (dry) inserted in an archaic word for truth
16d Indian, say, to select a route (8)
TAKEAWAY Select or secure, A (from the clue) and a route
18d Windows perhaps beneath covering – e.g. brick screen (7)
REREDOS A computer operating system (Windows perhaps) goes under a preposition meaning covering or concerning and a colour, one example of which is brick
20d Circuit to secure transformer? (7)
LAPLACE A circuit of a course and a verb meaning to secure or fasten with a thread. A French mathematician who used a transform in his work on probability theory. In addition to helping with parsing, Mr CS is also available to give long lectures on the transformer!
21d City hosting key marketplace? (6)
RIALTO A South American city ‘hosting’ a key on your computer keyboard
23d Writing about one’s girl (4)
MISS An abbreviated manuscript (writing) goes about a way of writing one’s
I’m astounded to see that rating for this puzzle, CS, which once again proves that “wavelength” is a key factor in tackling a crossword, whether back page or Toughie. I might almost have switched those two ratings around (3 & 4 for me), having ticked so many and chuckled so much – but then again I didn’t have to sit down and explain some of the parsings, as you’ve had to kindly do for us. So the three where I thought “ho hum, that’s the answer, not 100% on the parsings but I don’t care” probably caused me rather less angst!
20d was entirely unknown to me, and though I googled to confirm the link with transform, I have no interest in reading further on that score: every day maybe a school day, but that looked too much like having to go back up to college. I wonder whether Prime had painted himself into a corner with the checking letters? Enjoyed 1a/9a – got 1a first (from the C & E), which then lead to 9a. Before that I’d been trying to insert an E (root, ie bottom or end, of negative) into some type of story.
So, podium places to 10a, 19a & 7d, with runners-up 6a, 22a, 25a & 5d.
Many thanks indeed to Prime, and also of course to CS
A really tricky challenge for a Wednesday – thanks to Prime and CS.
I solved it from the bottom up and needed to verify both the 9a negative root and the 20d transformer.
My ticks went to 6a, 17a (which made me laugh), 4d and 7d (pen with another – brilliant!).
CS, I think there might be a lapsus calami in the parsing of 24 – anagram of folded and a synonym of down, perhaps. Always enjoy the blogs. Many thanks.
You’ve been Batrachos in the past so changing your alias sent you into moderation. Both versions will work from now on.
That’s exactly what it says on my piece of paper so how it didn’t transfer to the hints I have no idea, especially as it was one of the clues that were easy to explain
Thanks Sue for the explanation of the parsing of various of the clues, which made it feel like a much simpler exercise than when I was completing it. I got there in the end but was into my second hour by the time the last letters fell into place. Still, it was just my fourth Toughie and I suppose there’s only one way to improve.
Have to admit to some guesswork and googling to get through this one which probably led to loss of enjoyment to a certain extent but there were still some smiles along the way. Podium places here went to 22a plus 1&7d.
Thanks to Prime for the challenge and to CS for the review – with apologies to Mr CS, I think I’ll pass on his 20d lecture!
I thought this was really tough for a Wednesday and failed on four. Thank you Sue for your parsing which then makes everything look so easy, which for me it certainly wasn’t.
My favourite clue was the clever 7D.
Many thanks once again Sue for the enlightenment and to Prime for the beating.
Much too hard. Only ¾ finished. Thanks all.
I pretty much agree with Mustafa G regarding the rating of today’s toughie. For me, yesterday’s was much more of a Friday level puzzle than this one. Goes to show how some compilers’ style suits some more than others. Not often that CS’s score on the door differs so much from my own, though I am grateful for her assistance in the parsing of a few.
Thanks to Prime and of course CS.
I agree this was pretty tough, more deserving of a Friday place but have no memory of previous toughies from this Setter. I chuckled at 19d [should have grown out of loo jokes by now] and admired the well-disguised definitions in both 3d and 7d but I really don’t like the construction of 25a [“from” seems to be both an indicator and part of the fodder] and overall it felt a bit clever-clever – sorry.
Thanks to Prime and CS.
We certainly struggled with this one and found it quite a frustrating experience. 20d was totally new to us and took ages to track down on Google despite having guessed the probable answer from the wordplay. Ah well, another day tomorrow.
Thanks Prime and CS.
Sorry, definitely a wavelength thing and not at all on mine!! Finished yesterday’s but seven solved today in far too long to enjoy the challenge. Bring on tomorrow’s!!
This took a little while to break into, for sure. 9a’s “root of negative” got me off to a very bad start. But this steadily grew on me and, bar the biffed and horrid 20d, the bottom was (IMHO) easier than the top. Some clever wordplay and sneaky definitions. “Series of 14 stars”, etc. I don’t, personally, love the cryptic grammar of “box” in 25a, even after that “from”, but hey ho. Some cracking shorties and ticks for 10a, 12a, 17a and 1d. Many thanks to Prime and CS.
Found this one considerably easier than Dharma’s Toughie yesterday so very surprised at the rating. Twigged both 20d&24a from the wordplay but both required a check with Mr G having never heard of the French fella or the order, despite enjoying the occasional pint in the Oddfellows Arms in Harpenden. I also tried to stick an E in plot at 9a & ended up just bunging in the answer & still don’t quite see how it’s synonymous with speculative. Always forget the operating system so didn’t quite parse 18d fully either.
Enjoyed the puzzle & particularly for the fun of trying to remember the Doctors (Jon Pertwee & Tom Baker when I was a kid – haven’t watched it in years but got 12 of ‘em). 7d my fav closely followed by 6a for the flights penny drop & with a good few ticks elsewhere.
Thanks to Prime & to CS.
Wow, two tough toughies tin a row to start the week. Starting from the bottom half up, I managed just over half before needing e-help. Finally manged to scrape home with some bung ins and gave up completely on 29d, not having access to Mr CS’s knowledge! Thanks to Sue for explaining the parsing of 9a, 12a and 2d. I did like 17 and 19a and the series of fourteen stars but give top marks to 6a for the chuckle it caused.
Thanks to Prime and of course to CS for the needed assistance.