Toughie 3386 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3386

by crypticsue  

Toughie  No 3386 by Hudson

Hints and Tips by crypticsue

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

 

Hudson set us a splendid pangram for our 21d delight.   There are many wonderful surface readings so it was a pleasure to look at them twice while preparing the blog.  The parsing of 12a added half a star to the difficulty rating – I got there just before I was considering “phoning a friend”.

My Across favourite is the very sneaky 12a as for quite a while I was convinced that the four outside letters were the frame of a  crossword, and my Down favourite is 26d for the wonderful reversal indicator

Please let us know what you thought

Across

1a           Did nit-picking upset Paris Hilton? That’s not on! (5,5)
SPLIT HAIRS  An anagram (upset) of PARIS HILTon without (not) the ON. See Hudson’s comment @6 as to where the missing S went.

6a           Head to runway, pushing back at eleven (4)
TAXI A reversal (back) of AT (from the clue) followed by the Roman numerals for eleven

10a         Wrestling nearly finished, provide an overview (3,2)
SUM UP Almost all of a form of wrestling and a synonym for finished

11a         Keyboard played by Sweet which got broken up in 1974? (9)
GLAMORGAN The group Sweet were known for a particular type of rock music, add a keyboard to this, and once you merge the two, you have a former county in South Wales which was broken up into three new counties in 1974

12a         Set frame around crossword, back up failed, had a sulk (8)
GRIZZLED A frame is set around a crossword without (failed) the reversal (back) of UP

13a         Former partner beginning to sue incoming City bosses (5)
EXECS A former partner and the beginning to Sue into which is inserted (incoming) the postcode for the area of London where the city is situated

15a         Gambas, quesadillas fed European people (7)
BASQUES Hidden in the first two words of the clue

17a         Chevening retrospective uncovered ruined city (7)
NINEVEH Hidden in reverse (retrospective) in cHEVENINg once you have uncovered or removed the outside letters

19a         Member of Pride, Liberal, old northern copper arrested (4,3)
LION CUB An abbreviation for the Liberal party into which is inserted (arrested) the abbreviations for Old and Northern and the chemical symbol for copper

21a         Less clear, recalled odd PM having a change of heart (7)
MURKIER A reversal (recalled) of a synonym for odd and the forename of our current Prime Minister with the two middle letters swapped over (having a change of heart)

22a         Inspire EU to return a small amount of data first thing? (5)
IMBUE A small amount of data goes first before a reversal (to return) of EU

24a         Embarrassed central bank moved fast, according to Spooner (3-5)
RED-FACED How Spooner might say that the American central bank moved fast

27a         Fresh actors love deserted black and white vibe here (9)
NEWCASTLE A synonym for fresh, some actors and the outside (deserted) letters of LovE

28a         Rift valleys regularly drained the country (5)
ITALY The even (regularly drained) of rIfT vAlLeYs

29a         Bear zero temperature whirlpool? (4)
EDDY A bear without (zero) the abbreviation for Temperature

30a         Cocky young bloke halted waving flag at the start (4,3,3)
JACK THE LAD An anagram (waving) of HALTED goes after (at the start) a flag showing nationality

Down

1d           Band like interrupting silence (4)
SASH An adverb meaning like ‘interrupting’ an interjection requesting silence

2d           Poor Club Roma – after letting in second the Italians bottle it (9)
LAMBRUSCO An anagram (poor) of CLUB ROMA into which is inserted (after letting in) the abbreviation for Second

 

3d           Cover walls of Alcatraz in stone (5)
TOPAZ A cover for something and the ‘walls’ of AlcatraZ

4d           Thrice-daily recital American investor covers (7)
ANGELUS A thrice-daily recital of prayers – an investor in theatrical ventures covers or goes over (in a Down solution) the abbreviation for American

5d           African fish filmed in River Nile initially (7)
RWANDAN A fish in the title of a 1968 comedy film inserted between the abbreviation for River and the initial letter of Nile

7d           Enticingly display headless fish (5)
ANGLE A verb meaning to display enticingly as an encouragement without its first letter (headless)

8d           Here, poison is spread in part of the heavens (10)
IONOSPHERE An anagram (spread) of HERE POISON

9d           Fog over Norwich: engaging speed regulator (8)
GOVERNOR Hidden in the first three words of the clue

14d         Principally easy target on board? That’s nice – I’m lacking enthusiasm (10)
EBULLIENCE The principal letter of Easy, a target on a dartboard, the abbreviation meaning that is and NiCE without the I (I’m lacking)

16d         Clues “man running the United States” (5,3)
UNCLE SAM An anagram (running) of CLUES MAN

18d         Recording very old Frost Report chap (9)
VOICEMAIL The abbreviations for Very and Old, a synonym for frost and a homophone (report) of a man (chap)

20d         Guy turned up, foreign character, squeezing Tango cap (7)
BIRETTA A reversal (turned up) of a verb meaning to tease or make fun of (guy) and a Greek letter, the latter ‘squeezing’ the letter represented by Tango in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet

21d         Wednesday papers with spineless covers? (3-4)
MID-WEEK Some abbreviated identification papers and the abbreviation for With covered by spineless or submissive

23d         Billions outstanding? So bent! (5)
BOWED The abbreviation for Billions and outstanding or still to be paid

25d         Mennonite Scotsman leaves hospital (5)
AMISH A Scotsman without (leaves) the first appearance of the abbreviation for Hospital

26d         He composed part of Dry Bones (from the toe bone to the head bone) (4)
BYRD Probably the most splendid reversal indicator ever! An English Renaissance composer is hidden in reverse in DRY Bones

 

 

20 comments on “Toughie 3386”

  1. An excellent not-too-tough Toughie, as we have come to expect from this setter.

    Unless I am missing something, I don’t think 1a works as there are only 9 letters in the anagram fodder.

    Many thanks to Hudson. Thanks too to CS particularly for the parsing of 25d which eluded me.

  2. Surely there is an s missing in the anagram fodder for 1a?

    I see RD got there before me!

      1. I’m not at all convinced by this [but will bow before superior grammarians]. “that’s” can be parsed as “that has” or “that is” so surely it needs another “s”.

  3. A top-notch puzzle from the ever-reliable and always-entertaining Hudson – thanks to him and CS.
    I can’t make the 1a anagram work = there seems to be one S missing from the fodder. I did wonder whether the second sentence of the clue was meant to be read as ‘That has S not ON’ but that doesn’t really work either.
    Add Sweet to the long list of bands that I’ve never heard of.
    The pick of a fine bunch of clues for me were 21a, 2d and 21d.

  4. Apart from the error already mentioned, this was a cracker of a Toughie, and I found it a tad easier than the backpager. Of many fine clues I liked 25d the best ahead of 5d.

    Thanks to Hudson for the fun and to Sue.

  5. A very enjoyable 21D not so Toughie. I also agree 1A needs an “s” to complete the parsing.
    Lots to like but 26D has to take the podium for the best reverse anagram I’ve come across.
    Many thanks to CS for the blog and Hudson for the enjoyment.

  6. Dear CrypticSue,
    Thanks as ever for your blog and thanks to those who have left a comment. I’m sorry for the error at 1A. The ed changed slightly my original submission (which had “Paris Hilton’s not on” as the fodder) and I didn’t pick it up at the second reading – my bad.
    Best wishes to all, Rob/Hudson

  7. Needed my thinking cap on to correctly parse a few of these and it took me far longer than it should have done to find the enticing display but such an enjoyable puzzle.
    Tops for me were 6&30a plus 14&21d.

    Thanks to Hudson and to CS for the review.

  8. Excellent stuff… not too tricky, as others have noted, but a joy to solve. Stumped by 9d for a while until I remembered the old maxim “if all else fails, look for a…” Loved 11a (my LOI). Many thanks to Hudson and to CS

  9. Ignoring the foul-up at 1a [of all places] this was an enjoyable solve. I loved the Sweet keyboard at 11a and the up failed at 12a. The zero temp bear at 29a was lovely and 14d is quite the tour-de-force. 18d deserves an hon mensh too.
    Thanks to Hudson and CS.

  10. What a splendid puzzle with, as Sue says, cracking surface reads – just my type of Toughie (ie not especially ‘tuff’). It took a shade longer to complete than the back pager with all parsed other than 12a & trying to account for the missing S in 1a. I wasn’t familiar with the Renaissance chappie nor the ruined city so they both needed post entry checks with Mr G & I though I’d heard of the prayer I didn’t know it was said thrice daily. Having failed to twig it in yesterday’s leather wordplay it was a coincidence to see the hat popping up so soon. Ticks all over the shop – 11,21&27a + 2,5,9,18&21d particular likes.
    Thanks to Hudson & to CS
    Ps I remembered Sweet’s Fox On The Run at the top of the charts in the mid 70s & that their lead singer was the adopted brother of the chap who played Taggart.

  11. Thanks to Hudson for a very entertaining puzzle and CS for her usual expertise in picking the bones.
    My COTD was definitely 11a.
    Remember being dragged along to The Thomas a Becket in The Old Kent Road in the mid-70s. We were all into prog rock, loon pants and long hair. At the time Sweet were in their heyday. Top Of The Pops, bubblegum music. Very uncool. At the start of the gig, frontman Brian Connolly announced that anyone wishing to hear the drivel they had to play to put bread on the table was going to be disappointed. They then launched into some of the best hard-rock tunes I’d ever heard! That said, I still cringe at the thought of their Little Willy…

  12. Some challenging bits in this one for us with 11a a total mystery until we had all the checkers and could make a guess and search. 27a was also unknown but at least the wordplay was straightforward. That said we did find it an enjoyable solve with the pangram helpful in a couple of places.
    Thanks Hudson and CS.

  13. 1a was obviously a bung in but thanks to Hudson for popping in the explain the error, needed the hint to parse 12a and hadn’t heard of the prayer but religion isn’t my forte. Otherwise fairly plain sailing. My fears from yesterday for the toughie week seem to be unfounded, let’s hope it continues. Favourite was 5d. Thanks again to Hudson and CS.

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