Toughie No 3388 by Sparks
Hints and tips by Gazza
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ***
Sparks has given us a pretty tricky double (thanks Huntman) pangram today – thanks to him. There are a few gimmes but most of the clues need some cogitation.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a By end of June, school turned out exam plan (6)
SCHEME: preceding the last letter of June we have an abbreviation for school and the word exam eviscerated.
4a Unsteady adult, breaking bone, grabbed by curt manservant (8)
VARIABLE: the film abbreviation for adult goes inside a bone in the chest and all that is contained in a truncated manservant.
9a Fire string of marketing interns following setback (6)
IGNITE: hidden in reverse.
10a Street criminal pursues home advantage (8)
INTEREST: an anagram (criminal) of STREET follows an adverb meaning (at) home.
12a Peak form uplifted job interview from the start (4)
FUJI: starting letters of four words.
13a Pick up footwear for pets (5)
CHOUX: this sounds like an item of footwear but is the plural of a term of endearment from French.
14a Scold class (4)
RATE: double definition.
17a Squeak made by pointy object cutting new key (6,6)
NARROW ESCAPE: a pointy weapon goes inside the abbreviation for new and the full name of a key on a computer keyboard.
20a Go-between retained item under the table (12)
INTERMEDIATE: an anagram (under the table, i.e. drunk) of RETAINED ITEM.
23a Au naturel, at last appearing in Apollo, say (4)
GOLD: the last letter of naturel goes inside what the Roman Apollo is an example of.
24a Financial statistician‘s issue, one of four brief books (5)
QUANT: one of four offsprings born together loses its last letter and is followed by abbreviated Biblical books. A new word for me.
25a Something fired by 18 from back-to-back antagonists in Falklands War (4)
RAKU: abbreviations for the two antagonists in the Falklands war with the second reversed. The firing here takes place in a kiln.
28a Swap farthings and sixpences, perhaps (8)
EXCHANGE: farthings and sixpences are old coins.
29a One affected by tough question about university (6)
POSEUR: a tricky question contains an abbreviation for university.
30a Norm‘s position – heading firm for the Krays? (8)
STANDARD: a synonym for a position of resistance is followed by the Cockney form of an adjective meaning firm or tough.
31a Saw puppy, barely sleeping? (6)
BEHELD: a word for a puppy without its outer letters can be seen in bed.
Down Clues
1d Excellent student leaving joint by front of garage (8)
SPIFFING: remove the abbreviation for student from another word for a joint or reefer and append a preposition meaning by or during and the front letter of garage.
2d Half a month in poor group that can’t agree (4,4)
HUNG JURY: insert the first half of a Summer month into an adjective meaning poor.
3d Before 4, came up to Lorraine’s place? (4)
METZ: a 4d is preceded by a verb meaning ‘came up to’ or satisfied (expectations, say) to make a city in Lorraine.
5d Number one local bond seen under contents of bank statement (12)
ANNOUNCEMENT: the abbreviation for number, a dialect word for one and a verb to bond all come after the inner letters of bank.
6d ITV News regularly shows US composer (4)
IVES: regular letters from the first two words give us the surname of this US composer.
7d Extra legal action, principally with inferred regulation (3-3)
BYE-LAW: assemble an extra in cricket, the principal letters of legal action and the abbreviation for with. I wasn’t sure why the regulation is inferred but the definition here is lifted straight from the BRB.
8d Office workers finally qualified, standing for respect (6)
ESTEEM: the last letters of the first two words and the reversal of an archaic adjective meaning qualified or fitting.
11d Revolutionary new beers suppressing desire for fast food (12)
CHEESEBURGER: our usual South American revolutionary is followed by an anagram (new) of BEERS containing a synonym of desire.
15d Stephen maybe insulates old flooring (5)
KOING: the surname of popular author Stephen contains the abbreviation for old.
16d School in south-east China (5)
SPODE: insert a fishy school into the abbreviation for south-east.
18d At first just mimics absorbing a north European language (8)
JAPANESE: string together the first letter of just and a verb meaning mimics containing A and the abbreviation for north. Finally add an abbreviation for European.
19d Compulsory mass, shortly burying king that’s died (8)
REQUIRED: a type of Mass celebrated for the dead is truncated and contains an abbreviation for king. Append the genealogical abbreviation for died.
21d Departure of base topless man-eater (6)
EGRESS: the letter used for the base in logarithms is followed by a man-eating giant female without her first letter. Here’s an amusing use of the answer:
22d Female boxer once linked to foreign agents (6)
ALICIA: a famous old boxer (probably the only one that everybody has heard of) + the US spying agency.
26d Charge loadsa money for installing opening in roof (4)
WARD: a bundle containing ‘loadsa money’ has the opening letter of roof installed inside it.
27d Progressively dance yourself dizzy, deserving forty winks (4)
DOZE: starting at one utilise progressive letters from four words in the clue.
The clues making my podium are 23a, 31a and 27d. Which one(s) would you select?
A proper Friday Toughie with a considerable amount of sneakiness throughout. It definitely helped to know that it was likely to be a pangram. My favourites are the same as Gazza’s, especially 27d as I don’t think I’ve seen progressive letters used like that before
Thanks to Sparks and Gazza
Typical of Sparks – a load of reasonably doable clues and even a few gimmes laced with a handful of corkers. I spent as long on 27d and 31a as the rest of the puzzle, though it took a while for the 15d penny to drop too. Of the stinkers I think 27d deserves an accolade. Of the rest, I like under the table in 20d, 23a for disguising the definition embarrassingly well and the one affected at 29a.
Thanks to Sparks and Gazza.
This was real Toughie territory and it took a heck of a lot of teasing out to get across the line. All was fairly clued, however, and produced some real crackers, among which were my two favourites, 23a and 27d.
Thanks to Sparks for the considerable challenge, and to Gazza.
Some brilliant clues in this puzzle, with 23a my favourite, and 31a LOI. 4a excellent as well. Didn’t take as long as I thought it might, Friday toughies often drift into Saturdays!
Thanks Gazza for some confirmation, and Sparks for a very satisfying tussle.
Reckon it’s a double pangram.
Yes, it is!
Well spotted! I missed that.
I didn’t realise this was a Sparks puzzle when I was doing it early this morning. Too straightforward for an Elgar, I thought, so at least I was right about that. On the other hand, I can’t brag too much either, as I failed to get BEHELD (although I did parse it after revealing). Pah!😂
Some interesting phrases in adjacent answers: ‘VARIABLE INTEREST RATE’ in NE and ‘GOLD STANDARD’ in the SW. Excellent stuff to start the day. Thanks Sparks and Gazza.
Never noticed, although I was half-heartedly looking for a Nina. How clever is that. I suppose EXCHANGE should come into the mix as well.
I missed those as well – I didn’t do too well today.
We also fell at the very last fence when we revealed a letter to get 31a. Several clues took ages to unpick but a pleasurable exercise doing this. agree with 23a as favourite for the great penny-drop moment.
Thanks Sparks and Gazza.
Above my pay grade in all honesty. It took 4 letter reveals to complete the grid & then more time once home to set about trying to parse a whole host of answers & I needed Gazza’s explanations for a few of those too. Still it’s Friday so to be expected. On the plus side I did clock the economics theme & the double pangram. Of those I figured out unaided 4&31a plus 2,11&27d were particular likes.
Thanks to Sparks & of course to Gazza
After a busy day, I eventually found time this evening for the Friday brainscramble. Not sure whether a bottle of good red helped or hindered, but I did enjoy today’s challenge.
Big up 30a, 11d and 26d.
31a was painfully long to parse, even when I was positive I had the answer, I needed a large Torres 10 before I could skin the dog.
Respect to Sparks for the brain damage and to Gazza for his skillful unravelling.