Toughie 3397 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3397

by ALP  

Toughie No 3397 by Donnybrook
Hints and tips by ALP

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****

A fun Christmas Eve jaunt, this. Not terribly tricky, despite 14a (hence the extra half) which was certainly new to me and some typically cunning synonyms. I really must thank Donnybrook for being unusually kind. Those potatoes won’t peel themselves – more’s the pity! All yours.

Across

1a Is it easterly that envelops grand city? (4)
RIGA: What an “easterly” is cryptically (ie, a descriptive word reversed/to the east) envelops/contains the usual “grand”.

3a, 19a and 9d Token Welsh connection contrived for show? (3,3,4,6,4)
NOT THE NINE O’CLOCK NEWS: TOKENWELSHCONNECTION, contrived.

 

10a Gloat about compound seen in saucy city? (9)
WORCESTER: Gloat/brag reversed/about + (chemical) compound.

11a Tailless horse carrying king makes impression (5)
PRINT: A (piebald) horse, minus its last letter/tail, contains/carries an abbreviation for “king”.

12a Gallons removed from French wine events … (5)
RAVES: Remove the usual “gallons” from a popular Gironde wine.

13a … according to erstwhile executant (9)
PERFORMER: according to/by means of + erstwhile/previous.

14a Sectarian‘s tragic Roman leader close to Constantine? (8)
SADDUCEE: Tragic/pitiful + the Italian (Roman) for “leader” + [Constantin]E.  New to me but the wordplay’s clear.

16a Shanty town or preferred Californian location? (6)
FAVELA: A shortened synonym for preferred/best-loved + the most famous place in California.

19a See 3a

20a Caution female working to secure prize: no diamonds (8)
FOREWARN: The usual “female” and “working” contains/secures prize/bonus, minus its D[iamonds].

22a Shown contempt outside, soldier keeping uranium hidden (9)
DISGUISED: Shown contempt/treated with disdain (slang) contains/goes outside (US) soldier which, in turn, contains/keeps U[ranium].

24a Scullers at the outset row hard (5)
STIFF: S[cullers] + row/spat.

26a Irishman on air occasionally then fully (5)
NIALL: [o]N[a]I[r] + fully/wholly.

27a Thiamine to be mixed with nitrogen – more or less? (2,3,4)
IN THE MAIN: THIAMINE, mixed, +N[itrogen].

28a That woman in racing town cheers returning character (10)
ATMOSPHERE: The usual “that woman” is inserted into a (horse) racing town (known for the Derby) and cheers/thanks, reversed/returning.

29a Close relative of walrus (4)
SEAL: Double definition, verb and noun.

Down

1d One among eight gardeners trimming borders? (5)
ROWER: A word for gardeners/cultivators, minus its first and last letter (trimming borders).

2d Writer‘s note to snare a pickpocket on the rise (4,5)
GORE VIDAL: (to) note/record contains/snares ‘A’ from the clue + old slang for a pickpocket, all reversed (on the rise).

4d Old court increased rent for one among eight (8)
OCTUPLET: The usual “old” and “court” plus a two-letter synonym for “increased” and the usual “rent”. Same definition as 1d but a very different answer.

5d Neat fighter pulled apart by men heading north (6)
TORERO: Pulled/ripped apart + men/soldiers reversed (heading north). “Neat” is, of course, one of those dialectal (Yorkshire?) words: once seen in a crossword, never forgotten.

6d Eastern guru coming round very good on secret work (9)
ESPIONAGE: E[astern] + guru/wise man contains/comes round very good/holy and “on” from the clue.

7d Man following instinctive desires in dialect (5)
IDIOM: The usual “Man” following/after the instinctive part of one’s psyche.

8d Harbour showing charm (9)
ENTERTAIN: Double definition.

9d See 3a

14d Wind soon wrecked area in national park (9)
SNOWDONIA: WINDSOON, wrecked, plus the usual “area”.

15d Posh Poulenc’s enigmatic releases? (9)
UNCOUPLES: The usual “posh” plus POULENCS, enigmatic.

17d Do away with animal in decline after an age (9)
ERADICATE: A type of animal (pet) inside (to) decline/pass, after (an) age.

18d Crooked traders garaging ordinary open car (8)
ROADSTER: TRADERS, crooked, contains/garages O[rdinary].

21d Book one owns about investing capital? (6)
ISAIAH: The usual “one” + the usual “owns” reversed/about and containing/investing capital/excellent.

23d Unsolicited mail swamping son in sudden attack (5)
SPASM: Junk (e)mail contains the usual “son”.

24d Swayed with sole of glass slipper? (4)
SLED: Swayed/influenced (by the nose?) after/with [glas]S.

25d Decisive force in Arundel when evacuated (5)
FINAL: The usual “force” + “in” from the clue + A[runde]L.

Four anagrams, a couple of double definitions, a fair few reversals and just the one N[ever]H[eard]O[f]. I don’t think I’ve seen the exact same definition (for different words) before, certainly not just two clues apart. But the novelty rather tickled me. I especially enjoyed 1a, 28a and 2d. Many thanks to Donnybrook, and all our setters for another cracking year. How did you get on today?

And finally … may I wish you all a joyous and very merry Christmas.

20 comments on “Toughie 3397”

  1. A bit GK heavy for my cup of tea. Took me way too long to see 3a (et al). I liked 24d.

    Thanks to ALP and NYDK.

  2. Once again, I find myself disagreeing with ALP’s assessment of the difficulty of this Toughie. More of a 3* for me, even though I did know 24a

    Thanks very much and Merry Christmas to Donnybrook and ALP

    1. Haha. Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without a mild wigging from you, Sue! Have a wonderful, well-earned break. All very best.

    2. Somewhat surprisingly, I knew 24a as well! Having read the comments before starting the puzzle, I was anticipating not knowing it, but actually I see CrypticSue didn’t claim there was anything obscure about it, just that she knew it!

      (I hadn’t heard of 14a, though, whereas I presume Sue did know it!)

  3. Most of this enjoyable and quirky Toughie was a difficulty just right for a Tuesday, although a few clues took quite a bit of cogitation.

    It’s a pity that the enumeration for 19a was misleading, and I don’t think 1a works as easterly appears to be doing double duty.

    28a was my favourite.

    Many thanks to DonnyB and to ALP.

  4. Not my favourite puzzle from this setter but I did have ticks alongside 1,24&28a plus 14d where it does indeed get very windy at times!

    Thanks to Donnybrook and to ALP for the review, all the best to both of you for the festive season.

  5. Pretty tough for a Tuesday I thought but enjoyable – thanks to Donnybrook and ALP.
    I always sigh at the appearance of a 20-letter (or more) anagram. I just ignore it until I have sufficient checkers to guess the answer then check that the required letters are all present. I’m sure that’s not the way you’re supposed to solve such clues.
    I remembered the 14a sectarian from years of being dragged to Sunday school. There had to be some benefit, I suppose.
    Top clues for me were 28a, 1d, 5d and 21d.

  6. I’m sort of mid-way between ALP and CS re the hardness but it was fun, whatever. The 2x 1 among 8 was quirky and I had to smile at 29a. Other winners were 5d [neat fighter is excellent – but I never heard “neat” in that sense growing up in S Yorkshire] and 21d.
    Thanks to Donny b and to ALP. I rather liked Bressie, slightly Beefheartean [a top compliment]. Irish music seems to have come a long way since I inadvertently saw Philomena Begley [and her Rambling Men?] in the Crown, Cricklewood.

    1. According to the BRB neat is Old English from Scots (Nowt) and Norse (Naut) roots
      “ORIGIN: OE nēat cattle, a beast, from nēotan, nīotan to use; cf Scot nowt from ON naut”

  7. An enjoyable Tuesday Toughie with a feel good factor that was perfect for Christmas Eve. Lots of ticks and I particularly liked 10A 28A and 6D.
    Many thanks to ALP and Donnybrook.
    PS. I’d like to thank all our bloggers for the time and effort they put in throughout the year to shining the light on our puzzles and making them so enjoyable.
    A happy Christmas to them, our setters and all who comment.

  8. Pleasingly awkward for a Tuesday but great fun to complete. Any tricky clues were very gettable through excellent wordplay, and the popular 28a was also my pick of several fine clues.

    My thanks to Donny for this and all his creations this year, and to ALP for his blogs. A big thank you, too, to all the bloggers and commenters who help make this excellent site the marvellous resource that it is. Merry Christmas.

  9. Merry Christmas to all the fearless bloggers who throw light on the lights. You are needed!
    🎅🎄👍

  10. A Tuesday Toughie that was a bit more Thursdayish
    With a bit of help from ALP I managed to fill the grid, but a proper perusal of ALP’s musical choices will have to wait until after Carols from Kings
    For some inexplicable reason I bunged the eternal city in 1a and it took a while to sort that out
    Thanks to ALP and Donnybrook and all the setters, bloggers and commenters that make this place so friendly

    Once more from the top

    Once in Royal BigDave’s City🎶

  11. Tricky, though in the end I only needed about the same number of hints as with today’s backpager — thank you to ALP for those.

    I feel like “Show” is a pretty vague definition, especially for one last broadcast when I was 4, but I had heard of it and somehow unscrambled it with just 2 vowels in place, so I can’t actually claim it was at all unreasonable.

    The French wine in 12a still eludes me, though. I’ve got the answer, but I’m not sure whether to get the wine should be inserting ‘gal’ or another word that means ‘loads’; and following ALP’s hint, I couldn’t see anything plausible in his hastily searched list of Gironde wines.

    My favourite was walrus’s close relative in 29a. Thank you to the Donnybrook.

      1. Thank you!

        Being metrically educated, I only think of g as grams; I don’t think I’ve seen gallons abbreviated like that other than as part of ‘mpg’. (Not a complaint! It’s in Chambers, and so perfectly fair.)

        Oh, and in case there’s anybody else wondering and finding the text on the image too small, here’s a bigger version (found through an image search on the above).

  12. Way tougher than ALP’s rating for me. Needed the hints for 14a (Roman leader – d’oh) + 5&24d to get me over the line. Though I enjoyed the tussle I’m with Jane in not finding the puzzle nearly as much fun as some of his others & particularly his Sat ones.
    Thanks/festive greetings to Donny & to ALP

  13. Thanks ALP and all. Drama on plane prevented me coming in yesterday to say hi, but got there (and here) in the end.

    VHC and HNY to everyone.

    Noddybrook

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