Toughie No 3402 by Django
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
Happy New Year to setters, fellow bloggers, commenters and lurkers
Django always sets us an enjoyable crossword and the first Toughie of 2025 was definitely on the solver-friendly side too. The extra half a star for difficulty is awarded to 17a where it took quite a while for the penny to drop!
Please let us know what you thought
Across
1a Soldier and expert sharing a story (7)
PARABLE An informal short form of a particular soldier and an adjective meaning expert or skilful sharing the A that appears at the end of one and the beginning of the other
5a Was silk a hard flipping thing to cut? (7)
HACKSAW A reversal (flipping) of WAS, the abbreviation for a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch, A (from the clue) and the abbreviation for Hard
9a Curry maybe initially packed as needed in drums (7)
TIMPANI The diminutive form of the forename of an English actor (Curry maybe) and the initial letters of Packed As Needed In
10a Nancy’s one regular drink – rum (7)
UNUSUAL The French (as used in Nancy) word for one and a habitual drink
11a Dig tunnel out to be kind (9)
INDULGENT An anagram (out) of DIG TUNNEL
12a African tour operator catching this on vacation (5)
TUTSI A package tour operator ‘catching’ the outside (on vacation) letters of ThiS
13a Wastes aptitude for cycling (5)
KILLS Wastes is a slang word meaning puts to death – cycle the final letter of a synonym for aptitude to the back of the word
15a Not a word about individual on gold monument (9)
MAUSOLEUM An interjection meaning not a word goes about individual or only and the chemical symbol for gold
17a Reach singers getting to grips with tour where everything will be revealed (5,4)
STRIP CLUB The group who gave us Reach [Out for the Stars] ‘gripping’ a tour – leaving me with the first ear worm of 2025!
19a Mark Selby’s source on which snooker balls might go (5)
SPOTS A small mark and the ‘source’ of Selby
22a Carpenters’ record (5)
ENTER A verb meaning to record is hidden in carpENTERs
23a Writer finishing off prejudiced in Isle of Dogs for example (9)
PENINSULA A writer or author and a synonym for prejudiced without its last letter (finishing off)
25a A chess game’s ending – you are caught being unprofessional (7)
AMATEUR A (from the clue), the ending of a chess game and a homophone (caught) of you are
26a Cast is not gathering in wings for Oliver Twist (7)
TORSION An anagram (cast) of IS NOT ‘gathering’ the outside letters (wings) of OliveR
27a Litre of spread – possibly Clover (7)
TREFOIL An anagram (spread) of LITRE OF – the capital C in Clover is there to mislead!
28a Endure great heat in Jersey with area becoming essentially airless (7)
SWELTER A garment such as a jersey where the abbreviation for Area becomes the ‘essential’ letter of airLess
Down
1d/17d Thespian in role involving skill and sweat – but not in that order (7,7)
PATRICK STEWART A role into which is inserted (involving) a skill and an anagram (not in that order) of SWEAT
2d Change verse after rock band left (7)
REMODEL A verse goes after a rock band often seen in crosswords; the result followed by the abbreviation for Left
3a Member of parliament making old supporter fight (5)
BRAWL Change the O (old) in this avian member of parliament to a supporting piece of clothing
4d Skinny latte at last – barely 14 litres! (9)
EPIDERMAL The last letter of lattE, an example of the solution to 14d without his outside letters (barely) and the abbreviation for Litres
5d Frequently visit hospital with relative (5)
HAUNT The abbreviation for Hospital and a relative
6d Civil engineering outsourced for the most part (9)
COURTEOUS An anagram (engineering) of most of OUTSOURCEd
7d Put small mollusc in sink deliberately (7)
SCUTTLE The abbreviation for Small and a cephalopod mollusc
8d/21d Actor Martin Shaw filled in the middle somehow (7,7)
WILLIAM SHATNER An anagram (somehow) of MARTIN SHAW and the middle letters of fILLEd
14d Hotel in Queens stopping work in lift – one with extraordinary power? (9)
SUPERHERO The abbreviation for Hotel goes inside two lots of the regnal cipher of our late Queen and the result is then inserted (stopping) into a reversal (lift) of a work, especial a musical one
16d Townsfolk turning TV on during a Belgium game (9)
URBANITES A reversal (turning) of a tv, a phrase meaning during, the IVR code for Belgium and an abbreviated game
17d See 1 Down
18d Tedious working life of shop people (3,4)
RAT RACE Shop or inform on and people with a common ancestry
20d Doctor discovered locum on register (7)
OCULIST The inside (dis covered) letters of lOCUm and a register
21d See 8 Down
23d Risk of salesman being upset with current line (5)
PERIL A reversal (being upset) of a salesman followed by the symbol for electrical current and the abbreviation for Line
24d Face being under review every now and then (5)
NERVE The even letters (every now and then) of uNdEr ReViEw
A nice gentle start to the year. I liked 5a.
Thanks to Django and CS.
A great start to the 2025 Toughie year – many thanks to Dango and CS.
I particularly liked 5a, 28a, 3d, 4d and 14d.
My type of Toughie (not very tough). Thought it was a belter & 5*s for enjoyment. As ever a fair few of the answers preceded sorting out the clever wordplay so the brisk grid completion was flattering. An abundance of ticks – particularly liked the Trekkie thesps but the top 2 for me 4&14d.
Many thanks to Django & to Sue
I thought this was excellent with a lot of interesting and creative wordplay to unravel. The way that this setter tends to keep multiple word answers in the same row or column appeals to my sense of order (some might say OCD!)
I was held up by 9a. I decided quickly that food was not involved and, as a rugby union fanatic, I thought that Curry could refer to England’s injury-prone back-row forward Tom Curry and I couldn’t shake off for quite a while the idea that tomtoms might be the answer.
For me, skill = trick in 1d is a bit of a stretch.
I had a lot of ticks with 5a, 10a, 25a, 3d & 6d my top picks.
Many thanks to Django and to CS.
I loved this — thank you so much, Django. So many fantastic clues, including 17a for the Reach singers, and 4d for both the “skinny” definition and the “barely 14” wordplay.
Thank you to CrypticSue for explaining the apostrophe in 22a, and where and I and E come from in 8/21d (where I’d misinterpreted “filled in the middle” as just LL).
Um, the above comment wasn’t supposed to be a reply to Rabbit Dave.
This was supposed to be a reply to Rabbit Dave:
“It’s fiddly to open; there’s a skill/trick required for it,” works for me.
Great stuff! As usual slightly prolix clues but only to make them more effective. I thought there might be more Trekkiness but couldn’t find any beyond the 2 Kirks. Had trouble in the SW as I just pasted in the 7 middle letters from 4d into 14d. Top clues were 26a [cast is not] 1/17d [cunning partial anagram] 3d [making old supporter and the brilliant “Hotel in Queens” in 14d.
Thanks to Django and to CS for enhancing my musical education [17a].
A great start to the Toughie year with so much to like. Needed Sue’s help to explain the parsing of 17A and 3D
From all the ticks 4D is favourite.
Many thanks to CS for the excellent blog and Django for the enjoyment.
Happy New Year to all our bloggers, setters and commenters.
Not too taxing for the first Toughie of the year, but lots to enjoy with inventive and imaginative clueing throughout. I had too many options for a favourite, so I shall merely say thanks to Django for the challenge and to Sue.
Just the right level to make me think about the clues properly, so it wasn’t all over in a flash. Favourites 4d and 14d. Plenty of time now to have another look at the double Elgar treat, which I’ve never tried before. Too much looking and not enough writing so far though!
Thank you Django and CS.
Super puzzle. Thank you Django and CS