Toughie 3415 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3415

Toughie No 3415 by Silvanus
Hints and tips by Gazza

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

I thought that Silvanus had increased his difficulty level very slightly with this Toughie but the quality and enjoyment is as high as ever. Many thanks to him.

Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.

Across Clues

1a What’s essential for a camper? These perhaps (11)
GROUNDSHEET: a reverse anagram. Split 6,5 this could lead you to THESE.

10a Like photograph showing lavender (5)
ASPIC: a conjunction meaning ‘like’ and an informal word for a photograph. The answer, I found from the BRB, is a name for the broad-leaved lavender.

11a Hat a queen wears that’s usually bright red (6,3)
PILLAR BOX: a small brimless hat surrounds A and the Latin abbreviation for queen.
12a Look back over year storing man’s lenses (9)
EYEPIECES: reverse a verb to look containing an abbreviation for year. Now insert another word for a man on a chessboard.

13a Livid seeing plagiarists exposed (5)
IRATE: plagiarists without their outer letters.

14a Young soldier stationery company sacked (6)
INFANT: a foot soldier without the name of well-known chain of stationers.
16a Extreme nationalism of song I composed, covered by Morrison possibly (8)
JINGOISM: an anagram (composed) of SONG I is contained inside a male forename (e.g. that of the lead vocalist of The Doors).

18a Instinctive skill princess repeatedly detailed in newspaper (8)
GUARDIAN: we need synonyms for instinctive (3) and skill (3) and the name of the late people’s princess. Drop the tail letters of all three.

20a Cut nitrogen for flower (6)
SEVERN: a verb to cut and the chemical symbol for Nitrogen.

23a Bats first emerging from huge holding enclosure (5)
OPENS: the clothing abbreviation for extremely large contains an animal enclosure. The definition is cricket-related.
24a Quieten fans admitting limitations of problem tackle (9)
EQUIPMENT: an anagram (fans) of QUIETEN contains the outer letters of ‘problem’.

26a Rings English cleric surprisingly during middle of evensong (9)
ENCIRCLES: start with an abbreviation for English and add an anagram (surprisingly) of CLERIC inside the central letters of evensong.

27a Lay naked outside for example in retirement (5)
WAGER: a synonym of naked or undisguised contains the abbreviation of ‘for example’. Reverse the lot.
28a Argue protest’s right for daughter (11)
REMONSTRATE: start with a verb to protest (at a rally, say) and change the abbreviation for daughter to that of right.

Down Clues

2d Indian bread thickener: vegetable, we hear (5)
RUPEE: stick together homophones of a thickener used in making sauce and a green vegetable.

3d Do without fine ointment (7)
UNCTION: a do or social event without the pencil abbreviation for fine.

4d Paint impressive interior of Delft on vacation (6)
DEPICT: an adjective meaning impressive or heroic goes inside the outer letters of Delft.

5d Type of medicine in old register stopping problem? Not half (8)
HOLISTIC: the abbreviation for old and a register or table go inside the first half of a problem or minor setback.
6d Protein when cycling creating feeling of euphoria (7)
ELATING: cycle to the end the first letter of a colourless protein used in foodstuffs.

7d Features of a rose, say, in fertile desert areas? (8,5)
WATERING HOLES: the rose is not a plant – see image. A cracking clue!
8d Case evidence vital, barrister accepts when upset (8)
ABLATIVE: hidden in reverse. The case is a grammatical one, which takes me back to Latin lessons.

9d Rentokil maybe Ron and Marie text, panicking over rodents ultimately (13)
EXTERMINATORS: an anagram (panicking) of RON MARIE TEXT followed by the ultimate letter of rodents.
15d Female military officer defends unconvincing series of steps (8)
FLAMENCO: abbreviations for female and a military officer bracket an adjective meaning unconvincing or feeble.

17d Eurovision winner subsequently with head down in court (8)
WATERLOO: a synonym of ‘subsequently’ with its first letter moved down goes inside a verb to court.
19d Justify book in which Democrat ousts Republican (7)
DESERVE: a verb to book with the abbreviation for Democrat replacing that of Republican.

21d Authorise mostly abrasive, entertaining banker and wife (7)
EMPOWER: a hard mineral used as an abrasive (and often seen as a coating for a board or paper) loses its last letter and contains an Italian banker and the genealogical abbreviation for wife.

22d Discovers Harry and Meghan avoiding Twitter nowadays, reportedly (6)
SUSSES: how the duo might be described using their royal title without the two letters that sound like the current name of Mr Musk’s company.

25d Number with vision certainly lacking (5)
EIGHT: a synonym of vision without the 3-letter response meaning ‘certainly!’.

My ticks went to 1a, 18a, 7d and 22d with my favourite being 23a with its beautifully-disguised definition. Which one(s) did the job for you?

15 comments on “Toughie 3415
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  1. Blimey! Some of this was tricky to say the least!

    I got there in the end with 22d being my last one in.

    An excellent puzzle with the two that I double ticked being 23a and 7d.

    A big thank you to Silvanus and to Gazza.

  2. Sheer heaven! This was certainly a Toughie that had my brain cells working overtime, but it was an absolute joy from start to finish.

    As it is something I do regularly in the summer, I can’t believe how long to took me to twig 23a. The specific meaning of 10a was new to me, and necessitated the use of the BRB to find it.

    From a page littered with ticks, I have selected 1a, 14a, 23a, 7d, 22d & 25d as my top picks.

    Many thanks to SIlvanus and to Gazza.

  3. That took me quite some time to complete but, my word, it was well worth the effort. Finally twigging 23a when my brain dropped into the right gear felt as though the jackpot was dropping in a penny arcade and it went straight onto the winners’ podium where it was joined by the very clever 18a and the female military officer.

    Many thanks to Silvanus for a delightful brain-stretch and to Gazza for the review and cartoons – my vote goes to the depiction of 11a, an amusing but at the same time sad reflection on how the youngest members of society are growing up. Heaven help them if the world can’t produce enough electricity in the future.

  4. Failed completely to “parse” 7d until reading this – it’s a great clue distinguished in its subtlety! I also admired the stationery Co at 14 and Megan/Harry at 22. Wasn’t happy with “fans” as an anagram indicator [24a] until I thought about it [fans out I suppose] and 28a is unfortunate given that “argue” and “protest” are both synonyms of the word to be manipulated. Good fun and about right for Thursday.
    Thanks to Silvanus and Gazza, particularly for 7d.

  5. A few clues held me up for a while, mostly in the north with 5d the last in. Some corkers in there though and 7d and 22d were my favourites. Thanks very much to Silvanus and to Gazza for some much needed help with parsing in a couple of places.

  6. Super puzzle. Only a failure to peg the why at 7d, despite it cropping up fairly recently I now seem to recall, took a wee bit of the shine off the solve – further evidence, as if any were needed, that most of the things I learn from this blog go in one ear etc without troubling the brain’s memory facility. As ever ticks aplenty – 1,11,14,16,18,23&27a plus 7,15,17&22d.
    Thanks to Silvanus & to Gazza for the review & cartoons.

  7. Perfectly pitched for a Thursday Toughie.
    I needed Gazza’s help to parse the missing stationery company and it took me a while to work out which Morrison we were looking for.
    I am often “puzzled out” by the time I have finished my Thursday blog, but this was well worth the effort – very enjoyable.
    Many thanks to Silvanus and Gazza.

  8. An absolute cracker from start to finish. 1a’s neat, 7d’s smart and 22d’s fun, but 23a’s top-notch definition stands out. Masterful stuff. Many thanks to Silvanus and Gazza.

  9. Well I took quite a time to get into this this one which is unusual with Sylvanus. In fact Mrs PJ fared better than me with some fine parsing. At last the penny has dropped with reverse anagrams…loud and clear with 1A.
    A very enjoyable tussle from one of my favourite setters.
    So many great clues it seems a shame to pick a winner but I’ll go with 1A, 23A and 3D.
    Many thanks to Gazza ( 11A cartoon gets my vote) and of course to Sylvanus.

  10. Absolutely sublime. Candidate for crossword of the year. Not easy by any stretch of the imagination but great fun. Needed the hints to parse 14a and 18a but that’s not bad for me. Hard to pick a favourite from so mammy contenders but I’ll go with 7d. Thanks to Silvanus and Gazza.

  11. Top quality puzzle once again from this setter. Much appreciated and enjoyed.
    We’ll agree with others and put 23a at the top of our list.
    Thanks Silvanus and Gazza.

  12. I count this as a success since I was able to complete all the answers, but I had to check the parsing on a few, especially the stationers in 14a which I’d never heard of, and who have no outlets in my part of the UK.
    Thanks Gazza for the explanations and Silvanus for a great brain workout.
    ****/****

  13. Many thanks to Gazza for his usual excellence and to everyone else solving and commenting. Glad to know you enjoyed the puzzle.

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