Toughie No 3428 by Osmosis
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Thanks to Osmosis for a Friday-level Toughie which I enjoyed working through. I was slow to start but eventually gained a foothold in in the SW corner and proceeded slowly but steadily in a clockwise direction, finishing in the SE. Osmosis has given us a lot of clever wordplay and no anagrams.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a In song, certain cowboy is character following waterway south (10)
RHINESTONE: a synonym of character or attitude follows a European waterway and the abbreviation for south.
6a Consumed E supplies circulating somewhat? (4)
USED: hidden in reverse. The hidden word appears to overlap the definition.
9a Aquatic creature fed when in shock (7)
MANATEE: a verb meaning fed is contained in a lion’s shock.
10a Whiskey American wrapped in paper? It used to be this way (4,3)
TIME WAS: the letter that whiskey represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet and an abbreviation for American are wrapped in a UK daily paper.
12a Dressing doll, one ignored suggestion with lip (8,5)
BARBECUE SAUCE: remove the Roman one from the name of a doll which was all the rage last year then add a synonym of suggestion and another word for lip or cheek.
14a Thief‘s sins uncovered where Douglas is found (3,3)
ICE MAN: a word for sins or iniquities without its outer letters is followed by the place having Douglas as its capital. The answer, new to me, is a slang term for a thief who steals jewellery.
15a Perhaps DJ’s old-fashioned single (8)
SPINSTER: whimsically this could be a DJ who still uses a turntable. I’m not sure whether ‘old-fashioned’ belongs to the definition or the wordplay.
17a Metalworker saving five pence once in fare for the Tube? (1,1,6)
TV DINNER: an artisan who works with a silvery-white metal contains the Roman five and the abbreviation for pence prior to 1971. The enumeration should surely be 2,6?
19a Preferred limiting son Leonardo’s first quarter pounder (6)
PESTLE: an adjective meaning preferred or favourite contains the abbreviation for son. That’s followed by the first quarter of the word Leonardo.
22a Emperor occasionally leashes fabulous dog after shower (5,8)
HAILE SELASSIE: occasional letters from ‘leashes’ and the name of a fictional collie follow an icy shower.
24a Rap singer welcoming cheers (3-1-3)
RAT-A-TAT: a singer or informer contains two occurrences of a short word meaning cheers.
25a US feller with heart of gold returned to left animal (7)
AXOLOTL: assemble the US spelling of a felling tool, the inner letters of gold, the reversal of ‘to’ and the abbreviation for left.
26a House jester dramatically not in command (4)
YORK: the name of a court jester in Hamlet without the abbreviation for ‘in command’.
27a Drive by own ‘ouse following mate in a Toyota, say (10)
PALINDROME: the map abbreviation for drive and one’s own ‘ouse follow a synonym of mate.
Down Clues
1d Behind in game with commoner (4)
RUMP: the 15-a-side game and one who sits in the Commons.
2d Low water pipe northwards disrupting French island (7)
IGNOBLE: reverse a water pipe used for smoking cannabis and other drugs inside the French word for island.
3d Key guys probing corrupt hospitality (13)
ENTERTAINMENT: start with a key that’s usually on the right-hand side of a keyboard and then insert a synonym of guys into a verb to corrupt.
4d This setter, back in the day, using recurrent subject (6)
THEMED: reverse the objective pronoun the setter would use of himself inside THE then append the abbreviation for day.
5d Call succeeded to leave remedy (case of pharyngitis) (2-6)
NO-TRUMPS: remove the genealogical abbreviation for succeeded from a medical remedy (often an ineffective one) and add the outer letters of pharyngitis.
7d Recognised most of Springfield in which Homer lives? (7)
SAWDUST: ignore the clever references to The Simpsons. We need a verb meaning recognised and Ms Springfield’s forename without its last letter. The answer is apparently a favoured bedding for this bird.
8d Damp crockery with some cereal mark that’s outstanding? (10)
DISHEARTEN: string together a type of crockery for serving food, the spike of a cereal plant and a mark that means outstanding (on a scale of one to ***).
11d Failed to realise highway splits unduly before delta (13)
MISUNDERSTOOD: rivet together the Leeds-London highway, a literary verb meaning splits apart, an adverb meaning extremely and the letter that delta represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet.
13d Film black hound (5,5)
DIRTY HARRY: an adjective meaning black (as in a type of hostile look) and a verb to hound.
16d Slough street overshadowed by period window (8)
FENESTRA: another word for a slough or marsh followed by the abbreviation for street inside an historical period.
18d Rolling Stone boozing less, outside daily (7)
DRIFTER: a comparative meaning ‘boozing less’ contains the abbreviation for a UK daily paper.
20d Artist to make joint, having casual habit (7)
TIEPOLO: a verb to make a joint or connect and an informal word for a casual garment. The artist is an 18th century Italian painter.
21d Of course, Spanish recruits like emblem of McDonald’s food (6)
SALAMI: the Spanish response meaning ‘of course’ contains a preposition (1,2) meaning like and the McDonald’s logo.
23d Passage bolted audibly (4)
FLUE: a homophone of a verb meaning bolted or departed swiftly.
My ticks went to 22a, 7d and 21d with my favourite being 27a. Which clue(s) met with your approval?
This was certainly a faster solve than Silvanus’ excellent backpager, but some of the clues, due to complex wordplay, took some teasing out. Pleasingly testing, though, with 7 and 13d my favourites.
Many thanks to Osmosis for the challenge, and to Gazza.
I’m way out of practice with the Friday Toughie as I could not finish this.
I had not heard of the 14a thief, although I could parse my wordplay.
I did not spot the singer in the parsing of 24a.
The three I failed to solve were 25a, 20d and 21d.
I enjoyed what I managed to complete. Many thanks to Osmosis and to Gazza for the elucidation
Had to resort to the hints for a couple in the SE corner. Never heard of the animal although I had the required letters in the wrong order (like Eric Morecambe’s notes)! 1a, 11d and 16d favourites. Cotd 27a.
I try not to look anything up before claiming a finish, so it’s a DNF this time. Thanks Gazza, and Osmosis
After two hours I had completed the SW and a few in the NE. Solved some m more after eventually revealing RHINESTONE, but failed on TIEMPO, SALAMI and MISUNDERSTOOD. Definitely v5* in my opinion.
Still very tough, but for me a much more approachable Osmosis than is usually the case. I too finished in the SE, having kicked myself at 27a – I considered the answer early on but miscounted the letters in my mind & dismissed it – Doh! as Homer would say … 14a new to me, too – I guess the origin for this slang comes from the long usage of ice for diamonds. Pleased to remember 20d but a DNF with 25a which had quite slipped my mind. Podium places to 15a, 22a & 18d.
Many thanks to Osmosis for the challenging workout, and to Gazza for the review, explanations of some of my answers, but above all the wonderful cartoons.
Apart from the SE corner this was quite mild for Osmosis. Lots of complex wordplay and cryptic definitions – [fare for the tube, casual habit, US feller]. Other goodies were 27a and 21d [my last in]. Homer in 7d is pretty sneaky as well. I agree with you Gazza that 6a is questionably unorthodox but Chambers reference to “old maid” makes 15d a bit clearer.
Thanks for the blog and thanks Osmosis for the puzzle.
Proper Friday Toughie. Parsed 20d but needed confirmation to check I was correct and never heard of 25a. Had wasabi pencilled in for 21d until the arches symbol came to mind and persuaded me to stop trying to make sense of my original answer. 27a awarded the ‘best in show’ rosette for me.
Respect to Osmosis for a real challenge and to Gazza for his ability to demystify.
Unlike YS it took me five times as long to get to within 3 of a finish here as it took to fill in the back-pager. Needed the hints to crack the salamander, the painter & most disappointingly the pounder plus a couple of the whys explained. I do struggle with Osmosis which is why I rarely bother but rather enjoyed this one. 10a is a track on Wishbone Ash’s Argus album so some great music accompanied the solve. The ticks for me were 1,12&27a + 2,7&13d.
Thanks to Osmosis & to Gazza