Toughie No 3434 by Stick Insect
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A typical Stick Insect Wednesday Toughie, well I thought so anyway
Please let us know what you thought
Across
1a Consider track before bash in place for social activities (7,4)
COUNTRY CLUB A verb meaning to consider, an abbreviated railway (track) and a verb meaning to beat with a heavy object
7a Maybe cryptic indication of “eat meal” (4,3)
HIGH TEA A cryptic indication that you need an anagram indicator to rearrange the word EAT
8a Respected naval officer changing sides for Aled (7)
ADMIRED Change the end of a naval officer from AL (the left side of Aled) for ED (the right side)
10a Hiding deed mostly, mistreats adders (8)
ABACUSES Mistreats badly ‘hiding’ most of a deed
11a Endless battle for meat (6)
SALAMI A Greek naval battle fought in 480 BC without its final letter (endless)
13a Quaint note about cruciverbalists (4)
TWEE A musical note ‘about’ how a group of cruciverbalists might refer to themselves collectively
14a Amateurs in comeback, it papers over talent surprisingly (10)
DILETTANTI A reversal (in comeback) of some identity papers and IT (from the clue) between which is inserted an anagram (surprisingly) of TALENT
16a A ship is boarded by peacekeepers arresting base, finally treacherous assistant (10)
AMANUENSIS A (from the clue), a warship and IS (from the clue) ‘boarded by’ the usual abbreviated peacekeepers into which is inserted (arresting) the letter that is the base of the natural system of logarithms; the final letter of treacherouS being added at the end
18a Mislaying bar is flipping tedious (4)
LONG Mislaying without (bar) IS
21a Satirical press uncovered vice (6)
IRONIC Press clothing and the inside (uncovered) letters of vICe
22a Student feeling time has gone to get freedom (8)
LATITUDE The usual abbreviated student and a feeling without one of the abbreviations for Time
24a Dull ring with no echoes for imaginary animal (7)
GRYPHON A synonym for dull and a verb meaning to ring, both without the letter represented by Echo in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet
25a Core of app covered by bug check (7)
INSPECT The letter at the core of aPp ‘covered’ by a bug
26a “Behind second” in French is “le plus à l’est“? (11)
EASTERNMOST The behind of something and a small amount of time (second) inserted into the French word for is
Down
1d Unimportant person misused 23 of the same kind (7)
COGNATE An unimportant person in a large organisation and an anagram (misused) of the solution to 23d
2d Brussels right about supporting cycling nut? False (6)
UNTRUE The abbreviation for the union that has its headquarters in Brussels and the abbreviation for Right going under (supporting in a Down solution) the word NUT where the first two letters have been ‘cycled’
3d Actors aren’t sad cast includes soldier undergoing a break-up? (10)
TRAGEDIANS An anagram (cast) of ARENT SAD includes the letters of an American soldier which are not next to each other in the solution (undergoing a break-up)
4d What many a fen may make you, rainy at intervals (4)
YUAN Soggy? Up to one’s knees in mud? No, not that sort of fen, this one is a Chinese monetary unit, one hundred of them making the solution – the odd (at intervals) of YoU rAiNy
5d Severely criticise essayist and master without limits (8)
LAMBASTE An essayist and the inside (without limits) of mASTEr
6d Good to visit Gulf state, ignoring hotel deal (7)
BARGAIN Insert (to visit) the abbreviation for Good into a Gulf state without the letter represented by Hotel in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet
7d Reheating cooked wraps for instance, which is comforting (5-6)
HEART-EASING An anagram (cooked) of REHEATING ‘wraps’ a conjunction meaning for instance
9d Macron’s score in superlatively boring examination (7,4)
DRIVING TEST The French (Macron’s) word for twenty (score) inserted into most uninteresting (superlatively boring)
12d Democrat last to give speech restricting American commitment (10)
DEDICATION The abbreviation for Democrat, the last letter of givE and a manner of speaking (speech), the latter ‘restricting’ the abbreviation for American
15d Gives fine wordplay, is he setter’s starting point? (8)
PUNISHES A play on words, IS and HE (From the clue) and the first letter (starting point) of Setter
17d Flat battery’s part includes yttrium and nitrogen (7)
ANODYNE Part of a battery into which is inserted the chemical symbols for Yttrium and Nitrogen
19d Rich work university supplied (7)
OPULENT Abbreviated work, the abbreviation for University and supplied for a time
20d Uncertainty around a small business creates disaster (6)
FIASCO A reversal (around) of an uncertainty, A (from the clue) the abbreviation for Small and an abbreviated business
23d Poet loses head in bet (4)
ANTE A poet often found in crosswords without (loses) the first letter (head)
Most of this went in without too much trouble although there were a few that caused a little difficulty. I had to confirm my 4d was correct and 3d took a while to untangle.
My last in was 16a which I needed to come here for.
Many thanks to Stick Insect for the enjoyment and to CS for the decryption.
Enjoyable and not too tricky – thanks to SI and CS,
I’m not sure what having the 26a definition in French really adds to the clue.
Top picks for me were 7a and 9d.
I’m guessing it’s because the equivalent in English would have been a quick crossword clue, in combination with the use of a French word elsewhere in the clue.
Nothing to complain about but nothing to get very excited about either. I looked at 1a and thought “what the hell does that mean” but I guess it’s what a DJ does before the gig. I suppose we all know enough school French to justify 26a and it’s actually quite a nice clue even if a bit weird. I also ticked 15d for “gives fine”.
Thanks to SI and CS.
This was a good, steady solve with only 18a leaving me perplexed when I looked at the blog, although I will confess to two other bung-ins with reverse engineering to get over the line.
My thanks to SI and Sue.
18a was my last too. Obvious when you see it explained. Nothing else held me up for too long and I think the back pager kept me going longer.
A very enjoyable and steady solve, a little slower in the W than the E. The requirement for a bit of lateral thinking and some less-often encountered / needed GK (4d, 16a in particular) made for a good feeling of satisfaction on completion. Haven’t seen the essayist for some time now, almost makes his appearance seem fresh! Honours to 24a, 9d & 8a.
Many thanks Stick Insect & CS
Some quite challenging wordplays to unpick in this one. 16a was our last one to get sorted but the favourite was 24a.
Thanks SI and CS.
I liked 24a and 26a but thought 7d quite poor.
Thanks to CS and Stick Insect.
Struggled with this one & eventually beaten by 2 clues. Disappointingly 18a (missed the flipping deletion of all things) & less surprisingly 16a – I’ve an inkling we’ve had that answer before but had long forgotten its meaning. Nearly got it from the wordplay but letters 2&4 eluded me. Sorry if I’m being dense but is man for warship from man-of-war & is the last letter of treacherous not letter 8? Also had to check the 11a battle & the 24a variant spelling. Top 3 for me were 7&14a + 9d.
Thanks to Stick Insect & to Sue
Re 10a, to a classical purist the plural of “Abacus” can only be “Abaci”.
A slow trundle for me tonight and I could have done with a 16ac to write some of the answers in for me. But I completed it sans hints or googles I’m pleased to say.
***toughie stars /**enjoyment stars
Didn’t have chance to look at this until after dinner and found it very hard work. Eventually gave up trying with four clues still unsolved.
Apologies, Stick Insect, I wasn’t quite up to the challenge today and thanks to CS for all her help.