Toughie 3436 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3436

by Gazza  

Toughie No 3436 by Karla
Hints and tips by Gazza

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

Karla makes a very welcome visit to the Friday Toughie slot – many thanks to him for the enjoyable challenge.
The right-hand side went in pretty quickly for me but the left slowed me down. I didn’t know the 9a record, the 1d plum or the 18a mammal but all were very fairly clued.

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

Across Clues

1a Draw on it for composer (5)
SATIE: an alternative word for a draw (1-1 perhaps) follows an abbreviation for what ‘it’ can mean informally.
4a Second child keeps river snake in vessel (9)
MOTORBOAT: an abbreviation for a second or instant and a word for a child containing the abbreviation for river and a large snake.

9a Record brief call by ship about maiden (9)
PHONOGRAM: a verb to call or ring without its last letter is followed by the reversal of a mythical ship. Finish with the abbreviation of a crickety maiden.

10a Plant doge periodically within diocese (5)
SEDGE: the odd letters of doge go inside a synonym of diocese. I can’t find doge meaning anything other than the usual Venetian notable so the surface does seem rather odd.

11a Get Charlie back to very high office (7)
DIGNITY: assemble an informal verb to get or understand, a Charlie or fool and the rear letter of ‘very’.

12a Change image of cereal in colour (7)
REBRAND: insert a type of cereal in a primary colour.
13a Jack and Jack mostly wheeled wheels (6)
LASCAR: reverse a truncated informal word for a sailor and append what wheels is a slang word for among boy racers.

15a Colonist joining band eviscerated pale animal (8)
ANTELOPE: string together a creature that lives in a colony, an English band and the outer letters of pale.

18a Run to port on A road blocked by a dog-like mammal (8)
AARDWOLF: a verb to run or pour gets reversed and follows A and the abbreviation for road bracketing A.

20a The best priest meets atheist now and again (6)
ELITES: an Old Testament priest and regular letters from atheist.

23a Italian pastry from 51st numbered container? (7)
CANNOLI: form a word from ‘metal container number 51’.
24a Performer hidden by rampart is terrified (7)
ARTISTE: hidden as the clue says.

26a Craft in lead spun across uncovered ooze (5)
BLIMP: reverse the chemical symbol for lead and insert the inner letters of a synonym of ooze (as a noun).
27a Press article in Quebec follows ship from abroad (9)
IMPORTUNE: an indefinite article that might be used in Quebec follows a verb to ship in from abroad.

28a Old Palestinian Masters in Hindu dress before function (9)
SAMARITAN: someone from an ancient Palestinian city (best known as a good Biblical character) comes from inserting the abbreviation for a masters degree into a Hindu garment and adding a mathematical function.
29a Rushing to dismiss loud fabrication (5)
LYING: dismiss the musical abbreviation for loud from a present participle meaning rushing or moving swiftly.

Down Clues

1d Plum juice lad confused with oil (9)
SAPODILLA: start with a synonym of juice or plant fluid and add an anagram (confused) of LAD OIL.

2d Great number scrubbing king’s undergarment (5)
THONG: remove the Latin abbreviation for king from a word for a great number.
3d Unusual things in books Spanish speaker barely comprehends (7)
EXOTICA: an abbreviation for Biblical books is contained in a Central American Spanish speaker without his/her outer letters.

4d More perhaps track what may use it northwards (6)
MARTYR: rivet together the abbreviation for a track and a vehicle that uses such and reverse the lot.
5d Cheers family member outside wood (8)
TAMARIND: concatenate a short word of thanks, an affectionate term for a family member and a word meaning outside or outer skin.

6d Ludicrous firearm female swapped for relative (7)
RISIBLE: start with a type of firearm and change the abbreviation for female to a word meaning brother or sister.

7d Excluded person that could make don mad? (3,3,3)
ODD MAN OUT: a reverse anagram which would lead you to DON MAD.

8d Bit guards on step (5)
TREAD: a word meaning a bit contains a preposition meaning on or concerning.

14d Metal mass beneath corroded unit rots (9)
STRONTIUM: the physics abbreviation for mass follows an anagram (corroded) of UNIT ROTS.

16d Daisy outside of Ealing stops for one sweet treat (6,3)
EASTER EGG: a type of daisy and the outside letters of Ealing go inside the abbreviation meaning ‘for one’.
17d Climber left musician with adult reaching the summit (8)
ALPINIST: the abbreviation for left and a musician with the film abbreviation for adult moved right to the top.

19d International body essentially drip-fed a story (7)
WHOPPER: cement together an International body (one that Trump has threatened to withdraw from), the central letter of drip-fed and a preposition meaning ‘a’ (as in ‘£2 a kilo’).

21d Muscle with time beginning to loosen on the side (7)
LATERAL: an abbreviated back muscle, a period of historical time and the first letter of loosen.

22d Ale ingested by brown reptile (6)
TAIPAN: the abbreviation for a type of pale ale is contained in a synonym of brown (either as a noun or a verb).

23d Products from base inserted into pack (5)
CUBES: the letter used to mean the base in logarithms goes inside a pack of young animals or young boys, for example.
25d Arabian adieus drunk European ignored (5)
SAUDI: an anagram (drunk) of ADI[e]US.

For my podium I’ve selected 27a, 3d and 7d. Which one(s) did you pin rosettes on?

 

 

13 comments on “Toughie 3436”

  1. I was lulled into a false sense of security with this one, as the right side of the puzzle went in very quickly. The left side was a different story!
    On the whole, I found this reasonably accessible for a Friday puzzle, and very enjoyable.
    My favourite was 3d out of a long selection.

    Many thanks to Karla, who is becoming one of my favourite setters, and to Gazza for the write-up.

  2. A proper Friday Toughie – the right hand side was friendly but the left hand side was properly tough

    Thanks to Karla and Gazza

  3. Very unusually I did this earlier on my shiny new pad, before I’d been to get the paper. No delivery round here!. I had to reveal one letter, the last one of the plum, as it seemed to have two different allowable spellings. With the A I then got the dog-like animal. 23 and 28a my favourites. 18a LOI. Over to the back pager now. Thanks all

  4. I was clearly in good company as I persevered on the LHS after a breezy run through on the right. The puzzle felt right for a Friday, hard but fair, with 7d a particular favourite.

    Many thanks to Karla for the challenge, and to Gazza, especially for the cartoons.

  5. 5* for me. After more than two hours it was a DNF, dtymied by 1a, 11a, 13a, 1d, 3d and 4d. Thanks G and K for answers, parsing and the challenge

  6. I didn’t think it was as brain-mangling as Karla’s last [non-Friday] toughie and actually got the LHS done first. Maybe I’m getting the hang of him/her. Plenty of clever clueing to admire and my favourites were 23a, 4d, 17d and 23d.
    Thanks to Karla and Gazza [loved the ‘toons].

  7. Two-thirds (E and part of W&SW) went in steadily and with satisfaction. Lacking some not very G ‘GK’ and not settling in to the clueing style – entirely my fault – the final third was like having teeth pulled. Without anaesthetic.

    Thank you for the thrashing, Karla (!) and thanks also to Gazza.

  8. 3d was an unparsed bung in and that left 13a; a DNF in an otherwise satisfying solve. Much variation in difficulty across the clues, some easy fodder and some real head scratchers.

    Thanks to Karla amd Gazza.

  9. Many thanks to all who have commented and to Gazza for the excellent blog (cartoon @ 2d is my favourite). There is an internal Nina if anyone can spot it, pseudonym-related.

    See you all next time. K

    1. Start with character 6 on row 5 and proceed in a south-easterly direction. Then do similar a bit lower down to get the second 5 letters.

  11. Great puzzle. Just left 3d answer 11a for the parsing. Still cant see the nina…maybe due to being out for a birthday celebration! 😕

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