Toughie No 3441 by Zenas
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
I truly didn’t/don’t know quite how to rate this for difficulty as I raced through the solve, thanks largely to very fair definitions, but the full parse took longer. There is certainly a wodge of classical/historical GK, a biblical flavour and a little chew. 5a’s mechanics took me a moment to spot, as did 14d’s 4th century heretic, not to mention 8d’s Ethiopian royal. Still, it’s mostly friendly, and fun, with some helpful gimmes scattered about. All yours.
Across
1a As artist reflected, picturesque hint of colour gets erased (7)
ARSENIC: The usual “artist” reversed + “picturesque” minus/erasing C[olour].
5a In York the minister drops off publicity for dean? (7)
TEACHER: How one might say “the minister/clergyman” in York(shire) – as per the non-Yorkshireman Peter Kay’s “t’internet” – minus/dropping off the usual two-letter “publicity”.
9a Kings and queen entertaining first lady worshipper (7)
REVERER: Two abbreviated “kings” + our late queen entertain/include the (biblical) first lady.
10a Old historian has book about origins of Anglican Church (7)
TACITUS: (Biblical) book (the one that mentions Zenas the Lawyer, obviously!) about/contains A[nglican] C[hurch].
11a Maybe Karen has quibble with record (9)
CARPENTER: Quibble/complain + (to) record/log. I make no apology for ducking the obvious clip – I just couldn’t bring myself to do it!
12a Maxim a gentleman holds still? (5)
IMAGE: Lurker, hidden in the first three words.
13a Note pulse going up and down, maybe (5)
TIDAL: (Sound of Music) note + (Indian) pulse/foodstuff.
15a Greek seeds cut and diced in rice dishes (9)
KEDGEREES: GREEKSEED[s], diced.
17a Weep over unusually barren fruit shrub (9)
CRANBERRY: Weep over/outside BARREN, unusually.
19a Run over energy deal (5)
TRADE: Rush/dash, reversed + the usual “energy”.
22a At first English rose is called after another plant (5)
ERICA: Acrostic (at first).
23a One briefed to stop run by nun starting late (9)
BARRISTER: To stop/block + R[un] plus a synonym of “nun” minus its first letter (starting late). I must confess I’ve never quite understood the logic of this oft-used convention. Why does starting late mean not starting at all?!
ADD: A quick note from Weatherman, a chap whose middle names are Cryptic and Grammar: ‘If a word “ends early” you’d stop before the last letter – so “starting late” is simply the opposite. It *does* start, just not where it ought to.’ It still seems slightly wonky to me, but I stand down!
25a Worthless quality of unknown metal auntie oddly rejected (7)
INANITY: One of our usual “unknown”s + (a) metal + A[u]N[t]I[e], all reversed/rejected.
26a A mother houses United enthusiast (7)
AMATEUR: ‘A’ + (posh?) mother including/housing the usual “united”.
27a Head-scratching riddle – either way the answer is 5 (7)
TRAINER: Riddle/sieve, minus its first letter (head-scratching) = a synonym of both 5a and 5d. Fun.
28a Accepts responsibility for increases (5,2)
STEPS UP: Double definition.
Down
1d Process nearly all of tropical fruit (7)
APRICOT: TROPICA[l], processed.
2d Old golfer has inflamed cut (7)
SEVERED: Old (Spanish) golfer + inflamed/sore.
3d Keep fish for matron (5)
NURSE: Triple definition. All Chambered. The second refers to a dogfish or shark.
4d Acting with caution over thief? (9)
CARETAKER: Caution/attention plus/over a “thief”, say.
5d Governess could be one changing the heart of Henry VIII? (5)
TUTOR: How one might describe Henry VIII (as according to his royal house) with a different heart/middle letter.
6d Young prince defends time with court designer (9)
ARCHITECT: Prince Harry’s young son contains/defends the usual “time”, plus the abbreviated “court”.
7d Object of a burning passion? (3,4)
HOT DATE: Cryptic definition with “object” referring to an event, or perhaps person. The whimsical “burning” is, obviously, the key here.
8d Ethiopian royal lady’s showing items which may be smoked (7)
RASHERS: Ethiopian prince (3) plus lady’s/that woman’s. Smart.
14d Star sign finally shared with heretic bookkeeper (9)
LIBRARIAN: The last letter of a star sign (take your pick) is elided into (shared with) the first letter of a follower of a 4th century heretic who believed that “Christ was not consubstantial with God” … as I’m sure we all knew!
16d Daughter always rests in mornings (9)
DAYBREAKS: The usual “daughter” + the usual-ish “always” + rests (for tea and biscuits, etc).
17d Church Times ordered for scientist (7)
CHEMIST: One of the usual “church”es + TIMES, ordered.
18d One who has opening words in pantomime? (3,4)
ALI BABA: Cryptic definition. Think sesame.
20d Sharon Stone possibly about to cut a bit of hair (7)
ACTRESS: The usual one-letter “about” cuts/goes inside ‘A’ + bit of hair/lock.
21d Sweet Penny lost an item of jewellery (7)
EARDROP: A (boiled) sweet, minus the usual “penny”. I didn’t realise they still existed – this clue prompted me to immediately order some off Amazon!
23d Person acquiring farm building on the phone (5)
BUYER: A homophone (on the phone) of a farm building/cowshed.
24d Livid form of light above mischievous goddess (5)
IRATE: An abbreviation of a form of light (night vision, etc) + the Greek goddess of mischief. Not as fun as she sounds!
I hugely enjoyed the variety of clueing: two cryptic definitions, a triple and an elision plus the usual anagrams, lurker and acrostic, etc. There’s a very definite biblical spine to this which makes perfect sense. Zenas is, after all, a priest: a man who clearly knows his scripture as well as his 4th century heretics! All very jolly. 5a, 6d and 8d were proper smart, but 27a gets my vote. How did you get on?
A very enjoyable puzzle – thanks to Zenas and ALP.
Top clues for me were 23a, 27a and 4d.
Yes a nice Tuesday toughie to complete a pleasant afternoon double.
10a 17a and 23a my picks.
Thanks to Zenas and ALP
This was an enjoyable Toughie which, on the whole, was pitched about right for a Tuesday. However, there was a bit of a sting in the tail with a handful of clues taking a considerable amount of teasing out. I also couldn’t parse 5a.
My podium comprises 10a, 23a & 4d.
Many thanks to Zenas and to ALP.
Slightly tougher than I expected for a Tuesday. 5a was verging on unfair in my inexpert opinion. Liked ARCHITECTand LIBRARIAN.. Thanks Zenas and ALP.
Good start to the week. I’m not sure York, anymore than Harrogate, is the right place to set a Yorkshire dialect clue [5a] but I chuckled nonetheless. I also liked the clever27a and the succinct 17d.
Thanks to Zenas and ALP [there’s a King Tubbydub of 18d which is really nice.]
Yep, good call. Love(d) King Tubby.
A very enjoyable start to the Toughie week with lots of variety and all fairly and some cleverly clued. Favourites were 5A and 8D.
Thank you ALP for the blog and Zenas for the enjoyment.
I found this very difficult. I didn’t know the pulse, the Ethiopian prince or the light (obvious when pointed out). I did manage to parse everything else eventually. More like a Thursday toughie for me. Favourite was 11a. Thanks to Zenas for the mental beating and ALP for the help parsing.
A quick grid fill even for the likes of me but sorting out the some of the whys took longer. Mr G required for the Ethiopian royal, the Biblical book (once I realised it wasn’t Mervyn Peake – groan) & the heretic. All very enjoyable & who’d ’ave thunk that the same rice dish would pop up in both puzzles. Ticks for 1,5,23&27a plus 4,6&14d.
Thanks to Zenas & ALP for the review, Bob & Van
I was “sweltering” under the same Mervyn Peake idea too
Had to put this down and come back to it. Enjoyable but a bit tougher than I was expecting for a Tuesday. Thanks to Zenas and ALP.
Evening all and thanks for the comments and to ALP for the excellent review.
I am glad to see that there was a wide range of clues that people liked as their favourites. Nobody seems to have picked up on the large number of trades and professions that feature as solutions in the grid. I thought that this was just the job for a hidden theme.
How did we all miss that I wonder. Thanks for popping in & for providing such an enjoyable puzzle.
Ha, I did suspect there might be summat going on but I was sufficiently blinded by the biblical element to box off carpenter/teacher as Messianic allusions and lazily neglected to look deeper. Huge thanks for popping in. A treat as always.
Late getting on to this but couldn’t let it pass without acknowledging a really enjoyable puzzle. We also missed the hidden theme.
Thanks Zenas and ALP.
I don’t often do the Toughie (tends to be when I’ve flown through the back page cryptic and am thirsty for more). Found it to be very enjoyable and not too ‘tough’. Unlikely to be back here until next Tuesday as the remaining back-pagers for Wednesday – Saturday (and lately Mondays!) keep me busy (and a more than a little frustrated).
Oh dear! I was in the midst of commenting but accidentally hit the wrong key and obliterated it all… Not very clever!
I’m a bit behind, and saved this puzzle for later, hence my rather tardy comment.
What an enjoyable solve this was! Both clever and entertaining, I have a page filled with ticks! Just to select a few: 10a, 23a, 27a, 4d, 5d, 6d, 8d and the delightful 18d.
Big appreciative thanks to Zenas. Big appreciative thanks, too, to ALP for an excellent illustrated review.