Toughie No 3445 by Chalicea
Hints and tips by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment **/*** – Vocab ***
Lumme, Chalicea has been quintessentially Chalicea today, working her magic dictionary – and my app-scrolling thumb – hard. Some sort of glue, a “wagonette”, BC money and the periodic table (oh, the horror!) all get a look in. There is also (of course) fabric and a plant but, unusually, I actually knew those. So too, the matchstick game, exotic witchcraft and an instrument I’ve neither seen nor heard since 1982. Still, I did spend no little time scouring Chambers, invariably for the nth definition. But it’s all very gently done. So, if you know the vocab, it’s a definite *. If you don’t and don’t have a dictionary to hand it’s, um, not. All yours.
Across
9a Set in company hangout regularly tardy (9)
COAGULATE: The usual “company” + [H]A[N]G[O]U[T] + “tardy”.
10a French friend, good old buddy for Manuel, maybe (5)
AMIGO: The French for “friend” + abbreviations for “good” and “old”.
11a Nude sir? Not in order – covered! (7)
INSURED: NUDESIR, not in order.
12a Tabloid with feeble-sounding charity event (3,4)
RAG WEEK: Generic tabloid + a homophone of “feeble”.
13a Arranged exit terms for one with way-out political opinions (9)
EXTREMIST: EXITTERMS, arranged.
15a Utter disapproving sounds after thanks – it’s just not done! (5)
TABOO: The usual “thanks” + (to) utter disapproving sounds/heckle.
17a Age-old game incorporating witchcraft and upper-class element (7)
NIOBIUM: Old (matchstick) game contains/incorporates (Caribbean) witchcraft and the usual “upper-class” = an element I’ve certainly never heard of!
19a Biting humour of a Roman Catholic during disorganised Mass (7)
SARCASM: ‘A’ + R[oman] C[atholic] in/during MASS, disorganised.
20a Ludicrously energetic fellow in command (5)
MANIC: Fellow/chap + the usual “in command”.
21a Sweet semi-solid dessert and vegetable (5,4)
JELLY BEAN: The most common semi-solid pudding + (podded) vegetable.
24a Indifferent about nervous system disrupted by start of trouble (7)
NEUTRAL: Adjectival about/of the nervous system contains (disrupted by) T[rouble].
26a Man one pursues with an alpine plant (7)
GENTIAN: Fellow/chap, pursued/followed by the usual “one” and ‘AN’.
28a Deal with unfinished negotiation (5)
TREAT: Negotiation/truce, minus its last letter.
29a Strutting leader hated circling in old-fashioned headgear (6,3)
COCKED HAT: “Strutting leader” (of the walk?) + HATED, circling.
Down
1d Writer‘s plagiarism in extremes of satire (6)
SCRIBE: Plagiarism/copying in(side) S[atir]E.
2d Bans others playing low-pitched instrument (6,4)
BASSET HORN: BANOTHERS, playing.
3d Turning up before remarriage essentially, express pleasure (4)
PURR: ‘UP’, reversed/turning + [rema]RR[iage].
4d Spiritual leader central to resisting and Hinduism (6)
GANDHI: Lurker, hidden in the last three words. Sweetly done.
5d Mysteries surrounding English releases (8)
SECRETES: Mysteries/private matters surrounding/containing the usual “English”.
6d Unnatural ugly hatred like offspring’s behaviour (10)
DAUGHTERLY: UGLYHATRED, unnatural.
7d Measure weak glue (4)
SIZE: Double definition. One obvious, one less so. Unknown (to me) in fact. Chambered, of course.
8d Reserve thing that torments enthusiastic reader (8)
BOOKWORM: (to) reserve + “anything that corrupts, gnaws or torments” (an ear or computer, perhaps).
14d Deprive of necessary content shattered tea service (10)
EVISCERATE: TEASERVICE, shattered.
16d Warning sign to drivers: estate car, it’s said, deficient in weight (5,5)
BRAKE LIGHT: Homophone of a synonym for “estate car” (you’ll need to scroll right to the bottom of Chambers if, like me, you’ve never heard of it) + deficient in weight/not heavy.
17d Formally propose observation about ancient weight of money (8)
NOMINATE: Observation/comment about/containing an ancient (Greek) weight/money. Nope, me neither!
18d Stuff lifted roughly, including uncased solid earthenware (8)
MAJOLICA: (to) stuff lifted/reversed and the usual roughly/about contain/include [S]OLI[D].
22d Prettily ornamental, holding, for example, inherited thing (6)
LEGACY: Prettily ornamental (as fabric) holds/contains the usual “for example”. Just ignore those commas.
23d Very old yet tipsily found after inn runs amok (6)
NINETY: YET, tipsily, after INN, running amok.
25d Employs tricks with no reason principally (4)
USES: Tricks/ploys without its R[eason].
27d Exigency once held intermittently (4)
NEED: [O]N[C]E[H]E[L]D.
A hefty seven anagrams, two alternates and one lurker made for a fairly brisk solve, Chambered time-outs notwithstanding. I was half-expecting a pangram after 13a but, by my reckoning, we’re just two letters short. 12a, 29a and 1d stood out for me. How did you get on?
Delightful! Chalicea at her Floughie best – 1.5*/4.5*
Candidates for favourite – 19a, 20a, 5d, and 18d – and the winner is 18d.
Thanks to the Floughie Lady and ALP.
Just back from a lovely lunch, and Alp’s notification dropped into the inbox. So I thought this was a little harder than the BP. None really stood out, and I knew the weak glue from pre-wallpapering duties when I was 10 yo!
Many thanks to Chalicea, and I’ll now have a look at the hints, thanks for them, Alp
I can but salute you and your 10-year-old self! My fab grandad was a painter and decorator and he’d be beyond appalled by my total glue ignorance!
Most of this was very straightforward, except…
17a – I didn’t know the game, the witchcraft or the element.
16d – I’ve never heard of the estate car but the answer was clear.
18d – I didn’t know the earthenware but the J and the L as checkers was enough to guess the correct answer.
Many thanks to Chalicea and to ALP.
Well I didn’t find this at all floughie for the reasons ALP outlines above. LOI 7d and bunged in mile just to complete the grid. Thank you Chalicea, initially thought this was going to be plain sailing, but I was so wrong. Ta also to ALP for explaining those that eluded me — and 17a still does 😁
NIM is the game and OBI is the witchcraft. So you’ve got to insert OBI and the usual “upper-class” into NIM to make an element which I now hope to forget for the rest of time!
Thank you A, I must admit I have never played Nim nor practiced obi, still there’s time
It should make for an interesting combo, I grant you!
This was light and great fun with surprisingly little need for me to look things up as is normally the case with this setter. The “ancient weight of money” was new to me.
I don’t see the need for “it’s said” in 16d as “brake” as well as “break” means an estate car. In fact, I would have thought the former is less uncommon as in “shooting brake”.
I had lots of ticks with 4d my favourite.
Many thanks to Chalicea and to ALP.
Yes, good point – I forgot to mention that. New to me, as I said, but both spellings are clearly marked in Chambers. So she didn’t really need to hom it. Perhaps she was just trying to be kind?!
Apart from 17a, 17 and 18d which were a complete bung-ins, this was very approachable and good fun. The wordplay got me over the line with those three after a few goes, and like others, 4d was my top clue, a brilliant lurker.
Thanks to Chalicea for the fun, and to ALP.
Lovely puzzle, so very, very Chalicea! Worked out 17a and entered it with fingers crossed that “nim” was a thing, likewise with 17d’s “mina”; all else approached with confidence. Ticks, like smiles, appeared everywhere.
Thank you Chalicea and ALP
I even smiled at the sad irony that only yesterday I reflected on the Sunday Toughie blog as to the Telegraph’s continuing IT incompetence and, fate having thus been tempted, here we are with today’s puzzle once more spreading on to two pages. Gah!!!
Thoroughly enjoyable solve though essentially a DNF as the element in 17a, and all the elements of the element were unknown to me necessitating my first reveal for a long time. (That said, there are toughies that I choose not to attempt!) The old money weight was also new to me but I was able to work that out from the definition. Lots of ticks so no overall favourite today but thanks to Chalicea for the lunchtime pleasure and APL for the comprehensive blog.
Sorry ALP – slip of the finger!
Ha, I’ve been called much worse!
Always love Chalicea’s offerings. First toughie this year for me. I don’t do anybody else’s so it relies on me spotting it or a heads up from the blog
Thanks to her and APL
It’s a Chalicea puzzle and as usual, lots to enjoy. My only downfall was 17a being in blissful ignorance of the element and the constituent parts of the clue. Cotd for me is 29a. Thanks to Chalicea and Alp.
Certainly not straightforward for me as I didn’t know the game or the witchcraft but I did know the element, had to check the plant but fairly clued and didn’t know the instrument or the ancient weight of money. I enjoyed the challenge though. Favourite was 18d which I had heard of. Thanks to Chalicea and ALP.
Thanks to all those happy solvers. I love it when mine are ‘fun’, ‘enjoyable’, ‘a pleasure to solve’ – and they are a pleasure to set. Especial thanks, of course, to ALP.
Huge thanks for popping in Chalicea. You’re going down a storm – as always.
Plenty of soft centres but enough chewy ones/unknowns here to disqualify it from floughie status. I’ve Pointless to thank for the element & knew the game but not the witchcraft so that needed Mr G – add to that the wallpaper paste (last in & biggest head scratch), the estate car, the earthenware, the Near Eastern weight of money, oh & I knew the hound but not the horn so thank heavens for wordplay.
No particular clue stood out & though I enjoyed the puzzle I wouldn’t number it among my favourite Chalicea productions.
Thanks to her & to ALP for the review + Pops & Mavis, John Lee & Little Mae – that TW album got 5 tracks onto the playlist but that one missed the cut.
1*/3* …
liked 20A ” Ludicrously energetic fellow in command (5)”