Toughie No 3447 by Kcit
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
My progress through the puzzle was steady rather than speedy and I enjoyed the process. Thanks to Kcit.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Northern town having a religious feel, but not extended? (6)
ECCLES: the abbreviation for an adjective meaning ‘relating to the church’. I presume that ‘not extended’ just means abbreviated.
5a Setting second medic to take on some surgery (8)
BACKDROP: a verb to second and abbreviations for a medic and surgery.
9a Table beside crib displays computer accessory (8)
KEYBOARD: a synonym of table follows another word for a crib or translation.
10a Supplier of scholarship courses on the radio (6)
RHODES: a homophone of courses or routes. You can read about the scholarship here.
11a Formality of clothing around US city recalled (7)
DRYNESS: a synonym of clothing or attire contains the reversal of the abbreviation of a US city.
13a King’s Head pub in borders of Surrey, not very substantial (6)
SKINNY: insert the first letter of king and a type of pub into the outer letters of Surrey.
14a Urge military leader to abandon system (5)
PRESS: start with a word for a system or operation and remove the 2-letter abbreviation for the officer in charge.
16a Sublime seat I repositioned in small room (9)
CELESTIAL: an anagram (repositioned) of SEAT I inside a small room.
18a The writer risks ditching English penning current works (9)
MECHANICS: the objective pronoun that the writer would use for himself followed by a synonym of risks without the 1-letter abbreviation for English but including the symbol for electric current.
20a Magistrates hesitate to send down student (5)
BENCH: a verb to hesitate or draw back without our usual abbreviated student.
23a Rest? Brief rest interrupted by short swim round (6)
SPIDER: the word rest without its last letter contains a brief swim. Reverse the lot.
24a Put on line, articles about decline in trattoria food (7)
LASAGNA: the abbreviation for line and two indefinite articles containing a verb to decline.
26a Soccer team receiving my backing ahead of international sport (6)
FROLIC: the abbreviation for a soccer team or club contains the reversal of an old informal exclamation of surprise (my!) and the abbreviation for international.
27a I wrote the words I cry out during programme (8)
LYRICIST: an anagram (out) of I CRY enters a synonym of programme.
28a Pass on monetary aid packages in bank, maybe (8)
GRADIENT: a verb to pass on or kick the bucket is packaged by a word for monetary aid.
29a Ends in left-winger switching for different Chinese philosophy (6)
TAOISM: a left-wing follower of the old Chinese chairman with the outer letters swapped round.
Down Clues
2d Upset tot cutting dear French cheese (7)
CHEDDAR: a verb to tot is reversed inside the French word for dear.
3d Clumsy person leading Times journalists may be seen here (5)
LOBBY: a word for a clumsy person (new to me) followed by another word for times in maths.
4d Basic idea about a book having marine location (6)
SEABED: a word meaning the basic idea or starting point contains A and the abbreviation for book.
5d Touch up? Not good (3)
BAD: reverse a verb to touch lightly.
6d Church rites reimagined and given new name (8)
CHRISTEN: assemble an abbreviation for church, an anagram (reimagined) of RITES and the abbreviation for new.
7d Dramatic flower-girl in celebration over not a great deal (9)
DOOLITTLE: the name of the flower-girl in a drama comes from a celebration or party, the cricket abbreviation for over and an adjective meaning ‘not a great deal’.
8d Area of globe, area in a green uprising (7)
OCEANIA: string together the abbreviation for area, IN, A and a prefix meaning environmentally green then reverse the lot.
12d Enclosed in mostly static pattern (7)
STENCIL: the abbreviation for enclosed goes inside an adjective meaning static without its last letter.
15d School fool turning up as planned (9)
SCHEDULED: the abbreviation for school and the reversal of a verb to fool or hoodwink.
17d Interval performance used in introduction after finale lost (8)
ENTR’ACTE: a synonym of performance goes inside an introduction or prelude without its final letter.
19d European city uplifted about a former leader there (7)
EMPEROR: reverse a European capital city and insert a preposition meaning ‘a’ (as in £2 a kilo).
21d Reduction in aid supporting choir body (7)
CHASSIS: a verb to aid without its last letter follows the abbreviation for choir.
22d Base position about promotional activity shows wit (6)
ESPRIT: the letter used for the base in logarithms followed by a verb to position containing the abbreviation for promotional activity.
25d Lizard – adequate source of cover for one going uphill (5)
GECKO: weld together an abbreviation meaning adequate (but not great), the first letter of cover and the abbreviation meaning ‘for one’ then reverse it all.
27d Biblical figure confused without son (3)
LOT: an adjective meaning confused loses its abbreviation for son to leave a Biblical figure.
Top clues for me were 23a, 29a, 7d and 19d. Which one(s) did you like?
This was one of those puzzles that I had to chip away at, and it was a fairly slow process.
I would probably rate it one star higher than Gazza on both counts; 4*/4* for me.
All good stuff. Plenty of ticks all over the page.
Many thanks to Kcit and to Gazza.
Like Jezza, I found this more difficult than Gazza, not helped by having to write two clues vertically by the side of the excessively large grid.
No particular favourites
Thanks to Kcit and Gazza
Had to guess at the clumsy person in 3d once the checkers were in and a few other answers took a fair bit of teasing out but the grid was eventually filled. Satisfaction came from completion rather than any real enjoyment, apart from Gazza’s cartoon selection. Ticks awarded to 23&24a plus 7d.
Thanks to Kcit and to Gazza for the review.
This was definitely Thursday toughness for me. First pass saw several entries but then it all slowed down. Beaten by 26A and 17D.
No particular favourite.
Thank you Gazza for the blog and great cartoons and to Kcit for the challenge.
The SW corner took longer than the rest of the puzzle but contained by far the best clue in 19d. Others of note were 26a, 29a and 25d.
Thanks to KciT and Gazza.
The SW gave a few problems. I thought getting 17d with its pesky apostrophe would have let me in, but I needed Gazza’s hints for 16, 26 and 28a.
Thanks to Gazza and Kcit
SW also held me up. The clumsy person in 3d and the definition of 17d were new to me but I confidently put them in as they satisfied the clueing.
25a and 28a my favourites.
Thanks Kcit and Gazza.
Like our esteemed blogger, progress for me was also more steady than swift. Nho lob for a clumsy person. Bench was easily gettable, although the starting point (blench) was also new to me. Favourite has to be FROLIC of course :) Thanks Kcit and Gazza
We also found this one quite tricky and enjoyable to solve. Last in and favourite was 26a.
Thanks Kcit and Gazza.
There seem to be some connections between the answers so I sense there might be something more to it. But I’m terrible at spotting these things. It did give me some confidence that I had the right answers in 14a/20a so that was most welcome.