Toughie No 3451 by Silvanus
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***/**** – Enjoyment ****
I thought that Silvanus had upped his difficulty level a bit today whilst maintaining the very high enjoyment factor which is his trademark. I added half a point to my difficulty rating due to the time it took me to twig how 1d worked. Thanks to Silvanus.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Offering resignation (10)
SUBMISSION: a straightforward double definition to start.
6a Record number gathers, returning for sports event (4)
OPEN: the abbreviation for number contains an abbreviated musical record. Reverse it all.
9a Norm stops heartless act alone (5)
APART: a word meaning norm (especially on the golf course) is inserted in A[c]T.
10a Frank soon kept involved around university (9)
OUTSPOKEN: an anagram (involved) of SOON KEPT containing an abbreviation for university.
12a Spooner’s asserted river could supply salt lake (4,3)
DEAD SEA: the dreaded Reverend gentleman might turn the answer into a verb meaning stated or announced and the name of a common river in the UK.
13a Fear having no time to find misprint? (5)
ERROR: remove the physics abbreviation for time from a synonym of fear.
15a Comparatively rude individual hunting with hounds, we hear (7)
COARSER: this sounds like one of the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable.
16a Current account left short when touring Channel Island (7)
THERMAL: an account or story short of its last letter contains the name of a small Channel Island.
18a Prudence to remove separately ordinary small cargo (7)
FREIGHT: remove separate abbreviations for ordinary and small from a synonym of prudence or preparedness.
20a Soldiers right to wear period feature of Highland dress (7)
SPORRAN: abbreviations for rank-and-file soldiers and right are contained in a word meaning period or duration.
21a Newspaper switching focus to British politician in Hungary (5)
ORBAN: start with a word for a newspaper (especially one with a political agenda) and change the central letter to an abbreviation for British. The politician is Hungary’s current Prime Minister.
23a Production of glue, it’s most disquieting (7)
UGLIEST: an anagram (production) of GLUE IT’S.
25a Gloomy Etihad club denies originally claiming its manager’s retiring (9)
DYSPEPTIC: the short name of the football club which plays at the Etihad stadium in Manchester and the first letter of ‘denies’ contain the nickname of the club’s current manager and the ‘S. Now reverse all that.
26a Become princess, perhaps (5)
GRACE: double definition, the first a verb to become or adorn.
27a Feverish having month off, developing bug (4)
RILE: an adjective meaning feverish loses the abbreviation for a month to leave a verb meaning bug or annoy.
28a End to ashes being scattered for those standing in churchyard? (10)
HEADSTONES: an anagram (being scattered) of END TO ASHES.
Down Clues
1d Put on maybe Hancock’s Half Hour tapes finally, heading north (4)
SHAM: this was my last answer and it took me some time to realise that Hancock here is not The Lad from East Cheam but a Tory politician whose career came to an inglorious end when he was pictured breaching Covid restrictions and snogging his mistress in his office in parliament. String together the first half of his abbreviated forename, an abbreviation for hour and the final letter of ‘tapes’ then reverse it all.
2d Go for one willing to support committee (5,4)
BOARD GAME: an adjective meaning willing (for a laugh, perhaps) follows a synonym of committee.
3d Obduracy batsman ultimately lacks in a recent innings abroad (13)
INTRANSIGENCE: an anagram (abroad) of A RECE[n]T INNINGS without the ultimate letter of batsman.
4d Godfather upset crooks regularly with no afterthought (7)
SPONSOR: assemble regular letters from ‘crooks’, NO and the abbreviation for a written afterthought then reverse it all.
5d Blooming acting company is abject (7)
OUTCAST: splice together an adjective meaning blooming or in bloom and a group of actors. Abject here (which I didn’t know but the BRB did) is a noun meaning the answer.
7d Acceptable to interrupt a game? (5)
POKER: an abbreviation meaning acceptable goes inside a preposition meaning ‘a’ (as in ‘£2 a kilo’).
8d Article probes North Londoner circulating anabolic steroid (10)
NANDROLONE: one of our indefinite articles goes between the abbreviation for North and an anagram (circulating) of LONDONER.
11d Old Spanish coins in wreckage from boat? (6,2,5)
PIECES OF EIGHT: the boat here is named after its number of oars. What might be found after such a boat is totally wrecked?
14d Purchasing restaurant, join one in business with Poles (10)
SCAFFOLDER: a verb to join metals contains a slang term for a restaurant or greasy spoon.
17d Following artist Miles around, cast wink at writer (4,5)
MARK TWAIN: stick together abbreviations for our usual artist and miles, reverse that and append an anagram (cast) of WINK AT.
19d PM mostly attracting support in Guardian (7)
TRUSTEE: the name of a fleeting recent PM without its last letter and a support on a golf course.
20d Son Oscar, out of control, departs United (7)
SPLICED: rivet together the genealogical abbreviation for son, a verb to control without the letter that Oscar represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet and the abbreviation for departs.
22d Found lake somewhere in Switzerland (5)
BASEL: a verb to found or construct and the abbreviation for lake.
24d Studies inside condensation (4)
DENS: hidden.
Top clues for me were 20a, 27a and 1d with my favourite being 14d (business with Poles – brilliant!) Which one(s) worked best for you?
There were only 2 bits of GK I did not have – the Hungarian politician, and the steroid. Fortunately both of these were easy to get with the wordplay and the checking letters (I had a couple of goes at the anagram permutation of 8d).
1d, which was not my last one in, took a fair time before I cracked it.
I am not a fan of the football team at 25a, but I thought it was a clever clue.
All good stuff – thanks to Silvanus and to Gazza.
Some sweet deletions (27a, etc) and lovely definitions (28a, 2d, 14d). I enjoyed 12a’s Spooner and 25a’s fun but the clever 1d takes it for me. Many thanks to Silvanus and Gazza.
Sheer excellence! This was certainly very challenging but a joy to solve (apart from the dreadful “caff”, which I was shocked to find in the BRB 🥺).
1d is a very clever clue. It was my last one in based on the definition and checkers, and I initially assumed wrongly that the parsing must be related to the wonderful The Radio Ham.
Apart from 1d, my other top picks from a sea of ticks were 1a, 16a, 20a, 25a, 28a, 3d & 19d.
Many thanks to Silvanus and to Gazza.
Messed up straight away by putting the continuous verb in instead of the noun which still works 1a.
Really enjoyed this. I confess to not even being able to make a guess for 1d despite me considering the disgraced politician.
Thanks to Silvanus and Gazza
My Dream Team day is now complete but this was certainly something of a challenge from Mr Smooth to round it off. Took a while for the required Hancock to put in an appearance but I was delighted to be able to make good use of him. Very impressed by the double meaning in 1a and also awarded double ticks to 2&14d.
Many thanks to Silvanus and also to Gazza for the review and cartoons – the young man being interviewed by HR and the Little Gem’s book doing better than the offering from Ms Truss really made me smile.
Great puzzle. 25a and 1d made me smile when the pennies dropped.
Thanks to Gazza and Silvanus.
Pleasantly testing with some brilliant PDMs along the way. Others have gone for 1d as a favourite and I will not go against the grain. Fabulous entertainment.
My thanks to both Silvanus and Gazza.
As always a great challenge from one of my favourite setters. I agree with the comments that Silvanus has upped the difficulty but all fairly and cleverly constructed.
Lots to like with joint favourites 14 and 20D.
Thanks to Gazza for the blog and fun ( favourite 8D)and to Silvanus for the enjoyment.
A lovely puzzle from Silvanus, but pretty tricky.
I failed to parse 1d, so thanks to Gazza for unravelling it.
The bottom part of the puzzle held me up the longest, not helped by spelling Basel incorrectly!
Thanks to Gazza for the hints and to Silvanus for the puzzle.
Many thanks as ever to Gazza and to all those solving and commenting. Another excellent set of cartoons, especially the 19d one!
I evidently had the fortune to tune-in from the off, for this was a swift solve (bar one) and a puzzle I had thought would have been greeted here as having been on the gentle side. However I was bowled all ends up by 1d, resulting in a DNF. One of several MPs & ministers of that period, of whom I should be happy never to hear again!
Super puzzle, trademark smooth surfaces. Many thanks to Silvanus & Gazza.
Difficult but fairly clued throughout. 1d was a bung in a I too thought it was something to do with radio ham but couldn’t parse it. Favourite was 18a. Thanks to Silvanus and Gazza.
We, of course, did not get 1d. There is a point where GK becomes ‘Obscure Niche Knowledge’ and we reckon this clue fits on the ONK side of this line. We did get everything else though and enjoyed the solve.
Thanks Silvanus and Gazza.
This looked like a walk in the park when the east went straight in, but it landed up very differently and a DNF, 1d being the culprit. Not helped either by putting the French spelling of Basel in at 22d. Must pay more attention to the clues!
Thanks Silvanus, and Gazza for the decryptions!
Moi aussi avec Basel!
My grandfather met my grandmother while changing trains at Basle station in 1920!
Another classy Smooth production. 1d last in for me too – can’t say I overly cared for the wordplay though once I eventually twigged it. As ever ticks aplenty with some clever wordplay but 19d just edges it as my fav – Liz seems to be the gift that keeps on giving for setters as surely her appearances in DT puzzles alone must be close to exceeding the thankfully few days she spent in Downing St.
Thanks to Silvanus & Gazza
21a, which newspaper?
Welcome to the blog, stocklord.
A newspaper is an organ.