Toughie No 3457 by Zenas
Hints and tips by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ***/****
We’ve got a Nina from Zenas today, which was mercifully easy to spot. I thought this was slightly trickier than usual for a Tuesday with some novel touches – a quirky lurker, etc. Bar 7a’s game of “pick one”, there’s no tough vocab/GK as such, but I dislike 3ds on principle and 10a was, for me, somewhat of a spelling test. Hopefully, 24a should be plain from the definition even if you’ve forgotten the author. All yours.
Across
7a Disarming soldiers, army originally enters Oxford college (8)
LIKEABLE: Soldiers (Light Infantry) + A[rmy] inside one of Oxford University’s 30-plus colleges. As attended by Martin Amis, if that helps.
8a Item a group set apart (6)
DETAIL: Triple definition.
9a Yell, perhaps, of some returning gospel singers (4)
ISLE: (Scottish) lurker, hidden in the last two words.
10a Communist leaders in Korea heard voices describing attack by revolutionary (10)
KHRUSHCHEV: K~H~V~ describing/containing attack/onset plus/by the usual “revolutionary”.
11a Sign of modern culture finally changing direction (6)
CANCER: A type of modern culture (think Gregg Wallace, for example) has its last letter changed from L[eft] to R[ight].
13a Swiss ready to welcome current saint (7)
FRANCIS: Swiss currency/ready (readies, really) contains/welcomes the usual (electric) current.
14a Denied new trading estate lacks versatile traits (7)
NEGATED: TRADINGESATE, new, minus TRAITS, versatile.
16a Legal document for motel owner not complete (7)
PROBATE: The usual three-letter “for” + (Psycho’s) motel owner, minus the last letter.
19a Hack drinking round – good whiskey and moonshine (7)
HOGWASH: To hack/chop drinks/contains the usual “round” and the abbreviations for “good” and “whiskey”. Just ignore the dash.
20a Cleric recalled corrupt fool (6)
PASTOR: (to) corrupt/decay + fool/chump, all reversed/recalled.
21a Food book cover (6,4)
ECCLES CAKE: The abbreviation of a biblical book (aren’t they always?!) + (to) cover (with make-up, say).
22a Upper-class women occasionally featured in Greek plays (4)
GELS: G[re]E[kp]L[ay]S.
23a Benefits of programming language applications (6)
PLUSES: A new-to-me but obvious abbreviation + applications/employments.
24a Author Christopher heading off for Robin’s home (8)
SHERWOOD: (Goodbye to Berlin) author, minus the first letter. Great surface/definition.
Down
1d Atmosphere created by song’s tempo (8)
AIRSPACE: Song’s/tune’s + tempo/rate.
2d Function of cost divided by time (4)
FETE: Cost/price contains (divided by) the usual “time”.
3d Person receiving charge for cycling? (1-5)
E-BIKER: A cryptic definition of sorts, not cycling of letters – the charge referred to here is electric. But there is also a monetary charge for that, of course. You won’t find this in Chambers but it is in Collins, and you’ll know it/them. They and the things they charge are bloomin’ everywhere – mostly on the pavement!
4d Reduce competition between supermodels? (4,3)
WEAR OFF: How one might (but never would) whimsically describe a competition between (catwalk, etc) models.
5d Ingredients made from drug-injected pedigree offspring (5,5)
STOCK CUBES: Pedigree/blood + (animal) offspring, containing/injected with the usual “drug”.
6d Ships final 75 per cent of young chickens (6)
OILERS: The last six letters of an eight-letter word for “young chickens”.
8d Padre is about to throw in the towel (7)
DESPAIR: PADREIS, about.
12d Permanent way to reduce one’s laundry load? (10)
CHANGELESS: How one might, cryptically, find yourself with fewer clothes to wash, as (6,4). Fun.
15d Slips away after date comes back carrying drinks (7)
ELAPSES: (to) date reversed, contains (verbal) “drinks”.
17d Farewell to many nude loves (6-2)
TOODLE-OO: ‘To’ from the clue + many/lots minus the first and last letter (nude) + the usual “love” twice.
18d Treatment that requires us to stand up in small space (7)
SHIATSU: The usual “small” + a space/gap, with its ‘US’ reversed/standing up. Smart.
19d Loudly criticise letters from the clergy defending king (6)
HECKLE: A lurker, of sorts, hidden in the fifth and sixth words, contains/defends one of the abbreviations for “king”.
20d Tense knight goes for control (6)
PRESET: Remove (chess) knight from a grammatical tense.
22d University members try to suppress opponents (4)
GOWN: Try/attempt plus/before (suppress in a down) opponents (Bridge).
A nice mix of clues, including a lurker with a twist and a subtractive anagram. I especially liked 11a, 16a, 15d and 18d but 12d just about takes it for me. How did you get on?
Crikey, this was very tough for a Tuesday but nevertheless satisfying to complete. I needed three separate sittings to finish although I did fail to parse 18d. Having now read ALP’s explanation, I will elevate this clue to become my favourite, joining 11a, 4d & 12d on the podium.
I did spot the Nina, and I am one of the few …
Many thanks to Zenas and to ALP.
I agree with RD that this is quite tough for a Tuesday but it’s very enjoyable – thanks to Zenas and ALP.
The Telegraph’s avowed intention is that Toughies should increase in difficulty over the week and it baffles me that Zenas is scheduled for Tuesdays while Beam, for example, always appears on Thursdays.
My pick of the bunch today comprises 22a, 24a and 12d.
I found this tough too. I really couldn’t get into his head and needed the hints to parse 18d and make sense of 8a. But there were some ace clues, inc 23a, 24a, 17d and [top spot] the radical 19d.
Thanks to Zenas and ALP – an even more than usually eclectic mix of tunes today. It’s nice to be reminded what an inventive player Mr McPhee was. The Ghogs nearly [but not quite] blew Mr Jagger & Co off the stage at Leeds Uni and I still have the tinnitus to prove it!
ps – what NINA?
Haha, look round the outside! I’d have laid money on you being a Ghogs man. That must have been quite the gig.
OK – there it is, ta. The Sones/Ghogs gig was indeed a corker, but I recall queuing in the snow for hours to get tickets.
For me the RHS especially, but really the whole thing, would not have been out of place on a Friday. I just could not tune-in today – terms I’d never heard of, definitions which for me were rather stretched, a very old film I’ve heard of but managed to avoid… Entirely my problem, I can recognise a good puzzle even if I don’t enjoy it!
Thank you Zenas, just not for me today. Thanks also to ALP.
Thanks to ALP for the usual impeccable review and to those who have commented. I think that the next couple of crosswords in the queue are less tricky than this one, though your mileage may vary.
Huge thanks for popping in, and for another belter.
Big mistake. A pre bedtime solve so that put paid to some early shut-eye. Needed 2 letter reveals to complete & a couple still to parse & they’ll have to wait until the morrow as will the review. Very difficult but hugely enjoyable. Didn’t spot the Nina needless to say.
Thanks to Zenas & ALP