Toughie No 3461 by Chalicea
Hints and tips by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***/****
Very, very gentle from Chalicea today. No exotic fabric, no (thank goodness) periodic table – just a fun spatter of botany and Greek. I doubt any of you whizzkids will need any hints at all, but here you go.
Across
4a Intensity of pressure between river and loch (8)
DEEPNESS: The usual pressure between/inside a river and a loch (both Scottish).
8a Dog‘s a little monkey consuming peeled plum (6)
SALUKI: (A) monkey consumes/contains [p]LU[m].
9a Removes ties from box sent west on Scottish island (8)
UNSTRAPS: (To) box, reversed (sent west) on/after a (Shetland) island.
10a Sacrifice in gutless huge combat running amok (8)
HECATOMB: H[ug]E + COMBAT, amok.
11a Midshipman free to move on after getting rejected (6)
REEFER: FREE, to move, plus the usual two-letter “on”, reversed/rejected.
12a What to do with chess game and how to finish it for companion (8)
PLAYMATE: What to do with a chess (or any) game + how to end a game of chess, specifically.
13a Ship’s doctor swallowing tail of toughest fish (8)
STURGEON: Ship’s doctor (the doctor that’s, oddly, actually a Mr or Ms, etc) swallows/contains the tail of [toughes]T.
16a Sepal tip dismantled, seed stripped of membrane and halved (5,3)
SPLIT PEA: SEPALTIP, dismantled. This may well be a smart all-in-one, but I have no real understanding of what a sepal or calyx is. Either way, a lovely disguise of a very simple anagram.
19a Rhubarb has, for the French, no taste perhaps (8)
NONSENSE: “No”, for the French, plus what “taste” is one of (there are five in total, commonly).
21a Mostly was a big favourite accompaniment for raw fish (6)
WASABI: A lurker, “hidden” in the second, third and fourth words.
23a Cartoon technician rejigged main timetable the wrong way (8)
ANIMATOR: MAIN, rejigged, plus timetable/schedule, reversed/the wrong way.
24a More specious marginal explanation that is right (8)
GLOSSIER: marginal/superficial explanation/show + the usual “that is” and “right”.
25a Part of norteño sisterliness is union (6)
ENOSIS: Lurker, hidden in the third and fourth words.
26a Small gratuity concludes periodical allowances (8)
STIPENDS: The usual “small” + the usual “gratuity” + concludes/finishes.
Down
1d Look long and steadily around the Spanish lake for graceful ruminant (7)
GAZELLE: Look/stare around/outside the Spanish “the” and the usual “lake”.
2d EU regulated typical producers of oil (9)
EUCALYPTI: ‘EU’ from the clue + TYPICAL, regulated.
3d Flowering shrub in Buck’s fizz in Las Vegas (6)
MIMOSA: Double definition.
4d Duplicate flags showing inconsistent values (6,9)
DOUBLE STANDARDS: Duplicate (ie, two) + flags (military, etc).
5d Wrap up hours dithering in goal (8)
ENSHROUD: HOURS, dithering, inside goal/objective.
6d Bottle stocked by Pilsner vendors (5)
NERVE: Lurker, hidden in the last two words.
7d Drink stirred more for big shot (7)
SUPREMO: (to) drink + MORE, stirred.
14d Possibly no regret housing a dynamo (9)
GENERATOR: NOREGRET, possibly, houses/contains ‘A’.
15d Scotsman supporting whisky dispenser? He can provide glasses (8)
OPTICIAN: The usual Scotsman supports/follows a (pub, etc) dispenser of spirit = a man (or woman!) who provides glasses.
17d Piano song allowed in short dramatic performance (7)
PLAYLET: The usual “piano” + song (not air) + the usual “allowed”.
18d Gradual absorption of brine essentially in enormous northern bog (7)
OSMOSIS: [br]I[ne] in(side) enormous/outsize and northern/Scottish bog.
20d Revolutionary native of Apollo’s legendary birthplace is arrested (6)
NAILED: A native of a Greek island reputed to be the birthplace of Apollo, reversed/revolutionary.
22d American model upset fabulist (5)
AESOP: The usual “American” plus the usual “to model”, reversed/upset = the only fabulist that I can ever think of.
Ever so friendly, with three lurkers and a chunk of eight anagrams. I enjoyed 11a, 16a and 20d but 12a takes it for me. How did you get on?
The Floughie Lady giving us a very enjoyable Floughie puzzle, a perfect complement to the back pager – */*****
Candidates for favourite – 19a, 1d, 3d, and 4d – and the winner is 4d.
Thanks to Chalicea and ALP.
This was light and fun providing a very enjoyable accompaniment to today’s light and fun back-pager.
As a chess nut, I’ll go along with ALP’s choice of 12a as my favourite.
Many thanks to Chalicea and to him.
Another vote for 12a here and I also liked 26a plus 1,3 (love the drink!) & 4d. I did need to check on the answer to 25a and also Apollo’s birthplace.
Thanks to Chalicea and also to ALP for the review.
Chalicea always makes Tuesday a light and very pleasant start to the Toughie week. Everything to like with the neat 4D taking the honours.
Thanks to ALP and Chalicea
Very gentle fare, hardly a toughie at all and on a par with the back pager. All good fun nonetheless.
My tick is in the box marked 7d.
Thanks Chalicia and ALP.
A small ‘t’ toughie that still managed to be fun and a worthwhile solve. No particular favourites, just very entertaining.
My thanks to Chalicea and ALP.
I found this harder than the previous commenters as I didn’t know the monkey, the union, the northern bog or Apollos birthplace, being ignorant of such things obviously increased the difficulty for me particularly in the SE. Still one lives and learns. I did enjoy the challenge though. Another vote for 4d as favourite. Thanks to Chalicea and ALP.
With the benefit of 90 mins additional kip followed by a long hot shower post blog this one proved to be a marginally quicker grid fill than the Prof’s back-pager. A fair bit of post solve checking then required however for the same 4 as TG. Very enjoyable with 12a my fav too with podium spots for 4&5d.
Thanks as ever to Chalicea & to ALP – great selection of tunes; love that Richard Hawley track & the HDH song though much prefer The Four Tops version not least because it features in Blood Simple, the simply brilliant debut by the Coens.
Fairly straightforward, but I needed the hints to justify 24a and 20d.
No excuse on the latter, as I Googled his birthplace and still couldn’t see the answer.
15d my COD.
Thanks to Chalicea and ALP
Very enjoyable indeed after a day marching around a foreign city.
So thanks to Chalicea and ALP and yes no clues were needed.
Thank you friends. I am always happy when solvers enjoy a crossword. Thanks to ALP of course.
Huge thanks for popping in Chalicea, and for yet another winner.