Toughie No 3466 by Hudson
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty * – Enjoyment *****
The Telegraph Puzzles site asks the question ‘can you crack our hardest crossword? To which the answer obviously is yes once you find where it is hidden on the site’s Home Page.
Today’s Toughie was far from the hardest I’ve ever solved but, as usual with a puzzle from one of my favourite setters, it was a wonderful crossword to solve and blog
Please let us know what you thought
Across
6a Oligarch expert taking time off to become Head of Chambers? (13)
LEXICOGRAPHER An anagram (to become) of OLIGARCH EXPERt without the T (taking time off)
8a Sailor sent back sticky sweet Italian wine (6)
BAROLO A reversed (sent back) abbreviated sailor and a sticky sweet
9a Take a slice of sirloin, char gently just like a head chef (2,6)
IN CHARGE Hidden in a slice of sirloIN CHAR GEntly
10a New film score (3)
NET What would setters do without Mr Spielberg’s film? This time it follows the abbreviation for New
11a Cold and damp herb the compiler picked up (6)
RHEUMY Homophones (picked up) of a herb and how the compiler might refer to himself
12a Might this appear pink when pickled in alcohol? (8)
ELEPHANT Something you might see when you have overindulged in alcohol
14a Writer suffering duress beginning to struggle (2,5)
DR SEUSS An anagram (suffering) of DURESS followed by the beginning to Struggle
16a Stupid person grabbing head of All Black rugby international (7)
WALLABY A slang name for a stupid person ‘grabbing’ the first (head) letter of All and the abbreviation for Black
20a Playful talk unseemly when mature? (8)
BADINAGE Split 3,2,3 this playful talk would show that it isn’t good when mature
23a Stream live boxing over 15 (6)
BOURNE A verb meaning live ‘boxing’ the cricket abbreviation for Over and the solution to 15d. There are lots of place names round here with this word in them because they have a stream going through them
24a Port or whiskey? (3)
RYE A Sussex port or American whiskey, where they spell the word with an E
25a Person with a number one southern family patriarch? (8)
SKINHEAD The abbreviation for Southern, people belonging to the same family and a patriarch
26a Plan succeeded – woman’s undergarment is stolen (6)
SCHEME The abbreviation for Succeeded and a woman’s shirt-like undergarment without the IS (stolen)
27a Cor! Hen parties when squiffy like a dance! (13)
TERPISCHOREAN An anagram (when squiffy) of COR HEN PARTIES
Down
1d Risk of former partner sitting on carriage with temperature dropping (8)
EXPOSURE A former partner ‘sitting on’ in a Down solution and carriage in the sense of bearing or deportment without (dropping) the abbreviation for Temperature
2d Adult chum Mike finally gets things like sonar and radar (8)
ACRONYMS The abbreviation for adult, an intimate friend (chum), the letter represented by Mike in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet and the final letter of getS.
3d Cryptically editing & lit? (7)
IGNITED An anagram (cryptically) of EDITING
4d Cack-handed cowboy Oscar ignored by English (6)
GAUCHE Ignore the letter represented by Oscar in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet at the end of a cowboy of the pampas and replace it with the abbreviation for English
5d Keep quiet about cook’s dress that hugs the figure (6)
SHEATH An instruction to keep quiet goes about make hot (cook)
6d Grub that’s popular with bikers? (13)
LEATHERJACKET A cranefly grub or split 7,6 something popular with bikers
7d Totter off with old golden bra Madonna designed (3-3-4-3)
RAG-AND-BONE-MAN The definition together with the checking letters for the first word meant that I wrote the solution in and then went back to check that an anagram (designed) of GoldEN BRA MADONNA produced the answer, ‘off with old’ indicating that these letters are to be ignored
13d Friend switched light on leaving motorway (3)
PAL A reversal (switched) of a light without (leaving) the abbreviation for Motorway
15d Container damaged by fire uncovered (3)
URN A simple way of saying damaged by fire without the outside letters (uncovered)
17d A distressed call describing worst hazardous material (8)
ASBESTOS A (from the clue) and an abbreviated call of distress going round (describing) informal way of saying to get the better of (worst)
18d Chuckles after admitting that’s horrible (8)
LAUGHTER A synonym for after ‘admitting’ an interjection of repugnance (that’s horrible)
19d Noted Italian court ruling (7)
VERDICT A famous Italian composer and the abbreviation for court
21d Sign for me, leaving opening letters blank (6)
IGNORE Omit the opening letters of the first three words of the clue
22d Reluctant European states taking the lead (6)
AVERSE Declares to be true (states) takes the lead over the abbreviation for European
Excellent – a work of art!
On the whole not too tricky, but there were a few pauses, namely the herb, the dance, and the dress (cook=heat did not click straight away). Another minor delay was assuming that there would be a T somehere in 1d which was going to be demoted.
It would be unfair to single out any of these clues as a favourite, as they were all good, however 8a would be a contender simply for mentioning my favourite red wine.
Many thanks to Hudson and to CS. 5* for entertainment.
A thoroughly accessible and highly enjoyable Toughie that flowed very nicely as I solved it. 27a caused the biggest laugh and was my favourite of many.
My thanks to Hudson and Sue.
An absolutely wonderful puzzle, and as I have said on the other blog, a contender for my top 10 of the year. The chuckles started at the very well-spotted 6a and continued throughout. Super surfaces, a masterful demonstration of how to compile a crossword which is at once both entertaining, moderately challenging, and entirely fair throughout. For a few moments at 6d I was trying to fit a cyclist’s food into some form of basket, while 7d had me laughing at the image it conjured. Quite delighted to have remembered 27a when at the time I only had the C and N in place.
I had ticks absolutely everywhere, so will limit to 2d, 16a & 21d on the podium.
Huge thanks to Hudson, and also of course to Sue
Not too tough but extremely enjoyable nonetheless.
Very clever and amusing clues all over with far too many ticks to pick out a winner.
Great entertainment, thanks Hudson and CS.
An excellent puzzle to complement the top-notch back-pager. Many thanks to Hudson and CS.
From loads of contenders I’ll highlight 6a, 25a and 21d.
Yep, as Gazza says, two absolute crackers today. This reeked of class: ridiculously smooth, and funny to boot. The anagrams were simply spotless. 27a and 7d are both delightful and 3d’s a joy. Best thanks to Hudson and CS.
I agree with all the above comments. Not too difficult a puzzle but fairly clued and most enjoyable. So many good clues but 25A and 6D are my joint favourites.
Thanks to CS and Hudson
Great fun, 6a, 16a and 25a all made me smile. I also learnt a new herb. Thanks to Hudson and CS.
What a joy to solve! Not at all tough, but who cares when it’s this much fun. It started on a high with the brilliant 6a and carried on in that vein to the very end.
My only query is how does “score” define the answer to 10a?
Many thanks to Hudson and to CS.
As in score or gain a number of goals or other sporting accomplishments
RD, to net is a way to say score, for example in football.
Thanks, Frankie. That didn’t occur to me and I had even looked up “net” in the BRB when I was solving, but it isn’t there.
It’s definitely in there – “to send (eg a ball) into the net”.
So it is. I scanned the list of verbs and missed it because it it is the last item in the transitive verb list prefaced with the comment “(also intransitive verb)” which led to it being hidden in plain sight!
Thank you, Michael.
Easier than yesterday’s. 6a was a nice start and I also liked 25a, the cleverly misleading 3d and Madonna’s golden bra [7d]. But what is “on” doing in 13d other than justifying the surface?
Thanks to Hudson and CS.
First class.
Ticks aplenty, but if pressed I would go for 6a, 16a, 6d, 7d, 19d, and 21d, with 16a topping the podium purely because it involves rugby!
Great stuff, Hudson and thanks to CS for the blog.
If he carries on in this vein Hudson’s going to edge out Mr Smooth as team captain in my dream team of setters. A joy from start to finish – stick a tick next to ‘em all but particularly liked the long ‘uns.
Thanks to him & to Sue for a well illustrated review.
I didn’t know 8a or 27a but both fairly clued. I concur with all the comments earlier. Lots of candidates for favourite but I’ll go with 12a. Thanks to Hudson and CS.
Our last one in and favourite in this really enjoyable puzzle was 11a.
Thanks Hudson and CS.
Super puzzle. As already said, not too difficult and those needing some cogitation all fairly clued. Many candidates for the podium but I’ll pick 25a for the chuckle it raised, 3d for the brilliant cruciverbal allusion and 16d for its clever cheeky misdirection involving rugby protagonists.
Many thanks Hudson for the enjoyment and to Cryptic Sue for enlightening me about bournes – I’d only come across burn as a stream before.
Yes definitely easier than yesterday and accurately and very fairly clued.
I knew about rue and netted a steady solve
6ac acknowledging the head of the book my gong
Thanks to all
After being lured here by the recommendations and the 1-star Toughie rating, I’m glad I came, with so many entertaining clues — 6a’s Head of Chambers and 3d’s &lit among them.
But I didn’t find it as straightforward as everybody else: I reckon this one was a Toughie by vocabulary rather than devious wordplay, as new to me were: the 8a wine; the 11a herb; the 12a drunken phrase; the 23a stream; the 27a dance; the 4d cowboy; the 6d grub; and 7d’s totter. This isn’t a complaint — all entirely reasonable for a setter to include in a Toughie, and all fairly clued — but they made this far from simple for me. Thank you to CrypticSue for confirming those, and for explaining the wordplay in a few others, especially ‘worst’ in 17d, and how the 7d anagram worked.
Thank you to Hudson for the fun, and for including “sticky” in 8a, without which it would have been 50-50 whether I came up with the wine correctly: there were two possibilities for a sweet matching _O_O, but Polos aren’t sticky!
What a brilliant crossword! The four long’uns were particularly good, especially the 6s, across and down.
Thanks to Hudson and Cryptic Sue.