Toughie No 3475 by Django
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
This is really great fun and not very tough. Many thanks to Django for the enjoyment.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Perhaps dedicated Voyager space station doctor swallows lithium when returning (7)
PILGRIM: stick together an old Russian space station and an abbreviation for doctor containing the chemical symbol of lithium then reverse the lot.
5a Was busy exploding tunnels (7)
SUBWAYS: an anagram (exploding) of WAS BUSY.
9a Somewhat large – or giant – country (7)
GEORGIA: hidden.
10a Condition of works abandoned by T S Eliot, say (7)
ILLNESS: a verb meaning works (the land) without the letters T and S followed by the surname of Eliot, the US law enforcement officer brought to the big screen in The Untouchables.
11a Astonished – a boy band fight after career evaporates (9)
AWESTRUCK: assemble A, the name of an Irish boy band and a slang word for a fight. Finally remove a 4-letter synonym of a career.
12a Silly news article breaks that is enthralling (5)
INANE: one of our indefinite articles goes between two occurrences of the abbreviation for new and that is ‘enthralled’ in the abbreviation for ‘that is’.
13a Flirted – ultimately yet to play the field (5)
TOYED: ultimate letters.
15a Playing tennis – it’s demanding (9)
INSISTENT: an anagram (playing) of TENNIS IT’S.
17a Is getting out of cab more dangerous for Jimmy Carr once? (3,6)
TAX DODGER: very cunningly the first word of the clue is not a verb but the plural of the letter I. We have to remove these letters from a synonym of cab and a comparative meaning more dangerous or more chancy. If you’re unaware of Jimmy Carr’s peccadillo you can read about it here.
19a Commercial entertaining with content from Cary Grant (5)
AWARD: an abbreviated commercial contains the abbreviation for ‘with’ and the inner letters of Cary.
22a V&A Ball receives backing – well done! (5)
BRAVO: a ball or spherical object contains the letters V and A. Reverse the lot.
23a Scaremongers sadly securing room first (9)
ALARMISTS: an exclamation meaning sadly contains the abbreviation for room and a shorthand way of writing ‘first’.
25a Passage from leaflet on European vote (7)
EXTRACT: a leaflet follows an abbreviation for European and the letter used to cast a vote.
26a Elected more confident policymaker (7)
INSURER: an adverb meaning elected and a comparative meaning more confident.
27a Oddly Anthea Turner regularly starts day without standing (7)
UNRATED: the odd letters of Anthea preceded by the even letters of Turner. Append the abbreviation for day.
28a Get very angry and leave Barking (2,5)
GO CRAZY: a verb to leave and a synonym of barking or mad.
Down Clues
1d Dad meeting man about a tattoo (7)
PAGEANT: an affectionate word for dad and a posh man containing A.
2d See WC Fields finally getting on top – unsteadily (7)
LOOSELY: a see in Cambridgeshire is preceded by an informal word for a WC and the final letter of Fields.
3d Just power making Mike run (5)
RIGHT: start with a synonym of power and change the letter that Mike represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet to the crickety abbreviation for run.
4d/5d Rule 16 confused with 24 (9,5)
MEASURING STICK: an anagram (confused) of the answers to 16d and 24d.
5d See 4d
6d Curry clubs reportedly appreciate water (6,3)
BALTIC SEA: assemble a type of curry, the cards abbreviation for clubs and a homophone of a verb to appreciate or realise.
7d Declare how old to be mean (7)
AVERAGE: a verb to declare and a word describing how old someone is.
8d Be wary of cult controlling America quietly (7)
SUSPECT: a word meaning cult contains abbreviations for America and quietly.
14d Sure for one road to end up … (9)
DEODORANT: an anagram (up) of ROAD TO END.
16d … barely running? (9)
STREAKING: an old chestnut.
17d Suggest gold picture (7)
TABLEAU: a verb to suggest or formally propose and the chemical symbol for gold.
18d Special quality of Times feature (1-6)
X-FACTOR: the letter used in maths to mean times and a synonym of feature or characteristic.
20d A ship open when going around ancient kingdom (7)
ASSYRIA: weld together A, our usual abbreviated ship and the reversal of an adjective meaning open or spacious.
21d In Bordeaux, some attempt to take over ruin (7)
DESTROY: the French word for some followed by a synonym of attempt containing the cricket abbreviation for over.
23a A court journalist behaved (5)
ACTED: A and abbreviations for court and journalist.
24a Problem arising with India caught making up score? (5)
MUSIC: reverse a (mathematical?) problem and add the letter that India represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet and the cricket abbreviation for caught.
The clues I liked best were 1a, 10a, 17a, 27a and 2d. Which one(s) topped your list of likes?
At first glance I thought this was going to be a pretty stiff challenge, but it proved to be quite user-friendly and really good fun to solve. The clever anagrams at 4/5d came close to being my favourites, but that accolade went to 2d. I always enjoy this setter’s puzzles when he is less wordy, like today’s offering.
Many thanks to both Django and Gazza.
Thank you to Django for the entertainment; my top few were 27a with Anthea Turner, 2d with WC Fields, and the mean 7d. And thank you to Gazza for explaining ‘Is’ in 17a, which was deliciously misleading!
Overall this felt a similar difficulty to yesterday’s backpager. Though I did start by trying to follow the instructions in 1a and wondering if ‘rildrim’ were a word. It was many circuits of the grid later before I realized the actual answer.
Got up early before the paper was delivered so thought I’d start this one on the app.
Fairly breezed through, only for the last few in to prove unsolvable.
Surely there must be a mistake somewhere? There was.
On checking my grid, I realised the automated nature of the pointer thingy had enabled me to misspell a couple of answers.
Not ideal in a toughie, where there can be enough obscure words anyway.
It always helps to put the right letters in the right boxes, I find.
Got The Untouchables reference in 10a but not completely happy I had fully parsed it, though Gazza’s explanation sorts that one out.
Some cracking clues, particularly 2d and 14d, but my COTD was the hilarious 17a, though for me, its last word could have been omitted.
I presume it was added to soften the tone of the clue as on this occasion Django was not unchained. (Just had to put that one in).
Great fun anyway, thanks Django and Gazza.
Great fun as usual and not that difficult for a Thursday. 10a was my favourite although it did take a while for my poor old brain to remember the ‘Eliot’
Many thanks to Django and Gazza
Began thinking this was a most un-Django like puzzle until the answers started coming way before the whys. Clocked Eliot quicker than the working the land part, then the penny drop with Is was embarrassingly slow given the answer went straight in & the boy band also needed a crumpet scratch or two. Wouldn’t argue with any of our reviewers picks but reckon Jimmy Carr edges T S Eliot by a nose for top spot. Super puzzle.
Thanks to Django & to Gazza – terrific cartoons as per.
Brilliant stuff, not a duff clue anywhere which is going to make picking a favourite difficult but I’ll go with 2d but it could have been almost any of them. Thanks to Django and Gazza.
Lovely puzzle. Clues clever and well written without any mega-obscure words.
Jimmy Carr top clue by a mile. Can hear the laugh as I write. I enjoyed this episode of 9 out of 10 cats. https://youtu.be/YstBl9xzz34?feature=shared
Thanks to all
Remember that episode well – brilliant.
Never been the same without Sean & have now stopped watching.
Pure genius
Carrot 🥕 in a box 🎁 ?
A not too difficult a puzzle, especially for a Thursday but most enjoyable. Although 14D had to be what it was, I couldn’t parse it, so thank you Gazza for explaining “up” is an anagram indicator.
Lots to enjoy but the misleading “Is” at 17A has to take the podium.
Many thanks to Gazza for the blog and great humour as always and to Django for the enjoyment.
Lovely puzzle, very gentle if like me you didn’t bother too much with a couple of the parsings – 10a my LOI for that reason, & still have absolutely no idea what was going on with 11a (a write-in from the checkers, but thanks for trying, Gazza). Seeing the 4d/5d combo made me look at 16 (my FOI) and 24 (SOI) and I thought I’d leave worrying about the anagram until later, by which time it wasn’t necessary anyway!
COTD by a distance to the laugh-out-loud 17a – very clever indeed – joined on the podium by 14d & 2d, but many other clues could as easily have been there too/instead.
Many thanks indeed to Django & Gazza
I’ve added a link to the 11a boy band which may make it clearer.
Thanks Gazza – did not know, or had forgotten, that they were a ‘boy band’. They certainly made no impression on me!
Wow, finished a Toughie! Thanks to all
Well done, Manders.
😁
Thanks Gazza, thanks all.
Sorry to be late to the party but it’s peak allotment time. Enjoyed this a lot despite complete failure in parsing 10a. Loved Jimmy Carr, Anthea Turner and Bordeaux.
Thanks to Django and Gazza.
This was a new personal best! Completed it this morning well before the hints and tips were posted here! Nice puzzle. Favourite was 1a, though was one of my last ones in. Many thanks to the setter.
Thanks to Gazza and Django. Definitely gentle for a Thursday, but very enjoyable. Not keen on “up” as an anagram indicator in 14d especially given its clear meaning in a Down clue. But the surface is good! Like many others, 17a takes my prize by a distance.
The objection to ‘up’ comes up every now and then but there’s plenty of dictionary support for it as an anagram indicator:
Up = in an excited state,
Up = amiss
Yes, there’s a more easily accessible meaning for ‘up’ in a down clue, but words-having-more-than-one-meaning seems to me to be at the very heart of cruciverbalism. I think ‘about’ has a more readily accessed meaning as a containment indicator but it also serves as an anagram indicator without any such objections. Plenty of words can be used to indicate more than one thing and I can’t see a reason why ‘up’ should be excluded. If words were only allowed to mean the first thing we think of, cryptic crosswords wouldn’t be nearly as much fun!
FWIW, I totally agree re “up”. You’re there to trick us, and you do it brilliantly. But may I just ask about Jimmy’s “once” (cracking clue, obviously). Was that just you being scrupulously fair and accurate, or was there perhaps some legal intervention?! I don’t know if newspaper lawyers get involved with crosswords but that certainly had the whiff of one. Either way, an absolute belter from you, as always. Ta lots.
You have a good nose. The original clue didn’t have a ‘once’ on it. I doubt a lawyer was consulted but it got added – with my approval – after submission.
Much amusement to be found both in the crossword and blog. Many more laughs than the embarrassing Dads Army sketch for VE Day that Mama Bee watched even The King looked bored.
Thanks to Gazza for the hints and cartoons and to Django for keeping TS Eliot out of the toilets for once, though I had forgot about the untouchable Eliot I bunged it in unparsed.
We’re in the process of having our whole house redecorated inside and our crossword solving has had to take a back seat at present. However we did make time to tackle this one and very much appreciated and enjoyed it.
Thanks Django and Gazza.
I don’t usually have time for the toughie but the delayed La Vuelta Feminina highlights gave me time to do so. And glad I did as it was my first toughie completion! 😀👏
A nod to Jimmy Carr but chapeau to the clever 4/5d combo which takes line honours. Thanks to Gazza and Django for the workout.