Toughie No 3481 by Stick Insect
Hints and tips by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
A charming wolf in sheep’s clothing from Stick Insect. Not the pangram I had initially suspected (I think we’re just three letters shy) and largely gentle-ish but … 14d gets an extra star (at least) all to itself! All yours.
Across
7a Sailor with unique seafood specimen (7)
ABALONE: The usual two-letter sailor + unique/separate.
8a In audition, regret critical remark and murmurings (7)
RHUBARB: Homophone of the usual “regret” + critical remark/slight.
10a Musk, perhaps, hellish figure Republican included in catalogue (9)
PLUTOCRAT: (Greek) god of the underworld + the usual “Republican” inside the abbreviation for “catalogue”.
11a Dance in empty gondola? Steer at the front (5)
CONGA: The (to) steer one only sees in crosswords plus/in front of G[ondol]A.
12a Pointless sit-in an excuse, somewhat (5)
INANE: Lurker, hidden in the second, third and fourth words.
13a Creation is hard with current employment (9)
HANDIWORK: The usual hard + a synonym of “with” + (electric) current + employment/job.
15a Tougher consuming heart of stout magpie (7)
HOARDER: “Tougher” containing/consuming [st]O[ut].
17a Can harbours account for secrecy? (7)
PRIVACY: Can/loo contains/harbours the abbreviated “account”.
18a Foolish god sent back flower (9)
AMARYLLIS: Foolish/daft + (Hindu) god, all reversed.
20a Idiot protects university storage area (5)
CLOUD: Idiot/twerp contains/protects the usual “university”.
21a Dance party introduction to nice bird (5)
RAVEN: The usual “dance party” + N[ice].
23a End of minor informer taken in by unsophisticated story (9)
NARRATIVE: [mino]R + informer/grass contained/taken in by unsophisticated/innocent.
24a Past note is genuine (7)
SINCERE: Past/ago + (Sound of Music) note.
25a Justify borders of Essex even (7)
EXPLAIN: E[sse]X + even/flat.
Down
1d Fresh start in Tulsa bar, AA distraught (6,4)
TABULA RASA: TULSABARAA, distraught = Latin’s “clean slate”.
2d Grumpy ungulate drinking river (6)
MOROSE: A five-letter ungulate contains/drinks the usual “river”.
3d Guru embraces chief inspector (8)
SEARCHER: Guru/wise person contains/embraces chief/principal.
4d In favour of fashion for something positive (6)
PROTON: In favour of/for + (crosswordy) “fashion”.
5d Unknown composer, wiping head, consuming hot squash (8)
ZUCCHINI: One of three unknowns + (Italian) composer minus the first letter, containing/consuming the usual “hot”.
6d Hand note for pledge (4)
PAWN: Hand (not mitt, the other one!) + N[ote].
7d Arenas in New Hampshire state lacking a bit of spark (13)
AMPHITHEATRES: HAMPSHIRE+[S]TATE, new. Lovely spot.
9d A Clydebank bee scattered cowpea (5-4,4)
BLACK-EYED BEAN: ACLYDEBANKBEE, scattered.
14d About public speaking openings, old man’s missing (10)
ORATORICAL: The plural of “os” (opening) + old/ancient, with (that) man’s (possessive) missing/deleted. Oof, very sharp. I had to call in the cavalry for this one!
16d Senior females make money in Japan, part of it remitted (8)
DOYENNES: Make/prepare + Japanese currency + 100th of that currency, reversed/remitted.
17d Dad’s attempts to make bakery items (8)
PASTRIES: “Dad’s” + “attempts”. Need I say more?
19d Lit LED? (6)
LANDED: L and ED.
20d Secures one hundred lights (6)
CLAMPS: The usual “one hundred” + lights/illuminations.
22d Electronic vehicle starts rotating device (4)
VANE: Vehicle (starts) + the usual “electronic”.
Just three anagrams, one lurker and a wealth of containment. Some clever stuff here: gods, Latin, etc. I very much enjoyed and admired 14d, 16d and 19d but 7d was especially delightful. How did you get on?
PS … here’s an extra burst of The [Butterfly] Collector. Seems the perfect day for it!
Stick Insect has given us quite a tricky (for Tuesday) and enjoyable puzzle. Thanks to him and ALP for the blog.
I made a Horlicks at the bottom writing in ‘alight’ for 19d (well, LED is ‘a light’ and there is a question mark in the clue). When the answer to 23a became apparent I had to perform a swift reverse ferret.
Top clues for me were 8a, 17a and 16d.
ALP is too modest to mention it but his debut puzzle for the Indy (as Magus) appears today and very good it is.
On the whole not too tricky, but I had never heard of 1d before. 14d required all the checkers, and even then I could not parse it.
Favourite clue, 7d.
Thanks to Stick Insect and to ALP for the write-up.
WIth the exception of two clues, this was very light and a lot of fun.
The two clues which I found supremely tough were 14d (I couldn’t parse the first three letters) & 16d (I couldn’t parse the last three letters)!
19d was my favourite and it is joined on my crowded podium by 13a, 18a & 7d.
Many thanks to Stick Insect and to ALP.
I wasn’t quite sure what Stick Insect was doing in the middle of the paper on a Tuesday, but apart from 14d, I found this very floughie. My favourite was the clever 19d (I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that before) closely followed by 8a
Many thanks to Stick Insect and ALP and congratulations on your Indy debut
A big struggle for me today, even with a few gimmes to start. I’d be lying if I said I loved the experience, although eventually twigging 19d made me feel much better. 1d was a new to me, as was the squash synonym for 5d, and 14d defeated my parsing. Unsurprisingly, 29d takes my prize. Thanks to Stick insect for the challenge, and ALP for the enlightenment.
Never heard of 1d and I won’t be using it in the near future, or ever if it comes to it, needed the hint to fully parse 7d, didn’t know the cowpea, needed the hints to parse 14d and 16d. Some of the rest were pretty difficult as well. Favourite was 2d. Thanks to Stick Insect for the mental beating and ALP.
I solved this on my phone in rather bizarre circumstances. I was having acupuncture on my poor old back and needed something to do to while away the time!
I found the puzzle challenging and it took me a while to get a decent foothold. Once I did though, progress was reasonably steady.
I had the same experience as RD on not parsing the first letters of 14d and the last three letters of 16d. Thanks to ALP for the enlightenment. I knew the 16d bit, so I am now giving myself a good talking to.
DNK 1d. I would like to think that I will remember it next time it appears, but I know full well that I probably won’t.
Thank you Stick Insect and ALP. I will now tackle your puzzle in the Indy. Congratulations on your debut appearance!
Well I eventually completed ALP/Magus in the Independent today, but I now need to go for a lie down. That was tough!
Haha. Good man. Which was the tougher of the two?! Need I ask..
No need to ask!
Quite brilliant though. Congratulations.
Oh thank you, Shabbo. How very lovely of you. You’d best warn Huntsman about the Latin though. I fear it’s going to break him! There’ll be tears before bedtime..
I’ve already got through half a box of Kleenex & I’m only 17 answers in😂
Haha, you’re a comic!
Got there but needed a checker reveal to peg the crumbliest choc & the plant. Super puzzle. Off to 225 to see what they say
Hallelujah a Tuesday Toughie (after the last couple from memory) that was pretty gettable. That said it took 3 stabs to correctly arrange the fodder at last in 1d & hadn’t the foggiest what the answer had to do with a fresh start until Mr G enlightened me. Anatomy & numismatics not my forte so add me those unable to parse the first bit of 14d (didn’t know the singular let alone the plural) & the last bit of 16d (best I could muster was yen nes[t]) – hadn’t appreciated that remitted could signify reversed either. Pleased to peg 19d as it’s the sort of parse I often struggle with so I’ll have that as my fav with plenty of ticks elsewhere.
Thanks to Sticky for an enjoyable puzzle & to ALP for the explanations & tunes – only knew Silver Raven from an Iain Mathews version & hadn’t realised it was a cover & love that Noel & Paul rendition of a simply brilliant song. Congrats on your Indy debut which I’ll be sure to attempt tonight.
Cheers H. Best brace yourself, there may just be some Latin in it!! Oh, I had a funny feeling you might baulk at Noel’s involvement. But it’s a lovely version isn’t it?
I thought this was tougher than the usual Tuesday spot but very enjoyable once I’d unravelled it. I’ve never come across the Latin for a clean sheet, I didn’t know that “ton” meant fashion or “con” meant steer. We learn from every puzzle. Of the many likes I pick 24A, 5D with 19D taking the podium which was very smart.
Thanks to ALP for switching on several lights and to Stick Insect for the challenge.
Unusual to see SI on a Tuesday; he seems to have moderated the usual difficulty for the event. Smiled at 17a, failed to parse 14d, smiled again at 16d and admired 19d once the penny dropped.
Thanks to Sticky and to ALP for the blog and tunes. I think Mr Gallagher does no harm at all to Weller song – good to hear it.
Crossword two today and a step up in difficulty from the back pager (as it should be)
As a Bee of Scottish descent ( a wee bit further north than Clydebank) 9d gets the nod from me.
Thanks to Stick Insect for the test of the grey matter and thanks to ALP for explaining 14d amongst others and some fine tunes to add to those from Mr Hunt
I will repeat Gazza’s recommendation of the rather fine debut of our blogger (as Magus) in the independent – just as good if not better than the other two tackled today
Cheers Sloop, that’s very generous of you. And incredibly kind of Gazza to mention it. I’m just preparing to very gingerly take my tin hat off!
I am hoping that Daniel Peake is going to tackle your puzzle in his Twitch stream on Thursday, he often picks a midweek indy as his second puzzle
Oh really? That’s good to know, ta. It’s been fascinating to get a tiny taste of what the real pros have to put up with!