Toughie No 3483 by Hudson
Hints and tips by Gazza
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
It’s a real pleasure to get a visit from Hudson on a Thursday and he’s brought with him a very entertaining puzzle with lots of humour. Many thanks to him.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Film set in a prison yard attentive to detail (10)
PERNICKETY: insert our usual Spielberg film into ‘a’ (i.e. for each), a slang word for prison and the abbreviation for yard.
6a Inspection that is probing German carmaker (4)
VIEW: the abbreviation for ‘that is’ inside a German carmaker.
9a Very smart clubs quitting Russian resort (5)
SOCHI: an expression meaning very smart (2,4) loses its second abbreviation for clubs.
10a A US citizen, New England skipper cycles round to welcome supporters (9)
NEBRASKAN: the abbreviation for new and the cycled surname of the current England football captain with supporting garments inserted.
12a Pop gets insanely irritated, interrupted by yours truly (4,9)
EASY LISTENING: an anagram (irritated) of GETS INSANELY into which goes the subjective pronoun used by the setter.
14a Sole newspaper in France pruned Advisory Board (5,3)
LEMON DAB: the title of a well-known French newspaper without its last letter and the abbreviation for Advisory Board.
15a Slowly, madam undressed Joe DiMaggio at last (6)
ADAGIO: splice together the inner letters of madam, the abbreviation for what Joe is an informal name for in the US and the last letter of DiMaggio.
17a Warms toast (6)
CHEERS: double definition.
19a Lazy Joe Biden leaving Jack furiously holding line (4-4)
BONE-IDLE: an anagram (furiously) of [j]OE BIDEN containing the abbreviation for line.
21a Estate reported ceasefire (8,5)
SHOOTING BRAKE: this dated term for a type of road vehicle sounds like a pause in firing.
24a Sarcastic, resourceful opener for Notts dismissed for century (9)
INVECTIVE: start with an adjective meaning resourceful and change the second occurrence of the opening letter of Notts to the abbreviation for century. I didn’t know that the answer could be an adjective as well as a noun but the BRB confirmed it.
25a Clearing backlog, lad erases files (5)
GLADE: hidden.
26a Stash heroin and ecstasy I had acquired (4)
HIDE: abbreviations for heroin and ecstasy contain the contracted form of ‘I had’.
27a Note opposition benches, beginning to reflect, think again (10)
RECONSIDER: assemble a note from tonic-solfa, a way (3,4) of describing the sparsely-populated opposition green benches since the last election and the first letter of reflect.
Down Clues
1d Top-class potassium compound? No thanks (4)
POSH: remove a short word of thanks from an alkaline potassium compound.
2d Tree, something harder than 12 Bellamy regularly chopped (4,3)
ROCK ELM: a harder type of 12a and the even letters of Bellamy. This tree is apparently found mainly in the Midwestern United States.
3d Is dictionary wrong about describing personal traits? (13)
IDIOSYNCRATIC: an anagram (wrong) of IS DICTIONARY followed by an abbreviation meaning about or approximately.
4d Important part of brick ingle arrangement (4,4)
KING LEAR: hidden.
5d Baths adult breaking wind (5)
TUBAS: an informal word for baths with the film abbreviation for adult inserted.
7d Hint as expressed by Federation enemy just not on! (7)
INKLING: a preposition meaning ‘as expressed by’ and the most famous enemy of the fictional United Federation of Planets without ‘on’.
8d Red and white specialist wide player full of energy crossing 22 (4-6)
WINE-GROWER: a sports player who often sticks to the touchline contains the physics abbreviation for energy. That all goes round a synonym of 22d.
11d US ban enraged minced European imported beef supplier (8,5)
ABERDEEN ANGUS: an anagram (minced) of US BAN ENRAGED with an abbreviation for European imported.
13d Boycott’s old yarn mentioned archetypical village XI fast bowler (10)
BLACKSMITH: a verbal synonym of boycott with its S is followed by a homophone of an old yarn or legend.
16d Dark gold upturned hat (8)
SOMBRERO: a synonym of dark and the reversal of our usual tincture of gold.
18d Disclosed electronic car, limited edition (7)
EVOLVED: string together the abbreviation for electronic, a make of car without its last letter and the abbreviation for edition.
20d Daughter, 26, about to take on a Republican ultraconservative (7)
DIEHARD: the genealogical abbreviation for daughter and an anagram (about) of 26a containing A and the abbreviation for Republican.
22d Wound up student binned report (5)
NOISE: reverse a wound and bin the abbreviation for student.
23d Mock buffoon losing his way (4)
JEER: a buffoon (one historically employed at court) without the abbreviation for way.
I have too many ticks on my printout to list them all; I’ll just mention 1a, 21a, 27a, 7d and 13d. Which one(s) featured in your list?
I had to work hard to finish this one. The only answer I could not parse was 7d (I’ve never watched any of the films, and Federation meant nothing to me), and I did not know the term for a fast bowler at 13d (although the wordplay was clear).
Plenty to choose from, but I will opt for 12a, with 1a as runner-up.
Many thanks to Hudson and to Gazza.
The 13d answer doesn’t actually mean fast bowler but in tales of village cricket the blacksmith. usually being a strong hefty bloke, is normally a fast bowler.
The book “England, Their England” by AG McDonnell contains a very humorous description of a village cricket match, and the blacksmith is the fast bowler. Well worth a read, and a laugh!
Thanks for that, Jules.
Here’s the description of the blacksmith’s over:
It was 1963 or 64 that I was introduced to the book at school. The cricket match was read to our dormitory before lights out. I think I’ve still got the book somewhere, I’ll have to have a look for it. Thanks for the description. I’d forgotten many of the names involved
Always a treat to have a crossword from this setter wherever he appears
Many thanks to Hudson and Gazza
Hard work for me in places and I’m never happy with inter-related clues, particularly in a Toughie. New tree discovered in 2d, didn’t know the fast bowler and was reluctant to write in the answer for 24a. Reasonably happy elsewhere and chose 1,21&25a for the podium.
Thanks to Hudson and to Gazza for the review and cartoons – loved the meeting place for pedants and the courtesy nag!
I also needed the hint to parse 7d, I hadn’t heard of an 8d but it had to be the answer. I really enjoyed this. Favourite was 21a. Thanks to Hudson and Gazza.
A good and chewy puzzle, with a couple of “hummm” moments, even though the clues & definitions were entirely fair (24a, I’m looking at you). Could not parse 7d for toffee – had no idea what was going on – and could not fully parse 10a. Honours for me went to COTD 1a, with 13d and 15a close behind.
Many thanks to Hudson for the enjoyment and to Gazza for the lightbulb moments & great cartoons. Here’s an earworm caused by the explanation of 7d: I don’t see why I should be the only one not able to get it out of my mind!
We know we’re in for a treat when Hudson’s on parade and once again he didn’t disappoint. It was definitely a challenge and a Thursday standard Toughie with plenty to grapple with. Liked so many, but pick out 1, 17, 27A , 2 and 22D.
Thanks to Gazza for shining the light on some of my unparsed answers and adding the humour we’ve come to expect ( loved 1A) and to Hudson for the enjoyment.
I’m with Jezza in failing to parse either 7 or 13 d and I thank Gazza for his additional clarification of the latter. The cricket stuff leaves me cold but I did appreciate the cunning of “New England skipper…” in 10a – top clue. Enjoyed 15a too, given who the madam in question may have been [as illustrated].
Thanks to Hudson and again to Gazza.
Very late today after playing cricket but I’m glad I convinced myself to tackle this excellent Toughie.
Many thanks to Hudson and to Gazza.
A reasonably brisk grid fill working clockwise round the puzzle but slowed down considerably in the SW & sorting out a number of the whys another matter entirely – I came up short there needing Gazza to explain 7d & also the def context at 13d. 21a also needed Mr G’s confirmation as new to me. Another cracking puzzle from Hudson with ticks aplenty – 1,12&27a + 4,8&11d particular likes.
Thanks both – great cartoons as ever