Toughie No 3486 by Prime
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
If tomorrow’s Toughie continues in the same friendly manner as the first two of this week’s Toughies, then Elgar is going to be a real shock to the system on Friday
Please let us know what you thought
Across
1a Houses knocked off with some training (4-7)
SEMI-SKILLED Some abbreviated attached houses and a slang way of saying killed
7a You’d show this yielding extraordinary wealth, gift being reduced by 25 per cent (5,4)
WHITE FLAG An anagram (extraordinary) of WEALTH GIFt – the latter being reduced by one letter (25%)
8a Tourist rejecting Italian shade (5)
VISOR A tourist ‘rejecting’ the abbreviation for Italian
10a One’s taken in by fancy title? (7)
ELITIST A way of writing one’s inserted into (taken in by) an anagram (fancy) of TITLE
11a Possibly positive emperor taking over Wellington etc (3-4)
NON-ZERO A Roman emperor ‘taking over’ the abbreviation for the country, the capital of which is Wellington
12a High on glue, check local area (6,3)
LOUNGE BAR An anagram (high) of ON GLUE and a verb meaning to check or exclude
15a Audience’s concern for stage (5)
PHASE A homophone (audience’s) of concern, perturb or unsettle
16a Humble origins of Abu before Aladdin saved him (5)
ABASH The ‘origins’ of Abu Before Aladdin Saved Him
18a Unaware of half-life breaching patent (9)
OBLIVIOUS The first half of LIfe ‘breaching’ patent in the sense of conspicuous
20a Was leading sceptic backtracking, admitting wrong at last? (7)
REIGNED A reversal (backtracking) of a doubter (sceptic) ‘admitting’ the last letter of wronG
21a Mangetout was open to change (4,3)
SNOW PEA An anagram (to change) of WAS OPEN
23a Tried to win deal, perhaps to import drug (5)
WOOED Deal is a type of timber, a synonym for which ‘imports’ the abbreviation for the drug Ecstasy
24a ATM’s beginning to pair diamonds with gold (9)
AUTOMATED The word that is abbreviated in the beginning of ATM – a verb meaning to pair and the abbreviation for the card suit of Diamonds go after the chemical symbol for gold
25a One putting his foot down after complaint he hasn’t prepared notes? (5-6)
SIGHT-READER Someone putting his foot down goes after an audible expression of dejection
Down
1d Genre of second poem set in archipelago (3-2)
SCI-FI The abbreviation for Second and a Kipling poem, the letter ‘set’ in an abbreviated archipelago in the English Channel
2d Interview the author, for example, about money (7)
MEETING How our setter would refer to himself (the author) and the abbreviation meaning for example, the latter going about a slang word for money
3d Leave dessert, share port (5)
SPLIT A quadruple definition clue
4d Where Lee’s dinner goes, as a rule (2,7)
IN GENERAL When this Confederate leader in the American Civil War usually turns up in a crossword clue, we need to put his surname (Lee) into another word. If you think of his as an army officer, where would his dinner go?
5d What would make Mr Shute brighten? (5,2)
LIVEN UP I wonder if people still read Mr Shute’s books such as A Town called Alice? The second word of the solution is an indicator telling you to reverse Mr Shute’s forename
6d Eagles hit doe and spread out (9)
DESPERADO The Eagles second studio album is an anagram (out) of DOE and SPREAD
7d How amazing to eat fish, except in personnel carrier? (11)
WHEELBARROW An interjection of wonder and admiration (how amazing) ‘eats’ a type of fish and a preposition meaning except for, both of which appear inside the abbreviation for the department that used to be known as Personnel
9d Unexpected holds in a red state (5,6)
RHODE ISLAND An anagram (unexpected) of HOLDS IN A RED
13d At one university, a game is within reason (9)
UNANIMOUS The abbreviation for University and a synonym for reason or commonsense, into which is inserted A (from the clue) and an old (originally Chinese) game in which players take alternately from heaps or rows of objects
14d Show feature of Fat Friends? (9)
BROADCAST If the actors in the sitcom Friends were fat, one might describe them as a 5,4
17d Guilty depend on trouble (7)
HANGDOG Depend in the sense of suspend and a verb meaning to trouble or follow
19d Did gun stay hidden during VE Day? (7)
VROOMED Increased the speed of a car – a verb meaning to stay inserted in VE and followed by the abbreviation for Day
21d French musician in America ignoring first couple (5)
SATIE An abbreviation for American ‘ignoring’ the first letter and a verb meaning to couple
22d The Rock originally tried to take part in match (5)
PETER The Apostle Jesus called ‘the Rock’ – the original letter of Tried inserted into (to take part in) a verb meaning to match or equal
I did not find this that easy. My last one in was 21d – not because I did not know the musician, but because I could not parse it; I was duped into looking for a couple of letters that were missing…..
Nice to see a quadruple definition at 3d, which gets my vote.
Many thanks to Prime and to CS.
An enjoyable and not too tricky puzzle – thanks to Prime and CS.
Based on the usual pattern for Thursday Toughies tomorrow will be a Beam production so CS’s anticipation of a shock to the system on Friday is very likely to be realised.
Top clues for me were 23a, 5d and 19d.
As you say CS another light Toughie. Generally enjoyable but some of the surfaces didn’t work for me. 23a top spot. Thanks Prime and CS.
Horses for courses, I found this not far off a Friday in Toughie Terms, so a good warm-up for what is to come, whether it be Elgar or Osmosis. Some odd surfaces and I found a few of the definitions/synonyms rather less than convincing, which did not help my belief that my answers were correct (eg 10a, 16a, 1d, 17d, 19d) – I think I just didn’t tune-in to Prime’s wavelength. On the other hand some wonderful clues and super penny-drop moments. Honours for me to 3d, 5d & 25a.
Many thanks to Prime & CS (I still have several of 5d’s books – good reads, even if now somewhat dated.)
I too thought this was a not as easy as the other crosswords published so far this week. Some well thought out legos in 1d, 7d and 13d which also contained a game I hadn’t heard of.
Thanks to Prime for the step up in difficulty and to CS for her typically concise explanations.
This was not a walk in the park for me but I enjoyed the challenge. I had difficulty parsing a couple of my answers so thank you Sue for explaining the personnel PR in 7D and that 10A was an all-in-one. I spent too long trying to find a meaning.
Favourites were 23 and 25A, 1, 2 and 3D.
Many thanks CS for the blog and Prime for the challenge.
I’m with Mustafa G in finding this pretty damn tough, especially the bottom half. Prime excels in hiding stuff and there’s often a chuckle once one realises what’s going on. Top clues for me were the all in one at 10a, the “local area” at 12a, the quad at 3d, the “personnel carrier” [not] at 11d and the “first couple” [not] at 21d.
Thanks to Prime and CS.
Completed the top half with difficulty then resorted to letter reveals down south as my head hurt. Struggled to get on wavelength for whatever reason. Will revisit it tomorrow & hopefully appreciate the puzzle more.
Thanks anyway to Prime & to CS whose review I’ll also look at