Toughie No 3491 by Silvanus
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
This is my last Thursday Toughie blog (at least for the time being); ALP will be moving to this seat from next week and we have a brand new blogger taking over the Tuesday Toughie blog.
We have another beautifully smooth puzzle from Silvanus today. Many thanks to him. The puzzle is fairly gentle although I made a mistake initially at 7d.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Aria from opera capturing impresario’s heart before star departs (6,5)
NESSUN DORMA: the name of a Bellini opera contains the two central letters of impresario, our very own star and the timetable abbreviation for ‘departs’.
7a Stimulant making comeback, it’s just the same (7)
REVIVER: a palindromic stimulant.
8a Describing total mess essentially, good person is most sorry (7)
SADDEST: the abbreviation of our usual good person contains a verb to total and the essential letters of mess.
10a Heading west, number about to meet British artist (5)
BACON: string together abbreviations for number, about and British then reverse it all.
11a International player embracing current energy-storage device (9)
CAPACITOR: an international sportsperson and a performer containing the symbol for electric current.
12a Awareness of unusual things one wears (7)
INSIGHT: the Roman one is contained in an anagram (unusual) of THINGS.
14a Unable to disperse last of large dust clouds (7)
NEBULAE: an anagram (to disperse) of UNABLE followed by the last letter of large.
15a Trial gets rescheduled originally for American swimmer (7)
HERRING: a judicial trial with the abbreviation for American replaced by the original letter of rescheduled.
18a Boring points PM put under wraps (7)
SHEATHE: the name of a UK PM of the 1970s ‘bores’ two compass points.
20a Emotionless male voice behind source of information (9)
IMPASSIVE: the abbreviation for male and a grammatical voice follow the first letter of information.
21a Without a ruler, ultimately making alterations becomes challenging (5)
VYING: start with a present participle meaning ‘making alterations’ and remove A and the ultimate letter of ruler.
22a Admitting Yorkshire’s boundaries turned game that’s drifted (7)
STRAYED: the reversal of a pub game admitting the outer letters of Yorkshire.
23a Became clear Conservative will get defeated (7)
CLICKED: an abbreviation for Conservative and an informal verb meaning defeated.
24a Person watching us travelling abroad, spending grand (11)
SURVEILLANT: an anagram (abroad) of US TRAVELLIN[g] after shedding the abbreviation for grand.
Down Clues
1d Trainees regularly achieve nothing, senator claims in retirement (7)
NOVICES: the abbreviation for senator contains the even letters of ‘achieve’ and the zero-resembling letter. Now reverse the lot.
2d Cardinal quits cycling (5)
SEVEN: cycle the letters of an adjective meaning quits or square.
3d Heard you had arduous journey in Dutch city? (7)
UTRECHT: homophone of ‘you had arduous journey’ (3,7).
4d Partner to brush scattered sand up, about time! (7)
DUSTPAN: an anagram (scattered) of SAND UP containing the physics abbreviation for time.
5d European, after awfully cruel bid, capable of going lower (9)
REDUCIBLE: an abbreviation for European follows an anagram (awfully) of CRUEL BID.
6d Incitement maybe to steal coffee airline served up (7)
ABETTAL: rivet together a milky coffee and a British airline then turn it upside down.
7d Indication of poor restaurants? Refuse to go there (7,4)
RUBBISH TIPS: I originally had the wrong second word here (which I think just about works at a stretch) until the puzzles site told me I was wrong. Perhaps ‘poor restaurant service’ would be less ambiguous?
9d Description of Isle of Man’s standard race category (5-6)
THREE-LEGGED: double definition, the second a favourite sports day race.
13d One denying advantage over Leo perhaps (9)
GAINSAYER: a synonym of advantage and the surname of singer/songwriter Leo.
16d Provides account of fixture Portsmouth secures (7)
REPORTS: hidden.
17d Good puzzle, one that some prefer to pan? (7)
GRIDDLE: the abbreviation for good and a puzzle such as “What room has no walls or windows?”. I presume that those preferring the answer to a pan are healthy eaters but they could be prospectors.
18d Design pattern client’s ordered (7)
STENCIL: an anagram (ordered) of CLIENT’S.
19d Very friendly gent seen occasionally in wooded area (7)
THICKET: an informal adjective meaning very friendly (in the way of thieves perhaps) and occasional letters from ‘gent’.
21d 20 per cent off lightweight fabric article; there it is! (5)
VOILA: remove one-fifth from a lightweight fabric and append one of our indefinite articles.
The clues I liked best were 22a, 2d and 4d (partner to brush – excellent). Which one(s) hit the mark for you?
Every now and then a puzzle appears that is a cut above the rest; for me this was one of them.
My only problem was with 7d, where I could not see past bins for the second word.
Favourite clue out of a long list was 9d.
Many thanks to Silvanus and to Gazza.
2*/5*
I forgot to say I contemplated a deduction from my enjoyment rating because of 1a – I have been whistling it non-stop for the last few hours….
Sheer class. Incredibly clean and smart. 1a tickled me, 4d is a lovely definition and 9d’s great fun. 7d may be gentle, but it’s superbly clever. Best thanks to Silvanus and the mighty Gazza. You’ll be sorely missed on Thursdays.
Wot ALP said. Oh & PB finish time for one of the maestro’s Toughies.
Thanks to Silvanus & to Gazza
Dream Thursday continues with this magnificent compilation. It is real pleasure to savour such smooth surfaces combined with inventive clueing.
As usual with this setter, my page is littered with ticks with 22a, 4d & 9d making up my podium selection.
Many thanks to Silvanus and to Gazza.
Superb. We are truly privileged today with two puzzles of the very highest order.
Add me to the list of those who couldn’t get the right second word in 7d. I ran the gamut of BINS, HEAP & DUMP (none of which worked, of course!) before arriving at the correct answer.
I loved the brush partner at 4d and I bet I wasn’t alone in reading “international player” as one part of the clue when it should have been two.
I also enjoyed 13d. A “Leo” was rhyming slang for an “all-dayer” when I wore a younger man’s clothes!
Ticks all over the place. Thank you Silvanus.
A huge thank you to Gazza as he hands over the Thursday Toughie baton. Nearly 1,500 blogs and second only to Cryptic Sue. Amazing!
I’m sure we will see you back in the blogging chair from time to time, but if not, enjoy a very well-earned rest.
You have reminded me of my early twenties, when the pubs were open from 11am to 11pm.
On a Saturday, we would frequent a pub in Wimbledon Village called The Swan, from opening time until closing time, otherwise known as a Leo (Sayer).
Thanks, Shabbo. You won’t get rid of me that easily; I’ll still be blogging regularly, just not on Thursdays.
Absolute cracker, cannot disagree with Gazza’s spot-on ratings. Always such a pleasure to see Silvanus named as the setter when I print the puzzle, knowing the quality that awaits. Honours to 15a, 3d, 20a & 7d. Indeed 20a made me think of an otherwise fascinating 193-episode “History of Rome” podcast to which I have been listening recently, and the American chap who presents it …
Many thanks indeed to Silvanus and Gazza – thank you also for your Thursdays – are you keeping the alternate Friday Toughies? So glad ALP is staying, you’ve proved to be a great recruit to BD’s blogging ranks, and we look forward to greeting the newbie next week!
Thanks, MG. Yes, I’ll still be blogging half the Friday Toughies and I’ll also be blogging some back-pagers.
Another very enjoyable puzzle from Mr Smooth on a symmetrical grid. 7D was my downfall, failing on the second half of the clue. I was thinking on the lines of too much food thrown away.
My picks were 23A and favourite 4D.
Thanks to Gazza for the blog and the laughs and Silvanus for the enjoyment.
My heart sank a little when I realised that the very first clue referred to operas and arias, not my strongest suit! In the event, I needn’t have worried as both of them were familiar despite my never having seen either of them! I did need to check that 14a meant what I thought it did and also to convince myself that the Leo who appeared in 13d had nothing to do with star signs but everything else slotted in quite smoothly – as befits our setter’s style.
Biggest ticks here went to 18&23a plus 9,13&19d.
Many thanks to Silvanus and also to Gazza for the review and cartoons – I’m going to miss my regular Thursday fix of your erudition and humour.
As usual with Silvanus, plenty to think about in the clueing with few bung-ins.
Add me to the list who considered the wrong second word in 7d. The main reason I didn’t like ‘bins’ was down to my experience of the setter: he is far too polished to provide anything remotely clunky.
13d my COTD as it made me feel like dancing.
Thanks to Gazza, glad you’re just rescheduling rather than standing down, and to the equally dependable Silvanus.
Well I thought that was wonderful. I very rarely attempt any Toughies but feeling under the weather meant I had more time to do what I want – hence my presence here! Obviously I didn’t manage to do this all on my own. Thanks to Gaza for the extra help and to Silvanus for such an entertaining crossword. Still raining here so all in all a perfect day for puzzling and reading.
I had “bins” too and thought it a rather rubbish clue. Now I know the correct solution it’s much better and I’m suitably chastened. Other goodies were the neat 15a and the witty 4d.
Thanks to Silvanus and thanks to Gazza for years of sterling service to Thursdays and excellent ‘toons.
Me too with bins. 20a was a bung in. All very enjoyable. Favourite was 18a, my LOI. Thanks to Silvanus and Gazza.
Many thanks to Gazza, possibly for the final time on a Thursday, and to everyone solving and leaving such kind comments.
It has been a great privilege to have Gazza blog so many of my Toughies and I shall miss very much his wise analyses and endless stock of cartoons. ALP has a very hard act to follow but I wish him all the best for future Thursdays. I’m very pleased that Gazza isn’t vacating the blogging chair entirely and do hope he never retires completely.
I hope to see you all again soon.
A slow start for us but once we were under way it started to flow more smoothly. An absolute delight to solve and much appreciated.
Thanks Silvanus and Gazza.