Toughie No 3493 by Dada
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from the Wirral. Thanks to ALP for all the Tuesday Tutorials. This is my first attempt at a live Blog, so it has been quite a nerve-racking experience waiting to see what I would be up against. Anyway, it is an honour to join the BD Blogging Team. Thanks in particular to Gazza for inviting me, and for providing invaluable help and support getting me set up.
Dada has been relatively kind to me this morning, although like a dubious steak, I found it tough in parts. Definitely not a Floughie, although there are few “gimmes” to get the ball rolling. I’ve added an extra half-star for difficulty given the time it took me to disentangle the SW corner and 10a, which was my last one in. There are some lovely surfaces, especially in the Down clues. My favourites are 21a, 3d, 17d and 18d.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared, and which clues you liked.
Across Clues
7 Maiden scoffs at English artist (7)
MATISSE A term for an unmarried lady around (scoffs) at from the clue followed by the letter indicating English
10 Wagon, initially lost in capital city, leaves (7)
ROMAINE The Italian capital into which is inserted a type of wagon missing its initial letter
11 Fruit and nut alas – as a fruitcake? (7)
SULTANA An anagram (as a fruitcake) of “nut alas”
12 En vacances, some couple in anguish (7)
DESPAIR How the natives would say “some” if you were on holiday in France followed by a synonym of couple
13 Cluelessness on Grecian forms (9)
IGNORANCE An anagram (forms) of “on Grecian”
15 Refuse Romeo having interrupted sleep (5)
DROSS The NATO phonetic “Romeo” inserted into an informal term for sleep gives a synonym of “refuse” (or rubbish)
16 Old Oscar winner blown away? (4,4,3,4)
GONE WITH THE WIND A famous film is how you might describe something that was disappeared on a windy day.
21 Belief in parent of whelp? (5)
DOGMA How you might cryptically describe the parent of a puppy gives a set of principles
23 Instrument on back of tug accessing Turkish resort (5,4)
BONGO DRUM Insert (accessing) on from the clue and the final letter (back of) from “tug” into a popular Turkish holiday destination to give a percussion instrument
25 Bag in sea forgotten by team at end of day (7)
SATCHEL A type of bag is made from an abbreviated day (one which is Alright for Fighting) followed by a London football club from which “sea” is removed (forgotten)
26 Biter coming between owners and postman finally bit! (7)
SMIDGEN Insert a biting insect into the final letters of “owners” and “postman” to give a small amount
27 Meat, minced veal in sauce (7)
SAVELOY An anagram (minced) of “veal” inserted into a common oriental sauce gives a type of sausage
28 Warm glue in which ball finally gets stuck (7)
CLEMENT A synonym of glue, into which the final letter of “ball” is inserted to get a term you may use to describe warm weather.
Down Clues
1 Make music, covering Pulp? Great! (8)
SMASHING Surround a synonym of pulp with a word meaning make music with your voice
2 Margaret, a giant (4)
MEGA One of the alternative names for “Margaret” followed by “a” from the clue gives a prefix meaning “very big”
3 Where rubber’s found, last letter of girl’s name erased (6)
BRIDGE Remove the final letter (erased) from a girl’s name (think Ms Jones) to get a card game which comprises rubbers. I really like the surface of this.
4 Laughing before noon, then exploited (6)
AMUSED What you may be if you are laughing formed from the letters meaning “before noon” and a synonym of “exploited”
5 Italian food, cook loads before heading for Italy (8)
RIGATONI A synonym of “Cook” in the sense of “match fixing” followed by a 1,3 expression meaning “loads” and the initial letter of Italy gives a type of pasta.
6 Knight given bunk up remains (6)
DEBRIS Reverse (“up” in a Down clue) the title given to Knights and a synonym of “bunk” as a noun.
8 Long nail in piano later taken from the bottom (5)
TALON A long nail or claw is found reversed (“from the bottom” in a Down clue) in “piano later”
9 Bird in box on file (7)
SPARROW A synonym of “box” in the pugilistic world followed by a synonym of “file” (or line) gives a type of bird
14 Make figure up (3)
NET Invert (“up”) a round number to get a word meaning “make” in the sense of profit.
17 No mother’s dressed say (8)
NEGATIVE Insert the usual abbreviation for “say” (or for example) into a synonym of “mother” in the sense of your place of birth to get what “no” represents. A lot of difficulty crammed into four words. I love it!
18 Element taking three quarters of minute (3)
TIN Remove the final letter of a four-letter word meaning “minute” (as in very small) to get a metallic element
19 Stirring last of coffee grounds (7)
EMOTIVE The final letter of “coffee” followed by a synonym of “grounds” (or reasons) gives a word meaning “stirring”. Another lovely surface
20 Cook fresh meat in hog (8)
DOMINATE A two-letter word meaning cook (and to avoid a louder blip of the repetition radar, I’m assuming this means “prepare” rather than “fiddle” – but it could be either) is followed by an anagram (“fresh”) of meat in gives a synonym of “hog” (or control)
21 Refrain written the wrong way in couplets is edited (6)
DESIST A synonym of “refrain” (or stop) is reversed (“written the wrong way”) in “couplets is edited”. Another pleasing surface.
22 For some time, a strategem discussed? (6)
AWHILE “A” from the clue followed by a phononym of a four-letter word meaning stratagem, often associated with cunning, gives a word meaning “for some time”
23 Trunk yeoman unpacked for old queen (6)
BOLEYN A four-letter word meaning (tree) “trunk” followed by the first and last letters (“unpacked”) of “yeoman” gives a Tudor queen who famously lost her head.
24 Troublemaker‘s shoe with the black scuffed off (5)
ROGUE Remove the single letter meaning “black” from a type of shoe to give a troublemaker or rascal
26 Possibly woollen item, big hit (4)
SOCK A double definition, the first being an item that could be worn inside a shoe.
Welcome to the blogging team Whybird, I am sure that you will be very successful!
I can’t comment on the puzzle or your blog as, for reasons I don’t understand, I find I cannot ‘get on’ with a Dada Toughie two days after a Sunday Puzzle but I am sure that both are very good.
Most enjoyable from Dada today. 10a, 25a and 19d all tickled my fancy. Best thanks to him and Whybird, who’s clearly taken to the pitch with a flourish. Welcome to the party!
An excellent puzzle that was as gentle as one might expect for a Tuesday toughie.
The only one that I was slow to parse was 25a, which is a little embarrassing seeing as Chelsea is my team!
Many thanks to Dada, and also thanks to Whybird; a big welcome and congratulations on your first blog.
A hearty welcome to Whybird who’s made an excellent start to his blogging career and thanks to Dada for a top-notch Tuesday Toughie.
Among the clues that I really like are 7a, 25a, 5d and 21d.
Odd grid but otherwise about right for a Tuesday. The wagon in 10a took a bit of thought and I was focussed on herbs rather than salad goods for the definition – it’s a nice clue. Other goodies were 21a and 25a.
Thanks to Dada. Thanks and welcome to Whybird.
I was stuck looking for a fancy Crosswordland Wagon until the penny dropped.
I thought this was just about perfect for a Tuesday.
Welcome to the blogging team
Welcome to Whybird from a lurker.
Be assured that there are many of us out there who don’t comment but much appreciate this site and the dedication of its Bloggers.
Welcome to the blog
A good Tuesday level Toughie with lots to like and for me, no stand- out favourites.
Thanks to Dada for the enjoyment and a warm welcome to Whybird. A great start to your blogging career…thank you.
A very warm welcome to our new blogger, I admire your bravery, knowledge and IT skills! Relatively ‘Tuesday level’ Toughie from our setter although 17d had me tied up in knots on the parsing front for a long time. Favoured clues were 16,25&27a plus 3&5d.
Thanks to Dada and to Whybird for the review – a large drink is definitely in order for you this evening!
Whizzed through about half of this then hit the wall, so I’d say this one was a bit more difficult than expected for a Tuesday.
Eventually crept over the line as although I had a full grid, it took me ages to parse the last couple: 25a and 17d, which made my brain hurt.
Best of luck in your blogging career, Whybird. On reading your explanations when I’d finished, I thought they were spot on. A great debut!
Thanks also to Dada for a very enjoyable puzzle of two halves.
I thought this was at the right level of toughness for a Tuesday and it was a lot of fun apart from a couple of hmms for the dodgy anagram indicator in 11a and the vague girl in 3d.
I couldn’t fully parse 25a and 21a was my favourite.
Many thanks to Dada, and a warm welcome to Whybird.
Needed the hints to fully parse 12a, 25a, 27d and 25d. I needed to check the Turkish resort. I thought this was at the tricky end of difficult but got theft in the end. Favourite was 16a. Thanks to Dada and Whybird. Welcome to you.
Welcome indeed to Whybird and thank you for an excellent first blog, I hope the first of many.
I printed the two DT Xwords at about 5am and, 5 minutes later over my wake-up tea, was blearily reading the puzzle, completing it steadily and thinking “gosh, either AP has upped his normal difficulty level considerably, or they have a new Tuesday back page setter this morning” … I did not realise my error until the very end! After the main run-through I found I had two clues left in each of the NE, SE & SW and these probably took me as long to unravel as the rest of the puzzle. For me, maybe because of the early hour, I found some of the definitions very well concealed and those clues in particular cleverly written to send the solver down a blind alley.
So many cracking clues – I loved the surface read & answer of 13a, my COTD, with runners-up 23d & 22d.
Many thanks again, Whybird, and also of course to Dada
A big welcome to my new fellow Tuesday blogger. I did compile a mental book as to who was going to take over from ALP but didn’t have you among the first half dozen in the betting.
Thought today’s guzzle pretty gentle but very enjoyable & spot on for the Tuesday slot. I only stopped trying to justify macaroni (d’oh) at 5d once the penny dropped at 10a. A host of ✅s here – 7,10,21,23&26a along with 1,5&20d particular likes.
Thanks to Dada & congrats to Whybird on such an accomplished debut blog – please retain the double spacing so I’m not the only one 😀
Me too with macaroni until 10a had to be what it was!
Thanks Huntsman. If you’d put my name down, there’d have been a Gambling Commission enquiry😀
I didn’t know I’d done double spacing (which, per Jane at #9 above, tells you all about my IT skills) but I’ll stick with it!
Excellent – henceforth Tuesday is double spacing on all fronts
Congratulations Whybird on an excellent debut blog.
We always enjoy solving a Dada puzzle and this was no exception. It all went together smoothly for us and kept us smiling throughout.
Thanks Dada and Whybird.
Sometimes I really enjoy toughies, and this was one. No words completely unknown to me and some amusing clues. I found it easier than some of the DT back page puzzles
Thanks to everyone for the welcome and supportive comments.
I didn’t have time for the crossie yesterday, but I do have time to welcome a new blogger to the fold. Like Senf, I do find Dada in toughie mode quite a bit harder, and you have explained the whys and wherefores brilliantly