Toughie No 3530 by Weatherman
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment **
While I am most definitely not a fan of the terse cryptic clue, I do think that sometimes setters go too far in the opposite direction and today’s Toughie was an example of a crossword where, in many cases, having read the clue, the solver must have a little lie down before going back to read it again to try and work out what is going on. A Rookie would be taken to task if they had produced so many clues with ten or eleven words in them in one crossword
Please let us know what you thought
Across
1a One who welcomes soldiers for lunch? (8)
ANTEATER Having momentarily wandered off into the realm of egg cups, once I had a few checking letters I realised I wanted something that eats some of Crosswordland’s ‘soldiers’ for lunch
5a Passage in protest song animates people from southern Africa (6)
TSONGA Hidden in a ‘passage’ of protesT SONG Animates
9a Chief supports Satanism, dreadfully bored by Christianity in the end (9)
MAINSTAYS An anagram (dreadfully) of SATANISM into which is inserted (bored by) the letter at the end of christianitY
11a Gather a graduate’s succeeded (5)
AMASS A (from the clue) an abbreviated university graduate plus the S (graduate’s) and the abbreviation for Succeeded
12a Defeat crushes thoroughly disheartened gymnast, retiring in poor spirits? (6)
ROTGUT A defeat ‘crushes’ a reversal (retiring) of the outside (disheartened) letters of GymnasT
13a National chain supermarket banks on value blocking M&S (8)
MALDIVES The name of a supermarket and the ‘banks’ on ValuE inserted into (blocking) M and S
15a Actor and director wait on set, shaking with cold (5,8)
CLINT EASTWOOD An anagram (shaking) of WAIT ON SET with COLD
18a Scientist lauded ban on disintegrating building material (6,3,4)
WATTLE AND DAUB A Scottish inventor and scientist and an anagram (on disintegrating) of LAUDED BAN
22a Opening line in court (8)
CHANCERY An opening or opportunity and an abbreviated railway line
23a With no knights remaining, revolution split part of castle (6)
TURRET Synonyms for revolution and split, each without the chess abbreviation for knight (with no knights remaining)
26a Spiky disc jockey wore a tiny bit of leather (5)
ROWEL An anagram (jockey) of WORE and the first letter (a tiny bit) of Leather
27a Spanish city likes importing dead fish from the East (9)
SARAGOSSA A reversal (from the East in an Across solution) of two lots of an adverb meaning in the manner of (like s) ‘importing’ a word meaning absolutely (a slang definition of dead) and a type of fish
28a Extremely sneaky agreement to stop cultural magazine making a comeback (6)
SLYEST A word of agreement inserted into (to stop) a reversal (making a comeback) of an abbreviated literary review
29a Calm, taking westbound river passage (8)
ALLEYWAY A verb meaning to calm into which is inserted (taking) a reversed (westbound in an Across solution) river
Down
1d International competition commonly has an adverse affect on people (4,4)
ARMS RACE How someone who doesn’t say the letter H at the start of a word would say has an adverse affect and the descendants of a common ancestor (people) The spellchecker and I agree that affect should be effect
2d Surprise idiots raising son (5)
TWIST The abbreviation for Son raised or put higher in some idiots
3d A sailor discussed storm (7)
ASSAULT A (from the clue) and a homophone of an experienced sailor
4d Benefit initially unnoticeable for one in Genesis (4)
ESAU The ‘hairy man’ in Genesis – the abbreviation for a type of disability benefit and the initial letter of Unnoticeable
6d Unpleasant person smooths over old charges (2-3-2)
SO-AND-SO Smooths with an abrasive material into which is inserted (charges) the abbreviation for a cricket over; the abbreviation for Old being added at the end
7d Drink and take van criminally, having consumed an excess of drugs (4,5)
NEAT VODKA An anagram (criminally) of TAKE VAN into which is inserted (having consumed) an abbreviated excessive dose of drugs
8d Player loses header – it leads to a goal (6)
ASSIST A player of a particular wind instrument without the first letter (loses header) – a play that makes a goal possible
10d Special officers in the US with power to capture temple (4,4)
SWAT TEAM A type of power ‘captures’ a Thai Buddhist temple
14d Spooner’s learning charges for military leaders (8)
WARLORDS How the dreaded Reverend would mangle special or traditional learning and minor people under the care of a guardian (charges)
16d How and why Taiwan’s changed (2,4,3)
IN WHAT WAY An anagram (changed) of WHY TAIWAN
17d Notice, on returning, your car’s clamped in the same place (8)
OBITUARY A reversal (on returning) of an abbreviation for your and a (chiefly N American) short form of a motor car, into which is inserted (clamped) an abbreviation of the Latin word ibidem (in the same place)
19d Confronts false stories about fashion label (7)
TACKLES Some made up (false) stories go about a fashion label known by the initials of its founder
20d One using that is supporting doctor and company supplying Boots (7)
DRUGGIE The abbreviation for that is goes under (supporting in a Down solution) an abbreviated doctor and the company supplying a particular type of boot – the capital B is there both to mislead and help the surface reading
21d High-flyer brought down by The Sun? (6)
ICARUS A cryptic definition of a person in Greek mythology who tried to fly high but whose wings made of wax were melted by the sun and so he fell into the sea and drowned
24d Again broadcast on the subject of farm animal (5)
RESOW The usual on the subject of and a female pig (farm animal)
25d Letters from scholar outraged about exam (4)
ORAL Hidden in reverse (about) in schoLAR Outraged
I thought this was proper smart – 13a’s “national chain”, 27a’s “dead”, 17d’s “in the same place” and 20d’s “company supplying Boots”, etc. Best thanks to Weatherman and CS.
A tough Toughie on a Wednesday – whatever next?
I really enjoyed my (slow) progress through the puzzle – thanks to Weatherman and CS.
I didn’t know the 5a people or the 10d temple though both were fairly clued.
10d reminded me of Hill Street Blues which was a tremendous series, second only to the great Columbo in the ranks of US cop shows (in my estimation).
Ticks from me for 1a, 12a, 23a, 26a and (my favourite) 20d.
Didn’t fully parse it because I didn’t know the temple & moved on but also thought of Howard Hunter in HSB played by James B Sikking. Remember getting a question (US cop show round) in a pub quiz on the location of the surplus store in the theme song intro & our team being the only one who knew.
Definitely my fav US cop show & a great Mike Post/Larry Carlton theme.
Found the puzzle very difficult & needed to reveal the 24d/27a letter checker to complete in the SE. Podium spots for 1&12a along with 20d.
Thanks to Weatherman & to Sue for fully explaining an embarrassing number of whys.
I’m more or less with ALP on this one but I liked the cryptic def at 1a too.
Thanks to Weatherman and CS.
I found this tougher than the usual Wednesday Toughie. Some of the wordy surfaces definitely made it hard work.
My picks were 2 and 21D with 1A favourite.
Lots of thanks to CS for your ever helpful blog which has explained my answers and to Weatherman.
Blimey, that took a bit of untangling, for me this was worthy of a Friday placement.
Some very smart clues but I agree with Sue, it was a bit long-winded.
The diner at 1a got us off to a humorous start and I liked the dodgy booze in 12a, the national chain in 13a and 26a with its spikey disc jockey.
The car reverse parked in the same place at 17d and the user with his boots in 20d were my other picks.
The furry footwear originates from down under, and it’s weird to see them to the fore in shops out there, with tourists queueing up to buy them in the heat of the Australian summer.
Thanks to Weatherman and CS.
That passed the time on a cloudy afternoon.
My goodness this was very tough indeed, and only sheer bloody-mindedness carried me over the finishing line. Well, not quite over it as I had to throw in the towel on the parsing of 26a.
Shame about the affect/effect howler in 1d ????.
Thank you, I think, to Weatherman for the brain battering and thanks too to CS.
This was a struggle, and less fun than I was hoping. I’m with CS on the clue length! I didn’t know the tribe, the benefit, the disc or the spelling of the Spanish City (only ever seen the Spanish version). But I did know the temple. I dislike 12a, but in the plus side,1a is nicely misleading. Again, I was with CS trying to fit eggs in somehow. National chain is a great misdirection too, but 23a takes my prize.
Thanks to Weatherman for the puzzle, and to CS for the Blog
Really enjoyed this challenging puzzle. Top half quite straightforward, bottom half much less so. Dare I say it felt more like a Times puzzle than DT? My only raised eyebrow was at 28a where slyest should surely be the sneakiest, the most sneaky, not just extremely sneaky.
Cracking puzzle, thank you Weatherman and CS
As a mediocre solver I never expect to finish a Toughie and often struggle with the back page (although not today). But for me this was really impenetrable and judging by the paucity and content of comments, reserved for the experts. Which is kind of elitist. Surely it is not beyond the wit of the Telegraph to recruit a small team of unpaid experts to attempt the puzzles pre-publication, grade them and publish accordingly. Because I am convinced that too many setters compete to create the most obscure and difficult crosswords to the detriment of regular solvers.
Popping in belatedly to fess up to the affect/effect error, for which I will say three Hail Marys and an Our Father.
The day a puzzle appears is determined once it’s submitted, although Wednesday appears to have become my most regular day (sorry Sue). I can also confirm that setters are hoping to entertain people – I’m glad I at least achieved that for some!
I don’t understand 6d at all. Surely if smooth is to “charge” over and old the word charge need to be after smooth? I don’t see how this translates to the required mechanism.
It’s SANDS (smooths) + O (crickety over) with O(ld) charging it (i.e. going inside) (charge as in ‘charge/fill your glasses’).
Of course – not sure what I was thinking. Thank you.