Toughie No 3531 by Django
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***/****
The usual invention from Django. He always works hard to try and make surfaces work, in a fun way. As ever, I was at a loss when it came to rating difficulty. I started off thinking this might prove quite tricky but ended up concluding it was actually quite gentle … for a Thursday. There are certainly a few gimmes dotted about. I spent most of my time attempting to wholly justify the first word in 6d’s double. I’ll be interested to know what you all think. All yours.
Across
1a Allied Forces ultimately stopped working after current advances (5)
SIDED: [Force]S + “stopped working” (phone battery, say) with its (electric) current advanced to the front.
4a Report from term in Saint Martins circulated (8)
TRANSMIT: Last letter/term in [Sain]T+MARTINS, circulated.
10a Rejection of material describing loud American (7)
REFUSAL: Material/concrete describing/containing the musical “loud” and the two-letter “American”.
11a Run on dollar came after banks withdraw – this helps keep books in order (7)
BUCKRAM: The usual “run” on/after “dollar” (slang) + [c]AM[e] = cloth used in bookbinding, etc.
12a Difficult to understand on TV – could broadcast without English (10)
CONVOLUTED: ONTVCOULD, broadcast around/”without” the usual “English”.
13a Country clubs cheated (4)
CHAD: The usual “clubs” + cheated/diddled.
15a Doctor Who’s “old fruit” to Ace (3,2,4,5)
OUT OF THIS WORLD: WHOSOLDFRUIT, doctored.
17a/21a Somehow champion has to get green right away after golf shot caused trouble (3,3,3,5,3,7)
PUT THE CAT AMONG THE PIGEONS: CHAMPIONHASTOGETG[r]EEN, somehow, after (a) “golf shot”.
20a Support others (4)
REST: Double definition.
21a See 17a
23a Nice estate having, say, Earl Grey and Darjeeling – posh (7)
CHATEAU: Two words for what Earl Grey and Darjeeling are both examples of, plus the usual “posh”.
24a New medical TV show taking responsibility for drug-free individual (3-4)
NON-USER: The usual “new” + (Clooney) hospital drama, taking/containing responsibility/burden.
25a On reflection consider a perpetrator somewhat willing (8)
PREPARED: Lurker, reversed in the third, fourth and fifth words.
26a Pits us back against politicians? (5)
SUMPS: US, reversed/back and/against the usual “politicians”.
Down
1d Wind is up and legendary bird leaves (8)
SIROCCOS: IS, reversed/up, the usual-ish “legendary bird” and “leaves” (lettuce). Although “winds” is a perfectly acceptable plural noun, “wind” is also an unmarked plural.
2d Almost remove financial support for court – it’s dead (7)
DEFUNCT: “Remove financial support for”, minus its last letter, plus the usual “court”.
3d Dance music’s introduction is right for rattles (10)
DISCOMFITS: Dance (genre) + M[usic] + is right for/suits.
5d Criminal pub’s barring with Met automatically approving (6-8)
RUBBER-STAMPING: PUBSBARRING+MET, criminal.
6d Pet‘s drink (4)
NECK: Double definition. The first just about works as a verb, I think, as an amorous kiss is a sort of caress. I did briefly wonder whether “French” could have worked instead … until I checked the dictionary and realised I had woefully misunderstood its actual meaning. Clearly, that wouldn’t do at all!
7d Usher connected to marriage – making relations quiet (7)
MARSHAL: Connected/relating to marriage, with (sexual) relations becoming the two-letter “quiet”.
8d Retiring as Cambridge University rejected papers (5)
TIMID: US Cambridge university rejected/reversed + the usual “papers”.
9d Supply easel through us – stock ends here (14)
SLAUGHTERHOUSE: EASELTHROUGHUS, supply. Smart definition.
14d Firm having bronze toilets for functions (10)
COTANGENTS: The usual “firm” + bronze (sun, say) + loo(s) – not Ladies!
16d Looks himself up online – Fergus upset about OnlyFans having removed content (8)
EGOSURFS: FERGUS, upset, about/containing O[nlyfan]S. Blimey, I don’t think I’ve seen OnlyFans before in the Telegraph crossword! Chambers hyphenates this as an ~ing noun, but Collins doesn’t, listing it as a verb (as seen here). The “himself” is perhaps slightly naughty but it does better suit “Fergus” than “oneself”, to be fair.
18d First-class courier on first half of schedule (7)
UPSCALE: Courier (firm) + the first four letters of an eight-letter synonym for schedule/agenda.
19d Arboreal creature must stop tot climbing – there’s no time at all (7)
OPOSSUM: A subtractive lurker, reversed/climbing in the third, fourth and fifth words, with all the T[ime]s removed.
20d Go back over playground area with parking (5)
RECAP: The usual “playground” plus abbreviations for “area” and “parking”.
22d Greek character chasing fine cheese (4)
FETA: Greek letter/character chasing/after the usual “fine”.
We’ve got seven anagrams, two double definitions and a couple of lurkers, etc. I especially liked 17a/21a, 24a and 19d, but I think 7d (that “making” has become somewhat of a Django trademark and I’m a fan) takes it for me. How did you get on?
Just right for a Wednesday and very enjoyable as we expect from a Django Toughie. One of those days when I was glad it wasn’t me who had to check the anagram worked in 17/21a
Many thanks to Django and ALP
Wednesday? You even had me check my phone !
It just occurred to me that it is Thursday! It’s been one of those weeks when it is hard to tell which day is which, even allowing for having to blog a Toughie on Wednesday
Enjoyable but, for me, not quite as enjoyable as Django’s puzzles usually are – I think this is due to the fact that all four long answers involve anagrams.
Top clues for me were 24a, 6d, 8d and 19d.
Thanks to Django and ALP.
On the whole, fairly straightforward apart from a few bits.
1d had to be what it was, but I wasn’t aware that wind could be plural.
6d = pet is not the first word that springs to mind.
I had a problem with 18d, where I wanted to write upstage; I know the definition doesn’t work anyway, but I saw age(nda) as the ending.
An enjoyable puzzle. Thanks to Django and to ALP.
Great stuff from Django, a fun and well clued puzzle.
I should imagine the term in 16d is unfamiliar with many on this site, we’re all too busy solving crosswords and commenting on them to bother with that nonsense.
The banks withdrawing in 11a got a tick as did the dance music’s intro in 3d.
Ushering in the quiet part of 7d had me going for a while.
The rejected university in 8d was another favourite and the courier in 18d turned up a bit quicker than the one I am currently waiting in for who is already an hour late.
My thanks to Django and ALP.
Like Gazza I thought the big anagrams rather detracted. Happy with pet in 6d but I too had to think about plural wind in 1d. 7 and 19 down are my top picks
Thanks to Django and ALP.
NE last in. The long multiword answers were a question of coming up with the right phrases and making them work particularly 17a/21a which I got with very few checkers. I had to check 3d. Good fun and a deal of head scratching. I particularly liked 19d. Thanks to Django and ALP.
A good Thursday workout, not too difficult but enjoyable. I had difficulty deciding which letters were being used for the 17/21A anagram but the checkers got me there. I also questioned wind as plural but my parsing confirmed it was.
My likes included 23A, 3,14,and 19D with joint favourites 7 and 9D.
Thanks as always to ALP and to Django.
Plain sailing although couldn’t be bothered to check that all the anagrams worked. Thanks to ALP and Django.
I’m with ALP on just about everything here. I went back and forth on 7d trying to justify the answer, then rejecting it, before the penny dropped. 6d the last one in – a well-chosen pairing for me. 11a and 16d were new words for me, but clearly clued. I wonder what an OnlyFans crossword blog site would look like? Perhaps best not to dwell on that…
Thanks to Django for enjoyable solve, and to ALP for the Blog
Like Jonners I didn’t bother to check the fodder & though I enjoyed the puzzle a lot I’m inclined to agree with Gazza that it wasn’t quite up there with his finest. 7d got my vote too as pick of the clues once the penny eventually dropped – guess the first def at the preceding clue leads to what’s removed in the next though don’t remember The Drifters mentioning it.
Thanks to Django & to ALP
I did this yesterday but ran out of time to comment. I liked it! I also didn’t know 16d, but it first appeared in The Telegraph in 2009, so I feel I should’ve done by now.
6d seemed fair enough to me: I’m pretty sure 6ding would come under the “No heavy petting” rule in swimming pools!
The 11a bookbinding material was also new to me, and I love ALP’s choice of photo for it! Thank you to ALP for that, and for reminding me that ‘bronze’ can be a verb in 14d, which was enough to get me unstuck in the bottom-right, including my last in, 19d, which, with its “no time at all” wordplay instantly became my favourite.