Toughie No 3539 by Hudson
Hints and tips by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ****
Those fearing a triple-threat Thursday after Tuesday and Wednesday need fear no longer. Hudson’s in very bright and breezy form today – this wouldn’t have looked out of place on an early-week back page. There is a smidgeon of football GK, etc, but nothing too exotic. And it’s all typically pretty.
Across
1a Reasonable diet fed Joe (7)
LOGICAL: Adjectival “diet” (2-3) containing/fed (by) the usual (American) Joe.
5a Assault resulting from drinking too much in the pub? (7)
BARRAGE: What might result, I suppose, from such behaviour in such a place (3,4). This could be read as an all-in-one.
9a Record six nil Germany/Spain stuffing (5)
VIDEO: The usual “six” and “nil” containing/stuffed by the usual “Germany” and “Spain”.
10a Beefy individual ordered a cider where there’s no Courage? (9)
COWARDICE: Beefy individual (not bull) + ACIDER, ordered.
11a Skilled labourer requiring good egg and hen (10)
BRICKLAYER: Good egg/solid citizen + the usual “hen” (based on what one habitually does).
12a Gunners commander time and time again surrendered territory (4)
AREA: The Arsenal (Gunners) manager Mikel, minus/surrendering both T[ime]s.
14a Look at the score and prepare for the worst (4,3,5)
FACE THE MUSIC: Cryptic definition + definition. The score ain’t sporty.
18a Reportedly arrogant sect tempted to get naked gardening (12)
HORTICULTURE: Homophone (reportedly) of arrogant/snooty + “sect” + tempted/enticed, minus its outer letters (naked).
21a Delicate relative disheartened (4)
NICE: (Female) relative, minus its central letter.
22a Brutus shivering with cold in awful weather (10)
CLOUDBURST: BRUTUSCOLD, shivering.
25a Depressed wife getting stuck into freshly brewed Abbot Ale (2,1,3,3)
AT A LOW EBB: The usual “wife” inside ABBOTALE, freshly brewed.
26a Unlimited free products to try? That’s generous! (5)
AMPLE: “Free products to try” (cheese in Waitrose, say), minus the first and last letters (unlimited).
27a Saviour of pilots who’ve unfortunately taken to the drink? (3,4)
MAE WEST: Cryptic definition. Drink as per ocean.
28a Shining River Mole runs away, heading for Thames (7)
RADIANT: The usual “river” + (diarist) Mole, minus his R[uns] + T[hames].
Down
1d Molten rock that flows over edges of Borneo basin (6)
LAVABO: “Molten rock that flows” + B[orne]O.
2d Retriever turned up with tailless bird (6)
GODWIT: What a “retriever” is by example, reversed/turned up + WIT[h].
3d Notice commercial in Brazilian city that might set off alarm bells (5,5)
CLOCK RADIO: Notice/see, plus the usual “commercial” in(side) the first Brazilian city you’ll think of.
4d Material ingredient of Darcy/Lizzie upset? (5)
LYCRA: Hidden, reversed (upset) in the fourth and fifth words.
5d With which Oddjob threw a lob, tragically? (6,3)
BOWLER HAT: THREWALOB, tragically. Basically a rather lovely Quickie – as long as you know your Goldfinger!
6d Bloody excellent! (4)
RARE: Double definition.
7d One who gets a buzz from work? (8)
APIARIST: Another cryptic definition. Who works with “buzzers”? Um, just how bad does this film look?!
8d English cricket side of highest quality embracing new style (8)
ELEGANCE: The usual “English” + the cricket side that’s not “off” + “of highest quality”, containing/embracing the usual “new”.
13d Might it help avoid nail-biting situation with Villa coach and directors? (5,5)
EMERY BOARD: Aston Villa coach Unai + the usual “directors”. I can only imagine that if you use one of these regularly you perhaps have less cause to trim (or bite!) your fingernails.
15d Excited lad’s first to be carried by new Tube line (9)
EBULLIENT: L[ad] is carried/contained by TUBELINE, new.
16d Triumphant as millions embracing spirit (8)
PHANTASMA: Lurker, hidden in the first three words.
17d Vintage spies discovered item in the shape of a cross (8)
CRUCIATE: Vintage (wine) + the usual US spies + [i]TE[m].
19d Drink gallons hip-hop artist delivered (6)
GRAPPA: G[allons] + a homophone (delivered) of a hip-hop artist, generically.
20d Swear when visiting Lord’s to watch The Ashes? (6)
ATTEST: Where you are/what you’re watching (2,4), in such a circumstance.
23d Brown American timber length cut (5)
UMBER: Timber (US), with its initial L[ength] cut/deleted.
24d Centre right Tory peer who ran shelters (4)
CORE: R[ight] is sheltered by the Tory peer (Lord) who famously ran (800m, etc).
Five anagrams, a flurry of cryptic definitions and a couple of lurkers, etc. Entertaining surfaces throughout, as always. I especially enjoyed 10a, 28a and 5d, but 24d stood out for me. How did you get on?
Not too testing today, though the two football managers referred to may be unknown to anyone not interested in the sport. Just to balance things up, we have a couple of cricket references and a former athlete too.
Plenty of top clues, I’ve picked out the fluvial diarist in 28a, the boozy MC in 19d and the aforementioned Olympic champion in 24d.
Thanks to Hudson and ALP.
The same rating as ALP; certainly the gentlest of the week so far.
The only gk I needed to check was the Villa coach. My last in was 17d – it took a while to see the synonym of vintage.
Favourite clue was the bird at 2d.
Many thanks to Hudson and to ALP
Simply wonderful in more ways than one. My particular favourite was the pilots saviour
Many thanks to Hudson and ALP
PS Hudson’s alter ego Julius is in similarly great form in today’s FT
Can you send me the link again please Sue
The quickest way to locate the other cryptic crosswords is to use the links at the top left of the Fifteensquared home page, which is what I just did to get this:
https://www.ft.com/content/750b5d3b-3955-4c19-8a36-7b53ea2c56c2
Thanks
Great fun (as is always the case with Hudson) and comparatively gentle – thanks to our setter and ALP.
I particularly liked 14a, 18a, 27a, 28a and (once I’d dismissed thoughts of Lord Lucan) 24d.
I’ll just say ditto to Gazza’s first sentence and his selection of clues, from which I would put 14a in first place.
Not sure that I’ve tried one of this setter’s Toughies before but I certainly enjoyed this one despite having to guess at the football references. My favourite was 2d and I also ticked 5,11,14&25a plus 3d.
Thanks to Hudson for the fun and to ALP for the review.
At last one I could do, although there was still a fair bit of head scratching going on. Hadn’t come across 1d or 16d before but fairly clued. Favourite was 18a. Thanks to Hudson and ALP.
A fun quickie, something of a relief after the last two. I was taken with the River Mole [28a] the Villa coach [13d] the vintage spies [17d] and the Tory peer at 24d who took a shamefully long time to come to mind.
Thanks to Hudson and ALP [forgot how much fun the Buggles were].
An absolute gem of a puzzle & comfortably best of the week thus far in my view. An abundance of ticks – 9,12,18,25,27&28a plus 2,13,17&24d my top 10.
Thanks to Hudson & to ALP – great clips especially Nat, Fred & Rita. If Seb does the Toughies he’ll have the hump you the one he got beat in.
picked the one
Ha, I was always an Ovett man!
Thanks for the blog, dear sir.
Fun fact: I was in the same A-Level Physics set as Seb Coe
Well, I never. You’ve both done all right though, despite the (hateful) physics! Ta lots for popping in and for yet another snorter.
Very enjoyable and surprisingly gentle. 27a takes my prize, with merit awards to 4d, 5a, 10a, 24a and 26a.
Thursdays the new Tuesday?
Thanks to Hudson and ALP
They would appear to be, yes!