Toughie No 3547 by Light
Hints and tips by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment *****
Gently chucklesome, yet whip-smart – a whisper of ©Light GK (2d, etc), some sly indicators (e.g. 20a) and (boo!) a spot of botany (9a, 16a). Not to mention Legs & Co, which stirred my inner seven-year-old. Hugely entertaining. All yours.
Across
1a Assistant, one backing stylish Fiat? (6-2-7)
SECOND-IN-COMMAND: One backing (boxing, etc) + stylish/fashionable + fiat/order.
9a Nature of tea tree covering Thailand’s capital (9)
CHARACTER: The usual generic “tea” + tree (maple genus) covering/containing T[hailand].
10a Great snowball (5)
SWELL: Double definition: adjective + verb.
11a Acting in cameo, getting compliments (7)
ENCOMIA: INCAMEO, acting.
12a Nervous round Kelly maybe, close to scoring against Spain (2,4)
ON EDGE: The “round” letter + (Australian) Kelly + [scorin]G + the usual “Spain”.
15a Hack and news chief checking page is displayed prominently (8)
SPLASHED: Hack/cut + the usual “news chief”, checking/containing the abbreviation for “page”.
16a Jumper, something Rowan has back to front (4)
FLEA: What a rowan (or any tree) has, with its last letter moved to the front.
19a Obvious toupee, periodically new (4)
OPEN: [T]O[U]P[E]E + N[ew].
20a Dessert in pâtisserie is most delightful (8)
SWEETEST: Dessert/pudding + “is” in a pâtissierie, i.e. in French.
23a Joining 9 in bar-room? (6)
HYPHEN: The joining/linking 9a that is seen in the word “bar-room”.
24a Simple Simon was so alone! (7)
ARTLESS: What would Simon have been without Garfunkel?
26a Teaching trick with great magician’s advice, first of all (5)
DOGMA: to trick/con + the first letters of “great magician’s advice”.
28a Deficiencies in footwear, requiring right label inside (9)
SHORTAGES: Generic footwear containing the usual “right” and “label”.
29a Noel presents Legs & Co. and flirts zanily, entertaining family (8,7)
STOCKING FILLERS: LEGSCOFLIRTS, zanily, entertaining/containing the usual “family”.
Down
1d Star, Moon and Newton in Brian Cox show (10)
SUCCESSION: Star (person, etc) + moon (of Jupiter) + the abbreviation for newton (unit). I did try to find a proper clip – but this brilliant Brian just won’t stop swearing!
2d Brief opportunity to meet Queen perhaps in Minister’s office (11)
CHANCELLERY: Opportunity/possibility, minus the last letter, plus the first name of the fictional detective “****** Queen”, created in 1928.
3d Tight on a motorway, two Sierras in close call (4,4)
NEAR MISS: Tight/close + a motorway (London to Leeds) + the abbreviation for “Sierra”, twice.
4d Local IT system on the way, second one to be replaced by base (8)
INTRANET: “On the way” (2,7) with its S[econd] + I/one replaced by “base” (mathematics).
5d Nancy’s good at the end of Coach C (6)
CARBON: “Good” in Nancy, France, after/at the end of coach (in a train, etc).
6d Grasp head (6)
MASTER: Double definition: verb + noun.
7d Mock adult prior to school lesson (3)
APE: The abbreviations for “adult” and (a) “school lesson”.
8d Matt Damon’s first to accompany actress Tracey, taking crew out (4)
DULL: D[amon] + comic/actress Tracey, minus the “(to) crew”.
13d Bird on a ledge, leg out (6,5)
GOLDEN EAGLE: ONALEDGELEG, out.
14d Imagines fiend is caught by weapons without resistance (10)
FANTASISES: Fiend/addict + “is” caught/contained by “weapons” (police, say), minus the R[esistance].
17d Promise to quit cycling sports on holiday? (5,3)
SWEAR OFF: Sports/dons, cycling (simply last to first in this case) + on holiday/away.
18d On the water having abandoned port etc? (8)
TEETOTAL: Cryptic definition, not nautical. Water and port are both drinks here.
21d Awful what barrister tipped for buffet (6)
THWACK: WHAT, awful, plus barrister/silk tipped/reversed.
22d College’s ball precedes November concert (6)
UNISON: “College’s” + the letter that looks like a ball + the abbreviation for “November”.
25d Sports editor somewhat upset one day, long ago (4)
IDES: Lurker, reversed/upset in the first two words.
27d Slush fund ultimately excluded from capital (3)
GOO: [Fun]D excluded/removed from capital (adjective).
Four anagrams, two double definitions, one lurker and a cryptic definition made for a jolly and brisk solve. I especially enjoyed 20a’s “patisserie” and 24a’s gag, but I’m torn between 29a’s definition and 1d’s surface for my top spot. What did you think?
Good afternoon. I enjoyed this. It was a case of read and fill for the most part. I particularly enjoyed 24a, 26a and 28a. Same cannot be said for 11a and 21d which required the use of the dictionary. Thank you for the review and to the setter.
Enjoyable and reasonably gentle for a Thursday Toughie, helped by a couple of biffs: had to hope that Succession was both a thing and something to do with the actor, rather than the celebrated physicist. NHO Ellery Queen and googling the actor, actress and film name in that bill did not help!
Honours to 24 & 29a, 18d
Many thanks to Light and ALP (can you please change your name to Dark when you blog their puzzles?)
Ha, I misread that as “dork” – which would apply equally well!
Definitely not!
Super Thursday entertainment, plenty of humour and clever misdirections.
The seasonal gifts in 29a, 1d’s TV series and the alcohol-free 18d were my top three.
Many thanks to Light and ALP.
Great fun – many thanks to Light and ALP.
Top clues for me were 20a, 1d, 17d and 18d with my favourite being 24a.
Such a wonderful collection of clues! I got a full grid in the end by myself, but it took a while and this was definitely correctly classified as a Toughie for me.
I was less keen on the grid, which has only 2 links between the top-left and bottom-right halves; when I had most of the former, it was providing very little assistance for the almost-bare latter.
So many highlights! These included: 1d, where it took me a while to remember the existence of the Brian Cox who doesn’t present shows about stars; 4d, with its sneaky ‘second one’ not indicating the second I (at least, not just indicating that); 5d with Nancy in coach C; Matt and Tracey in 8d; ‘on the water’ in 18d, where for too long I was trying to make ‘etc’ in the clue indicate ‘et al’ at the end of the answer (which distractingly happens to be close to being right), before I eventually realized it was a cryptic definition; and the 22d college ball. 24a with Simple Simon was my last in, and I think became my favourite. Thank you so much to Light.
Thanks also to ALP, for the videos and for explaining 14d’s wordplay.
I learnt the 2d crime writer nom de plume and the 11a Latin compliments. Well, I say ‘learnt’; let’s see if I actually remember either of them …
11a was a new word for me, need the hint to fully parse 20a and never heard of the the show in 1d and had the wrong Brian Cox to boot, otherwise fairly straightforward for a Thursday and by a setter who, if my memory serves me correctly, defeated me last time. So a satisfying solve all round. Favourite was 21a. Thanks to Light and ALP.
Excellent puzzle – thanks, Light. **/*** for me for difficulty (I can’t give rate any puzzle with 11a in it as *; and 23a (my LOI) took ages to go clunk. Not helped by the time it took to get away from “queen = ER” parsing 2d. 24a was my favourite, amongst many goodies. Re 29a, Pan’s People were more my generation, as famously referenced by Fletcher in Porridge… If only I knew how to post YouTube videos! But I could do without the (albeit very clever) reference to Mr Blobby’s mate.
Thanks to ALP for the blog and the musical adventures.
To my shame I completely missed the allusion in 24a even after solving it so it has to be the COTD. Other goodies were 20a, 23a and 21d.
Thanks to Light and ALP.
Didn’t find this anywhere as near as straightforward as others clearly did. Completed without a letter reveal but both 1a&d went unparsed having forgotten both the Jupiter moon & that fiat was a decree. 11a was a new one too so that needed Mr G for confirmation.
Terrific puzzle – hard to look beyond 24a as fav but 29a ran it close.
Thanks to Light/Twm & to ALP – esp for Paul, Nick & Stevie.
Hi all, setter here.
Many thanks to solvers and commenters, and thanks to ALP for the review.
Ta lots for popping in, and for yet another snorter.