Toughie No 3554 by Stick Insect
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ****
An enjoyable mid-week Toughie, long anagrams and all!
Please let us know what you thought
Across
1a How Guinness produces gins consistently (9)
REGULARLY If you look at GUINNESS, where is GINS ‘produced’? Most crossword clues would include this synonym for consistently to tell you how and where to find GINS
8a Changed red shampoo, met with tangling (13)
METAMORPHOSED An anagram (with tangling) of RED SHAMPOO MET
11a You, sir, heard couple (5)
UNITE Homophones (heard) of you and a man with the title Sir
12a Opponents exploit decree (5)
ENACT Two abbreviated bridge opponents and a deed or achievement (exploit)
13a Lady Gaga takes one newspaper (5)
DAILY An anagram (gaga) of LADY into which is inserted the Roman numeral for one
16a Mostly useless, old cave (6)
GROTTO Most of useless or rubbishy and the abbreviation for Old
17a Sampling in Arctic, I cleave cold spike (6)
ICICLE Hidden in arctIC I CLEave
18a Boss hides right blunder (5)
GAFFE A foreman or boss without (hides) the abbreviation for Right
19a Free socialist eschews embracing Marx at first (6)
REDEEM An informal name for a communist or socialist and the first letters of Eschews Embracing Marx
20a Source of illumination about a saint survived (6)
LASTED A type of light goes ‘about’ A (from the clue) and an abbreviated saint
21a Help to keep king sharp (5)
ACRID A synonym for help ‘keeps’ the regnal cipher of our current King
24a Go beyond river, crossing cold lake (5)
EXCEL A river in the SW of England ‘crossing’ the abbreviation for Cold, the abbreviation for Lake being added at the end
26a Good downpour produces corn (5)
GRAIN The abbreviation for Good and a downpour
27a Author in eclectic novel allowed departure from the facts (6,7)
POETIC LICENCE An American author and an anagram (novel) of IN ECLECTIC
28a Getting on after fiasco in communication (9)
MESSAGING Another way of saying getting older (on) goes after a fiasco
Down
2d Get rid of Times English (5)
ERAS A series of years (times) and the abbreviation for English
3d More imaginary place in university bringing back best drug (6)
UTOPIA The abbreviation for University and a reversal (bringing back) of a way of writing first class or best and the drug cannabis
4d Attract interest from TikTok perhaps with fish broadcast (6)
APPEAL A type of software such as TikTok and a homophone (broadcast) of a type of fish
5d Disconnect cans getting echo (5)
LOOSE Informal lavatories (cans) with the letter represented by Echo in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet
6d Chip perhaps is house band leader (13)
SEMICONDUCTOR A type of house and a leader of a band or orchestra
7d An electric car excited strong opposition (13)
RECALCITRANCE This splendid word is an anagram (excited) of AN ELECTRIC CAR
9d Operations in sequence curbing unlimited illness (9)
SURGERIES A sequence going round (curbing) the inside letters (unlimited) of a non-specific illness
10d Escort visiting nurse and soldier? (9)
ATTENDANT A preposition meaning visiting, a verb meaning to nurse and one of crosswordland’s soldiers
13d Belief in bitch? (5)
DOGMA Split 3,2 this might be a very informal description of a canine with puppies
14d Conclude Dante’s work lacks drama (5)
INFER Dante’s famous work without (lacks) traditional Japanese drama
15d Produce return (5)
YIELD A simple double definition
22d Political group in ex-Soviet area so deficient (6)
CAUCUS A former area of the Soviet Union without (deficient) the pronoun meaning so
23d Characters in Bridlington not working (6)
IDLING Some of the characters in brIDLINGton
25d Run out of modern drink (5)
LATTE Remove the cricket abbreviation for Run from modern or recent
26d Young daughter comes out in changing gender (5)
GREEN An anagram (changing) of GENdER without (comes out) the abbreviation for Daughter
Loved this. After last Tuesdays “warm up” I was fearful of another failure but this was right up my street. Especially when 1a mentions Guinness my tipple of choice. I am a fan of anagrams so was right at home here. Many thanks Stick Insect and CS
Good afternoon. Like the backpager, this was a blast. I think we had a similar grid last week? 27a is my COTD and 1a was my last fill, and it took some time to parse. Thanks for the review and to the setter
I really enjoyed this. It was nicely challenging without being overwhelming and good fun to solve.
It started with a bang, with 1a my first one in. This turned out to be my favourite although there were a lot more goodies along the way.
Many thanks to Stick Insect and to CS.
A pleasant midweek Toughie – thanks to SI and CS.
The best clue for me was 14d.
Plenty of fun and nothing obscure – just the way I like my puzzles. My votes went to 1,16&27a but there were several others in contention.
Many thanks to Stick Insect and to CS for the review.
Straightforward although my soviet geography & japanese drama gk left me short of an unaided parse. 1a was my last one in and gets my vote.
Thanks to Stick Insect and CS.
A most enjoyable midweek Toughie and all straightforward. Lots to like with 27A and 9D worthy of a mention. I couldn’t parse my answer for 1A but now it’s been explained I think that’s very clever and takes my podium.
Thanks to CS for the blog and Stick Insect for the enjoyment.
Fairly straightforward with head scratchers about sums this up. Enjoyable too. Favourite was 1a when the penny dropped. Thanks to Stick Insect and CS.
Surprisingly tuned into this one from the off & completed in a marginally slower time than the back page puzzle which is very brisk for me, All very enjoyable- thought 9d the best of the peripherals & 27a pick of the long ‘uns but 22d my pick of the clues.
Thanks to Sticky & Sue
Not too tough for a Wednesday, and 1a is gem. Some lovely surfaces (2d, 4d, 25d in particular).
Thanks to Stick Insect and CS
An absolute pleasure to solve.
Thanks Stick Insect and CS.