Toughie No 3566 by Prime
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ***
Tough to solve, tough to parse and tough to hint – and it is only Wednesday!
Please let us know what you thought
Across
1a Beg out loud for victim (4)
PREY A homophone (out loud) of a verb meaning to ask for earnestly and reverently
3a Rat runs originally only open to some ordinary people (5-5)
GRASS-ROOTS Inform on (rat), the cricket abbreviation for Runs and the original letters of Only Opens To Some
9a I’m here, and I see myself returning (4)
AHEM An interjection to draw attention to oneself – an interjection meaning I see and a reversal (returning) of a pronoun meaning myself
10a Very soft rejection of work over failure within ChatGPT? (10)
PIANISSIMO A reversal (rejection) of abbreviated work goes ‘over’ a phrase (4,2,2) meaning failure within Artificial Intelligence (ChatGPT)
11a Far from the last answer, concealing a French bomb (7)
FORTUNE I was about to ‘phone a friend’ when I removed the French article from the solution and looked up the remaining word in the BRB – the first meaning of something (far from the last answer) ‘concealing’ the French masculine indefinite article
13a Quick drink not initially accepted by Riddler (7)
SNIFTER The initial letter of Not ‘accepted’ by someone who riddles or sieves
14a Rogue criticises celebrity’s drunk state (11)
RAPSCALLION An informal way of saying criticises and a famous or conspicuous person (celebrity) into which is inserted (drunk) the abbreviation for the State of California
18a Express turned on to long-term viewer (5,6)
COUCH POTATO Express ideas in a particular way, a reversal of an adverb meaning on, and TO (from the clue)
21a Majority of old genre to be revised soon (7)
ERELONG An anagram (to be revised) of the majority of OLd GENRE
22a Smooth victory for former leader (7)
BALDWIN Smooth or hairless and a victory
23a Meandering article sealed between two bits of boxing (10)
ROUNDABOUT An indefinite article ‘sealed between’ two boxing terms
24a Peak energy lost around Vietnam (4)
ETNA Remove an informal word meaning energy from viETNAm – an original way to clue this old friend of the cryptic setter and solver
25a Unity and equality at first replaced by very top (10)
SOLIDARITY The first letter of a synonym for equality is replaced by an adverb meaning very and the top of a jar or box perhaps
26a A track keeping M People together (4)
ARMY A (from the clue) and an abbreviated railway (track) ‘keeping’ M (from the clue)
Down
1d Political leader retaining muscle in place of policy programme? (8)
PLATFORM The abbreviated leader of the government ‘retaining’ an abbreviated muscle in the lower back and a preposition meaning in place of
2d Yes, doper misused medicine (8)
EYEDROPS That’s got to be an anagram (misused) but before looking more closely, I said to Mr CS have you remembered your … and immediately saw the anagram of YES DOPER!
4d One level holds lift (5)
RAISE The Roman numeral for one held in a verb meaning to demolish a building to the ground (level)
5d Perhaps George Harrison‘s alternative version of Something’s lacking energy (9)
SONGSMITH An anagram (alternative version) of SOMeTHINGS without (lacking) the symbol for Energy
6d`Figure holding more change in US dollars (7,4)
RUSSIAN DOLL An anagram (change) of IN US DOLLARS
7d Drug subject barely swallowed (6)
OPIATE The inside (barely) letters of a subject and part of a verb meaning swallowed (food)
8d Shakin’ Stevens primarily pens terrible tracks (6)
SPOORS The primary letters of Shakin’ and Stevens go outside (pens) a synonym for terrible
12d With faithful partner shuffling, Uno deck could save love (11)
UNCUCKOLDED An anagram (shuffling) of UNo DECK COULD without (save) one of the O’s (love)
15d Grub alone unusual here? (6-3)
LOUNGE-BAR An anagram (unusual) of GRUB ALONE
16d Get the attention of restaurant staff, refusing current refreshment choice (3,5)
TAP WATER Knock gently to get the attention of someone and a member of restaurant staff without (refusing) the symbol for electrical current
17d 6 maybe certain suspicious wife’s left (8)
BOUNDARY How many people kept looking at 6d before realising that it was a ‘crickety’ definition – certain, ready or prepared and a synonym for suspicious without the abbreviation for Wife
19d Scottish team game (6)
HEARTS A Scottish football team or a card game
20d Worst part about providing packaging for Queen or Queen II? (6)
SEQUEL A reversal (about) of sediment in wine (the worst part) into which is inserted (provides packaging for) the abbreviation for queen
22d Majority of smutty books having no point (5)
BLUNT Most of a synonym for smutty or obscene and the abbreviated books of the New Testament
17d me! 🙋🏻♀️ but still don’t really understand it. Found it very hard, finished it, but with questions for CS that she has answered (10a 14a 4d 17d) and really liked 12d and 25a, thank you Prime and Sue
23a was fun, 1d too. 17d’s ‘6’ certainly led me down the garden path, but the WP was clear. 20d’s “worst part” is smart and I liked 11a’s allusion to 10a. Best thanks to Prime and CS.
Some of this was quite straightforward, and some, very tricky.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, with ticks to 3a, 22a, 23a, 25a, 6d, 7d, 8d, and 22d.
Great stuff!
Thanks to Prime and to CS
A Friday-level Toughie on a Wednesday – whatever next?
This is just the sort of Toughie that I really enjoy with masses of clever wordplay without needing to resort to obscurities. Many thanks to Prime and CS.
I have too many ticks on my printout to list them all – I’ll just mention 9a, 11a, 14a, 1d, 15d, 17d and 20d.
Chuffed that our reviewer has deemed this worthy of a 5* difficulty rating. Needless to say I found it very tough. Crawled to a grid completion with the assistance of 1 letter checker reveal (too embarrassed to fess up to which one) but with many unparsed so will revisit later today before seeking enlightenment from CS.
Currently waiting in the Opthamology clinic in Luton & Dunstable hospital so you’d have thought the 2d anagram would have leapt out but it didn’t. Of those fully parsed 5&16d my top 2.
Thanks to Prime & in advance to CS.
I found this much tougher than the usual Wednesday and I’m pleased our esteemed blogger felt the same. It was a slow solve as I tried to get on our Setter’s wavelength. I felt a great sense of achievement when I crossed the line. So many clever clues it was difficult to pick a winner but I’m going for the ingenious 9A.
Thank you CS for your unravelling and Prime for a tough workout.
So good to have a proper Toughie in the Toughie slot, Wednesday or not. Really enjoyable, a good mental workout and the LGCs are now lounging about with cold drinks and panting quietly. Metaphorically, at least.
Did just under half (broadly NE + others) at lunchtime fairly swiftly before hitting a brick wall at which I stared blankly. Came back to it a couple of hours later and suddenly it all seemed to make sense – barring the parsing for 17d and 25a. A few odd surfaces, but nicely left-field and/or hidden definitions, clever wordplay, and entirely fair throughout. Too many ticks to select any for the podium over their peers.
Many thanks indeed to Prime and to CS.
A proper Toughie as others have noted. Having struggling to even get a toe-hold, I managed to break the back of it on my third sitting and then things fell into place (albeit with a few bung-ins). Inventive cluing and crafty definitions all around – hugely satisfying to solve.
Many thanks to Prime and to CS for clarifying the parsing.
Sheer bloody-mindedness kept us going for what was ultimately a successful conclusion. Very clever wordplay throughout meant that there was often quite a gap between writing in an answer and then justifying it with the wordplay. Ticks all over the place so won’t select any one for special mention.
Thanks Prime and CS.
Ouch! Only just completed this, and I had to cheat to get there. I still don’t fully understand the 14a celebrity (either that, or I think it’s pretty obtuse). Add me to the 17d list, too.
Elgar needs to check his vault and see if someone’s pinched one of his Friday collection…
Thanks to Prime for a comprehensive thrashing, and to CS for the blog. I am so grateful this did not land on a Tuesday!