Toughie No 3569 by Dada
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
Happy Tuesday, everyone! Autumn’s colours continue to develop, the winter thrushes are still arriving in good numbers and the Wirral’s leaves are by-and-large staying on the trees: no doubt waiting for the Garden Waste collection to go into hibernation before crashing down and piling up.
Dada’s turn to break us into the Toughie week, and I thought this was perfectly pitched, with some gimmes to get things moving, and a lot of clever and nuanced deceptions. It was very much the proverbial “Crossword of two halves, Brian” with the NW going in very quickly (14d excepted) and then the SE taking a while to get sorted. My stand-outs (amongst a very good crop) were 1a and 28a. Thank you, Dada, for an excellent puzzle.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1 Top player growing old captures pawn – a quick way to check mate (5,6)
SPEED DATING Nothing to do with chess, but a way of meeting many potential partners in a short period of time formed by inserting the letter indicating “pawn” into a phrase suggesting that a top player (think Tennis) is ageing. This is a great surface and a very clever clue all round
9 Mafia activity for example decreasing, or I’m worried! (9,5)
ORGANISED CRIME An anagram (worried) of “decreasing or I’m”
11 Unsigned, church official forgetting initial (4)
ANON Remove the first letter (forgetting initial) from a type of church official to get a word meaning “without giving a name”
12 Group of taxis measures about fifty (5)
FLEET A plural of an Imperial measurement (or body part) surrounds the Roman numeral fifty. This works with ships as well as taxis.
13 Remain with auditor’s burden? (4)
WAIT A phononym (auditor’s) of what a burden may be
16 Up on the horizon (2,3,3)
IN THE AIR A double definition, the second sense being of something impending
17 Edit out groovy old maestro (6)
CHOPIN A charade of a four-letter synonym of “edit out” and a two-letter synonym of “groovy” (or popular)
19 US author back in the top academy (6)
CAPOTE The solution is lurking, in reverse (back in) amongst “the top academy”
20 Half of rudd and plaice cooked – fishy! (8)
PECULIAR An anagram (cooked) of the first two letters of “rudd” with “plaice”
22 Bit of fun in flier? (4)
LARK A double definition, the “flier” being renowned, at least with regard to the common British example, for its high-altitude song
23 Article dipped in gravy for god (5)
JANUS A two-letter indefinite article is inserted into what fancy restaurants can call “gravy” to give a god famous for having two faces
24 Infection you observed by the way (4)
STYE Crosswordland’s favourite infection is formed from a charade of an abbreviation for a type of road and an archaic form of “you”
27 Previously described, suggestion of a number? (14)
AFOREMENTIONED A phononym of what you might be said to have done if you were to draw attention to a single-digit square number. The question mark is doing a lot of work here!
28 More than one staircase inspires cheerful, brilliant decorator? (5,6)
FAIRY LIGHTS The question mark is a very strong hint that “brilliant decorator” is a cryptic definition. Insert (inspires) a synonym of “cheerful” (or well let) into the plural collective noun for “staircases” to get a type of decoration associated with eg Christmas trees
Down Clues
2 Direct Argentine leader once imprisoning male drunkards (6-2-6)
PERSON-TO-PERSON The name for a male offspring and a slightly old fashioned term for “drunkards” is inserted (imprisoning) into a famous former Argentine president to get a synonym for “direct” in the sense of how you may make individual contact with someone
3 Buried by squirrel, a nut in style (4)
ELAN The answer is lurking within (buried by) “squirrel a nut”
4 Repetitive exercise? Hint this is something boring (5,3)
DRILL BIT An implement used for boring is a charade of a term meaning “repetitive exercise” (often with a military context) and a synonym of “hint” in the sense of a small amount. To my mind, there is also an equally valid alternative based on another sense of “hint”, although that is a less common “thing” but still within the range of what might be found in Toughies
5 Holiday destination with similar ideas? (6)
THEMED Split (3,3) this synonym for “with similar ideas” is a popular (maritime) area for holidays
6 French city – worth a visit? (4)
NICE A double definition playing on the visual similarity of a French city and an adjective meaning pleasant, hence how you might feel about the city if you were to recommend visiting it
7 Downer in loss of position? (14)
DISAPPOINTMENT This synonym of “Downer” is could be how you might cryptically describe the act of removing someone from a position or role
8 Dancing seen with certain celebratory occasions (11)
CENTENARIES Notable anniversaries are an anagram (dancing) of “seen” and “certain”
10 Song name in short service for singer (5,6)
MARIA CALLAS A famous singer is formed by taking a religious service, lacking its final letter (short) and inserting an operatic song and a synonym of “name” as a verb
14 Wolf down in well, consequential (5)
MEATY Insert a synonym of “wolf down” (or consume) into a two-letter exclamation meaning “well” (or goodness me) to get a synonym of “consequential” in the sense of “substantive”
15 Be loud, quiet somewhere else? (5)
SHOUT A charade of an exhortation to be quiet and a description of where you might be if you are “somewhere else” ie “not in”
18 Just deserts left, concrete surrounds (8)
REQUITAL A synonym of “concrete” (or tangible) into which is inserted (surrounds) a synonym of “left” (or departed) in modern and/or American English usage
21 Zoom business (6)
CAREER A double definition
25 After British, one Greek letter – and another! (4)
BETA The usual letter indicating “British” is followed by one Greek letter to give another Greek letter
26 Stink in second half of game? (4)
PONG A type of “stink” is also the second half of the casual name for table tennis
It was one of those crosswords where the answers popped in to the noddle followed closely by the question ‘well why?’, so good fun doing some reverse engineering. I was stuck for far too long in the west but once the singer had revealed herself, the rest followed smoothly. It was an enjoyable solve.
Autumn colours a bit lacking further north in Lancashire, the leaves seem to have just dropped off.
Thanks to Dada for the puzzle and Whybird for the hints.
I found this difficult today, which is unusual for me with Dada; perhaps I’m having one of those mentally tired days…
Thanks to Dada for the puzzle and to Whybird for the write-up.
A fine start to the TT week.
I liked the check mate in 1a and the groovy composer in 17a.
The harshly treated South Americans who like a drink at 2d got my sympathy as well as the award for COTD.
Thanks to Dada and Whybird.
I very rarely attempt the toughies as I often find them to be impenetrable – however I would have missed out on what I thought was an absolutely delightful puzzle. Absolutely top notch stuff. Thank you to Dada and to Whybird form the hints which amazingly I didn’t actually need!
Dada’s on good form today – thanks to him and Whybird.
It was only on reading Whybird’s hints that I realised I had got the second word of the 4d answer wrong.
Ticks from me for 1a, 17a, 7d and 18d.
I imagine you were grateful of a bit of a tip from Whybird at 4d
My favourite Dada for quite some while. 1a’s a lovely kicker, 27a’s nicely cheeky and 2d was pleasing to piece together, as was 10d. Best thanks to Dada and Whybird.
Perfect Tuesday Toughie & very enjoyable too. With only the first 2 checkers in at 8d the wonderful Mavis Staples jumped out until realising she had nowt to do with wordplay & had 1 too many letters in her name anyway. Ticks aplenty – 1,17,19&28a + 2&26d particular likes.
Thanks to Dada & to Whybird
Guessed wrong for which half of rudd to use, until I remembered the strong beer from Theakstons, even though it has a slightly different spelling
Excuse my manners, many thanks to Dada and Whybird.
Did well until the last two – 5&14d – refused to fall despite the checkers being in place. Could have kicked myself after I looked at the review!
Top clues for me were 1,22&27a – will invariably vote for a birdie clue but have to say that we rarely see the crested variety in the UK.
Thanks to Dada and to Whybird for the review.
Hi Jane. I don’t think the bird I chose has ever occurred in the UK. It’s a North-African/Middle-east speciality (similar to the horned variety, that we do get). Crested is a UK mega-rarity.
It’s certainly very attractive.
The most entertaining Dada for quite some time with 1a leading the way to a very amusing puzzle.
ps. Wybird, Collins dictionary doesn’t seem to like Phononym but I presume that Chambers does?
I’m not sure, frankly. It’s a slang term, officially. Maybe I should come up with an official word for future blogs. But if I keep going with it, maybe it’ll get picked up by one of the lexicographers!
Super puzzle with just enough bite to justify the inside-pages location. I spent ages trying to justify and parse my (correct) answer to 28a, puzzling on how “fairys” (into which a cheerful “light” had been inserted) could possibly be “staircases”, when finally it dawned that I instead needed to be less light and more “airy” …
Some great clueing and plenty of humour throughout. Honours to 17a with its wonderful surface, 2d, 10d, & 26d.
Many thanks indeed to Dada and Whybird
Personally I found this extremely difficult and struggled to get a start. I fared a little better when I got a few checking letters but I made agonisingly slow progress right to the end. Favourite was 2d. Thanks to Dada and Whybird.
I enjoyed this Dada toughie today. In fact I think it was easier than Sunday’s offering … at least for me.
I liked 9a, 11a, 12a, 17a, 25d & 26d
Thanks to Dada & Whybird
A lovely puzzle. Thank you Dada.
1a was a great start and the rest followed on very nicely.
No winter thrushes here yet, Whybird, but we are off to North Norfolk next week where we should get hen harrier, pallid harrier and glossy ibis. As regards the bird at 22a, we should see shore l***s at Holkham beach.
Thanks for the blog.
For some reason (operator error…) everything as a new post. I suppose it gets the numbers up!!
I heard some winter thrushes flying over here last night so they’re obviously putting in an appearance. Enjoy your Norfolk trip.
Thanks Shabbo. A bird list definitely worth the trip! The Dee Estuary’s wintering hen harriers haven’t arrived yet – they’re probably still enjoying the Welsh hills – but they will come. I ax thinking of using Shore for 22a but got seduced by the idea of Temminck’s instead
New bird for me, I’ve only previously come across Temminck’s Stint. Never likely to find the **** but, as I said before, it does look a most attractive member of the family.
He’s also got a Courser and a Tragopan, amongst others. There’s a challenge for our Setters!
We had written in the correct answer for 4d but on reconsidering, we thought that the synonym for hint that is used at the top of every blog here was a better match, so changed our answer. An enjoyable solve for us once again, with 1a getting top billing.
Thanks Dada and Whybird.
2*/3* …
liked 17A “Edit out groovy old maestro (6)”