Toughie No 3571 by Django
Hints and tips by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Toughie difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****/*****
Django’s been fairly gentle today, gifting us a puzzle studded with clever touches and smart surfaces, as ever. His delightfully eclectic cultural references range from The Simpsons to Victor Borge, via the Coen brothers, and, accordingly, it proved hugely entertaining. All yours.
Across
1a/6a Repartee ultimately welcome during away match – just to have a laugh (3,3,4,2,2)
FOR THE HELL OF IT: [Reparte]E + welcome/greeting during/inside away/abroad + match/suit. Lovely Lego.
6a See 1a
9a Study this writer’s material (5)
DENIM: Study (noun) + how Django might say “this writer’s”.
10a Retracting pencil with one new tip of graphite – pleasing (9)
REWARDING: “Pencil” (not HB!) reversed/retracting + the usual “one” and “new” + G[raphite].
12a Litter born inside petrol station (7)
GARBAGE: The abbreviation for “born” inside “petrol station”.
13a Leave dessert? (5)
SPLIT: Double definition. Think bananas!
15a Description of Van Gogh‘s ear he’d stupidly severed at the end (7)
REDHEAD: EARHED, stupidly, plus [severe]D. Great surface.
17a Can incorporating character from Greek language … (7)
TIBETAN: The usual-ish, nounal “can” incorporating/containing (a) Greek letter.
19a … confuse things? I must find enlightenment (7)
INSIGHT: THINGSI, confused.
21a Che Guevara beret essentially worn as display of rank? (7)
CHEVRON: CHE + [gue]V[ara] + [be]R[et] + “worn”, i.e. not “off”.
22a Tesla possibly finished without Musk’s capital – avoid (5)
EVADE: What a Tesla is by example + finished/accomplished, minus M[usk].
24a Mishmash of Coen brothers’ work including Raising Arizona for starters (7)
FARRAGO: Famous film by the Coens includes/contains R[aising] A[rizona].
27a Hotel having everyone working to host small festival (9)
HALLOWEEN: The usual “hotel” + “everyone” + working/running, containing/hosting small/tiny.
28a Stay behind line on pitch? (5)
TARRY: Line (trains) on/after “pitch”.
29a/30a E.g. animated paper clip’s hints that, occasionally, rewriting is required (4,10)
PAST PARTICIPLE: PAPERCLIPS+[h]I[n]T[s]T[h]A[t], rewritten.
30a See 29a
Down
1d Plug in iron – get wash out (4)
FADE: Plug/commercial inside the usual “iron”.
2d Mavericks putting Magritte with Degas strangely (9)
RENEGADES: Magritte’s first name + DEGAS, strangely.
3d Moe’s Happy Hour entertains one of the Simpsons (5)
HOMER: MOE, happy, entertained/contained by the abbreviated “hour”.
4d Cambridge University party mostly rejected very alcoholic drinks (7)
HARVARD: (Dance) party, minus its last letter and reversed/rejected is drunk/contained by “very alcoholic”, i.e. not “soft”.
5d Cheap books to support learning about whiskey (3-4)
LOW-RENT: (Biblical) books supporting/after learning/knowledge about/containing the usual “whiskey”.
7d Gathering following on stream (5)
FRILL: The abbreviation for “following” + stream/brook.
8d Taking in tenth gig in ground (10)
TIGHTENING: TENTHGIGIN, ground.
11d Can be seen making Victor Borge’s centrepiece hilarious (7)
RISIBLE: Can be seen/apparent turning the abbreviated “Victor” into [bo]R[ge].
14d Cool movie star’s first big vehicle (6,4)
CRUISE SHIP: Cool/trendy after the (named) movie star that is/goes first.
16d Artist oddly eager to cover term in Bethnal Green (2,5)
EL GRECO: E[a]G[e]R covering [bethna]L, plus green/environmental.
18d Plane in Cologne maybe held up for work on the outside (9)
TURBOPROP: A cologne that amazingly still exists reversed/held up + the usual-ish “for”, with the usual two-letter “work” on its outside, i.e. containing it.
20d Roll well filled out with cheese – in cloth (7)
TAFFETA: Well filled out/fed, rolled/reversed + (Greek) cheese.
21d Prince might look up to this cover of Caruso by Pavarotti – perhaps in retirement (7)
CORONET: C[arus]O + what Pavarotti was an example of, reversed/in retirement.
23d Group of drivers touring Italy regularly with small collection of maps (5)
ATLAS: The usual driving group touring/containing [i]T[a]L[y] + the abbreviated “small”.
25d Genuine posh article hidden in prank (5)
ANTIC: Hide/remove the usual “posh” and three-letter “article” from genuine/real.
26d Part of car exhaust is articulated (4)
TYRE: Homophone (or homophobe, as it was pricelessly dubbed on BD this week) of exhaust/wear out.
Five anagrams, one double and Lego aplenty made for a pretty brisk Thursday solve. I especially liked 16d’s “Bethnal Green”, 18d’s “cologne” and 20d’s “well filled out” but 15a’s surface made me smile the most. How did you get on?
I agree with everything ALP has said about difficulty, enjoyment, and favourites! Thanks to Django for the puzzle, and to ALP for explaining the 4d dance party.
Great fun and not too demanding – many thanks to Django and ALP.
I’m not sure in what sense a prince might look up to 21d – wouldn’t it be on his head making it difficult for him to see it?
Top clues for me were 1/6a, 21a, 24a, 4d, 14d and 18d.
It’s the full 5*s for enjoyment here. A reasonably quick (for me at least) grid fill but disappointingly shy of a couple of the whys – bit miffed that I missed the away match context in 1/6a but I was always barking up the wrong plane with last in 18d having got it into my bonce that Cologne was port reversed. Love the Coen brothers (Marge Gunderson is such a terrific creation) so that one guaranteed to be my fav but Van Gogh ran it close.Just watched a clip of Victor playing a bit of this & that – very good.
Thanks to Django & to ALP – bit of Ben always welcome.
This one took a bit longer to complete than it should have. Nothing too difficult, but I found some of the clues and bit fiddly and flitted from one to another until I eventually had a full grid.
My top three are Victor Borge’s centrepiece in11d, the cool movie star in 14d and the posh article hidden in 25d.
I had a good laugh at the memory of the aftershave in 18d.
As kids, my sister and I saved up our pocket money to buy the old man a tiny bottle of the stuff, which was so trendy at the time, for Father’s Day.
He thanked us, cupped his hand, poured out most of the bottle and splashed it all over.
Inevitably, he smelt like a tart’s handbag for a fortnight!
My thanks to Django and ALP.
If anyone gives a monkeys, here’s the answer to the clue I lobbed in yesterday:
Spreads denunciation, son demoted in investigation. (8) BANQUETS
Well, I thought it was pretty good.
Yes fairly light entertainment. I was held up in the SE by my inability to spell 24a. Favourite was 11d. Thanks to Django and ALP.
Loved the Van Gogh one!
I still cannot parse 1a … and ALP’s hint seemed to make it more difficult!
Thanks to all.
Hi Stan, you need to put (repartee’s ultimate) E and a 5-letter synonym for welcome/howdy inside a 5-letter poetic/old adverb (as in the expression “go ????? and multiply”) for away or forward plus “to match”, i.e. to suit/go with (3).
Hope that helps.
Thanks, ALP.
I now understand all the lego bits … I think?
Not much time to comment, as family are here visiting us in Valencia, and it’s been a boozy day that is still going on.
I solved this early morning and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Many thanks to Django and to ALP.
Just started to do the Toughies after steering clear of them for a long time. Last few days have completed them with very little assistance from the hints needed and today’s was the same. a steady solve with some lovely clues. Now I have started I will continue …
Welcome to the party! They’re fun, aren’t they?
Once again defeated by the parsing on a couple. I didn’t get the”away” part of 1a , despite getting the rest, and for 18d, I got hung up on inverting “port”, still had the “work” ok, but gave up on the last three, so I knew I was missing something!
I’m with the 11a crowd (and it’s a great word, too) but there’s a lot of quirky, but precise, clues to enjoy.
Thanks to Django for an excellent puzzle, and to ALP for putting me out of my misery!
Benevolent for a Toughie maybe, but a superb and satisfying puzzle, full of humour and clever clueing. One of the best of the year, I thought.
Many thanks indeed to Django and, of course, to ALP too.
Thanks ALP and thanks all
Ta lots for popping in, and for yet another belter.
A bit late but a very enjoyable solve .Got stuck in the SE towards the end but eventually got there .18d last one in and favourite , reminding me of my teenage years . Thanks to all .
2*/4* …
liked 21A “Che Guevara beret essentially worn as display of rank? (7)”