Toughie No 3578 by Silvanus
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
I’m sitting in (as all the best DJs used to say, and possibly still do) for CS today and I’ve drawn a very enjoyable midweek Toughie, not too tricky but with a couple of things to keep us on our toes. Many thanks to Silvanus.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Local nuclear supply beset by endless change (10)
VERNACULAR: an anagram (supply) of NUCLEAR is surrounded by a verb to change without its last letter.
6a Probability of extra term in class (4)
ODDS: a synonym of extra or surplus and the terminating letter of class.
9a Longed for school to welcome experienced US soldier (7)
COVETED: a type of school educating both sexes contains the abbreviation for an experienced US soldier.
10a No trouble mostly filling concrete (7)
REFUSAL: a synonym of trouble or bother goes inside an adjective meaning concrete or factual.
12a Politician identified as having success encouraging growth? (5-8)
GREEN-FINGERED: a member of a specific political party and a verb meaning identified or singled out.
14a Capital essential to maintain account after retiring (6)
MUSCAT: an informal word for an essential contains the reversal of an abbreviation of account.
15a Covering year roughly, lay right type of grass (8)
BETRAYER: bracketing an anagram (roughly) of YEAR we need a verb to lay or wager and the abbreviation for right.
17a Text flipping trainspotter Billy receives (8)
LIBRETTO: hidden in reverse.
19a Tried giving up cigarettes finally for new love (6)
NOUGHT: start with a verb meaning tried or pursued and replace the final letter of cigarettes with the abbreviation for new.
22a Ex-PM’s wife with concern over King’s former method of communication (7,6)
CARRIER PIGEON: the forename of a partygoing ex-PM of recent years and what the BRB says is a Chinese corruption of business or concern contain the Latin abbreviation for king. If you’re interested in the derivation of the word for concern see here.
24a Ask Europeans on vacation to cut wood (7)
BESEECH: the outer letters of Europeans go inside a type of pale wood.
25a Man, old Pip, repeatedly removing top garment (7)
NIGHTIE: join a man on a chessboard and what pip used to mean as a verb (especially when followed by out) then remove the first letter of both. I didn’t know this meaning of pip.
26a Energetic style of road cycling (4)
ELAN: cycle the letters of a narrow road.
27a Having no interest in parties? (10)
APOLITICAL: these parties are not the festive sort.
Down Clues
1d Nothing omitted in utter depravity (4)
VICE: omit the nothing-shaped letter from a verb to utter.
2d Ruins revolutionary video game company Virginia runs (7)
RAVAGES: assemble the name of a Japanese video game company, the abbreviation for the state of Virginia and the abbreviation for crickety runs then reverse the lot.
3d Notwithstanding conserving energy, this teammate is struggling (2,3,4,4)
AT THE SAME TIME: an anagram (is struggling) of THIS TEAMMATE containing the physics abbreviation for energy.
4d Rare to miss the German Open (6)
UNDONE: start with an adjective meaning rare (how you might specify your requirement in a restaurant say) and omit one of the German definite articles.
5d Look, Mike and Dennis for example supporting current reward scheme (3,5)
AIR MILES: stitch together a synonym of look or manner, the letter that Mike represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet and the forename of gameshow host Dennis following the symbol for electric current.
7d Harry unloaded Dormobile seconds before Helen’s home? (7)
DESTROY: the outer letters of Dormobile, the abbreviation of seconds and the home of Helen (she who reputedly had a face that munched a thousand chips).
8d Unity of purpose in policing daily riots (10)
SOLIDARITY: an anagram (policing) of DAILY RIOTS.
11d Possible appearance of Bow villain on EastEnders? (6,2,5)
FIGURE OF EIGHT: bow is falsely capitalised here. In Cockney-speak this sounds like a person loathed.
13d Ruthless devil, American guy around fifty (10)
IMPLACABLE: a little devil is followed by an abbreviation for American and a synonym of guy or rope. All that contains the Roman numeral for fifty.
16d Son, playing his part creating spacecraft (8)
STARSHIP: the genealogical abbreviation for son followed by an anagram (playing) of HIS PART.
18d Syrian perhaps from the South purchases leading coffee-maker (7)
BARISTA: the reversal of what a Syrian may be contains a shorthand way of writing leading or ahead.
20d Hereditary information on name that’s turned up (7)
GENETIC: a slang term for info precedes the reversal of a verb to name or mention.
21d Blair, say, essentially glib individual given leadership of Labour? (6)
LIONEL: rivet together the essential letters of glib, a synonym of individual and the leading letter of Labour. Very neat!
23d Tie up puppy maybe (4)
SEAL: double definition – to tie up (a deal say) and what a puppy may be.
For my podium I’ve selected 4d, 11d and 21d. Which one(s) did the business for you?
I don’t, can’t and won’t argue with Gazza’s choices – unsurprisingly. I loved 4d’s deletion, 11d’s great and 21d’s dig is hilarious. Best thanks to Silvanus and Gazza, even if 5d’s pic did put me off my soup!
I thought this was a super toughie and am surprised Gazza has only rated it 2 star for difficulty. For me, there were very few bung-ins with most clues needing a bit of work to tease out a parsable solution. This made completion of it all the more satisfying.
The only qualm I’ve got is the second part of 22a.
The reverse lurker in 17a was cleverly hidden and I liked 19a’s quit smoking message.
The two retro TV entertainers referred to in 5d and 21d also raised a smile.
Thanks to Silvanus for the challenge and to Gazza for the blog.
Although I found this very tough, I really enjoyed the battle. I was not fully successful as I couldn’t fully parse my answers to 22a & 25a. I did look up “pigeon” in the BRB but stupidly didn’t read the second entry because the header for that was the better known alternative “pidgin”.
Like AP, I will piggy-back on Gazza’s selections of 4d, 11d & 21d.
Many thanks for Silvanus for a fun challenge with the smooth surfaces throughout the icing on the cake. Thanks too to Gazza. Great cartoons as always.
I found the left half considerably easier than the right for some reason.
There were some parts of this I needed online help from to complete.
I parsed the first word of 22a without a problem, but had no idea on the second word.
Favourite clue was 21d – I remember spotting him a few years ago; we were both filling up our cars at a petrol station in Kingston Upon Thames. He was unmistakable in a shocking pink suit!
Thanks to Silvanus and to Gazza.
Terrific puzzle & the full 5* enjoyment for me. A quicker grid fill than is usual for me with a Smooth Toughie but unfortunately fell short on a couple of the whys. Like Jezza I didn’t get beyond Boris’s missus & the king & more disappointingly didn’t peg the extra synonym either. As usual ✅s all over the shop – 12,14,15,19&27a along with 4,11&21d with the last of ‘em my clear fav.
No carping about surfaces here…..
Thanks to Silvanus & to Gazza.
Couldn’t think of the right Dennis [5d] and didn’t know “old pip” [25a] so couldn’t parse either. Not at all convinced by “policing” as an anagram indicator [8d] but otherwise all good clean fun. Favourites were 11 and 13d.
Thanks to Silvanus for the puzzle and Gazza for enlightenment.
Police is in the list of anagram indicators in Chambers Crossword Dictionary, presumably in the sense of regulate.
Many thanks to Gazza for deputising for CS and to everyone solving and commenting.