Toughie No 3581 by Weatherman
Hints and tips by Shabbo
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning, fellow puzzlers.
Whybird is away for a couple of Tuesdays and I have been entrusted with the responsibility of filling in for him. This is my debut on Toughie blogging duty, so please be gentle with me. I don’t know whether the DT uses different grids for Toughies, but I have never blogged a puzzle with only 24 clues. Sadly this and the lack of a Quickie Pun will weaken my negotiating position when I approach Gazza for a pay rise!
I got the four long answers first and then made reasonably steady progress until grinding to a halt in the SW corner. 17a, 16d and 18d delayed me for far too long but with hindsight, of course, they probably shouldn’t have done. It’s a good job the blogging deadline for Toughies is 14.00 and not 11.00!
In the blog below, the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED and the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the “Click Here” buttons. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on and what you thought of the puzzle.
Many thanks to Weatherman and to the DT Crossword Team.
Across
6a Dull daily routine weirdly easy, so regularly skipped (13)
CHARACTERLESS: synonym of daily (one who undertakes household work) + synonym of routine (think performance) + the even letters (regularly skipped) of “weirdly easy so”.
8a It keeps politician cooler, in effect (6)
IMPACT: IT outside (keeps) abbreviation for politician + abbreviation for something that cools internal spaces.
9a University doctor briefly allowed to bandage the setter’s scars (8)
UMBILICI: abbreviation for university + abbreviation for doctor + synonym of “allowed” without the final letter (briefly) outside (to bandage) how Weatherman might refer to himself.
10a More greasy and porky, drinking port in retirement? Quite the opposite (6)
OILIER: synonym of porky (CRS – pork pie) inside the setter’s favourite seaport reversed (in retirement).
11a Maintained popular nurse nicked diamonds (8)
INSISTED: synonym of popular + nursing title without the final letter (nicked) + abbreviation for diamonds.
12a Start day showing signs of tiredness? Not initially (7)
DAWNING: abbreviation for day + synonym of “showing signs of tiredness” without the first letter (not initially).
13a Somewhat dry and cold after failure (4-3)
DEMI-SEC: abbreviation for cold after synonym of failure (or collapse).
17a Perhaps skinny, exhausted animal’s unable to kill you (3-5)
NON-FATAL: synonym of skinny (think lo-cal) + the first and last letters (exhausted or emptied) of animal.
20a Part of Lorde album is a trying experience (6)
ORDEAL: not an artist I am familiar with, but it didn’t matter. This is a hidden word clue with the solution lurking within words 3 & 4.
21a Is parish altering flyers? (8)
AIRSHIPS: anagram (altering) of IS PARISH. No knowledge of birds required.
22a Eggs on children going round opening to military compound (6)
CHROME: two-letter abbreviation for children + synonym of eggs (think fish) outside (round) first letter of (opening to) military
23a The sect in line to reform country (13)
LIECHTENSTEIN: anagram (to reform) of THE SECT IN LINE. I’m sure TDS has a clever way of remembering the spelling of this.
Down
1d Interminably nasty strain from Munich? (8)
BAVARIAN: synonyms of nasty and strain, both missing their final letter (interminably)
2d Very strong dictator imprisons international delegation, ultimately (4-4)
CAST-IRON: former Cuban President outside (imprisons) abbreviation for international + final letter (ultimately) of delegation.
3d Old country tune upper-class Irish broadcaster backs (7)
ETRURIA: assemble synonym of tune + abbreviation for upper-class + initials of the Irish public service broadcaster and then reverse the whole thing. The old country is now part of Italy.
4d Hears bishop feeds social divisions (6)
TRIBES: synonym of hears (think courts) outside abbreviation for bishop.
5d Charity supporting extremely remote areas (6)
REALMS: charity for the poor after the first and last (extremely) letters of remote.
6d Concerned with arrangements of Colombian art I ordered (13)
COMBINATORIAL: anagram (ordered) of COLOMBIAN ART I. Not a word that I am familiar with.
7d A monkey’s close, excited for fish (7,6)
SOCKEYE SALMON: London bus syndrome – another anagram (excited) of A MONKEYS CLOSE. I know “for” is required for the surface read, but “excited for” used in this way is one of my pet hates.
14d Get rid of partner before gold is confiscated by church (8)
EXORCISE: abbreviation for partner + heraldic abbreviation for gold + IS inside abbreviation for church. I am wondering whether “partner” should be “former partner”? The first part of this verbal jigsaw is “partner before” – thank you Gazza.
15d Approves independent candidates in Derby with no leader (8)
INDORSES: three-letter abbreviation for independent + candidates at Epsom without the first letter (no leader). The solution is a variant spelling of the more common version beginning with E.
16d Assaults treacherous sorts changing sides (7)
GLASSES: slang synonym of “treacherous sorts” with the R becoming L (changing sides).
18d Bolt and his competitors possibly less masculine (6)
FASTEN: how one might describe Usain’s fellow sprinters without the abbreviation for masculine.
19d System of exercises cheers this writer in Berlin and India (3,3)
TAI CHI: synonym of cheers (or thanks) + I (the writer) in German + abbreviation for India.
Wot no QP?
A mixture of straightforward and tricky.
My last in was 1d.
The two I liked most were 13a and 17a.
Many thanks to Weatherman and to Shabbo for the write-up.
Quite tricky for a Tuesday I thought – thanks to Weatherman and Shabbo.
The grid looked ripe for a peripheral Nina but none was visible.
I assumed that the first bit of 14d was ‘partner before’.
8a, 18d and 19d made up my podium.
Thank you, Gazza. You are right, of course.
Tremendous fun. 13a, 17a and 18d for me. All very chucklesome. Best thanks to Shabbo and Weatherman.
Thanks Shabbo for a fine Toughie debut, and of course commenters and other solvers.
The grid library for the Toughie and the back-pager are the same, although a grid like this with so many unchecked starting letters probably lends itself more to the Toughie.
Who chooses the grid? The compiler or the Editor?
The DT has a large library of grids which are acceptable. The setter can choose from any of these.
A fairly steady paced solve for me as I took a while to get into our setter’s style.
Can’t say as I’d endorse the spelling of 15d but I would back the candidates in Derby, so that was a top clues, as was this writer in Berlin in 19d.
Other highlights were the somewhat dry 13a, the children egged on in 22a and the sprinter being called less masculine in 18d – he wouldn’t like that!
All good fun, thanks to Weatherman and Shabbo.
One birder vacates the Tuesday chair & another seamlessly steps in. I thought this very enjoyable puzzle pretty chewy for a Tuesday but solved it half asleep in the wee small hours which maybe didn’t help. As is often the case with Toughies for me there was a fair bit of grid fill from definition then work backwards (9&13a + 1,2&6d) but the whys arrived albeit on a later bus. The wordplay saw me home 3d, glad that 6d had fodder to work with because hadn’t a scooby what it meant & the legal context of the 15d spelling also needed confirmation.16d was last in & the biggest head scratch bringing to mind Robert Carlyle’s performance in Trainspotting. Ticks against 6,9&17a + 1,2&18d with 17a my pick of ‘em.
Thanks to Weatherman & to Shabbo – I too thought former missing at 14d.
now see Gazza has explained that one.
An enjoyable Toughie, thank you Weatherman. The south was relatively straightforward, along with the two side long’uns, which helped. The north was slow going until I fathomed 6a. Like Jezza, my last one in was 1d.
Thanks to Shabbo on your Toughie debut.
Crikey, that was super-tough for a Tuesday particularly in the NE corner but I enjoyed the battle, which I only just won.
Many thanks to Weatherman and to Shabbo.
Quite tough for a Tuesday and I struggled until 3 out of 4 peripherals were solved – 6d eventually as I failed to spell ColOmbia properly in the anagram fodder despite it’s presence on the page in front of me. Made steady progress until only 18d remained, then eventually discovered I had also spelled LIEchtenstein wrong. One of those days I guess.
Top clues for me were the impressive charade at 6a, 8a [cooler!] 22a [eggs on] 15d [candidates in Derby] and 19d [this writer in Berlin]. I too thought of Begbie at 16d.
Thanks to Weatherman and Shabbo.
Found this one a tough slog and eventually failed with 16d where we settled for CLASHES for assaults but could not justify the parsing.
Thanks Weatherman and Shabbo.
Agreed. Very tough. I had clashes as well, but couldn’t parse it, I suppose the answer is in Chambers but I’ve never used it that way.
I got 1d from from Munich but still can’t get the shortened synonym- help please
Overall a very enjoyable almost solve with thanks to Weatherman and well done to Shabbo for putting his head above the parapet
BA(d)VARIAN(t) was how I parsed it.
Agreed. Difficult to hint at the answer without giving the game away.
I know. I assumed that at this time of the day not many people would be upset if I gave the answer away.
Thanks both. Easy when you see it
Thanks both. Easy when you see the answer!
22a is surely an element rather than a compound?
Welcome to the blog.
It can be either according to Chambers.
Thanks Shabbo