Toughie No 3594 by Prime
Hints and tips by Shabbo
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning, fellow puzzlers. It’s me again on Wednesday Toughie duty, stepping in for ALP/CS.
Pleasant Prime puzzle, perfectly pitched, posing particularly proficient problems. 17a was a new word for me, but it is fairly clued. The Barking dialect at 24a and the famous mother-in-law at 5d are my joint favourites.
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 Prime and to the DT Crossword Team.
Across
1a Joke is supposed to be heard after hard time? (10)
PUNISHMENT: synonym of joke + IS + homophone (to be heard) of supposed after abbreviation for Hard (think pencils).
6a Flatter bit of orange included in juice (4)
SOAP: initial letter of Orange inside synonym of juice (think plants). “Bit of” is an accepted initial letter indicator, but I’m not sure why. Any thoughts?
9a Cycling poet carrying eastern record (5)
VIDEO: Roman poet “cycling” (write the letters of his name in a circle and start the word in a different place) outside (carrying) abbreviation for Eastern. The solution is a verb.
10a Where you can see waves glisten around our realm, off and on (9)
SHORELINE: synonym of glisten outside (around) the odd letters (off and on) of OuR rEaLm.
12a Lennon song, absorbing at four past one in Paris routine (13)
UNIMAGINATIVE: a song by Lennon from his solo career outside (absorbing) AT + Roman numerals for “four” with one in French coming first of all.
14a Mostly provide food – red sort (8)
CATEGORY: synonym of provide food without the final letter (mostly) + synonym of red (think bloody).
15a Into dancing, plugging exercise tip for dancers (6)
POINTE: anagram (dancing) of INTO inside (plugging) PE (exercise).
17a Part of trousers not initially wet in the morning (6)
INSEAM: a verb meaning “wet” without the initial letter + abbreviation for morning. Sounds like Tena for Men might be required here.
19a Lots of people drinking nearly expired syrup (8)
MOLASSES: synonym of “lots of people” outside (drinking) a word meaning expired without the final letter (nearly). My granddaughters tell me that I am old, but hopefully that doesn’t mean I am about to expire? I’ll have to rush through the rest of this blog, just in case.
21a Cooking place? Yes, with baked beans (5-4,4)
BLACK-EYED PEAS: anagram (cooking) of PLACE YES BAKED. I believe the answer is also the name of a popular music band. Huntsman can no doubt confirm.
24a Like dialect in Barking (9)
IDENTICAL: another anagram (barking) of DIALECT IN.
25a Diet needed following final portion of ice cream (5)
ELITE: adjective meaning low in calories after (following) the last letter of icE. I’m not sure whether “needed” is needed here?
26a Men discussed appearance (4)
GUYS: homophone (discussed) of a synonym of appearance.
27a Bears work without moving (10)
STANDSTILL: synonym of bears (a verb) + synonym of work (another verb – as in “work the land”).
Down
1d Put flags on quiet road (4)
PAVE: musical abbreviation for quiet + abbreviated synonym of road.
2d Surely bound to ground (2,5)
NO DOUBT: anagram (ground) of BOUND TO.
3d Clothing is bit of a hot potato? (7,6)
SMOKING JACKET: double definition (the second one is slightly cryptic).
4d Mama perhaps sent back inside of horse to butcher (8)
MASSACRE: Mama here is the given name of the former lead singer of The Mamas and the Papas. Reverse it (sent back) and put it inside a female horse.
5d After introduction, write-up of Joan Miro half-ignored famous mother-in-law (5)
NAOMI: remove the introduction (first letter) of (j)OAN, turn it upside down (write-up) and then add the first half of MI(ro). Neat.
7d Work in Jerusalem, getting rid of first impression (7)
OPINION: abbreviation for opus (work) + IN + another name for Jerusalem without the first letter (getting rid of first).
8d Are peelers running early screening? (10)
PRERELEASE: anagram (running) of ARE PEELERS.
11d Leave bass with tenor somehow losing verse complexity (13)
ELABORATENESS: anagram (somehow) of LEA(v)E BASS TENOR. “Losing verse” tells us to omit the V from the anagram fodder.
13d Son pilfering jewellery and dashing off (10)
SCRIBBLING: abbreviation for Son + synonym of pilfering (a noun – Definition 13 in my on-line Chambers) + synonym of “large and conspicuous” jewellery.
16d Nobel laureate‘s duck/rabbit seen on television (3,5)
BOB DYLAN: synonym of duck (as in evade) + the rabbit seen on The Magic Roundabout (I told you I was about to expire!). I was surprised to learn that this American song writer won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016.
18d Like some homes in Louisiana, perhaps likely to get gutted (7)
STATELY: a self-governing part of America (Louisiana is a randomly picked example) + LikelY (to get gutted)
20d Spaniard’s agreed to eat what’s left over after roasting one’s fish dish (7)
SASHIMI: yes in Spanish (Spaniard’s agreed) outside (to eat) synonym of “what’s left over after roasting” + abbreviated way of saying “one is”.
22d Year eight German trip abroad in this? (5)
YACHT: abbreviation for Year + eight in German.
23d Hill was captured (4)
FELL: double definition.
Not sure whether my underwhelmed reaction to this (and recent puzzles) is due to the flu I’m suffering, but it didn’t light many fires chez Mustafa. I found it somewhat dated (Mamas & Papas, Joan Miro, John Lennon, the quite mystifying Nobel laureate, the item of clothing) but suspect had I been 10 or 15 years older I may not have felt that way. Like Shabbo I’m not entirely convinced by the synonym for “nearly expired”.
I’ll go for 22d as my COTD since I made a school trip to Bremen & Bremerhaven when I was in my second year, now year 8: on the first attempt the ship broke down in the north sea and had to return to Harwich. The second attempt succeeded. I seem to recall that 1970s 5p coins worked very well as Deutschmarks in vending machines!
Thanks to Prime and to Shabbo
Straightforward but enjoyable.
The only bit I had to check was the dish at 20d; being allergic to fish, I have never heard of it.
I only know a handful of German words, but the translation of “eight” was obvious. My foreign languages extend only to as far as French and Spanish.
I liked the hot potato at 3d.
Thanks to Prime and to Shabbo.
I thoroughly enjoyed this one, lots of flowing surfaces with plenty of amusement to be had.
The seaside scenario in 10a set a pleasing image and the ’60s singer in 4d and the freewheelin’ Nobel laureate in 16d hit the right note with me.
Nice one, Prime and thanks to Shabbo for the blog. Excellent knowledge of incontinence underwear at 17a. I do hope all is well in that department.
An enjoyable and not too tricky midweek Toughie – thanks to Prime and Shabbo.
I particularly liked 3d, 4d, 5d and 16d.
An enjoyable solve for me too. 12a was an interesting clue as all the checkers were vowels, maybe unusual for such a long word?
Thanks to Prime for the puzzle and Shabbo for the blog….i liked your nine word alliteration.
I rarely do the Toughie, having usually been left scratching my head for too long, but was attracted to this one when I read the introductory comments made by Shabbo.
I really enjoyed the departure from the mainstream Cryptic crossword as I have found that can become a bit repetitive after 30 years plugging away! There was a good smattering of clue types and some clever wordplay by the Setter. I had never heard of the Spanish dish in 20a either and had to look it up and was surprised that Mr Google seems to think it is a Japanese dish?
Hopefully we will see a few more Toughies that are of this style as I did find it has prodded my interest in doing more of the Toughies.
Your comment went into moderation as you previously commented under the name of Robert. Both Robert and Roberto should now work going forward.
Regarding 20d, the Spanish part of the clue is the Spanish word for yes (“Spaniard’s agreed”). The solution is a Japanese fish dish.
Thanks for clarifying that Shabbo, much appreciated!
I thought this was going to be harder than it turned out to be a i had only one answer on the first pass. The second pass have me enough checkers to get a foothold and I progressed steadily from there and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. Favourite was 16d. Thanks to Prime and Shabbo.
A marginally quicker grid fill than the back-pager so it must have been on the gentle side but thoroughly enjoyable. All parsed ok other than most annoyingly not twigging California Dreamin’ of all things at 4d. My German is non existent so just assumed it had to be at 22d. I also wouldn’t have been able to say who 5d was mother-in-law to nor who Joan Miro was. 3d my pick of the clues with podium spots for 11&16d.
Thanks to Prime & to Shabbo – cracking alliteration.
Ps you’d have to pay me to listen to 21a.