Toughie No 3603 by Silvanus
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
An absolute joy from Silvanus today. Very classy indeed. We’ve got sport, alcohol and naked dancing. What’s not to like? Just chuck in a board game or two and you’ve got the perfect Christmas! It’s all typically immaculate and fair. And, most importantly, great fun. Over to you.
Across
1a Work out endlessly in front of Fitness First (6)
FATHOM: Usual-ish “in” expressed as (2,4) minus the last letter (endlessly), with F[itness] first/before it.
5a Soldiers stopping male deserter about to get weapon (6)
MORTAR: Abbreviated “soldiers” (not RE) stopping/going inside abbreviated “male” and deserter/rotter, reversed/about.
10a International focus of Harrison Ford (5)
CAPRI: International (as per rugby, etc) + [har]RI[son].
11a Headgear from Utah a man apparently brought back (6,3)
PANAMA HAT: Lurker, reversed in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth words.
12a Reported cheek of Yorkshireman obtaining clothing accessory (3,4)
TIE CLIP: Homophone of Yorkshire man + cheek (4,3).
13a Relish shown by Liberal wearing rosette (7)
FLAVOUR: Abbreviated “Liberal” wearing/inside “rosette”, as in a ribbon worn to show (political, etc) affiliation.
14a Engineer astonished, scratching head seeing those prioritising pleasure (9)
HEDONISTS: [A]STONISHED, engineered.
17a The people out of carelessness losing vote (5)
LAITY: Carelessness/slackness, minus the one-letter “vote”.
18a Think hotel customer must come to different conclusion (5)
GUESS: Hotel customer/resident, with a different last letter/conclusion.
19a Rugby player, he invested in corrupt idiot (9)
BLOCKHEAD: “Rugby player” (not prop) + “he” from the clue invested in/inside corrupt/rotten. As if I could possibly love Silvanus more, he gifts me this to clip. Marvellous!
21a Organic compound, one that almost fouled lake (7)
ETHANOL: ONETHA[T], fouled, plus abbreviated “lake”.
23a Little money in bar snacks (7)
PEANUTS: Double definition.
25a Probably son will back tennis event over time (9)
DOUBTLESS: Abbreviated “son” backing/after tennis event (for four) containing/over abbreviated “time”.
26a Nation of India following heartless custom (5)
HAITI: NATO’s “India” following custom/tendency, minus its heart/central letter.
27a Price when loaded is bound to be discounted regularly (4-2)
ODDS-ON: [l]O[a]D[e]D[i]S[b]O[u]N[d].
28a Note plugging old books needed for degree (6)
EXTENT: (Sound of Music) “note” plugging/inside old/former and (biblical) books.
Down
2d Royal Gala perhaps marked at intervals “Out of Bounds” (5)
APPLE: Marked at intervals/mottled, minus outer letters (out of bounds).
3d Hospital tubes carrying gas, a trichologist examines them? (9)
HAIRLINES: Abbreviated “hospital” + “tubes carrying gas” (oxygen, etc).
4d Wipe the floor with politician hosting ball at university (3,2)
MOP UP: The usual two-letter “politician” hosting/containing the one-letter “ball”, plus the usual “at university”. Presumably, students from the north of Scotland generally head in the other direction, but there you go!
5d Obvious love for future programme that’s announced (9)
MANIFESTO: Obvious/evident + “love” (tennis, etc).
6d Gosh, naked adult dance! (5)
RUMBA: Gosh/crikey, minus its outer letters (naked) + abbreviated “adult”. Simple, yes, but this tickled me, though the BBC’s dance juggernaut does not. But the wife is OBSESSED and heck, if you can’t beat ’em …
7d Olympian using pot I heard when running (9)
APHRODITE: POTIHEARD, running. Great surface.
8d Teacher’s maybe in contact occasionally during school (6)
SCOTCH: [c]O[n]T[a]C[t] inside/during abbreviated “school”.
9d Strong interest overwhelming king (6)
STURDY: A totally fair but less than obvious synonym for “interest” that is, of course, in Chambers, overwhelms/contains the king that isn’t ‘K’.
15d Greek character feeds initially Dalmatian and German dog (9)
DEERHOUND: Greek character/letter feeds/goes inside D[almatian] (sneakily written as a three-letter word and I applaud it!) plus “and” (in German).
16d Brigadier’s last to visit terribly unstable army officer (9)
SUBALTERN: [Brigadie]R visits/goes inside UNSTABLE, terribly.
17d Instantly show partiality to a wee dram? (4,1,4)
LIKE A SHOT: What many will no doubt be saying on Christmas Day (just add an “I would” and “another”) in regards to a wee dram/snifter, especially if you’ve dropped the bread sauce, burnt the turkey … or bought your mother-in-law summat unspeakable!
18d Shy deer gobbling up hedges having voracious appetite (6)
GREEDY: Lurker, reversed in the first three words.
20d Condense princess’s unfinished work (6)
DISTIL: (Late) “princess’s” + “work” (the fields, etc), minus its last letter.
22d Comments of Rolling Stone (5)
NOTES: STONE, rolling.
23d In conversation walked in something sticky (5)
PASTE: Homophone of walked/stepped.
24d Joining college cricket side (5)
UNION: “College” (shortened) + “cricket side” (of stumps, etc).
We’ve got five anagrams, two homophones, a couple of lurkers and a double definition, etc. I especially enjoyed 10a, 2d and 6d but I think 1a remained my favourite. How did you get on?
PS … I would say “I wish you all a very merry Christmas” – and, of course, I do. But there is a bonus Toughie next Thursday (which I’ve seen in advance and highly recommend). So, if you can squeeze it in on December 25, I’ll see you there. Otherwise, do have the most splendid festivities. But do, please, stay out of the van …
ABSOLUTELY MAGNIFICENT and, yes, I am shouting. This was certainly challenging but beautifully crafted with smooth surfaces, beautifully disguised definitions, and impeccable wordplay. It was a joy to solve from start to finish with every clue a gem.
Many thanks to Silvanus and to ALP.
What he said!
Many thanks to both Silvanus and ALP.
Once again, RD has said it all.
First class! A real pleasure to solve.
So many great clues, but if pushed, I’d go for Harrison Ford at 10a as my CoD.
2d took me a while to parse, even thought I knew the fruit in question.
Take a bow, Silvanus and more of the same in 2026, please.
Many thanks, ALP.
On the whole fairly gentle, although I struggled with 2d and (to parse) 15d.
My top three; 17a, 6d, and 8d.
Many thanks to Silvanus for an excellent puzzle, and to ALP for the write-up.
5* enjoyment here too even with my grouchy mood.
Can’t improve on RD’s assessment so I’ll just say ditto & only add the NW in particular was a delight.
Thanks & festive best wishes to both Silvanus & to ALP
A very high quality puzzle from Silvanus today – thanks to him and thanks to ALP for the review.
It’s difficult to pick individual clues from such a fine selection – I’ll just mention 1a, 10a, 12a, 2d and 8d.
As close to perfection as one can get in a crossword. Every clue a belter and I managed to parse everything for once. How do you a favourite out of this lot? I’ll go with 23d but to be honest it could have been any of them. Thanks to Silvanus and ALP.
Can’t argue with my fellow contributors, so I’ll just add my top three: the work out in 1a, Teacher’s in 8d and Harrison Ford in 10a who stole the show for me.
My thanks to Silvanus and ALP.
It’s all been said but just want to add a special thank you to our compiler for including one of my dearly loved canine companions at 15d. Have far too many ‘favourites’ to give them all rosettes but, if pushed to prune the list, I’ll settle for 4,8,15&17d.
Many thanks to Silvanus for this and all your other puzzles throughout the year – hope there are many more to come in 2026. Thanks also to ALP for the review – if you’re looking for something unspeakable to give your mother-in-law for Christmas then I should think a compilation of your favourite music tracks might do the trick!
😂
Well that was great, super, smashing. 1a, 10a and 8d were my podium picks.
Thanks, to ALP and Silvanus.
Yep – good stuff and bang on for Thursday. I’d have said 3.5 for difficulty but no less enjoyable for that.
Faves were the unusual 1a, 25a and 18d.
Thanks Silvanus & ALP
Can’t really add much to what has already been said. Very enjoyable and completed without too much thinking outside the box.
The SE held me up for a while because I initially entered a well known German dog and attempts to parse it and
failed miserably. Only after I had some checkers did I get the correct answer, but the 3 letter usage for the D is, as ALP
advises, is sneakily written.
Harrison Ford at 10a and the Yorkshire clothing accessory at 12a get my vote.
Mind you, as this is a Toughie I am well chuffed!
3*/4*
Many thanks to ALP and to all those leaving such kind comments. Much appreciated.
Many thanks for popping in – an absolute snorter. I’m sure we all wish you a wonderful Christmas.
I reckon it was my beloved deerhounds who brought you luck today!
Enjoyed that, a satisfying and gentle challenge after a couple of glasses of post-prandial crabapple brandy.
Many thanks to Silvanus and ALP
2*/4* …
liked 17D ” Instantly show partiality to a wee dram? (4,1,4)”