Toughie No 3607 by Django
Hints and tips by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment *****
A zinger from Django today – a real treat. I must thank the Telegraph’s top brass and one of our very own top brass – Gazza – for gifting me a copy to blog in advance. It has – just about – kept me out of the doghouse. I did make the mistake of giving a woman (i.e. my mother-in-law) summat with a plug on – a sin that my urbane godfather told me years ago never to commit. In my defence, I remain convinced she’ll learn to love it! Merry Christmas everyone.
Across
1a Bottom line of undergarment’s touching piles (5,5)
BRASS TACKS: Setters’ favourite “undergarment’s” +/touching piles/loads. A comical kick-off.
6a Press assuming everyone can see this crude painting (4)
DAUB: Press/touch assuming/containing “everyone can see this” (as per film certificate).
9a Second tea and coffee (5)
MOCHA: Second/instant + the usual “tea”.
10a Frank‘s suggestion for anything in Yorkshire (9)
OUTSPOKEN: I’m tempted to call this a reverse homophone. Think of a homophone clue, perhaps written as (3,6), that could give you the Yorkshire expression for “anything”.
12a Charge new iPhone less on Mac (7)
IMPEACH: IPH[ON]EMAC, new.
13a Went cycling with black Raleigh anorak? (5)
DWEEB: Jane’s favourite synonym for “went”, with its letters “cycled” + abbreviated “black”. Raleigh is just a geographical indicator.
15/17a Versatile sportsmen guided spiritually, yet … (7,7)
UTILITY PLAYERS: SPIRITUALLYYET, guided.
19/21a … half of team heckle mate at ground, producing famously callous words (3,4,3,4)
LET THEM EAT CAKE: TEHECKLEMATEAT, ground.
22a What follows golf hole on the East Links initially (5)
HOTEL: Acrostic.
24a 51 and out – inspiring openers for Melbourne Renegades to come back, causing commotion (7)
TURMOIL: Roman numerals for 51 + “out” from the clue inspiring/containing M[elbourne] R[enegades], all reversed.
27a This could cause row during hoedown? (4,5)
LINE DANCE: Cryptic definition. Very straightforward, as long as you pronounce “row” correctly.
28a Label felt itchy – trousers returned (5)
TITLE: Lurker, reversed in the second and third words.
29a Focus of Tyson Fury’s father (4)
SIRE: [ty]S[on] + fury/anger.
30a 22 terms for the extra bed on landlord’s business stationery (10)
LETTERHEAD: Abbreviation for 22a + last letters/terms of [th]E [extr]A [be]D on/after “landlord” (relating to property, not pub).
Down
1d Shock as bar mitzvah’s beginning to break up (4)
BUMP: M[itzvah] inside/breaking bar/inn, reversed (up). “Shock” as in “jolt”.
2d Record collector‘s prime current pop in a single shed (9)
ARCHIVIST: Prime/chief + (electric) “current” + (to) “pop in”, minus one of its two “single”s.
3d Exchange & Mart’s front page dropped in bog (5)
SWAMP: Exchange/trade + M[art], with the first synonym’s P[age] dropped (to the bottom).
4d Irregularity as Mona Lisa is missing, suspect unknown (7)
ANOMALY: MONAL[IS]A, suspect, + one of the usual “unknown”s.
5d Sauce boat at a higher price (7)
KETCHUP: (Two-masted) “boat” + at a higher price/raised.
7d With Camilla’s backing, regularly tells King to roll joint (5)
ANKLE: [Camill]A + [t]E[l]L[s]K[i]N[g], rolled/reversed.
8d South African receiving tips for North Korean police raid in graphic novel (10)
BONKBUSTER: South African (of Dutch descent) receives/contains N[orth] K[orean] + “police raid”. Lovely Lego and definition.
11d Group of actors supporting school recording, say (7)
PODCAST: Group of actors/ensemble supporting/after school (of whales, etc).
14d Where leagues gathered Dalglish left United flailing (10)
GUILDHALLS: DALGLISHLU, flailing.
16d In middle of his cover of Norah Jones, a singer filled his lungs? (7)
INHALED: [h]I[s] + N[ora]H + Jones, a singer (not Tom!).
18d McCartney on film in French and English reveals Sgt. Pepper costume detail? (9)
EPAULETTE: McCartney (not Linda or Stella, etc) on/+ the famous two-letter film, all in(side) “and” (in French) + abbreviated “English”.
20d Fool with live switches around phone network – it’s on in the day (7)
MATINEE: Fool/twerp and verbal “live” (first person) reversed (switches around) + two-letter (mobile) phone network.
21d Impassioned, deserve shocking treatment (7)
EARNEST: Deserve/merit + (electric) shock[ing] treatment.
23d Singer‘s note in audition (5)
TENOR: Homophone of (bank) note.
25d Excessive drug user’s last one to sleep in raft? (5)
OTTER: Excessive/extreme + the usual “drug” + [use]R.
26d Metal cable (4)
LEAD: Double definition.
We’ve got five anagrams, plus cryptic definition, double, acrostic and lurker, etc. I especially enjoyed (where to begin?) 10a, 13a, 16d, 18d and 25d. Hopefully, at least a few of you found the time for this. Festive wishes to all – see you next year!
Just the job before peeling the sprouts. Very witty clues but considerably more than 1* tough for me.
Favourites were the {South} Yorkshire reverse homophone at 10a, the Raleigh anorak at 13a and the devious construction at 18d. Sea otters’ sleeping arrangements were new to me but Google found some lovely pictures, so that’s a bonus.
Thanks to Django & ALP and Merry Christmas to all.
A friendly Toughie just right for a busy day, although I’m sure ours isn’t as busy as other people’s – the highlight of the day so far is a video chat with our almost one year old twin grandsons, not an awful lot of chat but some lovely waving
Thanks to Django for our Christmas entertainment and to ALP for the blig
I needed help with a couple but otherwise it was an enjoyable solve. I liked Tyson Fury’s father once I understood it – a neat clue. I also thought the Sgt Pepper costume detail was a well constructed clue as it worked McCartney into it. My COTT is the group of actors supporting the school at 11d.
Thank you, Django for a fun puzzle. Thank you, ALP for the hints. Merry Christmas to you both.
I went onto the DT puzzle website to see if there was an Elgar Double Toughie lurking. No such luck (not sure that ‘luck’ is the right word?), but spotted this delightful (and much less intimidating) Toughie from Django. My enjoyment is evidenced by the number of ticks, which went to 10a, both ‘double-crossers’ – 15/17 & 19/21 – plus 3d, 7d, 8d &16d. I have been lucky enough to observe such a ‘raft’ as in 25d – so lovely! As well as the ticks on the printout, I had annotated a question mark beside ‘Raleigh’, which ALP has explained. I hadn’t needed a geographical indicator as I lived the US for four years in the 1980’s, and the terminology has anyway become somewhat global – but the indicator makes the clue precise, as one (or at least RD) would expect from Django.
Thanks to Django for a lovely Christmas present, and to ALP for his review. If anyone comes across the Elgar Double Toughie for this festive season, please reply to this comment so I can spend a few days bashing my head against a brick wall…
I believe that Camilla and Jilly Cooper, the author of many an 8d, were friends, so 7/8d seemed very apt Djangoesue surfaces.
18d was another on my podium.
Thanks to Django and ALP, whose music I will add to my playlist, whilst Mama Bee watches ancient Morecambe and Wise.
Fitted this in before and after cooking the Christmas dinner. Before resulted in a shortfall of 7 or 8 answers, but after I managed a couple more but resorted to ALPs hints for 1a and 19a, whence the rest fell into place. Still needed the hints to understand the parsing for 6a and 13a, as I hadn’t heard the expression before, and for 10a which having lived in Yorkshire for 3 years, I should have twigged.
Thanks to Django and ALP for keeping me occupied.
Too much turkey & bit too much red wine so it’s bedfordshire for me. Just popped in to say what a super puzzle this was – the full 5* enjoyment here too. Lots of great clues but the graphic novel stole the show for me.
Thanks to Django for his consistently entertaining puzzles throughout the year & to ALP for his reviews & introducing me to plenty of new music.
Great fun from Django – thanks to him and to ALP for the review.
The collective noun for sea otters (25d) was new to me.
Top clues for me were 1a, 10a, 3d and 18d.
Thanks ALP and thanks all.
Seasons greetings.
Many thanks for popping in – tremendous Christmas fun.