Toughie No 3613 by Dada
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Happy New Year from Neston! The weather has turned, and the snow and ice are gradually being washed away. A shame, as both Lord Alfie and I (especially the former!) enjoy early morning strolls on crisp snow. On the plus side, looking for the short-eared and barn owls at the Old Baths won’t feel quite so much like a cryogenic experience.
Dada’s puzzle today has provided something of a jolt after the Festive period. It took a while before I started to get onto the right sort of wavelength. There are plenty of inventive, lesser-spotted pieces of word play, but all very fair. I’ve given my prizes today to 1a, 11a, 19d and 21d. Thank you, Dada, for effecting a thorough clean-out of the mental cobwebs.
Please let us know how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle
Across Clues
1 Censor performance by cardinal (6)
REDACT A three-letter performance follows the colour of eg Cardinal’s robes
4 Something like a tablet best served with drink (6)
LAPTOP A synonym of “drink” as a verb is followed by the position you are in in a league table if you are the best
8 Confront attacker, dinosaur winning! (6,2)
SQUARE UP A synonym of “dinosaur” or someone having unfashionable views followed by a synonym of “winning”
10 Appear shaky in summer? (6)
TOTTER A double definition, the second being arithmetic rather than seasonal
11 Sweet William in two beds (4)
MINT This sweet is lurking (beds) amongst “William in two”
12 African seen in a tizzy after drinking, for instance, pub offerings (10)
SENEGALESE An anagram (in a tizzy) of “Seen” surrounds (after drinking) the letters meaning “for instance” and traditional British beverages available in pubs.
13 Wild things, Con-dor and Lab-rador, might you say? (5,7)
PARTY ANIMALS A charade of what “Con” and Lab” are examples of, followed by what “Condor” and “Labrador” are both examples of, hence the “might you say”. This is harder to explain in writing than to solve!
16 Mean task at the deli counter? (12)
CHEESEPARING This could be seen as a double definition, with the second sense being an activity that could be carried out on a class of dairy product
20 Tedious, might one be rambling? (10)
PEDESTRIAN A double definition
21 One unseen with hand in puppet (4)
PAWN A synonym of “hand” followed by “in” from the clue, from which the letter that resembles “One” is removed (unseen)
22 Force confession from model, enthralling maiden (6)
IMPOSE A (1,4) statement that someone who models might describe (ie confess) what they do into which is inserted the abbreviation for “maiden”
23 Hot apricot in a stew gets left (8)
TROPICAL An anagram (in a stew) of “apricot” followed by the letter indicating “left”
24 Peg fed rotten sweet (6)
TOFFEE Take a type of peg used in golf and insert (fed) a synonym of “rotten”
25 A-list jerks embracing new fix (6)
INSTAL An anagram (jerks) of “A-list” surrounds (embracing) the letter indicating “new”
Down Clues
1 Actual banks went for compensation (8)
REQUITAL Insert a for meaning “went” (or resigned) into (banks) a synonym of “Actual” (or tangible)
2 King invested in vacuous plan (5)
DRAFT Take a synonym of “vacuous” in the sense of lacking intelligence and Insert (invested in) a letter used to indicate “king”
3 Brew cups instead for team (7)
CHELSEA One of the names for a drink made by brewing leaves surrounds (cups) a s synonym of “instead”
5 Hostile to Gaul, oddly, a Caribbean island (7)
ANTIGUA An expression meaning “hostile to” followed by the first and third letters (oddly) of “Gaul” and then “a” from the clue
6 Calculator provided when Aristotle messed up! (9)
TOTALISER An anagram (messed up) of “Aristotle”
7 Cheer penny put on rent (6)
PLEASE The letter for “penny” precedes (“put on” in a down clue) a synonym of “rent” (or hire)
9 Isn’t prickle irritating in tight garment! (6,5)
PENCIL SKIRT An anagram (irritating) of “Isn’t prickle”
14 Listed row covering deck awfully old (6,3)
TICKED OFF A A four-letter “row” (or disagreement) surrounds (covering) an anagram (awfully) of “deck” and the letter indicating “old”. This is something birders, and especially twitchers, are very familiar with
15 Mushroom cocktail! (8)
SNOWBALL A double definition
17 Draconian measures originally cutting old oak, say? (7)
EXTREME The initial letter (originally) of “measures” is inserted (cutting) into how you might (2-4) describe something that was formally an oak
18 Game taking place also in outskirts of Preston (7)
PONTOON Insert (in) a two-letter word meaning “taking place” and a synonym of “also” into the first and last letters (outskirts) of “Preston”
19 License what one might do with straight hair? (6)
PERMIT This “licence” split (4,2) describes something you may do if you don’t want straight hair
21 Particular sink at home’s blocked (5)
POINT Where you are if you are “at home” is inserted (blocked) into a synonym of “sink” in the context of what you do in eg snooker.
This floughie was fun whilst it lasted. 21a gets my vote.
Thanks to Whybird and Dada.
A very enjoyable offering from Dada, amusing and entertaining, just right for the first toughie of the week.
My COTD is 16a, a fine word I remembered from decades ago in a crossword.
13a though, contains more than enough of the first part of the word!
Great fun, my thanks to Dada and Whybird.
Great fun – thanks to Dada and Whybird.
My podium choices are 13a, 21a and 21d.
A very approachable toughie for a tyro toughie solver like me. I had to reverse engineer a couple where I had the answer, but the parsing took a bit of extra thought. I haven’t seen 16a used in any context for many a year and was a candidate for cotd but in the end 1d gets the vote. Thanks to Dada and Whybird.
Spent far too long trying to fit ‘hyphen’ or ‘dash’ into 13a – use your eyes girl! No particular problems elsewhere, just a pause to sort out the wretched football teams…. Plenty of ticks for a fun puzzle and I gave podium places to 4&13a plus 15d which I remember quite liking in the days before I was legally allowed to drink alcohol.
Thanks to Dada and to Whybird for the review – couple of new birds for me today – sorted out the one at 12a but who lives in the ‘apricot’?
Hi Jane, that’s a 23a-al Kingbird. Dada made me work hard for the avian content today!
Thanks Whybird – I would have expected him to look rather more regal with a name like that. Was your owl hunt successful?
They’re not that exotic, but they do have the advantage of being very easy to see if you’re in the right part of the world!
I was looking for the owls a couple of days ago, when it was full-on Brassic! I didn’t go down there tonight, although I’m hopeful Lord Alfie will let me go looking for the local Tawny tomorrow, first thing.
Spot on for a Tuesday Toughie & very enjoyable indeed. 13a was my clear fav ahead of the great word at 16a with a host of ticks elsewhere – 8&21a along with 1,18&21d other particular likes.
Thanks to Dada & Whybird – 1a is a bobby-dazzler.
An interesting choice of camouflage for a bird that is usually surrounded by greenery!
A good start to the week – about right for Tuesday. I liked the inventive 13a, 22a and 21d but thought the “with” in 21a was a bit clunky.
Thanks to Dada and Whybird.
This was anything but straightforward for me and took a lot of sorting out but I got there in the end. The ‘Y’ in 23awas a bung in. Wrong wavelength I suppose. Favourite was 12a but in fairness it could have been a few others. Thanks to Dada and Whybird.
Good fun with lots of chuckles. Biggest one was for 13a so that gets our vote for favourite.
Thanks Dada and Whybird.
Probably my best Toughie yet, although I see it described as a Floughie by some.
Needed the hint for the first part of 13a, which is my favourite, and the parsing explained for 21a. Otherwise finished unscathed, although I did spend rather a long time trying to find an anagram for “might one be” at 20a; very tedious.
Thank you Dada and Whybird
Definitely not a Floughie in my book!
I found some of this a little tricky, however it was a very enjoyable puzzle.
I would have awarded 13a the gold medal if it wasn’t for the inclusion of 3d (which I am sure Terence would have opted for as well).
Many thanks to Dada and to Whybird.
Hmm, quite a contrast in style and difficulty with today’s back pager, but it fell into place without too much difficulty after a few minutes of thinking it might be beyond me/I might suffer the inward indignity of failing to finish. Lots of amusing and clever cluing but I agree with others that the superb 13a is in a class of its own. 1d was a new/forgotten word and I had to pluck 16a from a dark recess in my mind. Thanks very much to Dada and to Whybird.
My New Year’s resolution was to venture more regularly into Toughieland, and I really enjoyed this beauty from Dada. VMT also to Whybird.
3* / 3.5* as a Toughie toe dipper I certainly wouldn’t class this as a Floughie. Hadn’t heard of 16a, but like the word. For favourites I’ll go for the wild things at 13a and the little lurker at 11a (took way too long to see it)
Many thanks to Setter and Whybird
Ps Very enjoyable
2*/3* …
liked 20A “Tedious, might one be rambling? (10)”