Toughie No 3626 by Prime
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A perfect middle of the week Toughie, with lots to mislead the solver. I found the top half a lot friendlier than the bottom and was left with one clue where the solution was obvious, but the parsing eluded me for quite some time.
Please let us know what you thought
Across
1a Excerpt from FIFA in the art editorial showing cowardice (5-7)
FAINT-HEARTED Hidden in an except of fiFA IN THE ART EDitorial
8a City no longer probing source of chocolate liqueur (7)
CURACAO A city in Ancient Mesopotamia, mostly found in crosswords these days, ‘probing’ edible seeds from which chocolate and cocoa are made
9a Symbolic system upset, say, City supporter (7)
ALGEBRA Reverse (upset) the abbreviation meaning for example, say, and an abbreviated West Coast American city and follow with something that supports part of a female body
11a Addis Ababa teacher at first mishandled someone abandoning tradition (7)
DADAIST An anagram (mishandled) of ADDIS and the first letters of Ababa and Teacher
12a Hit Star Wars character is a fish (7)
LAMPREY A slang verb meaning to hit or punch and a character from Star Wars – I knew the fish and the verb so just had to confirm that there was a character with this name
13a One wearing chain mail, half-cut Rovers player in a spin (5)
MAYOR The first half of MAil and a reversal of a comic strip footballer who played for the [Melchester] Rovers
14a Self-inflicted error, having published entertaining joke that’s spicy (5,4)
ROGAN JOSH An abbreviated self-inflicted error ‘entertained’ by part of a verb meaning, amongst many other things, having published; a slang verb meaning to joke or tease
16a Jaguar backing what goes over wheel, for example (9)
ARCHETYPE A well-known Jaguar car model goes after (backing) part of the car that goes over a wheel
19a What’s more or less encapsulated by “soft nut“? (5)
PECAN The musical abbreviation meaning to play softly, and the Latin abbreviation for about (more or less), the latter inserted into (encapsulated by) a printing measurement equal to half an em, also known as a ‘nut’
21a Boy whose fortunes changed after originally dropping racket (7)
ALADDIN In the manner of (after, 1,2), the original letter of Dropping and a racket or loud noise
23a What happens when In the Bleak Midwinter immediately interrupts carol (7)
SNOWING A synonym for immediately inserted into (interrupts) a verb meaning to carol
24a One way to reverse mood – McDonalds? (5-2)
DRIVE-IN Reverse the Roman numeral for one and an abbreviated way and follow with a mood or humour
25a Problem turned round by your correspondent, south-east Asian (7)
BURMESE A reversed (turned round) of a problem or difficulty, how our setter would refer to himself, and the abbreviation for South East
26a Writer possibly warm, as pen repeatedly brandished (12)
NEWSPAPERMAN An anagram (brandished) of WARM AS PEN PEN (repeatedly telling you to use two lots of PEN)
Down
1d Daughter replaces wife in distant unit (7)
FARADAY Replace the abbreviation for Wife in an adjective meaning distance with the abbreviation for Daughter
2d Current row about Switzerland is increasingly irritating (7)
ITCHIER The symbol for electrical current and a row or layer, the latter going about the IVR Code for Switzerland
3d Toy towers rebuilt as many houses (3-6)
TWO-STOREY An anagram (rebuilt) of TOY TOWERS
4d Communication area within cycling distance (5)
EMAIL Cycle the last letter of a distance to the front of the word and insert the abbreviation for Area
5d Government in Middle East overrun by nation in uprising (7)
REGIMEN The abbreviation for Middle East inserted into (overrun by) a reversed (in uprising) West African nation
6d Where to buy drinks pass after Maine brought back Prohibition (7)
EMBARGO Somewhere to buy drinks and a verb meaning to pass follow a reversal (brought back) of the abbreviation for the US State of Maine
7d A rebel Lord with a local area prize for playing the part? (7,5)
ACADEMY AWARD A (from the clue), the leader of a rebellion against the government of Henry VI in 150, an interjection expressing surprise (lord), A (from the clue) and a division of a county (local area)
10d Playing hog in NY stage musical (8,4)
ANYTHING GOES An anagram (playing) of HOG IN NY STAGE
15d Bagel uses spread, not impossible to get (9)
GUESSABLE An anagram (spread) of BAGEL USES
17d Fine cup of tea with unwanted visitors (7)
CHALICE Another word for tea and some unwanted visitors, the name of which always makes my head feel 2d!
18d Interminable, as week is compared to Saturday and Sunday (7)
ENDLESS If you omit Saturday and Sunday from the days of the week, it could be described literally as interminable
19d Word perhaps for chickpea, rather rarely (7)
PROGRAM For or in favour of and another name for the chickpea, more often used these days to refer to the flour made from these pulses
20d Agree, chapter one’s supported by article in Bild (5,2)
CHIME IN The abbreviation for chapter, how our setter might say one is, followed by the German (as seen in the publication Bild) masculine indefinite article
22d Benjamin ordered to cede MBE after training spy (5)
NINJA I always thought these warriors were assassins but apparently they were spies too. An anagram (ordered) of beNJAmIN without (to cede) the letters MBE (after training telling you that they aren’t found in that order)
Some very clever touches with typically sharp GK – 12a’s “Star Wars character” and 7d’s “rebel” (a four-letter person, no?)
19a’s clever. I have to say I parsed it differently, seeing it as an all-in-one using the printer’s “nut”. 21a’s “after” is cute and 6d reads well. 18d’s wordplay is fun too. The one thing I didn’t quite get was the need for 19d’s “rather rarely”. Great fun. Best thanks to Prime and Sue.
You’ve cracked 7d for me. I feel the hint above doesn’t account for the ‘e’ but you led me to Google it and find an obscure (to me) bit of historical knowledge!
What an odd crossword. The clues were excellent and straightforward so filling the grid was easy but then several needed a great deal of why???time. I puzzled long and hard over 24a and 19d, eventually coming to the same conclusion as Sue, but in 19a I think the “more or less ” [2 letters] is encapsulated by “soft” [1 letter] and then a typesetters “nut” [2 letters].
Good fun overall
Thanks to Prime and C Sue.
I wondered about the printing term and then for some mad reason talked myself out of it. I have corrected the hint
Very entertaining and quite tricky with a few clues where the solution leapt out from the checkers but the wordplay needed to be prised out before the answer could be committed to paper. Many thanks to Prime and CS.
I had to verify the Star Wars character.
As ALP says the 7d rebel was a 15th century chap who led a rebellion against the government.
The clues getting ticks from me were 13a, 19a, 21a and 7d.
I also had difficulty with 19a as I wasn’t aware the typeset measurement had another name. The chickpea synonym in 19d was also new and I’ve learnt a bit about the Kentish rebel referred to in 7d.
The half-cut Rovers player in 13a was an amusing deception, can’t say as I ever recall good old Roy getting on the lash.
The Jaguar in 16a and the louse-ridden cup of Rosie in 17d also got ticks.
Top stuff, my thanks to Prime and CS.
A steady plod got me there, but I needed Sue’s hints to explain the parsing of 19a and for 14a I am still none the wiser for the derivation of the first part? For 7d i came to the same(?) conclusion as CS, but it leaves an ‘E’ missing, so thanks to ALP/Gazza for the correction. Also I needed to apprise myself of the Star War character.
Overall, this was a Toughie at my level, but come Friday I’m sure that I’ll come down to earth.
Thanks to Prime and crypticsue
3*/3*
Being a football man, CD, think of an ‘oggie’ for the first part of 14a.
Ah, finally got it, thanks
Thanks Frankie, got it now. My team, CP, seem to only be scoring them at the moment!!!
Well my Toughie streak is now up to an all time record of two days. Entertaining stuff too, with favourites including 16a, as a sometime enthusiast of the marque, and 14a for the clever wordplay. Thanks very much to Prime and to Cryptic Sue for helping me with some retrospective parsing, e.g. for 7d. I shall now employ the usual online source to learn more about Jack. I’m guessing it didn’t end well for him…
Agree totally that a grid fill was relatively straightforward but parsing was a completely different ball game. On this we were beaten finally by the finer points of 7d and 19a.
Thanks Prime and CS.
But you’ve got bragging rights for life for cracking Kcit’s “Oppo site”!
A reasonably straightforward grid fill but sorting out the whys proved considerably more of a challenge. Having never seen (&no wish to) any of the Star Wars films the character needed a post solve check & though I got the wordplay elements I didn’t really twig that the whole thing needed underlining as the def at 19a. Am embarrassed to admit that furry friends were the first thought for the unwanted visitors & also needed the review to explain the chickpea bit of 19d + the rebel lord at 7d.
Very much enjoyed the solve. 14a my pick of clues.
Thanks to Prime & to Sue
I preferred the parsing for 19ac to have P (piano) with CA (circa) capsulated in EN, and a simple nut as the definition
I don’t think that I’ll be contravening any solving time rules by saying that this took me – on and off, into a second day to complete. For me this was a new ‘adventure’ into solving as many of the clues were worded quite differently to the way most of the puzzles I solve are. That all said, I have to say how enjoyable this Prime puzzle was, with plenty of head scratching and lots of chuckle moments last evening and again this morning. Among my “LOL moments” I would include 9a, 23a, 24a, and quite probably a few more besides. 14a was a real b***er.
Thank yous to Prime and CSue (some of your parsings were indeed required)