Toughie No 3627 by Django
Hints and tips by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment ****
I always enjoy a Django: fun definitions and smart wordplay. Very gentle from him today, kicking off with a straight-in Spooner that rather set the tone. No bad thing – I’ve long suspected that setting a gentle but entertaining puzzle is even harder than setting a tough one. Over to you.
Across
1a Spooner’s married someone who detests restaurant employee (4,6)
HEAD WAITER: Synonyms of “married” and “someone who detests”, Spoonerised.
9a My turn – be quiet (4)
GOSH: Turn (board games, say) + “be quiet” as an interjection.
10a Sports event: Attack! Attack! Attack! (6,4)
TRIPLE JUMP: Attack/ambush, thrice.
11a European flower festival (6)
EASTER: Abbreviated European + daisy-like flower.
12a Vegetable peeler – initially a right bargain (7)
PARSNIP: P[eeler] + ‘A’ + abbreviated “right” + bargain/steal.
15a Home following work assuming this might cover fare? (7)
TINFOIL: The usual “home” + abbreviated “following”, with work/labour assuming/containing the lot.
16a/19a Restlessness of one stuck in taxi in middle of Salford at any time (5,5)
CABIN FEVER: “Taxi” + “IN” + [Sal]F[ord] + “at any time”.
17a Complete standing order (4)
RANK: Triple definition – adjective plus two nouns. I did briefly consider the second as an adjective since the last two, as nouns, are rather similar. “Standing” water could indeed be ****. But no, that wouldn’t quite work for me.
18a Opening of rifle range outside Indian city (4)
AGRA: R[ifle] with range/cooker outside/containing (it).
19a See 16a
21a Like a picnic perhaps and love bird song (4-3)
OPEN-AIR: The usual one-letter “love” + “bird” (swan) + song/tune.
22a Fling cream on bananas (7)
ROMANCE: CREAMON, bananas.
24a Roughly speaking, where to find blood pressure result? (4-2)
CAVE-IN: Roughly speaking/about + where blood is (found, bodily).
27a 22 with quarter trying here? (10)
COURTHOUSE: Verbal synonym of 22a + quarter/accommodate.
28a F clef, for musically adept in just seconds (4)
LOUD: Second letters.
29a Perhaps Palladium act’s first line is simple (10)
ELEMENTARY: What “palladium” is an example of (in the periodic table) + A[ct] + line (trains).
Down
2d Win vase on the radio (4)
EARN: Homophone of “vase”.
3d More than one Arsenal star – but not Seaman – drank to excess in retirement (6)
DEPOTS: S[tar] (without seaman) + drank to excess/boozed, all reversed.
4d After race riots, writer is bitter (7)
ACERBIC: RACE, rioting, plus writer (brand of pen).
5d Heavy hearts borne by corporation during recession (4)
THUG: Abbreviated “hearts” borne by/contained in corporation/stomach, reversed.
6d Ground 21 striking aircrew at the outset without Delta getting involved (5,2)
ROPED IN: Anagram of 21a, without A[ircrew] and containing (without) D[elta].
7d Instrument Maroon 5 played (5,5)
MOUTH ORGAN: MAROON+5d, played.
8d Admiral’s head over heels about rest of crew? (5,5)
SHORE LEAVE: A[dmiral]+OVERHEELS, about. Lovely definition.
12d Left old football club completely – making packet stops here? (4,2,4)
PORT OF CALL: “Left” (nautical) + abbreviations for “old” and “football club”, plus “completely”.
13d Embarrassed over North American broadcast of easy 5-0 against us in rally (10)
RENDEZVOUS: “Embarrassed” over/containing N[orth] + US-spelled homophone of “easy” + “five” + “zero” + “us”.
14d/15d Telegraph say golf-wise, Woods is one that looks powerful but isn’t (5,5)
PAPER TIGER: (The) “Telegraph” by example + golfer Woods.
15d See 14d
19d Intended sponsor wants a new base (7)
FIANCÉE: Sponsor/back, without/wanting one of its two N[ews], plus “base” (maths).
20d Snub The Sun – possibly after rejecting Gold Award (7)
ROSETTE: “the sun” (by example) minus its last letter (snubbed), follows an abbreviation of “gold”, reversed/rejected.
23d Max‘s air ball kicked out onto street (2,4)
AT MOST: 10-letter “air” minus its six-letter “ball” + abbreviated “street”.
25d Amalgamate terms to spoof portmanteau words, maybe (4)
FUSE: Last letters (“terms to”).
26d Emperor‘s roast duck dropped on the counter (4)
TSAR: “Roast” from the clue minus cricket’s “duck” reversed (on the counter).
We’ve got four anagrams, two homophones, a triple definition and a Spooner. I especially enjoyed 1a’s smoothness and 8d’s definition but 3d’s surface takes it for me. How did you get on?
PS … I’m sure we’re all sending virtual grapes to Jane. She certainly won’t want one of my compilation tapes but here’s a tune anyway!
Gentle for a Thursday Toughie but very entertaining as usual. My favourite clue was 10a – I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite like that before
Many thanks to Django and ALP
Excellent and entertaining. Not too tricky, although a couple held me up on the left side, namely 28a ( I kicked myself when I finally spotted it) and my last in, 13d.
My top three were 24a, 8d and 26d (it made me smile)
Many thanks to Django and to ALP.
Are the Toughies rated on the same scale as the regular crossword as I can’t see how anyone could find this 2-3 *s easier than today’s regular?
Hi Mark, it is, of course, subjective, but I certainly apply slightly different criteria. The Thursday Toughie is, after all, generally the second toughest of the Telegraph’s regular crosswords. So, in that light, I felt this was (delightfully) gentle.
Thanks for the reply and that makes sense. Of course it’s all subjective, personally I found this a bit trickier than usual and fell a few clues short of finishing, maybe my brain wasn’t quite there today!
They have to be rated differently as otherwise the Toughie wouldn’t be a Toughie.
I believe the idea is that the ‘easiest’ 1* Toughie is supposed to take about the same time to solve as a 5* Friday backpager, although that was in the days when the difficulty level of backpagers increased as the week went on, which now isn’t always the case
Thanks, for the confirmation.
Terrific entertainment from Django today – thanks to him and ALP.
I have a raft of ticks on my printout including 15a, 16/19a, 24a and 19d with my favourite being the clever 3d.
What a treat, it’s always a pleasure to see Django’s name above a toughie. I thought at one stage a pangram was on the cards too, but we’ve fallen a couple short.
So many clues 2d 20ds, it’s hard to 17a them.
The fare covering at 15a, the instrument played in 7d and the ball kicked out in 23d were right up there, but best of all was 3d, which brought to mind a team as invincible on the pitch as it was in the bar afterwards.
Brilliant.
My thanks to Django (so good I’ve named him twice) and ALP for the blog.
Yep, a real treat. Beautifully smooth, witty – what’s not to like. I loved the clever disguises: pressure result, rest of crew, [making] packet stops here, more than one Arsenal [oh please no]. Despite the disturbing prospect of 3d I’ll give it a star, along with 16/19a and the neat little 26d.
Thanks to Django and ALP [pedant’s corner – you need to extend the underline of 16/19 to highlight the full excellence of the definition].
Well, I certainly found this more than 1☆ tough… I thought I was cracking on until I simply couldn’t complete the SE – I was certain that 27a was Crown Court, a crown once being a quarter of a £… and of course that meant I couldn’t solve 20, 25 and 26 down….
I also went astray with 3d, thinking Diplos was a clever reversal of an Arsenal star and just guessing the rest…
So many thanks to ALP for the solutions and to Django for an enjoyable (even though I found it tough) diversion…
Though I agree this wasn’t overly testing I still found it trickier than others clearly did. 3 clues considerably extended the grid fill (a deal of crumpet scratching) so they can have the podium – 3d, 10a & 13d.
As ever lots to like (16/19a + 14/15d two other ticks) & a thoroughly enjoyable solve.
Thanks to Django & to ALP
Ps the broadcast element of 13d reminded of Peter Greenaway explaining that his film A Zed & Two Noughts did poorly over the pond because they didn’t register zoo.
A level above my Toughie pay grade and I needed ALP’s hints to point me in the right direction to complete the final 3 in the lower half. Still trying to understand where the Sun fits into 20d? 23d is clever, but eliminating 6 letters from a 10 letter word is too much of a disguise in my book. 24a was the LOI but kicking myself for not getting it. Otherwise there was plenty to enjoy and 8d bought the biggest smile.
.
3*/3* on my subjective grading system.
Hey ho, I suppose this is where I belong on my Toughie journey
Hi Dave. It’s the sun as opposed to The Sun (false caps) and what it is – specifically what it does once a day – by example. Hope that helps!
Great fun all through. 3d is a brilliantly clever clue. Thanks Django, and thanks also to ALP
I found this a tad harder than most particularly in the SW. 24a was a bung in. Favourite was 3d. Thanks to Django and ALP.
Thanks ALP and thanks all.
Ta lots for popping in. Yet another belter.
10a Tora! Tora! Tora!
I almost got there, but needed ALP’s help for the last couple (24a with the blood pressure, which then became one of my favourites, and the 17a triple-definition), as well as explaining 3d. Then I ran out of lunchbreak for commenting yesterday. Mid-solve I was surprised at only have highlighted one clue, but I needn’t’ve worried: the best clues were the ones that required the most work, which makes getting them more satisfying, and I had the expected long shortlist at the end:
7d for its cleverness and needing not only for another specific answer to appear in the grid but for that answer to be at 5 (and for the grid not to have both a 5a and 5d); 15a covering the fare; 18a rifle range; 28a for F, which took me far too long; 8d rest of crew; and the 23d ball kicked. Thank you to Django for the entertainment and the challenge.
And thanks to ALP for the hints. Using that Mumfords title for the restaurant employee made me laugh. I’ve heard their new single on the radio a couple of times; it appears to be called ‘Banjo Song’, which feels like they got a toddler to name it!
PS: Make that 3 times — the banjo started up within second of my pressing post!
2*/4* …
liked 17A “Complete standing order (4) “