Toughie No 3636 by Osmosis
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
A typical Osmosis offering containing lots of clever wordplay which I enjoyed. Getting 6d and all the 3-letter answers early gave me a good start. 23a took me longest to parse.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
6a Film the Rocket perhaps snooker’s supremo managing plant? (13)
TRAINSPOTTING: assemble what the Rocket was a famous example of in the 19th century, the top letter of supremo and managing a (flowering) plant.
8a Consistent pub decline reported (2,4)
IN SYNC: homophones of pub and decline.
9a Soldiers admitting relative medical support (8)
ORTHOSIS: string together the abbreviation for rank-and-file soldiers, a shortened form of a preposition meaning admitting or ‘granted that’ and an abbreviated relative.
10a In fruit (3)
HIP: double definition.
11a Cups held by handles regularly wear down (6)
ABRADE: a garment having cups is contained in regular letters of ‘handles’.
12a Butcher’s working wife latterly in insurance (4-4)
ONCE OVER: an adverb meaning working and the last letter of wife inside a synonym of insurance.
14a Tone of vacuous anger in one that’s got the hump? (7)
CARAMEL: the outer letters of anger inside something with a hump (or two?).
16a Bond villain caught in trap (7)
CONNECT: an abbreviated villain or criminal then the cricket ‘caught’ inside a verb to trap.
20a Broadcaster’s introducing Top Gear, say, and Panorama? (8)
SKYSCAPE: a TV broadcaster with its ‘S precedes an example of outerwear.
23a Show believer in Clay knocking out Charlie (6)
CIRCUS: the forename of the one-time Mr Clay with a believer belonging to a Christian denomination inserted and the word for a Charlie or twerp removed.
24a Maybe Braun shaver nicks back (3)
EVA: hidden in reverse.
25a Recoiling, discourage behaviour of male built like a tank? (8)
TURRETED: stick together a verb to discourage and the excited behaviour of some male mammals then reverse it all.
26a Moggy enters animal home miles away (6)
SCATTY: a moggy enters the home of another animal.
27a Peacenik’s ideal rock band conserving environment (3,5,5)
NEW WORLD ORDER: an English rock band founded in Manchester (new to me) contains a synonym of environment or what’s around us.
Down Clues
1d Brit artists screened by filmmaker, South American resident (8)
CAPYBARA: an abbreviation for up-and-coming British artists of the 1980s and 1990s is contained inside the surname of famous filmmaker Frank. The abbreviation is not in Chambers and Collins has it meaning just a single artist.
2d Dutch place new school within feeder, removing perimeter (8)
ENSCHEDE: abbreviations for new and school go inside the inner letters of feeder.
3d Suitable American sports team member huge (7)
APROPOS: concatenate an abbreviation for American, a rugby forward and an abbreviation meaning huge.
4d Fixed small loft (area falling) (6)
STATIC: the abbreviation for small and another word for a loft with the abbreviation for area moved down a bit.
5d One of Mr Kipling’s to enjoy periodically becomes a habit (6)
KIMONO: Mr Kipling is not the cake-maker but the novelist and poet. The title of his most famous poem precedes regular letters from ‘to enjoy’.
6d Spinner‘s not boosted variable mill town (4,9)
TONY BLACKBURN: reverse NOT and add a mathematical variable and the name of a Lancashire mill town.
7d One measures grand mountain opposite (6,7)
GEIGER COUNTER: rivet together the abbreviation for grand, a Swiss mountain and a synonym of opposite or conflicting.
13d Electronics new to poet, still (3)
EEN: abbreviations for electronic (twice) and new.
15d Uplifting river Wear (3)
MAC: reverse an East Anglian river.
17d Defaced shoe crossing over grounds (8)
OCCASION: a soft leather shoe without its first letter contains the cricket abbreviation for over.
18d House joiner banks on machinery (8)
NORMANDY: a joiner or conjunction and the outer letters of machinery (1,3,1).
19d Visit student during homework, perhaps in a bad way (7)
SEEDILY: a verb to visit precedes the abbreviation for work in the home without employing a professional into which our usual student is inserted.
21d Spitz’s activity maybe chasing lead in Sid’s hand (6)
SCRAWL: one of the strokes in which Mark Spitz specialised follows the leading letter of Sid.
22d Suit one sports somewhere in West London (6)
ACTION: the Roman one is contained in a town in West London.
Top clues for me were 12a, 25a and 5d. Which one(s) earned your approbation?
This was a decent challenge for a Friday Toughie slot, with some awkward parsing that slowed up my solving time. Plenty to enjoy, though, with 5d my runaway favourite.
Many thanks to Osmosis and Gazza.
Perseverance paid off with this approachable Friday Toughie, unlike my usual abysmal tussle with Elgar. Whilst not totally unaided, I ended up with 4 in the SE which required electronic assistance, but completed before confirming with Gazza and grateful for his explanation of 23a. Spent too long trying to make a misdirected Mr Kipling edible product fit 5d, until I had the last letter. I’ve never heard of the band at 27a but parsed it from the checkers; maybe they didn’t get south of the Watford Gap?
All in all a pleasure to complete with 6d being my favourite.
Thank you Osmosis and Gazza
4*/4*
The SE was the really tough part for me and whilst I eventually accepted 23a I failed completely to parse it. Some great clues, especially 12a [Butcher’s]1d [the Brit artists] 5d [obvs] and the homework at 19d.
Thanks to Osmosis and Gazza [esp for parsing 23]
This setter usually beyond me (therefore rarely bother) so chuffed to have completed the grid without a letter reveal. Mr G was called into service to confirm a few things – the 1d artists, the Dutch city & the medical support – but otherwise unaided. Getting the 4 long ‘uns in reasonably quickly encouraged me to press on & glad that I did as thoroughly enjoyed the tussle. All parsed bar 23a which was a pity – knew his original forename part of it but didn’t put the pieces together. Ticks against 6,8,12,25&27a + 5&6d with a weakness for a Mr Kipling my fav.
Thanks to Osmosis & to Gazza
Apologies for nitpicking re 6a but The Rocket was a locomotive. A train was what it pulled.
True. How did you get on with the puzzle?
Not very well at all – unable to maintain boiler pressure, wheels kept slipping and eventually ground to a halt.