Toughie No 3644 by Sparks
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
An enjoyable but quite tough puzzle from Sparks today with several answers which I needed to verify. Sparks often gives us something extra in the grid – the only thing I can see today is that many answers start with E and there are two big E-shapes in the grid. Can you spot anything else?
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Wood drill included in limited bargain offer (6)
SAPELE: the abbreviation for drill at school goes inside a bargain offer often advertised as being time-limited (e.g. ‘must end Friday’).
5a American jazz slang Jack and I examine with a vacant look (4,4)
JIVE TALK: string together the abbreviation for Jack, I, a verb to examine and the outer letters of ‘look’.
9a Me Too movement’s crux is about stopping a sheer lunatic (4,4)
SAME HERE: reverse the central letters of movement inside an anagram (lunatic) of A SHEER.
10a British ballet luminary remains tense over Nureyev’s lead (6)
ASHTON: assemble powdery remains, abbreviations for tense and over and the first letter of Nureyev to get this leading light in the world of British ballet.
11a 23 city to fail in discussions (8)
TOULOUSE: this sounds like ‘to fail’.
12a Revolutionary Dadaist affair involves Ivy’s family member (6)
FATSIA: hidden in reverse is one of the many plants I’ve never heard of.
13a Rope lines missing on bar linked to back of pulley (8)
FORESTAY: start with a verb to bar or pre-empt and remove the two abbreviations for line then append the back letter of pulley.
15a Orient Express, without stopping around Vienna, finally heading for Turkey (4)
EAST: the outer letters (without stopping) of express contain the final letter of Vienna. Add the first letter of Turkey.
17a Imitate Italian novelist penning hardback’s intro (4)
ECHO: the most famous Italian novelist (at least in Crosswordland) contains the first letter of hardback,
19a Who might get you to live, quelling ogre? (8)
EXORCIST: a verb to live contains a Tolkien ogre.
20a What is somehow in conclusion ideally green? (6)
ENERGY: an anagram (somehow) of [ideall]Y GREEN.
21a Wound counterpart, ultimately brave in death (8)
ENTWINED: a counterpart or double and the ultimate letter of brave go inside a synonym of death.
22a Dim idiot swallows lithium (6)
TWILIT: an informal word for an idiot or twerp contains the chemical symbol of lithium.
23a Say 19 Down to be sorry for backing article in public (8)
EUROPEAN: reverse a verb to be sorry then insert a grammatical article into a synonym of public.
24a Holding chain, those who entice dogs (8)
LURCHERS: people who entice contain the abbreviation for chain.
25a Retreat in which you’ll find the essence of freedom? (6)
HEAVEN: a retreat or place of safety containing the central letter of freedom.
Down Clues
2d Slippery sort of trick, entering country after cover’s blown (8)
ANACONDA: a trick or hoax is inserted into a Commonwealth country without its top letter,
3d What’s said to turn heads yet feels wrong (4,4)
EYES LEFT: an anagram (wrong) of YET FEELS.
4d Will nominee from 60 per cent of business chiefs run with current vote? (9)
EXECUTRIX: the first 60 percent of a word for senior business people followed by the abbreviation for run, the symbol for electric current and the letter used to record a vote.
5d My US off-road vehicle primarily evades roads, scaring woodland birds (7,8)
JEEPERS CREEPERS: assemble a brand of US off-road vehicle, the primary letters of three words in the clue and small birds that live around trees.
6d Joy caught good man cutting a piece of cake (7)
ECSTASY: abbreviations for caught and our usual ‘good man’ go inside an adjective meaning ‘a piece of cake’.
7d Aesthetically pleasing strict AI hybrid (8)
ARTISTIC: an anagram (hybrid) of STRICT AI.
8d Jumper and anorak go astray (8)
KANGAROO: an anagram (astray) of ANORAK GO.
14d Severe critic of, on and off, adroit formality (9)
ARISTARCH: occasional letters from ‘adroit’ and a synonym of formality or stiffness of manner. This word for a severe critic is named after this ancient Greek chap known for the severity of his criticism.
15d Hard cheese, Sparks, pulled up over ridiculous slang (8)
EMMENTAL: reverse the objective pronoun Sparks uses for himself and add a slang adjective meaning ridiculous.
16d Highly respectable senior copper held up by bigotry intermittently (8)
SUPERIOR: the informal rank of a senior police officer is followed by intermittent letters from ‘bigotry’.
17d Free at last, Haiti desperately welcoming work for country (8)
ETHIOPIA: the last letter of ‘free’ followed by an anagram (desperately) of HAITI containing our usual abbreviated work.
18d One’s ground worthless part of diamond? (4,4)
HOME BASE: one’s ground or place of abode and an adjective meaning worthless or disreputable.
19d Non-British native of Bangladesh expressing a quiet language (7)
ENGLISH: start with a native of a region now split between Bangladesh and India. Drop both the single-letter abbreviation for British and A. Finish with an instruction to be quiet.
My ticks went to 2d, 3d, 4d, 5d and 18d. Which one(s) take the laurels for you?
It has been a good week for proper Toughies, this one being another with quite long clues
I took noticed all the Es.
Thanks to Sparks and Gazza
I thought at the end of this very satisfying puzzle “either I’m on a rare streak of form, or Sparks has been gentle with us today” – and the former being very rare indeed, it has to be the latter! Great puzzle and even those with which I was less / not at all familiar (ballet chap, Ivy’s cousin, rope, severe critic) were so fairly clued that no reference elsewhere was needed until afterwards. Hope people who would not normally consider looking at a Friday Toughie give this a go.
5d had me chasing a red herring, looking for something that could precede “truckers” (US off-road vehicle ERS), until I looked at 5a. Thought 18d was a plate rather than a base, but in the end “it just had to be”.
So many clues deserved podium places but shall limit to 5a, 21a & 5d. Many thanks indeed to Sparks & Gazza.
I don’t usually have time to do a Friday but today was an exception and I’m so pleased it was. What an enjoyable puzzle with every clue being a treat. Even words I hadn’t come across were fairly clued. I can’t pick a favourite because they were all so good.
Big thanks and appreciation to Sparks for the enjoyment and to Gazza for the blog and his usual humour. Especially enjoyed the Slimmer’s Window.
A few new words in there, with the rope and the critic causing me to gaze particularly blankly at the screen. Luckily my father was a ballet enthusiast so 10a wasn’t too problematic. I found the puzzle too testing to enjoy as much as I’d anticipated but it was a good learning experience and 11a and 3d were among a number of excellent clues. Thanks very much to Sparks and to Gazza for the elucidation and cartoons.
For a Friday Toughie, I was moderately pleased with myself, filling the NE and SW unaided; I got 5a and 5d immediately and was able to pivot around that. Spent ages with the will nominator instead of the nominee pencilled in, which got me nowhere.
As for the rest, Gazza’s hints proved enlightening and adequate without the need to reveal. The critic is a new one for me and the worthless diamond was cleverly crafted.
Thanks Sparks and Gazza for putting me out of my misery.
Again we had to work hard to complete this one with several things (1a for example) had us reaching for references.
5d gets our top podium spot.
Thanks Sparks and Gazza.
A good workout. Thanks to Sparks.