Toughie 3649

Toughie No 3649 by Hudson
Hints and tips by Whybird

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BD Rating – Difficulty *   – Enjoyment ***

 

Greetings from a sunny, Spring-has-started Wirral. The first wheatear of the year has been seen on Hilbre Island, and Burton Mere Wetlands now has about a hundred Avocets dominating the main scrape (with more to come, hopefully), as well as a Mediterranean Gull looking to set up a territory on one of the islands.

I found today’s puzzle to be something of a curiosity. Apart from the fact that it is a pangram that I actually noticed (which makes it unusual!) it felt like it was a bit of a struggle to solve, but when I actually checked, I’d done it all in 1* time.  It’s definitely not a Floughie, though, and there were a couple of senses employed that had me checking the reference works to confirm my suspicions. My prizes today go to 6d, 10a and 27a – a trio of clever clues with very neat surfaces. Thanks to Hudson for getting the morning cogs whirring! 

Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle. 

Across Clues

6 Mobile free hotline: “Hi, this is a warning” (4,2,3,4)

FIRE IN THE HOLE An anagram (Mobile) of “free hotline Hi”.  This may attract some “anti-Americanism” comment, but it is reasonably well known on this side of the pond, too.

8 Risk venture (6)

HAZARD A double definition, and much easier to work out when you twig you’re missing one letter for a pangram.

9 What pioneers do moving to Vienna (8)

INNOVATE An anagram (moving) of “to Vienna”

10 Beginning to argue with Liberal, boring one? (3)

AWL A charade of the first letter (beginning to) of “argue” and the usual letters indicating “with” and “Liberal” gives a type of tool

11 Keen son runs in fell (6)

SHRILL Start with the usual letter meaning “son” and follow that with a synonym of “fell” as a noun, into which is inserted the abbreviation for “runs”

12 Harangue awful-sounding political faction (8)

DIATRIBE A charade of a homophone (-sounding) of “awful” and a synonym of a political faction

14 Covers from Blur innit dad? (7)

BRITPOP Harder to explain than to solve, but this is an all-in-one with the elements doing double-duty, all fairly flagged by the “?”. The solution is a charade of the outer letters (covers) of “Blur”, “innit” and a synonym of “dad” which again is open to “Americanism” critiques, and a musical genre with which Blur were/are associated 

16 Row after dog loses tail, completely trapped (5,2)

BOXED IN A synonym of “Row” (as in noise) follows (after) a type of domestic dog from which the final letter has been removed (loses tail)

20 Judiciary’s case is able to hide slip? It may hold water (8)

JERRYCAN Take the outer letters (case) of “Judiciary” and a synonym of “is able to” and insert a three letter word meaning “slip” (or make a mistake)

23 Shady, ungainly individual denied second base (6)

LOUCHE Start with a word meaning “ungainly individual” (more often associated with poor posture), remove (denied) the letter indicating “second” and then follow that with the letter indicating “base” in the sense of “natural logarithms” 

24 Fish Findus regularly canned (3)

IDS These fish are given by the even-numbered letters (regularly canned) of “Findus” (a plural form of a variant spelling of one of Crosswordland’s favourites)

25 Sceptic no way involved in sorcery after sacking medium (8)

AGNOSTIC Start with a synonym of “sorcery”, remove (sacking) the abbreviation for “medium” an insert “no” from the clue and an abbreviation for a “way” in the sense of a thoroughfare 

26 Subsequently catches husband in a state of agitation (6)

LATHER Insert the letter indicating “husband” into a synonym of “subsequently”

27 Store of wealth the Truss era damaged, claims the City (8-5)

TREASURE-CHEST An anagram (damaged) of “the Truss era” into which is inserted the postal district associated with the City of London

Down Clues
1 Retsina “gross, revolting” admits musician (8)

ORGANIST The solution is hiding (admits) in reverse (revolting) in “Retsina gross”

2 Very popular boy from the south, good at heart, hot stuff (8)

VINDALOO A charade of the abbreviation for “Very”, a synonym of “popular”, a synonym of “boy” which is reversed (“from the south” in a down clue) and the internal letters (at heart) of “good”

3 Street urchin touring large area somewhere in the Hebrides (2,5)

ST KILDA The usual abbreviation for “Street” followed by a synonym of “urchin” into which is inserted (touring) the letter indicating “large”  followed by one indicating “area”

4 Injury needing surgery, flipping pain, rehab, bandages (6)

HERNIA The solution is lurking (bandages), in reverse (flipping) in “pain rehab”

5 You should periodically upset the vicar perhaps (6)

SOLVER The odd-numbered letters (periodically) of “should” followed by a reversal (upset) of an abbreviation for “vicar” gets a noun that a setter could use to identify those tackling a puzzle 

6 A wee fighter struggling, hurt, exhausted? (13)

FEATHERWEIGHT Another “double-duty all-in-one” flagged by the “?”  In this case, an anagram (struggling) of “A wee fighter” followed by the outer letters (exhausted) of “hurt” yields a division of combat sports associated with smaller participants 

7 Foundation NHS timetables shot to pieces (13)

ESTABLISHMENT An anagram (shot to pieces) of “NHS timetables”

13 Scot maybe changes course at sea as relayed over the radio (3)

TAX What a yachtsman may do when sailing into the wind sounds like (as relayed on the radio) a type of levy, most often encountered in the sense of “Scot-free” which, I have now discovered, has nothing to do with those from north of Hadrian’s Wall, something that had always puzzled me, but had never bothered to investigate.

15 Look into odd characters in party (3)

PRY The answer is found in the first, third and fifth letters (odd characters) in “party”.  Although the clue is clearer and more concise than the hint… 

17 Film a natural disaster? (3,5)

OIL SLICK A double definition, the second sense being “a disaster for the natural world” rather than a natural phenomenon

18 European resigns when holding international drug stocks (8)

EQUITIES Take the letter indicating “European”, followed by a synonym of “resigns” (or leaves) into which is inserted the abbreviation for “international” and a letter indicating a recreational drug

19 Vessel loaded with rare coin, a symbol of Scotland (7)

UNICORN Take a three letter “vessel” (or container) and insert (loaded with) an anagram (rare) of coin

21 Island infrastructure discussed (6)

RHODES This Mediterranean island sounds like (discussed) one of the components of transport infrastructure

22 Most photogenic copper put on trial (6)

CUTEST The chemical symbol for “copper” is followed by (“put on” in a down clue) a synonym of “trial”