Toughie No 3653 by Shabbo
Hints and tips by Whybird
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment *****
We have another excellent puzzle from Shabbo today. Absolutely perfect for a Tuesday, plenty to get stuck into, but nothing outrageously difficult or obscure. I thought it was going to be a struggle when I looked at 1a and that pesky question mark, and indeed it took quite a while before I managed to get a proper foothold in the North, the South going in much more easily. So definitely a Crossword of Two Halves for me, but still done in just a smidge over one-star time. The main difficulty factor came from Shabbo’s very clever surfaces and deceptions which I really enjoyed unpicking. Thanks, Shabbo, please keep spoiling us!
I have a host of favourites today -1a, 3d, 5d, 9a, 14d, 17d and 26a are all excellent. I’m going to need a bigger podium!
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
Across Clues
1 Jason Barker? (6,9)
GOLDEN RETRIEVER A clever double-cryptic definition, and nothing to do with Open All Hours. The second sense is a popular breed of dog, the first a reference to the the article that featured in the most famous task of the mythological Jason
9 Book about Boris on Audible (7)
REBECCA A charade of a two-letter word meaning “about” and a homophone (Audible) of a famous tennis-playing Boris
10 Respectable knowledge on duck’s sound (7)
GENTEEL A charade of a three-letter synonym for “knowledge” and a homophone (sound) of a species of small duck
11 Touch of mistrust (9)
SUSPICION A double definition
12 Old car is unpredictable having been cut in half (5)
CAPRI This iconic car is found by removing the second half of a synonym of “unpredictable”
13 Balance railway books (7)
LIBRARY Take a star sign associated with “balance” (derived from the Latin for scales) and add a two-letter abbreviation of “railway”
15 Inclined to strike to protect security code (7)
SLOPING Insert the abbreviation for a security code often associated with bank and credit cards and insert that into a synonym of strike (or an ungainly cricket shot)
17 Frenzy following low docking charge (7)
MOORAGE A synonym of “Frenzy” follows another word for “low” in the bovine sense
19 Former thespian becomes racketeer (7)
EXACTOR Split (2,5) this racketeer is an alternative way of saying “former thespian”
21 Born an afterthought having Scottish roots (5)
NEEPS A charade of a term meaning “born” and an abbreviation for an afterthought. Forget ancestry, think vegetables
23 Praises Brussels record before current assets oddly go missing (9)
EULOGISES Take two letters representing an organisation often referred to given its strong association with the Belgian capital, add a three letter (written) record, then follow that with the letter meaning (electric) “current” in physics and the even letters (oddly go missing) of “assets”
25 Relative given vermouth with a bowl of ice (7)
GRANITA A charade of a female relation, Crosswordland’s usual two-letter vermouth, and “a” from the clue
26 Poorly paid to guard the entrance to the Underground? (7)
PITHEAD An anagram (poorly) of “paid” surrounds (to guard) “the” from the clue
27 Sister modified rented surgeries (10,5)
REGISTERED NURSE An anagram (modified) of “rented surgeries”
Down Clues
1 Young lady keeping a very precious stone (7)
GIRASOL Insert (keeping) “a” from the clue and a two-letter synonym of “very” into another term for a “young lady”
2 Titian initially rejected subtle changes to oils (5)
LUBES An anagram (changes) of “subtle” from which the first letter of “Titian” has been removed (initially rejected)
3 Redesign niche Russian car as tasty Roller? (9)
ENCHILADA An anagram (redesign) of “niche” is followed by a make of Russian car to get a type of TexMex food
4 This person invested in American property in fact (7)
REALITY Insert the letter that means “This person” into a (clearly flagged) American term for a type of property (think housing, etc)
5 Steaming drunk, Mike leaves dishes (7)
TAGINES An anagram (drunk) of “steaming” from which the NATO-phonetic letter “Mike” is removed (Mike leaves)
6 Superhuman bishop quits order (5)
IONIC Remove the letter that indicates “bishop” (quits) from a term meaning “superhuman” (think Steve Austin or Jaime Sommers) to get a Classical Greek architectural order
7 Struggle with purpose and perspective (9)
VIEWPOINT A charade of a three-letter synonym for “struggle”, the letter indicating ”with” and a synonym of “purpose”
8 Banking returning after power cut (7)
RELYING Remove the usual letter for “power” from a synonym of “returning” (or answering)
14 Break embargo on returning weapon (9)
BOOMERANG An anagram (break) of “embargo on”
16 Called out about an endangered primate (5-4)
ORANG-UTAN Take a synonym of “called” (in the telephone sense), surround that (about) with “out” from the clue, and follow that with “an” also from the clue
17 Jostle a German runner (7)
MANAGER An anagram (jostle) of “a German”. Very neatly and cleverly done!
18 Eastern European currency once had to go up (7)
ELEVATE A charade of the letter meaning “Eastern”, the former Bulgarian currency and a synonym of “had” (in the sense of consumed)
19 Outperform mobile phone provider without cuts (7)
ECLIPSE A major mobile phone company (think Kevin Bacon) surrounds (without) a synonym of “cuts”
20 The rest live outside university (7)
RESIDUE A synonym of “live” surrounds (outside) the usual letter for “University”
22 Fielder’s mistakes (5)
SLIPS These “mistakes” are also the possessive form, minus the apostrophe, of a catching position in cricket
24 Stick price on The Listener (5)
SPEAR A two-letter term meaning “price” in the gambling sense precedes (on) the organ associated with hearing. I think “stick” here works best as a verb, rather than a noun, as it sits neatly with the solution.
What a cracking puzzle!
If Shabbo has been featured this last month or so whilst I’ve been away in the Far East, I’ve truely missed out.
Certainly at the friendly end of the toughie spectrum, but great fun to solve, with some very neat wordplay.
Jason Barker at 1a made me smile from the start.
The implied EU financial skullduggery in 23a was a smooth construction, as was the endangered primate in 16d and I also liked the misdirection of runner in 17d.
It is my intention to print off all the puzzles I’ve missed recently, though I gather that could be quite a frustrating experience according to many contributors to this site.
Still, if they are as good as this was, the effort will be worthwhile.
My thanks to Shabbo and Whybird.
What happened on Sat Frankie? I still have your mob in my S/Fc though.
You should see the highlights, H!
We were in control and one up when the ref gave a straight red to our defender for denying a clear and obvious goalscoring opportunity. The striker was about 30 yards out and surrounded by other defenders!
That swung the game as there were still 30+ mins to go.
They don’t want us in the Prem, mate.
An enjoyable puzzle that I solved from the bottom upwards. I had completed everything below 17a before I even looked at anything above it.
My last in was 1d – a word I know to mean sunflower here in Spain.
All of my ticks were awarded to down clues, namely 2d, 6d, 7d, 8d, and 18d.
Many thanks to Shabbo and to Whybird.
Don’t do Toughie’s enough to reliably rate difficulty but certainly ***** for entertainment, thanks Shabbo.
The S went in much more quickly than the N. Jason Barker? got the COTD when that penny dropped and that enable the NE, 5d, 6d, 8d and 12a to fall – they were the holdouts.
Also liked the 13a railway books, the 21a Scottish roots and the 19d mobile phone provider cuts.
Thanks to Whybird and Shabbo.
I was beginning to wonder when we were going to see the work of Shabbo again and even with the ‘cloak of on-line anonymity’ it was easy to identify this fine start to the Toughie week as his work. Although, it was probably somewhat more challenging than his other Toughies – 2.5*/4.5*
Candidates for favourite – 10a, 21a, and 22d – and the winner is the partner of ‘tatties’ at 21a.
Thanks to Shabbo and Whybird.
Super puzzle, tremendous fun – I read 1a and the answer sprang to mind immediately with a smile, but I thought it might be too good to be true so sought a couple of confirmations from the down clues before inking it in. Very pleased to recall the precious stone, can’t see 16d without thinking of the UU Librarian, and there was an almighty clang when the parsing of 26a dawned: I had been trying to convince myself there was a lesser-known entrance to Hades celebrated in the classics and pronounced pith-ee-ad ….
Honours to 1a, 13a, 1d, 3d.
Many thanks to Shabbo for the great crossword and all the chuckles, and to Whybird for the cracking blog.
After a right old tussle with Light’s Sun Toughie last night this one was welcome respite & a joy to breeze through in between writing up the hints for the across & down clues over in t’other place. You could stick a tick next to pretty well all of ‘em & certainly 5* enjoyment here too. I do hope back-page commenters have a stab at this one. 1,9,12&21a + 3,6,7,18&19d can organise themselves into 3 podiums.
Thanks to Shabbo (not Chalicea) & to Whybird.
Ps Shabbo tells me hadn’t realised there is a Jason Barker – I looked him up & he has a few strings to his bow – writer, filmmaker, occasional actor & stand-up comic.
This was light and good fun with Shabbo’s usual attributes of brief clueing and smooth surfaces.
1a provided a great start and is my favourite.
I’ve never heard of 1d but it was sympathetically clued.
Many thanks to Shabbo and to Whybird.
I thought this just right for a Tuesday Toughie. My favourite right from the start was 1a
Many thanks to Shabbo and Whybird
The precious stone and the dishes were both new to me, but I know them now. The rest were very enjoyable with many pdm’s. Lots of contenders for favourite but I’ll go with 1a. Thanks to Shabbo for the entertainment and Whybird.
The Puzzles Site was very coy about revealing the identity of the setter this morning so I didn’t find out who to thank for this cracking puzzle until the blog was published.
I didn’t know the 1d precious stone.
My favourite is the excellent 1a which sets the standard for the rest of the puzzle. I also liked 11a, 12a, 21a and 16d.
Many thanks to Shabbo and Whybird.
Had to build 1d and check my construction. Some great clues in this gentle toughie, another vote for 1a. Thanks to Shabbo & Whybird.
I will happily join those who had 1a as their favourite clue from this really excellent puzzle. Everything was scrupulously fair and beautifully precise.
Nice one Shabbo, and thanks to Whybird.
This started with a cracker at 1a and the standard was maintained throughout with well-constructed, concise clues. My last in was 26a where I was convinced it needed “TU” inserting somewhere!
Thanks to Shabbo and Whybird.
What a great puzzle, I’m so glad it was recommended on the blog as otherwise I wouldn’t have tried it.
My top picks were 1a, 21a, 17d and 9a. LOI was 26a which I think should also be in my list above.
Thanks to Shabbo and Whybird.
This was by far and away the easiest Toughie I have attempted and highly enjoyable into the bargain . Completed unaided, although 1a was a LOI write-in on the basis of the 2nd part of the definition, so needed Whybird to tell me where Jason came in.
Thanks to Shabbo and Whybird
1*/4*
1a set the tone for us in what we found to be a most enjoyable solve. Like others we had to wait until this morning (our time) to discover who had set it.
Thanks Shabbo and Whybird.
Thanks to the joys of technology, for once the Dead Tree has shown the way! Sorry, too many back episodes of Game of Thrones…
I was expecting Chalicea, too (perhaps next week?) but I was also very happy to see Stabbo’s name on the pop age. I think I’ve landed two out of three. There’s a song about that, somewhere…
Sorry. Very late on parade.
Many thanks to Whybird for the blog and to all who commented.
See you again soon.
Thanks for dropping in, Shabbo. A tremendous puzzle, for which many and more thanks.
Tricky one this time but I got there in the end and I’m claiming the family prize. Shabbo’s brother is still working on it, Shabbo’s sister-in-law has retired, and Shabbo’s other brother has gone to the beach (in Western Australia). Well done Shabbo for another great puzzle!
I think you’ll need some sort of handicapping system 😀
Shabbo’s brother needed help so I came out of retirement and helped finish it. A bit tough for us but enjoyable, thanks Shabbo x
P. S. Shabbo’s sister will always get the family prize!
1*/5* …
liked 23A “Praises Brussels record before current assets oddly go missing (9)”