Toughie No 3660 by Notabilis
Hints and tips by Gazza
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment *****
It was a delightful surprise to find the name of Notabilis on today’s Toughie. We haven’t had a puzzle from him since Toughie 3036 almost exactly three years ago and his clever and very entertaining puzzles have been much missed. I do hope that today’s appearance signals his return on a regular basis. Many thanks to him for today’s splendid puzzle which is not fiendishly difficulty; I only needed to verify the 26a trickster.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a How Billingsgate smells with loch being distant (10)
OFFISHNESS: how Billingsgate smells (2,4) and a well-known Scottish loch. Those who’ve solved today’s back-pager may experience a sense of déjà vu.
6a Stoker was so-called black sheep (4)
BRAM: the abbreviation for black and a horny sheep.
9a Forces member to admit Republican immorality, backing famous people (10)
SERVICEMAN: reverse a word for famous people and insert the abbreviation for Republican and a synonym of immorality.
10a Spanish city dumping millions of citrus fruit (4)
LEÓN: remove the abbreviation for millions from a citrus fruit.
12a Early developer in ruins by Rome (6)
EMBRYO: an anagram (ruins) of BY ROME.
13a Try very hard object, one deplorably lacking polish? (2,3,3)
GO ALL OUT: a synonym of object or target and an uncouth individual (one deplorably lacking polish).
15a Stage area banged up face (12)
MOUNTAINSIDE: assemble a verb to stage or present, the abbreviation for area and a synonym of ‘banged up’.
18a Day wearing strict uniform in more ancient out-of-the-way place (4,8)
HARD SHOULDER: insert the abbreviation for day into an adjective meaning strict then insert the letter that uniform represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet into a comparative meaning more ancient.
21a Awkward week in Yule marred with din (8)
UNWIELDY: insert an abbreviation for week into an anagram (marred) of YULE DIN.
22a Precious metal nugget, never quite enough for Ring obsessive (6)
GOLLUM: stick together a precious metal and a synonym of nugget both without their last letter (never quite enough).
24a Regular participants in quite a hot state (4)
UTAH: regular letters from ‘quite a’ and the tap abbreviation for hot.
25a One wandering giant almost cuts mate like a saw (10)
PROVERBIAL: a wanderer and a truncated adjective meaning giant go inside a synonym of mate.
26a Trickster said to be subdued (4)
LOKI: the name of this Norse god of trickery sounds like an adjective (3-3) meaning subdued or understated.
27a Yankee must stop senseless rant, whatever happens (2,3,5)
IN ANY EVENT: insert the abbreviation for Yankee into an adjective meaning senseless. Finish with a verb to rant or sound off.
Down Clues
1d Cloaked in bile, this pearl-clutcher would make lad unproductive (6)
OYSTER: if you cloak your answer in the word BILE then split what you have 3,7 you’ll see a lad unproductive.
2d Class using the method of ukulele player (6)
FORMBY: charade of a synonym of a school class and a preposition meaning ‘using the method of’.
3d Crustacean rests at sea, poked by Woody and Chuck (5,7)
SPINY LOBSTER: an anagram (at sea) of RESTS into which are inserted an adjective meaning ‘like a wood consisting of coniferous trees’ and a verb to chuck.
4d A Christmas Carol very far away from Bleak House, say (4)
NOEL: remove the abbreviation for ‘very’ from what Bleak House is an example of.
5d Fitting time of year allowing application of salt etc? (10)
SEASONABLE: this could mean ‘allowing application of salt etc.’.
7d Chorister ignoring saint represented in oratory (8)
RHETORIC: an anagram (re-presented) of CHORI[s]TER without an abbreviation for saint.
8d Singer-songwriter Swift eviscerated in main area, LA, with no adult present (8)
MINSTREL: insert the outer letters of Swift into ‘main area LA’ after removing every abbreviation for adult.
11d Younger blend adapted to operatic setting (12)
GLYNDEBOURNE: an anagram (adapted) of YOUNGER BLEND.
14d Some classic metal song (3,3,4)
ANY OLD IRON: string together a synonym of some, an adjective meaning classic and a type of hard metal.
16d Half for Prometheus topping off double, which he normally drinks? (3,5)
THE USUAL: start with the second half of Prometheus and add an adjective meaning double without its top letter.
17d Con‘s dull Scouse mate flipped at the centre (8)
DRAWBACK: bring together an adjective meaning dull or dreary and a dialect word for a mate in the Merseyside area. Now reverse the central two letters.
19d One has scaled back scheme after reducing reserve (6)
PLAICE: drop the last letter from a synonym of scheme and add a word meaning reserve or formality.
20d Piece of jewellery cross for the price of rings (6)
AMULET: a cross or hybrid with a preposition meaning ‘for the price of’ ringing it.
23d In France and Germany, to and from river (4)
AVON: a French preposition meaning ‘to’ and a German preposition meaning ‘from’.
My ticks went to 1d, 8d, 16d and 20d. Which one(s) shone for you?
I wasn’t in London last October and so missed the opportunity once again to ask our setter why we never got a Notabilis Toughie any more – his answer being that he was too busy with other things.
I was delighted to see that he was back with a great Friday Toughie, although he has been tougher in the past. Lots and lots to enjoy but 14d made me smile the most
Thanks very much to Notabilis – I hope we don’t have to wait another three years for your next Toughie – and to lucky Gazza
I found this more difficult than Gazza did, but just as enjoyable as he did.
I struggled in particular with 22a and 26a, which were my last couple in.
My favourite was the song at 14d, followed by 19d (one has scaled back…).
Many thanks and welcome back to Notabilis, and to Gazza for the write-up.
How lovely to see an old master again. This looked to be pretty impenetrable at first but then 2d yielded and it all started to fall into place – he has been much tougher than this. Some super lol clues – the scaled back at 19d taking the biscuit. Others included 8d, 16d and 17d.
Thanks to Notabilis [please don’t leave it so long next time] and to Gazza.
I certainly recalled our setter’s name from a while ago but his style seemed unfamiliar, which resulted in me making heavier weather of this than perhaps I should have done.
I started off quite well, but was then slowed up by some fairly intricate clueing: the singer-songwriter in 8d being a case in point.
Some very amusing constructions, particularly the banged up face in 15a (which brought to mind Montgomery Clift in The Clash’s song The Right Profile) and Con’s dull Scouse mate in 17d.
Parsing of the Norse god in 26a held me up as I thought it was pronounced ‘lockey’, but with the intersecting letters, there wasn’t much else it could be.
All good fun, my thanks to Notabilis and CS.
A slow start evolved to a steady pace which I’ll settle for given it’s Friday. 26a required research.
I thought 1s was very clever.
Thanks to Gazza and Notabilis.
Plenty tough enough for the likes of me & required a letter reveal to complete + a correction en route via the check button. Can’t recall this setter’s Toughies (does anyone have the number of his previous one) but very much enjoyed this & look forward to the next. Not sure if it’s just me but the style reminded me of Robyn’s Toughies. Ticks aplenty – 1,9,15,18&25a + 8,14,16&19d particular likes.
Thanks to Notabilis & to Gazza whose hints required for one or two whys.
His most recent puzzle was Toughie 3036.
And this is the 149th Toughie from Notabilis
I have just re-read some of Dutch’s blogs from Notabilis, and Notabilis was fond of a Nina. I can’t see anything today except maybe a namecheck for a RYLAN (6th row) along with Bram, Leon, Noel et al
15a my favourite today, Thanks to Notabilis and Gazza
As with most Friday Toughies I struggled with this. Managed about half unaided, but threw in the towel and resorted to Gazza’s excellent hints to finish. Even then I didn’t know the Norse trickster and the Ring character which I had to reveal.
Thanks to Notabililis and Gazza.
What a treat for us get another puzzle from this brilliant setter with his close New Zealand connection. (When setting in other platforms he used the pen-name Kea which is a cheeky NZ mountain parrot. Setting for the DT he adopted part of its Latin name Nestor notabilis for his puzzles.)
Struggled somewhat in the lower section, particularly with the scaled one in 19d, but a thoroughly enjoyable solve from star to finish. Too many ticks to choose any one for favourite
Many thanks Notabilis and Gazza.
Great fun and accessible as Friday as Friday Toughies go, but still worthy of it’s “last day” slot. Lots of inventive and clever clues. Like the preceding Dharma, there was much fun to be had untangling the full parsings. Great stuff. Thanks to both Notabils and Gazza.