Toughie No 3661 by Hudson
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Welcome to another Toughie week.
We have another high-quality puzzle from Hudson today. There is a martial theme, or at least a connection between several of the clues, although I am not sure if there is an underlying reason for the link: I am happy enough to have noticed a theme of any kind! I thought I was heading for solving in Floughie time, but then a combination of solving 15d and parsing 20d and 24a took this comfortably into ** territory. I hope you have your lexicographic secateurs to hand, there’s a fair bit of pruning to be done.
Once the penny dropped for 20d, this jumped right to the top of my prize list by a distance, which is perhaps rather unfair on 13a and 29a, as either of these could have been “Top Clue” in other puzzles. Thank you, Hudson, for a wonderful start to the week.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
Across Clues
1 Swashbuckler chap regularly ordered a pint with claret chaser (7,5)
CAPTAIN BLOOD Start with the odd-numbered letters of “chap” (regularly), follow that with an anagram (ordered) of “a pint” and then add a synonym of “claret” as a vital fluid
9 Laid back upstart celebrity entertaining complex character (7)
ELECTRA The solution is lurking (entertaining) in reverse (laid back) within “upstart celebrity”
10 One for whom work is a daily grind, though there are perks? (7)
BARISTA A cryptic definition of this beverage-related occupation
11 Roosevelt wasting time in whirlpool (4)
EDDY Remove (wasting) the letter indicating “time” from the usual forename of the 26th President of the United States
12 Blue diamonds in unopened crypt (5)
ADULT Take a synonym of “crypt”, remove the first letter (unopened) and insert the letter that indicates “diamonds”
13 Victor Hotel Uniform: you are cleared for take-off (4)
HUGO A charade of the letters represented by “Hotel” and “Uniform” in the NATO phonetic alphabet, followed by a short, imperative synonym of “you are cleared for take off” yields a literary (miserable?) Victor
16 Put on trial after unwrapping margarine spread (7)
ARRAIGN An anagram (spread) of “margarine” after removal of the outer letters (unwrapping)
17 “Stretch out, lay back, Sid” – nurse (7)
DISTEND Reverse (lay back) “Sid” from the clue and append a synonym of “nurse”
18 China State conference that’s boring (7)
PALAVER A charade of synonyms of both “China” in the rhyming slang sense and “State”. I didn’t know the “tedium” sense of this word
21 Lettuce stuffed with seaweed? It stinks! (4,3)
COAL GAS Take a three-letter type of Lettuce and insert (stuffed with) the type of organism of which seaweed is an example (indicated by the question mark) to get an old type of fossil fuel with an unpleasant odour
23 Lifelong buddy pens no. 1 hit (4)
BIFF Getting down with the kids, here! A three-letter social-media abbreviation meaning “lifelong buddy” Best Friends Forever surrounds (pens) the letter that looks like the number one.
24 Musical case missing front cover is returned (5)
EVITA Take a grammatic case (meaning recipient or beneficiary of an action), remove the first letter (missing front cover) and then reverse the remainder (is returned)
25 Nom de plume one shunned, sadly (4)
ALAS Remove the letter that looks like the number one (shunned) from a synonym of “Nom de plume”
28 Froideur is since dissipated (7)
ICINESS An anagram (dissipated) of “is since”
29 Stick up for the brewing industry with hard work by European (3-4)
HOP-POLE A charade of the letter indicating “hard”, a two-letter synonym of “work” (or mission) and a native of an Eastern European nation
30 Gutted, poor poor 24 Across divides sensitive regions (7,5)
PRIVATE PARTS Remove the inner letters from (gutted) “poor”, add an anagram (poor) of the solution to 24a and then a synonym of “divides”
Down Clues
1 Cheese sandwich made for Ms Gabler by His Majesty (7)
CHEDDAR Insert (sandwich made for) the forename of Ibsen’s Ms Gabler into the initials of the UK’s current King.
2 Place on tee and hit golf ball (4)
PUTT A synonym of “place” as a verb precedes (“on” in a down clue) the letter “tee”
3 Leave crab and onion wraps (7)
ABANDON the solution is lurking (wraps) within “crab and onion”
4 Hamstrung knight walked awkwardly out of hospital (7)
NOBBLED The abbreviation for “knight” in chess is followed by a synonym of “walked awkwardly” from which the abbreviation for “hospital” has been removed (out of)
5 Early riser first to launch disaster recovery vessel (4)
LARK Take the initial letter of (first to) “launch” and add a term used to describe a vessel used to survive a Biblical disaster
6 Dark Quarter periodically holding up Oxford’s no. 1 science grad (7)
OBSCURE The even-numbered letters (periodically) of “Quarter” are preceded by (“supporting” in a Down clue) the initial letter (no. 1) of “Oxford” and then the abbreviation for a first-degree science graduate
7 Classes left boozer last of all and discovered nice community (7,6)
GENERAL PUBLIC A charade of a synonym of “Classes” (think taxonomy), the abbreviation of the direction “left”, a three-letter synonym of “boozer”, the final letter (last) of “all” and the inner letters (discovered) of nice
8 Awful traffic northbound – roadster is written off in serious incident (5,8)
MAJOR DISASTER A three-letter synonym of “awful traffic” is reversed (“northbound” in a down clue) and followed by an anagram (written off) of “roadster is”
14 Riddle is put up the night before (5)
SIEVE Reverse (“put up” in a down clue) “is” from the clue and add a synonym of “the night before”
15 It’s often presented in March, or it comes after November (5)
OSCAR A double definition, the second sense being the letter that follows “November” in the NATO phonetic alphabet. This took me a while to work out, because I wasn’t expecting another NATO reference
19 More eminent old newspaper that is accepted by both sides (7)
LOFTIER The usual letter for “old”, an abbreviated UK national newspaper and the abbreviation for “that is” are inserted (accepted) by two letters indicating different sides
20 Consider again murder inquiry at Cluedo? (7)
REVISIT Split (3,2,2) this could be a way of inquiring about the identity of the murderer in a game of Cluedo, at least based on the original, UK version of the game
21 Discuss the latest game failing to kick off in knockout trophy (5,2)
CATCH UP Take a synonym of “game” as a sporting contest, remove the first letter (failing to kick off) and place the remainder into a three-letter name for a sporting knockout trophy
22 Head of Government permits instrument of execution (7)
GALLOWS The initial letter (Head) of “Government” is followed by a synonym of “permits”
26 Very embarrassed after knocking over diesel oil (4)
DERV The usual abbreviation for “Very” and the colour associated with embarrassment is reversed (after knocking over)
27 Returning, delivers music box (4)
SPAR A reversal (Returning) of a (spoken) style of musical delivery
I didn’t find this difficult but it was a lot of fun with some clever cluing and well-disguised definitions. Spotting the peripheral Nina didn’t speed up my solving time as I didn’t notice it until I had finished.
With plenty of ticks to pick from, my podium selection was 13a, 29a & 20d.
Many thanks to Hudson and to Whybird.
Pleased to be in such good company. My solve pretty much mirrored that of our reviewer. 80% of this went in a tad quicker than the Prof’s back-pager then hit the buffers. I twigged the wordplay but having never played Cluedo had to check to see if Mr Green was a religious fella, bunged in the Lloyd Webber musical then took a while to parse it. Last in was 29a, which I was unfamiliar with, eventually twigged via the wordplay.
As ever hugely entertaining with ticks all over the shop – all 4 peripherals were great but if pressed I plump for a podium of 10a + 15&20d.
Thanks to Hudson & to Whybird.
Forgot to mention NTS oblivious to the peripheral Nina
Very enjoyable, bordering on Floughie in terms of difficulty – 1.5*/4.5*
Candidates for favourite – 18a, 25a, 30a, 4d, and 5d – and the winner is 30a.
Thanks to Hudson and Whybird.
A very amusing start to the toughie week.
The four outside clues sound like something from an armed forces comedy caper, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone comes on and confirms they are.
Plenty of ticks including the reverse lurker in 9a, the daily grinder in 10a and the ‘down with the kids’ friend in 23a.
The knight limping out of A&E at 4d and the Cluedo inquiry at 20d also raised a smile.
My thanks to Hudson and Whybird.
Not at all difficult but another great puzzle from Hudson, including the four solutions around the perimeter which sound like the players in an army version of Cluedo!
Thanks very much to Hudson for the fun and Whybird for the blog
Like others I didn’t find that too tricky for a Toughie but there was a lot to enjoy, not least the linked peripherals that I completely failed to spot while solving. 20d (now I understand the parsing) and 21a were my favourites, the latter perhaps because I just about remember that it did. Perhaps people would feel less sentimental about the mid-20th century if as well as looking at photos, they could experience the grime and fumes.
Sorry, forgot to say thanks to Hudson and Whybird! V poor.
A top-notch puzzle from Hudson – thanks to him and Whybird.
I’m another who only spotted the peripheral ranks after getting a full grid.
My podium picks are 9a, 24a and 20d.
Add me to the list of ones who failed to spot the nina. I didn’t know Ms Gabler so had to look her up. If this sets the standard for the week then we’re in for a treat. Almost impossible to pick a favourite but I’ll go with 19d. Many thanks to Hudson and Whybird.
An excellent puzzle that all fell into place very nicely.
I don’t have the puzzle with me to remember what I ticked this morning, but I remember 8d was my last in, and I liked the French author, the golf clue, and the Cluedo board game.
Many thanks to Hudson and to Whybird
Now that I’m back home with the puzzle in front of me, I thought 15d was very good – even if I never watch the film awards.
At first I thought this was a bit mundane for Hudson, then discovered that the best clues were in the bottom half. These were more or less as our blogger has it: – 29a, 30a and the LOL 20d.
Thanks to Hudson and Whybird.
Not too difficult only failed to parse 8a because missed it lurking in plain sight! Took me around the same time to do this as the back pager.Didnt see the rankings but in order of my solving the first was the private , second the captain, third major and fittingly the last was the general.13,23and 21 occupy my podium .Biff takes the gold.I remember coal gas smells because as a boy we lived opposite to a furnace that provided power to the local mill.We also had gas lights in our house ..My grandad was adept at lighting them .Fond memories but not of the smells . Thanks to all .
We totally missed the significance of the perimeter answers but still very much enjoyed the solve which seemed to get tougher as we moved down the grid. Favourite 20d for the penny-drop moment.
Thanks Hudson and Whybird.
Me too! And only just seen it!!
Not too difficult and thought 30a was brilliant my COTD
This is probably one of the easier Toughies I have attempted, with everything solved with minimal head scratching, bar the parsing of the musical. As for the Nina, I didn’t know the meaning until I Googled a definition and have now worked it out for myself. In fact any of those 4 could qualify as my COTD.
My thanks to Hudson and Whybird
1.5*/3.5*
2*/4* …
liked 10A “One for whom work is a daily grind, though there are perks? (7)”