Toughie No 3668 by Luxor
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Welcome to Luxor, a new Toughie setter whose name will be known to those who solve the Enigmatic Variations puzzles. I was a bit apprehensive on seeing the new name but I needn’t have worried; this puzzle is pretty gentle for a Friday Toughie.
Thanks to our new setter for the enjoyment.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Perhaps raw material for cast suffering problem (6)
GYPSUM: a synonym of pain or discomfort and a mathematical problem.
4a Diverse quote recalled about chapter oddly lacking fluency (8)
ECLECTIC: reverse a verb to quote and insert an abbreviation for chapter and the even letters of fluency.
9a Spy tramp under bridge originally close to squat (6)
STUBBY: the original letters of the first four words and a preposition meaning ‘close to’.
10a Agitated duke out in front of vessel from the east (6,2)
WORKED UP: an anagram (out) of DUKE goes inside the reversal of the pointy bit at the front of a ship.
12a Evenly fried first of chillies without fat – lacking kick? (10)
RECOILLESS: assemble the even letters of ‘fried’, the first letter of chillies and an adjective meaning without cooking fat.
13a Gainful inside shed and outwardly cheerful (4)
GLAD: shed the inner letters of gainful and append the outer letters of ‘and’.
14a Work at literary composition, knocking out article (3)
PLY: a literary work without one of our indefinite articles.
15a Valuer excited about uncapped bid – Charlie plotted tax yields? (6,5)
LAFFER CURVE: an anagram (excited) of VALUER contains a synonym of bid without its first letter and the letter represented by Charlie in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet. The answer is a theoretical representation showing the optimum tax rate to achieve the highest tax income for the government. I had heard the term before but I needed to check out what it actually means.
18a Where to see cars such as Renault and Ford develop (6,5)
BRANDS HATCH: a term for trade names such as Renault and Ford followed by a verb to develop or concoct.
20a Dance hit (3)
BOP: double definition.
21a Chaise longue shortened for temperamental singer (4)
DIVA: drop the last letter of another name for a chaise longue.
22a Unfaithful fool blocked in split second (10)
INCONSTANT: insert a verb to fool or deceive into a split second or short time.
24a American mother striking male fantasist on west-bound transport system (8)
MONORAIL: an affectionate word for mother in the USA without its second abbreviation for male is followed by the reversal of a fantasist and ON.
25a Weave a wild international celebration (6)
DIWALI: an anagram (weave) of A WILD followed by the abbreviation for international.
26a Decline after outfit mounted routine event (8)
DRESSAGE: a verb to decline or degenerate follows an outfit or attire.
27a Blank signs for area all unveiled (6)
IGNORE: remove the outer letters from three consecutive words in the clue.
Down Clues
1d Catch up over posh drinks knocked up in local eatery (9)
GASTROPUB: reverse a verb to catch or capture containing (also reversed) the letter meaning ‘posh’ and alcoholic drinks.
2d With corporation income taking hit, power’s lost (7)
PAUNCHY: a synonym of earned income contains a verb to hit hard without the abbreviation for power.
3d Free (free in free bundle) (9)
UNBRIDLED: a verb to free or purge goes inside an anagram (free) of BUNDLE.
5d Faction behind angry leader rejected full representation (5-7)
CROSS-SECTION: a religious faction follows an adjective meaning angry. Finish with the reversal of a shorthand way of describing a leader (2,1).
6d Unmask legendary guards backing big beasts (4)
ELKS: hidden in reverse.
7d Small fry oddly exposed in row (7)
TIDDLER: the inner letters of ‘oddly’ go inside a row or rank.
8d One aiming to create a crush in copper bowl on the counter (5)
CUPID: the chemical symbol for copper and the reversal of a bowl or hollow. Crush here is being used in the sense of love or infatuation.
11d Fine movie almost withdrawn in restructuring – that’s tense! (12)
CLIFFHANGING: reverse the abbreviation for fine and a synonym for movie without its last letter inside a synonym of restructuring or amending.
16d Arranging event with others, clothe occasionally smart Oscar beforehand (2-7)
CO-HOSTING: start with occasional letters from clothe and add a verb to smart or prickle after Oscar from the Nato Phonetic Alphabet.
17d Understand another’s downfall when heading off round track (9)
EMPATHISE: a synonym of downfall or collapse without its heading letter contains a track.
19d Promote American trip touring capital of Vermont (7)
ADVANCE: an abbreviation for American and a verb to trip or skip containing the first letter of Vermont,
20d Commercial interrupting excellent show of daring (7)
BRAVADO: an abbreviated commercial goes inside an interjection meaning excellent or well done!
21d Rounded education following broad macro curriculum finally (5)
DOMED: an abbreviation for education follows the final letters of three words in the clue.
23d Wizards in novelist’s material on Audible (4)
PROS: ‘on Audible’ indicates a homophone so we need a homophone of what a novelist (as opposed to a poet) writes.
My ticks went to 27a, 2d and 8d. Which one(s) did the job for you?
I enjoyed this, a case of the straightforwards giving enough checkers to unravel the headscratchers (at a decent pace given it’s a
Friday). 18a, 2d and 17d were my favourites.
Thanks to Gazza and Luxor.
I rarely venture into Toughie territory on a Friday, but seeing a new name tempted me to have a go today. I struggled with this as it was right on the limit of my capability, but there was a lot to enjoy.
When I solved 12a, I thought that can’t be a real word, but it is albeit a bit of a contrived concoction!
My podium choice was 18a, 5d & 20d.
Many thanks to Luxor and to Gazza.
Well I thought it was a proper Friday Toughie, even allowing for the need to get on the same wavelength as a new setter. My favourite clue was 8d
Thanks to Luxor for the brain-mangling and Gazza for the blog
A cracking Friday Toughie with some superbly flowing surfaces. Nothing particularly obscure or overly complicated to parse.
Plenty of ticks including the transport system in 24a, the mounted event in 26a and the understanding shown in 17d.
12a is a strange sounding word and I too had to read up on 15a. I wonder if our Chancellor ever has.
11d seemed to be describing The Italian Job.
My thanks to Luxor, our new setter and to Gazza for his usual excellent blog.
Really enjoyed this and had plenty of smiles at the many penny-dropping moments. I was apprehensive on seeing a new name, but was soon put at ease, working clockwise from the NE.
Lots of cracking surfaces and very clever clueing throughout. Pleased to recall 15a. Honours to 18a, 24a, 1d & 2d, but could have put another dozen or more in there too.
Many thanks to Luxor and Gazza
This was one of those puzzles where the answers went in fairly swiftly but the parsing of half a dozen or so took a relative age. All good clean fun, though, with the popular 18a also being my favourite.
My thanks to Luxor for a great Friday challenge, and to Gazza.
This took a bit of getting into but then flowed quite smoothly [for a Friday]. I liked the mounted routine event and [eventually] the material for cast.
Thanks to Luxor and Gazza.
Beaten by 15a which was totally new to us but the rest all went together with lots of smiles and chuckles along the way.
Thanks Luxor and Gazza.
Hugely enjoyable over the course of several brain stretching hours. Only beaten by 23d which I consider a little too close to slang for comfort. A warm welcome to a talented new setter.
Very enjoyable, despite the initial fears of getting to grips with a new Friday Toughie Setter. Thanks to Luxor for the work-out, and to Gaza for the Blog. 22a’s cartoon in particular. 26a was my favourite clue.
Nearly a week late but had to comment to say how much I enjoyed this. Took me a good bit longer than my usual Toughie solve time but perseverance paid off in the end. Last in was 12a & like the Rabbit couldn’t quite believe that it’s a word. Ticks aplenty – 4,15,18,22&24a + 1,3&11d particular likes.
Thanks & more please Luxor & to Gazza