Toughie No 3676 by Osmosis
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
This is not Osmosis at his most fiendish but it is still worthy of the Friday Toughie slot. Thanks to him for the very enjoyable challenge with well-disguised definitions and clever wordplay (and extra kudos for forswearing anagrams).
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Sinew pains engrossing sick nurse later (8,6)
ACHILLES TENDON: dull pains contain an adjective meaning sick. Follow that with a verb to nurse and an adverb meaning later.
10a Aboard, letter from Stavros detailed: vessel going off soon (2,3,4)
ON THE TURN: string together a preposition meaning aboard, the eighth letter of the Greek alphabet without its last letter and a storage vessel.
11a Extremely vigilant rabbit on twisted cable? (3,1,1)
PAY T V: reverse the outer letters of vigilant and a verb to rabbit on. Shouldn’t this be 3,2?
12a Down here after sport with quiet academic (7)
DONNISH: where (county) Down is to be found follows a verb to sport or wear. Finish with an instruction to be quiet.
13a Regular in spats arrived entertaining visitors half-cut (6)
ARGUER: the abbreviation for arrived contains half of a synonym for visitors.
15a Maybe spade meets resistance in tree (4)
ACER: what a spade (or a heart) could be followed by the abbreviation for electrical resistance.
17a Bouncers leap on this wastrel over some cocaine? (10)
TRAMPOLINE: assemble a wastrel or vagrant, the abbreviation for a cricket over and some cocaine arranged ready for sniffing.
18a Machinist‘s surplus storage compartment (10)
OVERLOCKER: glue together an adverb meaning surplus and a storage compartment. The answer (new to me) means a machinist who strengthens a fabric edge to prevent fraying.
20a Vain pin-up on vocals (4)
IDLE: this sounds like a pin-up.
22a Times covers current match, almost having a second match? (6)
BIGAMY: a word meaning times (in maths) contains the symbol for electric current and a synonym of match without its last letter.
23a American facing trouble after thumping party host (7)
ABIGAIL: an abbreviation for American is followed by a verb to trouble after an adjective meaning thumping or enormous. The party is a play which starred the wonderful Alison Steadman in the title role when the play opened and on TV.
26a Bands featuring guitars periodically sampled musical passage (5)
OUTRO: letters resembling bands or rings bracket regular letters from ‘guitars’.
27a Acts seductively and scores (sexual allure working) (5,2,2)
TRIES IT ON: scores in rugby followed by an informal word for sexual allure and an adverb meaning working.
28a Neighbourhood pet concerning particular golf clubs (4,2,3,5)
NECK OF THE WOODS: a verb to pet or canoodle followed by a phrase meaning ‘relating to specific golf clubs’. These clubs are implements rather than locations.
Down Clues
2d Copper can drive dangerously? (3,2)
CUT IN: the chemical symbol for copper and a metal can.
3d Independent live broadcast over European region (6)
IBERIA: weld together an abbreviation for Independent, a verb to live and the reversal of a verb to broadcast.
4d Note how awful dog’s roaring during sitcom? (5,5)
LAUGH TRACK: a note from tonic sol-fa followed by an expression of distaste and a verb to dog.
5d Conceal eleventh offence? (4)
SINK: split 3,1 this could be the eleventh moral offence,
6d Grass user finally under health centre, in detox barely (7)
ESPARTO: the final letter of user follows a health resort and that’s all inside the inner letters of detox.
7d Is baby-sitting in your remit? Would it be OK? (2,3,4)
DO YOU MIND: a question as to whether you are a baby-sitter.
8d HP Lovecraft’s opening with fantastical place (5-5,4)
NEVER-NEVER LAND: start with a (somewhat dated) informal term for hire purchase and add the opening letter of Lovecraft and a conjunction meaning ‘with’.
9d Artist crossing reception captivated by ceiling colour (4,5,5)
FORD MADOX BROWN: a river crossing, a festive reception inside an abbreviation meaning ceiling or upper limit and a colour make the name of a nineteenth century British artist.
14d Vital hub for animal worker uncovered (10)
IMPERATIVE: the central letters (hub) of animal followed by a worker without his or her initial letter.
16d Tireless Frenchman boosted deserted grebe, as twitcher might (9)
ENERGETIC: reverse the most common French male forename in Crosswordland and add the outer letters of grebe and what someone with a nervous twitch might do. The BRB doesn’t have the last three letters as a verb but other dictionaries do.
19d Rolls perhaps sustaining dad, runner abroad (7)
LIMPOPO: what a Rolls is an example of contains an affectionate term for dad.
21d Motor racing and horse-racing venue briefly collapse (6)
FIASCO: what resembles the abbreviation for motor racing and a truncated horse-racing venue in Berkshire.
24d Saving time, what big server did was in play? (5)
ACTED: what a big server (such as Djokovic) did to win a point contains the abbreviation for time.
25d Some quartet screwed up composer’s instruction? (4)
STET: hidden in reverse.
My ticks went to 12a, 22a, 23a and 4d. Does your list match mine?
The best toughie I’ve had the pleasure of solving for a long time and like today’s backpager, every clue was scrupulously fair.
I needed to check my answer to 18a as it was not a word I am familiar with, though with the wordplay it couldn’t be anything else. Similarly 4d, which I know better as canned laughter.
I don’t recall having so many ticks on my page, such brilliantly constructed wordplay.
My last clue to parse was 14d which I stared at for ages, until I worked out the hub for animal bit. There followed a satisfied smile.
The academic in 12a stood out too, particularly the Down here part along with the collapse at 21d.
I could nominate plenty of others, this was top quality stuff.
A massive thanks to Osmosis for such a fun challenge and to Gazza as per, for the blog and cartoons.
Friday Toughies and I don’t see eye to eye, although at least this was not an Elgar so managed about half unaided in a distinct NE/SW split. Enlisting Gazza’s help for 18a unlocked 18d, 22a and 26a, and the second part of 4d although, I have never heard of the expression. I did know the 18a word as my wife has one, so kicked myself for not getting it. LOI was the the 9d artist thanks to Gazza.
Cheers to Osmosis for an entertaining, albeit tricky puzzle.
4*/4*
A hugely enjoyable puzzle, and not just because I managed to finish it. Definitely at the less brain-mangling end of the Osmosis spectrum though I had never heard of the artist or the grass.
There was a loud clang of a huge penny dropping when 5d (COTD) dawned, and I was pleased to get almost all the rest of the grid parsed. Other podium places to 8d and 17a
Many thanks to Osmosis and Gazza
The usual top quality stuff from Osmosis. Good surfaces and clever, often humorous wordplay – what’s not to like. I was lucky to spot 1a quickly [how many “sinews” do we know?] and get off to a good start but found the lower half a lot more taxing. Top spots go to 12a [Down here!!] 23a [lovely surface] 9d [a very “Osmosis” complex charade] and 14d [very clever once the penny drops].
Thanks to Osmosis and to Gazza for the blog.
Finished unaided in *** so maybe not that hard for a Friday. Never heard of the 9D artist, chuckled at 11A. Much to like and a good workout of my toughie brain. 5D needed counting on fingers, how clever our compiler gets…
Pleased as punch to finish only my 2nd Osmosis puzzle unaided but a helluva battle getting there. Still one or two to parse so will look at it again tomorrow before reading the review. Very enjoyable
Just 6 comments above which indicate the elitist nature of the Friday toughie. I am quite content to just have a go and see what happens and usually learn stuff, but I detest it when the setter has taken liberties. Since when does SINK mean CONCEAL? What about IDLE for VAIN? And PAY TV is definitely 3,2. Really poor.
Conceal for sink and vain for idle are both in Chambers.