Toughie 3677

Toughie No 3677 by Hudson
Hints and tips by Whybird

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BD Rating – Difficulty */**   – Enjoyment ***

Greetings!  For today, and next week, you find me in beautiful Dumfries and Galloway enjoying a loch-side lodge and the avian cacophony created by Canada and Greylag geese, with a supporting chorus of Little Grebe, Cuckoo and assorted warblers (sedge and willow primarily). So far the weather is more Mediterranean than Hibernian, so no complaints on that score!

We have a relatively gentle puzzle from Hudson today, to whom, many thanks. I added an extra half star for difficulty because of a couple of pieces of General Knowledge I didn’t have, but nothing that wasn’t clearly indicated by the clues. I was on Pangram alert after getting 25a early one with lots of other “high value” letters cropping up, but in the end, that only made the solve harder, given that we are lacking a W, so trying to squeeze one in was a waste of time. 23a, 4d and 14d occupy my podium places this week.

Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle. 

Across Clues

4a Chapter nine, in which cool Swede smokes here (5,3)

CIGAR BOX The single letter indicating “Chapter” is followed by the Roman numeral for “nine” into which is inserted the surname of a Swedish actress renowned for her cool demeanour 

8a One smelt, small fish (6)

STENCH Take the usual letter for “small” and add a coarse fish

9a French writer Victor Hugo gutted, left terribly irate (8)

VOLTAIRE Remove the contents from (gutted) all of “Victor Hugo”, then add the usual letter for “left” and an anagram (terribly) of “irate”

10a Carmen character runs away – such a melt! (8)

RACLETTE A charade of a three-letter motoring organisation (we had this operatic allusion a couple of weeks ago) followed by a character used in writing from which the usual abbreviation for “runs” is removed (away) to get a type of Swiss cheese having good melting properties (although I can’t say I’d ever heard of it previously)

11a Rich Sixties supergroup last seen in Glastonbury (6)

CREAMY Add the final letter (last seen) of “Glastonbury” to the Baker/Bruce/Clapton combo

12a Most advanced keep holding a few back (8)

FOREMOST Take a synonym of “keep” in the sense of a defensive structure, and insert (holding) a reversal (back) of a synonym of “a few”. I found it somewhat surprising that the first word of the clue appears so prominently in the solution, so much so, I was initially convinced this couldn’t be the correct solution

13a Preserving reputation, Bond villain back in custody (2,6)

ON REMAND Take the name of Sean Connery’s first cinematic arch-villain and insert (preserving) a synonym of “reputation”, then reverse the lot (back)

16a Fulfil agreement to have concealed wire (8)

FILAGREE The solution is lurking (to have concealed) within the letters of “Fulfil agreement”.  This is a variant spelling, which seems to survive solely in Crosswordland

19a Moved around and performed dance again (8)

REJIGGED This expression meaning “moved around” is also how you could say you had participated for a second or subsequent time in a vigorous type of dance, often associated with Scotland or Ireland

21a Singular program for downloading introduction to Homer (old poet) (6)

SAPPHO A charade of the one-letter abbreviation for “Singular”; a downloadable computer program commonly encountered on smartphones; the initial letter of (introduction to) “Homer” and the usual letter indicating “old”. 

23a Tight-lipped, I go after flipping moggy (8)

TACITURN “I” from the clue and a synonym of “go” as a noun follows (after) a reversal (flipping) of the animal known as a “moggy”

24a Squid Game essentially in, roughly speaking, nasty lair (8)

CALAMARI The inner letters (essentially) of “Game” are inserted in an abbreviation meaning “about” and an anagram (nasty) of “lair” 

25a The Eagle water bottles one pound (6)

AQUILA A synonym of “water” (often used in the list of ingredients when the manufacturer doesn’t want to say quite so blatantly “95% water”) surrounds (bottles) the letter that resembles the number one and the single letter abbreviation for “pound”

26a Raise layer covering a rowing boat (8)

HEIGHTEN A three letter animal that provides eggs surrounds (covering) one of the names for a racing rowing boat 

Down Clues
1d “Booze Cruise” character on a mission starts to order limoncello (7)

ETHANOL The first name of Tom Cruise’s character in the Mission Impossible series followed by the initial letters of (starts to) “order” and “limoncello” to get the “proper” (chemical) name for the component that gives “booze” its principle side-effect

2d New fanzine featuring, primarily, Leeds United that’s infectious (9)

INFLUENZA An anagram (New) of “fanzine” including (featuring) the initial letters (primarily) of “Leeds” and “United”

3d Grand Hotel decaying with walls stripped over in poor quarter (6)

GHETTO The usual letters indicating “Grand” and “Hotel” are followed by a reversal (over) of a synonym of “decaying” lacking its first and last letters (with walls stripped)

4d Drink helping after Charlie completed secret assignment (6,9)

COVERT OPERATION A charade of the letter represented by “Charlie” in the NATO phonetic alphabet and a synonym of “completed” followed by synonyms of “drink” (to excess) and “helping” (as a noun)

5d Spooner’s shivering sentry? One should give him credit (4,4)

GOLD CARD This (premium) means to obtain credit is a homophone of how you might describe a “shivering sentry” but with the initial letters swapped. This was easier to solve than explain in writing!

6d Old Rob discovered much-loved striker Jimmy (5)

REAVE Take the surname of the popular former Spurs, Chelsea, West Ham and England footballer and TV presenter, remove the outer letters (discovered) to get an archaic term (indicated by “Old”) meaning “rob”.  New to me, but clearly clued.  It’s a funny old game…

7d Chap carrying blade who’s up for a row? (7)

OARSMAN A cryptic definition, with “row” here having the sporting context, see also 26a

14d Dude, just do one vegetable (9)

MANGETOUT Split (3,3,3) This vegetable could be a translation of the slang expression “Dude, Just do one”

15d Stew of tuna and gar fed Ordinary Seaman (8)

ARGONAUT An anagram (Stew) of “tuna” and “gar” including (fed) the usual letter for “Ordinary”

17d Furious after Golf stolen from its covered parking spot? (2,1,4)

IN A RAGE Start with a (2,6) description of the location of a car at a “covered parking spot”, remove the first letter represented by “Golf” in the NATO phonetic alphabet, and then split the remaining letters as instructed

18d Frenzied, briefly forgetting year wasted on drug (7)

FEBRILE An anagram (wasted) of “briefly” by lacking the letter “y” (forgetting year) followed by the single-letter name of a recreational drug

20d Rising counsel, a KC, a judge defending a contract killer (6)

JACKAL The solution is lurking (defending) in reverse (Rising in a Down clue) amongst the letters of “counsel a KC a judge”

22d Jumped clear of Sierra car crash (5)

PRANG Remove the letter represented by “Sierra” in the NATO phonetic alphabet from a synonym of “jumped”