Toughie No 3691 by Dharma
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
As ever, one of the trickiest elements of blogging (apart from trying and failing to come up with musical clips that don’t enrage Jane!) is the difficulty rating. Talking of Jane, I know we all hope that no news is good news. Everything crossed. If you’re on Dharma’s wavelength (and, for some reason, I generally am) this should fly in, but, if you’re not, some of his typically wily wordplay might slow you down. I’ve gone with a safe-ish 1.5 – I hope that’s not too irritating. The floor is yours to agree … or not!
Across
1a Saints ace playing around with back from rugby team (7,4)
SWANSEA CITY: SAINTSACE, playing, around/containing abbreviated “with”, plus [rugb]Y.
7a On reflection, I appreciate that beer finally gets moved for free (2,5)
AT LARGE: “I appreciate that”/cheers, reversed/reflected, plus “beer”, with its final letter moved (from fifth to third).
8a The French backing Germany on free peppers (7)
RIDDLES: “the” in French, backing/behind “Germany” (IVR) on/after (to) “free”.
10a Drink after eleven at night? Time to stop it (5)
LATTE: what “after eleven at night” suggests (adjectivally), stopped by/containing abbreviated “time”.
11a Tight denims lady not enjoying male lust? (6,3)
DEADLY SIN: DENI[M]SLADY (not enjoying/without abbreviated “male”), tight.
12a Pensioner with large rum bottles getting attention (3,4)
OLD DEAR: abbreviated “large” bottled/contained by rum/strange, plus “attention” = a possibly rather bold definition. If I’d ever been foolish enough to call my peerless great-aunt this, she would – rightly – have bashed me on the nose! I also suspect some grammar-purists might question “bottles” after the linking “with” but … it is a great surface.
14a Pilot admitting service is comparatively demanding (7)
STERNER: (to) pilot/guide, admitting/containing (military) “service”.
15a Encourage uniform-free former prime minister wanting one in the end (7)
NOURISH: how one might write “uniform-free” (2,1), plus “former PM” wanting/lacking the last abbreviated “one”.
18a Pick up new art on coach (7)
RETRAIN: on/concerning + (to) coach/tutor.
20a Back in Amsterdam perhaps following the cycling race (9)
ETHNICITY: IN, back/reversed, plus “Amsterdam” (for example) after THE, cycling (the letters).
21a Pep‘s zip not moving at this speed? (5)
OOMPH: zip/zero + a “speed” that means you’re not moving (1,3). Slightly odd surface perhaps but the construction’s fun.
22a My job location (7)
SETTING: double definition with “my” relating to Dharma, obviously.
23a Acting with Chic exhausted The Edge (7)
INTERIM: chic/fashionable + T[h]E + edge/lip.
24a Stressed as lit up lamp from abroad turned over (11)
HIGHLIGHTED: lit up/drunk + “lamp” + “from” (abroad, i.e. in France) turned over/reversed.
Down
1d Welcomed old-fashioned instrument breaking down (7)
SALUTED: “old(-fashioned) instrument”, breaking/inside down/blue.
2d Match experience entertains half of Kopites? (5)
AGREE: “experience” (Beam often clues this as “decline” – I prefer this!) entertains/contains half (first two letters of four) of “Kopites”, AKA Liverpool fans.
3d One who may give credit after second slight (7)
SLENDER: someone offering credit (or advance) after abbreviated “second”.
4d Debt, the entire amount changing hands, cockney gathers (7)
ARREARS: “the entire amount” (everything), changing hands (lefts to rights), plus how a cockney might say gathers/picks up.
5d Patient, going off gluten after visiting doctor free from runs (9)
INDULGENT: GLUTEN, going off, after “visiting” (2) and abbreviated “doctor” minus R[uns].
6d Maybe Boris, you once heard, wrong to carry the case for Lamont (7)
YELTSIN: old “you” (once heard) + wrong/offence, carrying/containing L[amon]T.
7d 50-50 in a game for non-specialists (3-8)
ALL-ROUNDERS: 50-50 (two fifties in Roman numerals) inside A + “game” (basically baseball, but best don’t tell Americans that).
9d Cook grins wrapping as well as covering meat in large pile (11)
SANDRINGHAM: GRINS, cooked, wrapping/containing “as well as”, covering/above “meat”.
13d Bringing about collapse of ceiling having been charged with just the thing (9)
ELICITING: CEILING, collapsed, charged with/containing “just the thing” (2).
16d Separate cakes discovered with slight problem (7)
UNHITCH: cakes (or rolls), discovered/stripped of outer letters + slight problem/snag.
17d Husband, Sky member, tipped product used for style (4,3)
HAIR GEL: abbreviated “husband” + sky/heavens + member/limb, tipped/reversed.
18d The compiler’s band, according to Spooner is like Slade and Suede (7)
RHYMING: how Dharma might say “the compiler’s band” (2,4), Spoonerised.
19d Rated jam put on sandwiches (7)
ADMIRED: jam/problematic situation, sandwiched/contained by “put on”.
21d Group, twice as big as The Beatles? (5)
OCTET: a gently chucklesome cryptic definition to get us home: how many were in The Beatles?
We’ve got five anagrams, a cryptic definition and a double. There’s a faint whiff of football and, as such, I especially enjoyed 1a, 21a and 2d. 19d’s jolly too. How did you get on?
At last, a toughie that says what it does on the tin. Not particularly fiendish, but there’s so much going on in almost every clue. Plenty of humour and a very satisfying solve once everything was properly parsed. As our blogger noted, a bit of a football theme in there too.
I haven’t enjoyed a puzzle as much since…probably the last time this setter was in the chair.
If I narrowed my ticks down to a podium, it would take me as long as it did to solve it.
I’ll have to mention the OAP in 12a though. Great clue and a cracking term frequently heard in my neck of the woods.
That’s much more like it.
My thanks to Dharma and ALP.
It was a pleasure to see on printing this puzzle that it was from Dharma, as it meant a challenge that would be more like a Toughie than another escaped back pager. That is not to denigrate the many excellent “Toughies” we’ve recently enjoyed, it’s just that other than on a Friday most don’t live up to the billing.
Anyhow, after a slowish start even this one started to fall into place quite swiftly, and only 5d remained unparsed. Some nice tricky clueing, amusing surfaces, good red herrings and the need for lateral thinking I’ve come to expect from Dharma.
Honours to 15a, 20a, 7d and 18d.
Many thanks to Dharma and ALP
And could not let the remarkable AC/DC performance pass without comment – in front of 72,000 with phenomenal energy from Brian Johnson & Angus Young. Not sure if this rendition of Thunderstruck at River Plate nearly 20 years later is better but it’s quite something to realise Brian was 62!
A definite step up in toughness from Dharma who’s really got to grips with this Toughie setting lark – thanks to him and ALP.
There’s plenty of humour on display – the patient now free from the runs, the Man City manager slowing down and the pensioner with the hoard of empty booze bottles for example.
I especially liked 12a, 20a, 6d and 18d.
Another dose of excellemce from my favuorit ecompiler.Notihng to frighten the horses,, bur humourousfairly and cleverly clued. COTD was the mendicant at 25a…….
NTS found it a deal tougher than our reviewer did but always enjoy Stephen’s puzzles. Among a plethora of ticks 12,15,20&21a plus 5&18d stood out for me. 20a my fav.
Thanks to Dharma & to ALP
I too found this harder than our esteemed blogger. I started off slowly and never got any quicker before stumbling over the line. I did enjoy the challenge though. Favourite was 9d. Thanks to Dharma and ALP.
Very enjoyable although a few pints of Kentish Pip in the lunchtime sunshine appear to have impacted my solving speed. 12a is a splendid clue (in some good company).
Thanks to Dharma and ALP.
Superduper fun although one or two had me scratching my head to parse (24a, 4d, 5d). Thought 18d a belter and enjoyed the surface of 15a. I’ve struggled in the past with Dharma’s “instructions” but think I’ve cracked them now. Tvm to him and to Alp for his invaluable help with the above
I’d definitely have rated it 4*, genuinely tough as others have said, and I wouldn’t have been here if I could parse it all after solving it.
Kopites would never have occurred to me. I only understand football with an egg shaped ball.
Many thanks to ALP for his usual faultless review and to those who’ve commented, much appreciated. I’m pleased to have raised the odd smile too.
Huge thanks for popping in – yet another bobby-dazzler.
A cracker. The boy is really developing a top style, let down only by the gibberish at 9d. Top picks 7a [I appreciate that] 15a [uniform free] 23a [exhausted the – and great surface – though I can’t see it somehow] and 4d [entire amount changing hands]. Keep it up lad.
Thanks to Dharma and ALP.
This took me a long time to solve but was immensely satisfying. So many penny drop moments!
I really like simple clues so 22a and 21d were right up my street. However I think my COTD is 8a with 20a in sevond place.
Only one I still can’t parse despite the help above is 2d I just don’t get it 😞
Hi Spangledcat, AGE (experience) entertains/contains RE[ds] (Liverpool fans, AKA Kopites)
Thank you – not being a football fan this made no sense
A day late with this as too busy yesterday to do justice this barnstormer from Dharma. As has been said he really knows how to make us work hard to unravel his really clever but totally fair clue constructions. I found it was beyond my solving capabilities in a few places with definitions hard to spot – as they should be in a toughie. So I did need a number of hints to get me home, but that only made me admire the clue constructions all the more. Many thanks for you help ALP. I applaud your solving skills if you’ve only needed to award a 1* rating for this!
I enjoyed the humour on show in 12a, 21a 18d and 21d. Plaudits are also due for the wordplay in 15a uniform-free, 20a the cycling and 7d from abroad turned over. I could have picked many more.
Many thanks Dharma, I look forward to your next one.
I’m in the “not on the right wavelength” club. This was a proper Toughie struggle, hence the very late post. No complaints, however: the clues were all scrupulously fair and very clever, they just took a lot of sorting out even when the answer was apparent. I really enjoyed the challenge, and am giving my gold star to the Spoonerism, which is very neatly put together.
Thanks to Dharma for a top-notch puzzle and to ALP for the combined blog and musical assortment!
Another splendid Thursday Toughie from Dharma! What a treat!
Dharma’s idiosyncratic parsing never fails to delight. Teasing out the answers exercises one’s little grey cells and is most rewarding.
It is pretty obvious that I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. My printout has many ticks. Starting with the across clues, they include 10, 11, 12, 15, 20, 21 and 24a.
12a made me laugh. I hear it far more often as I grow older! I once overheard someone refer to me as ‘a little old lady’. I think I prefer 12a…
Of the down clues, I particularly enjoyed 5, 6, 7, 9, 19 and 21d with a special nod to 18d.
I always like to solve without referring to hints or comments or online sources. I was on the right wavelength, but this is a ‘proper’ Toughie requiring careful thought. My rating is ***/*****.
Although I had the answer, I didn’t understand ‘Kopites’. I’m very grateful to ALP for explaining it and for confirming the accuracy of my parsing of the rest of the clues. Thank you very much, ALP. Much appreciated.
Much appreciation and big thanks to Dharma for this super and most entertaining Toughie.