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…….