Toughie No 3699 by Karla
Hints and tips by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Bloggers have to keep their wits about them tackling Karla. Not necessarily because of the wordplay – which is very straightforward today – but because he often hides a subtle Le Carré-flavoured Nina in the grid. Well, I can’t really spot one of those. Perhaps you can? But … there is a four-letter word (plus “set” and, possibly, “it”) running diagonally from the top left corner which, when anagrammed with 1a’s second letter, should/could give you summat. I may, of course, be reaching. I briefly thought, on clocking 14d, that Smiley might be making an appearance, but the last three letters of the crossing 18a don’t quite get you there – unless you play with them. We’ve also got a flurry of names – Enid, Charlie, Juliet, Victor, Seal (possibly), Vogue, Oscar and Cindy – but it’s certainly not a band I recognise! The floor, as ever, is yours.
Across
1a Fat swine blocks old port (8)
LARBOARD: (male) “swine” blocks/goes inside (cooking) “fat”. You’re not looking for a place here.
5a Shut school to contain onset of lice and, later, that of scabies (6)
CLOSED: (mixed) “school” contains L[ice] and S[cabies] – in (later) separate places.
9a After five, Enid unhappily settles for local tipple (3,2,4)
VIN DE PAYS: Roman “five” + ENID, unhappily, plus “settles” (up).
11a Invalidate yearbook having deleted the latter article (5)
ANNUL: “yearbook”, minus the second of its two (indefinite) articles.
12a Drink rebuffed by fine African herbivore (6)
REEBOK: “drink” (ale) rebuffed/reversed, plus two-letter “fine”.
13a Make explicit records about large thug (5,3)
SPELL OUT: (vinyl) “records”, about/reversed, plus abbreviated “large” and thug/oaf.
15a One who helps as main road got dilapidated (4,9)
GOOD SAMARITAN: AS+MAIN+ROAD+GOT, dilapidated.
18a Group by fortune catching the Spanish under the radar (13)
CLANDESTINELY: group/tribe + fortune/fate, catching/containing (the) Spanish “the”.
22a Unfit international male player taken back on (8)
IMPROPER: abbreviated “international” and “male” + (rugby) player + on/about, reversed (taken back).
23a Charlie in Sofia cycling to get turkey (6)
FIASCO: NATO’s “Charlie” in(side) SOFIA, cycled (its first two letters are moved to the end in this case). Generous of Karla to give us “Sofia” since, as a cycling clue, he could have been much meaner!
26a Juliet moved away from sprightly family member (5)
AUNTY: sprightly/lively, minus NATO’s Juliet (one ‘T’ as per Chambers).
27a Bargain acquired by one wearing smart top from Escada (9)
NEGOTIATE: acquired/obtained + abbreviated “one”, wearing/inside smart/tidy + E[scada].
28a Seal almost had no fish, perhaps, by November (6)
FASTEN: “had no fish, perhaps” – i.e., abstained from food – plus abbreviated “November”.
29a Individual tries CD reformatted back in office (8)
DISCRETE: TRIES+CD, reformatted, plus [offic]E.
Down
1d Clout Victor inside shelter with Vogue (8)
LEVERAGE: NATO’s “Victor” inside (nautical, etc) “shelter” and vogue/(all the) fashion.
2d Concern of EV buyers published outside of garage (5)
RANGE: published/printed + G[arag]E.
3d Taxing forums alternately visited by emperor (7)
ONEROUS: [f]O[r]U[m]S, visited by/containing (the fiddling) “emperor”.
4d Heartless competitor Omani bit (4)
RIAL: competitor/challenger, minus its central letter. “Bit” as “coin”.
6d Flyer emptied fuel etc mostly below field (7)
LEAFLET: F[ue]L + ET[c], below/after field/meadow.
7d Organ base Oscar’s broken at end of day in room (3,6)
SUN LOUNGE: (bodily) “organ” and (mathematical) “base”, broken by/containing NATO’s “Oscar”, after (“at the end of”) three-letter “day”.
8d Thin papers rolled atop instrument (6)
DILUTE: papers/documents, rolled/reversed, plus (old stringed) “instrument”.
10d Check meals when king’s brought up seconds (8)
SUPPRESS: (evening) “meals”, with its abbreviated “king” brought up (back one place), plus abbreviated “seconds”.
14d Issue framing insect part that’s tiny (8)
SMIDGEON: issue/child, framing/containing (a biting) insect.
16d Those aboard maybe lifted plaster around vessel (9)
OCCUPANTS: “plaster” (or cement), lifted/reversed, around/containing (cooking) “vessel”.
17d European party roles electioneer screens (8)
TYROLESE: lurker, screened/hidden in the second, third and third words.
19d A retired city fellow seems essentially harmless (7)
ANODYNE: ‘A’, plus two-letter “city” and (university) “fellow” retired/reversed, plus [se]E[ms].
20d Silly Cindy in outfit on and off ice with no jacket (7)
IDIOTIC: [c]I[n]D[y]I[n]O[u]T[f]I[t] + [i]C[e].
21d Rear of Oval circled by singer following Asian side (6)
PILAFF: [ova]L circled by/inside (French) singer, plus abbreviated “following”.
24d Post delivery of food you may eat raw (5)
STAKE: homophone/delivery of food that you can indeed eat raw – if you must!
25d Half-scrubbed lime beneath huge peeled alternative? (4)
UGLI: LI[me] beneath/after [h]UG[e]. The definition relies upon the “lime” in the clue.
We have three anagrams, plus a cycling clue, a homophone and a lurker. There are some nicely subtle definitions (e.g., 1a, 2d and 4d) and 5a’s surface works well. How did you get on?
Nothing too challenging except perhaps the unusual spelling of 21d and its classification.
Thanks to ALP and Karla.
Another one that had me staring at a full grid but unable to say I’d finished as a couple were unparsed.
Last to fall was the room in 7d, though when I cracked it, I wondered why it held out so long.
The ‘had no fish’ part of 28a also took longer than it should to suss, until I realised ‘perhaps’ was doing some heavy lifting.
I also liked the unfit 22a, the harmless 19d and the Asian side in 21a.
My thanks to Karla and ALP.
I didn’t really care for ‘fish’ even with the perhaps – I guess food would have been too obvious.
If I felt a tad smug yesterday having found Weatherman’s puzzle easier than CS’s rating it’s back down to earth with a bang today. Found the top half relatively straightforward but it was a helluva struggle down south. Reading back through after completion not sure why really as there was nothing obscure & the wordplay wasn’t particularly convoluted. That said couldn’t parse 7d without the hint which wasn’t surprising as I had the paper as the organ – d’oh.
Very much enjoyed the puzzle. Lots to like – 1,12&27a + 4,16&19d the ones that stood out for me.
Thanks to Karla & as ever to ALP.
I agree with ALP’s ratings – one of those days when starting with the Downs would be beneficial.
Lots to like but I thought the clear indications of what to do in 5a and 11a were excellent. Usually the blogger has to point these things out in the hint
Thanks to Karla and ALP
Great stuff from Karla – thanks to him and ALP.
14d is fast becoming the new Serengeti.
Ticks from me for 1a, 12a, 27a and 21d.