Toughie No 3711 by Robyn
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Well, what an unexpected treat: an all-too-rare Toughie from Robyn. Then again, he does have other fish to fry these days. Not the friendliest of portcullis grids but, heck, it is a Thursday and the clueing is, of course, delightful – largely gentle-ish and supremely logical. A soupçon of French, football and (boo!) AI. Only the exotic 12a gave me any real pain, but its building blocks are clear. I could easily have added an extra half on for that alone but, on checking the clock, a muscular two it is. The floor is yours … howl at me if you must!
Across
6a Understanding lumberjack’s work includes competitive price (6,7)
FELLOW FEELING: “lumberjack’s work” (7) includes/contains “competitive” (as in cheap) and “price” (rate).
8a Filibuster‘s crime (4-2)
HOLD-UP: double definition.
9a Suspiciously stayed visibly embarrassed after endless toilet breaks (8)
LOITERED: “visibly embarrassed”, after TOILE[t], breaking.
10a “Lead’s fallen off dog!”, it’s said when tying the knot (1,2)
I DO: generic pet name for a dog, less its lead/first letter.
11a Dismay about English sentence being called into question? (6)
APPEAL: dismay/horrify, about/containing abbreviated “English”.
12a A goatish creature cutting through birds (8)
AVIFAUNA: ‘A’, plus “goatish creature” (half man, half goat) cutting/inside “through” (3).
14a Key expert is impressed by morally superior worker (7)
PIANIST: IS, impressed by/inside morally superior/sanctimonious and (social) “worker”, i.e., an insect.
16a Puzzle at first fazes blockhead (7)
FLUMMOX: F[azes] + blockhead/oaf.
20a Maybe Haaland, and not ex-England goalkeeper, abandoning area (8)
NORSEMAN: “and not” + “ex-England goalkeeper” (David) minus one abbreviated “area”.
23a Least disagreeable province – it’s over the Channel (6)
NICEST: (UK) “province” + “it’s” in French.
24a Some work grouping of right-wing Tories (3)
ERG: double definition – unit and/or the acronym of a Eurosceptic caucus set up in 1993.
25a Occasion when wine’s drunk in intoxicated state (4,4)
HIGH MASS: intoxicated (as a kite, etc) + abbreviated US “state”.
26a Patsy Cline’s too genteel to admit this (6)
STOOGE: lurker, hidden in the second, third and fourth words.
27a One descriptor of Othello then another’s enthralling head of theatre company (7,6)
GENERAL MOTORS: two descriptors of Othello (rank and ethnicity), enthralling/containing T[heatre]. Don’t forget that apostrophe ‘S’!
Down
1d Tight bond with glue stick (8)
BLUDGEON: BOND+GLUE, tight.
2d Is a setter not half vulgar pain in the backside? (8)
COMPILES: the first three letters of vulgar/coarse + (an affliction that’s literally a) “pain in the backside”.
3d Dump rotten boy without love (7)
OFFLOAD: rotten/sour + boy/young man, without/containing the usual “love”.
4d Google feature, say, turned up by baby (6)
GEMINI: say/for example, turned up/reversed, plus baby/little.
5d People with intelligence penning pieces about art form (6)
CINEMA: people with intelligence/intelligence agency, penning/containing “pieces” (chess) about/reversed.
6d Bad opinion of goods, no ordinary problem affecting consumer (4,9)
FOOD POISONING: OPINIONOFGOODS, bad, minus one abbreviated “ordinary”.
7d Where to see golfer put up with slump, flipping issue caused by driving? (10,3)
GREENHOUSE GAS: a place where one might find a golfer + put up/board, plus slump/droop, flipping/reversed.
13d A bug flapped its wings loudly (3)
FLU: homophone (loudly) of “flapped (its) wings” … successfully!
15d Hostility shown by immigration enforcement (3)
ICE: double definition – noun and/or (US) enforcement agency.
17d Want host to broadcast Fifteen to One? (4,4)
LONG SHOT: want/yearn + HOST, broadcast.
18d Doctor doctor, I’m incredibly tiny still! (8)
MICRODOT: DOCTORIM, doctored. “Still” as photograph.
19d Without assistance, son probes minimum staffing for Santa’s workshop? (7)
ONESELF: abbreviated “son” probes/goes inside how one might describe the absolute minimum staffing for said grotto (3,3).
21d Like strong acid kept in tin by puzzle setter (6)
SPHINX: “like strong acid” (as chemical number) kept in/inside symbol of “tin”, plus “by” (maths).
22d Skimpy pool clothes Margo occasionally stripped off (6)
MEAGRE: pool/lake clothes/contains [m]A[r]G[o].
A breezy mélange today – five anagrams, two double definitions, a homophone and a lurker. I especially enjoyed 6a, 27a and 21d. 7d and 19d’s take on a classic tickled me too. How did you get on?
Very enjoyable. 21d was my favourite but plenty to choose from.
Thanks to Robyn and ALP.
What a wonderful surprise to find a Robyn puzzle in the Toughie slot and it’s a corker with misleading definitions and clever wordplay by the bucketload. Thanks to him and ALP.
The 24a Tory group was in the news every day during the Brexit negotiations but I didn’t realise that it was still going.
Nearly every clue on my printout has a tick – I won’t list them all just 14a, 26a, 27a, 2d, 7d and my favourite 21d (puzzle setter – brilliant!)
I do hope that in spite of his other commitments Robyn will continue to provide puzzles of this quality on a regular basis.
Plenty to enjoy, including the wonderful term for blockhead in 16a, Haaland in 20a and Patsy Cline at 26a.
2d connecting a setter with a pain in the backside was amusing and I liked Margo getting her kit off by the pool in 22d. You can’t blame her though in this weather.
My thanks to Robyn and ALP.
Superb. Red herrings by the bucketload, very clever clueing, and a generous dollop of humour. Steady progress throughout and would have been quicker had I not biffed ‘lingered’ at 9a without properly reading the clue, which held me up with 4d. Sense of accomplishment as the last one (25a) went in.
I could put pretty much every clue on the podium, but will limit to 25a, 26a, 27a and COTD 21d. We need more Robyn puzzles but I guess in his role he must feel it’s unfair to include his own in the DT. Does he set elsewhere, other than EV?
Many thanks indeed to Robyn and ALP
Once a person takes on the role of Crossword Editor at a particular newspaper, then they are not permitted to set for any of the rival publications
Thanks, Sue. That really is a great shame – I thought/hoped I’d recognised his style from one or two Times crosswords in recent weeks, but evidently not.
I did this first thing and was left with two unsolved.
Can let myself off the hook with 21d but am embarrassed to say I didn’t see the anagram in 1d. So very nearly a completed grid!!
The four peripherals were great and provided much needed checkers. Have never heard of 12a but worked it out from the clueing. I do like a puzzle that has some good words in like 16a so that has to be my COTD.
Thanks all
A lovely surprise to find a Robyn Toughie – the usual splendid crossword with lots to mislead the solver. I found it tougher than ALP did but then we never seem to agree on difficulty ratings
Thanks very much to Robyn – come back again soon please – and to ALP
An excellent puzzle with so much to enjoy. I hadn’t heard of 12A but it was fairly clued. My only failing was 24A so thanks ALP for the explanation. Of the many ticks, mention goes to 14A, 7D, and 19D, with podium going to 1A.
Thanks again to ALP and to Robyn for the enjoyment.
I came up a bit short with 1d, 6a, 14a and 25a needing explaining after being happy to fill the E with average Toughie difficulty. 12a was new but fairly clued. For 2d I was looking for the noun which the wordplay points to rather than a verb. I loved the Othello company and that’s my cott. Toughies for me are still work in progress.
Thanks to ALP and Robyn.
I really struggle to get into Robyn’s head. The cryptic defs take forever even when the wordplay is sorted, so this was more like a Friday 4* for me. Nuff moaning – top clues were 18d [lol] and 21d.
Thanks to Robyn and ALP – the latter gets 5* for the Pioneers. Haven’t heard it in years and I’d forgotten how wonderful it is [on the cusp of the transition from Ska to Reggae]. must dig it out and put it on the phones with the bass turned up.
I do miss this setter’s Picaroon puzzles in the Graun & lovely to have a Robyn Toughie. Unfortunately my solving skills aren’t up to the task as I’m 6 shy of completion. Think I’ll throw in the towel & have another look at it the morrow after a good kip (chance would be a fine thing in this sauna though I have the secret weapon of a frozen hot water bottle)
To be continued
A cracking puzzle from Robyn. I found this a bit Tougher than ALP did, but perfect for a Thursday evening. Two proper Toughies on the bounce, and tomorrow won’t be a Floughie for sure. Excellent!
12a gets my prize, but I’m biased, although there really could be any one of many.
Thanks to Robyn and ALP. The musical assortment is going to have to wait, though