Toughie No 3722 by Weatherman
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty * – Enjoyment ****
What a wondrous range of things Weatherman expects his solvers to know, from a Renaissance composer to a Latin expression, a cocktail, an informal name for a social media platform, not to mention a ‘comic’ character and a former world leader, all in a mix of fairly worded clues. My difficulty rating reflects the fact that I did know them all, although I have no idea how the Latin expression emerged from the deep recesses of my memory
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought
Across
1a Old English player‘s asthma still problematic after taking oxygen (6,6)
THOMAS TALLIS An anagram (problematic) of ASTHMA STILL and an O (taking oxygen)
9a Purveyors of pork pies backing bar succeeded (5)
LIARS A reversal (backing) of a bar followed by the abbreviation for Succeeded
10a Pair up, as running across sierra together (4,5)
PARI PASSU A Latin expression meaning together or with equal pace. An anagram (running) of PAIR UP AS into which is inserted the letter represented by Sierra in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet
11a Catch fish, nursing small chicks (9)
NESTLINGS A verb meaning to catch and some [plural] fish into which is inserted (nursing) the abbreviation for Small
12a Happening the night before and night after vacation (5)
EVENT The night before and the outside (after vacation) letters of NighT
13a Before one, people visiting A&E can drink (9)
APPLETINI An informal abbreviation for people used in social media, texting and online chats is inserted into A and E (from the clue), followed by another word for a can, all go before the Roman numeral for one
16a Travel by boat through outskirts of Dublin in flood (5)
DROWN Travel by a particular type of boat inserted into (through) the outside (outskirts) letters of DubliN
18a When cycling, criticise car (5)
TESLA ‘Cycle’ the last two letters of a verb meaning to criticise to the front of the word
19a Speculator tries or he’s bust (9)
THEORISER An anagram (bust) of TRIES OR HE
20a Briefly set up social media site, briefly (5)
INSTA Truncate a verb meaning to set up
22a Revealed former editor bored by papers (9)
EXPRESSED The usual ‘former’ and an abbreviated editor ‘bored’ by a common name for newspapers
25a Aggressive-looking men caught rebel group (9)
GUERILLAS A homophone (caught) of a slang name for some aggressive-looking, heavily built thugs
26a Antelope from South Africa, India, and Georgia (5)
SAIGA The abbreviation for South Africa, the letter represented by India in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet and the abbreviation for the US State of Georgia
27a Save reminder to ring graduate about your book (7,5)
BARNABY RUDGE A preposition meaning apart from (save) and a gentle reminder goes round (to ring) a reversed abbreviated graduate and the abbreviation for your
Down
1d Parts of churches with unusual patterns enthralling son (9)
TRANSEPTS An anagram (unusual) of PATTERNS ‘enthralling’ the abbreviation for Son
2d Somewhat curious, elegant bird (5)
OUSEL Hidden in words two and three of the clue
3d Tree snake primarily eats nuts (5)
ASPEN A type of snake and the primary letters of Eats and Nuts
4d Act with elegance on the radio, a way to get into larger venues? (9)
TURNSTILE An act and a homophone (on the radio) of a synonym of elegance
5d Someone who sees what you’re saying (3-6)
LIP-READER Cryptic definition
6d Problem child (5)
ISSUE A double definition that is an ‘old friend’ of the experienced crossword solver
7d Terribly exhausted performer dating a real comic character (4,9)
ALAN PARTRIDGE An anagram (terribly) of the outside (exhausted) letters of PerformeR DATING A REAL
8d World leader no longer only wearing diamonds set in genuine gold (6,7)
JUSTIN TRUDEAU An adverb meaning only, a preposition meaning wearing, the abbreviation for the suit of Diamonds inserted into genuine or authentic, the result followed by the chemical symbol for gold
14d Discharge cheers celebrity up if only half-cut (9)
EMANATION A reversal (up) of a celebrity, an informal word of thanks (cheers) followed by the first letter of If and first two of ONly (half-cut)
15d Where you might drink and dance with child (2,3,4)
IN THE CLUB Where you might drink and dance or a slang way of saying with child or pregnant
17d Continually preoccupied with dreadful bosses the setter has (9)
OBSESSIVE An anagram (dreadful) of BOSSES and how our setter might say he has something
21d In Germany, you formally name a city (5)
SIENA The German formal word for you, the abbreviation for Name and A (from the clue) I have added the enumeration which is not shown online or in the paper. Apparently Crossword Compiler can’t cope with proper nouns as solutions and the enumeration has to be added manually.
23d Tricky one or a sitter? (5)
POSER Another old friend of a double definition
24d Relieved, ragged, but not tense (5)
EASED Ragged or ridiculed without the abbreviation for Tense
Unlike our blogger, I don’t recall hearing the Latin term before, though I was ok with the other random bits and pieces.
Norfolk’s finest at 7d was back of the net and I liked what was going on in the discharge at 14d.
The term for with child at 15d is an expression I haven’t heard in yonks, not sure if the permanently offended of today would find it acceptable. Still, it’s probably nicer than ‘up the duff’…
My thanks to Weatherman and CS.
An enjoyable midweek Toughie – thanks to Weatherman and CS.
I’d heard of 1a as a famous composer but wasn’t sure about the ‘player’ – perhaps he played his own music?
Top clues for me were 4d, 8d and 15d.
He was an organist apparently but as you say better know as a composer. He lived an interesting life for sure.
An enjoyable solve from Weatherman, thank you. Unlike Frankie, I loathe 7d but I do like 1a! No real standouts, just an all round good puzzle.
Thanks to Cryptic Sue for the hints.
A straightforward and very enjoyable puzzle, the completion of which would have been quicker had I not used an alternative spelling of 25a, which delayed the arrival of LOI, 14d. Happily all GK known other than the antelope, and that was very fairly clued. Quite heavy on the anagram front. Great surfaces.
Honours to 1a, 8d & 15d, MID to 7d even if the character is absolutely ghastly.
Not sure what happened – I know I edited my post to thank Weatherman and CS post hoc, but nothing has appeared. Ah well, my thanks to you both anyway!
What a great puzzle with such a broad mix of clues! I too know all the names around the periphery and also the latin term (years of working in finance)
Never heard of 26a but easily solvable from the clue. My only stumbling block was 21d not solvable from the clue as I didn’t know the German word, and I didn’t guess the correct answer having dismissed it, wrongly, for having a double “N” in the spelling.
Lots of brilliant clues in one of my favourite puzzles recently. I will choose the small chicks at 11a as my COTD
thanks all
This took some perseverance to complete!
A few bits of gk I didn’t know, such as the antelope, but the wordplay led me to the answer.
15d was my favourite.
Many thanks to Weatherman (I see John Kettley just turned 74), and to CS.
Thanks Sue & solvers, as always. And come on England!
Thank you, Weatherman. I got halfway through before having to give in to the hints. Still, I find that tackling Toughies every day and studying the parsing is resulting in my solving more and more. I’m learning!
I’m with CS on the ratings, although I’d no clue about the 1a performer, and never heard of the antelope, but did recall the Latin from somewhere, even though I can’t say I knew what it meant. All gettable from following the instructions, though. 5d takes my top prize. Thanks to Weatherman and CS
The 1a performer, the Latin phrase needless to say & the antelope were all unfamiliar & needed a post solve check but thankfully all gettable. Found this a tad more challenging than Dada yesterday – a speedier grid but one or two of the whys required a thorough head scratch.
Ticks for 13,25&27a + 5,7&15d.
Thanks to Weatherman & to Sue
1*/4* …
liked 5D “Someone who sees what you’re saying (3-6)”