Toughie No 3730 by Zenas
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
A proper Toughie, which is what we have come to expect from Zenas
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought
Across
1a Jail troops involved in criminal blast (7)
BORSTAL Abbreviated Other Ranks of soldiers (troops) inserted into an anagram (criminal) of BLAST
9a Check ladies perhaps coming around, I see (8)
VALIDATE A reversed (coming around) abbreviated term for a ladies loo followed by I (from the clue) and a verb meaning to see romantically
10a Slyness of way wife’s abandoned riches (7)
STEALTH An abbreviated way and some riches without (abandoned) the abbreviation for Wife
11a Home counties expert leaving India for time to study (8)
SEMESTER The abbreviation for the area of England where the Home Counties are to be found and an originally German for an expert
12a One taking medal carried by posh car around Belgium (6)
ROBBER An abbreviated honour (medal) inserted into an abbreviated posh car, the IVR code for Belgium then being inserted
13a Maybe Mimi appears for the audience with a lock of hair (10)
SEAMSTRESS The occupation of Mimi in La Boheme – a homophone (for the audience) of a verb meaning appears and a lock of hair
15a Look, part of Suez agreement needs overturning (4)
GAZE Hidden in reverse (needs overturning) in words four and five of the clue
16a Agents had redeployed theatre worker (5,4)
STAGE HAND An anagram (redeployed) of AGENTS HAD
21a Warning in exhortation to workers? (4)
OMEN This warning, if split 1,3, could sound like an exhortation to workers
22a Access passwords? (4,6)
OPEN SESAME A spell or other means of making barriers fly open, as used by Ali Baba in the Arabian Nights
24a Half-cut man enthralled by bitter purpose (6)
TARGET The first half of a shortened name for a man ‘enthralled’ by an adjective meaning bitter
25a Flyer has time for second check (8)
THROTTLE Replace the abbreviation for Second in another name for the song thrush (flyer) with the abbreviation for Time
27a Alarm about adult contracting onset of infectious disease (7)
MALARIA An anagram (about) of ALARM and the abbreviation for Adult ‘contracting’ or getting inserted the ‘onset’ of Infectious
28a Confirm implication of pay freeze? (8)
NOTARISE Confirm or authenticate which if split 3,1,4 might reveal the implication of a pay freeze
29a Refuse to weaken (7)
DECLINE Double definition
Down
2d Voluntary pilot on manoeuvres round America (8)
OPTIONAL An anagram (manoeuvres) of PILOT ON into which is inserted the abbreviation for America
3d Quiet walks in abattoir (8)
SHAMBLES An instruction to be quiet and walks
4d Behind former leading lady’s own fragrance (10)
AFTERSHAVE Behind, the regnal cipher of our late Queen plus an S (lady’s) and a verb meaning to own
5d Face nuisance in hearing (4)
PANE A homophone (in hearing) of a tiresome or annoying person gives us a flat side or face
6d/7d Mum meets her mate, an inactive investor (6,7)
SILENT PARTNER Mum here being an adjective calling for ‘not a word’ and a mate of someone
7d See 6 Down
8d Rector originally means to leave for retreat (7)
REGRESS The original letter of Rector and the way out (means to leave)
11d Free programs divide China? (9)
SHAREWARE Divide and pottery (China?)
14d Leader with vast organised forced labour movement (5,5)
SLAVE TRADE An anagram (organised) of LEADER with VAST
17d Old Republican in party beginning to notice trouble, one perhaps getting hammered (8)
DOORNAIL The abbreviations for Old and Republican inserted between a party and the ‘beginning’ to Notice, a verb meaning to trouble being added at the end
18d Some glass ain’t even broken (8)
VENETIAN An anagram (broken) of AINT EVEN
19d Goddess representing fish (7)
FORTUNA A simple way of saying representing and a type of fish
20d Promise of upside-down cake kept by British hotel (7)
BETROTH A reversed (upside-down) rich, sweet cake inserted between (kept by) the abbreviation for British and the letter represented by Hotel in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet
23d Cross lake going for take-off (6)
SATIRE Remove the abbreviation for Lake for a St Andrew’s Cross on a flag or emblem
26d Hospital usher grasps sponge (4)
LUSH Hidden in the first two words of the clue
Just how I like ’em: quirky and amusing.
I took too long trying to reverse ‘loo’ into 9a. Eventually the penny dropped and I realised there was another three-letter convenience where I could spend it.
The expert in 11a also took a while to arrive, as I assumed he was English and didn’t see why he left India. Once I made him Deutsch, I could see why he did.
Great clues, those two, as are 24a with the half-cut man and 4d with the former leading lady (gawd bless ‘er).
Nice one Zenas, my thanks also to CS.
four and a half clues left and I have to stop now. 1a, 5d, 21a, 24a and the second half of 11d have defeated me!!
And even what I managed was a bit of a struggle.
I did like 13a and 10a
Thanks all hope it’s not too much harder tomorrow
i found this very tough – almost at my limit in places, but it was an enjoyable challenge.
My podium selection is 13a, 3d & 4d.
Many thanks to Zenas and to CS.
Toughie by name and Toughie by nature, this had me really mangling the grey matter. The NE and SW were the stumbling blocks, so needed the hints for 9a, 25a, 19d and 23d to give sufficient checkers to get over the line. Didn’t help that I spent ages looking for a Greek goddess forgetting that the Romans had a few.
Thank you Zenas and crypticsue
I’ll go with Sue’s rating.
It was good to find a Zenas puzzle this morning; his Toughies don’t appear often enough. This one is very enjoyable – thanks to him and CS.
I particularly liked 9a, 22a, 28a, 4d and 17d.
9a & 11d elude me at present despite 4 checkers in one & 5 in the other. Somewhat relieved to see our reviewer judges it a ‘proper’ Toughie – if she thinks so no wonder the likes of me is finding it hard going. I’m also struggling to parse a couple of the others. 22,24&28a the ones I liked best thus far.
I’ll avoid the hints & have another look at it later on in the hope of a coin drop or two.
Thanks to Zenas & in advance to CS