Toughie No 3739 by Kcit
Hints and tips by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment ***/****
What a difference a day makes, eh? I raced through this. It’s all pretty fair and there’s no exotic vocab as such – I even vaguely remembered 26a. Moreover, the pangram was helpful. Now, I am not a horsey chap and this may well be fanciful overreach, but 1a and then 25d got me thinking. The latter (Sir Henry) trained 13a; and 12a, 20a, 8d & 9d were all racehorses. There may be others but my Google thumb was getting tired. Certainly, if there isn’t/wasn’t one called 11a (though presumably not 25a) I’m Kylie Minogue. But perhaps the heat has just further addled my brain. The floor is, as ever, yours to put me right …
Across
1a Excellent vehicle brought into road for series of events (8)
RACECARD: excellent/outstanding + “vehicle”, inside abbreviated “road”.
5a Knave almost entirely a scoundrel (6)
JACKAL: “knave” (card) + “entirely”, minus the last letter.
10a Thermos drunk, police officer heads to investigate oddly rowdy religious figures (7,8)
MOTHERS SUPERIOR: THERMOS, drunk, + (senior) “police officer” + I[nvestigate] O[ddly] R[owdy].
11a Former Queen only losing heart about reserve representative of her power (7)
VICEROY: “former Queen” (her royal cypher) + O[nl]Y, about/containing reserve/coolness.
12a Detective pursuing former marksman (7)
DEADEYE: (private) “detective” after former/late.
13a Rebuffed excellent concessions when hosting my conferences (8)
SYMPOSIA: “excellent” (2) + concessions/bribes, containing MY, all rebuffed/reversed.
15a Literary heroine accepting first of two challenges (5)
TESTS: (Hardy’s) “literary heroine”, accepting/containing T[wo].
18a Disheartened holy man’s offloading a songbook’s content (5)
HYMNS: H[ol]Y + MANS, minus ‘A’.
20a Numbers attending church shown in large page (8)
GATEFOLD: “numbers attending” (football match, etc) + “church” (or its congregation).
23a Dull expert still offering no end to torment at all (7)
PROSAIC: expert/ace + still/motionless, with [tormen]T removed (both of them).
25a Slow mover caught by fishing boat with no prow (7)
CRAWLER: abbreviated “caught”+ “fishing boat” without its prow/first letter.
26a Malta is implicated with dodgy cheque in fraudulent activity (6,9)
SALAMI TECHNIQUE: MALTA+IS, implicated/entangled, plus CHEQUE+IN, dodgy.
27a Thin primate embraced by peer (6)
PAPERY: “primate” embraced by/inside (to) “peer”.
28a Interface of DOS and telly not the latest thing? (3,5)
OLD STYLE: DOS+TELLY, um, interfaced.
Down
1d Distance the writer picked up during journey (6)
REMOVE: “the writer” (i.e. Kcit) picked up/reversed, during/inside journey/wander.
2d Stay calm, somehow, after onset of complete disaster (9)
CATACLYSM: STAYCALM, somehow, after C[omplete].
3d Gladden children, getting pulpy food served with a twist (5,2)
CHEER UP: abbreviated “children” + pulpy/pulped food, twisted/reversed. A shamelessly repeated clip follows but … the wife let slip t’other day that she’d never even heard of it. Grounds for divorce surely! So I’ll – unapologetically – bang Dury’s drum just one more time …
4d Reliable, not initially out of practice (5)
RUSTY: reliable/dependable, minus its initial letter.
6d Article from soldier keeping Spain in suspense (7)
ABEYANT: (indefinite) “article” + “from soldier” (2,3), keeping/containing Spain’s IVR.
7d Blade, if slicing joint, cut (5)
KNIFE: IF, slicing/inside “joint”, cut/minus its last letter.
8d French are invading Scottish town, supported by English generosity (8)
LARGESSE: the French for “are” (second person) invading/inside (Ayrshire) town, plus abbreviated “English”.
9d Question a wild speech about termination of third sector (8)
QUADRANT: abbreviated “question” + ‘A’ + wild speech/bombast, all about/containing [thir]D.
14d Wisdom, e.g., about way of walking round capital of Cuba (8)
SAGACITY: e.g./for example, about/containing “way of walking”, round/containing C[uba].
16d Old Queen, enthralled by very good flower, talking to herself? (9)
SOLILOQUY: abbreviated “old queen” (1,2), enthralled/contained by “very good” and “flower”.
17d Develops source of some hard copies completely (6,2)
SHAPES UP: S[ome] + abbreviated “hard” + copies/imitates + completely/thoroughly (2).
19d Son less convincing about motive’s heading for prison (7)
SLAMMER: abbreviated “son” + less convincing/more unsatisfactory, about/containing M[otive].
21d Displays article from Paris in apartments (7)
FLAUNTS: Parisian/French (indefinite) “article” inside “apartments”.
22d Refuse to make building blocks? That’s a blow (6)
BREEZE: double definition.
24d Forty-one kept in work producing flower (5)
OXLIP: forty-one (Roman numerals) in the usual two-letter “work”.
25d Historic English family upheld story about Conservative clubs (5)
CECIL: story/fib, about/containing abbreviated “Conservative” + abbreviated “clubs”, all upheld/reversed.
We’ve got four anagrams, a double definition and Kcit’s usual raft of containment – “about” is clearly his favourite word! I liked 12a, 23a and 6d. How did you get on?
For a Thursday Toughie I found this to be very approachable, especially after a halfway nap, (well I was up earlier than usual this morning). 10a was first in, my wife’s aunt was one, and 11a was last. Plenty of ticks with 13a, 23a, 21d and 26a being the best of the bunch. I assume the “good” in 16d is just padding? 6d is a new variation for me of the “…..ance” version. I’m not into racing so any connection to horses would have gone over my head as did the pangram.
Many thanks to KCIT and ALP
1.5*/3*
Hi Dave – that “good” in 16d caught my eye too. But … tis a verbatim, two-word Chambers definition.
So ’tis. Should have checked myself.
None of yesterday’s ghastly obscurities and somewhat 23a compared with Shabbo’s delightful puzzle on Tuesday, I found this a solid, workmanlike pangram from an experienced and very prolific compiler. I learnt a new word at the kindly clued 20a, and liked the way he passed a dodgy cheque in fraudulent trading. Know nothing about Geegees
Thanks to Kcit and ALP
Harder than a *star difficulty for the likes of me but blissfully easier than yesterday where I threw in the towel 15 answers in & it was a struggle getting that far. Frustratingly fell 6d shy of an unaided finish – sneaked a peek at the underlining to confirm the def was what I thought it was, still couldn’t think of the synonym then read the hint to twig the ‘from’.
I idolised Sir Henry, met him a number of times & also visited his stables at Warren Place. Had no recollection of 13a (undistinguished Khalid Abdullah filly) & couldn’t see any of his greats in the grid but 14d was a Grade 1 winning stayer trained by Henry’s stepfather, Cecil Boyd-Rochfort, who handed him the yard.
A very enjoyable puzzle – fav a toss up between 1&12a.
Thanks to Kcit & to ALP whose review I shall read later & listen to the tunes.
Good to hear Ronnie J – saw him first at The Jazz Cafe in Camden after his 1st album, The Antidote, which your clip prompted me to play a few tracks.
Nearly went to see him again at the same venue many years later when George Benson was a surprise guest.
A solid pangram with no obscurities – thanks to Kcit and ALP.
I think making 1a and 25d a mini-theme is a bit of a stretch especially as our equine expert Huntsman hasn’t added much to the theme.
Top clues for me were 11a, 12a and 19d.
11a was a bung in, never heard of 20a, 26a, 6d or the Scottish town. That said it was infinitely more enjoyable than yesterdays dnf, more accurately a did not start. I spotted the pangram but it didn’t help that much. Favourite was 14d. Many thanks to Kcit for the return to sanity and ALP
A bottom up solve for me and a Q Z & Y put me on pangram alert. I’d not come across 26a and only vaguely remembered 20a but they were quite solvable.
An enjoyable solve but harder than a 1* for me.
Many thanks to Kcit and ALP
I also found this somewhat 23a with the aforementioned the only clue that caught my eye [the “at all” bit was neat].
Two bloggers who haven’t heard of 20a! Probably too young for that sort of thing.
Thanks to kcit and ALP [loved the Ronny Jordan with Dana B].
Six down totally stumped me.
By = from
1*/3* …
liked 2D ” Stay calm, somehow, after onset of complete disaster (9) “