Toughie No 3751 by Karla
Hints and tips by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Toughie difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
Breezy, elegant and fair. Nowt outré. Only 18a’s “granny possibly” and 15d’s “right” caused the very briefest of pauses. Karla does like to sign his work and today is no exception – just look for a K down below and meander upwards. Knowing him, he may well have secreted summat else in there but, if so, I didn’t clock it! The floor’s all yours.
Across
1a Silence follows one interrupting dance piece (6)
BISHOP: silence/hush, following the usual “one”, all interrupting/inside “dance”.
5a Section friend recalled after Charlie’s silly talk (8)
CLAPTRAP: section/bit + friend/mate, all recalled/reversed after NATO’s “Charlie”.
10a Mark tense opening foreign letter (6)
STIGMA: abbreviated “tense” opening/inside (Greek) “foreign letter”.
11a Calculated speed of light sitting inside new LA attic (8)
TACTICAL: LA+ATTIC, new, with “speed of light” (symbol) inside.
12a Flexible workers with post delivering second vitamin dose? (15)
SUPPLEMENTATION: flexible/lithe + (androcentric) “workers” + post/position, delivering/minus abbreviated “second”.
16a Attack group with assistance back at the front (8)
DIATRIBE: group/clan, after a synonym of assistance/help that is reversed (i.e., “back at the front”).
18a Granny possibly inspiring island air that’s foul (6)
MIASMA: a (2’1,2) descriptor for a “granny” (don’t go down the knot route!) inspires/contains abbreviated “island”.
20a Sibling’s issue when improvised record’s cut (6)
NEPHEW: WHEN, improvised, (that) “record” (music) has cut/gone inside.
21a Conservationists on area suffer small nosey animals (8)
ANTBEARS: (UK) “conservationists” on/after abbreviated “area”, plus suffer/endure, plus abbreviated “small”.
22a No sole cooked with diced Ugli fruit (6,9)
GOLDEN DELICIOUS: NO+SOLE+DICED+UGLI, cooked.
27a Westbound Air Force carries sovereign (8)
IMPERIAL: AIR, reversed, carried by/inside (to) force/drive.
28a Unrehearsed half of dance performed (6)
CANDID: first (or last) three letters of (French) “dance” + performed/carried out.
29a Nude maybe nursing extremely painful headache (8)
SPLITTER: “nude maybe” (as in an artist’s model), nursing/containing P[ainfu]L.
30a Turns back to outcrop circled by hawks (6)
SPELLS: [outcro]P, circled/contained by hawks/flogs.
Down
2d ITV user in broadcast unwelcome (9)
INTRUSIVE: ITV+USER+IN, broadcast.
3d Steep skinned thighs on vessel leaving river delta (4-7)
HIGH-PITCHED: [t]HIGH[s] + “vessel” (jug), minus abbreviated “river” + NATO’s “delta”.
4d Quiet gun overheard (5)
PEACE: homophone of “gun”.
6d Master and student covering yard in pine (5)
LEARN: abbreviated student/learner + pine/long, covering/minus abbreviated “yard”.
7d Spoilt periodically with crust of tea bread (5)
PITTA: periodic/regular letters of SPOILT + the outer ones (“crust”) of TEA.
8d Muscles on tops of calves twisted internally (5)
RECTI: on/concerning + tops/first letters of the last three words.
9d Flower bent to one side once adult’s dropped dish (7)
POLENTA: two-letter “flower” (Italian river) + “bent to one side” (i.e., bent over) with its internal A[dult] “dropped” from third to fifth.
13d Lift inside of Tate taken by most of team (7)
ELEVATE: [t]AT[e] taken by/inside “team” (football, cricket, hockey, etc) less its last letter.
14d Invite contribution to debate MP timetabled (5)
TEMPT: lurker, hidden in the last three words.
15d Right about old pub stocking east European ham? (11)
TRAGEDIENNE: two-letter abbreviation for “right”, about/reversed, plus old/ancient + “pub”, stocking abbreviated “east”, plus abbreviated “European”.
17d American orbiter devoid of colour (5)
IOWAN: an “orbiter” (satellite) + devoid of colour/pale.
19d Sprightly runner crossing Italy behind car (9)
MERCURIAL: “runner” (i.e., European river) crossing/containing Italy’s IVR, behind/after (German) “car” (informally).
20d Drink another drink before beginning to skin onions (7)
NOGGINS: two alcoholic drinks (one eggy, one botanical) + S[kin].
23d Folded part of garment left under large mirror (5)
LAPEL: abbreviated “left” under/after abbreviated “large” and mirror/mimic.
24d Wader immersed in detergent on the counter (5)
EGRET: lurker, reversed in the fourth word.
25d Cad supports conclusion of overland explorer (5)
DRAKE: cad/roué supports/follows [overlan]D.
26d Bony conductor wearing uniform in empty concerts (5)
INCUS: “wearing” (2) + abbreviated “uniform” in(side) C[oncert]S.
We’ve got four anagrams, two lurkers and a homophone, etc. I especially liked 16a, 18a and 15d. How did you get on?
Slightly lacking in the fun factor department I thought, though the granny who’s helped to create the foul air in 18a and the onions at 20d raised a smile.
Not sure the answer to 15d exactly aligns with the definition and I thought in these gender neutral days we’d done away with specifically female terms but I guess they are still accepted words.
My thanks to Karla and ALP.
A second excellent puzzle today!
I found this much easier than yesterday’s toughie; my last two were 18a and 19d.
Top three in no particular order – 27a, 15d, and 20d.
Many thanks to Karla and to ALP.
A very satisfying challenge, reasonably straightforward once started. Clues all clever and scrupulously fair, such that I trusted my parsed NHO answers to 8d & 26d.
Honours to 18 & 27a, 15 & 19d.
Many thanks to Karla and ALP
Mercifully easier than Donny yesterday (just completed) but NTS I found it much tougher than our reviewer evidently did. 15d was my LOI & like Frankie I thought the answer not really synonymous with the def even with the ? I’ll also admit to trying to justify marsupial/kangaroo as a sprightly runner until the 🚗 dawned on me so 19d became my fav.
Thanks to Karla & to ALP – I’m meandering upwards from the K but none the wiser?
We had the same thought process at 19d … but thinking “marsupial” suddenly got me to the correct answer, and something of a grin as the parsing dawned!
Until I read the comment above, I did not notice that this puzzle was, perhaps,SLIGHTLY lacking in fun, as the clues all worked well, and the solve was very satisfying. Bottom half slightly more challenging. Favourite was the dish at 9d.Thanks ALP and Karla whom I hope to see again soon