Toughie No 3758 by Weatherman
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
Weatherman set us what I thought was a particularly tricky Wednesday Toughie, including a couple of words where I presume he ‘painted himself into a corner’
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought
Across
1a This person is receiving new South African politician and cricketer (3,6)
IAN BOTHAM A way of saying this person is ‘receiving’ the abbreviation for New and the surname of a South African State President
8a Communist president on live radio initially introduced by rubbish actor (6,7)
ROBERT REDFORD An informal name for a Communist and the surname of the 38th President of the USA go on or after a simple way of saying live and the initial letter of Radio inserted into rubbish
11a Tube strikes both the left and right wing declare void (5)
ANNUL A narrow rube without (strikes) the outside letters (left and right wing)
12a Painter‘s blue line (5)
LOWRY Blue or miserable and an abbreviated railway line
13a Taken aback, see you cuddling hot Buddhist (5)
ARHAT A reversal (taken aback) of an informal way of saying goodbye (see you) ‘cuddling’ the abbreviation for Hot
16a Recovered gambler (6)
BETTER Double definition
17a Mix socially with tramp visited by northern bishop (6)
HOBNOB A tramp ‘visited’ by the abbreviation for Northern and the chess abbreviation for Bishop
18a Harden cover without using sulphur (5)
INURE Cover in case of loss or injury without the chemical symbol for Sulphur
19a Discomfort when a French telecoms company rings (6)
UNEASE A conjunction meaning when ‘ringed’ by the French indefinite article and a telecoms company
20a Missionary type occasionally bores king of Israel (2,4)
ST PAUL The ‘occasional’ letters of TyPe ‘bores’ the first King of Israel
21a Finishing early, raced to insulate a cold room (5)
SPACE Truncate (finishing early) a synonym for raced into which is inserted (to insulate) A (from the clue) and the abbreviation for Cold
24a Libido’s back – you and I credit nurses and shrink (5)
COWER The letter at the back of libidO and you and I together ‘nursed’ by the abbreviation for credit
26a Evil AI running compound (5)
HALON The evil computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey and a two-letter way of saying running or working
27a Conservative let his best man off (13)
ESTABLISHMENT An anagram (off) of LET HIS BEST MAN
28a At party, we upset US lawman (5,4)
WYATT EARP An anagram (upset) of AT PARTY WE
Down
2d Barely dared talk of regions (5)
AREAL The inside letters (barely) of dAREd and tALk
3d Servant in terrible trouble having lost ring (6)
BUTLER An anagram (terrible) of TRoUBLE without (having lost) the ring-shaped letter
4d Tapeworm again eating up hosts (6)
TAENIA Hidden in reverse (up … hosts) in agAIN EATing
5d Unpleasant Head of Legal gets removed (5)
AWFUL Remove the ‘head’ of legal or rightful
6d Who strutted in, incredibly eccentric? (5,3,5)
ROUND THE TWIST An anagram (incredibly) of WHO STRUTTED IN
7d Having some luck in Scrabble, or getting nowhere? (7,1,5)
DRAWING A BLANK Getting a useful tile in a game of Scrabble or an informal expression meaning to failing or getting nowhere
9d Red meat and game outsiders nicked from racecourse (9)
LAMBRUSCO A type of meat, an abbreviated game and the name of a racecourse without its outside letters
10d Extremely catty row about award for play (9)
CYMBELINE The ‘extreme’ letters of CattY and a row into which is inserted (about) an abbreviated honour (award)
13d Sign of god protecting India (5)
ARIES A sign of the Zodiac – the Greek God of War ‘protecting’ the letter represented by India in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet
14d African language that’s funny supported by America (5)
HAUSA An interjection meaning that’s funny ‘supported’ in a Down solution by the abbreviation for America
15d Pronoun in London and Surrey etc? (5)
THESE A way of referring to the area of the country where London and Surrey etc are found
22d Youngster of mine bored by golfer on a regular basis (6)
PIGLET A mine ‘bored’ by the regular letters of GoLfEr
23d On speed, caught sleeping around? Absolutely not! (6)
CHASTE The cricket abbreviation for Caught goes on urgency calling for speed
25d A piece of bread you prepared (5)
READY Hidden in a piece of bREAD You
26d Poet in with queen (5)
HOMER Where you are if you are in and the Latin abbreviation for queen
This one flowed well from the off, with no great holdups.
The Buddhist at 13a and the tapeworm in 4d were new to me but easily gettable from the clueing, with nothing else to worry the horses.
The actor at 8a, the missionary at 20a and the red in 9d were my picks today.
My thanks to Weatherman and CS.
The tapeworm may have been ‘easily gettable’ for Frankie but no matter how long I stared at it I was still 7d (so resorted to cheating/reading about them via Mr G) having completely overlooked the clever hidden indicator cleverly disguised in the surface (d’oh).
Shame really as the rest of it went in pretty smoothly even though I relied on the wordplay to get the unfamiliar words at 13a & 14d.
Lots to like – a toss between 9&10d for fav & also particularly liked 1,8,11&12a + 7,22&23d.
Thanks to Weatherman & to Sue
For me this was much easier than yesterday’s offering. Very enjoyable. Favourites 1a, 24a and my LOI 9d
Apart from the unknown (to me) words for the tapeworm and Buddhist I found this not too tricky but enjoyable – thanks to Weatherman and CS.
I parsed 25d as a straightforward hidden word..
Rosettes from me for 8a, 9d and 23d.
So it is – my brain was obviously worn out by that point
I too found this a smidge easier than yesterday but just as enjoyable. Fortunately spotted the hidden indicator at 4d as I had never heard of it nor the Buddist and had to confirm both were actually words! I delayed putting in 9d as I always thought it was a white.
Thanks to the setter and to Sue (Like Gazza, I also parsed 25d as a hidden word)
I enjoyed this offering from Weatherman, which I thought sat well for a Wednesday. Needed Sue’s parsing for confirmation of a couple of my answers, but on the whole, all fairly clued and gettable.
10D’s award I took to be a Royal award rather than educational and 25A to be a lurker.
A most enjoyable solve with so many good clues I can’t pick a favourite.
Thanks to CS and Weatherman.
I found this hard so was glad to see that CS graded it a 4* difficulty. Like others have said, 4d and 13a were new words for me.
I also thought 9d was white!
Top picks for me were 7d, 22d and 23d.
Thanks to CrypticSue and Weatherman.
I found this quite straightforward.
The three words I didn’t know (13a, 26a, 4d) were clear from the wordplay.
9d was my favourite followed by 12a.
Many thanks to Weatherman and to CS.
Plain sailing but add me to the 4d and 13a “new to me” club. Same favourites as Jezza above.
Thanks to Weatherman and CS.
My knowledge of tapeworms and Buddhists is on a par with many others, i.e. non-existent. Otherwise this flowed more like a gentle brook than a river, but like both I got there in the end. The cricketer, the actor and the northern bishop took a bit more teasing and the missionary was LOI.
All in all a very enjoyable midweek Toughie.
My thanks to Weatherman and CS.
I thought this looked quite tough when I looked after breakfast but I’ve been dipping in and out all day and it all fell into place nicely. Count me in on not knowing the Buddhist or the tapeworm! Clue of the day was the cricketer… for some reason, my Mum never liked him, so it was always fun winding her up when he had a good day (which was quite often!).
Thanks to Weatherman for a good puzzle and Sue for the hints and tips.
That cricketer was a legend. I remember the Headingley test in 1981, when Beefy and Bob Willis recovered from an almost impossible situation to beat Australia. I was 13 years old at the time watching it with my dad. I will never forget that test match.
Absolutely! I always remember the look in Bob Willis’s eyes in that test….he was a man possessed, I wouldn’t have wanted him bowling to me. And how many times did Beefy come to the rescue?
What a cricketer and what a character ! Visited Headingley many a time when I was at Uni at Leeds but didn’t see the test of all tests live.Saw it on the telly .It took some time to unravel this one partly because of a couple of new words. The red and the compound last in .9, 10 and 20 my picks . Thanks to all .
Thanks all – this is indeed a grid that lends itself to tricky words. I’m glad Beefy brought back some fond memories!
I found this fairly mild for a midweek Toughie, perfect for a Wednesday post work, and despite not knowing the Tapeworm (but vaguely recall it from an Elgar jumble of letters or something similar), the Buddhist or the language. Managed to work them out from the clues, which is to Weatherman’s credit!
10d, 23d and 24a get my top places today.
Thanks to Weatherman and CS
Well I found this hard. Maybe not in the wavelength, whatever the reason I needed a lot of assistance to get this over the line. New words in 4d and 13a which despite the fair clueing I didn’t see. Do think it’s me today.
9d reminded me of a work trip to Italy back in the early 90’s near Milan, the team took me out for dinner and we had chilled lambrusco (red) which was a revelation. I do recall being told it didn’t travel and the vineyards kept the good stuff back for the locals so we in The UK just got the @@@@ !! Don’t know if true but I believed them at the time
Favourite has to be 7d – which was me today I. The crossword
Cracking puzzle, more straightforward in the end than it had threatened to be, and a hugely satisfying solve. A similar ignorance of Buddhism and tapeworms was fortunately allowed for by the very fair clueing.
Honours to 8 & 26a, 5 & 13d.
Many thanks to Weatherman and CS