Toughie No 3778 by Prime
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
A chilly, wet and gloomy morning makes this a perfect day to stay indoors and do battle with what I thought was a proper, almost 5* Toughie.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought
Across
1a Vehicle stopping at park finally cut out there (5-5)
AVANT-GARDE A type of vehicle inserted into (stopping) AT (from the clue) and an area laid out with plants (park) without (cut) its final letter
6a Rich drunk (4)
LUSH Rich and succulent or an especially North American word for a drunk
9a BBC bigwig wearing shiny coat, not quite closing (7)
ENDGAME The abbreviation for the BBC’s head ‘wearing’ or inserted into almost all (not quite) of a shiny coat
10a Warning where lots are moving clubs (7)
CAUTION Move the abbreviation for the card suit of Clubs in a place where lots are sold to the front of the word
12a Seats extremely basic unless flying this? (8,5)
BUSINESS CLASS An anagram (flying) of the ‘extreme’ letters of SeatS and BASIC UNLESS
14a Delightful to waste hour with American, not together regularly (6)
EVENLY A synonym for delightful without (to waste) the abbreviations for Hour and American, ‘not together’ telling you that they are in separate places in the word
15a Yankee notices atmosphere going backwards in the final reckoning (8)
DOOMSDAY The letter represented by Yankee in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, some abbreviated notices and an atmosphere, all reversed (going backwards)
17a Countless number involved in anniversary – tin, if ninth’s over (8)
INFINITY Hidden in reverse (over) in anniversarY TIN IF NInths
19a Soup keeps on coming for starters, this protects clothing (6)
PONCHO A Vietnamese noodle soup ‘keeps’ ON (from the clue) and the first letter (starter) of Coming
22a Insect, cuckoo bee, can loiter around river (7,6)
CARRION BEETLE An anagram (cuckoo) of BEE CAN LOITER into which is inserted R (river)
24a I’ll get back state bordering England (7)
AVENGER State or declare to be true ‘bordering’ a three-letter abbreviation for England
25a Book about financial district in British Columbia (far side of Canada) (7)
REBECCA About or on the subject of, the postal area of London’s financial district inserted into the abbreviation for British Columba, the result finished with the letter at the ‘far side’ of CanadA
26a Race leader’s quit before rounding university (4)
YALE A type of race where the first letter is removed (leader’s quit) before reversing the remaining letters (rounding) gives us an (unindicated) American university
27a Perfect example of shape is too contrived (10)
APOTHEOSIS An anagram (contrived) of SHAPE IS TOO
Down
1d Article on gender-neutral pronoun picked up again (4)
ANEW An indefinite article on a reversed (picked up in a Down solution) gender-neutral pronoun
2d Distinct car colour, not posh (7)
AUDIBLE A make of car and a colour without the letter used to indicate that things are ‘posh’ or upper-class
3d Moving time succeeded, with method amidst bluster (13)
TRANSPLANTING The abbreviation for Time followed by the abbreviation for succeeded and a method, both of which are inserted into (amidst) raging (bluster)
4d Part of dotage, in general? (6)
AGEING Hidden in words three, four and five of the clue
5d Footwear Dicky double-checks when leaving club drunk (4,4)
DECK SHOE An anagram (dicky) of DOublE cHECKS without the letters CLUB, ‘drunk’ telling you that they aren’t in that order
7d Gymnasts might adopt this run, hit hard if never starting (7)
UNITARD rUN hIT hARD without the first letters (never starting)
8d Sole traders put money into this perfect, fabulous flower imbued with personal scent (7,3)
HONESTY BOX A verb meaning to perfect and a river from classical mythology (fabulous here meaning spoken or written about in fable) into which is inserted (imbued with) some abbreviated personal scent
11d Painful October, struggling with man flu (13)
UNCOMFORTABLE An anagram (struggling) of OCTOBER with MAN FLU
13d Second-rate government current in both red and blue? (10)
MEDIOCRACY The symbol for electrical current inserted into a type of red wine followed by indecent or obscene (blue)
16d Do remark about King before work (4,4)
ETON CROP A reversed (about) remark, the regnal cipher of our current King and an abbreviated work
18d Definitely not Fantastic Four film section broadcast (3,4)
FOR REAL Homophones (broadcast) of four and a section of film
20d Retired 1500m runner sprints to avoid alpha bullies (7)
COERCES The surname of a former 1500m runner and part of a verb meaning sprints without (to void) the letter represented by Alpha in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet
21d Maybe camouflaged in dull colour, almost in place (6)
SECRET Almost all of a dull cream or off-white colour often found in crosswords inserted into a verb meaning to place
23d Fighting used to be about queen (4)
WARS A simple way of saying used to be goes ‘about’ the Latin abbreviation for queen
I found the E much more inviting than the W which had me having to use the checkers to wheedle the last few. Having said that the surfaces were all smooth and accessible. The 7d gymnasts’ outfit and the 16d ‘do’ were new to me – probably because I haven’t done gymnastics since school which was not the other establishment. Not sure of the parsing of 21d so bunged in what turned out to be the correct answer. Favourites were the way to fly at 12a and the 10a warning. Isn’t 27a a lovely word.
Many thanks to Prime and CS
3*/3*
Cracking puzzle, as CS says: a proper Toughie, for me two in a row because I’m still making my way through yesterday’s Dada puzzle, which I am finding to be no walkover.
East went in reasonably steadily but progress slowed markedly in the W, finishing with 1a & LOI 1d: I’d been thinking of the new and utterly mystifying gender-neutral pronouns, such as Xe and Ze, and could make none of them work. However this is of course the Telegraph and not the Graun! I’m far from convinced by the definition in 8d, though the wordplay was wonderful, and for me too many of the surfaces didn’t quite work, though the clues themselves were great.
Honours to 1a, 17a (because tin is the tenth anniversary), & 5d.
Many thanks to Prime and to CS
After yesterday’s tough Toughie another one today made we wonder whether there was a new policy at the DT to toughen up the early week Toughies – if so it’s very welcome (and some would say ‘about time’).
This was certainly challenging and I enjoyed the challenge. Thanks to Prime and CS.
I don’t really understand 8d – isn’t it the customers rather than the sole trader who put money into the answer?
I don’t usually tick anagrams but I thought 12a was excellent. I also liked 1a and 13d.
On reflection I think that ‘put money into’ in 8d means ‘invested in’ which probably makes it work.
I’m still not convinced, Gazza – a tiny number of not-always-sole traders might use an honesty box at the end of the farm or house drive, but it’s not something in which they (are) invest(ed). Or put money into.
It can’t be anything to do with selling fish or shoes – that makes even less sense. And it’s customers who put money into the box, not the traders. If the traders are lucky they take it out, but increasingly it’s likely to be some lowlife scum who take the money, or even the whole box.
Hopefully Prime might put in an appearance and explain their reasoning behind the definition, but for me the more I think about it, the less the definition works.
What’s occurring? Yesterday was hard enough, this one took me into Friday time.
I too worked across from the east and was not helped by my ignorance of Vietnamese soup at 19a, gender-neutral pronouns in 1d or that hairdo could be abbreviated, 16d. These needed confirming post-solve, let alone getting my nut around so much other convoluted clueing.
Can’t complain really, I don’t enjoy puzzles that are just read and write.
Plenty of ticks, eventually, including where lots are moving clubs at 10a, the subtracted footwear at 5d and Lord Sebastian legging it from his tormentors in 20a.
I dread to think what we’ll be facing come the end of the week if this is anything to go by.
My thanks to Prime and CS.
Slightly relieved to read the comments and Sue’s opening remarks….I stared at the clues for ten minutes or more and only managed two answers. Sometimes I feel inspired to carry on (like yesterday and Friday’s Elgar) but not today. Hope the backpager is a bit easier.
Thanks to crypticsue, I’ll have a look at the answers now!
Yep, another stinker, the difficulty of which was largely dependent on the definitions, some of them a tad questionable [see above]. If this aint a coincidence I dread to think what the’ve lined up for Friday.
Favourites were 1a [out there] and 13d [how very apt].
Thanks to Prime and CSue.
This was not easy, but I found it more accessible than most seem to have done iandcertainly easier yesterday’s.at 8d, a different sort of flour led me to the right answer, though I was puzzled about the final letter, which eventually came clear when I saw I had been barking up the wrong tree. my favourite was going to be the final reckoning until my last one in,1a, where, having guest the Wright vehicle source of a ridiculous answer and realised that it was right! Thanks Prime and CS.
Add me to the list of those who found this difficult. In truth a dnf…
However, I did find it easier in comparison to yesterday.
Please please please please..can we have an Osmosis puzzle on Friday ??!!
Thank you to Prime and CS
We also found this tricky and quite a slog to eventually drag ourselves over the finishing line. Our biggest chuckle came from 22a when we pondered whether the answer could have been a film in the old classic series that starred Sid James, Hattie Jacques and others.
Thanks Prime and CS.
Even tougher for me than Dada yesterday. Needed two letter reveals to grind out a finish, Mr G to enlighten me about noodle soup, [hair]dos & gym wear plus the review to explain a couple of the whys. Above my pay grade really but still enjoyed the struggle & found much to admire – 1,12&25a plus 2,3,8,13&20d the ones that stood out.
Thanks to Prime & CS – even after reading the hint to parse last in 21d I’d forgotten the colour & had to check it
A DNF for me although I soldiered on with a little look at the hints and finished in the west 13d a clue I’m still not convinced I understand . Still it was easier than yesterday’s ? on balance.Thanks to all .Back to the telly maybe watch a bit of sport .
Re 13d, you have the symbol for electrical currency (I) inserted into a type of wine (medoc) followed by a synonym of blue.
Another proper Toughie that I found quite a bit harder than yesterday’s. I knew the soup (there’s a restaurant chain named after it – funny what comes in useful) but didn’t know the government was a “real thing” despite several years of life experience that should have taught me otherwise! I liked 12a and 13d, but I’m also in the “not really” camp for 8d; a shame because the rest of the clue is clever.
Thanks to Prime for another vigorous workout and, as ever, to CS for another blog!
Every now and then it becomes clear that the setter has an English accent which is not the same as mine. For me the second word of 18d is not a homophone of the section of film and I did not get that one.
13d just came to me in my sleep so I had to get up and finish the puzzle. Cracker, especially 12a.
Thanks to Prime & CS.