Toughie No 3261 by Dada
Hints and tips by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
I don’t know whether it’s holiday brain or the shock of realising that I’m no more sensible on a Turkish moped than I was aged 16 but I made (quite unnecessarily) heavy weather of this to start. The pace soon picked up though and I thoroughly enjoyed this: it made me think and smile. What more can one ask for? Over to you.
Across
1a Platform from which to speak: make that soft?(6)
PULPIT: How one might say “make that soft” (4,2).
5a Jazz pianist reversed interminable key change (6)
MUTATE: The great and “arty” pianist, reversed + an interminable/unlimited [k]E[y]. I thought Dada was being rather kind to us here because he could easily have left out the interminable.
10a Vocalist’s last, and the rest love backing group (5)
OCTET: [Vocalis]T + the rest (that isn’t quite et al, but close!) + the usual love, backing/reversed.
11a Cake scored? Knife finally cutting into it (9)
MADELEINE: [Knif]E inside scored (think rugby), as (4,4). Lovely.
12a Standard cloud over commercial premises (7)
PARLOUR: The usual standard + to cloud over/look sullen. The “commercial” threw me slightly but these premises can be, of course.
13a Source of oil, spot circled by Swedish Nightingale (7)
LINSEED: The usual (to) spot inside/circled by the 19thC Swedish opera singer known as, etc.
14a Everything I invested in fling, romantic affair (9)
DALLIANCE: The usual everything + I inside a (Scottish) fling.
17a Country where a sailor has joined queue, reportedly? (5)
QATAR: A + one of our usual sailors, after/joining a homophonic queue.
18a Animosity in dog when picked up? (5)
PIQUE: A homophone (picked up) of (Mrs Pumphrey’s) dog. Like 17a, there’s something oddly pleasing about this very simple clue.
19a Like artillery dividing spoils in celebration (5,4)
MARDI GRAS: Like/love + the usual artillery inside spoils/ruins.
21a Prickly thing, article pulled from the book I’m reading? (7)
THISTLE: I think this is just how one might say “the book I’m reading” (4,4) minus/pulling one of the usual articles.
23a A place with gardens in bloom, clear a path (4,3)
MAKE WAY: A + (London) gardens, inside bloom/blossom.
25a August the first on road in San Diego on tour?(9)
GRANDIOSE: R[oad]SANDIEGO, on tour.
26a Playwright children’s author virtually rejected (5)
IBSEN: The Railway Children’s author (minus the last letter/virtually), reversed/rejected = setters’ favourite playwright. Of these two writers, I know which one I prefer. And it ain’t him!
27a Package’s back after month on order (6)
DECREE: [Packag]E after (winter) month + on/concerning. Tight as a drum, this.
28a Cap has been replaced on fruit drink (6)
SHERRY: A fruit, with a different first letter, becomes a drink.
Down
2d Unqualified dropout terrified, to some extent (5)
UTTER: A lurker, (very well) hidden in the second and third words.
3d Knotting of a rope isn’t frequent (9)
PATRONISE: AROPEISNT, knotted.
4d Person behind the counter in Scope after a tip?(5)
TIMER: Scope/terms of reference, tipped/reversed.
5d Location of small hammer and emerald I’d smashed (6,3)
MIDDLE EAR: EMERALDID, smashed. Lovely definition.
6d Hooker in heap protecting ball, essentially? (5)
TALON: Heap, lots outside/protecting [b]AL[l]. Another smashing definition.
7d Skirt wrapped in canopy for a period of three months (9)
TRIMESTER: Skirt/edge inside/wrapped in a (bed?) canopy.
8d Raising of lower bunk, slow (6)
TORPID: (to) lower (oneself?) + bunk/nonsense, reversed (raising). I will not tell you just how long I spent trying to squeeze COW into this. Tsk.
9d Offer coloured bag up (6)
TENDER: Coloured (a particular colour) + bag/trap, reversed (up).
15d Stop trading at the eleventh hour, with very little money banked? (9)
LIQUIDATE: At the eleventh hour (I would say, for reasons I won’t bore you with, that this really means just in time, but I suppose it can also mean this, ie the opposite) outside/banking a whimsical “very little money” expressed as (1,4). This buys you 10 bus trips in Marmaris so it’s actually worth summat!
16d Hit yours truly (6,3)
NUMBER ONE: Double definition. Hit (record) + yours truly, ie me.
17d Bright green alkali (9)
QUICKLIME: Bright/smart + green (colour).
18d Belly with time for soup (6)
POTAGE: (Beer?) belly + time (not T!).
20d Gnome always feeding troll in the past? (6)
SAYING: Always (2) inside/feeding the archaic (in the past) troll.
22d House teacher speaking with American accent? (5)
TUDOR: How an American might say/drawl a word for teacher. Made me laugh this. I imagine RD will approve!
23d Crosses from New York team Thierry, in the centre, put away (5)
MEETS: New York baseball team putting away/eating [Thi]E[rry].
24d One should be like this when older wires replaced (5)
WISER: WIRES, replaced. If only this were true!
With a fair few reversals, just four anagrams and some smart wordplay, I thought this was delightful – the perfect antidote to chicory “coffee” (ugh). I especially liked 19a, 27a, 2d 6d and 22d. What did you make of it?
Well, how I got 100% in that test I’m not entirely sure … for fully 1 in 4 clues it was a case of “never mind the parsing, here’s the answer”. A GK heavy puzzle but I’m unashamedly not bothered about not knowing the drummer or nightingale, as fortunately the clues were both gettable without having heard of them. I thought it was going to be more of a challenge than turned out to be the case, coming back to the NW for my last few – more like a proper Sunday prize back-pager such as we no longer get from Dada. Strangely a feeling of great satisfaction on crossing off the final clue, but no single clue stood out as being better than the rest: all were simply consistently good, with witty & clever clueing.
2.5* / 3.5*
Many thanks to Dada and ALP (did you pick the Liquidator for Terence? A Chelsea stadium-mainstay for over 50 years)
Ha, No, I am perhaps the only non-football fan in the whole of Marmaris. I’m not sure Terence does the Toughie, does he? But if he does (indeed, even if he doesn’t) I am more than happy to dedicate this banger to him..
Dave Clark’s “Glad All Over” has been played / sung very loudly at Crystal Palace’s ground for 60 years now – generates incredible atmosphere.
Dada at his quirkiest providing loads of fun – thanks to him and ALP.
Top clues for me were 1a, 27a, 4d and 22d.
Quite often, for me Dada’s Tuesday puzzles can be at the very easy end of the Toughie spectrum but this one was a proper Toughie, for which many thanks to him and to ALP for the blog
I’m just waiting to see how many people had never heard of the Swedish Nightingale
Rather a lot of Personal Names but there are enough clever clues to make it fun. Favourites were 19a [like artillery] 21a, 4d [after a tip] and 15d [just a super clue]. Nice to listen to “Liquidator” whilst typing this.
Thanks to Dada and ALP.
My usual experience with a Dada Tuesday Toughie, having to resist throwing in the towel several times and needing some e-help to finish. Very different to a Sunday Prize Puzzle.
Candidates for favourite – 10a, 13a, and 19a – and the winner is 10a.
Thanks to Dada and ALP.
Definitely a good Tuesday Toughie with some I had to wrestle with. Led and Lour were new to me so grateful for the education.
Lots to like but 23A and 15D deserve a mention. Podium goes to 1A…..clever.
Many thanks to ALP for shining the light and of course to Dada for a fine puzzle.
Sorry I meant Lind.
Sorry I meant Lind not Led.
It is always a pleasure for us to solve a Dada puzzle and this one was no exception. The tone was set by 1a which we will nominate as out favourite.
Thanks Dada and ALP.
It was like wading through treacle t’up north so retreated down south & travelled upwards in an 8d fashion. Needed the hints to parse 4&22d & only twigged the why at 11a once I realised I was spelling it incorrectly. Lind, lour & 17d also unfamiliar & requiring post solve confirmation. No particular favourite just glad to battle through frankly.
Thanks to Dada & to Alp.
I am struggling to understand the answer to 20D and would appreciate any help.
You’ve changed your alias but both Robert or Rob will work from now on
A gnome is another word for a pithy saying and is the usual definition for a gnome in a crossword although very occasionally the mystical or garden ornament gnome will appear!
Does that mean that ay is short for always and sing refers to being an old word for troll ??
Thank you for your help with this – it’s bugging us !
One of several meanings of ay is indeed always
To troll is to sing the parts of a song in succession
That’s brilliant – thank you very much for putting us out of our misery.
I hadn’t come across that meaning of troll before but I’ll remember it now.