Toughie 3274 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3274

by crypticsue  

Toughie  No 3274 by Hudson

Hints and Tips by crypticsue

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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty *– Enjoyment *****

I don’t know what the other Toughie bloggers think about having to wait until the actual day to find out who they have to solve and blog, but I much preferred seeing the weekly list on the old Puzzles Site so I could be mentally prepared for what was to come.   I lay in bed this morning muttering ‘I do hope it’s Hudson’ repeatedly, so you can imagine how delighted I was to find my wish come true.

Hudson always sets a solver-friendly and very enjoyable crossword and this one was no exception to the ‘rule’

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought

Across

1a           Peanuts salary put off Mike (1,6,3)
A PALTRY SUM An anagram (off) of SALARY PUT followed by the letter represented by Mike in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet

6a           Con of recalled computers? (4)
SCAM  A reversal (recalled) of some computers

9a           Badger Peter, occasionally getting to see eye to eye (5)
AGREE The even (occasional) letters of bAdGeR pEtEr

10a         Challenger possibly going after poor, ultimately weak research body (5,4)
THINK TANK A type of military vehicle (Challenger perhaps) goes after a synonym for poor in the sense of slight or meagre and the ultimate letter of weaK

12a         Cheerful Irish nights out after downing first couple of pints (2,4,7)
IN HIGH SPIRITS An anagram (out) of IRISH NIGHTS ‘downing’ or taking in the first couple of letters of PInts

14a         Group touring Korea oddly initially implicated in robbery (4,4)
BANK RAID A group ‘touring’ the odd letters of KoReA and the initial letter of Implicated

15a         Grandma in rehab fixing back injury (6)
HERNIA Hidden in reverse in the first three words of the clue

17a         When dancing, Renée starts with very thin layer (6)
VENEER The solution starts with the abbreviation for Very followed by an anagram (when dancing) of RENEE

19a         Going on holiday, start of Easter’s a bit grey (3-5)
OFF-WHITE Away (going) an abbreviated Christian Sunday Festival which gives its name to a Bank Holiday Monday followed by the ‘start’ of Easter

21a         Be brave or eat lead? (4,3,6)
BITE THE BULLET This expression meaning to bravely face something unpleasant does sound like one might be eating a lead projectile

24a         Dressing in navy chaps, inspired by American Cotton? (9)
ADORNMENT The abbreviation for the Royal Navy and some chaps inspired by or inserted between the abbreviation for American and the informal way other Eastenders Characters would refer to the late Mrs Cotton

25a         Discharge former wingers from United heading for Everton (5)
EXUDE The usual two-letter ‘former’, the ‘wingers’ from UniteD and the ‘heading’ for Everton

26a         Nobleman expected to receive king (4)
DUKE Something expected receives the chess abbreviation for King

27a         Casual greeting from Wallace reportedly, um, a measure of closeness? (10)
HYGROMETER An instrument for measuring the humidity in the air.  Homophones (reportedly) of a casual greeting from Wallace to his pet dog followed by an interjection of hesitation (um)

Down

 

1d           Leaving one saloon, lady mounted horse (4)
ARAB Having just explained why I was smiling at 27a, I then had to tell Mr CS all about nebulous ladies. Reverse  (mounted) a lady’s name  and, once you have removed one of the references to a drinking establishment (saloon) you are left with a type of horse.  Before the obvious became obvious, I did spend a moment or two wondering where a saloon car fitted in!

2d           Put on trial US soldier from the south detained in Scottish isle (7)
ARRAIGN A reversed (from the south in a Down solution) US soldier ‘detained’ in an island off the west coast of Scotland

3d           Thatcher’s lone post-reshuffle measure? (3,10)
THE CHARLESTON  An anagram (post-reshuffle) of THATCHERS LONE

4d           My best day, regularly turned out profit once more (3,5)
YET AGAIN The regular letters of mY bEsT dAy followed by a profit

5d           Oxbridge perhaps confiscating last of student’s LSD? (5)
UNITS The term Oxbridge is an adjective relating to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge,  so here you need an abbreviated university (3) plus an S into which is inserted (confiscating) the last letter of studenT.  Here the LSD referse to money not hallucinatory drugs

7d           Musical instrument left in vehicle Fiona discovered (7)
CLARION A kind of trumpet – the abbreviation for Left inserted into a vehicle followed by the inside (dis covered) letters of fIONa

8d           Rocks the boat and is responsible for the aftereffects of rocking the boat (5,5)
MAKES WAVES Creates a disturbance or some trouble or be responsible for what literally happens after you rock a boat

11d         Old Emperor well upset with Sheik and Amir (6,7)
KAISER WILHELM An anagram (upset) of WELL with SHEIK and AMIR

13d         Sailor missing at sea, having run away? That’s OK (5-5)
ABOVE-BOARD An abbreviated sailor missing at sea without  the first abbreviation for Run

16d         Bet put on Ascot’s opener excitedly! (8)
AFLUTTER A (Ascot’s ‘opener’ followed by an informal bet or wager

18d         Linked computers serving up file 10 thousand (7)
NETWORK A reversal (serving up) of a file or line and 10 written out as a word, followed by the symbol for a thousand

20a         Held under custody at home, former PM fails to finish on time (2,5)
IN TRUST The usual ‘at home’, almost all (fails to finish) of the surname of this country’s shortest-serving  Prime Minister, followed by (on in a Down solution) the abbreviation for Time

22a         See for example boring, serious poem (5)
ELEGY  The abbreviation for for example ‘boring’ Crosswordland’s favourite diocese (see)

23d         Stomach or shoulder? (4)
BEAR Suffer or put up with (stomach) or carry (shoulder)

 

 

17 comments on “Toughie 3274”

  1. Gentler than today’s back page, I thought. Lightly elegant and hugely enjoyable.12a was fun, 15a well disguised and 24a raised a smile. 1d took me a moment to parse (the answer leaped out immediately) but, as Sue rightly says, this was supremely solver-friendly and very nicely done. Many thanks to Hudson and CS. PS … rather tickled to hear of you lying in bed thinking of Hudson!

  2. Absolutely wonderful, a super crossword, so witty and rewarding. OK, so it could have appeared mid-week on the back page, but what a delight. COTD 27a, joined on the podium by 12a, 25a and 4d, but to be honest almost every clue could have joined them. No disagreement with CS’s ratings.

    Many thanks indeed to Hudson and CS

  3. What an absolute delight. It was nothing like as tough as the back-pager and was perfect – apart from the vague lady in 1d.

    Quite a coincidence that the answer to 7d also appeared in today’s back-pager. You don’t come across a clarion for years then two come along on the same day!

    Many thanks to Hudson for the fun, and t CS for the splendidly illustrated review.

  4. I liked all of this bar 5d. The construction is fine, but I am struggling to see how the definition works. I guess pounds shillings and pence are all units (of currency), but would dollars, ergs, Newtons have worked just as well? Is the final question mark indicating that LSD is an example of three units, or am I missing something?

  5. Great fun – thanks to Hudson and CS.
    Amongst the clues I ticked were 10a, 4d and 13d but my favourite has to be 27a.

  7. Not a difficult puzzle but a delight to solve. Although 1D had to be what it was I needed Sue’s explanation of the parsing. I too had not heard of 27A, but it became apparent from the excellent wordplay. It also caused a chuckle. Favourite for me today was 21A
    Many thanks to CS and Hudson

  8. Yep, I’m on board. Short and sweet. Tops for me were 12a, 27a [!!] and 13d. I too took a while to parse 1d – nicely ambiguous wordplay.
    Thanks to Hudson and CS

  9. Needed the hint to parse 1d and had to Google the Eastender’s character as I’ve never seen it. I enjoyed this a lot though. Another vote for 27a for cotd. Thanks to Hudson and CS.

  10. Great fun with just the parsing of 1d causing me grief – spent far too long looking for the missing lady! Top clues here were 21a plus 8&16d.

    Thanks to Hudson and to CS for the review – loved your illustration for 14a.

  11. Great puzzle – certainly more solver friendly and enjoyable than the back pager.

    I knew 27a and have used one many times in my working life. However – until today – I have always thought there was a ‘d’ where the ‘g’ is 😁

    I got the answer to 3d but still don’t understand how the definition relates to the answer

  12. Great fun!
    Like many above, I loved 27a, which is my CoD.
    I also did not know the definition for 3d but, as Mrs Shabbo will confirm, when it comes to the dance floor, I have two left feet.
    Thank you Hudson and CS.

  14. Rather easier than the back pager, so a much quicker solve, Agree most of what’s been said, and especially to CrypticS for explaining my 1D bung in. **/***

    Thanks , too, to Hudson.

  15. 1*/5* …
    liked 12A “Cheerful Irish nights out after downing first couple of pints (2,4,7)”

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