Toughie 3294 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3294

by crypticsue  

Toughie  No 3294 by Hudson

Hints and Tips by crypticsue

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

Another splendid crossword from Hudson, full of smile-inducing clues right from the very start

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought

Across

1a           Twerk in deepest Slough? (4,6)
ROCK BOTTOM An instruction to twerk could also describe the depths of despondency (slough)

6a           An element of the unknown elected head of committee (4)
ZINC A mathematical unknown, the usual ‘elected’ and the head of Committee

9a           Charlie, Charlie & Ivor, Piet, Ivan oddly formed a group of stars (10)
CASSIOPEIA The letter represented by Charlie in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, an idiot (Charlie) and the odd letters of IvOr PiEt, followed by A (from the clue)

10a         Food store I ran after retiring (4)
DELI A reversal (after retiring) of I (from the clue) and a synonym for ran

12a         Mine host’s principal point of substance (4)
PITH A mine and the principal letter of Host

13d         Court enclosure for accused holding small time accomplice of Joe Cool? (9)
WOODSTOCK Try to win the affection of (court), an enclosure for an accused person, the latter ‘holding’ the abbreviations for Small and Time

15a         Pig fat sandwiches left for sailors once (8)
LARBOARD A type of fat ‘sandwiches’ a male pig to produce an old nautical word for left

16a         In Calais, the port is dull (6)
LEADEN The French definite article and a Middle Eastern port

18a         Big game here – listing starters, Sir Alex Ferguson announces Ronaldo, inevitably (6)
SAFARI The starters of Sir Alex Ferguson Announces Ronaldo Inevitably

20a         Jobless youngster embraces vicar’s kindness? (5,3)
BLESS YOU Hidden (embraces) in the first two words of the clue

23a         Beginning to draw pie chart, freely available for next to nothing (4,5)
DIRT CHEAP The beginning to Draw and an anagram (freely) of PIE CHART

24a         Having taste of the barrel right after stomach upset? (4)
OAKY Upset or reverse the order of the middle two letters (stomach) of an informal way of saying all right

26a         Setter’s entertaining extremely tactile couple (4)
ITEM How our setter would say he would (setter’s) ‘entertaining’ the extreme letters of TactilE

27a         A ringer for Reggie Kray? (3,3,4)
DOG AND BONE Reggie Kray was a Cockney so the solution is what he’d call a telephone (ringer)

28a         Has DeSantis regularly lost? (4)
EATS The even (regularly lost) letters of dEsAnTiS

29a         Labour perform vital task, stealing focus from Sunak (6-4)
DONKEY WORK A simple way of saying perform, a synonym for vital an a task ‘stealing’ or taking in the ‘focus’ or middle letter of suNak

Down

1d           Risqué introduction to column in issue of The Sun (4)
RACY The ‘introduction’ to Column inserted into something that issues from the sun (the star not the newspaper)

2d           Dismiss bank employee (7)
CASHIER Dismiss from a post (especially in the armed forces) or a bank employee

3d           Badger to acquire trendy novel (8,4)
BRIGHTON ROCK Another name for a badger into which is inserted (to acquire) an adjective meaning trendy

4d           Corrupt MP wrote about a parasite (8)
TAPEWORM An anagram (corrupt) of MP WROTE goes ‘about’ A (from the clue)

5d           Oscar certainly not turning up for prayer (6)
ORISON The letter represented by Oscar in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet and a reversal (turning up) of an informal way of saying certainly not

7d           Current Conservative, Green and Liberal Democrat at zero? (3-4)
ICE-COLD The symbol for electrical current, the abbreviation for Conservative, a combining form indicating that something is environmentally friendly (green) and the abbreviation for Liberal Democrat

8d           Film stylish toy boy Bruno getting undressed (7,3)
CHICKEN RUN A synonym for stylish, a male toy doll and the inside (getting undressed) letters of bRUNo

11d         Deny a casino’s organised special occasion (9,3)
ASCENSION DAY An anagram (organised) of DENY A CASINO

14d         Quick shot through the covers that sticks in the memory? (5,5)
FLASH DRIVE A synonym for quick and a cricket shot through the covers

17d         Alf turned up on deck eating a bit of jammy pancake (8)
FLAPJACK A reversal (turned up) of ALF on a verb meaning to deck ‘eating’ the first letter (a bit of) Jammy

19d         Some suffer mental agitation (7)
FERMENT Hidden in some of sufFER MENTal

21d         Famous artist: variable, niche, upwardly mobile, bespectacled (4,3)
YOKO ONO A mathematical variable and a reversed (upwardly mobile) of a niche, the latter inserted between two Os (bespectacled)

22d         Study old verse – the first from Ovid – afresh (2,4)
DE NOVO A study, the abbreviations for Old and Verse and the first letter of Ovid

25d         A short distance down (4)
NECK A short distance used to measure the lead in a horse race or a slang word meaning to drink (down)

18 comments on “Toughie 3294”

  1. Absolutely cracking, a belter of a puzzle such as we seem always to enjoy as a special treat whenever Hudson is permitted to grace these “pages”. Loved it. Though to me 21d is famous more for being the wife of a famous person than anything else. COTD for me 14d, with 8d, 1a and 28a runners-up.

    Many thanks indeed Hudson, and also to Sue

  2. An absolute belter. Five stars all the way. Where to begin? 1a’s hilarious, 24a’s genius and 29a’s glossy. 25d’s super-smart too. Etc, etc. But 21d is just sublime. So THAT is how to do it! I’ve been itching for a grown-up to demonstrate how to clue this properly so it totally made my day. Huge thanks to Hudson and CS.

  3. I thought this was an excellent mid-week Toughie, nicely challenging and a real joy to solve.

    My only hold-ups were the parsing of 24a, which took an age before the penny dropped, and having to Google “Joe Cool” whom i have never heard of.

    Many thanks to Hudson and to CS.

    1. Yes, the answer was evident from the very clear instructions, but I had no idea who (or what) either Joe Cool or their accomplice was until seeing CS’s helpful picture.

      1. I surprised myself by knowing who Joe Cool was. Fortunately, the current Mrs Shabbo was a Snoopy addict in her youth and some of it must have rubbed off on me.

      2. Somewhere in a box of things we’ve had for a very long time that I’m not allowed to throw away (although how either of them would know as they are both on the other side of the Irish Sea) are both a Joe Cool and a 13a.

  4. Thanks to Gazza for the tip-off – this was such fun to solve.
    Not too taxing, but 27a and 25d put up some stubborn resistance and were my LOI.
    Ticks all over the place including 1a, 15a, 7d, 13d and 21d with COD awarded to Reggie Kray’s look-alike (which, of course, turned out to be nothing of the sort) at 27a.
    Excellent stuff. Thanks to Hudson and CS.

  5. What a joy to solve even if this dinosaur had to rely on checkers to get 14d and check who in the world calls a 17d a pancake – should have known! Agree with Mustafa about 21d’s only claim to fame and was very much in the hands of the BRB when it came to 22d – should have stuck at those Latin lessons……
    Ticks all over the place with stars going to 1,23&24a plus 3&8d.

    Many thanks to Hudson for the fun and to CS for the review – loved the illustration for 27a!

  6. A superb puzzle – many thanks to Hudson and CS.
    I’ve far too many ticks to list – I’ll just mention 15a, 27a, 29a, 8d, 14d and 25d.

  7. Nice puzzle. 1a is one of those clues that you know is going to be funny but you have to hope it will be funny ha-ha, it was. I also liked the stomach upset at 24a and the clever construction for the “famous artist” at 21d.
    Thanks to Hudson and CS.

  8. I had to look up the meaning of ‘twerk’ as I’d never heard of it, likewise Joe Cool and the prayer. I also didn’t know that the middle bit of 3d meant trendy, not a phrase I’m ever going to use. I also took an age to parse 24a. On the plus side I didn’t have a problem with the group of stars. Very enjoyable though. Favourite was 14d, I have one of those. Thanks to Hudson and CS.

  9. Thanks to CS for parsing 21d. Not convinced that I would ever have done it unaided. Likewise I was looking for a “dead ringer” for far too long in 27a so a great piece of misdirection. So for me not an unaided completion, but a certain amount of “chuffness” is felt for being close. Thanks to Hudson for the entertainment and CS for the hints.

  10. I only attempted this as it was mentioned in high praise on the cryptic blog. I’m so glad I did, it was great with so many smiles forthcoming. I didn’t know the prayer and had to check 22d.
    Top picks for me were 1a, 27a, 3d, 8d and 14d.
    Thanks to CrypticSue and Hudson.

  11. Great puzzle, pics & review. Loved it from start to an unaided finish albeit Mr G had to confirm the prayer & the Snoopy character, Ticks all over the shop but 27a just gets the nod by a 25d in a tight photo finish over 29a.
    Many thanks to Hudson & to Sue

  12. Like Madflower I looked at the toughie as it was highly recommended, and jolly good it was too. I didn’t know Joe Cool but dimly know the answer as being cartoony. Who could possibly think of incorporating that constellation into a clue?! Many thanks to Hudson and Susie-de-Sue.

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