Toughie No 3319 by Kcit
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
I found this puzzle pretty straightforward for a Thursday Toughie but with not a lot of sparkle. Thanks to Kcit.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Vagrant not working with charity in East London? (4-3-3)
DOWN-AND-OUT: an adverb meaning not working or out of action and a charitable gesture given the Cockney treatment.
6a Ran discount electronic firm (4)
HARD: a verb meaning ran swiftly with the abbreviation for electronic deleted.
9a Complaints I lodged after second regulation overturned (5)
WAILS: insert I into the abbreviation for second and a regulation or statute. Reverse the lot.
10a The Rat, by implication a character in children’s book (3,6)
MAD HATTER: a reverse anagram with the letters of The Rat forming the fodder.
12a Succeeded, with more experience, to catch current trooper (7)
SOLDIER: the genealogical abbreviation meaning succeeded and a comparative meaning more experienced with the symbol for electric current inserted.
13a Overexcited from revolutionary yard excavation (5)
GIDDY: stick together the abbreviation for yard and a synonym of excavation then reverse it all.
15a Provokes lots of practical knowledge on the radio (7)
INCITES: this sounds like the plural of a word meaning practical knowledge.
16a German state ignoring East led by East German, one refusing to face facts (7)
OSTRICH: the German word for state or realm (not used much since the third one came to an end in 1945) without the abbreviation for East is preceded by the German word for east.
18a Landing area‘s perimeter sealed in lead (7)
HELIPAD: a word for perimeter or rim is inserted in a verb to lead or manage.
20a Increasingly dark ale initially dropped by pub proprietor (7)
BROWNER: start with a pub proprietor (3,5) and drop the initial letter of ale.
21a Satisfied with Biblical texts in choral piece (5)
MOTET: a verb meaning satisfied with the abbreviation for ancient Biblical texts inside.
23a Outfit heading off storm damage to front (7)
COSTUME: a verb to storm or rage without its heading letter is preceded by what damage informally means.
25a Wild hours with steed expending little energy as breeding material (4,5)
STUD HORSE: an anagram (wild) of HOURS STE[e]D after deleting one of the abbreviations for energy.
26a In return help country (5)
INDIA: IN followed by a reversal of a synonym for help.
27a Newspaper material: not forthcoming about page (4)
COPY: an adjective meaning not forthcoming or reticent containing the abbreviation for page.
28a Highlighted dime’s shape after moulding (10)
EMPHASISED: an anagram (after moulding) of DIME’S SHAPE.
Down Clues
1d New quantity of money raised for a start (4)
DAWN: the abbreviation for new and a bundle of money (as waved around by Harry Enfield’s Loadsamoney character) all reversed.
2d Little reduced stage show, not for all the family, containing some fantasy (9)
WHIMSICAL: a word for a small part without its last letter and a stage show without the letter used to mean suitable for all the family.
3d Sailor very good with instrument – tar showing attribute some performers have (8,5)
ABSOLUTE PITCH: assemble an abbreviation for sailor, an adverb meaning very good, an old stringed instrument and some sticky tar.
4d Provide water supply, perhaps, for regions (7)
DOMAINS: a verb to provide and what the water supply is an example of.
5d Experience German and Latin consequently (7)
UNDERGO: the German word for ‘and’ and the Latin word for ‘consequently’.
7d Worried first half of record cut, then second half played (5)
ACTED: the first letter of a 2-letter abbreviation for a musical record is inserted into a verb meaning worried with the second letter coming at the end.
8d County grudge match possibly leading to anger after quiet (10)
DERBYSHIRE: a match between neighbouring teams which is usually keenly contested followed by a synonym of anger after an instruction to be quiet.
11d Surprisingly, ratings mount before finale of series – there’s not much to them (8,5)
ANGSTROM UNITS: an anagram (surprisingly) of RATINGS MOUNT followed by the final letter of series. These are apparently very small units of length (new to me).
14d Maybe spot microphone capturing our group producing agreeable tunes (5,5)
LIGHT MUSIC: what spot can be a type of followed by the abbreviation for microphone containing a pronoun meaning ‘our group’.
17d Bar cancels uplifting end to binge prompting suggestive comments (9)
INNUENDOS: a type of bar and a verb meaning cancels or reverses with the last letter of binge moved up a few places.
19d It’s becoming strange to support endless inducement (7)
DECORUM: an adjective meaning strange follows an inducement or lure without its last letter.
20d Initials of every simpleton engraved in tree? It’s enough to make you pray (7)
BESEECH: insert the initial letters of ‘every simpleton’ into a deciduous tree.
22d Appear busy, absorbed by tango performer’s opening beat (5)
THUMP: a verb meaning to appear to be busy goes between the letter that tango represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet and the opening letter of performer.
24d Fearful, losing couple of leaders in attack (4)
RAID: an adjective meaning fearful without its first couple of letters.
My favourite clue was 10a. Which one(s) grabbed you?
Not that difficult but nothing to make the solver grumpy
My favourite was 10a
Thanks to Kcit and Gazza
I found it more difficult than either Gazza or crypticsue but quite fun. As mentioned before I think kcit’s use of tech terms makes a nice change [see 11d]. The solution to 18a is a bit of a “get out of jail” word for compilers that crops up regularly. Favourites were 16a, 23a and 17d.
Thanks to kcit and Gazza.
Trouble with the tech terms is that you either know them or you don’t – no half measures……..
Enjoyed this hugely. Largely straightforward but a good 20%+ of the clues I found quite challenging, sufficiently so to merit the puzzle being in this slot. Could not see what was happening in 7d, so the hint was much appreciated. Some great surfaces and wonderful clues, though, with 10a, 2d and 11d (pleased I dredged that one from the depths!) on the podium, though a good many others could have joined those three.
Many thanks to Kcit and Gazza
Not a difficult solve, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t enjoyable. My picks were 1, 6, 10, and 18A and 1, and 17D with 4D as favourite because it made me smile.
Thanks to Gazza for the fun and Kcit for the enjoyment.
I liked 1a and 10a was fun – “by implication” felt nicely original. Some of the surfaces didn’t sing to me – 7d was a tad ugly – but it was very enjoyable. Thanks to Kcit and Gazza.
Unlike our blogger, I didn’t find this straightforward but I did find a bit of sparkle. Never heard of 11d and doubt I’ll remember them, which probably doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things!
Those that raised a smile were 1,10&16a plus 5,8&14d. I remember that we used to get reasonable 14d on the blog in the good ‘ol days!
Thanks to Kcit and to Gazza for the review and cartoons – especially the Neil Young one.
10a was very neat and my favourite in this fairly straightforward (for a Toughie) puzzle, and 11a was a clever anagram. I found 7d a little chewy, but otherwise all was well.
Thanks to Kcit and Gazza.
My two trusty on-line anagram solvers failed miserably to solve 11d. What chance for me?
Favourite: 10a Always enjoy a reverse anagram!
Thanks to Kcit and Gazza.
If your anagram solvers are anything like mine, they don’t cope with plurals. I just knocked off the ‘finale of series’ and the singular answer popped up fine!
Jane, many thanks for the tip.
I took your advice and both came up with the singular answer.
Needed the hint to parse 7d but that was the only one so happy with that. A few tricky ones but all fairly clued. A number pig contenders for favourite but I’ll go with 5d. Thanks to Kcit and Gazza.
Really enjoyed this challenge but found it much harder than others. Several answers needed checking on here. For me ****/**** Thanks to setter & Gazza
10a gets our vote for best clue in what was an enjoyable solve for us.
Thanks Kcit and Gazza.
Wasn’t too bothered about sparkle or lack of it – just glad it was enjoyable & mercifully easier than the previous couple of days. Had never heard of the units but figured from the fodder, then verified and like TG couldn’t parse 7d either but otherwise pleasingly problem free. Top 3 for me were 1&19a plus 17d.
Thanks to Kcit & to Gazza