Toughie No 3339 by Kcit
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
The first few answers went in very quickly and I thought this was going to be pretty straightforward. It did get a wee bit trickier towards the bottom but I don’t think this will cause regular Toughie solvers too many problems.
Thanks to Kcit.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Clamour after a boy hit piano – it’s only a pantomime prop! (8,4)
ALADDIN’S LAMP: assemble A, synonyms of boy and clamour, a verb to hit hard and the abbreviation for piano. “it’s only” seems to be just a filler.
9a Mysterious quote provided over morning drink recalled (9)
ENIGMATIC: a verb to quote contains the abbreviation for morning and an alcoholic drink. Reverse the lot.
10a Broadcasting feasible? Duo missing page (2,3)
ON AIR: an adverb meaning feasible and a synonym of duo without the abbreviation for page.
11a Old man returned high shot, possessing male assurance (6)
APLOMB: reverse an affectionate term for one’s father and add a high shot containing the abbreviation for male.
12a Poet’s written about single year in place like that inspiring Gray’s “Elegy” (8)
BONEYARD: an old word for a poet contains a synonym of single and the abbreviation for year.
13a Decide to dispatch detective to get something linked to peer? (6)
ERMINE: start with a verb to decide or resolve and delete the 3-letter abbreviation for detective.
15a Unrealistic remit leader dropped, adopting better (8)
ESCAPIST: a verb to remit (in the sense of cease) loses its leading letter and contains a verb to better or surpass.
18a Methodist converted Lewes once, no coming back after that (8)
WESLEYAN: an anagram (converted) of LEWES followed by the reversal of an archaic (once) adverb meaning no.
19a Irish writer‘s former schoolfellow getting nothing in Paris (1’5)
O’BRIEN: the abbreviation for a former pupil and the French word for nothing.
21a Part of dessert, maybe chunk, mostly a reddish colour (8)
PIECRUST: a chunk or segment without its last letter and a reddish-brown colour.
23a Stony concretion ultimately like rubble? (6)
BROKEN: an informal adjective meaning stony or skint and the ultimate letter of concretion.
26a Quantity of heat? Expression of doubt after reverse of hot temperature (5)
THERM: a 3-letter expression of doubt or hesitation follows the reversal of abbreviations for hot and temperature.
27a Using concerning medium, make latest piece for surrealist artist (9)
REMBRANDT: assemble a prefix meaning concerning, the clothing abbreviation for medium, a make or tradename and the final letter of surrealist.
28a Staff needing a long time and a pound to make mailroom purchase? (7,5)
POSTAGE STAMP: string together a staff or pole, a word for a long time and a pound or heavy blow. We’ll need much more than a pound for one of these after this week’s price rise.
Down Clues
1d Mean army’s first to penetrate a border (7)
AVERAGE: the first letter of army penetrates A and a border.
2d A star not good in Shakespearean role (5)
ARIEL: A and the name of a bright star in the constellation of Orion without the abbreviation for good make the name of a spirit in The Tempest.
3d Setter is taken in by wicked figure of French harlots? (4-5)
DEMI-MONDE: the contracted form of ‘the setter is’ from his viewpoint goes inside a wicked figure or evil spirit. Finish with the French word for ‘of’.
4d Dark times in France requiring removal of current idiots (4)
NUTS: remove the symbol for electric current from the (plural) French word for times of darkness.
5d Not how to describe this entry in essentially athletic sport (8)
LACROSSE: a word that could describe 14 clues in this puzzle (but not this one) goes inside the central letters of ‘athletic’.
6d Ruminant – like a crab? That’s not right (5)
MOOSE: a crab here is a sour-tempered person. We need an adjective describing such a person without the abbreviation for right.
7d Violinist sending up one note in a lull (8)
PAGANINI: rivet together the Roman numeral for one, an abbreviation for note, IN A and a synonym for a lull or interval. Now reverse the lot.
8d Believe online forum half-heartedly supporting Conservative (6)
CREDIT: the name of a US online forum or social network (REDDIT) loses one of its middle letters and that follows an abbreviation for Conservative.
14d French composer‘s religious work covering doctrine with no overture (8)
MASSENET: a religious musical work precedes a word for a doctrine or belief without its starting letter.
16d Warning signal – rigs struggling – material washed up ashore? (9)
AMBERGRIS: a warning signal for drivers followed by an anagram (struggling) of RIGS.
17d Cut sound before satire involving King’s language (8)
SANSKRIT: an adjective meaning sound or sensible loses its last letter before a satire or parody containing an abbreviation for king.
18d Deer a quarry in Wisconsin (6)
WAPITI: A and a quarry or excavation go inside the standard abbreviation for Wisconsin.
20d Inappropriate behaviour around street – police initially unrelenting (3-4)
NON-STOP: an informal word for inappropriate behaviour (2-2) contains the abbreviation for street. Finish with the initial letter of police.
22d Home of Latin love or lover (5)
ROMEO: the city that was home to the Latin language and the love of tennis.
24d Significant area occupied by new coffee producer? (5)
KENYA: an adjective meaning significant and the abbreviation for area with the abbreviation for new occupying it.
25d Complacent when some urge only intermittently appears (4)
SMUG: intermittent letters from two words in the clue.
The top clues for me were 23a, 5d and 6d. Which one(s) warmed your cockles?
Pretty straightforward (for a Thursday Toughie) with nothing too obscure as long as you knew your poets and composers. One of these, 14d, was a favourite along with 5d.
Many thanks to Kcit and Gazza.
Very enjoyable. For a Toughie I actually found this less of a struggle than the back-pager though that’s not to say I thought it the easier of the two puzzles. As usual a fair few of the whys were reverse engineered & Mr G was required for some confirmations (3&14d). Pick of the bunch was 12a with podium spots for 5d &21a.
With thanks to Kcit & to Gazza – great quote from Edna.
Ps Django is in the Graun today so that should be worth looking forward to
Excelled myself (IMO) by completing this with the only help needed for 8d since I didn’t know the online forum. As a life-long Methodist my favourite has to be 18a even though it was anagram based. I also liked 1a, first in, the artist at 27a and composer at 14d. Thanks to Kcit and Gazza.
Had to check the same two as Huntsman did but reasonably OK elsewhere although it took longer than it should have done to parse the 7d violinist.
Think I’ll nominate 1&23a plus 6d for the awards.
Thanks to Kcit and to Gazza for the review – great Matt cartoon!
I too thought it would be a breeze then slowed right down for the lower/RH half. Top picks are 12a and 5 & 6d [last two in].
Thanks to kcit and Gazza.
My LOI was 15a, couldn’t parse it so reverted to the hints. Thanks Gazza.
Easier than yesterday I thought. 9a, 18a and 16d my favourites.
Nice one Kcit!
Didn’t know the writer or the composer but reasonably fairly clued. Definitely easier than yesterday. Quite a few straightforward clues scattered about which helped with the head scratchers. Favourite was 21a as I spent far too long trying to fit rose at the end. Thanks to Kcit and Gazza
Some rather challenging GK here but managed to get all sorted. Didn’t do ourselves any favours by bunging in a wrong second word for 1a so that slowed us for a bit.
Enjoyable solve.
Thanks Kcit and Gazza.
Great puzzle. Thank you Kcit and Gazza