Toughie No 3383 by Django
Hints and tips by Gazza
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Django is as entertaining and quirky as ever with quite a few gimmes thrown in to help us. Many thanks to him.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Answer regularly appears – in case of multichoice – to be A? (6)
AMPERE: an abbreviation for answer then regular letters from ‘appears’ inside the outer letters of multichoice. The definition is an abbreviation.
4a Fit handle having shed and loft to keep it in (8)
ATHLETIC: remove the ‘and’ from handle and insert what remains in another word for a loft.
9a Hereford and Gloucester, possibly about 7-1 (6)
CATTLE: an abbreviation meaning about or approximately and the answer to 7d minus (very sneaky) the letter that resembles 1.
10a Having discounted a Japanese drink, reveal it’s reduced to lowest strength (8)
SKELETON: remove A from an alcoholic Japanese drink and follow that with an informal phrasal verb meaning to reveal.
11a Rugby player with a collection of books for supporter (9)
PROPONENT: assemble a rugby forward, a spelled-out synonym of A and the abbreviation for some Biblical books.
13a Provide Aldi sandwiches – perfect (5)
IDEAL: hidden.
14a Made a good impression and occasionally ground out test match when playing (3,3,7)
CUT THE MUSTARD: an anagram (when playing) of gRoUnD oUt TEST MATCH.
17a Minor royal men somehow star in The Prince and the Showgirl (7,6)
MARILYN MONROE: an anagram (somehow) of MINOR ROYAL MEN. Well it’s not Laurence Olivier so it must be his co-star.
21a Ridicule while cutting support (5)
TEASE: a synonym of while goes inside our usual golf support.
23a Brief Liam Fox about going into hospital department for skin treatment (9)
EXFOLIANT: insert an anagram (about) of LIA[m] FOX into Crosswordland’s favourite hospital department.
24a Telegraph to me containing manoeuvre taken by retreating regiment (8)
EMPLOYER: a manoeuvre or cunning plan is contained in the reversal of one of our engineering regiments.
25a Discover Red Cross is inspired by church and duty (6)
EXCISE: start with the inner letter of red and the cross-shaped letter then insert IS into an abbreviation for church.
26a Do nothing as Midge Ure finally joins station (8)
STAGNATE: another word for a non-capitalised midge and the final letter of Ure are appended to the abbreviation for station.
27a More than one saw Bill Withers? (6)
ADAGES: an abbreviated bill and a verb meaning withers or declines. This is a brilliant spot – it’s surprising nobody’s used it before (or perhaps they have and I’ve missed it).
Down Clues
1d Agree to turn over mushroom (6)
ACCEPT: a turn or stage performance containing a type of mushroom.
2d Drive for PC monitor maybe buggy (6,3)
PATROL CAR: a verb to monitor or keep guard and what a buggy is an example of (on a golf course?).
3d Available following press launch (7)
ROLLOUT: an adjective meaning available or published after a verb to press (a cricket pitch?).
5d Instruction to make 21 relax – have a break (4,4,3)
TAKE TIME OFF: what we have to do to turn 21a into a verb to relax.
6d In just seconds, Blackpool rock always blackens kids’ teeth – useless sticky sweets! (7)
LOLLIES: the second letters from seven words in the clue.
7d Name of singer Lorde’s covering (5)
TITLE: a feathered singer and the outer letters of Lorde.
8d Reason prisoner died breaking into 1 Down, for example (8)
CONCLUDE: an informal word for a prisoner and the genealogical abbreviation for died inside what 1 down is an example of.
12d Boost in space with Solo from Star Wars bonding … (11)
ENHANCEMENT: assemble a printer’s space, Mr Solo’s forename and a type of bonding.
15d … over a drink – wanting nothing under a gallon and getting mean (9)
AVERAGING: remove the zero-resembling letter from ‘over a drink’ (where drink is an alcoholic one), precede that with A and follow it with the abbreviation for gallon.
16d Stifles son and parents (8)
SMOTHERS: the genealogical abbreviation for son and maternal parents.
18d Rest of story out of order (3,4)
LIE DOWN: a tall story and an adverb meaning out of order or not working.
19d Collected wine outside European airport (7)
RELAXED: a generic type of wine contains an abbreviation for European and the IATA code of an airport in California.
20d Force opening of safety lock (6)
STRESS: the opening letter of safety and a lock of hair.
22d Most influential member of Norwegian band pens record (5)
ALPHA: the only Norwegian band that most of us have heard of contains an abbreviated record.
I liked 9a, 10a and 22d with my favourite being the excellent 27a. Which one(s) 14a for you?
9a was the stand out clue for me, with lots of others rating highly. The NW took a while to decipher, but the rest I found fairly straightforward.
It was 2d that held me up, by bunging in the wrong jam sandwich! Then all became clear.
Thanks Gazza and Django
Nice puzzle….could not get into NW corner at all . Having police in for 2d probably didn’t help!
Super puzzle, my last few being in the NW as with Jules & Seymour, and for the same reason: police parses just as well as patrol. Was also held up, though not for as long, at 5d, where out and off both work perfectly, indeed out is possibly slightly better, in my (n)ever so humble opinion! Only when I could think of no alternative but the actual answer for 23a did the penny drop. Unusual to have two such ambiguous clues in one puzzle. Don’t think I’ve heard of, let alone seen, the film (I’m far too young!), but fortunately MM’s anagram leapt off the page – my first thought on reading the clue was the other, but ghastly, more recent MM.
Despite that, 5d makes it to my podium, together with 9a and 6d.
Many thanks to Django for the great crossword, and to Gazza for the as-ever wonderful blog & cartoons.
A very enjoyable solve with so many great clues it seems a shame to pick a podium but my favourite was 5D.
Many thanks to Gazza for the great blog as always and the cartoon fun. Thank you Django for the enjoyable challenge.
I do the Toughie pretty often, and this seemed more like 4* difficulty for me! Would have been easier had I got 17 quicker (duh), but 1a and 7a I thought relatively difficult. Hope that cheers up those who often struggle!
I too finished up in the NW corner, but I thought this was just right for a Thursday Toughie. My favourite was 17a
Many thanks to Django and Gazza
Typically Djangoesque and hugely enjoyable. I thought the anagram at 17a was excellent and that became my favourite.
My thanks to the aforementioned and Gazza.
How do you turn a duck into a soul singer?
You put it in the oven until it’s Bill Withers…
Taxi for Sloop
Superb! Django in top form and I smiled all the way thro it. I, too found the NW the trickiest [1a and 9a were my last in]. Very hard to pick favourites as almost every clue has something noteworthy in it. Some cleverly disguised definitions [24a, 2d] Osmosis-quality wordplay [15d, 11a] and the usual Django quirkiness [the aforementioned 1a and 9a].
Thanks to Django and to Gazza for the blog.
Got held up for ages having entered the perfectly credible POLICE CAR at 2d. Eventually figured where my error lay, and finished the final few clues. No arguments with the 2* rating. All good Django entertainment. Thanks D and G.
Welcome to the blog, Bohemian.
Well I managed to finish what turned out to be a most enjoyable puzzle, I did need the hints to fully parse 9a, 2d ams 18d though. Also had out in 5d which held me until nothing fitted for 23a. Favourite was 9a once it was explained. Thanks to Django and Gazza.
I’d give this ****/**** Very enjoyable and testing.
Just finished and enjoyed the teasing out of a few clues
Thanks to Django for the fun and Gazza for the explanations and cartoons and the chances for me to tell the Bill Withers joke again
An even later finish, for me. I did half of it last night and the remaining half fell quite quickly this morning.
Really, really good fun. Like Gazza, I thought 27a was brilliant.
Thanks to Django and Gazza.
Fantastic — with pretty much all the clues being highlights! I started off more slowly than with many Django puzzles, but sped up towards the end and finished in about the time I’d expect. I loved 5d’s instruction to make 21 relax, and 27a for the reason Gazza mentioned. That was my last one in, because I was trying to split the name and make ‘Withers’ the definition — often the right thing to do with a 2-word proper noun in a Django crossword, but the actual split here is genius.
It turns out I can’t spell 17a; the website told me my completed grid wasn’t right, and eventually I realized I’d got the I and Y the wrong way round. 9a is also genius and so is Gazza for explaining it, because that was brilliant but beyond me. Thank you to Gazza for that and for the regiment in 24a.
Massive thanks to Django — I wish all crosswords were this much fun!
Thanks Gazza and thanks all!
Has anyone reported SJB for suggesting animal cruelty or should I do it?
2*/4* ….
liked 6D “In just seconds, Blackpool rock always blackens kid’s teeth – useless sticky sweets ! (7)”