Toughie 3442 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3442

by crypticsue  

Toughie  No 3442 by Prime

Hints and Tips by crypticsue

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

I have always believed that it helps when solving crosswords to have retained a wide range of knowledge of ‘stuff’ and Prime has obviously decided that today is the day to test my knowledge of (in no particular order) Greek Mythology, American sitcoms of the 1990s, British sitcoms of the 170s, 1993 films and American showbiz acronyms.  The latter was the only thing I didn’t know but, should it ever appear again, I’ll be ready

Please let us know what you thought

Across

1a           Second inside right to succeed (7)
PROSPER The abbreviation for Second goes inside right in the sense of appropriate

5a           Ministers start to talk, after church, about a case (7)
CABINET The abbreviation for the Church of England and the ‘start’ of Talk go ‘about’ A (from the clue) and a container (case)

9a           Exasperated call for light (7)
NEEDLED Split 4,3, this might suggest a requirement (call for) a type of light

10a         Cut more than rock? (7)
OUTCROP Cut more than necessary – of hair or wheat perhaps

11a         Aromatic duck eaten by certain dog on the counter (9)
ODIFEROUS The letter used in cricket to mean a duck ‘eaten’ by reversed (on the counter) of a  synonym for certain and an informal name for a dog

12a         Perhaps Willy Wonka’s beginning well (5)
WHALE The beginning of Wonka and well or healthy

13a         An artist’s unfinished joint (5)
ANKLE AN (from the clue) and almost all of the surname of a German artist

15a         Storyteller wholly avoiding nuclear reactor after explosion (9)
RACONTEUR An anagram (after explosion) of NUclear REACTOR ‘avoiding’ a synonym for wholly

17a         FBI agent arresting board with tip from spiteful union aide (9)
GROOMSMAN An FBI agent ‘arresting’ a lodging (board) and the ‘tip’ from Spiteful, the union being what the BRB describes as a state of wedlock

19a         New king possibly ceding crown for Beatrice or Eugenie? (5)
NIECE The abbreviation for New and a chess man (king possibly) without the first letter (ceding crown)

22a         Pleasure to take to bed (5)
FUTON Some pleasure takes TO (from the clue)

23a         With what an isosceles triangle might have? (9)
ALONGSIDE An isosceles triangle might have x xxxx xxxx

25a         Beer, briefly chilled, containing hot sauce (7)
ALCOHOL Sauce being a US informal term for intoxicating drink.  A name for beer without its final letter (briefly) and slightly cold (chilled), the latter containing the abbreviation for Hot

26a         Slight female seen in hairstyle books (7)
AFFRONT The abbreviation for Female inserted into a hairstyle, the result finished with the abbreviation books in the second part of the Bible

27a         Temptress from US city visiting New Delhi (7)
DELILAH An abbreviated US West Coast city ‘visiting’ an anagram (new) of DELHI

28a         Counting seven from August, here’s April and May? (7)
THERESA Seven letters found in AugusT HERE’S April

Down

1d           Old man outside with gold box opener (7)
PANDORA An informal father (old man) goes outside a synonym for with and the heraldic term for gold

 

 

 

 

 

 

2d           Circle line’s moving apart from Northern in bounds of Bank/Monument (7)
OBELISK The circular letter followed by an anagram (moving) of LInE apart from the abbreviation for Northern inserted into the ‘bounds’ of BanK

3d           Rhythm‘s winning over university (5)
PULSE A reversal (over) of a synonym for winning goes over a London university, usually referred to by its initials

4d           X-ray image reflected Mrs Leadbetter – I had a right! (9)
RADIOGRAM A reversal of the forename of Mrs Leadbetter in The Good Life, an abbreviated way of saying I had, and the abbreviation for Right

5d           Angry about Rachel’s choice? (5)
CROSS The abbreviation for about and the person Rachel in Friends finally chose

6d           National British bird adopted by rising international alliance (9)
BOTSWANAN The abbreviation for British and a large bird ‘adopted’ by a reversed (rising) international alliance

7d           Did career upset deserve recount? (7)
NARRATE A reversal (upset) of went fast (did career) followed by a verb meaning to deserve

8d           Artist with full set of awards keeping quiet about TV show (3,4)
TOP GEAR An abbreviated artist and an acronym for  the designation given to people who have won all four of the major performing art awards in the USA, into which is inserted the abbreviation for the musical instruction to play quietly

14d         Cheese and ham melt cooked around middle of tent (9)
EMMENTHAL An anagram (cooked) of HAM MELT going around the letters in the middle of tENt

16d         One of 21 in agreement (9)
CONSONANT One of 21 letters in the alphabet or an adjective meaning in agreement

17d         FA messed with digit for tax scheme (4,3)
GIFT AID An anagram (messed of FA with DIGIT

18d         Like some illusions, best when using the other extreme of magic (7)
OPTICAL Take a synonym for best and change the M for the ‘other extreme’ of magiC

20d         Summing up of transcendental numbers needing book (7)
EPITOME The best-known transcendental numbers and a large book

21d         Complex character edited Lear etc (7)
ELECTRA An anagram (edited) of LEAR ETC

23d         Everyone – I see God! (5)
ALLAH Everyone and an interjection of surprise (I see)

24d         Manager missing final own goal (5)
GAFFE A foreman (manager) missing the final letter

 

 

16 comments on “Toughie 3442”

  1. I agree with the difficulty rating given in the preamble but felt it was worth another star for enjoyment. I fairly skipped through this but reread the clues after I’d finished and appreciated the setting style, humour and skill in the grid. My co-favourites were 6 and 16d.

    Thanks to Prime for a fun challenge and to Sue.

  2. I found this much easier than yesterday, and for me, the two toughies could have swapped places with relation to difficulty.
    The only bit of GK I needed to check was the German artist. I have never watched a single episode of Friends, but I have heard of a few of the characters. My last to parse was the awards part of 8d.

    Many thanks to Prime (4* for enjoyment), and to CS for the write-up.

  3. Very enjoyable, although I’d hoped to get the phonecall announcing the birth of another grandchild before finishing, but no news yet! Like YS above 6d was favourite. Another day with the same answer as another on the back page, albeit in the Quickie!
    Thanks CS and Prime

  4. An enjoyable puzzle with a fair bit of GK – thanks to Prime and CS.
    I wondered how Mrs Leadbetter had lost her T until a little Googling surprised me with the knowledge that she’d never had one.
    Ticks from me for 9a, 10a, 1d and 18d.

  5. Today I’d probably go up one on the difficulty, not having really tuned-in at any point. Some rather testing & even quite dated GK. The “full set of awards” was just as new to me as the last time I didn’t get them, 17a is horribly American (what’s wrong with ‘best man’?) to my ear if not to the BRB – and surely ‘board’ is the food, not the room/lodging? Many lovely surfaces, generous dollop of anagrams, some real groaners, and highlights for me were 28a (very clever, loved that months 8 & 9 after August are April & May), 22a and 11a.

    Many thanks to Prime & of course CS

  6. Unlike Jezza I thought this a bit trickier than yesterday in terms of finding the answers but parsing ‘em was perhaps less of a challenge. Thoroughly enjoyed the solve (**** rating here too). Needed Mr G for performing arts grand slam acronym & never having watched Friends 5d was a bung in but the answer summed up my reaction to Rachel from accounts’ budget. Another early vote for 6d as pick of the bunch. 11,17,22,23&27a plus 2&4d other particular likes.
    Thanks to Prime & to Sue.

  7. A fair crossword but it just didn’t hit home for me. I’m not keen on Americanisms and odd GK. Because of that I must thank CS for her helpful parsing.
    However there were some good clues, none more so than 28A
    Thanks again to CS and Prime.

  8. I’m not a big fan of proper noun clues and also old enough to think any clue requiring something not in Chambers is cheating a bit. So I was well grumpy by the time I’d finished this – altho’ there are a few smart clues: 22a [concise and chuckleworthy] 27a [New Delhi] and 18d [inventive].
    Thanks to Prime and CS.

  9. Setter here, unusually moonlighting on a Wednesday but it does mean that I have the great pleasure of Senf providing the Hints and Tips. Many thanks indeed to him and to all those solving and commenting.

    Kevin Bacon is perhaps known more in the UK these days for his TV commercials for a certain mobile phone and broadband supplier than for his films, but there is also the game named after him that possibly cinephiles like Huntsman might play occasionally, which allocates “Bacon numbers” to actors for their degrees of separation from Mr Bacon. For example, Ian McKellen was in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) with Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy. McAvoy and Fassbender were in X-Men: First Class (2011) with Kevin Bacon. Therefore, McAvoy and Fassbender have Bacon numbers of 1, and McKellen has a Bacon number of 2. Kevin Bacon’s own Bacon number is of course 0! I’m sure you all wanted to know that.

    See you all again soon.

    2. That’s a new one on me. Pretty sure the film that launched him & others was Barry Levinson’s directorial debut, Diner & well worth a check out if you’ve not seen it – my fav of his Baltimore tetralogy though Tin Men pushes it close.
      Lovely puzzle as always.
      You’ve posted in the wrong place btw.

  10. Quite a lot of somewhat challenging GK for us but we did get it all sorted eventually in what was a pleasant solve.
    Thanks Prime and CS.

  11. Very good of course, however 23a, an isosceles triangle has two equal sides, ergo ‘scalene’ should have been used instead of ‘isosceles’.

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