Toughie No 3508 by Karla
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Karla’s not too tricky today with no obscurities and is very enjoyable – many thanks to him. I can’t spot a Nina – can you?
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Star playing part with genius (10)
SUPERGIANT: an anagram (playing) of PART GENIUS.
6a Counter untrained daughter in charge (4)
WARD: reverse an adjective meaning untrained and add the genealogical abbreviation for daughter.
10a Indian serving time within Asian province (5)
BALTI: insert the physics abbreviation for time within a province of Indonesia.
11a Officers caught expert withdrawing exams (9)
CORPORALS: assemble the cricket abbreviation for caught, the reversal of an expert and types of exam.
12a Alcohol solution mostly stored by glue inside of shed (5,2,6)
CRÈME DE MENTHE: a synonym of solution or cure without its last letter is stored inside a verb to cement. Finish with the inner letters of shed.
14a Only one bridge player perhaps against the other three cobblers (8)
NONSENSE: West seems to be the only bridge player present (2,3) then the other three appear.
16a Fish on sides of genial Republican’s craft (6)
GLIDER: the freshwater fish that’s so useful to setters follows the outer letters of genial. Append the abbreviation for Republican.
18a Savvy Greenlanders stashing last of mullet (6)
INTUIT: an indigenous people of Greenland contain the last letter of mullet.
20a Drink in style back by edge of hill (5,3)
BROWN ALE: reverse a synonym of style or flair after the summit of a hill.
22a Clinicians tweet about old king with cast (13)
CHIROPRACTORS: a verb to tweet contains the abbreviation for old. Add an abbreviation for king and those who work in a cast.
26a Great river article in Pleasure Seeker (9)
EPICUREAN: string together an adjective meaning great or heroic, a river in Yorkshire and one of our grammatical articles.
27a Carnivore occasionally snacked behind university (5)
OUNCE: occasional letters from snacked follow the abbreviation used for two different universities.
28a Son split leaving cheese list (4)
TILT: remove ‘son’ (but not as a single word) from a strong cheese.
29a Very funny curled hairstyle Charlie cuts (10)
HYSTERICAL: an anagram (curled) of HAIRSTYLE with the letter that Charlie represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet inserted.
Down Clues
1d Group with intelligence receiving suboptimal grade related issue (4)
SIBS: the intelligence group also known as MI6 contains a grade less than the top one.
2d Piscivore nut eating half of ling (7)
PELICAN: an edible nut contains half of the word ling.
3d Rear level in auditorium (5)
RAISE: this sounds like a verb to level (to the ground?).
4d Grow fold after lions oddly vanished (8)
INCREASE: a synonym of fold follows the even letters of lions.
5d Second hare turned up on eastern harbour (5)
NURSE: reverse the abbreviation for second and a verb to hare on the abbreviation for eastern.
7d Suitable tape dad reformatted (7)
ADAPTED: an anagram (reformatted) of TAPE DAD.
8d Crush bowl maybe made of clay husband’s left (10)
DISHEARTEN: what a bowl is an example of and an adjective meaning ‘made of clay’ without the genealogical abbreviation for husband.
9d Pass legislation after heads of EU sanction salad (8)
COLESLAW: start with a mountain pass and add a synonym of legislation after the first letters of EU sanction.
13d Rash from wearing tight red ties around clubs (10)
INDISCREET: a preposition meaning wearing and an anagram (tight) of RED TIES containing the cards abbreviation for clubs.
15d Record the Italian rascal rejecting right conclusion (8)
EPILOGUE: rivet together one of our usual abbreviated records, an Italian definite article and a synonym of rascal without the abbreviation for right.
17d Short summary on new court NYPD’s building? (8)
PRECINCT: a truncated synonym of summary precedes abbreviations for new and court.
19d Four admitted to testing of small import (7)
TRIVIAL: the Roman numeral for four is inserted in a synonym of testing (as a noun).
21d Vaccines rapidly recalled containing toxic substance (7)
ARSENIC: hidden in reverse.
23d Thin-sounding ruminants climbing close to quarry (5)
REEDY: reverse some ruminants prior to the closing letter of quarry.
24d Delivered flower fragrance (5)
ODOUR: a homophone of a major ‘flower’ in central Europe.
25d What may be sunk with skill (4)
WELL: double definition.
I particularly liked 6a, 10a and 1d. Which clue(s) got a clap from you?
A fitting end to the week, we’ve been spoiled by the high standard of setting in both toughies and backpagers alike.
From the across clues, I’ve picked out the officers at 11 and the drink in 12, with the fish eating nut in 2 and the disappointment of 8 in the downs, though there are many more I could have highlighted.
The four four-letter clues were subtle, and any mention of brown ale and cobblers gets the thumbs up from me.
Great fun.
Thanks to Karla and Gazza.
Yet another lovely puzzle. We are indeed blessed.
Ticks for 10a, 18a, 26a, 29a, 2d and 21d.
Many thanks to Karla and Gazza.
I don’t normally attempt Friday Toughies but I couldn’t resist it today when I saw who had set it.
I didn’t find it at all tough but it was an absolute delight from start to finish even though I couldn’t parse the ingenious 14a (many thanks, Gazza).
Many thanks too to Karla, with a special mention for the American indicator in 17d.
I really didn’t enjoy this. I found it to be full of ‘too clever’ definitions, and the whole solve felt unsatisfactory and irritating. There seemed to be a heavier-than-normal reliance on the more obscure definitions of words at times.
Apologies, but that’s how I felt.
Plenty to get your teeth into, an 26a delight with a nice curry washed down with a bottle of Newly Broon. I could give the mouthwash at 12a a miss but a dab of 9d would add a cooling touch.
Thanks to Karla and Gazza, each to his own of course but I don’t agree with Tilsit.
Newky*
Damn spell check
Maybe a bottle of Huntsman’s Ale
Evening all. Thanks for the comments and thanks to Gazza for another splendid blog. Nina-free this time.
Not a fan of the mouthwash either, John. And it’s a while since I’ve had a bottle of Broon, come to think of it.
Have a good weekend everyone, see you next time.
Thanks for a splendid puzzle, Karla.
Nice ending to a week of great toughies but I found it less hard than the last 2. Mind you, a gimme anagram clue ain’t the best way to start a Friday toughie, but that’s my only quibble. Loved the Indian serving at 10a, the tour de force at 22, the son split at 28 and the brilliant surface of 9d.
Thanks to Karla and Gazza.
Three toughies on the trot, so feeling quite pleased with myself! I wouldn’t normally attempt a Friday toughie but thought I might stand a chance with Karla…not easy but got there. Thanks to Gazza for explaining a couple. Unlike Halcyon, I thought a gimme anagram was a very fine way to get started!
Thanks to Karla and Gazza
I thought this a fair bit gentler than both Kcit & Weatherman Toughies this week & very enjoyable too. That said I fell 1d shy of a finish.
Thanks to Karla & to Gazza
Late on parade again. For once not due to the Friday Toughie difficulty. I put this at the milder end of the Friday spectrum, but still very enjoyable. 14a took a bit of parsing, but is fair and clever, but I think 1d is a pretty dreadful word. 26a gets my prize “today”.
Thanks to Karla, and also to Gazza for the blog.