Toughie No 3532 by Karla
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Karla has given us a fairly straightforward but very enjoyable puzzle today. Thanks to him.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Flier on city border recalled by relative (3,7)
RED ADMIRAL: start with a preposition meaning on or concerning then assemble the abbreviation for a US city, a synonym of border and an affectionate term for a relative and reverse it.
6a Serves sides female leaves (4)
ACES: a synonym of sides (of a dice perhaps) without the abbreviation for female.
10a Musical in disorder when child plays part of Mike (5)
CHESS: a word for disorder has the letter for which Mike is used in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet replaced by the abbreviation for child.
11a Entrance accommodates fish depiction (9)
PORTRAYAL: a type of entrance contains a flatfish.
12a One that’s flown in 112.5 degrees crossing coast? (7)
ESCAPEE: the point of the compass corresponding to 112.5 degrees contains a part of a coastline.
13a Young actress ultimately internalised shock (7)
STARTLE: a word for a young aspiring actress has its ultimate letter moved to the interior.
14a New local inn hooch largely unfit for purpose? (3-9)
NON-ALCOHOLIC: an anagram (new) of LOCAL INN HOOC[h]. The answer refers back to the hooch.
18a Troublesome pigeons regularly stopping where sisters stay (12)
INCONVENIENT: regular letters from pigeons go inside where religious sisters reside (2,7).
21s Side very exposed on back of this vessel (7)
STEAMER: a synonym of side and the inner letters of ‘very’ follow the back letter of thiS.
23a Dish encased by twisted lead at Sotheby’s (7)
TOSTADA: hidden in reverse.
24a Careful wrapping of ancient wine the setter has (9)
ATTENTIVE: rivet together the wrapping letters of ancient, a type of Spanish red wine found more often in crosswords than on the dinner table and the contracted form of ‘the setter has’.
25a Short Hobart drunk can’t stand (5)
ABHOR: an anagram (drunk) of HOBAR[t].
26a Trick expected to involve Penny (4)
DUPE: an adjective meaning expected or awaited contains the abbreviation for penny.
27a Important day united people inside of Italy (10)
MONUMENTAL: weld together an abbreviated day of the week, an abbreviation for united, a word for people generally and the inside letters of Italy.
Down Clues
1d Dodgy scheme run with lots of dosh papa’s left (6)
RACKET: the cricket abbreviation for run followed by an informal word for loads of money without the letter that papa represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet.
2d Dame tackling centre of staircase that’s steep (6)
DRENCH: the surname of one of our theatrical dames contains the central letter of staircase. Steep here is a verb.
3d Regret sauce being infused by juice and cream (14)
DISAPPOINTMENT: insert a type of juice or fluid into a thick sauce then append a medicinal cream.
4d Swear when meat price changes (9)
IMPRECATE: an anagram (changes) of MEAT PRICE.
5d Rich tapestry vulgar rascal frames (5)
ARRAS: hidden.
7d Call contractors about small glasses (8)
CRYSTALS: a verb to call or exclaim followed by the reversal of the abbreviation for contracting muscles. Finish with the clothing abbreviation for small.
8d Sly northern cove misrepresented ability to pay bills (8)
SOLVENCY: an anagram (misrepresented) of SLY N[orthern] COVE.
9d Respite from engineers drilling poolside? (9,5)
BREATHING SPACE: insert the abbreviation for army engineers into a way of describing a poolside (7,5).
15d Bit cross carrying case of rare liqueur (9)
COINTREAU: what a bit can mean (especially in North America) and the name of a T-shaped cross containing the outer letters of ‘rare’.
16d Sober under tree? This might get you plastered (5,3)
FIRST AID: a synonym of sober or sedate follows an evergreen tree.
17d Guard first-class bottle of plonk? (8)
SCREWTOP: an informal word for a prison guard and a synonym of first-class provide the type of bottle in which plonk is usually sold these days.
19d Male in second part of play sealed envelope (6)
SACHET: insert a male pronoun into the abbreviation for second and part of a play.
20d Watch from China worn by half of troops (6)
PATROL: half of the word troops is contained in what china is rhyming slang for.
22d Brahmin periodically working around capital? (5)
RHINO: regular letters from Brahmin and the reversal of an adverb meaning working. The answer is a dated slang word for financial capital.
I enjoyed lots of clues here including 13a, 21a, 16d and 20d. Which one(s) earned your approval?
Superb entertainment, nicely cryptic and great fun to crack.
Maybe I was on the same wavelength as Karla from the off, as I seemed to pick out the definitions, come up with a solution and then make everything fit, in what was for a Friday, a pretty decent time.
One of my first in, but last to parse was 10a, I was sure the word chaos was involved until the pdm.
The young actress in 13a was a star, the contractors in 7d were well defined and the dosh in 22d came in handy.
I also enjoyed the munch in 23a and the sauce in 3d though I hope neither contains as much cheese as I have spread across my comments on both puzzles today.
Still, as the old man used to say, “If ya don’t like it, Frankie, leave it on the side of yer plate”.
Thanks to Karla, a great end to the week.
Also to Gazza, loved the cartoons again.
Karla once again does not disappoint… great stuff!
An excellent puzzle that was not too difficult.
There were a couple of bits I needed to check, namely the angle in 12a, and the tapestry in 5d (I remembered it afterwards).
17d was my favourite.
Many thanks to Karla and to Gazza.
What a great way to start the weekend. That was a most enjoyable Friday Toughie without the usual brain mangling. I have so many ticks that I can’t mention them all, but just because of the lol moment, 14A gets the podium.
Many thanks Gazza for the blog and hilarity ( 2A was an ace of a cartoon) and to Karla for the pleasure.
A cracker and not too tough for a Friday. It took me a while to get going then seemed to get easier towards the bottom. Top clues, out of many, were 13a [clever construction] 14a [I liked the “contextual definition”] 18a [very smart] and 27a [nicely put together].
Thanks to Karla and to Gazza for the blog.
Straightforward except my initial entry for 6a which hit the net. Another small diversion whilst I computed my angles for 12a. 14a made me smile.
Thanks to Gazza and Carla.
What a pleasure to find a challenging but doable fun Toughie on a Friday.
I had a plethora of ticks with my very top picks being 10a, 13a, 14a, 18a & 20d.
Many thanks to Karla and to Gazza.
Sorry Gazza, I meant 6A.
Good evening. Many thanks to Gazza for the excellent blog and thanks to all who have commented today. Back-pager duty next week, but obviously I won’t say exactly when…
Have a great weekend everyone. We have been staying in London this week, very hot. The Edinburgh Festival beckons next week with rain forecast. Hurrah!
Great puzzle. Thank you Karla and Gazza.
I don’t normally tackle the Toughie, particularly on a Friday, but this was approachable and very enjoyable.
Like Jonners, my initial entry for 6a clipped the net.
13a was my last one in.
Much to enjoy.
Great stuff.
A good weekend to you all.
Thoroughly enjoyed solving this one that gave us plenty of smiles along the way.
Thanks Karla and Gazza.
A delightful pre lights out solve. 1 letter reveal in the SE required to complete before the eyelids said no more. As RD said a treat to have a challenging but doable puzzle on a Friday.
Thanks to K&G
A surprisingly straightforward Friday Toughie with, for me, the only delays being two clues in the NE. A lot of fun, thank you Karla and Gazza.
Great fun again from Karla, and once I got time to focus on it properly, it went in smoothly enough, with just enough head scratching to make it a worthy Friday Toughie. Top notch clues all over the place.
Thanks to Karla and Gazza