Toughie No 3617 by Hudson
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment *****
Welcome to the Toughie week, and what a way to start it! Hudson has given us a treat. Given some of the pieces of general knowledge I had to check up, I would not have described this as a Floughie, but I found I had completed it in Floughie time. In fact, my only criticism is that it was all over too soon – another 15 or 20 clues at this standard would have been very welcome indeed. There are some great surfaces, with some sneakiness and some clever crypticness, all set out in concise terms. What’s not to love? I’ve selected 2d, 11a, 15d and 19a for my Roll of Honour, but there are so many to choose from, it might have been easier to pick the few that were merely “good”. Thank you, Hudson, for a cracking puzzle, although 2d has caused some angst with having to avoid it in the hints!
Please let us know how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle
Across Clues
1 As she and I, periodically getting stuck in Circle Line … (7)
ARSENIC Insert the odd letters (periodically) of “she and I” into a word meaning “Circle” in the sense of region of influence, rather than strictly geometrically to get the chemical identified by “As”
5 … leaves causing problems down the line? (7)
TOBACCO An all-in-one, and nothing to do with railways. Inhaling the combustion products of these leaves can cause future health problems
9 Republican O’Neill famously returned to apostatise (7)
RENEGUE The letter indicating “Republican” is followed by a reversal (returned) of a “famous” O’Neill, a US playwright whose fame hadn’t reached my consciousness
10 Wine bar with regular servings of paella (7)
MARSALA A brand of chocolate bar is followed by the even letters (regularly) from “paella”
11 Sticky sweet stuff? (4,5)
CANE SUGAR A cryptic all-in-one referencing a natural sweetener and its source
12 Arab discovered viral quiz programme (5)
IRAQI Remove the outer letters (discovered) of “viral” and append a popular quiz programme
13 Young maiden has my back in Nag’s Head pub (5)
NYMPH Take the first letter (Head) of “Nag” and the abbreviation for pub and insert (has) a reversal (back) of “my” from the clue
15 Mrs Simpson & Ms Hayworth drop ecstasy downing a cocktail (9)
MARGARITA Take the forenames of a well-known Mrs Simpson (nothing to do with Edward VIII, think Homer, but not the Iliad) and a famous actress, remove the letter representing “ecstasy”, and replace it with (downing) “a” from the clue
17 Ideal for broadcasting etc, Nigel Farage finally gets a break (9)
TELEGENIC An anagram (gets a break) of “etc Nigel” and the last letter (finally) of “Farage”
19 Moderate Liberal support for the arts? (5)
EASEL A word meaning “Moderate” and the letter indicating “Liberal” gives something artists my use to physically support their work
22 Finished keeping queen bee (5)
DRONE Insert a letter meaning “Queen” (and also King) into a word meaning “Finished”
23 Ring footballer’s missus about trending topic (9)
BANDWAGON A charade of another word for “Ring” as a noun, a term popular in the tabloid press to describe a star footballer’s partner, and an alternative word for “about”
25 Musical featuring Italy’s premier actor (7)
OLIVIER Insert the first letter (premier) of “Italy” into a musical based on a work by Dickens
26 Famous rapper fails to finish Bible books (7)
EMINENT Take the name of a well-known rap musician, remove the last letter (fails to finish) and append the abbreviation for one of the key sections of the Bible
27 Turn out old northern football team (7)
EVERTON Take a word meaning “Turn out” (that I hadn’t come across before) and append the letters indicating “old” and “northern”
28 Gently changing sides initially in a fitting manner (7)
RIGHTLY Take a word meaning “Gently” which begins with a letter representing one of two common sides, and swap that letter for the letter indicating the other side (changing sides initially)
Down Clues
1 This compiler is able to support a father from the continent (7)
AFRICAN How Hudson could say (1,3) he is able follows (“to support” in a down clue) “a” from the clue, and an abbreviation for “father” in the religious sense
2 Playing My Sonny Boy for lad? (7)
SYNONYM An anagram (Playing) of “My Sonny” gives a word that describes a grammatical relationship between “Boy” and “Lad” – frequently used by Crossword bloggers in their explanations…
3 Hot toddy, say, stocked by Rising Sun (5)
NEGUS Insert (stocked) a two-letter expression meaning “say” into a reversal (“Rising” in a down clue) of “Sun”
4 Dean runs fitness centre, spotless on the outside (9)
CLERGYMAN Take the usual letter for “runs” and a three-letter “fitness centre” and surround those (on the outside) with a word meaning “spotless”
5 Row about minute recording device (5)
TIMER Insert the usual letter indicating “minute” into a word meaning “row” in the sense of layering.
6 According to Spooner, Mrs Johnson ordered security fence (9)
BARRICADE This fence (or obstruction) How the Reverend S might mispronounce a (5,4) phrase meaning “A recent Prime Minister’s wife ordered/commanded”
7 Fellow unwrapped eat-in flatbread (7)
CHAPATI Another word for “Fellow” is followed by the remaining letters after removing (unwrapped) the “e” and the “n” from “eat-in”
8 Instrument first to observe constellation (7)
OCARINA The initial letter of (first to) “observe” is followed by a Southern hemisphere constellation (that I had to look up having already decided on the answer)
14 Ivory polisher turning eighty admits revolting offence (9)
HYGIENIST An anagram (turning) of “eighty” surrounds (admits) a reversal (revolting) of another word for “offence”. “Ivory polisher” here is a cryptic description.
16 Entertaining character with interesting relations? (9)
RACONTEUR An all-in-one, “relations” here being a reference to story-telling, rather than family
17 Little stick for young swimmer (7)
TADPOLE A charade of alternative words for “little” and “stick”
18 Ramble on in English, a bit like some popes? (7)
LEONINE The answer is lurking (a bit) in the letters of “Ramble on in English”
20 Southern Feds drafted into Alien Section (7)
SEGMENT The letter indicating “Southern” is followed by the insertion of a (1-3) term for Federal agents into a two-letter “alien”
21 Doctor gently accepting husband is tedious (7)
LENGTHY An anagram (Doctor) of “gently” into which is inserted (accepting) the letter indicating “husband”
23 A darkly romantic man, Corbyn lost his head, sadly (5)
BYRON An anagram (sadly) of “Corbyn” lacking the initial letter (lost his head)
24 Squeeze current out of cables (5)
WRING Remove one of the letters that represent “current” in physics from a word meaning cables (usually electrical)
How strange…it was the same grid as yesterday’s back pager and the flat bread appeared in exactly the same place!
Good crossword though, north easier than the south for me. Lots of good clues but I liked 1a and Mrs Simpson and Ms Hayworth.
Thanks to Hudson for the puzzle and Whybird for the blog.
I did not know the 8d constellation nor the hot toddy (which surprised me, as I thought there wasn’t a single alcoholic drink I have not tried over the years!).
The ones I ticked were 1a, 10a, 4d, and 14d (my favourite).
Many thanks to Hudson and to Whybird.
I thought this was excellent with the single exception of 11d which reads like a straight definition and doesn’t seem at all cryptic to me.
I’ve never heard of the word for “turn out” in 27a. It couldn’t have been anything else from the definition and checkers, and the BRB confirmed its existence.
14d was my favourite of many ticked clues with special mentions too for 15a & 2d.
Many thanks to Hudson for the fun and to Whybird for the review.
First word in the answer is a type of stick, I assume that’s the cryptic element
I think 11a is fine. It’s a bit of a linguistic stretch to describe the answer as “sticky” in reference to its stick-type origin, so U don’t think it’s a straight clue.
Fun whilst it lasted. 11a gets my vote.
Thanks to Hudson & Whybird.
I’d have been astonished if our reviewer had awarded it anything less than the full complement of *s for enjoyment. I really hope some who never chance their arm over here give this a go.
Terrific surfaces & great fun to solve – just a shame we couldn’t have had double the number of that standard of clues. Pick out a podium from that lot…One can but try – I’ll give the image of Marge & Rita dropping an E before saying chin chin top spot along with 17&23a. Stick a tick next to pretty well the rest of ‘em – 1,9,10,13a + 2,4,6&14d particular likes.
Thanks to Hudson & Whybird.
This was a real confidence booster for me as I thought I was going to struggle after the first pass, but it then came together quite neatly. Like others I had to confirm that 3d is a beverage; that Mrs Simpson had nothing to do with Edward VIII and I had to refresh my knowledge of famous O’Neills, but generally was on the same wavelength as Whybird.
Confident or not, I still live in fear of Elgar on Friday!
Thanks to Hudson for a very approachable Toughie and Whybird for the hints.
2*/4*
I actually sighed when the final answer went in.
Like today’s backpager, nothing too vague or unknown to be concerned about: I remembered old Arthur at 3d from a previous crossword.
The most difficult aspect of this super puzzle is picking a winner, but if pushed, I’ll go with Corbyn losing his head at 23d.
My thanks to Hudson and Whybird.
It’s a treat to get a Hudson on a Tuesday – thanks to him and Whybird.
The hot toddy was new to me.
I have masses of ticks on my printout including 1a, 11a, 6d and 16d.
I was hoping to get Hudson tomorrow but any day with one of his crosswords is always a good one
A joy for the very short time it lasted. Many thanks to Hudson and Whybird
You still might 🤞
Was thinking back-pager & reckon it’s his
It is hard to look beyond 14d for my favourite. Overall this was a real cracker as we often get from this setter, although I echo RD’s reservations about 11a.
Many thanks to Hudson and Whybird.
Agreed! Definitely a good start to the week. I didn’t think it was that [1*] easy to finish – granted most of the clues were straightforward but they were so well put together and with such smooth surfaces that I took my time to savour them! Top of the tops were 14d [Ivory polisher is fun and turning eighty is inspired] and 18d [one of the best “hiddens” for a good while].
More of these please.
Thanks to Hudson and Whybird.
I thought I’d attempt this given the encouragement on the cryptic blog and I’m glad I did. While I didn’t know the toddy, the O’Neil or the constellation there was a lot to like with some lovely clues.
Top picks for me were 14d, 2d and 10a.
Thanks to Whybird and Hudson.
I didn’t know the playwright at 9a so needed the hints for that and neither am I up on rap artists although I had heard of this one. The only other I have heard of is Fat Boy Slim but I have listened to neither. 17a was a new word for me but it made perfect sense. For once, I enjoyed the spoonerism, which doesn’t happen often. My COTT has to be the ivory polisher at 14d.
Thank you, Hudson for an entertaining puzzle. Thank you, Whybird for the hints.
I didn’t know the O’neill, the ideal for broadcasting, the turn out, the hot toddy or the constellation but all fairly clued. I agree that this was top quality and hugely enjoyable. Hard to pick a favourite but I’ll go with 16d. Thanks to Hudson and Whybird.
Great fun despite having to check on the required O’Neill, the hot toddy and another word for ‘turn out’. My ticks and rosettes were awarded to 10&23a plus 6,14&16d.
Many thanks to Hudson and also to Whybird for the review – I’m guessing that one of the birds is a Paradise Flycatcher but haven’t decided on the other one!
Correct about the flycatcher. The other is renowned for its tail, as well as the colours, but the flycatcher would have done for that too. Maybe I should have chosen the white morph flycatcher. Hudson didn’t make it easy to find bird illustrations, that’s for sure!
Thanks for confirming the flycatcher – what’s the name of the other one?
Resplendent Quetzal. Another gauntlet thrown down for the setters. It would help with pangrams!
Thank you, I shall investigate him!
Excellent fun all the way through. We’ll go with 16d as favourite but so many others also deserve the honour.
Thanks Hudson and Whybird.
1*/5* …
liked 22A “Finished keeping queen bee (5)”