Toughie No 3687 by Kcit
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment **/***
Pleasantly straightforward. 1a is arguably the trickiest clue but, having seen “birdwatching” used in a similar way recently, it flew in. Otherwise it will need checkers and/or some lateral thinking. A quintessentially Kcit puzzle, I’d say: all his usual traits are here and I can’t imagine (m)any problems. Still, you’ll be the judge of that! The floor is yours.
Across
1a What’s self-described as birdwatching? (10)
SPOONERISM: all but impossible to hint this clue-within-a-clue without giving the game away. How might the infamous Reverend say “birdwatching” that effectively self-describes what he was renowned for?
6a Argument to drop pound currency (4)
CASH: argument/confrontation, minus abbreviated “pound”.
9a With less vegetation, though excluding British tree (5)
ALDER: “with less vegetation” (or hair, etc), minus abbreviated “British”.
10a Writer: assess essays, perhaps a couple no longer much mentioned (4,5)
MARK TWAIN: “assess essays, perhaps” (any homework, etc) + an archaic word (no longer mentioned) for couple/pair.
12a Favouring suitable contest in golf after new economic concern (6,7)
PROFIT WARNING: favouring/supporting + suitable/apt + contest/battle, plus IN + G[olf] after abbreviated “new”.
14a Saint in location in India was demanding (8)
INSISTED: abbreviated “saint” in(side) location/place, all in(side) a three-letter abbreviation of “India”.
15a I had backed retraction of legislation before India’s Hindu festival (6)
DIWALI: I’D backed/reversed + “legislation” retracted/reversed + NATO’s one-letter “India”.
17a The writer recalled including horse – Black Beauty? (6)
EPONYM: how Kcit might say “the (this) writer”, recalled/reversed, including/containing (small) “horse”.
19a Priest good with religious text though dismissing book that qualifies? (8)
ELIGIBLE: (Scriptural) “priest” + abbreviated “good” + “religious text” minus (one) abbreviated “book”. Definition as noun.
21a Modern? For those people that is about crazy (2-2-3-6)
UP-TO-THE-MINUTE: “for those people” (2,2,4), plus abbreviated “that is” about/containing “crazy” (as noun).
24a Troubled mood in records showing environmental measure (4,5)
FOOD MILES: MOOD, troubled, in(side) records/logs.
25a Not entirely dull old man somewhere in Florida (5)
TAMPA: dull/boring, minus its last letter, plus the usual “old man”.
26a Group of reporters provides knowledge, to some extent (4)
DESK: lurker, hidden in the fourth and fifth words.
27a Expectation of success having adopted university syllabus (10)
PROSPECTUS: expectation/hopes, adopting/containing abbreviated “university”.
Down
1d Top performer‘s expression of annoyance, being upset (4)
STAR: “expression of annoyance”, upset/reversed.
2d Someone who made bad marriage sadly poised to smother you in texts (7)
OEDIPUS: POISED, sadly, smothering/containing a homophone of “you”.
3d Timid and shy, losing heart? Check key part of body (7,6)
NERVOUS SYSTEM: timid/jumpy + S[h]Y + check/staunch.
4d Water plant split by sea didn’t succumb (8)
REMAINED: water plant/grass, split by/containing sea/ocean.
5d Trifling item in stone, undressed (5)
STRAW: abbreviated “stone” + undressed/bare.
7d Coffee bar set up in fabulous California (7)
ARABICA: BAR, set up/reversed in(side) fabulous (2) + abbreviated “California”.
8d Something in wardrobe wrapping good helmet for daredevil sportsperson (4-6)
HANG-GLIDER: “something in wardrobe”, wrapping abbreviated “good” and (bike, etc) helmet.
11d Going off possible soup ingredient, suffering severe upset? (7,6)
TURNING TURTLE: going off/addling + “possible (Chinese?) soup ingredient”.
13d Tried water sport? At sea, Kit refused (10)
KITESURFED: KITREFUSED, at sea.
16d Climax of grave accident – overturning – is … (8)
ELLIPSIS: [grav]E + accident/tumble, overturned/reversed + IS.
18d “Nul points” dished out – making preferences clear? (7)
OPTIONS: “nul” (i.e. zero) + POINTS, dished out.
20d What’s on pub table? Finally make room during round (4-3)
BEER-MAT: [mak]E + abbreviated “room” during/inside (police officer’s) “round”.
22d Eastern potentate dismissing foremost Swiss mathematician (5)
EULER: E[astern], plus “potentate” minus its foremost letter.
23d Uplifting saying about monarch in battles (4)
WARS: saying/adage, uplifted/reversed, about/containing abbreviated “monarch” (king or queen).
We’ve got four anagrams, a lurker and a homophone plus Kcit’s usual raft of abbreviations, one-letter deletions, reversals and “in” containment. 1a’s “self-described” is smart, 16d’s definition’s fun (though 18d is surely crying out to start with …) and I quite liked 2d’s surface. How did you get on?
I needed help with 17a and 22d but, otherwise, a very enjoyable challenge. It needed a lot of thought on my part but it is a Toughie after all. I did like the soup ingredient at 11d but my COTT is the very clever birdwatcher at 1a.
Thank you, Kcit for the puzzle. Thank you, ALP for the hints and your contributions to my musical education.
My COTD was also 1a; very clever and inventive. Like our blogger, I agree that this was very accessible and not too tough, yet still good fun to solve.
Thanks to Kcit and ALP.
OK, not the toughest of Toughies by any measure, but an absolute joy and a very satisfying solve indeed.
LOI for me was 1a – I had spent far too long trying to use some variation of Spoon….. even knowing it was not Spoonbills. When the light dawned it did so in a blinding flash accompanies by a cascade of falling pennies. Brilliant.
By that stage I’d already got four on the podium – 17a, 2d, 11d & 16d – and none of them deserve to be kicked off, so the podium has been expanded and they share the silver medal between them.
Many thanks & chapeau! to Kcit, and thanks also to ALP
1* – you cannot be serious! I really couldn’t get into this and I’m normally quite good with kciT’s puzzles. You’re right though about 1a – I can’t see how it could be solved without most of the checkers, then a “well it must be” followed by a big penny dropping. It’s a clever clue regardless, as are 21a, 16d and 18d.
Thanks for the tunes – I enjoyed Tampa Red and hadn’t appreciated how significant he was. Also enjoyed the Adamson/Cave song channelling John Cale. There’s a superb video of “Dying on the Vine” by Cale with the wonderful Ollie Halsall – do have a listen.
And thanks to kciT for a challenging puzzle.
I will do, ta lots. I trust your (musical) judgement absolutely!
An enjoyable challenge – thanks to Kcit and ALP.
I liked 17a, 3d and 16d (although as our reviewer says it would have been better if the answer had also started 18d). My favourite was the very neat 1a.
It has been quite a week for gentle Telegraph crosswords but somehow I have quite a strong feeling that won’t be the case tomorrow. Like others, I needed the checking letters to see what was going on with 1a
Thanks to Kcit and ALP
Straightforward enough for a Toughie, but took a while to get into this and then had to rely on the checkers for the last 4 or 5. I am still flummoxed by 14a as it seems to have lost a “T” since I parsed it from IND+site+st, or has the usual abbreviation for saint been abbreviated? Thought I was clever remembering 10a from my sailing days, not that I was on Mississippi steamboats.
My podium picks are 1a, 21a, 27a and 24a.
My thanks to kciT and ALP
Hi Dave – “saint” can of course (perhaps more intuitively) be abbreviated as St., but, in this case, you need the standard one-letter abbreviation. All best.
More of a challenge than the last couple of days, I thought this to be nearer to what we’d expect from a toughie.
No obscure knowledge required, just careful analysis of wordplay and lateral thinking.
Once again, there are plenty of ticks on my page, though the possible soup ingredient in 11d made that clue my dish of the day.
I’m not sure why the first word in 13a was required or what it adds to the clue, unless I’m missing something.
My thanks to Kcit and ALP.
Hi Frankie – 13d? It needs summat because of the “~ed” at the end, i.e. not “~ing”.