Toughie No 3690 by Silvanus
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty * – Enjoyment ****
Silvanus set us a crossword , the majority of which was at the friendlier end of the Toughie spectrum
Please let us know what you thought
Across
1a Fellow with role behind bar (11)
COUNTERPART A role goes behind or after a bar or tall table for serving food and drink
10a Stop discounting pair as competition (5)
EVENT Stop someone from doing something without (discounting) the abbreviation for pair
11a Jumps to it, regularly blocking wild river rushing in (9)
IRRUPTIVE The regular letters of jUmPs To It ‘blocking’ an anagram (wild) of RIVER
12a Shocking Arsenal player misses header then French score, almost (9)
UNNERVING An informal name for a player for Arsenal Football Club without its first letter (misses header) followed by almost all of the French word for twenty (score)
13a Gather, in Ancient Rome, you love sculptures primarily (5)
AMASS The Latin (in Ancient Rome) for ‘you love’ and the first letter (primarily) of Sculptures
14a Insubstantial book Canadian singer pens (6)
BUBBLE The abbreviation for Book ‘penned’ by a Canadian singer. I did check that the solution could be in addition to other definitions, an adjective meaning insubstantial
16a State of panic, it’s plain nuts (8)
TAILSPIN An anagram (nuts) of ITS PLAIN
18a Mischievous child wearing ribbon fished for crustaceans (8)
SHRIMPED A mischievous child ‘wearing’ a ragged strip (ribbon)
20a Lucille, wrong about defending Big Brother creator (6)
ORWELL Hidden in reverse (about … defending) in the first two words of the clue
23a Wine President gets right away (5)
MACON The surname of the President of France without (away) the abbreviation for Right
24a Trust social worker with child (9)
EXPECTANT Think of as due (trust) and one of Crosswordland’s social workers
26a Horrifying experience hearing two descriptions of Sadiq Khan? (9)
NIGHTMARE Homophones (hearing) of the title awarded to Sadiq Khan and his role
27a Strip of grass church official cut (5)
VERGE A church official without the final letter (cut)
28a Pope’s line about corrupt revolutionary’s threat to countryside (5,6)
URBAN SPRAWL The name of several Popes plus an S (pope’s) and the abbreviation for Line go about a reversal (revolutionary) of corrupt or distort
Down
2d Cinema of good renown oddly overlooked (5)
ODEON The even (oddly overlooked) letters of gOoD rEnOwN
3d Instinctive and obvious choice (7)
NATURAL Double definition – instinctive or spontaneous; being the obvious choice for
4d Lifted needle containing team’s medicine (6)
ELIXIR The Roman numerals used to indicate a team of eleven inserted into (containing) a reversal of a verb meaning to needle or annoy
5d Soldier, man protecting leader of African country (8)
PARAGUAY An informal name for a particular soldier and an informal name for a man ‘protecting’ the ‘leader’ of African
6d Painter, artist bound in retirement to purchase hotel (7)
RAPHAEL An abbreviated artist and a reversed (in retirement) bound or jump into which is inserted (to purchase) the letter represented by Hotel in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet
7d Redecoration of firm Ruth’s been running (13)
REFURBISHMENT An anagram (running) of FIRM RUTHS BEEN
8d Pass boor, one cycling in New York (3,5)
BIG APPLE ‘Cycle’ or rearrange the position of the letters found in a combination of a pass in a mountain ridge, a person of unpolished manners (boor) and the Roman numeral for one
9d Intimate connections involving current well-known people (13)
PERSONALITIES Intimate or of one’s own concern and some connections
15d Walk in Westminster home of Polly perhaps (8)
BIRDCAGE The name of a street in the City of Westminster or the name of a parrot (Polly) perhaps
17d Brew mead and rare type of rum (8)
DEMERARA An anagram (brew) of MEAD and RARE
19d Capacity to save money raised, watch! (7)
MONITOR Capacity or space into which is inserted a slang name for money, the result then being reversed (raised)
21d Pick up dog holding neck, clipping coat (7)
RECOVER A classic name for a dog ‘holding’ the inside letters (clipping coat) of nECk
22d On horseback, through southern parts of Oxford? (6)
UPPERS On horseback, a combining form meaning through and the abbreviation for Southern, the Oxford being a type of shoe
25d Quarrel in school hard to ignore (5)
ARROW The name of a public school ‘ignoring’ the abbreviation for Hard
Straightforward fun. 22d was my favourite.
Thanks to CS and Silvanus.
Super puzzle, plenty of smiles & ticks everywhere. Dredged up some largely forgotten Latin to chuckle at 13a, great surface at 26a, nice misdirection at 28a, my favourite rum in 17d and another smile when the penny dropped at 17d.
As a very happy Gooner today, 12a went in with a grimmace: so long as Arsenal have no shocking players and the French only ‘almost score’ a week on Saturday I shall be a happy chap indeed!
Many thanks indeed to Silvanus and to SC
This was very smoothly crafted and cleverly clued. Crosswords don’t get any better than this. It was great fun from start to finish with unravelling the parsings of 11a & 8d being my only hold-ups.
I ticked clue after clue as I moved through the grid, leading me to think that picking a favourite would be very hard. Then I encountered 26a, which gets my vote as clue of the century, if not longer. Sheer brilliance!
Many thanks to Silvanus and to CS.
A Toughie of 2 halves for me. The E went in quite quickly, but stalled in the W. I failed to see the lurker in 20a and still don’t understand the parsing of 8d. 11a is a new word for me, but solvable from the clue. I’ll go with 28a as my cott.
My thanks to Silvanus and crypticsue
2 5*/3.5*
The 3 constituent parts of 8d are GAP (pass), PLEB (boor) and I (one). Stick them together then cycle the last two letters to the front.
Very entertaining stuff – thanks to Silvanus and CS.
My ticks included 12a, 13a, 26a and 22d.
A very entertaining puzzle. I had forgotten my schoolboy latin so 13a took a while and I totally missed “with child” at 24a. My COTT is the horrifying experience at 26a – very clever.
Thank you, Silvanus for the fun. Thank you, Ceesoo for the hints.
Apart from Elgar’s Friday offerings, the pattern of not very tough toughies continues. Hard to argue this is not another backpager in the wrong slot.
That notwithstanding, this was very well constructed and enjoyable to solve.
As they’re no doubt going Radio Rental in North London after winning the Prem, it would be churlish to begrudge the Gooners the plug they got at 12a. That’s my COTD, so there you go, they’ve done the double now.
My thanks to Silvanus and CS.
As good as it gets!