Toughie No 3695 by Donnybrook
Hints and tips by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Toughie difficulty **+ – Enjoyment ****/*****
I thoroughly enjoyed this. There’s a spot of vocab – 27a was unknown to me – but it’s all very fairly clued. I initially suspected we were approaching *** territory as – despite getting lucky with 1a, having recently visited Hungary – I found the top a little bumpy. But the second half eases up dramatically. Whether that’s because it really is significantly easier in the South or whether I’d just refound my Donny legs by then, I’m not entirely sure. Certainly, there is NO science, which always makes me sob. And there is an extremely helpful and literally comic mini-theme. So **+ (as in not quite a 2.5) it is … for a Thursday. As ever, the floor is yours to agree disagree. PS … I should add (ta lots Sloop) that this is apparently Donnybrook’s 100th Toughie, as perhaps alluded to by the 11 ‘C’s dotted about the grid. Hats off, sir: a tremendous achievement.
Across
1a Pest on this flower (6)
DANUBE: Pest is one of two former cities that merged to form the Hungarian capital and they both sit on this “flower”.
5a Stone ring inset with copper from America (8)
CALCULUS: ring/phone, inset with/containing copper’s symbol, plus “from America”, i.e. abbreviated “American”. Always a surprising boon when Maths A-level – for once! – actually comes in useful.
10a Wore Penny out, supplied with drugs (6)
SORTED: wore/was wearing, minus abbreviated “penny”.
11a Pieces of music caught on – sure success one concludes (8)
CONCERTI: abbreviated “caught” + ON + “sure success” (one that often follows the word “dead”), with Roman “one” (concluding).
12a Citations presumably Dracula’s least favourite? (5-10)
CROSS-REFERENCES: a cryptic definition of sorts. One of the things (along with garlic and sunlight) that famously upsets Dracula is intrinsic to this hyphenated word meaning “citations”.
16a Norwegian band in love with saucy theatre accessory (5,3)
OPERA HAT: the only Norwegian band I know goes inside the usual “love” and saucy/impertinent.
18a Consult the writer about masculine meaning unit (6)
SEMEME: Consult + the/this writer (as in *** ** about your appalling homework after class), about/containing abbreviated “masculine”.
20a One pulling up rope (6)
HALTER: double definition, the first relating to pulling up on a horse, say, not pulling up a bucket, etc.
21a Has flung out photographic equipment (8)
FLASHGUN: HASFLUNG, out.
22a Clumsy capital force in New Delhi with last crime writer (8,7)
DASHIELL HAMMETT: Clumsy (as in -fisted) + “capital (police) force”, inside DELHI+LAST, new.
27a Tree work repeated with an Ohioan’s chopper (8)
OPOPANAX: the usual “work” repeated (twice) + AN + how an Ohioan would spell chopper/hatchet.
28a Adding a little colour not good for 17 Down hero (6)
TINTIN: adding a little colour/dye, minus abbreviated “good”. I remain convinced that ****** and Asterix are the Beatles and Stones of the comic (or graphic novel if you really must!) world; I’ve always been more of a Stones man, myself.
29a Chief element in, say, alt-rock? (8)
KEYSTONE: just ignore the hyphen – what “alt” is an example of + a synonym of “stone”. This clue has Donnybrook written all over it!
30a Slow vehicle picks up speed, essentially (6)
HEARSE: picks up/gathers + [sp]E[ed].
Down
2d Dubious writings variable in approach slammed (9)
APOCRYPHA: one of the usual “variable”(s) inside APPROACH, slammed.
3d Okay result of sleeping on infested mattress? (2,2,7)
UP TO SCRATCH: a double definition of sorts, and an amusing one. I recently read a marathon debate between a blogger (elsewhere) and the Sunday Times’ doughty crossword editor Peter Biddlecombe about how to describe such a clue. The former insists on underlining just the first word (as the second expression is not in the dictionary) while Peter believes – strongly – that both defining parts should be so highlighted. On this, I’m with him!
4d Big shipyard worker losing weight (5)
ELDER: “shipyard worker”, minus abbreviated “weight”.
6d Person in attendance cleared out home (5)
ABODE: person/being inside A[ttendanc]E.
7d Hidden stock ready for auditor (5)
CACHE: homophone of ready/money.
8d London theatre players itch periodically (5)
LYRIC: alternate letters, starting from the ‘L’ of “players”.
9d S&M in apartment: I’m all right with it (5,2)
SUITS ME: SM inside (hotel?) apartment/set of rooms. Quite the manifesto there!
13d Loud, commonly odious and critical (7)
FATEFUL: abbreviated, musical “loud” + “odious” (pronounced “commonly” or a là Cockney).
14d Jamaican believer in God’s grateful remark (5)
RASTA: (sun) god’s + “grateful remark” (2).
15d Obsession of Big Apple politician travelling in Omaha (11)
NYMPHOMANIA: the usual-ish “Big Apple” and “politician” + INOMAHA, travelling.
17d Cartoonist in this place keeps a little gouache (5)
HERGÉ: “in this place” keeps/contains G[ouache]. I would only add that if you’re ever tempted to visit the eponymous and deathly-dull museum in Louvain-La-Neuve … DON’T!
19d See 23 Down
20d Fish put inside the ham (7)
HADDOCK: put (on), inside “the ham” (Chambers includes the “the” in its definition). Either way, it’s delicious in pea soup.
23d/19d Anonymous twins wandering in Peak District? (5,9)
SNOWY MOUNTAINS: ANONYMOUSTWINS, wandering. Lovely spot and definition. Ignore the false capitals – this is actually a “district” of peaks in New South Wales.
24d Not appropriate to have forty winks in it (5)
INAPT: forty winks/kip inside IT.
25d English humorist – name to get to know (5)
LEARN: English humorist (Edward) + abbreviated “name”.
26d Mahler’s Third in its entirety? (5)
AITCH: the full spelling of Mahler’s third (character).
There’s a lively variety of clues here – we’ve got five (excellent) anagrams, homophones, double definitions and a couple of all-in-ones, etc. I especially enjoyed 22a, 29a, 3d and 26d. How did you get on?
Good fun, solved at pace.
9d was my favourite.
Thanks to Donnybrook and ALP.
An actual Toughie, full of fun as we would expect from Donnybrook.
I had the river for quite a while before I ‘saw’ the pest. Similarly, I got the 28a hero before the cartoonist
Thanks very much to Donnybrook and congratulations on the milestone. Thanks also to ALP
1a was remembered from visiting Hungary in ’04, for the Lions’ one and only European football campaign.
I’ve never heard of the unit in 18a or the tree in 27a and as for the crime writer in 22a, the answer didn’t leap out at me even though I had seven out of eight letters of his first name in place. The clue raised a smile though when I could parse it properly.
The racy obsession in 15d was clever and the ‘supplied with drugs’ definition in 10a was a bit niche. We’ve got sex and drugs, shame there’s no rock and roll. Closest we came to it was Mahler’s third in 26d which was my COTD.
That’s much more like the standard I’d expect from a toughie, my thanks to Donnybrook and ALP.
Didn’t peg the Nina even after being alerted by Sloop that there was one & why. Strangely found completion a wee bit easier & quicker than Prime yesterday. That said I did need Mr G to explain Pest (never been there & had no idea the river divided the city), to confirm the highly unlikely sounding tree & I’d not heard of the 18a unit (even after reading the explanation I’m not sure I could accurately define it).
As ever with Donny’s puzzles (Toughies or Knobbies) very entertaining & loads to like. 3d was my fav (not sure if it’s a chestnut but don’t recall seeing it before) but 9&15d ran it close. 12,29&30a + 2&20d other particular likes.
Thanks & congrats to Donny on his milestone & to ALP – unfamiliar with The Sheepdogs who I’ll check out & loved the Black Keys/Stones clip which I’ve never seen before – Dan & Patrick look like they’re having a ball.
A genuine Toughie, for which many thanks to the Ed. Most of it, even the obscurities (opopanax, sememe) very fairly clued, but a couple of what I felt to be very loose definitions (sorted, elder) let it down for me.
ALP – not sure what A-level maths (O-level in the 80s) had to do with that particular calculus, more like human biology!
Anyhow, thank you to Donny and felicitations on the achievement, and thanks also to ALP
Ha, only because when I was studying it 100 years ago, I made sure to find out why it’s so-called. And it stuck – unlike levers, pulleys and forces. Yuk!
Oh – honours to 12a, 3d & 15d, with COTD 26d.
To be fair, MG – “sorted” is listed in Chambers as such. So too “big”, pretty much – defined there as “older”.
A big step up in difficulty level compared with the first half of the week, but nothing outrageous, even if the unit, writer and tree took some checking. 16a and 26d are great clues, but I’m giving my top prize to the clever, misleading 1a. A loud clunk when that landed.
Thanks to Donnybrook (congrats on an undefeated century) and also ALP for the blog.
Like Terence, work, builders and a dottie Mama mean I am rapidly turning into a Weekend Yottie, but if I am going to open the wrong puzzle I’m glad it was this one. 28a and his dog 23d get the nod over Asterix for me, but following ALP’s advice I will avoid the museum.
Thanks to ALP and Donnybrook (I am only guessing that eleven C’s must be a reference to the 100th Toughie, but it is rather a lot for coincidence)
A excellent puzzle – thanks to Donnybrook (congratulations on reaching your ton) and to ALP.
The 18a meaning unit and the 27a tree were new to me but both generously clued.
I particularly liked 1a (slightly surprised there’s no picture of ITV’s political editor), 30a and 13d.