Toughie No 3732 by Osmosis
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ****
A typical Osmosis puzzle with tricky wordplay and well-disguised definitions throughout. Many thanks to him.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a With six-footer outside, add his Cockney muscle (10)
ANTAGONIST: a six-footer containing a phrasal verb to add (3,2) and ‘his’ in the Cockney manner.
6a Maybe mechanic’s assistant runs electronic device (4)
RAMP: weld together abbreviations for runs and an electronic device used in sound reproduction.
10a Shop closed having inserted key (5)
TESCO: closed (as a door) with a keyboard key inserted.
11a University dons exploring common echinoderm (3,6)
SEA URCHIN: the single-letter abbreviation for university wears a present participle meaning exploring or hunting without its last letter (i.e. in a common way of speaking).
12a Tube drivers swelter, needing rotation (7)
TRACHEA: stick together one of our motoring organisations (drivers) and a verb to swelter then rotate the last letter to the front.
13a Constant nursing at medical unit for one? (7)
PATIENT: a mathematical constant contains AT. Append our usual hospital department.
14a Labour article, approaching broadcast, using jargon (12)
SLOGANEERING: assemble a verb to labour hard, one of our indefinite articles and a homophone of a synonym of ‘approaching’.
18a Comic, male, pursues number one rating? (5,7)
JIMMY TARBUCK: a male horned animal follows a slang word (sometimes followed by Riddle) for what is euphemistically called ‘a number one’ and a naval rating.
21a Brother’s constraining college headwear (7)
BRETONS: traditional French fishermen’s caps come from the abbreviation for brother plus the ‘S containing our usual posh college near Windsor.
23a In retirement home, no men acknowledge plant (7)
ANEMONE: hidden in reverse.
24a Standard mixing bowl (5,4)
UNION JACK: a synonym of mixing or merging and the name of the small ball that bowlers aim their larger bowls at.
25a Very quick to ditch Romeo, saucy thing (5)
PESTO: a musical adjective meaning very quick loses its Nato Romeo.
26a Implement for e.g. rough and smooth? (4)
IRON: double definition, the first what Huntsman might use after he’s driven his ball into the rough.
27a Champ now private, tense, boxed in US capital (6-4)
DINNER-TIME: when champing or munching takes place comes from a synonym of private and the abbreviation for tense all contained in a US coin.
Down Clues
1d Sharp card player follows playing king (6)
ASTUTE: the abbreviation for a bridge player follows ‘playing an Egyptian king’ (2,3).
2d Pair of timid aquatic birds with no name flap (6)
TISWAS: the first pair of letters from timid and large aquatic birds without the abbreviation for name.
3d Sucker on steep drinks, a feature of Cornwall (9,5)
GOONHILLY DOWNS: assemble another word for a sucker or foolish person, an adjective meaning steep and a verb meaning drinks. The answer is a place on the Lizard Peninsula festooned with satellite dishes.
4d Disciple’s uplifting time with Paul’s guitar, regularly wanting Yesterday? (9)
NOSTALGIA: reverse a word for a disciple and add the abbreviation for time and regular letters from “Paul’s guitar”.
5d Tyke heading to Swaledale flock? (5)
SCAMP: the heading letter of Swaledale and a synonym of flock or group.
7d Vigorous Greek patrols hotel lounge on vacation (8)
ATHLETIC: an adjective meaning Greek contains the Nato hotel and the outer letters of lounge.
8d Wine now included in lunch? (8)
PINOTAGE: an adjective meaning now or trendy goes inside a soupy dish that could be your lunch.
9d Footwear relative briefly left with Ivy perhaps (7,7)
BROTHEL CREEPER: string together a sibling without his last letter, the abbreviation for left and how uncapitalised ivy might be described.
15d Yank climbing peak managed to consume music (9)
NEBRASKAN: reverse a Scottish peak and add a verb meaning managed containing a type of Jamaican music.
16d Sail away aboard Princess and land near the Gulf (8)
DJIBOUTI: a triangular sail and an adverb meaning ‘away’ go aboard the familiar name for the “people’s princess” to get a land adjacent to the Gulf of Aden.
17d Self-proclaimed favourite male Russian mostly rash (8)
IMPETIGO: how someone might proclaim that he/she is favourite (1’1,3) followed by a Russian male name without its last letter.
19d Good Alsatian succeeded against fine miniature (6)
BONSAI: the word for good in Alsace followed by the abbreviation for succeeded and an abbreviation meaning fine or very good.
20d Take a fiver off someone? That’s mean (6)
DENOTE: cryptically this could mean to relieve someone of the contents of their wallet.
22d Force half to stop at sign repeatedly (5)
STASI: half of each of three consecutive words in the clue.
I particularly liked 12a, 18a, 24a, 16d and 20d. Which ones appealed to you?
This took me quite a long time but I thoroughly enjoyed it. My last in was 3d, as I have never heard of the place and needed all the checkers.
Ticks awarded to 1a, 18a, 2d, 7d, and 16d.
18a gets my vote [number one rating].
Many thanks to Osmosis and to Gazza.
4.5*/5*
Fiendishly difficult, but well worth persevering with.
That said, unlike Elgar, there was precious little in the way of obscurities to confirm. This was all about brain-mangling wordplay.
After filling the grid I went back over a couple I’d struggled to parse.
When I eventually understood 18a, I was laughing out loud. The number one bit got me, good ‘ol Tarby! One of the clues of the year as far as I’m concerned.
The Teddy boy footwear at 9d was a close second.
Other highlights were the shop at 10a, the sea creature at 11a, and the anonymous avian confusion at 3d.
Worthy of a Friday Toughie placement, my thanks to Osmosis and Gazza.
Proper Friday toughie. Never heard of 3d so that required a bit of google assist. 13a gets my vote. Thsnks to Osmosis & Gazza.