Toughie No 3755 by Kcit
Hints and tips by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment ****
Kcit has all but made Thursday his own of late. And this speedster was right up my street – nude dancing, Wimsey-esque lingo and a dollop of Latin. As such, ‘twas a pretty brisk and enjoyable solve. All yours.
Across
1a How big drinkers toast each other in a jam? (6-2-6)
BUMPER-TO-BUMPER: how drinkers might toast one another, i.e., by clinking/touching glasses suitably filled to the brim.
10a Recent political advisors recalled limiting mass sources of information (4,5)
NEWS MEDIA: recent/latest + advisers/assistants, reversed, limiting/containing abbreviated “mass”.
11a Sound of rebuke before small child’s back playing with everyone? (5)
TUTTI: “sound of rebuke” (not “boo”, the other one) + the (no longer used in real life I trust) two-letter “small child”, back/reversed.
12a Dislike accommodating unknown medic for drink? (7)
HYDRATE: dislike/loathe, accommodating/containing an (algebraic) “unknown” and the most common abbreviated “medic”.
13a Cry of bird around that woman in American tree (6)
CASHEW: bird’s cry (crow), around/containing “that woman”.
15a Prophet unwrapped Indian pastry (4)
AMOS: an Indian savoury, minus its outer letters.
17a Favouring harshness, dismissing a success (10)
PROSPERITY: favouring/for + harshness/roughness, minus its initial A.
19a Gory science? Not entirely wrong – it’s chilling stuff (10)
CRYOGENICS: GORY+SCIENC[e], wrong.
20a Satisfied to install large fuse (4)
MELT: satisfied/fulfilled, installing/containing abbreviated “large”.
22a Quote about left-leaning intellectual (6)
NOETIC: “quote” and the two-letter “about” that’s not “re”, all “left-leaning”, i.e, reversed.
23a Publishing house, one with lots of money restricting price (7)
IMPRINT: the usual “one” + lots of money/fortune, restricting/containing abbreviated “price”.
26a Following the practice of doctor could be a mission (5)
ALAMO: following the practice of/in the manner of + abbreviated “doctor”.
27a Sport requiring power – a lot – to be laid out (5,4)
WATER POLO: POWER+A+LOT, laid out.
28a Persian nightwear perhaps best? (3,4,7)
THE CAT’S PYJAMAS: just identify the correct Persian to find a whimsical expression akin to Lord Peter Wimsey’s resplendent “caterpillar’s boots”.
Down
2d Not impressed, dismissing American not in union (5)
UNWED: not impressed/left cold, minus the A.
3d Drain chart pointed up areas of Argentina? (6)
PAMPAS: drain/exhaust + chart/plan, all pointed up/reversed.
4d Embarrassed and wrong about husband – misleading information? (3,7)
RED HERRING: (visibly) “embarrassed” + wrong/mistaken, about/containing abbreviated “husband”.
5d Work entirely cut stone (4)
OPAL: the usual “work” + entirely/completely, less its last letter.
6d Dancing nude – what, still cold? (8)
UNTHAWED: NUDE+WHAT, dancing.
7d Guide for choir? Try to sell piano in confusion (9)
PITCHPIPE: try to sell/put forward, plus abbreviated “piano” inside confusion/muddle.
8d Perhaps Piccadilly bar has style and standing (7,7)
RAILWAY STATION: “bar” + style/manner + standing/position.
9d Successful though against the flow among Down clues? (2,3,9)
IN THE ASCENDANT: what down clues are not.
14d A lot of physical jerks, then attempt study of mental health (10)
PSYCHIATRY: PHYSICA[L], jerking, + “attempt”.
16d Enrich bits of young grass fed to cattle and consumed (9)
OXYGENATE: first letters of “young” and “grass” inside “cattle”, plus consumed/ingested.
18d Early general drink produced by farmers? (8)
AGRICOLA: how one might whimsically call such a soft drink by adding a four-letter prefix. If you have any schoolboy/girl Latin, now is the time to use it!
21d Region in South Africa – or ancient Greece? (6)
SPARTA: region/area inside abbreviated “South Africa”.
24d Car’s first to finish a Formula One track (5)
IMOLA: (posh) “car” with its first letter moved to last, plus A.
25d Cries of pain, being pecked by lake birds (4)
OWLS: “cries of pain”, pecked by/containing abbreviated “lake”.
We’ve got four anagrams, a raft of Lego and a spot of whimsy. I especially liked 28a, 6d and 18d. How did you get on?
A steady fill, with neat parsing throughout. The intellectual at 22a was a new word for me, but clear from the wordplay. The Persian nightwear and the the jam at 1a brought smiles, but my COTT is the study of mental health.
Thanks to KCIT and ALP.
Had it not been for the intellectual, this would have been another midweek backpager but it was enjoyable while it lasted
Thanks to Kcit and ALP
I always enjoy kcit puzzles. This was on the easier end of his spectrum but still recognisable. Top clues for me were a sequence of downs, from 14 to 24, plus the Persian nightwear at 28d.
Thanks to kcit and ALP. [Especially for the Booker T clip, how nice to see all those young people dancing the frug].
As yesterday, I’m surprised this only earned a 1* for difficulty. Nothing particularly troublesome but not too many bung-ins either.
I was surprised at the choice of synonym for a small child in 11a. I’m not sure which pronoun a newborn would prefer, but I don’t think they’d go for ‘it’, even if they wished to identify as gender neutral.
I seem to remember 22a’s intellectual from a recent puzzle.
My top two are the physical jerks going on in 14d and the farmers’ drink at 18d.
My thanks to Kcit and ALP.
The 22a was new to me as was 18d.
Top picks for me were 28a, 1a, 8d and 4d.
Thanks to ALP and Kcit.
Nothing too tricky here though I needed to verify that what I’d come up with for the 22a intellectual was a real word. Thanks to Kcit and ALP.
I’m not totally convinced by 1a and was surprised by the 11a ‘small child’.
I liked 28a and 18d.
Pretty straightforward though like Frankie perhaps a wee bit trickier for me than just the 1* rating. The 22a adjective not in my vocabulary but easily gettable, ‘it’ for small child seemed odd to me too & the 2 unchecked letters required in the last 4 of 7d were a head scratch – I vaguely knew the implement but thought it two words or at least hyphenated nor was I really familiar with pie in the context of confusion.
Ticks for 1,10,19&28a + 8,14,16&18d.
Thanks to Kcit & to ALP – great Booker T clip. My five bob patent on Grace Jones at 1a, John Martyn at 8d & Tony Curtis doing CG in SLIH at 27a sank without trace.
The same concerns as everyone else and the unknown. Having said that there was lots to like and enjoy. Hard to pick a favourite which is always a good sign but I’ll go with 24d. Thanks to Kcit and ALP.
I enjoyed this puzzle. Only a few that I struggled with 22a and 7d and 24d
I found the rest of the puzzle great and solvable but a good workout at the same time.
Favourite today is 28a and I am going to have to use this more it’s a lovely saying.
Thanks all – already worried about what tomorrow will bring
I have just asked google where the saying originated and am very disappointed to find out it’s American in origin. From the 1920’s so a cool era but not a cool country of origin.
I was so sure it would be British