Toughie No 3783 by Karla
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
Typically clever constructions from Karla that were made gentler by fair, smart definitions. I was vaguely aware of 3d but 9d (generously clued) was, of course, new to me. Nor did I know that 20d was defunct (“archaic” in Collins, “old” in Chambers). Presumably we can’t say lashings of ginger beer anymore either! The floor is yours.
Across
1a Fix second mirror at rear of empty cellar (6)
SCRAPE: abbreviated “second”, plus mirror/mimic after C[ella]R.
5 Primate at Rome’s giddy after Mass (8)
MARMOSET: AT+ROMES, giddy, after abbreviated “mass”.
10a Attractive parts of bar facing long grass (6)
SNITCH: “attractive (magnetic) parts of bar” + long/yearn.
11a Mighty iron-clad monster following banks of Ural (8)
FORCEFUL: (Tolkien) “monster” clad by/inside iron’s symbol, plus abbreviated “following” and U[ra]L.
12a Barrier promoted primarily by expert, naturally (4-5,6)
DAMP-PROOF COURSE: dam/embankment + P[romoted] + expert/ace + naturally/absolutely (2,6).
16a Note doctor developing tiny image of mole? (8)
MICRODOT: (Sound of Music) “note” + DOCTOR, developing.
18a Cut metal originally stolen is back in store (6)
INCISE: three-letter “metal” minus its first letter + IS + [stor]E.
20a Let children talk to some extent (6)
RENTAL: lurker, hidden in the second and third words.
21a Worker keeping fine pipe loaded (8)
AFFLUENT: usual-ish “worker” keeping/containing abbreviated “fine” and pipe/chimney.
22a Delay reconstruction of car ports by island country (15)
PROCRASTINATION: CARPORTS, reconstructed, plus abbreviated “island” and country/state.
27a Takes off from Italy with chums drinking vermouth (8)
IMITATES: Italy’s IVR, plus chums/pals drinking/containing “vermouth” (as in gin and **).
28a Podcaster’s perplexed John in Newark (6)
THRONE: homophone of perplexed/disconcerted.
29 Beryl maybe recalled fridge manufacturer with accent (8)
GEMSTONE: (Italian) “fridge manufacturer”, reversed, plus accent/timbre.
30a Papers and diamonds female guards concealed (6)
HIDDEN: usual “papers” + abbreviated “diamonds”, guarded by “female” (chicken).
Down
2d Like singing sailor in tin hat (9)
CANTABILE: abbreviated “sailor” in “tin” and crosswords’ favourite “hat”.
3d Oddball in party with quote about drug (11)
ANTIPYRETIC: IN+PARTY, oddball, plus (to) “quote”, reversed.
4d Ties up exposed agent once employed in theatre (5)
ETHER: “ties (up)”, minus its outer letters.
6d Cold American dessert on the counter (5)
ALOOF: abbreviated “American”, plus (creamy) “dessert” reversed.
7d Virile old leader accepting Companion of Honour (5)
MACHO: “old (Chinese) leader” accepting/containing abbreviated “Companion of Honour”.
8d What a surfer may use on river up to this point (2,3)
SO FAR: “what a surfer may use” (or sit on) + abbreviated “river”.
9d Solvent Brussels group backing Tyneside? (7)
TOLUENE: the usual “Brussels” and (large) “group”, reversed, plus “Tyneside” (postcode).
13d Undesirable rustics periodically scrubbed oven screens (7)
OUTCAST: [r]U[s]T[i]C[s], screened by/inside oven/kiln.
14d Crook exchanging tonnes for Charlie in capital (5)
CHIEF: crook/robber, with abbreviated “tonnes” replaced by NATO’s “Charlie”.
15d Relative briefly said how a tidy space might look (11)
UNCLUTTERED: “relative”, minus his last letter, + said/spoke.
17d Part of flower climbing light above Centre for Botany (5)
DELTA: abbreviated “light”, reversed, + [bo]TA[ny].
19d Reported issue with organ base Oscar’s split in room (3,6)
SUN LOUNGE: homophone of issue/child, plus (bodily) “organ” and (mathematical) “base” split by/containing NATO’s “Oscar”.
20d Previously excellent band bottling odd bits of pop gig (7)
RIPPING: band/circle, bottling/containing P[o]P[g]I[g].
23d Element lacking sulphur’s offensiveness (5)
ODIUM: “element” (11 in the periodic table), minus sulphur’s symbol.
24d Cook schedules when temperature is lowered (5)
ROAST: schedules/rosters, with its internal T[emperature] moved down (to the end).
25d Polish husband observed nurses (5)
SHEEN: abbreviated “husband” nursed/contained by observed/spotted.
26d One hundred up on both sides of cenotaph step (5)
NOTCH: one hundred/century, reversed, plus C[enotap]H.
We have four anagrams, a couple of homophone and an &lit, etc. I rather liked the definitions in 16a & 4d and 20a’s surface, but 12a wins for me. How did you get on?
A truly 20d puzzle, challenging but entirely fair, and ideal for a Wednesday or Thursday Toughie. Completed CW from NE, finishing at 2d, and in less time than I’d expected for a Karla, with many smiles throughout.
Thank you to Karla and ALP
Enjoyed this one a lot just the right degree of challenge for me. Needed a bit of help to get 2d and 9d even with all the checkers, they were both new words. Otherwise everything just fell into place. I also really liked 12a and 22a which was helpfully the first one in and opened up the south nicely.
Re 27a mr SC and I had a spell of drinking Gin&it in the noughties, not sure if my liver ever recovered, it is a mighty fine drink though.
Does anyone remember 20d Yarns with Michael Palin in the 70’s?
Anyway I digress thank to Karla for a great puzzle and ALP for explaining what I couldn’t quite parse
I have heard of 9d, but not 2d (which was my last in).
Out of my selection, 12a was my favourite.
Many thanks to Karla and to ALP.
This was very enjoyable indeed – a perfect Thursday Toughie which put up enough fight to make it challenging but which yielded its secrets steadily. The setter also gets my undying gratitude for realising that John in 28a needs an American indicator (even though he picked a town’s name which could be English or American!
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Many thanks to Karla and to ALP.
A perfect Thursday Toughie with lots to enjoy throughout
Many thanks to Karla and ALP
An excellent Toughie for the Thursday slot – thanks to Karla and ALP.
I solved the puzzle from the bottom up largely because I was too late to prevent one clue spilling onto a virgin sheet of paper – so that’s where I started.
I had most problems at the top with 2d and 9d neither of which I’d heard of so I had to call upon the BRB for verification.
Top clues for me were 10a, 12a and 16a.
Quite a broad spectrum of subjects covered here I thought.
The singing in 2d, 3d’s drug and the solvent in 9d were all new to me, but perfectly gettable from the clueing.
The quirky definitions of the mole’s tiny image at 16a, John in Newark at 28a and the old theatre agent in 4d were cleverly amusing.
My thanks to Karla and ALP.
i knew 2d and 9d but not 3d, all gettable from the wordplay. Was a bit confused at 28 as to whether Newark on Trent or across the pond is intended, but the clue could work both ways.. NW Corner took as long as the rest combined. Thanks, Karla and ALP
Tried this on Huntsman’s recommendation, but couldn’t solve seven clues. I enjoyed the time spent with the other twenty-three.
Favourite was 29a. Initially I thought Beryl Reid.
Thanks to setter and hinter.
Pretty well what Frankie said @7. Also liked the two long ‘uns.
Thanks to Karla & to ALP – 👍 for the tune choices
Enjoyable, the solvent was a construction which I had to look up & some brain freeze on the parsing of 18a. 12a was my favourite. Thanks to Karla and ALP.
I surprised myself by actually completing this in less time than the backpager with my only recourse to ALP being for the parsing of 10a. Once a few checkers emerged the puzzle flowed quite steadily. I had heard of 2d and 9d, but 3d is new to me although doable from the wordplay. 12a and 18a are my favourites.
Thanks to Karla and ALP