Toughie No 3782 by Silvanus
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
A lovely sunny morning brings us an enjoyable Toughie from Silvanus
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought
Across
1a Edited words with a pen in book (9,4)
WATERSHIP DOWN An anagram (edited) of WORDS WITH A PEN
9a Hurry up appearance by Sting (4,5)
LOOK SMART A synonym for appearance and a sharp pain (sting with a lower-case S)
10a Bore, keen to advance reputation primarily (5)
EAGRE A bore or sudden rise of the tide in a river. Take a word meaning keen or enthusiastic and move the R further up the word (advance Reputation primarily)
11a Excluding last month, concluded nursing student did nothing (5)
IDLED Remove the abbreviated last month of the year from part of a verb meaning resolved (concluded) and insert (nursing) the usual abbreviated student
12a Bury doctor model briefly introduces (4)
TOMB A truncated (briefly) of a model or plaything ‘introduces’ or goes before an abbreviated Bachelor of Medicine (doctor)
13a I go off cycling as complete beginner (4)
TIRO ‘Cycle’ the last letter of a phrase meaning I go off in the sense of bad
15a Slimming and fasting, say, mixing new drugs to lose weight (7)
GERUNDS An anagram (mixing) of NEw DRUGS without (to lose) the abbreviation for Weight
17a Challenge firm refusal to withdraw court claims (7)
CONTEST A reversal (to withdraw) of a synonym for firm and a word of refusal inserted into (claimed by) an abbreviated court
18a Entertaining article about looker read out secretly (2,3,1,1)
ON THE QT A simple way of saying about and a homophone (read out) of a sweet looking person between which is inserted the definite article
20a Mild expletive criticised (7)
BLASTED A mild expletive or part of a verb meaning criticised
21a Spirit shown by writer after switching focus (4)
BRIO Switch the ‘focus’ or two middle letters of a type of ballpoint pen (writer)
22a Boast of attendance United ultimately rejected (4)
CROW A number of people attending something without (rejected) the ‘ultimate’ letter of uniteD
23a Churchill paintings, possibly seen back in March (5)
TRAMP The second use of a misleading capital. A reversal (seen back) of the abbreviated position held by Winston Churchill and works of creative imagination (paintings possibly)
26a Nothing wrong? We’re told I will make a bloomer (2-3)
OX-EYE The letter representing nothing, the ‘mark’ a teacher might write by something wrong and a homophone (we’re told) of I
27a Air view occasionally on indigenous Canadian tackling tango, untaught (9)
INTUITIVE An indigenous Canadian and the ‘occasional’ letters of aIr ViEw into which is inserted (tackling) the letter represented by Tango in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet
28a Five clubs maybe immediately having plenty of money (8,5)
STRAIGHT FLUSH An adverb meaning immediately and an informal way of saying having plenty of money
Down
1d American aside, note a lot bowling changed footwear (10,4)
WELLINGTON BOOT An anagram (changed) of NOTE a LOT BOWLING without (aside) the abbreviation for American
2d The Barnsley Chronicle’s provocative online presence (5)
TROLL How someone from Barnsley or another part of Yorkshire might say the and a record of events (chronicle)
3d Screen broadcast describing team’s dwellings (10)
RESIDENCES An anagram (broadcast) of SCREEN going round (describing) a team
4d Houses close to smallish fox burrows (7)
HEARTHS The last letter (close) of smallisH and some fox burrows
5d Rising regularly, cost not stopping party for US banker (7)
POTOMAC A reversal (rising) of the regular letters of cOsT nOt inserted into (stopping) a party or group
6d Past secret discovered (4)
OVER The inside letters (dis covered) of secret or concealed
7d Careless in not discarding old short dressing-gown previously (9)
NEGLIGENT ‘Previously’ tells you to put a truncated (short) dressing-gown before NoT without (discarding) the abbreviation for Old
8d Statement, indirectly, of what political journalist did? (8,6)
REPORTED SPEECH This indirect statement could also describe what a political journalist did
14d Stealthy criminal using a knife he’s ground over time (5,5)
SNEAK THIEF An anagram (ground) of A KNIFE HES into which is inserted (over) the abbreviation for Time
16d Shopkeepers receiving note for latest in legal fees (9)
RETAINERS Take some shopkeepers and replace the last letter in legaL with the abbreviation for Note
19d Ends having word with elected politicians from the centre (7)
TERMINI A word used in a specifically defined sense, an adverb meaning elected and the central letter of politicians
20d Nurse typically that in conversation displays charm (7)
BEWITCH A homophone (in conversation) of a worker buzzing insect (a definition of nurse I didn’t know until I solved this crossword) and a relative pronoun meaning typically that
24d Queue I’d anticipated turning up, around so long (5)
ADIEU Hidden in reverse (turning up) in the first three words of the clue
25d Live with facial hair for the most part (4)
BEAR Most of the letters of some facial hair
Fairly straightforward for a Silvanus Toughie methinks. The 10a bore is a new word for my lexicon, but obtainable from the wordplay and I sought crypticsue’s parsing for 11a, couldn’t find the synonym for concluded, and 12a, similarly the model. I also didn’t spot the nurse in 20d despite being a retired apiarist, (ok a hobby beekeeper!). Otherwise a satisfying unaided completion. Favourites were 18a,
Many thanks to Silvanus and CS.
Simply superb. This was a joy to solve from start to finish, although I was unable to parse 20d.
I am not keen on the use of 12a as a verb, but it is, of course, in the BRB.
I have far too many ticked clues to pick a podium selection.
Many thanks to Silvanus and to CS.
As usual, I enjoyed the tricky from Silvanus, although, unusually for this setter, I had to rely on part of the wordplay for 5d and 20d. Favourite was.1a, where the book jumped out from crossers, saving me the trouble of writing down the letters. Thanks Silvanus and Sue.
This was another one of those puzzles where I had to revisit a few answers to parse properly, gradually ticking ’em off as the proverbial dropped. The nurse in 20d was a new definition to me too.
The weight reduction in 15a and the dodgy tooled-up crook at 14d stood out for me.
My thanks to Silvanus and CS.
An excellent midweek Toughie with a some bits of cunning wordplay – thanks to Silvanus and CS.
I particularly liked 9a, 17a, 18a and 5d.
I struggled with this but got there in the end although I couldn’t parse 20d so needed CS’s help there. 10a was a new word for me too.
Top picks for me were 23a, 27a, 26a and 7d.
Thanks to CrypticSue and Silvanus.
Thanks to CS for the parsing of several clues, including like the others above, 20d.
It took me quite a while to finish and I enjoyed the challenge. Thursday and Friday toughies are usually a bridge too far for me, but I give them a go.
Favourite was 25d. (I wonder why).
Thanks to setter as well.
We also struggled with the parsing of 20d in this really enjoyable puzzle. Our favourite is 15a.
Thanks Silvanus and CS.