Vlad provides a toughie this morning.
I found this one quite difficult, although I think I got there in the end.
There were some fairly straightforward clues, such as those for WELL DONE and FLIP FLOP, which at least gave me an “in”, but I struggled to parse a few, and IN EXTREMIS, which was actually pretty simple in the end, PUT-IP JOB and ANTIOCH had me thinking I may not be able to parse the puzzle porperly.
I’m still not sure about ANTIOCH. If I hae parsed it correctly, then I think it’s a poor clue. I have never heard of Toc H, and from googling, it looks rather specialized, so if Vlad intended to use it as the “charity” in the clue, then I think he should have provided a little more help (Christian charity, eg).
That apart, I enjoyed the puzzle, even if it may make me late for work!
Thanks Vlad
| Across | ||
| 7 | MEALY BUG | Blame guy for disruption — pest! (5,3) |
| *(blame guy) [anag:for disruption] | ||
| 9 | ROOFED | Keeping Iron Cross under cover (6) |
| ROOD (“cross”) keeping Fe (chemical symbol for “iron”) | ||
| 10, 2 | FLIP FLOP | Policy reversal — what’s afoot? (4-4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 11 | INEQUALITY | In yet another way, describing queen the greatest example of this? (10) |
| IN + *(yet) [anag:another way] describing Qu (queen) + Mohammad ALI (aka “The Greatest”), so IN-E(QU-ALI)TY and &lit. | ||
| 12 | POLICE | Force to cut back — cool (6) |
| <=LOP (“to cut” back) + ICE (“cool”) | ||
| 14, 24 | ONE TRACK MIND | Making good progress over puzzle finally — tend to be a far from lateral thinker (3-5,4) |
| ON TRACK (“making good progress”) over (puzzl)E [finally] + MIND (“tend”) | ||
| 15 | RECEIPT | Henry going: ‘The price is different and this might prove it‘ (7) |
| *(te price) [anag:is different] with TE being T(h)E (H for Henry going) | ||
| 17 | ANTIOCH | Ancient city, or a new one adopted by charity (7) |
| All i can see is A + N (new) + I (one) adopted by Toc H (a Christian “charity)
If that is the right parsing, I call foul, as Toc Hseems way too niche to me. |
||
| 20 | DICTATOR | Detective Murphy talking — he’s in sole charge (8) |
| Homophone [talking] of DICK + TATER (“detective” and “murphy” i.e potato) | ||
| 22 | GENEVA | City have negligible backing? Not entirely! (6) |
| Hidden [not entirely] backwards in “hAVE NEGligible” | ||
| 23 | HOMEOPATHS | Quack, quack! Duck walks in at the start (10) |
| O (“duck” in cricket) + PATHS (“walks”) with HOME (“in”) at the start | ||
| 24 | See 14 | |
| 25 | LIBIDO | Desire for union to accept current offer, see (6) |
| LO (“see”) to accept I (symbol for “current”) + BID (“offer”) | ||
| 26 | STAGGERS | Shocks skinhead graffiti artists (8) |
| S(kin) [head] + TAGGERS (“graffiti artists”) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | WELL DONE | Finished digging? My congratulations! (4,4) |
| Once one has “finished digging”, the WELL would be DONE | ||
| 2 | See 10 | |
| 3 | OBLIGE | Over 50 in substantial English force (6) |
| O (over, in cricket) + L (50 in Roman numerals) in BIG (“substantial”) + E (English) | ||
| 4 | FRAULEIN | Young lady‘s cheating boyfriend finally kicked out (row overheard) (8) |
| FRAU(d) (“cheating” with (boyfrien)D [finally kicked out]) + homophone of LINE (“row” overheard) | ||
| 5 | DOLLAR SIGN | Old girl’s an unexpectedly key associate of 4 (6,4) |
| *(old girls an) [anag:unexpectedly]
On a standard keyboard, the numeral 4 and the dollar sign ($) share a key. |
||
| 6 | HECTIC | Hello admits shocking treatment — celeb initially furious (6) |
| HI (“hello”) accepts ECT (electoconvulsive therapy, so “shocking treatment”) + C(eleb) [initially] | ||
| 8 | GOES ON | Flipping sniffer dog slips lead but doesn’t give up (4,2) |
| [flipping] <=NOSE (d)OG (with (d)OG slipping its lead) | ||
| 13 | IN EXTREMIS | Beset by trouble, one’s bordering on careless almost (2,8) |
| I (“one”) + NEXT (“bordering on”) + REMIS(s) (“careless”, almost) | ||
| 16 | PUT-UP-JOB | Our great leader shortly to reveal this dishonest scheme (3-2,3) |
| “Our great leader” (meant, I hope, sarcastically) would be BOJO (“Boris Johnson”), so BOJO shortly is BOJ, and, PUT UP, that becomes JOB, so we end up with PUT-UP JOB | ||
| 18 | COVENTRY | City which’s announced bid (8) |
| COVEN (which’s being a homophone of “witches” [announced]) + TRY (“bid”) | ||
| 19 | GRATES | Bill claims Republican is irritating (6) |
| (Bill) GATES claims R (Republican) | ||
| 21 | IRONIC | Setter rolling in money mostly keeps working — not being serious! (6) |
| I (“setter”) + RIC(h) (“rolling in money”, mostly) keeps ON (“working”) | ||
| 22 | GASBAG | Shut up a second! B___ stopping? I hope he is (6) |
| GAG (“shut up”) stopping A + S (second) + B It’s difficult to identify what exactly the definition here is (I don’t believe this could be an & lit. clue) but you would definitely want to stop a gasbag. | ||
| 24 | MEGA | The last, not the first — great (4) |
| (o)MEGA (“the last” letter of the Greek alphabet, but missing its first letter [not the first]) | ||
*anagram
Nice blog, loonapick-thanks for the dollar sign -Toc H was probably about wartime-I think during a comedy show someone would say to a chap playing trumpet “can you get top C on that?”
“Top C? I can get Toc H on this”
But I also recall (more in my time)the phrase “dim as a toc H lamp” so it didnt last.
Another goodie from Vlad.
Oh of course, TocH! I remember my parents talking about it (dispagingly, being atheist lefties), but haven’t heard it for aeons and only remembered on reading the blog, so thanks Loonapick; Antioch was my only query. Otherwise a somewhat scattergun but steady solve with some Vladish inside-outers like Keeping iron cross, some great scramblers like 11,24, and the groanaphone dic tator. Not to mention the quacks for a possible bit of handgrenade. Fun! Thanks both.
PS I think the def for gasbag is just ‘he’ in a partial &Lit ‘I hope he is’, but as I said yesterday I’m not strong on the technicalities.
Toc H was a Christian charity for all ranks on the Western Front (initially) in WW1. Founded by the Reverend “Tubby” Clayton. Still surviving in the fifties when I were a nipper. Was mentioned in several WW1 memoirs. I think. My Regular Army Father thought it a bit wet, but you could usually get a cup of tea and a bun. I agree, charity is pushing it a bit!
I can remember being taken to Toc H fêtes (worse than death, according to my parents) in the late 1950’s
Yes, ANTIOCH was my LOI. But given the extreme obscurity of some of the words that figure in Guardian crosswords (LORGNON, ODEUM and THEORBO appearing in a single grid a few days ago), I think the cavilling about Toc H is a bit much. Those who don’t know the details about Toc H will probably have heard the expression “dim as a Toc H lamp”. And I’m as much of an atheist lefty as anyone, but the idea of a social club for all ranks during WW1 was pretty brave (and pretty lefty in a way).
Is there, by the way, a bit of a theme going on in this puzzle? Apart from the barbed reference to “Our great leader”, we have FLIP-FLOP, INEQUALITY, DICTATOR, LIBIDO, and GASBAG, together with references to “Blame guy for disruption”, “Policy reversal”, “Young lady’s cheating boyfriend”, “bordering on careless”…
Particularly if the theme was intentional, thanks to Vlad and loonapick.
I always feel my heart sink when I open the crossword and I see it is a Vlad. He is such a tricksy setter and I am always a little intimidated by his puzzles. I know it’s me not him as he is such a clever setter! And yet I started out so well with this one today.
But solving it through to the end was too tough for me – I was a DNF due to several stuff-ups in the SW. I failed to get 15a RECEIPT, 23a HOMEOPATHS, and 16d PUT-UP JOB. Whew, at least I still had LIBIDO at 25a! Obvs never heard of TocH – though I guessed 17a ANTIOCH due to a scripture studies background. Thanks in abundance to johnmcc@4 for that detailed backgrounding to the fodder for that one.
Along the way, the little mini-pleasures were 20a DICTATOR, 25a LIBIDO as mentioned, 1d WELL DONE, 6d HECTIC and 8d GOES ON.
Many thanks to Vlad for the tussle and to loonapick for the explanatory blog (solutions like DOLLAR SIGN at 5d – a guess – definitely needed further unravelling).
[We crossed NeilH@6 – I was not cavilling – just remarking on an unfamiliar thing I learned today!
Didn’t see a theme but your suggestions are definitely food for thought.]
Same comments and uncertainties as our blogger, plus I still don’t get INEQUALITY. I really liked the ‘Quack, quack!’ def, ‘Detective Murphy talking’ and PUT-UP-JOB.
Hardest of today’s offerings, but not impossibly difficult and lots to enjoy.
Thanks to Vlad and loonapick
JinA: My heart sinks too when I see his name. I don’t usually persevere with these.
And with 22dn, is “stopping” doing double duty, so that GAG is “stopping” A S and B, while the definition is “Stopping? [i.e. stopping talking] I hope he is”?
Tough but fair, although I too struggled with the definition for GASBAG.
It never occurred to me there were two ways of using homophones: usually (I believe) when this device is used, the answer or a part of it is a homophone of a synonym of a word in the clue. In 20a we have, in that order, TATOR <– TATER <– MURPHY, and in 4d we have LEIN <– LINE <– ROW, as per normal. But in 18d we have a synonym of a homophone of a word in the clue, COVEN <– WITCHES <– WHICH'S.
Also, I think 11a is only an almost-&lit, since “example of this” doesn’t take part in the wordplay.
Dollar sign. As simple as that, eh? I was imagining some song from a musical (Gold-diggers of 45?), in which He’s hopelessly chasing an elegant fräulein/Whose heart’s been replaced by a gold dollar-sign. Oh well. Johnmcc (comment 4) has said it all about Toc H, which certainly is/was a charity – named after a hill near Poperinghe on the Western Front I believe. I loved it.
Julie @8 – Like you, I set out pretty well and struggled with the last bit, particularly the SW corner.
Have you tried leaving it and coming back to it a few hours later? The workings of the subconscious are remarkable (though you’ve got to be pretty obsessive to keep on leaving it and coming back to it, as I had to do with Picaroon’s the other day, eventually finishing it two days later).
Oh dear again. “I loved it” above refers neither to Toc H (no personal experience) nor the Western Front (unspeakably awful), but to the puzzle as a whole.
I’d thought about opening with the fact that my heart is always in my mouth when I attempt a Vlad – and then see I’m not alone with two others having already admitted to the same. That said, I found myself delighted as, excellent clue by excellent clue, I slowly made my way through. Even ANTIOCH parsed, once I’d worked out the instructions. I was born in 1963 so TocH was well before my time but it’s an odd name – once encountered, always recognised. Sadly, the full grid did not fall. Defeated by FRAULEIN and got but didn’t parse both INEQUALITY and DOLLAR SIGN. I feel unfairly cheated by the latter: my laptop is being repaired overnight and I’m on a borrowed iPad – where the dollar does not share with the 4! And to make it worse, having not got FRAULEIN, i then spent ages trying to work out an answer to 4 down that utilised a dollar sign!!!
Enjoyed FLIP FLOP, RECEIPT, LIBIDO, COVENTRY. Now I understand DOLLAR SIGN, it’s splendid.
Thanks Vlad and loonapick
Obviously one has to be of a certain age to know Toc H. The phrases “dim as a Nuns nightlight” and “Dim as a Toc H lamp” were common in our house in the fifty’s and I think in the latter case referred to the kind of pale blue ‘Aladdin’s lamp which was part of the organisations emblem. I am with NeilH @ 6 in refusing to decry an organisation that accepted all comers as part of its charitable aims. I reckon there is a bit of a Bojo bashing theme here, but he is sufficiently thick skinned for it not to hurt him much.
I started this at a rush with the NW going pretty much straight in but then ground to a halt as I did not know ROOD was a cross and took ages at the end to try ROOFED.
My favourite by some distance was HOMEOPATHS as I have always considered them quacks, and I also liked STAGGERS for the vaguely remembered taggers for Banksy and his like.
Thanks then to Vlad for the usual polished puzzle and loonapick for help with several parsings which I was not sure of.
For us French residents, there’s no unique translation for dollar sign. It could be either apostrophe or left curly bracket. Luckily wikipedia has an entry for QWERTY.
Me @19 (Brace yourself!) { } – braces are “two connecting marks used in printing”; and in music “to connect staves to be performed at the same time”[3] (UK and US), French brackets, curly brackets, definite brackets, swirly brackets, curly braces, birdie brackets, Scottish brackets, squirrelly brackets, gullwings, seagulls, squiggly brackets, twirly brackets, Tuborg brackets (DK), accolades (NL), pointy brackets, second brackets, fancy brackets, M Brace, moustache brackets. Now there’s some fodder for an obscure theme…
As with others, I find Vlad’s name a warning that this going to be tricky: I did rely on the check button for several clues I couldn’t parse, so thanks loonapick for elucidation.
As Toc H is to be found in Chambers, I don’t think including it is unfair to those too young to remember it.
Absolutely loved the definition for DOLLAR SIGN, and enjoyed HOMEOPATHS as well. A few weak ones but overall very good – and much harder than Vlad’s last puzzle.
Never heard of TOC H.
Only time I have come across the charity is in the Pink Floyd track “Pow R Toc H” from Piper at the Gates of Dawn. That might be even more obscure than knowing the charity…
A slow start, a few walks away to feed the animals and do some jobs and gradually it unfolded. I was still thinking I was struggling when I realised I had 2 to go. Vlad does that to you – makes you think it is harder than it is. Not to say it ain’t hard! Many thanks Vlad and thank you loonapick for the dollar sign explanation. I had the answers but I had nothing for the link with fraulein, and now I know why.
[NeilH@15, I take your point: Have you tried leaving it and coming back to it a few hours later? The workings of the subconscious are remarkable…
As I just said to a friend today, taking a break, and even “sleeping on it” can be very beneficial for crosswords, jigsaws and indeed all the “bigger things in life” that I worry about. But I also enjoy being active on the blog. So at some point I decide to stop fretting about an unfinished puzzle, and come here for the explanations. I figure the cryptics are a parry and thrust between the setter and me – many times, by dint of perseverance, and because I refuse to be worn down, I win, but then I don’t mind if occasionally, the setter gets the better of me.
SPanza@18 – what delightful stories of sayings remembered. Many thanks. Is it any wonder I so much like being connected on this blog? I also really liked STAGGERS for the same reason as you, but forgot to mention it and why: STAGGERS for the vaguely remembered taggers for Banksy and his like.
Blaise@20 – I am overwhelmed by your extensive list – love your work!]
[TheZed@26: I know the album reasonably well – though best of all “See Emily Play” and “Arnold Layne”. Could you please square bracket the way in which the TocH reference is featured? Many thanks.]
[Sorry – TheZed@23]
Have I been pronouncing COVENTRY wrong all these years or does the homophone suggest a midland’s accent? I liked the SKINHEAD trick and HOMEOPATHS. Less keen on the clunky wordplay for LIBIDO and GASBAG felt like one that needed a bit more work. It might have been fairer to clue Toc H as “christian charity” though I would still have been resorting to google. Thanks loonapick – I would have been scratching my head indefinitely over a couple of these!
Thank you Vlad for a challenging puzzle and loonapick for a very helpful blog.
Toc H is still going, but without paid staff.
As blaise @19 points out there is no DOLLAR SIGN associated with 4 on the French keyboard ($ is on another key with £ above it), so all I could think of was MAIDEN AUNT…
I am probably in a minority in finding Vlad today much easer than Anto yesterday. I was mildly surprised to see Toc H, but was familiar with it. (Radio initials TH for Talbot House.) I was relievedto be able to enter the umlaut in FRÄULEIN as it’s not a crosser. (Probably in a minority there, too!) GASBAG didn’t really work for me, either.
Good puzzle, good blog.
I also enjoyed blaise’s comment @20.
Vlad is my favourite Guardian setter and I was really pleased to have finished this without aids. Like TheZed@23, I first came across Toc H from the Pink Floyd track. One of my favourites from that album (interstellar overdrive probably my fave).
Thanks to Vlad and loonapick.
Another who has in the past blanched at seeing Vlad’s name. I have relaxed somewhat over time if not quite to the extent of salivating and knuckle-cracking at the prospect. A sharp tug on the reins today and back to blanching for a while. A combination of not being in form for a toughie (GASBAG, IRONIC (but d’oh)) and general ignorance (taggers, TOC H) led to disgruntled reveals and get on with the rest of the day. Much nonetheless to enjoy and I don’t mind being impaled by Vlad – makes the occasional victory all the sweeter.
Blaise @19 ..and for those using a Swiss keyboard the pairing is 4 and ç. Should have got 22a much quacker than I did.
I’m in the same boat as many when it comes to Vlad but got there in the end – with the help of the check button for the amusing HOMEOPATHS. I’m also a child of the 50s who grew up with the Toc H lamp expression and then saw it on the Floyd album. I liked MEALY BUG DOLLAR SIGN and STAGGERS – didn’t we have the horse disease as a clue for this a while ago? Thanks to Vlad and loonapick.
I always expect to enjoy a Vlad but not to succeed in completing it. I almost got there today, working through all of the tougher clues only to be defeated by the relatively straightforward GRATES (thought of every kind of ‘bill’ except the right one!). Thanks to Vlad for the usual challenge and to loonapick for the $ explanation.
Didn’t like this so much. I was very busy today and couldn’t give it my focussed attention. Some kinky ones eg one trap mind inequality and dollar sign, but too many unsolved and unparsed to be very enjoyable. Thank you Loonie and to Vlad. Will try harder next time.
DaveinCarolina @ 35 I also stared at GRATES for a long time before I biffed it in only to realise later that it was he of microsoft. How could I have been so slow?
I agree with DaveinNCarolina – I enjoy Vlad but am very surprised if I get them all. I did remember Toc H, but not soon enough to parse ANTIOCH with it. I must remember in future that Vlad is capable of pulling that trick with DOLLAR SIGN – which I don’t recall any other setter using before. WELL DONE made me smile.
Thanks for a great blog, loonapick.
I had to rush out immediately after solving the puzzle this morning and have nothing really to add by way of comment, except to say how much I enjoyed it. Particular favourites: ONE-TRACK MIND, DICTATOR, GENEVA, FRAULEIN, DOLLAR SIGN and [being of a certain age], ANTIOCH.
Many thanks, Vlad, for the fun.
Got – and parsed – DOLLAR SIGN surprisingly early, but a DNF on some of the other tricky stuff.
Thought it was a pangram but seems to be missing a Z
Although I am another whose heart sinks on seeing Vlad, I found lots to enjoy here though also much that I could not parse, especially the put-up job. I was OK with Toc-H, having worked on faith in the first world war, but I thought the definition for homeopath a little hard. The problem with spelling Fräulein correctly is that it makes a nonsense of the clue, since fraud has no e in it. But the spelling Fraulein seems commonly accepted in English.
I know, Beobacterin @40 – I can’t have it both ways!
Oops! Beobachterin.
Well, I’m surprised so few knew about TOC H. I’m not Christian, but knew of it. The charity is still active – it opened a school in 2008 and has schools in India. In fact, the ANTIOCH clue was my favourite – an ancient city that wasn’t Troy or Ur. Tricky puzzle, but fun, unless your a homeopath, of course.
Thank you to Vlad and loonapick
I found this slightly less impaling than usual for Vlad.
Lots to enjoy, especially 23ac.
I knew Toc H from walking in the Lammermuir Hills as a boy in the early 70s, and coming across the site of a WW2 plane crash, with a Toc H memorial next to it, and my father explaining it to me.
Haven’t met Toc H since the last time it generated debate on the Guardian Cryptic.
I agree with Eileen @ 39 (including the having to rush out bit)
I too did know about (the dimness of the lamps of) TOC H (probably an age thing)
Thanks to Vlad for a properly tough brain stretching and to loonapick
Enjoyed this very much. All general knowledge is hard if you happen not to know it and easy if you do – and I doubt any setter can be sure of what the setters may have in their GK stores! As someone familiar with the Belgian battlefields, I have come across Toc H many times (it’s well worth visiting its original premises, Talbot House, in Belgium) and I am guessing many service families will know of it, as it is still around as a charity. On the other hand, there are often times when I seem to be very much more ignorant than others on fifteen squared who all seem to know details of bands and albums that have passed me by completely!
I biffed ANTIOCH without parsing it. I know Toc H from the building in Leicester where I used to run advice sessions. I must object to the “row” in Fräulein, which I do not hear in my pronunciation of the word.
Everyone has said it already. Toc H is not a thing I’ve ever come across; I’m glad to know it’s both British AND obscure. I also ran out of patience at the end and hit “reveal” for FRAULEIN as well. (I am, after all, supposed to be working right now.) But other than that, it went better than expected for encounters between me and Vlad.
Tyke @49: how are you saying Fräulein? In standard Hochdeutsch pronunciation, it’s very close to an exact homophone of how most English speakers say “line.” I’m aware that German has dialects that might make it closer to something like “leyn,” but still not far enough off to make the homophone unfair.
Boffo: yep. I spent a long time looking for the ‘Z’ as well.
I can usually get half a dozen or so in a Vlad but the rest are really hard work- so it was with this. Lots of guesswork and leaps in the dark but I did manage to complete the grid. ANTIOCH was a guess although I have heard of TOC H- and I’ve got the Pink Floyd record-,I’ve never heard the phrase “Dim as a etc ” and I’m seventy five! FRAULEIN was a guess too!
I thought COVENTRY was quite inspired.
Thanks Vlad.
First Vlad I’ve ever finished, but I didn’t manage to parse a handful, including ANTIOCH. Never heard of Toc H (or their lamps) and I’m nearly 60 and come from a military family. Oh well. I got GASBAG from the crosses but, frankly, I’m still none the wiser. But I finished, so I don’t really care 🙂
I vividly recall the Toc H galas of my childhood, which were overblown fetes on the local park. Toc H was indeed what we would now call comms alphabet for Talbot House – nowadays it would come out as Tango Hotel, which doesn’t quite work in the same way!
Could not parse ANTIOCH but ‘ancient city’ helped with ?n?I?c?. Remember the city from RE lessons in Std six in 1977.
A very good puzzle, I thought. It was indeed challenging, as many other solvers also found, but it was pitched very well, I thought, with many tricky clues offset by some more accessible (or at least slightly less tricky) ones. I stalled a bit in the SE corner, but I completed the puzzle with COVENTRY (the clue with the worst surface by far!) followed by STAGGERS (I’ve never heard of ‘taggers’) and finally MEGA, for which I definitely needed both crossers.
Thanks to both Vlad and loonapick.
Tyke @49, mrpenney @50
I think there was some confusion over ‘row’ (= din), which almost rhymes with Frau (and nothing like the first syllable of Fräulein), and ‘line’ (= ‘row’ in a different sense), which almost rhymes with the second syllable of Fräulein.
Astonished regarding Toc H I find it hard to believe that someone who seems to have knowledge of so much varied information has no knowledge of Toc H and the expression ” as dim as a Toc H lamp’
So much going on today. I rush to second loonapick’s call of foul. Not only is Toc H extremely obscure, even the source of its name is puzzling. And it’s especially obscure for such a vague clue as “ancient city”. That could be Aachen, Anyang, Nineveh, Teotihuacan – who knows?
I was also surprised to learn that the dollar sign appears on British keyboards. I would have thought pound sterling would be featured somewhere.
And finally – thanks to loonapick for the PUT-UP JOB parsing. I never would have figured that out. Perhaps because of my president’s adolescent crush, my mind kept going to our great leader Vlad “Studmuffin” Putin.
Despite a Catholic upbringing (terminally lapsed) I have never heard of Toc H. I have the Bard, specifically Pericles, to thank for my getting ANTIOCH once I had a couple of crossers but I couldn’t parse it. FRAULEIN was another unparsed guess. CoD was DOLLAR BILL. Neil @6 I like your theory on a possible theme. I do hope it was intentional.
Thanks to Vlad, loonapick, and all
Thanks to loonapick for the blog and to others who commented.
Blue Dot@59: Yes, the £ sign also appears on British keyboards, normally above the 3. (The Mother Country ahead of its former colony…).
The source of the name Toc H is that the original building was at Talbot House (named for Gilbert Talbot, son of a bishop, who had been killed nearby) and in the signallers alphabet of the time T was Toc. Cookie @29 has given the link to the Wikipedia entry about Toc H (about which article Wikipedia seem to be unnecessarily sniffy, but that’s another story).
I have never heard of Toc H either or the expression “as dim as a Toc H lamp”. I’m wondering if the usage of that expression has a marked regional variation, as it’s obvious many commenters are familiar with it. No matter, as ANTIOCH was readily guessable once a few crossers were in. The homophone clues for DICTATOR and COVENTRY were quite out there, but I like them. The latter is particularly striking in that the pronunciation of “which’s” needed for the surface is not the one needed in the cryptic reading (to my ear, at least).
Lots of lateral thinking indeed needed for Vlad and some awesome clues as a result. Faves: ONE TRACK MIND, ROOFED, INEQUALITY, HOMEOPATHS (talking of out there) and DOLLAR SIGN.
Thanks, Vlad and loonapick. Great fun!
Loved this one. Took me all day to solve it in between doing what I am paid to do, with GASBAG only going in at midnight after a few beers. My mum was always calling me as dim as a Toc H lamp back in the 60s and 70s, so very pleasing to finally understand what the hell she was on about. Vlad seems to be a bit marmite, but is rapidly replacing Paul as my favourite setter.
TocH is an old, tried and tested crossword staple.
I’m one whose heart swells when seeing Vlad’s name on a puzzle but slightly deflated today (more so on his last appearance) by the atypical simplicity of solve. But a fun few minutes – many thanks, both and all.
https://youtu.be/FX-G7Tpjx5U
Sorry, should have explained – that’s why Toc H doesn’t faze me.
BlueDot @59 et al – Software developers everywhere would have a hard time if $ was not on their keyboard, depending on language used of course!
At the age of 55, I only vaguely recognise Toc H as the name of a charity and didn’t know what it represented or the “dim lamp” phrase. I had forgotten the Pink Floyd track name, though it was possibly the only reason the name registered at all in my brain when I came across it somewhere else.
Like Boffo @40, I noticed the near-pangram. In fact, it led be badly astray. I was stuck for a long time on the last two clues (ANTIOCH and FRAULEIN), and I figured out that there must be a Z in one of them to complete the pangram. Needless to say, this did not help me.
Never heard of Toc H, so ANTIOCH was completely unparsed.
There were many clues to like in this puzzle, but my particular favorites were HOMEOPATHS and DO(LLAR SIGN, for the unexpected definitions.
Don’t know how that extra parenthesis got in there, but in case it’s bothering you, here’s one to close it: )
This was a dreadful crossword. Appalling obscure clueing that few could be expected to solve.
My two bob’s worth: I thought this was the best puzzle I’ve done. It took a lot of thought and working out but I got there in the end and felt very rewarded for the effort. I’ve been doing crosswords for over 20 years and very rarely get one out without some assistance, so this was a real achievement for me. When I got stuck and couldn’t see, I would take a break and think about what the setter was telling me to do. I had so many light bulb moments, it was like Christmas!
So, Vlad, a belated but genuine thank you for a marvelous puzzle which is now my all time favourite. Clear concise clues with wit and intelligence. Thanks loonapick for the blog, which confirmed my efforts. Thanks to all the contributors whose comments add the piquancy to an already tasty dish.
This is my first comment and liable to be my last because I’m always late to finish and not good enough to offer anything. But just this once I wanted to add my voice and thanks.