Toughie 370

Toughie No 370 by Elgar

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****

If any of you are about to pick your jaws off the floor after seeing a 2-star difficulty rating, let me just say that from time to time it’s possible to be on the setter’s wavelength from clue 1, and for the answers to flood in with barely a pause. It’s quite rare, but it happens. That was certainly the case here, with nine across answers entered almost without thinking, which of course was an ideal start for filling several downs as well. To be honest I could have reduced the rating to 1 star, but while the answers went in quickly there were occasions when unravelling the wordplay wasn’t straightforward, and as I write this I’m still thinking about 24a and 28a.

Easy as the puzzle is, there are some cracking clues as you’d expect from Elgar, 4d being the pick of the bunch, and the odd bit of signature naughtiness. Another Elgar trademark is the occasional strangeness of surface reading – perhaps a few more than usual in this puzzle.

As ever, my favourite clues are in blue.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.

Across

1a    Certainly not a club competition: all theoretically may play — here? (4,8)
{OPEN SANDWICH} The very clever definition here is Certainly not a club (think food) and the two words of the answer call on mild sporting knowledge; a naughtily placed colon interrupts the first bit, competition: all theoretically may play and here takes that reference and applies it to an appropriate golf club.

9a    Beginners to find unsafe jags in mountain (4)
{FUJI} Beginners to is a first-letters give-away, so take the initials of the four words which follow it and you’ll see this:

10a    Goes out without novel that’s in red woolly drawer? (6,3)
{ESKIMO DOG} Moving into toughie mode now! Goes out points to an anagram of GOES and without is a container indicator, so that anagram has to be placed around the name of a famous novel by Rudyard Kipling and also an abbreviation for “overdrawn” (in red in the clue). Woolly drawer is another example of Elgar’s skill with the twisted definition.

12a    Twisted cinema killer and jewel thief (3,3)
{ICE MAN} Talking of twisted, in this clue it’s an anagram indicator applied to CINEMA. The answer is given two definitions, probably because the first word can mean both to kill (usually referring to a contract killing) and diamonds, hence the jewel reference.

13a    See 2d

15a    Following charge, see lake antelope on plateaux (10)
{TABLELANDS} A nice little word sum (charade) is used here. First we have charge, as in perhaps a mini “account” you might set up while at a restaurant, then an abbreviation for lake, and finally (in plural form) some elk-like antelope.

16a    Healing ointment used in tribal medicine (4)
{BALM} If you’ve struggled up to now (except perhaps for 9a) this will be a welcome relief, an easy hidden answer in tribal medicine.

18a    Theatrical pitching place (4)
{CAMP} A double definition now, theatrical meaning, er, affectedly limp-wristed, and pitching place meaning somewhere where tents are set up.

20a    Inappropriate income revised — and covered by criminal bung (10)
{UNBECOMING} This clue uses two anagrams, the second appearing outside the first. Start with a jumble of INCOME (revised) and around this place a jumble of BUNG (criminal) to find a word meaning inappropriate.

23a    Deceased — or not? With the same dimensions! (2,6)
{NO LONGER} Unusually this clue offers a second possible definition in or not? which, while feasible, could easily be dropped in favour of just deceased. The last bit is an implied further meaning which can be read as having the same length.

24a    European capital’s low hills — panoramic? (6)
{SKOPJE} This is a bit naughty but typically picturesque from Elgar. The European capital is that of Macedonia. As for the low hills – think of South Africa and one of those old Dutch words. Now then… this bit is plural, but to turn it into the answer we have to take the S and place it at the front instead. In some panoramic photography you get a pasted-together picture that shows everything over 360°, so you start at one point and can keep rotating. Get the idea? Good old Elgar!

26a    With skill updated loco in a rush (9)
{RETRAINED} This one’s pretty easy although it’s tempting to miss the definition with skill updated by mentally tagging loco to the end of it. Instead, take a version of what a loco might be (minor quibble – for me, loco is the engine at the front while this word means the loco and whatever it’s pulling) and place it inside a word for rush as in a type of long grass.

27a    Mountains out of time, sadly (4)
{ALAS} Although this fell quickly there was a moment when I’d seen the hidden MESA and tried to stretch its definition slightly to justify mountains. Instead, think of a range of mountains in North Africa and remove the T (time) for a word meaning sadly.

28a    Equine establishment in position, so turn left (6,6)
{LIVERY STABLE} Very tricky! When you look at the answer there are all sorts of wordplay possibilities, so I found spotting the right one pretty hard and needed some help from BD. We start with LIE (position) and inside that we place a word meaning so (as in, I found this so difficult), a word for turn (as in a try, attempt) and the abbreviation for left.

Down

2d & 13a    Film showing tackle to many spectators? (8,2,6)
{PRIVATES ON PARADE} I won’t say anything about this raucous bit of implied double meaning – I just hope the picture doesn’t quite show what’s going on!

Oh crikey, it does. More tea, vicar?

3d    Fellow who’s drunk 1 litre (4)
{NOEL} This deceptively clever little clue uses an anagram (drunk) of ONE (shown as just 1) and an abbreviation for litre to give a male name.

4d    ‘Flabby’ takes it in, embracing tip from doctor (6,4)
{ATKINS DIET} Clue of the day, no question! As well as making reference to the surface reading, ‘Flabby’ also works as an anagram indicator for TAKES IT IN, and this is placed around the first letter of (tip from) DOCTOR. This is a true &Lit or all-in-one clue, where there is nothing at all beyond the wordplay components which, by themselves, serve to give an approximate definition of the answer.

5d    Disciplinary fellow grips the writer lower (6)
{DEMEAN} The disciplinary fellow here is the resident fellow of a college who has responsibility for administration and disciplinary matters. Place this around (so it grips) ME (the writer) to give a word meaning to lower or reduce the value of (a person).

6d    Fashionable Miss Hunter Jones, intrepid adventurer (7)
{INDIANA} It seems you may have a bit of a choice in stitching together the parts of this clue. We start with a 2-letter word meaning fashionable – hip, trendy – and add a particular girl’s name. Now, there was a character called — Hunter in Falcon Crest, although I’d say that was a bit obscure for even a Toughie puzzle. Even so, that would leave Jones, intrepid adventurer as a good definition of the answer, but I think it’s better to read it as Hunter Jones, intrepid adventurer.

7d    One cherishing street criminal in secret (6-6)
{HUGGER-MUGGER} With only one or two cross-checking letters you’d probably get this straightaway; one cherishing might be one who hugs, and a street criminal might be one who mugs. You see where this is going, don’t you?

8d    Gorgeous East European’s taken in on the way to London (6)
{SUPERB} I’ve given this the blue jobbie simply because I really like the way Elgar has defined and incorporated one little bit of the wordplay. For the answer, meaning gorgeous (as in great, smashing, wonderful) take a particular East European national and place it around a 2-letter word which is used when people describe a journey to London. It seems that regardless of their point of origin they’re always going — to London.

11d    Pill, say, purser must take (5,7)
{BIRTH CONTROL} Took me a while to work out how this hangs together, but I think we might just have say doing a double job. The answer is a type of pill, but for that definition I’d probably add say because it’s “definition by example”. However we also need say to serve as a homophone indicator for the second part of the clue; a purser (on a ship) would take responsibility for cabins, stewards etc, and another word for a cabin sounds like the first word of the answer.

14d    In Rule 10, note offence to revolutionise game (4,6)
{LAWN TENNIS} Good construction here, and it’s hard to spot quickly even if you see the relevant bits. For the game of the answer, start with a 3-letter word meaning rule (as in statute) and TEN (10) – inside those, place the single-letter abbreviation for note. Finally, add a word meaning offence (an evil, or wrongdoing) but reverse it.

17d    See 19d

19d & 17d    Wicked explosive second batch at 6 o’clock’s gone off (7,8)
{MOLOTOV COCKTAIL} A slightly dodgy surface reading but the wordplay construction sparkles here. We start with another superb definition in which the wicked of wicked explosive should be read as “having a wick”. For the wordplay, start with MO (second – as in “in a second”), a 3-letter word for batch and a crafty (if slightly indirect) anagram based on at 6 o’clock; better to write this out as AT VI OCLOCK.

21d    Like working actor — out of touch? (2,4)
{IN PLAY} This is an interesting implied double definition clue. Like working actor is the implied bit – a working actor would be one who is part of a current production – but out of touch? serves as the proper definition; we just need to think about what touch means. Rugby fans will know!

22d    Not just public entertainment, visiting Madame La Guillotine? (6)
{UNFAIR} Another crafty definition in not just – just meaning right, equable. Visiting Madame La Guillotine is a novel way of telling us to remove (i.e. behead) the first letter of a place of public entertainment.

25d    The notion of hide-and-seek? (4)
{IDEA} And we end with another easy hidden answer in hide-and-seek.

Another fun outing from Elgar!