Toughie 420

Toughie No 420 by Elgar

The Codfather

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

To get an Elgar on a Wednesday is a bit of a surprise and a real treat. The puzzle is packed full of inventive and witty clues and I loved it.
Your comments, as always, are welcome and please remember to click on one of the stars below to show how much you enjoyed it.

Across Clues

8a  In flagrante delicto carpenter in noted workplace of Elvis impersonator? (4,4)
{CHIP SHOP} – we want the place where the guy who swore that he was Elvis worked in the song (noted). Start with the usual nickname for a carpenter, and if he’s caught in the act (in flagrante delicto) he’s on the HOP. That’s my best shot at explaining the wordplay – any better suggestions gratefully received.

ARVE Error: need id and provider

9a  Batty Kelvin on Platform No 3? (6)
{ANORAK} – a brilliant all-in-one which gives me the perfect excuse to show yet again one of my favourite pictures. We want the forename of Ms. Batty (she of the wrinkled stockings in Last of the Summer Wine) followed by the abbreviation for Kelvin, all coming after the third letter of plAtform.

10a  Inquire how we may sometimes represent king (3)
{ASK} – when we don’t represent him as R, then ……

11a  I make better hinges for emergency exit (4,4)
{FIRE DOOR} – the definition is emergency exit. Put I and a verb meaning improve inside (hinges) FOR.

12a  Contrary reference describing bovine type not from these parts (6)
{EXOTIC} – we want a verb meaning to quote or reference with a bovine animal inside. Now reverse the lot (contrary) to make an adjective meaning originating in a foreign country (not from these parts).

13a  Painfully gratifying Pretoria party at which old girl, very fashionable, commands top position (15)
{SADOMASOCHISTIC} – the definition is painfully gratifying and it’s a description of sexual activities where pleasure is obtained through pain. Start with a South African (i.e. in Pretoria) party and add an informal way of addressing an elderly lady (old girl), SO (very) and a synonym for fashionable around (commands) first (top position).

15a  A medic finding route back from glands (7)
{ADRENAL} – this is an adjective denoting a pair of ductless glands above the kidneys. String together A, an abbreviation for a medic and a minor road (route) which has to be reversed (back).

18a  What’s classified motorway entering Soap City from the East (5,2)
{SMALL AD} – what you’d find in the classified listings in a newspaper is the name of a Texan oil city (home to JR and his lovely wife, Swellin’ in the TV soap) which is reversed (from the east, in an across clue) with M(otorway) entering it.

21a  Predictor’s at cup knockout — one may be sent abroad (7,8)
{PICTURE POSTCARD} – an anagram (knockout) of PREDICTOR’S AT CUP.

24a  Warning sound done with spirit (6)
{ALARUM} – an old word for a warning is a French expression meaning prepared or cooked in a specified way (done with) and an alcoholic spirit.

25a  Spooner’s smashing balls on the table, requiring a bar of soap (8)
{WOOLPACK} – the term bar of soap in cryptic crosswords normally needs to be read as “the name of a pub in a soap opera” and the one we want is that of the ITV soap Emmerdale. If the Rev. Spooner were to attempt to say its name he might come up with “pool whack” (smashing balls on the table).

26a  Reduce times getting seen in Casualty? (3)
{AXE} – put the letter used to signal multiplied by (times) inside the letters that we use as an abbreviation for the casualty department in a hospital.

27a  Ship with one on straight and narrow (6)
{LINEAR} – a luxurious passenger ship has A (one) put inside to make an adjective describing something straight and narrow.

28a  Direction for one loading Aussie skip (8)
{POINTING} – I initially thought that Aussie skip was going to be a kangaroo, but it’s actually the surname of the current Australian cricket captain that we want. Put I (one) inside (loading).


Down Clues

1d  Bruce’s girl has troubles holding position up (6)
{SHEILA} – the name of the archetypal Australian woman is an anagram (troubles) of HAS which contains a position (on the fairway at a golf course, say) reversed (up, in a down clue).

2d  Went to stop very good clock (6)
{SPEEDO} – put a verb meaning went (in a lavatorial sense) inside (to stop) a short word for very good to get the abbreviation for an instrument on a car’s dashboard (clock).

3d  Binnable appeal from examination candidate that one doesn’t think to mention (9,6)
{THROWAWAY REMARK} – a comment that you make on the spur of the moment without thinking is a charade of an adjective describing a consumer product with a limited life (binnable) and an appeal from an examination candidate to the examiner to reassess his work.

4d  One responsible for the death of cock fights (7)
{SPARROW} – this is a cryptic definition of the creature who slew the robin with a bow and arrow in the nursery rhyme. It’s made up of two separate words meaning fight [Thanks Roger]. Here, specially for Big Boab, is Janet Shaw:

ARVE Error: need id and provider

5d  To ensure present is very satisfying, produce bespoke vacuum flask right away! (4,3,4,2,2)
{MAKE THE MOST OF IT} – we want a phrase meaning to take full advantage of the current situation (present). It’s a verb meaning to manufacture (produce), a proprietary brand of vacuum flask without the R (right away) and a synonym (2,3) for bespoke.

6d  Huge deficit in solid fuel (8)
{COLOSSAL} – probably the easiest clue in the puzzle – put a deficit inside solid fuel to make an adjective meaning huge.

7d  Quartz, say, laid underneath airline hall (8)
{BASILICA} – put a hard, colourless compound of which quartz is an example (say) after (laid underneath, in a down clue) the airline which once called itself the world’s favourite to make a large, oblong hall.

14d  Cockchafer of gold (3)
{DOR} – this is nothing to do with uncomfortable, gold lamé underpants. It’s simply a kind of beetle (cockchafer) and it’s how you would say “of gold” in French.

16d  Part of routine that can be a bore? (5,3)
{DRILL BIT} – double definition – what, cryptically, could be part of a training session (routine) is the removable cutting and boring part of a tool used for making holes.

17d  N Eurasian country’s sound new line, when it’s pressed? (5,3)
{ENTER KEY} – put together the sound of N and a country that is partly in Europe and partly in Asia to form what you press to terminate one line of text and start a new one.

19d  Country — where double agent’s heart is (3)
{LEA} – a word meaning open country appears at the heart of double agent.

20d  Reversible seats roughly put outside having been given a reversible brush? (7)
{UPSWEPT} – reverse the seats in a church inside an anagram (roughly) of PUT to make an adjective meaning brushed upwards which means the same thing if you reverse the two syllables.

22d  Writer and manic-depressive top actor covers up (6)
{CAPOTE} – we want the surname of a prolific American author (he wrote Breakfast at Tiffany’s) who suffered from a personality disorder. The name is hidden (covers) and reversed (up) in the clue.

23d  Playmaker competin’ with energy (6)
{RACINE} – this playmaker is a seventeenth century French dramatist. We want a truncated synonym for competing (in a motor sport event, say) followed by E(nergy).

There are too many enjoyable clues to list them all, but I really liked 11a, 13a, 18a, 28a and 2d, with my clue of the day being 9a. Let us know what you thought in a comment.