Toughie No 2505 by Elgar
Hints and tips by Dutch
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
This is Elgar’s 157th Toughie. I managed to get the right hand side first, then NW, and ended up struggling in the SW corner, wanting badly to enter SLIPPERY for 17d. You may be quick to notice a familiar entry in row 12, and spot another familiar word across the entries in row 14. As we then look at the rows above (except the central row) we find that there is a personal Nina. So, nothing to do with 157 today, and our sincere condolences Elgar. It would seem a fascination with crosswords runs in the family
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.
Across
8a With enthusiasm, display a half-time burger and pint? (7)
FANFARE: Split (3,4), this could be what a football enthusiast consumes
10a Successfully getting away with plenty of dosh (4-3)
WELL-OFF: A word for successfully and a word for away
11a Spot oversight, arresting knight in seedy club (9)
CARBUNCLE: A 4-letter word meaning oversight or responsibility contains an anagram (seedy) of CLUB which in turn contains the chess abbreviation for knight
12a This poet‘s through to listeners (5)
DONNE: A homophone (to listeners) of a word meaning through or finished
13a One takes time; he receives one fine (5)
THIEF: The abbreviation for time, then HE from the clue containing (receives) the Roman numeral one, plus the abbreviation for fine
14a Fellows from the East captivated by superb flower (7)
ANEMONE: The reversal (from the East) of a 3-letter word meaning fellows goes inside (captivated by) what is normally a 2-character combination for superb except here the second character is spelled out, making it (1-3)
17a Clinician‘s letter included in editing of these chapters? (6,9)
SPEECH THERAPIST: A Greek letter goes inside (included in) an anagram of (editing of) THESE CHAPTERS
19a For poetical work on reflection, an author here performs parts (2,3,2)
IN AID OF: A poetical work by Kipling is parted by a reversal (on reflection) of AN plus a (1,2) phrase that translates to ‘author here performs’, where here refers to this crossword
21a Another man’s warmth? (5)
THERM: Hidden (… ‘s)
24a Food outlet is changing hands on a regular basis (5)
DAILY: A food outlet for milk, butter, cheese etc with L(eft) changed to R(ight) (is changing hands)
26a On charge, having cut the high wire (9)
TELEGRAPH: A cricket term meaning on plus a 3-letter word for charge go inside (cut) an anagram (high) of THE
27a Go back over Charity Bar Day (7)
RECROSS: A (3,5) Charity to exclude (bar) the abbreviation for day
28a United eliminate medic that hurt back, creating problem filling vacancies (7)
WORDOKU: A reversal (back) of the abbreviation for united, a 2-letter abbreviation meaning to eliminate (as in a competition), an abbreviation for a medical title, and an interjection that means ‘that hurt’
Down
1d Spare bit of paper to wrap small portions of chips up (6)
OFFCUT: OF from the clue, then a 2-letter newspaper containing (to wrap) the first letters (small portions) of chips and up
2d Give life for one man in Nouvion revolutionary is sheltering (8)
ENERGISE: A reversal (revolutionary) of a 2-letter abbreviation meaning for one plus a French Christian name (man in Nouvion), containing (sheltering) IS from the clue. A reference to Café (Rene) Artois in Nouvion in ‘Allo ‘Allo
3d Hypocritical fan getting splattered with sauce in Wetherspoon? (5-5)
JANUS-FACED: An anagram (getting splattered) of FAN+SAUCE inside JD (for JD Wetherspoon)
4d Earliest of talents, ‘Little Princess’, growing up? (9)
TWEENAGER: An all-in-on referring to a (potentially exasperating) certain age group. The first letter (earliest) of talents, a Scottish word for little, and the reversal (growing up) of a princess in Shakespeare’s King Lear
5d Bright flower, in short, giving pleasure (4)
GLAD: Two meanings
6d Carried over huge Asian island (6)
BORNEO: At over three times the size of UK, I guess it is huge. A verb meaning carried plus the cricket abbreviation for over
7d Celebration of love, perhaps, involving five couples most commonly (8)
OFTENEST: A (1,4) construction that could whimsically mean a celebration of love includes (involving) a 3-letter number that could be represented by five couples
9d Eat out in La Gavroche, and see who’s inside? (4)
ETCH: The French (in La Gavroche) for ‘and’, the letter that is spelled by ‘see’ (see Chambers), and the central (inside) letter of who
15d Incredible female tiger is all for playing! (10)
ELASTIGIRL: This female member of The Incredibles is an anagram (for playing) of TIGER IS ALL
16d Post-mortem examination for trial? (5,4)
STIFF TEST: The answer meaning trial or ordeal could also whimsically mean a post-mortem examination
17d Treacherous cunning Huffman’s brainchild nearly kept up (8)
SLIDDERY: Steve Huffman is the CEO and founder of the social news and discussion website REDDIT. A 3-letter word for cunning contains a reversal (up) of the first 5 letters (nearly) of Steve Huffman’s brainchild
18d Make oceanic manoeuvre, most frequent in Ville de Quebec (3-5)
ICE-CANOE: An all-in-one referring to a popular sport in Quebec city. An anagram (manoeuvre) of OCEANIC plus the most frequent (letter) in ‘Ville de Quebec’
20d Each one comprehending what’s easy? (6)
APIECE: The one in cards contains (comprehending) a bakery product that is said to be easy
22d Male dismissed after I see how big his charges are! (6)
MAHOUT: The abbreviation for Male, then a word meaning dismissed comes after an interjection meaning ‘I see’
23d Mrs Capp joining Women’s Movement (4)
FLOW: The first name of Andy Capp’s wife plus the abbreviation for women
25d Fall — but presumably not rise — of young people (4)
YOOF: Take a (2-2) verb meaning to fall and rise (like a 2-2) but omit the rise part, then add OF from the clue. Not a word I knew existed, but there it is in Chambers
The biggest smile today came from the Incredible female (15d). Which clues were your favourites?
I enjoyed disentangling the wordplay here. What I didn’t enjoy was having to use Google extensively to find out who on earth Huffman (plus brainchild) and the incredible female were – perhaps I’m living in a bubble but I’ve never heard of either. Is it absolutely necessary to include such (to me anyway) obscure GK?
My ticks went to 26a, 4d and 20d with my favourite being 22d.
Thanks to Elgar and Dutch.
I think The incredible female is ok because it is a very well signposted anagram so you just need to use your imagination.
The other I thought was absurd. GK combined with partial reversal is just not on. Especially compounded by the likelihood of a much more common word being correct . (See Dutch’s comment in the intro)
I prefer crosswords that don’t require general knowledge, especially of children’s films. There are plenty of GK crosswords if that is one’s preference.
children’s films? Guess you haven’t seen any of them. Or maybe i’m a child.
Yes, we agree with Gazza. Luckily we had 17ac or might have given up and we, too, had no clue about Huffman’s brainchild or the incredible female or 28ac where we had to use resources to produce answers. I am sure Cryptic Sue will shorty be saying that this was a ‘real Toughie’ – it certainly was for us.
With at least 4 words I have never heard of and knowing my inability to understand an Elgar puzzle, I’m glad I just sat down and enjoyed Dutch’s hard work. Clever man. No doubt someone will reveal the Nina.
Farewell Uncle Don fan of the Daily Telegraph crossword.
I almost got there. Somehow I thought a Nina would be across or down, a whole column. This was more a pick and mix! Anyway, thank you.
Have you tried this game called wordoku?
No – never tried it.
Not surprised, it looks awful!
I surprised myself for knowing the name of Andy Capp’s wife. As for 17d, I’d never heard of Huffman either but I notice that the exact same clue has been used in a crossword before, as an internet search will reveal. Perhaps Elgar set that one too.
i’m wondering if your internet search found this puzzle? I’d be surprised if the exact same clue occurred elsewhere
I was waiting for someone to say this was easy for an Elgar, simply because I got at least seven answers ‘all by my own self’!
As for the rest – I didn’t know about Mr Huffman or the incredible female and haven’t previously encountered either 28a or 17d so it was down to Dutch to sort those out for me and give me a toe-hold to assist with the remainder.
Thanks to Elgar – nice tribute to your uncle – and gratitude to Dutch for guiding me along the way.
the incredible female is fair, i think, as part of popular culture. If you haven’t seen the Incredibles movies, they are really quite good and very funny.
I found it here: http://www.danword.com/crossword/Treacherous_cunning_Huffmans_brainchild_nearly_kept_up. It says it was last seen in Daily Quick Crossword, whatever that is. Also here:https://www.wordplays.com/crossword-solver/Treacherous-cunning-Huffman%27s-brainchild-nearly-kept-up-(8). Maybe they did appear just today.
I gave up early on but there were some easy ones which I might have got if I had persevered. I take issue with spot for a carbuncle and clinician for speech therapist. Apart from the already mentioned 17d, most clues were fair if a tad stretched at times.
Sorry, but really, no. We managed five clues, between us. We started looking at Dutch’ s very helpful comments but after working out 1 d, 8a and 12a realised that doing the rest, if we managed it, would give us no pleasure. Waaaaay beyond our pay grade. 😥😥
Hardest one we’ve ever done. Many of the clues were just bung ins which we could not parse without the hints. Thanks for those! Still, satisfying to get it out.
Enjoyed that immensely, especially the Incredible female. I found it much more forgiving than Elgar’s recent efforts, and was just starting to rejoice that I might actually finish this one when I walked face-first into 9d. After staring at it fruitlessly for a while I resigned myself to defeat and revealed a letter, then bunged in the answer and limped over here to see how it parses – d’oh! So you win this round Elgar, but I’ll get you next time. Thanks to him – always a worthy adversary – and to Dutch for helping me parse a couple.
Just finished. Cheated on 15d [having failed to parse the Swazi currency] and 28a. Clearly I must keep up more or stop wasting a lot of time every other Friday. Tonight’s glorious Prom is some consolation.
I had nearly all of the RHS completed before I got anything on the left. Then I worked my way down the left and finished in the SW.
All correct, but definitely not all parsed. I’ve gone back and counted five – 19a, 1d, 9d, 20d, and 25d. Having now seen the wordplay, thanks Dutch, I should have managed most of them.
Lots of complaints, yet again, about Elgar’s puzzle, but as was pointed out last time, it is supposed to be a Toughie. If I have to look up Hoffman, and check Elastigirl actually exists, I don’t mind. I just think it is my GK that is lacking.
Spotted most of the nina, but of course I didn’t know who Uncle Don was.
Hello, all. I’m here at last, having slept the afternoon away. Last night, and then again this morning, I actually managed to answer 10 clues correctly–the NE and four elsewhere, including 3d. And then, pffft. This is about as well as I’ve ever done with an Elgar, and so there we are. Many thanks to Dutch for his brilliance and perseverance, and to the others of you who have added to the discussion above. And of course, thanks to Elgar for his erudition and chicanery. Enjoy your weekend.
Too much reliance on popular and youth culture, takes the enjoyment out of the process when you read a string of answers one would never have got! So why bother. What audience is this crossword aimed at? Probably not telegraph readers.
Welcome to the blog Martin
The clue is in the name of the puzzle – Toughie! I did complete this puzzle, but in greater than ***** time. Keep trying and eventually you will get there.
Even harder than Elgar’s last puzzle a fortnight ago, which I moaned about ! After solving 11 clues I was stuck for a very long time before completing the final ones after midnight. However many of these were amusing and ingenious, such as 16d and 8a. 3d and 28a were new to me, with 3d being my favourite clue. Brilliant as ever Mr Elgar.
I tried. I failed. I turned the paper over & wrote a shopping list. Nuff said. Thankfully the fT was more forgiving & it looks like a belter in this week’s The Week magazine.
This was a stinker for me – after much headscratching I had managed 8 clues. Never heard of Reddit or Huffman, don’t watch children’s films. I don’t do well on fragmented clues which involve a lot of lateral thinking., and never heard of wordoku or the word sliddery. All this diminishes my enthusiasm for trying to complete future ‘Toughies’ – in the past I have completed all four in a week, but not for a while now.
Welcome to the blog John