Toughie No 3096 by Elgar
Hints and tips by Dutch
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
The pangram may help you with some answers
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought
Across
1a “New Look” sort: rich and, from the outset, innovative and iconic (9,4)
CHRISTIAN DIOR: An anagram (new look) of SORT RICH AND + I + I (starting letters from the outset of innovative and iconic)
10a Morning eructation’s beginning following cheese and beans (7)
EDAMAME: The abbreviation for morning and the first letter (beginning) of eructation following a Dutch cheese
11a Even now zero energy cuts agreed (5,2)
QUITE SO: A 5-letter word meaning ‘even now’ plus the letter that looks like zero is cut by the abbreviation for energy
12a Aerobatic manoeuvre in which we go quiet(4)
LOOP: A place in which we go plus the music abbreviation for quiet
13a Giant hit railway’s rolling stock, express part of it (5)
LEXIS: A reversal (rolling) of a giant hit in cricket and an elevated railway
14a Any of earth’s 5 divisions: the last first, the first last (4)
ZONE: The last letter comes first, then the first number comes last
17a 100 filler note initially moved on, about to receive rating (2,3,2)
IN FOR IT: There are 100 Hungarian filler in ‘1 Forint’ – then move the first letter (initially) of note towards the front
18a Primate wee in coal scuttle (7)
HOMINID: A 4-letter word meaning wee goes in a coal scuttle
19a Hired feathers on chick disappoint (3,4)
LET DOWN: A word meaning hired and a word for ‘feathers on chick’
22a That’s right – no lemon, thanks (7)
JUSTICE: Split (4,3), the answer could suggest no lemon in a drink in response to a typical barman’s question
24a Ode composed about the closure of Man U?
DONE: An anagram (composed) of ODE goes about the last letter (closure) of Man. The definition is U, as in socially acceptable.
25a Gem robbery liquidates stocks! (5)
BERYL: Hidden ( … stocks)
26a The birds and the bees leaving babes five slices (4)
AVES: Remove the Bs from ‘babes’, then insert (slices) the Roman numeral for 5.
29a Nasty splinter from cracked instrument panel not planned (7)
UNMEANT: An anagram (nasty) of SPLINTER is removed from an anagram (cracked) of INSTRUMENT PANEL
30a Counter secure at opening of Indian restaurant (7)
ITALIAN: A reversal (counter) of a word meaning to secure, AT from the clue and the first letter (opening) of Indian
31a The care one’s needed to fill gaps in one’s education (6,7)
SUPPLY TEACHER: A reverse anagram plus a cryptic definition playing on ‘gaps’
Down
2d Forestall the usual demand of Wonderland royal? (4,3)
HEAD OFF: Two meanings, the second a reference to an Alice in Wonderland character
3d “Fancy!” = “Indeed” (1,3)
I SAY: A 2-letter word for “=” and a 2-letter word for “indeed”
4d Number one song (3,4)
THE BEST: Two definitions, the second a song made famous by Tina Turner
5d British PM remains left inside (7)
ASQUITH: Some 3-letter remains contain (inside) a word meaning left
6d Ruin house party? (2,2)
DO IN: A house party would be a function at home
7d I introduced the family (4,3)
ONE’S OWN: The number I and a word meaning introduced or planted
8d Would it feel unusual having students round?
WELL FILLED OUT: An anagram (unusual) of WOULD IT FEEL contains (having) some students
9d Style of working girl might put on injury cover (5,8)
POWER DRESSING: Another word for might and some ‘injury cover’
15d Staff at walkabout not working properly (5)
CROOK: Two meanings, ‘at walkabout’ is an Australian indicator
16d Collect statement from Nick Bottom? (4)
AMASS: Split (2,3), this could be a statement from the Shakespearian character Nick Bottom
20d Bird soon caged by people working together (7)
TINAMOU: A (2,1,2) phrase meaning soon goes inside (caged by) a 2-letter abbreviation for ‘people working together’
21d TMO’s ruling nut has punched and passage denied (2,5)
NO ENTRY: TMO (Televised Match Official) helps with rugby refereeing and hence might rule (2,3). Inserted (punched) into this we have a 2-letter type of nut, which I hadn’t encountered before
22d Very much like the spin one gets from hot motor (7)
JOYRIDE: Cryptic definition playing on spin and hot
23d Suitably modulated charge sheet (7)
INVOICE: Split (2,5), the answer can be said to be suitably modulated
27d Old conflict affected supporter’s group (4)
CAMP: Three meanings, the second adjectival
28d Fill up Pierre’s brandy (4)
MARC: Pierre is a French indicator. A reversal (up) of a word meaning fill
I quite liked 8d for smooth surface, and I think my favourite today is the morning eructation (10a) – which made me laugh out loud. Which clues did you like?
Very difficult indeed.
I was quite pleased with myself to get most of the answers.
My favourite 22a.
I never heard of the bird.
Thanks to Elgar and Dutch.
A very challenging guzzle. A DNF for me. Got most of the way there but thankfully Dutch has brought some relief to my fried brain cells with the hints. Still not sure how ‘U’ means 24a?
Thank you Dutch.. and Elgar for the mauling.
U is an abbreviation for “upper class” or “sociably acceptable”. If something is “done” it can mean it is an acceptable thing to do. Does that help?
It does help. Thank you for the explanation Dutch. I was thinking along the lines of Universal which I suppose could amount to the same social acceptance.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who found this difficult even for Elgar. This is the first time for a while I’ve had to come crawling back looking for help. I’ve also never heard of the nut, nor indeed of the 100th part of a forint. Brilliant, as ever, and all admiration to Dutch – I don’t know how you do it!
A quite superb puzzle and perfect for a wet afternoon. At first I thought this was going to be impenetrable but the answers gradually revealed themselves. I have to admit to a couple of unparsed bung ins, such as the currency, but otherwise I got there unaided. Great fun as ever, and of course I missed the pangram: too busy looking for a non-existent Nina.
Thanks to both Elgar and Dutch.
A few guesses which were unparsed (15d, 17a, 20d, and 24a), but got there in the end. Favourite was 22a.
Very good puzzle, enjoyable and a satisfying if extremely tough challenge, one that I’m sorry to say I failed! Could not work out a viable answer to 13a, and even after using Dutch’s hint to get the answer I had to resort to the BRB to understand it; then discovered my unparsable biffed answer to 15d was wrong – could not work out what the walkabout had to do with it, and even on seeing the correct answer was sceptical about the Ozzie reference until resorting again to the BRB: gosh, have heard and used that word, in that context, for several decades without knowing it was from down under! I had several unparsed but correct answers, so thank you Dutch for explaining why I was right.
Top clues for me were 10a (my second one in, and a LOL moment), 8d & 31a.
Many thanks to Elgar for the whipping, and to Dutch for the understanding.
I managed most of this unaided but was entirely stumped by 13a, 14a and 17a. My 1972 BRB had not heard of the beans or the bird but the answers could be worked out from the wordplay and checked on Google. When I practised in the magistrates’ courts, a ‘working girl’ was something different from what was evidently intended in 9d but I wonder if Elgar was teasing us.
Thanks to him and to Dutch for help with those I could not parse.
In 21d, I think the nut is an “en”, which is half an “em” in printer’s parlance. If type was to be indented and set across a slightly narrower column width in the old hot metal days, it would be sent to the printer with the instruction “nut each side”. That said I’m completely defeated by 14a, so would welcome an explanation in exchange!
see “zone” in Chambers, top entry. Earth is divided into 5 zones. Z (the last letter) comefirst, then ONE (the first number) comes last. Z+ONE.
Thanks.
Got within four of the finish, but wouldn’t have got those even suspecting a pangram and still needing X and Z !
Thanks .