Toughie No 3128 by Elgar
Hints and tips by Dutch
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
Friday toughie time – lots to like today. I don’t know how he does it!
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought
Across:
8a Right age to succeed a keeper (8)
ARMATURE: The abbreviation for right and a word meaning to age follow (to succeed) A from the clue
9a Valley supplying wine or cases of comparable quality (2,1,3)
ON A PAR: A Californian wine valley that OR from the clue covers (cases)
10a Turn set on (3)
LEG: Reverse (turn) a word meaning to set to give a cricket term
11a Admitting I make puzzles, bet and drink (8)
ANISETTE: A 4-letter bet contains (admitting) a (1,3) phrase meaning ‘I make puzzles’
12a Accompanying one given cover of gun fire (6)
WARMTH: A 4-letter preposition meaning accompanying in which the Roman numeral for one is replaced by (given cover of) a word meaning gun
13a Anne, unkindly to King ordered anthem deferrals (3,8,4)
THE FLANDERS MARE: An anagram (ordered) of ANTHEM DEFERRALS
15a Train network operator collecting money for Shylock? (7)
EDUCATE: A 2-letter mobile network operator contains (collecting) the currency coin Shylock used
18a Area parking hard, restricted by tar surface (7)
ASPHALT: The abbreviations for area and parking, then the abbreviation for hard is contained in (restricted by) another word for a tar
21a Formal earlier dedicated work by Liberal leader should do this (3,1,4,7)
SET A GOOD EXAMPLE: 3-letter words for formal, earlier, and ‘dedicated work’ (poem), the letter than can mean (multiplied) by, and another word for liberal
24a Things being so easy with fish all skinned (2,2,2)
AS IT IS: The inner letters of 3 words in the clue ( … all skinned)
25a Run services for lip-readers fairly (2,6)
BY RIGHTS: Homophones (for lip-readers) of a cricket run and religious services
26a A 16-hour girl? (3)
IDA: A 2/3 of a 24-hour period
27a Suggestion hasn’t left work for a tattooist (6)
INKING: A 7-letter suggestion without the abbreviation for left
28a I hear setter intermittently away on cruise? (8)
LISTENER: The odd (intermittently) letters of setter are in a kind of cruise ship (away on cruise?)
Down
1d/16d Une préparation à base d’herbes – ou un pansement? (6,8)
FRENCH DRESSING: We’re looking for a herbal preparation you might put on your salad. Pansement means bandage
2d Metres short, summit in sight – and no way round mountains (6)
MASSIF: The abbreviation (short) for metres then a (2,2) phrase for ‘no way’ goes round the first letter (summit) of sight
3d People for whom figures are important must take after me! (11,4)
SUBTRACTION SIGN: Cryptic definition playing with ‘figures’ and ‘take’
4d Notices put up about show (4-3)
TELE-ADS: Reversal (up) of a word meaning put goes about a word meaning to show or guide
5d Enter beginner in Witchery Skills in Wizardry papers: travel up in this (8,7)
HOGWARTS EXPRESS: Place (enter) the first letter (beginner) of Witchery plus a 4-letter word meaning skills inside a 3-letter word for Wizardry (or a spell or curse), add a word for papers (as in the news media), then insert (in) the reversal (up) of a 2-letter word for ‘travel’
6d Sound disapproving: clueless (but apologetic) trumpeter has arrived (8)
HARRUMPH: The affectionate monicker for a British jazz trumpeter, who also presented ‘Sorry, I haven’t a clue’ on BBC Radio 4 (hence clueless but apologetic), contains (having) the abbreviation for ‘arrived’
7d/23d Ex-landlord takes exam in Religious Correspondence (8,6)
PASTORAL LETTER: Insert a type of exam into a (4,6) ex-landlord
14d Financial programme that will never take off (3)
EMU: Two meanings, the first a European financial programme
17d Char’s at it busily filling rear flap (4,4)
COAT TAIL: A word meaning to char contains (filling) an anagram (busily) of AT IT
19d Intimate cycling around part of 2? (3)
ALP: Take 3-letter intimate or friend and cycle the first letter to the end
20d Whom mum picked up heartlessly via old dance card? (7)
ODDBALL: Mum’s partner without the central letter (heartlessly) goes in between (via) the abbreviation for old and a dance event
22d Silver, prior to marriage, kept in regularly empty drawer! (6)
MAGNET: The chemical symbol for silver, a 2-letter word meaning ‘prior to marriage’ (of a name) goes inside (kept in) the even (regularly) letters of ’empty’
Spoilt for choice for a favourite – I’ll go with 20d because it made me chuckle. Which clues did you like?
I do like these doable Elgars. Some rather questionable idiosyncrasies remain [like “via” in 20d] but we’ve all seen enough of his work to get the measure of it a bit better by now. Favourites this time were 9a, 1/16d and [cotd/lol] 6d. I’m sure the late, great Mr L would have approved.
Thanks to Elgar and Dutch.
I thought – and was grateful that – Elgar was rather gentle with this puzzle, and was surprised at how swiftly the grid was completed. However I’d have saved myself a good while had I not leapt to put in Ada at 26a on the first quick scan through the clues … trying to put anything in front of sag? and yet which made sense! I did appreciate the absence of cross-referencing. Some wonderful clues, with Hon Mentions to 11a, 15a, 28a, 1/16d, 7/23d & 22d.
4* / 5*
Many thanks to Elgar and to Dutch
Another gem from Elgar. So many clever, but gettable, clues. Completed in reasonable time but took an age to parse 6d until the light bulb went on. Don’t think I’ve ever seen that word in a crossword before?
1/16d my favourite, with the smart little 26a close second. Thank you Elgar and Dutch.
Yes, I think this was my quickest ever Elgar … not that that’s saying much, but perhaps only 4* time. Couldn’t quite figure out the parsing of 2d (was looking for a missing ‘ST’ or ‘RD’… for ‘no way’) or 20d (is the outer word really a verb? I suppose so, but I don’t like it!). Lovely long anagrams certainly helped to get started, but my first in was 1d/16d, which really made me smile. Is it cheating to use Google Translate?
No, of course not! Though most of the translation is obvious.
Well, that was surprisingly doable and v glad I gave it a bash having vowed not to. Still bloomin’ tricky in parts but quite gentle … for Elgar. He really does know what he’s doing, doesn’t he? Thanks to him, and Dutch, of course.
15a had me searching all the train operators names to no avail. Not sure how ee apples here. I found this more difficult than normal but still enjoyable.
EE – the mobile phone network, nothing to do with trains ;)
Good evening
5 correct solutions in an Elgar puzzle.
Last time I attempted an Elgar, I got 4.
Any improvement, however small, is still an improvement!
Onwards and upwards!!
My first ever completed Elgar! I don’t care if he was in a gentler mode. 😊
Several bung ins. Not unusual but a but frustrating. Thanks to Dutch and Elgar.
Usually our Friday evenings are overshadowed by our ongoing failure with Elgar puzzles. Today we finished it…please don’t undermine our joy with further comments about today’s Elgar being gentle or doable!
Welcome to the blog
Not even if the aim is to encourage people who wouldn’t normally attempt an Elgar crossword to give it a go?
I doubt that it works that way. A newcomer to Elgar reads that a puzzle is gentle and tries to give it a go. After a long struggle they are still baffled and decide that even a gentle Elgar is beyond them and resolve never to try again.
I can see where Paul is coming from. One wrestles with Elgar for ages, eventually filling the grid and feeling pleased with oneself. Then someone comes along saying it was gentle and all sense of achievement goes out the window.
During lockdown I found all the puzzles by this lovely man that I could find in all his many guises and worked my way through them all. It taught me a lot about the way he sets puzzles and how to read his clues. Not always do I succeed but I love the challenge, especially his Elgar and Io puzzles.
Looking back, I see what I actually said was that it wasn’t his most difficult, which is a very long way from saying it was gentle.
I couldn’t be bothered to parse the train, but thoroughly enjoyed this at the easier end of Elgar’s scale, once I’d changed Ada to Ida! J’aimais bien l’un/seize bas! (je ne connais pas le mot correcte!) Lovely to see old Humph making an appearance – how we miss him on ISIHAC!