Toughie 3296 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3296

by crypticsue  

Toughie  No 3296 by Elgar

Hints and Tips by crypticsue

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

There always seems to be a National [something or other] Day and today Elgar has had fun setting a crossword celebrating a national culinary ‘experience’.  Looking for illustrations, I discovered in passing that a clotted cream and a jam company were together responsible for deciding that the 28th June should celebrate this particular National Day.  The Nina down the middle of the completed grid reveals exactly how the items should traditionally be eaten in different South West counties [which also explains the necessity to include some ‘less common’ solutions in the mix]

 

Cornwall on the left, Devon on the right

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought

Across

 w
1a           Singer backing what’s annually rung in mass (5)
MINAJ I’d vaguely heard of this American rapper but realised that I needed her surname to provide the Nina word’s first letter.  A reversal (backing) of the abbreviated first day of the year (what’s annually rung in) and the abbreviation for Mass

4a           Means to get politician to quash five current measures (9)
AMPERAGES Replace (quash) the Roman numeral for five in some means with an abbreviated politician

9a           I vote against receiving very dirty cash envelope (9)
INVOLUCRE I (from the clue) and a vote against, the latter receiving the abbreviation for Very.  Some dirty money follows, to give us an anatomical envelope

10a         Friend is one in perfect condition? (5)
AMIGO ‘Is one(?)’ = AM I(?) + ‘in perfect condition’ = GO (adjective)

11a         This, submerged by clouds, undisclosed? (3,4)
SUN DISC Hidden in the last two words of the clue is something you wouldn’t see if it was submerged by clouds

12a         Slipping back a little ruffles enormously stressed person (7)
ONESELF An emphatic (stressed)  form of an individual person – hidden in reverse (slipping back) in rufFLES ENOrmously

13a         Batting team content (6)
INSIDE A cricket team that is batting could be considered to be the xx xxxx

15a         Kamala’s role not reversed in Maria’s family (3,5)
VON TRAPP The abbreviated role of Kamala Harris into which is inserted reversed part and a synonym for not

18a         Assets trading closes, spotted something binding (4,4)
SEED CORN Assets likely to bring future profits.   Spotted or noticed and something used as binding – ‘trading closes’ telling you to swap the final letters of each word

20a         Engineer with difficulty got bags on the counter (6)
WALLIS The engineer who invented the bouncing bomb.  A reversal (on the counter) of some difficulty inserted into (bags) got in the sense of understood

23a         Book of the Year: smooth anecdotes first to last (7)
ALMANAC Smooth or tranquil and some anecdotes, the first letter of the smooth synonym being moved from first place to last

24a         Study claims husbands right yet again (7)
REAMEND A verb meaning to study ‘claims’ some husbands

26a         Rising bar temperature agreed for German wine (5)
RIOJA A disturbance of the peace (rising) without (bar) the abbreviation for Temperature and the German word for yes (agreed)

27a         Begging folk are unable to accept gods (9)
MENDICANT Some male people (folk) and an informal way of saying are unable to ‘accepts’ the plural of the Latin word for god

28a         Red line followed by Republican to board Greyhound? (9)
LAMBRUSCO The abbreviation for Line followed by the abbreviation for Republican inserted into an abbreviated way of referring to the company that runs Greyhound Buses in the USA

29a         Turnips used to be called plonkers on the Borders (5)
NEEPS The adjective referred to a woman’s former name (used to be called) and the ‘borders’ of PlonkerS

Down

1d           Yards suspend these stable lads, Spooner tells us (9)
MAINSAILS Something suspended from yards on a ship – ‘Spoonerize’ a synonym for stable and some lads (rather than girls!)

2d           Wasting a natural new actor (5)
NIVEN Remove (wasting) the A from natural or unworldly and then add the abbreviation for New

3d           Popmaster about to introduce Ms Goulding set (7)
JELLIED A reversal (about) of someone who ‘masters’ pop into which is introduced the forename of Ms Goulding, the singer

4d           Aviator caught in a jam (6)
ALCOCK An early aviator – the cricket abbreviation for Caught inserted into A (from the clue) and a jam

5d           Perform opening somersaults in support of Games swimmer (8)
PTEROPOD A group of creatures that swim by means of winglike expansions of the foot.  A reversal (somersaults) of a simple way of saying perform and a minute bodily opening  follow (support in a Down solution) an abbreviation for games or physical training

6d           One responsible for lab synthesis let bottles mature (7)
REAGENT Let or granted to a tenant into which is inserted (bottles) a synonym for mature

7d           Director of Transport, Strathclyde’s good time girl off and on! (5,4)
GUIDE RAIL The Scottish word (as used in Strathclyde) for good, a period of time and the even (off and on) letters of gIrL

8d           Cream tea, for instance, that is no longer available (5)
SCOFF The abbreviation for the Latin word meaning namely, that is and an adverb meaning no longer available, combine to give a word for food or a meal

14d         Crew ties up outside sauna (5,4)
STEAM ROOM A reversal (up) of ties (up a boat for example) into which is inserted a crew

16d         Comes after fruit delivery with the wrong order (9)
POSTDATES Some fruit and a mail delivery, the latter put before the former (with the wrong order)

17d         Ready for old Athenian choir to take centre stage in Oresteia? (8)
DRACHMAS The abbreviation for choir is inserted in the middle (to take centre stage) in some plays (Oresteia being a cycle of three plays)

19d         Stupidly turn and face headless horseman? (7)
CENTAUR An anagram (stupidly) of TURN and fACE (‘headless’ telling you to omit the F)

21d         A superb pub given a boost north of Riyadh? (7)
ARABIAN A (from the clue)and a reversal (given a boost) of an abbreviated way of writing first class (superb) and a pub, followed by the abbreviation for North

22d         Quebec’s neighbours in contact with Express (6)
PRONTO The E in Express is a misleading capital.  The letters that neighbour Quebec in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet and a preposition meaning in contact with

23d         The fourth wall intermittently broken by pair initially improvising? (5)
APRIL The fourth month – the intermittent letters of wAlL ‘broken’ by an abbreviated pair and the initial letter of Improvising

25d         Wipe the floor of the lift, so to speak (5)
ERASE The ‘floor’ of thE and a homophone (so to speak) of a verb meaning to lift

16 comments on “Toughie 3296”

  1. I thought this was going to be one of the “doable” Elgars and the LHS went in fairly quickly but the SE corner was a struggle and the NE even more so. I had no idea of the significance of the date but spotted bits of the NINA then found the rest, which helped confirm 10 and 12a. Failed to parse 10 or 20 and am still not convinced about the former. I’m sure you’re right Sue but I’ve always thought the phrase for “perfect condition” actually meant “ready”. Oh well! I loved the “trading closes” in 12a and 29a is clever and also silly. Thanks for the blog and thanks to Elgar for the contest.

    1. The BRB has the two meanings of the required bit of 10a as ‘ready’ and ‘in perfect condition’.
      I think the ‘saw’ in 20a is got, i.e. understood.

      1. Thanks Gazza – I just didn’t have the strength to wade thro a whole page of Chambers.
        BTW – I meant trading closes in 18a not 12a, obvs.

  2. How clever and how enjoyable – thanks to Elgar and CS.
    The top half of the Nina is obviously in the correct order.
    The clues I liked best were 18a, 29a and 7d but I could have listed another half a dozen.

  3. I enjoy crosswords and generally manage to solve the Toughie. The exception is Elgar whose clueing style is more appropriate for a high-end barred puzzle than a daily blocked puzzle. I think my difficulty lies in part with Elgar’s definitions which are often vague and/or imprecise. Today we have ‘actor’, ‘the fourth’ , ‘engineer’, ‘flyer’ and ‘red’ for Niven, April, Wallis, Alcock and Lambrusco. Some grid entries are words that are not in particularly common usage (e.g. Pteropod, involucre and Sun disc) which require recourse to dictionary of other form of reference for confirmation. Cryptic Sue comments on the ‘less common’ solutions in this puzzle with a Nina that would have remained undetected but for Cryptic Sue flagging it, but such words appear fairly often in other Elgar puzzles. Though I would agree with 5 stars for difficulty, I’d have to go with 2 or 3 stars for enjoyment – it’s just too clever!

    1. Back in the day I would have agreed with you but one gets used to Elgar’s habits after a decade or so and even grows to enjoy his puzzles.

  4. Phew! Got there in the end, but it was a genuine struggle to cross the line. The existence of a Nina didn’t help me one iota, but in hindsight there was nothing that couldn’t be worked out given time. Finishing an Elgar always gives me a great sense of satisfaction and this was no exception, with 17d my favourite.

    Many thanks to the aforementioned and Sue.

  5. Great puzzle and immensely satisfying. Took ages to see the Nina once I’d come here and learned that there was one! Those Devonians always get the basics wrong, whether it’s how to crimp pasties or serve a cream tea. Tssk.
    Several answers require one simply to trust the clue, and without recourse to the BRB 10a is still rather mysterious.
    Many thanks to Elgar and Sue

    1. Regarding 10a, I’m not sure that the Roman numeral is relevant. I think the whole clue could be a question – Am I go?

      1. Good thinking, and on reflection I believe you must be right: “is one in perfect condition?” = “Am I go?”

        Thanks, Mac

        1. I’ve amended the hint so that it says what I should have said in the first place.

  6. I admitted defeat just now . Never heard of 9a, nor the perfect condition in 10a, although I bunged it in. But I can’t find any references to the plural of gods in Latin being only two letters. I can’t find a way of getting rid of the middle ‘e’. Could you assist please CS?

  7. A tracer than normal Saturday puzzle this week. Lots to like and some questionable cluing i found.

    2.5*/3*

    Favourites include 10a, 19a, 22/5a, 1d & 18d — with winner22/5a by a country mile.
    Smiles with 1a, 28a, 16d & 24d

    Thanks to setter & CS

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