Toughie No 3344 by Elgar
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
Elgar doing what he does best – a proper Toughie with some splendid penny-dropping moments to leave the solver smiling – and the blogger too – once she’d worked out the last few, extra tricky, parsings
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought
Across
1a Be honest please, like 26? (5,4,2)
LEVEL WITH ME An expression meaning be honest describes how the solution to 26a relates to the solution to 27a – the last word will become clear once you’ve solved 27a!
10a Sombre minimum provision at Pitié-Salpêtrière? (5)
UNLIT Split 2,3 this would be the minimum requirement a French patient would require at a hospital such as Pitié-Salpêtrière
11a Apprentice divers on here, punctuating good service at sea (9)
GREENHORN An anagram (divers) of ON HERE ‘punctuating’ or going between the abbreviation for Good and the branch of the armed forces which serves at sea
12a Hypocritical about burying past (9)
INSINCERE A Latin expression meaning about or concerning ‘burying’ an adverb meaning past
13a I love how radio-operator begins and signs off! (5)
ROMEO The NATO Phonetic Alphabet code word that begins and signs off Radio-operatoR
14a So-called thriller writer kind of pedestrian (6)
AMBLER An English writer of espionage and crime stories or someone who moves at an easy pace (kind of pedestrian)
16a A cinema in a tower, once you and I exchanged (8)
ARTHOUSE A (from the clue)and a verb meaning to tower or increase in height where the I is exchanged for an archaic word for you
18a Get in touch with Will Moon (8)
CALLISTO Get in touch with (on the telephone perhaps) and a two-word phase meaning will (the capital W is there to mislead)
20a Theatrical gag goes to the Listener (6)
WHEEZE A homophone (to the listener) of goes in the sense of passes water
23a Distracted Brass author leaves us both hanging (5)
ARRAS An anagram (distracted) of bRASs aUTHOr once US and BOTH “leave”
24a The sort of arrangement Sooty promised Soo? (2-7)
NO-STRINGS The sort of arrangement Sooty and Soo would always have!
26a Going over a superb piece of jewellery (9)
REPAIRING Going or taking oneself off – a reversal (over) of a preposition meaning a, for each, followed by an indication of superb or top quality, and a piece of jewellery
27a Retiring great: golfer defying the odds, producer of fine scores (5)
ELGAR Hidden in reverse (retiring) without (defying) the odd letters, in gReAt GoLfEr
28a Carrying marketing designs, oil company attending posters’ area? (11)
BLOGOSPHERE An abbreviated oil company ‘carrying’ some designs used as symbols, followed by an adverb meaning in this place (attending)
Down
2d Boy sheltered by immigrants illegally raised (5)
ELLIS Hidden in reverse (sheltered … raised) in immigrantS ILLEgally
3d Understanding is boundless XXX (7)
ENTENTE Write down the number represented by the Roman numeral X three times and then remove the outside letters (boundless)
4d My Learned Friend may be given a ticking-off (6)
WIGGED Something worn by a barrister in a court of law (addressed by his opposite number as My Learned Friend) or given a scolding
5d/6d Reach my throne room empty? It’ll want livening up! (3,5,7)
THE MERRY MONARCH An anagram (livening up) of REACH MY THRONE and the outside letters (empty) of RooM – a reference to the King who came to the throne after the reign of the Puritans and so his empty throne room would definitely have needed livening up!
6d See 5 Down
7d Maybe regular staff changes, so a learner often looks round (7,6)
MUSICAL CHAIRS A synonym for often and some looks go round a Latin word meaning so, A (from the clue) and an abbreviated learner The first part of the clue refers to an informal expression used in offices when regular changes of staff occur, but the illustrations for the party game Elton wasn’t good at are much nicer!
8d Nancy’s golden service enthrals flash tea party guest? (8)
DORMOUSE The French (as used in Nancy) way of saying that something is made of gold (golden) and a service into which is inserted (enthrals) an informal very short period of time (flash)
9d A little easier to work with one’s mum? (2,4,7)
IN SOME MEASURE An anagram (to work) of EASIER with ONES MUM
15d Lovely having river work – sadly, it will take a toll (4-4)
BELL-ROPE A beautiful woman or girl (informally a ‘lovely’) into which is inserted the abbreviations for River and a work
17d See 19 Down
19d/17d So Elton says, 7’s not his forte? (2,5,8)
I’M STILL STANDING An Elton John song, the title of which might imply that he isn’t very good at 7d
21d Castle exposed King with check (7)
HARLECH The inside (exposed) letters of the forename of our current King with the abbreviation for check
22d Customs of e.g. New York Times (6)
USAGES An abbreviated way of referring to the country where New York is to be found, followed by some times
25d Ascendant Queen without a country (5)
NIGER A reversal (ascendant) of the Latin word for queen without the A at the end
As Elgar puzzles go (and in the main they’re very tough) I thought that this was at the less tough end with no obscurities but still requiring a lot of brainwork. It is extremely enjoyable – thanks to Elgar and CS.
I ticked 10a, 13a, 20a, 19/17d and 21d but my absolute favourite was the very neat 1a.
An immensely satisfying puzzle to complete, and I too thought it was at the lighter end of Elgar’s range, but still absolutely a 5* Toughie.
As is so often the case the answers came in droughts and floods, as ideas occurred, solidified, and went in. It took ages to see and parse 7d, but then the 19/17 combo dawned. Until checking the BRB afterwards I did not know 20a had a specific theatrical connection – thought it was just a type of ‘gag’. I had 1a early on, long before 27a & even 26a, so hadn’t gone back to think about how it actually worked: very clever. Slowed down by 26a where I had convinced myself that it had to include “bling”.
As Sue so rightly says, “some splendid penny-dropping moments to leave the solver smiling”, one of which was my COTD, the genius 3d. Joined on the podium by 27a & 13a, with runner-up Sooty & Soo at 24a.
Many, many thanks Elgar, and thanks also to CS
I thought this was quite brilliant, with several outstanding clues and clever surfaces. I wasn’t going to attempt to pick any favourites, but 1a, 4d and the 19/17d combo were special. Superb mind-mangling entertainment.
Many thanks to 27a and Sue.
Didn’t think I’d get anywhere near this after a very slow start, but they kept dropping in.
Another of Jane’s (not) favourite clues in 20a unlocked the east . 4d and 21d my favourites.
7d and 19/17d very clever.
Thanks Elgar, and of course CS
In the end it wasn’t too bad for Elgar but I was also very slow to really get going. 18a and 17d unlocked the bottom half then I slowed down again in the North. I wasn’t helped by thinking the French place in 10a was a cemetery and bunging “grave” in [well it fits the def]. Once that was resolved the top half yielded. It took a shamefully long time to twig the rather obvious 1a [assuming one has 27a in] and the historical significance of 5/6d eluded me, as did the parsing of 7d. Top clues for me were 13a [very apt] 16a [the archaic/dialect “you” was a sadistic touch] 26a [over a] and 3d.
Thanks to Elgar and CS for the blog and the enlightenment.
Top class stuff.
I think this is the first Elgar I’ve solved without using any aids, so definitely a bit easier than many of his puzzles. An enjoyable struggle as usual, and a nice feeling to have completed it.