Toughie No 3352 by Elgar
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
Given that this was an Elgar Toughie, I was very surprised when the first five Across clues just wrote themselves in. It soon became clear that he was just lulling us into a false sense of security as the rest of the crossword was definitely set by the Elgar we know and love. Great fun to solve, a couple of clues that required muttering to parse and a lecture from Mr CS about 14d. How else would you want to start a lovely sunny autumnal Friday morning?
Please let us know what you thought
Across
6a Cracking goods made from gold, when in supply, are bargain buys (2,3,1,4)
GO FOR A SONG Take two lots of the abbreviation for Good (goods plural) and insert (cracking) a two-word phrase meaning made from the heraldic term for gold, a conjunction meaning when and an adverb with many meanings, one of which is supply
8a Husband’s occupying seat that was close (4)
PHEW The abbreviation for Husband ‘occupying’ a seat in a church
9a Mr Big having trouble with ear’s waxy secretion (9)
AMBERGRIS An anagram (having trouble) of MR BIG with EARS
11a Zero-energy long-distance runner (4)
NILE Nothing or zero with the symbol for Energy
12a Trump’s Number One Supporter (3)
TEE A way of spelling the first letter (number one) of Trump or a golf ball supporter
13a American cooler aboard boat runs useful device in galley (3-6)
CAN-OPENER An abbreviated North American prison (cooler) is inserted into a light boat propelled by paddles, the result followed with the cricket abbreviation for Runs
16a For and against Newcastle United FC (4)
TOON Prepositions meaning for and against combine to give the nickname for Newcastle United FC
17a Service point left feeding a lord … (7)
AMENITY A reversed (left) point of a fork ‘feeding’ A (from the clue) and an interjection expression surprise (lord)
18a … leading to blame game (2,3,2)
UP FOR IT An expression meaning leading to blame. As Gazza says, the definition and solution both mean enthusiastic
20a Opposed to unlimited prayer, it appears (4)
ANTI The inside (unlimited) letters of an insect that appears to pray
21a What paste makes awkward? (9)
SHAMBLING Paste is used to make fake jewellery
23a Is aware of phoned-in refusals (3)
NOS A homophone (phoned-in) of part of a verb meaning is aware of
24a Doctor on Tube short of time at stop (4)
WHOA A television doctor and At (from the clue) without (short of) the abbreviation for Time
25a Conclude slab of clay dried up? (9)
INFERTILE A synonym for conclude and a slab of clay
29a This top TV actor may receive topping prize (4)
EMMY A television award is found by taking the top letter from a verb meaning to use a type of crowbar
30a Carelessly made slips: no notice taken, having character flaw? (10)
MISSPELLED An anagram (carelessly) of MadE SLIPS, without the abbreviated notice followed by part of a verb meaning taken or guided
Down
1d Canapé Romeo’s slipped to date (4)
SOFA Who knew a canape could be a piece of furniture? An expression meaning to date without (slipped) the letter represented by Romeo in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet
2d Minute ribbon’s tied around child carrier (4)
WOMB The abbreviation for Minute ‘tied’ in a reversal (around) of a ribbon
3d Partner cut on the ear (4)
PAIR A homophone (on the ear) of a verb meaning to cut
4d Great rush for finally leasable houses (7)
TORRENT The final letter of foR ‘housed’ by a two-word way of saying leasable
5d Utterly tedious drill activity (4-6)
WELL-BORING Without the hyphen, this could be how a teenager, perhaps, might say that something was utterly tedious
7d With wines, a feeding obsession from the South? (9)
GASTROPUB A reversal (from the south) of an informal name for an obsession into which is inserted some fortified wines. The first one of these eating places originated in London which, if you lived in the North, could be said to have come from the South
8d Boxed up cannoli, not ten-a-penny Christmas cakes (9)
PANETTONI Hidden in reverse (boxed up) in cannolI NOT TEN A Penny
10d The I of “moviegoers” (3)
EGO Hidden in the last word of the clue
13d Soon to be in picture (6,4)
COMING HOME A phrase meaning soon to be in or the name of a 1978 American romantic war drama film (picture)
14d S_me _dent_t_es n_w s_ def_ned? (9)
NON-BINARY I won’t give you the full Mr CS lecture but suffice to say that the missing letters are all in positions that are part of a particular system of numeral notation
15d Invigorated, I am up to eating small portion of Special K (9)
POTASSIUM An anagram (invigorated) of I AM UP ‘eating’ the abbreviation for Small and the first letter (portion) of Special
19d Unconventional folk enlisted for flying school? (7)
RAFFISH Dashing or flashy – members of that part of the forces relating to flying and the aquatic animals, the collective noun for which is a school
22d Whole department (3)
LOT A whole amount of something or a French department
26d 3 no longer providing cover for genuine pearls? (4)
ROPE Remove the abbreviation for the solution to 3d from the outside (no longer providing cover) from an adjective meaning real or genuine
27d Member of famous troupe “resting” (4)
IDLE A crossword setter’s most useful member of Monty Python’s Flying Circus (famous troupe) can also be a synonym for not occupied (resting)
28d Repeatedly endeavoured to protect PM (4)
EDEN Write down the second word of the clue twice (repeatedly) and you should find a 1950s Prime Minister
Elgar never disappoints – thanks to him and CS.
I parsed 18a slightly differently having ‘game’ (in the sense of enthusiastic) as the definition.
The top clues for me were 6a, 29a, 2d and 13d.
I’m feeling very pleased with myself for successfully completing my first Elgar Toughie. So many excellent clues from the master but I thought 14D was very clever. However my favourite has to be 2D.
Thank you CS for the blog and Elgar for the tussle.
By the way Sue, 6A is Go for a song (2,3,1,4).
A typo in your email address sent you into moderation
Blimey that was hard. It took me ages to get some sort of foothold in the east, then slow progress through to a conclusion. As always with this setter, there were a few leaps of faith and bung-ins, but it all made sense in the end. 29a was my favourite clue. Off for a lie down now in a darkened room.
Thanks to Elgar for the mauling and to Sue unravelling the bung-ins.
I think the answer to 6a needs adjusting.
Now adjusted – I think I was thinking about the old antiques programme!
I’m feeling very pleased with myself for successfully completing my first Elgar Toughie. So many excellent clues from the master but I thought 14D was very clever. However my favourite has to be 2D.
Thank you CS for the blog and Elgar for the tussle.
8a, what a relief to have finished! Quite brilliant, and incredibly satisfying to complete. OK, so there were several where I thought “it has to be this, but why?” (6a, 17a, 29a, 13a – never, ever, heard of that film) and I was delighted to add 1d’s piece of furniture to my vocab when checking the BRB, but there were so many great clues.
Honours for me went to 21a, 14d & 19d, with runner-up 5d.
Many thanks indeed to Elgar and to CS
(Congratulations to PJ – the first of many!)
Quite a few write-ins, which I wasn’t expecting, but then I got stuck in the SE corner for a while. Possibly the closest I’ve ever been to having parsed everything. Can anyone confirm this is number 262 from Elgar?
Finished this today (not without electronic help). 14d had to be what it was but why? Can someone explain, please?
There are no Os or Is which are the digits in the binary number system. Or that’s what I eventually came up with!
Just finished today too. Defeated by 17a and 30a, the latter making 26, 27 and 28 uncertain. The usual mix of delight and harrumphs for an Elgar.
Thanks. That wasn’t covered in O-level maths in 1959.
It’s panettone, not panettoni
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