Toughie 3544 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3544

by crypticsue  

Toughie  No 3544 by Elgar

Hints and Tips by crypticsue

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

Elgar had his hob-nailed boots on when he set this crossword; for quite a while I only had three entries in the grid but I battled on until I had a completed crossword and then took part in a  further skirmish in order to parse five of the clues

Please let us know what you thought

Across

1a           Angry following fine after tasting evening at the deli? (7,3)
CHEESED OFF Not so much angry as fed up or disgruntled.   The abbreviations for Following and Fine go after an informal way of describing a tasting party at the deli

6d           “Ruler” – not a word I understand (4)
SHAH   An instruction to be quiet (not a word) and an interjection meaning I understand what you mean

10a         Musician burned in the nude? (5)
VERDI  Cooked too much (burned) without the outside letters (in the nude)

11a         With economy, standard parts for each individual (9)
SPARINGLY A norm or standard ‘parts’ one by one (for each individual)

12a         DeMille’s last will and testament all about satirical film (7)
TOOTSIE A satirical romantic comedy – the last letter of demillE, part of a verb meaning will (2,2) and the abbreviation for the Old Testament, all reversed (about)

13a         Fancy that woman? Not in a hundred years (7)
CHIMERA Not that woman, but that man, inserted between the Roman numeral for 100 and a series of years

14a         Spooner said feeling strain ruined Peaty’s style (12)
BREASTSTROKE  A feeling of strain and without money (ruined) given the “Spooner treatment”

18a         Boy’s name I’ll primarily take before mixing? (5,2-5)
BILLY NO-MATES An anagram (mixing) of BOYS NAME ILL and the primary letter of Take

21a         Red letter day and it’s left out (7)
CHIANTI I could ‘see’ the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet, but it took a long time to work out (and get Gazza’s confirmation of my thoughts) that the rest of this red wine is an anagram (out) of ANd IT without the D (day’s left or gone away)

23a         Philosopher visiting Australia in spring (7)
SPINOZA An informal way of saying visiting Australia inserted into a mineral spring  If you ever visit Amsterdam, it is well worth going to see this statue of him

24a         Crystal set’s reduced sealing at once meeting with criticism (9)
SNOWFLAKE The first two letters (reduced) of SEt into which is inserted (sealing) immediately or at once and an informal word for adverse criticism

25a         Slowly, say, coming from the right? Coming from the right (5)
DRAWL A reversal (coming from the right in an Across solution) of an abbreviated way of writing going to the left (coming from the right)

26a         Help one’s leader only moderately (2-2)
SO-SO An appeal for help or rescue and the leader of One

27a         Jolly intimate, St Robin? (10)
GOODFELLOW Synonyms for jolly and intimate combine to give the surname of the character in Midsummer Night’s Dream who played Puck (Robin?)  I have stared for quite a while at the “St” and have concluded that the solution could also mean a saint

Down

1d           A third of revenue sequestered in place of business space (6)
CAVITY  A (from the clue) and the third letter of reVenue inserted into (sequestered in) the business centre of a large town

2d           Ring partly interrupting time signal we hear (6)
EARCON Part of a circle (ring partly) ‘interrupting’ a vast age (time)

3d           “What is useful for alpine climber?” My answer’s ski pants in case of splits (5,4,5)
SWISS ARMY KNIFE An anagram (pants) of MY ANSWERS SKI into which inserted (splits) a conjunction meaning in case of

4d           Outlaw recycling poet’s works on a trailer (9)
DESPERADO Cycle some works of a poet (move the first letter to the end) and insert a preposition meaning for each or a and an abbreviated advertisement (trailer)

5d           A little of what Genevan makes from farm that’s out of bounds (5)
FRANC A small amount of Swiss currency (what Genevan makes) – an expression meaning  from a [stock] farm without the first and last letters (out of bounds)

7d           Embrace noble quality, uplifting Calvinist (8)
HUGUENOT An embrace, a letter associated with upper-class (noble) and a reversed (uplifting) quality

8d           Punch opportunist in the sun? (8)
HAYMAKER A slang name for a wide swinging punch or someone who is said to take the opportunity to cut down a grass crop when the sun shines

9d           I trap these people in wee game (3-2-3-6)
PIG-IN-THE-MIDDLE I (from the clue), a type of trap and a pronoun meaning these people inserted in an informal word meaning to urinate (as is wee)

15d         Pass over new setting, being snubbed in New Orleans style (9)
TRANSCEND The abbreviation for New and a setting without its last letter (snubbed) inserted into jazz which originated in New Orleans

16d         Counters a bent Uber maybe employs (8)
ABACUSES A (from the clue) a reversed (bent) form of transport such as an Uber and a verb meaning employs

17d         State occasion illicitly screens to the north (8)
ILLINOIS Hidden in reverse (screens to the north) in occaSION ILLIcitly

19d         Extra fat cat wants the lot (2-4)
NO-BALL A person of wealth (fat cat) and a synonym for everything (the lot)

20d         Refuse to sanction duck fat (6)
TALLOW To (from the clue) and sanction without the O (refuse … duck)

22d         Your setter’s past the stage of perfection (5)
IMAGO How our setting would refer to himself and an adverb meaning past

 

 

13 comments on “Toughie 3544”

  1. Good afternoon. Maybe it’s the day that’s in it, but I found all my crosswords testing this morning. I got a foothold in the SE corner, followed by the NW and the SW. The NE took a while until I got the equestrian event. I enjoyed 1a, 3d, 5d and 8d being COTD for me. Nice surface, with a Swiss/Alpine theme forming in my mind…..Thank you Crypricsue and setter.

  2. For me Elgar is at his best when his toughness comes from clever wordplay rather than obscure words and expressions and today he’s at his best; I didn’t know the rather amusing 2d signal but the wordplay was clear.
    Top clues for me were 6a, 27a, 8d and 19d.
    Many thanks to Elgar for the entertainment and to CS for the blog.

  3. Only two posts? I didn’t comment earlier because I could not complete it; it was too difficult for me.
    However, many thanks to Elgar for the puzzle, and to CS for the hints and explanations.

  4. Busy day so had to do this in 2 stages – top half, bottom half. Both took ages to get into then gradually yielded. 20d pushes Yoda-esque construction to its limits but otherwise no arguments. Liked “that woman not” in 13a, the clever all in one at 18a, the perfect 23a, “slowly say” at 25a. “ring partly” at 2d and the wee game at 9d. In fact most of it was top class stuff.
    Thanks to Elgar and CS.

  5. Wasn’t sure if I’d manage to find time for crosswords today, but I’m glad I got to this one.
    I seemed to crack plenty of clues by spotting the definition early which enabled me to find my way through the smoke and mirrors.
    That said, as usual with Elgar, there were a few which I had great trouble parsing.
    Wasn’t entirely sure about 12a and 21a still feels rather clunky. I missed the out of bounds subtlely in 5d too.
    I also got stuck with 3d as I couldn’t account for two of the letters, the i and f. I had ‘in case of splits’ meaning the outside letters of splits, ie, the anagram inside s and s.
    Still, plenty of ticks including 8a, 10a and 24a, but my favourites were 18a and 9d which appealed to my puerile sense of humour.
    My thanks to Elgar and to CS for ironing out my wrinkles.

    1. Re 3d, I also was convinced that s s would be a container for part of the wordplay.
      I did eventually get that one, but still failed on four other clues when I threw in the towel.

      1. The ‘in case of’ part which could simply mean ‘if’ is one we’ll have to remember, Jez.

  6. Another one finished in one go so can’t have been too difficult. I love the clues where you have to play ‘Hunt the definition’ in Elgar’s offerings, they are always so cleverly hidden and easily overlooked, e.g. 21ac and 24 ac. Thanks.

  7. I waited until Saturday morning but 2d remained unsolved, although on a brighter note I correctly constructed the philosopher. Some cracking clues. Thanks to Elgar and CS.

  8. Didn’t start on this til Sunday morning having successfully completed the previous 3 this week. Like Jezza, I found it a bit of a stretch and needed the hints to complete it, never heard of some of them, 18a ?
    9d my favourite and one I hit early on. Thanks to Sue as always 👍

  9. I’d never come across the 2d signal (it’s pretty awful word, too), should have gone better parsing 1a properly, failed to parse 12a (I think satirical is an odd adjective), didn’t properly think about 3d having twigged the answer, forgetting that I was in the S….s camp. All in all, not bad for a full-on Elgar!
    My prize goes to 13a. Clever surface, and very “of our times”.
    Thanks to Elgar for the battle, and CS once again for filling in the numerous Friday parsing gaps.

  10. Been on holiday, so started this 8 days late! A couple of sessions had me left with 2D, which I needed the hint to get. The usual enjoyable challenge, with plenty of penny drop moments.

    Thanks.

  11. As usual I’m miles behind with my stockpile so only just got as far as the blog for help with my last few answers. I’m still not convinced about the wordplay in 21a, the words in the clue seem to be in the wrong order for it to work in my mind… I’ll have to take your word for it there! Thanks for the blog as always.

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