Toughie No 3584 by Elgar
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Elgar is not quite at his most fiendish today but it’s all very clever and enjoyable. Thanks to him.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Neglected pro couldn’t please the judges more (9)
FORGOTTEN: a preposition meaning pro and received maximum marks from the judges (3,3).
8a See 9 Down
11a See instrument with bits flipped over (5)
VOILA: reverse two letters of a stringed instrument.
12a Time to get a train (5)
TEACH: the abbreviation for time and what ‘a’ means in an offer such as ‘50p a kilo’.
13a Bribed retiring head of TSB branch (5)
BOUGH: a verb meaning bribed without the first letter of TSB.
16a Pointer essential after having been cut off round lake (6)
NEEDLE: a truncated word meaning essential containing the abbreviation for lake.
17a Media targets put weight on broadcast (6)
ADMASS: this means advertising aimed at a wide audience (not a term I’d heard of). It sounds like a phrase (3,4) meaning to put weight on.
18a Spirits coming from here yet? (5)
STILL: double definition, the first being the source of your gin.
19a Dull-witted oaf’s left tubes out of shape (6)
OBTUSE: the leftmost letter of oaf followed by an anagram (out of shape) of TUBES.
20a “Where’s Roma?” I’ll go for Spain (and others) (2,4)
ET ALIA: Roma rather than Rome in the clue indicates that we want the name of its country in its native language. Now replace the first I with the IVR code for Spain.
21a Important info for better actor (5)
THESP: split the answer 3,2 to get what someone betting on horseracing needs to know.
24a Legal bar trainees to prosecute cases (5)
ESTOP: hidden in the clue. Both the BRB and Collins have this word only as a verb but the OED allows it to be a noun.
26a Slowly complied with 50 per cent of Polonius’s advice? (5)
LENTO: split the answer 4,1 to understand how someone complied with the second half only of the advice given by Polonius to Laertes on prudent economic management: ‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be’.
27a and 10 Down This time’s best tournament limit: easy to split people here when running (11,2,3,6)
COMPLIMENTS OF THE SEASON: string together an informal term for a tournament or competition and a word meaning ‘the limit below which a stimulus is not perceived’ (thanks BRB). Now insert a synonym of easy or light into a pronoun meaning ‘people here’ and finally append a conjunction meaning when and an adverb meaning running.
28a Guarding rocker, one who clocks party promoter? (9)
SLOGANEER: someone who clocks or notices containing a word for a boulder which can be easily rocked.
Down Clues
2d Extremely supportive of love letter (5)
OMEGA: an informal modifier meaning extremely follows the love-resembling letter.
3d and 22 Down Withdraw research discipline (2,4,6)
GO INTO HIDING: a phrasal verb meaning to research and an informal term for discipline of a physical nature.
4d and 23 Down Pictures a large-scale 22 Down? (3,3,6)
THE BIG SCREEN: cryptic definition which could mean 22d on a large scale.
5d Dadaist back on cycle (5)
ERNST: cycle the letters of the back of a ship to get this German painter who was a pioneer of Dadaism.
6d In liquor, core of revellers cools off – here? (6,7)
POLICE STATION: insert the central letter of revellers and a verb meaning cools off into a humorous word for an alcoholic drink.
7d American critic rubbished Dragon Pale Ale (5,5,3)
EDGAR ALLAN POE: an anagram (rubbished) of DRAGON PALE ALE.
9d and 8 Across D’oh! No, I’m not me – verse seems shaky (4,5,9,4)
EVEN HOMER SOMETIMES NODS: the whole clue is what a poet unable to come up with a good rhyme might say. The answer (a saying meaning that even the best are fallible) is an anagram (shaky) of D’OH NO I’M NOT ME VERSE SEEMS.
10d See 27 Across
13d Get ready to attack (5)
BESET: split 2,3 this means to get ready.
14d Wee bully you shouldn’t have let off (5)
URINE: an adjective meaning ‘bully’ (in the sense of ‘relating to a bull’) without a short word of appreciation (you shouldn’t have).
15d Comedy duo splitting with ace tennis star (5)
HALEP: this is the surname of a recently retired female Romanian tennis star. We need the surnames of a male comedy duo of the 1980s and 1990s (Hale and Pace) without the word ‘ace’.
22d See 3 Down
23d See 4 Down
25d Is this schoolboy error about to blow classroom’s centrepiece … (5)
PUPIL: the reversal of an error without the central letter of classroom.
26d … as gymnast put match to dynamite? (5)
LITHE: a verb meaning ‘put match to’ and the abbreviation for what dynamite is an example of.
Lots to like here – I’ll just mention 1a, 20a, 26a, 9d/8a and 14d. Which clue(s) made your day?
Yes, by no means his toughest but as ever it’s the parsing that takes the time. I thought I was doing well to remember Polonius’s advice but must admit defeat on the comedy duo. So thanks to Gazza for that and for unravelling the humongous charade at 27/10 which surely deserves a COTD award, along with 14d which made me chuckle twice; once for his definition and again when I twigged “bully”.
Thanks again Gazza and of course to Elgar.
Thoroughly enjoyed that. 1a’s especially lovely, 26a is clever and 14d’s comical. Best thanks to Elgar (is the great man finally mellowing?!) and Gazza.
I was surprised to finish this in fairly rapid order.
Just the limit in 27a that failed to make sense. 25d was my favourite.
Thanks to Gazza and Elgar.
I certainly found this to be more challenging than the contributors above, but stuck with it and got there eventually.
As per with Elgar, I needed a lengthy revision after completing to parse a few. Even then I still had one or two question marks, so thanks to Gazza for his superb analysis.
My thanks also to our setter for a very enjoyable mental workout.
Phew, that was hard work! I really didn’t think I was going to finish but eventually limped across the line. My last one in was 24a because I forgot that time honoured piece of advice, when all else fails look for a lurker! It was not a word I had come across. I liked the 22 letter shaky verse anagram.
Many thanks to Gazza for the hints and tips, I struggled with the parsing of a few, so some explanations were most helpful. Thanks also to Elgar.