Toughie 3656

Toughie  No 3656 by Elgar

Hints and Tips by crypticsue

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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty *****³⁰⁰ – Enjoyment ****

It was a very  good job I didn’t have very much planned for this morning as I have devoted most of it to Elgar’s Toughie No 9d/19d.  Even being aware of this landmark achievement wasn’t quite as helpful as it might have been but I got there in the end and, in the process, now know quite a lot more about 10a/26a than I did before.  Apparently, there are plans to celebrate the 9/19^th anniversary of his death next March. Edit – see Deansleigh’s comment below as to why Elgar ‘invited’ 9/19 to join his tercentenary celebrations

I did take considerably longer than my usual 5* Toughie time to achieve a completed grid, not really as  the difficulty rating might imply, but I couldn’t resist adding the themed number!

Congratulations to Elgar on producing so many fine brain-mangling crosswords – my favourite still, and probably always will be, Toughie No 770

Please let us know what you thought

Across

5a           RAF squadrons not being allowed up exercise complaint (6)
GROUSE A division of an air made up of a number of wings (RAF squadrons) without (not allowed) UP, followed by a synonym for exercise

7a           Unused fleecy material from sheep’s head keeps for coat (3-5)
OFF-SORTS Wool set aside in sorting as it is unusable.     A preposition meaning from and fortified buildings (keeps) into which is inserted the  ‘head’ of Sheep

10a         Additional force, given 26 … (3)
NEW If you add the solution to that of 26a, you get the SI Unit of Force

11a         Goes over the Channel to collect juice: there it is! (5)
VOILA A French (over the Channel) word meaning go ‘collects’ the juice of the fruit of the olive tree to give us a French interjection meaning there it is

12a         In the Highlands, runs through dancing its reels (8)
LEISTERS An anagram (dancing) of ITS REELS produces a verb meaning to spear with a salmon spear of the same name

13a, 8d and 4d As don (with head for heights) softens trend, using Goliath for development? (8,2,3,9,2,6)
STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS The temptation to take Elgar’s word that the anagram was in there somewhere was almost overwhelming, but I persevered and can tell you that an anagram (for development) of AS DON H (the ‘head for heights’ SOFTENS TREND USING GOLIATH, a phrase famously used in a letter in 1675 by our themed mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, author and inventor

15a         Essential upright character lacking, born then passed on (6)
NEEDED An adjective meaning born (of a woman) and passed on without the I (upright character lacking)

16a         Makeshift assembly line reduced by illness, perhaps? (5)
MAYBE  Reduce or remove the letters ILLNESS (perhaps telling you that they aren’t in that order) from AsseMBlY linE

18a         Old question’s introduction has Wimsey’s case in tatters (2,3)
AS WHY An obsolete way of introducing a question.  An anagram (in tatters) of HAS and the ‘case’ of WimseY

20a         Collapse in the region of blood vessel (4,2)
CAVE IN The Latin abbreviation meaning about, in the region of, and a blood vessel

22a         Hardened skin broken by copper salt concretion (8)
CALCULUS An area of hardened skin ‘broken’ by the chemical symbol for copper  Isaac  independently developed xxxxxxx in the 17th century, introducing the method of fluxions to describe rates of change and laying the foundation for modern differential and integral xxxxx.

24a         One digs lower to rear of resort, wasting energy (8)
SPADEMAN A verb meaning to lower in status, without (wasting) the second appearance of the symbol for Energy) goes after (to the rear of) a resort with a mineral spring

25a         With difficulty crossed road, then arranged for report (5)
WADED Homophones (for report) of a road and part of a verb meaning arranged

26a         … today’s theme, after 10 19 (3)
TON Combined with the solution to 10a, this gives us today’s theme

27a         Once base intercepts old source of energy beam, everything bounces back (5,3)
YEARS AGO  The abbreviation or Old, a source of energy, and a beam into which is inserted the letter that is the base of the natural system of logarithms, all reversed (everything bounces back)

28a         Run supporters out of restaurants (6)
SERIES Crosswordland’s usual ‘supports’ removed from some restaurants or bars serving food.  There is ‘run’ of telescopes named after our themed scientist

Down

1d           This is attractive, sex being secured by money (7)
GRAVITY An informal name for sexual intercourse being secured by, or inserted into, a slang term for money

2d           Old Style Times cryptic clue in a land in shock (6,8)
JULIAN CALENDAR An anagram (cryptic) of CLUE IN A LAND inserted into a verb meaning to give an unpleasant shock.  Apparently,  our hero complained about this old style way of arranging the natural series of time and so created his own

3d           What’s bandy? Take over on pitch to illustrate (3,3)
BOW LEG Take an over on a cricket pitch and an abbreviated way of saying for example (to illustrate).  I did check but apparently there is no evidence that our hero was bandy!

4d           See 13 Across

6d           Retract specifically including US as a friend of Macron? (2,3)
EN AMI A French (as used by its President) phrase meaning as a friend – that bit was relatively straightforward.  However, I have to thank  Gazza as I decided that three hours was more than enough time to spend on this and asked him for help.  Reverse (retract) an abbreviation meaning that is (specifically) into which is inserted (including) the human race (3) (us)

8d           See 13 Across

9d           A crowd 21 perhaps gathers in hotel (5)
THREE Because two is company and this number is a crowd.  A large plant with a woody trunk (21 perhaps) ‘gathers’ the letter represented by Hotel in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet

14d         Hoy’s certainly not in race where every second counts (3)
NAE The Scotsman, Chris Hoy, might use this word to mean certainly not.  Every second letter of iN rAcE

17d         Potentially a and b limit one, expressing a couple of terms? (8)
BINOMIAL Our hero had a theorem about this.  A word meaning consisting of two terms, as in a + b into which is inserted an N (one without ‘expressing’ the two outside letters (couple of terms).  The solution is also an anagram (potentially) of A B LIMIt ONe without (expressing) the two end letters (terms)

18d         Personal reminiscences etc assembled in equal measure (3)
ANA Things belonging to a specific person such as small objects, sayings or anecdotes, or (in recipes and prescriptions) in equal measure

19d         Division of old track allowing escape of old cardinal (7)
HUNDRED A verb meaning to track or chase without (allowing escape of) the abbreviation for Old followed by a deep scarlet colour (cardinal)

21d         Inspiration for superior solution spotted disrobing (5)
APPLE The inspiration for our scientist’s discovery of the solution to 1d (which is, in the grid, superior to this one.   A synonym for spotted without its outside letters (disrobing)

22d         Is unable to cut a division (6)
CANTON A simple way of saying is unable to and ON(e) ‘cut’ or with the final letter removed

23d         10 26’s first or last principles covering bases for court action? (5)
LAWNS Theoretical principles ‘covering’ either  the first letter of the solution to 10a, or the last letter of 26a

I spent so much time on this crossword and blog post that  Mr CS even came upstairs to the ‘office’ to find out whether I was OK.  Sorry, no time for pictures; once I have scheduled the blog, I’m off for a very long lie down in a darkened room.