Toughie No 3736 by Elgar
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
If I hadn’t struggled so mightily to parse two of the clues, I might have said that I really enjoyed this proper Friday Toughie but I still can’t parse one of them (and none of the three crossword-solving ‘friends I phoned’ could help until I got an email just after the blog was published. I spotted the theme quite early on in the solving process – apparently it is the centenary of Britain’s first Grand Prix [the names of eleven British Formula One champions are to be found in the Across solutions, some of them crossing over two solutions, one name doing double duty for father and son with that surname]
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought
Across
7a Chuck the actor small golf club to hold Resistance back (6)
NORRIS An American martial artist and actor – a reversal (back) of the abbreviation for Small and a type of golf club into which is inserted the symbol for Resistance
9a Hotel chain features in The Morning Show (8)
HAMILTON The name of an international chain of hotels ‘features’ the abbreviation meaning in the morning
10a Angry man of God blockades useless house (8)
CHOLERIC A member of the clergy (man of God) into which is inserted (blockades) the last word of the clue without the USE (use less)
11a They sing high notes, closing intros from Rihanna & Kylie (5)
LARKS Musical notes into which is inserted (closing) the ‘intros’ from Rihanna and Kylie
12a The greatest possible car competition is out of line (3)
ALL Remove (out of) the abbreviated railway line from a car competition
13a Dickens veto curbs the writer’s self-esteem in retirement (8)
BOGEYMAN Dickens and the solution are other names for the devil – a veto ‘curbs’ a reversal (in retirement) of how our writer might refer to his self-esteem
15a Keeper of the shop vault on report (6)
SELLER A homophone (on report) of an underground vault
16a Performer moving from #3 to #9 in chart is Tems (7)
ARTISTE Hidden from the third letter to the ninth letter in chART IS TEms
18a Ukraine is the reverse of corrupt in counsel (3-4)
WAR-TORN A reversal of a verb meaning to corrupt inserted into counsel or caution against
21a Unusual grub is a feature of California (3,3)
BIG SUR An anagram (unusual) of GRUB IS
23a Ofsted is seething about ring-fencing NE region (8)
TEESSIDE “Ring-fenced” in reverse (about in the first three words of the clue
25a Section of circular circuit (3)
ARC Hidden in the last two words of the clue
26a Switch pipe down, then turn it off and on (5)
SHUNT An instruction to be quiet (pipe down) and then the alternate letters (off and on) of tUrN iT
27a With various pikes sees off unfriendly superior (8)
HILLOCKY One of Elgar’s ‘sounds like a letter’ clues – remove the Cs (sees off) from an adjective meaning unfriendly and another meaning superior or self-important
29a Being received by dynasty with gold bar I may (8)
HAWTHORN An extremely well-hidden definition – a Chinese dynasty into which is inserted (being received by) WiTH and the heraldic term for gold (bar I telling you to omit the I
30a Trump’s backside in contact with switch (6)
BUTTON An American word (as used by the POTUS) for the backside and a simple way of saying in contact with
Down
1d Cry hard for one born in error (3-3)
BOO-HOO Remove the second abbreviation for Born from an error and replace it with the abbreviation for Hard
2d Reader separated from a drug addict (4)
USER Take away (separated) from a reader the three-letter word meaning a or for each
3d Clubs welcome punishment that player might be dealt (7)
CHICANE A bridge hand without trumps – two lots of the abbreviation for the suit of Clubs between which is inserted an informal welcome, a type of punishment being added at the end
4d Camels wandering about every second minute (5-5)
SMALL-SCALE An anagram (wandering) of CAMELS goes ‘about’ a synonym for every already seen in the solutions and the abbreviation for Second
5d Analyses aircraft series, each one of these perhaps more than one? (6)
PLURAL There is a sliver of lemon drizzle cake for anyone who understands how the clue leads to the solution because I’ve spent literally hours thinking about it, even giving up any idea of going out this morning as I originally planned. Edit: One of my ‘phone a friends’ has just explained the blooming obvious – the first three words in the clue are all examples of the solution, so here’s his cake!
6d “M” is inserted into Parisian street name retrospectively (8)
MONSIEUR A reversal (retrospectively) of IS inserted into a French street and the French word for name
8d Perhaps Queen Victoria admits “you can’t trust me with very outstanding artworks” (7)
RILIEVI The Latin word for queen and Victoria’s regnal cipher ‘admits’ a way of saying you can’t trust me to tell the truth and the abbreviation for Very
14d Head of Maths at university helping development (10)
MATURATION The ‘head’ of Maths, AT (from the clue), the abbreviation for University and a helping
17d I drive horses nearly mad on heading across motorway (8)
REINSMAN RE (on the subject of) ‘heading’ or going before almost all of a synonym for mad into which is inserted (across) the abbreviation for Motorway
19d Try the Guinness? Hotel’s out! (4,3)
TEST OUT ThE (from the clue without the letter represented by Hotel in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet and the strong dark beer of which Guiness is an example
20d Design event’s launch is held in the City (7)
ETCHING Once you have the checking letters, the solution is obvious – If only I’d checked in the BRB (as Gazza did, many thanks to him) I might have discovered that part of the solution is a noun with many definitions, including an event, the first letter (launch) of which is ‘held’ in the postcode area of the City of London
22d Look to fine breaks close to Rimini (6)
SHUFTI The abbreviation for Fine ‘breaks’ to in the sense of not open followed by the ‘close’ to RiminI
24d Insurgent not initially required to procure fine butcher’s hooks (6)
DEKKOS Slang looks – butcher’s hooks being Cockney rhyming slang) – A reversal (insurgent or rising) of a synonym for required without its first letter (not initially) into which is inserted (procured) an informal way of saying fine
28d Division heading north along border of Chile and Bolivia? (4)
LOBE Hidden in reverse (heading north in a Down solution) in chilE and BOLivia
Sue, I assumed that the first three words in 5d are examples of the definition.
You are just too late for the slice of cake as I had an email explaining what I couldn’t see for looking just as the blog was published
Drat – the cake looks delicious. I thought Elgar was at his most devious today. After solving this along with what I thought was a Toughie-grade back-pager, I’m off to lie in a darkened room.
Certainly a toughie! There were many clues which seemed very difficult but then looked easy once I saw how they worked, which I see as.a mark of a good crossword. Sadly there was too much that I did not like to say that I enjoyed the puzzle, in particular, the use in 19d of the same word, in full, in both the clue and the answer which I have not come across before.
Having thought I had a quick answer at 17d seeing I DRIVE and a possibility of H and M in the world play (which didn’t work), I had a good chuckle when that answer turns up later on.
The theme passed me by, though now I look at my grid, it is blindingly obvious.
That notwithstanding, I was fast off the grid (well, for an Elgar), then got held up by the parsing of a few back markers.
I really should have clocked the ‘sees off’ part of 27a and in 20a, failed to get the synonym for design, even though I am fully aware of the postcode for the City Of London.
Regarding 5d my research led to three obscure airline codes, which when put together spelled the definition. I was still not convinced as this seemed rather tenuous, even for Elgar!
I also had to confirm my answer to 8d was a real word, despite the wordplay insisting to me it was.
The slang answers to 22d and 24d which essentially means the same thing were amusingly familiar, but the plural spelling of the latter seemed odd written down.
My favourite was 29a, when I realised the last word of the clue was doing the heavy lifting.
Well that’s it with Elgar for a couple of weeks, my thanks to him and CS, I’m off for a well earned.
I’ve just come home to check for the 5d answer and, having read it, to give myself a good kicking (I was fixated on the idea that Ural was one of a series of mountains).
Thanks to Elgar for the fortnightly knottiness and to CS for the review. Naturally I missed the theme but I wouldn’t recognise the more modern names anyway because I find the sport boring.
My ticks go to the very well-disguised definition at 29a, the amusing 30a, 2d and 22d.
The first two-thirds of this went in at a sufficiently rapid pace that I doubted (a) this was an Elgar and (b) it was a Toughie; the final half-dozen reassured me on both points as I ground nearly to a halt and was, ultimately, defeated – the very well hidden 18a, 27a & 28d seeing me off in the end. Still unconvinced that pikes and hillocks are synonymous, but hey-ho. 17d entirely new to me. Needless to say I entirely missed the theme.
Many thanks to Elgar for the challenge and the thrashing, and CS for the blog.
Blimey! That was fairly brutal. I had several unparsed bung-ins (thanks Sue), I missed the theme (as per), and struggled like others with 5d (obvious now innit?) It was just a tad too difficult for me to really enjoy it, yet it did give me a feeling of immense satisfaction to crawl over the finishing line.
Thanks and congratulations to Elgar for the mauling, and well done to Sue for explaining the ones my brain couldn’t unravel.
The north much easier than the south for me.
Hadn’t spotted the theme and don’t think I ever would as not interested in F1 at all.
Enjoyed what I did and got a few clues straight off that I was pleased with. 8d was a new word to me after I bunged in reliefs. And I totally missed the lurker in 23a.
Thanks for the explanation re 13a – the answer was obvious once I had the checkers but could not work out why!!
COTD is 9a
Thanks all