Toughie No 3768 by Elgar
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ****** – Enjoyment *****
Anyone else solve the first two clues straight away and hope that we might have Elgar wearing his pink fluffy slippers this week? No such luck – this Friday Toughie was as diabolically tough as ever!
The parsing of two clues took both the hanging out of the washing and the cleaning of the bathroom, muttering to myself all the while, until eventually the pennies clanged loudly to the floor.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought
Across
1a Left with a oner, one might be solvent (6)
LIQUID The abbreviation for Left, the Roman numeral for one and an informal name for a Pound Sterling (oner)
4a Where royal retreats, dog retreats – right? (8)
BALMORAL A reversal (retreats) of an abbreviated dog breed and right or ethical
10a Formally conditioned dogs expect it from bell in Pavlovian dissertations (5)
VIAND Pavlov conducted experiments on dogs where they received food once they did an action that rang a bell. A more formal word for food is hidden in the last two words of the clue
11a Go bottling wine in retirement, and have cover for just that (9)
EIDERDOWN Insert a type of wine into go or lose life and then reverse (in retirement) and follow with have or possess
12a Japanese healing dog with new heart (7)
SHIATZU A type of small dog with the letter in the middle replaced with an A (new heart)
13a In Commission, America’s no honour (7)
ENNOBLE While I quite like my theory – a homophone (in commission) of an American phrase meaning no nonsense, I think Odrum, Gazza and Grandpa have parsed it correctly – a verb meaning to commission where the abbreviation for America is replaced by NO (from the clue)
14a In dispute, our game, over grass (8,6)
CROSSING SWORDS The thing we do for pleasure (our game) into which is inserted an informal way of saying grass or inform on
17a Wino? With this, one might get protection (4-3-7)
GOOD-FOR-NOTHING Without the hyphens, this solution could be telling what would happen if you replaced the letter representing nothing at the end of winO with the abbreviation for Good, to get a word meaning protection, as in under one’s xxxx
21a Amenities involved bar in Glasgow wash-house (7)
STEAMIE An anagram (involved) of AMEniTIES without (bar) IN
23a Scheme the majority follow after trading boundaries (7)
NOSTRUM A phrase meaning the majority follow with the ‘boundaries’ or outside letters of each word swapped (trading boundaries)
24a Light of day aboard bark (3,6)
BOW WINDOW A childish name for a dog’s bark into which is inserted IN (of) and the abbreviation for Day
25a Affect western part of capital (5)
ACTON Part of West London could if split 3,2 mean to exert an influence on (affect)
26a Become exhausted, beaten by one at Lord’s? (3,5)
RUN SHORT A cricket score that is one less than the total required to win
27a My mum is meeting her mum in Madrid tomorrow (6)
MANANA An informal mother meeting an informal name you might call your grandmother (her mum)
Down
1d Fed up with being bagelled, longing to be fit for match? (8)
LOVESICK Bagelled being tennis slang for losing a set 6 – 0, so a player might be thoroughly wearied of only scoring what a tennis umpire would call a score of nil
2d One Sunday when one’s in prison, head for oblation (9)
QUASIMODO The first Sunday after Easter – Slang for a prison into which is inserted a conjunction meaning and an abbreviated way of saying I am (one’s), followed by the ‘head’ of Oblation
3d I’ll make them do it, as in a storm energy may be harnessed (7)
IODATES Something made by Iodine as in I (the chemical symbol for Iodine) will make them. An anagram (in a storm) of DO IT AS into which is inserted (may be harnessed) the symbol for Energy
5d What follows 9 + x for one below is still minus t (7,7)
ADDRESS UNKNOWN The next line of the song in 9d – the action used in mathematics when you see the sign +, REStS (still without minus T) and what X represents in algebra
6d Skewering fruit with care’s half the battle (7)
MARENGO The second half of caRE inserted into (skewering) a type of fruit
7d Mass maintained by quantum physicist spinning figure (5)
RHOMB The abbreviation for Mass inserted into the reversed (spinning) surname of a quantum physicist
8d With parts taken down? (6)
LANDED A conjunction meaning with inserted into (parts) guided or directed (taken)
9d The King’s hit grog-blossomed Tyneside toper with this order? (6,2,6)
RETURN TO SENDER The first word in the solution is an order telling you to reverse the colour of a grog-blossomed nose, the abbreviation for the area of England where Tyneside can be found and a heavy drinker (toper)
15d If He blesses us with calm, digital camera might be repaired (3,6)
DEI GRATIA DIGITAl camERA is an anagram (might be repaired) of phrase meaning if He blesses us and CALM
16d A “mega” No. 1 raving! (8)
EGOMANIA An anagram (raving) of A MEGA NO I
18d Femme fatale perhaps, tying up what may be a Tory wet (7)
DAMPISH An informal good looking or attractive woman (femme fatale perhaps) into which is inserted (tying up) someone who might be a Tory
19d What Mexican chef makes for son … and here it is! (7)
TOSTADA A preposition meaning in the direction of (for), the abbreviation for Son and an interjection used to introduce something surprising or impressive (here it is!)
20d Independent Pub Cellars provided pressure line, … (6)
ISOBAR The abbreviation for Independent and a pub or drinking establishment, between which is inserted (cellars) an adverb meaning provided
22d .. man discovered something stocked there (5)
EDWIN The inside letters (discovered) of something stocked in a pub or the aforementioned drinking establishment
I found this was Elgar at his most devious for a while. Once I was underway I solved it a a fair rate, but was beaten by 21a and 18d. Looking at the hints I should have got them unaided. Never mind, all’s fair in love and Toughies.
My thanks to both Elgar and Gazza.
You need to thank Crypticsue not me.
That’ll teach me not to read the preamble. Apologies to both.
Hard but fair.
For 13a, I was thinking same as you at first but prefer Commission = Enable with the A swapped for No.
Thanks to Elgar and CS for workout and blog respectively.
This was tough but I enjoyed the struggle. Thanks to Elgar and CS.
I thought at one stage that we were heading for a pangram but it was not to be.
Who knew that 2d was a religious Sunday named after a bell-ringer, or was it the other way round?
I parsed 13a as a verb to commission or facilitate with the abbreviation for America changed to NO.
I liked 11a, 17a and especially the paired 9d/5d.
4a went in immediately but was followed by a very long wait. The top half was really fiendish, the bottom half merely difficult.. I have never come across bagel as in 1d, nor any American slang in 13a, but parsed the latter as Odrum above, a nice clue. I was completely bamboozled by 17a and might have been even if I had not misread Wino? as Who?, but solved the clue fairly quickly from enumeration and two crossers. Favourites were three other Long clues. Thanks to Elgar and Cryptic Sue.mm
Too hard for me as usual. DNF and one of my poorest Friday performances for a long time.
I couldn’t even get started with the first 2 and for quite a while had only 10a, 12a and 3d. This was Elgar at his most devious, which isn’t necessarily his toughest – once you suss the game in 14a and the King in 9d you can get cracking, maybe.
Top picks were 11a, the aforementioned 14a, the extremely devious 17a and the lol 19d [here it is!]. The Elvis combo deserves a credit too.
Thanks to Elgar and CSue [the solution to 23a lacks its covering]
Brutal, a real brain-basher.
I ended with too many answers not completely parsed for me to say I enjoyed this. I thought when the king’s hit revealed itself I’d cracked it. No such luck, I still struggled.
For me, this was the most difficult Elgar puzzle for quite some time.
My thanks (or not) to the aforementioned and to CS for her explanations. This one couldn’t have been easy to blog.
Absolutely thrilled. We did a Friday toughie! Couldn’t parse several but took a punt which is what we do with Elgar.
That was tough (of course!) and some of the parsing took longer than solving the clue. I had no idea that 2d was the Sunday after Easter. The parsing of 3d foxed me but now I know why, I think it’s a clever clue! Like Sue, the first two raised my hopes….but it was not to be.
Thanks to CrypticSue for the explanations and Elgar for the workout.
A rare Friday off (work if not Mama Bee’s needs) gave me time for this.
Like Sue I was fooled by an easy start to the acrosses. The link between the Royal Dog and the article in today’s paper amused the most. I may have to have a warm beer with a right wing dog to celebrate.
Thanks to Sue and Elgar
(My next day off is Friday 23rd for the first bit of Elgars S&B)
I had the grassland of 14a as ings in crosswords. Ings being a meadow by a river.
I only came to this conclusion as I spend most summer Sunday afternoons by the bandstand on Wetherby Ings. While Mama Bee listens to the brass bands I tackle Dada and reply to the Sunday Toughie blog.
Grass = sing is just as valid, though I do wonder if Elgar could be devious enough to go with the grassland
Re the Japanese healing I couldn’t find any where the word Shiatsu is spelled with a z.Then again I couldn’t find were Shihtsu was spelled with an s.
Changing your alias again for the fourth time sent you into moderation
What did you think of the crossword?
Chambers gives shiatsu with shiatzu as an alternative. To be correct, according to the BRB, the dog is shih tzu, 2 words
As for the puzzle it was way above my pay grade. In fact I only managed 7 unaided, not helped by thinking 1a was an anagram of L+a+oner =loaner~lender? Defeated I used the hints as teaching material.
Thanks to Elgar and Crypticsue
There were quite a few dogs in this, a Lab, a shih tzu, another one barking and one of Pavlov’s too
Went to bed last night having solved a total of four clues in the same time time as it took to complete each of the last 3 Elgars, and minded to give up. In the days when the only help to be had was one’s own reference books, I’d still be struggling. And without the blog I still wouldn’t know why several of the answers were the answers.
So thanks to Sue for the education and Elgar for the mental work out.
Even with the hints it is fiendish. Some very clever clues though.
Your hint for 26a, losing by one would take two more runs to win, one more would be a drawn match.
Elgar being utterly brutal. Still, it has kept me occupied during a transatlantic flight, and a couple of days of time-zone acclimatisation! I wouldn’t have finished without the App telling me a few of my fractionally parsed bung-in ideas were wrong (eg having LORN stuck in my head for the second half of 1d, which fits the clue). Even with that, I failed to spot the necessary link between 22 and 20, and the unusual synonym in 20 itself. I had 8 and double definition, the first part being a reference to an actor getting a part, which clearly isn’t what Elgar intended. And the definite pronoun in 8d is seriously misleading for a setter where every word is usually ultra important. 3d gets my top prize.
Thanks to Elgar and especially CS for plugging the gaps in the parsings