Toughie No 3488 by Elgar
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
As Gazza said yesterday, Elgar “doesn’t do gentle” so after three days of back page difficulty Toughies, we knew we would have a proper Toughie to solve today. Relatively speaking, for me anyway, this was friendlier than many of his other crosswords; still very tough but both solvable and explainable for the purposes of this blog post!
Please let us know what you thought
Across
1a “Drivel!”, as a reviewer might sum up this puzzle? (1,4,2,8)
A LOAD OF COBBLERS Several of the solutions in this puzzle can be defined as drivel. Anyone else originally have nonsense as the final word until it didn’t work with the linked Down clues?
9a First thing for astronaut, I suspect, to worry about (9)
SPACESUIT An anagram (to worry) of I SUSPECT goes ‘about’ the first letter of Astronaut
10a Who wants user compromised in a corner (US)? (5)
NARCO An anagram (compromised) of A CORNer us without (wants) USER
11a Newly stage religious book by Eco, unencumbered by G&S (2-5)
RE-ENACT The capital E for Eco is there to mislead – environmentally friendly without (unencumbered by) the G and a book of the Old Testament without the S
12a Not a thing husband will exchange for a sweet! (6)
NOUGAT Exchange the abbreviation for Husband in nothing with an A
15a Male dog between the sheets? (8)
COCKTAIL A male bird and a verb meaning to dog. Here the definition probably does need the capital letters
16a A serving of Scottish coley coming back over it? (4)
LOCH Hidden in reverse in ScottisH COLey
19a Remote pine (4)
LONG I spotted this on my way down from the printer and by the time I’d reached the kitchen, I’d decided that both these words could mean the solution
20a Argument with chef, not OK about returning casserole dishes (8)
COCOTTES A chef without the letters OK, the Latin abbreviation meaning about and a reversal (returning) of an argument (3,2)
23a One refuses to admit how fine stockings can be (6)
DENIER Double definition, one pronounced differently to the other
24a “I can trump almost anything.” (Chap holds nothing) (7)
MANILLE In the card games of ombre and quadrille, the highest card but one. A chap ‘holds’ a synonym for nothing
26a Occasions at which you can enjoy dancing games (5)
BALLS Double definition
28a Was critical for the purpose of being rewarded by Tate? (4,5)
TORE APART Split the solution 2,4,3, and you can see why the famous gallery might reward you for your actions
29a Club news about old Romeo that dresses MP in drag? (11,4)
NORTHAMPTON TOWN Two lots of the abbreviation for News into which is inserted (about) the abbreviation for Old, MP (from the clue) the letter represented by Romeo in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet and a two-word phrase that used to be put on cars that were being ‘dragged’ by another vehicle
Down
1d Cycling areas will expand with proficiency, in principle (10)
ABSTRACTLY ‘Cycle’ or remove the final letter to the beginning of some areas of land and insert into an adverb meaning with proficiency
2d Sparkling work on the chemistry of brewing ignored by independent (11)
OPALESCENCE An abbreviated work goes on (in a Down solution) the chemistry of brewing beer 3,7) without (ignored) the abbreviation for Independent
3d Food selections cold since breaking moulds (3-5)
DIE-CASTS The abbreviation for Cold and a conjunction meaning since ‘breaking’ some food selections
4d Stews no end of oranges to pack it up zestily? (5,3)
FRUIT PIE Stews or ponds for young fish without the S (no end of oranges) to ‘pack’ an anagram (zestily) of IT UP
5d Jolly inconsiderate revelation (6)
OUTING A trip out (jolly) or the act of revealing something that should have been kept private
6d Reject Philby is out for us? Flapdoodle! (6)
BUNKUM A sneaky trick that gets me every time! An informal verb meaning to reject and the forename of Mr Philby the spy where the Is are replaced by Us
7d Some extraterrestrials are human, Pope said (3)
ERR In the middle of extratERRestrials is a word that appears in a saying by Alexander Pope
8d Pretentious type has no birth claims (4)
SNOB Hidden in or claimed by haS NO Birth
13d I get drunk before lunch working in shop bustle (11)
AMONTILLADO The abbreviation for morning (before lunch), a phrase a shopworker might use to say they were working taking money and some bustle
14d Heartless clergyman engages “scarlet woman” before father of clergyman (10)
CHESTERTON The author of the Father Brown books – the outside letters (heartless) of ClergymaN ‘engage’ the forename of the main character in the novel The Scarlet Letter and a preposition meaning before
17d Conservative minister’s first annual check up? Balderdash! (8)
TOMMYROT A reversal (up) of a name for a Conservative, the first letter of Minister and the annual check for a motor vehicle
18d Ben changing sex at the start of spring (8)
MOUNTAIN Change the sex of the first letter of a spring
21d Mr & Mrs Fox’s young children like vulgar stuff (6)
KITSCH The young of foxes and the abbreviation for children
22d Sir Keir retains memory for a little while (3,3)
PROTEM Sir Kier’s abbreviated title ‘retains’ mechanical memory
25d Scots town free of outlawry? (4)
OBAN Split 1,3 this could be without outlawing
27d My renown is boundless (3)
LOR My late mother-in-law’s favourite interjection of surprise (my) Remove the outside letters (boundless) from a synonym of renown
The ‘load’ of cobblers are as follows:
Elgar not quite at his most fiendish but still tricky enough to require a lie-down after solving. Thanks to him for the entertainment and CS for the blog.
I did wonder whether, as well as the drivelly items, real cobblers might be hiding in the grid. I think that 4d is one and (a bit rude) 26a might also qualify. Cobblers is also the nickname of 29a FC.
Top clues for me were 11a, 2d, 13d and 21d.
I did think about the cobblers while I was solving the crossword but didn’t scribble anything on my piece of paper so as usual by the time I typed the blog, I’d forgotten to mention them 😞
Great spot with the cobblers Gazza! My safe space upon completion was a darkened room with some soothing Schubert piano music. I tend to agree that this was not quite the brain-mangling we are used to on alternate Fridays, but it was tough enough. As always the fiendish clueing was always gettable, It just took time to look at all possibilities before arriving at the correct destination. Brilliant as ever, with 2d my favourite this afternoon.
My thanks to Elgar for a terrific challenge, and to Sue.
Spotted a theme early on although I couldn’t decide if the last word of 1a was the answer or ‘nonsense’ and got held up in the north.
Steadily worked my way up from the bottom then spent ages trying to parse 6d (thought the first word was ban, so it didn’t work) and 1d (thought the word for land was on the outside).
After feeling as if I’ve had a full frontal lobotomy, I now have a full bottle in front of me, which I feel I deserve.
Cheers, CS and Elgar!
I have added a full list of the cobblers in the grid at the end of the blog
Always good to have one’s cobblers in order I find, Sue.
Though I had a technical DNF, I thought that was a cracking puzzle, a great end to the week.
Stumped by 14d and took some e-help (I knew the author and tec, but the scarlet woman sadly passed me by, & I wanted it to be harlot instead …) and there were two biffs in my completed grid I couldn’t parse: 16 — why is ‘it’, loch? Where/what is the definition in 4, surely it isn’t an all-in-one?
OTOH, COTD to the wonderful 6d, with podium places to 17d & 2d.
Many thanks to Elgar and Sue
Not Elgar’s most fiendish, but still many notches harder than anything else since his last one! Defeated by 10a (I got bogged down with “nurse”, and the WHO. And failing to spot the lurker in 8d didn’t help! 14d is a bit wooly for my taste – it’s a non-definition, although I could parse it. Never heard of 20a or 24a, but they were fairly clued. Favourites 6d and 25d.
Thanks to Elgar for the mind scrambling, and to CS for the enlightenment.
Enjoyable Sunday afternoon completing this puzzle. Now to tackle the Io!