Toughie No 3520 by Elgar
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
A fiendish pangram from Elgar this time – I toyed with awarding it six stars for difficulty, particularly as it took an age to sort out the parsing of three clues in the Downs
Please let us know what you thought
Across
1a Refusal implied with it? (8,2)
SWITCHED ON The first word of the solution tells you to change the position of the letters in the second to get a refusal
6a Owner of shiny hooter ready for people in Hanoi (4)
DONG A character in a tragic love poem by Edward Lear or the monetary unit of Vietnam
10a Leaving service, retiring one gives back baby carriers (5)
UTERI A reversal (retiring) of I (one) and another way of saying gives back without the abbreviation for the Royal Navy (leaving service)
11a Serial drama very good each time (4,5)
SOAP OPERA An adverb meaning very good, an informal phrase meaning each and a series of years (time)
12a Builder that’s disgusting getting stuck into cheese (7)
BRICKIE An informal word of disgust ‘stuck’ into some French cheese
13a Acute condition, back fatty tissue restricting function (7)
TETANUS Solid fatty tissue ‘restricting’ one of the trigonometrical functions of an angle
14a Swan’s mate? Where there’s a Will … (4,8)
ANNE HATHAWAY William Shakespeare was sometimes called the Swan of Avon and his mate was?? … A female name and a surname which, if split 4,1,3 Is an archaic way of finishing the phrase in the second part of the clue
18a `Sadly no state will receive energetic spiritual leader (6,6)
TENZIN GYATSO The whole clue describes the current Dalai Lama as is known for being full of energy (although not so much now he is 90!) and in exile. His birth name is obtained by inserting an informal adjective meaning energetic into an anagram (sadly) of NO STATE
21a Special messenger retired from Fleet Street? (7)
EXPRESS A messenger sent on a special errand could if split 2-5 describe someone retired from Fleet Street
23a Underground TV (3,4)
THE TUBE An informal name for The Underground and/or a slang name for a television set
24a Joe storms after Mike (2,7)
MR AVERAGE Joe is a slang name for an ordinary fellow. Two different words meaning to storm go after the letter represented by Mike in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet
25a Indians wear this uniform, acquired for nothing in Long Island (5)
LUNGI The letter represented by Uniform in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet replaces the O (nothing) in a short way of writing LONG Island
26a Unimpeded, move along fine ridge (4)
REEF Take a synonym for unimpeded and move the abbreviation for Fine along to the end of the word
27a Rabbit rating amphibian (10)
NATTERJACK Talk much about little (rabbit) and a sailor (rating)
Down
1d Squat painter’s second son’s given up for year (6)
STUBBY Remove the second appearance of the abbreviation for Son in the name of an English artist best known for his paintings of horses and replace it (given up for) with the abbreviation for Year
2d Off limits West African peninsula (6)
IBERIA Remove the ‘limits’ of a West African to get a peninsula on another continent
3d Smart Scots know current colour: yellow (7-7)
CHICKEN-LIVERED Smart or elegant, the Scottish word for know, an adjective meaning current and a colour
4d One possibly pots plant with a second hidden feature (6,3)
EASTER EGG One abbreviation meaning for example (possibly) ‘pots’ a flowering plant and a second appearance of the same abbreviation. The hidden feature is an undocumented sequence of code in a computer program activated by specific set of keystrokes and intended as a joke
5d Olivier’s principal role that’s moving to the observer? (2,3)
OP ART The principal letter of Olivier and a role
7d Passing exchange by inside half (3,2,3)
ONE IN TWO As Fez says in comment 1, a passing exchange [one-two] with a synonym for by inserted (inside)
8d I can’t see in mirror very well and it’s caught by stray leg (5,3)
GLASS EYE Is this another word for a mirror and a homophone (caught) of a word of agreement (very well) or is it a reversal of a different word of agreement and the abbreviation for Sexual Attraction (it) inserted into an anagram (stray) of LEG?
9d Serial overnighter you’ll upset, along with the others (5,9)
YOUTH HOSTELLER An anagram (upset) of YOULL and THE OTHERS
15d What centaurs and minotaurs are doing around flat (9)
APARTMENT Centaurs are a combination of human and animal and a two-word phrase for this is inserted into a word meaning doing a particular thing
16d Hacker cunningly blocked by fresh market research data backup (8)
STREAMER An anagram (fresh) of MARKET RESEARCH once you have ‘blocked’ the letters HACKER (the anagram indicator cunningly telling you that the letters aren’t found in that order)
17d Wherever you are in the US capital new and exciting play is screened (8)
ANYPLACE A US informal word meaning anywhere – An informal way of saying capital in the sense of outstanding ‘screens’ N (new) and an anagram (exciting) of PLAY
19d Grain as nourishing heart of tiny duck (6)
QUINOA An adverb meaning as, in the capacity of) ‘nourishing’ the heart of tINy and the cricket score of a duck
20d Bloodhound on the trail of egotist’s favourite plant (6)
MEDICK A slang name for a detective (bloodhound) goes after (on the trail of) an egotist’s favourite person
22d After evacuating civilians, climbing ladder (5)
SCALA A reversal (climbing) of a preposition meaning in the manner of (after) and the outside (evacuating) letters of CivilianS – a ladder-like structure such as any of the spiral canals of the cochlea
Great stuff, thanks JH & CS. For 26a I had (C)REE(P) (“unimpeded, move along”) + F (“fine”) but I agree your parsing is better CS! For 7d I think the “passing exchange” is the ONE-TWO with IN (= “by”) “inside”? Thanks again!
I can’t tell you how long I looked 7d before clutching at straws. I’ll amend the hint to show your much more sensible parsing
A very enjoyable pangram from Elgar, even more enjoyable for me as he’s continued his recent reduction in obscurities (I did know, roughly, the name of the 18a spiritual leader but I still had problems spelling it).
Thanks to Elgar and CS.
My printout is festooned with ticks including 1a, 24a, 4d, 8d and 15d.
Can’t say I gained much satisfaction from this as I had to look a few things up.
Didn’t know the owner of the shiny hooter in 6a though I got it from the currency and I had to check on the Dalai Lama’s real name.
Had 4d in but was unaware of the computing term, ditto 20d, never heard of the plant.
7d couldn’t be anything else, but I thought the clue was a bit wooly.
Not as enjoyable as Elgar has been in recent weeks for me, but hey, I’ve learned a few things.
My COTD was 15d followed by 23a and 27a
My thanks to Elgar and my admiration to CS for her expertise and clarity of dissection.
The hobnail boots were well in evidence this time and parsing em took as long as solving em.. There are a couple I’m still not convinced about “ick” in 12a seems a stretch and there appears to be a surplus S in 10a [“gives back” minus RN]. Any further enlightenment??
Plenty of great penny-drop moments though, with my top two 3d and the brilliant 15d.
Thanks to Elgar and CS.
… but ‘one gives back’ is I RETURN.
Thanks Gazza – must read the whole clue with brain in gear.
I found this a bit of a slog and was held up with an incorrect 7d which took me a while to unravel. 1a and 24a were my joint favourites. Thanks to Elgar and CS.
A typo – there should be no G at the end of the first word in your answer to the spiritual leader.
What did you think of the crossword?
I found this reasonably straightforward until I came to the SW corner, then failed to see 24 ac was two words for ages, so that took me a while to sort out and I had no idea why 16d was Streamer.
Thanks for the puzzle and blog.
As usual way above my pay grade and judging by the paucity of comments I am not in the minority. At some point, the prestige of having a super hard toughie needs to be balanced with the reality that so few attempt it. But I am not holding my breath.