Toughie No 3760 by Elgar
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ****** – Enjoyment *****
For a very brief moment, when I had solved several clues on first reading, I hoped that this was one of those extremely rare occasions when Elgar might have decided to be kind to his solvers. How wrong I was
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought
Across
1a Whom Mark C replaced and aimed to unmask at the eleventh hour (4,2,4)
JUST IN TIME Write the name of the Prime Minister of Canada before Mark Carney in the same way as he is written in the clue and then add the inside (to unmask) letters of aIMEd
6a Black suits winning swimmer (4)
SCUP The abbreviations for the two black suits in a pack of cards and winning or ahead to get a common marine fish of the Atlantic coastal waters of North America
9a My parents have run through Italian city (5)
PARMA Two familiar names for your parents into which is inserted the cricket abbreviation for Run
10a Not many bones broken (2,2,5)
BY NO MEANS An anagram (broken) of MANY BONES
12a Pay host, revert to work! (3,6,4)
THE PARTYS OVER An anagram (work) of PAY HOST REVERT
14a Tranquillised, deer dizzily came to (8)
NUMBERED Tranquilised and an anagram (dizzily) of DEER
15a One section of cultural significance (6)
ICONIC The Roman numeral for one and a section
17a Releases Come With Me (4,2)
LETS GO Releases or an invitation to depart (come with me)
19a Swinger incensing wife visiting northern island (8)
THURIBLE A swinging incense burner – a Biblical reference to a wife inserted into (visiting) a northern island
21a Unrivalled in the sack, that MC, it’s rumoured (6,7)
BEYOND COMPARE A poetic or dialect work for that inserted into a piece of furniture, the slang name for which is the sack, followed by a homophone (it’s rumoured) of a Master of Ceremonies
24a Whatever happens, however quickly? (2,3,4)
AT ANY RATE However fast you go?
25a Series included between six and nine nicker (5)
NEIGH A noise made by a horse can be found hidden in the middle of the two numbers between six and nine once you write them as words
26a Locksmith postpones returning, out of policeman’s custody (4)
YALE Remove the abbreviated Detective Sergeant (out of policeman’s custody) from a synonym for postpones and then reverse what’s left
27a The essence of Cavern’s mastery, stirringly staging live Sixties music (6,4)
MERSEY BEAT An anagram (stirringly) of the ‘essence’ of cavErns MASTERY into which is inserted (staging) part of a verb meaning live
Down
1d Dieter’s agreed with working out prank (4)
JAPE The German word for yes (Dieter’s agreed) and abbreviated school exercise (working out)
2d Corporation provides support for music etc from the ground level (7)
STRATUM An informal name for that part of the body also known as a corporation goes after (provides support for in a Down solution) a reversal (from the ground) of works of creative imagination (music etc)
3d Futile news I’m surprised to receive when the chips are down (2,2,9)
IN AN EMERGENCY Futile or senseless and an expression of surprise (5) into which is inserted (to receive) some slang information (news)
4d Zealots waving “bye” on board, heading for hell (2,6)
TO BLAZES An anagram (waving) of ZEALOTS with the heading or first letter of Bye inserted (on board)
5d London coppers taking against Houses of Parliament painter (5)
MONET An abbreviation for the police force in London ‘taking’ a preposition meaning against
7d French patriot announced vehicle for exhibition (7)
CHAUVIN A legendary (or perhaps fictional) French soldier who was fanatically devoted to Napoleon Bonaparte – a homophone (announced) of what could be a vehicle for an exhibition
8d Foremost of foodies with baked topless tarts in mind for son? (6,4)
PASTRY CHEF The foremost letter of Foodies goes after the mind where the abbreviation for Son is replaced by the letters left after you have removed the ‘top’ from tARTS
11d New Romantic style, for sure (4,9)
MOST CERTAINLY An anagram (new) of ROMANTIC STYLE
13d Facility for genetic engineering support line on which one catches up (1,1,1,7)
DNA LIBRARY Crosswordland’s favourite support garment and an abbreviated railway line go after a reversal (up) of a phrase meaning I catch
16d Overnight they provided the necessary recommended volume (8)
CHAMBERS Used in the night when you hadn’t got a toilet (the necessary) or the volume recommended for crossword solvers
18d If this is set it’s fairly stormy (7)
TRYSAIL Something you’d set on a sailing ship if the weather was fairly stormy my brain obviously seizes up when I approach the end of parsing the clues in a Toughie. As Gazza says, a compound anagram (stormy) where if you add IF to the solution you get ITS fAiRLY
20d The quickest to the buzzer? (7)
BEELINE The most direct route from one place to another as used by buzzing insects
22d What makes bitch bite quarry? (5)
CHASE To get from bitch to bite, you use CH xx [xx] E
23d A little bit hard to get into Wilde? (4)
WHIT The abbreviation for Hard inserted into a person using humour such as Oscar Wilde
Like CS I started off like a train in the top left corner and had to check that this was actually an Elgar puzzle. It soon became apparent that it really was and turned into my usual struggle which I did enjoy. Thanks to Elgar and CS.
I didn’t know the northern island (19a) and had to look it up – that confused me even more because the first example I came across was an island with that name in South Georgia.
I think there’s wordplay in 18d; it’s a compound anagram where IF plus the answer (this) is an anagram (stormy) of IT’S FAIRLY.
The top clue for me were 1a, 21a, 3d, 22d and (my favourite) 16d.
Steady progress, a very satisfying solve. 8d gets my vote. Thanks to Elgar and CS.
That was quite a tussle. LOI was 22d, a lovely clue!
It’s always satisfying to complete an Elgar puzzle. It often involves a wild guess at an answer and then try to work out why….and sometimes wait until the hints are published and then find out why…thanks Sue! I had the same problem with the island as Gazza and hadn’t heard of the burner (or the 6a swimmer).
It’s a curious thing though, I couldn’t make head nor tail of yesterday’s Django toughie.
Thanks to Elgar for keeping me amused on a rainy Lancashire day.
I think we all had the same problem with the island!
I’m with Sue and Gazza on this one. I started off like a rat up a drainpipe and ended like a rabbit in the headlights.
I confess to needing online assistance to confirm parsing or educate myself on several occasions, and now know about a fish I’d never heard of, the ancient name for a northern island, an alternative definition of a slang word for a pound, the origin of chauvinism and sailing in bad weather.
Every day’s a schoolday…it certainly is when Elgar sets an exam, there can’t be many subjects he doesn’t cover.
Mark C’s replacement in 1a, the locksmith at 26a, 60s music in 27a, 8d’s foremost foodie and the facility for genetic engineering in 13d were among numerous ticks.
Methinks an early libation is called for.
My thanks to Elgar and CS.
Very good and hugely satisfying. My last pair were 21a & 18d, only because for a long time I’d had a different sail at 18d, and looking for / parsing a word B-P-N- was a futile exercise. Deciding I needed a different sail meant 21a then leapt from the page. Reading Gazza’s suggestion for 18d makes perfect sense. The fish was new to me, but I was relieved to vaguely recall both the Frenchman and the censer – and from it remembered the island/distant land (ultima thule).
So much of the clueing was absolutely brilliant, so incredibly clever – 1a, 21a, 25a (my COTD), 8d, 15d, 22d.
Many thanks to Elgar, and to CS for the blog and explaining my answers to 3d & 4d!