Toughie No 3784 by Elgar
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
A proper Friday Toughie but not quite as fiendish as some Elgar puzzles can be. When I left the kitchen table after solving the crossword to go and prepare the blog post, I said to Mr CS that there were only two clues I didn’t understand (which is quite good going for an Elgar) but as I typed the hints, things became clearer and I just hope my interpretations are correct.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought
Across
1a/9a Prepared for Revolution, pale Louis emerged, so did state ____? (5,3,2,6)
APRES MOI LE DELUGE Louis XV used this phrase to say that he didn’t care what happens after he was dead. Apparently, his mistress, Madam de Pompadour copied him when remonstrated with about the extravagances of the court. An anagram (prepared for revolution) of PALE LOUIS EMERGED
9a See 1 Across
10a Legal beagle deprived of fine cheese (4)
BRIE Remove the abbreviation for Fine from a slang term for a solicitor or barrister (legal eagle)
11a Trump quickly agreed legal case insurance for high flier (8,4)
PRESSURE SUIT An abbreviation for the position currently held by Trump, an informal word of agreement and a legal case
13a As Nelson, returning from the Canaries (nothing like northernmost Africa) (3-5)
ONE-ARMED How Nelson was after returning from a battle at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands – the letter representing noting and an abbreviated phrase that might describe northernmost Africa (3,4)
15a Summer colour? Ruler’s left changes for November (6)
SUNTAN Change the abbreviation for Left in a Muslim ruler to the letter represented by November in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet
16a Trial for series censoring one story … (4)
PLOT The Roman numeral for one is removed (censoring) from a trial for a broadcast (trial for series)
17a … particular page oozing unpleasantness (5)
PICKY The abbreviation for Page and an informal adjective indicating something being sickly-sweet or unpleasant
18a Cuts reclusive aviator from radio announcement (4)
HEWS A homophone (from radio announcement) of the surname of a reclusive American aviator
20a Take exception to something (6)
OBJECT Always nice when Elgar gives us a nice straightforward double definition in amongst the brain-manglers!
21a Unimportant extra too often overcomplicated (8)
FOOTNOTE An anagram (overcomplicated) of TOO OFTEN
23a Somehow repeatedly earn repute, but not as businessperson (12)
ENTREPRENEUR An anagram (somehow) of EaRN EaRN (repeatedly indicating the need for two earns) REPUTE but with (not) the As – Elgar usually catches me out with these ‘hidden’ letters clues but not this time!
26a Just Spooner’s vulgar joint (4)
ONLY How the Reverend might talk about a vulgar leg joint
27a/28a Cliff face, safe before my dad’s gathering (3,5,3,2,3)
THE PETER PAN OF POP A slang name for THE face ‘gathering’ another for a safe, the result then followed by an informal name for a father
28a See 27 Across
Down
2d/16d Gear a native mountain climbing team try to reassemble (8,8)
PERSONAL PROPERTY A in the sense of for each, a native or inhabitant, a mountain, part of a team mountain-climbing together and an anagram (to reassemble) of TRY
3d Plant that might receive deaf trumpeter’s trumpet? (9-3)
ELEPHANTS-EAR Where a deaf large land mammal might put an aid to hearing (trumpet) We have some of these plants in the garden and I have to say that they didn’t enjoy this summer’s drought at all
4d Employment in quiet exhibition centre (6)
MUSEUM Employment inserted into an interjected request for silence
5d Smith and Young, say, with these troubles? (4)
ILLS If you add the abbreviation for With to these troubles you get diminutive ways of referring to the American actor Smith and the English singer Young
6d Probably fish exist as an example (1,4,3)
I DARE SAY The two-letter spelling of a type of fish that often appears in crosswords, a simple way of saying exist and a word indicating an example
7d Where keepers go to speak African language (4)
ZULU A clue to make the solver smile. A homophone of where animal keepers would ‘go’
8d/19d Note: college study breaks at any time can be wasted (4,4,8)
MEET ONES WATERLOO Suffer a crushing defeat – A musical note, a public school (college), a slang word meaning to study heard inserted into (breaks) a poetic word meaning ever (at any time) and a slang name for a lavatory
12d Red-top’s greeting “fiddler” of motoring luxury (8,4)
SUNSHINE ROOF A red-topped newspaper, an informal word of greeting, the Emperor who fiddled while Rome burned and OF (from the clue)
14d Not so stimulating drink was looking up (5)
DECAF A reversal (up) of a word meaning was looking at
16d See 2 Down
17d “Tap tap” is represented thus? (8)
PITAPAT A word used to represent a quick succession of light taps
19d See 8 Down
22d State no longer iron-clad sort of conclusion (6)
OREGON Remove (no longer clad) the chemical symbol for iron from the outside of an obvious or inevitable conclusion
24d To make both ends meet, people will take this further (4)
THEN If you look carefully at words three and four in the clue, you should see that some slang people surround (will take) the solution
25d Recycling fruit, Doc helped this family to fight (4)
EARP Cycle the first letter of a type of fruit to the end of the word to get the name of the family Doc Holliday helped at the Gunfight at the OK Corral
Certainly a non-fiendish Elgar. Pondering 27/28a took as long as the rest of it and I’m still [pace CS] not convinced about the parsing [its the “the” that doesn’t seem right – tho’ I note Chambers gives “the face” for pan – so what?
There were enough crackers to earn the 5* for enjoyment: the reclusive aviator at 18a, the “not as” at 23a, the lol 7d and the masterful construction of 8/19d.
Thanks to Elgar and CSue.
Marginally easier than usual for Elgar (but that’s not saying a lot) – many thanks to the maestro and CS.
I had most problems with 27/28a — with cliff face and father in the clue my initial thought was to do with the Old Man of Hoy. When 25d and 22d put paid to that idea I had to think again. I’m still not confident of the full parsing – is it saying that the face of my father contains safe?
My ticks went to 3d, 5d and 12d with my favourite being the LOL 7d.
27a/28a. I presume Cliff should be underlined as the definition? I can see all the elements of the word-play but can’t quite satisfactorily fathom the sequencing. If you can’t parse it fully I guess it will forever remain a mystery.
Cliff is underlined in my draft blog on Word, so where the underlining went when I copied and pasted it into the blog post, I have no idea.
Far too hard for me DNF, I couldn’t find a way in unfortunately
With about 1/3 filled I was about to throw in the towel but took a sneaky peek at the hint for 1/9a which was enough to get me going again. Elgar then just managed to keep this out of my reach, as I had nearly completed ithe remainder before relectantly resorting to Sue’s hints for the last 3. I was stimied for 2/16d by having the wrong first 2 letters of 20a. 18a was the next hint which opened the door to 8/19d and last in was 24d; yes I know, look for the lurker. All in all I found this both challenging and enjoyable.
Many thanks to Elgar and CS.
First off I thought this was going to be a bit of a struggle, but found once I got started, the checkers going in provoked a new line of thought which enabled me to crack on.
Getting 4d and 5d put me on the right track for 1&9a, it had to be a French saying.
Halcyon at #1 has highlighted all the clues I had ticked.
The description of the 86 year old young one at 27&28a made me smile, but I too am not entirely happy with the parsing.
My thanks to Elgar and CS.
Like so many others I am perplexed by the complexity of the parsing of 27/28a, but that was my only real query. The rest of it took a while as befits an Elgar Toughie, with the excellent anagram at 1/9a my favourite. Superb entertainment.
Many thanks to The Man and Sue.
One of the few times I’ve managed to complete an Elgar, without any hints. 👍 Favourites were 7D and the 4 letter Spoonerism.
Like others,I found this easy for Elgar. Thoroughly enjoyed the challenge though I thought the spoonerism was weak by his standards. As usual with this setter, I entered about a third of the answers on a hunch with very little idea of the wordplay. I was ignorant of the history connected with the recycled fruit and also of Smith and Young. The letter turned out to be very important as a word ending in I and a two letter word beginning with L suggested a foreign language for 1a. I remember the expression being attributed sarcastically to de Gaulle, and would have guessed it was used originally by Louis XIV or XVI. I was completely bamboozled by the wordplay of 12d, but the crossers made that easy. Favourites were the business person at 23a and the conclusion at 22d, both of which I solved before entry. Thanks Elgar and CS.