Sunday Toughie 57 (Hints)

Sunday Toughie No 57 by Zandio

Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee

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A Heinz 57 variety of a puzzle today, 14 acrosses and 16 downs with plenty of anagrams and lurkers in both directions.

France in particular gets a lot of mentions as well as a couple of other Europeans as well as South America and a nod to our New Zealanders.

I have hinted half but if you need any extra help ask away, I may be away entertaining Mama Bee but I am sure one of our happy band of solvers will help with a nudge.

Here we go…

 

As it is a Prize puzzle I can only hint at a few and hope that will give you the checkers and inspiration to go further. I’ll be back just after the closing date with the full blog. Don’t forget to follow BD’s instructions in RED at the bottom of the hints!

I hope I don’t have to redact any comments but I am new at this and don’t want to rock the boat. If in doubt, I’ll rub it out! – I think that sentence is a bit redundant. You have all been so helpful in sorting out prior parsing failures, and I am sure I will need similar help again.

Most of the terms used in these hints are explained in the Glossary and examples are available by clicking on the entry under “See also” Where the hint describes a construct as “usual” this means that more help can be found in The Usual Suspects, which gives a number of the elements commonly used in the wordplay. Another useful page is Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, which features words with meanings that are not always immediately obvious.

A full review of this puzzle will be published after the closing date for submissions. Some hints follow: Remember the site rules and play nicely.

 

Across

1a Hopin’ for something to bring relief (7)
Start with a lovely &lit, a synonym of Hoping drops the same letter as Zandio to bring relief from a headache

10a Victor’s shout, ‘Wicket out!’ — upon which, it’s best to walk (5,4)
Some plural victors lose the letter a cricket scorer uses to indicate a wicket and add a Spanish shout or exclamation.

11a Fed up, have piercing created in France (7,3)
A synonym of created, pierced by a synonym of have followed by a synonym of in and the letter that is the IVR code for France. Fed up like when you burn toast perhaps

14a Particular person in retinue’s confronted by Harry? (12)
These particular people known for being sticklers for fine details of the engines they record are a synonym of retinues followed by a literary Harry

25a Frozen French lake — one eroded in hollow ground … (9)
The French for a lake, the letter that looks like 1 and a synonym of eroded go in what remains of ground after it has been hollowed out

26a … in France where, following article, Jack finds ancient duchy (5)
A two-lettered English article and the French for where around a playing card. The ellipses just link the French surface of these clues

28a Fancy daughter — mum intervenes furiously (4,3)
A synonym of fancy, d for daughter broken by a two-lettered mother

 

Down

2d City breaks leading to rise for detective (6)
A South American city breaks into a synonym of leading and then is all reversed (to rise in a down clue) should lead us to a fictional detective

5d Mass following in Estonia for engineering publication (9)
This political publication is an anagram of Estonia and abbreviations of mass and following

13d Time frame attached to firm’s notes heightening tension? (10)
T for time and a frame follow a synonym of firm

A fine example here, the whole film and 13d are a real treat

15d Cross shown in scripture both ways round — shoddy editor! (9)
A two-letter abbreviation for scripture lessons both forwards and backwards, a synonym of shoddy and an abbreviation of editor

17d Pressure to join club foolishly consuming bitter in this? (3-5)
A synonym of bitter weather perhaps in P for pressure and an anagram of club, one may consume bitter in this but other alcoholic beverages are available

19d Learner goalkeeper’s error, maybe — spread to make block! (3,3)
The letter that a learner driver must display, a footballing error that a goalkeeper may make and the spread you may have on toast create a foresters river blockage now synonymous with other impedances

20d Support sees United’s replacement of European in second half cut resources (6)
To support or protect from harm replaces the second E for European with U for United

24d Audio guide on little bird (4)
Homophones (audio) of the guide we have on a map, and a synonym of small

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A bonus hint for 16a;