Sunday Toughie 88 (Hints)

Sunday Toughie No 88 by Robyn

Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee

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One of the friendliest Sunday Toughies today, only the allegedly popular composer gave me pause for thought, a somewhat intimidating grid without a lot of starting checkers but sorting the four outermost clues got the ball rolling and the rest flowed smoothly

14a and 14d clues today and I have hinted half,  as usual I will try and provide a nudge for any that hold out but I will probably be taking Mama Bee out in my new motor, I hope the neighbours don’t think it was my car alarm that woke the neighbourhood at stupid o’clock this morning

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. Don’t forget the Mine of useful information that Big Dave and his son Richard so meticulously prepared for us.

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

7a Represented Macbeth, say, with ease, considering the circumstances (2,3,4,3,2)
I am supposed to hint at the first clue but it is an anagram indicated by the first word, of three of the next four, to fit the definition in the last three words

9a Wee drop of Drambuie, then four in 60 seconds (10)
Drop all bar the initial letter of Drambuie, then put a Roman four in one period of 60 seconds
12a He perhaps has dip from the east (3)
He perhaps is a definition by example, but He is not the nominative pronoun, take a synonym of dip and reverse it (from the east in an across clue) and although you may be thinking of a bloke who has overindulged on the Refried-Beans it is the state of He or similar at normal temperatures

13a Jack Anthony Fitzgerald who sang dance tune (10)
Three bits of Lego here, start with another Jack or Sailor, add a 9a of someone whose forename is Anthony and finish with a singer who got the most out of her Thesaurus here, you may dance like you have been bitten by a spider!


17a Creative, impractical and rather risqué broadcaster (4-3)
The kind of creative but ultimately impractical thinking that comes from combining risqué jokes and a satellite broadcaster
23a Does this suggest singular rather than plural refusals? (3)
Split 2’1 The absence of a certain letter usually indicates the singular, here we have the plural to indicate several refusals

28a A faff after a military corps defends attack very well (2,3,2,1,6)
A from the clue, a military corps around an attack or convulsion, all followed by the other A from the clue and a synonym of faff

Down

1d E.g. Moscow correspondent’s writings in USSR, say (7,7)
Two definitions by example here (E.g. and say), What Moscow is to the former USSR, and the writings of a correspondent are the form of script used in the abbreviation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

4d Queen American philosopher interrupts roughly (7)
A for American and an English philosopher and politician, who according to Monty Python, of his own free will
On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill, goes in (interrupts) one of our usual roughly or about’s

6d Least colourful painter entertains popular composer (10)
The letters that a painter who is shown at the Royal Academy may use and a hip synonym of popular follow something that is the least colourful to give us an Italian composer of the Renaissance, A Tad obscure but as all the YouTube links plaster his name everywhere you may have to resort to Mr Google

8d Plot by politicians creating fictions after retiring (7,7)
More Lego – The plot that you may grow roses in, a mathematical synonym of by and an informal name for politicians that lean to the right are the fictions you may read after retiring for the night

14d Port Bezos’s assistant consumes along with fruit, occasionally (10)
The virtual assistant that Jeff Bezos developed for Amazon around a conjunction for along with, and occasional letters of fruit give us the largest Mediterranean port city

19d Irrelevant current message about BoJo, say (7)
Another Definition by example – An abbreviation for irrelevant, the physics symbol for current and a brief message are reversed (about) to define someone who attended the same school as BoJo

27d Makes vows in the middle of the working week (4)
An abbreviated day in the middle of the week also makes vows at a marriage

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Only one question… WHY!

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/gallery/2023/sep/28/hadrians-wall-sycamore-gap-tree-in-pictures