Sunday Toughie 103 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Sunday Toughie 103 (Hints)

by Sloop John Bee  

Sunday Toughie No 103

by Robyn

 

Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee

 

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

Robyn with an enjoyable Grammar and Geography lesson today. We have that horse garment again! but also a nice theme for which you may need a gazetteer or Google Maps

14a and 14d clues today and I have hinted half

A laptop that is stuck in an update loop and a broken mouse have put me behind today so I am dashing a bit to get this blog out    A dab of glue and a slap on the battery and it’s sorted!

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

8a           Dash or run, filled with life? Quite the opposite (4)
The wordplay suggests that the prefix for living organisms goes in the run, quite the opposite reverses that so the run fills in the prefix

10a        Complaint about AC/DC, back in Ireland (8)
AC/DC is a slang term for someone who “swings both ways” A reversal (back) of an alternative goes into the complaint of a protrusion of an organ through the wall of the cavity containing it

13a        American escaping prison traverses empty ditches (5)
An alternative term for a prison loses one of our usual Americanisms, followed by what remains of traverses after it has been emptied

15a        Art working briefly in dramatic Shakespearean event (7)
A Shakespearean drama about a storm, to work on an ad-hoc or irregular basis, followed by an archaic or dialectal suffix used to form the second-person singular present tense and past tense of verbs (if thou is the subject) Phew a bit of a grammar lesson from Robyn!
Storms at The Minnack Theatre | Places in cornwall, Castles to visit, Cornwall englandA very atmospheric place to see the play

20a        A key instrument, mostly for dealing with bees (5)
I am eponymously obliged to like this clue. An adjective for dealing with bees, also most of A from the clue and an instrument with keys

26a        Worthless person taken in by low bloodsucker (8)
An informal worthless or contemptible person inside the sound of a lowing animal

27a        What 1, 9, 10, 11, 12, 17, 20, 22, 25 and 26 all have is a moral failing once (7,3)
Robyn has created a wonderful collection of clues here, a couple of them may be difficult to spot (20,25) but all those clues contain somewhere within (8,2) when split (7,3) you have an obsolete term for a serious moral failing

 

Down

1d           Furious about doctor providing water (8)
A synonym of furious around to doctor or tamper with

4d           Ran through fence, bandaged by one doctor (7)
The letter that looks like one and a Medical Doctor around a fence of wooden stakes
Cleft Chestnut Paling > Chestnut Posts | TATE Fencing

6d           Students and I writing about prejudice (8)
A group of students and I from the clue followed by a reversal of an abbreviation of some writing

16d        Perhaps ideal boost after climbing mountain (8)
The boost you may get from a restorative drink after a reversal (climbing) of a mountain

19d        One seeing future friend on film (7)
A friend and the film that descends in dreich weather may see your future

23d        Group in Arctic senses dropping temperature (6)
A synonym of senses as in the power of the mind to immediately perceive the truth of things without reasoning or analysis drops t for temperature
Inuit - Wikipedia

24d        Figure welcoming a vote, revolutionary US statesperson (5)
A figure between nine and eleven welcomes a reversal (revolutionary) of the mark you make when voting and a from the clue

 

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One from Jools’ annual Hootenanny – I will have to find more of this…


That’s All Folks…

21 comments on “Sunday Toughie 103 (Hints)”

  1. How clever is this! Thanks to Robyn and SJB.
    The theme entries were beautifully disguised (although I didn’t know two of them so I’ve learnt something).
    Top clues for me were 11a, 13a and 23d with my favourite being 15a.

    1. I expect it was the same two that I had to check, it took a bit of a sleep before the art penny dropped too, The theatre in my pic would be a great place to see the play too

  2. Another bobby-dazzler from Robyn. The man is on fire! Yes, 15a was a tad arch but it’s undeniably clever. And the engineering that must have gone into 27a is beyond impressive. Sloop, you had me at 10a. Marvellous. Thanks, as ever, to Robyn, and SJB, of course.

  3. Always have my work cut out with a Robyn Toughie and this proved to be no exception. Fortunately, I picked up on the theme courtesy of the one in Ecuador (thank goodness for those geography lessons about South America!) and that certainly helped, apart from two which I’d never heard of before today.
    Not sure how much enjoyment I derive from this setter’s puzzles but I certainly admire his abilities.

    Thanks to Robyn and to SJB for the hints and the memories evoked by the film clip at 16d.

  4. Brilliant and a pangram too! Had to verify two from the theme – presumably the same ones.

    Needed a few of the hints to complete.

    Thanks to Robyn (more like this please) and SJB for the hints

  5. Yet another very entertaining puzzle from Robyn.

    Only needed Google maps for the 2 esoteric destinations in 27a.

    Favourite was 11a … because the theme helped. It had to be there somewhere … such a frequent visitor to crosswordland.

    ps. 15a – not sure how “… followed by …” is indicted in the clue.

    Thanks Robyn and SJB.

    1. Hi Stan,
      RE 15a. ‘… followed by… ‘ isn’t indicated, it is a suffix added if “Thou art working briefly…”

  7. Robyn held me at bay for quite a while with this puzzle so it was very satisfying to get over the line. I figured out the theme just in time to get some assistance with 10a after I had chased the wrong definition for some time. 2d also mislead me, so I am giving it a podium place alongside 8a for the PDM on ‘Dash’ and 16d for the nice surface reading. However, the pièce de résistance is the theme and it’s elements. Thanks to SJB for clarifying the 15a wordplay, the juxtaposition of what I had considered to be a modern term together with an archaic suffix was indeed “a tad arch”, however Collins records usage going back to at least the 18th century so perhaps this may indeed have been something Shakespeare said to his occasional co-authors!
    My thanks to Robyn and SJB.

  8. Enjoyable toughie to start a sunny Sunday after many inches of rain… and leaks.

    Struggled with last two letters of 6d, fav was 20a (pic below).

    Mr & Mrs T
    Boston

  9. Another brilliant Robyn Toughie. Thoroughly enjoyable, and parsed without the hints for a change, although 15a took me an age to get my head around. 25a gets my vote for the cheeky surface.
    Many thanks to Robyn and SJB

    1. Agreed about 15a, I was obliged to go to the Land of Nod with that unparsed and didn’t quite get it right as Stan mentioned

        1. Not last night, but I did finish the bottle of Tawny Port started over the Robyn ST 100
          (mouse repair failed better buy a new one)

  10. You just run out of superlatives – a bobby-dazzler to be sure. 1d&10a the first 2 in so fortunate to peg the theme early (this type tend to pop up more from memory in his Graun puzzles) which helped & enjoyed it so much I didn’t even clock the pangram. Still a couple to parse properly so will leave the review for now & concentrate on an engrossing snooker final.
    Thanks to Robyn & to John.

    1. I too missed the pangram, I think this is the third time we have had linked clues from Robyn ST70 had figure-hugging numbers in, ST76 had breeds or terms for dogs guarded within and now today, I hope we do not have to wait another 27 toughies for the next one!
      Enjoyed the snooker too but am glad to get up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire now

  11. Posting very late, but only had a look at this great puzzle this morning. Fortunately 15a’s art is frequently employed in The Times. Thank you to Robyn for a most enjoyable and witty challenge, and to SJB for the blog and hints – but most of all for the AC/DC clip, one of my favourites from a band whose music I’ve generally loved since about 1981!

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