Sunday Toughie 73 (Hints)

Sunday Toughie No 73 by Robyn

Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee

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Robyn brings us a puzzle at just the right level for a Sunday Toughie, a little bit of Shakespeare, Dickens and politics and an interesting appearance for the #Octothorp and ChatGPT adds an up-to-date feel. I rather enjoyed this but may be distracted by ongoing tiling works in the bathroom this afternoon, but I will check back occasionally if you need a nudge or two.
I would like to applaud Robyn for the surface reading of 7d – an extremely adroit bit of setting indeed, only unhinted because it is a relatively easy compound anagram.
Today we have 14a and 16d clues and I have hinted half 

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

1a Reluctant to splash the cash, your old clothes split (7)
How your was said in days of yore surrounds a split, cleft or fissure

9a Faceless menial character in Dickens (5)
A menial loses it’s first letter to be the title character of a Dickens novel

11a Model players plugging smooth covers of Lindisfarne (10)
This childhood model of a much larger building is constructed from to smooth with a gritty substance, a group of theatrical players. and the covering letters of Lindisfarne and an ideal opportunity to play one of my favourite tunes

14a Visit friend in Cambs city with great official residence (6,6)
A city in Cambridgeshire, to visit or physically observe a friend and a synonym of great, become the official residence of a Republican President

21a A German referendum option? Vote for strongman (4)
One of the options in a German yes/no referendum and the mark they make on the ballot paper, create an ancient Greek strongman

25a After worship, devout women will gather old money and clothing, say (4,5)
A collective term that denotes something that cannot be made plural

28a Dramatic figure generating a lot of interest? (7)
A ruthless Shakespearean money lender.

 

Down

1d Party time! #WelcomingKing! (6)
T for time and the more usual name for the # character welcomes the Latin abbreviation for King to a wild party

3d British comic with head in some pain? (6,4)
The comedy partner of Jennifer Saunders and an informal head make “pain” in some parts of the world

4d


5d Foreign gent rented vehicle in France to go round (9)
A foreign horsey chap formed from a vehicle for hire, the French term for to go and the round letter

8d A lot of red flags about English people not working (8)
I got the ending of this wrong at first. Most of a colour, a synonym of flags around E for English

13d Blithe in case of faults, politico gives unlikely account (5,5)
Very topical in the week that BoJo’s lies were exposed, The case letters of faults around a synonym of blithe, followed by a politico on the right of the spectrum, creates a tale to mislead his colleagues.

15d Small man’s going to clubs, perhaps, in 1980s gear (5,4)
S for small, an elision of what a man’s going to do and clubs as an example of one of the four groups of playing cards. I wouldn’t have been seen dead in one of these then or now.

19d Pleasure boat boy turned over after games (6)
A reversal of a boy and a crickety over follow some abbreviated games

24d Not supporting ChatGPT, say, penning books (4)
An abbreviation for the “thinking” behind ChatGPT, pens the collection of books that form the latter half of the Bible

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I Predict a Riot gets more topical day by day…

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