Sunday Toughie 90 (Hints)

Sunday Toughie No 90 by Robyn

 

Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee

 

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I was expecting a proXimal last night but am delighted to find Robyn in the hot seat today, maybe he jockeyed for position for the topical clues or I am reading too much into it
I spent an age on Shakespearean kings and game birds but saw sense eventually

14a and 16d clues and I will try and hint half, but remain available for a nudge with any that hit the cutting room floor

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             Angry, accepting running clubs train here in London? (7,5)
A synonym of angry “accepts” running like an adult leveret, and an abbreviation for the suit of cards

10a           Depiction of Mary‘s pastry case for tea (5)
Pastry defined as contained in a crust and the case letters of tea give us a depiction of the Virgin Mary holding her dead son

12a           Game bird that’s caught was sour when cooked (8)
A candidate for THE LIST if ever I saw one, but the wordplay is clear, an anagram (when cooked) of WAS SOUR and C for caught should get you with Mr Google’s help to a South American game bird whose name is a homophone of the place it was first found

14a           In a rage, nearly have hallucinations (8)
Nearly all of a 3,6 phrase for having hallucinations, remove the last letter and the space between the words and you are in a rage (8) 

22a           In the US, exhaust detective with exercise on track (8)
A detective for hire and a form of exercise follow (on) to track or follow

I was going to put a Dire Straits track here but resisted the obvious to allow me to put the Stones in the next hint
He is sat on the wrong end of the car to see the 22a

24a           French pianist concluding finale from Rolling Stones (6)
What a cracking clue, take a final letter and append a French Pianist to fulfil the definition

28a           Celebration after move wins game — our fans out behind rugby goal? (5-7)
An anagram (fans out) of WINS GAME and OUR, after (behind) the letter suggested by the shape of a rugby goal

 

                Down

1d             Criminal record admitted by rotter before appeal (7)
A record or album, in (admitted by) a rotter, goes before some sex appeal

2d             Scrap with Rear Admiral, turning round (7)
To scrap or abolish followed by a reversal (turning) of the abbreviation for a Rear Admiral
Very topical considering a large swathe of the United States experienced an eclipse of this nature only yesterday, Astronomers knew it was coming and Robyn too, who may have swapped his place in the Sunday Toughie rota to accommodate it
Brian may recognise his Avatar but I doubt he makes it to the Toughie

3d             Account about king, exclusive figure in Bible (9)
I spent ages trying to justify a reversal of a Shakespearean king before I realised we have a savings account about a regal abbreviation followed by something exclusive The parsing only finally dropped as I wrote the hint
Regrettably also topical as all people suffering in the Middle East would agree

6d             Caspian, say, penning letter in ink (5)
Caspian is an example (say) of the body of water that we require, it contains the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet
Ink of a reddish-brown colour from the ink sac of a cuttlefish used by Da Vinci (every day is a school day)

15d           Radio programme wanting small group of stars (3,6)
Sagittarius or a long-running radio programme wanting its terminal ess

16d           At least a dozen beers, or nine softly placed in bags? (3-5)
To be plural beers have to come in at least twos alternatively, we put a Roman nine and a musical softly in some rough bags

17d           Bread sandwiches dry, I rudely interject (4,2)
A small bread roll sandwiches someone who abstains from alcohol, I rudely interjects

21d           Funny Liberal turns up in toupee, one maybe barking? (4,3)
A funny or strange Liberal is  reversed (turns up in a down clue) in a toupee

 

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After Terence and Huntsman discussed it yesterday I couldn’t resist putting the Stones in at 24a, but for balance here is a composition by the French Pianist

That’s All Folks…