Sunday Toughie No 113
by Zandio
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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Zandio has brought us a Toughie that, although it took me a while before I got a foothold (26a was my first one in), I concentrated on the south but sped up as I moved northwards. Zandio was very generous with his definitions today, a triple nay quadruple definition in 9/12a and two more double definitions. There are lots of lurkers forwards and backwards and cryptic reversals too.
We have 14a and 16d clues today and I will hint half I hope you find the checkers to get over the line, if any tricky ones have hit the cutting room floor don’t be 11a and I will try to help without incurring the Naughty Step
You have had quite a bit of my favoured music recently both last week and yesterday so I have tried to pick music of a slightly different flavour today
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 Discard half of that egg on seeing crack (7)
Let’s take a crack at this first, discard half of that and add a synonym of to egg on
9a Times names relations (5)
A rather nice triple-definition (or quadruple if you include 12a)
14a Firmly covered up romance, cuddling Romeo — Papa dealt roughly (6-6)
Two radio code letters here, one goes in a French-flavoured romance and the other precedes dealt when treated roughly
18a Sort of school exam result that’s given to a high-flier? (8,4)
The type of school where Jennings and Darbyshire entertained us (but Diana’s brother Charles Spencer had a rather different experience) and a satisfactory exam result allow one to be a high-flier
22a Writing item in Echo & Times, tinker half-heartedly — it’s throwaway (10)
Another radio code letter and a mathematical symbol precede a writing instrument and a synonym of tinker with one of its central B’s removed
Not really throwaway, more of a hint for 26a – Daniel Craig’s white-dialed Speedmaster
27a Jolly, spinning the Devil’s music (7)
A reversal (spinning) of the plural Devil’s plus an Interjection expressing jollyness or emotion
(if you have a better idea as to where jolly = O please let me know) I can only think of this…
28a Dark psychological profile? (3-4)
A dark splodge used by Rorschach in psychological profiling
Down
1d Crafty sea trout, dropping or rising freely (6)
An anagram of sea trout but dropping or, or allowing or to rise free (two anagram indicators to allow or to rise free in the wrong order)
3d Plug in marquee’s animated front (10)
A plug or promotional short goes in an anagram (animated) of marquee’s
Track 15 on this would be the hint but it blurts the answer out so enjoy the first few tracks while you think about it
5d Little snapper bit rolls covered with instant milk (9)
A small bit is reversed (rolls) covered with a small instant of time and a synonym of milk or exploit
6d Do a bunk after husband’s put down bit of capital (4)
A word uttered when you want a fly or wasp to do a bunk, moves H for husband down the order to be a bit of our Capital city
15d Revolting old boy with debts hanging around Number 10 (9)
An old boy and his debts or promissory notes hangs around an abbreviated number and a Roman 10
17d Keep in good condition or state (8)
Another multiple definition to follow 9/12a and 13d
19d Muscles stretch out making a climb or quick descent (6)
The means of making a quick descent from a mountain, from some muscles in the torso and a synonym of stretch out that is reversed (making a climb in a down clue)
23d Feelings of discontent with uneven losses mean an audit (5)
Feelings of discontent or boredom are hidden in the last three words when the odd letters are removed
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A blast from the past (1977) I was 15!
That’s All Folks…
Another snorter from Zandio. So many fizzy clues. Some of his surfaces are, as ever, more Lear than Eliot but who cares when the wordplay’s this good? Having said that, 1a (in particular) is a lovely read. 18a and 28d and 1d are all crackers, 5d too. I SO tried to get Marvel in there somewhere. Erm, am I allowed to say that on a Sunday? If not, oops and sorry. If I had a gripe at all it would be over 12a. Yes, of course, the 9 is needed but it does turn what starts out as a promising read into gibberish. But no matter. 13d is just genius – hugely satisfying to solve and that neatly sums up the whole puzzle. Many thanks to Zandio and Sloop. I rather missed your favourite music. The Carpenters? What were you thinking, man?!
Karen had a great voice and she was just as good a drummer as Ringo but if you want some guitar try Tony Peluso’s contribution to Goodbye to Love
I think SJB was just trying to give the rest of us a look in – don’t be ungracious, ALP!
I was teasing!! At least I finally know what you like!
There’s a lot more, ALP, I’ll let you know if and when you land on any others!
Ha! I fear that’s highly unlikely!!
Do you take uppers on Sundays or just excess coffee?
Both?
A cracker from Zandio, most enjoyable. Another vote for 13d as fav.
John, For 27a, jolly indicates a two letter synonym ‘a lot of’ (e.g. Jolly good) followed by a reversal of the devil (singular)
Cheers SJB and Zandio
Your probably right but that ‘s fooled me
A terrific puzzle from Zandio – thanks to him and SJB.
The clues I liked best were 11a, 18a, 4d, 13d and 23d.
Compare and contrast 19d with 5d in Coot’s NTSPP yesterday – both excellent surfaces but I think Coot’s clue shades it.
I didn’t have time for the NTSPP yesterday but having just looked at 5d I agree
I was out with Mama Bee and we ended up in the oldest sweet shop in the world in Pateley Bridge – the building is from when the previous Charles was King (1661) and it has been a sweet shop since before Victoria (1827)
The wine gums were probably the original stock as they were a bit bland but the whisky fudge was top notch
Not my pic I boobed and left a finger in front of the lens :O
Just over the road is an excellent butcher… he has only two teeth left, he claims it’s due to proximity to the sweet shop 😁
Nice one – we bought a couple of pork pies there and a Lally of Lamb for next Sunday too
I was going to ask ‘what was your favourite’ but there you go, fudge is hard to beat. I like to have an expensive chocolate in the bath, one of my many one weaknesses. Not in the bath, in me, in the bath.
With a bottomless wallet I would probably be still there sampling away, they had all the faves of childhood, Kola Kubes, midget gems and lime cracknel but wallet and dentist dragged me away
With 12a you make the Empire empty and put it in a reversal of the genre and there you have a fourth definition of 9a
Things are looking up – I enjoyed the Choirboys, the Carpenters and TWO of Zandio’s clues – 18a and 15d.
Thanks to our setter and to SJB for the review and the afore-mentioned music choices.
Hello, compiler here. Thanks for taking the time to solve, hint and discuss.
Regarding 12a, as there are actually nine Star Wars films, it didn’t seem too far-fetched — but I’m no expert on the series! I do remember that we rented ‘Star Wars’ so that my mum could babysit my nephew one evening. When we came home, we found them watching it for the third time in a row…
All the best.
Thanks for popping in I had forgotten there were that many Star Wars films, my niece and nephew having grown out of watching films with me around the time of Disney’s Aladdin!
Thank you for a sizzling guzzle. I particularly liked 14,18a & 3,8,15d. I’ve given up on 12a though as it is out of my comfort zone! However George has just given me a second G and T as it is Christmas so it may dawn on me.
Happy Christmas!
By the way, I’m sure you already know this, but whenever we use a figure for a number under 32, it refers to the clue number. On the other hand, if we write the number out in full, then it is a clue rather than a clue number — so ‘nine perhaps’ may give ‘square’, and ‘nine’ may give ‘IX’. But ‘9’ can only give a clue number.
I had assumed as much but glad to have it confirmed as a hard and fast rule
Blimey. I certainly didn’t know that was a hard and fast rule. So could you not put, say, “X in number 3 spot” to indicate a specific letter? Would you have to put “number three”? Or does the “number” change that rule? I’ve always thought that No.1 for I was OK. Perhaps not. Dear or dear, I get more confused by the day!
Hi. It’s a rule on the Telegraph that ‘3’ means clue 3. This is not to do with logical parsing, it’s simply a convention that is a courtesy to solvers. I don’t know if it is used elsewhere. As far as I know, it existed on the Telegraph long before I became Puzzles Editor in 2009.
I don’t think Chris Lancaster would accept ‘No.1’ for I. I can see that one might argue that because 1=I as a Roman numeral, it’s just present in the clue, but then how do we justify ‘No’? ‘No.1’ uncryptically means ‘number one’. In which case I think we might accept ‘number one’ as I, but not ‘No.1’ because it breaks our rule that figures must be clue numbers.
But to be honest, you probably solve more crosswords than I do these days, so you may know better! 😂
Thank you Zandio, I really appreciate that. Very interesting and hugely helpful. But the chances of me knowing more than you are – of course – zero!
What a wonderful post! I shall PRINT it out and keep it. Cruciverbalists rule OK. Thank you.
SJB, not much chance of me doing the toughie as I struggle with a standard Zandio but just looked in to see the comments….and then I spotted Renaissance! I had a bit of a Renaissance renaissance recently. I was a big fan in my youth and saw them in Guildford and the Albert Hall. Of course, when you’re a teen, Annie Haslam was a bit of a wow (and she could sing!) and Jon Camp’s bass playing was something special! Thanks for the memories.
Me too with the crush on AH
While you’re here you should have a go Zandio is relatively gentle today
Very enjoyable */****. Thanks to setter. 11a, 18a and 25a. And clever to get a “mini nina” out of two clues.
I’ve said my bit to Zandio , now thanks to SJB for the hints. I’m always struck by the music which features on this site. It makes me realise just how old I am! Great guzzle.
A day late as per with a Sunday Toughie. Started in the SE for what turned out to be a pedestrian solve with the parsing all (bar the o (& s – thanks Philbert) in 27a) figured out albeit a good number arriving on a later bus than the answer. 11,14,18&22a plus 13d would be my top 5 with 13d the pick of ‘em.
Thanks Zandio for an entertaining puzzle & to John for hints & Jane friendly music.
Even later than Huntsman, but my ‘excuse’ is that I was away on a skiing holiday…
A nice post-script to a holiday is a backlog of my favourite weekend puzzles, and this one from Zandio was a treat in store. Favourites were 18, 21 & 25 across; and 2, 6 & 23 down. I had a definite sense of deja vu in 19d having just finished Coot’s NTSPP…
My thanks to Zandio and to SJB.
Is there much snow left at this time of year?