Sunday Toughie No 122
by Robyn
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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A Robyn that I found slightly easier than the last one although anything I gained from starting this at 11.26 was lost in formatting the clues into this blog.
16a and 14d clues today and I have hinted half
Rushing to get this scheduled as my laptop has just had an alarming crash with blue screen of death, I will endeavour to answer any queries to unhinted clues via my phone
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 Want a house in Berks town? Peer excitedly inside (5,5)
What you may have to do if you want/lack a house, A Berkshire town contains an anagram of peer
10a Letters from abroad, and when they should arrive? (4)
The plural of the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet when split 1.1.1’1 is a rough idea of when to expect something to arrive
13a Indicator of power of record: a beat that’s audible (9)
A mathematical indicator of power. The record of a ships movements and a homophone of a musical beat
15a Nothing left on file is nonsense (8)
A file containing documents with the letter that looks like nothing and the abbreviation for left
18a Mass murderer’s confession put in the wrong place (6)
The abbreviation of mass and a phrase when confessing to murder have been put in the wrong place
24a Nice way to turn over dough in a patisserie? (4)
Another &lit. The “dough” you may use to purchase macarons and other sweet treats from a patisserie in places such as Nice
26a Bit of pot smoker from Italy brought back (4)
That which “smokes” over the Italian city of Taormina is reversed to be the fixed stake put in the poker pot to get the game going
Love was smoking under the volcano
He can still taste her kisses
Sweet as the red wine from Messina
Now he’s sitting out in the night
Looking down upon the lights of Taormina
29a Result of the seeding process at Wimbledon? (5,5)
Deceptively nothing to do with the ranking of tennis players. What happens when seeds of Lolium perenne are scattered particularly in Wimbledon
Down
2d From ancient era, legionnaires possibly gutsy (7)
A lurker (from) relating to, within or by way of the intestine or gut
3d Swagger round Oman’s capital with King Edward? One stands out (12)
To swagger ostentatiously around the capital of Oman and the edible swelling of a King Edward for example
He probably has a growth that stands out (searching for Lippizana’s at stud is not recommended) but he is there as an example of the ostentatious swagger
7d Frozen air? Bird shelters in building material (3,2,2)
A song from the animated film Frozen, a small passerine bird in a trademarked toy building material
8d Porter’s work showing a pecking order? (4,2,4)
A Cole Porter work based on a Shakespeare play, an order to “peck” given to the titular character
14d Adult eats female dog’s dinner, flouting party’s rules (3-7)
A two-word phrase synonymous with being adult contains an abbreviation of female and a dog’s dinner
19d Corporal thus swallows a peeled red fruit (7)
An adjective for the body or Corpus of an animal or plant, A Latin thus swallows a red fruit that has had its outer letters peeled away
21d Brandy with French drink for performer who said nothing (7)
A rough Brandy made from grape skins and other refuse from winemaking and a French word for a less intoxicating drink combine to be a performer who said nothing
Although he intentionally had the only speaking part in Mel Brooks Silent Movie
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Bob Dylan celebrated his 83rd birthday on Friday he is Forever Young
That’s All Folks…
Classy again from Robyn. 1a is clever and 9a’s a lovely spot. 27a and 7d are peerless. Even the simpler clues are masterfully done, eg 6a. Just saw that I got 24a wrong. Darn it! I really should have realised a weak clue from Robyn was FAR less likely than me being dim. Yet another snorter. Huge thanks to Robyn and Sloop.
24a – I started with an Irish reversal in the patisserie until I saw the light
Which reminds me the debate over seats seams in Zandio 120 has come down as Seats as Zandio suggested, the Dataminers having seams appears to be Telegraph Towers throwing them off the scent
Isn’t 24a the reversal (to turn) of a French ‘way’ plus a cricket over?
Exactly that!
Of course a much better parsing, but I did like the image of Jean Luc settling up for his macarons and Tarte aux Myrtilles
Macarons incidentally feature in the cake I am planning for the birthday bash
Bien sûr! Merci, Gazza.
Absolutely right
Tremendous stuff as usual from Robyn – thanks to him and SJB.
I got 7d from the wordplay only without knowing how ‘frozen’ fitted in. I’ve never seen (or wanted to see) the film.
Highlights for me were 6a, 18a, 24a, 8d and 14d.
I know nothing about Frozen and 20a might have been written in Sanskrit for all the sense it made to me so I didn’t get off to an auspicious start! Things did improve as I got further into the solve but the BRB and my imagination did have a lot of work to do.
I did enjoy 15a which reminded me of the troll in The Billy Goats Gruff!
Thanks to Robyn for the challenge and to SJB for the hints.
I too have never seen the film, I suspect the only cruciverbalists that may have seen the film would have children of a certain age, but I tried to pick a clip that didn’t splash the title all over the place
Another splendid treat from Robyn. I loved it all but would make special mention of 6a 12a 20a 3d and 7d. I too have never seen Frozen but the song is so well known that it causes an instant ear worm
Thanks very much to Robyn and SJB
Sorry about the earworm here is a “99” to help
Great hinting, SJB! I did wonder how well known 7d would be, but it was definitely a huge hit and I liked the definition – and I have been thoroughly exposed to said animation by dint of having a daughter of the right age, as you correctly surmise.
Thanks to one and all for dropping in, and I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend.
Thanks for a fine puzzle I really enjoyed solving and hinting
My own nieces and nephews subjected me to endless repetitions of The Lion King and Aladdin so I have a different set of earworms. I Imagine the building material has crippled plenty of barefoot parents too
Yes, that was very clever! I can still feel the pain 25 years later!
Spent the day out and about with grandchildren (7d posed no problem for me!) so enjoyed this delightful puzzle after they had all settled down for the night. Robyn was on his usual terrific form, and no fewer than nine clues received my tick marks – too many to enumerate, but as three of them were 4-letter answers they will be awarded my podium places: 6a, 24a and 28a.
Many thanks to Robyn for the evening entertainment, and to SJB for the amusing hints.
Super puzzle, as ever. Needed the hint for last in 15a (not a word I was familiar with & inexcusably didn’t twig the file) & was also up the same alley as our reviewer trying to parse 24a. Add me to those who haven’t seen the film but did know the song. Ticks all over the shop so pointless trying to narrow them down to a podium.
Thanks to Robyn & John – had quite forgotten 21d in the MB film.
Gazza as usual nailed the parsing, but I am going to excuse my liberal interpretation as being fine for a hint in a prize puzzle
😃
Came to this gem of a puzzle very late, but fortunately very much on what I discover now to have been Robyn’s wavelength, with all GK very much Mustafa K and in consequence found this Toughie benign and delightful. Podium places for me went to 15a, 20a and 19d, with 3d carrying the bags.
Many thanks indeed to Robyn and to SJB