Sunday Toughie 123 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Sunday Toughie 123 (Hints)

Sunday Toughie No 123

by Zandio

Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

I found this at the gentler end of the Zandio spectrum this week. but your experience may differ, I wouldn’t want to 7d any of you. A fine 14d variety of clue types. I hope your 5d’s are not 4d, I fairly 2d’d through this before my 21a could melt
An evenly balanced 14a and 14d clues and I shall hint 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, especially now that the “New Website” no longer confirms if I have got them all right.

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     No hint it is just an anagram

 

6a           Banquet not catering for English diet (4)
Remove e for English from a Banquet and what remains is a meagre diet of no food at all
Nil by Mouth - Hanging Sign - Medical Industry Sign

9a           Admire accessory – i.e. wanting a swap (10)
A synonym of accessory that goes well with your wardrobe perhaps swaps an E for an I, You’ve got this I really admire your skills. You’re so good at this

13a        Improved after losing first half, dropping final point (8)
A synonym of improved loses its first half, a mathematical function for dropping follows to the final point or end of the line

15a        One’s seen listing sadly in the wet Dorset rains – pot, terracotta, should cover it (12)
My own experience with this hobby was never done sadly in the wet. I “cabbed” a Peak (Tryfan) and got to see a Deltic start-up, but it has become synonymous with sad blokes in anoraks listing DMUs in the rain. it is a rather clever lurker (should cover it)
I was a trainspotter in the golden age of steam' - memories of Nottingham's railways - Nottinghamshire Live

18a        Adaptable groups, they’re contracted to keep things tight (7,5)
Two synonyms contract around things to keep them tightly together

25a        Grow herb in America, planted reportedly to make one trimmer (5,5)
A dodgy homophone (thanks Spartacus) here I don’t think I pronounce this the same way as an American says herb. A synonym of grow. how an American says herb and a homophone (reportedly) of planted. This morning’s grooming routine hasn’t yet included the use of said trimmer but I promise it shall before I take Mama Bee out for coffee and cakes

27a        Honey upset being kinky part of triangle (10)
Being kinky is the anagram indicator, part of triangle is the definition leaving the first two words as the fodder
(listen to the end – Ingrid Bergman got the part)

Down

1d          States tracking carbon show growth (6)
The symbol for Carbon and how we refer to the United States go around a synonym of show

3d          In France he will encounter passion on allotment, for example (12)
The French for he encounters a synonym of passion and an allotment or allowance. I will use a picture for an example

Allotment ideas for beginners – tips for grow your own newbies | Ideal Home

5d          That’s sweet (and hot!) — group’s lead vocalist taking top off before photo (10)
The leading letter of group and a vocalist without its topmost letter go before an informal photo

7d          Turn away from ET – ‘et’, as some say (8)
Our favourite Extra-Terrestrial and the “proper” pronunciation of the dialect  ‘et
Several forms of this dialect  ‘et are found On Ilkla Moor Baht ‘at

11d        Rascal over in Germany the expert finds mysterious (12)
A three-letter rascal goes over or above the German for the and an adjective for expert

14d        A lot of housing is small room variety (10)
A synonym of a lot of housing is from the clue and a small room favoured by a variety of monks and prisoners

19d        Imagination making a comeback? (4,2)
I imagine this clue is making a comeback, but I may be confused and be experiencing it for the first time

 

Not a lot of hints in the SW corner but be stoical and look for a rekrul

 

 

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It’s a favourite of Jane’s that should have been a hint for 20d but I ran out before I got there – not really a hint but it does feature Sting

That’s All Folks…

21 comments on “Sunday Toughie 123 (Hints)

  1. Ever so friendly from Zandio today. Typically clever, very him and musical to boot. 1a’s a fun opener, grand to see Dorset get a (damp) mention in 15a and 27a – albeit a gimme – tickled me. Not every surface quite works but, as ever, I loved the quirk, and it was hugely enjoyable. Many thanks to Zandio and Sloop. It still baffles me that Van even contemplated a duet with Hucknall. Tsk. Even Homer nods.

    1. I was down to choosing between the Spice Girls, Ed Sheeran or MH and I know that Huntsman is a big Van Fan so that was the Red headed vocalist I chose

  2. Quite gentle fare from Zandio but lots of fun and with a good 14d of clues. It took me longer than it should to spot the stoical rekrul and to twig where the wood came into 21a. 1a straight-forward but funny & I liked 23d.
    I think the American herb needs a Jimmy Cagney Chicago accent!

    Thanks to Zandio for the entertainment and to SJB for the blog. The Brian Blessed Yorkshire Rap is brilliant 🤣

  3. A more straightforward puzzle than we usually get from Zandio but enjoyable – thanks to him and SJB.
    Highlights for me were 21a, 25a and 19d.

  4. Hello, compiler here. Thanks very much for taking the time to solve, hint and discuss.
    I was interested to see if British solvers would get the reference in 25a. As Gazza has it as a ‘like’, I guess he did. The curious fact is that many Americans don’t pronounce the H in ‘herb’. It’s not because they are dropping it, like Cockney — they see it as the correct pronunciation, like ‘hour’ and ‘heir’.
    Many thanks again for the interest, and have a great week.




    1. Your link to the YT short didn’t come through so here it is

      I didn’t have a problem with how Americans pronounce herb more how I pronounce the trimmer

    2. I lived in Houston for four years and just couldn’t bring myself to ‘acclimatise’ to that pronunciation! Conversely, our kids very quickly adapted to ‘candy’ and ‘cookie’…

    3. My grandmother, who thought she was a duchess, always said an ‘otel. She also called a vase a vawse.
      Thanks for the good guzzle / I have only just polished it off having at last fallen in to 10a.

      1. Do you remember those tins of 10a’d vegetables? Macedoine of veg stirred into Salad Cream when Grandma Bee wanted to appear posh

  5. Thanks to Zandio for a gentler than usual outing and SJB for the hints. Great to see Tom Lehrer making an appearance again!

    1. It took me longer than it should to remember which TL track featured Ingrid Bergman

  6. Zandio hits the spot again with another fine puzzle. I’m not sure I found it gentler than usual, but maybe that was because I worked on it in the warm afternoon sunshine following a long, hilly bike ride! Anyway, two mugs of tea did the job. Lots of ticked clues deserving a podium in each direction: 1, 9 & 13 across and 3, 14 & 19 down. 16d also deserves a mention for being so well hidden, as does 25a for the smile it induced – to borrow Dick Emery’s catch phrase, “Ooh, you are awful – but I like you!”.
    Thanks to Zandio and, as always, SJB.
    P.S. SJB, you may want to revisit your hint for 25a as there is an unfortunate typo… :oops:

    1. Thanks Spartacus – that’ll teach me to turn Grammarly back on. I got sick of it correcting favourite to favorite even though it is set to UK English!

      1. Er – I’m not quite in that league…!
        Now continuing my recovery with a glass of wine :smile:

  7. I don’t care what our setter has to say – the show with hits and misses was Juke Box Jury, and there’s no way that’s fitting in to six letters!
    Waded through the usual sea of treacle to get this completed but my reward was to listen to Sting at the end of the slog – many thanks SJB.
    My respect to all those who found this an easy ride, you must all be ‘on’ the same stuff as our compiler!

    Thanks to Zandio for a look into his mind and to SJB for the lifebelt.

  8. I couldn’t resist the combination of Zandio, “gentler”, and the Yorkshire anthem, so gave this a go — and was glad I did, getting a full grid in less time than Friday’s Zandio backpager (though with some still to parse).

    My favourite was 15a’s 12-letter lurker. Thank you to Zandio, and Sloop for the blog.

    1. I did wonder if you might have been an extra singing on The Cow and Calf

    1. The picture I sent at comment#2 should help
      The clue is a cryptic definition of the drink on a stick you may enjoy in the summer

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