Sunday Toughie No 130
by proXimal
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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proXimal gets his proper pseudonym back, but no doubt as to the author today. A Roonerspism to start and compounds of this such and the like abound. I seem to recall a comment on another blog as to whether hinters ever needed help and I certainly do. With 24a I just don’t see how we leap to the answer other than it is at right angles to the same three letters in 19d. I await a better interpretation from your good selves
We have an even 14a and 14d clues and I have hinted half, but as ever I am sure some tricky clues have hit the cutting room floor. A bonus hint may be available if you ask
Here we go, Folks…
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 return with the full review blog just after the closing date. 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
6a As Spooner says, brave lot for sports competition category (13)
Synonyms of brave and lot when Spoonerised define a category of a ring-based sport
8a Comedy’s Nick and Fanny on Broadway (6)
The surname of Nick, a character in a Shakespearean comedy is what an American (on Broadway) would refer to as a Fanny – No laughing at the back
11a After one becomes sheltered, turn organ (6)
A synonym of turn swaps the letter that looks like one for the sheltered side away from the wind
12a Shown in multiscreen, this player shot with cue (8)
A signature compound anagram (shot) The player we seek can be found in multiscreen when cue has been removed
23a Smack back in countering returned attacks (4,2)
A reversal (returned) of smack or savour and the backmost letter of countering
24a Sink at right angles to an identical one? (3)
Although the definition is easy to spot and we have two out of three letters checked for us, how on earth do we leap to the middle letter? The only thing I can see is that this group of letters is at right angles to identical ones in 19d, but I may be wrong as I have never seen that construction before. Help or confirmation from the commentariat would be much appreciated
27a Good development facility overlooking centre of Montrose becoming more influential (7,6)
A sports development facility replaces the two central letters of Montrose with G for good
Down
1d Like article in Barking news title (8)
A slang adjective for barking contains a synonym of like and a definite article. The name of a newspaper in the form in which it normally appears
3d Switzerland stops production for replaced currency (7)
The IVR code for Switzerland goes into a theatrical production for the former currency of a member of the EU that was replaced by the €uro
4d Scottish singer disregarding unknown northern musician (6)
A Scottish singer becomes another musician when the mathematical unknown is swapped for an N for northern
6d Woe that won’t affect fare dodgers? (4,9)
A cryptic definition of an ailment you can’t get if you don’t eat
“If you don’t eat yer meat, you can’t have any pudding. How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat yer meat?”
7d Banks of Europeans let this kind loose in Threadneedle Street (6-7)
Another compound anagram as indicated by this – loose. An anagram (loose) of a phrase for kind or loving can be found in Threadneedle Street, but remove let and the banking letters of Europeans beforehand
17d Newton amused people when ignoring top critics (8)
Amused people who may be laughing at the back of the class in 8a lose their first letter and replace it with the physical symbol for the Newton
21d Such pests divided and caught by Ned would give us no worries (6)
Not a compound anagram more of a compound synonym, a synonym of no worries contains such pests which can be found when Ned is removed
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Bruce’s 69 Chevy with a 396, Fuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor, was a Camaro rather than a 20a …Stingray, but close enough for me. Debates as the whether the big block 396 could be fitted with Fuelie heads are for petrolhead geeks, I just love the song…
I really liked this proXimal production – many thanks to him and SJB.
I parsed 24a the same way as SJB.
Highlights for me were 27a, 6d, 18d and 21d with my favourite being the giggleworthy 8a.
I guess 24a had to be that, but I don’t recall seeing another example referring to abutting lights in that manner before
Fairly gentle but very enjoyable */****
The surfaces, which for me really make a crossword, were great.
Hard to pick a favourite, but I will go for 7d; the construction of the clue and the allusion to the British banking sector. It would be interesting if Europeans were such to Brits.
Thanks to proXimal and SJB.
Our new PM appears to be about to find out if Europe is prepared to let us back in!
If not “back in” to the whole thing, maybe some would prefer to “join us” on a new, smaller, more refined and defined socio/economic trading group?
Oops. Sorry. No politics here please.
Good idea – maybe you should have stood in the last election :)
:o maybe you did
I thought the right-angled dip was rather clever, haven’t seen the like before.
The four long clues are all vying for my cotd, but I think 7d wins by a whisker.
Thanks proXimal, and SJB, only a quiet snigger at the back!
It certainly puzzled me, maybe it was designed to trip up the data miners for a while
Please would someone explain 21 d to me ? I’m befudddled!
Welcome to the blog Lizzie;
The pests can be found in a phrase you might say if you have no worries – remove the NE******D and what remains are the pests
Much as I enjoyed this (to me) properly challenging, verging on an Elgar, Sunday afternoon Toughie – especially as I figured the compound anagrams, Spoonerism, and correctly biffed 24a (a bizarre and unsatisfactory clue in my view) – the construction of some of the clues felt as though they were designed more for the surface read than to be fair to the solver. So, putting myself in the firing line:
11a – yes, I know how it works, but I can’t see that the wordplay instruction makes sense: start with the synonym for “turn” and then “after one becomes sheltered” gives you the organ, but having “turn” appear where it does in the clue doesn’t seem to make sense unless one imputes an unwritten something else, maybe another “becomes” between “turn” and “organ”. What am I missing, please?
12a & 7a – yes, compound anagrams are very clever, and satisfying to crack, but the formulation of “wordplay – definition – wordplay” seems wrong to me. At least in 21d it’s a “definition – wordplay” type of construction. Again, what am I missing?
Notwithstanding the above, many thanks indeed to Proximal for a great puzzle and to SJB for the blog.
I think Gazza is the expert on the subject, but maybe 11a involves Yoda?
I think that with 11a you are meant to think of something like a barrel organ which you turn to make it work
I am getting better at spotting the compound clues, linking words such as this or such help and I think with proXimal they are here to stay. Although the compound synonym of 21d did allow me a bit of The Stranglers ;)
Thanks both, but I do rather feel that the desire to insert a smart-alec clue construction often results in either a bizarre surface reading or mish-mash of wordplay & definition. By no means whatsoever is this comment solely directed at this puzzle, or even Proximal, let alone the DT, as it appears to be an accelerating trend elsewhere, too. Maybe the current generation of editors is more relaxed about how clues are constructed?
I’m not talking about fresh approaches or innovative clueing, but of jumbled &/or confusing instructions within the clue.
I am certainly for the more relaxed end of the scale, but as with all things you can encounter clues that push the boundaries. If all clues were technically perfect some of the humour and fun would go too. I would have liked to see the 10a bear “cycling” behind the tree on the day that the Tour de France reached a very satisfactory conclusion, and a reminder to revert to my Bee avatar
A wealth of compounds, some Floyd and Stranglers, and a cracking Tour finale to boot. All works a treat for me. Ta lots to proXimal and Sloop.
Think I may be a little tired. At least that’s the only excuse I can think of for a lamentable failure to remember Annie & sneaking a peek at the hint for 4d (no mathematical unknown with Marti Pellow which was the only 6 letter Scot I came up with) & only got 9a once that checker was in. 20a&22d still elude me – oh for the old puzzle site & a letter reveal option. 11&24a were def bung ins & nowhere near to parsing either but on the plus side I twigged the compound anagrams quicker than I usually do. The 4 long uns would be my picks. Pretty challenging puzzle all round for the likes of me.
Thanks to proXimal & to John
20a was a bit tricky and only just hit the cutting room floor, a make of vehicle that took its name from a type of ship synonyms of centre and test + t for time
22d served with neeps in Perth Scotland not Oz
Oh of course – thanks. Shame the 20a hint missed the cut – you could of played Prince’s Little Red one & Mike Zito does a pretty could cover of it also.
Wow! That has really dented my confidence. I am never going to crack this even with your help SJB. I made a random guess straight away at 6a seeing the second ‘switch’ but cannot justify the first word. However, in the overall scheme of things, move on girl. I really salute you brainy ones! I did like 6d. Many thanks to ProXimal and the B man.
Brave the weather or put another way w*****r the storm
Daisyman?
Many thanks to proXimal for providing some entertainment to light up a very grey Monday morning in Kent. I thought this was more of a proper Toughie challenge compared to other recent Sunday puzzles, and some of the parsings required several readings and a jingle of penny-drop moments. Like SJB, I also spotted the identical answer crossing 24a, but I would have assessed this as 45 degrees or just angled rather than ‘at right angles’..? The trademark 6a Spoonerism and 7d compound anagram were amongst my list of favourites, which also included 14a, 3d, 6d & 18d. However, I wasn’t such a fan of 13d or 15d.
Thanks, proXimal, for a good mental workout, and thanks to SJB for the post. I’m sorry I missed the significance of the avatar change over the last 3 weeks! The TdF was indeed a tour-de-force for Pogacar – but watching Cav’s sprint finish to win stage 5 and reach stage win number 35 was the highlight of the race for me :yahoo:
3 weeks of highlights for me but Cav was good and the colour of my avatar was supposed to be his Astana colours
Nice! :smile: