Sunday Toughie No 134
by Robyn
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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Robyn brings us one of his “list” puzzles today and 19d apart it didn’t give me too much grief last night, parsing 19d took longer than the rest of the puzzle put together but at least I learned something about French Revolutionary Writers and Chinese gold measures. Bradfords failed to find the writer and the gold measure
I have hinted just under half of the clues so will try and give a nudge if required, but 19d apart I didn’t find it too tough
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
8a Rod Laver’s van circled by chopper (4)
A chopper encircles the van or leading letter of the tennis player
10a Vessel made of pine and willow, filled with nothing (8)
To pine or yearn for and the piece of sporting equipment made of willow containing the letter that looks like nothing
12a Roll I preserve, one brought back for a starter (9)
The letter that looks like one, to preserve by sealing in a metal container, I from the clue and a roll or list of duties are reversed (brought back)
17a Pick the wrong moment for film that is screening first in multiplex (7)
A film that descends in certain weather conditions and a Latin that is around a first letter
22a Ebbing desire, say, to keep a record in the study of trees? (9)
The study of family trees, a desire and say as an example are reversed (ebbing) they contain a record that a ship’s captain may keep
25a Batter is what’s eaten by e.g. Jersey girl, as the upper classes say (6)
What a Jersey ruminant does to re-eat her normal diet and the facetious rendering of an upper-class pronunciation of girl – the differing way the G is pronounced between source and answer grates a little but all (except 19d) is forgiven
28a Bomber, say, gently leaves track (4)
A musical notation for gently leaves the aircraft that Bomber is an example of
Down
1d Presents from Musk’s company in e-cash? (8)
The social-media company now owned by Elon Musk goes between the prefix for many things electronic and the cash that is used in the UK
3d A European I caught pocketing billion is nimble (9)
A from the clue and an Eastern European pocket an abbreviation of billion, followed by I and an abbreviation of caught
4d Ruin of the French city of Paris (7)
How a French person may say of the, and the city where Paris the mythological warrior died
6d Vehicle turning up around desert for gambling game (8)
A vehicle for hire is reversed, one of our usual arounds and a member of the 7th Armoured Division that fought in North Africa during WWII
19d Parisian is with American, introduced to key female French writer (2,5)
Her being as obscure as the 2d she contains made this clue almost impossible. The only saving grace was the word-play which if followed closely gives you a name to investigoogle. How a Parisian would say is and one of our usual Americans is inserted into one of the keys on a computer keyboard
If you have heard of the writer in question or the unit of 2d used in the Far East she contains you are a better man than I – This took longer than the rest of the puzzle put together!
24d Penning line, mention revolutionary pop singer (5)
A short mention or record is reversed (revolutionary) around (penning) an abbreviation of line
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I think I have played this before but considering the theme of 5/2d it picks itself
That’s All Folks…
Suprisingly gentle (eg, 8a: so simple, such fun) for a Sunday Robyn but lovely, as always. Typically smart “theme”. What a pro! Only the NHO 19d made my eyes bleed but the WP is happily painless. 11a made me groan (in a good way) and 15a made smile. 12a’s clever too. Many thanks to Robyn and Sloop. Thumbs up for The Prodigy!
I thought that the Prodigy would go down well, better than Yes Sir, I can Boogie for 6d as they omit the final t
Fairly gentle for Robyn but as enjoyable as ever – thanks to him and SJB.
Well done to SJB on finding the 2d unit in 19d; I didn’t think too much about it and just assumed that the unit was the 2-letter abbreviation in the answer (which was obviously wrong because the full version of that appeared in 14d).
Top clues for me were 15a, 22a, 25a and 18d.
The abbreviation for 14d was my first guess too, then the printers space but neither floated my boat until the Chinese unit popped up in my image search
images
A fun puzzle from Robyn with a nicely engineered theme. My second themed answer was 6d, which provided the nudge for what was going on and hence the answer to the 5/2 combo. Knowing the theme did assist with a couple of clues – particularly 19d (last one in), where the wordplay combined with finding a theme word which I was aware of provided a feasible French writer! I had not heard of the lady in question, but have enjoyed reading about her and some of the quotations from her work. The gentleman referred to in 1d would do well to consider, “The search for the truth is the noblest of occupations, and its publication is a duty.” And for those who enjoy the challenge of an Elgar puzzle, “One must, in one’s life, make a choice between boredom and suffering.”
Favourites today were 11a, 20a & 22a plus the embedded theme. My thanks to Robyn and to our host, SJB.
Nice one especially about Elgar – if you haven’t seen it already I would recommend the last Elgar #3320 neither boring or too difficult
I did note the email from your post where you mentioned the puzzle included a tribute to Dutch, so I deviated from my journey through Toughies set in 2020 and leapt forward ~4 years to solve it. I was very pleased that I did so, too. I’ll add my comments to your #3320 post in due course…
I will continue to enjoy Dutch’s reviews in the blog archive for some time to come!
Appreciably more difficult for me than others seem to have found it and Mr G had to work quite hard on my behalf although I couldn’t give him enough clues to nail the French author so that was a joint trial!
Very proud of myself for spotting the ‘friend’ and I particularly liked 10&25a.
Thanks, I think, to Robyn and likewise to SJB for the hints. I did enjoy Ringo’s pals serenading Fanny.
The French author was certainly a trial. I was heading for an early night but couldn’t leave it unparsed. It took close attention to the wordplay and finding the theme 2d to crack it for me too
I like to think that Robert would have known all about her
Having solved the 5d 2d combo earlier, I forgot to look for the necessary weight in 19d LOI. I had to check the lady’s name, but solved it from the wordplay anyway. Over 55 years ago I won the Oxford companion to french literature at school, and I think this is the only time I’ve opened that tome since then!
Great puzzle, and thanks to SJB and Robyn Robyn of course.
I am the same with books, every time I try and cull a few books I no longer read I come back from the second hand book store with more than I parted with
Cor blimey. This is a bit tricky. I’ve done 2/3rds of the guzzle but have to go to bed as I am drooping. I’ll have another look tomorrow when I might be more alert. I’ve been listening to the NYO at the Proms whilst struggling. I did know the French writer but might have the wrong first word for the 5/2d combo. Thanks to Robyn for the headache and to SJB for the help!
The checkers for 5d are ?A?R? if that helps
Thank you SJB. I had that and had pencilled a possible answer and I have to think that is right. As I said in today’s blog, I awoke this morning and the last few fell into place, I thought 25a was delicious! What a devious mind he has. I truly love this site, it has been my saviour.
Like Jane a good bit tougher for me too but the theme helped. The fish fodder took a couple of stabs & confirmation from Mr G & then I fell at the last hurdle with the revolutionary scribbler – wasn’t familiar but I might have followed the wordplay better had I realised that I’d carelessly misspelled my South American (ian for ean) so no wonder I couldn’t find the right key with the wrong checker. It wasn’t my fav Robyn puzzle if I’m honest but as ever much to admire.
Thanks to Robyn & to John – particularly for The Weight clip which is a song I absolutely love even though I’ve never really been entirely sure what it’s all about. Of the many great versions out there none beats the farewell concert performance with Pops & the girls
I made the same mistake with the South American and had to revisit the fodder
I too have enjoyed Robyn’s other list puzzles more than this but probably my ignorance of French writers and obscure 2d to blame
Took forever but got there in the end.