Sunday Toughie No 135
by Zandio
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
A very nice Toughie from Zandio today that didn’t keep me up too long last night, it didn’t seem much tougher than his Friday back pager but your experience may differ. He popped into Friday’s blog to tease 27a and I appreciate the name check 1a 14d and 25a can join the 4-way fight for the podium for me
I have hinted half of 14a and 14d clues today and hope you find the checkers to fill the lights. A bonus nudge may be available if my day out with Mama Bee permits internet access
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 Star date number one: ‘Costume for Kirk’ (as Scotty might say?) (6,4)
Synonyms of our Star, today’s date, and number one – What any Scot may invite you to wear to attend his church
15a Love, say, Jeremy’s clues – they can be enriching (8,4)
A synonym of love or value highly and the oft-mispronounced surname of a political Jeremy leads to something enriching
I “Irregularly fancied” her back in the day
18a European final, Italy caught going to parties – they should tighten things up (7,5)
Abbreviations of Europe, Italy and caught around a synonym of last together with parties or groups of musicians perhaps
21a Partygoer needs place to sleep, home in the East End (8)
A place to sleep (in groups) and how someone from the East End may refer to his residence, this rodent is mainly nocturnal and can therefore attend a lot of parties
22a Irregularly fancied Dorset – admits visiting regularly (6)
Alternate letters (visiting regularly) lead us to an intransitive verb to contemplate an imaginably possible but unlikely relationship
25a Googled to get gold, say, from this event? (6,4)
To get gold from Googled you must hop, skip and… from the first letter to subsequent letters a total of how many times?
27a John’s avoiding one’s places to go! (10)
Zandio teased us with this clue in the comments on his Friday backpager but I didn’t have time to appreciate the name-check then. It is a little bit lavatorial, Using John’s or one’s to refer to the loo or what you do there is to avoid mentioning the unmentionable, they both use this punctuation mark to indicate where some letters go unmentioned 
Down
1d Head of task force probing London area fire (6)
The head of task and a military force in the area that London lies within
3d Repeated stress of tackling tricky teasers? (12)
The practice of repeated stressing of the same sound at the start
8d Democrats maybe supporting male suppression, ultimately all women do? (3,5)
A political group such as the Democrats supports a nominative male pronoun and the ultimate letter of suppression
11d Loan a cracking vehicle with variable notice for specific period (8,4)
To loan and a from the clue in a vehicle, followed by a mathematical variable and to notice or catch the sound of something
14d Notice components rotating – one should keep timer on (10)
A synonym of notice and a reversal (rotating) of components may keep your timer on
16d With English coming in, repeatedly pop on titfer and tie (4,4)
Informal synonyms of pop and titfer both contain an E for English
19d Revalue property in city guide getting stick about parking (6)
Before Google Maps Phyllis Pearsall provided an invaluable city guide it is in a synonym of stick or adhere and is followed by the map symbol for parking
Could new readers please read the Welcome Post and the FAQ before posting comments or asking questions about the site.
As this is a Prize crossword, please don’t put any ANSWERS, whether WHOLE, PARTIAL or INCORRECT or any ALTERNATIVE CLUES in your comment.
Please read these instructions carefully – they are not subject to debate or discussion. Offending comments may be redacted or, in extreme cases, deleted. In all cases the administrator’s decision is final.
If you don’t understand, or don’t wish to comply with, the conventions for commenting on weekend prize puzzles then save yourself a lot of trouble and don’t leave a comment
I found this while looking for clues to 21a but the whole playlist became my blogging music last night and this morning
That’s All Folks…
Lovely stuff from Zandio, as per usual. But 21a?! That’s his most bonkers definition yet! Many thanks to Z, Sloop and the Foos.
I presume that the party attended is a tea party in Wonderland?
Undoubtedly! V funny, to be fair.
A top-notch puzzle from Zandio – thanks to him and SJB.
I’m still trying to come up with an example of how the definition in 5d matches the answer.
I think that 27a is saying that removing the answer (one) from the first word leaves a plural term for places to go.
My ticks included 21a, 25a, 27a, 3d and 16d.
5d was indeed another of my ‘curios’. I went with the the answer being a type of the definition, but perhaps that would call for a question mark at the end of the clue?
I agree, I liked the clue but couldn’t find the right words to convey the thought
Re 5d I had this in mind but not sure I could use one word without the other in a sentence
Very impressive 5d design! After yesterday’s NTSPP, it reminds me of a not so different 5d design over the river Severn at Ironbridge.
I must try and make more time for the NTSPP, EV and Friday Toughies but life and Mama Bee always curtail my ambitions
Interesting puzzle from Zandio with what I thought were some curios. I thought 21a might possibly be making reference to a tea party dreamt up by Lewis Carroll? I wondered if the 11d ‘notice’ might be one appearing in the upper corner of a newspaper front page? And my take on 27a was to to remove ‘one’s places to go’ from the possessive version at the start of the clue to be left with just the punctuation? Or perhaps I’m over thinking it…!
Anyway, I picked out 3 favourites in each direction: 1a for inventiveness, 24a for surface, 25a for cleverness, 1d and 4d for surfaces and 3d because it made me smile!
Thanks, Zandio, and my thanks also to the star of 27a.
The last version of the Carroll masterpiece I saw portrayed the creature in question as such a lush he would go to the opening of an envelope if there was any chance of a beer or eight
Zandio’s a law unto himself when it comes to compiling and I invariably have a fight on my hands with his Toughies. Today was no exception and I only managed to get to the finish line in fits and starts. Favourite here was 15a – loved the programme back in the day.
Thanks to Zandio and to SJB for the hints.
Hello all, compiler here. Thanks very much for taking the time to solve, analyse and discuss.
Gazza’s explanation of 27a is correct (as always): you could read it as ‘X avoiding one is Y’. In other words, it’s the difference between a possessive and a plural.
In 5d, they are synonyms (I would say) if followed by ‘flaw’ or ‘element’, although in that context one is an adjective and the other is an attributive noun, apparently.
Thanks again for taking the time on this bank holiday weekend, always much appreciated. Have a good week.
Thank you for a fine puzzle that certainly entertained me on this bank holiday, although I do wish I had paid more attention to grammar lessons in my salad days
It’s taken me all day but the final clue has just satisfyingly fallen into place. I think I’ve only ever managed to complete a Toughie unaided once before. There were a few I wasn’t sure of the parsing of though so the hints provided very welcome explanations. I don’t think I’d have ever sussed the parsing of 25A! My favourite would have to be top of the shop, 1A. There was a lot to unpack in that clue but it was a corker. Thanks to SJB and to Zandio.
A power cut here prevented a congrats last night, I hope that this was just the second of many toughie completions
Well I have to say that I thought that was a good bit tougher than his Friday back-pager & indeed most of his recent ones in that slot. I’m down to within 1 of a finish (24a) now that the penny has finally dropped (expletive uttered & iPad flung into the cushion) with 27a – couldn’t get it on Friday & still struggled with 5 checkers. Can’t parse 25a & not too sure about the why with 2nd word at 1a. Think I’ll retire for the night & look again tomorrow with fresher eyes.Ticks for 9,15&21a plus pretty much all of the downs. Very enjoyable.
Thanks to Zandio & to John – haven’t read the review yet but listened to the FF cover, which I’d not heard before,(not a patch on the original for me) & Phideaux
Penny dropped for 24a & the 1a why but nowhere near parsing the hop, skip & jump – thanks John.
GoOgLeD, Hop from the first G to the second O, step over the second g to the L and jump over the second e to the D and think of Greg Rutherford or Jonathan Edwards whilst doing so
Aye I’d twigged it from your hint but doubt I’d have done so without guidance
Took a while but got there in the end.
Earlier each week- you will be commenting firstsoon
Didn’t get a chance to look at this super puzzle until this evening. Great fun, thank you Zandio and SJB. COTD for me was 21a.