Sunday Toughie No 141
by Zandio
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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I managed to get hold of this at about 11:20 last night and had it largely filled in by Midnight, some not-too-tricky parsing and a bit of formatting and I was off to the land of nod fairly early on.
We have 14a and 14d clues today and I have hinted half, A couple of lurkers and anagrams both whole and partial should fill most of the gaps but I will try and give a bonus hint for clues that didn’t make the cut
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 Produce I bake in churns – it’s an uphill thing (8,4)
Churns is a fairly obvious anagram indicator, you need to find a synonym of produce (a theatrical production perhaps) then add an anagram of the next three words for a thing used uphill (and down dale)
11a Oddly being ignored, 10 highlighted end of only convenience (7)
The even letters of the previous solution, a synonym of highlighted and the end of only, at your convenience
12a Part one, so intense, with last two characters having gone west (7)
The letter that looks like one, so from the clue and a synonym of intense, the last two characters of which go west (to the beginning as it is an across clue)
16a Twice betray WWII soldier (6,3)
Two synonyms of betray define a WWII soldier who fought in North Africa
21a More blasting will require this writer to get into more probing (7)
The nominative singular pronoun for this writer inserted into more probing gives us more blasting
24a Pictures found in jumble also by Stubbs originally (7)
Synonyms of jumble and also go by the original letter of Stubbs
26a Midwife maybe trains twice around hospital, one that cheers infants up (7,5)
The profession of Midwives and other medical attendants, two examples of an abbreviation for the tracks the trains run on around the map abbreviation of a Hospital The one that always raised a laugh at home was;
Hey Diddle Diddle,
The Cat did a Tiddle,
All over the Kitchen Floor
The little dog laughed to see such fun,
So the cat did a little bit more…
And I swerved inflicting more Genesis on you!
Down
1d Pairing’s gripping tango that goes across the floor (7)
A sexual pairing around the letter that Tango suggests goes on the floor
2d Posh shirt, say, I teamed with article that’s perfect (7)
A single letter adjective for posh, shirt is an example of an item of clothing worn on the upper body, I from the clue teamed up with the indefinite article that precedes a vowel sound. Sir Thomas More would find this perfect
6d A row over filling kiosk’s walls with English amateur’s notes (7)
A and the reversal of the instrument used to row a boat fill in between the walls of kiosk and add E for English
My one and only attempt at this was in The Bonnington Arms in Moffat to Don McLean’s American Pie – It was painfully bad – a real Pandemonium, so here is a better version…
7d Threatening to mutiny aboard submarine, make speech interrupted by pandemonium (13)
A synonym of aboard, an abbreviated submarine and to make a speech interrupted by a pandemonium
15d Black dog who’s come from Germany, perhaps … (3-6)
Germany is one of the countries where this breed of hunting dog is from, it follows a synonym of black. I suppose Zandio chose the German breed (even though it is more correctly a pointer) because it is further afield than local breeds that wouldn’t need to fly here
19d Ailing from acne? (7)
I liked this – maybe if I included the apostrophes that indicated dropped aitches, ‘ailing from ‘acne, you may hear the accent of one from a suburb of East London
22d Bit of a step on, and Master’s mounted (5)
A synonym of on and the title of a Master are reversed (mounted in a down clue)
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Anna Lapwood on the 13a in The Royal Albert Hall…
That’s All Folks…
Zandio’s being fairly gentle today but very enjoyable – thanks to him and SJB.
I thought the linked 15/17d were very clever with the dog being ordered in the way his German owner might pronounce the instruction.
I also ticked 10a, 16a and 18d with my favourite being the amusing 19d.
I do like that view on the way a German may order his dog to stop barking and sit down I have put it in the review
So very Zandio. Lovely stuff, as ever. I do think 1a’s definition is a tad naughty but it’s fun. And 19d is an absolute snorter. Many thanks to Z and Sloop. Ta lots for just the one (phew!) Genesis track and you can’t go wrong with a bit of Don.
I rather like that Todd Rundgren but though he links up with the Busty German Schoolteacher from yesterday as he was equally well endowed – especially so in the tight lycra leggings he favoured
ahem…
sorry!
Finally finished but can’t in all honesty say that I particularly enjoyed the solve. Pleased to see that others obviously have, I’d hate for any setter to feel that his work is unappreciated.
Thanks to Zandio and to SJB for the hints.
Me too re the appreciation. It is the wide range of crosswords and comments that make this place such fun
Suspiciously straightforward for a Toughie — I kept thinking I’d missed something or was about to come to a complete halt!
Lots of potential favourites, including Capone doing a bunk in 10a, the submarine pandemonium in 7d, the black dog in 15d, the ailing in 19d, the step on in 22d, and the French antiheroes in 23a:
The only thing I haven’t been able to work out is how those 3 letters in 11a are a synonym of highlighted, but I’ll continue to ponder on that.
Thank you Zandio for the entertainment, and Sloop for recommending it.
Bruce has been highlighted here, and I have made a note to get in the queue on Wednesday, for sale of tickets for his performance at the Co-op Live next May
Oh, is that it?
Good luck with the queuing.
Thanks for the Taylor Swift sounds rather like Florence & the Machine
A bit lost for words after watching ‘The Ridge’ (1a). I hope that back pack held a parachute, not sure if the helmet was sufficient protection…! Ah, yes, the crossword – an enjoyable puzzle from Zandio with some real corkers parachuted in, such as 6d (‘amateur’s notes’, hah!), 19d (loved it!) and 18d (my last one in – a fine construction and surface). And you have to admire the Heath Robinson engineering in 8d.
Thanks, Zandio, and to SJB, especially for ‘The Ridge’. I will look forward to watching further daring adventures recorded by Danny – you won’t find any of my cycling adventures on YouTube!
Check out his latest cycling on The Adidas Building
My own experience on the Cuillin Ridge was gripping to say the least, I wouldn’t have dared go up there on a 1a
8d only just missed the cut but brought to mind the fact that girls in 8d shoes unwittingly (maybe wittingly) gave you a glimpse of lingerie 😲
As I child I longed for those shoes but my mother was adamant that they were indecent!!! Needless to say as soon as I was able to but my own shoes they were most frequently 8d
I knew you were going to say that or something similar 👠
Well unlike Jane I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I wasn’t really in the mood for a stern examination paper so this puzzle hit the spot. The down clues comfortably topped the across ones for me with 3,6,7,8,15,17&19d all particular likes. Lovely stuff.
Thanks to Zandio & to John – super clip for 1a.
Ps as there’s a pic for 24a in the hints I’ll risk a clip of one of my fav Rory Gallagher songs that was always on the set list on the many times I saw him live
If you had all the money spent on tickets you would be able to bid on Rory’s guitar
(I hope it stays in Ireland and gets used rather than hung in some plutocrats vault)
I wonder if I am the only one who finds the 24d contestant in Strictly deeply disturbing?
My own experience with 24a involved an accident with a technical drawing pen, I have a small (miniscule) blue dot on my left thumb which I tell people is actually a 24a of the World🌍
I was tempted to stray into Toughie-land by the comments in the backpager blog about how gentle today’s is. I agree it is, as I’ve managed to complete it! And very enjoyable it was too. Although I’m missing something with the parsing of 26A – I can’t see where the last two letters come from.
Many thanks to Zandio and SJB.
Sorry, my hint could have been a bit clearer.
I have underlined that cheers infants up as the definition leaving one to provide the last two letters. To paraphrase The Sound of Music sung by The Queen;
“One” a name I call oneself…
Ah yes, I understand now. Many thanks.
Hello, compiler here. Many thanks for taking the time to solve, analyse and discuss. Very witty reply to Jon, SJB. Thanks again for the interest, always appreciated.
Thanks for such a fine puzzle that appears to have tempted quite a few people into trying the toughie
Thankyou Zandio for a very satisfying guzzle. I shall have to choose 16a as favourite because my father was one. And thanks to SJB for the hint to 26a.
Great puzzle Zandio, and 19d I thought was the cleverest and most satisfying clue to solve that I’ve seen for ages!
Coming late to the party, but wanted to thank Zandio for a wonderful puzzle, especially 19d, a leading contender for COTY.
Thanks also to SJB