Sunday Toughie No 149
by proXimal
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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It took me a little longer than normal to 7d this last night but I was watching the snooker. The Snooker was a bit of a grind, and the crossword was done before the final frame. I hope **** recovers as he is playing in the final right now (I redacted myself as you may be watching the highlights later)
As usual proXimal starts with an easy (to Sloop John Bee) Spoonerism we have a couple of extraction/compound anagrams and several homophones. Dinner would appear to be 13a served with a Spanish red
I have hinted half of an even 14a and 14d clues and hope you find the checkers to “pot the final black”
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
1a Spooner’s assigned money for rock album (3,6)
A synonym of assigned and the money we use here swap initial… for an album that is practically perfect in every way Thanks from Sloop John Bee to the other SJB proXimal – I can’t play the whole album as it is too revealing but here is one track…
6a Clapped-out station wagon would normally be so (5)
what an American who drives a station wagon uses to keep his muffler off the ground is used here as a term for being clapped-out or “exhaust”ed
12a Staggers around following everyone and drops from cliff (9)
Staggers or reels goes around the abbreviation of following and a synonym for everyone
16a Maybe one church dignitary dead on back (8,6)
One of our usual on’s is reversed and follows a church dignitary and dead or unfeeling, one is a definition by example (maybe)
23a Perhaps sonnet right to be included in advanced class (3,4)
A two-letter abbreviation of right is to be included between an abbreviation of advanced and a classroom
24a Was monarch restrained in conversation? (7)
A homophone (in conversation) of restrained (a horse perhaps)
25a Bird rues having clipped wings (5)
A synonym of rues is clipped of both “wings”
Down
1d Father involved in fast for period of bishop’s ruling (6)
Specifically the period of rule of The Bishop of Rome, a contraction of father in a synonym of fast
3d Remark with mail where watch is located (11,4)
Synonyms of remark and mail define where a watchman is located
5d Barking “I couldn’t care less”, ignoring funny caller’s charm (9)
Two anagram indicators (barking and funny) as callers isn’t removed whole from “I couldn’t care less”, leaving the fodder for the art of charming or enticing. Our first proXimal™ compound anagram
6d Greeting chief frequently heard lamenting past ambassador (3,2,3,7)
Synonyms of chief and frequently and a homophone (heard) of lamenting a past life, around the abbreviated title of an ambassador. A greeting frequently heard before noon in Ireland
Track 8 is the hint…
8d Obnoxious journos taking opposing views about trial (8)
Two of our usual journos (one reversed – taking opposing views) go about a trial
15d Sit-ins can be organised with such recognition for social distance (8)
A second proXimal™ compound anagram. The synonym of “such recognition” when combined with sit ins will anagram as social distance
21d Projected broadcast from beginning to end (5)
Another homophone (broadcast) of from beginning to end)
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This went in very steadily. 15d was my cotd, genius. No X as usual !
Thanks proXimal, and I’ll read your hints now SJB
15d was a belter but 1a was a favourite with Sloop
Not the trickiest proXimal puzzle but an enjoyable one – thanks to him and SJB.
I’d never heard of the 1a album but the Spoonerism was easy enough to work out with a couple of checkers in place.
Top clues for me were 6a, 11a, 16a and 2d.
You’re missing a treat with 1a I have to favour Sloop John B but maybe “I Know There’s an Answer” is proXimal’s
Got off to an excellent start when 13a dropped in without the need to work out the anagram but it got progressively more difficult as the solve progressed. Still not sure that I’ve correctly parsed 11a but suspect it may well be a lavatorial reference so I won’t waste any more time on it. Favourite clue was 6d, an expression that my Irish granny often trotted out.
Thanks to proXimal for the puzzle and to SJB for the hints – enjoyed listening to Frankie Valli again – unlike our reviewer I remember it well from 1963!
There’s nothing lavatorial about 11a.
I had problems with 11a – but I don’t think lavatories come into it I followed the wordplay and looked in the thesaurus and dictionary, expecting to find the definition, to no avail. When I put the definition in the BRB and Thesaurus there was the answer as… as a bell
Jane, think chopper not lavatorial. Core of naval + the normal abbreviation for base…
Daren’t write any more for fear of never rising from the naughty step due to age and arthritis…!
Thank you, Jules, the proverbial penny has now dropped!
Pleasure. My username on eBay is axeman100, due to 50 years in the timber/firewood/tree surgery environment. So the first thing that came to mind was….. not chopper, but ******* !
That was lovely. 15d’s an absolute snorter. Best example of that clue type I’ve seen in quite some while. Many thanks to proXimal and Sloop.
Surely there must be more than 4 commenters for a Sunday toughie. Oh, it might be me at 5.
Come on, SJB’s put a lot of effort into blogging this, not to mention proXimal who’s been through hell setting it for our enjoyment
Thank you for the help!
I don’t normally try the toughies but gave it a go this week and managed it in a similar time to the normal prize puzzle today. Very manageable
Couldn’t work out 15d so thank you for the clue. I would have been scratching my head for a lot longer without your help
I also can’t understand the reasoning for the answer to 22a the old style railway system… I’m pretty sure I’ve got the right answer due to checkers but don’t understand the clue
… Runs for miles
Never mind, I understand it now. Hadn’t read the clue enough times!
The railway system is that used in Newcastle and Paris, it turns into a synonym of old-style when you swap the abbreviation of miles to the abbreviation of runs in cricket
Ships that pass in the night… I see you have got it now
So many cracking clues in this excellent puzzle. The simple but so clever 6a, the witty surface of 12a and the trademarked 15d are my top choices. It must be so satisfying compiling a puzzle like this. Thanks to proXimal and also to SJB for the parsing of 15d.
I really enjoy tussles with the triumvirate of Sunday Toughie setters and this was certainly one of the best. I solved this watching the end of the semi final of the snooker last night and just seen the end of the final so after nearly 24 hours of Snooker and Crosswords it is time for bed
All bar 15d solved on the flight home. Just glanced at the comments & the penny dropped – you’d think I’d know to look out for them by now but can’t seem to get on with definitions not at the beginning or end. 1a my fav unsurprisingly.
Thanks to proXimal & to John
The other compound anag (5d) fooled me for a while, mainly because proXimal didn’t hide the definition in the middle this time.
I clocked that one pretty quickly & should have remembered there are usually two.
The album took an embarrassingly long time to dawn on me too
I didn’t really have it down as a “rock” album at first but the nearest genre is probably surf rock so ok by me
Once again the Sunday Toughie has become the Sunday/Monday Toughie!
Came here as totally stumped by 15d (thank you SJB for the hints) and for help parsing 2d but have had to stare at the latter for quite a while before finally seeing the light.
Thanks also to setter.
I almost trotted out the old toilet graffiti joke for 2d
Here sat I broken hearted,
Paid a penny and only…
But that would have been a bit lavatorial
Mine was also the Sunday/Monday Toughie, but on this occasion I finished well before falling asleep and only needed to cull a long tick list on Monday morning in order to decide on my favourites. I’m later still giving my feedback, but the across and down podium places went to 1 (great album, as well as a decent Spoonerism!), 9 & 22 and 2, 8 & 15 respectively. There was a long list of homophones noted as well as ticks ;-)
Thank you for another entertaining puzzle, proXimal, and my thanks also to SJB.