Sunday Toughie No 161
by Light
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
Well another mystery setter, can anyone throw any light on who Light may be? He hasn’t appeared under that name in the categories list. It seems like a Ray Terrell kind of pseudonym Ray Beam Light, but we don’t have The Queen, sweetheart or single-word answers and a frankly Djangoesque 12-word clue in 22a (the average clue length comes down to just over 6 per clue). Nevertheless, I will plump for RayT looking for a suitable level between his backpager and proper toughie (Beam) guises. He may even have signed it in the sixth row of “unches”
15a and 20a floated my boat today but COTD goes to 9d. What did you like?
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 Daft as a booby? (11)
An all-in-one or &lit, an informal adjective for a flighty silly person with the intelligence of a seabird
10a Perhaps Martin Short’s opener is inappropriate (5)
Neither of the pictured Martins, but a writer named Martin adds an opening letter
11a Bloomer? Using finger, a student is … (9)
Four bits of Lego™, in order starting with a finger (from Latin)… A member of the Foxglove family
14a What’s needed to make temperature gauge turn (7)
Start with a gauge and swap the T for temperature with a conjunction for what’s needed. To turn in a circuitous course
15a Badminton, for example, backing test to check horse (7)
A definition by example, a reversal of a test for cars around a small horse. Badminton the sport is named for Badminton the place, for example
20a Ship in bottle? (9)
A double definition, bottle as in fortitude
24a Like trumpeter, nimble-fingered? Hardly (11)
Of or relating to a creature that trumpets and is hardly likely to be nimble-fingered
Down
1d Trio with grub, heading off – working lunch? (7)
Take the head off grub and rub it into the trio for a lunchtime dish named for a small Spanish equine known for carrying a diverse load of ingredients
3d Clip of US pal touring lakes, mind-boggling in the middle (7)
An indicated American pal around plural abbreviations of lakes and the central letters of the hyphenated mind-boggling
4d Clooney possibly not entirely prepared to get mingling (7)
Most of a synonym of prepared to get follows a well-known member (by marriage) of the Clooney family. A mingling of metals
9d Booking accommodation for The Algonquin? (11)
A booking at the eponymous hotel or the place the North American Tribe that gave their name to the Hotel were resettled to
16d Innkeeper face down fixing plug (7)
Lying face down around an abbreviated “plug” for a fatherly Innkeeper of Italian origin
17d Candelabrum in pieces – gold, I see (7)
Pieces on a chess board, heraldic gold and an interjection for I see
18d Lid for Buckaroo! (7)
A “lid” that is one of the pieces of Buckaroo!
Compiler
Light
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Quite tough to solve. I used an online solver for 4d and even with your hint I’m none the wiser. I also had to cheat on an across clue, something about an ‘upright character ‘. and still can’t parse it. Lots to like on the rest of it though, especially 1a for a nice easy starter. Thanks all.
The Clooney is the one married to George followed by most (3 of 4 letters) of a synonym of prepared for a laugh perhaps
The most upright character in the alphabet follows an eccentric character for a “top” that your granny may wear – named for a Lord
I also had to cheat with 21a but can see where it comes from.
Just the right level of Sunday Toughie for me but just couldn’t get 15a by myself.
Favourite 15a too.
Thanks to Light (it wasn’t 😃) and SJB.
I had to follow the wordplay to the test and horse before I found a word to look up in the dictionary
Always a treat to see a new setter/pseudonym. 14a made me sweat – very smart. 20a’s fun too. A couple of scratchers but largely gentle. 18d’s especially mild but nowt wrong with that. Many thanks to Light and Sloop. I find myself intrigued by and envious of your rhubarb festival. Sounds much more fun than Dorset’s nettle-eating version!
Forced Rhubarb is a seasonal delight (kept in the dark and fed on 🐂 💩) We bought many varieties both sweet and savoury and will be eating rhubarb chutnies and crumbles until Easter
Try as I may I cannot grow rhubarb. My old neighbour ‘over the fence’ grew masses of it and was always giving me crowns(is that the right word?) but it just sits and sulks.
I would have to ask Janet Oldroyd (the godmother of the Rhubarb Triangle)
But one of the ways to “force” rhubarb is to let it just sit and grow underground to build up reserves of sugar for a few years. When you bring them indoors and keep them warm and damp in the dark, they grow so fast they can be heard growing an inch a day
Welcome to our new setter who’s given us a puzzle which mostly matches his/her pseudonym but with a couple of tricky clues to keep us on our toes (I’d be amazed if this is Mr T in disguise).
The clues I liked best were 14a, 15a, 21a and 17d.
Many thanks to Light and SJB.
Extensive study of crossword databases throws no ”Light” on the identity of today’s setter but I did enjoy it
Like Gazza, I’d be amazed if this was penned by Mr T, I certainly hope that it wasn’t as I always enjoy his puzzles and this one didn’t really ‘float my boat’. Clues that did merit a tick were 1&12a plus 9&13d.
Thanks to Light for his efforts and to SJB for the hints and the Jungle Book clip.
I like to think Robert would have had something to say about Dorothy Parker and the Algonquin Round Table.
20 across didn’t float for long once the Ice got hold of her
Thank you for that little gem about the Algonquin Round Table, it made for an interesting read.
By the time you swear you’re his,
Shivering and sighing.
And he vows his passion is,
Infinite, undying.
Lady make note of this —
One of you is lying.
A very funny person and certainly not 1a. I think I bought the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations mainly for her bon mots
I’ve just read Mensun Bound’s book about the ship. It’s well worth a read.
Please remove this comment if it’s too close to the naughty step!
Still working my way through the crossword but liked 1a.
There is a Nat Geo documentary about Frank Hurley’s photography that is worth checking too
I can’t get near this. Only three solved after an hour, so I shall leave it and see if a good sleep will untangle a few. I had more success with Friday’s Elgar, even though that was a dnf, more like a hardly started! I’ll keep your hints til tomorrow at least SJB……, thanks anyway, and to Light, pseudonym or not
Had a bash at this yesterday evening. No problem up north other than a long head scratch with the 14a why. The bottom half on the other hand was an entirely different proposition. I’ll ‘fess up to losing patience & looking up the Hanukkah candelabrum – I could picture it but couldn’t remember its name though really should have pegged it from the wordplay. Half a dozen hold outs had to wait for fresh brain/eyes this morning & last to yield was a 21a bung in. 1&24a probably my 2 picks.
Thanks to Light & to John – esp for the 21a explanation in your reply to Nudge.
Well, after 24 hours away from this I managed to complete it, but it was a struggle. 7d my favourite. No idea who Light may be. Maybe he or she will own up!
Thanks SJB, and the setter
I hope so too, I have put a few twitter/blue sky feelers out but no response yet.
You seem to have had a similar experience as Huntsman. When solving these toughies in the wee small of Sunday I often have to parse them after a bung in, but I refuse to resort to Danword