Sunday Toughie 163 (Hints)

Sunday Toughie No 163

by Beam

 

Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee

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Another reasonably floughie toughie from Beam that didn’t take too long last night. He comes in at under 5.36 words per clue, although there is that rare beast A SEVEN! word clue from Beam (27a). The other Beam trademarks are present (sweetheart, queen and an initial letters clue, not forgetting the lack of anagrams)

I have an even 14a and 14d clues today, but I have an uneven 8a and 6d hints today. I hope you find the checkers to fill the grid, a bonus nudge may be available for the first to ask

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

8a          Oddly sick sailor getting skin disease (4)
Some odd letters and add one of our usual sailors

9a          Republican helping following old president’s mistake (10)
The letter that represents Republican and a measured helping follow the familiar name of an old president

12a       Grip hard with small fish (9)
Four bits of Lego™ here, start with the letter that signifies a hard pencil, add a synonym of with and the abbreviation of small and a fish that resembles the cod

13a       Last item removed in strip? (5)
An double definition of the last item removed in a striptease or something a cobbler may create on his last

17a       Bodices seen in fancy outfits (7)
An informal interjection of surprise like fancy that, a synonym of outfits that happens to have the most definitions of all in the dictionary. I wonder if crossword setters have used all 430 or so meanings?

The word with the most meanings in English is the verb ‘***’, with 430 senses listed in the Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, published in 1989. The word commands the longest entry in the dictionary at 60,000 words, or 326,000 characters.

I wonder if Beam could do it in 6 words rather 60,000!

22a       Legend backing vermin concerning Manx cat (9)
A reversal (backing) start with some vermin, on of our usual concerning on or abouts and a familiar name for a cat that has lost its tail letter

26a       Match point in brilliant tie (8)
A point of the compass in a synonym of brilliantly illuminated all around a “match” in tennis perhaps. A nice surface

27a       The French turns in show becoming rude (10)
Count them, seven words in a clue from Beam/RayT Fancy that! It may be an 9a but I am sure he wouldn’t waste one unnecessarily, so as the word we seek is defined as verging on immodest I will include becoming in the definition. The wordplay has one of the French definite articles reversed into a synonym of show.

Down

1d         Clergy member supports account for faithful (8)
An abbreviation for account supported by a member of the clergy

3d         Crazy about single mum being seductive (9)
A synonym of crazy around the letter that a Roman cricket scorer may use for a single and an interjection to stay “mum” (I am sure that Romans didn’t play cricket but if they did…)

4d         Japanese ornament of bag’s buckle occasionally (7)
Bag’s with an open framework and occasional letters of buckle. I doubt Terence will be considering this for THE LIST™ as he is probably on a lovely walk with the 3d H

14d       Alien enemy queen holding sway (9)
A bit tricky to parse until you get the right queen in the right place, An enemy contains a synonym of sway followed by a one-letter Latin abbreviation of Queen

16d       Pressure sweetheart in uncaring propositions (8)
The abbreviation of pressure and a synonym of uncaring that contains Beam’s™ “sweetheart”. Propositions stated or assumed for the sake of argument

24d       Dug up revolting material (5)
A reversal (revolting) of dug up – a material originally from France

Compiler

Beam

 

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