Sunday Toughie No 170
by proXimal
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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I found this rather tough last night, but looking at it this morning, it all appears to be fairly clued. A Spoonerism to start and a couple of compound anagrams indicate this is proXimal. A wide field of general knowledge, from Taylor Swift and actors and actresses to ancient civilisations, tombs and geology is required. The renegade priest was new to me, but with checkers, a relatively easy anagram
We have 14a and 14d clues today and I have hinted half(ish) I may be able to give a bonus nudge if you are in need.
Your submission for the “Mythical 🖊️” is more likely to be successful, as for the 2nd day running a typo in one of the little 4 letter answers will send my entry to the bin
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 Cereal tart comes apart according to Spooner (4,6)
A type of tart and to come apart is treated to be a type of breakfast cereal that is full of fibre
10a Trainee is bad smell source, reportedly (7)
A homophone (reportedly) of a bad smell of Scots and N English origin and a source, cause, basis, foundation or occasion of anything
12a Parisian you introduced to knight, queen and king said to be worrying people (7,6)
Some major Lego™ here, start with the chess notation for a knight, then our late queens regnal cipher, introduce how a formal Parisian may say you and finally a homophone (said) of a Latin King
15a Gold only gathered in middle of Somali tombs (8)
The chemical symbol of gold and a synonym of only are gathered in the middle letters of Somali
17a 
24a Rubbish around front of cottage that man had burnt (7)
Take some rubbish and turn it around, then the front of cottage and finally a contraction of that man had
25a Around four gold mines completely stripped rock-forming mineral (7)
Strip the outer letters from gold mines and put what you have left around a Roman four
27a Keeps covering yard with field plants (10)
A synonym of keeps contains an abbreviation of yard and a field or speciality
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Down
1d Animated creature annoys insects (4)
A triple definition (if you include the 1998 Disney Pixar animation)
2d Worker on current Taylor Swift tour accommodates old boy with actor (7,8)
More Lego™ here, start with the worker (that was the subject of the film above), add on from the clue, the physics abbreviation of current, the acronym of old boy, a synonym of with, finish with the title of the recent Taylor Swift tour
5d Tense amid raising certain vessel of ancient civilisation (8)
The abbreviation of tense is a reversal (rising) of certain and a vessel. Someone or thing from an ancient state in Italy north of the Tiber
7d Arrest in depressed Black Sea area reduced type of offences (4-6,5)
A synonym of depressed or sad, an informal term for arrest and a disputed area of The Black Sea that has been reduced by one letter. Offences committed by manual workers
13d Separatist is to replace English in plan (10)
A (9) letter synonym of plan swaps E for English with IS from the clue for someone who favours a breach in unity of a church or similar organisation
21d Oddly knew this hard task might be unworkable (6)
Our second compound anagram. (I ran out of hints for the first (17a) but a nice pic should help). The hard task can be found in an anagram of unworkable when an anagram (oddly) of knew has been removed
23d Kid heard river (4)
We finish in the South East with a North East river. A homophone (heard) of to kid
Compiler
proXimal
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Very jolly. All P’s usual tricks on show here, from the cute Spooner on. And 2d tickled me – fun to slot together. Best thanks to proXimal and Sloop.
Some of the GK was a bit beyond me but eminently Google able I enjoyed it too
Got held up in the SW, mainly due to my lack of knowledge of rock-forming minerals, though once I had enough intersecting letters, I cracked the clueing, googled my answer and there it was.
The tombs in 15a was also new in its plural form, though from the clue the answer was fairly evident.
A good standard toughie with the setter’s hallmark hard to miss.
Thanks to SJB and proXimal.
I did have to look for quite a few 15a before I found a plural image. The mineral was actually first in from wordplay but not parsed until later
Correction.
I meant SE not SW.
It’s a wonder I can find my way home!
No worries – it was the SW where I removed the wrong original letter to my “cost”
Our second top-notch puzzle of the day – thanks to proXimal for a proper workout and to SJB for the review.
I didn’t know the 25a mineral and I’m ignorant of anything to do with T Swift but in both cases the wordplay came to the rescue.
Top clues for me were 1a, 12a, 19a, 7d and 21d.
I can’t argue with those clues you have favoured, but I ran out of hints before I ran out of ticks
Always happy to see a proXimal puzzle and invariably the trademark clues make it onto my podium steps. For the across clues I chose 1, 12 & 17 (14 was also in the frame) and down clues were 7, 8 & 21 (with 16 close behind). I had to smile at 10a, although I wouldn’t pronounce the word quite that way, and I also enjoyed 19a. I didn’t know the 1d ‘animated creature’ identified by SJB in the hints so had assumed the similarly named Bunny was the creature in question – either works, I think. The ‘renegade priest’ was also new to me but once he was identified I spent a good half hour reading about him and the associated history – it would seem that there is nothing new about fake news and trolling, just via different media in the 17th century and somewhat slower to go viral…
My thanks to proXimal and to SJB.
The animated bunny is probably what proXimal was thinking of, but I went with the Disney Pixar one as it fits in rather nicely with Zorro in the next clue
Did a year of geology as part of my degree so 25a wasn’t a problem. Unfortunately it didn’t help with the rest of puzzle.
Got there in the end but only with the hints.
Thanks to proximal and SJB
Glad you got there in the end. 25a was one of several learning moments for me, but the wordplay lead me to the answer there and elsewhere
I’ve just got 6a to solve, any chance of a gentle clue please? :-D
Cx
Sanction is the definition, in prime locations is an instruction to take the letters located in those positions; therefore you want letters 2,3,5, and 7 from the other two words in the clue – remember that 1 is no longer a prime number
I don’t know if proXimal has a maths degree but it is really just a variation on the alternate letters sort of clue
Thank you so much!
I haven’t seen that use of ‘prime’ in a clue before, only for using initials I think. Not being mathematically minded I bet I would never have seen it without your help!
I had considered the answer as one of the few words to fit in there, but the two definitions didn’t seem to be quite the same meaning to me, so I really wanted to understand the clue before I put it in.
Thanks again! Cx
In a trawl of the dictionary and thesaurus it is one of those words where the answer is not under the definition but if you look up the answer it has the definition in
Coming to it late, but I think I’m on the way to another pen. I shall see what a nights rest does for me. Many thanks to Proximal and SJB.
Good luck with the 🖋️ I’m not competing today as I typoed 26a
Super puzzle, a proper challenge. I had no idea about the TS tour name (but as I could not name anything she’s ever sung, I don’t feel I’ve missed out) but it was not necessary for solving the clue, fortunately. 1a a good triple, but I thought it had to be the Bunny and not the film, otherwise it’s a singular/plural conflict. The clues with compound anagrams became a lot easier when I remembered who had set the puzzle. 25a entirely new to me.
Many thanks to Proximal and SJB (by the way, who is the lady pictured at 17a? I have no idea, having lead a sheltered couple of decades … !)
A young 17a Rosselini, daughter of Ingrid Bergman
Thanks SJB. Not a recent photo, then …
No she is a bit older now, I should have hinted the compound anagram, but I ran out of hints
Had a brief gander at this too late yesterday evening & was clearly knackered (mentally & physically) as the only answer I entered was 23d. A tough but thoroughly enjoyable solve this afternoon & in a respectable time. Never heard of 25a but the wordplay helped & I’m ashamed to say I’d quite forgotten about chap who fabricated the Popish Plot to do away with Charlie though the name rang a bell. Can’t see what all the fuss is about with TS but knew the tour name from reading that it (incredibly) added to UK inflationary pressures.
Ticks all over the shop – particularly liked 1,12,15&27a along with 2,7&21d.
Thanks to proXimal & to John – lovely pic of IR (presumably from a Lancôme shoot) – she was wonderful in Blue Velvet.
I think it was her mother that turned Michael Parkinson into a drooling idiot
Remember that interview well largely because of her thoughts on Casablanca.