Sunday Toughie 172 (Hints)

Sunday Toughie No 172

by Zandio

 

Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee

 

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Before we get going on the hints, I have a favour to ask. I have managed to secure a ticket to see Bruce Springsteen in Liverpool on the 7th of June, and although I should be home in the wee small hours of Sunday the 8th it is also my birthday😁🎂,  and I am looking for a volunteer to hint the Sunday Toughie that day. I will probably be tired/hungover but will be trying to solve myself so I can assist if required.

I started slowly last night but picked up the pace as checkers and linked clues helped. there are 14a and 14d clues today and I have hited half, further nudges may be available if you ask

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 not so 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1a          Article 23 directed when oxygen is transfused or withdrawn (10)
Come back to this after you have got 23a. Start with the grammatical article (that goes before a singular noun beginning with a vowel sound), then anagram (directed) your solution to 23a, into which has been transfused the chemical symbol of oxygen

11a       Circle line, going through points, fixed (9)
A circular line on a globe that passes through both poles. I am not sure what fixed adds other than the “name” given to each line is a fixed number of degrees from the Greenwich meridian, or that the points are fixed in position by their polar nature

13a       Lead player, really old, cutting record (7)
A synonym of really and the abbreviation of old, cutting into an ordered record
So many to choose from…

14a       Not sprinting after all? (2,3,4,3)
I am going to call this a double definition because, “after all?”  you don’t sprint your fastest in the marathon if you expect to finish without hitting “The Wall”

18a       Easy terms of qualification in Latin, like this from Oxford? (5,7)
An arts qualification and a Latin “like this” intentionally so written (used after a printed word or phrase). Oxford may be where one gets the arts qualification, but here I think their dictionary writers have collated the terms of our language

23a       They’re inclined to exaggerate (7)
An all-in-one, which I will decline to hint further. Take the answer you have back to 1a for the partial anagram

27a       Greens botched after hole 7 (10)
The “hole” that Stan Laurel often got Oliver Hardy into, is followed by an anagram (botched) of greens. The definition is a synonym of 7d

Down

1d         Monarch losing crown, sadly it’s dropped off royal yacht perhaps (6)
An anagram (sadly) of Monarch when the crowning letter has been dropped

3d         Town facility giving double parking? (8,6)
I may be missing something here. The “middle” two letters of the first word are represented by repeated parking symbols. The synonym of the middle is our second word, but how I ought to parse the other 6 letters of the first word is a mystery to me. Maybe the whole first word is a facility of all towns, even if they don’t have a dedicated 3d

8d         Perfect figure with trebly small clothing offsets being sour (8)
Three examples of small (two abbreviations and an informal term) clothing a figure that is perfect according to the Beautiful South

9d         Substantial bit of data: 24 northbound vehicles regularly visit here (7,7)
A synonym of substantial, an abbreviated bit of numerical data, and a reversal (northbound) of how 24a could be contracted

16d       Latest sighting of “bandido” – bandit rampaging around Spain came by (8)
A letter sighted last in “bandido” and an anagram (rampaging) of bandit around the IVR code for Spain

17d       Without sun, a mistiness may shroud these phenomena (8)
A lurker (may shroud) hidden in the first four words. These phenomena are cataclysms resulting from destructive sea waves caused by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions

22d       Maybe horseradish root delivered (5)
A homophone (delivered) of a synonym of the root or origin

Compiler

Zandio

 

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Another cracking 13a performance that very nearly usurped Mr Gilmour. This one from Malcolm Jones of Runrig

That’s All Folks…