Sunday Toughie No 204
by Dada
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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Well, it is not the first time we have had Dada here and in the other prize Sunday slot, as no one has yet claimed yesterday’s SPP, maybe he has had a trifecta!
A slightly less than normal 13a and 13d clues today, and I have hinted less than half. The 6d 22a combo fooled me and I had to ask for help (thanks Lie-In-King). I am still not 100% convinced by my answer so the mythical is yours today.
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
7a Diver netting old bike (7)
A particular diving bird around o for old.
10a Monster chasing mother and boy not entirely hokum (5-5)
An informal mother, not entirely all of the boy are chased by an elephantine monster.
12a Setter and one-time solver’s stone alongside a gem (8)
Start with a from the clue, add how the setter refers to himself, then a one-time term for you the solver, and finish with the abbreviation of 14lbs in weight.
15a Buy joint in graceful descent (7-4)
A slang term for buy as in accept or believe, and a seedy disreputable joint.
22a Covering 6 Down (4)
Dada’s personal thesaurus to the fore, Is the answer the covering that is used in a particular form and colour, to cover the playing surface part of the answer to 6d. Or perhaps Dada wants us to use the word that “covers” the clue to 6d? Maybe even the shade or covering for the light that illuminates the playing surface. Your guess is as good as mine, but I have (with help from Lie-in-King!) plumped for a double definition of a covering for the Christmas roast, that is synonymous with to deceive or 6d. Hmm…
25a Piece of music by jazz fan wearing jazzy coat! (7)
A fan of jazz wearing an anagram (jazzy) of COAT.
Down
1d Dirty gags right tasty! (7)
Dirty like the ring around a bath, around R for right.
3d Runner and winger, entertaining player? (6)
A particular runner or river, and a particular winger or bird, entertain us by playing music.
5d Exceptionally popular always – is that a fact? (4,1,5)
A (4,2) phrase for exceptionally popular and a synonym of always.
6d Fool referring to pop artist the wrong way (7)
A Latin preposition for referring to and a reversal (the wrong way) of a pop artist known (by some) for his sculptures depicting everyday objects, including balloon animals. To fool a person or a plan by placing an obstacle in the way.
17d A perceptible giggle holding unfinished wine up – that’s the drug in it! (7)
A from the clue an abbreviation or textspeak for a giggle that is perceptible, around most of a white wine from the Rhine valley that has been reversed (up)
21d Almost imperceptible time … (6)
A double definition.
24d … negligible during moment in year (4)
When in doubt…
Compiler
Dada
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I have been reprising a lot of Robert Plant lately… His show in York on Tuesday is sold out, but i may take a chance on the door.
That’s All Folks…
I would imagine 6/22 will have confused most solvers, me included.
Not a particularly tough Toughie but thank you anyway to Dada and SJB
Parsing 4 letters took longer than the rest of the puzzle put together.
6/22 last ones in for me. I thought I had best check here before submitting as I wasn’t and still not entirely happy. It turns out I was in agreement with SJB. I know an online answer site has given an answer of something similar but far from synonymous. I guess I will have to wait until next week.
I won’t use the bots that just advertise, but I think that Lie-in-King has put me on the right lines with the double definition.
Lie-in-king?
When in a complete pickle with clues like 22a a quick visit to The Answer Bank usually gets a response from a contributor known as The Lie-in-King
Thank you… I think!
22a LOI for me too, I think it is a double definition and agree with the last part of John’s hint on it.
Definitely on the gentle side for a toughie, thanks to Dada and SJB.
Do you like a good lie-in?😉
Have you been at the single malt again, John?
Not yet…
An entertaining and trickier-than-normal puzzle from Dada – thanks to Dada and SJB.
Like others I found that the NE corner and 22a held me up. I got the answers the ‘wrong way round’ by guessing 22a first then getting the verb to fool at 6d which involved looking up the presumed pop artist who turned out to exist.
Top clues for me were 10a, 14a, 15a and 5d.
It’s good to know that Lie-in-King is still going strong. He’s always punctilious about giving the wordplay for all the answers he helps with. BD tried hard, in vain, to entice him to become a blogger in the early days of the blog.
I think Millwall FC are known as The Lions. I wonder if Lie-in-King is related to Frankie🤔. I don’t know when he has these lie ins as he is almost always first to reply to any of my post midnight problems.
A bit of a struggle. Most of the lower half went in fairly easily, but stalled at the top for quite a while until 9d was solved with electronic assistance. Hadn’t heard of the diver at 7a nor the pop artist at 6d, so needed the hint from SJB to put me on track.
Overall I found this to warrant the “Toughie” designation.
Tougher than the norm for Dada on a Sunday, for sure. I cant compare it though, as I am just about to have a go at t’other Dada – blogged by Senf
It was the 6/22 combo that had me fooled for a while as well. Had heard of the ‘pop artist’ but hadn’t retained his name so had to ask Mr G. The rest of the solve was fairly approachable but a bit of lateral thinking definitely a necessity. Podium places went to 20,25&26a.
Thanks and seasonal good wishes to Dada, likewise to SJB for the hinting.
There was a young girl from Beaumaris…
Thanks to Dada for an excellent puzzle, and to SJB for the hints. Merry Christmas to you both, and your families (if we don’t see you before).
Too many ticks to mention, but 3d and 13d I particularly liked.
Good luck with the scissor lift tomorrow!!
Thanks, I am off the booze until Tueaday night at least.
I’d echo Gazza’s first para and the general chain-scratching about 22a.
Very satisfying puzzle. Thank you Dada and Sloop
I turned my attention to this puzzle this morning, and the grid was filled even as I finished my first mug of tea (well, it is a large mug). I had even heard of the pop artist in 6d. A filled grid – apart from two letters of 22a, that is
My hunch was that it might be the kind of covering you can have on a chimney, or worn by a monk, and that this might be the nth definition of 6d in the BRB (of which I don’t have a copy). So I have been in blissful ignorance all day until looking at SJB’s hints just now. The roast turkey covering does seem like a reasonable option, unless anyone in possession of a BRB can report otherwise…
My podium trio were all found in the Down direction, 1, 5 & 13.
My thanks to Dada – I always enjoy his style of wordplay, especially in the guise of his somewhat mischievous alter ego.
Thanks also to SJB and to his Lie-in-King backstop.
You weren’t alone with the monk & the chimney – best I came up with without the hint.
The derivation of 6d seems to come from Indian military slang for a cadet, so I dismissed the monks covering, and almost went with the fabric that covers the table. I am sure L-i-K is right with the double-definition covering for turkey.
A belated DNF (or at least not without the hints) – undone by 6d&22a. I had heard of the pop artist but couldn’t bring him mind. Trickier than usual for a Dada Toughie I thought but very enjoyable. 1d my fav – inventive clip to illustrate which I always sing when my golf ball finds a watery grave which is unfortunately quite often.
Thanks to D&J
My first illustration for 1d involved vile looking bathtub’s 🛀 or dainty bubble baths that had someone eating a flake. They had never seen the tide mark required, so I went with the more tangential song.
Only the crumbliest flakiest chocolate tastes like chocolate never tasted before…