Sunday Toughie No 210
by proXimal
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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A great time was had by all at the birthday bash – see posts passim for pics. It took a bit of puzzling to parse some of these and, as ever, I can’t hint them all.
Connection permitting I will try and give an extra nudge or two if I can. I went to see the wonderful Caravaggio at the Wallace collection Friday, and today I fancy having a look at 19d’s Gin Lane, which I believe is in the Tate.
Thanks to everyone who came to the bash I hope you had fun, and apologies if you tried the Teams link. I won’t try that again – it doesnt work well in a noisy pub environment.
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 you have all been so well-behaved that the red pencil is likely to remain in retirement.
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 Spooner’s avoiding marsupial trainer (7,4)
To deliberately avoid and an abbreviated marsupial are given the Spoonerisation treatment.
7a Mortal wins heart of tyrannic deity (7)
A mortal being such as yourself that contains the two letters at the heart of tyrannic, for a revered Hindu Deity.
10a Dry January ultimately restricts everyone severely (8)
A term for dry Champagne and the ultimate letter of January, contains a synonym for everyone. I don’t think proXimal or I were partaking in abstinence this month, as I had a beer or several with him on Friday.
13a Symbol of clan is tailless bear (4)
A symbol of a clan, family or tribe, without his tail is a synonym of bear.
21a Delivering all over the place, not ever relaxing or being unoccupied (6)
The first compound anagram, (all over the place) of delivering, but remove ever before scrambling.
22a Misbehaving dog about to bite fool from behind (6,2)
A small, short-haired dog with a wrinkled face, a fool and one of our usual abouts are reversed (from behind)
26a Realistic because of where we live (4-2-5)
Combine a phrasal synonym of because of and the planet on which we live. We should get off cloud nine and be realistic.
Down
1d French firm let out houses in Lille to the personnel at last (7)
To let out property, contains (houses) how someone from Lille would say “to the” and the last letter of personnel.
5d House neighbouring bar’s second address for patriarch (8)
A house abbreviation, some bars of music and a second abbreviation would be how you would address the head of a patriarchal church.
6d Sooner clear the air having clashed, wanting composed chat (7)
Another compound anagram, (having clashed) of clear the air, but it is wanting an anagram (composed) of chat removed first.
12d Uprising soldiers arrested by gendarme, several merry (10)
A reversal (uprising in a down clue) of soldiers of lower ranks, contained in the French slang term for a gendarme, and add a synonym of several.
15d Rugby players showing impudence fight (5,3)
Synonyms of the last two words combine to be large and intimidating rugby players.
17d Trialled set parts of various colours (7)
The bit of a cinematic studio where parts of old sets remain, contained within an adjective for of various colours such as magpies or horses.
19d
23d Idiot forcibly hit bar close to you (4)
To forcibly hit, without (bar) the closing letter of you.
Compiler
proXimal
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A couple of new words in 7a and 2d which required Mr Google. Also needed SJB’s assistance with a couple of parsings but a most enjoyable puzzle on this dreich Aberdeenshire afternoon.
I enjoy the lego clues so 1d and 12d are amongst my favourites.
Thanks to proximal and SJB
Equally dreich in central London so I have abandoned a stroll around Regent’s Park and the Tate for a more comfortable hotel room.
I have been enjoying a rather nice red named after the informal gendarme and would have illustrated with a glass of same, but I couldn’t have hidden it under a spoiler.
An entertaining puzzle from proXimal (though three subtractive anagrams is possibly on the high side) – thanks to him and SJB,
Top clues for me were 1a, 13a, 22a and 17d.
Many thanks to John for organising the Birthday Bash yesterday and for the delicious macaroons.
I agree, three is on the high side but not unprecedented.
I will pass on the thanks for the macarons to;
Portfolio Iran prepared for Master Patissier (7,6)
and to Mike for whipping up that clue on the fly.
7a needed verification, and I was slow to spot 16a (normally I’m quick to find those).
Apart from those couple, the rest was fairly straightforward.
Many thanks to proXimal and to SJB.
The hint to 1d needs a minor tweak (in Lille “to the”…)
Oops now corrected, I bunged in 8 letters of 16a from definition, but had to pause before the last two revealed themselves.
As usual, I needed help with a couple but I did enjoy the challenge. Getting a couple of long ones on the first pass helped. My COTT is the place where we live at 28a.
Thank you, proXimal for the entertainment. Thank you, SLB for the hints.
The place where we live is good.
Home is where I want to be
Pick me up and turn me around
I feel numb, burn with a weak heart
Guess I must be having fun
It’s taken most of the evening in parallel with watching the final episode of The Night Manager to complete this entertaining Toughie. Most were readily identifiable, but I needed the e-dictionary to confirm that my parsing of 2d and 7a was correct. 10a was LOI and the “uprising soldiers’ at 12d is my COTT.
My thanks to proXimal for keeping me occupied and SJB for the hints which in this instance we’re not required.
Sport on the box (footy, darts & golf) a bit of work got in the way of puzzles so late to this. Even though I know there will be at least 2 of ‘em (agree with Gazza that 3 is over-egging it a bit) I never seem to twig them that quickly & today’s were no exception – all 3 parsed working back from the answer. The Spoonerism was a slow penny drop too. Otherwise a fairly sedate solve with only 2d&7a requiring post solve confirmation though both vaguely rang a 🔔. 10&24a 17&19d particular likes.
Thanks to ProXimal & to John both for the review & his efforts organising the get together. I’ll save your puzzle until tomorrow
This puzzle by proXimal provided last night’s bedtime entertainment, and a good wind down from the very dramatic final episode of The Night Manager – how on earth did Croye Dave manage to do it in parallel…!
Two of the three subtraction anagrams made it onto my Across and Down podiums – 21a and 6d, along with the 1a ‘Spooner’, the 22a ‘Misbehaving dog’, the 9d ‘records’ and the 19d ‘satirist’.13a and 12d just missed out on the medal spots. I’d come across 2d in a crossword before, but the 7a ‘deity’ was new to me. I found a synonym used in 17d somewhat enigmatic, but SJB’s ‘cinematic’ context seems OK.
Thanks to proXimal for his customary excellent entertainment, and to SJB for managing to find time to publish his hints despite such a hectic week. Tonight’s much anticipated bedtime entertainment will be ‘Three Days Late’ – or should that title now be revised to ‘Five Days Late’…?
Trying to watch Only Connect whilst crosswording makes me miss both!
Six and counting…
First Sunday Toughie completed although I needed to check 7a and 2d.
1a favourite
Thanks to proXimal and SJB