Sunday Toughie No 213
by Dada
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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A day out at the Rhubarb Festival yesterday was very good (and tasty too), but quite tiring. Last time Dada was here (Sunday Toughie 204) I was a bit grumpy and wanted to express disapproval (7a) at getting a Dada to solve last night, but this was quite pleasant. I will obviously have to get used to seeing Dada twice on a Sunday quite often.
28 clues today split 13a/15d and I have hinted half. I hope you find the checkers to finish but I will try and give a nudge or too if time permits, around preparing the surplus of Rhubarb I bought yesterday.
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 Express disapproval when husband tips instrument containing liquor (8)
A traditional stringed instrument contains a type of liquor, followed by an abbreviation
12a Walk off with sweet thing – and go too far? (4,3,7)
To go too far or to surpass everything else, perhaps because you have stolen the last rhubarb and ginger cookie
19a Noble as Cockney kings and queens when stripped (4)
Cockney kings and queens, known for their extravagantly decorated costumes are stripped of their outer letters
20a Vile pants ending on floor alongside underwear for sea rover (4,4,6)
An anagram (pants) of vile and the terminal letter of floor, go alongside some winter underwear
23a Lawyer worried about undecided strategy, ultimately (8)
A synonym of worried around one of undecided, and the ultimate letter of strategy
25a Where seven letters come in “dessert“? (6)
Collectively, how would you refer to the seven letters remaining in the alphabet, beyond the ess
Particularly good in a crumble with ginger
28a Old country‘s gone to seed, so I heard (8)
A homophone (so I heard) of to make less effort when sculling or planting seeds – not sure I have this quite right! I didn’t – An anagram (gone to seed) of the last three words leads to the former name of an African country
Down
1d Skirt that’s hitched up three hours before midday? (4)
Reverse (hitch up in a down clue) What a clock that used Roman numerals would display, three hours before the meridian
3d
4d A central point exists for God (6)
A central point and a synonym of exists. An ancient Egyptian God (of funerals)
6d Pastry dish with fruit rising, make a mistake and it might be flat (4-1-5)
A pastry dish (that can be both sweet or savoury), the fruit of a palm tree, and a reversal (rising in a down clue) of to make a mistake
14d Loud bang originally heralding flood (5)
An original letter and a noun for a flood as a large number of instances of anything happening at the same time or in the same place
16d
18d Fencing move I don’t know: bother! (7)
To express that one is unable to answer a question on Mastermind and some Shakespearean (much – about nothing) bother. The wordplay leads to some investigoogling – A fencing move that is a thrust with one foot advanced
21d Following spot of joyriding, crook in clink (6)
I started with the spot of joyriding, crook (or sick) with in clink as the definition, but that made 23a and 27a impossible. The word that follows the spot (or initial) of joyriding is a synonym of crook or bend and the definition is just clink
26d Water seen when lid lifted from sewer (4)
A sewer or channel that allows fluid to flow away, has its lid “lifted”
Compiler
Dada
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An interesting compilation
That’s All Folks…
Pleasurable and not too tough – thanks to Dada and SJB.
I ticked 7a, 25a and 1d but my favourite is the beautifully disguised 28a which looks for all the world as if it should be a homophone but is in fact a simple anagram.
Do’h
Of course it is – oxalic acid poisoning from too much Rhubarb perhaps!
I’ll amend the hint
A ghost theme involving rhubarb, apparently?
The 12a cookies look scrummy.
I won’t be posting for the next few weeks as we’re shortly off to somewhere hopefully warmer and dryer to enjoy a 10a tour 
Plenty of ticks on my printout which I have pared down to a couple of podiums: 20, 25 & 28 Across and 1, 6 & 21 Down. BTW – 28a, one of my favourites for the misdirection in the clue, is some letters getting overripe and going off. The 5d ‘Intricate’ and the 18d Fencing move’ were novelties, but the wordplay was fair. I also liked 7a because it is a nice word, and 10a because it is a favourite pastime – but not in the recent weather
Thanks to Dada for a fun puzzle and to SJB for the hints and the fruity illustrations.
Enjoy the 10a hol, I did a tour of the Scottish islands, hopping on and off Calmac ferries, from Arran to Point of Ness back via Skye and Fort William. I hope to follow up with a tour of the NC500 in better weather this summer
Just been reading about ‘Mark Beaumont’s North Coast 500’ on the Cycling UK website. A bit beyond (actually way, way, way beyond) my capability, even in the suggested longer timeframe…
Good luck with that – I shall watch this space…
28 hours 35 mins for 516 miles is beyond me too. I think I would want a good fortnight
Turns out I’ve done the Prize Toughie when I thought I was doing the Prize Cryptic! Only realised when I went looking for the BD post. Ergo, even more satisfying to finish this 🙂
Main area of trouble was four connected clues in SE, LOI was 25A – took a minute or two after to parse it. I was grateful for the construction of 4D, 5D and 9A, new words to me.
21D – how does ‘spot’ indicate first letter?
Pody picks – 19A’s move, the amusing 22D surface, and 25A for the satisfaction when it dropped, and my accidental Toughie was complete 🎉
Many thanks to Dada and SJB ⭐️
Having now read the comments, going to add 28A as a pody bonus item – I too enjoyed the lovely anagram, used so well here.
I suppose spot as in I’ll have a spot more milk in my tea, indicates a little bit of,. The initial letter of joyriding would be a little bit, but I agree, I could have explained it a bit better
As Gazza said elsewhere, this was slightly stiffer than Dada’s other, but not by much. Nicely enjoyable – 25a’s fun. It tickled me to see 20a pop up in today’s Sunday Times too. Some secret setter comp surely? Best thanks to Dada and Sloop.
The 20a in the Stimes may be Dada too, he certainly gets about a bit
Yes, 1a in Sunday Times and 20a in this puzzle made me raise an eyebrow, and not being much of a believer in coincidence, suggests some crossover somewhere. No novel title to accompany him though!
Well, I found this quite hard but I got there – although looking.back it’s hard to fathom how!
Four new words for my vocabulary and still a few opaque parsings.
25a was lovely, once the proverbial penny arrived, and i admired 20a.
Thanks to Dada and the Jolly Yottie.
Double Dada day delightfully doable.
1d, 28a and 20a favourites. Was almost beaten by 20a and 28a solved as homophones which dont parse correctly but do give the correct answer.
Thanks to Dada and SJB
I rate this as harder than the prize crossword by a star
13d! Alliteration always acceptable
I found this good fun and pretty friendly; indeed, perhaps a tad easier than the SPP? Plenty to enjoy as always with this setter, with 28a my favourite.
My thanks to Dada and SJB.
Late on parade due to playing the lower holes at Dufftown Golf Course. The upper part of the course is still unplayable due to lying snow.
Enjoyable puzzle today with 25a my favourite.
We used to enjoy our trips to the Far North before the NC500 was devised and swamped the area with more visitors than the infrastructure can support. Hope you enjoy your trip if you can go on one of the quieter periods.
Thanks to Dada and SJB.
I have heard that campervans and sports cars have rather spoiled things. I would want to avoid crowds and cycle about 50/60 miles a day. Not sure when though as I couldn’t spare a fortnight away from Mama Bee. Hopefully someday when the novelty for campervans and boy racers has worn off
Unless you are determined to do the whole NC500, you could take the train to Thurso and cycle west, then south, for the most scenic part of the route. You could head for the station at Lairg from Hope or Laxford Bridge along quieter roads for your return home. Avoid the midgie season!
I may have to do it in separate stages like that, The east coast from Golspie to Wick can be avoided and maybe through the glens over Altnaharra instead
Our lower holes in Sussex have a water problem. No snow here so far this winter!
Somehow or other I actually managed this, finishing the top half quite quickly, but then stalling. The bottom half needed some teasing out, albeit with SLB’s hints for 25a and 20a, for which I was chasing the wrong sort of warm winter underwear and coming up a letter short. Had 28a based on the first part of the clue but didn’t spot the anagram. 4d and 18d are added to my dataset as new words.
My favourite was the sweet thing at 12a
As for NC500, I’ll stick with the exercise b*k* on my landing.
Thanks to Dada and SLB
Get yourself a Zwift account and follow along virtually, the Bealach na Ba is probably easier that way
Thanks for the tip, but it’s even easier watching the YT videos. These days with arthritis (rheumatoid and osteo) and a pacemaker, I use the bike to keep a semblance of fitness for an octogenarian.
Just finished this whilst watching the golf . Concentration always an issue when doing that but eventually finished with the south taking up most of my solving time , especially 25a . and 18d , didn’t help because I’ve never heard of it.Spotted 28a straightaway and I’ll make it my cotd .A lot harder 2* than the prize crossword .Thanks to DADA and Sloop John Bee
I don’t usually include ratings on puzzles, as it is so subjective. Reading comments here and in t’other place the relative difficulty seems to be quite evenly divided. I did like the construction of 25a, a bit like the acrostic HIJKLMNO (5) for water (H”2″O) 18d was fairly clued but needed investigation to confirm
A day late but better late than never. Reckon this was marginally the tougher of the two puzzles & for me it had the edge for enjoyment. Unfamiliar with/had forgotten both the fencing term & the God so they both needed post entry confirmation & can’t say 5d was in my vocab either. 7a is a lovely word & 12a is a phrase I’ve long used. Last in was 21d where I was about to toss a coin for the 2nd letter vowel until the crook synonym dawned on me. 25a was my fav.
Thanks to D&J – good lyric spot for 21d. I love the Cat Power album of the infamous gig & her rendition
An interesting version, I much prefer covers that are a new interpretation rather than a slavish copy