Sunday Toughie No 240
by Light
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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Light has given us a rather deceptive crossword today. A Spoonerism that isn’t and cricket references that aren’t crickety. A couple of the answers were easier to bung in than parse, but I think I have them now.
14a and 14d clues and I have hinted half. I will try and nudge some that hit the cutting room floor if asked.
13a, 16a and the non-spooner 3d are my favourites today; which ones did you like?
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!
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 Loud claps accompanying flashes of brilliance? (12)
An all-in-one (&lit) to start, that which accompanies an electrical discharge during a rainstorm
8a Short English goalie, clumsy type that’s used to dull racket (7)
The recently retired goalie for the England Lionesses is shortened by one letter and a noun for a stupid or clumsy man
9a Surely caught part of plant’s stem in bloom (2,5)
I don’t think caught is a crickety indicator, but rather a homophone indicator. Homophones (caught) of the knotty part of a plant stem and how a flower may be described when in bloom
13a US president leaving Knievel’s overnight accommodation (5)
Mr Knievel’s forename is removed from the 26th or 32nd US president
My favourite coffee roaster, named for the overnight accommodation for the doves in the room above the cafe where the roasting is done.
16a See mistake old exhausted porter in charge makes (9)
The office of a particular diocese. According to Anthony Buckeridge, Jennings often accused his friend Darbishire of such mistakes;
“Don’t quibble. You’ve made a frightful ****, and you’re about as much use as a radio-active suet pudding.”
Add the abbreviation of old, what remains of porter when discharged of its contents and a military abbreviation of in charge
21a Drugs ring with criminals in the main defying resistance (7)
The ring-shaped letter and some sea-borne criminals (in the main), but drop the resistance abbreviation
26a Prince Charming? Standard cheer for the audience (9,3)
Homophones (for the audience) of a standard or essential nature, and to cheer or raise the spirits. Prince Charming? Is a definition by example of the role of a young male hero in pantomime, usually played by a woman
Down
1d 17 Down divided a party (7)
A weather system that is a violent 17d, from a synonym of divided or rent asunder, a from the clue and an informal party
3d Trouble Nick for Reverend Spooner’s accessory? (3,6)
A Spoonerism that isn’t. To trouble or harass and to Nick or arrest. An accessory worn by Spooner and other reverends
5d One getting on nerves ultimately told off with little hesitation (7)
A little hesitation follows an anagram (off) of told, around the ultimate letter of nerves
6d Canadian PM once insulting boring Greek character (7)
Insulting or coarse, boring into a character from the Greek alphabet. Either the 15th or 23rd Canadian Prime Minister
Once here means before, as the man pictured was twice PM and his son once
10d Transcribe copy, grand or humble (4,4,1,3)
To transcribe or write out, to copy or mimic and a grand abbreviation. Humble is a transitive verb to abase or mortify
18d Aviator to land, holding another flyer (7)
A kind of bunting that is lurking (holding) in the first three words
I won’t be showing the eating of said buntings
19d Vehicle cops record going the wrong way over lay-by regularly (7)
A record and a police department are reversed (going the wrong way) over regular letters of lay-by
Compiler
Light
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I found this not too difficult to complete, but some of the answers took a while to parse.
All the bits I did not know, such as the English goalie, the Canadian PM (politics not my thing!) and Prince Charming, were all solved from the wordplay.
Ticks awarded to 11a, 23a, 5d, 7d, and my favourite 3d.
The only one I haven’t managed to parse is 22d (except I know it is a dish).
Thanks to Light for the enjoyment, and to SJB.
22d was one of those slow to parse here. How we refer to this side (as opposed to them), in an interjection to be quiet and ending with an abbreviation. A chance to listen to Pink Floyd’s DSOTM perhaps
Thanks SJB
That was how I imagined it to be. The quiet and the island were understood, but the other two letters meaning ‘this side’ weren’t.
Completed with some difficulty but good fun with new knowledge acquired.
The parsings were straightforward but the knowledge required was obscure (for me).
Had to check answers to 16a, 19a and 26a and 18d.
Has anyone ever used 19a in a sentence?
Favourites the fence and the non spooner spooner today.
Thanks to Light and SJB.
19a is more often spoken than written down, but I imagine Anthony Buckeridge using it for an exasperated Mr Wilkins perhaps
I hadn’t previously heard of the particular ‘flyer’ in 18d but SJB’s comments made me investigate further – thank goodness the practice of catching and eating small songbirds has never caught on in the UK
I started the crossword whilst listening to TMS and my first-one-in, the 17d ‘Top bowler’, coincided with Mohammad Abbas getting his well-deserved fifer at Lords, so it has to be on my podium. The NW corner proved to be particularly tricky (for me, at least) and my next two Down podium places go to the PDM-required 3d non-Spoonerism and 7d ‘fence’. My third NW PDM was for the 8a ‘Short English goalie’, which joins 11a (another ‘crickety’ clue) and the 13a ‘overnight accommodation’ on my Across podium. Including the unrequired designation ‘Down’ in 1d (just ’17’ would be usual practice?) mislead me for some time as I thought it had to be involved in the wordplay, but it turned out not to be so. The aforementioned 18d was new to me, as was the ‘vehicle’ in 19d, but just following the lego in the 19d wordplay lead me to the answer even before I had any crossers to help out.
My thanks to Light for a very good accompaniment to the pre-lunch session at Lords, and to SJB for his Hints and Tips and illustrated, illuminating commentary.
I believe one of the French presidents died whilst eating one. Pompidou?
I’d forgotten about the Pagnol novel, which was part of my French A level in the 60s!
The follow up – La Chateau de ma Mere is good too (book and film)
I should have guessed that your email address hinted at a French bird connection
I sold houses in France for about 20 years. When deciding on a name, our local pub had alouette as the house variety of wines. That’ll do I thought. It’s also a french hélicoptère!
Golly. I remember learning that with Mlle Bozman. I still remember the words!
Really enjoyed that, just right for a Sunday Toughie.
The bird lurking in 18d was spotted though never heard of and I’m more familiar with the expression at 10d ending with ‘or two’.
My ticks include the President and daredevil combo at 13a, Spooner’s accessory at 3d and the one getting on nerves misdirection at 5d.
Took me ages to parse but eventually I understood 8a with the short English goalie, so that one is my COTD.
My thanks to Light and SJB.
I remembered the goalie, but the clumsy type needed a trip to the BRB
An interesting puzzle which took a lot of effort, for me, to parse several clues. I’m still a bit unsure about 9a despite the hint so I may have it wrong.
Top picks for me were 11a, 7d, 18d (knew of the flyer here) and 8a.
Thanks to SJB and Light.
I can’t add much more to the hint other than to emphasise surely is the definition and the two homophones are of a swelling on a stem from which a leaf grows and a flower that has bloomed or opened
I needed the hint to parse 8a as I mentally went through all the male goalies I could think of, but even with the obvious answer had forgotten about Mary. Otherwise it was just a question of diligently plodding through. I remembered seeing a documentary some years ago about the netting and consuming of the French birds. 19a was a fairly recent answer so the repetition made that a shoo-in.
My favourites were 16a, 13a and 7d.
Thanks to Light and SJB.
An excellent puzzle from Light – thanks to him and SJB.
I got the answer to 7d quite quickly but I was convinced that the first word should be 8 letters long rather than 7. Mrs Google put me right and made me realise that I hadn’t known the correct spelling all these years.
Ticks from me for 8a, 11a, 13a and 17d with my favourite being 3d.
Very satisfying to have completed this on the same day it was published. I usually finish it at breakfast on Mondays but today is a lazy do nothing day, apart from clearing up the leaves and cob nut husks scattered by the squirrels. Many thanks to Light and SJB – I shall be singing gentile Allouette all week.