Sunday Toughie No 56 by proXimal
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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I got off to a fast start last night but very soon I slowed considerably, I learned about North African and Asian food and Latin American lizards and several examples of the proXimal trick of extracting or adding words are evident.
We have 14a and 14d clues today but my hints are split 8a 6d today, I have broken the convention of hinting the first and last of the downs as I thought they were rather straightforward. I hope you find enough checkers to get the rest, but I will help with extra nudges if you ask
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 be back just after the closing date with the full review 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 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.
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
6a Arranged job putting diagram in reference work (13)
Take a job you may impose on someone in return for pocket money, a reference work similar to Chambers around a symbolic diagram and you arrange those components into the composition of a dance
9a Chocolate bar wrapper that’s seen on flyer (8)
A particular chocolate bar introduced by Rowntrees in York in 1935, known for its fine bubbles and the shiny wrapper that protects it is also the shape seen on a flying machine that provides lift
12a Kitchen gadget from Scottish town brother picked up (3,5)
Two homophones here, one of a Scottish town the other a brother of a religious order
16a Excellent hosts are vocally moralising (7)
An informal synonym of excellent hosts the letter you “hear” when vocalising are
23a Disease from wide river caught by person in boat (6)
The cricketty letter that a scorer uses to indicate a wide, and an Italian river often seen in crosswords are caught inside the helmsman of a boat. A disease of milkmaids that helped Edward Jenner develop a vaccine for a more serious disease
25a Invertebrates after scuttling out of ground enter jars (8)
An anagram (scuttling) of invertebrates after an anagram (ground) of enter has been removed
26a Old naval officer contracted by English force (6)
O for old and most of a Naval officer (contracted) who presided over a famous mutiny
27a Pleased with weight amount airliner gives on vacation luggage (9,4)
A synonym of pleased, an old imperial weight, A national airliner and the outer letters of gives
Down
2d Returned cake containing beetroot? On the contrary (8)
To return upon an assailant is not a cake containing beetroot, on the contrary it is a type of cake contained by the colour of beetroot
3d Ten such scaly beasts decomposing could be nauseating (7)
These scaly beasts are found in anagram form when the letters of ten are removed from the last word in the clue
6d Browser with soft tongue, goat stripping grass — it gives shiny coat (6,7)
A web browser associated with Google devices, the musical notation for soft, a tongue or language and what is left of goat after the grass has been removed, Samuel Johnson in his dictionary said of this grass ” A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people” A shiny coating for metallic parts
7d Enterprise partnering hotel filling food containers as KFC often has (13)
Enterprise or initiative and daring goes with H for hotel, in the food containers that horses may eat their oats from. A feature of many fast food establishments such as KFC
15d Such cells getting rented outside to be modernised (3)
The egg cells we seek would become a synonym of modernised if they had rented outside
19d City player’s quick with first in net (7)
An instruction to a musician or player to play quickly and the first letter of net combine to be a city in the North West known for the bypass that was Britain’s first motorway
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A not overly difficult Toughie from the X-man but as usual high on quality and smiles.
I have plenty of Sunday stars to award, 6,12&16a plus 7&19d foremost amongst them with 25a getting gold.
Many thanks to ProXimal and John.
I have yet to research the food, but otherwise a satisfying, non-too-complicated puzzle from proXimal. Last to parse was 26a which delivered a pleasing penny-drop moment. I usually attempt the short 3 or 4 letter clues first but today’s 3 letter clues were initially elusive, so 10a makes it to my podium alongside 16a and 27a.
Thanks to proXimal and SJB. I am a a bit perplexed by the photo between 3d and 6d, but it does bring to mind an iconic image of Ursula Andress in a memorable scene from Dr. No.
Apropos of 4d, that is!
Equally iconic image of Richard Burton and Sue Lyon in Night of the 3d
Ah, OK. That movie has passed me by.
Although NOTI is not one of the really great TW plays, the movie version is one I can’t help watching, with a cast that is just right–all the way down to Hannah’s grandfather Nomo, whose poem, when finally finished, always leaves me completely wiped out. While I love Ava Gardner as Maxine, I’ve always regretted that Bette Davis, who originated the role on B’way, somehow missed the casting call.
I only included that photo because of complaints that the blog was using too many scantily clad women, but that is not a very flattering look for Richard Burton there. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is preferred here
Not proXimal at his trickiest but very enjoyable – thanks to him and SJB.
I’m not sure about the Asian scoff in 13d. I have a word in mind but I don’t think it sounds like the answer so I may be on the wrong track.
Top clues for me were 27a, 17d and 19d.
Research since your comment tells me that this Asian soup is not pronounced by locals the same as the opponent but it is a common mispronunciation in the West. It would appear that both proXimal and I need to practice our Vietnamese
Definitely outside of my comfort zone but I did eventually crawl across the finish line with a sigh of relief.
Podium places here went to 6,9&27a plus 5d.
Thanks to proXimal and to SJB for the hints, although sadly those were not for the clues that caused my problems!
I am getting better at solving these Toughies (about time I hear) but it never gets easier deciding which clues to hint, the nature of Toughies appears to be that most clues merit one
I remember Senf saying some time ago that he gave hints for the half of the puzzle he’d managed to solve! I’m fairly sure he was joking but it did make me smile
16a was worth the rest of it. A bit of a r&w let down where, personally, the whole thing was missing some usual pizzazz.
I could have used some of those r&w skills at stupid o’clock wrestling the last few to the ground
Here I am at last. Got carried away by Somerset Maugham (now there’s a comment I never expected to make!) while reading some of his short stories (some early ones on Samoa kept me glued to the page), and then Morpheus took me away. Although I had a bit of trouble parsing a few, I finished this very enjoyable Toughie last night with a full grid without having to seek help from the ether or elsewhere. A very rare feat for me with this compiler. 16a is my laughing favourite, but I enjoyed tinkering with 25a and 3d as I reassembled (added, subtracted) things. I also almost cheered when the KFC reference dawned on me (it’s ‘drive-thru’ over here–yuck). Thanks to John for helping me parse a couple and many thanks to proXimal for the tussle.
Another fine piece of music SJB! Enjoyed that very much.
So did I.
Splendid Sunday Toughie and did enjoy 13d, a delicious dish I first encountered a few years ago – in this country, not Vietnam. Too many good clues to highlight any in particular.
Many thanks to Proximal and SJB
Ahh but how did you pronounce it?
Incorrectly at first! The clue doesn’t work if you apply the correct pronunciation, only the anglicised version – which is I imagine what most people here would use both for the dish and the restaurant chain of the same name.
Still absolutely delicious, though!
Really enjoyed the tussle.
The long ones took a while.
Liked how the single letters were clued.
Thanks to proXimal and to John for the hints.
A few days late to this. Very enjoyable though found it much tougher than everyone else seems to have. 3 held out at the end (2d + 8&10a) & I glanced at your hint for 2d which enabled completion.
Thanks to proXimal & John.