Sunday Toughie 111 (Hints)

Sunday Toughie No 111

by Robyn

 

Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee

 

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I write this preamble before seeing the crossword and although Robyn has a bit of history with themes, most recently with hidden games in all the across clues in Sunday Toughie 109. I hope that crickety clues don’t feature too heavily as I would be obliged to hop on one leg until we get to 112 as the umpire David Shepherd used to do whenever the score got to 111 or one of its multiples

Apart from an appeal for a catch (25a) and one run scored (14d) I didn’t notice anything else crickety, but quite a lot of Latin and Kings and Queens appear today as well as a fair bit of facial hair in 8d and elsewhere

I am taking Mama Bee out for a Mothering Sunday afternoon tea (The Talbot Hotel in Malton rather than Betty’s) so any pleas for extra help will be answered on our return

It was nice to see that of the four long ones only one was a partial anagram I have hinted half of 14a and 14d clues and hope that the mental image in 27a fades before long

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 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

1a           Is the chair uncovered in lodge? (6)
The person who acts as the chair of a meeting loses the covering letters to lodge in accommodation

12a        With a trio of kings invading, ruin developing area (8)
A from the clue and three kings (two Latin and one chess piece) invade impending ruin, do these exist anymore since we all have fancy cameras on mobile phones

18a        Inappropriate conviction concerning two criminals smuggling passport? (14)
 A synonym of concerning and then two types of criminal activity (deception and dealing in stolen goods) around the purpose of a passport or similar papers

20a        Standing by head of CID returning plain clothes (2,4)
The plain was a bit tricky to see but it is one of the vast steppes or plains in northern S America then reversed about the head of CID

24a        Kind of skirt is donned by a very unusual type (4,4)
A short gathered or pleated skirt, a from the clue, an abbreviation of very and is from the clue and you have the Latin for a very unusual type of creature but Juvenal adapted it to mean any unusual person or thing such as the Black Swan that is less common than the white

26a        Maybe Bourbon houses right for displaying large sideboards (8)
Bourbon is a type of this spiritous liquor, and it distinguishes itself from Scotch by including an E, if you also include R for right you are displaying large sideboards

27a        What’s reflected in bidet I deftly polished (6)
The mental image of Robyn’s backside reflected in his bidet as he prepared for “polishing” disturbed me somewhat, but here polished is the definition and what’s reflected in is the indicator to look for a reverse lurker. The polishing that Chris Lancaster applies to Robyn’s crosswords rather than his bathroom fittings or backside!

                Down

1d          Artist capturing something magical in country (6)
Our usual artist around a magical device

3d          Vital to stop girl capsizing boat? It could be grave (11,4)

Gravè is an example of this part of text that indicates a fall in pitch somewhat. These marks in general are a synonym of vital, with a young girl reversed around it followed by Noah’s boat

6d          Fully drink some spirits, say, after hot drinks (4,2,3,6)
An informal phrase for fully. To drink a small whisky 7d, the letter hot indicates, say as an example and a collection of drinks bought when it is your turn

11d        Making Sally exercise holding part of leg (7)
The capitalisation of Sally is deceptive. Making sally is to make a witty remark or retort, from a gently paced run around part of the lower leg

16d        Record collector knowing first about classical quartet (9)
A synonym of knowing, the letters that look like first in ordinal numbering around a Roman quartet

17d        Unusually long feature cut about revolutionary Queen vocalist (8)
I spent a long time reversing Mr Mercury before the penny dropped, Reverse a different vocalist of an Irish band into a synonym of cut the grass and Queen supplies a Latin Regina

21d        Fancy that American who serves royal favourite (5)
A synonym of fancy that as an expression of surprise and the letters that signify an American who serves in the military. I think Andrew now looks after the late Queen’s favourite pets

 

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A song from 15(ing)a, about drinking Scotch

That’s All Folks…