Sunday Toughie 152 (Hints)

Sunday Toughie No 152

by Zandio

 

Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee

 

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My last blog before Santa Clause Comes to Town It isn’t terribly Christmassy so I will decorate the blog with a few Christmassy bits and pieces.

We have 14a and 14d clues and I have tried to limit hints to half, but a few bonus hints may pop up here and there

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           Make note of scatterbrain kicking out at riots (10)
A partial anagram to start – “kick out” the two letters suggested from scatterbrain. Write this down!

9a           Very strong in battle, essentially lacking combat gear (6,4)
The musical notation for very strong goes in a battle between two combatants, followed by what remains of combat when it lacks its essential letters. Gear as worn by Paddington Bear

15a        Protest state’s housing is shaming (12)
An abbreviated protest and a synonym of state around is from the clue. I will shame you like the devil.

18a        Book with numerous strip scenes? (7,5)
With pictures, it could be a story told in a collection of comic strips, without, it would be writing of a salacious nature with gratuitous stripping off of clothes.

21a        Trouble backing this individual? Half of US can work together (8)
Work this lot together… To trouble is reversed, adds a first personal pronoun and and half of a well-known US “can” or prison.

24a        We see this twinkling forth (4)
I first had this down as just a cryptic definition of something that can be seen on a clear night, but there is some wordplay. A short twinkling of time and a synonym of go forth. I saw the wordplay when I remembered that Sir Patrick Moore on The Sky at Night told me that only stars twinkle as they are so distant as to be a point of light rather than a disc, and that point of light appears to twinkle as it travels through our atmosphere. I made the same point about the Beatles album (Revolver) Zandio had in his last Sunday Toughie

25a        Graffiti maybe seen by one copper delayed express (10)
The graffiti of Banksy perhaps maybe considered so creative, add the letter that looks like one, the chemical symbol for copper and a synonym of delayed. I don’t think I expressed that very clearly.

 

Down

1d          Heading skywards, alien being in turmoil – first to travel so far (2,4)
A reversal (heading skywards) of our usual film alien being, a bit of a turmoil and the first letter of travel.

3d          Building up to a point, Conservative has energy for 4 … (12)
A building with a pointed roof, an abbreviation of Conservative, has from the clue and e for energy. The solution is a type of 4d. originally cross-country between the visible “spires” of churches

5d          British want my covering papers – this could be dangerous (5,5)
B for British, a want or shortage, an exclamatory my! and our usual papers. Dangerous if bitten by.

                               

8d          Means to create trouble after work – time to move as far as possible! (3,5)
Start with some hard work, follow with some trouble or suffering then move the t for time as far as possible down the grid.

14d        With a single heart and clubs, North wrapping up after contracted trick (10)
An excellent surface that makes one think of Contract Bridge. Start with an abbreviated suit of cards, a synonym of after, wrap up with N for North and most of (contracted) trick.

16d        Essential in Serengeti: mile gauge showing elevation, and numerical compass (3,5)
Essential in is a lurker indicator, showing elevation is a reversal indicator in a down clue. I hope it doesn’t take you as long to see the numerical “boundary” as I did last night. (another unhinted rekrul will be along soon)

23d        Level, e.g. both teams getting 99 runs (4)
The result of a match where both teams score the same and r for runs.

Compiler

Zandio

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The whole album gets a lot of airplay in the Beehive at this time of year but if you only have time for one…

That’s All Folks…