Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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Zandio here for the 4th time so as predicted we seem to be settling in to a proXimal, Robyn, Zandio rotation. How long it holds is at the whim of Mr Ed Chris Lancaster.
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Robyn is here today for his fourth turn in the Sunday Toughie slot, Does that mean we should expect Zandio next Sunday? Time will tell. Not as tricky as last week but still I could have hinted at many more clues. I hope you find enough checkers to help you over the line and I am still turning a blind eye to a few bonus hints from the commentariat.
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proXimal is back in the chair today, for his fourth of the new Sunday Toughies.
I have hinted quite a few and even included few bonus pics. I found this quite a challenge but got there in the end. My parsing of a couple is lacking and I am prepared to be led by better brains on 9a and 26a. I have just got a new mobile phone and will be monitoring the blog whilst out with Mama Bee.
I solved this on the puzzles site last night, and now I am having a go at the Dada on my new mobile app. I notice that the toughie has not yet appeared on the app and plead with Mr Lancaster to get it on there ASAP.
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Zandio is back for the first “on the trot” setting of the new toughie. ProXimal, Robyn and Zandio are now on 3 each. I wonder if they are going to settle on a 3-week rotation. Time will tell. As I write this (Saturday evening) I am aware that we get an hour less in bed tonight and tomorrow Mama Bee will be controlling Mothering Sundays activities. As a result, this blog may be a little shorter than usual and I hope I have given enough hints to help you over the line. Thanks to all who chipped in last week with some of my parsing failures, your services may be required again today.
An interesting coincidence today, between 9a here and 13a in 3153 very similar ways to get to the answer. Which is the better clue?
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Hello from a sunny but breezy Yorkshire,
Yesterday was quite a fun day, it started with a great SPP from Chalicea. Tilsit’s Blog came with a delightful pic that inspired me to take a trip out to the Ribble Valley, and as it happens Chalicea was back home in deepest Yorkshire. We probably passed like ships in the night in the many traffic problems in that area yesterday.
It’s a small world but I wouldn’t like to paint it!
Zandio has brought us a fine not too tough toughie, once I saw the metaphor in 1a it flowed quite smoothly. I was still up half the night sorting out a recalcitrant printer driver but restoratives from the fine distillers at Bruichladdich helped me last night, and this morning a rather nice Sparkenhoe Vintage Red Leicester and Coffee from Roost roastery in Malton, kept me going this morning.
28 cules today 14 of each I have hinted half but if you get to the hind I may have nudged a couple more. Cules is a deliberate misspelling (see 14a)
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Hello from Yorkshire,
Fluffy clouds and the odd patch of blue today. I think I have got most of this today. I had to think about 8d for a while. The answer was easier to see than the why’s and wherefore’s.
27a and 18d were my favourites today but I will stick to 18d as it reminded me to go read/watch an old favourite again.
I have hinted at least half of the clues but as a bit of a bonus today 21d is a UK brand of a proprietary pain relief drug useful in treating 14d’s lumbago.
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Hello from Yorkshire,
The dead tree has just arrived and I can confirm that this is a ProXimal.
I had to give it a good coat of looking at before it revealed itself but I got there in the end.
I would like to have hinted 11d as that was my trickiest solve but it remains only partially parsed. I will be lenient in the wielding of the naughty step about that clue.
I have hinted half of the clues and that should give enough checkers but if the gap created by 11d is causing problems I will toss in 27a as an anagram of first two words and the last word is the definition.
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Hello from deepest wettest sunny but breezy Yorkshire,
I am beginning to get the hang of these new Sunday toughies. I think they are settling down to a comfortable Tuesday or Wednesday toughie level. I am not sure I will cope if they ramp up to Thursday or Friday difficulty. Zandio said he was responsible for today’s toughie and a fine example it is. The dreaded Reverend Spooner appears but I managed to overcome my nemesis today.
I have given you hints for half the clues and hope you have enough checkers to winkle out the rest. Remember the Miffypops maxim “When in doubt look for a lurker” both of today’s are unhinted and reversed (21 and 26a). Continue reading “Sunday Toughie 5 (Hints)”
Hello from deepest Yorkshire,
This is my first go at providing the hints and I have had a lot of help from many others, Senf, Gazza, Miffs and BD to name just a few. If I have made any errors they are mine alone. Halcyon’s sterling work providing hints for Fridays toughie while Dutch was otherwise engaged is a great example of what this fine blog can do. I hope this works as well as that did.
Continue reading “Sunday Toughie 4 (Hints)”
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A few hints to get you started: Continue reading “Sunday Toughie 3 (Hints)”