Ev 1099: School Teams By Kruger

[DocHH]

Hello EVers,
After 3 weeks away from EV, I had some difficulty getting into the mindset of Kruger! Then all of a sudden I collected my thoughts and it all sort of fell into place!
Time for another glass of Cape Nelson Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon!

[gen2]

So what was the punchline then?

[DocHH]

I have just discovered how easy it is to post in the wrong section! Was looking at Jokes, and decided to start an EV 1099 thread! Should have returned to Crosswords! DOH!

[jim360]

A 3a young man did 10,
34 and 23d 23a by a 11,
Said he, "18!
You can't 17 round here!
For it's 7, and 29 you might die."

You do any better.

[pixie373]

69?

[Twit-Who]

How was your holiday, DocHH? Hope it was good as I'm off to Mexico for a couple a weeks in January myself.

Not bad, Jim - miles better than I could do, but don't give up the day job.

After discovering what to do in this puzzle very quickly I found finishing it a bit of a slog for no real logical reason other than perhaps I felt a little jaded.

[DocHH]

Twit-Who,
Holiday was fine in Mexico. We stayed at RIU Yucatan, hotel fine, lots of wild-life, excluding other guests! There were monkeys in the trees, do not walk under them! Also agoutis, coatis, squirrels, with much bushier tails than at home, we also saw a toucan, sans Guinness and some flamingos! Last time we were in Mexico at the Gran Bahia Principe in Riviera Maya there were iguanas all over the place, only saw 1 this time.
Unfortunately this year we were unable to book into the Premium section of the plane, but even in cattleclass the legroom on the Dreamliner was OK. We did book into the VIP lounge at Cancun airport, once in resort. That cost around £20.00 each, but it meant we checked in as Premium Seat travellers, and got all food and drinks FOC in the VIP Lounge! I did manage to do some serious damage to a bottle of scotch in there, resulting in around 4 hours sleep on the flight home! As a Telegraph subscriber, I always book us into the Servisair lounge at Gatwick, a 2 for 1 arrangement! So for £17.49 for both of us a far more relaxing environment, with compilmentary food and drink and as the flights are announced a bit later than in the main lounge, there have been times when we have arrived at the gate and not had time to sit down before being called forward to board the plane!

[excelsior-1]

---------- huh? -----------

[Twit-Who]

It seems that posting in the joke section in error has caused some confusion. DocHH.

I am going to Riviera Maya - flying Premium Economy with Virgin - I'll give my verdict after the event but I'm very much looking forward to escaping our British weather and you can't beat the Caribbean. I hope I see lots of wildlife but I know the monkeys can be a nuisance - can't be worse than the baboons in Botswana. Not sure I could manage your sleeping potion. Glad that your holiday was good. Thanks for the info.

[devadolly]

Hello All. Nice to hear from you again DocHH. Had The Alumni Mag today and to my horror, one of the Telford dudes was in the Obits, God we are getting old!
Haven't been to Mexico, just got back from an across the Atlantic trip, was amazed that it was so blue, fully expected a dirty grey. Off the other way next year.
Now, this 'ere xword, have worked out what is required for the 10 but am having a little trouble with the wordplay in 14a, 30a & 23d. Also have the 'team' for 1d but am then stumped.

[DocHH]

Hello devadolly
I do not like the alternative to growing old! Hope you enjoyed your trip across the pond. Did you manage to link up with dr b, I think joglers did some time ago. Have not spotted any familiar names in the Alumni mag, but I lived "off campus" most of the time. Am only in contact with about 4 others from our Alma Mater.

As for this little EV! 14a, the use of the word "height" in the clue is a new meaning to me. I always thought of it meaning "add" or "total". I also always thought the resultant entry referred to a particular partition in the nose, but it does also apply to other bodily partitions. 30a, is thematic, the actual answer before modification is 5 letters, the normal abbreviation of Dutch, followed by what ginger mog is! As for 23d, think about what "R" stands for in the phonetic code, then a Shakespeare play! I did a search for a list what the "school teams" were, pleasantly suprised!
Herself has been searching for holidays for next year, the Pacific coast of Mexico is in the frame for June/July, not sure about Novemberish!

[Christiana]

Hello all.

No DocHH, the alternative doesn't appeal to me either, though I don't enjoy the reality of my situation - so far various aches and pains and a very dodgy memory at times - but I'm in for the long haul notwithstanding(I hope).

I found the last few of these tough, but finally wrapped it up, with grateful thanks to Wikepedia for their comprehensive list of 'teams'.

[devadolly]

Well, that was a bit of a grind. Have managed to struggle through with the exception of 41a so a hint would be much appreciated.

[9071asg]

Good evening all. I've got a full and apparently convincing grid, but I can only find nine convincing players,not the ten wanted. Has anyone made a full muster? Or can it be that the 'school team' is assumed always to be one short...?

[Christiana]

There's definitely ten, 9071asg
Devadolly - 41a ice as seen in an icy type of person, rather than the cold stuff. It was the last one I got.

[9071asg]

Dear Christiana, I have seven clear cases down, but only two across, the one involving waterbirds and the other a feline assembly. I suppose it is more probable that the tenth case that you know about fits across rather than down. I should be very grateful if you could take a minute to confirm or contradict that, and any hint would be welcome! I've been staring at the fgrid for much too long!