Toughie No 1169 by Beam
Hints and tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from the Calder Valley. When I was wondering who I was going to face today, I have to say the last person I would have expected was Ray T but we have a pleasant Friday challenge that won’t stretch the mind like most Friday Toughies. However, it was fun to tackle and full of the hallmarks of a Ray T puzzle, no hyphenated or multiple word answers and the odd risqué clue.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
Across
7a Keep holding back oddly stormier premier (8)
{FOREMOST} Inside a word for a keep or castle, place the odd letters of STORMIER backwards to give you a word meaning premier.
9a Collect by trapping light beam (6)
{PRAYER} Something that has the same meaning as collect, in the religious sense, Is found by putting the name for a beam of light in a Latin word meaning by.
10a Resident fellow advanced in study (4)
{DEAN} The name of a fellow at a University is found by putting A (advanced) inside a word for a study.
11a It’s needed to gorge large amount in inverted position? (10)
{EPIGLOTTIS} Here the whole clue defines the answer, and you need to find a word meaning to gorge, add something that means a large amount and put this inside the reverse of a name for a position.
12a Liberal Government adopted by African country (6)
{BENIGN} G (Government) goes inside the name of an African country whose capital is Porto-Novo to give something that means liberal or relaxed.
14a Gathering caught monster around end of Frankenstein (8)
{CONGRESS} The name of a gathering is found by solving the wordsum C (caught) + the name for a giant female monster and insert N (end of Frankenstein).
15a Unfinished model case almost for disease (6)
{TYPHUS} The name of a disease is revealed by taking two four letter words, one meaning a model or font and the other the case of a seed. Remove the last letter from each and join them for the disease.
17a Small redhead enfolding former girlfriend? That’s more erotic! (6)
{SEXIER} Inside S (small) and R (redhead) go the name for a former fiancé(e). and the abbreviation for ‘that is’. This gives a word meaning more erotic.
20a Aggressor calculated to hold back game (8)
{LACROSSE} The name for a game more popular in Canada than here is revealed in reverse
22a Hooligan taking cover flipped altogether (6)
{BODILY} Something that means altogether is revealed by taking the name for a cover backwards and placing it inside the word for a hooligan.
23a Offensive listing slaughter over in deadly case (10)
{DEROGATORY} Inside DY, the case of Deadly, goes a word meaning a list and one meaning carnage, reversed. This gives you something that means offensive.
24a Meat from grouse (4)
{BEEF} Double definition here, something that means moan or grumble is also a type of meat.
25a Slate mug — practically everybody’s grabbing one (6)
{ASSAIL} A word meaning to slate is found by taking a word for a mug or fool, and something that means everyone –minus their last letters
26a Prominent topless bird held as property (8)
{RENOWNED} The name for a very small bird loses its first letter and is added something that means held
Down
1d Flash and passionate, the man’s lacking drive (8)
{MOVEMENT} A word meaning a flash or a second is added to one that describes someone who is passionate about things, minus HE (the man’s lacking) to give a word for drive or motion.
2d Barbie’s partner keeps his heart devoted (4)
{KEEN} The name of Barbie’s boyfriend (though she did have a fling with an Australian swimmer, but got back together with her beloved). Double the middle letter of his name to get a word meaning eager or devoted.
3d Spoil sermon sporadically getting pious (6)
{SOLEMN} The alternate letters of SPOIL SERMON give a word meaning pious or religious.
4d Fortune until cleaned out in old money (8)
{OPULENCE} Inside O (OLD) and a word for a type of coinage goes UL (UNTIL – cleaned out, i.e. first and last letters) to give a word meaning wealth or fortune.
5d Ringleader held in classroom as term in detention (10)
{MASTERMIND} I suspect the Sunday Crossword setter will admire this clue. A clever hidden answer. Hidden in CLASSROOM AS TERM IN DETENTION is the name for someone who is very bright, or the leader of a gang. It’s also a TV show, it was a long time ago, I was young and foolish. Well I was foolish….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNjYKeIkUGY
6d Charges for jeans English imported (6)
{LEVIES} A word meaning charges is found by taking the name of Mr Strauss’ brand of jeans and inserting E (English).
8d Start is long after tomorrow ends (6)
{TWITCH} After the first and last letters of TOMORROW (ends) gors a word meaning to long. This gives a word meaning start, as in movement.
13d Whimpers on a ledge catching cold (10)
{IMPERSONAL} Another hidden clue. Hidden in WHIMPERS ON A LEDGE is a word meaning cold or dispassionate
16d Moody daughter’s left town (8)
{UNSTABLE} The name of a town needs to lose D (daughter) to give a word meaning moody or volatile.
18d Comforted and felt again embracing sweetheart (8)
{RELIEVED) Something that means comforted or eased is revealed by taking a word that refers to experiencing something again and inserting E (sweet heart)
19d Deviation is severe with alien insertion (6)
{DETOUR} A word meaning severe or strict, often applied to Gordon Brown, has the name of an alien in a film and will lead you to something that means deviation.
21d Pensioners want one’s consideration (6)
{AGEIST} I think this is just a cryptic definition. I thought it might be something involving iS (one’s, as mentioned in the clue). I think it’s just a way of describing someone who doesn’t hold respect for senior citizens. Can’t say I’m over happy about this clue.
22d Friendship involving the old raised in past (6)
{BEYOND} Something that means friendship or a ties has the archaic way of saying THE reversed inside, and this gives you a word that refers to the past.
24d Throw piece of china (4)
{BOWL} The name of a sporting throw is also that of some crockery.
Thanks to Ray T for today’s puzzle. I’ll shall be back next week.
Good puzzle with some nicely disguised hidden words, favourites were 11a and 15a thanks to Beam and to Tilsit for the comments.
Many thanks to RayT for an extremely enjoyable toughie and to Tilsit for a terrific review. My personal favourite was 11a.
The last 3 or 4 took me as long as the rest of the puzzle and I missed the hidden words first time around. Loved all of it, particularly 11A and 15A, and for once was able to parse everything. Now I know that this was a Beam, perhaps 9A was a sly hint as to the setter. As for 21D, I wonder if the word formed by the last 5 letters could be kind of synonymous to consideration? Many thanks to Ray T’s alter ego and to Tilsit for the review.
Agree with Expat Chris re 21d. The BRB’s definition of the last 5 letters could include “consideration”
I think the parsing of 25a is a 3 letter word for mug followed by “everybody” minus its last latter, around “one”.
Thanks to Beam and Tilsit.
I agree with you about 25a and have changed the hint. The other one is a bit of a stretch – perhaps Ray can enlighten us later.
Yes, you’re right, halcyon!
RayT
Many thanks to Tilsit for the review, and to all who left a comment.
We found this one really tricky, well worthy of its Friday slot. We needed electronic assistance to finish, but did get there eventually. The hidden word in 13d eluded us for ages. 11a has NINE words, but as three of them are only little we will be forgiving. A real challenge but good fun as always.
Thanks Beam and Tilsit.
Enjoyable puzzle, which was ****/**** for me. I, too, struggled with 21 down, but if you take the meaning of ‘want’ as ‘lack’ and then treat the word ‘ageist’ as a noun, i.e. a person who behaves in an ageist manner, it perhaps makes more sense. The clue is then paraphrased as ‘Pensioners lack the consideration of someone who is this type of person.’ Thanks, anyway, Sparks
Not really to my taste, and l needed half a dozen of Tilsit’s hints to complete. At least 4* difficulty for me, and doubts over both 21 and 22 down lead me to score it at just 2* for satisfaction. Thanks to RayT/Beam, though, and to Tilsit for dragging me to the finish line.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable challenge. It’s taken me a while and I have managed to complete it, but my answer to 21d has the wrong ending (‘m’ instead of ‘t’). I wasn’t at all sure about this clue, and eventually took it as a cryptic definition.
Fave was 11a, and I thought the hidden clues were particularly well concealed.
Very many thanks to Beam/RayT for an excellent puzzle and to Tilsit for a beautifully lucid review.