Toughie 2911 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 2911

Toughie No 2911 by Beam

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

Beam has given us a Toughie which is right at the easier end of his spectrum – thanks to him. The puzzle contains a number of what you might think of as either old chestnuts or well-loved clues.

Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.

Across Clues

1a Motorway bound to include coming accident (12)
MISADVENTURE: what looks like a North-South motorway in the UK and an adjective meaning bound or certain containing a word meaning coming or arrival.

9a Strong support for the NHS? (9)
STRETCHER: cryptic definition of what ambulance staff, for instance, use to support the injured.

10a Initially, perhaps, rabbit and talk excessively (5)
PRATE: an ‘initial letters’ clue.

11a Headmaster necessitates clutching behind (6)
ASTERN: hidden in the clue.

12a Window, for instance, held by putty? (8)
CASEMENT: an adverb meaning ‘for instance’ is contained in what putty is a type of.

13a Blunder beginning to ruin boss (6)
GAFFER: a blunder and the first letter of ruin.

15a End beating back in dodgy club … (8)
DISSOLVE: reverse a beating or defeat inside a disreputable club. The answer means to end or wind up a company or partnership.

18a … a club with debauchery, lying about butchery (8)
ABATTOIR: string together A, a club or wooden implement and the reversal of a word meaning debauchery or uncontrolled revelry.

19a Notable fear oddly facing tailless rodent (6)
FAMOUS: the odd letters of fear and a rodent without its last letter.

21a Very poor head of state cornered (8)
STRAPPED: the first letter of state and an adjective meaning cornered or hemmed in.

23a Count on the French providing torment (6)
NEEDLE: a verb meaning to ‘count on’ and one of the French definite articles.

26a Ladders comprising ultimately strong steps (5)
RUNGS: ladders in stockings contain the ultimate letter of strong.

27a Reconciled with blokes? Time for satisfaction (9)
ATONEMENT: assemble a (2,3) phrase meaning reconciled, some blokes and the abbreviation for time.

28a Miss appointed number one in French Department (12)
MADEMOISELLE: start with a verb meaning appointed or designated and add a Départment in eastern France containing the Roman numeral one.

Down Clues

1d Horse fly, then result is rearing (7)
MUSTANG: stick together a type of fly and a mathematical result and reverse it all.

2d Protective cover’s rolled up displaying fish (5)
SPRAT: the abbreviation for a waterproof protective cover plus its ‘S gets reversed.

3d Cleaning put off refined man (9)
DETERGENT: a verb to put off or dissuade and a refined man.

4d Multiple choice concealing answer (4)
ECHO: hidden in the clue.

5d Ground sheltering soft shelled creature (8)
TERRAPIN: a word meaning ground or landscape contains the musical abbreviation for soft.

6d Capital of India? (5)
RUPEE: cryptic definition – need I say more?

7d Wet toilet creates conflict (8)
WATERLOO: a verb to wet and an informal word for a toilet.

8d Reportedly aroused the female heart (6)
CENTRE: a homophone of ‘aroused the female’ (SENT ‘ER)

14d Notorious inmate absconded inside empty fort (8)
FLAGRANT: an informal word for a prison inmate and a verb meaning absconded are placed inside the outer letters of fort.

16d Without form, singular unlucky traveller essentially stuck (9)
SHAPELESS: the abbreviation for singular and an adjective meaning unlucky with the central letter of travEller stuck inside it.

17d Free drink defending Queen (8)
LIBERATE: a verb to drink in honour of a deity contains our Queen’s regnal cipher.

18d Seaman’s covering globe, perhaps in hold (6)
ABSORB: one of our abbreviations for a seaman plus the ‘S precede a spherical object that might be a globe.

20d Little obligation to support second love (7)
SWEETIE: an adjective meaning little and an obligation or commitment follow the abbreviation for second.

22d Staple food done over heart of Italy (5)
PASTA: an adjective meaning done or finished and the central letter of Italy.

24d People start to drive competently (5)
DWELL: the first letter of drive and an adverb meaning competently. People here is a verb meaning to inhabit.

25d Repeatedly swindle getting bird (4)
DODO: a verb to swindle is repeated.

My favourite clue today was 16d. Which one(s) did you like?

23 comments on “Toughie 2911

  1. It’s dream Thursday in Toughieland with the Beam / Gazza double act. Every clue was a winner, as was the review.

    Many thanks to the terrific twosome.

  2. After the rigours of Robyn & the labours of Logman a refreshingly gentle puzzle. Had it not been for the absence of an anagram I’d have said it was plucked from Mr T’s back-page drawer & at the easier end of those puzzles too. Very enjoyable nonetheless & excellently clued as ever. Like Gazza 16d a big tick for me also beaten only by 14d as my favourite.
    Thanks to B&G

  3. After the last two days this seemed very straightforward, but nonetheless enjoyable.
    Thanks to both.
    All over too quickly.*/***

  4. It may have been from the gentler end of the setting spectrum but it was high quality nonetheless with some seemingly effortlessly smooth clueing. Hard to pick out a single favourite, but 14d will do for me.

    My thanks to Mr T and Gazza.

  5. What a little ray of sunshine in a week that had almost decided me to give up on the DT Toughies.
    As RD rightly said, this was Dream Thursday!
    Couldn’t possibly pick just one favourite but 1a & 1d will do for starters.

    All my regularly expressed devotions to Mr T/Beam and many thanks to Gazza for the wittily illustrated review.

  6. Great puzzle but is it me, or have the Toughies been released in a back to front order this week. That all ends tomorrow of course. Thanks to setter and blogger.

  7. Much more accessible than the first two toughies this week, and I hope lots of solvers who don’t normally try them will give this one a go. Much more straightforward than the Backpage.
    Thanks Mr T and Gazza

  8. Very easy one, not expected on a Thursday, and as blogged I feel, with some ‘old friends’ in the clue list. Impeccably presented however. */*** for me.

  9. Loved this, enjoyable all the way through. Favourite was 1a with a number coming close. Thanks Beam and Gazza.

  10. Evening all. My thanks to Gazza for the review and to everybody else for your comments.

    RayT

    1. Good evening, Mr T, a pleasure to ‘see’ you here as always. More of the same for me, please, I love the way that you adhere to the mantra that no matter the subterfuge employed, the setter should give in gracefully at the end and allow the solver to triumph.

  11. Just about perfect. Loved it. 14d, 16d, and 1a represent this master compiler at the peak of his powers. Indeed a masterpiece of crypticity. Thanks to Gazza and Ray T-as-Beam.

  12. A very busy day for me but I’ll always make time for a Beam puzzle as he rarely, if ever disappoints and today was no exception.
    Agree with others that this was very gentle indeed but very enjoyable.
    1,14&16d with the top and bottom long ones were my winners.
    Many thanks to Mr T and Gazza.

  13. Yay, all done though with judicious use of the reveal mistakes facility on the iPad. Now I will read through the clues above to learn some of the wordplay.

  14. I’ve not done many toughies, but this seemed easier than most as others have said?

    Got all except half a dozen (although using “reveal mistakes” netted me three or four towards the end, but at least I could figure out how the clues worked.) Needed to read the hints here to understand 28a, 8d and 20d

    1d and 3d made me chuckle. I liked 6d a lot too!

    Thanks for all the hints/explainers!

  15. Lots of smiles and chuckles from us too. A real pleasure to solve.
    Agree with the blogger on 16d being favourite.
    Thanks Beam and Gazza.

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