Toughie 3167 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3167

Toughie No 3167 by Beam
Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

Time after time our setter, either as Beam or in his back-page persona, gives us enjoyable puzzles with very succinct clues. Thanks to him.

Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.

Across Clues

1a Debauchery for every type (10)
PERVERSION: a preposition meaning ‘for every’ and a type or variant.

6a Unpleasant noise from snake trailing Queen (4)
RASP: a small snake follows the abbreviation for Regina.

9a Escape, possibly, is lawful (5)
LEGIT: split 3,2 the answer is an informal phrasal verb meaning to escape or flee.

10a Kill time, say, disheartened (9)
ERADICATE: a period of historical time and a verb to say or recite without its central letter.

12a Survives flipping flashy jewellery for brother? (7)
SIBLING: reverse a verb meaning survives or exists and append an informal word for flashy jewellery.

13a Company adopting revolutionary doctrine (5)
CREDO: the abbreviation for company contains a revolutionary.

15a Spoiling wedding losing pageboy finally (7)
MARRING: wedding here is a present participle not a noun. A synonym for this loses the final letter of pageboy.

16a Smiling primarily, except when gloomy (7)
SUNLESS: the primary letter of smiling and a conjunction meaning ‘except when’.

18a Clear the nude’s mostly clay (7)
EARTHEN: hidden.

20a Displays sweetheart plants outside cottage’s front (7)
EVINCES: Beam’s usual swEetheart followed by climbing plants containing the front letter of cottage.

21a Something preferred as digging equipment, initially (5)
SPADE: initial letters.

23a Prevent gut practically, getting gym equipment (7)
BARBELL: join a verb to prevent and another word for a gut without its last letter.

25a Nearly time, left in student disco (9)
NIGHTCLUB: an adverb meaning nearly and the physics abbreviation for time precede the abbreviation for left inside a student or trainee.

26a Liaison from date, not missing love (5)
AGENT: a verb to determine the date of something and ‘not’ without the zero-resembling letter.

27a Reportedly spoils instrument (4)
LUTE: this sounds like spoils (a noun, not a verb).

28a One searches flower containing cotton, oddly (10)
PROSPECTOR: a verb to flower or flourish containing the odd letters of cotton.

Down Clues

1d Game over and cut up (4)
POLO: the cricket abbreviation for over and a verb to cut all reversed.

2d Stern about matter with Republican official (9)
REGISTRAR: a synonym of stern or backside contains a word meaning matter or substance and the abbreviation for Republican.

3d Setting up shop? (13)
ESTABLISHMENT: double definition, the second could be a shop or could be another type of business.

4d Petitioning monarch to uphold bishop’s place (7)
SEEKING: a monarch follows a bishop’s area of responsibility.

5d Fruit variety with tremendous skin (7)
ORANGES: a synonym for variety or selection has around it (with … skin) an abbreviation meaning tremendous or very large.

7d Open stove topping hollow pastry dish (5)
AGAPE: the trademarked name of a type of stove beloved by the middle-classes followed by a pastry dish without its middle letter.

8d Some media covering party bias (10)
PREPOSSESS: a noun for newspapers (some media) contains a party traditionally sworn in by a sheriff in Western movies to ‘hunt down the varmints’. I needed the BRB to confirm that the answer, as a transitive verb, can mean to bias or prejudice.

11d Uncaring behind bars admitting criminal charge (13)
INCONSIDERATE: an adverb meaning behind (prison) bars contains our usual informal criminal. Finish with a synonym of charge or cost.

14d Whimpers on a ledge catching cold (10)
IMPERSONAL: our second hidden answer.

17d Former cubicle on hospital department cracking (9)
EXCELLENT: assemble a prefix meaning former, a small cubicle and our usual hospital department.

19d Cloudy and close keeping light, almost (7)
NEBULAR: an adjective meaning close containing a source of electric light without its last letter.

20d Dresses delivered boring look, sent back (7)
ENROBES: a past participle meaning delivered (in a birthing pool perhaps) goes inside a verb to look. Now reverse the lot.

22d Jargon, unlimited jargon before chat’s conclusion (5)
ARGOT: the inner letters of jargon precede the concluding letter of chat.

24d Mild expletive upset celebrity (4)
STAR: reverse a mild expletive. I needed a checking letter here as the clue could work either way round.

My ticks today went to 10a, 15a and 14d. What about you?

xx

17 comments on “Toughie 3167

  1. To me this was a Ray T “sans anagrams”. I’ve said it before with this setter (Zandio is another) that very little divides his Toughie/back-pager puzzles in terms of difficulty. Great fun as ever though, I’ll choose 9,10&15(lol)a plus 4d with, for the second time this week, top spot going to a lurker, the excellent 14d.
    Many thanks to Beam and Gazza for the top-notch entertainment.

  2. Oh, what joy when Beam and Silvanus puzzles appear in conjunction, as seems to be the case every fortnight at present.

    Neither setter ever disappoints, and this not-too-tough Toughie was a masterpiece, which I loved from start to finish apart from the ambiguity in 24d.

    I had a long list of top clues: 1a, 10a, 15a, 27a, 3d, 4d, 8d, 11d & 14d.

    Many thanks to Beam and to Gazza – great cartoons as ever to complement a great puzzle.

  3. I found this a little easier than the backpager today, but still a fine puzzle that was a delight to solve. My admiration for Mr T continues to grow as his conciseness and accuracy of clueing just keeps hitting new heights. 14d was also my favourite of many.

    My thanks to Beam and Gazza.

  4. Super puzzle, even if more of a backpager than an “insider”. Everything went in very smoothly, great surfaces, and in his Beam persona RayT’s trait of not using anagrams happily results each time in a series of clue types that don’t feel in any way repetitive. Pretty much every clue merits a place on the podium, so instead I’ll just thank Beam for an excellent puzzle, and Gazza for his review and cartoon selection!

  5. Beam on great form. Plenty of clever and varied clues and enough of a challenge to merit being a Toughie.

    Thanks to Mr T and Gazza.

  6. Super puzzle today with Beam on sparkling form. Favourite was 25a but in reality it could have been any of them. Thanks to Beam and Gazza.

  7. Dream Team puzzles completed and another pack of Christmas cards written – I’m on a roll today!
    From the plethora of ticks on my paper, I’ve awarded rosettes to 12&15a along with 4,11&14d.

    Devotions as ever to Mr T/Beam and many thanks to Gazza for the review and cartoons – the taxi order gave me a good laugh.

    1. Lovely concise clueing with an average word count of a touch over five per clue.
      24d was ambiguous, as RD has already mentioned, and I had to check Chambers for the definition in 26a.
      Very enjoyable.
      Thank you Beam and Gazza – love the cartoons!

  8. DNF today with 8d remaining elusive despite having all crossers. Need to watch more of those Westerns… Thanks all

  9. I found this more approachable than the back pager today. Needed hints for two (I have to set a crossword time limit) but otherwise an enjoyable puzzle. Thanks Gazza and Mr T.

  10. Lovely stuff. Never having been near a gym since PE at school had to check to see exactly what 23a looked like. Forgot also to go back & parse 20d, the context of delivered having passed me by, but otherwise problem free – at least there wasn’t a pigeon blocking the finish line. 14d my fav too.
    Thanks to B&G –

  11. This is another gem that I printed off and saved for later. Beam/RayT has long been one of my fave setters.
    What a super Toughie! Its always difficult to select top clues from so many excellent ones. Perhaps I’ll go for 1a, 10a, 8d and 14d.
    Much appreciation to Beam for this most entertaining Toughie.
    Much appreciation to Gazza for the excellent review. I’m still chuckling at your illustrations for 23a and 1d. Brilliant!

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