Toughie No 3247 by Beam
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
We have a pretty gentle puzzle from Beam today with all his usual trademarks. Thanks to him.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Primate controls small section of church (4)
APSE: a mammalian primate contains the clothing abbreviation for small.
4a Brave daughter missing female relatives? (9)
DAUNTLESS: the genealogical abbreviation for daughter and a cryptic way of saying lacking specific female relatives.
10a Angry gutted idolater judged about sex (9)
IRRITATED: the outer letters of idolater and a verb meaning judged containing an informal word for sex.
11a Favour golf competition (5)
GRACE: the letter representing golf in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet and a competition usually involving physical effort.
12a Country house reportedly displaying style (6)
MANNER: this sounds like a large country house.
13a Trigger originally accompanying rogue Del Boy? (7)
TROTTER: the first letter of Trigger and an informal word for a rogue.
16a Someone called also blackleg, initially (4)
SCAB: initial letters.
17a Perhaps Hamlet‘s conclusion (10)
SETTLEMENT: double definition, the capitalisation of hamlet is there to mislead.
20a Wandering mariner helping to protect Queen (10)
ABERRATION: one of the abbreviations for a mariner and a helping or allocation bracketing the cipher of our late Queen.
21a Curse being brainier, oddly (4)
BANE: the odd letters of brainier.
23a Missionary position? It’s bitter outside! (7)
APOSTLE: a position or role has a type of bitter drink around it.
25a Hard heart flips keeping one bold (6)
HEROIC: start with the pencil abbreviation for hard and add the reversal of a synonym for heart containing the Roman one.
28a Willow, large, that is facing river (5)
OSIER: assemble the abbreviations for large as a clothing size, ‘that is’ and river.
29a Almost hurt in the empty horror (9)
NIGHTMARE: a literary word meaning almost is followed by a verb to hurt or harm inside the outer letters of ‘the’.
30a Tag adorning the woman’s round collar (9)
APPREHEND: a verb to tag or tack on contains the reversal of a possessive adjective meaning “the woman’s”.
31a Song told a story (4)
LIED: double definition, the first a German song.
Down Clues
2d Ancestry of father separated over time (9)
PARENTAGE: splice together an affectionate word for father, a verb meaning separated and a period of time.
3d View of English pre-hunt gatherings turned (6)
ESTEEM: start with an abbreviation for English and add the reversal of gatherings of the unspeakable before they set off in pursuit of the uneatable.
4d Little upset with sweetheart girlfriend? (4)
DATE: reverse an informal word for a small amount and add Beam’s usual swEetheart.
5d Presumed some bounder’s too dastardly (10)
UNDERSTOOD: a hidden word.
6d United move up in lead (8)
TOGETHER: reverse a verb to move inside a lead or rope.
7d Wipe out cholera selecting hosts (5)
ERASE: our second hidden word.
8d Origin of river’s rising (4)
SEED: reverse the name of Chester’s river plus the ‘S.
9d Notice second mistake wearing ring (9)
DISMISSAL: the abbreviation for second and a verb to mistake or get wrong are contained inside a verb to ring (on an old-fashioned phone?). It’s slightly odd that the synonym for mistake shares its first three letters.
14d Coppers taking steps for serious problem (10)
PESTILENCE: copper coins contain steps found in the countryside.
15d One provides patient support (9)
STRETCHER: cryptic definition.
18d Dry lecture after flag is hoisted (9)
EVAPORATE: a verb to lecture or pontificate follows the reversal of a verb to flag (with stones).
19d Delay follows parking jam (8)
PRESERVE: the map abbreviation for parking and a verb to delay (judgement perhaps).
22d Undergarment nearly completely chaste (6)
VESTAL: an undergarment and a truncated synonym of completely.
24d Puritanical prude’s opening dress up (5)
PRIMP: an adjective meaning puritanical or strait-laced and the opening letter of prude.
26d Bible’s second letter to the Corinthians? (4)
IOTA: the Greek letter equivalent to the second letter of Bible.
27d Oath a Democrat supports, say (4)
EGAD: A and the abbreviation for Democrat follow the abbreviation meaning say.
My podium selections today were 4a, 23a and 6d. Which one(s) did you present the medals to?
More an early-week back pager than late-week Toughie, this was a very light but good and amusing puzzle, with all the usual tells. I mentally ‘wrote’ undaunted at 4a because it bravely had a daughter and female relative, but of course being unable to parse it left that one blank, fortunately. But otherwise there was nothing to cause a hold-up and a swift and satisfying completion came about. On the honours board for me were laugh-out-loud 23a (almost the archetypal RayT clue for me), 29a and COTD 26d.
Many thanks to Beam and of course also to Gazza – especially for the OFAH clip, one of the funniest scenes of all time, in any medium.
An excellent second puzzle of the day which is a perfect complement to the back-pager.
My podium selection is 17a, 23a & 26d.
Many thanks to Beam for the fun and to Gazza for his usual splendid review.
My Dream Team is now complete, what an excellent partnership!
Medals awarded to 4a plus 14&27d with a nod to the surface read of 13a.
Devotions as ever to Mr T/Beam and many thanks to Gazza for the review and cartoons – love that OFAH clip, only rivalled by Del-boy leaning on the pub bar.
I made things harder for myself in the SW by confidently putting in beta for 26d until I realised what 28a was, then the penny dropped. LOI was 17a, another penny drop moment. A classic Beam puzzle, albeit at the less difficult end of his spectrum. Great fun. Favourite was the aforementioned 17a. Thanks to Beam and Gazza.
Beam was in a very friendly mood when he compiled this little gem, but he certainly didn’t ease up on the entertainment which was as high as ever. Some terrific clues from which to pick a winner, with 23a coming out on top.
My thanks to Mr T and Gazza.
Friendly clues but witty and fun. I couldn’t suppress a snigger at 23a and also smiled at 4a, 29a and 26d.
Thanks to Beam and Gazza.
A great puzzle and probably easier than Silvanus’s back pager today?
So much to enjoy, but 23a has to be CoD, if not CoW. Very amusing!
I also loved 13a and what a great excuse for Gazza to include that clip from OFAH. An absolute classic and timeless humour. Apparently John Sullivan used to run some of the gags past his Dad, who initially thought that the idea wouldn’t really work. He very quickly changed his mind when he saw it! I have just shown it to my 12 year-old granddaughter who loved it!
Thanks to Beam and thanks to Gazza. Still smiling!
Delightfully elegant as ever. 23a has to win – very funny, very Beam. Many thanks to him and Gazza.
Evening all. Thanks to Gazza for the analysis and to everybody for your observations.
RayT
Good evening, Mr T, always a pleasure to tackle one of your puzzles and to see you pop into the blog.
Although I needed the hints for two I managed to do the rest unaided – a first for me as I’ve never completed a Thursday Toughie before. No real favourites as I liked them all even the two I needed help with.
Thank you, RayT for a great end to the afternoon. Thank you, Gazza for the hints.
I must say I found this logical and precise puzzle more fun and enjoyable than the back pager today. Clues that make sense in my mind and that lead one to the correct solution. That is not to say that there weren’t some long head scratching moments in the mix, but at least I know what to expect from the brevity setter.
2.5*/4.5*
Favourites included 4a, 12a, 13a, 23a & 24d — with winner 4a
Thanks to Beam/RayT & Gazza for hints/blog
Have to admit to DNquiteF but with a nudge or two managed to pull through in the end after a lot of fun. Toyed with beta but then stupidly bunged in Iona for 26d and likewise for 13a as I know nothing about Del Boy & Co. Thank you RayT and Gazza.