Toughie No 3407 by Beam
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Thanks to Beam for another entertaining puzzle with all his usual trademarks.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
7a Sound judge admitting beak is reversed (8)
RESONATE: a verb to judge contains the reversal of what beak is an informal word for.
8a Lavatory commonly found in shed, say (6)
THRONE: a homophone of a past participle meaning shed or discarded.
9a Perform play (4)
GIVE: double definition, the second a noun meaning elasticity or freedom of movement.
10a Resolved, check this compiler’s crossword, finally (10)
DETERMINED: assemble a verb to check or dissuade, a possessive pronoun related to the compiler and the final letter of crossword.
11a Standing firstly before tomb, recited words (6)
SCRIPT: the first letter of standing and what sounds like an underground burial chamber.
13a Meadow nuisance beginning to eat greenery (7)
LEAFAGE: a synonym of meadow, a nuisance or tiring task and the first letter of eat.
14a Hide from sweetheart in panic (7)
LEATHER: Beam’s usual swEetheart goes inside an informal word for a panic or state of agitation.
16a Security camera putting idiot into dock (7)
MONITOR: insert an informal word for an idiot into a verb to dock or drop anchor.
19a Barge could be after being unloaded? (7)
LIGHTER: I’m not quite sure what to underline here – the answer is a flat-bottomed barge and it’s also what it would be, comparatively, after being unloaded.
20a Better person to steer vessel (6)
PUNTER: double definition, the person steering would be using a long pole.
21a Bond stealing a kiss for fun (10)
RELAXATION: a synonym of bond or connection contains A and the letter used to mean a kiss.
22a Some con artists may, initially (4)
SCAM: initial letters.
23a Premier accepts explosive demand (6)
BEHEST: a superlative meaning premier contains the abbreviation for high explosive.
24a Alpha males, fit and flexible (8)
AMENABLE: string together the letter that alpha represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet, a synonym of males and an adjective meaning fit or competent.
Down Clues
1d Undistinguished doctor about to take over (8)
MEDIOCRE: an informal word for a doctor and a preposition meaning about with the crickety abbreviation for over inserted.
2d Tolerated pain in the neck (4)
BORE: double definition, the pain in the neck being a person rather than an ailment.
3d Reportedly prohibited sex? It’s criminal! (6)
BANDIT: homophone of a verb meaning prohibited and a short informal word for sexual activity.
4d Material covering hat is alligator, perhaps (7)
REPTILE: a fabric with a ribbed surface and a dated slang word for a hat.
5d From nude dirty state getting frocked? (10)
ORDINATION: start with an adjective meaning dirty or sleazy, remove its outer letters (nude) and add a synonym of state or country.
6d Queen formerly adopting former attachment (6)
ANNEXE: a Stuart Queen contains a prefix meaning former.
8d Twister in stir following bust (7)
TORNADO: a word meaning stir or fuss follows an adjective meaning bust or rent.
12d United inside wide target nicely turned (10)
INTEGRATED: hidden in reverse.
15d Concentrate more sitting over court (7)
EXTRACT: an adjective meaning more or additional and the abbreviation for court.
17d Lover, all smiles, purchasing work clothing (8)
OVERALLS: hidden.
18d Service book not written about noise (7)
ORDINAL: I didn’t know this word which is apparently a historical book containing the forms of service used at a 5d. An adjective which means the opposite of written contains a loud unpleasant noise.
19d Songs fabricated by Queen once (6)
LIEDER: a verb meaning fabricated or made up a story and the regnal cipher of our late Queen.
20d Hammered and tried to find gold (6)
PANNED: double definition, hammered meaning severely criticized.
22d Beneath ocean is large marine creature (4)
SEAL: a synonym of ocean and the clothing abbreviation for large.
The clues I liked best were 8a, 2d and 5d. Which one(s) made it to your podium?
Great fun as ever from Beam with wonderfully brief clueing with 5d my favourite.
There are a few synonyms which I found a bit of a stretch: “perform” cf. 9a; “security camera” cf. 16a; and “bust” cf. the first syllable of 8d.
Many thanks to Beam and to Gazza.
A typically enjoyable Beamer that if anything I found a wee bit easier than the back-pager. 8d my pick of the clues.
Thanks to Ray & Gazza
A great pleasure to solve as is always the way with his setter’s puzzles despite the fact that, like RD, I found a few of the synonyms even more stretched than usual. I was also slightly unnerved by 5&18d appearing in the same puzzle. My ticks went to 8,13&20a.
Devotions of course to Mr T/Beam and many thanks to Gazza for the review and cartoons – my favourite today was the one accompanying 20d.
A joy to solve. Thank you Beam/RayT.
Tricky in parts, as it should be of course, but really satisfying to solve at a moderate pace.
So much to enjoy, with mentions in dispatches going to 8a, 11a, 14a, 16a, 21a, 24a, 1d, 3d, 4d and 15d.
Thanks as ever to Gazza.
A super puzzle that went perfectly with the back pager and took me about the same amount of time to complete. As is usually the case with this setter, there were almost too many terrific clues from which to select a favourite but I went for 5d. Great fun.
My thanks to Ray T and Gazza.
As always with this Setter, very consice and enjoyable.
Ticks all over with special mention to 8,11,14,19 and 20A and 1,2 and 3D.
Many thanks as always to Gazza ( favourite 5D )and to Beam for the enjoyment.
Good fun. Relatively simple. I didn’t like 9a much though. 5d. my pick today.
Enjoyed this as I usually do with a Rayt. Although I wasn’t keen on 9a either. Favourite was 1d. Thanks to Beam and Gazza.
Evening all. My thanks to Gazza for the review and to all who commented.
RayT
Good evening, Mr T. Another great puzzle for which I thank you – hope you’ve got plenty more up your sleeve for 2025!
Delightful!
Great fun as ever. We took some time to sort out 9a. Our favourite is 8a.
Thanks Beam and Gazza.
An enjoyable mental workout, although it took me longer than I’d hoped, partly because I was simultaneously trying to fix a broken tuner on my son’s friend’s Les Paul. The crossword is now complete, unlike the guitar. Many excellent clues and I particularly liked the waterborne vessel at 19a. Thanks to Beam and to Gazza for helping me parse the handful that were beyond me.