Sunday Toughie No 171
by Beam
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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Beam here with quite a friendly Sunday Toughie, all his trademarks are present and I dont think this will trouble solvers too much. I will endeavour to provide a nudge or two if your experience differs
We have 14a and 14d clues and I have hinted half.
Here we go, Folks…
As it is a Prize puzzle I can only hint at a few and hope that will give you the checkers and inspiration to go further. I’ll return with the full review blog just after the closing date. Don’t forget to follow BD’s instructions in RED at the bottom of the hints!
I hope I don’t have to redact any comments but I am not so new at this any more, but I don’t want to rock the boat. If in doubt, I’ll rub it out! I think that sentence is a bit redundant. You have all been so helpful in sorting out prior parsing failures, and I am sure I will need similar help again.
Most of the terms used in these hints are explained in the Glossary and examples are available by clicking on the entry under “See also” Where the hint describes a construct as “usual” this means that more help can be found in The Usual Suspects, which gives a number of the elements commonly used in the wordplay. Another useful page is Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, which features words with meanings that are not always immediately obvious. Don’t forget the Mine of Useful information that Big Dave and his son Richard so meticulously prepared for us.
A full review of this puzzle will be published after the closing date for submissions. Some hints follow: Remember the site rules and play nicely.
Across
7a Roughly, heartless judge gives rollicking (8)
One of our usual rough approximations and a judge without its central letter
10a Join force to find adventure (10)
Synonyms of the first two words: boldly go on an adventure
It might be a bit provocative of me to mention Star Trek on Star Wars day (May the Fourth be With You)
11a Relieve detective before unfinished shift (6)
An abbreviated rank of detective and the first four letters of a synonym of shift as a period of time
14a Second vent’s opening in concrete discharge (7)
A synonym of concrete contains an informal second and the opening letter of vent
19a One having a daughter one chooses? (7)
Another wordplay and definition all-in-one. A from the clue and an abbreviation of daughter with one who chooses. One who chooses to take parental responsibility for a daughter (or son) not born to them
21a Lighting up? (10)
A cryptic definition of a ceiling light
Skip to 7 mins for the hint if you cant wait
23a Press photographers covering Queen once (6)
An informal term for intrusive press photographers, containing the regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth. I wonder if “once” is a sign that Beam is going to retire one of his signature devices?
Down
1d Fine hose under hosiery primarily (8)
Fine like a crack in porcelain, a primary letter and a hose you may inflate tyres with
2d Weak man married embracing sweetheart (4)
To take in marriage embraces another Beam/RayT Trademark™
4d Emotionally stable from recent redemption (7)
A well-rounded and emotionally stable person is lurking in the last two words
6d Mine includes endless wine, cheers! (6)
A mine for the extraction of minerals contains three-quarters of a type of wine. A Germanic cheers!
8d Runs in time with stomach bug? (7)
A long time contains a crickety run and an informal stomach. Bug? is a mistake in printed matter resulting from mechanical failures of some kind
17d Lift English tax, in part lifted (8)
A dramatic part is reversed (lifted in a down clue) it contains E for English and an abbreviated tax
20d
22d Possibly grouse meat (4)
A double definition to finish
Compiler
Beam
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Another ray of sunshine from Beam.
Some really subtle clueing, with surfaces so smooth they could be playing snooker on them at The Crucible.
I especially liked 19a, 5d and 8d.
On seeing the grid I suspected a Nina, but if there is one I haven’t found it yet.
Sad news regarding Mike Peters, 68 Guns is a classic.
Many thanks to Beam and John.
We have 142 words and 28 clues, so Beam ‘s average is a tad over 5 words per clue. I couldn’t find two to lose to bring it down to 5
Me either on the Nina
First one in today was the eponymous 22a, which induced a ‘Bright expression’ of my own. The puzzle continued to entertain, such as the nicely misleading surfaces leading to the ambiguous definitions of 7a and 8d. Those two clues are both amongst my favourites with 7, 16 & 19 on the Across podium and 3, 8 & 20 on the Down podium; my overall favourite being 19a. Best penny-drop moment arose from 21a – it was the kind of answer I had anticipated, but it required a few checkers to fall into place first. My last one in was 20a, with the 2-letter abbreviation (instead of the more common 1-letter) holding me up, until such time as I had the checker from 20d and then a ‘Summit’ came to mind which I had seen in another puzzle recently – it formed part of the wordplay (the ‘top’ in 9d) in Beam’s preceding Sunday Toughie four weeks ago! I’ll be looking out for it in Beam’s next puzzle…
Many thanks to Beam and to SJB – nice observations in your 10a hint!
I’ll be looking out for that summit again too, it might be a new signature if he retires the queen.
Very enjoyable, although a little short-lived. Back to the (very dry) gardening.
Thanks Beam and Sloop
I tend to agree re the difficulty, especially for a bank holiday weekend, I will have to fall back on Fridays Elgar tomorrow.
(Now I have said that I expect the next Sunday Toughie will be Toughie rather than Floughie
Very jolly – gently elegant. 12d especially appealed to me. Many thanks to Beam and Sloop. Hats off for representing BD and being there for Steve. The Laphroaig was a v classy touch too. You’re a good man.
Thanks, the synonym of thick came when I thought of Violet Elizabeth Bott and how she sounded out
“I’ll thcream and thcream until I’m thick”
Struggled to get on the same wavelength as the setter and made heavy weather of this one.
Top clue – 19a.
Thanks to Beam and SJB for the much needed hints
Another vote for 19a, it is a good thing to choose to parent in that manner
Always a pleasure to get a Mr T Toughie on a Sunday – long may this new order continue.
Plenty of smiles generated by this one with my biggest ticks going to 16,19&22a.
Devotions as always to Mr T/Beam and thanks to SJB for the hints.
Since the promotion of Robyn “upstairs” we have settled on a four weekly rotation of Zandio, proXimal, Beam and Light. That is fine by me and I am getting to grips with the differing quirks of each. I an glad that Dada in the Sunday Toughie as well as the Sunday Cryptic was a one off, as it seems a tad unfair to have both Sunday Prize puzzles by the same setter.
A typically enjoyable Beam Toughie – thanks to him and SJB.
Top clues for me were 7a, 16a and 19a.
5d I am obviously missing something here. Surprised to see the same word in the clue and the solution.
It is a little unusual, but I suspect it is a consequence of Beam’s concise clue structure. The heaven is nine letters that happen to contain the word in question; those nine letters go after the end of theist. Maybe post theist’s end might have been a better way, but Beam is beyond criticism from mere mortals like me
13a has me stumped. With the checkers and wordplay the answer seems obvious but I can’t see how it fits the definition.
To take or pick out in preference to another thing. When faced with a choice what you eventually choose involves making a selection and to take that from the others.
The wordplay suggests a synonym of another or more and the outer letters of chalet. I am sure you have/can 13a the right answer from there😃👍
Thanks SJB. You have confirmed my suspicions. I think it is a bit tenuous although I see the BRB disagrees. Oh well, not a usage I’m familiar with.