Sunday Toughie No 180 by Beam
Review by Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 6th of July 2025
Across
1a Glow is occasionally brief after passion (6)
LUSTRE: A synonym of passion LUST, followed by occasional letters of bRiEf RE.
4a Romp and roll embracing single (7)
ROISTER: A roll call ROSTER, embracing the letter that represents a single I.
9a Made water flow on small flower (9)
SPEEDWELL: To have passed water satisfactorily, PEED WELL follows S for small.
10a Thong could show flipping bits! (5)
STRAP: A synonym of bits PARTS is flipped.
11a Confident fool maybe feverish about United (7)
ASSURED: A fool ASS, and a colour associated with being feverish RED, go about a United abbreviation U.
12a Digs outside void oddly making latrines (7)
PRIVIES: To dig into in a meddlesome way PRIES, around odd letters of void VI.
13a Almost dismiss anger accepting, say, blasphemy (9)
SACRILEGE: Almost all of a synonym of dismiss SAC(k) and to anger RILE accept say as an example EG.
16a Talk posh reflecting English custom (5)
USAGE: To talk socially GAS, and the posh letter U, are reversed (reflecting) U SAG and the English abbreviation E is added.
17a Generally rude or sometimes smutty, initially (5)
GROSS: A Beam™ initial letters clue.
18a Simple men try gripping tool (9)
IMPLEMENT: A lurker hidden in the first three words.
21a Pointers useless without point, finally (7)
NEEDLES: A synonym of useless NEEDLESS, without its final point of the compass, becomes the pointer on some compasses NEEDLES.
22a Beef up strong person in audition (7)
TIGHTEN: A homophone (in audition) of the Greek Gods that were overthrown by Zeus TITAN becomes to beef up security perhaps, TIGHTEN.
25a Pity sweetheart following deceiver (5)
SHAME: A person who makes deceitful pretences SHAM, followed by another Beam™ swEet heart
26a Possibly one leading church, say (9)
PRONOUNCE: Possibly one is an example of a function word as used in the phrase “the one on top” PRONOUN it goes before an abbreviation of the Anglican Church of England CE.
27a Extracted sulphur in liquid form (7)
SMELTED: Extracted from ore, the chemical symbol of sulfur (the preferred spelling since 1992) S, plus to have returned to liquid form from solid MELTED.
28a Start to seriously rubbish American prestige (6)
STATUS: An initial letter to seriously S, some rubbish synonym TAT, and one of our usual Americans US, give prestige or STATUS.
Down
1d Girl circles saloon, perhaps for sailors (7)
LASCARS: A saloon as an example of a particular vehicle CAR, encircled by a girl LASS, LAS CAR S is easy to deduce from the wordplay. The Indian sailors so named much less so (note to self cc Terence™- please consult the committee to rubber stamp this obvious addition to THE LIST™)
2d Gets rid of outhouses (5)
SHEDS: A double definition.
3d Knight potentially free and very unconfined (5)
RIDER: What a Knight is when on his horse, to free from RID, and what remains of vERy when unconfined ER.
4d Concerned with large recess for sink (7)
RELAPSE: A usual concerned with RE, a large abbreviation L, and a recess in church APSE, may sink back to a former state of ill health or RELAPSE.
5d Open University? (9)
INSTITUTE: A double definition. To set up or open and an association organised to promote art, science or education, such as a University?
6d Stop insect consuming banana’s core (9)
TERMINATE: The core letters of banana NA, inserted into an insect TERMITE.
7d Answer I posted including reply (7)
RIPOST: A lurker (including).
8d Sound of cycle in traffic? (6)
PEDDLE: A homophone of the means of propulsion of a bicycle PEDAL becomes PEDDLE.
14d Enclosure bolted holding Queen band together (9)
COOPERATE: An enclosure for chickens COOP, that bolted their food ATE, around another Beam™ ER being the regnal cipher of our late Queen.
15d Saucy cradling front of voluptuous bust (9)
INSOLVENT: The front letter of voluptuous V, cradled by a synonym of saucy INSOLENT.
17d Great volume opening for group (7)
GENESIS: The opening book of a great volume (according to Christians) The opening book of the Old Testament gave its name to the Prog Rock group that Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Steve Hackett were members of.
18d Dull being imprisoned, nearly keeping virtuous (7)
INSIPID: Nearly all of a synonym of imprisoned INSIDe around a virtuous abbreviation PI.
19d Way to surmount enormous sadness (6)
PATHOS: A way on foot PATH, and an enormous or outsize abbreviation OS.
20d Notes from singers being voiced (7)
TENNERS: A homophone of the adult male singing voice above baritone TENORS, would be found in your wallet TENNERS.
23d Best encapsulates football’s final glory (5)
GLOAT: An acronym for someone who is the best G.O.A.T. or Greatest of All Time, encapsulates the final letter of football L.
24d Conviction even overturned doesn’t change (5)
TENET: If a word, when overturned, doesn’t change, it would be a palindrome. A conviction or key principle. TENET fits the definition and is a palindrome.
Compiler
Beam
That’s all Folks…
My comment keeps disappearing. Now for 4th try…
Thank you very much for your explanation of G.O.A.T. Sloop John Bee. You were replying to me on 10 July but I’ve only just seen your comment! Mea maxima culpa. I’m very pleased to have had that clarified. I still have my printed copy of the puzzle to hand. Thank you very much for the review.
My comment kept disappearing —thanks to an unannounced Windows update I think… everything just stopped functioning! Now for 5th try…
Thank you very much for your explanation of G.O.A.T. Sloop John Bee. You were replying to me on 10 July but I’ve only just seen your comment! Mea maxima culpa. I’m very pleased to have had that clarified. I still have my printed copy of the puzzle to hand. Thank you very much for the review.
4th and 5th have got through, still no sign of 1 to 3
Thanks for the thanks, Beam and his alter ego Ray T have a pretty good claim on being the G.O.A.T. at setting crosswords
oh absolutely! Brilliant puzzles! Always enjoy them – always have!