Toughie 3519 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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Toughie 3519

by ALP  

Toughie No 3519 by Beam
Hints and tips by ALP

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***/****

The usual tight clueing from Beam: no anagrams and a raft of inventive, but fair, synonyms. Thanks to him. All yours.

Across

1a Dispute from detective in criminal stretch (10)
CONTRADICT: Detective (2) in(side) criminal/lag + stretch (of space/time, etc).

6a Initially cheer, laugh and possibly applaud (4)
CLAP: Acrostic.

10a Heathen god suppresses endless fury (5)
PAGAN: (Greek) god suppresses/contains fury/anger, minus its first and last letters (endless).

11a Resignation more certain to involve split (9)
SURRENDER: “More certain” involves/contains (to) split/tear apart.

12a Cheapest places, always ancient, inside theatre (8)
STEERAGE: Always/ever (ancient/poetic) inside the usual “theatre”.

13a Cat with lunge lacking power (5)
OUNCE: Lunge/leap, minus/lacking the usual “power”.

15a Turns catching end of ankle joints (7)
REEFERS: Turn (attention, to my learned gentleman, say) catching/containing [ankl]E.

17a Spread first of soap suds (7)
SLATHER: S[oap] + suds/soap bubbles.

19a Carriage left before time (7)
PORTAGE: (Nautical) left + time/era.

21a Caustic second harangue about Democrat (7)
MORDANT: Second/instant + harangue/scold, about/containing the usual Democrat.

22a Go round in some women’s clothing (5)
SKIRT: Double definition.

24a Old, old fish in batter, oddly (8)
OBSOLETE: The usual “old” + (flat) fish in(side) B[a]T[t]E[r].

27a Worker in such as train plant (9)
EGLANTINE: The usual (six-footed) “worker” in(side) such as/for example and train/series.

28a Opening of hotel in French resort (5)
NICHE: H[otel] in(side) southern French resort.

29a Pimple head’s returning (4)
SPOT: Head’s/peak+s, reversed/returning.

30a Drinking red I entertained, taking part (10)
INGREDIENT: Lurker, hidden in the first four words.

Down

1d Headgear put on English head (4)
CAPE: Headgear/hat on/before the usual English.

2d Almost hurry purchasing women’s pyjamas? (9)
NIGHTWEAR: Almost/nearly + (to) hurry/race, purchasing/containing the usual “women’s”.

3d Stood for president, say, reversing diversity (5)
RANGE: Stood for president/ie, as a candidate (US usage, apparently) + say/for example, reversed.

4d Occasionally admits former PM’s troubles (7)
DISMAYS: [a]D[m]I[t]S + former PM’s (Theresa).

5d Fancy kit’s some underwear (7)
CORSETS: Fancy (that) + kit’s/collection+s (of model parts, etc).

7d Left foreign port carrying cargo (5)
LADEN: The usual “left” + port (Yemen).

8d For each sweetheart figure produces effect (10)
PERPETRATE: “For each” + “sweetheart” (3) + (to) figure/count.

9d Carefree woman coming out live (8)
DEBONAIR: (young) woman coming out (in society) + “live” (2,3).

14d Influence of print media covering party (10)
PREPOSSESS: Print media (newspapers, magazines, etc) covering/containing party/gang (of cowboys, say).

16d Demanding former partner creating a scene (8)
EXACTING: Former partner/old flame + creating a (literally dramatic) scene.

18d Discover article about a Conservative suffering (9)
HEARTACHE: Discover/learn + (grammatical) article, about/containing ‘A’ and the usual Conservative.

20d Feeling of abasement spending penny (7)
EMOTION: Abasement/lowering (in rank, etc), spending/deleting the one-letter (old) penny.

21d Good deal: reduced money for rubber (7)
MASSEUR: Good deal/load + money/currency, minus its last letter (reduced).

23d One grand lavatory for cool house (5)
IGLOO: The usual “one” and “grand” + lavatory/WC.

25d Fibbed about woman finally having wrinkles (5)
LINED: Fibbed/told porkies about/containing [woma]N.

26d Maybe game hunt for the audience (4)
MEAT: Homophone of hunt (gathering).

With minimal GK and fair clueing, this was a pretty brisk romp. As ever with Beam, some of his synonyms took the most thought. I especially enjoyed 1a (“criminal stretch”), 16d (“creating a scene”) and 21d (“good deal”), but 9d (“woman coming out live”) gets my vote. How did you get on?

20 comments on “Toughie 3519”

  1. Can’t believe I’m the first to comment on the toughie but I’ve just finished it and a very enjoyable solve it was too. As ever with Mr T, some very clever clues.
    Thanks to Ray T for lunchtime fun and ALP for the blog.

  2. The second consecutive friendly toughie which is no doubt the filling in a difficult to digest Tuesday/ Friday sandwich.
    Enjoyable and well clued with nothing contentious and a cleverly concealed lurker in 30a.
    Thanks to Beam and ALP.

  3. As is to be expected in a Beam Toughie, a few synonyms that took a bit of teasing out but no weird words or complex GK to worry about. Prizes awarded to 12&15a plus 4&16d with a smile for the posh loo in the cool house!

    Devotions, of course, to Mr T/Beam and thanks to ALP for the review – red letter day, I actually listened to one of your music clips all the way through!

        1. Haha. My suspicion too! But I must confess that was under duress – the clip I actually wanted was about five hours long! Slight shame about 15a too. Sadly, the Camberwell Carrot segment is, as you know, just way too sweary..

          1. I wanted to play Tim Curry’s wonderful Sloe Gin with Dick Wagner’s guitar solo but thought 7 F bombs in the one song a bit much.

  4. The usual excellence and enjoyment from this setter, always a pleasure never a chore. Some took a bit of sorting out but enough went straight in to make it fairly straightforward. I agree with the well concealed lurker at 30a it took a while to spot it. Lots of candidates for favourite but I’ll go with 24a. Thanks to Beam and ALP.

  5. Another very concise and enjoyable offering from Beam. It just goes to show that puzzles don’t have to be mind-bending to give us a pleasing solve.
    I had lots of ticks but pick 9D as my podium.
    Many thanks ALP for the blog and to Beam for the enjoyment.

  6. The usual from Beam, with 9d the standout for me too.
    Thanks to him and to ALP. Great to heat Leo K is still doing it despite all – [must pay more attention].

  7. You must be going soft ALP. Felt sure you’d only give this a single * for difficulty. Very enjoyable as ever with another vote for 9d as pick from a good bunch of fairly ‘floughie’ clues. But after Tuesday who’s complaining? Well Whybird maybe.
    Thanks to Beam & ALP – good to hear some Leo Kottke. Watched a Tiny Desk gig of his recently. Saw Rainbow in the late 70s & that tune + Since You’ve Been Gone (both written by Russ Ballard of Argent fame) about the only ones of theirs I’d have been able to recall.

    1. I am, yes! Felt instinctively like a one, I must admit, and it was, originally. But I belatedly figured that a couple of the synonyms – just about – eked another half out. And yes, those are the only two Rainbow tracks worth a carrot. Probably.

  8. A very gentle Toughie from Beam with, as ALP says, most thought needed to establish in what sense some of the synonyms work. Thanks to Beam and ALP.
    I’ll join others in making 9d my favourite.

  9. Evening all. My thanks to ALP for the decryption and to all for your observations. Always good to find another Leo Kottke fan!

    RayT

  10. I found this RayT/Beam puzzle FAR more satisfying and enjoyable than the back pager today. Made sense, usual brevity and succinctness in clues and parsing that made sense. Also includes sweetheart but no queen.

    2*/4.5*

    Favourites include 12a, 24a, 4d, 5d, 21d & 23d — with winner 21d
    Smiles for 22a, 4d & 23d

    Thanks to RayT/Beam & ALP

  11. Very enjoyable, thank you, Beam, and not too taxing. Just right for a late evening. Like many , I thought 9a was very good, but my prize goes to 30a – a lovely lurker and surface combo.

    Thanks to ALP for the blog

  12. What an excellent Toughie! Beam never fails to entertain.
    I’ll join others in saying 9d was top of my podium. Also marked for special mention are 11a, 12a, 13a and 21d (made me chuckle).
    Many thanks to Beam for a super puzzle and to Alp for the review.

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