Toughie No 3535 by Beam
Hints and tips by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***/****
Typically with Beam, the trickery lies not so much in the construction but the synonyms. And today is no exception. 20a’s “rather” certainly had me going for a second. Royalty and “sweetheart”, naturally, make yet another appearance. Fairly gentle – once I’d got my thesaurus head on – and studded with brevity plus wit, as always. All yours.
Across
7a Naval force reflected current period (8)
MARITIME: (to) force/thrust, reversed/reflected + (electric) current + period/spell.
8a Cold bird, perhaps chicken (6)
CRAVEN: The usual “cold” + (black) bird.
9a Dress encircling top of legs? (4)
KILT: Dress/outfit encircling/containing L[egs]. Sweet little &lit.
10a Favoured puritan harbours nasty ends, oddly (10)
PRIVILEGED: Puritan/prude harbours/contains nasty/foul + E[n]D[s]. I stupidly couldn’t see this at first, unaccountably trying to squeeze in an adjective (ie, not the required noun) for “puritan” that gave me a most unwelcome ‘M’.
11a Crying, losing head, getting reprimand (6)
EARFUL: Crying/weepy, bar its first letter.
13a Set off again in leisure craft (7)
RESTART: Leisure/relaxation + craft/skill.
14a Concerned and embarrassed about behind (7)
RELATED: “Embarrassed” (facially) about/containing behind/tardy. A very Beam-ish surface.
16a One more from America, not here! (7)
ANOTHER: Lurker, hidden in the last three words.
19a Normal state facing decline (7)
AVERAGE: (to) state/declare + Beam’s favourite “decline”.
20a Rather large eating small mouthful (6)
MORSEL: Rather/to a greater degree + the usual “large”, eating/containing the usual “small”.
21a Minister with opportunity before press turns (10)
CHANCELLOR: Opportunity/occasion + (to) press (a lawn, say), reversed (turns).
22a Chest shown in arrest (4)
BUST: Double definition.
23a US soldiers catching deserter for nothing (6)
GRATIS: The usual “US soldiers” catching/containing deserter/traitor.
24a Beginning to spout tiresome foul language (8)
SWEARING: S[pout] + tiresome/exhausting.
Down
1d Pilot vehicle over passage round island (8)
NAVIGATE: “Vehicle” reversed/over and “passage” (into a field, etc), containing/round the usual “island”.
2d Present given in festive times, initially (4)
GIFT: Acrostic.
3d Relieve detective on endless shift (6)
DISPEL: The usual “detective” + shift/period, bar its last letter.
4d Sober embracing sinful mischief (7)
DEVILRY: Sober/abstinent embracing/containing sinful/wicked.
5d Masculine influence could produce criminal (10)
MALEFACTOR: Masculine (ie, not female) + influence/driver.
6d Queen maybe concerned with civilised chap (6)
REGENT: The usual “concerned” + civilised/refined chap.
8d Red lips involved in cheating (7)
CRIMSON: Lips/edges in cheating (noun).
12d Fellowship until kingdom come, reportedly! (10)
FRATERNITY: A (Quickie pun style?) homophone of “until kingdom come”.
15d Paints tag with different detailed covering (7)
ENAMELS: Tag/handle, with different/otherwise, bar its last letter (detailed).
17d Vespers still good, relative’s admitted (8)
EVENSONG: Still/yet + the usual “good”, with a “relative” admitted/inserted.
18d Monk left Church upset in subterfuge (7)
RECLUSE: The usual “left” and “church” upset/reversed inside subterfuge/trick.
19d Stick plug in this place (6)
ADHERE: Plug/commercial + the usual “in this place”.
20d Impressed ship enters sea (6)
MARKED: Ship/boat entering (a) sea.
22d All naked except for sweetheart (4)
BARE: Except for/minus + the usual “sweetheart”.
We’ve got a cute &lit, a cheeky homophone, a lurker and a double definition, etc. No anagrams, of course. I especially enjoyed 14a, 20a and 24a, but 9a takes it for me. How did you get on?
No real hold ups, I always admire the concise clues. 8a and 9a get my vote. Thanks to Beam and ALP.
An enjoyable Beam puzzle – thanks to him and ALP.
My picks were 9a, 14a and 22a.
Had to trawl through the alphabet before the penny dropped over 9a but no other issues to report, just a delightful solve. Plenty of ticks awarded – 9,11,16,23&24a plus 4&22d – the last of those simply because I couldn’t leave out our setter’s lady friend!
Devotions as always to Mr T/Beam and thanks to ALP for the review.
A steady and enjoyable solve, though I thought the exclamation mark at the end of 12d dug it out of a fairly deep hole.
My favoured clue was the favoured clue at 10a.
Thanks to Beam and ALP.
9a was a bung in and I hesitated to put 12d in but had to be what it was so I wrote it in and moved on. I made fairly heavy weather some of the rest but that didn’t detract from the enjoyment. Favourite was 10a, there were other contenders. Thanks to Beam and ALP.
As always from Beam, a concise and enjoyable offering.
From the mass of ticks I’ll pick 9 and 14A, 15 and 17D.
Thanks ALP for the blog and Beam for the fun.
Evening all. My thanks to ALP for the review and to all who commented.
RayT
Huge thanks for popping in, and for yet another cracker. Always a treat.
Good evening, Mr T, many thanks for another treat of a puzzle – that dress encircling top of legs was genius!
Late on parade today, but I really enjoyed this with a plethora of ticks.
I’m not convinced by “Press” = “Roll” even with ALP’s very creative attempt to explain it!
Many thanks to Beam and to ALP.
Gentle but very enjoyable, as ever. Fav was 4d as I rather like the notion of embracing sinful mischief still sober.
Thanks to Beam & ALP & especially for that great FYC tune & a bit of Pokey. Not familiar with Stella – her Hot Nuts Swing wasn’t the risqué number I thought it would be
Beam for breakfast! What a treat!
I’m late with my crosswords as I went to see Tom Jones at Cardiff castle on Wednesday night and didn’t get home until midnight. An amazing performance! His voice is better than ever.
Thank you Mr Beam for a great puzzle. 22a and 12d made me laugh, as did 11a.
Thank you ALP for confirming my parsing.
The sun is shining… wishing everyone a great Friday.
What a delight this was! **/**** for me.
I enjoyed every clue — as per usual with this setter. That, of course, has made it most difficult to select which appealed most. I think 9a has to be top of my list, followed by 8a, 11a, 14a, 21a and 23a; 8d, 12d,15d and 22d. I could add a host more…
Many thanks to Beam for a super puzzle.
Many appreciative thanks to ALP for the review.