Toughie No 3599 by Beam
Hints and tips by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
As ever with Beam, this isn’t too tricky – as long as your phaser is set to synonym. Some are perhaps slightly more left-field than usual but nowt too alarming. Great fun to be had, with only a little thesaurus-thumbing. And not just one sweetheart today, but two, possibly to make up for the Queen’s absence! All yours.
Across
1a Suspicious or dubious absorbing divinity (12)
DISREPUTABLE: Dubious/questionable absorbing/containing divinity/religious education.
9a Endless sound in fanfare for knight (9)
CHEVALIER: Sound/cogent, minus the last letter, in fanfare/acclaim.
10a Party’s leader longing for expulsion (5)
PURGE: P[arty] + longing/itch.
11a Cause pain on hospital department (6)
ENTAIL: Pain/hurt on/after (a) hospital department.
12a Bird watching round lake (8)
STARLING: Watching/gazing round/containing abbreviated “lake”.
13a Party, extremely left, admits spies (6)
SOCIAL: Extremely/very + abbreviated “left” admits/contains (US) spies.
15a End deprivation back in dodgy club (8)
DISSOLVE: Deprivation/bereavement, reversed in(side) “dodgy (night)club”.
18a He made “small step” with crew (8)
SPACEMAN: Abbreviated “small” + step/stride + crew/(to) staff.
19a Prize money keeping United in chase (6)
PURSUE: Prize money (boxing, etc) keeping/containing abbreviated “united”.
21a Student ran, celebrating about admission (8)
ENTRANCE: Lurker, hidden in the first three words.
23a Spoke, being detailed, describing distant expedition (6)
SAFARI: Spoke/uttered, minus the first letter/detailed, describing/containing distant/remote.
26a Insect about circling with whining sound (5)
TWANG: Insect/fly about/reversed circling/containing abbreviated “with”.
27a Possibly saw parking space (9)
PLATITUDE: Abbreviated “parking” + space/leeway.
28a Somewhat insipid blokes? Time for flattery (12)
BLANDISHMENT: “Somewhat insipid” (with the usual three-letter “somewhat” suffix) + blokes/chaps + abbreviated “time”.
Down
1d Hold hands, maybe? (7)
DOCKERS: Hands who might work in (ship’s) hold.
2d Smell circulated around middle of kitchen (5)
SCENT: Circulated/broadcast around/containing [kit]C[hen].
3d Kill time, say, losing heart (9)
ERADICATE: Time/age + (to) say/read out, minus the middle letter/heart.
4d One out of shape lacking force (4)
UNIT: Out of shape/condition, minus abbreviated “force”.
5d States tour may start here (8)
AIRSTRIP: States/expresses + tour/journey.
6d Outcast seeing disgust rising (5)
LEPER: Disgust/offend, reversed/rising.
7d Features bits going topless (8)
ARTICLES: Bits/fragments, minus the first letter/topless.
8d Breed’s first bird dog (6)
BEAGLE: B[reed] + (a) “bird”.
14d Cold drink ingredient is revolting tripe! (8)
CLAPTRAP: Abbreviated “cold” + (to) drink/sup + ingredient/element reversed/revolting.
16d Nauseated by crush embracing each male (9)
SQUEAMISH: Crush/compress embracing/containing abbreviations for “each” and “male”.
17d Pot is watched on range, reportedly (8)
SAUCEPAN: Homophones of watched/observed and range/stretch.
18d Some fantasies taboo for sleep (6)
SIESTA: Lurker, hidden in the second and third words.
20d Great sweetheart, yours truly’s, not heartless (7)
EMINENT: Beam’s usual “sweetheart” + a possessive synonym of “yours truly’s” + N[o]T.
22d A new hair product for sweetheart (5)
ANGEL: ‘A’ + abbreviated “new” + the “hair product” that’s not wax.
24d Severe stroke in emergency room? (5)
ACUTE: Stroke/blow (cricket, etc) in(side) (hospital) “emergency room”.
25d Southern Asian raiment, Indian initially (4)
SARI: Acrostic.
Beam’s gifted us a homophone clue, a couple of all-in-ones, two lurkers and a wealth of containment. I especially enjoyed 28a, 1d and 5d, but 18a tickled me the most. How did you get on?
Nothing too tricky today, although it took me a while to spot 1d, my last in. I like the word at 14d, and it often appears in my vocabulary.
Many thanks to Beam for the entertainment, and to ALP for the write-up.
Typical Beam – concise and very enjoyable.
I can’t say I was particularly keen on the use of what is an extremely obscure spelling variant of RA in 1a. That aside it was fun, fun, fun all the way.
My podium comprises 28a, 5d & 16d.
Many thanks to Beam and to ALP.
Gentle and enjoyable – thanks to Beam and ALP.
I liked 19a and 28a but my favourite was 1d.
Very enjoyable puzzle, very much appreciated by someone new to the Toughie. That’s me done 6 now!
COTD definitely 1d for the lateral thinking required, LOI 9a which I thought was quite a clever bit of clueing.
Thanks Beam and ALP, your hard work is much appreciated.
Huge congratulations on your double hat trick – here’s to many more!
The answer to 14d gets the thumbs up from me too, great word, as is 28a, which is pleasing to say.
I have an issue however with 1d. The solution does not identify with someone who works in the hold of a ship. That job is done by a stevedore. 1d only work on the quayside. Where I grew up, the two roles are distinctly different.
My nan’s second husband, grandad ‘Arry, was one of the latter, who unloaded ships in and around Deptford. Hard as nails he was. His name, I kid you not, was Harry Potter. Now he really was a magician. Stick a pint of Guinness in front of him and he’d make it disappear alright…
Thanks to Beam for jogging that memory and to ALP for the blog.
1d caused me a lot of problems but I’ve never liked holding hands with anyone, must remind me too much of childhood!
Don’t think I’ll ever tire of watching that clip of Neil Armstrong so that gets a place on my podium along with the starting point of the tour and the revolting cold drink – I’ve encountered a few of those over the years!
Devotions as ever to Mr T/Beam and thanks to ALP for the review – lovely to spend time with Mr Redding on the dock.
A crossword of two halves for me, the south went in quickly but the north took a lot more teasing out. 1d was a bung in. Some cracking clues to enjoy my favourite being 17d. Thanks to Beam and ALP.
It was a case of snatching a few moments here and there today. I had 6 still to solve and couldn’t easily see the answers so went for a walk and watched the sun set over Morecambe Bay, came home and bingo, finished in a trice! I’d agree with Taylor Gibson that the north took a bit more teasing out. Excellent crossword though, thanks to Beam. Thanks too to ALP.
Evening all. Many thanks to ALP for the decryption and to all for your comments.
RayT
Best thanks for popping in – another belter.
Good evening, Mr T. I’m late in with my thanks but they’re still heartfelt.
A brisk solve & very enjoyable too. I wasn’t keen on 1d either & also thought surely they don’t work in the hold – made me think of Brando in On The Waterfront where I think they were longshoremen. 9,15&28a plus 5,14&16d were my picks of the clues.
Thanks to Beam & ALP – was only just reading about Steve Cropper’s contribution to Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay & hadn’t previously realised it was the first ever posthumous recording to top the US Billboard 100.
I found this to be very tricky. I just could get on the right wavelength, but I got there in the end, if rather late. If Ray T gets much more concise, he’ll be posting single-word clues on Toughie and Quickie! And his Quickies are always the hardest.
Thanks to Ray T and to ALP
2*/4* …
liked 13A “Party, extremely left, admits spies (6)”