Sunday Toughie No 208
by Beam
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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Beam has brought us a generous 32 clues today and I have hinted half. I had a bit of parsing trouble last night, but I hope I have got them right. I hope you find the checkers to finish this fine puzzle and I will try and give a bonus nudge or two if you are struggling.
Why I was struggling a bit last night – I was nearer the keyboard monitor than the keyboard player!
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!
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
1a Notice sibling cycling in dark (9)
A shortened female sibling cycles one letter from front to back, and it is then inserted into a synonym of dark. You’re fired!
11a Labour always reportedly behind target (9)
A homophone (reportedly) of always goes behind a target.
13a Demanding former partner with single bloke (7)
Our usual former partner, the letter that represents single, and a bloke demand immediate attention.
14a Bold and unwise ousting Republican (8)
A synonym of unwise ousts the abbreviation for Republican.
19a Grand bottoms causing blushes (5)
Bottoms such as those associated with depressions or weather systems follow an abbreviation for grand.
25a Beat occupier after vacation alfresco (7)
To beat or surpass and what remains of occupier after it has been vacated. Although we have stolen the definition from Italian, they would prefer to use all’aperto.
27a Law record in ancestral houses (9)
A lurker (houses) in the preceding three words.
29a Sweetheart, nearly alone, rejected miss (4)
One of those pesky little four-letter words that leap into the grid but can be hard to parse. I have gone with Beam’s™ heart of sweet, and most of a synonym of alone, then reverse them (rejected)
Down
1d Crafty, stooping to pocket shilling (9)
A synonym of stooping “pockets” an abbreviated shilling.
5d Boys spending penny once in toilet (6)
Boys (particularly those of Scottish or Northern English origin) lose the old abbreviation for a penny. These toilets would not normally allow boys in.
9d Plate of chicken possibly sent back (6)
Chicken is an example of an organism having life and voluntary motion, and it is reversed (sent back). Giving a thin plate of rock or sensitive tissue within a hoof.
15d Victorians concealing degenerate bulges (9)
Victorians would be people who claim extreme propriety; they contain a synonym of to degenerate.
17d Vandal almost wild besieging ancient city (9)
Almost all of a synonym of wild or abandoned contains an ancient city.
20d Small containers containing ale, ultimately? No! (6)
A small abbreviation and a type of container containing the ultimate letter of ale. No! These containers are NOT small and usually contain hopped lager rather than unhopped ale.
23d Like bride groom, forgetting occasion, held? (6)
Another tricky parse (For Me™), I think the occasion or the place it occurs in is removed from the groom, followed by a synonym of held. Most brides like to dress up.
The place for the occasion of our Birthday Bash…
26d Deck ratings on dock (5)
Ratings of other ranks and a synonym of dock. Being the lowest just above the bilges. New to me, but fairly constructed.
Compiler
Beam
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I enjoyed this despite not getting some of the parsing especially 23d, which I see SJB had problems with as well. I had more solved after the first pass than I had with Dada. I loved the grand bottoms at 19a and the degenerate Victorian bulges at 15d. My COTT is the labour at 11a.
Thank you, Beam for a lovely diversion for a dreary Sunday. Thank you, Sloops for the hints.
23d and 29a were both a bit of a struggle to parse, so I felt obliged to hint them. leaving the setter at 30a unhinted other than the one with the Victorian bulges.
It took me a while for the penny to drop with 30a.
I’m still in the dark with 23d, despite your generous, but cryptic clue. Is that you on the right at the Little Venice venue (unnamed, just in case) 26th Jan 2025?
I found Dada more tricky this week!
Thanks to SJB and Beam
23d was my dodgiest parse and relies on the occasion being synonymous with space in which it is held. I think I avoided being photoed at the last big bash. The fellow on the right is Silvanus
Got it! Tenuous, at best.
Now for the Telegraph fountain pen.
Great article on the condition of every pub in the land, by postcode.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/14/is-my-local-pub-facing-ruin/
I saw the article – it makes for sober reading (no pun intended).
I think it is not so much the space as opportunity: “There was no occasion/???? for celebration given the events in the news”
An enjoyable puzzle on a gloomy wet day in Hereford. On the whole I found this easier than yesterday’s prize puzzle but I don’t understand 23d and 26d was a new word for me.
You, me and everyone else with 23d.
I hope we have a Groom without a place where an occasion can be held plus held or possessed, to be the wearing of a piece of attire suitable for a Bride.
Isn’t the 23d occasion just **** as in “There’s no ****/occasion for hysterics”.
I think that Prolixic and you have hit the nail on the head, In a Steve/Conor style race Gazza gets it by a nose 4:36 to 4:38
Although they don’t appear to be direct synonyms in the BRB app, but do when you go from one to the other via chance
Had come to the same conclusion as you with the pesky four letter 29a before the hints came out.
Had the answers to the lurkers before I noticed that they lurked.
Favourite – 21a.
Just back from an abortive photographic trip to Dyce Station – I was 20 minutes early but the train had been 21 minutes early.
Thanks to Beam and SJB
Sorry about the train. They cause trouble regardless of whether you want to photograph them or travel on them!
I had a different miss for 29a but had to ditch her, as she didnt have a sweetheart.
I had three options for 29a but went for the same one as you as it seemed to parse best.
This was a steady and rather laboured solve.
I had to reread many clues, identify the definition and come up with a synonym before juggling the wordplay to make it fit, rather than piece the solution together.
The cleverly worded plate of chicken possibly sent back in 9a stood out for me.
I parsed 23d the same as our blogger, though I can’t say I’m completely happy with it either.
My thanks to Beam and SJB.
Beam’s a bit trickier than usual I thought – thanks to him and SJB.
My pick of the clues: 1a, 1d and 18d.
18d would have come with a clip from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang if that clue hadnt hit the cutting room floor. 1d maybe could have gone with “She Stoops To Conquer”
Our setter threw in a couple of tricky little numbers to test our brains and patience, I do hope that he’ll settle the 23d debate when he, hopefully, pops in later. At least he came up with a toilet clue that was perfectly acceptable so I’m not complaining! Rosettes on this occasion being awarded to 1&19a plus 15&20d.
Devotions as always to Mr T/Beam and thanks to SJB for the hints.
The pic for 5d was a bit of a search. I had to find one that didn’t have the solution written on the door. I don’t think that boy is a Scot or Geordie, probably German (Herren und Damen being the initials on the doors perhaps)
Not overly tricky, although I struggled to parse 5d and 23d, which was my last in.
18d was my favourite once I clicked what was interior.
Many thanks to Beam and to SJB.
Thought this was a little hard for the Sunday prize puzzle, but completed it then couldn’t understand why the hints didn’t match the clues! Doh!!
Think it’s the first time I’ve ever completed a toughie – thinking it was the regular puzzle encouraged me to persist.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Congratulations on your first Sunday Toughie, now you have “broken the seal” I hope you wander this way again.
Welcome, Parkescape. You raise an interesting point. You tackled the Toughie thinking it was the backpager so maybe there’s a psychological advantage in there somewhere?
Please comment again and join the merry throng. 😊
Much like the Dada puzzle – issues in the SW. Guess the brain not in gear – took too long to twig the blushes synonym then only realised the reason why I couldn’t figure out 20d was because I’d keyed in a wrong letter checker. Otherwise pretty gentle.
Thanks to Beam & to John – glad that you enjoyed the gig. You Tube doesn’t really do them justice as they just sound like an inferior imitation of the real thing but given the complexity of the music I think they do a terrific job playing it live.
Easily one of the best cover bands I’ve seen, obviously the classics Ricky… Haitian Divorce etc. got the crowd going but even the lesser known stuff was great. Kid Charlemagne got the best response. They promised to cone back soon for a two night run and play a different set every night.
Well! If it’s a Beam, I always give it a go. However, some synonyms here were stretched so far beyond the limits of my imagination that it needed five sittings over about 30 elapsed hours, together with these hints, to get me over the line😱.
I did like 18d, 21a and 26d.
Thanks to Beam and to The Yottie.
House guests have limited my crossword minutes in the last few days – and the minutes I had were largely taken up by a tussle with Radler! This Beam Toughie was much less of tussle, until I had just 23d left to go – and it stubbornly remained left to go…! Given the checkers and the surface reading, I considered two possible answers – the one you have hinted at, SJB, and ‘JOINED’, but was convinced by neither and failed to make the wordplay in the clue conform to either. So, thank you to both Gazza and Prolixic for their astute observations. Despite ending up in a 23d dead end, I thoroughly enjoyed my journey getting there, with overflowing podium places awarded to 1, 11, 19 & 24 across, and 7, 9, 18 & 20 down.
My thanks to Beam for the puzzle, and to SJB for his hints, adorned by a splendid selection of illustrations.