Toughie No 3685 by Beam
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
We live in interesting and unusual times, that much is now clear, if it wasn’t already: Beam on a Tuesday? Whatever next? Anyway, whatever cosmic upheaval has brought this about, I am delighted that I have finally had the chance to blog one of his puzzles. Beam, initially in his back-page guise, and then in Toughie form, was the first setter whose individual style and craft I really started to understand and appreciate. Of course, that was back in the day when he was more verbose, with as many as 7 or 8 words a clue…
Having been working through backlog of Sunday Toughies, some featuring Beam in full-on Tough Toughie mode, I was worried about what I might face here, but he has been kind, whilst still giving us a challenge – notably parsing 5d, which was much harder than the solving part, and almost worth an extra difficulty star alone. All of the usual suspects are there (royalty, initials, sweethearts), just the innuendo lacking to spare my blushes at breakfast. Amongst many fine clues, I’m giving my prizes to 4d, 9d, 14d, 29a and 30a. Overall, another masterpiece in concise complexity! Thank you, Beam, for another excellent puzzle.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Practises poetry, leaving one cross (10)
TRANSVERSE A charade of synonyms for “Practises” and “poetry” with the letter resembling the number one removed (leaving)
6a Burden is our responsibility? (4)
ONUS Split (2,2) the solution is a way of saying this is “our responsibility”
10a A conflict with sweetheart is familiar (5)
AWARE Piece together “A” from the clue, a synonym of “conflict” and the middle letter (heart) of “sweet”
11a Daily routine facing Queen role (9)
CHARACTER A charade of synonyms of “Daily” (in the sense of cleaner) and “routine” (as in performance) preceding (facing) Her Late Majesty
12a Marriage declaration by less punctual admirer (8)
IDOLATER A (1,3) statement commonly made in a wedding ceremony precedes a synonym of “less punctual”
13a System of frontiers without boundaries (5)
ORDER Remove the first and last letters (without boundaries) from a synonym of “frontiers”
15a Passed around line being managed (7)
HANDLED Take a synonym of “Passed” (or “gave”) and insert (around) the single letter indicating “line”
17a Cavalry dispatching old ferocious beasts (7)
DRAGONS A type of cavalry (mounted soldiers carrying firearms) from which the usual letter meaning “old” has been removed (dispatching)
19a Holes catching strange tailless mice? (7)
RODENTS A synonym of “holes” (or tears) surrounds (catching) a synonym of “strange” from which the final letter is removed (tailless)
21a Immediately disowns regularly ignored site (7)
STATION A four-letter term meaning “immediately” (new to me) followed by the even-numbered letters (regularly ignored) of “disowns”
22a Defence from jails is bail, occasionally (5)
ALIBIS The solution is found in the even-numbered letters (occasionally) of “jail is bail”
24a Take off following bearing here? (8)
AIRSTRIP A synonym of “take of” (as in “remove clothing”) precedes a synonym of “bearing” (in the sense of “manner”)
27a Having a good image on screen? (9)
TELEGENIC A (barely) cryptic all-in-one, the absence of misdirection and deviousness causing most of the difficulty
28a Idle talk of judge after power (5)
PRATE A synonym of “judge” follows (after) the usual abbreviation for “power”
29a Unusual seeing time run backwards (4)
RARE Take a three-letter term for (a period of) “time” and the usual abbreviation for “run” and then reverse them (backwards)
30a Turning red, I entered, taking part (10)
INGREDIENT A cleverly-disguised lurker, given the ratio of answer to “carrier”, the solution being found in (taking) the letters of “Turning red I entered”
Down Clues
1d Periodically they arm squad (4)
TEAM Build the solution from alternate letters (Periodically) of “they arm”
2d Discarded some flab and one dieted (9)
ABANDONED The solution is lurking (some) in the letters of “flab and one dieted”. Another answer well hidden for its length
3d Iron alloy used for brace (5)
STEEL A double definition. “used for” is just linking the two senses
4d Moved left welcoming China’s leader (7)
EXCITED A synonym of “left” (or departed) has the first letters of “China” (leader) inserted (welcoming). “Moved” here has the sense of emotion rather than change of position
5d Boxed and guarded blocking right (7)
SPARRED A word which is an obsolete synonym of “guarded” in the sense of “saved or hoarded” – which is in the BRB, and also in my 1960 Impression of Roget’s Thesaurus – has the single-letter abbreviation for “right” inserted (blocking). I originally parsed this on the basis of “guarded” being “wary, lacking in detail, thin” but the synonym to get the solution as an adjective doesn’t seem to work.
7d Great of French fashion getting elevated (5)
NOTED Take a two-letter word meaning “of” in French and a term for “fashion” (also a large weight) that mainly exists in Crosswords and reverse them (“getting elevated” in a down clue)
8d Small rebellion keeps Republican staggering (10)
SURPRISING The abbreviation for “Small” is followed by a synonym of “rebellion” into which is inserted the abbreviation for “Republican”
9d Prospect of soldiers invading country (8)
PANORAMA The two-letter abbreviation for soldiers (not including commissioned officers) is inserted (invading) into a Central American country
14d That specific beam stores energy subsequently (10)
THEREAFTER A (3,6) phrase which could be how you may say “that specific beam” surrounds (stores) the abbreviation for “energy”
16d Fish circling including small docks (8)
LANDINGS A type of fish in the cod family surrounds (circling) a three-letter synonym of “including” and then has the abbreviation for “small” appended
18d Rise and talk inspiring independent spirit (9)
ORIGINATE A synonym of “talk” has both the letter indicating “independent” and a three-letter (juniper-derived) “spirit” inserted (inspiring)
20d Quiet before long surrounds northern river (7)
SHANNON A two-letter command to be quiet is followed by an old-fashioned synonym of “before long” into which is inserted the letter indicating “northern”
21d Comes back keeping quiet turning smarter (7)
SPRUCER A synonym of “Comes back” (or happens again) has the letter meaning “quiet” (in the musical sense) inserted (keeping) and is then reversed (turning)
23d Initially indolent dosser liking endless rest (5)
IDLER One of Beam’s regular “first letter” clues, where the solution is assembled from the initial letters of the definition
25d Transcript’s first copied and recorded (5)
TAPED The initial letter of “Transcript” (possessive first) is followed by a synonym of “copied”
26d Take part in strike (4)
BEAT If the solution is split (2,2) it produces an expression synonymous with “take part” (or attend)
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle from Beam. It needed thought but was, I thought, on a par with today’s backpager. Half of it fell on the first pass with answers spread across the grid affording openings into the rest of the grid. I needed Mr. G for 27a because, although I had the first four letters, I simply could not come up with the last five. I had no checkers either because the downs were also eluding me. My COTT is the invasion of a country by soldiers at 9d.
Thank you, Beam for a fun challenge. Thank you, Whybird for the hints.