Sunday Toughie No 238 by Beam
Full Review by Gazza
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This puzzle was published on 16/08/26
A very gentle puzzle from Beam this week.
Across Clues
1a Renegade jerk after the woman’s sweetheart (7)
HERETIC: a facial jerk follows a feminine pronoun and Beam’s usual swEetheart.
5a Scrap seeing resistance in bar (7)
EXCERPT: insert the abbreviation for electrical resistance into a preposition meaning bar or ‘other than’.
9a Divers cut through a line (7)
SEVERAL: glue together a verb to cut through or split, A and the abbreviation for line.
10a Lawman shoots back accepting hard force (7)
SHERIFF: reverse a verb meaning shoots a weapon containing the abbreviation for hard. Finish with the abbreviation for force.
11a Amount’s first cut accepting small payment (9)
ALLOWANCE: the first letter of amount and a verb to cut or puncture containing an adjective meaning small or stunted.
12a Caught with miss getting intimate (5)
CLOSE: the cricket abbreviation for caught and a verb to miss or mislay.
13a Doled out sedatives enabling sleep, initially? (5)
DOSES: initial letters.
15a Country individuals found in country (9)
INDONESIA: a synonym of individuals is found inside an Asian country to make another Asian country.
17a Avoid importing a large epidemic (9)
PREVALENT: epidemic here is an adjective not a noun. A verb to avoid or stop from happening contains A and the abbreviation for large.
19a Fur is extravagant with Queen (5)
OTTER: an abbreviation meaning extravagant or excessive and the regnal cipher of our late Queen.
22a After party, deal with soak (5)
DOUSE: a festive party and a verb to deal with or handle.
23a Second time with clue (9)
TWINKLING: abbreviations for time and ‘with’ are followed by a synonym of clue or suspicion.
25a Livery stable (7)
UNIFORM: double definition, stable in the sense of unvarying.
26a Grand posh recipe gutted gourmet (7)
EPICURE: assemble an adjective meaning grand or monumental, the letter used to mean ‘posh’ and the outer letters of recipe.
27a Left eviscerated in precipitous retreat (7)
SHELTER: the outer letters of ‘left’ go inside an adjective meaning precipitous or steep.
28a Experts of, we hear, tea plants? (7)
TASTERS: I take this to be a semi-all-in-one where the whole clue is the definition. Start with the letter that sounds like ‘tea’ and add some daisy-like flowers.
Down Clues
1d Manage opening of hopeless Telegraph group (7)
HUSBAND: bring together the opening letter of hopeless, a pronoun that employees of the Telegraph might use of themselves and a musical group.
2d Abuses and taunts purchasing Tesla? (7)
REVILES: a verb meaning taunts or irritates contains the abbreviation for what a Tesla is an example of.
3d Chucked and reportedly finished (5)
THREW: this sounds like an adjective meaning finished or no longer involved.
4d Plant from nice land in England (9)
CELANDINE: hidden in the clue is a flower of the buttercup family.
5d Follow tennis rules periodically (5)
ENSUE: regular letters from two words in the clue.
6d Increase of belief taking detailed view (9)
CRESCENDO: a word for religious belief contains a synonym for view or vista without its tail letter.
7d Crippling game debts keeping note (7)
RUINOUS: the abbreviation for the fifteen-a-side game followed by a word for personal debts containing an abbreviation for note.
8d Material rise of very big cheese (7)
TAFFETA: reverse an adjective meaning very big and add a Greek cheese.
14d Ness attack trailing Untouchables’ last patsy (9)
SCAPEGOAT: a synonym for a ness or headland and a phrasal verb to attack (2,2) follow the last letter of Untouchables.
16d Cut improved relations involving border loss (9)
DETRIMENT: a word, from French, for the easing of strained relations without its final letter contains a synonym of border.
17d Platforms, extremely pernicious, nurturing hatred (7)
PODIUMS: the outer letters of pernicious contain a word meaning widespread hatred.
18d Dodgy base electrified about American (7)
ELUSIVE: start with the letter used for the base in logarithms and add an adjective meaning electrified (connected to a source of electric current) containing one of the abbreviations for American.
20d Honour clan around outskirts of Uist (7)
TRIBUTE: a synonym of clan contains the outer letters of Uist.
21d Go back right before exit (7)
REGRESS: the abbreviation for right precedes a word for the way out.
23d Possibly watch bank concealing money’s source (5)
TIMER: a bank or row contains the first letter of money.
24d Creates outfits holding needles, principally (5)
KNITS: outfits worn by military personnel or sportspeople contain the principal letter of needles.