Toughie No 3634 by Weatherman
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ***/**** – Enjoyment ***
Weatherman set us a proper Wednesday Toughie. This one required an extremely wide range of general knowledge, from a Roman statesman born in 95 BC, an Anglo-Saxon King, the Director-General of the BBC in the 1920s, to an American YouTuber!
Please let us know what you thought
Across
1a Lively church breaking bread for service (5)
PACEY The abbreviation for the Church of England inserted into (breaking) money (bread) earned for employment
4a Where the French cat almost opens hot salad (9)
TABBOULEH The French word for where goes after almost all of a type of cat, the result followed by the abbreviation for Hot
9a Broadcaster reluctant to cover opening of Rocky III in Berlin (4,5)
LORD REITH The Director-General of the BBC from 1927 – a synonym for reluctant or unwilling ‘covers’ the first letter (opening) of Rocky and the German (as used in Berlin) word for three
10a King drank with journalist at the front (5)
EDWIN It took me quite some time to see how to get the name of this powerful Anglo-Saxon King, but eventually the penny dropped and I saw that we must take part of a verb meaning drank or consumed an alcoholic drink made with fermented grape juice and move the abbreviated journalist to the front of the word
11a Edited stream about British YouTuber (7)
MRBEAST How are solvers of more mature years supposed to know the name of an American YouTuber and broadcaster, even though it is obvious that it is an anagram (edited) of STREAM into which is inserted (about) the abbreviation for British
12a This makes music graduates tour Rhode Island (7)
MARIMBA Abbreviations for Master of Arts and Master of Business Administration (graduates) ‘tour’ the abbreviation for the US State of Rhode Island
13a The setter’s sadly returned sausage (6)
SALAMI A reversal (returned) of how our setter would say he was going to do something and an interjection expressing sadness
15a Statesman follows withdrawn musical instruction for players (8)
STACCATO A reversed (withdrawn) musical followed by a Roman statesman from the time of Julius Caesar
18a What might contain your fare? (5-3)
DOGGY-BAG Even with the checking letters, I did take a moment to justify the cryptic definition with the solution, but I suppose it would have been too obvious to include ‘leftover’ before the fare
20a Tibetan nearly crashes on your bike! (4,2)
BEAT IT An anagram (crashes) of nearly all of TIBETAn
23a Daisy’s relative Iris perhaps discussed experiencing a blocked nose? (7)
BURDOCK The surname of an Irish-born British novelist and philosopher (Iris perhaps) as said out loud by someone with a bunged-up nose
24a Peacekeepers provided soldiers with male clothing (7)
UNIFORM The usual abbreviated peacekeepers, a conjunction meaning provided that, some ordinary ranks of soldiers and the abbreviation for Male
26a Seed of a scam inspiring hacker, ultimately (5)
ACORN A (from the clue) and a scam ‘inspiring’ the ultimate letter of hackeR
27a Models work transiently and steal desperately (9)
TEMPLATES Work as a transient office worker and an anagram (desperately) of STEAL
28a Post-holder improved security for Spooner (9)
LETTERBOX How the Reverend might say that he had improved security on his doors and windows
29a Regressive parties controlling US city council (5)
SYNOD A reversal (regressive) of some informal parties into which is inserted (controlling) an abbreviated US city
Down
1d Was controversial American writer given bad information, having promoted the Left? (9)
POLEMISED An American writer and a simple way of saying given bad information, where the abbreviation for Left is ‘promoted’ or moved further up the word
2d A little shrub, or a common climbing plant (5)
CAROB Found in reverse (climbing) in shruB OR A Common
3d Blurring of my radar beam’s outer part (7)
YARDARM The outer tapering end of a ship’s beam is an anagram (blurring) of MY RADAR
4d Wanting a drink, son’s ignored national speed limit (6)
THIRTY Wanting a drink ignoring the abbreviation for Son
5d Giant insects biting husband (8)
BEHEMOTH Two insects ‘biting’ the abbreviation for Husband
6d Dreamy Irish individual in charge captivates (7)
ONEIRIC An individual, the abbreviation for Irish and the abbreviation for In Charge
7d Like aerobics? See weedy chap work (3-6)
LOW-IMPACT An archaic interjection meaning see or behold, a weedy chap and a verb meaning to work
8d Southern Indian city eradicates border plant (5)
HENNA Remove the outside letters (eradicates border) from the Southern Indian city formerly known as Madras
14d Urge all to suspect aggressive drinker (5,4)
LAGER LOUT An anagram (suspect of URGE ALL TO
16d Made the best of condition it imposed (9)
OPTIMISED An anagram (condition) of IT IMPOSED
17d Cryptic indication of nocturnal mammals making attack sneakily (8)
BACKSTAB The first part of the solution is a cryptic indication of what to do with some nocturnal mammals to get the second part
19d Discontented, eighty revolutionary guards roughly dumping queen in capital (7)
YAOUNDE A reversal (revolutionary) of the outside letters (discontented) of EightY into which is inserted (guards) a preposition meaning roughly without (dumping) the Latin abbreviation for queen
21d Food editor replaces front cover of authoritative works (7)
EDIBLES The second appearance of the abbreviated editor, this time replacing the first letter (front cover) of books considered to be the ultimate authority on their subjects
22d Oaf loudly abandons puzzle (6)
LUMMOX The musical abbreviation meaning loudly ‘abandons’ an informal way of saying puzzle or perplex
23d Barman will regularly fight (5)
BRAWL The odd (regularly) letters of BaRmAn WiLl
25d Many Times newspaper cuts upset one (5)
OFTEN The abbreviated pink newspaper ‘cuts’ an anagram (upset) of ONE – I imagine I won’t be the only person wondering whether you can really make an anagram of a three-letter word
Not a rapid solve, rather a stop-and-start.
The bottom half seemed easier to me, although I had to cheat on the capital at 19d.
Overall a very enjoyable puzzle; I often use the word at 22d, so that gets my vote.
Many thanks to Weatherman and to CS.
After Shabbo’s excellent offering yesterday, we have another treat today.
One or two infrequently encountered though not obscure words added to the challenge. The spelling of 1d also needed confirmation.
Rosettes to the withdrawn musical in 15a, the oaf in 22d (what a great word that is) and the barman who’s up for it in 23d.
My only dislike was the YouTuber in 11a, but I guess it comes under the heading of general knowledge these days, a bit like the Oppo site from a few weeks back. Don’t get me started…
My thanks to Weatherman and CS.
I had three or four bung-ins to complete this pleasingly tricky puzzle. I can never remember how to spell that capital either. still, the challenge was a good one, with plenty of lateral thinking required to get across the finishing line. For a favourite I selected 15a.
Thanks to Weatherman for the stiff test and to Sue for unraveling the bung-ins.
An enjoyable Toughie quite tricky for a Wednesday – thanks to Weatherman and CS.
As CS says the Youtuber seemed to be a simple anagram with B inserted. With all the checkers in place I still couldn’t get it (I never considered that the second letter wouldn’t be a vowel) so I eventually revealed the answer and can’t therefore claim an unassisted finish. I’ve never heard of this chap and, having scanned the Wikipedia article about him (and understood about half of it), I’ve no desire to hear of him again.
I have lots of ticks on my printout including 9a, the amusing 23a, 28a, 5d and 17d.
12a should be Marimba
So it should
It’s always nice if when people point out a typo, they also say what they think about the crossword
Not easy for me, but persistence paid off. I needed Wikipedia to identify the capital at 19d and then CS’s solution of the 11a YouTuber was necessary for this solver of more mature years. Surely it should be shown as (2,5,); I was looking for a 7 letter anagram. This in turn revealed that my bung in for 1d was incorrect and explained why I couldn’t parse it.
CS your answer for 12a is lacking a ‘B’.
Otherwise a very fair and manageable Toughie for me.
Thank you Weatherman and crypticsue for the hints.
4*/4*
My goodness, Weatherman has upped the ante with this really tough Toughie. It was very challenging but very enjoyable for the most part.
I couldn’t parse 10a because it simply didn’t occur to me that “wine” could be used as a verb. However, on reflection, the expression “wined and dined” is quite common.
I don’t think 11a is at all fair for the vast majority of Telegraph solvers especially as the individual concerned doesn’t enumerate his YouTube moniker in the way that us old fogeys might expect.
I had no idea that 23a is a member of the daisy family, but it is a brilliant and imaginative construction and gets my vote as favourite.
I’ve never heard of 6d, but it is a fair clue as the answer is readily derived from following the instructions in the wordplay aided by the checkers.
For me, the definition for 7d even with the question mark is too vague.
Many thanks to Weatherman and to CS.
What a cracking puzzle! A very satisfying solve, and it felt quite ‘Times-y’. Managed to drag the required GK from the depths, including the YouTuber, although I wasted a lot of time on 8d thinking it had to be S+ a 6-letter city without its borders. With the H the rest of the NE finally fell like dominos.
So many great clues but I’ll put 10a, 17d & 9a on the podium.
Many thanks to Weatherman and Sue
Foul! It’ would have been bad enough to clue some US online obsessive that we’ve never heard of if the enumeration followed normal usage but of course the alternative would involve re-working the entire NW quarter. Otherwise I groaned at 23a and, like Sue, had trouble parsing 10a.
Thanks to Sue and grudgingly to Weatherman.
We missed two in the NW. We were struggling to make POLARISED work for 1d and 11a was just way beyond our sphere of knowledge. If we’re going to be beaten by a puzzle we would much rather it were by clever wordplay than obscure ‘general’ knowledge. Did enjoy many of the more conventional clues though, such as 5d.
Thanks Weatherman and CS.
Almost made it but ran out of time
So 6*/4*
I didnt like the YouTuber clue as surely it’s not all one word?
23a, 27a and 28a favourites. Lots of new words – the capital and the instrument which I couldn’t solve.
For the salad I put where/the in French after the shortened cat – Tabb – ou – le and then the H
Thanks to weatherman and sue for helping me over the line
Probably got just over half of the clues and they were mainly in the bottom half . Never heard of 4, 6,11 or 12.So it became very difficult . Almost enjoyed it . Thanks to all.
Thanks to CrypticSue and commenters.
MrBeast (all one word, much to everyone’s chagrin) is probably the most famous Youtuber around, and certainly not only in the US. For those wishing to know more without watching his output, this is an entertaining dissection: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/jun/03/mrbeast-jimmy-donaldson-youtube-videos-star
Yeah, I’ve somehow heard of him — I’ve no idea what he looks like and what his videos are about, but I’ve heard him mentioned enough that he’s clearly a cultural phenomenon. I think it’s fair enough to encounter new culture in crosswords: there’s plenty of old cultural references that some solvers don’t know.
Game of two halves for me. The lower reaches were not too bad but up north was a real battle. Can’t claim an unaided finish as I hit the check button with 6 to go & made a correction to my spelling of the tasty Levantine salad (had 1 B & 2 Ls) then parsed it like SL8. NTS never heard of the You Tuber (but guessed the spelling),wouldn’t have been able to define either 1or6d without the aid of the clue surface, had no idea what family 23a was in & though I knew 19d was a capital couldn’t remember where of & just chuffed to peg the wordplay.
At the limit of my pay grade really so delighted to complete without a letter reveal & thoroughly enjoyed the tussle. 17d was my COTD across both puzzles & also particularly liked 9,10,23&28a plus 1,5,8&22d
Many thanks to Weatherman & for popping in & to Sue
Ps aerobics may be 7d but it took me days to recover the one & only time I did anintermediate class.
Haven’t read the hints yet … I can count the number of Toughies I’ve ever attempted on both hands, and completed needs just one hand. Today I have 5 clues to go – and all in NE!
T’was a pleasure to meet Weatherman at the BB, it was right that my 2026 Toughie Trail should begin here.
Got there in the end, in fact shortly after first post. Breakthrough was 4D’s salad – knew the answer but was so unsure of the parsing I wouldn’t commit the letters – till I finally worked out what ‘cat almost opens’ was doing. I had lunch with a 10A yesterday (not a king though), but I had absolutely no idea ‘win’ could have the meaning of ‘drank’ – thanks to CS and Rabbit Dave for elaborating. 15A – the checking ‘O’ got me the answer but I didn’t know ‘withdrawn’ can mean ‘reversed’, not clear why?
The dreamy 6D – what is ‘captivates’ doing? I hope to never see that word again, hurts my eyes, but I imagine I’ll see others like it in Toughie land 🙂
Pody picks are 9A’s Rocky III, the popular 23A’s blocked nose inventiveness, and the lovely Spoonerism in 28A.
I can see I’m going to learn a lot (more) in Toughies, in general knowledge and general cryptic trickery, I will try to make time for a couple a week to begin with. Thansk to CS and of course to Weatherman ⭐
I guess I can’t complain in a Toughie (well, I reserve the right to expect something gentler on a Tuesday) but 11a and impact on 1d (which was hard enough on its own) was not my cup of tea. And with 10a’s parsing taking forever, maybe Weatherman is making a pitch for a Friday slot? Thanks to all concerned!