DT 26489

129 comments on “DT 26489”

1. Thought I’d better post first!
   Watching him “blog” instead of solve was an eye opener. Normally not the nervous type he’s been dreaming of crossword blogs and muttering to himself. He did the crossword on his own, then blogged it and handed it over to me and it certainly helped me to get to some of the tricky answers!
   Thanks to blogger & setter – would be a bit rude of me not to say this wouldn’t it?

   1. Thank you pommette, and thanks for the technical help. I still haven’t clue how you put those pictures in!
      Also thanks to Jay for a great crossword for me to start on.

      1. Behind every great man is an even better woman Pommers

   2. I must say that reviewing on the day does at a certain frisson of performance anxiety!

      1. Indeed so! But at least I’m on CET here rather than GMT so I have an extra hour to play with!

   3. What a team, the Ps. A good crossword, and a good review.

   4. Welcome and Well Done to both Pommes!

2. Well done, Pommers for an excellent review – and thanks to Jay. My favourite clue was 1a. I thought that capitalising the N in 15d was a bit naughty.

   1. Naughty but Nice!

      1. A Nice one Jezza!

3. Thanks to Jay for the usual – and to Pommers for his first fine review. (I also fell for the false capitalisation in 15d)

4. Done in quick time today. Favourites 7 and 15. Also liked 3 9 13 16. On to the t———.

5. Well done Pommers and thanks Jay, Nice one!! That got me as well. 11a made me wonder, I’d have put an ‘a’ in this word, is it an Americanisation?

6. Pommers,
   Congratulations on breaking your duck (finally), nice review, I hope there are many more to come.
   A slightly trickier puzzle from Jay today I thought – and like everybody else – I thought the capitalisation in 15d was a little unfair, even though the answer was pretty obvious.

7. A fine review. pommers, well done and thank you. Mercifully not the hardest of Jay puzzles but still the usual excellent quality. My favourite was 9d. Thanks to Jay as well and pommette too for the techno-bit!

8. Yes a nice CW to start a foggy, frosty morning off in Northumberland
   Good start to reviewing pommers.cheers

9. Well done Pommers and well reviewed. Not too difficult again today, got a little stock on the top left corner, felt 3d was a little contrived as I wouldn’t describe it as a supplement, more like an amendment, but hey ho. Due to my indecision, wasn’t sure if 10a ended in D, R or S so plumped for my original thoughts as it was the only way I could finish the puzzle. Like 1A and 26A (although I would spell it EUR at the end).

10. Muchas felicidades Pommers & Pommette! Great review on your first attempt. Thank you very strong to Jay as well for a pleasant Wednesday workout.

    The Grauniad is a lot more user friendly today as well.

11. Well done Pommers for a fine debut review, and of course thanks to Jay

12. Bien fait Pommers. Je ne trouve ça un peu difficile, but your review was excellent and helpful

13. Felicitationes Pommers, an excellent first time review, look forward to more, I enjoyed todays, fav clue 4d, funny ‘shoulder’ should appear again today, as for 15d, I put in pheasant then changed it to pleasant, surely this could be either way round??

    1. Don’t think so Mary. The clue clearly says ‘H for L in Nice’ not ‘L for H in bird’.
       Maybe one of the more experienced bloggers will be able to add something here.

       1. The wordplay is clear: “Replace student (L) with hotel (H) in a word meaning ‘nice’ to get a word meaning ‘bird’.”

          To have PLEASANT as the solution, the clue might have been “Charming bird swaps husband for student” or something.

14. Easy but enjoyable crossword today, for which thanks to the setter.

    Well done to Pommers on the blog.

    8D was the best clue for me; I suspect a few might not be familiar with the usage of 9D.

    ★/★★★

15. Excellent crossword, great review. Got 8d but couldn’t work out why,also with 27a, keep forgetting this crosswordland speak, so needed to consult the Hints.. Thanx to Compiler and to Pommers for his Review.

    1. Hi Wayne – glad to have been of service!

16. Congrats Pommers on your baptism of fire. Amusing blog you produced. Kinda expected a hint of “Pommette perhaps?” for 13a.

    Not as smooth a asolve as yesterday but no major obstacles. Done before morning coffee stop was over. Haven’t looked at the Toughie yet but will not mention the T-word again, out of fear for our gracious bloghost.

    Kudos to mystery setter and our new mystagogue P!

    1. Strange that ‘Baptisn of Fire’ was an answer in yesterday’s puzzle – how did Shamus know?

    2. Ah Nestorius, thank you for the compliment but it depends on which definition of 13a you take!
       Smart – definitely. Girl – well as I’m retired I think that would be stretching it a bit! Don’t you?

       1. PS as for the answer to 13a then it’s also a long time since I was called that!

       2. Why do you think my moniker is Nestorius? ‘Cos I’m young?
          And Nestoria ain’t a spring chicken either. But she’s forever my girl! No doubt Pommers thinks the same way.

          1. Certainly do, and you wouldn’t have had the illustrations without her! And a load of typos without her proofing.

       3. Don’t you thinking your mentioning the brand of loo roll at 19d and us remembering it and its smell is a real give away of age? Young people today don’t know what they’re missing !

          1. Hadn’t looked at it that way but now you come to mention it it is about 30 years or more since I last saw the beastly stuff! Hard on the nether regions I seem to remember!

17. Thanks Pommers, struggled a bit with 28,16 and 27 but managed without hints in the end.

18. Good onyer, Pommers. Another Test won!

    1. Hi Peter – welcome to the blog.

    2. watching it now 4.00pm Could be an Irish win

       1. Got the TMS commentary on the BBC iPlayer. Not looking good for England!

19. Nice one Pommers, thanks for your help with 28a and 8d

20. On the odd occasions that I review a Wednesday puzzle, I always look at 1a as I come out of the newsagents and if I can solve that one, I know I will be all right. Luckily Pommers had the same experience at the start of his excellent blog. I had my usual trouble today in that the downs fell in quicker than the acrosses and the whole thing took me slightly longer than ‘normal’. Thanks to Jay for the puzzle and Pommers for the review.

    Give the ‘other’ puzzle a go too if you have time – I got on better with it, relatively speaking.

21. Done in one long coffee stop. Latte, scone, day off & DT xword. Does it get any better than this? Thanks to pomms and setter.

22. Must have been on the right wavelength again today as this effort just flowed without any difficulty. It always helps when a long one across falls into place at the start. Like Beangrinder it was a coffee stop for me also but he did have a scone! Jealous of that.
    Based on my own experience surprised to see this was a 3* for difficulty and 4* for enjoyment.
    Congrats to Pommers for his hints and thanks to setter.

23. Congratulations to Pommers on a great first review and thanks to Jay for an enjoyable crossword.

24. Congratulations Pommers on a great debut review, fairly straightforward solve today but the Toughies much tougher. Thanks to the setter and well done Pommers.

25. Really enjoyed todays, thank you to the setter. Probably enjoyed it all the more because I finished over breakfast before shooting started.
    Best clues without a doubt for me were 1a and 18a both of which really made me smile. Took a while to get 24a because I hadn’t realised it was a crustacean.
    Mary, I hope your enjoyed your St Davids day and you will be pleased to know I am sure that my hovercraft is now empty of eels!!

    1. so glad Barrie

26. PS Does anybody know if it is my nemesis tomorrow? If so I won’t bother getting a paper on my way to the studio from the only garage open at 5am!

    1. It was him last week and the week before so who knows. Why not buy a paper anyway and perservate!

       1. Yes Barrie perservate in your breaks, what have you got to lose?

          1. My sanity!!

27. Back from a few days in Marrakech – a bit out of practice with crosswords! Didn’t find this too difficult – 3* about right, for me anyway.
    Got a bit stuck on 28a and, predictably, have never heard of that meaning of 9d (please could we add motor racing to that ever increasing list of ‘can’t do’?)
    I also wondered what the picture clue for 13a would have been if BD or Gazza had been writing the blog!!
    The ‘swap this for something else’ kind of clue as in 8 and 15d always takes me a while.
    Favourites today include 12, 13 and 26a.
    Thanks to Jay and Pommers (and congratulations on writing a great blog)

    1. Kath – you need to live with “petrol head” to have heard of the tyres in 9d, although not as well known as “slicks” and “wets”, they have always been around. Living with pommers means I have learned to love F1 (motor racing) and MotoGP (bike racing) as well as footy, cricket, rugby etc. Motorsport is his first love thoiugh – he even prepares his own events calendar which is on the kitchen corkboard. SAD . . . .

    2. Ah, but I had pommette searching out suitable pictures!

    3. Welcome back Kath, hope you had a great time in the sunshine???

       1. Thanks Mary – yes – a great time in the sunshine. What a bizarre (and bazaar) place – talk about chaos! People, bikes, mopeds, donkeys and carts everywhere – had a minor incident with a moped – he was on the wrong side of a very narrow road – I have a hefty bruise on my ankle – could have been considerably worse!!

          1. Hi Kath and welcome back.
             In about 1980 I was offered 2 camels for pommette while in Morocco (no joke – it really happened)! Never did work out if the guy was serious or not. I stuck out for a donkey as well but he wouldn’t budge. Good job really as 2 camels and a donkey would have been a bit difficult to check in at the airport!

28. PS – Sorry to appear dim YET again but what does (&Lit) mean – have seen it several times and always meant to ask.

    1. Kath,

       It’s the posh term for what we tend to call an all-in-one, i.e. a clue where the definition is the whole of the clue and the wordplay is also the whole of the clue. See BD’s Little Guide under all-in-one for more info.

       1. Thanks Gazza – will look at BD’s Little Guide – there are numerous bit of this blog that I have yet to explore!

29. Second day in a row I managed to finish without any assistance so things looking up. This was reasonably straightforward but I thought a couple of clues were strange.
    1A Strange sort of all in one. Where is the definition in the clue? Surely it can’t be “potential victim”
    16A Is it permissible to capitalise Nice? Surely not.

    1. As others have commented the capitalisation of Nice was a bit naughty – the sort of trickery that Toughie setters get up to but I quite liked it, once the penny had dropped! A real D’oh moment! Think I’m in a minority

       1. Capitalising “nice” is definitely non-Ximenean, but that doesn’t necessarily make it unacceptable.

          Some would disagree, but I learned long ago not to trust punctuation or capitalisation in crosswords.

          1. Qix,
             Would you find it acceptable if it were the other way round? For example:
             Rabbit or nice cat (4)

             1. I see what you mean.

                It’s much more difficult to solve when put that way. Erroneous capitalisation is much easier to spot than erroneous omission of capitalisation.

                However, “Nice cat or rabbit (4)” is fine – the capitalisation is disguised by using the proper noun first – although I’d probably have a question mark there.

    2. 1a is a bit difficult to explain. As I said in the blog it was far easier for me to solve it than write the hint. In an ‘all-in-one’ clue such as this the whole clue is, in itself, the definition.
       So, what does flypaper do? It sticks and insects are its potential victims. So STICK INSECT, which is also a potential victim!
       Maybe someone can explain more clearly – ‘m struggling a bit on this one.

       1. I think that 1A doesn’t quite work.

          “What flypaper might do” could be STICK or STICK INSECT. “Its potential victim”, I think, ought to be INSECT. At a stretch, it’s possible that a stick insect could become trapped by flypaper, but that would be anomalous, to say the least. For me, “stick insect” as “potential victim of flypaper” is too much.

          If you have STICK for “What flypaper might do” and INSECT for “its potential victim”, then you have no definition for the complete solution. If you have STICK INSECT for “What flypaper might do”, then you must have the same definition for “its potential victim”.

          This was the only real problem I had with the whole puzzle. In any case, the solution is very obvious, and it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of it at all.

30. Sorry I meant 15D

31. Nicely done, Pommers! In addition to 15d, I also liked 8d – once I finally got rid of my fixation on an impossible anagram. Growl! This Bear now needs breakfast and more coffee….

32. Congrats on your first review, Pommers – I needed the nudge for a couple. I also liked 1a and 18a, and completely agree with you about 19d – horrible stuff!!

    Could we possibly have the answer for the pun? Ta.

    1. Sorry for the delay. I looked at it, couldn’t see it and then had to go out for the afternoon. Crypticsue has come up trumps (I hope!)

33. Did quite well today, with seven I didn’t get. Jolly good puzzle, enjoyed what I could do, especially 1a.

    Thanks to Jay and P&P for the fine blog, I hope we have some of these. Sunshine here this afternoon and very welcome too, with the start of Torpids.

    1. Never heard of Torpids – just glad it didn’t turn up in today’s crossword!

    2. Bumper boats enjoy!

34. Yes, a very good and satisfying puzzle today, done over breakfast — always a good way to start the day. 1a was first in for me too. Thanks to Jay, and to Pommers for his excellent explanations. I needed them to help me understand 15d (not good with that kind of clue!) 9d, which I’d never heard of, and 3d which I found very obscure — had the word but didn’t know why. It was funny to see ‘shoulder’ in again after yesterday. My favourites were 1a, 12a and 8d.
    Finally, I’d like to say a quiet word in favour of 19d, which I always enjoy — but only in Greece!

    1. Know what you mean about only tasting right in Greece. I still have about a quarter of a bottle of Ouzo which I brought back about 8 years ago! Doesn’t even taste right in the sun and heat of Spain!

    2. Agree about 19d – definitely only in Greece!!

35. Also finished in very reasonable time – for me! – without needing Pommers excellent hints. Got 9d,but then had to check with F1 enthusiast partner if it did, indeed,apply to tyres! Something else learned – trouble is, remembering. Don’t think I’d have “clicked” about 15d if hadn’t got all the across letters in – then light dawned and the worrdplay became clear. Thoroughly enjoyed to-day’s – thanks to setter, Jay, is it? And congrats to Poppers on his “baptism” – a 5-star score, i would say!

36. Ooops – bad typo there – sorry! I of course meant Pommers.

37. Setter here
    Many thanks to Pommers for a super first review, and to all for the comments. I always try to put a couple of trickier clues in (usually the “substitution” ones) as it shouldn’t be a doddle for everyone…

    1. Thanks Jay for an excellent puzzle and, as I said before, a great one to cut my teeth on!
       More of the same please.

    2. I doubt that the same holds true today with the advent of crossword blogs but I once read that crossword editors always liked to have a handful of clues that the average solver would struggle to complete to ensure that they purchased the next day’s paper to find the solutions.

       1. That sounds a little cynical for a man of the cloth!

          1. May I refer you to the Toughie blog and the answer of my noble and learned blogger in his youth – res ipsa loquitur.

38. A belated welcome on board to Pommers (and Pommette) with a cracking first review of another excellent Jay puzzle. Many thanks to Jay for the workout. 1a was my favourite clue.

39. I noticed the other day that Pommers had changed his gravatar and wondered whether it was time for Pommette to change hers too. The current one has quite a scary look to it and Pommers’ new one is so nice.

40. Hi CS
    The new avatar, in case you don’t recognise it, is ‘Slowpoke Rodrigues – the slowest mouse in all Mexico’, a character from the Speedy Gonzales cartoons.
    Pommette reckons it just about sums up my energy levels for anything other than crosswords and bridge!
    I’ll have a word with her about hers, you’re right, itis a bit scary!

    1. So how do I change my avatar? Time to add a bearded monster…

       1. The easiest way is to open an account at http://en.gravatar.com/ and register your email address.

          1. Thanks BD! Roger wilco!

          2. Dave – Now look what you’ve started!
             Pommette changed, Nestorius changed and how many more to follow?

          3. Thanks for the IT advice. This blog is so indispensable!

       2. Ah that’s the tricky thing. You have to sign up for a WordPress account and set it in there!

          1. That used to be the case, but you can now just get the avatar without the WordPress account. You must, however, have a WordPress account to be able to post a blog.

             1. Test test! That’s Nestor! (If it works…)

                1. Unfortunately my username was already taken so I morphed again, this time by adding my vintage.

                   1. If you opened a WordPress account you can set “display name as” to anything you choose.

                      The avatar is linked only to your email address.

                      1. You can do exactly the same on Gravatar.com
                         Pommette was taken so I had to become Pommette2 but you can change your display name to what you like and it deosn’t seem to mind duplicates. It all works from your email address anyway! Both Nestor51 and Nestorius are both showing on here now. You must have registered twice!

                         1. Hey, that’s cool! Anyway, I just updated you guys with Too Much Information – my vintage.

                            1. Nobbut a youth – as we used to say in Manchester!

                            2. Younger than me by a few years!

          2. Love the cat – is it one of yours?

             1. Si – my VERY fat cat called Floss, weights in at 7kg (over stone). Her little sister is Candy who is a mere 6 kg.
                Don’t ask about the names! There were called that when we rescued them at 8 months old and as they came at a run when called, we were stuck with them!

                1. Great improvement on the previous scary version – can’t go wrong with a cat!

                   1. muchas gracias

                      1. Beautiful cats – we only have one survivor of our three from the same litter – she is called Rosie – little Rose for short (or even long) – she is tiny, not skinny but has always been a little cat, has had ten kittens and is now nearly seventeen!

41. 1700GMT and England just lost the cricket!

    Now seems a good time to say thanks to everyone for their very kind comments. Glad everyone seems to have enjoyed my first blog and hopefully BD will give some more chances in the future.

    Off to drown my sorrows now!

    1. What the hell happened there? We had the at 108-5!!
       I’m gonna do some drowning too!

       1. Apparantly Kevin O’Brien is to be Canonised on Sunday!

42. Did anyone get the pun in the Quick today? I did ask if it could be posted earlier, but it hasn’t appeared yet…
    Thanks.

    1. It’s just appeared at the bottom of the review

    2. We struggled today – until Sue got it!

       1. I got it this morning, it’s just that no-one asked me till this afternoon!

          1. I sussed it also early this morning, thought it was pretty poor. Go with the ‘Lotion’ bit, but ‘hair’ is stretching it a bit I think.

             1. Nice to know it wasn’t just me that couldn’t see it! I have to agree with Wayne – not the best pun ever. I tried Googling again this morning just before rechecking the blog and I found ‘Helosian’ which was an alien from The Outer Limits – think this works much better.

43. Wow! Lots of comments today. Very enjoyable last in was 14a and I was convinced 1a commenced with “catch” – soooo obvious. Was pleased to get 3d something I always link to wills.

    Great summary and great puzzle.

    All done. Off to exercise and then a can of Boddingtons.

    1. Not sure aboiut the exercise but the Boddies sounds good! Haven’t had one of those in ages!

44. Well done pommers. I read the blog after completing the puzzle, very well done. Agree with the ratings. Nice crossword, thanks Jay.

45. A very pleasing crossword and excellent revue. Thankyou pommers.Now to think about avatars and forget the SKILL of the Irish.

46. Well done Pommers !

47. Very late to do the puzzle today but really enjoyed it – did it in best time for a long while.

    The review is excwellent Pommers – well done. Hope you get more to do and thanks for the illustrations Pommette.

    Thanks also to Jay for the puzzle – lovely day.

48. Well, as it’s now 2300CET and I’ve had a long day I’m going signing off now.

    Once again many thanks for all your very flattering comments which I’m sure I don’t deserve but were nice anyway!

    See y’all tomorrow.

49. Well done Pommers. Nice review – needed help with 8d thanks for that. Goodnight.

50. Pommers – another well done from the after-eighters. Hope you have had a few glasses to celebrate with Pommette and the cat.

    And I liked your substitutions Jay – very Nice.

51. I have had a busy day today and posted early without looking at the review. I therefore did not notice that we had a new member in the team. I would like to add my belated congratulations to Pommers for a most interesting and informative review and also to Pommette for her contribution. As a toast , I have opened [and closed] a Fleurie, so cheers to you both.

52. Lovely crossword today – mercifully I had my racing-nut brother sitting next to me in the car to help with the tires clue.
    And a spendid write-up from Mr. Pommers!

53. Very late input from me. Got the kitchen lamp problem sorted out late yesterday – it was the switch, a combined on/off with dimmer, in which a fuse had blown when one of the halogens shorted! I installed the lamps 18 years ago and had forgotten the system details!
    Congrats to Pommers on his initial blog posting and thanks to Jay for the puzzle.

    Best for me : 1a, 12a, 16a, 20a, 3d & 15d.

    Anagrams are easy to solve if one were well-trained in perms and combs at school! Cryptic?

54. Here I am again a week behind from the tip of Africa courtesy of Weekly Telegraph. Lovely puzzle with excellent mix of clues. Jay is so consistently good. Agree with 4**** for enjoyment but would put difficulty at 2**. Would be interested to know what aids bloggers use. I have a Bradfords from 1998 which is in about 10 sections now and Langenscheidt’s pocket Merriam-Webster from the US

    1. What do I use as a blogger? As little as possible otherwise it’s not really fair, is it?
       I may check the odd word that I haven’t come across before via an online dictionary, but very little else.

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