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DT 29041

by Deep Threat  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29041

Hints and tips by Deep Threat

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

Good morning from South Staffs where we have a damp, grey start to the Bank Holiday weekend.

A little General Knowledge required this morning, but no particularly obscure words from Giovanni, so a reasonably straightforward puzzle.

In the hints below, the definitions are underlined. The answers are hidden under the ANSWER buttons, so don’t click if you don’t want to see them.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

1a           Supporting what’s proposed in meeting for sales campaign (9)
PROMOTION – A prefix meaning ‘supporting’ or ‘in favour of’, followed by something put forward for debate in a formal meeting.

9a           Draw back from sports ground with slimy liquid (6)
RECOIL – A short term for a park or recreation ground, followed by a slimy liquid often used as a lubricant.

10a         Report of European friend in position of defeat (9)
CHECKMATE – The final position in a game of chess could also sound like a friend from an Eastern European country.

11a         Queen beset by an ordeal departed (2,4)
AT REST – Insert the Latin abbreviation for queen into a phrase (1,4) for an ordeal, to get another euphemism for ‘dead’.

12a         Find out what upsets sectarian (9)
ASCERTAIN – Anagram (what upsets) of SECTARIAN.

13a         Bill with minimal amount of money creates stress (6)
ACCENT – An abbreviation for a bill or account, followed by a small coin in the US or Euro currencies.

17a         Stone Margaret’s turned over (3)
GEM – Reverse (turned over) one of the short forms of ‘Margaret’ to get a precious stone.

19a         Old city ceremony starts to excite individuals immensely (7)
POMPEII – Another word for ‘ceremony’, often twinned with ‘circumstance’, followed by the initial letters (starts) of Excite, Individuals and Immensely, giving us a Roman city destroyed by Mount Vesuvius.

Image result for pompeii

20a         Stuffy girl I embarrassed (7)
UNAIRED – Put together a girl’s name (Ms Stubbs, perhaps), I (from the clue), and the colour associated with embarrassment.

21a         Gesture of acceptance or refusal received finally (3)
NOD – A short word of refusal followed by the last letter (finally) of receiveD.

23a         Come to an end, being dismissed by umpire (3,3)
RUN OUT – A phrase used when supplies come to an end or are exhausted is also a method of dismissal at cricket.

27a         Remarkable bird tweeting initially having been caught (9)
STARTLING – Insert the first letter (initially) of Tweeting into a common bird which may form large flocks called ‘murmurations’.

28a         Old rocker back in Paris is generating hate (6)
DETEST – Reverse (back) a 1950s rock fan, then add the French word for ‘is’.

29a         Speed of soldiers maybe, intelligent when confronting the enemy (5,4)
QUICK TIME – Another word for ‘intelligent’ or ‘lively’ followed by the concept sometimes referred to as ‘the enemy’.

30a         Number getting cross twice in ancient Rome (6)
TWENTY – A number which in Roman numerals consists of two cross-shaped symbols.

31a         Not forced to have floral decoration, as it would seem (9)
LEISURELY – A Hawaiian floral decoration followed by ‘as it would seem’.

Down

2d           The girl’s climbing tree? That’s nothing really new (6)
REHASH – Reverse (climbing) a possessive pronoun for ‘the girl’s’, then add a woodland tree.

3d           Doctored drink for mouse (6)
MICKEY – Double definition, the second being the foundation of Walt Disney’s empire.

4d           Little kid grabs mum having nothing that’s suitable to eat (6)
TOMATO – Start with a small child wrapped around a short word for ‘mum’, then add the letter which looks like a zero.

5d           Unfashionable team having emerged from the tunnel? (7)
OUTSIDE – Split the answer (3,4) and you have ‘unfashionable’ and another word for a sports team.

6d           Attic poet looking silly in undergarment (9)
PETTICOAT – anagram (looking silly) of ATTIC POET.

7d           What patient may do before subsequent transplant is despair (4,5)
LOSE HEART – A figurative expression for ‘despair’ is also a literal description of the effect of the first stage of a transplant operation.

8d           People primarily wanting freedom? We’ve heard that before (9)
PLATITUDE – The first letter of People followed by a word for ‘freedom’ or ‘room to manoeuvre’.

14d         Goddess of love could make OAP dither (9)
APHRODITE – Anagram (could make) of OAP DITHER.

Image result for aphrodite

15d         Being awfully mean, one restricts useful services (9)
AMENITIES – Put together an anagram (awfully) of MEAN, the Roman numeral for one, and a verb meaning ‘restricts’ or ‘binds’.

16d         Soldiers completely capturing small island, as is necessary (9)
REQUISITE – The initials of one of the usual crossword regiments of Engineers, followed by an adverb which can mean both ‘completely’ and ‘fairly’ or ‘somewhat’, wrapped around Small and Island.

17d         Some begging for a drink (3)
GIN – Hidden in the clue.

18d         Female invited into garden not wanting a soft soil (3)
MUD – Remove the A (not wanting a) from the name of the girl summoned into the garden in song.

22d         Push out old boy over time getting ill-mannered (7)
OBTRUDE – Put together an abbreviation for the Old Boys of a school, Time, and ‘ill-mannered’.

24d         Sketchy summary that’s not entirely accurate (6)
PRECIS – Remove the final letter (not entirely) from a word for ‘accurate’ to get this summary of a longer document.

25d         High-up person to abuse king (6)
SLATER – This person is high-up because he or she works on your roof. Another word for ‘abuse’ or ‘criticise’ followed by the Latin abbreviation for king.

Image result for slater at work on roof

26d         Fellow getting into shelter turned up in coat (6)
ENAMEL – Start by wrapping a word for shelter from the wind around a word for a fellow. Then reverse (turned up) the result to get a coat of paint.

The Quick Crossword pun BEACH + EARFUL = BE CHEERFUL

37 comments on “DT 29041”

  1. Nice and friendly Giovanni which is good because it gave me more time to do battle with the Toughie before I had to start work

    Thanks to Giovanni and DT

  2. Giovanni in benign mood this morning and it was enjoyable enough while it lasted. No particular favourite although 14d made me smile. The bird in 27a is more common in crosswords than in my part of the world nowadays.

    Thanks to The Don and DT.

  3. 2*/2*. Not much fun in evidence today although the images in 6d & 14d did raise a smile. Without enough thought I initially put in Quick Fire for 29a which held me up slightly in the SE corner until the penny dropped.

    I suppose I should be grateful that we haven’t seen many vague girls lately but it was too good to last.

    Thanks to Giovanni and to DT.

    1. Presumably, the famous Rufus clue would not have met with your approval?

      Two girls, one on each knee (7)

  4. More delightful Giovanni. No problem with three quarters but the SE (mainly caused by failure to fathom 29a) slowed things up slightly. ‘Suitable to eat’ would seem to be a rather broad way of describing 4d. Again I choose a littlun as Fav (18d). Thank you DG and DT.

    1. I prematurely thanked DT above but actually have only just read/listened to the excellent hints and just have to say I love the way John McCormack enunciates his r’s in 18d hint.

  5. Not my favourite crossword of the week to date but I did have to do it in fits and starts due to other commitments..
    Liked 30A best followed by 10A with 29A last entry .
    Thanks to G & DT .

  6. This puzzle from Giovanni was not too taxing (**) and I quite enjoyed it (***), My favourite clues were 10a, 19a, 3d and16d. Thanks to Deep Threat and Giovanni. No rain here in South Oxfordshire but early fog, with the sun just breaking through mid-morning. More frost is forecast tonight.

  7. Re the Quickie, maybe the bottom row is meant to be a pun also?

    It’s a bit feeble – but it would relate to the top one “Sodding ‘appy”.

    1. You may be right, but I would be surprised if Giovanni descended to coarse language!

  8. Well, I certainly seem to be in a minority today, I would rate this as ****/***** in difficulty. I had less than a quarter completed in the first two passes and even now, I am looking at a blank SE quadrant.

    I won’t avail myself of the hints just yet, perhaps some lunch will help the old grey matter.

    Thanks to all.

  9. Malcolm R is not alone, I was beginning to think this was a wrong envelope day before I finally ‘cracked it’ at a fast canter (just) with most problems in the SE – 3.5*/3*.

    Candidates for favourite – 10a, 23a, and 3d – and the winner is 3d.

    Thanks to DG and DT.

  10. Excellent Giovanni puzzle today. Loved 30a, 3a and 7d, all made me smile,.
    Thx to ask
    **/****

  11. Not by favourite grid, this was a distinct four quarter solve.
    Started slowly in the nw and then speeded up.
    I seemed to be in ‘bunging in mode today for no apparent reason.
    I thought that the puzzle somehow lacked’ sparkle’ or maybe I did! going to go for a **/**.
    Liked 18d-not a clue for the young.

  12. Did most of this while waiting for Mammy Bee to get her barnet done. I needed help parsing 28 and 30a thanks to DT. SW last to fall as the fellow in 26d was assumed to be the Don himself for a while but thanks again to DT for putting me right and to the Don for the puzzle.

  13. I enjoyed this but, like others, struggled with SE corner. Liked 31a very much once I’d finally got it, also laughed at the silly 18d. I sat watching a 27a bird at Felixstowe the other day while it pecked at leftovers on a picnic table – I’d never realised how beautiful the plumage is.
    Thanks to Giovanni for and Deep Threat for help. (Deep Threat? A menacing name – are you menacing? You seem quite nice!)

    1. You can see photos of a lot of the bloggers on this site in the galleries under the features tab above. Deep Threat is in there along with Even Deeper Threat.

            1. According to ‘Even deeper threat’ they always pronounce it ‘Death’. She tells me that she’s got quite used to the strange looks!

              2. i guess it’s a case of chacun à son goût because many years ago I had a friend with that surname and for all her family it was certainly ‘deeth’.

  14. Perhaps Giovanni didn’t have Mrs Stubbs in mind for 20a .
    I liked 1a and 29a in particular .
    Thanks to all concerned .

  15. Thanks to Giovanni and to Deep Threat for the review and hints. A nice puzzle with a lot of humour in it, no obscurities. I started with the four three letter clues in the centre. Then did the corners, NW, NE, SE and SW. Last in was 16d. I liked 10a, 7&9d, but my favourite was 18d. Was 2*/4* for me.

  16. **/***. Enjoyable if relatively brief. Had to complete the quadrants in the order SW NE NW SE. Favourites were 31a, 3,24,26d. Thanks to Giovanni and DT.

  17. Really liked this crossword 😜 Managed to solve it and cut the grass before the 🌧 arrived **/**** Favourites 10a, 24 & 25d 😃 Thanks to DT and to Giovanni. Off to look at the bloggers picture gallery 😉

  18. Was held up in the NW corner but feel it was my shortcoming as they have all been used in the past.
    I thought there was a lot to like, e.g., I thought 30a was pretty clever. My fave, though, was 18d, mainly for the McCormack song kindly provided by DT. I love Edwardian music hall songs, my Dad knew them all and sang them on long road trips.
    Thanks to Giovanni and to Deep Threat for his fine review.

  19. As with others the SE ended up a blank mini-grid for me but most of the rest fell in place with a bit of head scratching. I will leave it alone and see if it works with a refreshed brain but if not thank you in advance to Deep Threat.

  20. Late in again today as I left home before the blog became available.

    Not overly impressed by the definitions at 29a plus 5&22d but no doubt our setter could make a case for them.

    Thanks to DG and to DT for the blog. The sculpture of 14d seems to have rather strange proportions!

  21. Well I enjoyed today’s challenge. I’m not normally a fan of four virtually separate quadrants but today’s didn’t raise too many problems once I got under way. 31a was my favourite.
    Thanks to Giovanni, and to DT for the review.

  22. :phew: usual Friday crossword which I have to confess to having found tricky in places and not a lot of fun.
    Most of it went in OK then I got totally stuck in the bottom right corner – getting the second bit of 29a wrong didn’t help.
    I quite liked 14d and thought that 7d was totally and appallingly tasteless.
    Thanks to Giovanni and to DT.

  23. 4*/4*….
    had to smile at 14D (oddess of love could make OAP dither).

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