Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29299 (Hints)
The Saturday Crossword Club
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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, an assortment of clues, including some of the more difficult ones, have been selected and hints provided for them.
Most of the terms used in these hints are explained in the Glossary and examples are available by clicking on the entry under “See also”. Where the hint describes a construct as “usual” this means that more help can be found in The Usual Suspects, which gives a number of the elements commonly used in the wordplay. Another useful page is Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, which features words with meanings that are not always immediately obvious.
A full review of this puzzle will be published after the closing date for submissions.
Some hints follow.
Across
1a Appropriate European base (7)
Someone from a European country followed by our usual base of natural logarithms
9a First class drinks party (9)
Two definitions – a class for the new intake of children at a school and a party at which drinks are served
12a General‘s son the one she loves? (7)
S(on) followed by the one she loves (3,3)
13a Left by train, heading for York specifically (9)
L(eft) preceded by a type of train and followed by the initial letter of (heading for) Y[ork]
18a Escaped over water breaking pottery (9)
The reversal (over) of a four-letter verb meaning escaped followed by an anagram breaking () of WATER
21a Sub-machine gun loaded by little honey (7)
A sub-machine gun around (loaded by) a word meaning little
26a From remote areas: patriotic slogan? (2-7)
Could, without the hyphen, be a patriotic slogan
28a Disappointed — at being dropped? (3,4)
A phrase meaning dropped or lowered
Down
1d Rubbish sack taken into French station (7)
Put a sack inside the French for station
3d Brightest star‘s expression of surprise about record (5)
An expression of surprise around a long-playing record
4d Furies in Ireland? Certainly! (7)
A four-letter poetic name for Ireland followed by a word meaning certainly or sure
7d Arab stopping Mona’s obsessive single-mindedness (9)
Someone from an Arabian country inside (stopping) MONA
14d Working on pitches in this discipline? (9)
An anagram (working) of ON PITCHES
17d Oddly able to leave one country for another (7)
Drop (to leave) the odd letters of A[b]L[e] from one country to get another
18d Set out at night? (7)
This set is usually removed from the mouth at night!
24d Header missed in tight draw (5)
Start with a a colloquial word for tight or drunk and drop (missed) its initial letter (header)
The Crossword Club is now open.
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As this is a Prize crossword, please don’t put any ANSWERS, whether WHOLE, PARTIAL or INCORRECT, or any ALTERNATIVE CLUES in your comment. If in doubt, leave it out!
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The Quick Crossword pun: track+shun=traction
2*/3*. A pleasant puzzle with nothing to frighten the horses here. I thought the answer to 4d was a bit obscure although easily derivable from the wordplay.
16a, 5d & 18d made it to my podium.
Many thanks to the setter and to BD.
OK, but I still cannot submit my Xword.
Welcome to the blog
For you and all the other people who are going to say the same thing today, have a look here
After last Saturday’s crossword not being a prize crossword in the digital Edition, this week’s crossword was designated as a prize version. However, when I tried to submit it from my Android tablet, it got the message “No HTML URL specified in the competitionOptions”. I tried again, but this time from my iPad, and was successful.
Interesting puzzle which contained a word that I never knew before, at 7d. I admit to using a dictionary to confirm that my guess actually existed, but at least I am educating myself.
No pain today but plenty of enjoyment. NW corner last to yield. 12a general new to me likewise 4a furies. 18d raised a laugh and ties with 5d for Fav. Quickie pun eluded me due to having wrong word for 4a. Thank you Mysteron and BD.
I have provided images for the four clues I thought might cause the most problems – 12a and 4d are among them.
Thanks Dave – how perceptive of you! I had in fact sought Google confirmation of my bung-ins for those two.
Enjoyable solve with 18D my favourite.
Informed by DT that iPad updates still in the pipeline due to programming issues . However , although not headed as a prize crossword , it seems it is one because the answers are hidden .
Thanks to setter & BD .
I’m equally frustrated by the DT iPad issues. Does anyone know If the crossword is submitted for prize consideration if you complete it on the puzzles website? The instructions aren’t clear.
I thought this was very good, with some really fine clues giving an enjoyable solve. 21a, it never occurred to me before that the word in the clue could be used as a verb, but then I’ve never had cause to specifically consider it. Fav: 7d. 2.5* / 3.5*
PS. I solved this puzzle whilst sitting (not sat!) at a public computer in a library and helped by the soothing and sublime sounds of my favourite jazz track gliding through the headphones. It’s Sea Breeze and features some beautiful, improvised interplay between Chick Corea on piano and Lionel Hampton on vibraphone. Enjoy:
Enjoyed listening to Sea Breeze but I for one certainly wouldn’t be able to apply myself to cruciverbal solutions with that as background – Jose, you obviously have superior powers of concentration!
Definitely sitting and not sat! This drives me mad!
You can call me grumpy if you like.
How about “I was sat sitting at my desk” Will that do?
A very pleasant, medium difficulty puzzle for a bright (for once) Saturday morning. I particularly liked 18d for the lateral thinking involved to solve it. Overall a very enjoyable exercise.
Thanks to our mystery setter and BD.
Wow that was tough! Never heard of 4d before and most of the others needed a level expertise above mine to understand the wordplay. Lots of electronic help needed for this one.
I see the DT has fixed the prize puzzle aspect but still can’t submit online and the slowing down bug is still there.
I cannot believe any halfway competent IT dept cannot fix the problems, one can only assume that the DT don’t care.
****/**
Thx for the much needed hints.
Hear hear!
Well, I am going to have the grumps on this one, not a lot of fun with considerable head scratching – 2.5*/2*.
No stand out favourites, but I did like the 18s – both of which have an air of oldie but goodie about them.
Thanks to the setter and BD.
S. I’m respectfully intrigued? Why would you rate a puzzle that generated “considerable head-scratching” only 2.5* for difficulty? 2.5* out of 5* is merely average difficulty.
Perversely, or perhaps with the benefit of the considerable head scratching, I was able to finish at a fast canter.
Smiley face! (I don’t know how to do the Whatsit)
You do the ‘whatsit’ by leaving a space, then a colon then smile and then another colon – I think it needs a space after the second colon.
which I use frequently when I’ve done something silly even though I’m not twelve!
Go to the FAQ and somewhere it tells you how to do all of them.
I love them, specially the
And you think tiny brain will remember that tomorrow? I promise, I’ll write it down and hide it somewhere …
Have you tried the FAQ?
Not yet, but promise I’ll have a look. When you get to 82, it gets reely, reely hard to learn all these new things!
M. To get a bog-standard smiley face just type a colon, a hyphen then a right-hand bracket, with no spaces, and it’ll come up automatically like this
Not ‘grumping’ alone, Senf – I counted a record number of ‘umms’ on my sheet and enlisted electronic help in a bid to find more satisfactory answers to some of the clues.
Think the 1s topped my leader board.
Thanks to our setter and to BD for the club.
Another grump here. Never heard of 4d, 7d, 18a nor 26a. I only solved 9a because of my daughter.
Enjoyed 14d and 25a.
****/** for me today.
Abit challenging inthe NW (2.5* for difficulty but really enjoyable (****). My favourites were 4d, 18d, 9a and 22a but there wer some fine anagrams too. Many thanks to BD for the hints, although I didn’t need much help today. Thanks also to the setter– more like that please!
I managed 5 definites and one pencilled on my first pass, so I just can’t be in the right frame of mind today. I’ll have some lunch and try again.
Nope, after another *** time, I have still only got 10 answers, all in the top half.
Whoever this compiler is, s/he isn’t on the same planet as I am.
I haven’t looked at the crossword yet but it amused me that it was number 29299 on 29 February!
Now completed the puzzle and found it quite tough and not that enjoyable. I’m tempted to say the number was the only thing that made me smile but that would be a bit ungrateful really! Thanks to the setter and BD
One of those puzzles that I managed to finish but am unsure as to whether not I have solved it correctly. I suppose this puts me in the “grump” section along with Senf et al. The whole thing was a struggle from start to finish so not very enjoyable for me. I did like a couple of clues – 12a and 15d – both of which made me smile.
Grateful thanks to the setter and to BD for the hints.
Storm Jorge is howling across the fields here in Knockin (yes it does have a shop) and bringing snow, sleet and yet more rain. Time to stoke up the fire and pour a beer.
A beer sounds like an excellent suggestion after that struggle. 4*/1.5* for me. Had to google 4D, kicked myself as I knew the word! Oh well…
A challenge, which is no bad thing. I managed to complete it without electronic help, thanks to BD’s hints.i get frustrated that I still can’t see some of the obvious – in hindsight – anagrams. I put ‘aioli’ in 10a because it’s a type of mayo and then had to reread the clue.
Favourites were 22a and 18d.
Not very enjoyable and quite hard.
As an iPad user, The DT techies have succeeded in winding me up with yet another variation of their incompetence. Upon completing the puzzle today, I was invited to submit it ( a change, at least, from the last few weeks when it merely told me that my solution was correct, but with no method nor invitation to submit) but on pressing the submit button I received a message ‘no HTML URL specified in competition options’.
No being a techie myself, I have no idea what that means!
It means that the app doesn’t know the ‘address’ it should submit the puzzle to. I suspect they’ve disabled it for some reason.
I can only echo John and Brian’s comments re the iPad. This has been going on for weeks. It is a deplorable way to treat loyal subscribers!
I think it’s possibly got more to do with iPads than the DT app, since it is well documented that many users currently have problems with many apps
I got the same message. I think loosely translated it means “computer says no”
Very frustrating. They really do try one’s patience…
Another pleasant lunchtime solve. I got a bit side tracked by getting the wrong general in my mind, one of crosswordland’s favourites, and I was not very happy with 21a. Thanks to all involved, I love reading all the comments!
A very enjoyable Saturday afternoon solve, whilst assisting with homework ☹️🥴. There was some head scratching but nothing that was horribly scaring, thus ticking all the boxes for me for a Saturday prize puzzle….
2.5*/4*
Favs 4d & 6d
Thanks to setter & BD for his review
Quite difficult but, as I seem to have said that most days this week, I think it must be me!
Several answers, mainly in the top left corner, took far too long.
I think I enjoyed this one very much but am appreciating it more now that it’s finished.
12a looks a nasty piece of work.
18d reminded me of an old man on my ward a long time ago – his were the kind that stayed shut even when he was trying to talk so I told him we’d try to get it sorted out while he was in hospital – he told me that there was nothing wrong with them and that they’d been good enough for his Dad for fifty years!
I liked 10 and 25a and 15d.
Thanks to the setter and to BD.
12a was indeed a nasty piece of work, Kath; one doesn’t have to be a Southerner, such as I am, to feel that way: Pres. Lincoln thought the same about him, especially after 12a’s infamous March to the Sea whilst burning everything in sight.
My grandchildren call me Grumpy but l am certainly not in the grumpy camp with this one.l thought it was challenging but fun with the two 18s bringing a real smile .l knew the answer to 4d but not how to spell it without the hint.Thankyou to setter and to B. D. where would we novices be without him.
Quite a few old chestnuts but still tough for me and 4d was (again for me) obscure….not my favourite puzzle of the week….
Finally stumbled to a finish albeit with the assistance of Mr Google with 4d (which on reflection I ought to had a stab at from the wordplay). Agree with others that the NW corner was tough & am unable to parse my answer to 11a.
Liked both 18 & 25a.
Thanks to all.
I have an answer for 11a which fits and is a synonym for the last two words of the clue. However I cannot parse it for the life of me so it is either wrong or so obvious I’ve missed it.
WW, take the “A” from the clue followed by a 4-letter word for a “female” surrounding (“holding”) a synonym for “on”.
Thanks RD – that was my answer but I could just not see how it was made up. I always forget that word for “on”
Thank you so much for this, we too had bunged in this answer but could not for the life of us work out why. Still not sure in what context this answer could have the assigned definition ….
4d threw me and 18d requires very creative thinking – brilliant and thank you BD and setter
I found this very, very tricky. I only had a few answers before referring to the hints to get going again. I didn’t know 4d but it was solvable from the clue. I did finish with copious e-help.
I liked 18d, a smiler, and I have some 18a here, so no problem with that, also the General.
Thanks to the setter and to BD for his help solving.
Keep dry all, doesn’t seem fair for you to get hit by yet another storm.
Nope didn’t get this puzzle, not on my wavelength. Nothing for 4d, 11a, 15d, 17a, 25a. Deep sigh!
Didn’t enjoy this too much today, and only half filled before I needed to look at hints. Never seen 21a used as a verb so that through me right off. Hoping for a benevolent Dada tomorrow.
Got through this one in the end with a lot of electronic help…..so not much enjoyment to be had for me.
Thanks to Big Dave and to the setter.
I thought this quite enjoyable, with only 18d and 26a holding me up a bit (though I can’t figure out why now). Love the Furies clue (loved talking about them in the classroom, too). Favourites today: 13d, 15d and 18a, with 18a my COTD. Poor Brian: he hasn’t had a good week. Thanks to BD and the setter. **/***
Hints and electronic help needed for over half this puzzle. Not surprising as I am stricken with flu. 5 and 7d my favourites as I solved them with my own little brain. Many thanks BD for your excellent hints and to the setter with whom I have no grumps. Only grumpy about feeling so I’ll.
I got the East without any problems, but the West was a different kettle of fish! I got there eventually, but had to check the hints to confirm a couple. Many thanks to the setter, and BD for the hints! Favourites are both the 18s!
I needed the hint for 18d which then became one of my favourites. I had another sort of set in mind . Other favourites 9 18 26 and 30a and 6 15 and 20d. Not so favourites were 4 and 7d. Thanks setter, BD and all for comments although faiii TY ly low turn out today.
A proper challenge for a Saturday.
Enjoyed it a lot.
Well disguised definitions and clever wordplay made it a pleasure to solve.
Thanks to the setter and to BD.
No market today?
Hear hear!
Definitely not on the same wavelength as the setter today … found this offering problematic and a few of the clues wanting, IMHO.
I did have a couple of duh! moments, but overall a *** 1/2 to **** solve for me. Seemed much more difficult than the last few Saturday offerings.
Worked NE and then clockwise from there.
Liked 16a, 22a, 4d & 15d
Thanks to the setter & BD
Perhaps starting the puzzle at 10.30pm wasn’t my best idea of the day, but I did get it completed before retiring to bed. Nothing overly difficut, but I did fool myself into believing that 26a was going to be one of those Latin quotes that nearly always eludes me. It was my very last one in after a bit of electronic help – quite a d’oh’moment! Otherwise quite a pleasant solve, with 1a, 18a & 7d my particular favourites. Thanks to setter and BD.
New here……. I found this site by accident. I knew I wasn’t alone but – wow!
My girlfriend (who’s in Rome) and I usually finish them, but today we got seriously stuck on 21A – thanks to BD and new friends I had a Damascene moment just now. So for once I’m ahead of her. BIG thanks.
Welcome to the blog, Paul.
Now that you’ve found us I hope that you’ll become a regular commenter.
I found this tricky and took ages to get going and like others found 4d a new word!
I had 2 left (inc 4d) until later today, but did have success thanks to BD! This was one of these puzzles where I found no hints for several of my gaps! Familiar?
I’ll send it off now…
Urgh, so glad so many others found this a stinker. I wrote 1d in straight away and thought I was going to sail through and then got utterly stumped.
Using all the hints, a thesaurus, a fair bit of googling and even the automatic crosswordsolver site I’ve finished it, but I feel a bit dirty.
4d was one of the few I got fairly quickly, thanks Latin lessons 30 years ago. The General was a new one and I’m not sure I’ve got the right man as the pics that come up don’t look like the one here but mine exists So I’ve written him in!
Thanks setter and hint master!
3*/4*……..
liked 18D ” set out at night? (7) “
Too many today a bit of a stretch. I say today as I’ve finally got round to doing it on Tuesday 🙄