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DT 29371

by tilsit  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29371
The Saturday Crossword Club by Tilsit

What was the last letter you wrote in?

BD Rating – Difficulty **  – Enjoyment **

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

Until the Telegraph resumes the award of prizes for the Saturday puzzles, this post, and tomorrow’s, will be just like the Monday to Friday posts, with hints for every clue and revealable answers.  BD

Morning from the Warrington branch of Lockdown Central.

Thanks to BD for covering last week

A pleasant enough Saturday solve, where more effort seems to have been put into turning the puzzle into a pangram than some of the clues.  A nice coffee-break solve.  I’m guessing that for many, the last letter written in was in 2 down and made you realise it was a pangram.

Thanks to our setter and if you are still hungry for something to tackle, there’s our NTSPP puzzle plus the following:

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.

Some hints follow.

Across

1a Exactly what is needed in employment (4,3,3)
JUST THE JOB: An expression that means both exactly what is needed, as well as the one thing you need to be working.

6a Business not yielding to pressure (4)
FIRM: A double definition for a word that means a business, as well as something that is inflexible to the touch.

9a Bill in the train transported coal (10)
ANTHRACITE: A word for a type of fuel comprises an anagram (transported) of THE TRAIN with the standard crossword abbreviation for bill or account inside.

 

10a Witches caught missing something to cook? (4)
OVEN: The name for a group of witches with the abbreviation for caught removed gives you something you use to cook with?

13a Coming from the desert, Sarah, an eccentric (7)
SAHARAN: An anagram (eccentric) of SARAH AN reveals the name for someone who lives in a desert in N Africa.

15a Duck not about to become friend (6)
QUAKER: A description of a duck (from the noise it makes) needs to lose the abbreviation for about to give the name for a member of a religious community whose churches are known as ‘meeting houses’. And sometimes make porridge.

16a Means to arrange ambush (6)
WAYLAY: A word for the means to do something goes before a way of saying to arrange (a table?) and you get something meaning ambush.

17a Tried bringing famous racehorse back — it’s criminal! (9,6)
ATTEMPTED MURDER: Something meaning tried goes before the name of a famous racehorse (think three Grand National wins) reversed and you get a type of crime.

 

18a Aileen rattled another woman (6)
ELAINE: An anagram (rattled) of AILEEN gives another girls’ name.

20a Story about abstainer’s gossip (6)
TATTLE: Something meaning gossip is a word for a story wrapped around the abbreviation for someone who, like me, doesn’t drink.

21a Hard work keeping a number in tow (7)
TRAVAIL: Inside something meaning tow goes A plus the Roman numeral for a single-digit number to give you something meaning hard work.

22a NSW money? (4)
NOTE: Not Australia, but three points of the compass and what is missing? Put together it means a kind of (paper) money.

25a Valuation that could be taxing (10)
ASSESSMENT: A cryptic description on an annual return

 

26a The lady’s love idol (4)
HERO: A word meaning belonging to the lady and the symbol that means ‘love’ in tennis put together give the name for one’s idol.

27a One searching for gold has wide view on most of raw material (10)
PROSPECTOR: The name for an Australian or Californian gold hunter is made up of the word for a wide view and two-thirds of the three-letter word of what a miner digs up.

Down

1d Frenchman in short trousers (4)
JEAN: A name for a man in French (or an Englishwoman!) is a type of trousers, minus its last letter.

2d Reportedly takes a seat in bath (4)
SITZ: I’m guessing that for most of you, this was your last one in, and if you were looking for the pangram after finding the other seldom-used letters, this was where it went! A homophone of takes a seat is the name for a certain type of bath. I was going to post a picture, but being shown one suitable for people with haemorrhoids, I decided not to. Just google it. Carefully.

3d Jack twice finds deposit (6)
TARTAR: A slang word for a sailor used twice is a deposit found on teeth. Another picture I think I’ll avoid. But I am reminded of a poem by Pam Ayres.

4d Wives apparently in angry or frank discussion (8,2,5)
EXCHANGE OF VIEWS: A clever clue. This is one of those you have to slightly think outside the box. If this answer was a crossword clue, i.e. an anagram of the last word, then WIVES would be the answer. It’s a phrase meaning a candid discussion or a polite way of saying an argument.

5d Bandit released code (6)
OUTLAW: A word for a bandit is made up of two words, one meaning released or free, followed by another for a code or edict.

7d Overrule patient loathing leaving hospital (10)
INVALIDATE: A name for a poorly patient, plus a word meaning to despise, minus its first letter, the abbreviation for hospital.

8d Payment method that could make Rodney more confused (5,5)
MONEY ORDER: Hmm… without thinking I wrote in an expression that starts with ‘Ready…’ thinking it was an anagram of RODNEY MORE. Very quickly I realised I should have worked the anagram properly!

11d Small measure, it’s as broad as it’s long (6,4)
SQUARE INCH: A unit of measurement that could be described as in the clue. If something was a certain length, and that was its height as well, it would be described as this.

12d Male history teacher? (4,6)
PAST MASTER: A cryptic way of describing a male teacher of history and the subject he has a command of. One of my history teachers at Prescot Grammar School was a chap called Mike Harvey, a man who was immersed in his subject but since virtually every word he uttered was followed by ‘..er’ it made it awfully dull. A character, though! The only man to crash two school minibuses on each of their first outings!

13d FBI agents appearing in set piece (7)
SEGMENT: The name for a piece of something (Trivial Pursuit wedges, for example) is the slang terms for FBI agents inside the word SET.

14d Frank is unaffected (7)
NATURAL: One word that can mean frank or open, or something not affected by anything else

19d One gets rid of letters from Queen after ages (6)
ERASER:  The abbreviation for HM goes after a word for periods of time to give what we used before Tippex. Today’s fascinating fact. Did you know the inventor of Liquid Paper, the forerunner to Tippex was mother to a member of the Monkees? This one.

 

20d What’s good at absorbing blows? (6)
TISSUE: Another cryptic definition for something that catches your blows (of the nose!).

23d Attend strike (4)
BEAT: A word meaning to strike when divided into means to attend something,

24d Mix thoroughly in jug (4)
STIR: A way of mixing something is also a word for prison (a.k.a. jug in slang)

Thanks to our setter today. See you all next week!

Could new readers please read the Welcome post and the FAQ before posting comments or asking questions about the site.

The Quick Crossword pun: high+burn+Asian=hibernation

Your music today is this piece of serenity with a hat-tip to our Wednesday Backpage Bloggers.  Enjoy!

107 comments on “DT 29371”

  1. A great puzzle and another I thoroughly enjoyed. I thought 22a was clever but 17a was my COTD.

    Many thanks to the setter and to Tilsit for the hints (which have not appeared on my screen).

    1. Relieved I’m not the only one with no hints except the Quick puzzle starter threesome !

  3. 1.5*/1.5*. Yes, my last letter in was the final letter of 2d, although I was already on the alert for a pangram!

    A few hmms took the gloss off this for me. Isn’t 10a something you cook in? The “anagram” in 13a was a bit feeble, just swapping two letters. Is “tow” really synonymous with “trail”? The definition for 11d is a but vague. Is “frank” really synonymous with 14d?

    Thanks to the setter and to Tilsit for the currently invisible review.

    1. I think you could say ‘when one is towing something, it is trailing behind ?’
      That’s as close as I can get.

  5. I liked 22a as well and gets my COTD. Really enjoyable and a */**** for me. I can’t see the hints either so not sure why “Attend” for 23d as yet although the answer is clear.

        1. Last time I tried to answer your comment, the village broadband went again. Whenever there is a strong wind the overhead telephone cables bash against each other, the telegraph poles and trees, and we are unable to contact the outside world until another gust of wind blows them apart again :(

          What I was trying to say was that this clue turns up quite often, so it is a type of construction to remember for the future.

          1. Sorry to hear about your wind issues: a good example of wires getting crossed! Thanks for the tip and – belatedly – thanks to Disunited who sent a contemporaneous and similarly helpful message.

            1. This was my last clue to solve, and it appears that I got it wrong. My best shot was “MEET”, and although I appear to be outnumbered, I would love to see the official solution! I don’t see how the 2,2 theory holds water. Not an exciting Saturday crossword. The quickie took me longer!

      2. Love the suggestion to be careful if you Google . I’ve had surgery in that area and being reminded me it made my eyes water having said that the suggested Bath may have helped . Love the X word generally it makes me smile . But that one really made me squirm .

  6. Not quite r/w but a gallop to the finishing post. 1*.3*. Pleasant nonetheless, thanks to the setter but not Tilsit! The hints haven’t yet appeared on my device either.

  7. Don’t you just hate it when you have just four blank squares staring out at you? I was all done in *** time, bar 2d and 23d, and no amount of brain kneading produced the required results. I resorted to electronic means, and was smugly pleased when no obvious answers leapt out at me. I hadn’t spotted the pangram, and was unaware of 2d.

    Many thanks to the setter and Tilsit.

  8. Was on “pangram alert” when j was first letter in. With so many high scrabble letters in the top half I made the assumption & bunged 2d in. No problems for me. What was a little lacklustre puzzle only livened by being a pangram.
    Not my favourite of the week by any means but OK. COTD 9a. If you think coal is dusty & dirty you haven’t seen a lump of peacock vein anthracite!
    Thanks to setter & Tilsit for the review (when it arrives on my screen)

  9. Tilsit sent me the main part of the blog to add, as he is currently unable to upload pictures, and then he must have hit publish instead of save. All should be well now.

  10. They are all there now. Because I’m a complete technofool when it comes to blogging. I prepare the hints and send them to either BD or the Lovely Cake Lady to upload for me. There seems to be an issue with me posting pictures from my iMac.

    I was tweaking the template with the music etc and forgot to adjust the blog scheduler, so it went live in the middle.

    Sorry for causing the angst. I’ll add the links to today’s puzzles in a few minutes.

    Now back to writing a dissertation in German and studying Lesson 4830234 of Blogging for Utter Dummies

  11. Today’s fun run was 1a with the East falling to first. Cross with myself for needing help with parsing 22a (nothing to do with Down Under!) and 23d but they then became joint Favs. Quickie pun is clever too. Thank you Mysteron and Tilsit.

  12. I hate it when a four letter word (2d) gives problems. Then the pangram dawned!

  13. Something of a Curate’s Egg for me with more than a few Hmms and, of course, I missed the pangram while completing at a gallop – 1.5*/2*.
    No standout favourites but I did like 17a.
    Thanks to the setter and Tilsit.

  14. I’ll try typing my comment again, the first attempt having got lost in the ether. I did enjoy this puzzle, which was a classic example of one that, whilst, straightforward, is very entertaining (1.5/4*) I thought that some of the four-letter word clues, often just give-aways, were quite good fun( 2d, my second clue in and 22a). 15a and 19d were also amusing. Thanks to Tilsit for the hints and to the setter. Stay safe and well everyone.

  15. 2d. Strictly speaking ‘Sitz’ is not a homonym of ‘sits’ as it is pronounced ‘zits’ 😄😄

  17. Some straight forward clues but enjoyable nevertheless. As a relative newbie how often is the Saturday crossword a pangram ( which my 24 year old son had to explain to me) ? Thanks to the setter and Tilsit for help with 2d.

    1. Hi Keith,
      There is no pattern at all to the appearance of pangrams on any day of the week but some folk are on the alert whenever the more unusual letters – think high scoring Scrabble ones – start to appear during a solve.

  18. Pleasant and diverting pangram, with no surprises except that bath, which was an early solve for me. Thought 22a was the COTD but 11, 1, and 4d also tickled my fancy. 11d was my LOI. Thanks to Tilsit and today’s setter. 1.5* / ***

  19. Really liked the 2 long clues, 17a and 4d which was my COTD.
    Agree that 10a is missing the word “in” and have to admit 23d 23d me!
    A very pleasant Saturday workout.

  20. Short-lived and fairly ordinary as Saturday puzzles go. My favourite was 22a

    Thanks to the Mysteron and to Tilsit – the fourth letter of 2d wasn’t the last one I wrote in as I did know the bath in question, and the homophone works for me

  21. I thought it was great fun and it certainly made me smile a lot. 1.5*/4*. The favourite has to be 17a, but the four letter clues were excellent.

  22. Which year at PGS Tilsit? The same teacher who told me I would “be in trouble, with a capital “p””😀. Still have my prefect’s tie somewhere – I was one of the last.

    1. 1970-77

      There’s a rather fine Facebook group full of alumni and memories. Yes, the very same Mike ‘Beak’ Harvey who tried to cook a large cabbage in a metal bucket because he could find a pan big enough!

      1. Interesting to read about Prescot, Tilsit -I worked on the Water works on the supervising engineers staff, next to the Safari Park back in the early 80s…
        Enjoyed the puzzle but one or three kept me puzzled for a while, although there were some that jumped out after a return visit. 13a fooled me so I needed the hint. 2d was guessed and was confirmed In the hints -thanks! Thanks to the setter for his efforts.

        1. The Grammar School used to use the park for Orienteering and Cross Country, but then when it opened, we were given permission to use a small area by the Derby family to carry on with the sport.

          1. I am an old-fashioned GS educated person too, ’69-76, where the study of Latin was compulsory for 2 years. Didn’t get me into crosswords, but gave me a better appreciation for the finer points of the English Language. If people aren’t convinced that manufacture comes from the words “Manu” and “Facio” (‘I make by hand’), try and convince the non-believers that the phrase “Sic Transit in Gloria Mundi” translates down to ‘I am mending my van over the weekend’. I have even scored a darts match on the chalkboard using Roman numerals. Not THAT is confusing!!

      2. Sorry for late reply – I left in 74 – don’t think it was that long after that some of the old wooden huts burnt down!! Then they put houses on the first XI pitch and (worse still??) merged with PGGS!! Mind you I do remember the plays we put on jointly with PGGS towards the end – mixing with girls of a certain age:). .Have seen some copies of “The Prescotian” around on the internet.

  23. I had the same reservations as RD over this one plus, unlike him, I wasn’t on pangram alert so the unknown bath became a case of ‘guess and look up’ at the end of the solve.
    No particular favourite although 1a amused.

    Thanks to our setter and to Tilsit – thank you for the enjoyable Maori lullaby.

    1. Me too with similar reservations Jane. Like RD, 2d was my final entry, and to be honest, having sailed through the puzzle I was not on pangram alert. I did enjoy 17a.

      Thanks to all.

  24. Light relief after yesterday’s toughie. I thought 22a and 23d were both excellent clues. Thanks all.

  25. I really liked this puzzle which I thought was full of humour, but, darn it, I missed the pangram again! I don’t know what’s wrong with me surely as soon as certain letters come up I should be on full alert.

    The answer for 2d (in sound anyway) was obvious to me from the clue but I’d never heard of it so had to look it up.

    I missed the 2-2 break up of 23d so the attend bit puzzled me – very clever.

    Being the daughter of a coal miner, I had no problem with 9a, in fact it was all good.

    Many thanks to the setter and Tilsit

  26. Apologies for the contrary view but I found this a bit undemanding & over too quickly to be anything other than underwhelming. Had it not been for the brief pause at 2d for the homophone penny to drop (pangram not spotted & didn’t know the bath) I’d have comfortably bettered by quickest ever finish. Having said that I particularly liked 15&17a and it was by no means poorly clued so perhaps I’m being unfair plus there’s always the unequal battle with Paul in the Graun & the NTSPP to keep me amused.
    Thanks to the setter & to Tilsit

  27. Second pan gram in a week and l would still not have recognised that it was one until read the blog.Sadly l knew 2 d from another life and still have unhappy memories of staff not seeing that there just might be a problem of two such baths in the same room.Pleased to have closed that institution.On a far better note l must have been on the setters wavelength as l completed in record time for me.Some clever and amusing clues giving a smile along the way.Thanks to all.

  28. My first two comments disappeared. The first to say no hints and the one immediately after with my views. Anyway better now to comment when I have seen all the others so far. I think 10a would be a brilliant clue if it read Witches caught missing something they used to cook. As Tilsit anticipated 2d was last in. On the other hand 23d was straight in. Favourites were 15, 17 and 22a and 7 and 20d. Probably more but they went in as quick as a flash. 1*/4**** for me. Just because it is quick doesn’t mean it’s no less enjoyable while it lasts. Also because a clue is not tortuous to solve does not mean it’s a poor clue. I hope newer solvers will be encouraged and there are quite a few tricks of the trade which can be learnt from this puzzle. Thanks setter and Tilsit for your efforts and to BD as ever.

  29. How about ‘meet’ for 23d? If you attend to my needs, you meet them. If you strike a deal, your offers meet.

    1. But not when you have be at and beat which use the four same letters (space ignored) and perfectly match attend and strike?

      1. Never mind that WW, beat is not the same as strike anyway – to beat is to do so repeatedly; you wouldn’t make much of a meringue if you simply struck an egg, just a mess in the kitchen

  30. Maybe not as challenging as yesterday, but more fun. Only got held up with 21a for longer than I would have liked. I couldn’t get “toil” out of my head for hard work. I though that the definition was “tow”. I liked 17a and 20d. Thanks to the setter and to Tilsit.

    1. I was a toiler too! I knew the word which is the answer but don’t think it is often used and wondered if I was getting confused with my French studies!

  31. Enjoyable solve today. Liked 15a, 22a and 24d. Had to pore over 23d and 2d. Was unaware of pangram convention so thanks for that. 9a reminded me of receiving coal deliveries years ago!

    1. You’ve expanded your alias to your full surname

      Both should work in future

  32. It’s been a week of pleasant solves, including today’s. 2d was the last in. COTD candidates; 15, 17a and 2 , 12, 20d. And the winner is 17a. Thanks to the setter and Tilsit🦇

  34. I spotted the pangram early on with J and Q etc but excited at two long clues (I agree17a was a nice one) I did not see the anagram of wives and put in WORDS which threw me until I realised I needed a V. All good fun and I would never have got 2d but for your assistance – sounds nasty I shall not look it up. It is blowing a gale here in Cambridge and things tumbling and blowing about on the garden. Thanks to all for the diversion.

  35. Pleasant canter through this one. Bunged in 2d without knowing whether such a word existed. Favourites 15a and 22a.
    At last hairdressers here are due to reopen, although the Telegraph says they will have to wash hair with a hose!

  36. 2*/3.5* for me today… oddly I knew 2d, don’t ask how.
    Interesting puzzle after lunch.
    Thanks to setter & Tilsit for review

  37. I enjoyed this very much. 2d was indeed was last in as I had never heard of it but knew the last letter had to be a … because of the pangram.
    23d was second last as I figured it out from ‘strike’ and only now see the 2,2 formation!
    17a is my favourite today.
    Thanks to the setter and lovely Tilsit.

  38. Today’s puzzle was a strange beast. I was on pangram alert from the first letter of 1a and when I got to the 8th letter a double pangram crossed my mind but was soon dismissed as the 4th letter of 2d eluded me until close to the end. 23d was my last in and I did wonder if a double definition should have an indicator if the first has to be split 2,2 to mean attend. I liked the long ones as they were not (entirely) anagrams. Started with root for 11d but when the penny dropped on 22a all was well. This Miner’s grandson liked 9a too. (Grandad worked at the Woodhorn Colliery in Ashington and it is now a delightful mining Museum)
    The fun though brief was there and leaves plenty of time to try the NTSPP and Paul in the Grauniad. If I haven’t succumbed to an early onset of Wine O’clock I will try and go to Paul’s Zoom too.
    Thanks to tilsit BD and setter.

  39. 2/4. I enjoyed this puzzle especially the 4 letter answers. I was on alert as soon as 1a went in and that helped me finish on 2d . I had to google the answer I had which, as Tilsit warns, needs to be done carefully. There’s far too much information associated with the answer. Thanks to him and the setter for an enjoyable romp.

  40. Surprisingly, a crossword I managed to finish without any hints! (I think that’s the first one since lockdown.) So I greatly appreciated it, even though I presume it was too straightforward for many others. Thank you to the setter, and to Tilsit and Big Dave for hosting us here.

    After entering just 3 answers there were only 9 letters of the alphabet unaccounted for, so I spotted the pangram early on, and indeed wouldn’t’ve got 2d without that.

    The duck in 15a made me laugh, and 23d groan when I finally got it; my favourite was the NSW 22a.

  41. This is the last place I expected to see a mention of Mike Harvey, a.k.a. ‘The Beak’; an endless source of stories and a master of rarely saying quite what he meant to say. “That table! Stop talking.”

      1. The man who inspired me to do crosswords was another PGS legend – Gilbert ‘Bugsy’ Burrows.
        Taught me a love of words through Latin, and then as I helped in the school library, taught me to do cryptic crosswords through the Guardian and I think the Telegraph at the time.

  42. Standard fare today and a **/**, like others I had never heard of this type of bath-one for the future.
    15a brought a smile and I liked the surface of 11d , 17a was clever but I think this clue has appeared previously.
    I enjoyed the puzzle from Exit, especially 14a etc-well done.
    Still in recovery mode from yesterdays Elgar!

  43. Perfect puzzle today, in my book, as I was able to complete before I opened the blog. A very rare occurrence. The wind was somewhat taken out of my sails when I decided to check my entry for 23d, my last in. Infuriating when you have 2 of 4 letters. I had settled on meet, as it can mean hit and attend. But of course I was wrong. Had considered beat earlier but did not think of 2,2 split. Thankfully I had heard of the bath in 2d. Thanks to the setter for providing a puzzle which did not make me feel stupid, despite still being under anesthesia fog, and to Tilsit for setting me straight on 23d. Wish all Saturday puzzles were like this 😊

  44. Solved this one alone and unaided but could not parse 23d , or , and I am ashamed to admit this, 22a.
    I was on pangram alert when I made my first entry, 1a, then confirmed it with my second entry, 2d.
    Maybe it’s an age thing, having heard of 2d.

    Anyway, enjoyed the puzzle but no hurrah for me today.

    Thanks to the setter and to Tilsit.

  45. Forgive the novice questions! I haven’t got to grips with all your terminology yet. So a pangram is a puzzle with all letters of the alphabet included,right? So what is a double pangram? Is this something that you experienced guys particularly look out for? Are there certain setters who try to do this on a regular basis?
    Still learning every day. Some days better than others!

    1. Hello Stupee, yes, and double simply means two lots of the entire alphabet
      There is a well-known quintuple pangram and no, I can’t think of a particular proponent, but proXimal often sets pangrams but for the X

      2. Maize in the Indy on New Year’s Day 2018 was the setter if the quintuple pangram

    2. ProliXic often sets puzzles with every letter but X. When a puzzle contains 25 of the 26 letters it gets called a pangra. What fun we have here in crosswordland

      2. Indeed we do, Stig! I have missed so many pangrams that I now spend far too much time looking for them. I have yet to discover a double pangram and, so far, I have not spotted a Nina. As for lipograms, no hope! 😳

  46. A nice puzzle for a dull Saturday morning here in BC. Lots of great clues in this one I rank as **/***. Really liked 1a, 9a (that for me, too, reminds me of the days when we lived in East Anglia of the coal man delivering a sack and dumping it in the outside coal shed), 8d & 20d. Overall favourite was 17a though.

    Thanks to setter and Tilsit for the hints.

  47. Thanks Stupee. I am also new to a crossword pan gram so await the answer with bated breathe.

  48. I swanned through this earlier on and thoroughly enjoyed it, right up my straße!
    So much to like. At one time I typed for a gastroenterologist so 2d presented no problem.
    Both 22a and 23d amused, loved 4d, how clever was that, but 17a was fave, magnificent horse, with 15a on its heels.
    Thanks to our Saturday setter, please come back soon, and thanks to Tilsit for his review. Loved the NZ clip.

  49. I managed all but a couple of these without help and found it very enjoyable. The bath was one of my first in, but maybe you need to have given birth to know what they are!!

  50. Loved this one with some excellent clues vis a vis 12a, 15a, 20d and 19d. Thought 22a was a bit of a groaner. My only gripe was that the setter spoilt the ship for a ha’pporth of tar with 2d by using a clue that i suspect was unknown to 99% of the population, such a pity.
    Thx to all
    ***/****(would have had an extra star but for 2d)

  52. Oh I loved this puzzle, not only did I finish without hints (very rare for me), but I was on the alert for a pangram after only a few clues (never been done before) . So pleased with myself 😊
    Thank you to the setter and Tilsit

  53. Thanks for the music clip Tilsit.
    In the days when there were many fewer TV channels and transmission was much less than 24hrs, Hine e Hine, with a cute video clip of a kiwi going to bed in a satellite dish, was used when TV1 closed down for the night. We all love it.

    We enjoyed today’s puzzle too.

    1. I see there’s a translation which I’m now about to look up. Lovely piece of music, I’m sure you all loved it.

  54. Absolutely loved 22a as a retired navigator of supertankers. It was my penultimate and you’re correct…2d last.

  55. 23d was my LOI and I needed the hints to parse the answer, very clever.
    Windy here in Kent.
    Thanks all.

    1. Take-the-patio-furniture-in-or-it-will-come-in-by-itself windy up here Hoofs. Add in the horizontal rain even Biggles is reluctant to venture out.Our internet is on limited streaming & Netflix out so it’s a settle down with a book evening.

  56. We probably enjoyed this more than we should have though were defeated by the bath (yes, last in). Think the gin helped! Favourite clue 17a

  57. Most of this was straightforward apart from the bits that weren’t if you don’t happen to have heard of them. I didn’t spot the pangram but it wouldn’t have made any difference if I had, I would have still had Google the answers as I have never heard of, seen or sat in a 2d nor am I likely to, and 15a friends? Who’d have thought that? Unless you happen to be one of them or at least of a religious persuasion of which I’m neither. If I had to choose a favourite it would be 17a. Thanks to the setter and Tilsit.

  59. Finished without hints today, for the first time in several days! I must be improving. Thanks to Tilsit for the lovely clip of Ted and Hayley, and to the setter for a pleasant solve! Keep well, and stay safe, everyone! 🙃

  60. Anyone else irked by the ‘tab’ for Puzzles appearing in the wrong place in the iOS app navigation bar (and navigating to the wrong location)? Or is it just a manifestation of ‘cabin-fever’?

    And is it just me, or has the font changed?

  61. Despite the lack of racing, I have to place this in the five furlong category. Definitely appreciate more of a challenge on a Saturday, although the wind up North did have me rescuing hedgehog water troughs and garden chairs with amazing regularity as an alternative way of using the extra time.
    COTD? Well, if I can offer an alternative, Giggle-factor 1 had to be 22A, and I’d like to bet (if the bookies were open) that I wasn’t alone as crossing the Antipodean Continent in my mind!
    Well done to all, and don’t pre-empt the escaping of the house. Stay in and stay safe, its way too early to try and seek the ‘normal’ again.

  62. i found this pretty straightforward again without anything untoward, i hadn’t noticed the pangram but i completed it fairly quickly so it escaped me, i have had a sitzbath which i definitely did not enjoy and never had another one, it was when my wife and i were at tyringham health spa. lang had purchased it and promoted the spa in recognition of the help received by his wife who had severe health problems. i think it has ceased to be a health spa now.

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