DT 29531 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 29531

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29531

Hints and tips by Kath

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating — Difficulty **Enjoyment ****

Hello everyone. A Ray T Thursday crossword  but not one that’s too tricky after Jay put us all through the wringer yesterday. There are more anagrams than Ray T normally gives us which I always find makes a crossword easier to get into.

 Please leave a comment telling us how you got on today.

In the hints the definitions are underlined and the answers are hidden under ANSWER so only do that if you need to see one.

Across

1a        Nearest urban exchanges for Underground (12)
SUBTERRANEAN — an anagram (exchanges) of NEAREST URBAN – as I know I’ve said before a nice long anagram all the way across the top is such a good start

9a        Learning funny routine about policeman (9)
ERUDITION — an anagram (funny) of ROUTINE contains (about) the abbreviation for a fairly senior cop

10a       Delivery, say, in bed (5)
BERTH — a homophone (say) of the arrival of a baby

11a       Passion is more intense, commonly overheard (6)
ARDOUR — another homophone (overheard) of a word which means more intense or more difficult begins with an ‘H’ – just remove that first letter (commonly) – tricky to give a hint for

12a       Flag from old vessel bearing right (8)
STREAMER — an old kind of boat (vessel) goes round (bearing) the abbreviation for R[ight]

13a       Grouch is comparatively mellow after golf (6)
GRIPER — the letter represented by ‘golf’ in the phonetic alphabet is followed by (after) a synonym for more mellow or milder

15a       One reeks spilling fuel (8)
KEROSENE — an anagram (spilling) of ONE REEKS

18a       They feel for some small creatures (8)
ANTENNAE — these small creatures are insects

19a       Foreign national, part Israeli by analogy (6)
LYBYAN — a lurker or hidden answer indicated by part – it’s hiding in the last three words of the clue

21a       Beetle has one motor quickly (8)
CARAPACE — a kind of motor or common vehicle is followed by another word for quickly or fast

23a       Hint cap is first-class (6)
TIPTOP — a hint or clue and a cap or a lid of something

26a       Faithful former partner facing pretence (5)
EXACT — the usual two letters meaning a former partner or someone who’s been given the heave-ho and another word for a pretence or a show

27a       Avoid importing a large epidemic (9)
PREVALENT — another word for avoid or obstruct holds (importing) the A from the clue and the abbreviation for L[arge]

28a       Dubious nation’s race caught in America? (12)
TRANSOCEANIC — an anagram (dubious) of NATION’S RACE is followed by the ‘crickety’ abbreviation for C[aught]

 

Down

1d        The woman sanctions grand affair (7)
SHEBANG — a way of referring to ‘the woman’, and a noun meaning sanctions or prohibition, are followed by the one letter abbreviation for G[rand]

2d        Secured border (5)
BOUND — I think this is probably a double definition but am in a bit of a muddle with it – think I’m missing something!

3d        Huge container containing scoff mostly for gourmet (9)
EPICUREAN — another word for huge, often used to describe a book or a film, is followed by a kind of container which contains (containing) a synonym for scoff, as in ingest rather than mock, without its final letter (mostly)

4d        Attack Republican support (4)
RAID — the one letter abbreviation for R[epublican] is followed by some support or help

5d        One more gets up to score? (8)
NINETEEN — score here isn’t kick a ball into a net to get a goal – it’s a number

6d        Aimlessly meander, being less energetic initially (5)
AMBLE — the first letters (initially) of the other words in the clue

7d        Rubbish President over early, oddly (8)
TRUMPERY — the name of the current President of the USA is followed by the first, third and fifth letters (oddly) of EaRlY

8d        Daily, say, raised price (6)
CHARGE — someone who cleans other people’s houses (daily) is followed by a reversal (raised) of the two letters meaning say, or for example

14d      Sprinter valiantly maintaining distance (8)
INTERVAL — the second hidden answer of the day, indicated by maintaining or keeping

16d      Single US soldier wearing flash issue (9)
ORIGINATE — the letter that looks like a one or single and the two letters for an American soldier go inside (wearing) a synonym for ‘flash’ or highly decorated

17d      Pot is watched on range, we hear (8)
SAUCEPAN — two homophones (we hear) put together – the first is a word that sounds like ‘watched’ or noticed and the second is one that sounds like range or reach

18d      Cupid possibly more playful (6)
ARCHER — a word that means playful, sly or roguish is followed by the two letters that make it more so – now there’s a great example of a pig’s ear of a hint!

20d      Showing favouritism, notice changes seizing power (7)
NEPOTIC — an anagram (changes) of NOTICE contains the one letter abbreviation for P[ower]

22d      Half-hearted smooth talk for father (5)
PATER — another word for smooth talk often used by a salesman has a double letter in the middle – just take one of them out (half-hearted)

24d      Never tense turning wooden articles (5)
TREEN — a reversal (turning) of a contraction of the first word of the clue and the one letter abbreviation for T[ense] – not sure if I’ve met this before although it rings a vague bell somewhere

25d      Short of time, discard toy (4)
LEGO — another way of saying discard or drop (3,2) has the abbreviation for T[ime] removed (short of time)  – my last answer and I looked at it for ages trying to make sense of it

I liked 18a and 17d and several others too.

The Quickie Pun:-  PANNED + AURA = PANDORA

138 comments on “DT 29531

  1. 2.5*/4.5*. This was not too tough but nicely challenging in places particularly the SE, and it was a lot of fun. As a fan of brevity, I’m pleased to see the setter keeping well within his new limit of no clues longer than seven words with only a couple having as many as seven.

    I can’t recall coming across 24d before. There are two possibilities for the last letter of 18a but I settled on the classically correct E.

    25d was my last one in and favourite, joined on the podium by 19a, 7d & 17d.

    Many thanks to our Thursday dream team of RayT and Kath.

  2. A superbly crafted Ray T that I found to be at the slightly gentler end of his range and all the more enjoyable for it. North flew in but the South took a little more thought where I’ve knocked off half a point in enjoyment for the obscure 24d.
    Loads of podium contenders but I’ve gone for 11a plus 1d (great word) and 25d. Special mention to the topical 7d, which will no doubt provoke comment from the usual suspects.
    2.5/4.5*
    Many thanks to Mr T and Kath for the entertainment.

  3. Isn’t birth just as good an answer as berth to 10a?
    Seemed to make perfect sense to me without being a homophone!

    1. Welcome to the blog

      The way the clue reads means that the homophone (say) of BIRTH (delivery) produces a BERTH (bed)

        1. I agree with CS. The “in” in the clue is a link word between the wordplay (“delivery, say”) and the definition (“bed”)

          1. These sort of clues drive me to distraction because it’s often a coin toss as to the definition- today I guessed right but without total confidence. Am assuming to justify birth IN would therefore need to precede SAY.

            1. I agree with you – this kind of clue always makes me go into a bit of a dither too – in theory I ‘sort of’ know what I’m meant to do but it does take a while.

          1. Many thanks for all the help!
            I think I’m clearer, though over the months I’ve found myself much more confident in spotting homophones that reference hearing / sound explicitly. I have the sense that ‘say’ is used in quite a variety of ways….
            I really enjoy reading the comments each day, so a big thanks to all the regular contributors!

  4. I try very hard not to criticise the art of the compilers, because I don’t think I am in a position to judge that which I am incapable of. But.

    This one really didn’t float my boat. There were a number of synonyms which elicited a Hmmm from me. I have no doubt that they will all be inn the far corners of the dictionary, but that doesn’t mean they have to be used. I was left with 7d & 24d uncompleted, both words being absent from my vocabulary. I can normally get on with Ray T’s work, but not today I’m afraid.

    Thanks to he and Kath for the hints.

    1. On the subject of 7d I have to say trumpery is a word I am familiar with but have not had much occasion to use. However it is by far and away my COTD as the clue and answer are a perfect match!

    1. Treen is a lovely seaside place in Cornwall, near the Minack Theatre and the Logan Rock. I’d never heard of those wooden things!

  5. I don’t hmmm at crossword clues but I have to agree with Malcolm about the synonyms

    I didn’t find this as easy as other commenters so far – in fact if it hadn’t been for the anagrams, I’d have thought this was Ray T wearing his Beam woolly pully.

    Thanks to him and Kath

  6. A very elegant and concisely clued puzzle from the master of brevity. I particularly liked 25d, my final entry, the naughtily topical 7d and the excellent lurker at 19a. Great fun and a real pleasure to solve.

    Many thanks to Mr T and to Kath.

  7. The only TreenI knew was a green thing from Venus, with a big head ,who lived in a goldfish bowl and used to annoy the hell out of “Dan Dare pilot of the future “in the Eagle comic.

    1. Nostalgia indeed! , I remember him well, the Meacon or similar spelling, had the big head whilst the Treens were his servants of a human size with green skin and lantern jaws with Dan and Digby the protagonists.

      1. Oh I loved The Eagle, although I only got into it in its latter years 1966- 69. Dan Dare was pretty good but my favourite was Harris Tweed the detective, and Wikipaedia has just shown me that the similarities between Harris Tweed and Captain Pugwash is because they were created by the same chap :O
        The amazing cutaway drawings were pretty cool too

        1. Loved Dan Dare and PC 49.

          I have a number of Eagles from the first series but not issue 1. In good condition that can fetch around £700.

          1. I loved the Eagle, too. I won a Johny Leach table tennis bat in one of their competitions. Dan Dare had a telephone which allowed him to see the person he was talking to. I remember thinking that would never happen.

  8. Well it’s Ray T so, of course, I didn’t find this one that easy. ***/*** I would have been a bit quicker if it hadn’t taken me quite so long to spot the lurker in 14d. 25d gave me plenty of pause for thought too. I don’t know why because my children and grandchildren have loads of the stuff! Had to check Mr. G for the meaning of 24d. Not a word I’ve come across before. I did smile and think of Robert when I wrote in 7d. Favourite 5d. A really well disguised clue. Thanks to all.

      1. If the word did not already exist, I suspect it may well have become a “new word” in future editions of the dictionary.

        1. I’ve just looked – it’s already in the dictionary – as a noun it’s, “showy and worthless stuff; rubbish; ritual foolery” and, as an adjective, “showy but worthless”.

        2. It’s a funny word, altogether (the first bit).
          It can mean
          Beat all the other contenders
          Or it can simply mean
          Fart.

          1. I wonder if anyone is employed to dig out all the references to trump in the world press? He wouldn’t like this one at all😀

  9. A bit of a mixture for me today, in which I rattled through the clues at a fair pace, then ground to a halt with the stings in the tail in the South (2.5/4*). Nevertheless, I did enjoy the puzzle. There were some superb anagrams and I’d agree with CS that, without them, I couldnt have got into the puzzle so easily. I liked 28a and 3d but found the rationale behind 25d quite baffling for some time. Many thanks to Ray T and to Kath for the hints.

  10. A Ray T puzzle that I can manage! It must be one of his gentler ones. Never heard of 24d before and I thought 25d was a bit of a groaner but I really liked 7d and my fav was 18d.
    Thx to all
    **/***

  11. For the second day running, I was pressed into *** time by the utter brilliance of a setter, the masterful Mr T today, and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. Hard to pick the podium because so many are worthy, but I simply have to start with the Rubbishy One, 7d, as my COTD. (How could I not?) But the SE comprises many stars, 17, 25 & 24d (my LOI). I missed the Sweetheart and Her Majesty, however. Thanks to Kath, whose review I’ll read now, and to Ray T. 3*/4.5*

    With a wee electronic assist, I finished the excellent Toughie. Happy Thanksgiving Day to us (and all).

    1. Weirdly, I finished the Toughie with no help, which was my first time! Hurrah me!
      In fact, I needed a bit of checking with the Cryptic, for the reasons other people have stated.
      So I’ve had a good morning – maybe it was going out in the frost to put the green bins out that stretched my neurons…….

      Thanks to Kath and Ray T btw.

        1. Ours are blue (perhaps its the cold).
          But we can have a green bin for garden waste if we pay for it.

          1. Our green bins ARE the garden ones, but we won’t have to pay until next summer.
            Our black bins with a blue lid are for paper, glass and recyclable plastic.
            Our black bins with a black lid are for general waste.

        2. Confusingly, here in Bradford the recycling bins are black. The green bins are for landfill.

          This is the exact opposite way round to Leeds. 5½ years after moving from one to t’other, I still haven’t got the hang of it.

          1. Here in the Vale of White Horse, recycling bins are the large green ones, garden waste (paid yearly) are large brown ones, the smaller black wheelie bins are for landfill and the large green buckets are for food waste, the latter being the only onee collected every week.

        3. Ours are green but tge ones on the other side of the road are brown because we have the boundary in the middle of the road. Still in tier 3 each side however

      1. Funny you should mention that.
        I have 4 x 130lt bags full of garden waste waiting for collection but I have just learned that they don’t take them anymore. It needs to be put in special reusable baskets with handles. “You can buy them in most DIYs and prices vary ” the council assured me.
        I think they likely to spend the winter on my terrace.

      2. 4 bins here in our bit of North Yorkshire
        Grey – general waste
        Brown – paper and cardboard
        Blue – Recycling (glass plastic metals)
        Green – garden waste

      3. What a fascinating conversation! It would be too easy I suppose for there to be a nationwide colour code but then again refuse in different Council areas is sorted differently. In Horsham, West Sussex all our bins are green but with different coloured lids – green for non-recyclable household waste, brown for garden waste (extra charge) and blue for all recyclables. Hazard when moving house to another area!

  12. I have a feeling, re 2d, that ‘bounds’ used be the term for the boundary of a town. Hence, we used to do walks which “ beat the bounds of” certain places.
    That was my reasoning anyway, Kath
    .

      1. I just can’t make that work. Bound/secured are both past participles (active or passive), whereas bound/border are both nouns……..
        I can’t see that you can “bound” something (active verb)….surely it would then be “bind”?
        Help! I need coffee now….

    1. Our bounds or boundaries were beaten into us on the annual beating the bounds walks. Not really beatings but gentle taps to let us know what was ours and what was not. Scraps and tussles with local lads was a punishable offence but we could murder any number of lads from outside our area with impunity

      1. Do you know where the term “bounder” meaning “cad” came from?
        I might be forced to look it up…….

    2. Yes, we used to have an annual walk where I lived in Cheshire to ‘beat the bounds’. A very jolly occasion with hip flasks galore!

  13. Another excellent puzzle and a **/**** for me. Nothing obscure except maybe last in 24d which was new to me too.
    7d has to be the outstanding clue ,not a word you often see in print, had to recount the letters!
    Liked 28a which I cannot recall seeing in a crossword and 20d .
    Thanks Kath for the picks as usual.

  14. Done this and the Toughie but the so called Quick crossword is defeating me! Perhaps now I’ve revealed the bad pun I’ll get on my way?

  15. Not too difficult but certainly not easy, especially the last couple. RayTs proclivity to stretch the synonym is welcomed by me now I have learned to step outside my literary comfort zone in order to fill his grids. Great fun all the way. Stumped by 24 down so thanks to Kath for that one. 25 down was the last one in as I couldn’t ‘let go’ of a yo-yo. Thanks to RayT as well.

    1. I had the virtual yo-yo in mind but not in the grid as I could not parse it, which doesn’t usually stop me

  16. North went straight in but South, particularly SW, proved a bit more troublesome. 24d new one on me. Not sure about discard for 25d. Took a while to parse 17d but then made it Fav. 1d foxed me for a bit due to plural sanction(s) but accept they can equal singular of the noun in the answer. Thank you RayT and Kath.

  17. Tricky in places but no less enjoyable for that. Having been an antiques dealer in my time, I knew 24d from when we had a stand at the Harrogate fair. There was a stand opposite us called Treen and Trivia. I loved 7d and 17d but 18d eluded me for ages for some reason. Like Kath, I stared at 25d for far too long.

    Many thanks, Ray T and also Kath for the hints.

  18. I enjoyed this puzzle a lot, two or three head scratchers and 25d last in – just couldn’t see the wood for the trees. Sadly find North Norfolk in Tier 2 which is ridiculous but I’d rather that than everyone having a free rein to do whatever they like just because its Christmas. Thanks to the setter and Kath.

  19. Almost a Monday puzzle on a Thursday, I didn’t know that Mr T had such a gentle side, completed at a fast gallop – **/****.
    Candidates for favourite – 23a, 5d, and 18d – and the winner is 23a.
    Thanks to Ray T and Kath.

  20. Well it must just be me then. Have just had a read through most of the comments & the consensus seems to be that’s it’s on the easy side for a Ray T. Certainly not for me – indeed the SE is currently a no go zone though the remainder is complete. Might have known things weren’t going to go well when I mentally trawled the tube network for a station beginning with S at 1a. On the plus side switched to the Toughie which I completed in less time than it took to do 75% of this so will resist the temptation to read Kath’s hints & go back to this later.
    Thanks all.

    1. The break did the trick though I did have the advantage of having read the answer to 24d in the comments so not really an unaided finish. Still made hard work of the SE. Not for the first time I took an age to see the 19a lurker & with only checkers 2&4 in tried to justify narcotic for 17d but when I did finally clock it was a homophone I think it made COTD for me. All in completion in just over ***** time & my biggest struggle with Mr T for quite some time.
      Many thanks to Ray T & to Kath who’s review I shall now read.

  21. Thoroughly enjoyed today’s puzzle. I’m giving it a 2*/4.5* – knocking off half a star for 2d, which I’m with Kath in thinking doesn’t work syntactically. Liked learning a new construction of a known word in 20d, but top clue for me was 7d. Thanks to setter and Kath.

  22. A similar experience to most. I raced through this and then crawled across the line with 25d my last one in. I was another one who was up and down like a yoyo for far too long.
    Fortunately the alternative ending for 18a never occurred to me!
    Very enjoyable. Thanks to Ray T and Kath.

  23. Nice crossword, beautifully clued. 2.5*/4* for me. My favourite was 21a, which raised a smile. LOI, 7d, likewise. As one who has taken to woodturning in retirement the term Treen was familiar to me. In the days before mass production and plastics there were many artisan woodturners, who handmade things like legs for furniture, spindles for banisters etc. They eked out a living making small wooden domestic objects, bowls, scoops, spoons etc and could make these things at an incredible rate, working with simple tools, entirely by eye and using English hardwoods, like beech and sycamore. They were sold locally and known generically as ‘Treen’. The derivation of the word is thought to have been ‘things made from trees’ i.e. wooden objects. Thanks to Kath and Ray T.

    1. We have a sycamore turned bowl dating from about 1840. It has a crack in it and this has been held together with large iron staples. The fact someone took the trouble to repair it shows it was valued by a previous owner.

  24. As others have said, the north went in very swiftly but the south called for a little more concentration. I knew 24d because we both love wood and I have a small collection of Treen, ring and needle holders, fruits etc. When we were newly married George used to go to Norfolk on business and would stay inCromer where he met a lovely furniture maker called Jack Grimble. It got so that every visit he came home with another piece of furniture one of which was a small chair adzed from the root of an oak tree. He said it was the hardest thing he had ever done. He went on to make marriage chests for us and our two daughters with initials carved on the front. Has anyone else heard of him? Anyway, thanks to Mr T and to Kath for the hints. Great fun.

    1. I typed as far as Jack Grimb before Google took over and finished off with le Cromer. Have a look for yourself DG

  25. I agree with Kath’s star ratings but it did have a bit of a sting in the tail for us. It took us ages to unravel the long anagram across the bottom, d’oh! Otherwise a bit of a RayT lite.

    Thanks to RayT and Kath.

  26. Damn, beaten by 24d.
    New word,
    But I lacked the wit to construct it from the clue.
    Which, of course, I should easily have done!
    Otherwise, an excellent puzzle, as usual with Ray T, of ** and a half for difficulty.
    Many thanks, and to Kath for the nicely illustrated review.

  27. I got off to a blinder, then came to a complete halt in the SE – needed the hints for a couple there. I was also wondering which plural form to use in 18a – I suppose both would be allowed?
    I do enjoy the brevity of Ray T’s clueing, so thanks to him, and to Kath for the helpful hints.

  28. 3/4. A really good puzzle with some excellent clues – 11a & 5d were my favourites. Thanks to Ray T and Kathy.

  29. Well this was no Thanksgiving Day present. I found it decidedly tougher than Jay yesterday, which I very much enjoyed. But then I can almost never get on Ray T’s wavelength. A handful went straight in, including 1a, but then I had to use the hints. 24a is a word used frequently on Antiques Roadshow, but 7d and 20d stumped me. Couldn’t make nepotism work and the answer was new to me. I bunged in 17d but still don’t understand it. I was positive that my 6d and 12a were both right, but they didn’t gel. Never mind, tomorrow’s another day. Thanks to Ray T for the challenge, and for the remarkable Kath who always comes through for us. Phew.

    1. BusyLizzie – 17d The definition is ‘pot’, as in something you cook things in rather than dope. You need two separate homophones. The first one is ‘watched’ or ‘observed’ – it’s the past tense of ‘see’. The second one is ‘range’ or ‘scope’. I hope that helps – I’m beginning to get addled now!!

  30. I’m very late today, due to a variety of ‘adventures’. This crossword was very enjoyable as the answers could be found by a simple reading of the clues with no knowledge of 5th century Turkish rulers required. The anagram at 28a took me a while to unravel, due to my spelling of 24d as ‘trene’ which was remarkably foolish of me.

    Thanks to Ray and lovely Kath.

  31. Late on parade today having been out for a pre-Christmas lunch with some friends – almost felt like being normal again although it was obviously a case of wearing masks until the food was served and having to fill in a form giving all our contact details. All in all, a little ray of sunshine – as indeed was this soft pedal offering from Mr T which I solved somewhere between shower, hair wash and putting on the ‘slap’.
    7d made me laugh out loud and it was joined on the podium by 17&25d. Always have a problem accepting 24d as a plural despite hearing it used regularly on Antiques Roadshow.

    Devotions to Mr T of course and many thanks to Kath for the review.

  32. Took all day to finish as I was interrupted so often but the actual time spent on it was quite short for a RayT.
    Hesitated too for the ending of 18a but apparently chose the right one.
    The saw span in 17d made me laugh.
    So did 7d.
    Thanks to RayT and to Kath.

  33. This puzzle was ok until I got to the SW corner when I just could not get 2 of the clues (beat me there) and nor could I figure out the parsing in the hints and I have never heard of the 24d word either.
    On the plus side, take a look at the synonyms available for the answer to 7d …. EVERY word that came up on my synonym site directly applies to that particular person … and not in a favourable way. But that is what I’ve come expect!!
    Clues for favourites 1a, 18a, 1a, 5d & 7d with WINNER being 7d and 5d runner up

    Thanks to Ray T and Kath

  34. I always struggle with RayT, so nothing new today. I did finish, with e-help word search for my last one, 17d, just couldn’t get past marijuana and none of the checkers worked! I also used an anagram solver for 28a, my brain was hurting by the time I came to that.
    I thought that the answer to 21a was a stretch for beetle – cancel that, just noticed “beetle has one”….
    My fave has to be 7d, no question.
    Thanks to RayT and much appreciation to Kath for unravelling so many, not least 3d.

  35. Late to the party but I really enjoyed the challenge **/**** for me, so my sense of forboding after yesterday was misplaced. However, I do take issue with the homophone at 17d. ….literally it should be SAW + PAN … so it can’t be a clue of the day as I feel it is flawed stretching diction to it’s extreme. I think 18 d and 25d are my stand outs. Thanks to Ray T and Kath. Is Friday to be the sting in the tail from what has been a really good week ?

    1. I really don’t ‘do’ ‘hmms’ but I’m going to make an exception here with your comment about 17d.
      The definition is ‘pot’ – the answer is ‘saucepan’. This is two homophones – the first one being one of watched (saw) and the second is range = span.

      1. Apologies – I give in.
        It isn’t two homophones – it’s one (for watched) followed by the ‘range’

  36. Still playing catch up after I restored my puzzle subscription and I had a similar experience as others – Flew through the north and ground to a crawl in the SE I too couldn’t let go of yoyo either and welcomed the debate re 10a as I dithered as to which bit was the definition and which bit was the homonym but plumped correctly.
    When the 1a anagram went in early doors and there were lots of 8 letter and 5 letter clues I was hoping for Homesick and Blues to appear. I liked 24d as I have a few pieces inherited from my 22d
    Thanks to Kath and RayT

    1. John, I’m still having a problem with them telling me I need to pay to play. How did you sort it out? I’m almost to the point of throwing my hands in the air! I thought I had it sorted today, I managed to get past the log in bit, and there were the puzzles, I actually got to click on a puzzle, but the dreaded sign came up that I have to register and pay.

      1. I bit the bullet and paid I checked what I paid when I first joined two years ago and when it renewed last year my subscription renewal was “cancelled by merchant” It appears I have been using the puzzle site for the past year without paying but this time it wouldn’t renew without paying.
        I have checked my bank statements and it is correct.
        My main gripe is that I am a digital and print subscriber to the paper which gets the dead tree delivered but not until I have left for work. if I had the digital app (android or iPad) you get the cryptic and the toughie for free but if you want to print it out you have to pay extra for the puzzles site access.
        I also get regular emails and surveys about the telegraph services and I always have a dig at their weird charging practices and they seem to have plans to even things out a bit. Don’t hold your breath!

        1. Do you have any recommendations what I should do? I subscribed on January 18, 2020, so it should take me to 2021. I paid another subscription about two weeks ago, when I decided to write off the remaining two months in the interest of getting my crossword fix. Alas, that never fixed anything and I asked for a refund for that sub, which they did refund. I tried logging on from my iPad as I’ve never used that for anything DT and was sure it wouldn’t have any gremlins, but it was the same. At this point I don’t know what to do, any ideas?

  37. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!
    I’ve just been reading all the comments through again and something has struck me.
    Here we all are on a brilliant crossword blog (thank you, BD) with a lovely not too tricky crossword by Ray T (thank you, Ray T) and what has been the subject of most of the comments today? Shall I tell you? It’s the bins that we put our rubbish in!! What colours they are – what we put in which colour in different parts of the country etc etc!
    I despair and blame lockdown for turning our brains to mush and leaving us, as human beings, into . . . well, I’m not quite sure what! :unsure:

    1. I’m fine with what goes in which bin, it’s just the question of which bins go out in any specific week. We all sneak out late at night to see what our neighbours have decided on – hilarious when we all get it wrong!

    2. I live in a block of flats; we have three Biffa (dumpsters for our friends across the pond) bins which some local builders see as a free disposal service (it’s about £360 a load at a commercial disposal site) – hence we have a choice of the full one, the full one, or the full one
      If we residents manage to fill up the bins with our rubbish, they either stack theirs on top or chuck it over the fence into the field behind
      Isn’t modern life a charm?

      As for the blog – I’m with you, Kath! :smile:

    3. I’m afraid I have to agree with Kath on the subject of the colour of bins. Mind you, there is no knowing where this blog will go.

  38. Really enjoyed this one but we always do with a RayT puzzle. 17d had us laughing out loud.
    Once again the maximum number of words in a clue was 7. The extravagant days of 8 being the maximum seem now to belong to the distant past.
    Thanks RayT and Kath.

  39. Well I had a grumble about the last Ray T puzzle, so I should say that I finished this one and really enjoyed it. 7d was a new word to me and it made me smile for obvious reasons, so that’ll be my clue of the day. Thanks to Kath for the hints, which were not required today and to Ray T for the puzzle.

  40. As with others I found this straightforward until I got to the SE corner, then it wasn’t. I persevered and got there in the end. Hard to pick a favourite but I’m going for the brilliantly disguised 17d. Didn’t have a problem with 24d and briefly “toyed” with yo-yo. Many thanks to Rayt and Kath.

  41. First time a bit of ‘Lego’ has defeated me in a while – I’d been trying to get ‘Veto’ to fit, but otherwise it was a very enjoyable and unproblematic solve. I alway enjoy RayT’s puzzles and this was no exception. Thank to both setter and Kath.

  42. Funnily enough I couldn’t do the SW corner.
    Can’t finish crosswords any more…
    Thanks Kath and Ray-T.

  43. Thanks to Ray T and to Kath for the review and hints. I enjoyed this one very much, but found it a bit tricky. Wondered if 18a ended in “ae” or “as”, I plumped for the former. I was completely beaten by 13a, I knew how the clue worked but just couldn’t think of the right synonym for “more mellow”. Also beaten by 24d, had no idea how the clue worked, and had never heard of the answer. Favourite was 7d. Was 3* / 4* for me.

  44. Was going to say that 25d was a real penny drop moment, but the comment editor link isn’t working.

  45. Oh dear – no sign of Mr T popping in. Have we upset him with all the talk about recycling bins………….

  46. This was a very good puzzle but I have to disagree with the view it was less tricky than yesterday’s which I thought was a dream solve – probably wavelength!!

  47. Morning all! Apologies for my tardiness but during the lockdown every day seems the same. Many thanks to Kath for the decryption and to everybody else for your comments.

    RayT

    1. Glad to see you, Mr T – I was getting worried! Thank you for an excellent puzzle – and thanks to Kath for the hints, which for once I didn’t need.

  48. Very enjoyable. Needed to look up 7d as new word. Chose the wrong 10a but otherwise pleased to do a midweek one. By the sounds of it glad I didn’t do Wednesdays – suspect I’d still be doing it! Looking forward to tomorrow’s …..

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