DT 29679

107 comments on “DT 29679”

1. 2*/4.5*. This was another top-notch Wednesday puzzle which all came together smoothly. I would have awarded 5* for enjoyment except for 22a, for which the definition should be “becoming out of date”.

   The setter (Jay?) has very cleverly clued the four three-letter answers. It must be quite a challenge to avoid these being too obvious.

   My top three were 12a, 3d and 18d, the last one of which was my final answer in. I thought it must be an anagram, but it took me ages to unravel it.

   Many thanks to the setter and to the 2Ks.

   1. Re 22a…I think out of date can be obsolete or the solution RD depending on how out of date it is!

   2. Re 18d – unless I’m going doolally (entirely possible/probable) it is an anagram isn’t it?

      1. Ignore that RD – misread your comment

   3. RD, 22a. I do agree with you (and Senf, below). But, purely to be fair to the setter, the primary definition in the BRB is “going out of use or out of date”. And with a quick glance it might not be obvious that the “going” relates to both elements of the sentence. Also, Collins Online Thesaurus does list “out of date” as a synonym of the answer.

      1. Jose, I am glad we agree. That means we are both right!

         I am sure as an avid reader of the BRB, like me, you know that, when there are two separate definitions, the convention is they are separated by a semi-colon to avoid any ambiguity, so, if “going” was not meant to apply to “out of date”, the entry would appear as: “going out of use; out of date” . Interestingly Collins Online Dictionary adopts a similar approach to Chambers in defining “obsolescent” as “becoming obsolete or out of date” where “becoming” applies to both “obsolete” and “out of date”. I have noticed that Collins Thesaurus does not always align with Collins Dictionary and I would always consider the Dictionary to take precedence over the Thesaurus.

         P.S. I have had to type this a second time as my first attempt was blocked by a “bot” presumably because I used a forbidden 5-letter synonym for to “take precedence over” which is a regular part of the vocabulary of bridge players!

         1. I think I was probably that bot! At a time when certain commenters were becoming very boring by criticising an ex-President of the USA on a daily basis, I added his name to the “forbidden” word list.

            1. That would have been me! Still hate him.

               1. Your comment went into moderation because you used what I assume is your full name as your alias. I’ve changed it to your usual Merusa, but if you intended to use a new alias let me know and I’ll change it back.

                  1. Sorry, Gazza. That information dropped out and I stupidly put my name. I know I’m getting old, but however long I live, I’m never going to understand the computer business. Why do things just drop out? Thank you for tidying that up for me.

            2. That would have been about the time I took a sabbatical from the blog, as I (still smarting from the potshot) so clearly recall. I remain a true patriot and bitterly opposed to anyone or any party that tries to subvert the American Way.

      2. Not just Collins Online, so do several others Jose so it’s near enough for me.

         1. I am with the pedants on this one. It is definitely going out of date not out of date. Reminds me of a long ago Latin lesson where my teacher told us to watch out for “sc” in the middle of English words which indicates a state of change or becoming (to do with the Latin root). It’s what makes crepuscular (becoming dark) such a wonderful word. And what confirms for me without reference to any dictionary that obsolete and obsolescent are definitely not the same thing!

            1. I don’t put much store by what Collins says anyway.

2. I thought this was great, a real pleasure to tease out and parse….but was it Jay?. I’m not so sure. Certainly not my fastest recent solve but one of my most enjoyable.
   20d a new word and my LOI but with all the checkers and sympathetic wordplay it was gettable.
   In a strong field I’ve put 14,17 &19a on my podium
   3/4.5*
   Many thanks to the setter and the 2Ks for the top notch entertainment

3. There were some rather quirky clues in this one (2.5*/3*). Somehow I now have a mental picture of a delivery man with the face of Jesus as depicted in my bible. I suppose it works in 8d, when you consider the number of hymns, which use the term ‘Deliverer’ for the Almighty. I quite liked 1a and the anagram in 27a. However my clues of the day are the geographical ones, 16d and 17a thanks to the compiler and to the Kiwis for help with parsing 3d

4. Trickier than usual for a Wednesday. ***/**** I think it is Jay puzzle, Stephen L. It has all the hallmarks of his constructions. We’ll possibly find out that I’m completely wrong later! 3d favourite. Thanks to all.

5. Found a number of clues needed more than usual teasing out for Wednesday when I suddenly realised how long I had been puzzling. Took just over my *** time but found it absorbing and fun.
   Like RD took a long time to see 18d even though I knew it was an anagram but my COTD is 1a. 3d took 3rd for me.
   Thank you to setter and the 2Ks for the review. Given his problems I wonder if Terence’s cat flap will let in the cat in the illustration for 26a!

6. A cracker of a puzzle to crack. At first glance I thought this would take much longer than it did, once I’d got started in the SE. Somewhat more challenging than most recent mid-week back-pagers, but immensely satisfying and very enjoyable.

   18d my LOI. 1a made me laugh, and there were too many other great clues with ticks alongside afterwards to list them all here. My COTD, by a whisker, probably 12a.

   Great crossword. Thank you so much to the setter, and to the 2Ks.

   2.5*/4*

   MG

7. As I said last Wednesday, I am sort of confident that this very enjoyable puzzle was by Jay, or a Jay impersonator – 2.5*/4.5*.

   Candidates for favourite 1a, 22a – although I agree with RD that the answer is ‘becoming out of date’, 1d, and 2d – and the winner is 1a.

   Thanks to Jay(?) and the 2Kiwis.

8. TGI…Jayday, I think, though one or two clues do seem a bit un-Jayish (22a, as R.D. above notes, and the crypto-amusing 8d). Still, I loved it. From the top 1a to the bottom 27a, ending with one of the Bard’s great late-plays (a brilliant production of which I saw at the National about 20 years ago, with Perdita still frozen in my memory), this is a master class in word and thought mastery. Especially liked the fhree-letter clues, but my podiium consists of 12a, 9a, and 18d, though just about any other threesome would do, really. Thanks to the Kiwis and to Jay. 2* / 4.5*.

   1. Ouch, that was tough. Too tough for me, and I needed a lot of help with 1a and hints on a couple of others to get me to the end.****/**. Thanks all. 18d cotd took me ages to get for an obvious anagram. Not heard of 20d so will try and store that in the grey cells.

   2. Have never seen or read it Robert & only know it for the stage direction ‘exit pursued by a bear’ which I remember was answered correctly by the lady who was the first person, I think, to win the jackpot on the quiz show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire but she did phone a friend. Her question for the million was who was Eleanor of Aquitaine married to. Unfortunately Peter O’Toole wasn’t one of the options & whilst I was 99% sure it was Henry11 I’m not sure I’d have had the bottle to risk 468k if it wasn’t.

      1. Judith Keppel

9. Finished this after the Toughie which is doable. My nemesis is the Quickie where I’m stuck in the NE corner.
   My COTD for this puzzle is 27a as I have fond memories of seeing Judi Dench playing both Hermione and Perdita in a NT production years ago. I like a walk down Memory Lane as, it seems, does Robert Clark!

   1. I studied the play for A level and remember my favourite stage direction for Antigonus; ‘Exit, pursued by a bear’. I have a box set of CD’s of BBC productions, including the Judy Dench version.

      1. Curiously, so did I. Alongside Othello. I’m not going to ask you what year, don’t worry. Suffice to say, a long time ago.

         1. We also studied Antony and Cleopatra, together with Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (Prologue and Pardoner’s Tale) and one work from each of the centuries following the 16th. To give you a clue, the whole class went to a West End cinema to,watch the ‘new’ movie with Liz Taylor and Richard Burton as ‘background’.

            1. Prologue and the clerk’s tale. To the lighthouse,which has got to be one of her most dismal novels and for light relief, DH Lawrence poetry which I still like.

            2. My friends and I queued up outside St James’ theatre to see Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh!

      2. The statue of Hermione coming to life is absolutely one of the greatest moments in all of Shakespeare; it always sends chills down me.

         1. I cannot get past ‘I have drank and seen the spider’

            1. Isn’t that an old Hurricane Higgins quote?

               1. If it isn’t, it should be!

               2. I won a pint of Guinness off Alex Higgins and he offered me £100 for my cue back in 1973

                  1. I threw him out of a betting shop in Notting Hill. Great snooker player but a nasty piece of work with a drink in him.

                     1. He did get worse as the night went on into the early hours. I saw The Rolling Stones the next night. A much better experience

                        

                     2. Completely agree, Huntsman. He used to live in the same village as we did in Cheshire and none of the pubs and restaurants wanted his custom.

                     3. Agree – he used to frequent the White Hart in Dene St, Dorking along with Jimmy White & Ollie Reed (who lived at Broome Hall, Coldharbour) occasionally, usually coked up to the eyeballs and very aggressive. He wasn’t even that good at snooker, his cueing technique was as pitiful as his temperament

                        1. Alex Higgins, Jimmy White and Oliver Reed drinking together – mind boggling. Good for pub profits as long as they didn’t trash the joint.

10. Another day when I did a Devon Loch. The combination of 6d & 10a was my downfall. Why do clues have an expectation that we know more about wine than beer – the traditional British drink! Other than those, I had it completed in ** time. The parsing of 17a was took me ages, but I got there in the end.

    Many thanks to the compiler and the 2 Ks.

11. A very helpful grid pattern got me over the line. I really struggled to begin with as nothing was dropping. It might be helpful if I systematically went through all the clues as would have got 6d and 7d early on rather than near the end. The two three word anagrams took a little more time than usual. I was surprised that I had completed it in forty minutes as it felt much harder. The chicken was a great help! Last to solve the Bonkers wine. Lots of clean clues COTD as it gave the most satisfaction when solved was the Chicken! Cheers Kiwis and the setter.

12. I’m sorry but I am going to buck the trend here. I did not get on with this one at all. Perhaps my brain has decided to sleep. In the end I gave in and looked at the hints.

    Thank you to the setter and to the 2 Kiwis for the hints, which were received with gratitude.

    1. Don’t worry Steve, you’re not alone! I’m with you…

13. This was a bit of a tussle particularly with the perimeter long uns although come to think of it all four should have been obvious. 6d slander didn’t occur ro me so it was a bung-in. Surely 13d are bookkeepers rather than makers and just city for 17a and Luton as lead in 23a are a bit unfocused. Favs 18d and 21d. Thank you Jay (?) and 2Kiwis.

    1. They used to be known as turf accountants. When I was a young child I always wondered why you’d need to go unto a shop to buy grass. I knew nothing of betting shops!

       1. So I stand corrected Greta and embarrassingly think I was aware of that fact.

          1. They were a mystery to me too.

       2. There’s a warehouse in Dove Holes, near Buxton, where you can buy grass – it’s called No Mow.

          * Artificial, obviously…

14. 8d took a while because, despite having ear-marked the anagram fodder, I couldn’t get the idea out of my head that I was looking for an exaggerated fear! Also took me a little time to register the 6d slander.
    Several contenders for the top spot but I think 12a just has the edge.

    Thanks to Jay and to our 2Ks for the review.

15. Miles off the pace today. Lack of general knowledge held me back in a few more places than usual. Did at least know the mapmaker but not the hen, the expression, the place in Germany or (whisper it) the play. Too many blanks to be able to reverse engineer much, so a sad end to a good run of solves.

16. 14a. Surely uniform is wearing, not worn by, old fool?

    1. The uniform’s worn because the old fool’s been wearing it too much!

    2. No U is in the middle of old fool therefore being worn by him. That’s how I read it.

       1. Absolutely, WW!

17. Late to the game as I was off having my second jab (hooray). No side effects per se as I rattled through this enjoyable puzzle. Thanks to the 2Ks and today’s setter.

18. Is this a Jay? It doesn’t feel like a Jay. Like Steve Cowling I found this hard going, and I needed a couple of hints.

    Very fortunate last night to have been amongst the few invited to Stamford Bridge to see Chelsea beat Leicester 2-1, in our bid to secure Champions League football for next season. Terrific game and with a players/subs/coaches melee towards the end to add to the drama.

    Today’s crossword soundtrack: Pat Metheny – One Quiet Night

    Thanks to the setter and the 2Ks.

    

    1. Proper handbags that was.. waste of energy

       1. 

          1. We won the big one though. 😁

             1. I’m assuming you’d take the FA Cup over top four if it was a choice between the 2. I wonder if Brendan & the chairman would too. As a Sky Blues follower 87 is about the only thing we have to hold on to & what a great final it was.

                1. I’ll take anything that we haven’t won before. There is still a good chance of European football of some description. We’re punching above our weight. ⚽️

    2. I enjoyed the match too, the fisticuffs at the end made me smile.
       I had no problems with the right hand side today but the left side was beyond me, which proves I’m not a west End girl.

19. Excellent puzzle today 3*/4* for me. 26A & 3D were my favourites; thanks to setter

20. A very international offering today, for which I was lucky enough to be on the wavelength. The 3-lettered clues held me up slightly.

    I remember landing in Edmonton late at night after Christmas about 25 years ago. We had already changed planes in Toronto and then there was an air-rage incident and police came on to arrest someone……. Four of us, including two grumpy teenagers, winter clothing, skis and boots couldn’t get all our stuff into the vehicle we’d hired, so we ended up with a ropey-looking long wide estate car. We gaped – it was snowing, (well obviously) and we had an onward drive to Jasper. But weirdly, that car kept us going for a couple of weeks. I still don’t know how it stayed on the road, including the Icefields Parkway, considering we had to keep stopping for elk, which wander ad lib. Perhaps some Canadian posters could explain? It now reminds me of those police cruisers in Fargo ….. is it the weight or winter tyres?

    Thanks to the setter and the Kiwis.

    1. Those early 90s estate cars were commonly referred to as land yachts. They can probably be considered the predecessors of what we now have and are called minivans. Essentially, as a family car they were called Mum’s Taxi used for carrying the kids ‘everywhere’ and to ‘everything’ in terms of youth activities.

       I doubt that the rental car company went as far as installing winter tyres on its cars. More likely a function of the weight, the wheel base, and the width of the car.

       1. Oh thanks, Senf.
          We sort of assumed it was about the weight and the low centre of gravity …

21. Both today’s Cryptic and Toughie were a delight to solve. Good fun all the way and just right for the midweek slot. Not a fag paper between them either. Thanks to the setter today and to The 2 Kiwis for their review. The sun is shining. I’m off for a pint

    1. I hope you noticed, according to to the Evening Standard, we need to drink 124 pints each to assist our pubs. It doesn’t say much for my parenting skills that none of my children regard this as any kind of difficulty. Worse, they say, “ Is that all?”

       1. I’m giving it my best shot Greta

22. I redeemed my poor attempt at today’s cryptic by completing eXternal in The Independent.

    1. 😎

       1. I thought it might be your good self, proXimal. Thank you for restoring my faith in my ability to solve crpytics!

       2. I rather like you in your Indy guise – most enjoyable, thank you.

          1. Hear! Hear!

       3. Yesterday’s was a horror

23. Thoroughly enjoyed this one even though most of them took real effort to drag out. Mrs 2P gets the nod for the theatre offering.
    Sorry but I don’t get 23a, maybe a gap in my knowledge.
    Thanks to the setter and the 2Kiwis

    1. I sympathise Jimmy2 – see my comment in 13 above. In fact one merely has to work on what Luton is an example of – not very clever.!

       1. Glad I am not alone.

24. Really enjoyed this – although rather a high level of GK, I thought it was clued very fairly. I resisted the urge to google the chicken and got my reward when the penny finally dropped once I had most of the checkers. That along with 3d were my last in, and on that basis I will give them joint COTD.
    Thanks to the setter and the Kiwis

25. Late to this having played golf atrociously but in beautiful sunshine so who cares. I’d risk a few bob that this was a Jay production & I thought it was a cracker & certainly tricky in places. No real favourites just quality clues throughout & a real pleasure to solve.
    Thanks to the setter (Jay) & the 2Ks.

26. 18d got the biggest laugh today and is my COTD. No real problems, just a steady solve working through the grid. I thought the clue mix and the overall quality was of a very high standard, and I hope it was a Jay production, so to him many thanks and to the 2Ks. Very enjoyable.

27. Well, if this is a Jay puzzle I found it extremely do-able compared to the last couple of Wednesday offerings. Managed to complete this on a finally calm and sunny Tuesday evening. 1.5*/***** for me.
    Lots of great clues including the long perimeter ones. Liked all of them as they were well clued, and of course helped the inside of the puzzle. COTD include the 4 perimeter ones and 10a, 15a, 3d & 16d with winners 1d & 27a

    Brilliant puzzle today IMHO

    Thanks to the 3 birds today.

28. I’m floored!! The most beautiful bouquet of gorgeous flowers arrived today from all my favourite peeps! Thank you, I love you all. I took I took a pic but I I’m having a little lapse today, and I can’t remember how to send the pic. Love you all.

    1. How wonderful!

29. Trickyish but finished in the end. Took a while to get 1a. Gorgeous day here in Norfolk and have just planted my tomatoes out and have attempted to barricade them against the 5 muntjac. The squirrels have rummaged in my leek seedlings again but all is fine and dandy. Fascinating zoom lecture yesterday on the Fall of the Roman Empire – did you know that the Huns kept their steaks under their saddles to tenderise them? Nifty idea hey! Bought some steak today from the butcher and am now sitting on it – OK not really. Thanks to the 2 Kiwis.

    1. Zoom lecture. Are you by any chance an AS/NADFAS member? One of the few advantages of Covid is the ability to enjoy these lectures even as, I am often, away from home.

30. I found this on the tricky side (no wonder ProXimal 😬) needed assistance from the 2xKs 😳 with 8d even though I knew it was an anagram! ****/**** Favourites 1, 9 & 26a. Thanks to the 2 x Ks and to ProXimal 🤗

    1. I think proXimal was referring to his appearance as eXternal in today’s Independent, Jaylegs – it was a reply to Steve C’s comment.

    2. Jane is right, Jaylegs. I didn’t get on with Jay’s offering today so I tried eXternal in the Indy. I managed to finish it and it restored my faith in my solving abilities after failing miserably today. I am no setter spotter but I wondered if the capital X in eXternal meant it could be proXimal. He kindly indicated that it was, indeed, he.
       I’m sorry for causing confusion.

31. Just popping in to say hello, and remove any doubt about who set these past few weeks – they were indeed all my crosswords!
    Many thanks to all for your comments, eagerly read, as always
    J

    1. Nice of you to drop in, Jay. Many thanks for entertaining us so royally on Wednesdays.

    2. Well there’s a first – successive winning punts. Where do I collect my winnings?
       Last 2 weeks super even by your lofty standards.

    3. Good of you to call in, Jay. I think we’ve all got a little wary of attributing specific puzzles to you since Mr Ed commented that you’d be taking the occasional Wednesday break. Just goes to show that none of us is that competent when it comes to setter spotting!

    4. Thanks for dropping in, Jay. You totally beat me today but that is my problem. Once I looked at the hints I realised your clueing was spot on as usual. I just wasn’t on your wavelength today. If there is such a thing as “being on wavelength”. Personally, I think it is just an excuse to say we haven’t a clue what a cryptic crossword is all about.

       I hope to be back on your “wavelength” next week.

    5. I certainly am glad that you joined us today, Jay. Now I can add what I was tempted to include in my earlier comment: today, you were my therapist. I have been feeling rather rotten for a number of days–old age getting me down–but for the duration of working your brilliant puzzle last night, I forgot all about my pains and felt like a youngster on a spree again. I love your puzzles, and thanks for the spree you sent me on, once again. You da man.

    6. Thoroughly enjoyed – very many thanks! 👍👍👍

    7. Extra special one today, thank you.

32. Sorry Jay but I found this a bit of a stinker! Too much specific general knowledge (excuse the tautology!) for me with the chickens, city, map makers, sailor terminology, the play etc and too much “mostly” business going on and I took exception to my first one in (22a) on the definition front. Everyone else seemed to enjoy it though so looks like I’m an outlier! Thanks tip masters, I really needed you today.

    1. I think “a bit of a stinker” is a gross understatement Boatlady. Wavelength is the popular term for a failure to progress in a puzzle. Unfortunately my receivers only produced static and disruption and at one point with few clues solved I thought I might not even bother to look at the blog. In the end I obviously did but this only confirmed that I play on a very small local village team and this puzzle seemed to be international class. One day I might make the district team.

33. Needed to consult my list of idioms to get 1d and it really helped getting 1a which I suddenly remembered.
    Not the easiest solve but very enjoyable.
    Liked the charade in 12a. I really like charades.
    26a made me laugh.
    Thanks to Jay and to 2 kiwis for the review.

34. Morning all.
    Rather a mixed bag of comments this week and congratulations to those who correctly picked that it was our regular setter. Admit that we had some doubts so carefully avoided any setter references in the blog. Thanks for popping in Jay and perhaps you might let us know if there is any significance in the V-less pangram in the Quickie.
    Cheers.

    1. I think maybe just an accidental near-pangram! I hadn’t realised! belated thankyous for the comprehensive analysis of my puzzles. Hope your weather improves – after a dry April, we’re getting a soggy May!

35. I too was in the stinker club, before I went off to the garden center to pick up some summer annuals for my pots. It was such a joy to wander around the plants sans mask. Came home over lunch, and bingo. Almost all the gaps filled in one after another. Did need help with the map man, but at least 1a was one of the few chicken names I knew. I will rest on my laurels now, having never rested on my oars… Thanks to the setter (didn’t seem like Jay?), and to 2Kiwis.

36. I’m in the “1a was my first in” camp this evening. “I’m on a roll here” I thought and raced away solving one after another until I didn’t. I stuck at it and on completion I couldn’t see what the problem was. Good crossword. Favourite was 10a because to took so long to parse it. Thanks to Jay and 2 K’s.

37. Very late commenting ….busy day yesterday.
    Enjoyed this crossword very much and wondered if it was Jay…..which it is!
    Tricky but satisfying.

    Thanks to Jay and the 2 Kiwis

38. 3*/3*…..
    amused by the porcine propagator in 25D

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