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DT 29775

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29775

Hints and tips by 2Kiwis

BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment ****

Kia ora from Aotearoa.

We’re having a busy day. Started off with an early hearing clinic appointment and then lots of messages and interruptions as it is settlement day for a rental property which we sold recently. Still managed to find time to fit in the solving and blogging duties though.
We were sailing along quite nicely until we encountered stormy conditions in the SE which slowed us down considerably.

Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.

Across

1a     Entertaining transport supremo? (7)
BUSKING : A large road vehicle for moving people and then a supremo or ruler.

5a     Policeman keeping hot butcher’s requirement (7)
CHOPPER : A slang word for a policeman contains H(ot).

9a     Drew, being caught by reversal of offside rule (5)
LURED : A reverse lurker, hiding in the clue.

10a     Regularly pull in cheers for egg production (9)
OVULATION : Cheers or applause contains the second and fourth letters of pull.
.
11a     Superiority of former monk’s accommodation in French church (10)
EXCELLENCE : The prefix for former, then the small room occupied by a monk, the French word for ‘in’ and the Anglican Church.

12a     Footbridge? (4)
ARCH : The possible shape of a footbridge which is also a part of the foot.

14a     Baby walker may see trouble with a ramp being moved (12)
PERAMBULATOR : An anagram (being moved) of TROUBLE and A RAMP.

18a     Internet facility that could produce Chinese anger (6,6)
SEARCH ENGINE : An anagram (could produce) of CHINESE ANGER.

21a     To mum it’s nonsense (4)
TOSH : ‘To’ from the clue and then mum or an instruction to be silent.

22a     Straining, prepared to cover student allowance (10)
FILTRATION : A three letter word meaning prepared or capable contains the student driver letter. This is followed by an allowance or allocation.

25a     Working out final account (9)
RECKONING : A double definition.

26a     Mum’s mum wearing that is ridiculous (5)
INANE : A familiar name that people use for one’s mum’s mum is surrounded by (wearing) the abbreviation for the Latin phrase meaning ‘that is’.

27a     Minor charges may be admitted in such places (7)
CRECHES : A cryptic definition. These ‘minor charges’ are young people.

28a     Narrow strips of cloth used to cover athletes? (7)
RUNNERS : These narrow strips of cloth might be found on a table. The carpet ones might be on stairways.

Down

1d     Invoice occasionally sent for accommodation (6)
BILLET : Another name for an invoice is followed by the second and fourth letters of sent.

2d     Tidy growth in forestry (6)
SPRUCE : A double definition. The picture will give you forestry growth.

3d     Pardon clue ending in chaos (10)
INDULGENCE : An anagram (in chaos) of CLUE ENDING.

4d     Leave nothing outside of stove that could be cooked (5)
GOOSE : A two letter word for leave or depart, then the letter signifying nothing and the first and last letters of stove.

5d     Eggs on reserve in handy container (6,3)
CLUTCH BAG : A collective noun for a number of eggs, and then reserve or make claim to.

6d     Country gent depressed by love (4)
OMAN : The tennis score love and another word for a gent.

7d     Religious office putting pressure on port tariff (8)
PRIORATE : Start with P(ressure) then a South American port and a tariff or charge.

8d     Managed with spirit, and didn’t have enough! (3,5)
RAN SHORT : A three letter word meaning managed and then a barroom expression for a drink of spirits.

13d     Organize people with time for new estate (10)
PLANTATION : Organize or design and then a word for people or race has its initial N(ew) changed to T(ime).

15d     Drinks supplied by ace flying Spitfire (9)
APERITIFS : The letter used to signify ace and then an anagram (flying) of SPITFIRE.

16d     Inscrutable European Community should welcome reformed Tories (8)
ESOTERIC : The two letters for European Community surround an anagram (reformed) of TORIES.

17d     Service engineers must cover bill for butcher (8)
MASSACRE : A church service and army engineers surround a two letter abbreviation for a bill or invoice.

19d     Space station on time — that’s an illusion (6)
MIRAGE : The famous space station launched by the Soviet Union, plus a long time.

20d     King understood revolutionary crossing line shows respect (6)
KNEELS : Start with the chess abbreviation for king, then a reversal of a word meaning understood or perceived contains L(ine).

23d     Cat may see row about golf (5)
TIGER : The letter represented by golf in the phonetic alphabet is inside a row or rank.

24d     Opening without uniform for flier (4)
MOTH : Remove U(niform) from an opening that might be a facial feature.

Our favourite today is 22a which caused so much head-scratching.

Quickie pun    wooden    +    Juneau     =     wouldn’t you know

68 comments on “DT 29775

  1. I didn’t find this much of a challenge, but couldn’t finish it. I had the whole grid filled and all clues parsed in ** time – except 22a. I was convinced it was an anagram (Prepared) of Straining with an extra L, and the checkers would allow for it. Pity was, I had to use a few electrons to find out the true answer.

    My vote for COTD is 10a.

    Many thanks to the setter and the 2 Ks.

    1. Me too on the anagram and the resort to electrons to prove me wrong. I liked 10a too and 4d. I never know who the setter is but it had a female tenor to it which made me think how much the words and cryptic “world” are framed and how rarely words like creche parambulator and ovulation turn up.

    2. Yup. It had us too! And I have to confess it was George who suddenly produced the answer (his mind is usually on other things!)

      1. And me. I did get there without help but only after a doze. Fitting S R N G and L between the checkers just didn’t work.

    3. 22a was my last one in also although I managed to figure it out eventually. I didn’t help myself by misspelling 15d with an A in the crucial spot – once I noticed my error 22a fell into place. I made a total meal of this puzzle, hence it took me a week to finish. This particular sheet of paper has accompanied me on the train to not one but two US Open tennis finals and is now looking very worse (or should that be worst) for wear. My COTD include 5a, 11a, 14a, 15d. 26a seems so very English. I never hear that word for mum’s mum over here in NYC. 5*/4* Thanks to the setter and to the 2Ks.

  2. Enjoyable but quite tricky I thought – thanks to the setter and the 2Ks.

    There seems to be a theme about aircraft with 2d/4d, 23d/24d and 19d as well as the mention of Spitfire in 15d. I’ve probably missed some.

    My favourite clue was 17d.

  3. I thought this was a very fine puzzle that I’m guessing was from our regular Wednesday maestro. A nice steady solve for me after a slowish start which seems to be the norm with Jay, but I could be wrong!
    In a very strong field I’ve allocated ticks to 5a (as it made me laugh) 22&25a plus 4d.
    2/4.5*
    Many thanks to the setter and the 2Ks.

  4. I thought thiS was the most entertaining Wednesday crossword for a while (2*/5*). Although there were a fair number of straightforward clues, thee were some intriguing challenges and some super anagrams. I liked 14a, such a lovely old-fashioned word and 15d, a very witty clue but COTD for me was 22a with its splendidly framed misdirection. Thanks to the Kiwis for the hints and to the compiler.

  5. Proper job! Great mid-week coffee-break puzzle. Witty, amusing, and with sufficient red herrings to nicely set off a fishmonger’s display.

    Could have had an awful lot of clues on the Honours Podium today, but will limit to 4d, 27a, 8d and 18a (am almost surprised that the DT are prepared to allow that one to appear, it’s so wonderfully pointed), with COTD for me the excellent yet simple 12a.

    1.5* / 4*

    Many thanks to the Setter and to the 2Ks.

  6. 2*/5*. Brilliant from start to finish with too many good clues to try to single out any of them.

    Many thanks to, I assume, Jay and to the 2Ks.

  7. Great puzzle but why Oh why did I spend so much time trying to find an anagram of the first word plus a letter in the 22a clue?
    Pushed me well into *** time until the penny resoundingly dropped.
    Otherwise, all very satisfying.
    Many thanks to the setter and to the 2Kiwis.

  8. Excellent, excellent, excellent. A first class puzzle full of fun, misdirection and clever clueing. So many superb clues but I will pick 22a as my favourite. An honourable mention too for he excruciating Quickie pun.

    Thanks to Jay and the 2 Ks.

  9. Like Malcolm I too wasted time trying to work out an anagram of straining plus L at 22a but thankfully the penny did drop before too long. Otherwise I found it a largely straightforward solve & all parsed ok though I did feel the need to confirm the exact meaning of 7d after completion. All very enjoyable & guess his trademark letter sub clue at 13d suggests it’s a Jay production. 4d was my favourite clue from many good ‘uns & thought the Quickie pun great as well.
    Thanks to Jay & 2Ks.

  10. I also thought 22a tricky for some reason and that just pushed me into *** time. Otherwise it all fell into place and my COTD was 22a because I spent a while trying to fit ma in and smiled when the penny dropped. Thanks to the 2K’s and the setter.

  11. Very enjoyable whilst it lasted. 1a was my favourite.

    Thanks to today’s setter and the 2Ks.

    p.s. the Toughie is very good and quite friendly today.

  12. A very good start by going up the Downs, which had me thinking Jay, and then it got tricky, which had me thinking not Jay – ***/****.

    Candidates for favourite – 10a, 21a, 27a, 4d, and 8d – and the winner is 8d.

    Thanks to Jay(?) and the 2Ks.

  13. Got blinkered looking for anagram for 22a, learned a new word with 7d, a lot of good clues but think 4d just edged it.

    Thanks for the hints and to the setter.

  14. 22a was my downfall – like others, I thought it an anagram. I must remember the various aliases for the last part of the answer!

    Otherwise a steady solve with many good clues. I especially liked 4d but my COTD is 20d.

    Many thanks to the setter (Jay?) for the puzzle and to the 2Kiwis for the hints.

  15. Like many of us, I spent forever and a day figuring out an anagram for 22a. However 18a is my clue of the day. Overall I found this quite tricky but enjoyable.

    Today’s crossword soundtrack: Donald Fagen – The Nightfly (Live) <-superb!

    Thanks to the setter and the 2Ks

    1. Thanks for alerting me to this T. I see the full album is released on the 1st October & The Steely Dan band as they now call themselves performed it in track order in 2019. Am pleasantly surprised DF’s vocals are so good because I’ve heard some pretty ropey singing from him & feared his voice had gone.
      Such a truly great album.

  16. No real problems today but 2Kiwis’ storm in the SE delayed me a bit too. 7d added to my vocabulary for possible future reference. Altogether a fun exercise with no particular Fav(s). Thank you Jay and the 2Kiwis.

  17. Found parts of this very tricky indeed. I needed several visits to the excellent hints to finish this one. Too hard for me I’m afraid.
    The parts I understood I enjoyed, as for the rest…….
    Thx for the much needed hints
    ****/**

  18. Other than 22a I got along OK but came down with a bump suckered by the really neat misdirection.
    Go for 14a as COTD, as it brought back memories of the Silver Cross my father bought for our first.
    Thanks to setter & the 2Ks. Hope the hearing tests went well & corrective devices not required.

      1. Me too, one ear almost no hearing with nothing high pitched registering even with the aid Can’t appreciate music any more especially orchestral recorded in stereo. Also speech in noise is so useless even the audiologist says buying the expensive aids would be a waste of money.

        1. I too have worn aids since for HF deafness since1980. Those early aids were not much use as they amplified the whole frequency range so that low frequency blew my head off if I set them to hear HF which covers a lot of speech. My latest free NHS computer tuned aids are absolutely superb.

  19. A great puzzle, which sadly I didn’t finish without help from Google, the Kiwis, and good guesswork. It has all the chicanery of a crackerjack Jay puzzle. My brain seems to have taken leave of its senses since my week away although I did manage to finish the Toughie last night completely on my own. 22a was my principal undoing but I struggled elsewhere as well. Ah well, thanks to the Kiwis and today’s wily setter. *****/ ****

  20. Sparkling crossword, so much to like – 1and 22a and 1,4 and 17d got a star. So hot here today that I think I am going to lie down in the garden and lap up some sunshine as ‘they’ reckon it is going to disappear soon. There is a beautiful dragonfly darting round the garden, we have three bird baths around the place but surely that is not enough to lure it. It’s a bit like my mystery frog which has now left me, before I could catch it and give it a kiss!
    Thanks to the setter and the 2K’s who explained 5d to me.

  21. I was ridiculously slow to spot the 9a lurker and thereby justify my answer but then all went well until I hit the SE maze of 22a & 20d which pushed up my solving time considerably. Not to worry as I was also involved in a Skype ‘dancing’ session with 14 month old granddaughter which kept me chuckling throughout!
    Top marks went to 1&27a plus 5d and the Quickie pun.

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

  22. Another nice crossword with a nice mix of clues giving me a hat trick so far this week 😃 ***/**** Favourites 10 & 21a and 17d👍 Thanks to the 2xKs, who despite their busy day managed to fit the blog in, and of course to Jay 🤗 Thanks to Gazza for pointing out the aircraft theme, I had noted them apart from the Flying Boat

  23. I didn’t get to the crossword yesterday, had a cardiology appointment for my pacemaker check and a new aide to break in, plus my ride forgot and didn’t show. It all sorted eventually, pacemaker working fine and doing its job well, all tikai babu.
    I loved today’s offering, loads of fun. It took a while to get on wavelength which made me doubt Jay, but once I got there it all fell into place, sans 22a, I needed e-help for that one. I found south to be friendlier than north. I think fave is 5d, but there was a lot to like.
    Thank you Jay, if it was you, and the 2Kiwis for the hints and pics.

    1. Merusa , aren’t hospital appointments fun🥴, glad yours got sorted ok in the end. My spell checker keeps changing your name to medusa, does it know something I don’t 😂

      1. Yup, no one told me that getting old would be such hard work getting to and from doctors. I was lucky to be so healthy I didn’t need to visit them very much. So much easier when I could drive myself, in charge of my own destiny so to speak! No complaints, I’m still here!

        1. We’re like old cars, the older we get the more often we need a check up. And hopefully one not needing any spare parts 😊.

      2. Merusa is a makeup from the first letters of my fave labs – Megan, Rufus and Sadie; yellow, chocolate and black in that order. Sadie is still with us and will be 10 years old in 5 days.

  24. Completed this in reasonable time except for 7d and of course 22a, had a quick look at the hints to confirm the answers I had ,and realised 12a was wrong, I stupidly thought it was path when I first looked at it, it still didn’t help with 7d so resorted to the hints again. Still better than yesterday’s which I failed miserably on. Thanks to all.

  25. While I wish I could claim that solving was all my own work today, I really enjoyed this Wednesday crossword. Full of clever clues, which always made sense, even when I was a bit slow to spot the obvious. Not sure if it was Jay or not, but it was a lot of fun and too many favourites to pick one. Did love 14a for the memories it evoked. The first thing newly pregnant wives did back in the sixties was to go to the department store (in our case Heelas of Reading, a John Lewis store) and put a deposit on the chosen carriage. It was considered bad luck to bring it home before the baby arrived. Our two daughters spent many happy hours sleeping in the garden in that pram, with a nice white canopy for sun protection. And walks to the village shop to pick up something for dinner. Happy days. Thanks to the setter and 2Kiwis for a lovely crossword day.

    1. Mine was a Silver Cross. The way we used to leave the babies in the garden or outside shops raises horror in today’s young mums. Poor things!

      1. My mum used to tell of the winter’s day she put me in my pram on the balcony of the SE London flat and going back a couple of hours later to find me still cosy and fast asleep but with the pram covered in several inches of snow!

        1. My husband claims to have sat outside in his pram throughout the winter snow of 1947. I had a doll’s pram which was an exact reply even to the pads in the bottom. The bag to go between the handlebars was an extra. It cost over £15 in the early 1950s and was sold for much more than that in pristine condition many years later.

        1. For one thing they were, pro rats, cheaper then and I did have generous parents. Last year I bought the pram for the latest addition to the family so the tradition continues!

        2. Beautiful prams but they would be totally impractical for young mums today. Even if they were, they would get little use as children do not sit outside strapped into their prams as we were until we were toddlers.

    2. My little Sister spent a lot of time outside in her Silver Cross pray. The older girls would come and take her for a walk around the block wearing their mother’s clicky-clacky shoes pretending to be mothers themselves

  26. Morning all.
    As we suspected we were not alone in our struggles with 22a and 20d was not very far ahead of it. Very clever misdirection.
    Failed to spot the aircraft so thanks to Gazza for that.
    Cheers.

  27. Am I the only one who did not know the word which was the solution to 7d? I thought it must be *****ity from the cross letters but could not see why. I am confused by 17d as it seems that the bill covers the engineers and not vice versa.
    Great puzzle though.

    1. Service (MASS) engineers (RE, Royal Engineers) must cover (surround) bill (account – AC) = MASS(AC)RE.

  28. Not on the wavelength today at all. Quite a slog with several clues defeating me. Lost interest eventually and look up the answers to 22a, 25a, 20d and 24d.

    Thanks to all.

  29. Held up for a long time by the 7d, 12a combination, but got there in the end.
    Much to enjoy, nice to do a Jay puzzle again.
    Thanks both.

  30. My stumbling blocks were 25a, 28a, 7d and 20d. I have to confess to falling asleep before I finished it, maybe that’s saying something about what I thought of the final clues. No real favourite. Thanks to the setter and 2K’s.

  31. Another enjoyable finish but had the wrong ending for 7d which along with 22a, I could not parse anyway, but otherwise found it fairly straightforward. Don’t like 21a as a word, but it’s in the BRB!.
    Apparently in 1942, I was tipped out of my 14a by an over enthusiastic young aunt, landing on my head, which explains a lot since!!
    Thanks to all .

    1. I got gravel in the wheels of my mother in law’s wheelchair and tipped her out in front of the roses in Bagatelle Parc outside Paris. Oh dear!

    2. I was an only child and when I could walk my 14a was used to bring coke from our local gasworks. My earliest memory!

  32. Favourite 10a. Superb. Missed there was a connection between the planes. I got 28a straightaway from the days our mothers had one on top of the sideboard, dressing table etc. usually accompanied by two round mats.

  33. DNF as a lot of the S was beyond me, DNF the quickie either (what a dreadful pun which I couldn’t do) and Mr. Th called the slowie. A lot of very quirky clever clues but 4d made me laugh and has to be COTD. Thanks to setter for a difficult but interesting brain teaser and to 2K’s for helping us.

  34. 3*/4*…..
    liked 1A ” Entertaining transport supremo? (7)”….
    nice to see the aircraft theme.

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