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DT 29899

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29899

Hints and tips by Mr K

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BD Rating  -  Difficulty ** Enjoyment ***

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Tuesday and a fun little puzzle that hit the spot. 

In the hints below most indicators are italicized, and underlining identifies precise definitions and cryptic definitions. Clicking on the answer buttons will reveal the answers. In some hints hyperlinks provide additional explanation or background. Clicking on a picture will enlarge it or display a bonus illustration and a hover (computer) or long press (mobile) might explain more about the picture. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.

 

Across

1a    Cereal, etc, going off with pressure inside container (10)
RECEPTACLE:  An anagram (going off) of CEREAL ETC with the physics symbol for pressure inserted (inside

6a    Theory Biden was ignoring all fringes (4)
IDEA:  BIDEN WAS after deleting the outer letters of both words (ignoring all fringes

9a    Father's drunk a very English Brut, perhaps (10)
AFTERSHAVE:  An anagram (drunk) of FATHER'S is followed by A from the clue, the single letter for very, and the single letter for English. Perhaps indicates a definition by example 

10a   City in Czechoslovakia (4)
OSLO:  The city is hidden in the last word of the clue 

12a   Den's after odd pieces of each cake (6)
ECLAIR:  A synonym of den is placed after the odd letters of EACH 

cat eclairs

13a   Uniform beginning to narrow somewhat below the belt (8)
UNFAIRLY:  Put together the letter represented in the NATO phonetic alphabet by uniform, the beginning letter to NARROW, and an adverb meaning somewhat 

15a   Brewed ideal beer -- gas is foul (12)
DISAGREEABLE:  An anagram (brewed) of IDEAL BEER GAS 

18a   Mechanics might need to secure these  basic details (4,3,5)
NUTS AND BOLTS:  An informal phrase meaning basic details is also something that mechanics might need to secure

21a   I go on the run if I've gut wobbles (8)
FUGITIVE:  An anagram (wobbles) of IF I'VE GUT 

22a   Same South American revolutionary replaces a plan (6)
SCHEME:  SAME from the clue with a usual South American revolutionary replacing its A

24a   A girl scratching rear, unfortunately (4)
ALAS:  A from the clue with all but the last letter (scratching rear) of a girl or young woman 

25a   Nice meal of the day? (4,2,4)
PLAT DU JOUR:  Its position at the start of the clue neatly disguises how Nice here refers to the resort on the French Riviera.  The answer is "meal of the day" in that part of the world 

26a   Turn, breaking off wide part of a shoe (4)
HEEL:  A synonym of turn minus the cricket abbreviation for a wide (breaking off wide) 

27a   Office workers surround drug dealers (3-7)
PEN-PUSHERS:  Surround or trap followed by some drug dealers 

 

Down

1d    Wandered around European city holding a daughter (6)
ROAMED:  A European city containing (holding) A from the clue is followed by the genealogical abbreviation for daughter 

2d    Lower class? (6)
CATTLE:  A class or type of animal that lows also gives its name informally to the aircraft seats that are far removed from first class 

3d    Those who join in leave regularly in chic underwear (12)
PARTICIPANTS:  Concatenate leave or separate, alternate letters (regularly) of IN CHIC, and a British word for underwear

4d    Long article about His Excellency (4)
ACHE:  Cement together a grammatical article, the single letter meaning about or approximately, and the abbreviation for His Excellency 

5d    Almost furious with new husband-to-be? Relax here (6,4)
LIVING ROOM:  Assemble all but the last letter (almost) of furious or enraged, the abbreviation for new, and a husband-to-be immediately before he becomes a husband 

7d    Editor upset over writer's report (8)
DESCRIBE:  The reversal (upset, in a down clue) of the abbreviation for editor with a synonym of writer 

8d    Followers advanced, shy about Liberal publication for teachers (8)
ACOLYTES:  Join together the single letter for advanced, shy or bashful containing (about) the single letter for Liberal, and the abbreviation for a publication for teachers 

11d   Consult a test, confused -- we're looking for those with ability (6,6)
TALENT SCOUTS:  An anagram (confused) of CONSULT A TEST

14d   Variety show valued vile dancing (10)
VAUDEVILLE:  An anagram (dancing) of VALUED VILE 

16d   At home, answer female with whip without hesitation (2,1,5)
IN A FLASH:  Amalgamate a short word for "at home", the single letter for answer, the abbreviation for female,  and whip or flog 

17d   Animal, pale brown, picked up noise finally -- stand still! (8)
STAGNATE:  Join together a big animal with antlers, the reversal (picked up, in a down clue) of a pale brown colour, and the final letter of NOISE 

19d   Rest strike an attitude again? (6)
REPOSE:  Split (2-4) the answer could mean strike an attitude again 

20d   Cunning wearing the man's suit (6)
HEARTS:  Cunning or skill inserted in (wearing) a pronoun meaning "the man's" 

23d   Second best place to get off a bus? (4)
STOP:  The single letter for second with another word for best 

 

Thanks to today’s setter. My favourite clue was 2d. Which clues did you like best?


The Quick Crossword pun:  EYE + NAN + STEAL = IRON AND STEEL


109 comments on “DT 29899

  1. Well. This was all going swimmingly well and heading for a */*** when I sloppily put Apostles in for 8d without properly parsing it and ground to a halt on my final clue 13a which with a T at the end held me up to ** time until I filled it in and realised my error on 8d. Lots of easy anagrams otherwise to oil this pleasant offering. Thanks MrK and the setter.

    1. Apostles was my first type-in, until I realized I couldn’t parse it. I suspect most of us fell into the same trap. I bet our setter is smiling.

  2. 10a is one of my favourite clues, but I haven’t seen it for ages (perhaps because it doesn’t work with the Czech Republic).
    The publication for teachers appeared very recently in a Times cryptic,
    Thanks to setter and hinter.

    1. That name will also be redundant because, as of 2016, it’s called Czechia.

      Invicta Plastics must be kicking themselves for not having an online version of ‘Word Mastermind’, ie Wordle with 4 not 5 letters, as it may have stopped them going under in 2013.

      1. Well, I’ll eat my hat (it’s a Carmen Miranda replica one)! I’m a bit of a geography nut and I didn’t know that about Czechia. Talking of Wordle (I do apologise), why always 5-letter words? Couldn’t there be a mixture of 5, 6 and 7 letters. I suspect that longer words might be easier to get in 6 goes than shorter ones? Discuss.

        1. I’m sure it will develop.

          Josh Wardle is going to fill his boots. I bet he can’t believe his luck that Invicta missed a trick.

          Sticking with the geography theme, you may not be aware of these recent changes:

          Swaziland is now Eswatini
          Kiev is Kyiv (not official but it will happen)
          Cape Verde is Cabo Verde
          Astana (Kazakhstan’s capital) is Nur-Sultan – a nod to the recently retired President of 30 years which is going down awfully with the people

          1. I’m a bit out of date with my geography knowledge. Bechuanaland and Nyasaland were still going when I was a kid!

    2. Sure enough, I have just seen that Mr Wardle has just become a millionaire, selling it for a seven figure sum to the New York Times.

      Invicta Plastics, you fools!

  3. All over a little too quickly for my liking, although it was enjoyable enough while it lasted. Like our blogger, I really do appreciate a short, concise clue, so 2d did it for me.

    Thanks to both Misters.

    Wordle in 3 today. I hope the soon to be owners, the NYT, don’t spoil all the fun by having Americanisms or too much advertising on the site.

    1. At the risk of a slap on the wrist for asking about other websites, which Wordle site do most of you use? There seem to be several…

        1. Just use your browser and type in. I just type Wordle and it comes up, but if not the first time add – a daily word game. I think it is powerhouse. It’s not an App and not in the paper and does not have adverts. This could all change!

        1. Thanks to both LROK and WW, hope you understood my reference to the DeadTree was in jest! I’ve been using wordlegame.org, quite fun. Will give your suggestion a go.

    2. There are Americanisms YS “favor” has already caught some out. The guy although British lives in New York & wrote it for his American girlfriend,

      1. I was wondering, did this guy compile a database of all the thousands of possible 5-letter words or has he obtained a ready-built one? It must be linked to some sort of database because if you type random letters into the grid, it tells you immediately that it’s not a real word. As you may have ascertained, I don’t know very much about constructing puzzle websites!

          1. Maybe there doesn’t need to be a database of all existing 5-letter words? Perhaps the problem of identifying non-word guesses is resolved by introducing some imported spellcheck software into the mix.

        1. From the Daily Telegraph 5 Jan 2022

          As pandemic gestures go, it’s as romantic as they come: a simple but gently challenging distraction, homemade with love and care, allowing us to engage our brains in an activity that isn’t panic, worry or involve graphs showing rising case numbers.
          Without reading the headline or standfirst of this article, I will give you six guesses as to what it is. I’ll let you know if one of the letters in your guess is right. Scrabble? No – but the letters R, L and E are a part of it. Sudoku? No – but D and O are involved, albeit not in that order…
          Oh, what is the point – you know precisely what the answer is, because in all likelihood, you’ve started 2022 with a Wordle addiction, too. And, unlike many things on the internet, there doesn’t seem much harm in it.
          Some may need bringing up to speed: Wordle is a free game in which users guess a five-letter word. If a letter from your guess isn’t in the word, that letter will turn grey. If it does feature, it’ll turn yellow. If it’s in the word and in the right position, it’ll turn green. You get six attempts, and that’s really all you need to know.
          Wordle is the creation of British-born software engineer Josh Wardle (its name is a pun). His partner, Palak Shah, is a fan of word games – particularly the New York Times crossword and Spelling Bee – so with spare time in lockdown, he decided to create a new one for her.
          The couple played for a while and became hooked. Then Wardle, who has built similar tools for Reddit before, introduced it to his family Whatsapp group, who became similarly addicted. And then, at the end of October, he released it to the public. Two months later, more than 300,000 people played in a day. I bet it’s far higher now. A nerdy present from a man to his girlfriend has become the world’s daily brain-fog clearer.
          “It’s really sweet,” Shah told The New York Times this week, before giving us a real insight into her relationship with the thirtysomething Royal Holloway University graduate. “This is definitely how Josh shows his love.”
          Wordle’s greatest strength lies in its restraint: like a newspaper’s puzzles section, just one is posted each day. If you’re quick, that’s maybe two minutes of your time. (If you’re me, on the first go, it’s 17 minutes, but I’ll improve.)
          Everybody is guessing the same word, so it’s competitive, too, but not so much that anybody is going to feel more than a spurt of frustration or pride at their performance. Lately, Twitter users have taken to posting their attempts each day. On Sunday, the British doyen of competition formats, Richard Osman, joined the party. “I mean, just because EVERYONE else is playing it…” he wrote, before illustrating that he got the word in four guesses.
          “I think people kind of appreciate that there’s this thing online that’s just fun,” Wardle said. “It’s not trying to do anything shady with your data or your eyeballs. It’s just a game that’s fun.”
          It was exactly what Shah needed, and now it’s what the world needs, as it battles through another stressful winter. But then, word games are often born of anxiety, it seems. In December 1913, shortly before the First World War, another British-born New Yorker, Arthur Wynne, needed something to liven up the “Fun” section of the New York World, where he was an editor.
          He drew up a blank word search grid, blacked out some squares, created clues for words that would go across and down, and called it a “Word-cross Puzzle”. A typographical error shortly afterwards saw it become “Crossword”. Within days, it was the most popular thing in the paper; within a decade, the puzzle was booming.
          Scrabble, meanwhile, was invented by New Yorker Alfred Mosher Butts, a 32 year-old architect who had lost his job in the Great Depression. Inspired by Charles Darrow’s Monopoly millions, he decided to create a game.
          His first opponent was his wife, Nina. She beat him, as she would beat most, playing “quixotic” across two triple-word scores. Soon, they had friends and neighbours hooked. That was 1934: it took another 18 years before Macy’s started stocking it, but two years later, they were selling 6,000 boards a week.
          It doesn’t seem like Wardle is interested in making millions, but he has programmed Wordle with 2,500 words, meaning we won’t run out for years. His simple act of love has given the world a gift – and it’s not even robbing our attention.
          “It’s something that encourages you to spend three minutes a day,” Wardle said. “And that’s it. Like, it doesn’t want any more of your time than that.”
          If only all internet entrepreneurs were that unambitious.
          Play Wordle at powerlanguage.co.uk/ wordle

      2. There are so many that omit the “u”, parlor is another, after 45 years her I’m still confused.

    3. Perhaps our staunch blogger friends from across the Pond deserve a bit of quid pro quo with Wordle to balance some of the local knowledge/Britspeak demanded by the Cryptic!

      1. Perhaps they do, but surely we would meet with the same if we did the puzzle in the NYT. I think it is brilliant that the DT cryptic attracts many friends from across the globe.

    4. But the NYT may spoil the fun in another way according to this headline on the CBC News web site yesterday:

      “New York Times buys Wordle, says popular game will stay free – for now.”

      Looks as though they will be expecting some ROI at some time in the future.

      1. Hopefully they have bought all the words with the puzzle. I think there are about 10 years worth pre-prepared which should see me out.

      2. The NYT apparently paid peanuts (by their standards) for Wordle so hopefully they wont be over-concerned about ROI but how nice that Josh Wardle has become a millionaire thanks to this successful sale after a mere 3.1/2 months. Long may the daily fun challenge continue.

  4. I found this a very straightforward but pleasant puzzle with 13a my favourite.
    Many thanks to the setter and Mr K for the fun.
    The Toughie is an absolute cracker though not exactly a Floughie.

    Ps..if by any chance he’s looking in my clue in yesterday’s newsletter is definitely not a reference to Donnybrook!

    1. I reckon he would have smiled or even laughed if he saw your clue in the newsletter. I thought it was inspired.

    2. SL. Did you notice that you got a double mention? A full one with the clue and an “Honourable” one further down. Presumably, the second one was a mistake – unless you submitted two different ones?

  5. 1.5*/3.5*. This was light and fun. All the clues were good and I had no particular favourite.

    Many thanks to the setter and to Mr K.

  6. Very pleasant indeed, just the thing after a NYT puzzle about Thai, Iranian, Chinese, & Korean new years (I kid you not, but I learned a lot). I have to go with 25a as my COTD because I enjoyed so many of those during my sojourns in the S of F. I also liked 8d and 2d, and long for the halcyon days of 14d. Thanks to Mr K for the amusing review and to today’s setter. ** / ***

    Most enjoyable Toughie today.

  7. Like others found this was fairly clued and pleasant fun with a good sprinkling of anagrams to keep things ticking along.
    That it gave Mr K the opportunity for the hilarious illustration 11d gets my COTD.
    Thanks to setter and Mr K for the review.
    We are so fortunate to have such a variety of reviewing styles not to mention having the benefit of their knowledgeable analysis. Typical example 2d I had satisfied myself that “Lower class” was cattle as it was a class of animal and it lows. I completely missed the cattle class on the plane even though I have frequently used it.

  8. Minor delay with an incorrect first word in 25a. Otherwise, great fun whilst it lasted. 9a gets my vote, I have a bottle of it somewhere upstairs although it’s been a while since I spashed it all over.

    Thanks to today’s setter and Mr. K

  9. Delightful exercise with no hassle. Fav 25a which I guess is probably a chestnut. Thank you Messrs. Ron and K.

    1. I can’t find any previous appearances of the construction used in 25a, so probably, and surprisingly, not a chestnut.

  10. I was definitely on the wavelength for this one. I like anagrams but perhaps there were too many for some tastes. I hoped I was not going to be held up with stragglers. I was, perhaps for five minutes, with 13a. I knew what I was looking for but missed the significance of somewhat. The other two which did not confront me immediately were 22a and 20d. When I realised I didn’t need His for the man’s all was clear. Thanks Setter. Thanks Mr K. I shall now turn to and enjoy the hints.

    1. It’s interesting how the perceived number of anagrams in these puzzles fluctuates. This one contains six anagrams, like most other back page puzzles. Perhaps when they are crowded together in the grid it feels like there are more than usual?

      1. I am sure you are right. I solve in a haphazard manner and just seemed to have several on the trot. I did read from one of the setters that they are only allowed a certain number of each type of clue.

  11. So pleased to learn I was not alone in gleefully bunging in ‘apostle’ and then spending an eternity musing over 13a. After wriggling through every possible permutation I came to the conclusion that apostle must be the culprit and then I saw the light. Doh!

    I agree with Robert – 25a the best of an excellent puzzle.

    Today’s crossword soundtrack: David Lang – Just (After Song Of Songs) <-bewitching!

    Thanks to the splendid setter and The Celebrated Mr K.

    1. At first glance at the image, I thought we were in for some In the Court of the Crimson King. The imagery is similar but the music is a bit different.
      Your musical choices always entertain me and as you say today’s choice is particularly bewitching TYVM.

  12. Other than the apostles howler at 8d (1st thought – fits the def so bung it in & parse it later cavalier approach to solving that I’m guilty of) that took a while to twig a brisk a stress free ** time solve. 9d my clear favourite – not the most appealing scent though I can still hear Henry Cooper assuring us that you couldn’t beat the great smell of it. Scraped in at the 6th go in Wordle with a wasted effort at 5.
    Thanks to the setter & to Mr K for his review which I’m about to read once I’ve looked at the pics.

  13. Apart from a little unnecessary head scratching with the first word of 27a, typically Tuesdayish – **/****.

    Candidates for favourite – 18a, the aforementioned 27a, and 19d – and the winner is 18a.

    Thanks to the setter and Mr K.

  14. Not a lot to say today, nothing obscure,an enjoyable straight forward solve agree with Mr K on a **/***.
    As per Jonners 9a gets my favourite too. 25a a close second,
    liked the pun.
    Watched a couple of Sidney Poitier films, especilly Rod Steiger in Heat of the night-great soundtrack

  15. Cracking little puzzle today. I agree that it was not the most tricky but very enjoyable for all that.
    Thx for the hints esp for explaining the full wordplay in 13a which rather eluded me and thanks to the setter.
    Off now to organise yet another hybrid Zoom meeting, boy will I be glad when they are a thing if the past🥴
    **/****

  16. I thoroughly enjoyed this one mainly because it went in easily apart from a couple. 13a was a bung in but it turned out to be correct. Well, it could be little else given the checkers. There were plenty of smiles along the way such as 6a and memories of Our ‘Enry at 9a. My personal COTD is 5d.

    Many thanks to the setter for the fun and huge thanks to Mr. K. for the hints.

    I’m stuck on Wordle needing two on the 6th go. Totally flummoxed.

    My apologies to BD. I went to the doctors this morning for routine blood tests. A lady saw me doing the DT puzzle and asked how many I had solved. I told her I needed one to which she replied that she had solved only three. She had recently started to do the DT puzzle and was finding it difficult. I totally forgot to tell her about this wonderful site! Sorry.

    1. So pleased you didn’t do what some horror once did to me. I was on the train, one clue to go, fellow opposite me leaned over, tapped me on the knee, gave me the answer. How he left the carriage in one piece I’ll never know.

        1. Many years ago, when I was a real novice with cryptics, I was on holiday in Portugal happily minding my own business having a look at the DT puzzle whilst relaxing by the pool. A complete stranger accosted me demanding where I had got the paper from. I told him I had brought it with me. He then berated me for not having solved the puzzle yet. Then every time he passed that afternoon he bawled out ‘not got it done yet? ‘ I so wish I had pushed him in the pool….should have. Definitely one of my life’s regrets.
          Why on earth do some people think they have the right to interfere ? Another of life’s mysteries.

          1. To be fair, Ora, the lady wasn’t interfering with my solving. She was just interested in how many I had solved. I think she was quite despondent that I had only one to go when she had only solved three.

            1. I think your lady was quite benign. My ‘gentleman ‘ was not…..the repeated ‘haven’t you solved it yet ‘ was more than a little irritating.

      1. I rarely wrote the last couple of answers into the puzzle as it was a waste of ink and time. I’ve lost count of the number of visitors to my pub who happily ‘finished’ my puzzles for me

        1. MP, are you saying that you could be bothered to spend time and waste ink writing, say, 28 answers in a crossword that has 30 but not the other two?

          I must be missing something…

          1. It’s just a jokey trick to play on unsuspecting customers. Letting them think they’d clevery finished off a cryptic crossword that someone else “couldn’t”.

            1. Really?

              Surely not?

              If so it’s desperate stuff from MP.

              I can’t believe that’s why he does it or are you pulling my proverbial?

              If so….you got me!

                  1. No. I couldn’t and cannot see the point in writing in the last few answers. You need the first ones in for checkers but what do the last answers provide other than a waste of time and ink? It’s not like they give a head start to the next puzzle

    2. I did it in 4. An odd one for me. I had three letters first time but only one in the right place. At third attempt I was short of letters two and three but not obvious so had to go through the alphabet.

    3. In the days when completing the hard tree version in public, I sometimes got sarcastic comments from people, along the lines of “not finished yet?”. Mostly they assumed I was attempting a GK puzzle, and when I passed them my puzzle for their input they usually fell rather quiet. One boss interrupted my lunch break, but to his credit he did then admit he couldn’t make head nor tail of the cryptic.

      1. ‘Are you stuck’ was the comment that riled me the most. Usually from people who wouldn’t know where to start with a cryptic crossword puzzle. ‘No. I’m in the process of completion’ was my stock in trade reply.

  17. Solved in The Trough of Bowland. A pleasant Tuesday solve in typical Tuesday time. Thanks to the setter and to Mr Kitty.

    1. The Trough of Bowland sounds like it should be a gastropub in the east end of London but is instead a delightful part of Lancashire. On the northern border of which is a delightful cheese shop that tell me they have some rather tasty Lancashire from Mrs Kirkham

      1. On the southern border, you can find Mrs. Kirkham’s actual cheese shop (Goosnargh). Slight fresher I suppose :-)

  18. A very enjoyable puzzle today. I too had apostles until I saw the error of my ways, and was held up for a while by 20d having forgotten about ‘suit’. Goodness knows how as I regularly play Bridge .
    Thanks to the setter and to Mr K

  19. An enjoyable */*** for me. I hope not to ruffle too many feathers when I say that doing 10a was a real pleasure the first time I solved it, around the end of the New Stone Age :-) Still, an excellent Tuesday puzzle, and there, I have revealed my age.

    1. Interesting about 10a. I hadn’t seen it before but it felt like a construction that should have been spotted long ago. Looks like it hasn’t been used in any of the Telegraph cryptics in the past 20 years, but it has appeared elsewhere a few times.

      1. I have to wonder if there should have been some indication that the country containing the lurker no longer exists.

        1. The misdirection in 10a is an old chestnut to me – I’ve seen it many times since 1970. The country might not exist now, but it is still a word (in plain view in the clue) and it conveniently contains the lurker (which is indicated).There’s no point in including excellent (geographical/historical) misdirection in a clue and then spoiling it by giving indications that discredit that misdirection.

    1. Me to. Sixth attempt and the word ‘phew’ came up. As you say, skin of our teeth. But I haven’t failed one yet! I think it is rather a shame it has gone global, it was our little secret!!

    2. Seeing all the comments above, was it really only yesterday when I queried whether wordle was overtaking the crosswords on this site? I reckon the NY Times will soon be charging don’t you? I still think it’s a game of chance rather than skill. Why? I got it in 2 today!

      1. JB,
        There is luck in “early ” solves but recognising word shapes does help when you use 4 or 5 tries.
        My unbeaten run of 16 came to an end after I made a silly mistake.
        It is not all luck & having a daily fun “competition” with the sister-in-law in Canada is a bonus.

        1. You may not read this. This morning having got the last 4 letters in the right order at the second try, it took me 3 more attempts, all legitimate words, to find the correct answer. There’s no skill in that but, as you say, good fun.
          Glad you enjoy a tussle with your sister in law in Canada. I did wonder if Labrador was the Province or the dog!

  20. A Tuesday puzzle of the same difficulty and enjoyment as yesterday’s puzzle. 1.5*/4*
    Found a lot of the clues produced the answer in a very straightforward fashion with a handful that took some head scratching.
    Favourites today 6a, 18a, 2d, 3d & 16d
    Smiles from 9a, 10a, 1d & 5d.

    Thanks to setter and Mr K

  21. Pleasant solve apart from the confusion at 8d 😬 ***/*** Favourites 22a and 2d 😃 Thanks to Mr K and to the Compiler 👍

  22. 2/3. Enjoyable and fairly straightforward. 25a was my favourite which was given away by 11d. Thanks to the setter and Mr K.

  23. Dead on wavelength today, only stand out was 13a and almost gave up as DNF. I used e-help word search for 8d and found the error, corrected it and 13a fell into place. All that trouble because of my cockiness in penning in apostle without parsing it. Wotta lotta fun, though, hard to choose a fave but I think 25a has earned the spot, 27a was smile worthy.
    Thank you setter, unmask yourself please, also thanks to Mr. K for the unravelling and pics, always a treat.
    Wordle in 4. I hope the NYT don’t mess with my Wordle, particularly charge a sub.

  24. A very enjoyable puzzle, with just a few holdouts (13a, 2d and 19d). I really should have got 2d, just forgot the other meaning of lower. All the rest were fairly clued and a pleasure to solve. Thanks to the setter and Mr K.

  25. I am another who fell at the 8d 13a hurdle. I was held up by 25a as well, I couldn’t decide between soup or something more substantial but checkers in 14 and 23d put me on the right path. I have never been a fan of “the great smell of Brut” either. It reminds me of the aroma from one of Mr K’s feline friends.
    My first guess at 16d was (dom) IN A TRICE but couldn’t explain where the Dom went (unless he sneaked out of the monastery for a light chastisement!)
    Thanks to the setter and Mr K.
    The Czech/Norwegian misdirection and Nice/nice misdirection of 25a pleased but 3d gets the nod today.

  26. Very pleasant workout, I really liked 9a and was amused by 25a which I cottoned onto straight away. I went to Saffron Walden today to meet a friend for lunch, such a pretty town with an interesting market. Almost felt like normal life, apart from the masks.

  27. PS I’m forgetting my manners, thanks to Mr Setter and Mr K. I would not dare to eat the kitty cakes !

    1. Nor would I – but then I’m the one who couldn’t bear to eat a limb from a gingerbread man or a piece of a Lindt bunny!

  28. Lovely day out with a couple of friends so late on parade although I did solve this one with my wake-up cup of coffee this morning.
    Fortunately avoided the ‘apostle’ trap because I was convinced ‘coy’ would have a part to play and so it proved.
    I’ll go along with Mr K and name 2d as my favourite – although certainly not my favourite seating area!

    Thanks to our setter and to Mr K and his felines.

  29. Thanks to the setter and to Mr K for the review and hints. Found it all very straightforward, except for 13a,8d and 25a. Couldn’t think of the first one, never heard of the teachers publication in the second, and in the third, I understood how the clue worked, but had never heard of it. Was 3*/3* for me. Nice mixture of clues.

  30. Was held up by 8d and 13a too.
    Not helped by thinking that the abbreviation for advanced was ad.
    9a made me laugh and 21a even more.
    Thanks to the Tuesday setter and to MrK for the review.

  31. Apostle was my first thought for 8d but I couldn’t parse so I didn’t write it in then the answer popped into my head a little later. Favourite was 25a mainly because I got it unaided. As a non French speaker, or any other foreign language for that matter, I must have heard it in the dim and distant past probably not knowing what it really meant. Thanks to the setter and Mr. K.

  32. I was another failure at 8D. I was really pleased with myself for thinking it though.
    My COTD was 9A. It bought back so many memories of school when the article in question was so important to so many of us. Including some of the girls. Perhaps living in Margate explains that. But the bottle in the plastic box meant so much. About 50 years later I got one for Christmas. Happy days. Thanks to all

  33. 2*/4*…
    liked 2D ” Lower class? (6) “……..
    my better half is from Czechia, does not do cryptics and I had to explain to her that the answer to 10A ” City in Czechoslovakia (4) ” is not Brno.

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