DT 29933 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 29933 (Hints)

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29933 (Hints)

The Saturday Crossword Club

Hosted by Senf

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

Hello, it’s me again.  Tilsit is attending to an urgent family matter so I am subbing for him once more.

Some of the usual features of the Saturday Crossword Club might be missing but the important parts are here for what I am reasonably certain is another Floughie Lady production.

Candidates for favourite – 6a, 18a, 28a, and 21d.

As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, a number of the more difficult clues have been selected and hints provided for them, including a bonus hint for the ’round ball challenged’ at 27a.  Thinking of weekend prize crosswords – CL tells us on the DT Puzzles Website that Sunday Toughie Number 7 will be another by Robyn.

Don’t forget to follow BD’s instructions in RED at the bottom of the hints!

Most of the terms used in these hints are explained in the Glossary and examples are available by clicking on the entry under “See also”. Where the hint describes a construct as “usual” this means that more help can be found in The Usual Suspects, which gives a number of the elements commonly used in the wordplay. Another useful page is Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, which features words with meanings that are not always immediately obvious.

A full review of this puzzle will be published after the closing date for submissions.

Some hints follow:

Across

1a Admonisher unexpectedly reconciled (10)
An anagram (unexpectedly) of ADMONISHER.

6a Third note followed by second note (4)
The anglicised spelling of the third note in the Solfège system of learning musical scales followed by two letters that can mean second (as a brief amount of time).

10a Dogged son had had a debt (8)
The single letter for Son, HAD (the first one) from the clue, and a past participle for had a debt.

14a Essential constituent of diet for one in ten (7)
A three letter (Latin) synonym of for and TEN from the clue containing the Roman numeral for one – we had the plural of this answer a couple of days ago, Thursday if memory serves.

18a Environs of ancient area of land captivate (7)
The first and last letters (environs) of AncienT and a term we should all recognize for an area of land.

24a Underage person grasping cross bullish monster (8)
The term for someone who has not reached the age of majority containing (grasping) a three letter term for a type of cross.

26a Different forms of volume and notes from time to time limiting melody (8)
The single letter for volume and three alternate letters (from time to time) from notes containing (limiting) a type of melody (performed by a soloist in an opera).

27a International leaves footballer in difficulty (4)
The bonus hint – the single letter for international is deleted from (leaves) the surname of a round ball player.

28a Resolves to prevent explosive devices (10)
A synonym of prevent and types of explosive devices (that may used on land or at sea).

Down

1d Trouble with stern on vessel (8)
A synonym of stern placed before (on) a type of water borne vessel.

4d Popular English stage worker lacking in good taste (9)</br />
Lego time – the two letter popular synonym for popular, the single letter for English, a synonym of stage (in a type of race), and one of our usual tiny workers.

6d Person making proposal involving source of metal as a further matter (8)
A synonym of the term for a person making a proposal containing (involving) the term for the source of any metal (dug out of the ground).

15d Poison that could make ten Arabs unwell (8)
An anagram (that could make . . . unwell) of TEN ARABS.

17d Lonely single very excited to go topless (8)
More Lego – the number that is represented by single in cricket, a two letter synonym of very, and a synonym of excited with its first letter removed (topless).

21d Singular repugnance for reactive element (6)
The single letter for singular and a synonym of repugnance.

22d We hear member of cathedral staff is a great gun (6)
We finish with a homophone (we hear) of a member of a cathedral’s staff.

A fine example of the 26a melody:

The Crossword Club is now Open, and I will ‘see’ you again tomorrow.


The Quick Crossword pun:

RAY + KNEE + DAZE = RAINY DAYS


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66 comments on “DT 29933 (Hints)

  1. A bit of a slow start as I mixed up anagrind and definition with 1a for a while. (The 4 checkers I had were in both – only getting 1d sorted me out)
    I picked up the pace with just a few diversions to investigoogle 24a and poisons
    Thanks to Senf and Chalicea if it be one of hers.

  2. An enjoyable and fairly straightforward puzzle (2(/4*). I liked the wily misdirection in 10a,the two lego style clues, 4d,and 14d and 15d (such a descriptive old term). Thanks to Senf for another double shift on the hints and to our entertaining compiler.

  3. Almost a R and W until I came to a screeching halt with the double-unched 15d (a new one on me but guessable) followed by my LOI 6d, also not helped by being double-unched, and which threw me a couple of seconds into 2* time. Thanks Senf, who confirmed my parsing of my least fave 17d. Thanks also to the Setter. 2*/3*

    1. I know the term has come up before but I can’t find a definition for double-unch in the BRB no matter how I spell it, so what is a double-unch?

      1. If you look at 6d, 7d, 15d and 16d, you will see that each of them have two squares (unches) in a row which unlike the rest of those in the solutions don’t cross with letters in the Across solutions, so they are double unches, or double unchecked letters

      2. It is crossword shorthand for UNCHecked letter, in this puzzle 1d 6d 7d 15d 16d 19d have two spaces/lights without any help from crossing clues. so they are double unches.

  4. Over almost before it started, a very gentle puzzle indeed I thought (0.5* / 2*), with nothing abstruse to slow the solving process. Lovely surface and clever clueing in 11d.

    Many thanks to the Setter and to Senf.

  5. Very good puzzle for a Saturday, asks some questions but enough to get you going and interested. Still can’t quite get my head round 6d but for me 28a was one of the best clues for ages but then I do enjoy a good pun.
    Thx to all concerned.
    ***/****

  6. A bit prosaic but a gentle challenge. I complicated things by bunging in wrong second note for 6a. Prefer the oval ball so needed help with 17a. Am obviously being thick but not sure where renegade comes into 3d. Thank you Mysteron (Missron?) and Senf.

      1. D’oh, thanks Sue, the renegade penny has finally dropped. I was using men in the wrong place. How could I be so slow?!

    1. Thank goodness someone did the same with 6a as I did, Angellov – it wasn’t until I got 7d that I realised – doh, indeed.
      I’m sorry to hear of all the accidents – sending healing thoughts from the Antipodes!
      Nice to read of others getting the “visual” migraines, with no pain – years of the same experiences.

      Thanks to Chalicea, and of course to Senf, particularly for “Nessun Dorma”!

  7. Another charmer by, I think, our charming lady in Switzerland. I particularly liked 1a, 18a, & 26a, my LOI and COTD. Most enjoyable. Thanks to Senf (chillbumps with Nessun Dorma) and Chalicea. ** / ****

  8. Another Saturday, another offering from our lady setter and another set of hints from our Sunday man – this is getting to be something of a regular pattern!
    Quite an easy ride this morning and my top clue was the short but sweet 6a.

    Thanks to Chalicea and to Senf for coming to Tilsit’s rescue. Enjoyed listening to Paul Potts again, I certainly remember his appearance on Britain’s Got Talent and subsequent rise to fame.

  9. No hold-ups today and thoroughly enjoyable. Thanks, Senf and Chalicea.

    Crazy weather. We have snow coming in later today and tomorrow temps of 65F (18.3C) are forecast!

  10. 28a was my favourite clue from a good selection of possibles. As always with this setter, there was a good mixture of the straightforward and the more awkward, which results in a very enjoyable solve.

    My thanks to a Chalicea and Senf. Incidentally, as a comment on the rising price of fuels, I overheard someone say yesterday that the increase in petrol never affects them as they always put in £40 worth! Priceless.

  11. Can’t say I was familiar with 15d, which required confirmation, but an otherwise quick problem free solve & parse. Pleasant enough but lacking a wee bit of sparkle maybe. 1a possibly my pick as the def wasn’t immediately obvious & it would have been even better had the anagrind been 10 letters long & contained the same 4 corresponding checkers.
    Thanks to Chalicea & Senf for subbing again.

  12. Despite two of my answers being a bit “iffy” (27a and 21d), this was a terrific puzzle. Plenty to work on and some dropping immediately while others needed some thought. I finished unaided providing my two suspect answers are correct and completed while enduring a migraine. However, my migraines a visual only with flashing crystals of light in my line of sight. Thankfully, no headache but the visual disturbance makes things difficult. For example, I couldn’t make out if it was “stem” or “stern” in 1d. Anyway, great fun with 7d being a favourite and 6a my COTD because of the misdirection.

    Many thanks to my favourite setter, Chalicea, if it is the lady and huge thanks to Senf for deputising with the hints. I hope Tilsit’s troubles are transient.

    Wordle in 5.

    1. You have my sympathies I too am prone to what I believe to be painless ‘ocular migraines’.

      1. My brother had an interesting ocular migraine. He was chatting to a man who had joined him while he was walking down the street. A car horn peeped and my brother turned to see why. When he turned back to the man to resume the conversation, he had vanished. There was nowhere he could have gone because there was a tall brick wall the length of the road. Apparently it was a migraine.

        1. I suffered with awful migraines when younger. Also had an ocular migraine once, but mine started with everything going dark at the outside edges of my sight and I didn’t know what was happening. My ophthalmologist had me go right to him, and then he diagnosed it as an ocular migraine which would disappear. It did, and never happened again. Pretty scary at the time. Hope your brother never has another.

          1. MMy stroke began with an ocular migraine and i had hallucinatory visual images of various people, at first !in hospital scrubs walking past me but only from the corner of my rleft eye. When I turned to look at them, they had ‘disappeared’. Tjhis is beginning to abate now and I just see occasional stray letters in the left hand margin of whatever book I am reading or , indeed, the crossword’!. The brain seems to try to interpret your visual experiences logically.

  13. Thank goodness the puzzle was light and good fun today. I am suffering but not as much as Mrs RD. Early yesterday evening, she tripped and broke her wrist resulting in a 7½ hour residency at our local hospital. Now I understand why it is called a waiting room. We finally got home at 3 am with her right arm in plaster and, of course, she is right-handed.

    Got to go – much to do.

    Many thanks to the setter and to super-sub Senf.

    1. You and Mrs RD have my sympathy. A number of years ago, Mrs C fell and broke her right wrist and left shoulder and that led to interesting scenarios. Very best wishes to Mrs RD.

      1. As a fellow ssufferer who slipped on a muddy footpath amd fracured the tadius and ulna in my left wrist (the hand I usually write with) you and mrs RD have my sympathy. My 6 weeks are up on Thursday and we have the removal of my cast and x ray to see of the metal plate in my wrist is doing its job. It feels ok and all the fingers move well as far as possible within the cast. The 6 weeks go faster than you think. I started a 1000 piece jigsaw and finished it to keep myself occupied.

    2. Oh dear. Sounds like troubles all around. I hope you have some sunshine to cheer you up.

    3. There but for the grace of god go all of us RD. Presume you could take Mrs RD so you only had the one wait. Friend fell & broke hip & his wife couldn’t move him so had 7 hour wait on the floor at home for the ambulance then six hours at the hospital.
      Best wishes for a speedy and full recovery to you both.

    4. You and Mrs RD have my sympathies. I know how it feels having slipped last Friday and fractured my humerus and dislocated it. Luckily my left arm. I was trussed up last Friday for what I thought was the weekend. The strap goes round my heck and wrist. Arm close to skin. Drugged up on gas and air, morphine, paracetamol and Iboprufin. I had appt at Fracture clinic with Consultant Monday when I was befuddled. Choice seems to be operation or something else but not clear what the something else is. Back to see Consultant on Tuesday. Can’t shower, can’t get clothes on or off. Hopefully will get a bit further on Tuesday. Had to cancel Eurostar to Lille next week so hope I can make progress on Tuesday.

      1. I can recommend the Limbo plastic arm cover for the shower, WW. It bats a plastic bag as it had a rubber gusset that stops the water trickling in when you shower. The one handed hair wash is still a bir tricky

    5. Oh dear, Murphy’s law that it had to be her right wrist. Hope she recovers will no ill effects. Guess you are on washing up duty now…

    6. Best wishes to Mrs. RD, and pleeeese, everyone on this blog, watch where you put your feet, be very careful.

  14. Indeed ’tis I, Chalicea. I am really happy when my fairly gentle Saturday puzzles appear and warmly thank Senf for standing in as the blogger again – especially as he has given us one of my all-time favourites, the Paul Potts Nessum Dorma – it’s the highlight of a pretty grim operatic story but what a superb aria. So glad the crossword is pleasing you.
    Real sympathy to Steve Cowling. I suffer from migraine too – mainly the visual disturbances that remove half of what I’m looking at – and sympathy of course, to Mrs Rabbit D – that’s awful.

    1. Many thanks for the puzzle, Chalicea and the sympathy. I used to get headaches as well but they stopped a few years ago.

      1. I also suffer the visual disturbances removing half of things, I always know an attack is starting by looking at a clock. I am fortunate that a headache no longer follows but I have to wait for brain to get back into gear before attempting crosswords. Many thanks to Chalicea for an enjoyable puzzle and to Senf for hints.

    2. Thank you ma’am. I am pleased that you liked the Paul Potts; it was a bit of a rush selection when I was ‘wrapping up’ the blog last night. I will always remember Simon Cowell rolling his eyes with an ‘Oh dear’ look on his face when Mr Potts announced that he was going to sing opera on his first appearance on BGT.

  15. I found this to be a very typical Chalicea puzzle, pleasant and problem free. I think my favourite (I can’t remember it all as I’d completed it by 7am) was 6d.
    Many thanks to setter and reviewer.

  16. Completed unaided, but feeling deflated by all the “easy” comments, just as I was feeling pretty smug about it. Had a bit of a hmm about 23a ,never thought of it in the verbal sense, but suppose I’m wrong again. Some really well phrased clues, 28a tickled my fancy. Thanks to all.

  17. It seems really the first time this week that I have been able to sit down at the right time (lunchtime) and enjoy the crossword- and enjoy it I did. Great fun. From 6,18 & 28a to 6 & 21d which were my stars, to 27a which I think has to be that, I don’t know footballers, it was a good, fair challenge. Many thanks Chalicea and the indefatigable Senf. Church quiz this evening with fish and chip supper so I have been sharpened in preparation. Best wishes to all those suffering ailments!

  18. Sorry to buck the trend but I found this pretty mundane and lacking in humour or “Doh” moments. Not that there was anything to upset or overstretch. Perhaps it was a hangover from watching last night’s rugby and marshalling at the Parkrun in the rain this morning.
    Thanks to Chalicea and super-sub Senf.

  19. Fun whilst it lasted; if only there were more clues! 14a as my favourite. Thank you Chalicea and Senf

  20. Much sympathy to Mrs RD – falling is the thing I bear in mind constantly not to do. Those who come into my house know that nothing must be left where I can fall over it accidentally.

    I’ll have to put myself at the bottom of the class today!! I’m still less than halfway through and have used about four of the hints – for which many thanks. By the time I finish, you’ll probably all be on Tuesday’s cryptic!

  21. Thanks Chalicea and Senf. Excellent crossword but not as enjoyabe from Chalicea as usual. I did not know the poison and the footballer held me up favourites 6 10 28a and 4 6 and 7d.

  22. Enjoyed this a lot but struggled to spell 24a correctly and had to look it up. I tried far too many obscure footballers from the past before coming at it from the ‘difficulty’ angle – did not recognise the person pictured. Wordle in 4 today. Thanks to Chalicea and Senf for standing in again, both stars.

  23. This didn’t feel like a Chalicea to me, but clearly I was wrong. I usually do so much better with hers, but did get there in the end. Thanks to the lovely lady and to Senf for stepping into the breach.

  24. A pretty tame Saturday puzzle and that was just fine.
    Favourites include 10a, 18a, 28a & 5d

    Thanks to Chalicea and Senf

  25. Just after 4:30 p.m. – not so bad after all – just four clues to go. I’ll have to google the one about the poison.

  26. Incredibly easy. but rather nice, as others have noticed! */*** for me.

    Thanks Chalicea and Senf.

  27. I didn’t find this as easy as most friends above, though only properly held up by 6d. I obviously have a heretofore undiagnosed problem with double-unches. Very nice 26 & 27a, thanks Chalicea.
    I hope all the orthopaedic problems get some analgesia and resolution soon.
    Away game for my team today and we’re hanging on for a draw. Could do with 27’s footballer as a super -sub like Senf.

  28. No hold ups for us this afternoon but great fun. Favourite was 21d. Thanks to Chalicea and Senf.

  29. I really enjoyed this, only problem was the footballer at 27a which is still blank. I’m not getting too aerated about the DNF, not knowing a footballer is the least of my problems. Of course this was fun, it’s a Chalicea offering, that’s always good. Fave was 10a, it amused!
    Thanks Chalicea for the fun, perfection, and appreciation for Senf stepping in once again. Wordle in 6, only just avoided crash and burn.

  30. Loved it, particularly 28a.

    The only ones that slowed me down were 6d (kept wanting source of metal to be the letter M), 15d (a new word for me), and 27a (I don’t follow football; so it took me a while to come up with the right name).

  31. Very enjoyable crossword for me today. Just nicely puzzling.

    Thanks to Chalicea and to Senf.

    Huge sympathies to Mrs RD.

  32. That was just lovely as was Nessum Dorma..
    26a was my favourite.
    Thanks to Chalicea and Senf.

  33. Good evening all from across the pond!
    Thoroughly enjoyed completing this lovely puzzle from Chalicea while watching the golf ‘pros’ all struggling with a bit of wind and 10 deg C in Florida…makes us mere mortals feel a lot better as they feed the fish with their balls on the 17th 🤣
    We’re springing forward tonight so will be an hour closer for the next couple of weeks…hope y’all are taking care despite various ailments & injuries! Thoughts & 🤞💪 to our good friends in Ukraine too 🇺🇦!
    Cheers!

  34. I enjoyed today’s puzzle (Sat) which I finished late afternoon and got Wordle in 2 so feeling quite pleased with myself!
    After reading all the comments my sympathy to Mrs RD and to all the other bloggers who have recently suffered broken bones or visual migraines. I have a friend who had a bad fall recently as she was getting up out of her armchair. She had been sitting with her legs crossed and when she got up her foot / leg had gone numb. She fell full-length. Fortunately, nothing was broken but she suffered torn ligaments etc and will probably need a small op to remove debris from back of the knee-cap. I obviously uncrossed my legs whilst listening to her on the phone!
    Many thanks to Chalicea and Senf for stepping in again. Hope all well with Tilsit.

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