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DT 30006

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30006

Hints and tips by Falcon

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ****

Greetings from Ottawa, where life is slowly returning to normal. I would like to thank pommers for stepping in on extremely short notice two weeks ago to do the review. The day before I was to do the review, an intense wind storm known as a derecho (a new term to me) struck parts of Ontario and Quebec. Unlike a tornado in which the winds spin in a funnel cloud a few hundred yards across, the winds in a derecho blow straight ahead across a front hundreds of kilometers across. It causes damage similar to a tornado but over a much larger area. Wind speeds of 130 km/h were measured at the nearby Ottawa airport and it has been determined that winds reached 190 km/h elsewhere in the province. It only lasted about half an hour but left utter destruction in its wake. Luckily, I suffered fairly minimal property damage but I was without power or cable services (phone, TV, and internet) for a week.

I found today’s puzzle from Campbell to be on the gentle side but entertaining as always.

In the hints below, underlining identifies precise definitions and cryptic definitions, and indicators are italicized. The answers will be revealed by clicking on the ANSWER buttons.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought of the puzzle.

Across

1a   Retired, finally, after serious cut (7)
SEVERED — place the final letter of retireD after serious or grave

5a   Collection of books in one large vehicle (7)
OMNIBUS — double definition, the first a volume containing many books

9a   Speak after fighting in rickety ghost train (8,7)
HOGWARTS EXPRESS — start with some major fighting contained in an anagram (rickety) of GHOST; follow this with speak or put into words

10a   Roof worker losing face, by and by (5)
LATER — a roof worker dropping its initial letter

11a   Rarely beaten, champion in team event (5,4)
RELAY RACE — an anagram (beaten) of RARELY and someone who is very good at what they do

12a   Outlaw, Scott’s Roy, popular gangster (5,4)
ROBIN HOOD — string together the first name of a Scottish outlaw who is the title character of a Sir Walter Scott novel, popular or trendy, and a slang term for a gangster to get an English outlaw

14a   Wound up in section of weekend edition (5)
ENDED — hidden in the final two words of the clue

15a   Make a fuss evacuating a Greek island (5)
CRETE — remove the A from a colloquial term meaning to make a fuss

16a   Browbeaten ambassador given a quick kiss by knight (9)
HENPECKED — in the order specified by the clue, link together the honorific accorded an ambassador, the chess notation for knight, and a word denoting given a quick kiss

18a   First in a line after soothsayer (9)
INAUGURAL — start with the IN from the clue; then append a soothsayer from ancient Rome, the A from the clue, and L(ine)

21a   A Parisian left it in reverse before (5)
UNTIL — a French indefinite article and L(eft) bookend a reversal of IT

22a   Shy type, unexpectedly thriving, like son (9,6)
SHRINKING VIOLET — an anagram (unexpectedly) of the final three words in the clue

23a   Out of the running at present, at this point (7)
NOWHERE — concatenate words meaning at this moment and at this place

24a   Stopped bandaging end of finger, puckered (7)
CREASED — a word meaning stopped wrapped around the final letter of fingeR

Down

1d   Learned person‘s sort of power involving church (7)
SCHOLAR — power from the sun enveloping a cartographer’s symbol for a church

2d   Warm beverage? Lot prepared squash (9,6)
VEGETABLE MARROW — an anagram (prepared) of the first three words of the clue

3d   Change back row (9)
REARRANGE — back or stern and row or rank

4d   Put off, cleaner gent ignored (5)
DETER — a cleaning solution with GENT removed

5d   Carrying too much? Load never varied (9)
OVERLADEN — an anagram (varied) of LOAD NEVER

6d   Cold Pepsi? Every other one over in New York (5)
NIPPY — reverse (over) every other letter in PePsI and insert the result in the short term for New York

7d   A licensed bowling alley may provide such fun (4,3,8)
BEER AND SKITTLES — a colloquial expression for fun or pleasure is also what is on offer at a licensed bowling alley

8d   Postpone having to invest across America (7)
SUSPEND — to invest or lay out cash containing a short term for America

13d   Prudent to give support to unmarried mother differently? (9)
OTHERWISE — prudent or sensible follows (supports in a down clue) MOTHER with M(arried) removed (unmarried)

14d   Senior manager‘s do, around four (9)
EXECUTIVE — do or perform wrapped around the Roman numeral for four

15d   Deep red lips included in deception (7)
CRIMSON — lips or edges contained in a deception or scam

17d   After reform, Luddite weakened (7)
DILUTED — an anagram (after reform) of LUDDITE

19d   Information about artistic type (5)
GENRE — a colloquial term for information and a Latin term meaning about or pertaining to

20d   Reason to record one Conservative (5)
LOGIC — a charade in which the components are a verb meaning to record in a book, a Roman one, and C(onservative)

As my clue of the day, I am going with13d with its clever use of “unmarried mother” which prompted a chuckle when the penny dropped.


Quickie Pun (Top Row): MYRRH + QUAY = MURKY

Quickie Pun (Bottom Row) : WORE + LOCHS = WARLOCKS


51 comments on “DT 30006

  1. It took a while to get going with this one. For me, definitely at the harder end of Campbell’s spectrum but enjoyable nonetheless. In the end, some good anagrams both full and partial made for an enjoyable solve. Ticks all over the paper again but two stand out – 18a and 2d with the latter being my COTD because of the great misdirection. It had me going after the wrong squash for ages.

    Many thanks to Campbell for the fun. Thank, also, to Falcon for the hints and I don’t like the sound of a derecho! :negative:

  2. Great, Campbellish fun this morning, no tripwires or trapdoors, no bonkers GK required. Lovely whole and partial anagrams to help along the way. COTD 18a for me. Thanks for the Jennifer Aniston Falcon.

  3. Breezed through this, very light even by Monday’s standards.
    The soothsayer in 18a was new to me but I guess it’s a logical name for one such.
    Favourite was 14d.
    Many thanks to Campbell and Falcon for the fun.

  4. *Said in a patronising, pompous voice: Having never read any of the works of the author associated with 9a I was at an immediate disadvantage…

    Great crossword; I enjoyed the anagrams. My last one in was 18a – couldn’t see it for a few minutes despite all the checking letters.

    Life changes. In the 1960s world of sitcoms, the term at 16a was a regular feature. The downtrodden chap (Bob?) kept in line by the nagging gal (Thelma?); but now such a format would be seen as offensive. Women who ‘stood up for themselves’ were viewed as harridans, hooking blokes out of the pub at closing time. There’s a long way to go, but we do live in slightly more enlightened times…. don’t we?

    Thanks to Campbell and Falcon.

    1. Some wives can be very domineering, as can some husbands, I don’t think either is acceptable. Is there a female version of henpecked?

    2. I bought the whole set when my grandchildren were very young, ready to give them when they reached reading age. They are now 20 and 17, but neither inherited my love of reading, and never wanted to read them. Hey ho. I enjoyed reading them meanwhile.

  5. It’s Monday :good: It’s Campbell :good: And, welcome back to Falcon after the storm of whatever time period in Ontario.

    Campbell at his doable best both here and in the OLPP – 1.5*/4.5*

    Candidates for favourite – 5a, 16a, 23a, and 20d – and the winner is 5a.

    Thanks to Campbell and to Falcon.

  6. A welcome continuation of the trend for slightly more challenging Campbell puzzles on the ‘backpage’, and very enjoyable while it lasted. Rarely do I tick an anagram but 9a joins 12a,16a and 14d for Hon Mentions, with 16a my COTD.

    2* / 3*

    Thank you to Campbell, and of course also to Falcon – welcome back.

  7. Took longer than expected to get going. I’m always surprised at the desire to develop an outsize 2d. Does it have any flavour at all? COTD is 21a. Such a clever anagram.

  8. I found this puzzle more straightforward than it first appeared tobe, o ce I’d gt a start and a few checkers went in. There were some lovely anagrams. I liked 22a, 18a,13d and COTD, 9a ezt of today’s clues. Thanks to Campbell, consistent asever fr a fine puzzle and to Falcon for the hints. I’m glad the weather is settling down over in Ottawa. The ‘derecho’ sounds ansolutely terrifying. Id never heard oone, despite teacing meteorology to A level students for years, but im probably not up to date on new terminology, having been retired for 17 years.

  9. Perfect crossword for a mid- morning coffee break and surprisingly user friendly. Enjoyed the visuals. 18a my favourite. Thanks to the setter for easing me into Monday.

  10. Like others I found this an easy test by this setter at */***. I started in the SE for some reason then wrote in anti-clockwise with the accessible anagrams easing completion and 18a being my favourite. Thanks to Falcon and Campbell.

  11. Like others I found this a relatively easy Campbell test at */***. I started in the SE for some reason then wrote in anti clockwise with the accessible anagrams easing the way. COTD again like others was 18a. Thanks to Falcon and Campbell for a pleasant start to the week.

    1. Apologies to everyone for this almost double entry. My WiFi is terrible and having sent the original it didn’t seem to have gone. I resent and I got a message saying it was a duplicate. Then nothing seemed to have been sent! I re drafted and hence the two similar but not identical blogs. At least my inadequacy should ensure my incapacity to ever being given the honour of being a hinter😳

  12. A light delight, as someone once said, to kickstart the crosswording week. Loads to enjoy, especially 9a, my personal favourite. An honourable mention, too, to 18a for the conciseness of the clue.

    Many thanks to our double punning compiler, and thanks and welcome back to Falcon after his travails.

  13. Excellent start to the week, diverse cluing from our setter and spot on for a Monday solve.
    Favourite has to be 9a for the surface closely followed by 18a.
    Thanks to Falcon for the pics, agree on a **/****

  14. Fun crossword to start the week, a good mixture of clues from our regular Monday setter. Liked 7d, 14d & 18a particularly.
    Thanks to Campbell for the exercise and a windswept Falcon for the blog (pleased your back all-in one piece).

  15. I slid smoothly through this walk in the park which was only delayed by my using wrong middle letter in 4d which coupled with my lack of Harry Potter knowledge made 9a my last one in. 18a soothsayer didn’t spring immediately to mind. Anyway it was all good fun. Thank you Campbell and Falcon (commiserations on your storm problems – hope all is now well).

  16. Plenty of chuckles to be found in this one and it was tough to pick out a winner.
    Eventually settled on 9a with a scramble for the other podium spots involving 16,18 & 22a plus 7d.

    Thanks to Campbell for both of today’s puzzles and a warm welcome back to Falcon, so pleased that you emerged relatively unscathed following the fearsome sounding derecho. I don’t doubt there are others in the area who were not as fortunate.

  17. 1*/4*. I found this very light but a lot of fun with 9a, 11a & 13d making it onto my podium.

    Many thanks to Campbell and to Falcon.

  18. I didn’t find this easy and needed a couple of hints to get over the line, but a fine puzzle nevertheless. Thanks to all.

  19. Hello all,
    Back afloat and currently alongside in Aqaba. It’s hot hot hot !!

    I found this one relatively straight forwards, after some thinking, and only struggled with 13d. I had the answer penciled in but the parsing didn’t jump out. 18a had to be, but didn’t know the reference, so google to the rescue.

  20. Nice and gentle start to the week. Great illustration for 6d. Thanks to today’s and Falcon.

  21. It’s Monday … it’s Campbell … as the saying goes.
    2*/3.5* today.
    Podium contenders include 5a, 9a, 12a, 7d & 15d with winner 9a … a huge PDM when it happened!

    Thanks to Campbell and Falcon … glad to see you back

  22. Very pleasant puzzle but 13d still leaves me a little puzzled. Why should taking the M off Mother mean they are unmarried?
    Just don’t see it at all.
    Thx to all
    **/***

    1. Think cryptically Brian. M is an abbreviation for married that is found in genealogies. The phrase “unmarried mother” is a cryptic way of saying remove the letter M from the word MOTHER.

  23. It’s all been said: this was a delightful start to the week, amusing, with brisk surfaces, and much fun to do. I’ll go along with Rabbit Dave for my top three–9a, 11a, & 13d. Thanks to Falcon (welcome back!) and Campbell. ** / ****

  24. 2/4. This was at the lighter end of a Monday puzzle. Very enjoyable nevertheless. Thanks to Campbell and Falcon.

  25. Usually a bit anxious about the difficulty of Monday’s.
    But not this time.
    Simply flowed to completion in just * time.
    Last in 18a, very slight hesitation but certainly top spot for its elegant construction.
    So, */*****.
    Many thanks, Campbell and Falcon.

  26. Puzzle was waiting for me when I got back from a hospital test this morning. A nice steady solve, with 18a being LI. COTD shared by 11a and 12a. Surprised I finished though, having needed to get up at silly o’clock. Thanks for a fun crossword to Campbell and Falcon.

  27. Lovely puzzle. 13d favourite. Ta to all.
    Could anyone explain to me why I have to enter my name and email every time I post. And yes I am ticking the save box.

    1. By any chance, is your browser or computer set to automatically delete cookies when you shut down. The information is stored in a cookie and if the cookie is deleted, you will need to re-enter the information.

      1. Yes, but it’s only, like the reveals, a recent problem. Why, after years of posting, should that be?

        1. Hello, JB. I suspect that what has caused these recent issues is that in mid-April some browsers, including Chrome, started defaulting to requesting secure encrypted connections to websites. This site now uses secure connections for almost everything, but there are still a few bits that need to be upgraded.

          Try connecting here with http://bigdave44.com (and not https://bigdave44.com) to see if that fixes the issue for you.

          Another thing to check, if you want your details remembered, is to make sure that your browser is not using a private or incognito mode.

          1. I’ve rebooted using your second option and it seems to have solved the problem. I must now try not to lose the connection. Thankyou. Incidentally when there was that reveal problem, any blog posted by you was always gremlin free.

  28. Whoever put in the picture for 6 down, a woman with her nipples showing, must be a man, and it is in very bad taste. And not at all funny. What is wrong with you. ?

    1. Welcome to the blog, Sue Wise.
      You’ve come on a crossword blog for the first time but you don’t seem to have anything to say about the crossword itself. You just want to moan about an image in the blog (which I thought was in extremely good taste, incidentally).
      Do you have any comments on the actual crossword?

    2. The question is – had it been a man’s nipples – would it have been worse or better? Oh dear. How woke some of us have become. Crossword comments only I agree Gazza.

    3. Sue, are you here because you are a cruciverbalist?

      There are many women (apologies if this word triggers anyone) who post/lurk here and, despite frequent pictures of attractive women, I’m unaware of any objections in the past.

      You can use the browser settings to disable images if you prefer.

      I would hate to think that this absolutely awesome blog had to become politically correct and woke (a term and groupthink I despise).

    4. Whilst I don’t mind the occasional ribald picture or comment it would be very sad to see this site return to the times where pictures of scantily clad people were rife and objections were regularly raised. It is as easy not to offend as it is to offend.

    5. I’m late to the party here, Sue, but, if you’re still with us, I wouldn’t look too much into it.

      Falcon was just having some fun with the word nippy. It’s like if one of the answers was lunchbox and he used a picture of Usain Bolt or Tom Daley.

  29. As with others, took a while to get going, but then it all started to come together nicely. A really enjoyable solve.

    I was particularly chuffed to get 9a as i never really got in to the films and certainly never read any of the books.

    A weird term at 2d. Why use it? We don’t say vegetable potato…

    Thanks to all.

  30. I loved this puzzle, well clued and fun. It’s the first time in ages that I’ve managed totally unaided so thank you Campbell for a gentler puzzle that’s more accessible for people like me. Great sense of achievement 😊

  31. Tell me why I don’t like Monday’s, well not recently. I didn’t like 9a or 2d and I wasn’t that keen on 19d either. I’ll leave it there. Will next Monday be better? I doubt it. Thanks to Campbell and Falcon.

  32. At last I seem to be back on track with solving cryptic crosswords. Had a run of not managing much on my own without a lot extra help from the additional clues. The only ones I didn’t solve alone today were 18a and 21a. I enjoyed Falcon’s hints, thank you. How frightening your recent weather must have been. Glad that you’re alright. Thanks to Campbell as well.

    1. Isn’t it great when, after a period of not being able to solve anything and doubts as to your own ability start to creep in, you suddenly find the groove again? Well done, GH. :good:

  33. The DT back pager is usually my wind down at the end of the day but last night’s attempt was fruitless! (Perhaps it was the excellent Rioja). Picked it up this morning & slowly but surely completed it. Favourites were the four long clues.

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