DT 30041 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 30041 (Hints)

by crypticsue  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30041 Hints)

The Saturday Crossword Club (hosted by crypticsue)

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Another fine sunny morning in East Kent – where we are lucky to benefit from the usual sea breeze coming in from the coast to keep us relatively cool.  Tilsit is well but, in addition to all the usual plates he’s keeping spinning, the threat of extremely high temperatures next week has meant revisions to the train timetable, so he’s busy contacting rail passengers to tell them that the train they thought they’d be getting on Monday or Tuesday isn’t running!

I’m sure everyone will have spotted that, once again, our Saturday Prize Puzzle is a Cephas pangram.

As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, an assortment of clues, including some of the more difficult ones, have been selected and hints provided for them.

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.

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

Some hints follow.

Across

1a    Gloomy articles about first person in Nancy’s clothing (4,5)
A synonym for gloomy and some plural definite articles go ‘about’ the French first person singular (Nancy being a place in France!)

11a    Striking beast? (7)
This beast could also describe an unauthorised strike

12a    Races around after failure, causing alert (4,5)
An anagram (around) of RACES goes after a North American slang :roll: word for a failure

14a    Objects involved in hard sell? (8)
A cryptic definition of some objects made of hard metal

26a    What carer must do to make youngster take a seat (4-3)
This clue made me smile as without the hyphen, the carer might be instructing a youngster to take a seat

28a    Possibly a curse having a pause in verse (7)
An anagram (possibly) of A CURSE with A (from the clue) produces a pause or natural breathing space in a line of verse

29a    Lodge with crowd approaching hotel with banker (9)
The total crowd at an event, the abbreviation for Hotel and a Yorkshire river (banker)

Down

2d    Sugar shortage members reported (7)
Homophones (reported) of a shortage and some bodily members

4d    Carry out most of device for training muscles (8)
Almost all of a device for training muscles

5d    Pin that’s more crooked? (6)
A type of pin that sounds like it might be more crooked

8d    Completely using different lethal method (3,3,3)
An anagram (different) of LETHAL and a method

15a    Shaver returned large sea creature! (9)
A device for shaving (shaver) and a synonym for returned

21d    Hide around Marrakesh? (7)
A type of leather (hide) that comes from the country ‘around’ Marrakesh

24d    Bait transported in kilogram container (6)
An anagram (transported) of BAIT inserted into an abbreviated kilogram


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As this is a Prize crossword, please don’t put any ANSWERS, whether WHOLE, PARTIAL or INCORRECT, or any ALTERNATIVE CLUES in your comment. If in doubt, leave it out!

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The Quick Crossword pun: PORK + KEW + PINE = PORCUPINE

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61 comments on “DT 30041 (Hints)”

  2. Nice Saturday pangram, the hardest corner was the NW but with a few trips to the BRB it soon fell. Loved the pic for 29a – I drive past it every day, and it is Yorkshire too!
    Thanks to Cephas and CS.

  3. Just what the doctor ordered after yesterday’s battle, a much lighter challenge, but still enjoyable.
    A new word for me at 28a, but doable from the wordplay.
    2d and 1a were my last to fall and they get my COTD awards.
    Now off for a very hot round of golf ⛳️ ☀️
    Thanks to the setter and CS

  4. 1.5*/3*. A light pangram which was just the ticket for a hot and sticky morning.

    Many thanks to Cephas and to CS, this week’s stand-in blogger.

  5. Tenth pangram in a row so no doubting who set today’s typically enjoyable SPP – **/****.

    Candidates for favourite – 23a, 27a, and 21d – and the winner is 23a.

    Thanks to Cephas and to CS.

    1. A polite warning – because you probably received an automatic e-mail for the posting of the blog for ST 3169, around 8:30pm BST yesterday, I don’t think there will be an automatic e-mail when the blog is actually posted at the usual time tomorrow morning. This is because WordPress will think that the blog has been published and tomorrow’s effort will just be an update – which is sort of true.

      What happened was that I was doing some preparatory work on the blog and I had a ‘moment’ – I think the technical term is ‘brain f*rt’ – when I clicked on ‘Publish’ instead of ‘Save’ (my fellow bloggers will understand what I am saying). I did ‘retrieve’ what had been posted which is why it does not appear in the list of posts on the Home Page. Not the first time that anybody has done it and, almost certainly, not the last – in fact, it is my second time in 311 blogs.

  6. Thank you to the setter and supply-blogger. I did better than usual at filling this in … and worse than usual at understanding the answers.

    Fortunately, CrypticSue has hinted the three I still don’t properly understand. Unfortunately, I’m so far off that I still haven’t grokked them, even with the hints!

    In 14a I have the hard objects but don’t understand how “sell” fits in. In 4d, I still don’t know what the device is that I have most of. And in 15d I have a creature, but Lexico (among other places) tells me it’s land-based creature of presumably normal size, so I’ve got “large sea” left over. But I’m happy to wait for Friday for explanations: please don’t risk the naughty step for my sake.

    My favourite wordplay was 5d’s and my favourite definition was 22d’s. Have a good weekend everybody.

    1. Smylers, for 15d check the BRB definition 2 for your answer. For 14a, your answer is hard objects which are sold. For 4d just add one letter to your answer.

      1. Thanks. I don’t have a BRB (and the word isn’t in the online Chambers), but I think I’ve found the same thing in The OED.

        The hard objects are still hard objects even when they are not being sold (and again Lexico doesn’t mention being sold as part of their definition). For 4d, I guessed the letter, but it isn’t a term I’m familiar with. Or, quite possibly, it’s actually the device that I’m not familiar with!

      2. 28a was ringing distant bells from my O Level English in 1971. That was distant but the anagram helped. 2d made me chuckle, I was well adrift thinking of another set of members. For me a **/**** day but chucking 2 q’s into a pangram is just grandstanding!

  7. Thanks to Cephas for another Saturday Pangram, and thanks CS for the blog An enjoyable solve – though not convinced by the pluralised articles in 1a (may have misunderstood of course!) 23a and 2d favourites. Thanks again!

  8. Not the most difficult of Saturdays but very enjoyable. My fav was definitely 16d, impressed by the setter’s knowledge of a great band.
    If I was being picky I thought 1a was weak and had to Google 28a as it was not a word I knew.
    Thx to all
    **/****

    1. Kind words from Brian – although we are a little concerned that his account may have been hacked.

      Mr & Mrs T

      1. Our Bri often gives praise.

        Just batten down the hatches and get out your tin hat when he’s not a happy bunny.

        He laughs in the face of Maximus Decimus Meridius unleashing hell.

  9. How nice to have a fun challenge after yesterday’s slog. 1a and 2d delayed my completion mainly due to my not tumbling to Nancy (bit far-fetched) and having used the wrong first 2 letters for 2d. 28a new one on me. Surely there could have been a rather more erudite clue than band for 16d. Thank you Cephas for fun in the sun and to CS for standing in again.

  10. A sprinkling of surface reads that didn’t impress but the solve itself was completed quickly enough.
    Top two here were 11&23a with smiles for 5&22d.

    Thanks to Cephas and to CS for Saturday stand-in duties.

  11. Smooth filling this morning, a school day as it happens: I was only aware of the terrestrial 15d and I had to Google 28a, though couldn’t be much else from the surface and checkers. Some little gems sprinkled throughout: 1a, 13 & 22d were my favourites.
    Thanks CS and Cephas.

  12. I didn’t know 28a and had to look it up. The rest of the puzzle was enjoyable if challenging, which is fine because it is a prize puzzle. Favourites are 11a and 24d with 11a being my COTD.

    As usual, I missed the pangram and, given that the last nine Saturdays have been one, there is simply no excuse.

    Many thanks to Cephas for the fun and to Cryptic Sue for the the hints and standing in for Tilsit. I do not envy his having to tell passengers their train has been cancelled. Tempers tend to be stretched as it is in the heat.

  13. An enjoyable puzzle, with hust the right amount of challenge and a few tricky clues in the NW corner. COTD was a hoint award, going to1a and16a, as Brian says a great band. 29a and 2d are runners up. I couldn’t think of the first part of the dormer i initially a d the latter made me laugh. .Many thanks to Cryptic Sue for stepping into the breach to do the honts and to Cephas our marathon pangram co.piler.

  14. A great puzzle today. Right up my street.
    Needed a bit of thought and a deep delve into the memory bank for 28a which I then had to double check in the BRB. It is astonishing what we remember as I cannot have used or even seen that word for several decades.
    22d made me smile….a lot.
    Thanks to Cephas and to crypticsue.

    Not nearly as hot up here in (coastal) Angus as it is down South. 23C ….a pleasant day with a cooling sea breeze.

    1. It would have been nice if our branch of the family had come from Angus instead of Stirling. We’d have been the Angus’s Of Angus.

      1. I had a patient called Staines. His son lived in Staines Road in Staines. The address “Staines, Staines Road, Staines” used to find him.

        3. WOOD
          MIKE
          HANTS

          Eventually delivered with little delay to Mike Underwood, Andover, Hampshire.

          (almost certainly apocryphal but RM have done wonders in the past)

          1. Indeed they have, SJB. A good friend of mine was a well known bell ringer in Wales. a letter addressed to:

            Mrs. S…….. P…….
            Bell ringer
            Wales

            was delivered.

  15. 28a required confirmation but otherwise plain sailing & very enjoyable.
    Thanks to Cephas & to CS.

  16. Back to front.
    Word in first, then parsing.
    Funny, that.
    Enjoyable and many a smile eg 2d and 26a.
    Spending too much time arranging the given letters for 28a put me into 3* time.
    Many thanks Cephas and crypticsue

  17. Delighted to have finished this one because 1a and 2d just kept defying my cobwebby brain this morning until it dawned on me who (or, rather, what) Nancy was! I guess it’s my COTD but, since 28a brought to mind many happy classroom moments, it gets the Clarkie. Thanks to CS for stepping in today and to Cephas for yet another pangram. 2.5* / 3.5*

  18. Had to use the hints for my last one in. But i was held up trying to fit an F in. Now with a completed grid, i still miss an F. So my solution isnt a pangram.

      1. Thanks all. Definitely a senior moment. I had the F in there but when i went through the letters couldnt see it.

  19. I envy those of you with a sea breeze – we are about as friendly from the sea in every direction as we can be. I enjoyed this and put a daisy by 7d and 22d. Thanks to Cephas for the brain strain and to CS for the hints. George has gone to sleep until it is time for a G and T and I may just do the same. Take care everyone.

    1. It is a rare day when we don’t have a sea ‘breeze’. Even with the breeze it is still too hot to sit anywhere but in the shade of our twisted willow tree

  20. I’ve just spoken to my grandson and DD1 is now out of intensive care but still very drowsy. The poor girl has her hands bound up and put into padded mittens to stop her pulling cannulas out etc. she’s now going to like that when she’s wide awake!

      1. Glad to hear your daughter is out of ICU. I remember the feeling of relief when ny husband came out of ICU after one of his bouts of encephalitis. The,sense of relief was palpable. He too had the padded mittens, having pulled out a naso-gastric feeding tube several times. He even managed to get those off and would fight the nurse as she tried to replace them. It is so difficult for them i do sympathise. May she recover soon.

        1. It’s a good job none of us can see into the future! Carpe diem.
          People spend far too much time moaning instead of counting their blessings when they have them. And I’ve been as guilty as anyone else.

          1. It’s called being human Daisygirl and recognising it is being a better human. Good news about DD1 and we all look forward to more of the same.

  21. 3/4. Enjoyable solve held up by the NW for a while. Thanks to Cephas and CS.

  22. Thank you Cephas for an enjoyable puzzle, not too testing thankfully for a hot and sticky Saturday morning.
    Being a Fell Walker I was stupidly trying to think of a Mountain Pass for 23a and for 29a, being an Angler I could name a number of British rivers with that spelling .

  23. Thanks Cephas and CS. Not my favourite although doable. Not knowing 28s I had trouble with it and had tried to fit in another gap. The hint only covers 6 letters “A curse having a” solved this. Although solving the others I found I first out in wrong answers for 15d and 29. Thanks for parsing 1 for us CS. I thought Nancy could relate to the place but still could not quite justify my answer. Favourite 3d.

  24. Rather dizzy right now, following up doubling BP medicine (on doctor’s advice) so was relieved to find this much easier than yesterday. A pleasantly solvable puzzle, although like most above I needed help for 28a. I also had the wrong answer for striking and should have realised at once that it had nothing to do with beast. Thank you to Cephas for not making me feel stupid, and to CrypticSue for stepping into the breach,

    1. I sympathise with you BL – my medication is frequently adjusted in an ongoing vain effort to control my BP often with unpleasant side effects.

      1. Thanks Angellov. Reassuring that I am not the only one with this problem. I think I will go to see a cardiologist as I am not confidant my GP has a handle on this.

  25. Like others, I found the NW corner the hardest.
    Now we are waiting to drive to Devon from Kent and trying to second guess the traffic. At least the forecast for next week is a little more friendly there.

  26. After ‘bombing’ on yesterday’s Zandio, this was a good restorative. Needed CS hints to fully parse 1a although I feel a bit cheated by ‘Nancy’ and still only see *indefinite* articles. Thanks too to Cephas. **/****

  27. NW corner the problem as for many others. Could not remember what Mrs Regan wore but I think it wouldn’t have helped.

    Favourites were 27a and 22d. Thanks to Cs and Cephas.

  28. A couple of crosswords this week have made me think I’m not doing quite as well as I thought I was – what a relief to find that I can still usually at least do a few of the answers.
    Like others I haven’t met 28a.
    I think my favourite was probably 27d.
    Thanks to Cephas for the crossword and to CS for the hints.

  29. Not my favourite solve finding it more difficult than most thus far. I had no idea regarding 18 so resorted to a solver. 15d was again a new creature for me. Nancy seems to have passed me by.
    It’s a DNF for me as 7d remains unsolved. I could insert the name of a small bird (a bunting) but I have no idea why. The across answers are definitely correct
    The hints confirmed my answers so thank you.
    ***/***

  30. Good solid puzzle, if overly heavy on the anagram front and some odd surfaces. Nice to have a challenging puzzle of mid-week difficulty standard. Hon Mentions to 2d & 5d with COTD to 11a.

    2.5* / 2.5*

    Many thanks to Cephas and to CS

  32. Thanks to Cephas and to crypticsue for the hints. A very enjoyable puzzle, I agree that the NW corner was the hardest part. Favourite was 22d. Was 3* /4* for me.

  33. 1a last in when I realised I hadn’t used all the letters. Like above never heard of 28a but then I did fail O level English

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