DT 30083 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 30083 (Hints)

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30083 Hints)

The Saturday Crossword Club (hosted by crypticsue)

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Another sunny Saturday morning here in East Kent where we are still waiting in vain for rain. For a change, it is one of those Saturdays where we will have to play Guess the Setter as I don’t think this is the work of Cephas (it isn’t a pangram for a start), despite all the anagrams

With this in mind, if I haven’t provided a hint the clue you are stuck on may well be one of the anagrams.

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.

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

Some hints follow.

Across

7a    Chaotic disintegration can become most confusing (14)
The first of several long anagrams – this one is an anagram (chaotic) of DISINTEGRATION

9a    Financial correspondent, one making urban changes? (4,6)
The job title of this newspaper financial correspondent sounds like they could be someone making urban changes

16a    Tease about black clothing (4)
A reversal (about) of a verb meaning to tease followed by the abbreviation for black

17a    Never-ending road heading west round twisted stunted tree (7)
A reversal of a road (heading west in an Across solution) goes round an anagram (twisted) of almost all (stunted) of TREe

20a    Husband taking long time over race (4)
The abbreviation for husband and a reversal (over) of a period of time

28a    Music player for each child and adult dancing to reels (8,6)
A way of saying for each, a male child, the abbreviation for adult and an anagram (dancing) of TO REELS

Down

1d    Cleric lacking energy involved in a case related to management (14)
A type of clergyman without the E (lacking) energy inserted between A (from the clue) and a grammatical case

3d    Produced food we hear (4)
This synonym for produced sounds like (we hear) a type of food

5d    Southern sailor gave promising signs, resembling a heavenly body (4-6)
The abbreviation for Southern and a sailor followed by part of a verb, one of the BRB definitions of which is, indeed, “give promising signs”

15d    Dress warmly before a game of golf in this garment (10)
To dress warmly goes before a complete series of holes in a game of golf

26d    Food — some platefuls sent back (4)
Hidden in reverse in platefuls

27d    Grim villain, therefore overturned (4)
A reversal (overturned) of a Latin word meaning therefore

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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: PANE + STAY + KING = PAINSTAKING

70 comments on “DT 30083 (Hints)

  1. Thank you for your help. Please can you explain the answer to 24a? I got the word but have no idea why it is the solution!

    1. The first letters are a reversal (put round) of a word meaning to dress and the final one an abbreviation for large

  2. 2*/3.5*. That was light and good fun. Several times I thought there were some quite stretched synonyms but, on each occasion, when I checked my BRB the exact wording in the clue appeared there as one of the definitions. This makes me wonder if perhaps this puzzle is the work of Chalicea.

    My biggest hold up was with 9a, my last one in. The enumeration is missing from the paper, and I stared at the seemingly nonsensical checking letters for ages before I twigged that the answer was two words not one. :-(

    Many thanks to the setter and to CS.

    1. I didn’t even notice the missing enumeration. I wrote in the urban synonym in first reading and then had to think about the second bit until some helpful checking letters came along

  3. That was certainly a bit different for a Saturday, a superanagramfest (to coin a phrase). I quite enjoyed them, although it took ages to get into the long ones as a needed the smaller checkers at the edge of the rather awkward grid. I liked the 4 long anagrams, 8d, 1d, 7a an28a but my favourites were 21a ( a new word for me) and 11a. The latter was verycunning and the whole puzzle full of misdirection. Thanks to the compiler. My only suggestion isNYDK. thank to CS Also for another Saturday stand-in, needwd abut of hwlp oarsing

  4. Wow, that was tough! Those 14 letter answers were challenging. However nice to see some astronomy esp in 11a.
    I thought 21d and 5d were dodgy clues.
    Actually quite enjoyable surprisingly for one at the difficult end of the scale at least for me.
    Thx to all
    *****/****

  5. Thought this was going to be a non-starter today as it took me ages to get going, especially looking at the four 14 letter beauties. But just wrote the the letters in a jumble and stared for a while until the answer popped out, maybe the mind’s eye just needs to make order from chaos?
    After that it was plain sailing all the way. Great crossword Mr or Mrs compiler.

  6. A very pleasant SPP – **/****.

    As it is not a pangram, I will use my 5 bob and, like RD, say that this is a Floughie Lady production, although Chriscross caused me to have a quick pause for thought with her mention of NYDK.

    Candidates for favourite – 11a, 16a, 25a, and 3d – and the winner is 11a.

    Thanks to Chalicea and to CS.

  7. Not only was this an anagram-fest, it also contained an abundance of those often pesky ‘little’ words.
    Pick of the bunch for me was 11a.

    Thanks to our setter (Chalicea?) and to CS for bringing us another of her nicely illustrated sets of hints.

    1. Jane, I commented some time after you but have just noticed we both have same description for today’s puzzle. Great minds think alike or fools seldom differ?!

  8. Great puzzle which I certainly laboured over to an unaided completion in 2*5 time.
    Last in, to my shame, – it just would not yield for some time – 28a.
    In spite of its checking letters!
    Many thanks to the setter and to CS.

  9. As usual it’s a pesky 4 letter word causing problems 20a. It has to be what it is but I don’t know how to put my suggestion without landing on the naughty step! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Is that good enough? [Probably if it wasn’t a prize puzzle so I’ve had to redact that bit!]
    No real favourite so will agree with others and nominate 11a.

      1. That’s the “how” of course it is but I never heard the event I’m thinking of described in just this one word.

          1. Ok, I’ll settle for that. How to waste your Saturday afternoon! Thank you for your efforts and for staying with the blogging team.

            1. Thank you for the thanks

              I haven’t got time to waste my afternoon – in addition to drafting my third review of the day, I’m also making more jam out of the peach mountain. I’ve also just had to rescue the washing as someone further down the village isn’t taking any notice of the request not to have (very smoky and smelly) bonfires in the current drought :cry:

  10. Well this took twice as long as it should have, as I stupidly bunged in [redacted – see BD’s instructions in red at the bottom of the hints] for the second half of 9a. Doh! Thanks for the explanation of 10d – that bypassed me completely, whilst 14d reminded me of living in Germany where the local restaurant served xxxxxxxxxxxx – not that I could ever bring myself to try it. Thanks to the setter (whoever you are) and CS.

  11. This anagramfest had a rookie feel about although it did contain some clever indicators. Early solution of 3 of the 4 perimeter longuns helped (28a lagged). 11a unparsed – last 2 letters and cheers always jar for me. I suppose 10a is “tempting”. “Food” for 26d rather broad. I’m being thick but I don’t get 10d. Thank you Mysteron and CS.

  12. If you aren’t trying to cram as many activities into your afternoon as I am (or even if you are) I highly recommend you have a go at today’s NTSPP which is both friendly and fun

    1. & I will ‘third’ the recommendaton – the NTSPP is very approachable, very enjoyable, and the ideal light accompaniment to a grey, wet & miserable afternoon!

      1. An alternative to the DT prize puzzle only found on this blog

        Go to the home page and it is the post above this one. Or you can access it from the Recent Posts list in the right hand side

      2. It’s the ‘Not The Saturday Prize Puzzle’ – one of the weekly features of the BD site which you can access from the side bar. The setters vary but often they are those who have risen up through the ranks via Rookie Corner – another feature of the site which appears at midnight on a Sunday.
        You should give them a try, Sarah, they’re often most enjoyable.

        Apologies, Sue, I’d made the assumption that you were busy with either jam or cooking dinner!

  13. Found this Saturday puzzle a tough solve. The 4 letter words were troublesome as opposed to the 4 perimeter clues that came easily.
    2.5*/3* for me.

    Favourites were the four perimeter clues as well as 25a and 3d. No winners though today.
    Many I could not parse, but I did this on Friday night prior to hints and tips to assist.
    Will look tomorrow to see what I missed and see what gets cleared up.

    Thanks to setter and CS

  14. I managed to finish this in [redacted] which, for me, is practically a record. I wasn’t sure about 7a and 21a but put them in and then checked them online later (in my version of the rules, that still counts as an unaided finish).
    I think my favourite clue is 4d.
    Thanks to the setter and Cryptic Sue.

    [One of the requests made in the blog’s Comment Etiquette is that solver do not mention solving times (records or not) as this can demoralise solvers who may take longer]

  15. I’ve had a busy week often being out over lunchtime so my puzzling has suffered. A lover of anagrams, I was if at a cracking pace and an now held up agonising over which vowel to use for a pesky three letter word. Still waiting for rain to fatten my figs (that sounds slightly odd!) but I am having a great time collecting all the hazelnuts before the squirrels take them all. Many thanks to Messrs Setter & Hinter.

    1. I had to race to pick my sweet corn cobs because I saw the baby squirrel eying them covetously. I chased him off but he always comes back, usually to thr bird feeders.

      1. I’ve just seen the quick crossword pun and that’s not how I would spell 1ac. And I think I’ve entered the wrong half for12a in the cryptic.

        1. Sorry, I shouldn’t have put the wrong spelling in the pun – I’ve corrected it now

          With regard to 12a, see my reply to Ted below

  16. We found this hard work not helped by the grid and the lack of enumeration for 9a. Favourite was 28a. Thanks to the setter and CS.

  17. After an initial anxiety about the 4 long words, I (unusually for me) got them ok. It was the 4 letter word at 20a which had me head scratching until coming here for a hint, as I had the wrong “long time”, so that was my last one in. Thanks to the setter and Cryptic Sue. Have a lovely Saturday, folks!

  18. Having just driven back from a week in Worcester, I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, and join others in nominating 11a as favourite clue and Chalicea as the compiler.

    Many thanks to both her and CS.

  19. Thank you for your comments. Interestingly I found 2 answers for 11 across, one of which is the name of a moon. Both fitted the clue in different ways. I started by writing the wrong one.

  20. Yes, guilty as charged. I hadn’t realized that I had almost managed a Cephas anagram fest, but I do appreciate your generous comments and especially crypticsue’s hard work on what sounds like a busy Saturday. The grid received a negative comment so you might be glad to learn that we were given a new set of grids to use that had removed several that CL considered to be poor or flawed. Puzzles we had already set were accepted up to the end of last month and this was one of them. I suspect that a few more will appear during the next few weeks on the back page or in Toughies before the revised set will completely take over.

  21. I felt that this was a Chalicea gem early on, though a bit more testing than hers usually are for me, especially the four-letter clues (which really are superb today). Of the longer clues, 1d gets my nod as the sharpest of them all. 11a wins the Gold, with 5d (very interesting use of the last 6 letters) and 20a (my LOI) fleshing out the podium. Thanks to CS and Chalicea, our Lovely Lady Setter. 2.5* / 4*

  22. Completing this unaided in record time was super compensation for having to call off my planned garden railway open day because of lack of interest. Thanks to the setter for buoying me up!

  23. A most enjoyable and gentle Saturday afternoon diversion during this (wonderfully) incessant rain – no petrichor today, but you can almost hear the trees, hedges, fields and plants breathing a sigh of relief.

    Did not experience any difficulties with the grid – indeed it was nice to have a grid which didn’t comprise four or five almost separate individual puzzles – and felt the generous dollop of full and partial anagrams, combined with the very fair clueing, made this a most approachable crossword. It does not surprise me one jot that Chalicea is the originator of today’s challenge! COTD the super 11a; other podium places to 10d, 27d, 9a and 20a.

    1.5* / 4*

    Many thanks indeed to Chalicea, and to Cryptic Sue for the blog (we dare not make more jam, there still being various hedgerow jellies and plum jampotes in our cupboard from 2014 !)

  24. Well, that was tricky, wasn’t it?
    I’d given up trying to think who could have been today’s culprit – I had an excuse for everyone.
    I don’t usually have too much trouble with Chalicea, it couldn’t have been Cephas (no pangram) I know that I can’t do NYDK etc etc and eventually I ran out of possibilities – oh well – too bad! Now we know!
    I like anagrams (mainly because I’m quite good at them) but I do have trouble with very long ones and there were a large number of them today.
    I did particularly appreciate 13a and 15d.
    Thanks to Chalicea and the overworked CS.

  25. I thought I had been booted off this site after all the kerfuffle with MP as I haven’t received the usual email with hints and comments for days but somehow CS’s email arrived today so thanks. I feel so sad that DT has now also left the fold. Anyway to today’s puzzle – not too many hold-ups although I had to check the moon – great clue and became my COTD.

    1. Even if, for some reason you don’t get the email notifications, the daily blog posts will still be here. Just type bigdave44.com into your internet search bar

  26. Had this pegged as a Chalicea production early doors & very enjoyable it was too. Most of it flew in until complete brain fog at 20a & 19d. I’m blaming a long day at work for the embarrassingly long time it took me to spot the reversal & anagram indicators. 15d my favourite & suspect it won’t be long before it’s required on the course.
    Thanks to Chalicea & the ever busy CS

  27. Another fine Chalicea production and I’ll chip in with 11a as one of the clues of the day. 28a made me chuckle, it seems so old fashioned now with phone and Bluetooth!
    Thanks to Chalicea for the crossword and CS for the blog…if you want a job done well give it to a busy person!

  28. Weekending in Suffolk so come to this late. A bit of a head scratcher for me. Like others I was hampered by not knowing how many words formed 9a. Got there eventually. I had to look up synonyms for raconteur as I couldn’t think of one that fits. Awful synonym it is too when raconteur is a wonderful word. Only favourite I’ve noted is 25a. Thanks Chalicea and CS.

  29. Got there in the end, thanks to crypticsue for some great (and much needed) hints – a few I couldn’t get without them!

    Another vote here for 11a!

  30. 12a – have looked at Big Dave’s cryptic clue advice, but how do we know which word is the answer, as in his examples there appears not to be any convention? OK if a different number of letters, but when they are the same!

    1. In this clue it says ‘We’re told progeny” so here the homophone of the progency is the ‘source of light’

  31. I always look forward to Chalicea’s puzzles. This one was lovely! It was indeed an anagramfest, but a most enjoyable one.
    Like other commenters, 11a was my favourite! I also liked the tricky four-letter 20a and 24a very much. They were my last in…
    Many appreciative thanks to Chalicea.
    Many appreciative thanks to crypticsue. I enjoyed reading the hints although I didn’t need them. Lovely illustrations!

  32. Tot ! Toot ! Hurray………whizzed along, with only a few head scratches and then came to a grinding halt on 24a. 11a, 20a and 4d all much liked.

    Thank you to crypticsue for the lovely hints….which I could read at my leisure.

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