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DT 30100

by Senf  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30100

Hints and tips by Senf

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***

A very good Friday morning from Winnipeg.

Somewhat of a topsy-turvy week for setters with the CL ‘special’ on Monday, and Jay and Ray T ‘absent’ from the back page as they were in their Toughie alter egos.  So, who do we have for today, a member of the Friday triumvirate or someone else?  Well, Silvanus entertained us last Friday, today’s puzzle has neither of proXimal’s ‘trademarks’, so my five bob is on this being quite a challenging Zandio production (which I think SJB would be happy did not appear as a Sunday Toughie).

Candidates for favourite – 10a, 21a, 4d, 15d, and 20d.

In the hints below, the definitions are underlined. The answers are hidden under the Click here! buttons, so don’t click if you don’t want to see them.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

1a Large vessel in sound, seamen maybe getting transfer (6,4)
CRUISE SHIP: A homophone (in sound) of multiple groups of seamen perhaps (maybe) followed by (getting) a synonym of transfer (a package?).

6a Hurt — shouldn’t one be in hospital? On the contrary (4)
ACHE: Not one in hospital (on the contrary) but the single letter for Hospital inside a synonym of one (in a pack of cards?).

10a Saw motorway to points west and east (5)
MOTTO: Not a cutting device but the other type of saw that we see quite often – the single letter for Motorway and TO from the clue reversed (points west) and the right way round (points east).

11a Radical mix setter’s deployed (9)
EXTREMIST: An anagram (deployed) of MIX SETTER without the ‘s.

12a Ill fortune in battle over English Channel town (3,4)
RAW DEAL: A synonym of battle reversed (over) and an English Channel town (that’s a new one to guess, but I will try and help by saying it is in Kent between Dover and Ramsgate).

13a Quit chorus (7)
REFRAIN: A double definition – the first relates to quit doing something (rather than leaving).

14a City element going to USA casually, and south of it (5,7)
LATIN AMERICA: the two letter abbreviated form of a USA city and a metallic element followed by (going to) a single word for referring casually to the USA.

18a Get away from those people — rough and common (3-2-3-4)
RUN-OF-THE-MILL: A three letter word for get away (fast), a (2,4) phrase for from those people, and a three letter synonym of rough (as in not well).

21a Salad item that’s bigger than it looks (7)
ICEBERG: A salad item named after an object in the sea that is bigger than it looks.

23a In Paris, one never winds alarm (7)
UNNERVE: The French (in Paris) for the masculine of one and an anagram (winds – move one letter!) of NEVER.

24a In big top, say, one has to be alert (9)
ATTENTIVE: A (2,4) phrase equivalent to in big top where the second part is a generic term for what a big top is a type of (say) and a (1’2) term that is equivalent to one has.

25a Give therapy centre a thumbs-up for accommodation (5)
TREAT: A lurker (for accommodation) found in three words in the clue.

26a Journalist with ’24 Hours’ editing out article’s spin (4)
EDDY: Our favourite abbreviated journalist and (with) the single word for 24 Hours with an article removed (editing out).

27a Agent backing boy band together and individually (10)
PERSONALLY: No knowledge of Boy Bands required – An abbreviated synonym of agent reversed (backing), a synonym of boy (in a family), and a single word term for band together.

For those of you who are disappointed that knowledge of Boy Bands was not required:

 

Down

1d One takes pictures of adult covered with whipped cream (6)
CAMERA: The single letter for adult contained by (covered with) and anagram (whipped) of CREAM.

2d Area of city as far as Wimbledon vacated (6)
UPTOWN: A (2,2) phrase equivalent to as far as and what remains when the interior letters of WimbledoN are removed (vacated) – the BRB seems to believe that the answer is only ‘half’ an Americanism.

3d Game in south Sussex town, semi with Lancaster? (5-9)
SHOVE-HALFPENNY: Lego time – the single letter for South, the Sussex town that is ‘connected’ to Brighton but doesn’t think it should be, a synonym of semi, and (with) the first name of someone with the surname of Lancaster (but probably not related to our esteemed editor) who can also call herself Lady Stewart.

4d Drunk’s hogging oysters? (9)
SHELLFISH: A clever homophone (I think) of how a drunken person might say a synonym of hogging.

5d Regularly avoided flipping priest until reaching Bury? (5)
INTER: Firstly, I would suggest reversing (flipping) priest until and then delete alternate letters (regularly avoided) thus arriving (reaching) the answer.

7d Crossing Pacific, Lima ticket-holders depending on the weather (8)
CLIMATIC: A lurker (crossing) found in three words in the clue.

8d European student at old college where son’s admitted (8)
ESTONIAN: A student at an old college (that is still in existence), of which the Prince of Wales is an alumnus, containing (where . . . admitted) the single letter for son.

9d Complaint springing up over weight used in meat dish (4,10)
BEEF WELLINGTON: An informal synonym of complaint, a single word synonym of springing up placed before (over) a (large imperial) weight.

15d They sort out mail and iron garments (9)
ARMOURERS: Tradesmen who produce and maintain (sort out) (chain) mail and other metal ‘garments.’

16d Doctor advanced through time channels (8)
DRAINAGE: More Lego – the abbreviation for doctor (the person), the single letter for Advanced, and a (2,3) synonymic phrase for through time.

17d Slaughtered fiend etc and passed on (8)
INFECTED: An anagram (slaughtered) of FIEND ETC.

19d Suffering or understanding (6)
ORDEAL: OR from the clue and a synonym of understanding.

20d First to stop access? (6)
SENTRY: The first letter of Stop and a synonym of access.

22d Announcement of seamen maybe making appearance (5)
GUISE: This one gets a Hmm – a homophone (announcement of) a synonym of seamen perhaps (maybe).

The Quick Crossword Pun:

WEIGHT + KING + KNIGHT + MAYORS = WAKING NIGHTMARES

56 comments on “DT 30100”

  1. Good morning again. You won’t ‘see’ me or ‘hear’ much from me today. I have an early ‘date’ with a CT Scanner as part of my enthusiastic GP’s ongoing and thorough investigation into persistent bronchitis.

  2. Very enjoyable and very Zandio-like with some nice misdirection thoughout the grid. I had to work quite hard to finish and completely parse it.
    Not sure how many people will recognise the “Lancaster” aspect of 3d but you don’t really need it to solve the clue
    As ever with this setter I liked a lot, thought 6&10a plus 19d were very clever and the salad item raised a smile.
    Took me ages to spot the lurker at 25a so it’s on my podium but top spot is shared by the nicely misleading 27a and the LOL 4d. Great stuff.
    Many thanks to Zandio and Senf, good luck with the scan

  3. A proper Friday Backpager,quite a lot of head scratching but very satisfying when the SE corner gave in!
    A plethora of top rate cluing, lots of favourites 21a had to be the winner with the brilliant 3d charade a close second, honerable mention for the well thought out 27a. Going for a ****/****
    Thanks to setter for the best puzzle of the weak and Senf’s pics.

  4. 3.5*/4.5*. This was a tricky little blighter in parts but I did enjoy the challenge with 18a, 21a & 3d making it onto my podium.

    As is often the case with Americanisms, I disagree with the BRB’s assessment that 2d is only half American, but the word is very well known to us over here courtesy of Billy Joel.

    Many thanks presumably to Zandio. Thanks too to Senf and hoping that your scan today proves fruitful.

  5. Great quality today with some excellent clues. I recall seeing the Lancaster with crooning beau on the yacht of the Harrods owner at the Monaco GP some years back. Stunning!

    I thought 10a neatly clever but my favourite was that 3d clue. All in all top end ***/***. Thanks to Senf and the setter.

  6. A tricky puzzle with some great clues – thanks to the setter and Senf.
    I’ve never heard of that particular Lancaster but as StephenL says you don’t need to know her to solve the clue.
    The first bit of the Quickie pun doesn’t seem to work at all but perhaps that’s just me.
    For my podium I’ve selected 27a, 4d and 20d.

    1. I concur : the QC pun doesn’t work for me because of the ‘t’ in the first element breaking up the intended first word of the pun.

  7. Good fun over the morning coffee, rattled through this like a dose of salts until brought to a stop by two in the SE. I’m still in two minds about 22d – if it’s meant to be a homophone of the ‘ropes’ on a ship, then it’s a homophone of the wrong word; if a homophone of a group of men, then then the ‘sea’ element is not just a red herring but quite irrelevant, surely? Loved most of the puzzle, though – plenty of lego and cryptic clues, lateral thinking and (almost) everything scrupulously fair.

    Hon Mentions to 12a, 21a, 27a, 3d and 4d; COTD to 15d – brilliant clue.

    2* / 4*

    Many thanks to setter (Zandio?) and to Senf

  8. As ever wirh a Zandio puzzle, some of the clues were a mystery wrapped in an enigma tied up in a riddle so I solved the ones I could and, once a number of checkers went in, guessed the answer and rhen reverse engineered the parsing to see how the wordplay might fit. Thanks to Senf for the hints, which enabled me to see the wood for the trees with my handul of bung-ins. I liked the two geographical clues at 16a and 8d and the two long charades at 3d and 9d. The jury’s still out on the groanworthy 4d. Thanks to Zandio for an interesting challenge and and again to Senf. Good luck with rhe CT.My GP has decided to send me for an endoscopy over the telephone, sight unseen. Sightings of GPs are as rare as hens’ teeth here in the UK.

    2. Chriscross, these virtual NHS appointments are getting silly. I am about to have my blood coagulation checked over the telephone!

  9. First glance, this is impenetrable, certainly bordering Toughie territory.
    Then stuck with it, solving several long ones, eg 14 and 18a and 3d which provided entry.
    Many back to front ie word in before parsing.
    Latter unaided to completion in 3* time.
    The podium simply cannot take anymore.
    All gems, even the elusive lurkers.
    3d, though, the winner by a short head.
    Many thanks, Zandio and Senf.

  10. Not really for me today but 4d raised a smile.
    Thanks to Zandio and to Senf for finding time to bring us the blog despite his medical appointment – hope it goes well.

    Congratulations to the birthday girl – hope she pops in to see us.

  11. Hello, compiler here. Thanks very much for taking the trouble to solve, analyse and discuss. Have a great weekend, and I hope you might enjoy the Sunday Toughie.

  12. What a little cracker this was. Very enjoyable and teasingly awkward in places to make this a thoroughly entertaining solve. 15d had me stumped for a while and that became my favourite clue.

    My thanks to Zandio for the fun and to Senf, to whom I send my best wishes for a good resolution this afternoon.

  13. Incredibly, I managed to solve everything on my own speed–googling for confirmation on ‘Lancaster’, in 3d–except 15d, for which I had to seek two letter reveals. I rather lost track of the time element because of taking several breaks, but I’m sure it was no less than *****. Indeed, the entire package seemed like a late-week Toughie to me as I persevered, but it was a most enjoyable workout. Loud cheers to 27a, 4d, 3d, & 15d. Thanks to Senf and Zandio. ***** / ****

    Best wishes to Senf!

      1. The BRB, Revised 13th Edition, Page 1387, top of LH Column or any number of dictionaries on-line, responding to an e-search of ‘saw meaning’, will tell you something like ‘a saying; a proverb from OE sagu, from the root of secgan to say, tell’. An increasingly popular four-letter word in crosswords.

  14. Apart from the anagrams and a lurker, I have really no idea what Zandio was on about with some of these clues! Completely baffled of Carnforth, I’m afraid! Thanks to Senf for unravelling and glad you gave it 4* for difficulty. I did like the quickie pun though. Thanks to Zandio anyway, you win some, you lose some.

  15. A nice Friday puzzle this week to end the non-work week.Solved on a warm and pleasant Thursday night as we are expecting some rain for Friday as we head Into autumn . Gets dark so early these days.
    1.5*/3.5* for me tonight..

    Favourites include 10a, 13a, 18a, 21a, 1d & 4d— with winner 4d with a laugh along with it..

    A nice solve with no obscure words to trip one up.

    Thanks to Zandio and Senf

  16. An excellent puzzle, right up my street. Great clues providing a tricky/tough challenge and much enjoyment. I’ve ticked quite a few and will mention 3d and 15d. 4*/4.5*.

    *Not sure how anyone who’s watched the news/read a newspaper over the past 2 or 3 decades can find that particular Lancaster obscure. She was a originally famous model, married a very famous pop/rock singer, is a TV personality, recently became a special police constable (widely reported over all the media) and is now, of course, Lady Stewart.

    *2d certainly doesn’t need an indicator, whether it’s fully or only half American. 32 years ago, I worked for a company based in Derbyshire who introduced a new range of cast iron street furniture called U****n, and it was a very well-known word over here even then.

    So, there! :-)

    1. I am no fan of Rod Stewart. In fact, I cannot stand him and his revolting hair so avoid anything mentioning him. That is probably why I hadn’t heard of her.

  17. This was a super puzzle and if it hadn’t been for 15d holding me up for some time, it would have been one of my fastest Friday solves. Top spot to 3d with 15d just trailing behind.

  18. Have any of you bloggers been able to print the cryptic and quick crosswords from the puzzles website in a readable form? I have written to the puzzles editor and received an unhelpful reply. My further email has been ignored. I love reading the comments you all make and find the hints really useful.

    1. Welcome to the blog, Kim. Now that you’ve introduced yourself I hope that you’ll become a regular commenter.

    2. Hi Kim, welcome to the club complaining about the new site and the poor print layout. The best short term solution is to continue to access the old site where the print out continues to be perfect. I hope the new site gets corrected but, whilst the old site is available, I have given up looking to be honest.

          1. Thank you. I’m so grateful and busy printing out all the crosswords I haven’t been able to do.

  19. Tricky *** challenge today with 20d as my favourite… the Lancaster clue being less accessible. Thanks Zandio and Senf

  20. Puzzled by the rating. Whilst not a R&W it was nevertheless quite straightforward esp when compared to yesterday.Very enjoyable with many clever clues such as 17d and my fav 21a.
    Thx to all
    **/****

  21. Difficult in places but enough of MP’s checkers to get one over the line. I too couldn’t see the relevance of ‘sea’ in 22d, men would have sufficed. Favourite was 10a. Thanks to Zandio and Senf.

  22. I completely mirror Brian’s comments above and found this very straightforward with some very clever cluing with 3d my COTD – I had to explain it very slowly to my husband. I have picked up a horrendous cold and cough from somewhere so I have been doing Covid tests every morning, so far negative but I feel so exhausted I shall keep out of everyone’s way for the time being. Thanks to Zandio and Senf – hope the CT scan went OK.

  23. I wasted time trying to fit “Burt” into 3d. Showing my age. Gave up and moved on and soon got enough cross letter to rule him out.

  25. Like Jane this was not my scene. I resorted to too many bung-ins. 26a is becoming a bad penny. Afraid the 3d Special Constable (as Mr. Google informs me) rang no bells but I was eventually pleased to recall my husband in his retirement making (and selling) some beautiful boards but unfortunately it had to be 2p pieces that were shoved! Thank you Zandio and Senf.

  26. A dnf due to 3d. Never heard of the game nor the Lancaster. Couldn’t get the plane my grandfather flew in during the war out of my mind.

    4d was chucklesome.

    Enjoyable solve despite the dnf.

    Thanks to all.

  27. Way beyond me, got about half but some things not worth knowing. Lancaster for me is either a beautiful Lancashire town or a bomber. Knowing who she/it is displays an ongoing attraction to adult nursery rhyme singers or their love life. Not healthy for those over 50 or even 40.

    And terrible Quickie pun.

  29. Usually find Zandio puzzles pretty demanding but happily on wavelength with this one for a brisk solve with no parsing issues other than (like TG) failing to see the necessity for seamen rather than just men at 22d. 3&4d my top 2 but also liked 1,14&21a plus 2,7&16d.
    Thanks to Zandio & Senf – trusting all went well with the scan.
    Ps Thought yesterday’s puzzle much the trickier of the two & I’ve still a Beam toughie left to complete.

    1. I’ve got a feeling that the seamen in 22d is there so that ‘seamen maybe’ occurs in both the first and last clues of the puzzle.

      1. I concur and I thought this indulgence compromised an excellent puzzle. Are we expected to believe that seamen is equivalent to ‘guys’? I don’t think so!

        1. I’d say that the 22d construction is correct if “seamen” can define “guys” by example (maybe). It might be an unusually specific definition by example, but I don’t think it’s wrong.

  30. Great fun. I had the required Lancaster stored away somewhere in my memory, although I have no idea who she is. Weird how that happens. Top clue for me, because it delivered the largest Lancaster drop, was 15d.

    Thanks to Zandio and to Senf. Hope that all went well with the scan.

  32. I know it’s late in the day, but did anyone else put intentive for 24a? It works for both the definition and cryptic parts of the clue imho.
    Realised my error when trying to crack my last one in, 16d.
    1d made me laugh.
    Thanks all.

  35. Very surprised at the rating for this as I managed it, only needing the hint for 3d, and I kicked myself when I twigged the answer. 22d took a while to sort out but after going through a few alternatives I picked the right one, very clever double- announcement and appearance. Thanks to all

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