Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30482
Hints and tips by 2Kiwis
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Kia ora from Aotearoa.
We really enjoyed this one with a great deal of misdirection such as 18a. We found ourselves laughing out loud several times as we worked through the cleverness.
Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.
Across
1a A rough figure, this person’s breaking into property (8)
ESTIMATE : A first person personal pronoun and the elided form of ‘am’ is enclosed by another word for property.
5a Glares from extremely sarcastic members of parliament (6)
SCOWLS : The first and last letters (extremely) of sarcastic and the creatures collectively called a parliament.
9a People with high-flying jobs boasted after taxi home (5,4)
CABIN CREW : Another word for a taxi and the two letter ‘home’, then boasted as a rooster might have done.
11a The setter takes legal action about small problem (5)
ISSUE : Personal pronoun for the setter, then S(mall) is followed by take legal action.
12a Banks of Limpopo remained lively in August (6)
LORDLY : First and last letters from three words in the clue.
13a I finish cutting seafood that’s terribly hard (8)
FIENDISH : ‘I’ from the clue and finish or completion are inside a general type of seafood.
15a Tender girl sent off behind institution caring for dogs (5,8)
POUND STERLING : An institution that cares for often stray dogs and an anagram (off) of GIRL SENT.
18a Would-be consumer of big pork pie swallowing 1 Downs when cooked (6-7)
WINDOW SHOPPER : A big pork pie or large untruth contains an anagram (when cooked) of I DOWNS.
22a Set off from posh school, getting into Escort (8)
DETONATE : The posh Berkshire school is inside escort or accompany.
23a Black Sabbath vocalist heard Kylie Minogue, say (6)
AUSSIE : A homophone of the usual name of a Black Sabbath vocalist.
26a Hearing test (5)
TRIAL : A double definition. A courtroom is involved with the first meaning.
27a Something teachers often dislike about film publicity (9)
MARKETING : Crossword’s favourite two letter film is inside what teachers tell us they often dislike.
28a Like American leaving orient, in summary (6)
DIGEST : A jazz/hippie term for like, then A(merican) is removed from another word for the orient.
29a Compilers had to pen gag — it’s very poor (8)
WRETCHED : A way of saying ‘compilers had’ using a pronoun and the elision of ‘had’ surrounds gag in the sense of a gastric upset.
Down
1d Avoid eating left over, thin piece of meat (8)
ESCALOPE : Avoid or dodge contains the abbreviations for left and over.
2d Underground root primarily — e.g. a potato (5)
TUBER : The common name for London’s underground and then the first letter of root.
3d Socialised dressed in alarming lederhosen (7)
MINGLED : A lurker, hiding in the clue.
4d Fresh starter from tasty rotisserie (4)
TYRO : Another lurker, hiding in the clue.
6d Conservative greeting opponent, a red from Italy (7)
CHIANTI : The single letter for Conservative, then a two letter informal greeting and opponent or against.
7d Post-prandial activity in Waugh’s novel on power (7-2)
WASHING-UP : An anagram (novel) of IN WAUGHS plus P(ower).
8d Boil these bananas with energy (6)
SEETHE : An anagram (bananas) of THESE with E(nergy).
10d Hang around by flower shop (8)
WAITROSE : Hang around or linger then an elegant type of flower.
14d Basically cheers up Bard’s character who’s a bit of an ass (2,6)
AT BOTTOM : A two letter informal ‘cheers’ is reversed and then a character from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
16d Ignorant nitwit shot with gun (9)
UNWITTING : An anagram (shot) of NITWIT and GUN.
17d Pan, say, with good smell canine knocked over (5,3)
GREEK GOD : The abbreviation for good and a word from Scottish for smell, plus the reversal of a canine animal.
19d New record over cracking intelligence puzzle (7)
NONPLUS : A word for intelligence or savvy contains N(ew) and the reversal of a 33rpm record.
20d Well-off from work you picked up fast (7)
OPULENT : An artistic work then the letter that sounds like (picked up) ‘you’ and the fast that precedes Easter.
21d Edward I, meeting another Edward, getting changed (6)
EDITED : The two letter abbreviation for Edward, then Roman numeral one, followed by the three letter abbreviation for Edward.
24d Chic person like Roger Federer speaking drunkenly? (5)
SWISH : The nationality of Roger Federer pronounced as a drunk person might say it.
25d I’m freezing in skins of bear and reindeer (4)
BRRR : The first and last letters from two words in the clue.
Lots of possibilities to choose from but we’ll plump for 5a for top billing.
Quickie pun hire + are + keys = hierarchies
Very enjoyable indeed, fresh and innovative clueing with some contemporary references!
On first read through I thought it was going to be more difficult than it turned out to be as I managed to locate the setter’s wavelength quite quickly.
I liked lots but the ones that made me smile were 22&23a plus 10,19&25d but my favourite has to be 12a.
Many thanks to the compiler (toss up between Robyn and NYDK) and The Ks
For those that don’t normally have a go at the Toughie I can highly recommend today’s Silvanus puzzle, not that much more difficult than his back-pagers and just as enjoyable
I’m just going to say that any crossword that can get alarming lederhosen into a clue has my vote!
I couldn’t agree more. Hilarious.
A very enjoyable, perfectly-pitched midweeker filled with lots of humour. I had no problem oop norf but slowed a tad ‘dan sarf’
What’s 14d all about??? I certainly won’t forget that bonkers expression in a hurry.
Who decides how many of the last letter there are in 25d, i.e why couldn’t it be a two or three letter word as opposed to four? The same question can be asked about hmm only having two Ms but grrr having three Rs. Why can’t it be grr or grrrr?
Anyway…
My podium is 9a, 27a and, of course, 3d.
Merci beaucoup à Le Touquet et le compositeur
3*/4*
There is a 12 letter word with 9 N’s a G and 2 H’s…
NNNNNNNNNGHH
Constipation
I’ll get my coat
Nonsense, Sloops.
Put it back on the hatstand as we love it!
Should it be Les Touquet?
Like it, Day Zee. Like it.
Someone please make 19 down make sense?
Welcome to the blog, Selina.
The abbrevation for new (N) and the reversal (over) of LP go inside (cracking) a word for intelligence (NOUS) to make a verb to puzzle – so NOUS containing NPL.
Like SL, my first pass yielded very few answers and I thought I was going to be in for a real tussle. However, once I cracked the setting style, I went through the remaining clues fairly quickly and with a lot of smiles and PDMs along the way. 5 and 18a tied for my top spot.
Thanks for a most enjoyable and rewarding puzzle to our setter, and to the 2Ks.
Much enjoyed this cleverly clued puzzle – definitely **** enjoyment.
Many thanks to the setter and the 2 Kiwis – couldn’t parse 29a so thanks for putting my stupidity to rest
Quite tricky if only a 2? And not a 4 for enjoyment here at least!
Ah well, I got it done but sort of grudgingly.
Maybe another very grey day has got to me!
Thanks to compiler and hintists.
I think Le Touquet covered it in their preamble, 18a was delightful when I realised that 1d had nothing to do with it. The same applies to the postprandial task when Evelyn’s output was no longer on the draining board
Thanks to setter and Kiwis
Lots to enjoy here – many thanks to the setter and 2Ks.
I ticked lots of clues including 12a, 18a, 2d and 19d.
Most enjoyable, top notch cluing,
23a had to be my favourite and indeed the SE corner to boot!
Special mention for 10d.and 5a for the members of Parliment.
Going for a ***/****
Very much fun. 13a my favorite although many other contenders
Really enjoyed this, tuning in very quickly but still stumped by one or two for long enough to pose some challenge :)
1.5*/4.5*. I thought this was light but great fun from start to finish. A sign of a good puzzle is how many times my podium choices change during the solve, and in this case I lost count! Finally, I settled on 5a, 23a & 3d for my top picks.
Many thanks to the setter and to the 2Ks.
Initially I thought I was in trouble, then I got on wavelength. So many great clues, especially the lurker, 15a and my favourite 18a. 19d proved to be the hardest for me to fathom but I managed in the end.
Many thanks to the setter and the 2 kiwis for the hints.
Really enjoyable with loads of smiles along the way.
The top half went in fairly quickly, but I slowed a bit as I headed south.
Slightly surprised to see a trade name at 10d, but no complaints. I believe that this is the grocer favoured by the current Mrs Shabbo.
14d is not in my active vocabulary, but perhaps it should be.
Ticks for 5a, 9a, 12a, 13a, 18a, 23a, 26a, 1d, 3d, 7d and 19d. I think you can see why I enjoyed it – I could have ticked even more!
CoD to 18a. Loved it!
Thank you setter and the Kiwis.
Time to have a go at Silvanus’s Toughie.
Don’t think I’d have gone as far as awarding 4* for enjoyment, but it was a fair enough Wednesday puzzle.
Rosettes going to 5a plus 7&14d.
Thanks to our setter and to our 2Ks for the review.
Super puzzle, lots of great clues, many very funny. My favs were 24d, 5a, 25d and my absolute favourite 23a.
Wish all the crosswords were this good.
Many thx to the setter.
Thx for the hints
**/*****
It’s not often, if ever, that I’d say a puzzle betters a Silvanus production (also excellent today) but this cracker (Robyn methinks) just edges it for me. A treat from start to finish, nothing obscure or 13a, Steve & Stephen getting a sort of name check at 5&12a & some great humour. Wondering what to have for dinner tonight & am shortly off to 10d so prompted to buy a veal 1d to have with some spag bol & a glass of 6d. Loads of contenders for fav but 18a takes top spot for me.
Thanks to the setter & to the 2Ks
Oh, what a lovely one! Got 1a first go and then steadily down the page. (And thanks for the reminder about the Black Sabbath vocalist!)
18a wins, I think, but closely followed (if not surpassed) by 17d. I didn’t know that the smell was Scottish, but perhaps it is. One of my favourite rhymes is:
“The goat that ‘smells’ on yonder hill
Feeds all day on chlorophyll.”
Definitely McGonagallesque!
Many thanks to the compiler of the day and to both Ks.
Lang may your lum reek. Hogmanay.
Or Spooner’s strange vegetable. :-)
👏👏
😀
👍
The Scottish word “REEK” as far as I’m aware has more to do with smoke than it does “smell”. Edinburgh has been known as Auld Reekie (Old Smokey”) for longer than I’ve been around, lol.
When I first saw 2a. I had theC and the B.
My instant thought on reading the clue was Caber tosser.
It made me laugh.
An excellent midweek puzzle. About average difficulty for me, with sublime clues providing an enjoyable and entertaining/humorous solve. Any rookies thinking about compiling a cryptic puzzle should read these clues and strive to emulate them! Very difficult to isolate a favourite so I’ll just mention 16d and 24d. 2.5*/4*.
*Just a very minor technical point. Personally, I’d have omitted the comma in 1d; it’s not required and its inclusion makes it unnecessarily predictable that the final 4 words are the definition.
Unusually attempted early enough to comment.
2*/4* for me also – full of wit and a sprinkle of misdirection. My top picks were 5a , 13a and 24d , but all lots of fun.
Thanks to setter and Les Touquets
What a treat! Lots of fun and some very clever clueing. Favourite was 18a for the misdirection and the LOL when the penny dropped. I also liked the post prandial activity, undertaken in this house by Mr Mhids, in the absence of a dish washer, and the high flyers. My paper is full of ticks so I was spoilt for choice. Thanks to our setter – my guess is Robyn- and the 2 Kiwis.
Very enjoyable solve – would have been quicker if I hadn’t got Austrian in my head for Federer’s nationality. Many thanks to setter and to 2Ks for the excellent hints – not often I have to use the dictionary for hints, but ‘elision’ was a new one for me.
If this is indeed one of Robyn’s he also has another cracker in the Graun today that’s well worth a stab at.
A perfect Quiptic (in the wrong paper)?
Must be Robyn?
I found this Wednesday puzzle a big step up in difficulty from the last two so far this week. Also found some of the parsing impossible to work out. Overall I struggled and although I managed to finish it, I didn’t like about 50-60% of the clueing … but that is my issue.
3*/2.5* for me today
Favourites from clues I liked include 5a, 9a, 15a, 22a, 26a & 21d — with winner 15a
Got a smile from 5a, 9a, 22a & 25d
Thanks to setter & 2K’s for hints/blog
Very, very enjoyable. Laughed out loud on10 down!
What a difference a day makes, enjoyed this one so much more than yesterday. Just a few where I couldn’t claim all my own work. LI was 24d which I thought was very stretched. I guess I haven’t met enough drunk people. Otherwise, a fun day in crossword land. Thanks to setter and 2Kiwis.
I too laughed at alarming lederhosen, but my favourite has to be 27a. Being married to a teacher (now retired) meant I heard much grumbling about the piles of marking. Thanks to setter for a great puzzle and to the 2 Kiwis for the hints.
I found this very weird while solving, there were words bunged in but didn’t know the “why”. We luckily had a lot of answers with unusual letters for the start, makes it easier, as in 18a, 10d and so forth. Once I read the hints and understood the parsing, I realised what a clever puzzle this was, eg 18a, I missed the big pork pie and the significance of 1 Downs when cooked! That is so clever and a huge guffaw. I had to google the Black Sabbath singer, not my forté. I liked 14d, I love my Shakespeare, 15a also amused, but I think fave has to be 18a, even though I didn’t understand it at first.
Thank you setter, I loved it in the end, and 2Kiwis for the enlightenment.
I enjoyed this. Silly of me but 27a was last one in. I did not know the word at 4d but assuming it is a lurker I must be right. Favourites 5 15 22 and 29a and 1 2 14 and 17d. Thanks setter and 2 Ks
Late in today as have just got back from Christmas shopping in Reading after having my return train cancelled, so had to wait another hour for the next one, where’s Mussolini when you need him?
Thought the puzzle was much harder today, especially the lower half and good luck over the pond with 10d.
Some really clever clues throughout, my favourites being 27a and the brilliant 15a. Well done Mr setter.
Morning all.
Good to see that most people enjoyed this one as much as we did.
Still impressed with the cleverness in 18a where the answer to 1d really is something that can be cooked which added to the misdirection. Take a well deserved bow setter.
This was great fun. Thoroughly enjoyed it apart from 24D which I thought was a bit naff. Got a bit stuck in bottom LH corner and was amusingly misdirected at times. Loved the humour. More please!
Nice puzzle. 5A on the podium for me, though I have seen that use of (the bird(s) concerned) elsewhere.
For me, the misdirection in 18a ranks among the very best I can remember – quite brilliant. Conversely, simple as it was to solve, 25d has to count among the worst answers that I have encountered. I rated that one as being as awful as PSST, which I’ve come to dislike with a passion. Otherwise a really super puzzle, which was quickly put to bed earlier today. I made 15a, 18a and 17d my favourites in a very enjoyable solve. Thanks to both setter and the 2Ks. Btw, I’d recommend today’s Toughie to those of us who might otherwise shy away from attempting one – Sylvanus has provided us with a cracker that I reckon many would enjoy.
It has all been said. Great fun. 18a gets my Daisy. Many thanks to Robyn & the two Ks.
One of the most enjoyable solves for a while.
Some laughs and a couple of penny drop moments. 18a was pure genius!
Thanks to all.
Late on parade again because Mrs. C has been admitted to hospital. Nothing life threatening just a general fatigue, breathlessness and weakness of limbs. If I don’t comment over the next few days this is why.
I managed today’s guzzle and enjoyed it. More than that I cannot say for the day has been somewhat a whirling of wind.
Many thanks to the setter and the 2KS
Sorry to hear that. Hopefully they can get her the right treatment so she’s back home ready for Christmas 🎄. Take care of yourself too
Fingers crossed 🤞 Mrs C isn’t in for too long Steve. Sorry that you’re having such a rotten run of it of late
Oh dear, Steve, the Cowling household has had far more than its share of bad luck recently. I do hope that the medics can find a way to improve matters for Mrs C and that she is back home where she belongs very soon.
As Sue said – make sure you look after yourself as well.
Oh no, Steve, that is bad news. As Jane says, you’ve both had more than your share of bad luck. Lots of love and best wishes to you both, and a speedy recovery for Mrs. C so that she can be home for Christmas.
Very best ‘get well’ wishes to Mrs. C and you take care.
Best wishes to both of you, take care.
Super puzzle, light and enjoyable. 18a & 3d on the podium. Many thanks to the setter and 2Ks, and best wishes to Mrs C for a swift recovery.
Good evening
Pen down after a taxing challenge! Some superb misdirection and a few good, witty and clever clues. 18a is COTD and a mention in dispatches for 26a, 29a, and 24d.
Many thanks to our compiler and to 2Ks
Took forever to get into this but gradually made the grade thanks to several lucky bung-ins. I enjoyed the tussle with several crafty brainteasers. Fav 5a. Thank you Setter and 2Kiwis.
I am a very regular lurker and really appreciate this great site and all the people who make it so. I don’t often comment because I’m usually a couple of days behind and the commenting has finished. However, I just wanted to record my thanks to those who flag in these daily comments when the Toughie is accessible to those of us who manage more at the beginning rather than end of the week! Even after a few years, I am still developing with crosswords and knowing when the Toughie Is an attainable ‘stretch’ is very helpful.
Welcome to the blog, Sally and thanks for the comment. Comments like this make the blogging worthwhile.
You should definitely have a look at both today & yesterday if you haven’t already done so – both excellent & not too tough either.
3*/5* ….
liked 3D “Socialised dressed in alarming lederhosen (7)”