DT 30490 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 30490

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30490

Hints and tips by Mr K

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BD Rating  -  Difficulty **** Enjoyment ***

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the last Friday before the 25th of December, which means that I should today wish everyone a Merry Christmas! 

In the hints below most indicators are italicized, and underlining identifies precise definitions and cryptic definitions. Clicking on the answer buttons will reveal the answers. In some hints hyperlinks provide additional explanation or background. Clicking on a picture will enlarge it or display a bonus illustration and a hover (computer) or long press (mobile) might explain more about the picture. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.

 

Across

1a    One tweeting of passion in sport (8)
WHEATEAR:  A synonym of passion inserted in sport an item of clothing, perhaps 

5a    Insensitive practice by old broadband provider (6)
OBTUSE:  Link together the single letter for old, an abbreviated broadband provider, and a synonym of practice 

9a    Swimming race Thai regularly enters (8)
NATATION:  Race or state has alternate letters (regularly) of THAI are inserted (enters). The definition, which was new to me, is apparently formal or literary

 

10a   Sticks with sweets, difficult to give up (6)
PASTES:  Some sweets that might be medicated minus (to give up) a synonym of difficult  PASTILLES (sweets) minus ILL (difficult)

12a   Make style fresh in an enthusiastic manner (9)
EARNESTLY:  Make an income with an anagram (fresh) of STYLE 

13a   Unconventional family occasionally okay (5)
KINKY:  Another word for family with alternate letters (occasionally) of OKAY 

14a   Arrogance of assistant having succeeded ousting American (4)
SIDE:  A word meaning assistant in which the single letter for succeeded is replacing (ousting) the single letter for American. The definition is informal  AIDE with S[ucceeded] replacing A[merican]  

16a   Member of Parliament is wearing that woman's bloomers! (7)
HOWLERS:  The capitalisation of Parliament here is misdirection. The answer is found as one of the creatures whose collective noun is parliament inserted in (wearing) a pronoun meaning “that woman’s” 

19a   Opportunist placing sign across hotel (7)
CHANCER:  A sign of the Zodiac containing (placing sign across) the letter represented in the NATO phonetic alphabet by hotel 

21a   National force put before local (4)
FINN:  The physics symbol for force comes before a local drinking establishment 

24a   Outstanding oarsmanship right away (5)
OWING:  Oarsmanship minus the single letter for right (right away

25a   Movie I watch on streaming around noon (9)
CHINATOWN:  An anagram (streaming) of I WATCH ON containing (around) the single letter for noon 

27a   City banker in Yorkshire almost eats large cake (6)
ECLAIR:  Here we need to recall that in crosswordland a “banker” can, whimsically, be something with banks, namely a river. So, after the postcode for the City of London we place all but the last letter (almost) of a Yorkshire river that contains (eats) the clothing abbreviation for large. At this point, those of us who didn’t know that the BRB has a sense of humour should pause to appreciate its definition of the answer, which reads A cake, long in shape but short in duration, with cream filling and usually chocolate icing.

28a   Frank rigs that broadcast (8)
STRAIGHT:  An anagram (broadcast) of RIGS THAT 

29a   Former magistrate reportedly that triggers 26 Down? (6)
SENSOR:  A homophone (reportedly) of an ancient magistrate 

30a   Wrong about student touring Adriatic resort shortly (8)
CRIMINAL:  The two-letter abbreviation for about or approximately and the letter indicating a student or learner driver containing (touring) all but the last letter (shortly) of an Adriatic resort 

 

Down

1d    Old film director, Oscar recipient? (6)
WINNER:  A double definition. The surname of Michael the late film director is also what “Oscar recipient” defines by example (?

2d    Whole piece from composer, it needs going over (6)
ENTIRE:  The answer is hidden as part of the reversal of (piece from … going over) COMPOSER IT NEEDS 

3d    Time left to stop draw in Championship (5)
TITLE:  The physics symbol for time and the single letter for left inserted in (to stop) a draw in a sporting match 

4d    Liberal going after a job meets European advocate (7)
APOSTLE:Putting all the bits in order, concatenate A from the clue, a job or position, the single letter for liberal and the single letter for European  

6d    Bird in Belgium, pale-coloured, needs feeding (5,4)
BLACK SWAN:  The IVR code for Belgium and an adjective meaning pale-coloured are sandwiching a synonym of needs (… needs feeding)

7d    Shunning area, relative wound up being neglected (8)
UNTENDED:  A female relative minus the abbreviation for area (shunning area) with a synonym of “wound up” 

8d    Opponents speak over first writer (8)
ESSAYIST:  Follow two abbreviated ipponenets in bridge with another word for “speak” and the abbreviation for “first”

11d   Story of mine that's originally hard to follow (4)
MYTH:  Put together another word for “mine”, the first letter (originally) of THAT’s and the pencil abbreviation for hard 

15d   Noticing Dicky hosting ball under an assumed name (9)
INCOGNITO:  An an anagram (dicky) of NOTICING containing (hosting) the round letter that looks like a ball 

17d   Training cost rose for motorcycles (8)
SCOOTERS:  An anagram (training) of COST ROSE 

18d   Old man about to stuff tablet in dog (8)
PAPILLON:  The fusion of old man or father and about or concerning containing (to stuff) a type of tablet 

20d   Scrap in lorry leaving tip? (4)
RUCK:  A lorry minus its first letter (leaving tip

21d   Waste  battered food (7)
FRITTER:  A double definition. Pink Floyd invoked the required synonym of waste in their song Time 

22d   Any number going out for drink (6)
NOGGIN:  The letter that can represent any number in mathematics with an anagram (out) of GOING 

23d   Cousins tiling houses impress (6)
INSTIL:  The pair of words at the start of the clue hides (houses) the answer 

26d   Gunners line up during morning panic (5)
ALARM:  The abbreviation for some usual soldiers who are gunners and the single letter for line are together reversed (up, in a down clue), and then inserted in (during) an abbreviation for morning

 

Thanks to today’s setter. Which clues did you like best?


The Quick Crossword pun:  GNAT + IFFY + TEA = NATIVITY


128 comments on “DT 30490

  1. Tougher than the steak I had at the ‘Golden Retriever’ pub yesterday, places like that should only book as many people for Christmas dinner as they can properly cater for, rather than just cramming every available space with the focus on their own greed.
    Anyway, back to the puzzle, tough as mentioned before with just one answer coming from the first read through. Soon got the hang of in after that albeit still rather slowly.
    New word for me at 9a, but couldn’t be much else. Favourite today was the clever 16a. Many thanks to our setter, great fun.

      1. You’ve changed your alias so this needed moderation. Both variations of your alias will work from now on.

  2. I thought this quite tricky for a back-pager but I very much enjoyed filling it in. Creative and imaginative wordplay throughout, though not keen on 12a.
    My “winner(s)” are 1&27a plus 6 (needs feeding…very smart) 18&22d.
    Good stuff indeed.
    Many thanks and Happy Christmas to the setter and Mr K.

  3. Wow! What a slog. Just two on first pass. Then a struggle for almost every one. Almost wrote off as too difficult. Persevered and finished bar off 9a which I deduced and then googled to confirm it. Unfair filler?
    Yes I did enjoy it in the end but wouldn’t want this level of work every day!
    Thanks to devilish compiler.

  4. Solved in the back of the car en route to Scotland & I’d be embarrassed to fess up to how far up the A1 we’d got to by the time 10a finally yielded. Brain just not in gear this morning – even the 2 film clues didn’t go straight in. Pleased to remember the tweeter but needed to confirm the woofer & 9a new to me. Fav was 6d which was a term for a day of awful results for the bookies,
    Thanks to the setter & to Mr K – thanks for all of your work this year & terrific reviews

    1. Ps forgot to say the notion of Michael ever having directed anything remotely worthy of Oscar consideration was highly amusing

    2. Fun Fact Friday – across the Channel, a butterfly is un papillon and the 18d ‘woofer’ is so named because of the butterfly wing like appearance of its ears.

      1. Love it, Senf.

        While we’re on the subject, pavilion, has the same derivation as it was originally a large tent that was butterfly-shaped, viewed from above. For some reason, us Brits changed the second l to an i.

        1. Presumably ‘us Brits’ couldn’t cope with what, when pronounced correctly en français, are effectively to consecutive silent Ls.

          1. We do struggle with French.

            The ge of jugement was too difficult for us to pronounce, goodness knows why. So, we whacked a d in the middle and pronounced the nt.

            Taking on the uit of biscuit (pronounced biskwee) was way too much of an ask for us meatheads. So, we didn’t bother saying the u and emphasised the t instead.

            It’s 1,000 years late but apologies for butchering your beautiful language, Monsieur Conqueror.

      2. Senf. Funnily enough, I discovered that very fact just a couple of hours ago whilst researching to confirm my 18d answer.

  5. Definitely trickier than usual for a Friday back pager, were he the setter Giovanni would probably be quite proud of it, and quite a head scratcher. However, and notwithstanding my preceding ‘Giovanni comment,’ I consider that this can be attributed to a member of the Friday triumvirate and I am going to put down two of my recently discovered ‘sock drawer’ half-crowns on Silvanus. 3.5*/4.5*

    Candidates for favourite – 1a, 27a, and 30a – and the winner is the chocolate iced delight of 27a.

    Thanks to Silvanus, or whomsoever if it is not he, and thanks to Mr K.

  6. Ooo, that was tough. Friday at its fiendish best. I got there in the end though 29a defeated me.

    Funny to see 25a again so soon. Btw, I can’t stand the word ‘movie’. I’ll make my peace with it one day but it’s got a very long way to go.

    I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen 23d misspelt, i.e the last letter repeated, as people confuse it with a very similar word that has an ‘a’ as the fifth letter.

    I worked out 1a but have never heard of it. I am so poor when it comes to fish, fauna and flighty things.

    My podium is 25a, 27a and 30a.

    Many thanks to the setter and Mr K.

    4*/4*

    1. Tom. Further to Janus words I wonder if you’ve come across these two other types of words. I thought you might find them mildly interesting:

      Kangaroo word. A word that contains the letters of a synonym of itself, in the correct order, somewhere within. The contained synonym in the Kangaroo word is called the Joey (for obvious reasons). Examples: Accustomed contains used. Masculine contains male. Twin Kangaroo word: Deteriorate – die/rot.

      Anti-Kangaroo word. A word that similarly contains its antonym. Courteous contains curt. Fabrication contains fact. Animosity/amity.

      There must be hundreds of these in our language.

      1. Good day to you, J.

        Yep, I’m aware of these joey words though it’s a shame that they have chosen to call them a kangaroo as roo is simply a shortened version of kangaroo. Your examples a far better. I do like courteous/curt.

        There are indeed hundreds. A few that come to mind are blossom/bloom, chocolate/cocoa, catacomb/tomb and impair/mar.

    2. Printed off a load of these to take on holiday with me so apologies for arriving so late on this one.

      Completely thrown from the beginning by 1d – I came up with an alternate director ( named Billy ) which uses the Oscar reference far more satisfactorily. Just had to share that !

      1. You’ve used a different alias so this comment needed moderation. All the aliases you’ve used will work from now on.

  7. Very enjoyable while it lasted. Was clearly tuned-in to the setter’s wavelength this morning for this was almost written in as read from top to bottom, with only a few clues left after the first full pass through. Nothing obscure, very fairly clued, lots of very witty surfaces (Silvanus?), and with 6 from 32 clues the anagram ratio was just about right for a DT puzzle. Many clues could have reached my podium and have down the places to 13a and 16a for their laugh-out-loud moments, and to 21d for being not just such a concise DD but also (in my view) so very true!

    1* / 4*

    Many thanks to the setter and to Mr K – thank you for your blogs, cat pics, and huge amount of behind-the-scenes work.

    1. Gosh, you’re the only one to find this easy peasy, I therefore award you the star as top solver! Very clever of you.

      1. It was evidently my turn to be in the lucky seat, using the lucky pen (not my mythical, which I gave to my mother several years ago!), and drinking a decent coffee from the lucky cup – I was very aware of my good fortune this morning and take/took nothing for granted.

  8. Delightfully tricky with some awkward parsing that took some teasing out. I think 27a and 6d have to share top billing this morning, as both are very neat clues.

    Great entertainment, so thank you setter for the challenge, and thanks too, to Mr K for this and all your blogs this year.

    1. A bit like the bird at 6d serenely floating along whilst paddling furiously below
      Thanks Mr K

  9. Had given this my allotted time for a crossword and had ten clues solved and just came here. As previous posters have said it was tough and not worth wasting any more time in clues more than very difficult to divine a possible meaning. Most pleased with solving 16a.
    Did anyone else put the B Swan in 6d?
    And do we have to be fans of Pink Floyd or be forced to listen to their dreary and pretentious music?

    Thanks to Mr K and the setter.

      1. If I have no idea of what the clue is about then if I can only solve it by listening to this overhyped group with the antisemite nasty David Gilmour then one has abandoned one’s principles for the sake of a crossword clue. Not good form I think.

        1. Corky you’re confusing Dave Gilmour with Roger Waters – Waters is a talented musician but holds many objectionable views

          1. Thank you Huntsman for correcting me. Roger Waters is the nasty antisemite. That’s two members of PF I can now name.

  10. Sorry – not for me at all! I gave up halfway through.

    Thanks you to the setter for the work you put in. Not your fault it didn’t gel with me. Thank you, Mr. K for explaining much of it for me and for the pusskits and Floyd.

  11. Well worthy of the Friday slot – thanks to our setter and Mr K.
    Clues contending for my podium were 1a, 9a, 6d and 7d.

  12. As SL states, quite difficult for a back pager.
    I found the NW corner most difficult, like others 9a was new. Originally put in PIT for mine and H in 11d to produce pith ie the true nature or story-never mind.
    Favourates were 16a and 19a
    Agree with Mr K on a ****/***-liked the 9a pic.

  13. A cracking Friday puzzle. Great clues, a decent challenge and an enjoyable tussle. I got 18d OK and knew it as the French butterfly and a 70s film but never knew it was also a dog breed. It’s difficult to pick a favourite out of such a teriffic group, so I’ll just give special mention to 27a and 16a – a brilliant clue that’s got everything you want. 3.5*/4.5*.

  14. Well for me this was a Friday puzzle that I really didn’t click with. Found many clues with parsing I could not unravel. Some clues, for me, with the answer just made me shake my head. Made no sense to me at all. There were a few clues that were ok for me, but not many. Just me I guess with this setter not clicking for me today. No money on any setter today, but tend to think it is likely Silvanus or Zandio as those are the two that often give me issues.

    3.5*/2* today

    Clues I liked were 16a, 21a, 29a, 18d & 26d — with winner 16a

    Thanks to setter & Mr K for blog/hints

  15. Hard but fair for a Friday, the assistant and the trigger were my LOI’s and needed a nudge from Mr K
    Thanks to setter and Mr K here are 7 6d’s of a lighter shade practising their 9a

    1. There is a story behind our Christmas plates
      Dada Bee started buying them in 1977 but he died in 1981 having paid for but never seen the six geese a laying, we continued to buy them each year and now have a full set from 1976 to 1987 more pics may appear in Sunday Toughie 100 if I can edit them down to be less than 2 gigathingies

      1. You are obviously a collector, as am I. It’s a problem. I have a large collection of silver topped glass jars from Victorian dressing cases (now packed away in shoe boxes) a huge number of match strikers, elephants, cowrie shells etc etc. at the moment my collection of Kitsch Christmas brooches are being paraded. Here are some of them.

        1. Cowrie shells?

          Every day’s a school day for Tom. (I’m trying to crowbar a ”Tom Brown’s School Day’s” shout but am failing)

          I mentioned further up today’s blog that I am seriously lacking when it comes to creatures (real and mythical, MG). My lame defence is being brought up in London and playing sport at any given opportunity. My brothers and I were always in the garden or in the playing fields behind our house. When my wife and I were courting in our mid-20s, she said ‘Let’s go for a walk’ and my response was ‘Where?’ as I had never been for one!

          Mid-20s, for Pete’s sake!

          I am hanging my head.

        2. My Mum gave me Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates every year, I don’t know how many I have. We used them to have the Christmas pudding. I suppose I should have a look at how many and what years.

        3. I have a huge collection of cowrie shells, started when I was about 11yrs old and we met a couple of ladies looking for them on a beach in Anglesey. My girls inherited the ‘bug’ and we now have a large brass jam pan filled with them. My special ones are a couple of beauties collected on a beach in The Seychelles.

          1. The Seychelles, Jane?

            I will resist the obvious wordplay.

            Be strong, Tom. Be strong.

  16. After a week of excellent puzzles this thing drops in like a sack of spuds! Best description I can come up with is Turgid!
    Only completed using letter substitution as most clues are pretty impenetrable.
    Not for me.
    *****/0
    Thx for the hints

      1. Brian (aka Barrie) seems to have his own thesaurus … today “turgid’ means “beyond my capability”

        1. Beyond a lot of people’s capability I would guess. Unless you count looking at all the hints as solving….

  17. What a delight to get another helping of Mr Smooth before Christmas. Friday level toughness but scrupulously fair as always.
    Podium places going to the two birds, the little dog and the MP with a nod to 22d simply because it’s a delightful word as is its stable-mate, firkin.

    Many thanks to Silvanus for this and all his other puzzles during 2023 – thanks also to Mr K for his reviews, pusskins and all the work he does for us behind the scenes. Still hoping that it’s going to snow on the blog for the last few puzzles before the big day………

      1. Thank you, Mr K, a scant amount but still appreciated. I hope you enjoy Christmas with your feline duo, shame that they’ll probably never get to see any of the floating white stuff………..

        1. I’ve doubled the number of flakes on the blog. The kitties do get to see quite a bit of snow. We are supposed to get 30 cm of the stuff accumulating over the next 24 hours, so it’s probably going to be a white Christmas here.

  18. Sorry, just didn’t enjoy this one at all, obviously not on setters wavelength. Appreciate the skill in composing it, but not for me.

    Thanks to Mr K – needed you far more than usual!

  19. Great Friday puzzle for us – tricky but fair – obviously on the right wave length. So thanks to the setter.
    10a last one in – and I’m still not convinced that ill = difficult. 16a cod for me.
    Whilst others obviously have a problem with Pink Floyd, definitely sounds of my youth – so thanks Mr.K for the clip and the lovely pics as usual.
    Merry Christmas everyone – and if we get any of the white stuff here in the Vega Baja it will be a miracle. A very pleasant and sunny 23°c here on our balcony!

  20. Thank you to Mr K for his comprehensive Hints and Tips and to all commenters, even Brian!

    Apologies to those who found this one overly tough, I certainly didn’t set out with that intention originally (and, contrary to what some might choose to believe, I never do), but I would tend to agree that it is at the hardest end of my back-page range. Generally, my puzzles are a little less challenging than today’s, but end-of-week setters can be expected to produce a really tricky one from time to time!

    May I take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas.

    1. Thank you for all your puzzles, even the hard ones, would we ever progress at this hobby without being stretched

    2. Many thanks for entertaining us throughout the year – and how boring it would be if every guzzle was a walkover! Variety is the spice of life.

    3. Didn’t really peg it in the solve as one of yours (too busy scratching my bonce). Thanks for all of your consistently excellent puzzles throughout the year – as Bruce used to say to the contestants on Strictly “You’re my favourite “

      1. Thank you! Didn’t Bruce say that to all the contestants though, at some stage?!

        Whenever I include a cinematic reference (or two, like today), I always hope it will gain your seal of approval. I used to have same thoughts about the much-missed Robert in South Carolina whenever I put in a literary reference, but his knowledge spanned so many other subjects and areas too.

          1. Robert was one of those contributors we’ll always miss. I was also thinking about Tom Pride (TStrummer) today, another of our number who is sorely missed.

            1. There are so many clues that immediately make me think of Robert. My host at Tigh Mor with his family is also a Robert & the same age. I do miss looking forward to what clues earned his Clarkies.

        1. Thank you so much for your outstanding efforts throughout 2023, Silver Bottom (a gorilla that’s let themselves go)

          We are truly blessed to have such a fabulous….hmm….what should the collective noun be….shall we go with ‘a trend of setters’?

          Your surfaces are unbelievably good. It is a gift. Aren’t we lucky that you have found your calling.

          Here’s to plenty more in 24!

          Have a fab Chrimbo (just to keep RD a happy bunny)

    4. Not only have you given us another brilliant puzzle but it’s just started snowing on the blog – wonderful, now it really does feel like Christmas! A very Happy Christmas to you, Silvanus, and many thanks yet again for all your excellent puzzles over the year.

    5. Darn – spotted and didn’t even bet a farthing, let alone a half-crown. Merry Christmas and thank you for all your wonderful puzzles this year, Silvanus.

    6. Thanks for dropping in, and thanks for a fun puzzle to solve and to blog. Looking forward to many more in 2024.

    7. A happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year to Silvanus. Thanks for the pleasure of solving your crosswords, or not as the case may be.

    8. Thank you for all your puzzles, silvanus. I do solve quite a few but today’s was not to be.
      A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and yours. 🎅🏻🎅🏻

    9. Merry Xmas and Happy New Year, silvanus! Thanks for the challenge. Looking forward to seeing you again soon!

  21. Completed half the grid and ground to a halt. A stiff espresso and some fresh air failed to help completion. Thanks to Mr K for the hints and to the complier for the workout. Too good for me today.

  22. I enjoyed this even though it was a struggle. 16a was my favourite and I liked 26d and 27a. Nice lurker too. Thanks to Mr Katman for the hints. I spent the morning in church doing flowers and am still frozen, the wind howling round the house doesn’t help either. Brr. I’m going to have another go at showing you my Christmas bling but I don’t think technology is going to play ball!

    1. I agree..very hard…why is Friday so tough…2 hours and only half done….Mr K must be genius getting the answers…Doug.

  23. Whoever decided this was suitable as a backpager today obviously wasn’t in the Christmas spirit. I know it’s Friday and supposed to be trickier, and we’ve had a lovely week so far, but this one is OTT. I started with 1a – a bird I have never heard of, then 9a – a new word to me, and glanced across to 6d, oh dear. Film directors are definitely not my strongest point. Luckily I got 21d on my own, having never voluntarily listened to anything Pink Floyd. Solved just 10 clues on my own, so throwing in the towel. Hats off to anyone who finished this, especially if unaided. Thanks to Silvanus for the challenge (but it really should have landed in the Toughie spot), and much admiration for Mr K for working all this out for us. Happy Christmas.

  24. Well, I see there were mixed reactions to today’s puzzle.
    Every time I decided to take a break I had one more look and another solution dropped into place.
    This was a good challenge for Aged Parent, whose mantle I seem to be wearing these days. The youngsters nod and smile at me to keep me happy.
    Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and thank you for providing such pleasure.

  25. Whew, a DNF in the NE for me. It was hard to parse some answers, eg 6d, I wanted to write the answer in but couldn’t justify it. I shamelessly used ehelp for too many. I also missed 16a, how on earth did I do that? We only recently had that Parliament, I put the lapse down to old age! Even though I failed on that, I choose it as fave, love it. I’d not heard of 9a, but, as always with Silvanus, fairly clued and my dictionary confirmed. I did find the synonym for insensitive somewhere around the 100th line in my thesaurus. I must mention 27a, 29a and 22d for their smiles. I was so bust looking for a particular writer in 8d.
    Many thanks to Silvanus, though I was lost most of the time, and Mr. K for his help. Snow? Yes please!

  26. After a week when I could barely understand a single clue in three of the Toughies prior to today, but solved the four back page cryptics at a canter, I found today’s puzzle an absolute belter. I stared at an empty grid for quite a while, then filled in the north-west corner quite quickly once a) I got 1a & b) tuned into the setter’s wavelength. I then spent the next couple of hours ‘fighting’ the crowds and sweating it out in a local supermarket and returned to complete in very reasonable time. I’m really struggling to pick just one favourite clue today, because IMHO so many brilliant clues are there to entertain, but 1a, 13a, 15d, 18d and 26d/29a I rated very highly. Thanks to our setter (not worked out who it is yet) loved it and thanks also to Mr K, although I only needed to check the parsing of my answer for 10a.

      1. I’d not read the blog until after I’d posted. I generally prefer to add my thoughts before reading what otheres have written :-) :-)

  27. I’m late on parade today. I have been very busy since completing this perfect puzzle over breakfast. My rating is 3*/5*, and with almost every clue ticked, 16a just pips the others at the winning post.

    Many thanks to Silvanus and to Mr K. It’s great to see the snow has appeared on the blog! :smile:

  28. I did try and post a comment earlier but it’s disappeared in the ether. So here’s an abbreviated version.
    Thanks to Mr K for the explanations to 10 and 14.

  29. Good evening

    Return to form after yesterday’s DNF, but crikey! A tough solve today, and if it weren’t for my wife’s eagle eye spotting 1d, the NW quadrant would not have dropped in; I am equally indebted to my lady love for the nudge I needed to twig 29a, which was last to fall.

    May I wish all setters, bloggers and contributors a very Merry Christmas, and thanks for your daily comments.

    Thank you Silvanus for the challenge today, and to Mr K. No work today, so it’s beer o’clock!

  30. Thank-you Silvanus for scrambling my neurones totally. If you didn’t push my boundaries I would never improve. I’ve been having a go at the Telegraph crossword since my late teens. Now retired, I can enjoy it daily.
    At medical school, I had a biochemistry “viva voce” exam, colloquially known as a viva. With Prof.Young (who wasn’t). First question he asked me wasn’t about the Krebs cycle but “did you get 1d today…I know you do the crossword in the back of my lectures!”. Yes, I did get 1d and passed the exam…

    1. I recall a friend taking a viva with a particularly fearsome lecturer. He asked what the capacity of the human bladder was. My friend replied that it was 5000 litres, whereupon the examiner threw his pen down in disgust and said
      “If you think that, sir you have missed your vocation! You should be a fireman!”

  31. My word what hard going! And a dnf, as I discovered I hadn’t done 16a.
    Got 9a straight away, it’s the same in French, but didn’t know the other French reference in 18d. There are a lot of little toy dogs around here, will have to look out for a butterfly one. No particular faves.
    Many thanks to silvanus and to Mr K for showing me the light! ( And for the snow! I have that on a couple of sites plus a Santa!)
    Merry Xmas everyone!

  32. Hi…I did struggle today…did 3 quarters today then needed help.
    1 across annoyed me…kept thinking of a sport..but of course you sport something if you wear it.
    No complaints though…the setter was just to good for me…
    Very tough though..dont know how you get some of these Mr K….May i ask how long it took you to finish it…please dont say half an hour…🤣🤣..merry christmas…Doug.

  33. An enjoyable solve for me even if not entirely straight forward. A couple of new words or usages thereof.
    16a was a clear favourite for me.
    I pondered, as I entered the answer to 28a, that 8 letters is a lot to cram into a single syllable word – any thoughts on examples with more?
    Thanks to Silvanus whose puzzles I really enjoy, and to MrK. And for the record I am a pink floyd fan (objectionable views apart) and enjoyed the track.
    Thanks also for the snow flakes….

    1. Look no further, Phancy. I’m yer man.

      Nine letter jobbies (there are a couple more):

      Strengths
      Straights (on an F1 race track)
      Screeched
      Schlepped

      With the winner being the 10 letter…

      Scraunched

      1. Thanks TDS65, I hadn’t thought of the single syllable ed s, now I can’t get graunched out of my mind – time for a drive methinks…

  34. A dnf because I needed the detailed hint for 10a. Still, I did better than yesterday!

    Chuffed to have solved the rest of the crossword unaided, despite a couple of obscure creatures and two new (to me) words.

    Thanks to all.

  35. Today this was beyond me, but I did complete it using the fantastic hints provided by MrK. I am putting my poor effort down to Christmas distractions but ai can also see that there were some answers that I would never have known.

    Many thanks to Silvanus for providing us with so many excellent puzzles and to Mr K for the entertaining hints and cat pics. I wish both of you a very happy Christmas.

  36. Didn’t have a problem with the animals, lots of problems elsewhere though. Followed the instructions for 9a and thought ‘I wonder if that’s a word’ blow me down it was! 10a was a complete bung in. The rest got easier with checkers or should I say less difficult. I assumed 25a was a film but didn’t look it up. Favourite was 16a. Thanks to Silvanus and Mr. K.

  37. Many thanks Silvanus for another brilliantly challenging puzzle. You really are now a master of the art. Made steady progress from the bottom up but got stuck in the NE. 1a and 1d beat me today but fairly clued so no quibbles from me.
    Best wishes for a happy Christmas to you and Mr K.

  38. Wow that was problematical particularly in the North and, like SC, I gave up and settled for a DNF. 16a MP is becoming a chestnut. Haven’t seen 15d and 17d indicators before – crafty. Movie for 25a is rather unimaginative. Thank you Silvanus for today’s braintwister and MrK for lightening the load and a very Happy Christmas to you both.

  39. 4*/3* …
    liked 18A “Member of Parliament is wearing that woman’s bloomers! (7)” …
    & the picture in the hint.

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