DT 30518 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 30518

by 2Kiwis  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30518

Hints and tips by 2Kiwis

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

Kia ora from Aotearoa.
We have been away again for a few days (have to make the most of this summer weather) and have been out of touch with our usual crossword solving habits. Back home now though and the only thing getting in the way for us is our next Covid vaccine booster which we had a couple of hours ago.
Plenty to keep us amused while solving this one.

Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.

Across

1a     A GP’s tutored a funny wannabe doctor perhaps (12)
POSTGRADUATE : An anagram (funny) of A GP’S TUTORED A.

9a     Smashed, as walls may be (9)
PLASTERED :  A coating that can be applied to walls using a trowel.

10a     Chap given gold makes a pile (5)
MANOR : A chap or guy plus the heraldic word for gold.

11a     Frank turned on number one cricketer? (6)
OPENER : Frank or upfront, then the reversal of ‘on’ or concerning.

12a     Showier underwear cut at the back (8)
BRASSIER : Supporting underwear with the last letter deleted.

13a     Fresh starter and case of Beaune wine prepared (6)
NEWBIE : An anagram (prepared) of B(eaun)E WINE.

15a     Maybe a fan of Queen track about old celebrities (8)
ROYALIST : The abbreviation for a railway contains O(ld). Then the roster where celebrities may be found.

18a     Succeeded leaving drunk, manipulative person (8)
SVENGALI : The abbreviation for succeeded and an anagram (drunk) of LEAVING.

19a     See about US serving man turning tap on barrel (6)
SPIGOT : See or catch sight of contains the reversal of a US soldier.

21a     Leave the country music label with good price (8)
EMIGRATE : A famous music label, then G(ood) and price or charge.

23a     Ford car range (6)
SIERRA : A double definition.

26a     Misguided dopes put on airs (5)
POSED : An anagram (misguided) of DOPES.

27a     That lady’s current furniture, potentially passed to the children (9)
HERITABLE : A possessive pronoun for that lady’s, then the physics symbol for current and dining room furniture.

28a     Pinter’s style evolves constantly (12)
PERSISTENTLY : An anagram (evolves) of PINTERS STYLE.

Down

1d     Music, soppy stuff, an accompaniment for films? (7)
POPCORN : A genre of music then another word for soppy stuff.

2d     Section of First Avenue on which bars are found (5)
STAVE : A lurker, hiding in the clue.

3d     Content to leave Glinka opera cycle for a party (9)
GATHERING : The first and last letters (content) of Glinka and a Wagnerian opera cycle.

4d     Blithe and hirsute cockney (4)
AIRY : A synonym for hirsute as might be heard in the East End.

5d     Don’t cook enough pig’s back for outsider (8)
UNDERDOG : A word meaning ‘don’t cook enough’ and then the last letter of pig.

6d     Initially, flipping silly Elon Musk insists Twitter’s X (5)
TIMES : A reversal (flipping) of the initial letters from five words in the clue.

7d     Regular servings of peanut cake topping — tempting! (8)
ENTICING : The second, fourth and sixth letters of peanut and then decorative cake topping.

8d     Biblical peak a painter introduced into painting, say (6)
ARARAT : ‘A’ from the clue and a Royal Academician are inside what painting is an example of.

14d     Least strong side playing after little time (8)
WEEDIEST : Little or tiny and T(ime) surround an anagram (playing) of SIDE.

16d     Agenda item in a letter one’s put in post (9)
APPOINTEE : ‘A’ from the clue and the way of writing in full the sixteenth letter of the alphabet enclose an agenda item.

17d     Bugs in grand, large pines (8)
GLITCHES : The abbreviations for grand and large plus pines or fervently desires.

18d     Haggard female, before month climbing, gets a suitable guide? (6)
SHERPA : The title figure of a Haggard book, then the reversal of the short version of the fourth month.

20d     Hear about very mature Othello, say (7)
TRAGEDY : Hear, as in a law court, contains very mature or old.

22d     Horrid gentleman saving bank (5)
RIDGE : A lurker, hiding in the clue.

24d     Go off entertaining book, and love The Iron Man? (5)
ROBOT : Go off or decompose contains B(ook) and tennis score love.

25d     Upset tender love god (4)
EROS : The reversal of tender or painful.

We enjoyed the topicality of 6d so it is our favourite today.

Quickie pun    Sioux    +    doe    +    coo    =    Sudoku

80 comments on “DT 30518”

  1. Certainly much harder today, needed a real cryptic approach, and even then had to go back to see how some of them worked after the initial guess.
    Two ‘new’ ones for me today, didn’t know you could use 27a as a word without the usual two front letters, also never heard of the opera in 3d, but hardly surprising for me as I never saw much in the favour of operas anyway.
    All in all very good fun with some great misdirection and very satisfying to finish.
    As for favourites, I’d have to plump for 5d and 6d. Well done to our setter, top notch puzzle.

  2. Harder for ne than the two stars awarded by the Kiwis and with some quite awkward sounding surface reads. I enjoyed the General Knowledge element of the guzzle
    especially the geographical 18d, and the two long anagrams, 1a and 28a. Thanks to th Kiwis for the hints and particularly for unravelling the convoluted parsing of 16d. Thanks also to the compiler

  3. Smooth-as-you-like surfaces, oodles of wit and some masterfully disguised anagrams – 1a read beautifully. I don’t usually big-tick acrostics but I thought 6d was charming. Loved it, from start to finish. Thanks to the setter and the 2Ks, of course.

  4. A reasonably brisk completion in under ** time. The parsing of 16d was the only real head scratch having never given much thought to how you spell our 16th letter of the alphabet but the penny dropped. Like Tipcat I can’t say I’ve ever come across 27a before either. All very enjoyable with 1&3d + 13a my podium picks.
    Thanks to the setter & to the 2Ks
    Ps Hands up who confidently bunged in Ben at 6a in the Quickie? – or Ted even.

    1. Ha, I’d forgotten the Quickie. Ben and Ted were my first two attempts. I’m glad it wasn’t just me!

  6. Chris and his crew are in a very benevolent mood this week with another gentle challenge.

    This compiler has taken a leaf out of RayT’s book with not a multi-worder in sight.

    My podium is 1a, 12a and 28a.

    Many thanks to the setter and Le Touquet.

    2*/4*

      1. I do too. They definitely have their place.

        It was more of an observation that anything else.

  7. An enjoyable tussle with the South East corner putting up most resistance taking me to just over ** time. I thought the 1a anagram was the outstanding clue for the clever surface but plenty of others worth a mention such as 15a and 14d. 27a, my last one in, was the only one to raise eyebrows and instigate a visit to the BRB. Many thanks to our setter and the 2Kiwis.

  8. What an enjoyable puzzle. Positively flew through this until I came unstuck in the SE, which brought me down to earth with a bump until I untangled 17d and 27a. Podium for me being 18 and 23a with 13a in top spot and my cotd. Thanks to compiler and 2K’s.

  9. Thought this was going to be a stiffer challenge than it turned out to be, somewhat grateful when our setter let us off relatively lightly. Just that pesky 16d that required a nudge from a few checkers.
    Top clue here was the smile-worthy 1d with the Queen track tucked in behind it.

    Thanks to our setter (Robyn?) and to our gad-about Kiwis for the review – hope your covid jab doesn’t leave too many side-effects.

  10. I was on my way to a 1* finish when I got held up in the SE corner. I did enjoy this though apart from one of my (many) bugbears – using a word to clue a specific letter as in 16d. Does anyone apart from a few crossword setters ever use “pee” for example? Outside of the crossword world, P suffices (and is considerably more succinct), but even this example is not as bad as “see” = C in my book.

    The rest of the puzzle was very good and my overall rating is 2.5*/4* with a podium comprising 1a, 21a & 6d.

    Many thanks to the setter and to the 2Ks.

          1. Ah, legendary. Was trying to remember that on the way back from the shops. But obviously did the rude one instead 😁

        2. How clever! I showed it to George in bed and he said I haven’t got my glasses on. I said I cannot read it, that’s the whole point!

  11. Mostly okay. I felt really disappointed by 18A and 24D. S and B are not (to my knowledge) abbreviations for ‘succeeded’ or ‘book’. There should be an indication of the use of the initial letter or a phonetic alphabet (Sierra or bravo)

    1. Welcome to the blog

      Both B for Book and S for Succeeded are shown in lists of abbreviations and, as such, regularly appear in crosswords

    2. S is an abbreviation for ‘succeeded’ in the sense of followed in the line of succession and is found in accounts of royal lineages. B is an abbreviation for ‘book’ that is found in textual references in academic works.

  12. A cracking puzzle with plenty of fresh ideas producing smiles throughout.
    Great stuff, clever setter and many thanks to our Kiwi friends for an excellent review.

  13. Right up my street with a good mix of clues. I liked the smooth surface read of 1a, the Nepalese mountaineer at 18d and Noah’s Ark’s resting place at 8d. Podium places for 15a, 16d and 24d all very cleverly and amusingly clued. Thanks to today’s setter and the 2 Kiwis. Glad you’re enjoying your summer. We’re being blown away!

  14. A cracking puzzle today. The ones I liked most were 15a, 21a, 3d and 17d.
    I also had ‘Ben’ to begin with for the quickie pun.

  16. Enjoyable while it lasted, rather light for a Wednesday. Good surfaces throughout, all GK very basic, ideal proportion of anagrams. Podium places to 28a, 8d & 18d.

    <2* / 3.5*

    Many thanks to the setter and to the 2Ks

  17. Thoroughly enjoyable. It made a good start to the day, which continues in this vein.
    The sun has been shining here, and it is almost mild.
    I have been watching the sheep constantly moving between their two fields as they graze. I wonder why they move around so much. It seems that one of them decides to shift, and the rest…….oh well, they are sheep.
    Thank you, 2Ks and setter.

  18. Can’t say I was a fan of this puzzle. A DNF today.
    Very strange clues for a lot of them and parsing was not clear for me. Just not on setters wavelength.

    4*/1* for me today

    Favourites that made sense included 1a, 9a, 21a, 17d & 18d — with 9a the winner.

    Thanks to setter & 2k’s for hints/blog

  19. Finally finished after having a bit of a fight with the south east where I had a few that I struggled with. Some very clever clues and some which took me ages to see what was wanted. Even 1a took me a while. Some I needed to check with the hints.

    Many thanks to the setter and to the 2 kiwis for the hints.

    1. I feel we were on exactly the same wavelength. You have done my commenting for me!
      Thank you, and to the setter and the 2 Kiwis.

  20. I found this decidedly tricky, it needed a lot of work. My brain is otherwise occupied so that might be the problem. I needed to go to the hints for 16d to get me going again in the SE. Fave was 3d, but 6d was a close runner up.
    Thank you setter, and 2Kiwis for your help with the final furlong.

  21. A reasonable challenge … not helped by my mistaken belief that there is a mountain range somewhere in this world called Mondeo! Thank you compiler and 2Ks

  22. Very pleasant puzzle at just about my level. My fav was 19a as it reminded me of one of the funniest comedy routines of all time The Tarzan sketch by Pete and Dud Mr S…… being he who swings through the jungly tendrils.
    Thx to all
    **/****

        1. Wonderful. Nostalgia rules.
          That was the week that was.
          Not only…..but also.
          Whatever happened to………humour?
          It ain’t ‘alf disappeared, Mum.

  24. Morning all.
    We got shaken awake at 3.18am this morning with a significant earthquake. Epicentre about 100Km away and not close to urban areas so don’t expect to hear any damage reported.
    We both have somewhat sore arms from yesterday’s Covid jabs but we were expecting these and know it won’t last long.
    Looks like some people found some tricky bits in this puzzle although it had come apart without too many stumbling blocks for us. We must have been “on wavelength”.
    Cheers.

    1. Oh dear! An earthquake must be terrifying. I do t suppose you’ll read this as I am so late. Good luck with the arms!

  25. I had to laugh and shake my head when I saw the blogger had classed this as a ** for difficulty. Two stars my foot!

    Though I enjoyed this one I found it to be tough and I ended up DNFing with six unanswered.

    Svengali? What?

    I am sure I have seen 4d somewhere else, very recently. Certainly I had a sense of Deja vu.

    Liked underdog and brassier

  26. A terrific guzzle but I don’t what is wrong with me this week. So far, on each day I have failed to solve two clues and have had to resort to the hints. Most annoying!
    Despite that, this was very entertaining. 9a has appeared a number of times recently. I liked 1d (the clue not the stuff itself) and my COTD is the operatic party at 3d – very clever.

    My thanks to our Wednesday setter for the fun and the 2Ks for the hints. I hope you are not subject to horribles after your Covid jabs.

    Anyone else have “ben” for the third word in the Quickie pun so couldn’t make head nor tail of it?

    1. Nothing wrong with you. There’s no shame in not being able to complete a cryptic crossword. Sometimes they are really tough.

      I fail to complete the DT cryptic more than I complete it.

      At least you didn’t use the “wavelength” excuse. 🤣

      1. The annoyance comes from the fact it has been just two clues, BBoaB. Very frustrating. 😁

    2. Just read the comments and I see others had Ben as well.
      Note to self – read the comments before commenting!

      1. I had Ben too! Soon realised it didn’t make sense. I love the quick crossword as it’s an immediate indicator of the cryptic difficulty. I’m still 2 answers away from completion so will have another go in the early hours. A really good crossword that I’m enjoying. Many thanks to compiler and 2K’s. I hope you both feel better soon.

  28. Finding today quite tricky. Liked 1d but wondering if a potential alternative clue could be

    Dad jokes? (7)

    No doubt probably quite the olde chestnutte 👴🏻🌽

    1. I think the clue needs a definition. For example, The Times included “Dad jokes, the kind of thing one might share during film? (7)” in November.

        1. I suppose it could be in a sense, but the convention in the Times and the Telegraph seems to be to give a definition if the clue isn’t an &lit rather than ask the solver to, say, put two words together to get a completely unconnected answer. If the answer had something to do with unfashionable jokes (e.g. if ‘popcorn’ was a synonym for, say, a pun) then all would be well. But the BRB only has two definitions of ‘popcorn’: “1. Maize burst open and swelled by heating, 2. A kind of maize suitable for this”. My ODE is similar. So, in the DT the clue ought to indicate burst Maize or Maize IMHO, which ‘dad jokes’ doesn’t as is. In the same vein, I can’t recall seeing an anagram in the DT without a definition.

            2. Grateful I am! That reminds me that we have seen ‘pawn’ used as a synonym of ‘pop’. I suppose you could have Pawn something sentimental for buckets of snacks? (7) perhaps?

              1. Reminds me of the titanium chess set I once saw; boy was that some hard-core pawn 😉

                (I’m stopping now, promise)

  29. So a busy day meant I had to tackle this in 3 stages. Like others I came unstuck in the SE which held me up a lot and I had to resort to the hints. I’ve not heard of 27A used as a word before have to say. Neither had I heard of 19A. Enjoyed it mostly. I managed to complete the toughie last night after a tip off from SC , but wont be going down that road this evening ! Thanks to setter and 2Ks.

  30. Good evening

    As with Jenny above, I had to tackle today’s crozzie in three stages; the pen is now down after finally getting through the SW quadrant, which gave me the most trouble.

    Some excellent wit and wordplay today; with several contenders for COTD, I have plumped – if, indeed, plumping is allowed, for 15a, taking joint honours with 3d.

    Many thanks to our compiler and to 2Ks.

  31. Found this quite tricky, but managed to solve unaided. Not heard of the opera nor the author. 27a is also a new word for me.

    Thanks to all.

  32. Straightforward until it wasn’t particularly in the SE. I wasn’t sure that 27a was actually a word but bunged it in anyway. Couldn’t parse 15a and the less said about 16d the better, it doesn’t work for me on any level, just the only word that fitted in. Ruined an otherwise half decent crossword. No particular favourite but thanks to the setter anyway and the 2K’s.

  33. I was way off wavelength for most of this solve so I really didn’t enjoy it. SW was my most sluggish corner. There were several clues where I sussed the construction of the solution but not the surface so needed explanation. Hope tomorrow will be more my scene. Thank you Ron and 2Kiwis

  34. Yesterday was a xxxxx of a day so just done the guzzle in bed with my cup of hot water and no iPhone. Really enjoyed it, so clever. Got to get up and start the day so will just say many thanks to Mr Setter snd 2Ks. Let’s see what today holds. God bless Guzzles (sorry Brian).

  35. ***/**** for me. A game of two halves. The top slid in easily, the South East was tough but I had to sleep on the SW to allow my little grey cells to work overnight. I did finish unaided…but only just.
    Concisely clued. 1a, 18a and 20d favourite. I took ages over the Ford despite having bought two of them in the 80s, the first of which, a 2.3 diesel was my first new car. And the slowest when towing my 4 berth caravan!

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