Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30,591
Hints and tips by Shabbo
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning dear puzzlers and a glorious sunny morning it is here in Welwyn Garden City. However, I believe that the temperature is going to struggle to get above 100, so the budgie smugglers can stay in the drawer or another week or two.
I won’t tell you who the setter is for two reasons:
- It would spoil it for others.
- I have no idea who it is.
I found this to be a very accessible puzzle and an enjoyable solve. Thank you mystery setter.
In the blog below, the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED and the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the “Click Here” buttons. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on and what you thought of the puzzle.
Across
1a Complain, given part of log for woodwork (9)
CARPENTRY: synonym of complain + synonym of an item added to a log (think diary or record).
6a Like McDonald’s food son doesn’t eat (5)
FASTS: a description of the type of “food” one gets at McDonald’s + single-letter abbreviation for son.
9a Dish, starter from Berry in bake off (5)
KEBAB: anagram (off) of BAKE + B (starter from Berry).
10a Theatre backing erstwhile actor, say (9)
PERFORMER: three-letter abbreviated word meaning theatre reversed (backing) + synonym of erstwhile.
11a Miss album? A demo I sell excitingly covers it (12)
MADEMOISELLE: I thought at first that this was an anagram, but it is in fact a really neat hidden word clue. Our answer is lurking within words 2-7 of the clue.
14a Put down iron again (7)
REPRESS: double definition
16a President Lincoln not drinking with gangster assisting crime (7)
ABETTAL: abbreviated first name of President Lincoln + abbreviation for teetotal + our usual gangster (Mr Capone).
17a Boring implement everybody picked up (3)
AWL: homophone (picked up) of synonym of everybody.
18a Extract Republican found inside bar (7)
EXCERPT: single-letter abbreviation for Republican inside a synonym of bar (as in “apart from”).
20a Interest Parisian in grand singer called Diana (7)
ENGROSS: French word meaning “in” + abbreviation for “grand” + a supreme singer.
22a Pondering case for discharge and release (12)
DELIBERATION: first and last letters (case for) of discharge + synonym of release.
26a Husband has whisky after work – it’s child’s play (9)
HOPSCOTCH: abbreviation for husband + synonym of whisky after a two-letter abbreviation for a musical work.
27a Swimmer, about 90, is to show great skill (5)
EXCEL: a slippery swimmer (fish) outside (about) Roman numeral for 90.
28a Section of prenup re-energised groom (5)
PREEN: another hidden word (section of). Our answer is hidden within words 3 and 4.
29a Put on casual clothes and wig (5,4)
DRESS DOWN: double definition. Wig here is a verb disguised as a noun.
Down
1d Anglicans receiving fine for illegal substance (4)
COKE: abbreviation for Church of England outside (receiving) universal colloquial expression meaning fine or all right. Cola is not yet illegal, so this must be the other type.
2d What priest may don, or bishop tucking into caviar? (4)
ROBE: abbreviation for bishop inside (tucking into) a synonym of caviar.
3d Upset setter needs support and hug (7)
EMBRACE: how the setter might refer to himself reversed (upset) + a synonym of support.
4d Tip of tool, item used fencing in American’s home (5)
TEPEE: first letter (tip) of tool + sword used in fencing. Perhaps the addition of the word “in” after “used” would have helped the surface read?
5d Delay for a drunk getting large amount of alcohol (4,2,3)
YARD OF ALE: anagram (drunk) of DELAY FOR A reveals a long drink.
6d Labour leader Michael smiles occasionally in flirtatious activity (7)
FOOTSIE: Labour leader from the early 80s + odd letters (occasionally) of smiles.
7d Possible reason for booking limo – aunt is travelling (10)
SIMULATION: anagram (travelling) of LIMO AUNT IS. The definition refers to the antics of overpaid footballers pretending that they are hurt. Send them all off, I say!
8d Dali, say, certainly entertains king and top celebs (10)
SURREALIST: a word meaning certainly outside (entertains) abbreviation for king (or queen) + a term used to describe the most famous celebrities.
12d Camaraderie – working day finishes with it (10)
FRIENDSHIP: the last day of the working week (abbreviated) + synonym of “finishes” + synonym of “with it” (as in trendy).
13d Foolishly, a cop plays with drug, leading to disaster (10)
APOCALYPSE: anagram (foolishly) of A COP PLAYS + single letter representing an illegal drug.
15d Dripping is a kind of fat (9)
SATURATED: double definition.
19d Polish star’s point of no return (7)
RUBICON: synonym of polish (a verb) + synonym of star (as in celebrity).
21d Fawns oddly lost south of wooded area (7)
GROVELS: odd letters of (LoSt) beneath (south of) a synonym of a small wood.
23d Thanks that chap, gathering round lake in America (5)
TAHOE: abbreviation for thanks + word meaning “that chap” outside (gathering) a round letter.
24d Italian novelist penning hard copy (4)
ECHO: Italian novelist famous for The Name of the Rose outside (penning) abbreviation for hard (think pencils). I’m ashamed to say that I was unfamiliar with the novelist.
25d Antelope hasn’t finished dash (4)
ELAN: a large African antelope with its tail removed (hasn’t finished).
Quickie Pun: ANNE + TAN + DECK = ANT AND DEC (who?)
Quite straightforward for a Thursday I thought with lots to enjoy. Once again, I solved very few of the across clue on the first pass but two thirds of the downs. Maybe my brain starts to wake up once I reach the downs. 21d held me up for ages until I realised 22a did not end in “ing”. I had no idea that the glass of 1d I drank this morning was illegal!
26a brought back fond memories of childhood when we chalked out the grid and used a broken piece of tile. My COTD is the complaining part of log at 1a.
Thank you, setter for the fun solve. Thank you, Shabbo for the hints..
Apart from the fond memories of the childhood game (which for some reason I never played), I echo your every statement above…
Me too re 22a/21d, which was my LOI. It was the ing of pondering that misled me.
Steve, I too fondly remember (now that you’ve reminded me) playing the 26a game in the 50s; with a chalked grid on the tarmacked pavement and a flat stone as a marker. But there was another street game that we used to play involving kids on either side of the road (a quiet residential road, not a main road). The road was, I think, an imaginary river and the game started by shouting the question across to the other side: “Please Mr Crocodile may I cross your golden river?” That’s about all I can remember about it – anybody know how it all worked?
I don’t recall the crocodile one but we used to play Throw up and Call when the person who was “it” would stand in a circle formed by the other players. The ball would be thrown high in the air and whoever was the thrower shouted out the name of one of the others. The nominated person had to catch the ball. The rest ran away until the catcher shouted “Stop”. Everyone would have to remain still. The catcher could take six paces towards one of the others. He would then throw the ball and if it hit that person he or she became “it” and the game began again.
Happy days!
Me too with the wrong ending of 22a. Shouldn’t 22a also end in “ing”?
The answer to your question is “No”. Verbs ending in -ing are gerunds which can act as nouns as well as verbs. So the answer and the definition are synonymous.
By the way, I initially made the same mistake.
No Falcon – verbs ending in ing, as in this sentence, are participles.
Oops! Never was any good at grammar.
Me either, Gazza, that’s all written in code where I’m concerned! A “participle”? Good grief!
I thought you were correct, Falcon. A gerund is a verb form that functions as a noun, ending in ‘-ing’. In this case ‘pondering’ must be a gerund?
Yes, pondering in the clue must be a gerund because the answer to the clue is a noun.
That’s a relief. Perhaps my grammar is not so bad after all!
I too had the ing for 22a , so 21d was my last in doh ! I was beginning to think it was a word for baby deers I’d not heard of , including a word for wooded area I also hadn’t heard of 🙄
Same here with 22a, as pondering led me to believe the answer should also end in “ing”, the usual rule of thumb.
Now, here’s a bit of a coincidence. The 26a answer (a word that doesn’r crop up that often in cryptics) is the same as the 18a answer in today’s Toughie by Silvanus!
But which of the two clues did you prefer?
Now you’ve given it away. I haven’t started the Toughie yet!
Welcome to the blog, NJoy.
To be fair Senf had already mentioned the coincidence at Comment #5
Cheerful little number. I enjoyed 29a and 5d was a nice spot. 7d was fun. Thanks to setter and Shabbo.
The sun here in Sandhurst blazed just long enough to make me decide that the washing could go outside on the line instead of in the tumble drier, but now its hiding behind the clouds so at the end of the afternoon I’ll be left with cold damp clobber, brilliant!
Another cracker of a puzzle today, just right for a Thursday, held up for a while thinking 1a may be ‘marquetry’ but couldn’t see why, all came clear when 1d hit the paper though.
Two favourites today are 12d and good old Salvador at 8d, great puzzle, great fun.
Easy peasy but it did pleezy wheeezy.
This was fab, I mean, who doesn’t love a six word lurker, every once in a while. I was very happy to discover the verb to wig.
There are so many good clues to choose from but I’ll go with 9a, 26a and 12d (excellent construction)
Many thanks to the setter and Shabbo.
1*/4*
A guess the setter day on not a Ray T Thursday and his ‘frequent’ stand-in is on Toughie duty. Hmm. A decent Thursday cranial workout – ***/***
Interesting that 26a also appears in the Toughie.
Candidates for favourite – 14a, 22a, 19d, and 25d – and the winner is 22a.
Thanks to whomsoever and Shabbo.
To paraphrase Mr F Gump, “Thursday’s puzzles are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.”
Contrary to a couple of fearsome beasts in recent weeks, this one was relatively straightforward (thankfully) with some lovely clues. It never really ‘grabbed’ me though, other than a moment of delight when seeing the 12-letter lurker. The delight may, perhaps, have been due to me dismissing the possibility of a lurker for such a long answer, resulting in it being the last one in! **/***
That was a Thursday cracker, gentle and amusing. Completion would have been even quicker, had I not misspelled 8d and had the wrong ending to 22a. 9a made me smile and is my cotd. Thanks to compiler and Shabbo.
Can’t say this one really floated my boat but my judgement may have been clouded by getting the Quickie pun in place before tackling the puzzle – talk about footballers being overpaid, that pair are just as bad!
Had to smile at the thought of that Labour leader being involved in any flirtatious behaviour and my favourite was the camaraderie.
Thanks to our setter and to Shabbo for the review.
Great puzzle full of fun. Some delay in the north east but I got there.like Steve I put the wrong end on 22a initially. My favourite, after spending ages trying to make the answer an anagram, was the lurker at 11a. I needed the hints to understand the answer for 7d as it did not seem to make sense to me.
Many thanks to the setter and to Shabbo for the hints.
Flying start, two thirds
In, then sloppily, that is
Too much referring to
My dictionary, to
Completion.
Brilliant 11a, yes a
Lurker, and 12d among
Many smiles.
Thanks setter and Shabbo.
Solid Thursday fare, straightforward & swift other than for the same ing/ion problem re 22a as others experienced, and for me that woolliness in the clueing felt poor/out of place in an otherwise sound puzzle. Hon. mentions to 8d, 12d, 6a and COTD “by a distance”, 11a: superb lurker.
2* / 3*
Thank you to the setter and to Shabbo.
MG. With the greatest respect, I think your accusation of “woolliness” in the 22a clues is a tad harsh/uncopromising. I’d call it mild (and welcome by me) misdirection. The setter could have used “ponderation” (which is a real word and new to me) as the definition and made it easier to solve, but why be so obvious/conventional/transparent in a cryptic clue on a Thursday?
I can’t agree that it is misdirection, Jose, mild or otherwise – a clue should only be capable of one correct solution, and should be solvable without reference to any other clue unless specific cross-reference to another clue is indicated. In this instance only with the checking ‘o’ in place could one be certain which of the two correct solutions was required. That so many others also went for the “ing” option strongly suggests a lack of precision in the clueing rather than deliberate misdirection.
It seems to me that we frequently encounter situations where two or more solutions are possible and the correct one can only be determined from the crossing letters.
Indeed. And I think that very minor “infringement” is outweighed by misdirectionally sneaking in a crafty gerund so that many people thougth of -ing instead of -ion.
Jose, this is an otherwise run-of-the-mill back page mid-week puzzle, not an EV brain mangler! It would be extraordinary, to say the least, to start b’ing around with “spot the gerund” clues, and I cannot believe the DT would knowingly countenance it.
Falcon, while I can certainly recall the odd ambiguous (ie poorly written) clue, I can’t recall a single clue hint/explanation on the site **for an un-linked clue** that effectively says “the answer could be A or B: the one you want is conditional on you solving another, unrelated, clue first”.
Fair comment (I suppose). “Ponderation” wouldn’t be good for the surface. But I still think sneaking in a gerund in this case is misdirection (of a sort) because (as proven by the comments) many people just didn’t initially spot or expect it.
I must be shallow, often I just put in either ing or ion whichever fits. But this clue relies on
another clue. So, perhaps woolly. Have I missed something!
No, you’ve not particularly missed anything – but read Falcon’s comment at 4.10 pm above.
Thanks Jose.
Whenever I see “with the greatest respect”, I know a zinger is coming!
Doesn’t the word release point towards an ion ending?
Very gentle for a Thursday and enjoyable throughout. Off to a good start with 1a falling straight away followed by 6a. When that happens I leave the across clues and starting in the NE corner (I’ve no idea why) work my way back with the down clues. Today, they all went in easily as well, though I couldn’t parse 7d. Now I’ve read the hints I’m not sure I like the reasoning behind that very much. After my initial success I slowed down somewhat and solving became much more haphazard. I liked the very clever lurker at 11a and spent a little time trying to sort out an anagram that was a couple of letters short before realising the error of my ways. Favourite today was 8d with podium places for 29a and 12d. Many thanks to our setter for this morning’s pleasure and to Shabbo for help with parsings.
1.5*/3*. A light and pleasant diversion for a Thursday with 1a in first place.
I’ve been caught out a few times by the -ion or -ing decision, so I remembered today not to write in the final two letters of the answer until after I got 21d.
Many thanks to the setter and to Shabbo.
Beaten by the American lake….is it famous? And the wrong ending to 22a didn’t help
Let’s relax and have a childish game of 16a!
Its a pretty major holiday resort in the west of the US. Maybe once you’ve thought of the Great Lakes it’d be next on your list?
That hidden answer clue was brilliant. Best of the day easily. Even though I came here still thinking it was an anagram.
You were ‘Mr Bloat’ before so this needed moderation. Both aliases will work from now on.
Thank you, I can never remember what I used where.
Film lovers would know it from Godfather 11. The Corleone residence is on the shore of the lake & the movie ends with Michael having his older brother, Fredo, killed while out fishing on it. The final scenes with Michael alone & reflecting maybe on the monster he has become (plus the wonderful Nino Rota score) are superb.
Yes pretty famous.
Like several pals above (and for the second time this week in my case) I had an ‘ing’ instead of an ‘ion’, and that led me to a whole heap of trouble with 21d. As a result the setter should be sent to Alcatraz with no prospect of parole. It’s the only language these people understand. Who do they think they are? Turning up each day with these so-called cryptic crosswords. Why can’t they just lay around watching ‘Bargain Hunt’ like the rest of the nation? Oh no! That’s not good enough for them. They feel obliged to taunt us with their wordplay and clever use of language. On reflection, imprisonment is too good for them. Hard labour. That’s what these people deserve.
Great guzzle, apart from the ing/ion business.
Thanks to the setter and Shabba-dabba-doo. All the very best to Chris and her husband.
Brilliant!
Many thanks for the kind thoughts and good wishes Terence. Also Merusa, Steve C, Huntsman, CS and Daisy. Jim has lost rthe abilty to walk due to the progressive loss of feeling in his legs from peripheral neuropathy and 14 weeks in hospital from mid December until 20th March with encephalitis and a DVT. However, he is now learning to steer his new wheelchair round the corridoors, dining room, Lounge and beautiful grounds of his care home. So things are looking up after a very trying time.i’m getting the cryptic done on the Puzzles App most days and hope to comment soon
Chriscross,
I have obviously missed your news until now. I was very sorry to hear it.
Very best wishes to you both.
Getting old certainly has its challenges, Chriscross, but you both seem to be handling them very well. I hope I have your fortitude and courage when the time comes. We all send love.
So good to hear from you, Chriscross, I’m so sorry to learn of Jim’s tribulations. I do hope that he feels comfortable in the care home and that you can relax a little more in the future.
So good to hear from you, Chriscross. Wishing you and Jim all good wishes and love.
Keep your chin up Chris & I hope Jim continues to progress. Look forward to your continued posts on the site.
Enjoyable puzzle less difficult than the usual Thursday fare,
Favourite was 8d and liked 11a and 22a ‘
Going for a **/*** as per Shabbo.
Very pleasant for a Thursday.
Did the same with ‘ing’ at 22a.
Enjoyed the big lurking young lady.
Thanks to the setter and Shabbo.
A lovely guzzle full of lovely words – 21d, 28a, 6d…As did others took a while to realise that 11a wasn’t an anagram, but a lurker!
Particularly liked 6d and 12d, but fave du jour goes to 19d.
Many thanks to the setter and particularly to Shabbo for explaining 7d (to 15-a side person)!
A typo in your email address sent you into moderation
Sorry about that. I thought I’d just clicked on the browser’s suggestion – since they’re not being fully remembered. Will take more care…
PS that seemed to have worked!
Fun solve with lots of well constructed clues. Spent far too long on 11a trying to work out what I though was an anagram of “ a demo I sell” and “it” until the penny dropped!
Thanks to all
Quick question my name and email address aren’t being remembered – is it something at my end?
Sim, no it’s a general problem which occurred when the 503 issue was fixed. Mr K., the site’s resident IT wizard, is trying to find a solution.
Lovely, thanks, good to know and good luck to Mr K
You were not alone searching for the anagram!
I enjoyed this puzzle today but needed the explanation for why 7d was what it is. Those dreadful non-sporting ‘sportsmen’ need a good talking to!
Favourite was 11a with 12d a close second.
Thanks to Shabbo and the mystery setter.
What a good way to start a Thursday morning. I loved 9a, although I never watch the programme, and was misled for a while by trying to solve an anagram in 11a. Clever clueing.
The sun is shining, the sheep are grazing and all’s well, despite a chilly wind.
I’m assuming that you are the same Pip, just with a different email address
Both old and new will work from nowon
There’s only one Pip,
He isn’t at all hip
And people curse
When they read his verse.
“Haiku Day” has come
And gone. A verse from Pip is
Something different?
A Clerihew! How excellent 👏
A very entertaining puzzle – thanks to our setter and Shabbo.
Lots to like including 29a, 8d, 12d and 19d.
If you’re not already puzzled out the Silvanus Toughie is very doable.
Unusually fast for a Thursday and good to see an old leftie remembered in 6d, I’ll always remember that donkey jacket! Thank you compiler and Shabbo
Quite late on the site today so all the plaudits have already been showered upon this very pleasant and fairly straightforward puzzle. 1a went in straight away and remained my favourite throughout the solve, ahead of 22a (with the wrong ending initially).
Thanks to our setter and Shabbo.
For this non RayT Thursday, I found this harder than normal. No weird words, but just a wavelength thing.
2.5*/3*
Favourites include 6a, 26a, 27a, 3d & 23d — with winner 26a
Smiles for 16a, 27a, 4d & 5d
Thanks to setter & Shabbo for hints/blog
Done very quickly. Very enjoyable today!
Welcome to the blog
Welcome, Lloyd! Please comment again. 👍
A fairly straightforward & enjoyable puzzle. Fortunately didn’t fall into the ing trap at 22a so had no issues with 21d. Wig in the sense of 29a was new to me & required a post solve check. Favourite was the lurker.
Thanks to the setter & to Shabbo
A very good Thursday offering. Great clues, average-ish difficulty for this day and an enjoyable solve. I have ticked a fair few clues and will pick (somewhat randomly) 12d out of those for special mention. 2.5*/3.5*.
Lovely crossword from……,who know?, So not a cliche fest in the comments. Very enjoyable with some well constructed clues and no preening of the setter’s cleverness. Unlike.Steve C hopscotch was not played by boys where I grew up but fun was had by nicking the stone and throwing it to each other so the girls couldn’t get it. Favourite was 6a. My thanks to Shabbo and who knows.
It was the girls I was playing with, Corky. 😉
After filling in my details and making a comment I was then told it was a duplicate comment but couldn’t find it on returning to the site. In short, good crossword, fine clues, cotd 6a, thank goodness it was a mystery setter so no cliche fest in the comments, thanks to Shabbo and who knows.
And on return there it was when I posted my reduced comment. . The IT world is bonkers. But no details again ; the air is blue obviously.
That was a gift for a Thursday! So much to like, particularly the lurker at 11a, that’s got to be a record. I had no idea why 7d was right, I had all the checkers and the letters, it had to be. I still don’t understand it but, natch, it’s a footballing clue. It’s hard to choose a fave, 5d was fun, but 26a brought back memories of hours spent on the quad during breaks.
Thank you whomsoever, that was fun, and Shabbo for unravelling some.
Despite finding the correct answer, I wasn’t familiar with the football term and so had no idea how to interpret the wordplay. In psychiatry (and, it seems, also in football), the answer denotes the conscious process of feigning illness (or, in football, injury) in order to gain some particular end (in football, the awarding of a penalty to a player on the opposing side). In football, booking is the act of the referee taking the name of a player who grossly infringes the rules while playing, two such acts resulting in the player’s dismissal from the field. A similar act in (ice) hockey is known as embellishment and draws a two minute penalty for the offending player. I must say I have never witnessed an act of embellishment in hockey that reaches anywhere near the dramatic heights achieved by soccer players.
Now you’ve just made me want to watch a football game. I did once watch a little bit of some game, what amazed me was the synchronization of the players, they almost looked like a corps de ballet!
This was DNF for me. I am feeling below par today and was completely out of sync with whomsoever the setter might be with the biggest hold-up being in the NE. In the circumstances I think I better refrain from specific comment. However a reserved thank you to the setter and thanks to Shabbo for filling in the blanks for me.
Feel better soon! Go to bed with a good book and rest.
Thanks Merusa. It’s my ticker which isn’t up to scratch.. Anyway whilst I am taking’it easy I am enjoying the tennis from Barcelona.
Me too! I think we can look forward to a lot of tennis from now on as summer approaches!
🙂
So I started this at 1am this morning as my days seem full of chores – gardening at the moment , so the puzzle gets pushed out. The answers flew in and I managed half quite swiftly before deciding it was time to turn in. I’m wondering if it’s my peak time ? 😀 An enjoyable puzzle – held up at the end as like others I’d put ing at the end of 22a so I spent ages on 21d. I also missed the lurker in11a , deriving it from an anagram albeit I was short of 2 letters when the penny dropped. Thanks to setter and Shabbo.
I enjoyed this puzzle although I did fall into every trap created by the setter and already mentioned by others. Thanks to Shabbo (especially for the education on football terms) and the setter (Twmbarlwm perhaps?).
Never Toombarloom, I can’t even get a foothold with his.
I have to agree with Jane and say this did not float my boat either. I had to ignore my self imposed limit of trying to use only hints with pictures today or I would have been truly up the creek without a paddle. I would never refer to celebrities as 8d, never heard of 16a as a word, confused by the change of tense in 22a, and filled in 7d with no idea how or why. Plus in my ignorance, I confess I have never heard of The Name of the Rose. It kept me busy though, but have to admit I miss RayT today. Thanks to setter and Shabbo.
Surely you’ve heard of A-listers?
1/4. This is obviously not a normal Thursday puzzle but great fun nonetheless. I don’t think I’ve ever solved a cryptic puzzle so quickly. Favourites from a long list were 8&19d. Thanks to the mystery setter and Shabbo. Our week of hosting a large film crew is nearly over and we’re looking forward to the resident party celebration tomorrow evening.
I really enjoyed this puzzle. Got 1a straight away but there was plenty of pondering (!) about many of the other clues. As I already had 21d I didn’t have a problem with the correct ending for 22a. It took a while for the penny to drop that 11a was a lurker not an anagram and this was my favourite clue. Many thanks to all.
Made good progress with this and then failed on 18a, wasn’t thinking along the right lines and then was left with 24d which I guessed without really understanding why… I suppose I see it but one of those that feels like a bit of a stretch
Thoroughly enjoyed this today. Like many I confused 22a.
Gerund, never heard of the word.
Every day is a school day here.
Funny thing grammar, maybe in your mother tongue you don’t think about it. I’ve been trying to learn German for a long time and their grammar puts ours to shame. Never mind the odd gerund, Germans separate verbs ,sometimes, and only they know when !
Thanks to everyone for the fun
I chose the correct ending for 22a not because of gerunds or participles but because it seemed to fit the clue better, they didn’t teach us stuff like that in my lowly class. We were lucky to be taught joined up handwriting. I was the architect of my own downfall with 4d as I wrote the wrong letter in for 11a despite it being a lurker, easy once I realised my mistake. Pretty straightforward apart from that. Favourite was 8d as one of their number featured in my quiz questions yesterday evening as did why Howton hill was renamed Robin a tiptoe hill, near Tilton on the Hill the highest point between there and the Ural mountains. She questioned how she was supposed to know that, well I did. Thanks to the setter and Shabbo.
Good evening
Late to report; as for yesterday, I never got round to checking in at all, but I finished yesterday’s crozzie and that’s the main thing. As for this evening, well – I have recently signed up for my local community radio station in Wallingford, so there was the small matter of a 2-hour radio show to attend to…
So to today’s crozzie: nicely clued, with a good mix of misdirection and wordplay. Difficult to single out a COTD today, but I’m going to plump (if plumping is allowed, as they used to say on Call My Bluff) for 11a.
Many thanks to our compiler and to Shabbo.
Thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle albeit late last night. The parsing of 7D eluded me ( not a footie fan) but completed nevertheless!
Our internet is down at home so I’m in the library refreshing this page to get the latest comments (I’ll read them back home offline, while waiting for Openreach to turn up and hopefully fix it), and to say I enjoyed this puzzle, with so many potential favourites until I finally clocked that massive lurker. Special mention to the short 24d and 25d in the bottom-right corner.
Thank you so much to the setter — more like this, please! And to Shabbo for explaining the nuances I’d missed.
3*/5* ….
Liked 6D “Labour leader Michael smiles occasionally in flirtatious activity (7)”