ST 2696 (Hints)

48 comments on “ST 2696 (Hints)”

1. Hi Dave and Happy Fathers Day to all the Fathers on this blog :-) , I found this quite easy today but the top half more difficult than the bottom, last one in being 10a, once again no real favourite clues, it’s a horrible day here today, I really hope we haven’t had all our summer!

   1. Not a bad day here – not what I’d call summer but not raining (yet) and the horrible wind seems to have gone.

2. Lovely puzzle,solved after lots of lateral thinking and lots of time.( I wonder if I’ll ever finish in the time suggested by the ST ). I” liked ” all the clues, most pleasure from the last few in, 5d and 6d. Thanks to Virgilius and BD.

   1. yes , if I had to pick favourites, I would agree with you Una

      1. As to the weather, Mary, we have to think positively.We are going to have another very long spell of glorious sunshine.

         1. We are….???? Oh yes of course we are, PMA

            1. PMA? Or am I being dim yet again?

               1. I wondered , too. Positive mental attitude ?

                  1. I just heard a weather forecast ,something about a 24 hour deluge!

                     1. We had one of those yesterday!

                  2. Yes

3. Ooh – never been the first to leave a comment – bet I won’t be by the time I’ve made more coffee and done typey typey for a while.
   I thought that this was Virgilius at his most devious but not necessarily his most difficult – ie there were no words that I didn’t know,only one vaguely ‘crickety’ clue and none of the dreaded hidden-in-the-middles.
   A lovely puzzle for a Sunday morning. I’ve really enjoyed it.
   I was very slow to begin with and then got going and ended up with a few that took a bit longer – mainly in top right corner.
   I liked 17 and 23a and 5, 6, 16 and 26d. My favourite was 19a.
   With thanks to Virgilius and BD.

   PS I always think it’s odd that a primate is a bishop or archbishop and the same word means monkeys!

   1. I knew it – pipped at the post!

      1. Sorry Kath, it’s such an awful day, I’ve been lingering ;-) ,by the way have I missed your birthday??

         1. I’ll forgive you for sneaking in first – one day I WILL be!
            Sorry the weather is beastly in Wales – it’s been pretty awful around here for what seems like ages. I’ve spent so much time loitering that I’ve been learning to do things like bold and italics – hope that you’re suitably impressed with this ‘technotwit’!
            Birthday was a couple of weeks ago – we had a lovely weekend with both daughters and elder one’s partner.

            1. Glad the ‘terchnotwit’ had a good time, very belated birthday wishes :-)
               I am impressed actually, I can’t do it!

               1. Yes – you can. For a start if I can anyone can and anyway all you have to do is follow what younger daughter, when very little, would have called the ‘destructions’!

                  You do then whatever you want in italics and for bold you just swap the ‘i’ for a ‘b’. It’s all up at the top somewhere, probably in the FAQ bit.

                  1. That was silly! Forgot that all the fiddly bits didn’t show up!! :roll: Have a look in the FAQ stuff.
                     It’s just lots of arrowy things and slashy things.
                     In case anyone hasn’t guessed it’s now raining in Oxford which is why I’m ‘playing’ here!

                     1. Thanks Kath, I’ll look, rain stopped here but still not very nice

4. Looks like it’s Ladies Day so far. All the dads must be having a lie-in. I will wish some of our sunshine your way. It promises to be glorious here.

   A straightforward puzzle. I was slow to start (well, it was 5 am) and then things went at a good pace. Liked several today, inbcluding 20A, 27A, 8D and 16D. Thanks to the setter and to BD.

5. I thought this was a fairly gentle puzzle,as always very well clued and fun to do.

   Thanks to BD for the hints, not needed today :-)

   Thanks to Virgilius for a good start to the day

6. Nice puzzle for Fathers Day. Not sure i can pronounce 12a :-)
   Also I thought 10a was a ****** **** but Mrs B assures me it is an Indian Drink.
   Thx to all.

   1. Oh dear i shall probably be sent to the Naughty Corner for this, is there any cake?

      1. I wouldn’t want to disappoint you!

      2. No cake today for the corner Brian, I am too busy baking for a cake sale in aid of Breakthrough Breast Cancer on Wednesday. A colleague is doing a 2 day 26 mile total walk along the Gower Peninsula.

         1. A beautiful walk, hope she enjoys it.

         2. The weather’s not too good there at the moment but the scenery is stunning

            1. Mary, I have spent so much time on the Gower, even foul weather would never spoil it for me. We have had no rain for ages and none forecast. Which is worse?

         3. As a 3-year survivor, I salute all those who walk and all those who support them.

7. We have been in the Scottish Borders & my lovely Northumberland for the past fortnight, & the weather has been really quite good, which is important with 2 dogs in a motor home. Enjoyed today’s puzzle. Thanks to setter & hinter.

   1. Just finished walking Hadrians Wall, what a beautiful part of the world, we were both enchanted.

      1. Always fancied doing that but never got round to it

         1. I went to school in Hexham & walked part of Hadrian’s wall as a school trip. In those days that was about as far as you got on a school trip.

   2. Hi Sheila we are thinking of taking our motorhome to loch Ewe in Scotland in September, we only have the one dog now but when she’s wet the motorhome seems much smaller!!

      1. Lucky you! Godson’s parents live in Achanalt and I just love that area; Loch Maree too. His sister, Jo Hamilton, wrote a song about Loch Maree, I think it’s on her CD “Gown”. Hope you have good weather!

8. 4d and 9a have defeated me – can someone help, please?

   1. 9a you are looking for the name of an American president anagram of Grenada without the ‘D’ for democrat

      1. 4d the definition is ‘war zone’ you need a 5 letter word for which assault is a type of followed by the one letter abbreviation for area

         1. Thank you Mary – I had the first half of 6d wrong, which was of course throwing me on 9a!! All is now clear and finished.

9. Another pleasant end to the week from Virgilius!

   Faves : 10a, 19a, 23a, 27a, 2d, 4d, 8d & 13d.

   A sunny start to the day here but now the sky has greyed over.

   THe trees in the woods across the road have lost being emerald green and darkened quite a bit.

10. What’s all this talk of bad weather – it’s Father’s Day and I STILL had to mow the lawn! Mind you, at 6 PM yesterday I was up a ladder clearing out the gutters when it started to rain on me, so maybe today isn’t so bad :-)

    What certainly isn’t so bad is this crossword! Only two-star hard, but about eleventy-seven stars for pleasure, and a new word to boot.

    Much praise to Virgilius, and thanks to BD too (BTW, I have a lovely picture in mind for 22D).

11. Thanks to Virgilius and to Big Dave for the hints. I very much enjoyed this, it brightened up a dull day in Central London. Started with 3d, finished with 10a. Favourites were 7,17&25a. A penny drop moment with 8d. Was 2*/4* for me. Still waiting for the Cricket to begin, but at least the Tennis should start soon.

12. A great puzzle, no problems. Loved 6d and 8d, though it took a long time for penny to drop for 8d. Thanks to all, now to watch Grumpy Murray.

13. Late blogging for me today, having been out since early this morning.

    This was a great puzzle **/**** for me. Like Mary I found the top half a bit more tricky than the bottom.

    I made things more difficult for myself by putting Lady Luck for 11a and Dusk for 26d, but soon spotted they were wrong.

    I tried the Cryptic Sue method today of putting a star by clues that I really liked as I went along and I marked 9a, 19a, 6d & 8d. In actual fact I liked many more, but those four were the stand out ones for me. I was delighted with 19a because the youthful overuse of that word is a particular bugbear of mine, and I assume Virgilius agrees with me!

    Many thanks to Virgilius and BD.

    1. I agree about 19a – thankfully neither of our daughters uses it, let alone overuses it. Just practicing the bold stuff again! :smile:

14. Daughter home for the weekend with new boyfriend, for Father’s Day. We approve – not a single 19a passed his lips (unlike daughter’s ex).

    1. How difficult it is to get it right with potential in-laws ! Is this temporary or long term ?Are my children introducing us so as to admire their catch or do they wish me to offer my opinion ? I find the whole thing a mine field.

       1. I bonded with my future father-in-law over the Sunday Telegraph cryptic! First introduction to the family was Sunday lunch. We were having the pre-lunch sherry (one and only one was allowed by future ma-in-law) when I noticed the unfinished puzzle. I daringly asked this rather intimidating figure if he was stuck. “Yes” he said. “Can I help?” says I, brazen hussy that I was. And we finished the puzzle together. We were firm friends and partners in crime thereafter. I never did let on that I’d already completed the puzzle at home.

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