DT 27879

94 comments on “DT 27879”

1. 
   Definitely a wrong envelope day! 5*/2*. This involved blood, sweat and tears, with the NW being the final corner to fall. Several excellent clues offset by with some tortuous wordy charades and a dreadful Spoonerism. Where is Ray T when you need him on a Thursday?

   Thanks to Mr Ron and to Falcon.

2. Re my ‘dreadful Spoonerism’, RD, as I commented to Spindrift last Thursday, ‘Am I in a minority in thinking the solver’s groan is an integral element in the Spoonerism?’ JP

   1. 
      Some Spoonerisms I really enjoy and others I dislike, although I would find it very hard to try to define logically why some appeal to me and others do not. I do agree with you that the groan is an integral part of a good Spoonerism, but I am sorry to say that today’s one just didn’t do it for me. Nevertheless I note that it was Falcon’s favourite clue today – Marmite comes to mind.

      P.S. The Quick Crossword pun is also like Marmite. I thought that today’s was outstanding and it certainly induced a groan and LOL moment for me today!

      1. As for 22d being Clue of the Day, it is a bit of an ugly fish, but it took so long to land it that it only seemed right to accord it some respect.

         1. But, did it take so long to solve because it’s a poor clue? If so, then the respect is misplaced.

      2. It probably didn’t do it for you, as it didn’t for me, because it’s not a proper spoonerism. I don’t understand how it could be Falcon’s clue of the day.

         1. Vince,

            Point well taken. I shall henceforth strip it of the title COD and dub it MFF (Most Formidable Foe).

            1. Mmm….!?

   2. I rarely do spooner clues. I just do not like them.

      1. With this one, as is often the case, I got the answer first, purely from the word meaning, then worked out why it was a spoonerism afterwards….did take me a few seconds to see it though!

   3. Hi PJ. Thanks for an awesome puzzle, thoroughly enjoyed it….even the spoonerism,

3. Sorry far too tough for me today. Shame as I was hoping for a good one as it’s not by my nemesis!
   For me ******/*
   Managed only 7 answers the rest are a mystery!
   Ah well there’s always tomorrow’s Giovanni to look forward to.
   Thx to Falcon for the hints.

4. I found this pretty tricky and my problem area was the NW corner where I resorted to solving aids for 3d – just couldn’t see it. Pretty silly spoonerism, but overall an enjoyable puzzle in my opinion 3.5*/3* (thanks to Falcon and setter).

5. Ref 21d. There are seventeen words in the clue and only three letters in the answer. Surely the wordiness clue ever.

6. I ‘knew’ it was a Petitjean – thank you to him and Falcon

   PS I am neither a fan of Marmite or Spoonerisms.

7. Very difficult , just stubbornness kept me at it.
   I agree with RD and Miffypops above. I am not sure I understand John Pidgeon , but as far as I can make out, we all hate spoonerisms. Does he want to live up to the title “torturer ? All those double unches didn’t help.
   I think 3d is a brilliant clue , I spent a long time looking for a suitable dog, and labrador almost fitted. I also liked 23a and 25d, 1d and many others.
   Thanks Falcon and John Pidgeon.

8. Had to wotk really hard at this one but finally got there. 29a and 27d took some time. I am more familiar wiyh the longer form of 29 and I particularly dislike the way initials are used in 27. Having said that, there were a number of good clues. I liked 14, thought 5d clever, and had a laugh at 7d. ****/***
   Thanks to Mr Pidgeon, aka Petitjean, and to Falcon for the very early blog.

9. ****+/***

   Difficult and then some. I know it’s on the back page but parts of that felt very Toughie.

   Many answers were just bunged in and I parsed them later…well most of them.

   3 and 15d made me smile.

   Many thanks to PJ(?) and to Falcon for blogging.

   I dislike Marmite.

10. Oooh..this was a little tough one but very enjoyable nonetheless. I agree that 3d is a gem as was 11a.

    Many thanks to setter and Falcon.

11. Circumstances meant that it was a solo solve today so a bit difficult to judge comparative difficulty but it certainly did seem to put up much more than an average fight. Lots of good stuff to enjoy. I did make a guess at who the setter might be and am pleased to see that I got it right.
    Thanks Petitjean and Falcon.

12. I always ‘rate’ the crossword before I read the blog so as not to be influenced by the comments. Today’s crossword provided a dilemma in that I thought it was difficult but didn’t take long, either I was obviously on the setters wavelength or simply ‘had a good day’, it would be interesting to know how our blog experts arrive at a difficulty rating, is it just a stop clock? i wrote down a ****/**** as I liked the hard but fair cluing .First time I have seen a one word spoonerism clue which incidentally was last in .Thanks to setter and Falcon- the sago looked appropriately disgusting!

    1. I’ve eaten a lot of tapioca in my day but never had sago. Comments from some parties would tend to indicate that they may be much the same thing, although sago always seems to sound less appetising.

       1. I don’t think they are the same thing – it’s all to do with the size of the lumps, I think!

          1. Yes…Sago – small lumps, Tapioca – big lumps. Both disgusting! Semolina’s OK.. As long as it is chocolate flavoured!

             1. Semolina and tapioca are equally delicious, if prepared correctly and served with a dollop of my mother’s raspberry jam. Semolina and rice puddings make up the dessert menu of my childhood – all equally enjoyable and good for you.

       2. Tapioca is made from the root of the Cassava plant. Sago comes from the pithy centres of a type of tropical palm. As I remember Sago looked more like frog spawn.

          1. Doesn’t cassava have a poison that needs removing?

             Tapioca and sago are things I can’t bring myself to eat…and I like oysters.

13. Difficult but done with a large amount of ‘electronic help’. Last in were 22d and 27d. Wouldn’t have got 22 without the hint. Thanks to the setter and Falcon.

14. Took me twice as long as usual – which was too much out of my day, even though I am retired! I enjoyed it, nevertheless, particularly when reading out some clues and their answers to my wife, who thinks I am a really twisted thinker at the best of times.

    Wouldn’t like it as tough as this every day, but a good test and I would award it ****/****.

15. Hmmm – I seem to be well and truly in the minority on two counts today. I absolutely loved this and have giggled my way through every single hour it took me and I like Spoonerisms.
    I had a pretty good idea that the setter was PJ – whether I would have had the guts to say so I don’t know – at least 4* for both difficulty and enjoyment.
    Tapioca and sago look remarkably similar – frogspawn.
    So many of these clues and answers have made me laugh that I can’t really pick a favourite but contenders include 26a and 6, 15 and 24d.
    With thanks to PJ and to Falcon.

    1. Sorry we are opposite sides today. Even after going through the hints I absolutely loathed this one. Far too tough and wordy for my taste. Apart from you know who, I find Petitjean my least favourite setter. Just don’t seem to get on his wavelength usually.

       1. Hi Brian,
          We often seem to be on opposite sides – that’s fine as this blog wouldn’t be what it is if we all always agreed – but can you honestly say that none of this one made you laugh? Please tell me that that’s not the case . . .

    2. I’m with you Kath – I LOVED wrestling with this.

       1. Oh good! and

16. Enjoyed this and completed most of it with the aid of some electronic friends so was pleased with myself. Liked 23a and10a. Lots of penny drop moments but some a little too difficult for me 1d, 27d with most difficult being 22d.

    A good learning puzzle with new words.

    4*/3.5*

17. I like sago and I like marmite. I don’t like Spoonerisms or this puzzle. ****/*

18. Way out of our league today I’m afraid, so no, I didn’t enjoy it very much at all. Don’t really find spoonerisms particularly funny either. Thank you to the Thursday setter, and to Falcon.

19. Horse for courses , this was my favourite of the week. Definitely solvable but taxing along the way. Thank you Petitjean and Falcon. p.s. the quickie pun was superb

    1. A partner in crime, at last – I was just beginning to feel like Billy-no-mates.

20. Yes – I’ll go for wrong envelope day! 4*/3* and a confession that I gave up on the Spoonerism – couldn’t get beyond ‘nodding’.
    In retrospect, I appreciate the cleverness of some of the clues but the struggle definitely detracted from the enjoyment.
    20a was my smile for the day.

    Thanks to PJ and to Falcon – even though the hint for 22d got me absolutely no further forward!

    1. Me too also spotted that nodding fit with the checkers but I didn’t even bother playing with it to see if it worked.

       1. Nodding was also my first thought and I spent considerable time and effort trying to make it work.

          1. I settled for nodding too.

21. What a stinker, many thanks to Falcon, but still didn’t manage to complete without some electronics help.
    Better luck tomorrow I hope.

22. A very very enjoyable puzzle with a lovely degree of difficulty. No pencils were used for the anagrams. Mainly because I failed to spot them (13ac, 2d and 15d). I only realised they were anagrams while reading Falcon’s fine review. Thank you Falcon for that. A hearty pat on the back for PJ too.. Ta to all

    1. Oh good – another partner in crime – not feeling so lonely after all.

23. A tough offering today. I certainly strayed into 4/3 territory, with plenty of head scratching. The good reverend floored me and was my last one in. Favourite clue was 11a. Thanks to the setter and well done Falcon for his inspiration.

24. The best for a long time. How can you not like Spoonerisms?

    1. Because they’re silly.

       1. . . . but that’s what makes them fun.

          1. They are the spawn of the devil. I would rather swim naked through a vat of tapioca (without the raspberry jam) than have to wrestle with them. This one made me want to go out and set fire to a well-known public building

25. Hurrah, just finished it but it has been a bit of a battle for a few clues. My excuse is that I could not use my electronic help being at the Hayling island Club – wifi iffy – babysitting our two grandchildren – the morning was a washout because of rain, high winds and thunder. The weather has brightened up and similarly my brain has engaged into solving my last three which were 16d, 9a, and 29a. 22d did not cause me any trouble but I needed the blog to understand the spoonerism! Several lovely clues but my vote for favourite will go to 6d! 1d was funny! 3*/3*. Many thanks to Falcon and to PJ.

26. I thought this much more difficult than yesterday’s Toughie, though I managed to rumble 22d without too much effort. 3.5*/2* for me. Thanks to Falcon and the setter.

27. *****/**. It gets five for difficulty as for the first time in a long time I couldn’t complete this without hints – for which much thanks to Falcon. I also didn’t like 22d. Nevertheless thanks to the setter for the brain fodder. Like Falcon, our weather remains glorious but we desperately need rain which is promised for tomorrow although we really need weeks of it to return the province to its normal beautiful state.

28. I found this harder going than today’s toughie but, nonetheless, enjoyable. I normally get on to PJ’s wavelength quite quickly – but I think he was transmitting on DAB and I was receiving on Longwave. The NW corner was my last part to complete and looking at it, I don’t know why. Therefore I will choose 3d as my favourite today.

    Thanks to PJ for the puzzle (and for dropping in) and Falcon for the review.

    I still don’t like Spoonerism’s ….. but I do like Marmite

    I do hope the Don’s still in his benign mood for tomorrow’s blog.

29. Thanks to Petitjean and to Falcon for the review and hints. A very enjoyable but very tricky puzzle. Needed the hints for 29a&27d. Wouldn’t have got either in a million years. Spoonerisms was very difficult. Had a bad start by putting in labradore for 3d. Managed to rectify it in the end. Favourite was 28a. At the GBBF at the moment, will leave the Toughie until tomorrow :-)

30. I completed well within 2* time but found on checking Falcon’s review that l had guessed (wrongly) at 22d. I never get on with Dr Spooner; it’s not that l hate the clues – l just struggle to get them right. Must do better. On balance, then 3*/3*. 27d was my favourite (l liked the misdirection towards the numerical sort of host). Thanks to setter and Falcon. Unfortunately, the weather in SW England is not as pleasant as yours just now!

31. Didn’t enjoy this puzzle much and finished with eight unsolved and four that I couldn’t fathom the logic for. Favourite clue was probably 23a.

    Four/ two for me.

32. I’ve had more fun at the dentist.
    And I don’t think opportune means happy or that molasses is bittersweet.
    Off to eat worms.

    1. I was at the dentist this morning before attempting the crossword, and yes it was more fun. ( I didn’t need any work done, thank goodness) and the dentist is very nice.

    2. I agree re molasses not being bittersweet after all it is a by-product of sugar-refining used for sweetening.

       1. There is a variety called Blackstrap used for producing Ethanol which is bitter (although I haven’t personally tried it).
          Got to 26 across today before I got started then not too bad. Afraid I chuckled at the Spoonerism. ?

          1. You’ve shortened your alias so your comment required moderation. Both aliases should work from now on.

       2. Molasses is the juice extracted from sugarcane and boiled until it is a thick, black syrup. It is then poured into centrifugals where the sugar is extracted, and you get brown sugar. The white sugar we have is refined from this brown sugar. The waste from the centrifugals is taken and made into rum. Whatever is left after the rum process is called dunder, and it smells horrible, but it is mostly used to put back on the canefields for fertiliser. On our estate, some of it was sent to a “pond”, called the dunder pond, a smell that was with us as long as the cropping went on. I can smell it to this day.

          1. Yes indeed. My first job after leaving college was working at “Life & Beauty”, Gaylord Hauser’s London operation, where we promoted his healthy diet régime and the benefits of his 5 Wonder Foods – yoghourt, wheat germ, brewer’s yeast, dried skimmed milk and molasses – those were the days – seems like yesterday!

33. Just looking at a couple of the clues I couldn’t solve and saw 29a. Surely the solution is neither friendly nor unfriendly and not the opposite of friendly?

    Apologies to anybody who may already have flagged this.

34. What a cracker! So many brilliant clues…but quite a difficult solve. I had to use my electronic helper for quite a few, but got there in the end and without needing the hints, so Im feeling quite chuffed with myself. Just some of the gems for me were:-
    3d, 26a,19a, 14a and 11a, but my absolute favourite was 28a…that made me smile! I got held up for ages by 26a, thinking we were talking about ‘pates’ until I suddenly realised the head was instead a ‘ness’. Last ones in were 11a and 4d which I really couldnt see until the last minute. Thanks to setter and to Falcon. 3*/4* a very enjoyable and challenging puzzle.

    1. Hi Liz

       Glad we think alike, it was very challenging but very enjoyable and educational !

       1. Hi Jaycat. i’m now at the stage where I rarely give up on a puzzle even if its really hard, but some are more deserving of solving than others and this one was, for me, by far the standout puzzle of the last few weeks.

          1. I agree with you.

35. Very tricky, but I once I started to get a few clues, they led to others.
    Lots of good clues, particularly liked 1d and 11a.
    I never did get the spoonerisms, and like M’pops couldn’t be bothered.
    I had no idea how “aero” meant chocolate, never heard of it, but I googled it and the lightbulb went on. 23a couldn’t be anything else, so I happily wrote it in.
    Thanks to Petitjean for the puzzle and Franco for the enlightenment.

36. I thought this was very good, even though I didn’t get 22d, like Jane I couldn’t get past nodding. Some very clever clues, requiring a bit of lateral thinking but quite solvable. I think my favourite was 3d.

37. This was really hard going, which certainly limited the enjoyment factor. At times I felt that I was wading through 9a.

    I never thought I’d see a seventeen word clue in a DT back-pager, but, lo and behold, today there it was (21d). No doubt if such a wordy clue had appeared in Rookie Corner it would attract a lot of criticism, but it seems that an established setter can get away with it!

    Hated the attempted Spoonerism, but I did like 14a, and that is my favourite of the day.

    Thank to the setter and to Falcon.

38. A very difficult puzzle, even for a Thursday ? Thanks to Falcon for the hints, I have to confess that I still did not get 22d even with the hint ? I liked 7d & 11a although I must confess to not liking either 9a or 21d ? ****/***

39. Haven’t quite finished yet. I’m not about to give up but did risk spoilers by scanning the comments.

    Thanks to Jane for tipping me off that nodding isn’t right for that clue, while not providing the answer and so allowing me to go and have another try. Now I have it. I quite like marmite, and I like some spoonerisms but not others. I liked the wordplay in the clue but it’s not a Spoonerism as I understand them – I’d have preferred there to be a different indication for the swapped letters. But maybe I’m just peeved because I’d given up and entered NAPPING with a shrug!

    I’m very much enjoying the challenge. After a few gentle days, it’s nice to have something to sink my teeth into. Thanks to PJ – knew it was you! – and to Falcon for the review which I look forward to reading.

40. Remember me I was the one who at the mere mention of ***would make for the cupboard under the stairs with a box of tissues but today I conquered my fear. OK I did need a fair amount of electronic help but I finished, I even got the Spoonerism once I had stopped trying to make it end in ‘ing’,There are far to many things to risk picking a favourite so I will just send a ginormous thank you to PJ and Falcon and I’m off to have a lie down with an ice-pack on my head.

41. There are days when I amaze myself with my stupidity. Today was one of them. So for 29a I blithely put Assault and didn’t even check the effect that had on the down clues. And to make things worse I omitted to swap the A for the D in 29a.
    Apart from that I thought it was a terrific puzzle. 4/4* overall and favourite clue was 14a. Thanks to PJ and Falcon.
    PS. I don’t mind Marmite but I’m not that good at Spoonerisms…….

    1. By PJ’s rule today, the spoonerisms of Marmite would be Marmite

42. This was a super exercise. Nearly put glacial for 29a. Had to dig deep to come up with 1d. Not sure about 10a. Fav was 3d. Huge thanks PJ and also Falcon to whom I very nearly had to resort. ****/****.

43. I thought this was a brilliant crossword. PJ is becoming one of the setters who I can not only recognise (sometimes/usually) but look forward to. Let’s have more of them.

    1. Yes, I also enjoy his puzzles. I find some things a bit obscure from my angle, like “aero” for chocolate, but it’s a Brit puzzle and they’re entitled to Britspeak from time to time so I have no real objections. All I ask is to be entertained, and that he does with knobs on.

       1. Hi Merusa,

          Aero bars are extremely common in Canada. According to Wikipedia, Aero was originally introduced in England in 1935. By 1936, the popularity of the chocolate had extended to New York City, and has since spread to many other countries including Canada, Australia, South Africa and Japan.

          1. Full disclosure! I don’t eat chocolate so I shouldn’t have rushed into declaring it Britspeak. I’ll be sure to look in the supermarket to see if we have them here.

    2. +1 best weekday back pager for me in quite a while .Thanks to both .

44. Well, I didn’t mind the Spooner as it was quite French.
    Found the rest a bit hard but very enjoyable.
    A bit puzzled by 26a. How can the altogether be nakedness? Sounds a bit philosophical to me and I can’t grasp the concept.
    The other one was lay for bet in 25d. Is lay just short for lay a bet? Maybe Gazza will come to the rescue and give me an example.
    Thanks to PJ and to Falcon.

    1. Jean-Luc,

       According to The Lover’s Tongue: A Merry Romp Through the Language or Love and Sex by Mark Morton “The phrase in the altogether was first recorded in 1894, and seems to have been originally used to describe models who posed nude for artists; the idiom likely evolved from the use of altogether to mean entirely, as in “She was altogether naked.””

       Lay means to stake (an amount of money) in a bet : “she suspected he was pulling her leg, but she wouldn’t have laid money on it.” (from Oxford Dictionaries Online)

       Hope this helps.

    2. Jean-Luc, check this out!

       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W747FdqeFpA

       1. Excellent. Thank you both for the enlightenment.

45. As always with PJ I found this a struggle from start to finish and it took me far longer than my scrambled brain wanted. Got there in the end without Falcon’s help, but thanks to him for the milk pudding pic – brought back so many memories of my mother’s cooking. She was half Scottish, half Austrian, and mixed good solid British fare with what were, back in the day, exotic Central European concoctions. Made me feel a bit sad, in truth. My Pullitzer Prize winner has to be 26a, because it immediately made me think of John Donne’s To His Mistress Going to Bed: “Full nakedness! All joys are due to thee”. What an absolute genius that man was. As is PJ, just not in a way that I find easy to fathom.

46. Totally agree with Rabbit Dave. Too many tortuous clues and obscure meanings of words.

47. Took me longer to complete as kept nipping back to look at Hugh Grant. Lovely distraction from the task in hand

    1. Welcome to the blog, Jeni.

       1. Thank you gazza

48. “High” as an anagram indicator has implications of both “drunk” and “spoiled”!

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