DT 30061

62 comments on “DT 30061”

1. Another Tuesday gem that proved to be a steady solve with plenty of smiles. I did like 19a both because of the surface and the fact my father was a radio engineer and was always using the word. I have never known 13a to mean fudge but I know better than to question it. After all, both setter and Mr. Lancaster know better than I. My COTD is 23a because I thought it was a smooth surface and raised a smile.

   Many thanks to the setter for a fun challenge. Thank you, Mr. K. for the hints and pusskits.

   A beautiful day here in The Marches with temperatures set to rise so just a bit of pottering in the garden will suffice.

   RIP, Olivia Newton-John – a great and lovely lady.

   https://ok.ru/video/3069550201373

2. Avery appeoachable crossword with an absorbing mixture of clue types, including anagrams, some general knowledge, a superb lurker, great charades and cryptic definition, with wily misdirection. COTD was 1a a peearl of a cryptic clue, whilst 18a was a lovely anagram, 2d a clever lurker, 14d a good charade and12a a football clue that I actually got. Many thanks to the compiler, it was just what a cryptic crossword should be. Thanks to Mr K for the review too.

   1. Everything I wanted to say Cc.

   2. Me too Chris, exactly right.

3. A game of two halves for me today, shot through the top half like a rocket and thought this was all going to be easy, but got slowed down considerably by the bottom half.
   Thought that the answer to 16d didn’t really fit the description in the clue but it seemed an obvious solve anyway so wasn’t too bothered. Last in was 23a even though I had 3 letters in it, it just didn’t click!

4. As above, a very good mix of clues.
   From the juicy 16d and the clever 23a and 1 and 17d.
   Especially 23a, made me smile.
   So, **/*****
   Many thanks to the setter and to Mr. K.

5. Agree with Chris that 1a was a peach of a clue & it set the tone for a lovely puzzle. All over a bit too quickly but very enjoyable while it lasted.
   Thanks to the setter (what pseudonym does Anthony Plumb use?) & Mr K – Oh Brother one of my favourites from the Coen brothers

   1. Apparently Mr Plumb does not use a pseudonym when setting for the DT, unless this information is not up to date, from https://bestforpuzzles.com/people/p.html

      Anthony Plumb, a primary school teacher working in Lincolnshire, sets crosswords for the Financial Times (as Flimsy) and for The Independent (as Nitsy). He also sets crosswords for the Church Times and thematic crosswords for the Independent magazine.

   2. Totally agree about Oh Brother my favourite of all the their greatly enjoyable if a little odd movies. Certainly for me the best George Clooney performance.

6. Typically Tuesdayish, especially with the ‘familiar’ grid – 2*/4.5*.

   Candidates for favourite – 13a, 19a, and 14d – and the winner is the non-homophone 19a.

   Thanks to Mr Plumb and Mr K.

7. Pleasant with nothing to frighten the horses with the possible exception of 1d which contains a horrible Americanism.
   I really enjoyed 1a and 13a, both clever and elegant clues.
   Agree with the rating
   **/***
   Thx for the hints esp for explaining 1d.

8. The liberal smattering of anagrams and lurkers made eased the way on this */***. As others have remarked 1a and 23a were excellent. Thanks to Mr K and the setter.

9. Took a little while to sort out how 12a’s obvious answer parsed – fooled by the punctuation, silly girl.
   Top two for me were 1&23a.

   Thanks to our setter and to Mr K and the felines – loved the illustration for 23a once I’d got it straight in my mind’s eye!

10. 1*/4*. I’m back in crossword action again today after a few relaxing days away. I found this extremely light and extremely good, which was just as well as my first attempt this morning was the now Quarterly “Monthly Prize Puzzle” for which I have so far managed precisely four answers. Fortunately this back-pager has restored my confidence. I have huge respect for the three solvers who so far have reported a full MPP grid.

    1a was my favourite.

    Many thanks to presumably Anthony Plumb and to Mr K.

11. Marvellous crossword – my favourite of recent weeks. Several clues raised a smile – particularly 1a.

    Thanks to the setter and The Celebrated Mr K.

    Beatles on Tuesday: Paul McCartney with the Loma Mar Quartet – Calico Skies

12. Typical Tuesday fare, light and fun.
    LOI was 23a and that became a favourite alongside 1a.
    Thanks to the setter and Mr K

    1. Snap! I still remember your endeavours for me in Estepona with gratitude.

13. Really excellent puzzle. Thanks to Mr K for the parsing of 12 a.

14. A good selection of clues today, a number of misdirections, but anagrams and lurkers kept it moving at a steady pace.
    Thanks to the setter and MrK for the review.

15. Because it’s International Cat Day

    

    1. :good:

    2. Love it!

16. An elegantly straightforward and most enjoyable puzzle this morning with a fine selection of clue types that kept me interested throughout. I loved 1a.

    Many thanks to AP and Mr K.

17. Sitting here in the Cornish sun having enjoyed this puzzle. 15a and 16d last two in. Favourites 1a 23a and 18d. All parsed apart from 12a. Thanks setter and Mr K.

18. An enjoyable solve from beginning to end. Top prize goes to 1a, followed by 23a. 10a was straight in. My husband and I had a discussion yesterday about a truck from our local farm that used to pick up the content of 10a after lunch at our primary school to feed to the pigs. Disgusting. Many thanks setter and Mr K

19. I was a bit stumped by 28a as the answer is surely the wrong way round. It doesn’t read well.
    Like others I thought 1a was brilliant and 5d, such a clever anagram, is my COTD

    1. You are right. I’m surprised that there haven’t been more comments about it. It is a five * rank in the US Navy. The equivalent in the UK is Admiral of the fleet. Took me a while to get it but worked out from the available letters. I am familiar with Admiral, Vice Admiral and Rear Admiral.

       1. Thank you for that. I hadn’t realised it was an American naval rank.

20. 2/3. Pleasant puzzle with some elegant clues. 1a was my favourite by a country mile. Thanks to the setter and Mr K.

21. Many thanks to the setter and to Mr K –
    Great fun

22. No major holdups to slow completion of this nicely testing enigma. NW slowest corner to acquiesce but that all sorted when giggleworthy 1a emerged. Fun Quickie pun. Thank you AP (if it be you) and MrK.

23. A top quality puzzle and very enjoyable.
    Ticks all over the place with 1a and 9a probably vying for the top spot.
    Thank you very elegant setter and Mr K.

24. Very late today, catching up on some sleep, buy I very much enjoyed this nice little gem last night. I think 23a is my favourite, but the whole grid is a masterpiece of its kind. Thanks to Mr K and our Tuesday setter. ** / ****

25. Just my cup of tea today so thanks to all. Have just seen a stoat or a weasel in the garden, twice. About 9″ long and all brown. Have googled the difference but they both appear to have white on them and this did not. Any ideas? Still haven’t caught the rat and am now worried might catch the stoat/weasel in the rat box – a dilemma.

    1. Maybe it’s a mink. Manders but I’m only guessing.

    2. . . . the difference between weasels and stoats – one is weasel-y identified, the other stoat-ly different – to get my coat but it’s too hot . . . .

       1. 🙂

       2. Love it, Kath! 👏👏

26. A puzzle that I found tricky in parts, but in the end not sure why as the answers were pretty straightforward.
    2.5*/3* today

    Favourites include 1a, 13a, 27a, 17d & 20d with winner 17d

    Thanks to setter and Mr K

27. A lovely puzzle. Thank you to the setter, and to Mr K for explaining the one I’d failed to parse. I agree with pretty much everything already written by others. I shall look out for this grid in the future: a T top-right (and of course an upside-down T bottom-left, but none on the sides) and two rows of “- + -” just above and below the centre line.

    I liked 15a, despite its being an anagram, and 1d, and my favourite was 18d.

    1. Are anagrams rarely your favourite clues, Smylingtons?

       1. G273.
          From yesterday. SJB kindly sent me a link to the Malaprop clue type in the archive. I don’t suppose it would ever catch on – no cryptic word-play and mostly indirect, I suppose:

          Jose
          February 20, 2018 at 2:16 pm
          I found this one very straightforward/mild, but quite enjoyable. That’s about as enthusiastic I can get, I’m afraid. 1.5* / 2.5*.

          PS. Mr K, your Survey 3 – hope you’re not trying to instigate a vendetta against the Spooner clue? And on that note, may I introduce a new clue type – the Malaprop clue: Volatile, but possibly foolproof to Sheridan’s Mrs (11). Think it’ll catch on? :-).

          1. I saw the post but can’t solve your clue.

             Tell all….

             1. Volatile is the definition. But Mrs M typically mistakes it for a similar-sounding 10-letter word meaning foolproof. Any help?

                I reckon the expert setters could come up with some cracking clues using this clue type. Far better that mine.

                1. *Maybe it’s been tried before? I wouldn’t be surprised …

                   1. I think it has legs even though I still can’t solve your clue.

                      Hanging my head here, in shame.

                      Put me out of my mystery….

                      1. Inflammable morphs into infallible.

                         1. We like

                         2. *Now, I suppose everyone will say it’s flawed. But it’s just a prototype…

                         3. I think therein lies the problem. Spoonerisms have rules where sounds are transposed whereas Mrs Malaprop could have used any word with the same “rhythm” inflammable, infallible, ineffable etc. We would need some sort of other indicator as to which word was intended.
                            I still get the heebie-jeebies when the Reverend Spooner hoves into view. Mrs Malaprop would be a nightmare for me.

                            1. Yes, you may well be right. But you do have a straight synonym for each word, you know a Malapropism is involved and the clue must make it relatively clear which word is the definition. So, you only need to find the 2 syonyms of words already provided which sound similar to each other and are easily confused. Sounds simple in theory! I reckon the expert setters could make such clues work – but maybe only in Toughie puzzles. I’m not holding my breath, though …

          2. That survey question about Spoonerisms was included at BD’s request. I believe it elicited a response from Giovanni. I’m neutral on that topic.

             1. Love a spoonerism
                Love a malapropism
                Love an anagram
                Love all wordplay

       2. Yeah, I’m just not that into anagrams. I can rarely solve them straight away, usually needing to wait till I have crossing letters from non-anagram clues.

          I don’t mind their existence (it’s good to have variety), though occasionally it can irk when somebody says something like “An easy crossword, with lots of anagrams to start you off”, as though anagrams are universally accepted to be easier than other clue types.

          1. Fairy nuff.

28. Nice, straightforward and enjoyable 😃 **/*** Favourites 1a and 17d. Thanks to Mr K and to the Compiler 👍

29. Enjoyable crossword just right for a Tuesday. Favourite was 23a. Thanks to the setter and Mr. K.

30. Like many others, absolutely loved 1a, the epitome of cryptic clues. But did also have a chuckle at 16d. Not the easiest of puzzles, but just needed a bit more thinking in places. Early appointment kept us from the crosswords until this afternoon, but worth waiting for. Thanks to Messrs. Plumb and K for a fun Tuesday.

31. could 7d be “life vest!?!

    1. Hello, Michael, and welcome to the site.

       While life vest would work with the definition of 7d and align with the crossing letters in the grid, there are a few reasons why it can’t be the correct answer:
       1. Most importantly, “vest” can’t be generated from the wordplay.
       2. The (4,4) enumeration doesn’t match the (8) specified for the answer.
       3. Life vest is an American term, and cryptic crossword convention usually requires that usage of foreign words as answers be indicated to the solver.

32. Well I enjoyed that – needed less help than usual but having a difficult time with the quick crossword for some reason. Thanks to Mr K and setter. Much cooler at this time of day – am bracing for a humid day in London doing granny duties!

33. 2/3*….
    liked 6D “Guarantee Republican dismissed result (5)”

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