DT 30263 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 30263 (Hints)

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30263 (Hints)

The Saturday Crossword Club (hosted by crypticsue)

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A very wet Saturday morning here in East Kent brings one of those Prize Puzzles where it is difficult to choose which clues to hint. There are fewer anagrams than ‘usual’ but quite a few double definitions and cryptic definitions in the mix.  I will be interested to see what people thought of the crossword and their suggestions for ‘Guess the Setter’

As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, an assortment of clues, including some of the more difficult ones, have been selected and hints provided for them.

Most of the terms used in these hints are explained in the Glossary and examples are available by clicking on the entry under “See also”. Where the hint describes a construct as “usual” this means that more help can be found in The Usual Suspects, which gives a number of the elements commonly used in the wordplay. Another useful page is Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, which features words with meanings that are not always immediately obvious.

A full review of this puzzle will be published after the closing date for submissions.

Some hints follow.

Across

1a    Slip by government calculator (5,4)
Synonyms for slip and government

8a    What rep may be after when amounts sold reduce (5,8)
Amounts sold followed by a verb meaning to reduce

11a    Singer Bill drops in (5)
A bill with a small B without the IN

16a    Feel sorry about welcome lacking energy (6)
The usual two-letter ‘about’ or ‘on the subject of’ and a verb meaning to welcome without one of the abbreviations for Energy

18a    Large instrument‘s mouthpiece (5)
A large musical instrument or a means of communicating information or opinions (mouthpiece)

19a    Musical party in top style (6)
A musical from the late 1960s and a party

28a    Youngster on first flight (9)
A name given to a baby bird (youngster) about to take its first flight

Down

2d    Unending elegy I composed in Belgian city (5)
An anagram (composed) of ELEGy I (unending telling you to omit the Y)

3d    Avoiding exposure? That’s respectable (6)
An informal word meaning sufficiently clothed to be seen by another person can also mean respectable

6d    One gives better advice (6,7)
Someone who makes a living by providing advice to people willing to risk their money on, for example,  a horse and its rider

7d    Paid informer (13)
A cryptic definition of someone paid to inform and educate

13d    What sitting member did at election? (5)
What a sitting member of parliament did if he wanted to be re-elected

22d    Scandinavian girl? Put her letters here! (6)
Split this Scandinavian girl 2,4 and you’ll see where, if she is a crossword solver, she’d put her letters

26d    Peer keeping nothing in farm building (5)
The letter representing nothing inserted into a farm building

Could new readers please read the Welcome post and the FAQ before posting comments or asking questions about the site.

As this is a Prize crossword, please don’t put any ANSWERS, whether WHOLE, PARTIAL or INCORRECT, or any ALTERNATIVE CLUES in your comment. If in doubt, leave it out!

Please read these instructions carefully – they are not subject to debate or discussion. Offending comments may be redacted or, in extreme cases, deleted. In all cases the administrator’s decision is final.

If you don’t understand, or don’t wish to comply with, the conventions for commenting on weekend prize puzzles then save yourself (and me) a lot of trouble and don’t leave a comment.


The Quick Crossword pun: GREAT + FULL + LEA = GRATEFULLY

75 comments on “DT 30263 (Hints)

  1. A slow start for me but eventually got into my stride. I took a while to get the four long ones and that held up my progress. Once I had them there were loads of checkers to play with. Plenty to like such as 4d but my COTD is 22d because I thought it clever.

    My thanks to the setter for the fun and CS for the hints.

    I will submit once again for The Mythical. :grin:

  2. I had to use a lot of guesswork to finish this puzzle, as I found some of the wordplay somewhat impenetrable and clearly wasn’t on the compiler’s wavelength. It may not have had many of the anagrams that I enjoy so much but it did have a few cracking lurkers. Although it was not my cup of tea , I did enjoy some of the clues, particularly 2d and 5d. Thanks to the compiler and to CS for the hints. I shall look forward to the full review for a few more explanations.

  3. This was light and good fun with 13d my favourite.

    Many thanks to the setter and to CS.

  4. A gentle Sat. Prize Crossword.
    Many a chuckle, eg 28a and 3 and 22d.
    Last in, the clever lurker.
    This just popped me into a full * time.
    Many thanks to the setter and to CS.

  5. A soupçon of double unches in the SPP can only mean one thing – 5 bob on Cephas.

    Light and very enjoyable, the grumps of yesterday should be happy unless they think it is not challenging enough for a SPP.

    Candidates for favourite – 11a, 19a, 5d, and 7d – and the winner is 19a.

    Thanks to Cephas, or whomsoever if my 5 bob goes down the drain, and to CS.

  6. A couple held me up but generally very straightforward.
    I do wonder how younger folk get on with these puzzles. I’m not betraying anything as you have provided a photograph of 1 across, but it’s a very long time since I used one! Shellac, EP, LP – many other items long since replaced with new tech ….
    Happy days!

  7. I’m not sure about 8 ac. Is the abbreviation not what the surface read points us at? I hope I’m not too close to the dreaded step when asking this, but I guess if you redact it, then you will also answer it.

    1. Och, I’m glad someone mentioned 8A. The parsing is fine but the definition seems a tad off. However you construe the word rep, I don’t think it quite works. But I do find myself getting increasingly finickety with age, so it may just be me!

        1. Yep, nothing like a dog walk to oxygenate the brain. Now I see it ,I can’t believe that I ever couldn’t see it.

  8. I really enjoyed this one as the setter allowed one to start before asking the harder questions. Nothing worse than staring at a blank grid in despair! The harder clues were very clever but my fav was definitely 7d which was a light bulb moment to solve.
    After yesterdays disaster this was a pleasurable exercise.
    Thx to all
    ***/*****

  9. A very pleasant Prize Puzzle that had just enough awkwardness to keep the enjoyment going throughout the solve. 13d was my top clue ahead of 22d.

    Thanks to our setter, possibly beginning with C, and of course CS.

  10. A cheery puzzle. I enjoyed the bunch of five letter clues in the centre. No requirement of knowledge of The Hanseatic League which is always welcome.

    We are off, this afternoon, to Stamford Bridge for a highfalutin late luncheon in hospitality before watching the mighty Chelsea take on our mid-table rivals Aston Villa. What could possibly go wrong?

    Thanks to the setter and PC Security (anag)

  11. Just a couple held me up for a bit but otherwise really enjoyable so thanks to all. Thanks also for the wild garlic ideas yesterday, I have such a bumper crop this year which is fantastic. Is anyone else finding they have to sign in every single time they comment? Rather annoying.

  12. Senf is rarely wrong as far as double unches go so I’ll place my five bob with his.
    Top three for me today were 8a plus 7&13d

    Thanks to Cephas(?) and to CS for the hints.

  13. For me a much better day today, so I was able to get my head in gear and finished this one. Two of the long clues were last in with 7d and 22d my joint favourites. I thought this one needed a bit more lateral thinking than some but was very enjoyable. I did have 2 options for 5a but only one fitted the checkers in the end.

    Many thanks to CS for the explanations, which helped confirm a couple of answers, and to the setter.

    Update for the animal lovers after yesterdays evening post, today she seems to have returned to normal activities – eat, sleep, look out the window repeat!

    1. I’m so pleased that she’s on the mend, Misty, I’m sure you know only too well that 16 is a good innings but you do hear of some cats living to a remarkable age. I do hope she proves to be one of that number.

      1. Indeed Jane we have already made it into borrowed time, she is probably on about 29 lives and a bit of a celebrity at our vets. 6 years ago she had such bad renal failure they thought she would die within hours. She didn’t and with 100 mls normal saline once a day in the nape of her neck, which we do at home (which she cooperates beautifully for as long as she gets her lick e lix at the end) she has defied everyone’s predictions. She leads a normal life and is more active than her brother normally. We thought we were only going to be doing this for a few weeks but 6 years later we are still going strong. Possibly explains why some call me mad cat lady.

        1. I had a Burmese cat, Angelina, who lived to be 21, so, here’s hoping! I’m glad she’s better.

          1. She sounds like a happy cat and a happy cat has the will to enjoy alltheir lives to rhe full. My Oliver (always asking for more food) was 17 and a half,when his kidneys finally took him. He was so special and memories of our morning conversations still make me smile. He’ll never be forgotten.

  14. I only struggled filling this in on my mobile. The crossword was huge fun. A straight run through. No luck in finding a DT today. Made the mistake after filling in a couple of clues of pressing the “submit” button instead of “save”, so I had to laugh at getting 28 wrong answers.😂 Still, it didn’t deter me. Thank you mystery setter and CS.

        1. Many thanks for that, SJB. Took me back to the day I finished working for ICL and was treated to lunch in the revolving restaurant. Goodness knows how that was put through on the expense account!

          1. I vaguely recall being taken to dine there en famille in the late 60s, when it was still the GPO Tower. I was only about 8 or 9 yrs old so not much remains apart from the fact that Mama Bee’s handbag was misplaced on the floor while we did a circuit or two. Fortunately, we reunited after a Knickerbocker Glory

            1. My memory of the PO Tower was there were two lifts holding about 20 each and there were queues. I got in one and from the back came a Hello. It was a girl from my village with whom I had gone to the Guides. Re 4d – it took me a while. Don’t think I can explain without breaking the rules but it’s very clever.

        1. In deed. I once sent out letters offering for sale “Anonymous Tapes” in which I would record whatever message the customer wanted (with suitable background music). Don’t like your boss? Just let anonymous tapes say exactly what you think of him. Once the tape had been listened to to would self destruct so it could not be traced. Privacy is ensured.

          I signed it “Olaf Poril”

          The thing is, today it can be done.

          1. A playful colleague once announced in theApril 1st School Bulletin that anyone wishing to go on the school mountain climbing trip to the Norfolk Broads should meet my good self outside the Staff Room at morningcbreak. I couldn’t believe it when a lad actually turned up. He was so disappointed

    1. Yes most amusing, but Sadiq Khan will now commission ‘Just stop oil’ to do a feasibility study.

      1. Almost fooled by the revolving restaurant being appropriate for rotating the sails into the wind.

    2. I wonder how many ‘Letters to the Editor’ have already been written complaining that the idea is preposterous or similar without looking at the calendar.

  15. Interesting grid. Favourites were 8a and 3d both of which required a moment of thought to see what was going on. Thanks to CS and today’s setter.

  16. Had 2 plausibles for 4d, [redacted -see the instructions in red at the bottom of the hints]

    1. Welcome to the blog

      Your first suggestion is the correct one – you’ll have to wait until Friday to read my full review in order to see why

  17. Lovely puzzle, right up my street difficulty wise. Apart from 28 across, which I got early on with the checkers, but spent ages on trying to parse and failing miserably. Disappointed to find it was an all in one worthy of a Quick Xword!
    Many thanks to Setter and to CS for putting me out of my misery!

  18. A sleepless night meant that this fine puzzle didn’t see the dawn, I am not sure I fully understand 4d but bunged it in anyway.
    It seems to be that Mama Bee is celebrating her new boiler by turning the house into some sort of tropical sweat box. I may have to invest in solar panels to offset our carbon footprint, Lois Raplof’s wind turbine would look out of place on our little terrace

  19. Found this about average difficulty for a Saturday, with a few smiles along the way.

    Fav 5d LOI 7d.

    Thanks to setter and CS.

    1. Great fun today. The four longest ones were my last ones in. (I’ll wager that others worked it the other way round? My mind was caddywonkers after a very amusing and self-answering NYT April Fool’s Day puzzle.) 22d tickled me, as did 13d, but because I was one for 43 years, I’ll opt for 7d as my favourite. Thanks to CS for the hints, which I happily didn’t need, and Cephas perhaps. **/****

      1. Oops. Sorry, dchemist. I meant this as a separate comment. Caddywonkers indeed.

  20. Made this a lot more difficult than it should have been with several bung ins on the left side that were wrong … arggh!!
    Anyway, when is was all settled rate this one 2.5*/3.5*

    Favourites include 17a, 26a, 28a, 7d & 15d with winner 17a

    Not sure of setter, but I’ll put 5/- on Cephas anyway
    Thanks to Cephas and CS

  21. Thoroughly enjoyed this, some very crafty clues which I loved. 1&11a and 4,5,13d. George managed to drip his Amazing Salad Dressing across the bottom so this week the pen is yours, Steve. I’m off to use one of mine as I start the new masterpiece Roneo & Shredder. It features the old battle between the Staplers and the Lever-Arches. Many thanks to the setter and the tireless Cryptic Sue.

        1. Used gallons back in the day but do you know that Mike Nesmiths’ mum invented the US version Liquid Paper?

          1. She perfected it in her kitchen and when it was ready she tried to sell it to companies such as IBM. They all refused to take it on so she marketed it herself and made a fortune.

  22. Nothing to hold us up here, the hardest thing was writing the answers in quickly enough. Favourite was 7d. Thanks to the setter and CS.

  23. I was off to a slow but steady start, and thanks to a couple of CrypticSue’s helpful hints I was quickly back on track. So much so, that I was startled to find that I had finished. COTD very definitely 22a. A very pleasant and enjoyable puzzle from today’s setter. A very welcome respite after yesterday.

  24. A nice gentle puzzle that went in with a minimum of head scratching.
    Thanks to Cephas & to CS
    Ps I’ve learnt from experience that you should treat all 6d(s) with extreme caution as they rarely recommend a 3d 4d

    1. Oh very smart! Does anyone remember the fellow you saw at the London railway stations shouting I’ve Got Horse? I think he called himself Lord something. A real character.

  25. Great puzzle. 5d was my COTD. Simple and clever. I was a letter short in 27a which I added in to complete it. Not sure if I missed something here.

    1. You’ve changed your alias from what you’ve used previously so this needed moderation. Both aliases will work from now on.

      1. It was the ‘n’ in the answer which I couldn’t find in the letters available from the anagram.

        1. No. It’s all there. Not sure why I wasn’t able to see it yesterday.

  26. I loved it all! It took longer than it should have as I had the wrong first word in 8a, it made the answer I wanted to use for 6d impossible. I refused to ask for help, so eventually took to writing all the 8a’s I could think of, bingo! It worked. It’s hard to choose a fave in this gem; I think 22d has to be winner, but 28a and 7d were hot on the heels.
    Thank you Cephas, you’re a star, I love your offerings, and to CS for the hints and tips.

  27. Pleased to have just completed this over a pint, fell for misdirection for a time in a few. Favourites 4d and 19a, last in 7d. Thanks to Cephas and CS

  28. Good evening
    Another long slog, although with a day of disruption on the iron road, I’ve had to fit attempts at the crozzie around looking after delayed and frazzled passengers!
    Nevertheless, all done, with a couple of chuckles along the way, especially for 22d!
    Thank you to our setter and to CS

  29. Favourites 1a and 4 and 5d. Least favourite 8a. Not convinced but perhaps I’ve missed something. Thanks to Cephas and CS.

  30. The head scratching needed to solve this puzzle was very enjoyable as it was within my capabilities. Fav 22d as it is clever and made me laugh. Thanks to Cephas and Crypticsue.

  31. The head scratching needed to solve this was very enjoyable as it was within my capabilities. Fav 22d, it is clever and made me laugh. Thanks to Cephas and Crypticsue.

  32. P.S. I didn’t mean my comment to appear twice, but would just add that I finished this unaided, which added to the pleasure.

  33. Thanks to Cephas for the usual Saturday excellence.
    Thanks to CS for the hints.

  34. Well 4d just stumps me still, even though finding the answer was relatively straightforward. It would be pleasant if anyone could offer a subtle path into the setter’s mind

    1. You’ve used a different alias to the one you used in your previous comment so moderation was needed. Both aliases will work in future.

Comments are closed.