Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30340
Hints and tips by Mr K
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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday.
In the hints below most indicators are italicized, and underlining identifies precise definitions and cryptic definitions. Clicking on the answer buttons will reveal the answers. In some hints hyperlinks provide additional explanation or background. Clicking on a picture will enlarge it or display a bonus illustration and a hover (computer) or long press (mobile) might explain more about the picture. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.
Across
1a Below-par album I stop playing (10)
SUBOPTIMAL: An anagram (playing) of ALBUM I STOP
6a Motored saw from which one gets cut (4)
SPED: Saw or noticed minus the Roman one (from which one gets cut)
9a Completely stripped, wee squat old fellow (5)
EQUAL: WEE SQUAT OLD after the outer letters of each word are removed (completely stripped)
10a Tech magnate's hiding place for supporters in garden, maybe (9)
GATEPOSTS: Bill the retired tech magnate containing (hiding) a synonym of place
12a Confirm group of women beamed around son (7)
WITNESS: Link together the abbreviation for a usual women’s group, the reversal (around) of beamed or transmitted, and the genealogical abbreviation for son
13a More aged wine the Parisian knocked back (5)
ELDER: A generic type of wine and a French word for “the” are joined and reversed (knocked back)
15a They clear off foliage covering rook (7)
LEAVERS: Some foliage containing (covering) the chess abbreviation for rook
16a Distinguish inverted section in Opel bonnet (7)
ENNOBLE: The answer is hidden reversed in (… inverted section in) OPEL BONNET
18a Carriage hit, but not when first encountered (7)
SLEEPER: This railway carriage is also a movie or song that becomes a hit long after it was first released
20a Positive working with European companion (4-3)
PLUS-ONE: Assemble positive or not negative, working or operating, and the single letter for European
21a Indian food starters in buffet here are just incredible (5)
BHAJI: The initial letters of (starters in) the remaining words in the clue
23a Heavy weight not a stone, on reflection (7)
MEGATON: The reversal (on reflection) of the fusion of NOT A from the clue and a precious stone
25a Caught horizontal with US president, once (9)
CLEVELAND: Join together the cricket abbreviation for caught, horizontal or not tilted, and a synonym of “with”
26a Chiller having one drink made of apples cored (5)
ICIER: The Roman one with a drink made from apples minus its central letter (cored). Chiller here has to be read as an adjective
27a Destroy something drawn in snow, we're told (4)
SLAY: A homophone (we’re told) of a vehichle drawn in snow by reindeer or horses, for example
28a Most horrible tale is best rewritten (10)
BEASTLIEST: An anagram (rewritten) of TALE IS BEST
Down
1d Feel note from teacher's unfinished (4)
SEEM: All but the last letter (… ‘s unfinished) of a (3,2) annotation that a teacher might write on homework, for example
2d Down whiskey in front of healthy swimmer (4,5)
BLUE WHALE: Fuse together down or sad, the letter represented in the NATO phonetic alphabet by whiskey, and an adjective meaning healthy
3d Award for publishing cryptic puzzle: Pierre shortly to receive it (8,5)
PULITZER PRIZE: An anagram (cryptic) of PUZZLE and PIERRE minus his last letter (shortly), containing (to receive) IT from the clue
4d In middle of gangway on ship gaining entry (7)
INGRESS: Cement together In from the clue, the middle letter of GANGWAY, on or concerning, and the usual abbreviation for a [steam]ship
5d Trite as farcical entertainer (7)
ARTISTE: An anagram (farcical) of TRITE AS
7d Put forward case to eat some on vacation (5)
POSED: A seed case containing (to eat) the outer letters (on vacation) of SOME
8d Muddled detectives on edge avoiding head journalist (10)
DISORDERED: Amalgamate some abbreviated detectives, a synonym of edge minus its first letter (avoiding head), and a usual abbreviated journalist
11d Using basic methods, quietly control and clean money abroad (3-10)
PRE-INDUSTRIAL: Concatenate the musical abbreviation for quietly or softly, control or check, clean of small particles, and a foreign currency
14d Recollections of party criticism's told by Spooner (10)
FLASHBACKS: Homophones of synonyms of party and of criticisms with their first syllables swapped (told by Spooner)
17d Grain obtained from ridge over river in French city (5,4)
BROWN RICE: The ridge or crest of a hill is followed by a French city with the map abbreviation for river inserted in it
19d Funny conjuror's ferret (7)
RUMMAGE: Fumy or odd with a conjuror or sorcerer
20d Portugal prior to now erected gloomy towers (7)
PAGODAS: Tie together the IVR code for Portugal, “prior to now”, the reversal (erected, in a down clue) of glommy or depressing
22d Regularly cut a green near field (5)
ARENA: Alternate letters (regularly cut) of A GREEN NEAR
24d One of us using piece to capture queen (4)
BRIT: A piece or fragment containing (to capture) the Latin abbreviation for queen
Thanks to today’s setter. Which clues did you like best?
The Quick Crossword pun: BAN + COUGHING + GLAND = BANK OF ENGLAND
unusually 1d and 27a held back completion ’til after breakfast and then turned out to be real forehead-slappers. fun :)
At first, I thought this guzzle was going to be impossible to finish but, slowly, it started to come together and things began found the speed up as checkers went in and I found the setter’s wave-length. There were rather alot of lego clues but, the elements of GK and misdirection added interest. I liked. 3d and it helped me get into the grid. 25a was also good fun and COTD was the beautifully misdirected 2d. Quite enjoyable, remarkably so for a Friday. Thanks to the compiler and to Mr K for the hints
Completed successfully but had question marks against a record eight clues to get clarification from the hinter.
COTD for me was 20a with 1d a close runner up now I have the hinter’s explanation.
Thank you to the setter for a testing puzzle and to Mr K for the assistance.
Bit of a tester with which to end the week, but what a cracking puzzle: superbly crafted clues with very few gimmes, some synonyms from a little further down the lists, no ‘specialist’ GK required and everything scrupulously fair. The LGCs have had their warm-up!
Hon Mentions to 9a, 28a, 1d (inspired!), 11d & 19d (great combined surface read of clue & answer), but for me COTD to 21a, for me pretty much a perfect clue given the instructions, surface read & answer.
3* / 4.5*
Many thanks to ProXimal (presumably) and to Mr K
It’s just taken me a few mins to twig the LGCs that the Belgian fella kept referring to – no wonder the guzzle took a while.
Very enjoyable tussle.
I had to check the second meaning of 18a (which shows how clever punctuation can mislead) and 1d took a bit of thinking about, I feel it would have benefited from a “perhaps” or a “maybe” after the word teacher.
As ever with this setter I liked plenty but I’ll narrow my mentions down to 20&25a plus 3&17d (lol).
Many thanks to ProXimal and Mr K.
A pro_imal and an excellent cranial workout to boot – what a splendid finish to this stellar week of back pagers! ***/*****
Standout favourite by a country mile – 11d.
Thanks to proXimal and Mr K.
I loved this Xless pangram. For me, it was not quite as testing as yesterdays, but I did struggle more with the parsing of some answers this time. It wàs a rather haphazard solve. Even though I knew 1a was an anagram it didn’t come immediately so only 9a went in on the first pass of the upper half. I did slightly better in the lower half, but it was the lovely charade at 11d that gave me a real foothold. Favourite today, of the many it could have been, was my LOI 20a. Podium places for 1a, 25a, 3d, 14d and 19d. Thanks to the compiler for the pleasurable workout and Mr K for showing me the correct parsing of 18a, 1d and 7d. Honourable mention for the quickie pun.
Very enjoyable as we have come to expect on a Friday – thanks to Mr X and Mr K.
The clues I liked best were 18a, 20a, 25a and 11d – kudos to the Quickie pun also.
Yes, I agree with you Gazza, the Quickie pun was a blinder today.
A longer than usual solve today for this tester of a puzzle. Loved the 3d anagram with the double z, needed Mr K’s hints to parse 1d, and there were several where I was sure I had the answer but had to think hard as to why (eg 12a, 14d). Faves today were 20a and 27a. Thanks setter, thanks Mr K.
It’s 3*/4.5* from me for a splendid finish to a splendid week of back-pagers. My top picks today from this x-less pangram were 20a, 21a, 25a, 11d & 17d.
Although the answer to 1d was reasonably obvious, it took me quite a time to twig the parsing.
Many thanks to proXimal and to Mr K.
Well it is Friday so I shouldn’t be surprised that I found this hard work and time consuming! Certainly a challenge. Held up by 6a and by 24d. Liked 23a and 20d.
Thanks to setter.
I knew it wasn’t my day when even the hints were hard to grasp.
You’ve shortened your alias so this needed moderation. Both versions will work from now on.
As is often the way with the Xman’s puzzles, I had to persuade myself of a couple of his definitions but 1d got me off to a smiling start and I enjoyed the solve.
Podium places assigned to 20&25a along with 1&3d.
Thanks to proXimal and to Mr K sans felines for the review.
I was defeated early on by 11d, and used the review. I now wish I’d waited until I’d got a few more checking letters, because there were quite a few. 21a has given me a craving for a good curry, but my husband has booked a nice French restaurant before heading to the theatre tonight. The curry will have to wait. Thank you setter and Mr K.
Engaging way to end the working (what’s that?!) week. West was friendlier territory than the other half. Failed to identify case in 7d but bunged in anyway and likewise 1d and 18a. 26a Fav once I had ceased thinking around refrigerator. Not sure all BD bloggers will go along with 24d! Thank you Xless and MrK.
I still have a passport underwritten by HM so I was OK with 24d. And, my other passport is also underwritten by HM.
An excellent Friday offering with great clues and good challenge providing a satisfying solve. I have ticked a fair few and two I really like were 20a and 3d. 3.5*/4.5*.
What an improvement over yesterdays offering. Well balanced with clever clues. However, I did feel that 1d was a poor clue, needed a leap of faith to solve. My fav was 26a but with MiD for 18a.
Not the easiest puzzle I agree but after the last couple of days of escaped Toughies somewhat of a relief at least for me.
Thx to all
***/***
Well, I absolutely did not like this Friday puzzle. I had 8-10 clues that made absolutely no sense to me at all. Even when I figured out the correct answer, the parsing made no sense at all to me. Found this puzzle no fun at all for me, and extremely frustrating. HOWEVER, I do not blame the setter for my issues … the fact I could not solve it is not the setters issue … it is mine for just not being on his or hers wavelength. As I solved this on Thursday night, I will check the hints etc tomorrow to see if that clears things up for me.
At this point though 4*/1* for me.
Favourites? hmm … I’m afraid today for the first time there are none that ‘float my boat’
For me today it is a dud.
Nonetheless thanks to the setter (I thought it maybe Chalicea at one point but my coins are staying in my pocket) and Mr K for hints/blog
I couldn’t agree more portcoquitlambc, it’s horses for courses isn’t it, not the fault of either the solver or rhe setter. However, in my case it was yesterday’s puzzle that was as easy to understand as Thucydides Ancient Greek whilst today’s was an improvement it’s our differences that make life and this blog- interesting.
Fine Friday Fare, loved it! Favourites today were 25a and 2d, thanks to our setter today.
Not the 28a of crosswords but it was most certainly a challenge.
You’ve got to love 1d. I biffed it and chuckled when I saw the explanation. Brilliant!
I love four letter answers as the parsing often asks something of you because there’s not much to work with. Yesterday’s 12a was one of those rare longies that I couldn’t parse (anagram of ‘perhaps’)
I love spoonerisms and giggle every time I see one as I imagine the grimacing/eye-rolling/cursing of many solvers who hate them with a passion.
A very enjoyable solve with thanks to Mr K and Mr P.
3*/4*
Certainly quite difficult today and worthy of a Friday puzzle,
Correct with the 20a definition but where does the companion come from? am I missing something obvious.
Like others, failed to parse 1d;
Favourite was the 11d charade, going for a ****/***
He/she is my plus-one/companion/partner for the night.
Thanks SL, will put in the memory banks.
I thought that 3d was a brilliant clue – who would think the PP would fit so neatly into three words, very neat. It was a struggle but we got there, helped by a perfectly ripe avocado and George’s magic dressing into which he had put TWO ( shouting) cloves of garlic. That should clear a space around me at Henley! Phew. With the z’s , k and j I was on the lookout for a pangram but it was obviously the noXman. Many thanks to all for another week of amusement and frustration but no kitty pics today 😢 Have a good weekend everyone.
Sorry, that was rude – thanks to Mr K for his hints (1d & 24d) despite the lack of felines, although we have had several visits from her-next-door, she’s very sweet but they don’t brush her enough and there are ginger hairs everywhere!
Quite a teaser this one, with plenty of tricky clues to keep this solver interested for a fair time. There were many contenders for favourite, but I thought that title should go to the Quickie Pun, which was a real cracker.
Thanks to proXimal and Mr K.
Thanks to Mr K for the review and to commenters for comments.
Thank you for the guzzle, proXimal and for popping in. You certainly got my brain going into overload but it was an enjoyable wrestle.
Friday is a day for experts, and given how strongly that is defended, I’m going with the flow. I’m not an expert, but I might have hoped to make small dent in this on my own. I couldn’t put a clue in for approaching 5 minutes today though, so gave up. A little strange as I managed two clues in the actual toughie yesterday (not even bothering to look at it today)! Perhaps that was just luck. I’m not going to say this is a toughie as yesterday’s setter implied that the blog’s commenters aren’t qualified to reach an opinion on that. He/she said yesterday’s wasn’t a toughie because it could have been made much harder. I imagine it could have been, as I managed half of yesterday’s unaided. Today, however, purely from my perspective, that is academic as I can enter as many clues today as I could in the hardest Toughie – none. All is not lost though, there’s the Saturday cryptic tomorrow and I did manage to finish the FT cryptic today.
Hi Mark – if you’re prepared to give today’s puzzle a bit more time, an approach that’s very useful for learning different compiler’s styles (let alone tackling cryptics anyway) is to use the hints here to fill in some of the answers that give the grid its main structure, thereby having some helpful letters that may act as a launchpad for you to solve more. In today’s grid, I would suggest 1a, 10a, 3d, 11d & 14d, and knowing that 28a is an anagram. It really is a very satisfying puzzle, as you will have noted from other comments today, and Proximal is a wonderfully precise setter from whom one can learn much.
Good luck, and “KOKO”!
Please don’t give up or get discouraged – it’s Friday and they’re always beasts, and that’s a polite way of putting it!
As you said, all is not lost – there’s the Saturday cryptic and they’re usually OK.
I admit to usually shutting my eyes and not looking at the Friday crossword and I’ve been doing crosswords for donkey’s years!
Just keep going . . .
Crikey MG – took me long enough to peg LGCs & now I’ve got KOKO to figure out (it’s a cracking gig venue in Camden Town next to Mornington Crescent tube incidentally – saw Prince there years ago) – keep on keeping on ?
Re the serious point. Pretty sure we offered Mark similar advice on Wednesday & your’s today spot on as a learning tool & a way to appreciate proXimal’s setting skills
Just as well I’m not too bad on the crossword front – text speak is completely beyond me. Maybe it’s because my mobile phone just sits in my handbag gathering dust, wouldn’t dream of actually using it unless an emergency drove me to it!
I was able to solve about half, which surprised me. 20a??? I thought that was a vibrator.
Thanks to proXimal and to Mr. K for solving for me.
Hi Merusa – hope you received my e-mails OK, I was worried that they might be languishing in your ‘junk mail’ box.
No. I’ll have a look.
I’ve re-sent the main one. Keep an eye on your ‘junk mail’ box in case it winds up in there!
I had to Google 20a to find out what you meant. I just hope that Rabbit Dave doesn’t go there. :D
Please don’t think it’s something I’m au fait with. They’re openly advertised here, don’t know about UK.
Very good Gazza
Comment of the week Merusa 😀
I blinked. A couple of times. At least.
😉
We are not all 24d, as I’m sure Merusa can confirm.
I liked 2d, 3d and 14d and 29a.
I did not like 18a.
Thanks to Stephen L and the setter.
Actually I am a 24d, my passport says so, get it from my Dad. I have triple citizenship, 24d, US and Jamaican!
Well done you !
I thought this was excellent. Difficult but doable and all fairly clued. I was looking for the ‘X’less pangram and it helped with 14d. LOI was 1d and when the penny dropped it made me laugh and becomes my cotd. Thanks to ProXimal ams Mr. K.
Really enjoyed this, nicely challenging that took quite a bit of deciphering. My brow furrowed over 26a, whereby my BRB only listed chiller as a noun – I would say chillier is the adjective but that clearly wouldn’t fit the wordplay! Otherwise lots of great clues, 3d was a great anagram, 11d a super lego but my COTD goes to 10a. There were lots of contenders today **/****
Thanks to pro_imal and Mr K 👏
Nope, not my cup of tea. Got just 9 on my own, and having had a quick peak at hints for 11d and 20d, I realise I am not even close to wavelength. If I sat and stared at this all day I would never equate 11d with using basic methods, and 20d with towers. The latter are temples, not towers. But that’s just me.
I agree
I needed the hints for a few but that’s fine because it is Friday. Despite that, I managed to get to grips with it and have ticks all over the paper. I love the phrase at 20a. It implies I will try and find someone who is willing to accompany me but haven’t found anyone yet. I also love to eat the food at 21a and they are not always onion. I have two chasing the top spot – 23a and 26a. After due consideration, I have gone for 26a. I also thought the Quickie pun was great.
A bit dreary weather wise in The Marches but we went for a good lunch at a pub deep in the Shropshire countryside so that offset the gloom.
I usually avoid the Friday crossword like the plague but I did get a few today.
Having said that I got a few I admit there are rather more than I didn’t get!
Oh well – that’s it’s for now – tomorrow’s another day which is just as well . . .
Thanks to proXimal and to Mr K.
All going well crossways and then along comes 1d … thanks pro_imal and MrK
Is 8d a lego clue ?
Guess so as the wordplay requires linking 3 parts (aka a charade I believe) – it was my last in & for whatever reason the penny was most reluctant to drop for that pesky headless edge synonym
Well yesterday’s successful setter spotter, Senf, got his proXimal puzzle wish. Another top notch guzzle. Pretty tricky for the likes of me & more so in the east than west. Ticks all over the shop – 1,12,20&25a along with 2,3,11,14&17d the standouts for me. Suspect 10a would have made up my top 10 but wasn’t so keen on the garden maybe bit of the definition. Will save the review for some bedtime reading as yet to figure out the why for 1d.
Thanks to proXimal & in advance to Mr K
You’ll like 1d when you get it!
Quite a challenge today that I almost completed unaided. 1d was my undoing.
I went to many schools and was frequently in trouble, but I never had such a note nor anything remotely similar. How have I managed to be ignorant of this teacher’s note everyone else seems to know of? I thought 1d was a highly dubious clue until I read the comments.
Thanks to all.
I rarely venture into the den of the Friday cryptic as they are mostly above my pay-grade. However with the help of the hints, I got a few additional answers completed. It sure does boost the confidence.
Interested to see that the answer to 16a was in last week’s Friday puzzle as well, No.30334. I got it today but struggled last week.
All finished with the hints for the last few, all very clever and quite tricky. Just as I expect for a Friday. 3d was my favourite.
Many thanks to ProXimal and Mr K for the helpful and essential hints
Beaten by 1d.
Although the word was considered
But dismissed as I was unable
To parse it.
Rather a naughty clue, my form master
Would say Please see me.
Otherwise, a tough challenge
As always from proXimal.
Many thanks, also to Mr K.
4*/4* ….
liked 1D “Feel note from teacher’s unfinished (4)” … amongst others.