DT 30352

100 comments on “DT 30352”

1. I know its Friday but this one was super tough, took absolutely ages to do which was not helped by me convincing myself that 17d was some kind of bear cub ending in ‘CAT’.
   Glad I got there in the finish as I was about to give up with only the rain outside stopping me doing so. Guessed it was a pangram (nearly) after 6d went in.
   Cream of the bunch for me were 7d and 12a. Ta to setter, Xtremely good fun.

   1. finished quite easily but couldn’t parse attacked and carrycot

      1. I would have preferred you use the numbers to indicate the clues you couldn’t parse (7d and 17d).

         I can’t be the only person who reads a few comments to gauge how difficult (or not) others found it.

         That you also replied to the first comment somewhat trashed any hopes I had of solving unaided…

         1. Totally agree. The protocol for comments in the Graun is no giving the answers away for exactly the reason you’ve stated. I think we’re a little more relaxed here & it wouldn’t have been so bad if it had been buried later on.

   2. An X lipogram to be precise.

2. A tightly crafted one this. I agree with Mr K’s rating and thought it a fitting end to the week. I did need the hints to fully understand the obvious answers to 7,14 and 17d so thanks for those. My favourite was 1a with the old favourite 17a my number 2. Thank you the setter – Proximal if it was he.

3. 4*/4.5*. This x-less pangram was a real Friday challenge, in which I found the NE corner the hardest nut to crack.

   It was also a challenge to pick a favourite from such a good selection but I’ll opt for 16d.

   Many thanks to proXImal and to Mr K.

   P.S. I was and still am bemused by the Quickie pun despite Mr K’s suggestions.

4. A good Friday-level puzzle – thanks to Mr X and Mr K.
   My podium selections are 1d, 16d and 17d.

   My stab at the Quickie pun is that it’s possibly meant to be a plea not to lag behind.

   1. I think your stab at the Quickie pun is probably the best, Gazza.

      1. Very weird quickie pun.

      2. Just looked it up its Korean Pop. I’m a dinosaur, so had no idea

         1. Gangnam Style!

            1. Still a great piece of music and a wonderfully silly & funny video, all these years later! It could have been made with Flash Mobs in mind.

         2. I can see the homophone and have heard of K-Pop, and I don’t want to put a downer on something people find entertaining, but I wonder if I’m missing something. I thought a pun involved a joke, and I can’t imagine what the joke is! A recursive pun requires knowledge of something else – is that what it is, and I don’t know what the other bit is?

   2. I had “kaypok ” i.e. the insulating material for out door jackets (but probably misspelt) but find Gazza’s Hey come on lads “cape hop” much more acceptable 😬

5. Took longer here than it should have! Brain fog?
   But once into the rythmn it fell into place.
   Just the right level of difficulty for a Friday morning.
   Favourite 14 d maybe.
   Thanks to the setter.

6. Wow! I found this very tough going but managed to finish unaided. 9a and 17d last ones in. I felt I had opened the Toughie puzzle by mistake. Anyway thanks to the setter and Mr K for showing me how I got there.

7. A swingeing challenge of a ouzzle, which I qwas amazed that I could complete considering it’s by ProXimal. However, although progress was slow, particularly in the South West, it fell into place. I liked tthe well-disguised anagrams best, particularly 28a😏, 2d and 15a (my COTD) and27a. Some of the clues, i found hard to parse so I shall now check the hints . Thanks to Proximal and to Mr K.

   1. Ouzzle ? Come on, CC you are playing with my brain. 🥰 I thought this one was eiendish.

      1. What can I say my poor old brain has a mind of it’s own🙄it kkeps tou all entrtained and my dad always used tto say, “it’s better to make people laugh than to make them cry.”

         1. I did give you little love hearts to show I am gently pulling your leg! I love your typos, they are always so apt.

      2. I think Chriscross is giving us a wonderful choice for puzzle descriptions, DG. All are very descriptive from Eiendish through Guzzle to Ouzzle. All we need now is Luzzle and Juzzle and we can take our pick! 🤣

8. 1a straight in, ‘ this is going to be easy’ and then the misdirection hit, phew !! Some great mind-melters, lol. Took longer than usual TBH. 9 , 21 and 5 were fun, 26 a chuckle and 11 my favourite. Definitely good fun.

9. Not far off a Toughie standard and certainly the most difficult back pager for a while.
   Quite a bit of head scratching,
   Though that Harry Potter was to do with the beast Iin 10a until the penny dropped!
   Last in was 14a ,the correct definition but failed to parse -thanks Mr K’
   Favourites were 1a.and 6d
   Going for a ****/****

10. A properly tough Friday morning puzzle that kept this solver occupied for longer than usual. I really appreciated the quality and style of the clues, which, despite some being very tricky, were never convoluted or obscure. For sheer ingenuity, I think 16d has to take top spot on the podium.

    My thanks to proXimal for what was a most absorbing challenge, and to Mr K for his excellent blog.

11. That was a real challenge and needed hints to parse 7d, 14d and 16d. Thank you Mr K for the detailed explanations – very useful.

    I had a different English natural philosopher for 15a which I think fits too.

    Favourites include 9a, 13a and 22d.

    Thanks to setter and Mr K.

    1. Many thanks to the setter for a challenging puzzle and to Mr K for the very helpful hints and wonderful pictures.

       I also had a different philosopher who fits the bill for 15a.

    2. Hooke?

       1. That’s him.

       2. Wasn’t Robert Hooke (famous for Hooke’s law in physics), assuming he is the right ‘Hooke’, a ‘natural philosopher’? Natural philosophy was basically a term for the study of science before it was broken up into specialisms – so included biology, chemistry, and physics? Today we would call Hooke a scientist rather than a philosopher, wouldn’t we? Just asking.

          1. Strangely, Mark I am currently readding one of Steve Robinson’s Jefferson Tayte Genealogical Mysteries. It is about the setting up of the Royal Society by a group of 17th Cenuryscholars including doctors, anatomists, botanists, mathematicians,architects etc, who all considered themselves natural philosophers. So do you classify them according to 21st century laabels or those of the Age of Enlightenment?

          2. I believe Hooke also invented the microscope and discovered bacteria. Mind you, my mind is a bit hazy in this regard. 😳

    3. For ages I had the C20th English philospher (GE) Moore – which while it parses perfectly did make 7d rather challenging.

    4. I also inserted the natural philosopher at first, changing it only when the puzzles site told me the submitted solution was wrong.

12. Excellent Friday fare from Mr X-less, with a great spread of clue types. Impossible to play favourites but 1&9a got me off to a wonderfully smiley start so I’ll award prizes to both of them.

    Many thanks to proXimal and also to Mr K and his plethora of pusskins which makes up for their recent absence. I’m sure those detailed explanations will be of great help to many solvers – I’d certainly vote for them being used in future reviews.

    1. Fully agree Jane – an excellent addition I thought

13. Tricky for a relative newcomer! Thanks for help on a couple I couldn’t crack
    Went for Robert Hooke in 15a, are natural philosophers allowed?

    1. Welcome to the blog, TJH.
       Now that you’ve introduced yourself I hope that you’ll become a regular commenter.

    2. Welcome, TJH. No reason why not … other than he wasn’t the one intended by the Setter! It’s certainly unusual to have three possible answers to the same clue, all parsing properly!

       1. Personally, I believe that as Hooke fits the checkers it must fail on parsing, whereas Moore passes the parsing but fails the checkers. Otherwise how is it possible to tell what the setter intended. I believe ‘natural philosopher’ is an old way of saying ‘scientist’ (is there any doubt that that is what Hooke, of Hooke’s Law, was), and I struggle to believe every scientist was a potential candidate as well as the philosophy philosophers, especially when there is a natural philosopher (scientist) who fits the checkers. So, in this puzzle at least, I take the view that natural philosophers (scientists) were not potential candidates. But that’s just *my* opinion, formed while trying to make sense of this clue.

          1. There is a Department of Natural Philosophy at Aberdeen University which covers a diverse array of sciences. I don’t know if it is unique as Aberdeen was my only University.

             1. My father-in-law studied at Aberdeen. We have a wonderful black and white photograph of the graduation dinner. He studied Ancient Greek and we have the medals he won for his academic prowess. His knowledge of Greek philosophers was tremendous. Bob Western was a thoughtful, kind and erudite man and we miss him.

    3. Welcome, TJH! The first philosopher that came to my mind was Compte but there was no way I could fit him into the clue.
       Please keep commenting. 👍

14. It wasn’t so much the completing of this guzzle ( or ouzzle today – I love it) but the parsing of half a dozen answers. Gratitude to Mr K for putting me out of my misery. I loved all of it and don’t really have a favourite but I did like the simplicity of 1d and the exact opposite of 20d. Thanks to ProXimal for the usual pleasure and Mr K for the return of the cat pics.

15. Best puzzle of the week for me. All fell into place quite quickly. Thank you ProXimal and Mr Kitty.

16. I thought this was doable, especially for a Friday. Since I, as a below average solver, found it accessible, I was expecting the experts to be disappointingly jotting down ‘nice while it lasted’, ‘write ins’, ‘half a cup of coffee’, etc. But seems I was wrong. Not a square on my back pager bingo card dabbed off.

    Having said that I had to use the thesaurus and a bit of Googling, and got the answers to 14d, 12a, 16d, and 7d without having the patience to parse them properly. Thanks for the hints Mr K, and for what it’s worth I think your experiment is a success. Likes? Having seen the explanation for 16d, that seems, to me anyway, a clever clue. Second place to 27a.

17. proXimal on fine form today. Some wonderful misdirection. Some clues definitely Toughie standard. Got the answers for 12a, 14d & 17d then spent a goodly while working out the parsing! Great fun. Thanks for the review Mr K.

18. Re hint to 22 across. The FA (Football Association) is not the governing body for football in the UK but merely that of England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own separate associations.

    1. You’ve used a different alias so this needed moderation. Both aliases will work from now on.

    2. In fairness, the clue does not suggest that the FA is the ‘governing body for the UK’ – merely that it is a ‘football body’.

    3. Sorry about that. Error now fixed.

19. I found today’s guzzle a tad on the tough side and I needed far too many of Mr. K’s excellent hints for it to be enjoyable. Still, it is Friday. I would never have forgiven myself, though, if I had not solved 14d! No ticks or COTD from me.

    Thank you, proXimal for the puzzle. Not my cup of tea, I’m afraid but would not life be dull if we were able to solve all puzzles with no trouble at all? I will just have to study yours in greater depth. Thank you, Mr. K. for the welcome hints and for the pusskits.

    I’m afraid the Quickie pun made no sense to me at all.

    1. I made a small wager with myself rhat you would jump on 14d, Steve

       1. 

20. Oh dear me, what a struggle. Many thanks to Mr K for hints – I like the detailed explanation which I definitely needed.

    And thanks to setter for beating me soundly!

21. It iOS a long time since a cryptic crossword has taken us until lunchtime to solve – and this certainly did! Well done to the setter and to Mr K for excellent hints.

22. That was tough but got there in the end. No idea who the philosopher is, another obscure reference that seems to happen a lot these days. Needed help in parsing the answers to 14d and 17d, very complex. Just a thought shouldn’t the plural of aquarium be aquaria as in Bellum and Bella to quote my old Latin master?
    ****/***
    Thx to all

    1. Brian, you are a constant source of amazement. I love you.

23. Phew – definitely on the tough side. 4*/4* for us. Only managed 4 across clues on 1st pass but then the downs came to the rescue.
    Last one in was 12a because himself doesn’t allow “bung ins” – knew the answer but just could not parse it – so thanks Mr K.
    Thanks to proXimal too for the work out.
    Hot again here in the Vega Baja. Our new aircon is being well and truly tested out!

24. Glad it wasn’t just me. Some fell quickly but a good few proved tough. Couldn’t stop trying to fit cub into17d and needed the hint.

25. An excellent puzzle! Great clues, a good challenge and much enjoyment. Fav: 16d. 4*/4.5*.

26. Properly chewy Friday backpager. Clever, tricky & challenging (but fair) clueing, albeit that with more than one possible answer to 15a and not having seen 7d straightaway, for me a few in the E/NE held out the longest. Enjoyed the mental workout and feel as though I’ve limbered up for the Elgar challenge later on today!

    1a my COTD

    3* / 4*

    Many thanks to ProXimal and to MrK

27. Well done to the setter spotters who said it was me. Thanks to Mr K for the review and to commenters for comments. Mr K was right about the pun; sorry about the philosophers, should have thought about that.

    1. Thank you for the puzzle, proXimal. It was beyond my capabilities, unfortunately but that’s not your fault. Thank you for popping in.

    2. Thanks for commenting, for a great puzzle to solve and to hint, and for confirming my stab at the pun.

28. Cor blimey! That stretched me. I was enormously proud of me self for getting the footbally one, I think I may be getting sporty😳I was with Tipcat in going down the bear cub route and went through every herd, flock, litter I could think of for 6d. I did get over halfway before logging in – I don’t know if I would ever have finished without you Mr K, it does help to look at the hints and underline the meaning you are aiming for. For which you are aiming. I think 16d has to take the rosette. Mr K you have excelled yourself not only in your hints but in the feline department , and thanks to the eiendish Setter as well. Pouring with rain here at last. Yeay.

29. Tough but fair for me today. I went through the top half fairly quickly (helped by 1a going straight in) and thought this wasn’t going to be too stiff a challenge but found the south much trickier, especially the southwest. I didn’t know the sailor’s command and was convinced it was a form of ‘ahoy’… I couldn’t see 17d at all and needed a hint, so my first DNF for a while. COTD has to be 20d, a great fit of wordplay and definition and reference to one of my favourite books/films. **/****

    Thanks to Pro_imal and MrK

30. I’m going to let this hare sit, way beyond me. I might come back later, meantime I have the tennis to watch.
    London must be hopping, “London Swings Like a Pendulum do” (a bit of poetic licence there). I remember Wimbledon Week there very well. A friend sent a pic of a huge TV in the street with chairs in front for anyone who wants to watch the action. My money’s on Alcaraz, he’s pretty good.

    1. P.S. Forgot to thank Mr. K for the delightful puss pics, best part of the guzzle for me. Thanks again!

31. Doable but very tough.
    Brilliant wordplay eg 12a and 20d.
    And great misdirections eg 1d.
    LOL at 1a, especially at first part.
    Shamefully last in 9a.
    So, in summary 4*/5*
    Many thanks proXimal and Mr K.

32. Like Merusa, I’m going to have to set this aside as I’m not making much of an inroad so far, but not unexpected for a Friday, and a proXimal to boot. Right now I am more concerned by the email I just got from the DT that they are raising my subscription from £180 to £329 this month…. Tough to swallow as, although paying the full subscription, I can only access about 40% of the comments recently. I keep getting a message that I need to subscribe, even though I am logged in. I emailed to question this and was passed from pillar to post, and back to pillar again, when the DT finally said this is a known error. So, in addition to less than what I pay for, they now want me to pay this horrendous increase. I guess I will have to make an international phone call 😩.

    1. Do you have enjoyprepaid? If not, google it and join up. You can choose what you want to pay per minute, I opted for 5c and I use it whenever I can’t use WhatsApp. I’ve had it for years, they automatically top up your pool money when it runs low. You can also use it anywhere with a PIN number.

    2. Ring up & threaten to cancel your subscription. I’ve subscribed (print & latterly full digital paper/puzzles with the gift of 3 bonus subscriptions for friends) since before their records began. Got exactly the same email. After a 5 min phone call they reduced my annual payment from £170 to £150. Let us know how you got on

       1. Indeed this is serious stuff! Hiking subscriptions by so much is tantamount to stealing. Do they think that because we have set up a direct debit they can change it at will?
          I would rather cancel my subscription and give up my quest for The Mythical!

33. Putting liegeman into 18 , didn’t help the cause especially since I knew biplane was the anagram. Grrr. This was tough today but since it was raining outside decided to persevere and finished once I’d correctly interpreted 18 .
    Obscure philosopher’s are not my bag although I’m sure for many Cruciverbalists they are.
    Thanks to Mr K .

    1. Obscure philosophers are not my bag either, Fran. I remember this particular one because, when we were antique dealers, we sold porcelain made by the Locke factory in Worcester. Every time I tried to look up Locke on the interweb, this particular philosopher always came up.

       Having said that, I have developed a fascination for Western philosophy and it’s origins so I now know a few more.

34. What a tough week! 17d took ages as did 12a – thanks proXimal and MrK

35. Thank you for the hints, Mr K. I like your innovation of the “detailed explanation”. I think this could also be used where the answer is an obscure word or usage. I am sometimes left scratching my head why the answers is a synonym for the precise definition.

    1. Welcome to the site, p2, and thanks for the feedback.

    2. P2, welcome to the blog. I’ve often wondered about that. Strictly speaking, the clue definition should be a “precise definition” of the answer but pretty often it’s a synonym that means nearly the same as the answer – so not really a precise defintion. I guess it boils down to setters’ licence and editors’ judgment.

    3. Welcome from me as well, p2. Please continue to comment. The more the merrier! 👍😎

36. I admit that this one is so far beyond me as to be ridiculous!
    Probably best left at this, I think.
    Well done to the setter, the “hinty person” and to anyone who did manage it.

    1. I had to let it go too, Kath. Better luck tomorrow.

    2. Kath, I struggled on an off throughout the afternoon and eventually succumbed to needing far too many hints.
       Many thanks to Mr K for his superb cat pictures and Proximal for the exercise!

       I couldn’t get Kapok out of my mind for the pun!

    3. You’re in good company Kath. I too set it aside, and just never had the time or will to have another go at it. Fingers crossed for tomorrow. And agree, the cat pictures were the best part 🐱.

37. Very satisfying chewy Friday. Thanks -X and MrK.

38. Chewy ! Not half. A technical DNF since my submitted solve was also incorrect initially & it wasn’t to do do with the philosopher (the other didn’t occur) – I bunged in repeat for 13a which doesn’t parse of course & was too lazy to trawl back through so pressed reveal mistakes & immediately saw/entered the correct answer. In addition I didn’t parse 12a (missed the get synonym),17d (lure synonym) & had to check (umpteenth time) the spelling for 18a. All in all a bit of a pig’s ear but it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of an excellent puzzle. Ticks aplenty- 16&22d my top two.
    Thanks to proXimal & to Mr K for a super review – great puss pics & 👍 for the detailed explanation innovation

39. I needed the hints to parse 12a and 16d, rather irritatingly I’d had the answers for ages, just couldn’t parse them for the life of me. I also had two answers for 15a but chose, correctly as it turns out, the one apparently more famous even though I’d heard of neither of them. Favourite was 23a, the one from Leicester lives in the next village to me. Thanks to ProXimal and Mr. K.

40. Nothing to do with guzzles but does anyone else suddenly gat an advert for Tinder while trying to post a comment?

    1. I’m still getting ads for Tinder!
       Help! I’m too old for such things!

    2. I just got one without even trying to post a comment – I was quite shocked – never happened before.
       Still struggling on with the puzzle and not getting very far. Thanks (I think) to ProXimal for making my brain hurt and to Mr K, whose hints I will no doubt need (and I’ll look forward to the kitty pics).

    3. Just catching up and I also got a pop up advert purporting to be Amazon Loyalty Programme telling me I could get an iPhone 14 by participating in a survey. It looks like the Big Dave site may be have been infected by some sort of malware.

       While I’m here so late I’ll comment to say this was, for me, rather a slog but I did get there eventually. Quickie pun had me well and truly foxed. Thanks to steer and our hinter Mr K.

       Also, I’d like to extend my very best wishes to Robert, he’s been in my thoughts.

       1. * setter.

       2. I had the Amazon Loyalty Programme pop-up too.

41. Re 9a, the plural of “aquarium” is “aquaria”.

    1. I agree with you Grammarian and, for once, Brian too re aquaria but I guess the alternative has become acceptable.

    2. Either is correct. Chambers, Collins and OED (which cites an instance of aquariums in 1869) all have aquariums as the primary plural.

42. I couldn’t begin to find the right wavelength so definitely DN begin to F particularly as Wimbledon called! I was relieved to find I was not alone in my incompatibility. Look forward to a better showing tomorrow hopefully. My thanks to proXimal for work involved in compiling and to MrK for unravelling this horror.

43. Very tough for me, I needed the hint for 14d as I could not get it and I could not parse a couple.
    1a was my favourite. Quite a workout but very satisfying.

    Many thanks to Mr K for the hints and pics and to Proximal for the challenge.

44. 4*/4* …
    liked 9A “Head of military brought in to sign for tanks (9)” (which I surprised myself by solving) & the cat pics.

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