DT 30360

73 comments on “DT 30360”

1. Is it me or are Monday puzzles now trickier than Tuesdays? Quite a few took a good deal of brain twisting to get, with 24d the last to go in for me, fooled by the ‘wife’ bit for a time. Also tied up for a while trying to force ‘SARB’ into 21d until the coin finally hit the deck. All good fun though but managed to hold me up enough until the rain started and I consequently got soaked on the morning walk and found out that my hitherto waterproof coat no longer was!
   Favourites today were 1a and 17d. Ta to our setter, good honest puzzle.

   1. I was looking at SARB too!

   2. It’s not you 🤔.

2. Much better than a usual Monday puzzle. Certainly a 4 for pleasure.
   Thanks to setter.

3. It’s Monday :good: It’s Campbell :good: but, as as Tipcat said, a little trickier than usual – **/****

   Candidates for favourite – 23a, 26a, 21d, 24d, and 25d – and the winner is the ‘hold out until the end’ 24d.

   Thanks to Campbell and pommers.

4. I was grateful for the anagrams today as there were some quite tricky clues and the puzzle would have been difficult to get into without them. 26a was a bung in and it took ages to partially parse it. I liked 8d, 5a, 6d and 1a, with the reminder of the magnificent booming noise made by 6d rendering that my COTD. Rhanks to Pommers for the hints and to Campbell for guzzle which was a bit more challenging than usual .

5. I agree with Tipcat in that Monday puzzles are more challenging these days. It may have taken me longer than normal but it was enjoyable nevertheless. There were plenty of clues to like such as the reflectors at 1a, wood preservation at 20a and Usain bolting at 8d. I hadn’t heard of the blow at 17d. My COTD is the well crafted 24d. Very clever and it came with a huge penny.

   Thank you, Campbell for the fun workout and pommers for the hints, which I will now read.

   1. PS. Thank you for the Doors, pommers. :good:

6. A straightforward (Campbell?) Monday for me with some fun clues. I briefly had the same thought as Tipcat re 21d and ‘SARB’ while mention of the bird in 6d always makes me think of Basil Brush – ‘Boom boom!’ I am still to see one in the wild though – the bird that is. There are plenty of urban foxes in our neighbourhood including one whose nighttime beat runs through our back garden where he regularly trips the motion sensor on our outside light, resulting in man and beast staring each other out through the window. COTD 1a. Thanks to the setter and to pommers for the hints and explaining fully the parsing of 26a.

   1. PB, you are fortunate to merely have foxes using your back garden as a nighttime beat. They regularly set up home and rear their family under my garden room with several unpleasant results.

      1. I have been lucky enough to see and hear the bird in6d at Leighton Moss RSPB reserve in Lancashire on a few occasions. It’s well worth a visit Putney Boy and quite close to the Lake District, if you’re up that way.

         1. We had great views of a 6d at RSPB Minsmere in early April.

         2. We live just 4 miles from Leighton Moss….have heard 6d booming on many occasions but never seen one! The area around Arnside and Silverdale is beautiful and much quieter than the Lake District. Well worth a visit in its own right…..but don’t anyone, we like it that way!

            1. I have been to Minsmere but didn’t spot a 6d boomer. Will try and check out Leighton Moss next time we are up in Lancashire. Am from there originally so do go back from time to time.

   2. Living in rural North Yorkshire we hardly ever see foxes. The occasional road kill and badgers too when they first come out in the spring. We have a lot of hunts who would enjoy coming to help you city folks clear the vermin.

7. All within Monday’s usual time
   Except 23a and 17 and
   24d.
   These took an age, especially
   24d, a huge Duh moment.
   All good fun.
   Thanks Campbell and pommers.

8. I’m not so sure about more difficult than Tuesdays (agree with today’s ratings) but Campbell guzzles consistently have the edge for me in terms of enjoyment. Thoroughly enjoyed this one. Very nicely clued throughout with 17&24d the head scratches that extended the completion to ** time. 5,23&26a along with 8,9&21d particular likes.
   Thanks to P&C

9. It took me a while to get into this but I enjoyed it a lot. A few years ago I was a volunteer at the Cley Wildlife Trust bird reserve. Sadly I was completely by myself when I watched, from the Visitor Centre, a 6d wandering around on the edge of the reeds for about half an hour. It was a great privilege and I have never seen one since. Too bad there was no-one else there to enjoy it. Back to the puzzle: 10a last one in, COTD 24d. Thanks to all. Any chance the emails will start up again?

10. Not very Mondayish, whatever that is nowadays, and despite there being a few too many anagrams for my liking, a very enjoyable solve. I’d never heard of the Scottish explorer but Mr Mhids had and ‘haymaker ‘ as a blow was new to both of us. I was held up for a time with 26a, thinking it had something to do with caring for the children! Too many clever clues to choose from this morning, but I do like the word at 21d and favourite has to be 24d, which, like others, was my LOI. Thanks to Campbell for the absolute pleasure and Pommers for the lovely Airedale and Bittern pics.

11. Agree with others that Monday is trickier than it used to be, but after some head scratching I have got there, thank goodness it’s raining again so I did not need to be in the garden! 1a was my favourite and 24d was last in as it took ages to unravel it, very clever.

    Many thanks to Campbell and to Pommers for the hints.

12. Thoroughly enjoyed. Finished in one sitting for once! Liked 21d best. 24d was last one and a bung-in, needed the hints to parse.

13. Very straightforward but fun whilst it lasted. 25d gets my vote. Thanks to Campbell and pommers.

14. No problem in the North but bottom half took more unravelling. Initially bunged in breaking for first word in 26a but in any case don’t think either stands for taking issue. 16d has to be but where does hot foggy come into it? 17d new meaning for me. Suppose 24d is to fly off the handle? Thank you Mysteron and pommers (we could use a little of your warmth just now!).

    1. Me too – my first thought was “Collects the child” and I thought I was so clever, until I started to get the down clues and I realised the error of my ways.

    2. I wanted to put “clocking” as my first word for 26a, really held me up.

15. 2*/4*. Light and good fun as ever on a Monday.

    I’m not too sure about the surface reading for 9d, and surely 17d should read “farm worker” not “farmer …”

    I had lots of ticks with 24d my favourite.

    Many thanks to Campbell and to pommers.

    1. Yes, it must surely be a typo or oversight: “farmer worker” simply doesn’t make sense.

    2. Agree this confused me as well

    3. 17D “farmer” = “farm” wasted much of my time too…

16. There’s a super guzzle by Amoeba on the site over in Rookie Corner that’s well worth a gander.

17. Looks as though most of us did a bit of head-scratching over 24d – certainly the last to fall here and it gets a place on the podium along with 18&26a.]

    Thanks to Campbell and to pommers for the review.

    1. It was my last one too!

       1. And mine…

    2. And mine!

18. Really good puzzle, a lovely start to the week. Was held up in the S by having erroneously entered “clocking” in 26a, which made 17d a real chin-scratcher until I realised my error. While there were a fair few rather off surfaces and an overly generous dollop of anagrams this was still a most enjoyable challenge. Hon Mentions to 23a & 2d with COTD for me to 24d – great combined surface and answer.

    1.5 / 3.5

    Many thanks to Campbell and to Pommers.

    1. I had the same for 26a.

19. Very enjoyable puzzle. 11a was my last one in. I had the H from 1d, then couldn’t get a shortened version of “horrible” out of my head. I then realised that I couldn’t do anything with it. 21a and 23d were my favourites. Thank you Campbell and Pommers. It’s raining again here in Buckinghamshire. Looks like a baking day. Certainly not a gardening day.

20. Like Tipcat I spent a while trying to wrestle the usual supporter reversed into 21d and that pushed me into ** time. I agree with pommers and others this was high quality and a good****. I enjoyed the well hidden anagram in 9d and my COTD was 1a also my last one in after the penny dropped with 1d. Great stuff. Thanks to pommers and the setter who I am told is Campbell.

21. Typically Campbellesque and good fun for a Monday morning, a very pleasant start to the crosswording week. I particularly liked 24d, although there were many potential candidates for favourite.

    Many thanks to the triple punner and pommers.

22. Despite having done the DT crossword for some years, I am still rather baffled by the use of the abbreviation CON meaning study. DEN and the word used in 2D I can understand but not this one. Help!

    1. Jonathan, one of the (archaic) meanings of “con” is a verb meaning “to study”. It crops up quite a lot in crosswords.

       1. Thank you Rabbit Dave. I suppose my confusion factor was increased by the fact it is also used to mean felon or convict (logically).

    2. “Con” is cognate with “conning” as in a submarine’s conning tower.

       1. I believe that ‘conning’ in the nautical sense is to steer a vessel or direct the steering of a vessel, apparently a weakened form of the obsolete ‘cond’, ultimately from the Latin ‘conducere’, to lead, etc. The ‘conning tower’ is a tower from which a submarine can be commanded when it is on the surface. ‘Con’ in the sense used here is, as Rabbit Dave says, archaic, and ultimately derives from OE ‘cunnan’, which is related to the Dutch ‘kunnen’ and German ‘können’, and means ‘know’. But ‘con’ now means to know, learn, teach, or show.

23. A friendly and enjoyable start to the week – thanks to Campbell and pommers.
    My plaudits went to 1a, 26a and 1d.

24. A typical Campbell puzzle for the start of the non-work week at the easier end of his spectrum. However there were two words I did not know in 4d & 9d, but with the cross checkers worked them out. Other than those two, relatively plain sailing for me.

    2*/3.5* today.

    Favourites included 1a, 5a, 10a, 13d, 26a & 2d with winner 13a for me.

    Thanks to Campbell & pommers for hints/blog.

25. I was feeling mongy on a damp and not overly warm day but this cheered me up because despite going down the wrong paths with bras and clocking off times, I soon got on track and finished it fairly swiftly. I only needed your excellent hints for 24d. Favourite? Possibly 4 d as it is a nice word. Many thanks to Messrs Campbell & Pommers.

    1. Oh I do like mongy- I feel that most mornings I’m up at crack of sparrows for work at my supposed part-time retirement gig (now somehow 4 days a week)

26. A cheery guzzle as ever on a Monday. 22d was my last one in, because I am intellectually challenged. It is probably one of the easier clues in the entire guzzle, but I stared at it for an eternity*, with all checking letters in place, before realisation hit me like a 17d.
    *a minute

    The fate of foxes (Putney Boy and Angelov above) is a tricky guzzle in itself, especially in country areas. As a vegan, I ‘more or less’ believe they have a right to run their own lives. Yet, when one lives in the country and sees, and sadly hears, the terror they can bring to their territory it is equally possible to understand there is an alternative view.
    A few years ago, out for a walk, I came across a farmer who was in tears. His entire stock of (free range) chickens had been slaughtered by one fox. The fact that they kill for ‘fun’ in the countryside is an unattractive trait.
    Of course, urban foxes have no need to carry out such massacres, as the discarded fast food and easily ripped up bin bags lead to them waddling around like reynard Billy Bunters.

    Thanks to Campbell, and pommers sizzling in Vega Baja del Segura.

    

    1. Terence, foxes may have a right to run their own lives but unfortunately that is often to the detrimentment of ours. Apart from various other problems I have had to cope at considerable expense with an infestation of fleas in the garden room above their den which transferred to the house. I have watched four cubs grow up with their parents and romp around and burrow around the garden (sweet?!).

       1. Yes – I see your point completely. Hence my confused dilemma over how to ‘deal’ with foxes!

       2. Oh dear Angelov, not looking forward to the prospect of fleas. This week a young fox cub has been scouring our garden at dusk. It must live in the orchard behind our house. On the plus side, we’ve had a problem with a bees nest in the lawn again, and the fox demolished it last night.

    2. I’m with you Terence. The very thought of hunting foxes and them being torn to pieces horrifies me … on the other hand, they’re so mean and destructive just for the sake of killing makes me understand the desire to eliminate them.

27. For once I’ve completed the crossie on the same day. Very enjoyable, and finished with the aid of my BRB. Like Angelov above, I too thought 26a was something to do with childcare – although now years ago, the perpetual panic of collecting children on time has never left me. Thereafter, like others I moved onto clocking and eventually arrived at the right answer. I am not nearly cultured enough to easily get 9d. First in was 5a and because of my type of brain is my favourite clue. Many thanks to the setter, Campbell and Pommers for the clues that explained how wrong some of my parsing was.

28. Very enjoyable puzzle and like many others 24d was a delight. My favourite is though is 1a as it is very topical in Ryedale at the moment. NYCC are carrying put a lot of road works and before the traffic lights notice there is another one reading ‘CATS EYES REMOVED’ . I didn’t realise animal cruelty was part of the Local Authorities’ remit and Louise and I shudder every time we see it.

    Thanks to Campbell for another very satisfying crossword and to Pommers for agreeing with my parsing.
    ‘

    1. It was a Yorkshireman who invented the cats eyes when seeing one coming towards one night – if the cat had been going the other way he would have invented the pencil sharpener

       

       1. It’s such an old one but it always makes me laugh!

       2. Or the asterisk.

29. Seems I was wrong about the heatwave abating. Current temperature is 39°C – :phew:

    1. Ouch! That would render me totally incapable of anything. I hope it eases soon, pommers.

30. Fairly gentle stuff until I reached the speed bump in the SW corner.
    Good puzzle. Thanks to Campbell and Pommers.

31. Made the same error as Mustafa G at 26a & ground to a halt staring at 17d, which took me nearly as long to unravel as the rest of the puzzle to complete. Overall I enjoyed this one helped by the number of anagrams scattered across the grid.

    2*/4*

    Fav 24d LOI 17d.

    Thanks to Campbell and pommers.

32. Finished, but with a struggle. I appreciate that Mondays are no longer the lovely gentle start to the week, and as there is no Toughie on Mondays for some strange reason, I believe it may be aimed at pleasing a wide range of skills. I would be happy with that if Fridays were not such a washout lately. I fell into the Ouse trap in 13a and needed the hints to verify some of my answers. Thanks to Campbell and to Pommers. As you say, reported temperatures in the media seems to far exceed those seen by people actually resident in those areas (per lots of DT comments). Our local forecasts here in South Florida are widely touted as “certified most accurate” yet they consistently forecast a few degrees higher than we actually experience, and never admit this the following day. Definitely scaremongering Pommers, as our forecasters are now very fond of quoting “feels like” temperatures.

33. I enjoyed this. Very doable … until I got to the SW, I came to a complete halt, not helped by having the wrong first word in 26a. I had to go in for a hint of 17d, that set me off again, with help of word search. Last in was 24d. I liked lots, maybe 1a is fave, though 18a was also fun, and I like the word at 4d.
    Thank you Campbell and to pommers for his help across the line. Off to the pool for my exercises!

    1. Back inside, it’s hot out there. The only thing thriving in my “garden” is lantana, a plant that the farmers in Jamaica pay a king’s ransom to try to eradicate from the cow pastures!

34. Always enjoy the neat Monday clues, they must take ages to perfect (but 17d is a rare exception)! Thank you Campbell and Pommers – including the reassuring weather update )

35. I do agree with those who think that Monday crosswords are often more difficult than used to be or is it just wave-length.
    Having said all that I enjoyed today’s very much and didn’t find it very tricky.
    The two long anagram answers – 10 and 26a – both took me ages.
    I love the smell of 20a – it always remember me of my Dad – I suspect we can’t buy it any more – not sure . . .
    I liked 1 and 18a and 4 and 22d. I think my favourite was probably 14d.
    Thanks to Campbell for the crossword and to pommers for the hints.

36. I really enjoyed today’s puzzle though for some strange reason completed the bottom half, first?! My only hold up was with 17d but with 3 checking letters in place I got the right answer. We have actually had a dry and at times, a sunny day, after a weekend of almost non-stop rain. Not getting too excited as drop down message on my tablet advises me of a weather code 7 for tomorrow and to wear appropriate clothing!
    Many thanks to Campbell for the satisfying exercise and to Pommers whose hints I didnt need but nice to know that they are there! Wouldn’t mind a little warmer weather being sent to to the NW please.

37. Good evening
    A pleasurable solve, albeit not without its bumpy rides here and there; took me ages to get started. Last to drop in was 2d. 23a earns a Crikey!
    Thanks to Campbell and Pommers

38. Nice start to the week once again 😃 ***/**** Favourites 11a, 13a and 17d Thanks to Pommers, very interesting to hear about your temperatures 😳 and to the Compiler

39. For once I was on Campbell’s wavelength and completed in fairly short order for a change. Higher than average enjoyment for a Monday. Numerous candidates for favourite but I’ll go with 21d. Thanks to Campbell and Pommers.

40. Super puzzle. No réal holdups. Fun to do. Can’t now remember what was last in. Will now look at hints to check 17d. Not sure if the clue has a misprint. 1 11 25 and 26a and 2 8 21 24 and 25d favourites. Thanks Campbell and Pommers

41. 2*/4* ….
    liked 23A “Relish slander involving big name (7)”

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