DT 30412

98 comments on “DT 30412”

1. Spent nearly half an hour, completed five, gave up.

   1. Well done, I got three. Revealed the answers and still needed hints!

      1. After the first pass I had one! :scratch:

         1. I was brilliant, I had five!

         2. Me too! What a horror.

      2. Me too.

         1. Got there in the end, but struggled to get on the right wavelength. Too hard for a Friday.

            1. Welcome to the blog, Rich Dosho.

               1. Thanks!

   2. Failed miserably to engage with the setter’s mindset. I usually fly through the answers. Will try again after a lie down

      1. Welcome to the blog, PhilWill.

2. Brilliant!
   I’m not a fan of pitting puzzles against each other as most invariably have their merits but this has got to be right up there with best of the week. I always think this setter’s clues are full of such clever subtleties and nuance.
   My page is littered with ticks but I’ll mention 15&21a plus 3,11,13&23d with the super 22d taking top spot.
   Many thanks to Zandio and Mr K

3. 5*/2*. I found this very tough and I can’t say that I really enjoyed it as I never seemed to get onto the right wavelength.

   12a could equally well be front to back depending on which way the ferry is facing.

   Thanks to the setter and to Mr K.

   1. 12a … or even front to front (or should that be back to back!) in case of doubled ended ferries (see Gozo Channel and others). Poorly worded clue.

   2. The only thing I could think of was Dr. Dolittle’s push-me, pull-you.

4. With the exception of one clue (17a – why ‘on holiday’? Seems irrelevant, and not required to be a 17a) I thought this a superb puzzle, and a photo-finish with yesterday’s from Silvanus for POTW. Challenging but not too chewy, witty and ingenious clueing, some lovely tricks, everything scrupulously fair, with laugh out loud moments throughout. A perfect Friday backpager.

   Ticks absolutely everywhere on my printout, so will have to edit the list of Hon Mentions down to 24a, 3d, 7d, 11d, 13d and COTD the wonderful 19a.

   3* / 4.5*

   Quite brilliant, thank you setter (my thought too was Zandio) and MrK

5. Delightful. As per Mr K, twas the toughest Friday for a while – certainly tougher than yesterday’s toughie. But it’s Friday so that’s only right and proper. It took a moment to attune but once I did, the pace picked up no end – 7d and 21a were especially clever. Reminded me of Robyn in his Picaroon mode but I see SL has attributed it to Zandio so, of course, I bow to his judgement. Either way, it was splendid – fresh and sharp. Hearty thanks to the setter and, of course, Mr K.

6. I gave up. Not the setter’s fault but at least Mr. K. gave us lots of pusskits. Thank you to both.

   1. Yes, Steve, I enjoyed the pusskits much more then the puzzle, thanks to, Mr K. Hope Mrs. C is progressing well

      1. Thank you, Chriscross – she is feeling a lot better.

         1. I wondered whether Mrs C might be feeling a bit ‘down’ now that your daughter has left?

            1. Our daughter has been living abroad since she was 18, Jane so we have kind of got used to it. 😁

         2. Oh that’s good to hear.

7. A brilliant puzzle with well-disguised traps all over the place – many thanks to our setter and Mr K.
   Of the many clues to which I gave ticks I’ll mention 21a, 27a, 7d, 11d, 13d and 22d.

8. I found most of the clues baffling in this Friday crypto-Toughie and managed to fill in only 7 before throwing in the towel, as I wasn’t really enjoying the struggle. Thanks to Mr K for the hints which I will now read and to the compiler for his efforts. It ju,st wasn’t my cup of tea

9. This puzzle took me back to my rock climbing days when I had started something way out of my comfort zone and needed every bit of assistance available. Instead of a tight rope, knees and elbows, I needed every bit of electronic assistance available (except Danword) to complete today.

   Despite my finish being far from unaided, there was still a degree of satisfaction to see the filled in grid. Lots of ticks for both the humour and the cleverness of the clues – 6a, 19a, 7d &13d amongst many.

   Many thanks to the setter and Mr K for one or two explanations. I am not a cat fan but you find some of the most amusing and appropriate illustrations. 🙂

10. Being mindful of Stephen’s comment about pitting puzzles against each other I’ll just say that my page is littered with ‘hmms’ which says to me who compiled this one. I did find merit in 3,11&13d and the Quickie pun raised a smile but otherwise I thought our setter was trying too hard to be cryptic at the expense of solvers’ enjoyment.

    Thanks to Zandio for the puzzle and to Mr K for the review and felines – loved the one with no work!

    1. You said it so well – best part was the pusskits.

11. I managed it, finally. I agree with Mr K wholeheartedly.

12. Love all the cat clues today.

    1. Welcome to the blog, Nicola.
       How did you get on with the puzzle?

13. Like Tipcat, I managed 5, then gave up. Not for me today.

14. Hello, compiler here. Thanks very much for taking the trouble to solve, analyse and discuss. Have a great weekend.

    1. Thanks for the lovely puzzle and for dropping by!

    2. Thank you for the entertaining guzzle, even though at one stage I thought I would have to go and lie down in a dark room. I particularly liked 24a and 7d.

       1. Yes, it took two of us an hour and a half to finish this. A right struggle for every clue but we got there in the end. A lie down was just what was needed afterwards. Thanks to the setter and Mr K for the cats.

    3. Solve?????

15. My word, what a stinker! Very clever setting though.

    1. Welcome to the blog, Elly.

16. I found that really hard. I only got less than half the clues myself. Then I needed your help for the rest.

    1. You’ve lengthened your alias so this needed moderation. Both versions will work from now on.

17. Another nice puzzle for a Friday with little to throw one off course. Quite the nice end to the work week and unfortunately we have to say goodbye to summer today. Supposed to rain here in the Lower Mainland of BC for the next week. YUCK! Always makes the dog walk miserable and the towels to dry both of us off at the end of the walk, the damp clothes etc etc … ugh!

    1.5*/3.5* for me

    Favourites include 6a, 10a, 14a, 26a, 7d & 18d — with winner 11d but could have been any of them. 6d would be my runner up.

    Thanks to Zandio & Mr K for hints/blog

18. Bit of a struggle but once into it, it was straightforward. Definitely ****. Cotd 3d and 7d

19. Distinctly chewy as Mr K says. I’ll also have a slice of 13D.

    Many thanks K and Z.

20. I enjoyed this immensely and while found it hard, did complete at breakfast in time for a quick 9 holes of golf!
    I must confess I did cheat to find the battle, but still added it to my list of faves. In no particular order, along with 7d I liked 3d, 22d, and the two lurkers at 16d and 27a.
    V many thanks to Zandio and to Mr K.

21. For me this was too much of a challenge to be really enjoyable. I managed to struggle through after accessing a couple of the hints, which I don’t like to do. ( I know that’s what they’re there for – it’s that thing called pride again!) Both reverse lurkers were especially well disguised with smooth surfaces. Favourite today was 3d, very clever and misleading. I also liked 2d for the same reason and 24a. Thanks to our setter for the challenge and Mr K for helping me out and the kitty pics – you’ve excelled yourself today.

    1. If I am really stuck , that is when I turn to the hints and underline the key word – just as the Hinter does. This seems to focus my mind – I only do a reveal if I am absolutely stuck – you are quite right , it is a matter of pride !

22. For me the worst puzzle of the week. Overly complex wordplay some of which was beyond belief. Managed to complete it but this was a real drag for me. Glad the experts enjoyed two Toughies in one day.
    *****/*
    Thx for the hints.

23. I still don’t get 3d – can somebody please elaborate and elucidate?

    1. Welcome to the blog, Mike.
       The last letter of (Egyp)T can be seen as the ‘middle’ letter of EasTern.

       1. I thought it was because it had an ‘Eastern’ line going through the middle of it! Yours makes more sense

       2. Coincidentally Dada as Paul in the Graun today (part of the football pitch where energy is located) uses the same wordplay device at 21d & it still took a while to peg

24. A very clever puzzle and, in my book, the toughest back pager for a long while.
    Thank you Zandio and Mr K – I’m glad I wasn’t blogging that one!

25. Tough for a backpager but a lot of fun. It took me too long to see how 3d works (very clever), my favourite was 13d. Thanks to Zandio and Mr K

26. We got well over half on first pass but had to scratch our heads to finish off.
    I struggled to get on Zandio’s wavelength but pommers managed to tease the rest out.
    Some nice clues – loved 12a and 19a (which was actually our last one in)
    But had a fair few with an X against them as we didn’t like them at all. So 4* / 3*
    Thanks to Zandio for the work out and to MrK for blog – and all those lovely kitties

27. Way too hard for me too but I very much enjoyed Mr K’s cats. These made up for having to read almost all of his tips for the far too many clues I just didn’t get.

28. I agree with Steve (in St Albans ?) that Mr K excelled himself today. A plethora of pussy pulchritide.

    1. Lovely word pulchritude but many would think of it negatively if applied to them. As in ‘she is a perfect example of pulchritude’ everyone could not help staring as the pulchritudinous woman walked by.’

       My wife was the most pulchritudinous young woman when I was at college so I married her.

       1. I agree, it certainly doesn’t sound like what it means.

29. Sorry, I meant to continue the above. On a first pass I did the anagrams, then gradually built up the grid although 10a and 4&22d held out until last. I liked 6,24a and 7,16 d. For 12a I had Push me, Pull you firmly stuck in my mind. Many thanks to Messrs Zandio & Kay. It is once again ‘chucking it down, to use a vulgar phrase, yuk.
    Message for Merusa – I was fascinated to read late last night (doing guzzle in the bath having been out at a Ladies Lunch most of the day) that you use a different word each day of the week for Wordle! I think that is a hoot. I have a list of words but my most usual is adieu as it does reveal four vowels but I quite like raise as well. I seem to be quite lucky at it and have a score of 98, did it in 2 again yesterday – George knows what the Whoopee is at breakfast! There really is a great deal of luck involved.
    Off now to start tying many hundreds of poppies to the net ready for Armistice Day. A friend known for her fairly unused cooker has offered her dining room for the work to stay in situ whilst we do it.

    1. I use a different word each day but it always has two vowels in it. When we were on holiday in June/July I had to reset my Kindle to factory settings and lost all my data. Since then I have solved all the Wordles so it says I have a 100% record which is actually completely untrue but nevertheless it congratulates me each day!

    2. I use a different word each day- whatever comes into my head. I am reasonably successful. My daughter used the same word every day (earth). She is also successful. So far as today’s puzzle is concerned I may have only 10 or 12 right so am likely to resort to hints. Pleased I got 3d so can’t be completely stupid.

    3. I like “adieu” too and use it sometimes but I like a change! Apart from my Sunday seed word, I usually use one of my Waffle words, which I did today, had all blanks at first but completed in 3. Vowels are the most important. As they say in Guys & Dolls, it’s all a “crap shoot”.

       P.S., see my post above, I was fixated on Dr. Dolittle’s push-me, pull-you!

    4. I do the Telegraph Plusword on the app and use the answer as my Wordle start word.. – it is surprisingly successful! 😁👍

    5. Daisy, I use whatever word pops into my head for Wordle, and it seems to work. I’ve currently reached 89 days, so sure to come crashing down to earth soon. Eldest daughter thinks I am nuts, she and her husband bath start every day with the same word…

30. If I have the temerity to say that the cryptic was too easy to enjoy, I am directed to the toughie! But for me, today was a toughie. Even with a break to the garden centre for autumn pansies and a reluctant return to the wretched thing, five remained stubbornly beyond our John!
    Thank you for the hints and to the setter for this diabolic puzzle. Ugh!

    1. Thanks for the confirmation that this was a hair puller.

31. I wondered at first if others found this difficult and so glad that most did . Six in and then had to make scones for visitors. Later bash at it with the odd bung in brought me to the last two , namely 25a and 23d. Life cannot be given over to a crossword so with tip for 25 a I was able to get the last one in . There were some delightful clues that made the head scratching worthwhile. Thank you to all the hard workers who make up this puzzle and the hints .

32. Bunged in 3d with what was the right answer but even with the explanation still don’t understand it.

    1. Does Gazza’s reply to comment 23 help?

33. Worst effort for ten years on my part- I gave up after two clues!

34. Only managed two on the first pass and one of them was wrong so gave up. Thanks to Zandio for the time and effort he put into this even if it wasn’t my cup of tea,and to Mr kitty who is probably laying down with a cold compress on his head after sorting this out.

35. I managed about a third in bed this morning and then went off to do my grotty printing job. Decided I deserved to be taken out to lunch so had a delicious toasted brie and bacon sarnie at our local bistro. Then back to tackle the rest. I did manage to finish unaided but it was a tremendous slog and not entirely enjoyable – sorry. Thanks for the kitty pics.

36. Very, very difficult
    Throughout.
    Perhaps an excess of
    Cryptic clues and too
    Convoluted wordplay
    But doable.
    Just one to go.
    Thanks Zandio and the Mr K.

    1. How stupid of me.
       Last in 27a!
       A lurker!
       Memo to self:
       Always look for a
       Lurker.

37. Very difficult but I got there eventually with the parsing as difficult as the solving. I read 11d as a double definition. Favourite was 3d. Thanks to Zandio and Mr. K.

38. Terrific puzzle, really enjoyable, though undoubtedly tough! For a while I convinced myself for no very good reason that 3d was going to be M….. Earther, and was struggling to find a Tolkien connection, and it held me up quite a bit in the SW corner. It’s amazing the knots one can tie oneself up in! Many thanks.

39. That was hard! My grey cells need a lie down now. Very happy to have finished unaided. I do enjoy a puzzle that lasts a while. Thanks to Zandio and Mr K.

40. Quickly realised this wasn’t one for glancing at on the mobile between teeing off groups so left it until back home. A distinct step up in difficulty from Zandio’s normal Friday fare, very entertaining (photo finish with Silvanus for best of a strong week) & with some extremely clever clueing. Ticks aplenty – 10,21&27a plus 7,11&13d particular likes
    Thanks to Zandio & to Mr K for an excellent review & puss pics

41. Well that was tricky. I have finally finished but was helped by the first few comments which I peeped at earlier to see if I had lost all my brain cells overnight. I had managed about half then ground to a halt, and as I had ‘push me pull you’ stuck in my head I just could not get going again. A read of the first few comments reassured me that I still had some marbles and that I was on the wrong track with 12a. Once I got restarted I managed to finish but I could not see the parsing of some and I was saved by the check answer feature. Now it’s over I can see how clever the clues were, my favourite being 7d.

    I will now lie down, have a gin and read the hints and read the rest of the comments- not necessarily in that order.

    Many thanks to the setter and to mr K whose hints I definitely need .

    1. Another one for push-me, pull-you!

       1. Me too!

42. Hard work that one. Took a goodly while to get anywhere. Once a few checkers went in I started making headway but quite a number required reverse-engineering. Toughest Friday cryptic in a while but at least it kept me entertained whilst waiting for the rain to go off thankfully. Thanks Zandio for the challenge and Mr K and his cats for the excellent blogging.

43. The best thing about today’s puzzle, without a doubt, was Mr K’s pictures. Otherwise, way above my pay grade and a waste of paper and ink. Disappointing, as we had a full morning out, breakfast followed by shopping and a walk in the Mall in the AC, and I came home looking forward to settling down with today’s cryptic. I tell myself to just be happy we’ve had a good run until today, but can’t help agreeing with Brian that this is just a double Toughie day. No enjoyment here. Thanks for the pics Mr K, and my hats off to you for solving this. Never mind, Wordle was great as usual, and I’m off to Spelling Bee now,

44. What a challenge. Good job the weather was terrible I was forced to stay in and had a lot of time to spare. The car ferry clue was so vague and I hadn’t enough checkers to solve it .Sadly 3 and 4d eluded me until then.
    This wasn’t my cup of tea but there were many clever clues 11 and 23d
    Thanks for the hints.

45. Quite dreadful! Can’t recall a less enjoyable cruciverbal exercise. After an unproductive start I worked my way down the clues and looked up the solutions which only served to reveal that I was nowhere near this alien wavelength but I’m reassured to discover I’m far from alone in that. Too many hmms to be specific. Thank you Mysteron (Zandio I understand) and MrK for allocating four stars to this mind-bender. Anyway here’s to more fun tomorrow! 👎!

46. My wife and I finished this and enjoyed it immensely. Clever and witty. One of the best!

47. Oh dear me, no! Can’t say I enjoyed the process, needed all the help in the world (thanks Mr K) but struggled even with the hints.

48. Beyond me today. None on the first breakfast read through and thought I had clicked on the toughie by mistake. Post work managed to get 5, then gave up. Was relieved to see others felt the same. With the hints can see a few which I should have got but others that remained beyond me – how to learn and improve. Thanks Zandio, and Mr K

49. Finished it unaided but still don’t understand 3d. Obviously it describes Egypt but what’s the connection with T apart from being Egypt’s last letter?

    1. Perhaps Gazza’s reply to comment 23 might help?

       1. Thank you. Had already seen that but it didn’t help yesterday. This morning the penny dropped!

50. Whew a good sleep helped me solve three more clues but still four unsolved so I finally give up. All make sense thanks to Mr K with some very clever reverse lurkers from Zandio, what a great challenge

51. Solved 4 (with assistance) then didn’t bother to waste any more time. Courtesy obliges me to thank the setter and Mr. K and also obliges me to refrain from further comment.

52. Impossible and possibly a bit self indulgent.
    Thanks Mr K.

53. Phew! I was out yesterday so only tackled it today. Thought I was missing something until I read the comments.

54. 5*/4* ….
    liked 16D “In revolutionary havoc, serf lashed out (8)”
    had to laugh at the pic of a worried cat in the hint to 13D.

55. This was a 5* for sure. Took me forever, bits at a time. 23d 25a last in.
    10a 13d fav. Clues

    Thanks all.

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