DT 30442

71 comments on “DT 30442”

1. Like our blogger, I thought this was a step up in difficulty, as befits a Friday. A couple of the clues needed some reversed engineering to fully parse, but I found the whole grid a very rewarding and enjoyable solve. 9a and 17d were my top two. The Quickie pun was excellent too.

   My thanks to our setter and Mr K.

   1. The Quickie pun reminded me of Private Eye’s amusing new version of the Riddle of the Sphinx:
      What has three legs in the morning, two legs at noon and only one leg in the evening?

2. A very enjoyable proXXXXimal to round out the non-work week although it took me several attempts to get the spelling of 3d right and for a while I had 5 Xs – 2.5*/4.5*

   It was a nice change to see the ‘former lover’ in the middle of 22a rather than at the beginning.

   Candidates for favourite – 18a, 22a, 20d, and 23d – and the winner is the aforementioned 22a.

   Thanks to proXimal and Mr K.

3. Quite tricky but another supremely enjoyable puzzle from my fellow Stephen.
   Guessing the setter and his particular trademark early on definitely helped with 3&17d.
   Lots to like but I’ll mention 5&18a plus 1,3,5&19d. Good stuff indeed.
   Many thanks to ProXimal and Mr K.

4. My rating is 3*/4.5* for a splendid back-pager to finish the week.

   After completing the NW corner and then finding an X in the NE, I was puzzled as to who the setter might be as the style ruled out Silvanus and Zandio, and proXimal, the third member of our Friday triumvirate, either produces a pangram missing an X or has 4Xs, one in each corner.

   However, the puzzle eventually revealed 2Xs in the SW corner, making a total of 4 in the completed grid – a slight change to this setter’s normal MO!

   This was great fun, although I’m not 100% convinced by the wordplay for 26a which requires two words “that is completely stripped”.

   With plenty of ticks all over my page, I was spoilt for choice when selecting my podium choices. I eventually settled on 22a, 17d & 19d with a special mention for the Quickie pun.

   Many thanks to proXimal and to Mr K.

   1. RD – have you spelt 3d correctly?

      1. :oops: No, Senf, I had transposed the X and the second C. Thanks for putting me wise.

         1. :smile: As I recall, when I was a lad in the last millennium, the ‘X’ and the second ‘C’ were often transposed in pronunciation.

            1. That was my memory and how I pronounced in my head, so made the same spelling mistake. It was only when I realised that we had a ProXimal puzzle that I checked.
               Was gutted when my parents only bought me the miniature version called Aurora, nowhere near as good

   2. Hi RD

      Do you think Proximal has used the word ‘completely’ to tell us to strip both words? If it wasn’t there, people may just strip the immediate preceding word – worm.

      I could be wrong but that’s my guess.

      1. TDS65, I am sure that was the setter’s intention for “completely”, my (only very slight) reservation is that the instruction “study worm that’s (that is) stripped” is ungrammatical as there are two words to be stripped.

         1. Proximal is saying ‘that has’ not ‘that is’, i.e We should study the worm that has completely stripped the historic house.

            So, I think it’s okay grammatically.

         2. Maybe the parsing is questionable as ‘that’ implies one word not two. I think that’s why he has put in the word ‘completely’ where he’s asking us to let him off.

5. Managed it just but I had the luxury of time. I think the quick pun is HS2 not sure what that is.

   1. It is HS2
      An ambitious plan to build a High-Speed rail link to the north of England that the powers that be (who all live in the south) have decided we can no longer afford, HS1 was the link to the Channel Tunnel I think

      1. HS1 is the fast service from the Kent coast to St Pancras International. Once you’ve used it, you’ll never travel to another London station as the other trains seem to take forever

6. A day off from work allowed me to tackle this with the real paper and a pen instead of electrons and a keypad
   I didn’t find it too difficult for a Friday, only the mount, racing car and that tricky “by” in 17d held me up
   22a was the pick of the bunch for me
   Thanks to Mr K and Setter
   I am away to Elgar’s birthday bash later and due to a surfeit of alcohol, I will probably struggle with tomorrow’s SPP more than I did today

7. A very enjoyable puzzle, perfectly pitched for a Friday – thanks to Mr X and Mr K.
   My rosettes were pinned on 18a, 27a, 1d and 17d.

8. As is usually rmthe case with me and Proximal guzzles, I found this an almighty slog. Only stubborn persistence enabled me to finish it with only one hint. I did, however, like the 15d and 14a anagrams, the 13d lurker and the 5d geographical lego clue. Thanks to Proximal for all the hard work and to Mr K for the cats and hints. Testing rather than enjoyable would be my verdict.

9. You obviously don’t live north of Birmingham or in the UK then.

10. Phew, a 4 then and not just me! Finally stopped with just 10a incomplete.
    Cheated with the missing letters app and there it was.
    Favourite was 19d, no idea why!
    Thanks to the devious compiler.

11. I found that really difficult but very enjoyably so. Such clever clueing throughout and far too many ticks for a podium today. I ,again, did not see the lurker at 9a so for a while had the wrong third letter for 3d which held me up temporarily. It was very helpful to know, almost from the beginning – my first in was 6d – that I was looking for an X in each corner. I especially liked 10a, 22a, 1d and 20d, but the list could go on. Thanks to ProXimal for the absolute pleasure and MrK, who confirmed some parsing for me.

12. Definitely one to start at the bottom and work up. Very very tricky but between Mrs B and I we managed to finish it but with a marked lack of understanding of many clues. As always thankful for the hints to explain.
    Whilst I admire the artistry of Proximals work, I seldom either finish or enjoy his puzzles.
    IMHO far too difficult for a back pager, this would not disgrace the Toughie.
    Not one to enjoy except for the satisfaction of completion.
    *****/**
    Thx for the hints

13. Good hard puzzle for the end of the week, had to check the mountain, but spect I wasn’t alone in that. Had it been me, I’d have had the clue as ‘paralysis’, with 6d clued for ‘felt’ but that’s just me wanting to give average Joe an easier ride.
    liked it immensely though, no particular standouts, but did like 1a. Thanks to our setter today.

    1. I had 6d as Felt too but refrained from bunging it in as I hadn’t got my fourth X in yet, my local woolworker (Mama Bee) told me that Felt is hardly loose as well

14. An enjoyable puzzle, although I thought 22a was a little poor; perhaps a different choice of word other than complication might have been better, as for me it was too close to the answer.

    1.5*/3.5*

    Thanks to proXimal and to MrK.

15. Like many I had to verify the mount on my long journey to the finish line. Confused myself by putting in the TE version of 8d instead of the correct one, which was finally sorted out by getting 4a (and reading the clue to 8d properly!). But very enjoyable so ***1/2 and ****.
    Thanks to Mr. K and the Setter

    1. Hi Gas

       Someone told me that the te version, meaning a separate thing or unconnected, has two unconnected Es which I thought was neat.

16. This was more of a did not start than a did not finish, first read through produced one answer, yes one solitary answer. Too much for my tiny brain ,and other things to do, so I gave up. Thanks to all

17. It would seem for this Friday puzzle we are back to the toughest puzzle of the week showing up here. Had a struggle getting this one going and still a few of unfinished clues to solve. Very much a head scratcher/hair puller for me. Currently a DNF, but maybe with hints in the morning it will fall into place. Thus far …

    3*/3* for me for today

    Favourites that I could figure out include 1a, 14a, 18a, 28a, 5d & 18d — with winner by a mile 3d
    Had one of those as a kid in England. So much fun.

    Thanks to setter for the sore head & Mr K for hints/blog

    1. Hints cleared up my missing answers
       10a I’ve never heard of at all.

    2. No problems last night portcoquitlambc, this one is a belter, still lots to do.

18. Thought I’d inadvertantly started the toughie. I found this hard and came close to not completing it. Or at least waiting until the hints were available.

19. Gosh that was a struggle but well worth it for the enjoyment gained along the way. With only one crosser solved I came near to bunging in a type of large house (could be historic!) for 26a. Surely 6d is a material component rather than a material itself? Thank you proXimal and MrK.

20. Not for me, I’m afraid. I didn’t get the Quickie pun either. I don’t see the answer in the hints.
    Ah well, tomorrow and all that! 😁
    Many thanks to the setter but your effort was lost on me. Thank you Mr. K. for explaining it to me and for the lovely pusskits.
    Sunny in The Marches at the moment so Hudson and I may get a dry walk this afternoon.

    1. This earned its’ ****. It seems most found 10a the most obscure, of all things it was my first in! Obviously a tiny brain squirrels away the most esoteric nuggets of knowledge. I only managed about a quarter before giving up.

21. When I click on the answer to the pun it only reveals the word pun not the actual answer. An enjoyable if challenging cryptic puzzle. Thanks to Mr K and the setter.

    1. I suspect that as he is a Foreign Correspondent, the local nature of British Railways that are unlikely to ever be built was somewhat hard to see

22. 10 across … who knew eh!

23. My first DNF in ages. A real slog and never in a million zillion years would I have figured out 17d – too clever by half. Had a voucher to use in a hostelry nearby that served us a truly disgusting meal a couple of months ago so used it at lunchtime today. How can you possibly stuff up a cheese ploughmans? Apparently quite easily. Anyway thanks to the setter for the slog and Mr K for explaining 17d and the moggie pics.

24. Super puzzle, a rewarding completion and proper, testing, Friday fare. So many great clues, but podium places go to 10a, 8d & 26a.

    4 / 4

    Many thanks to Prolixic and Mr K

25. I’m late today having driven over to Babraham to have lunch with DD2 – a very rare occurrence. Duxford IWM was very busy, little planes all over the sky — I guess it is the result of half term. When William was about 6 I took him there and we went on Concord, it is so narrow inside. It was a bit of a slog with both of us scrabbling away at the clues. 10a and 6d last ones, in we
    found it quite difficult. I was pleased I remembered my brother’s train set. Many thanks to the Setter and to Mr K. Nice Kitty pictures. I told you you would regret telling me how to insert a photograph. This is part of the decor at Queens’ , slightly OTT.

    

26. Good afternoon
    Just as well I’m on holliers this week; I needed the whole afternoon to complete today’s crozzie – but I made it! I would definitely rate this as Toughie standard.
    COTD has to be 3d. Thank you for the challenge, ProXimal, and thanks also to Mr K for the hints. I needed them to parse 21a, the last to fall, and 17d, because I couldn’t figure out how to obtain the X.

27. Completed this morning although there were moments when I feared I wouldn’t make it. Thank goodness I realised it was an X-man creation, helped enormously with 3&6d. Top of the tree for me were 22a & 1d.

    A long-standing ‘birding’ friend came over to join me for lunch and we made short work of a COOK frozen Fish Pie served with purple sprouting broccoli. I can thoroughly recommend their meals, particularly the fish ones – ideal for those of us who find it hard to stand for any length of time. Just as we were about to sit down, a couple arrived from the local vaccination centre to administer my Covid booster so I’m waiting with a certain amount of trepidation for the reaction to kick in. I didn’t fare very well after the last one so think it unlikely I’ll get away lightly this time. Don’t think I’d have bothered with it were it not for the fact that my little IOW family are coming over for a couple of weeks in early December and children (bless them) are always great carriers of anything that’s doing the rounds!

    Thanks to proXimal for the Friday challenge and to Mr K and the pusskins for the review.

    1. I don’t remember at the moment where you are located but George and I have been bemoaning the lack of little birds since a hoard of magpies, jackdaws and crows moved into the area. I used to stand at the window and watch the robins, tits and dunnocks swooping down as soon as I took the bird food out – the feeders have not been touched now for about six or eight weeks. Short of a shotgun fir the big bullies, what can I do?

       1. A Larsen trap is what you require to deal with the magpies, you can start it off with either food, eggs, an imitation magpie or better still a real magpie if you know someone else who has a Larsen trap, you’ll need to provide food, water and poultry grit if doing that. It captures them alive so a steely nerve and a stout pair of gloves are required to extricate them and a priest to make sure they don’t return. I dare say I’ll get some stick over this post but your choice is simple magpies or songbirds.

    2. Good luck with the jab reaction. I’m a big fan of COOK – a bit pricey but good tasty fare, a darn sight easier than making it yourself & I’ve always been led to believe comparatively healthy. I grateful we have a store in Harpenden

       1. We had one of the local paramedics come in to give Jim and I a Covid jab in one arm and flu in the other. This time, I had two sore swollen arms but no other symptoms Jim seemed no sleepier than he is most of the time and had no other symptoms. I hope you are ok too CS

28. Late to this as back on the first tee for the 1st time in 3 weeks seeing off the golfers once the early morning fog had cleared. Didn’t fancy doing it on the mobile so left it until back home. Very enjoyable though comfortably the toughest of the week with the solve just edging into 3 time. Knowing that there would be an X in each quartile certainly helped as doubt I’d have spelt 3d correctly otherwise. The parsing of a fair few clues (11&22a + 7&8d) arrived on a later bus than the answer & it took a while for the penny to drop that turn was part of the fodder & not an indicator at 25a. No full marks on the parsing front unfortunately as failed to twig the nass bit of 10a – the best I came up with an acronym for National Agricultural Statistics Service.
    22a my fav among many ticks.
    Thanks to proXimal & to Mr K for another excellent review.

29. Excellent puzzle with a very challenging SW corner that rather had to be ground out clue by clue, each of which was beautifully constructed. Many thanks.

30. Too hard for me. Gave up.
    Tomorrow is another day.

    Thanks all….especially for the cheering cat pics. I miss having cats.

    1. I’m down to just one. I loved when I had seven, there were cats on the windowsills, chairs, tables, everywhere you looked someone was stretched out fast asleep.

31. I am afraid that this was too hard for me and I only managed 3/4, however I did complete it using the excellent hints from Mr K. So I have learnt a lot and apart from the mountain which I did not know it was not that I did not know the words I just could not get my head round the very clever wordplay today.

    Many thanks to ProXimal for the challenge and to Mr K for the hints

32. Phew!
    Took an absolute age.
    But finished eventually unaided.
    Why do I keep misspelling ‘discreet’?
    A solid 4*.
    Resounding penny drop when 3d went in.
    Thanks to our Friday wizard and Mr K.

    1. Hi HG

       I don’t know if you saw my comment under post 15 but I was told this a while back and have never forgotten it:

       The ‘ete’ version, meaning a separate thing or unconnected, has two unconnected Es.

33. Gosh, that was hard, double my normal time and needed quite a few of the hints. Couldn’t spell 3d, never heard of 10a, clues with many possibilites. Oh well I guess it is Friday.
    Didn’t get the gist of what HS2 was about until did the Quickie, quite a clever one today…

34. **** says it all, way over my head. Can someone please tell the DT we have found the Toughie that they lost? Was looking forward to this after our usual Friday morning jaunt, but found it disappointingly difficult. Reading above comments, it seems most enjoyed the tussle, and hats off to anyone who managed this without hints or other help.

35. A challenging and enjoyable solve spoilt by 10a. I despise the use of America for the USA, even in crosswordland. It covers 2 continents and dozens of countries. Maybe most people studied the geography of Greece, but I certainly didn’t.

    Thanks to all.

36. That was tough.

    I started in Tyne & Wear which was unfortunate as 10a got the better of me. I am a fan of obscure knowledge. In fact, I embrace it but only if it’s parsable which, in this case, for me, it wasn’t.

    I agree with Jezzabel that ‘complication’ was a tad too close to the answer but who am I to get on these superstar setters’ cases! They can’t nail every clue, week in week out. I am forever in awe of their talent.

    An excellent finish to the week with my medallists being 5d, 14a & 8d.

    Many thanks to Mr K and the server Proxy.

    4*/4*

37. Let off the hook today as just reading the responses today’s puzzle definitely seemed a real challenge. We went to a rainy market day in Le Crotoy and retreated to our favourite cafe. Look forward to getting back on the puzzle challenge next week.

38. Yes very difficult. Failed to spot the the four X’s which would have made my LOI 17d easier. Didn’t like 10a. Favourite was as 11a as I had the ‘ar’ in the wrong place for too long. Thanks to ProXimal and Mr. K.

39. Difficult. Took ages. Just finished …..

40. When I saw **** I wondered whether it was worth bothering to look at the puzzle. Having solved 3
    with difficulty I gave up and thought of looking at the toughies to see if the backpager had got lost there. Thanks to all and especially for the wonderful pusskits.

41. Even with the hint I can’t get 9.
    Please could someone me one elucidate and unclog my brain.

    1. Welcome to the blog

       Where Mr K refers to the remainder of the clue, he is referring to the first two words which are the only bits of the clue he hasn’t mentioned in his hint!

42. I agree that this was a bit tougher than usual. It took me a bit longer than usual but I enjoyed it very much.
    I liked plenty of clues, especially 10a, 18a, 26a and 2d and 5d amongst others.
    Thanks to Proximal for an entertaining puzzle. Many thanks to Mr K for his elucidation which I have enjoyed reading but did not need. I absolutely love the kitty illustrations.

43. I kept coming back to it and finally finished this morning. The clocks going back probably helped. Ta to all.

44. I really enjoyed this tough workout except for 10a which I thought strayed much too far into toughie territory. Does par really equate to mean? I don’t think so.

45. 4*/3* …
    liked 5A “No cheers for film award? Ran off perplexed (7)”

46. Very pleased to finish this one in one bath. 3d stumped me for at least 5 minutes. Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, nothing seemed to fit!

    1. You’ve used your full name rather than one of the two aliases you’ve used before. All three will now work from now on

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