Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30524
Hints and tips by 2Kiwis
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Kia ora from Aotearoa.
Another beautiful summer day here. It is the time for schools to restart for the new academic year so there are probably many school kids who are not so happy to have to return to a classroom instead of another day at the beach. We older beach walkers can have it to ourselves again.
We solved this within our two star time but there were some parsings that took us a bit of working out so did consider a higher rating.
Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.
Across
1a Worker finally has a break, which is most unusual (6)
RAREST : The final letter of worker, then ‘A’ from the clue and a break or ‘breather’.
4a Person yelling: “Great shot!” (8)
SCREAMER : A double definition.
10a Hours wasted with peer, one with great powers (9)
SUPERHERO : An anagram (wasted) of HOURS and PEER.
11a One wearing tuxedo running French city (5)
DIJON : A two letter abbreviation for a formal male clothing surrounds Roman numeral one, and then running or in operation.
12a Heads turned after tabloid shows star’s blemish (7)
SUNSPOT : The name of a tabloid newspaper and the reversal (turned) of heads or summits.
13a Supervise how a bishop rules? (7)
OVERSEE : A word meaning in charge of, and the district controlled by a bishop.
14a Stand in a studio, or move slowly left (5)
EASEL : Move slowly and gently with L(eft).
15a Tracks from Queen forever entertaining yours truly (8)
RAILWAYS : The single letter designation from Latin for queen, then a word meaning forever contains a singular personal pronoun.
18a Pub worker, say, stopped by copper for a grilling? (8)
BARBECUE : Another word for a pub and then a winged worker insect contains the chemical symbol for copper.
20a Odd ingredients of soups — Thai dish with rice (5)
SUSHI : Alternate letters from two words in the clue.
23a Lawman infiltrates Capone operation to get intoxicant (7)
ALCOPOP : A slang word for a policeman separates the first name of Capone and OP(eration).
25a Narcissist is to get straightened out (7)
EGOTIST : An anagram (straightened out) of IS TO GET.
26a Book European obtains free — The Woman in White? (5)
BRIDE : B(ook) and E(uropean) are divided by free or do away with.
27a Reckless during night out, getting corporal punishment (9)
THRASHING : An anagram (out) of NIGHT surrounds reckless or indiscreet.
28a Ecological travel is a nuisance for a gardener (8)
GREENFLY : The colour describing ecological and then travel, perhaps with Air New Zealand.
29a Man that can jump on board? (6)
KNIGHT : A cryptic description of a chess piece.
Down
1d Dealing with nun, an oppositional figure (8)
RESISTER : A prefix that can meaning dealing with, and the address for a nun.
2d Periodically writes about English writer and is contrite (7)
REPENTS : Alternate letters from ‘writes’ contain E(nglish) and a writing implement.
3d Sports team with kit on or kit off here? (5,4)
STRIP CLUB : A word for sports kit is followed by a sports team.
5d I also corrected poor actor’s display of misery (9,5)
CROCODILE TEARS : An anagram (poor) of I ALSO CORRECTED.
6d Furnish empty extension, requiring payment now (5)
ENDUE : The first and last letters (empty) of extension, and then a word meaning requiring payment now.
7d Royal power and might broken by witticism (7)
MAJESTY : A witticism or quip is enclosed by might or ‘can possibly’.
8d Forest defender in Scottish football team, almost (6)
RANGER : A Glasgow football team without the last letter.
9d Opening city stores you heard about cash for new businesses (7,7)
VENTURE CAPITAL : An opening or duct and a principal city surrounds (stores) the letter that sounds like ‘you’ and the two letter prefix for about or concerning.
16d US state is joining right-wingers in victory (9)
WISCONSIN : ‘IS’ from the clue and right-wing politicians are enclosed by a three letter victory.
17d Command to stay in one’s place — it’s awfully mean (3,5)
SIT TIGHT : An anagram (awfully) of ITS and then mean or stingy.
19d Record store knowing classical quartet with energy (7)
ARCHIVE : Knowing or crafty, then classical quartet is a Roman numeral plus E(nergy).
21d Fitting appeal into litigating (7)
SUITING : Two letter appeal or sexual attraction is inside taking legal action against.
22d Person who chatters, like bishop cracking joke (6)
GASBAG : A word meaning like and chess abbreviation for bishop are enclosed by joke or jape.
24d Groom starts to panic, really envisaging escaping nuptials (5)
PREEN : The starting letters from five words in the clue.
Lots of ticks to choose from again but we’ll go with 15a as favourite.
Quickie pun meat + Eeyore + wrights = meteorites
I found today’s offering a bit of a strange one. I solved quite a number without having fully parsed them but given the checkers could be nothing else. The hints will shed light on them no doubt. 10a held me up for ages. I could see it was an anagram but because it ended in “O” I spent too long trying to make a Latin or Greek name. I did not know the word at 6d but the clue gave all the instructions. I liked the blemished star at 12a, the ruling bishop at 13a and the dithering sports team at 3d. I have two contenders for COTD – the clue referring to Wilkie Collins at 28a and the bishop cracking a joke at 22d. After due deliberation, the bishop is voted in.
Many thanks to the setter for the fun challenge and to the 2Ks for the hints, which I will now read.
I thought today’s Quickie pun was terrific.
I would not have known 10a had it not been for Silent Witness last night! I didn’t really register the word until then. What a particularly gruesome episode that was. Hope Mrs C feeling better.
Hi, DG. Mrs C is feeling better and managed to get up and come downstairs today. 👍
That is such good news, Steve. Hopefully she’ll come on in leaps and bounds now.
It’s 1.5*/4* from me for a light and very pleasant diversion with 11a, 15a, 3d & 24d my top picks.
Many thanks to the setter and the 2Ks.
Nicely quirky. I loved 29a – it may be a chestnut but I’ve not seen it before. Some very solid surfaces: 15a, 9d, etc. I’m not quite sure whether to admire or disapprove of 4a but it tickled me, either way. A gentle but very pleasant stroll and just the job for a Wednesday. Many thanks to the setter, and the 2Ks. Very jolly 5d cartoon!
I thought this was excellent. Plenty to enjoy here; a couple I ticked were 18a and 3d.
Thanks to the setter and to the 2Ks.
Another fine workout for the little grey cells.
Thank you 2Kiwis and setter, whoever you may be ( I never know).
A celebration:
George knew he met a crazy girl
So many years ago
She’s never been a lazy girl,
She bustles to and fro.
Truly an amazing girl
We love her, doncha know?
Happy birthday George.
Go Pips!
George and I have just had a laugh about that. He is mystified as to how you know. Who is Pip he asked? He has no idea what I get up to. He was a fencer you know, so there’s always a possibility he might challenge you to a duel if he thinks there is any hanky- panky. Just warning you. All the foils & sabres are out in the office, albeit a bit rusty.
Now George, don’t take offence
It’s really clear to see
That duelling makes no sense
With one as weak as me.
You think you have been foiled
It really isn’t true
Your sabre isn’t oiled…..
I think I need the loo.
What larks, eh Pip?
very clever Merusa
A very happy birthday George, you married a true one in a million.
We now have our very own poet laureate here on BD, none of the other blogs can boast of that!
I’m falling in love with Merusa
I’ll do what I can to amuse her
Her lifetime of flying
Left passengers sighing
Each man only wanted to choose her.
I’m in love!!
Fun to see your poetry using “dontcha know” – I lived in New York for a few years and my friends there used to introduce me saying “this is our friend from Blighty dontcha know”!
On first perusal this looked tricky and it took me a while to get going. It was then quite a thoughtful plod with more pauses starting in the East and finishing in the West so a ***/*** for me.Some great clues though with 11a being clever and my COTD followed by 23a and 26a then 9d. I’m ready for a coffee now! Thanks to the 2K’s and the setter.
Diving in early so that this will be near the top, in the hope it may help others…
Last year my Telegraph subscription was £80. Earlier this week I received an email stating it was being ‘adjusted’ to £269 for next year. I telephoned to cancel. I was immediately offered (no bargaining required) a reduction to £70 for the next year, with the puzzles thrown in for free.
What an absurd marketing strategy. Push your customer towards cancellation and then offer them a reduction.
Hope this of use to anyone else who receives a similar email to me; and now… back to the crossword!
Thanks, Terence.
We had a similar experience at the end of last year when we too got a reduction on our sub with no haggling involved, just a call.
Very odd strategy I agree.
Exactly the same for me – and I got the heads up from this site too.
Me too, last year, though I suspect it has to do with the sale and the need to retain subscriber numbers at any cost.
Thanks for the reminder, mine is due soon. I had the same experience last year.
Back to todays puzzle which I took a bit longer than usual to solve, my favourite is 26a. Thanks to the Kiwis and setter.
Same here, last summer. May all change if the rumored sale goes through…
We will have to pay in camels!
Needed to look up 6d and 4a…not a words I am familiar with and needed the 2 Kiwis hints for the parsing of 26a.
Otherwise a very pleasant solve. Favourite 10a.
Thanks to the setter and to the 2 Kiwis.
Very windy up here and quite cold too.
Well this certainly wasn’t a read and write for me today but once I had a few crossers from the down clues it all started to fall into place quite nicely.
I was held up by the spelling of 18a which in my book should really have a Q, though my ignorance of the word in 6d was no hold up given the clarity of the clue.
I am a bit uncomfortable with the second word in 3d being a sports team but I guess it is less of a stretch in a footballing context (about which I know nothing…)
25a offered a new anagram indicator to me which I liked.
Plenty of ticks again today with 5D and 19d grappling for the top spot – congratulations go to 19d.
Thanks to the setter and to the 2Ks
NAS above completely mirrors my thoughts about the puzzle – the RHS went straight it but I took much longer over the West. All in all very entertaining so thanks to the setter and 2Ks. I have found that you can ‘boil’ an egg in an air fryer and it comes out perfectly. 6 minutes at 160C so now you know!
Why would you air-fry a (boiled) egg in 6 minutes when you can actually boil it in 4?
Ah, yes, but you have to boil the kettle first. About 12 years ago my energy company sent me a free gadget which attached at one end in the electricity cupboard and the other plugged into a kitchen socket. Not a smart meter just a gadget which showed me how much I was using. The electric kettle was far and away the most expensive item to run so I ditched it and got a a kettle what goes on my gas hob or the wood burner. Surprisingly, the small oven of my double oven was twice as expensive as using the large oven so I haven’t used the top oven since. All these ‘tweaks’ made a huge difference to my bill. I just find it convenient to bung the egg in the basket and turn the dial to 6 but each to their own.
Using less energy at a guess. It was jolly brave of you to try that Manders, I have still hardly used my air fryer. . Did you have to prick the egg I wonder? I might have a go at that just for fun.
After I bought mine about 6 weeks ago a friend in the village bought one and we exchange ideas. She put me on to the boiled egg lark but she does hers at a higher temp for shorter time. Don’t prick the egg, it’s not like a microwave!
This was excellent.
So many brilliantly thought out surfaces with some great constructions. Not a dud to be found.
Very hard to pick a podium but I’ll go with 15a, 18a and 29a.
Many thanks to the midweek master and Le Touquet.
2*/5*
29a’s jumping man was my favourite. 13a’s bishop and 24d’s groom also made me smile. This suited my level of difficulty: doable, but still took a little while to work out. Thank you to the setter.
And also to the Kiwis, for explaining 9d: I was so pleased with myself for remembering that Ur is a city that I completely failed to notice that in this clue it isn’t.
It was in yesterday’s puzzle though.
Ah, so I was a day too late! (I did Stephen’s Toughie instead yesterday, so I hadn’t seen the backpager.)
An excellent midweek puzzle – thanks to the setter and 2Ks.
I’ll just mention 11a, 15a, 18a and 3d from the clues I ticked.
Found myself completely on the setter’s wavelength this morning and this turned out to be one of the most enjoyable back-page solves I’ve had in recent times. No chance of picking a favourite as I ticked almost every one.
Many thanks to our setter for making my day and thanks to our 2Ks for the review – enjoy your peaceful walks in the sunshine!
Top notch guzzle. I had ticks against all of Gazza’s picks & quite a few more too. If pressed I’ll plump for 29a as pick of the crop. Off to see One Life at the Odyssey matinee.
Thanks to the setter (Robyn I reckon) & to the 2Ks.
Good Wednesday fun – **/****
Candidates for favourite – too many to mention – but the winner is 29a.
Thanks to whomsoever and the 2Kiwis,
I thought 15a was clever, even though it’s obvious. A really top puzzle today. Found the West trickier than the east.Needed to look at hint 26a . Thanks to all.
Off to the toughie now, found yesterday’s taxing.
A bit late doing the puzzle today as I’ve been refurbishing Nimrod and Poirot’s scratching post on their climbing tower, pulling 30yds of jute rope into 100 very tight coils around a pole of 2×2 is far, far harder than it sounds, plays hell with the fingers too, hope the little sods appreciate it!
As to the puzzle, right up my street, very entertaining with a good mixture of clues throughout.
If pushed for favourites today I must plump for 4a and 9d. Thanks to our setter, brilliant fun.
My two long haired Abyssinians preferred the back of an easy chair. They just didn’t understand things that were specifically feline.
I’m afraid my two do that as well, and the hall wallpaper, and the carpet on the bottom stair,
I could go on but it just depresses me……
The marine fish however are extremely well behaved.
We had the same issue with the bottom stair carpet and a persistent moggy….the solution was a strip of double-sided tape across the step. Once they touched it and their paws stuck to it momentarily, they soon stopped using it. Use low-tack tape, not carpet tape otherwise you might have a permanently stuck cat!
Top tip, I’ll give it a go, I suppose a foil strip connected to a large charged capacitor would also work, probably permanently!
Ditto! How does one learn cat speak?
Don’t ask me ‘ow
Brilliant!
Good one!
Not the easiest puzzle but with work it came together nicely. Like lots of others 6d was new to me but it is in the BRB,
Loved 29a, a real smiler. Needed the hints to parse 26a, perfectly reasonable synonym, just missed it!
Thx to all
***/****
11a cut the mustard for me. Had to look up 6 d as some others had to do. Nice start to the day. We watched the film “Don’t Look Now “ last night as it was mentioned by Daisygirl and Huntsman when Daphne du Maurier came up in the clueing. Gripping and had us guessing but certainly no travel advertisement for Venice. Cruciverbalists can swap the V for an M and it sounds like a threat.Many thanks to all who contribute .
I used to accompany George on some of his trips to the Menswear Shows and Italy was always in the wintertime. I can vouch that Venice was scary at night out of season, especially after seeing that film. Ugh.
My only trip to Venice was in a February & we got hopelessly lost on the first night despite being reasonably confident that we’d not ventured too far from the hotel. As we wandered about all I could think of was Sutherland & Christie.
This was right up my street today. Lots of truly cryptic clues, brilliant surface reads and no obscure GK required. Favourite was 15a with far too many ticks on my paper to choose a podium. Thanks to our setter and the 2Kiwis. You confirmed my parsing of 4a for me. Never heard that second meaning – can’t even find it in the BRB!
Pleasant puzzle today. Didn’t know 6d but it couldn’t be much else from the clue. 4a was also new as I didn’t know it meant a great shot.
I did like 26a and 7d.
Thanks to setter and the 2Ks.
For some reason this felt like a rather bumpy ride with some debatable parsings. East was the smoother half for me. Vying to use a new word for anagram seems to be producing some rather far-fetched indications viz 10a. Fav 29a with 7d running up. Thank you Incognito and the 2Kiwis.
First class although we spent a long time sussing out 9d, not being in mainstream financial circles. Particularly liked 11, 13a and 7,19d. Many thanks to Mr Setter and to the Two Kay’s although I did not actually need their help. Also can proudly say I did yesterday’s toughie in the wee small hours over a hot chocolate and a digestive biscuit 😊 with no digital assistance. Go on, burst my bubble and tell me it was an easy one!
A Wednesday puzzle that seemed trickier than normal for this week. SW was my last in. No really difficult words but a couple of unusual ones and several clues that were very cleverly misdirecting. My last one in one in, 29a, went in with a THUD! as the penny finally dropped.
2.5*/3.5*
Favourites included 11a, 29a, 1d, 17d, 19d & 24d — with winner having to be my last in … 29a
Smiles and a laugh or two with 15a, 18a, 3d & 24d
Thanks to setter and 2K’s
Once I had finished I wondered what took me so long. Yes, there were a couple of tricky clues, but all were fair and above board. So just me being a bit dense. All in all a good tussle. My podium, in reverse order, are 9d, 28a and top of the pile, 29a. Thanks to the compiler and the 2K’s.
Just held up by bunging in 18a with “q” not a “c”.Then I read the clue properly.
Such a clever compilation
Of clues, especially 18 and
26a and 3 and 17d.
And a well-hidden lurker
In 20a.
Luckily on the same
Wavelength
From the start, completion
In 2* time.
Thanks to the setter and
2Kiwis.
I’m with Steve here, a rather strange offering today. I did complete with only ehelp for 23a; if I live to be 100, I’ll never remember that, whatever it is. On the other hand, of all things I remembered 9d, “opening city” did it for me. There was a lot to amuse, I loved 22d, 29a and 26a. I laughed at 4a but think it’s a bit obscure, also slang.
Thank you setter, and of course the 2Kiwis for unravelling so much for me.
Morning all.
Interesting to note the big range of clues chosen for top billing. Reckon that that is a good indication that we are dealing with a top quality puzzle and we agree with that.
Thanks and take a bow setter.
Cheers.
Completed this but had to have a couple of goes as the north east held me up, 4a and 6d were both new definitions to me. Lots to like and I enjoyed it very much particularly 29a.
Many thanks to the setter and the 2 kiwis for the hints
I thought this was going to be a spectacular dnf, but i ended up rattling through it quite quickly.
Very enjoyable solve even if it was over too quickly.
Can anybody enlighten me as to what sport has a 4a?
Thanks to all.
I, too, had to question that and googled it. The only example they gave was a car racing one, “he had a screamer of a lap”. I had a giggle but didn’t really approve as I thought it was slang. On the other hand, they use lots of slang in these puzzles.
Yes indeed Merusa slang and abbreviations seem to be de rigueur here nowadays.
I agree, Merusa that slang seems to be creeping in.
Screamer, very hard shot into top corner of the goal in footie.
I might have known it was to do with football. Sorry to all of you who love the game but I can’t stand it. Give me test match cricket any day ☺️
Thanks Tipcat, we did not know that.
In the hints we just wrote “Double definition” and kept our fingers crossed we had guessed correctly.
Many thanks Tipcat!
Well I too thought I would lose my streak on the app and not manage to complete today. I was slow to start but then rallied and managed most of the East before stalling , and then having to go out and do some chores. Having resumed it just now , the rest all fell into place and I wonder now why it felt so sluggish earlier. Sometimes I think it’ just the head isn’t in the right place. There were some excellent clues my favourite being 3d . Thanks to the setter and 2Ks.
Good evening
Bit of a shaky start this morning; first pass just before leaving for work yielding only 7 correct solutions. Later, I got stuck properly, leaving only the NE quadrant to finish this evening.
Had to look up 6d, which isn’t a word I’ve come across before. Several contenders for COTD: 13, 15, and 29a all up for it, but the winner is 9d. Excellent clue!
My thanks to our compiler and to 2Ks.
Not one for me I’m afraid. Finished but didn’t appreciate some odd parsings and had to verify my answers with the hints more than once, e.g. 1d, 6d etc. No nice “ah ha” moments. Just found it all very strange. Thanks to setter and the 2Kiwis for the explanations.
Another puzzle I’ve made harder work of than I should have as a lot of my solutions were ‘decide what the answer is and work out why’. Not the right way to do it. One of these was 9d but still gets my COTD. Thanks to the setter and 2K’s. I’ve made serious inroads into the toughie but it might have to wait until tomorrow now.
Tackled late, over coffee this morning: an enjoyable and light puzzle, with a good balance of clue types and generally decent surfaces. 3d doesn’t work for me, but 23a and 19d galloped on to the podium.
1* / 2.5*
Many thanks to the setter and to the 2Ks
I found this puzzle a little tricky in places, but once solved there was a great deal to enjoy.
I have too many ticks to list them all. Here are some: 11a,15a, 18a, 23a, 26a, 29a and 19d.
Many thanks to the setter.
Many thanks too, to the 2Kiwis, for an excellent review. Lovely illustrations. I particularly liked those for 5d and 12a.
3*/4* …
liked 24D “Groom starts to panic, really envisaging escaping nuptials (5)”