Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30553
Hints and tips by Huntsman
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty */** Enjoyment ***/****
A gloomy start to proceedings here in Harpenden & maybe a wee bit of rain on the way but my trusty Home & Dry weather app says it will be a dry afternoon so some outdoor exercise looks possible. This is my last review for a fortnight as I’m away for a few days next week on a golfing trip to Thorpeness, near Aldeburgh in Suffolk & am praying for some halfway decent weather.
I thought today’s AP production very enjoyable without maybe quite hitting the heights of last week. Perhaps a wee bit trickier than last Tuesday but other than a couple of bits of GK it was pretty straightforward so doubt many will need to refer to the hints. As ever nicely clued throughout & with some excellent & in some cases misleading surfaces.
In the following hints, definitions are underlined, indicators are mostly in parentheses, and answers are revealed by clicking where shown as usual. Please leave a comment below on how you got on with the puzzle.
Across
1a Huge panic initially with American’s Chinese import? (5,5)
GIANT PANDA: another word for huge + the first letter (initially) of p(anic) + a synonym for with + the single letter for American.
6a Decoration with nothing inside – something that’s blown in the wind (4)
OBOE: insert the letter that looks like nothing into an order of chivalry awarded for prominent national or regional achievement. A nicely cryptic definition.
9a His map set out passage in the middle for vessels (10)
STEAMSHIPS: an anagram (out) of HIS MAP SET then append the central letter (in the middle) of pas(S)age.
10a Insect smell returned (4)
GNAT: a synonym for smell reversed (returned).
12a We’ve only ignored leaders in an equal manner (6)
EVENLY: remove (ignored leaders) the first letter from the initial two words in the clue & link them.
13a Assertive man I don’t upset (8)
DOMINANT: an anagram (upset) of MAN I DON’T.
15a Cynical affection from copper drove Pablo mad (8-4)
CUPBOARD LOVE: an anagram (mad) of DROVE PABLO preceded by the chemical symbol for copper.
18a Article by female is containing 50 minute pictures (7,5)
FEATURE FILMS: the first word is a term for an article (in a newspaper for example). You then need the single letter for Female + IS from the clue into which you insert (containing) the letter for 50 (Roman numeral) & the letter for Minute.
21a Bear ought to be scratching head by river (8)
SHOULDER: another word for ought + the final letter of b(E) in the clue (scratching head) & the single letter for River. A nicely misleading surface with a neat wordplay indicator.
22a Enchanting person bringing in private investigator to get thief (6)
MAGPIE: insert (bringing in) the acronym for a private investigator into a practitioner of magic in mythology or folklore. The thief here is feathered rather than light fingered.
24a Turn north-east after old motorway sign (4)
OMEN: the single letter for Old & for Motorway + a reversal (turn) of the compass bearing.
25a Improve French film – cut talk (10)
AMELIORATE: delete the last letter (cut) from a 2001 French language romantic comedy film (well worth a watch) & link with a synonym for talk.
26a Something teachers read before tense exam (4)
TEST: an educational supplement first published as a pull-out in the Times in 1910 & now a weekly trade magazine precedes the single letter for Tense.
27a Lose one’s cool and pull on plant (10)
SNAPDRAGON: what one could be said to do when losing one’s cool + a synonym for pull + ON from the clue.
Down
1d Good university, the woman had enthused (6)
GUSHED: the single letter for Good & for University + the contraction for the woman had.
2d A writer’s written about the compiler’s old relatives (6)
APEMEN: start with A from the clue + a writer (implement) into which you insert (written about) how the compiler may refer to himself.
3d Tango with Lulu? You must, dancing wildly (12)
TUMULTUOUSLY: start with the letter Tango represents (NATO phonetic alphabet) + an anagram (dancing) of LULU YOU MUST.
4d Craving pain (4)
ACHE: simple double definition.
5d Academic certificate – it’s upsetting and Charlie’s tactful (10)
DIPLOMATIC: a document attesting to the successful completion of a course of studies + the reversal (upsetting) of IT from the clue + another one from the NATO phonetic alphabet.
7d Bribe adult with blue house (8)
BUNGALOW: an informal term for a bribe + the single letter for Adult + a synonym for blue or melancholy.
8d Hospital department- it was first to be named (8)
ENTITLED: our usual hospital department + IT from the clue + a synonym for was first.
11d Cast are dummies, no offence (12)
MISDEMEANOUR: an anagram (cast) of ARE DUMMIES NO.
14a Salt ruined a meal with beans (4,6)
ABLE SEAMAN: another anagram (ruined) of A MEAL BEANS. Nicely misleading surface.
16d Branch not on fire (8)
OFFSHOOT: what it is if not on + a synonym of fire.
17d Noblewoman’s room for drinks on European ship (8)
BARONESS: a room for drinks + ON from the clue + the single letter for European + the original civilian ship prefix.
19d Collision after last of vehicles suddenly appeared (6)
SPRANG: a term usually associated with a minor motoring mishap preceded by (after/last of) the final letter of vehicle(S).
20d Cut off by northern river (6)
SEVERN: a synonym for cut off + the letter for Northern.
23d Some pupil sneakily raised error (4)
SLIP: hidden in reverse (some/raised) between the indicators.
From a number of ✅s 6&12a along with 2&14d were particular likes. If pressed I’ll plump for 2d as my pick of ‘em. Please let us know which clues ticked your boxes.
We chalked off another of the Oscar nominated films last night at the Odyssey cinema in St Albans & can heartily recommend American Fiction. Leslie Uggams was excellent playing the mother in the throes of dementia. I saw her name in the credits & remember picking up this 45 in the days when I used to scour record shops for rare singles.
Today’s Quick Crossword pun: BAY+ BIN+ HARMS = BABE IN ARMS
Good crossword – I thought 26a educational supplement a little obscure though
Thanks Huntsman
11d singular?
It is indeed – I ran out of fingers.
Error number one & counting 🙂 I’ll amend
What did you think of the puzzle?
Huh, so now I have to have knowledge of French films. I always thought 2d was two words but obviously not. Other than that an enjoyable puzzle and an improvement on yesterdays,for me that is, other opinions are available on request🤪. Thanks to all.
Lovely crossword; great fun; many thanks!
15a was new to me.
Fairly straightforward and all slotted into place nicely. Huntsman, enjoy your golfing in Thorpeness. If you get the opportunity, have a meal in the Lighthouse in Aldeburgh and send our best to Sam, the owner, from ‘those nice people in Cley’! Another fantastic find is Ashes Fishes, smokery on the beach at Aldeburgh – last shack on the right opposite the White Lion Hotel and Moot Hall. Their Noon Tarts are famous and delicious. I brought back about 10 last time we were there. Thanks to the setter and Huntsman.
I really enjoyed this slightly-more-chewy-than-usual puzzle while completing it, and it has only improved on re-reading the clues and coming in here. Possibly one of AP’s best puzzles in recent months (it indeed it was AP), with so much polish, wit and humour & not a duff clue to be seen. Some of the best surfaces I’ve seen since … well, the last puzzle with such good surfaces!
Ticks everywhere – from the surfaces of 1a, 21a, 22a & 17d, to the misdirection of 18a & 16d, humour of 27a, 2d & 3d, and the splendid construction of 14d. Absolute crackers with COTD for me to 3d.
1.5* / 4.5*
Many thanks indeed to AP/the setter and to Huntsman
Another Typically Tuesdayish production from Mr Plumb – **/****
With checkers in place and a good idea of what the answer would be, it was easy enough to ‘work backwards’ on the 25a French film. Indeed, it could just have been a ‘bung in.’
Candidates for favourite – 18a, 27a, 7d, and 16d – and the winner is 18a.
Thanks to Mr Plumb and Huntsman.
P.S. The Donnybrook Toughie is a perfect complement to this back pager and just right for a Tuesday.
Yes, typically Tuesdayish, at times terrifically testing, ticklingly tricky and tremendously tantalising.
Love the French film, which I must watch yet again.
Shot meself straight in the foot from the get-go, decided the first part of 1a had ‘rea’ in the middle of it, and then wondered why I couldn’t get 2d for the last clue to complete the puzzle. Saw the error in the end though.
Can never think of the instrument at 6a in the same way after hearing Peter Cook’s judge’s summing up of the trial in ‘The Secret Policeman’s Ball’
Never used the word at 25a in my life, but got it pretty easily as I only really know two French films, and as no-one was nicking a bike, it had to be this one.
Clue of the day for me was 22a, cheeky little sods always rob the bird tables blind in our garden.
I, too, made it more difficult for myself by using that first word for 1a. Who on earth has heard of that animal?
Me too
Once again Tuesday brings a delicious CS naughty corner type treat without a need to go there. No hassle at all but can’t believe last in was 2d due to my stupidly missing significance of compiler. Thank you AP for another enjoyably carefree exercise and Huntsman for standing by with hints in case of need. (I too was packed off to boarding school at a tender age of 8 but without a “cuddly”!).
I went to boarding school at the age of 4! I had a wonderful time, they had so much fun for the kids.
Fairly gentle today after I took too long to solve the fabulous 1a. Just on the edge of there being too many anagrams but no other contrary comments.I liked the succinctness of many clues, the cleverly misleading ones and the well crafted surface reads. Favourite today is the aforementioned 1a, supported by 6a and 17d. Many thanks to our setter, presumably Mr Plumb, and Huntsman, whose choice of video clips were both up my street.
2*/4*. I am guessing this is an Anthony Plumb puzzle. I really like his Tuesday back-pagers. They are consistently good and fun to solve with tight clueing and smooth surfaces. There is never a hint of a raised eyebrow!
Many thanks to Mr Plumb and to Hintsman.
Hear, hear re Tuesday backpagers – great.
I found this a very elegantly clued little teaser, with some nice misdirection and humour. 2 and 14d were my co-favourites. Most enjoyable.
Thanks to Mr P and The Hintsman.
Very good.
Plenty of concise constructions with lots of top-notch surfaces. The prof is certainly hitting his straps at the moment.
Half a dozen clues are having a right old scrap for the silverware but I’ll go with 1a, 22a and 3d.
Many thanks to AP and Hoots mon!
2*/4*
1*/3* for me today, I admired the surfaces that I though well crafted.
15a is an expression I like so got a tick from me, I also liked 22a, 27a and 14d.
Since switching from the DT paper edition to the iPad version some years ago when I moved overseas I found my approach to anagrams had to change as I could no longer write the fodder in the margin and cross out letters. Instead it was a case of holding the fodder in my head and waiting for inspiration to jump out and give the answer – a poor strategy that I must say has improved markedly over the years, however… 11a today stubbornly refused to jump out until I had got all of the crossers… I miss the paper edition!
Thanks to Mr P and our Hinstman
Can’t you just use some scrap paper to jot the letters on?
Well I could if I had it to hand (tho I usually do the crossie in bed with my morning tea so it usually is not to hand) but it now feels like a last resort option and admission of failure for some unfathomable reason …
I know how you feel, Phanciful. I’ve tried to school myself into solving anagrams mentally – “seeing” them, if you will – and while sometimes I do need to write them down I agree with you how that now feels. Mind you there was an anagram last week in The Times that I definitely had to write down, and ultimately solved by pushing the remaining letters in the longer word into their only possible slots – I thought it a bit below the belt, and something of a beast of a clue (pun/hint intended!):
“Mayor in Barnet has almost beaten Labour (11,4)”
Jeepers, MG!
I’ve just looked up the answer,
I’m all for bonkers knowledge but I’ll stick to the Torygraph, thank you very much.
Very enjoyable. A couple needed some head scratching but otherwise fairly straightforward. Cotd for me was 22a. Thanks to Mr P and Huntsman.
A festival of anagrams for those of us who really enjoy them. Some were cleverly misdirected, from little 6a to 3d and 14d . 27a and 22a were good Lego clues too and thw whole guzzle was enlivened by the addition of some General Knowledge to mull over. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks to Mr P and to Huntsman for the hints.
Spot on CC, some great anagrams with 3d an absolute humdinger! And Tipcat – i was about to say the same about scrap paper! Seems a simple solution.
Lovely puzzle today but my knowledge of French films is zero so 25a went in unparsed.
Favourite was 2d, my LOI with 6a a close second. It brought back memories of having to learn the instrument from a cigar smoking tutor so not a great experience.
What an encouraging crossword. I had thought yesterday hard so decided that our few days in France had addled my brain. French was my worst subject at school but have watched a lot of French films so that was a help today. Had to discuss roof repairs on this visit and O level never prepared me. In fact oral French was limited to reciting and singing.Mr. Plumb is up my rue and Huntsman is always so good at hinting. Across clues came with ticks. Loved 6, 22 and 27. Did not know of the educational supplement . Many thanks.
Thank you Dyslex & pleasing because I definitely consider myself the amateur of the team.
I seem to remember that the late Miles Kington, in his introduction to “Let’s Parler Franglais” justified the book by stating “Les Francais ne parlent pas le O-Level French” something I have been very aware of on trips across the Channel. My Franglais however has helped me to muddle through on more than one occasion.
Thank you to all involved with the crossword. A very pleasant solving experience.
Great guzzle. Sparkling in fact, I loved it. 2d was last one in for some reason. Some nice words too, 25a and 11d and I cannot believe 15a is unknown! 3d gets the gold, with 25a,6a and 21a close behind. The Pocket Rocket has arrived and is tearing round the garden so I guess I shall have to wrap up and brave the cold. Many thanks to Messrs Setter & Hintsman – hope you enjoy your golf.
Another enjoyable challenge. Everything fell into place quite easily EXCEPT I read 1a and immediately thought “great” something so filled it in. When the penny eventually dropped it was “panda” I forgot to alter great to giant. This had the knock-on effect of making 2d start with “e” and thus almost impossible to solve. Thanks to Huntsman for putting me right. Favourite clues included 9a 18a (a lovely sounding word!) 27a, 7d and 11d. There was lots to like. Thanks to both Mr Plumb and Huntsman.
A very enjoyable puzzle – thanks to AP (if it is him) and Huntsman.
I have lots of ticks including 1a, 2d and 16d.
I found this Tuesday puzzle a little more tricky than normal. Some head scratching and trial and error entries too.
2*/3.5* for me
Favourites include 21a, 3d, 8d, 19d & 20d — with winner 19d and 20d a close second.
Smiles from 15a, 3d, 8d & 19d
Thanks to AP & Huntsman for hints/blog
Can’t believe this.
Tried every correct
Ingredient of 2d but
Somehow missed the
Solution until, very
Loudly, the penny hit
The floor
Apart a half * for the rest.
Much wit and novelty.
Many thanks Mr. Plumb and Huntsman.
Good fun and not too tricky.
For some reason everything that I had trouble with was in the left side and eventually all the right side was finished with virtually nothing in the other side.
I would never have managed 25a without one of my French nieces – they’re all bi-lingual (as they should be!) but one loved that film so I’d heard of it.
It took me for ever to get the first bit of 18a – don’t know why!
I liked 12 and 22a and 5 and 19d.
Thank you to today’s setter and to Huntsman.
I have yet to plumb 😊 the depth’s of AP’s wavelength, but for some reason I do enjoy the challenge of his puzzles. We always called 27a bunny rabbit flowers when I was small, and 15a was nostalgic for me, as this was a term often used by my Mum. Definitely more friendly than yesterday’s puzzle, even if still a bit on the chewy side. Thanks to AP and Huntsman. Have only played golf once (I don’t think putting counts) on honeymoon in Jersey in 1966 and realised then it was not my sport. Have fun on your trip.
A lovely Tuesday offering, great anagrams and clues you could usually parse even if you did not know the required general knowledge. I did not know the film in 25a. 6a and 2 d were the last to fall and my favourite was 3d, so satisfying to unravel.
Many thanks to the setter and to Huntsman for the hints – have a good time.
Steve if you see this, I do hope all is ok? I do not think we have seen you for a couple of days and I know Mrs C is back in hospital.
I’m also concerned, not having seen Steve for a couple of days. I hope he updates us soon.
He did say his visits to the blog would be sporadic this week. I’m sure he is busy going back and forth.
Yes – I was also wondering if things are OK for him.
Hi guys, thank you for your concern. I just popped in to look at the blog and found your posts. Mrs C is having all kinds of tests but no positive results or conclusions as yet. She is quite perky and complaining that the ward is full of geriatrics. Having said that, she is confused and told me the same thing repeatedly.
I did manage the guzzle and loved it. However, I did have to use the hints for 2d.
Many thanks to the setter and Huntsman
Pleased to hear Mrs C is perky & hope that you are holding up with it all too
👍
Couple of friends came over today so didn’t have chance to pop in earlier.
Very enjoyable puzzle even though I had to rely on checkers to get the French film.
Top three here were 6a plus 14&16d.
Thanks to Mr Plumb and to Huntsman for the review and the piece from Swan Lake. Enjoy your few days away and may the weather gods be on your side!
Unlike some others I thought this was a **/*** but enjoyed the clueing throughout, especially 26a. Thank you compiler and Huntsman
I found this tricky getting on wavelength, but once on, it was plain sailing. I was DNF with 2d, I should have used a word search but I’d solved without aids so far and didn’t want to spoil that. I didn’t know the French film but easy enough to solve with checkers. I liked lots, 15a, 22a and 7d stood out, lovely word, but so much more to like.
Thank you Mr. Plumb, I look forward to your Tuesdays, and to Huntsman for help parsing a few.
Foxed me for some time as well Merusa.
And in spite of having the four correct parts.
And I was thinking along evolutionary lines!
Sorry but I didn’t enjoy this puzzle ****/** 😟 Favourites 6a, 1 & 7d Thanks to Mr AP and to the Huntsman, I am sure you will enjoy Thorpeness 🏌️ lovely part of the world
I must say I liked 27a
Nice one! Got 1a and 1d pretty much together right at the start. Actually 1d first for the first letter. Also liked 18 and 21a . Took a while to remember the Times thing for teachers. Fave is 2d.
Many thanks to Mr Plumb and to Huntsman.
Dear Huntsman, please take Manders’ advice about Aldeburgh. Sorry that I can’t give you much advice about the Thorpeness course, even though we we could see the holes on the North side of the Aldringham road from the lane up to my parent’s house. Only played couple of times as my dad was an Aldeburgh Golf Club devotee, and even Captain at one stage. I misspent a lot of my youth sailing on the Thorpeness mere. While I started learning golf on India, I had many lessons at the AGC when dad retired. I still have the 1 iron I bought there 30 years ago in order to play the par 3 15th into the East wind! (Still amuses the pros here in France),
Have fun!
Thanks LNL – I’ve played Thorpeness many times & Aldeburgh once or twice so know the area & courses well. All we need is some weather 🤞
I’ve heard that by staying in the House in the Clouds one can dream of fine weather😁!
Bonnes parties, anyway!
Hadn’t heard of the French film although the answer had to be what was still technically a bung-in. This helped restore some of my shattered self esteem after my dnf on the toughie which almost everyone else found easy. Happiness is a completed grid. Favourite was 27a. Thanks to AP and Huntsman.
A dnf due to 2d. A new word to me.
25a I solved without the faintest idea of how to parse. I doubt I could name one French film at gunpoint. There is probably a reason for that…
Can’t say I got a huge amount of enjoyment from today regardless of the dnf.
An improvement on yesterday which had the worst word in the English language. I couldn’t comment yesterday, such was my horror…
Thanks to all.
Had to check if the setter was thinking about the same french film as I was, as it’s french title is much longer than just her name. Huntsman’s picture shows it.
The expression in 15a was new to me.
Remembered the collision in 19d which was explained to me by BD himself a few years ago. Funny how words can make you think of someone.
Thanks to the setter for the puzzle, to the Hintsman for the review and to BD for his legacy.
3*/3* …
liked 14D “Salt ruined a meal with beans (4,6)”