Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30590
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Carol and Colin are on a jaunt today so I have the pleasure of blogging this enjoyable puzzle.
When I printed off the puzzle from the old puzzles site this morning the first two words of 11a were missing so that the clue lacked a definition. That has now been corrected online but I don’t know what appeared in the newspaper.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Fold paper and cut (7)
PADDOCK: this fold or animal enclosure comes from joining a block of writing paper and a verb to cut or chop off.
9a Decline course, including car (8)
DIMINISH: a synonym for course or part of a meal contains a make of car which was once an icon of British style but is now made by a German company.
10a People needing answer for European ministers (7)
PARSONS: start with a word for people and change the single-letter abbreviation for European to that of answer.
11a Load of trendy males absorbed by street (8)
SHIPMENT: an informal word for trendy and another word for adult males go inside the map abbreviation for street.
12a Person who’ll give you a hand (6)
DEALER: cryptic definition of someone who distributes what you need to play a game.
13a Dodgy Tory — a cheap supplier of drugs (10)
APOTHECARY: an anagram (dodgy) of TORY A CHEAP.
15a Drink providing some relief in office (4)
FINO: a hidden word indicated by ‘some’.
16a Such contestants may be furious with what’s given by 12 Across? (4,5)
WILD CARDS: an adjective meaning furious and what 12a distributes. These contestants don’t qualify by right for a competition but are given a special invitation to enter.
21a A beer? It’s almost closed! (4)
AJAR: A from the clue and an informal word for a glass of beer.
22a Former power of industry, were wealth to be redistributed (5,5)
WATER WHEEL: an anagram (to be redistributed) of WERE WEALTH.
24a Reportedly visible urge (6)
INCITE: this sounds like a phrase (2,5) meaning visible.
25a Tiresome following son’s bad language (8)
SWEARING: a synonym of tiresome or exhausting follows the genealogical abbreviation for son.
27a Press note what referee does (7)
MEDIATE: charade of a generic term for the press and a note from tonic sol-fa.
28a Key article delayed increase (8)
ESCALATE: assemble the name of a key (it’s on the top-left corner of my keyboard as I type this), one of our indefinite articles and an adjective meaning delayed.
29a High roller chap returned in new suit (7)
TSUNAMI: reverse another word for a chap inside an anagram (new) of SUIT.
Down Clues
2d Scholarly environment could see a targeted uprising across the borders of China (8)
ACADEMIA: A (from the clue) and the reversal of a verb meaning targeted (a weapon, say) bracket the outer letters of China.
3d To veto old law is crazy (8)
DISALLOW: an anagram (crazy) of OLD LAW IS.
4d Moving clear of town lacking energy for traffic diversion (10)
CONTRAFLOW: an anagram (moving) of CL[e]AR OF TOWN after removing the abbreviation for energy.
5d Tackle husband’s old friends (4)
KITH: another word for tackle or equipment followed by the genealogical abbreviation for husband produce an obsolete word for friends usually only seen these days in the phrase ‘**** and kin’.
6d Spot big house occupied by politician (6)
PIMPLE: a word for a large house contains the usual abbreviation for an elected politician.
7d Cocktail compartment for passenger (7)
SIDECAR: double definition.
8d Rest still up in new house, lacking nothing (4-3)
SHUT-EYE: reverse an adverb meaning still or ‘up to now’ inside an anagram (new) of H[o]USE without the zero-resembling letter.
11d Food that’s good after whisky, say (6,3)
SCOTCH EGG: an item of food that sparked an intense debate during the pandemic as to whether or not it constituted a meal comes from the abbreviation for good following another word for whisky and the abbreviation meaning ‘say’.
14d Unlucky about the last of Labour extremists (10)
HARDLINERS: an exclamation of sympathy (4,5) meaning ‘unlucky!’ contains the final letter of Labour.
17d Endorse south with north in conflict (8)
SANCTION: start with abbreviation for south then insert the abbreviation for north into a word for armed conflict.
18d Truth and corporation split by love for versatile employee (8)
FACTOTUM: a synonym of truth or reality and the bodily part that corporation is used facetiously for with the zero-resembling letter splitting the two.
19d Wind up person on the fiddle (7)
TWISTER: double definition, the first an informal word for a destructive mobile wind.
20d Lag’s time to reach out (7)
STRETCH: another double definition, the first an informal word for time in prison.
23d Run on a bank — once in a blue moon (6)
RARELY: the cricket abbreviation for run followed by A and a verb to bank or depend.
26d Makes clear profit from curtains (4)
NETS: double definition, the second being types of curtains which allow light through.
My picks today were 1a, 6d and 19d. Which one(s) took your fancy?
Quick Crossword Pun: WELD + REST = Well dressed
Another enjoyable guzzle despite my being beaten by 1a. My brain latched on to “dice” as the final part of the answer and would not let it go. I resorted to Mr. G and ended up kicking myself! Also, I didn’t quite understand 11a. The answer was obvious from the clue but where is the definition? Other than those two, there were too many good clues to be able to pick a favourite. However, if pushed, I would go with the food after whisky at 11d.
Thank you to the setter for the fun and Gazza for the hints. Your comment regarding 11a has reassured me I am not going doolally!
There’s a cold wind blowing across The Marches today. I’m beginning to wonder if I will ever be able plant the spuds.
How is Mrs C?
Thank you for asking, DG especially after your mishap. The best that can be said is that she is as well as can be expected. Carers come in four times a day, which is a great help but Mrs. C herself is very up and down.
They missed out the first word. It only made sense when I went back to read Gazza’s hints.
Thank you Gazza for putting my mind at rest! Although I was able to parse 11a in the printed version the first word is missing so I couldn’t see how it worked. I agree with your rating and an excellent puzzle with 29a being my COTD and 18d being very amusing. Thanks to you and our setter.
Me too with 11a, it was missing ‘Load of’ when I printed it at about 8 o’clock, but when I looked about an hour later, the clue had been amended, strange…….
Me too.
Completed the word OK but it made no sense.
Yup, missing in the paper but had to be.
“Load of “… is missing in the iPad version too, so many thanks to all who explained it.
You were Woolgatherer in the past. Both of your aliases will work from now on.
I enjoyed today’s puzzle and was wondering about 11a as I also printed early this morning from the old puzzles site.
Top picks for me were 1a, 24a, 11d and 18d.
Thanks to the setter and to Gazza for solving the mystery of the missing definition for 11a.
I thought this was quite tough and what on earth happened to (the now amended) 11a?! Smart thoughout. I enjoyed the 12a/16a combo, 1a’s sharp, 11d’s fun and 27a is excellent. The surfaces were largely crisp and clean. I didn’t think the clever 9a read quite right and the “up” in 19d (great clue) was a tad mean. But hugely enjoyable and well worth the tussle. Many thanks to the setter and Gazza.
The first two words are also missing from 11a in the dead tree version.
All over in ** time for me.
Thanks to all.
Yes – that is what I meant by printed – the newspaper.
3*/3*. I found this quite challenging for a Wednesday but I enjoyed it on the whole despite having been mystified by the apparently definitionless 11a. I even checked the puzzles app to see if there might be a late amendment but that is the same as in the dead tree version.
I don’t also don’t fully understand 19d. The answer (in America!) can mean a type of “wind” but not a “wind up”.
Thanks to the setter and to Gazza.
I see that the app has now been updated!
I parsed 19d slightly differently, as “wind up person” and “on the fiddle”, and accordingly did not think of the American possibility at all!
MG, that’s a plausible explanation but even then I’m not convinced that “on the fiddle” = 19d. It needs to be “person on the fiddle” so “person” would be doing double duty.
I don’t see the problem – wind up is a wind of high intensity.
I didn’t know that. Now, the clue makes sense.
Thank you, Gazza.
Managed about three quarters before needing hints
12a is a lovely word
Haika day has come
As Franco told us last week
Spring is in the air.
Beloved Big Dave
Is always good to follow
Sunshine will please us.
(With apologies to true Haika composers)
A very enjoyable midweek tussle.
Lots of excellent clues makes it hard to pick a top three but I’ll go with 1a (threw me off the scent beautifully), 13a (great anagram and surface) and 11d for its construction.
Many thanks to the super setter and Gazzeroony.
3*/4*
Absolutely super puzzle. Some of the surfaces were fantastic (1a, 10a, 13a, 29a, 11d), with my favourite being 29a. Needed the hint for the last one (27a). Grrr.
***/****
Just finished the puzzle and was pleased to read Gazza’s Load in my last clue 11a.
Well clued throughout ,favourite was 1a confirmed by Chambers,liked 16a and 18d. indeed a lovely word as JB
A ***/*** as per RD
Welcome to the blog, Susan.
Welcome from me, as well, Susan. Please join the party and comment again. 👍
Mrs Susan Young is very formal – the naughty boys will be calling you Suzy before long, just you wait and see. Welcome by the way.
Very sorry about your gory mishap, DG, must have been awful. Speedy recovery.
The Naughty Boys of Kinnerley stores will do no such thing, DG! 🤭
We are far too gentle! Butter wouldn’t melt!
Good puzzle, very satisfying and, for me, a step up in challenge from the last couple of days, as it should be. Many great surface reads, plenty of wit, and a nice range of clue types. All bar three at the first sitting, the hold-outs (1a, 27a, 19d) falling straight-away on my return from the morning dog-walk: the benefit of fresh air and sunshine! Ticks all over so shall limit podium places to 2d, 11d & 28a.
2 / 4
Many thanks to the setter and to Gazza – wonderful cartoons as ever, broad smiles resulted!
All completed but not without a bit of head scratching, neither the digital paper version or old tree version had the definition so I wasted along time on that one and as 5d was a new word to me that didn’t help either. So a couple of guesses later I finished. I had 1a as my favourite as I was looking for the wrong answer for ages. There were several others I enjoyed including the 12/18a combo.
The sun is out but it has been bitterly cold.
Many thanks to the setter and to Gazza for the hints and sanity restoration!
I see the 11a bit got missed form my comment…
Re 5d, I eventually thought of —- and kin.
Me too, Merusa. Kin are family while …. are friends.
Going away and coming
Back paid off.
Giving me 2.5 time.
1a my COTD.
Thanks, setter, for this
Satisfying puzzle
And thanks Gazza.
As pointed out 11a lacking. This held me up in that quadrant. In agreement with others on 19d wind yes but not up and for me a wind up person is not a twister. A good selection of clues to choose from but 22 and 8 caught my eye ( whoops)
Confession from your compiler – I hope my sin of omission at 11Ac. has not detracted too much from the enjoyment. My apologies for that, totally missed on two test solves! (Still making the odd appearance on Wednesdays…).
Thanks for comments and kind regards to all.
Welcome back, Jay, and thanks for the enjoyable puzzle.
Even Homer nods!
Welcome back. I knew there was something familiar about the style of the crossword but never thought that you’d be the setter
Lovely puzzle, Jay
So nice to see you again, Jay, you are certainly greatly missed.
Welcome back, Jay! Good to see you and hope you return again soon. 👍
Great puzzle. Loved it. 😊
Lovely puzzle, many thanks.
A warm welcome back, Jay. Please keep them coming!
Good man yerself for coming clean on 11a, I’d have blamed the editor.😉
Thanks for showing up again. Missed your puzzles!
Welcome, welcome back! You’ve been missed, don’t you dare stay away this long again.
Overall fairly enjoyable, but spoilt by the new clue type in 11a “spot the definition”, and surely 27a should be “…referees do”, or is this the new grammar?
Since am not a great pre-prandial scotch person will go for a 15a as fave of the moment!
Thanks to the setter and to Gazza for the clarifications.
PS sign-up stuff still not being saved….
Unsurprisingly 11a mystified me too as an iPad solver but now fully understood thanks to the many comments above. That aside, I found this thoroughly absorbing and highly entertaining with a great selection of clues from which to pick my favourite, 11d.
Welcome back to Jay and many thanks for a fine puzzle. Thanks, too, to supersub Gazza.
Had the same problems as others with 11a, dithered over the 1a fold and thought the surface of 18d was a little strange but overall this was a good mid-week solve. Needless to say, Gazza’s cartoon selection was the icing on the cake.
Thanks to our old friend, Jay, and to the afore-mentioned Gazza for holding the reins whilst our 2Ks are gadding about.
Enjoyable and somewhat challenging.
Being slightly late to the party, 11a had already been changed on the puzzle site version, so no issues there for me.
I struggled with the definition part of 1a, which was not the best of starts. Good clue, though.
6d made me smile as did the high roller in 29a.
Like others, 27a was my last one in. I just could not see it.
Thank you Jay and Gazza.
Enjoyable solve, though never heard of (or drunk) 15a nor was I aware of 18d but hey, that’s what’s Google for I guess.
Thanks to Jay and Gazza
A bit late commenting today as yesterday afternoon I’d put my watch ‘somewhere safe’ in the house before going outside to do some gardening. Started looking for it at about 5 o’clock yesterday right up to half past eight before calling it a day.
A further four hours of constant searching today before it turned up in very room me and Mrs TC had thoroughly searched top to bottom many times yesterday.
Swear blind we’ve got a poltergeist!
Superb puzzle today, great clueing throughout, a real treat.
Favourites today were 13a, as this is one of the words that Mrs TC can’t pronounce for the life of her (together with triangular, Dracula, and millennium), and 1a. Many thanks to our setter, a gem!
The responsibility for things reappearing where one knows they were but couldn’t be found goes to the ‘borrowers’ in my house!!
We lived in a house with a ghost. She was a lady in white and often hid items. After I couldn’t find my electric toothbrush it turned up in the garage! 🤔
For me a typical Wednesday in that I found it hard to get going and some clues that don’t quite make it for me.
2.5*/3*
Favourites include 1a, 9a, 21a, 29a, 7d & 11d — with winner 29a
Smiles from 9a, 16a, 11d & 19d
Thanks to setter & Gazza for hints/blog
PLEASE NOTE: I still have to add my name and ID everyday before I post since the site crash last week … Am I the only one? I see no one else bringing this up.
An error in your email address sent you into moderation
At the moment there is a choice between having to add your name etc or the site going wrong and you getting a 503 error message. This has been explained a few times which is why people have mainly stopped mentioning it
Sorry … I must have missed that message explaining the issue.
What is the error in the email address?
Apologies you’d omitted the L in your alias. The email address was fine
Thank you CS, but that doesn’t appear to explain why I have to input my alias and email address every time now, despite ticking the save box.
What am I doing wrong or differently?
No, you’re not the only one!
The back end change that I had to make to the site to prevent the dreaded 503 errors has the side effect that cookies stored on reader’s machines are ignored. That’s why everyone has to enter details every time. I’m trying to find a fix for that.
Superb puzzle. I was struggling to get any solved until 21a then slowly but surely picked up speed until 27a. Had to walk the dog and have a second cuppa before that one fell. Favourite clues have to be the anagrams today which allowed me to get a foothold. Thank you to Jay, great to see you back, and to Gazza.
You used to call yourself Rosie Posie. Both aliases will work from now on
Like most people I found 11a difficult to understand but the rest of the guzzle was a delight. 9 and 29a were my favourites. Thanks to the returned setter! and to Gazza.
How lovely to see Jay again.
Stuff to do but back later!
Just enough bite to make deciphering both stimulating and enjoyable.. Obviously I wasn’t alone in having to bung in 11a but it did have to be. Course in 9a may be only a part of it. Thanks and welcome back Jay and do please come again soon. Thanks also Gazza for the fun of cartooned hints.
Glad it was not just me that found this puzzle challenging but it was very enjoyable all the same. Cotd for the smile factor alone is 6d. Thanks to Jay and Gazza
Quite a decent puzzle but with a few tricky clues. I could not see the ‘load’ in 11a or the key in 28a. 1a was on the weak side but I really liked 22a, 16a and 12a.
Thx to all
***/***
11a being printed wrong did nor help!
Welcome to the blog, Nikki.
Welcome from me as well, NK. What did you think of the puzzle as a whole?
Be great to hear from you again. 👍
Ah, Jay is back, all’s right with the world. A little tricky, but perfectly right for a Wednesday. I was able to get enough checkers first run through to get me going, until the NW. I needed to go in for the hint for 1a to get going again, I liked that, clever. I had to use ehelp for 14d, my last in. Lovely word at 13a, but my top three are 29a, 11d and 18d.
Thank you Jay, you’re a star, and to Gazza for unravelling a few … and, of course, the cartoons!
Struggling to get a foothold, here I was thinking this is looking like a Jay puzzle, as he and I were always on different wavelengths. Lo and behold, it is the man himself. It’s slowly coming together after a peek at my self imposed limit of picture hints and they are clearly not tough clues, it’s just me. Although not being a traffic engineer I never would have got 4d despite it being an anagram. Offset those by getting 7d, despite not being au fait with booze. Thanks to Jay for exercising my brain cells and to Gazza. Hopefully will be able to finish this later.
I’ve got xxxxxxxx on the clock (in the puzzles app) and still got 4 clues to solve (1a, plus 3 in the bottom right). It’s been slow progress but at one stage I doubted I’d even complete half of it
Because people’s solving times can vary from person to person, we ask that people don’t mention times at all
Apologies
Don’t worry, Matt – we have all erred! 🤭
Bottom right got me too! Thank you Jay and Gazza
3/4. First pass yielded very little but once I got a toe hold all went well apart from parsing 11a which I see from the comments was a publishing issue. My favourite was 18d once I trawled up the meaning of corporation. Thanks to Jay and Gazza.
This one felt very different to recent puzzles and I see Jay has been missing for a while. Thanks Jay as I really enjoyed it , and felt pleased to complete it without help as it was a bit of a mind stretch at times. My favourite was 29a the high roller. Thanks to Gazza too.
Another jolly nice DT with 18D taking top place for me. Many thanks Jay (?) and Gazza.
Just a quick update. I have now heard from Chriscross and she hasn’t had time to comment because her husband has been very ill. She has been spending time organising a care home for him. She thanks everyone for their good wishes and hopes to be back commenting soon but is visiting her husband every day and has little time at present. She does, however, look at the blog on a daily basis.
Thanks Steve. That is so sad, I hope she finds a care home for him, I think she’s had her health problems as well. If you’re reading this Chriscross, here’s sending best wishes and I hope you get it all sorted soon.
Her husband is in a care home now, Merusa.
I’m glad you managed to find out about Chriscross and can quite understand that she has other, far more important, things on her mind at the moment. I do hope that the care home turns out to be suitable for her other half – what a worrying time to go through.
Oh CC I’m so sorry and you’ve not been too good yourself. We all send our love ❤️
That we do, DG.
Way beyond me today. I have done easier toughies. Having said that it is probably a wavelength issue.
Solved 4 clues before calling it a day.
Thanks to all.
I decided that 11a was a typo or whatever the correct term is for missing text but I had all the checkers and it couldn’t be anything else. Hadn’t heard of 15a and had the same reservations about 19d as others. Apart from those just about as straightforward as they come but enjoyable all the same. Favourite was 27a. Thanks to Jay and Gazza.
I just had three left to do at lunchtime when I had to shoot off to a Trustees meeting. Haha with my fingers all bandaged up I couldn’t do the minutes and the person who stood in kept morning about it. Have I got to write that down? Anyway I have just finished Jay’s lovely guzzle, I really liked the dodgy Tory and 3,8 & 20d. Huge thanks to Jay and to Gazza for helping me out on 27a. Seeing the nurse tomorrow and dressing being changed so I’ll see what the progress is!
Frustrated by this puzzle today. Normally I get traction early but I was not on the wavelength of the setter. 11A in the paper did not give the full clue….
Didn’t read through all of the comments but see Jay popped in to claim ownership ( the trademark letter substitution an indication). An extremely ponderous solve (not helped by a few cocktails) but got there eventually.
Thanks to Jay & to Gazza
Terence’s comment prompted me to read through yesterday’s comments to see the news about Chriscross (thanks for the update Steve). My very best too to her & her husband.
3*/4* …..
liked 6D “Spot big house occupied by politician (6)”
& the illustrations in the review.