DT 30602

115 comments on “DT 30602”

1. apropos the new site: I print off the crosswords everyday, the new site uses a lot more printing ink than the old, much beloved, site. Its going to cost me a lot more! They need to sort out a better print off.

   1. When the soon to be retired site was released the grid was larger than the preceding one. Many people complained that the new version was using more ink. The solution was to have the grid in grey, rather than black.

      When the new site was released about 18 months ago, this simple but brilliant fact seems to have been ignored. I think it is a case of web developers not actually knowing what the customer wants.

      I use the old site to do most of the puzzles (cryptic, quick, 2 x sudoku) and I print the toughie because I like to have scribble room for this one. Having tried the new site for completing a sudoku I find it frustrating that you cannot enter a choice of numbers in each cell. The new site is not really fit for purpose in many ways.

      Long live the old site!

      1. Hi Miles. Just to let you know that you can enter a choice of numbers in Sudoku on the new website; if you click or tap the word “Notes” under the link, you can enter as many possibilities into a cell as you like.

         1. Speaking of Sudoku puzzles, how I wish that you would remove the shading in the puzzles that are published on Saturdays (I have emailed the DT oft). The gray shading is the same colour as pencil – thus the paper versions are effectively unusable.

      2. Exactly.

      3. Miles,

         Perhaps you’d like to reply to Mr Lancaster’s note to you.

         I use the app for the new puzzles and it is absolutely fine, if not better than the old .

         Try the app.

   2. Are you able to set your print quality to draft, Lynne? Doing so would save some of the ink.

      1. I’ve set my print preferences to draft and grayscale but his does not appear to have any effect.

   3. Thanks everyone very helpful xx

      1. I use a B&W laser printer. Much cheaper @ £35 ish for 4500 -5000 copies. Pleased to see that DT does appear to be aware of our concerns.
         Thanks for a great site.

         1. You’ve changed your alias so this required moderation. Both aliases will work from now on.

   4. I remember reading that, mil for mil, printer ink costs more than Chanel No 5

      1. I have no doubt you’re right. I use both!

         1. Perfumed printing, Merusa?

   5. Re the printer Lynne, when we had a cartridge printer, we were at the store at least once a month buying 1 or 2 cartridges. Last July we replaced it with an Epson EcoTank. It has liquid ink instead of cartridges. We print mostly crosswords, receipts etc. but I also produces a family history book, 150 pages, 3 volumes, and numerous reprints after editing. So far more printing than normal. We have yet to buy any more ink… that’s 10 months now and counting. Still almost half a tank of ink left. Has saved us a fortune in cartridges. The only downside I have found is the need to clean the heads more often, but so easy to do with their app. Thoroughly recommend.

      1. WOW!

      2. We have the same. Had it 3 years and only bought ink once ! And I print at least once a day. This included lots of printing for an MA too.

   6. I totally agree. I reduce the size but it’s still very ink-heavy. Grey would be much better than black, better for our purses, better for the environment.

2. All went in fairly smoothly, with a slight pause on 10a, my LOI.
   Ticks for 4a (very topical), 25a and 26a (horrible, but very PC).
   Thank you setter and our Kiwi friends, if you are still awake.

   1. With regard to 26a – lovely Matt on the front page.

3. can someone give me the 4 missing letters of 22d?

   1. When you find something out you xxxxxxxx it

   2. Same as 6 balls in the sideways game.

      1. of course!! Many thanks

      2. Why “sideways game”? I need to store for my growing cricketese knowledge.

         1. Dear Merusa,
            The bowler is sideways on when he bowls, the batsman is sideways on when he faces the bowler (but he has his face towards the bowler).

            1. Thank you! I’ll be on the lookout! I’ll soon be able to talk cricket.

   3. Over!

   4. Over

      1. Welcome to the blog, Rosemary.
         What did you think of the puzzle?

4. Found this one to be a bit average in all departments. Not bad, but nothing to write home about. Favourites were 21a and 22d, with the winner being the lovely 10a. **/***

5. I struggled with this one. It’s another of those grids where the bottom-left and top-right corners are triangles only loosely connected to the main diagonal of the rest of the entries. In a reversal of 2 Fridays ago, after several passes today I had both triangles complete but only 1 answer in the main bit, which made further progress awkward, and I resorted to an anagram solver to get unstuck.

   My top few were 18d’s ban (for being one of those were I sceptically follow the cryptic instructions and am surprised when an actual word appears), the short 20a, and 17a’s military base. Thank you to the setter for the puzzle, and the Kiwis for explaining the missing half of 22d.

6. I enjoyed this pleasant accompaniment for the hobnobs and coffee – it threatened to pose greater resistance than proved to be the case but required sufficient exercise of the LGCs not to be a walk-over. Honours for me to 10a, 25a and 2d for its great surface read.

   2 / 3

   Many thanks to the setter and to the 2Ks – long may access to the old site be preserved!

   1. Hobnobs and coffee! My, you know how to live it up😊

   2. Can’t have Hobnobs in the house: one nibble and I’m nobbled.

      1. I bought a pack last week knowing someone was coming round to do some work on the car. Opened and offered to the chap with a cup of tea, but he declined to take any. A tragedy for my waistline, though not for my tastebuds …

7. Like the 2Kiwis, I was pleased and relieved to find that the ‘superior old’ web site was still available. But with the implementation of the promised increase in font size on the ‘new’ web site the end cannot be far away. I wonder if it would be too much to expect a change in the colour setting for the ‘black’ squares to make them a dark grey.

   A very enjoyable mid-week puzzle – 2.5*/4.5*

   I did try to make chemical gold ‘work’ in 23a instead of the required heraldic gold.

   Candidates for favourite – 4a, 21a, 7d, and 16d – and the winner is 21a.

   Thanks to whomsoever and the 2Kiwis.

8. A very gentle stroll through crosswordland.

   Lots of fair clues that should please all-comers.

   Whenever I hear 16d, I can’t help saying to myself…..The ******** got ******** window.

   My podium is 4a, 10a and 14d as I love long words that are anagrams.

   Many thanks to the setter and the 2 Ks,.

   1*/3*

9. If I have understood Mr Lancaster correctly, ‘Serengeti’ is to return on alternative days, with ‘orchetra’ filling in when the African savannah is rested. This is an excellent idea. We simply need ‘Hanseatic League’ to make a weekly appearance (we can’t ask for more than that) and we will have nothing to complain about. Brian, of course, is exempted.

   For me, and I stress for me (™ Senf), this was one of those hugely enjoyable challenges where one has a first glance and despairs of even solving one clue; then there is a starter (26a) and one builds upon that until one is staring at 15a (last one in) having guessed the first word, and having four checking letters of the second word. In my case I had to do the ‘alphabet thing’ to come up with the answer.

   We are off to the Serengeti for the day. Hoping to return with some impala to train as pets.

   Thanks to the setter and The TwoKays

   

   1. It’s plain to see you’ve got the day organised.

10. The easiest and best of the week for me, last in was 5d, it just didn’t seem right, as I’ve only heard it used with doesn’t in front with the opposite meaning. A couple of military clues,is the DT getting us ready to go on a war footing with the new dad’s army being planned🤪. Thanks to all.

11. A pleasant midweek puzzle – thanks to the setter and 2Ks.
    I don’t understand the ‘market’ bit of 10a unless it has some religious connotation that I’m unaware of.
    The Quickie pun made me laugh.
    My ticks went to 25a, 7d and 19d.

    1. I just assumed it was those in the market for attending mass

       1. I would have thought that ‘mass production’ would make more sense without impairing the surface reading.

          1. Agreed

          2. Agreed.

             1. I, too, felt “market”: was superfluous in 10a

          3. I’m not sure about market or production.market

12. A quick grid fill but a wee bit slower to peg a couple of whys, namely the context of humour at 19d & what to do with the A at 25a having initially thought WCs for the facilities. Didn’t think the puzzle quite on a par with recent Wednesdays but still perfectly enjoyable. The 5d/23a combo was rather neat but I’ll pick 10a as my favourite.
    Thanks to the setter & to the 2Ks

    1. I did exactly the same with 25a, to the point I removed the answer until I was sure. Those eventual lightbulb moments are why I so enjoy these crosswords.

    2. Have you got your golf clubs back yet?

       1. Not yet Daisy. You’d think that for $500 it would only take a couple of days but apparently not & only half of ‘em are mine

          1. 😟

13. A gentle and enjoyable solve . I too was puzzled by the word market in 10a , but I see from the hint that it’s one of those clues where the whole thing is the definition. Does that sort of clue have a special name ?
    Thanks to the setter and the 2Ks.

    1. I’d call that a “cryptic definition” in that there is no direct definition at all. The clue is just a quirky/cryptic was of describing the answer. More enlightened minds may have a better name.

       1. Thanks Anorak , let’s see if there is anyone more enlightened 😀

    2. I would say cryptic too, but if it’s not then I think it may qualify as an &Lit clue – helpfully explained by Prolixic (in his wonderful guide to crossword clue construction – http://crypticcrosswords.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Cryptic-Crossword-Clues_v1-2.1.pdf ) thus:

       “An &Lit clue is a clue where the whole of the wordplay provides both the solution and the definition.”

       1. It’s not an &Lit because there’s no wordplay. It’s just a cryptic definition.

       2. That’s a superb resource that I haven’t seen before. Thank you.

          I started out with Colin Dexter’s Cracking Cryptic Crosswords years ago. The rest I learned through practice – and to a very large extent, this site.

14. I was 12a when I found the crossword in its usual place today, having expected it to be 21a.
    So, instead of 2d I found I could 19d with 11a.
    Thanks to 2Ks and setter.

    1. Hey Pip. Do try not to 5d 😀 (I spent at least 5 mins coming up with that) !

15. Thouroughly enjoyed all this with only the SW corner holding me up for a while.Trying to get loo into the footwear at 25a didn’t help and I still needéd the hint to clarify the parsing of 22d. I saw 20a as a double definition. It’s not like me to choose an anagram as favourite but I thought 5d was very clever. Podium places for the aforementioned 25a and 18d. Thanks to today’s setter and the 2Kiwis.

16. Thought much the same as Gazza about 10a, but then without it would the answer be physicists or weight-watchers?
    Only one fave for me today (51st anniversary of our arrival in Frogland for a ‘short term’ assignment!) and that is the fabulous 5d!I
    Many thanks to the setter and both of them down under.

17. 1.5*/4*. As I have been very busy this morning, I was pleased to find that this puzzle was nice and light providing a very pleasant diversion.

    My podium choices are 17a, 25a & 7d.

    Many thanks to the setter and to the 2Ks.

18. Hiccup free.
    Thursday lite.
    Once long ones 1 and
    17a and 5 and 9d
    Were in place,
    Rest followed.
    Enjoyed
    Thanks setter and
    The 2Kiwis.

    1. Correction.
       Wednesday lite.

19. We were directed to the new website and asked to subscribe again. Does that mean we will have lost our existing subscription which is only 2 months old. Tuesday was the first time we had heard of a website change. I think that is a bit of a poor show.

    1. Welcome to the blog, ChrisandSue50s
       I think that if you click on Menu on the new website and then ‘My account’ you should be able to use your existing details.

       1. I’ve made a note of that, but I’m so untechie I might still get myself in knots. The last time I had a problem, I ended up subscribing again and lost nearly a full year’s sub.

       2. Thank you Gazza. We’ll give that a go.

    2. At the end of December 2022, the ‘new’ site wouldn’t recognise me at all and insisted I had to subscribe to the site. Fortunately, there was a very nice offer which included an M&S voucher which meant that my second subscription wasn’t as expensive as it could have been.

       My subscription to the ‘old’ site still has ten months to run and so, when the old site disappears (if it could stay until at least Saturday afternoon, that would be most helpful) I will be contacting Telegraph Towers about a refund.

20. Nothing too taxing today though my LOI was 25a and although I got it right I couldn’t parse it at all so thanks to the 2 K’s for setting me straight – was nowhere near the same wavelength as the setter on that one!

21. No problems here today once we had a few markers in place. It’s quite something when some words immediately conjure up something other than the obvious. Oxford always brings to mind footwear which is a bit unfair for our oldest university- which is magnanimous coming from Cambridge where, incidentally, it is really hot. 10a was a bit of a stretch and I knew 22d had to be what it is but needed the Kays to tell me why. I think 21a has to be the favourite. Many thanks to the Tookays and the setter.

22. No.2 daughter arrived from IOW last night to spend a few days with me. Keeping up with her butterfly brain is hard enough without bringing crosswords into the equation! She has departed for a walk into Beaumaris now so I finally had chance to get my own aged brain cells into order and tackle the back-pager, which I very much enjoyed. The 10a market bothered me somewhat and I thought Gazza’s alternative far superior. Last in was 19d – took quite a while to register the obvious. Favourite by a large margin was 21a.

    Thanks to our setter – any guesses? and to our 2Ks for another excellent review.

    1. I thought it may be Donny

       1. That’s a thought – 11a definitely strikes me as something he’d come up with!

23. For a Wednesday, this seemed an easier solve than most are. Straightforward with a half dozen that required a little e-help.

    1.5*/3*

    Favourites include1a, 10a, 15a, 2d & 7d — with winner 10a … made me smile.

    Thanks to setter & 2K’s
    Both of the crossword sites worked and true to his (CL’s) word, the font and grid have been improved in size on the new site … so *thank you* Chris … much appreciated. I also agree with the comments grey squares would be better for less toner use.

24. I got there in the end, but only after seeking help from the hints on a couple where I either couldn’t parse, or didn’t believe, the answer. Thanks to compiler and the 2K’s

25. Took a break from the big Spring clean to enjoy time out with a most pleasant puzzle. Liked 2 d but the last one in pitched me into madness when in fact it was easy. It shows how you can overthink puzzles. For 22d I put in zinc. I blame dad or my memory because today I was convinced that he had told me that his mother’s polyphony disc player had metal records made of zinc – past record. BINGO !
    Have since checked it out and they were tin plated steel. End of a puzzle bung-in to be avoided. Many thanks to 2 K’s and setter. Back to work.

26. After spending the morning painting a fence this was just what I needed to rally the spirits. Not difficult, but good fun with only 10a causing the eyebrows to lift a tad. 21a made me smile and was my favourite.

    Thanks to our midweek setter and the 2Ks.

27. A little tricky in places, but by and large a friendly Wednesday puzzle. I solved 5d but missed the anagram, no wonder I needed to know what women had to do with it. I needed word search for the second word in 15a. I thought 10a very clever, would have been better with Gazza’s suggestion, but fave was 21a.
    Thank you whomsoever for the fun, and the 2Kiwis for unravelling quite a few.

    I’m already dreading the new site, thank you to whoever allowed us one more day on the old site. I know I’ll make a cockup of it. As it is, I turn on my iPad in the morning and various sites have disappeared … eg Wordle and my anagram solver today. I was able to get Wordle but can’t find the anagram solver.

28. A pleasant solve. COTD 21a

29. Where is Brian? Where is he?
    Disappeared completelee?
    Or has he gone and done a bunk
    To Lindisfarne – become a monk?
    That would not suit his normal style
    Perhaps he’ll come back in a while?

    1. Tee-hee-hee. Very good, Pip. 👍

    2. Splendid

       I do need my weekly fill of a poem from posh poet Pip.

       I know that I’ve been banned from saying it but Brother Ian becoming a monk does make sense. If he has, I can’t see him being a Trappist though.

    3. Inspired!

    4. I’m concerned that we haven’t seen Brian at all this week, I can’t remember if he was here for the weekend. I hope he is just away on holiday and not got the humps. I miss him.

30. Lovely day, old site still letting us in (ssh.. don’t tell Mr Lancaster, perhaps they forgot 😊), and a satisfying puzzle to boot. This one was right up my street, but a puzzle of two halves. Right side almost completely filled before I made inroads on the left. COTD to 7d for the chuckle. Keeping my fingers crossed for a few more days of grace before we are forced to use the new site. Hopefully they are enlarging the print in the meantime. Big thanks to setter and 2Kiwis.

    1. The print size was changed as of May 1

31. Another lovely puzzle. 10a last in as I was confused about market. I thought 5d was brilliant once I twigged, and will have it as my favourite.

    Many thanks to the setter and to the 2 Kiwis for the hints

    I see Mr Lancaster has visited and it is good to hear the new site is being tweaked. I still feel it is wrong to take the cryptic and quick crosswords away from the digital paper edition when they are, and have been for years part of the tradition of the newspaper. This means all digital paper subscribers are now going to be treated to an inferior version. I did email with this and several other points, including the fact that only one person of a couple can do a puzzle as the grid will not clear once it is completed [if it does we have not worked out how to do it). There is a reset grid option but it does not work for a completed puzzle!

32. Re the new site, I was also asked to subscribe again despite being paid up til the end of August. I phoned the helpline and their IT people soon sorted it. Do ring them – they are very helpful. PS, hello everyone! I have lurked too long but love this blog and read it every day.

    1. Welcome to the blog Helen L.

       1. Thank you!

    2. Welcome, Helen L. Good to see you have delurked and we look forward to more from you. 👍😊

       1. Thank you Steve 👍

    3. Welcome from me, L & L

       You’ll get used to my nonsense.

       1. Thank you and happy to read your nonsense!

          1. Well, that makes one of you.

33. Morning all.
    Agree with Gazza (of course) that production would have been a better last word for 10a. We had only written in the answer lightly (which you can do when solving on paper) until we had confirmed all the checking letters.
    Interesting that nobody has made a guess at the setter yet. Probably, like us, can’t recognise any stylistic quirks in this one. Perhaps we’ll have a visitor soon?
    Cheers.

34. Good evening

    Strange how solutions which seem blindingly obvious once you’ve written them in, nevertheless elude you for ages. That was certainly the case with today’s crozzie. Several fits and starts before finally getting to grips with the NW quadrant, which caused me the most headaches today.

    Despite several excellent pieces of misdirection today, eg 24a and 19d, the accolade of COTD must go to 10a – which was the last to fall.

    Many thanks to our compiler and to 2Ks.

35. A nice canter through the crossword today after a busy day. Thanks to the 2Kiwis and setter. 25A made me smile, 10A was the only one that eluded me until I resorted to help!

36. Hi all! Sorry not to have contributed to the fun today. I’ve had to go the QE In Birmingham for my six monthly liver check. My car played up and would only go at 20MPH! Something to do with a filter being full. I finally found out that putting the car into manual rather than automatic eased things and I could get some speed up. All the way home there were ominous warning signs on the dash and I half expected to grind to an ignominious halt.
    Fortunately, the car got me home despite its threats.
    As for the guzzle, I loved it. Finally solved in Waiting Area 4 of the liver unit. However, as I write after a gruesome day of travelling, I cannot recall much about it!
    Thank you to the setter for a wonderful guzzle as I awaited the needle to suck my blood. Thank you, Too Kays for the hints, which I will have to read tomorrow.
    Bed for me!

    1. Get well soon.

       1. Thank you, Taylor. I’m fine but the car isn’t. Can’t book it in until 17th May.

    2. Oh, Steve! What a day you had. Can’t you get the car fixed somewhere else?

37. No real hold-ups today except for perhaps 10a where the last word was superfluous and maybe worked better without it. 15a is quite common in dogs, particularly Labradors, known as PRA (progressive retinal atrophy). I had a spaniel, a March puppy, (I wouldn’t touch another one with a bargepole) who never marked anything by sight. If I threw a retrieve for him he’d turn his head away and mark it by sound. Not surprising as I trained him in the dark, I was working long hours in those days so the light was gone when I got home, unfortunately he went deaf at a youngish age of 9/10 years. This didn’t prove to be a problem as he’d rush out 10 or 20 yards and spin round as if to say “where now” then obey hand signals implicitly. A friend of mine used to say he loved watching me work him as the whole thing was conducted in complete silence, no whistling or shouting, (a waste of time obviously) and was like watching Marcel Marceau. Enough rambling. Enjoyed the crossword. Favourite was 21a. Thanks to the setter and 2 K’s.

38. I’m late to this one but I think 10a works well.

    When it comes to shopping, Amazon controls the mass market. (a mass of people)

    When it comes to Christianity, a priest controls the mass market which can also mean that he plies his trade (saying mass) at a market, ie the congregation.

    If you take away the word ‘market’ it’s a straight definition with no cryptic bit.

39. What’s with this ‘Choice of anagram indicators’ in 3d? Surely the idea is to write a clue without cluttering it up with unnecessary words just to make the surface read better. It’s unfair to the solver as it just confuses. As far as I’m concerned the clue should have been rewritten rather than “Ah well, it’s done now, nobody will question it.”

    1. Hi Umber

       ‘Out’ is used all the time as an indicator. So, my money is on that. I can’t recall ‘making’ being one though I’m sure it has been. I think I have seen ‘make’ and ‘making’ as fillers. e.g ‘Make the following words an anagram’ with an indicator after it.

       We need the word for the surface to work.

       1. Completely agree with you, Tom, on “making”. If the clue had been presented in a regular sentence format of “A making B”, one would have no difficulty in seeing “making” as a link word between wordplay and definition, However, for cryptic effect, the setter has employed an inverted sentence structure “Making B, A” which places the “link word” at the beginning of the sentence rather than in the middle.

          1. Thanks Falcon.

             Being a Maths man, I love that you’re getting some algebra action on board..

    2. Also, and incidentally, the whole point of a cryptic clue is to (legitimately) confuse the solver. The more confusing, the better it is.

40. HELP!
    How do I submit the puzzle when I have finished it on the new website?

    1. You’ve changed your alias since your last comment (in 2013) so this needed moderation. Both aliases will work from now on.

       I’m not sure what you mean by ‘submit’. If you complete the puzzle correctly the annoying girl with glasses will appear waving her flag.

41. 3*/3* …
    liked 21A “Not going, having lost the habit ? (3,2,5)”

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