DT 30603

123 comments on “DT 30603”

1. I found this tougher than Shabbo at ****/*** and I thought was more of a toughie. Thank you for the hints so I could fully understand 1a and 18/20/23 down. 28a was a new one on me but solvable. The long anagrams were excellent and 8d in particular. My COTD was the economic 1d. Thanks to the setter.

   1. Same here re 28a. Although it’s a valid word, it is very ugly and I find it hard to think that anyone except a crossword setter would want to use it!

      1. I beg to differ, RD.

         Morecambe often said…..Have faith *****

         Arsenal!

         1. Kindly leave the stage …

            1. Wilco

      2. Exactly.

2. We are now at the business end of the week.

   Lots of wordy clues that needed teasing out, made it a very satisfying solve. My LOI was 1a as it took me a while to get the third word and its parsing. I loved ‘match’ in that clue and ‘so long’ in 29a. 20d was nicely constructed.

   The four 15 letter answers were balanced up with four three letter ones. Good fun.

   My podium is a prial of splendid anagrams: 30a, 6d and 8d.

   Many thanks to Shabbo and the setter (hoo nose!)

   3*/4*

3. 4*/2*. I found it quite difficult to get on the right wavelength today. Overall it was jolly tough and some of the clueing seemed a bit contrived.

   I didn’t like 9a but suspect it will be a Marmite clue.

   Thanks to the setter and to Shabbo.

4. I’ve just printed a puzzle from the ‘new’ site, and even with my printer set to draft mode, the print and squares are so black and so huge that this will now eat a print cartridge per week.
   Does anyone know how to overcome this?

   Anyway, great puzzle for a Thursday pitched just about right, will have to see the hints for 1a to see how grate fits in.

   Favourite was the brilliant 29a, many thanks to our setter today.

   1. Instead of selecting “print” from the website page, take a screenshot/grab and print that instead. If you have a windows device, you can use “snip” to capture the image. If you’re on a Mac, use SHIFT-COMMAND-3. Any other device….no idea!
      Otherwise, complete the puzzle online, maybe?

      1. Ta RE, sounds good, I’ll give it a try.

   2. On the old site I set my printer prefernces to “draft” & “grayscale” which worked perfectly however this does not work on the new one. I print off 4 DT puzzles every day so I can watch my ink reserves draining as I type this message.

      Come on DT you can fix this surely especially as you’ve now shut the old site down!

   3. Try scaling the print down by 50% – works very nicely for me, and leaves space to work out anagrams too.

      Same setting works well for sudokus too.

   4. Hello Tipcat

      I’m probably far to late, but here goes …

      Look to the right of the crossword and you will see Reveal, Check and then More. Click on More and it will give a menu which includes the option Print. Select Print and you will be invited to save a PDF file. Save it and then print and you will get something resembling the old printed copy.

      The grid is slightly bigger and I think the text is as well. This I believe is to help the elderly😎

      1. Ta, not too late, I’ll certainly give it a go on the morrow…

5. Certainly hard, but doable given time. 1a was my final entry despite having all the checkers, and my favourite was the splendid anagram at 8d. 28a was one of those words that I try to log away in the darkest corners of my memory for future reference, only to instantly forget.

   Thanks setter for the challenge, and to Shabbo.

6. Hi Shabbo, I think the hint for 1a is missing a bit, (did you mean a two WORD expression?)

   1. how about:
      two letter expression meaning match (as in clothing?) + synonym of extinguished (as in a fire), a three letter word for “perhaps”, followed by IN from the clue and the front letter of grate

      1. Yes! That must be the intended parsing.

      2. If you just use a two letter expression for match, surely you just get ‘go’, then the synonym for extinguished will be ‘out’, so where does the ‘with’ bit come from?

         Am I missing something very obvious here?

         1. yes, you’re right, it should be “two word” not “two letter”

            two word expression meaning match (as in clothing?) + synonym of extinguished (as in a fire), a three letter word for “perhaps”, followed by IN from the clue and the front letter of grate

   2. I did indeed. Well spotted. Now amended.

      1. It looks like I made a couple of errors in parsing this one. My apologies.
         It was early in the morning – that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!
         All should now be well.

         

         1. Oi that’s my excuse for the countless errors I make – find your own

7. 17a puzzled me a little today, I think 17a’s are used to press the charge home and the cleaners are different being fluffy/wiry spiral brushes used to remove hot embers before pressing another charge home probably a case of a little knowledge from times in The Sealed Knot hiding the leniency that setters are due.
   Thanks to Setter and Shabbo I am just on my way to a booze-up with setters in York

   1. BRB allows its use for cleaning. However I do not use that term for the rods I have for cleaning my guns, and am not aware of anyone I know using it either – but as none of us are using muzzle-loading black powder guns, maybe it’s specific to the type?

      1. Though I started shooting nearly 70 years ago (and stopped 50 or so ago) have never been landed with a muzzle loader and ramrod! If I recall there were just cleaning rods and pull-throughs (or both) depending on the size – from 22s, 410s and 12 bores.

8. Oof. This one was tough. I thought might have been caused – in part at least – to starting it at 12:30am, but on reinspection this morning I have the same view. Gravely hampered my solve by bunging in ‘bolt’ instead of ‘butt’ in 15d, before finally grinding out the last one (28a) after checking it was a real word!
   No real standouts, but I’ll award my COTD to 1d because of the splendiferous surface. ****/***

9. Quite the challenge for my simple brain.
   Usually, I like grids that have 15 letter-ers around the edge but while 30a and 8d were relatively straightforward, I found the other two a bit of a grind to unravel.
   28a goes on THE LIST after the committee met this morning and put their recommendation to the Grand Order Of Lexicographers. The latter instructed the scribe to engrave the answer to 28a on to THE LIST memorial plate.

   Amidst the thunder and lightning engaging the south of England, we must head to Stamford Bridge where the Mighty Chelsea are comparing notes with the equally inconsistent Tottenham Hotspur from north London. A win for the MIghty CFC would be welcome.

   Thanks to the setter and Shabba-dabba-doo

   1. Terence, do you not recall John Terry’s enforced absences from the pitch having broken his 29a, both for Chelsea and Villa? He’s by no means alone – Roonie, Beckham, Messi, Gerrard, Jesus & Neymar are among the bigger names (maybe bigger even than Terry ;) ) to have been sidelined for weeks, sometimes months, having broken one or more such bones.

      1. Mustafa – 28a goes on THE LIST but not 29a which, as you say, is a familiar word to football followers. Indeed my very own 29a were broken during my younger years playing football at a local level. I had been winding up an opposition forward (he had hideous bleached hair, I recall) and his response, when we were defending a corner, was to stamp down hard on my poor 29a. From this incident I now have the unwelcome gift of arthritis in my right foot.
         So… yes… 29a is all too familiar to me.

         1. I really must wear my reading glasses more often, so sorry Terence! Hideous bleached hair seems to be par for the course on the pitch these days, and that’s just in the men’s game. Sad to hear about the foot problems continuing so much later. It always strikes me as somewhat ironic that football is described as being a contact sport when, were the rules to be followed more closely, there would be so much less contact than now! Good luck this evening.

            Yours,

            A Gooner

10. A reasonable puzzle, chewy in places but not too testing once started, and steadily completed from S to N, bar my last two in the SE. Personally the synonym for crack works better if one starts with cracking, though there are options in the BRB that could allow for A=B=C, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard 1a without ‘it’ before and ‘es’ after the first word. Highlights were the anagrams at 8d (COTD) and 30a, with 14a just because the surface made me laugh!

    2.5 / 2.5

    Thank you to the setter, and also to Shabbo

11. Fortunately I had more time to spend on this as the thunder storm needed to pass before outside jobs can start, well that’s my excuse anyway! I found this tricky but got there, the south moved much quicker but I took ages to get 1a and 1d which slowed me up. 8d was my favourite. Lots of very clever misdirection and more wordy clues making this the opposite of a Ray T Thursday. Very satisfying to complete.

    Many thanks to the setter and to Shabbo for the hints.

12. Took a while to get a foothold in this puzzle. The 15 letter answers around the outside were key and 30a was the first one I managed to solve. After that, things fell into place relatively smoothly. Never heard of the 28a word but it had to be the answer; and needed Shabbo’s help to parse 1a as I was also trying to find a synonym for grate. Enjoyable though, with 6d my LOI and COTD. Thanks to the setter and to Shabbo.

13. Like others I found some of the clues in this guzzle wordy and a bit contrived. The right half of the puzzle was tough and hard to get into 7d was a good lego clue and 8d a nice geographical clue. Hiwever, like Sloop John Bee I didnt see 17a as a cleaner, more an iimplement used in loading A gun . Thanks to the compiler and to Shbbo for the hints

14. Not a Ray T Thursday as his alter ego is on Toughie duty and I don’t think that this is the work of his frequent stand-in either. In any event, quite a head scratcher that seemed to take longer than it actually did but that was long enough – ****/**

    Candidates for favourite – 26a, 29a, and 21d – and the winner is 21d.

    Thanks to whomsoever and Shabbo.

15. Good stuff – thanks to our setter and Shabbo.
    My top three clues were 9a, 22a and 23d.

16. Challenging. 15d and 6d my favs, 15d for giving me a good laugh.

17. Good afternoon

    What better way to take your mind off a dental appointment than to sit in the waiting room with the crozzie?

    All done, albeit in fits and starts; I’m home now and I’ve just figured out 10a, my last to fall.

    Some excellent contenders for COTD today, the accolade must however go to 29a. And I must confess to showing my age: on seeing “Miss Woodhouse” in 21d, my immediate thought was ‘how do you fit Barbara into the solution?’

    Many thanks to our compiler and to Shabbo.

    1. Me too with Miss Woodhouse.

18. For me℠ this was pleasingly straightforward, especially for a Thursday: I almost finished it on my train to the office, with just a few left for lunchtime.

    Thank you to the setter. My favourite was 12a with 50% off. And thank you to Shabbo for explaining the parsing of 1a and 29a.

19. I find these ones with 15s round the edges quite challenging, but fun. Got 1a early on, but a problem to parse. And 8d took forever to unravel, even with checkers.
    Going for the lovely 9a as favourite. Lol.
    Many thanks to our setter and to Shabbo.

20. Rating **********/ -******.

    Only here to check if the site is working.

21. 18d the answer and ‘since’ are not synonyms surely? Grammatically at least.

    1. The three dictionaries I looked up ‘since’ in all have 18d listed as once of its meanings (as an adverb, and usually after several other, more familiar, uses). Oxford Dictionaries online gives the example “the settlement had vanished long since”.

       1. ‘Since’ is used with a time in the past. ‘I haven’t seen him since 2020.’ ‘Ago’ is used with a period of time. ‘I last saw him four years ago.’ Hence my comment about them not being synonyms grammatically. They are not interchangeable.

          1. Of course ‘since’ can be used like that, Anthony — nobody is disputing that, and I understand your original comment.

             But dictionaries also list a separate meaning of ‘since’ — click on the link in my previous comment (if your library gives you access), or look in a decent-sized dictionary. And with that meaning, ‘since’ can be used interchangeably with ‘ago’, for instance in the sentence above that I quote Oxford quoting: you could change that to “the settlement had vanished long ago” and it would mean the same thing.

             Obviously this use of ‘since’ isn’t the most common one, but it is a use of ‘since’, and it’s in (multiple) dictionaries, so there isn’t a grammatical mismatch and it’s fine for setters to use them as synonyms in crosswords.

       2. I think one would be more likely to see your final example phrased as “the settlement had long since vanished” or ” the settlement had vanished long ago”. However, the fact that one is used prepositively and the other postpositively (I think those are the proper terms), does not detract from them being synonymous.

          1. Yes. Anthony’s example is the more frequently used synonym, but the BRB has ‘ago’ as one of the meanings of since, and vice versa.
             This is Oxford online:

             

             1. The example to which I was referring is actually the one in Smyler’s comment. Yes, the Oxford example does allow a direct word for word replacement (although the construction is a bit grating to my ear). The point I was attempting to make is even if you place the adverbial phrase “long since” before the verb, it is still equivalent to the adverbial phrase “long ago” placed after the verb.

                1. Ah, yes: good point, Falcon.

                   1. Think I’ll just wave the white flag at this point!

22. This is the first time since joining Big Dave’s merry commenters many years ago that I’ve found a crozzie easier than most. I’d love to go out to celebrate but the doctor forbids it.

23. Puzzle of the week so far for me. A few of the whys came on a later bus but a reasonably brisk finish nonetheless. Very enjoyable. 1a my pick.
    Thanks to the setter (5 bob says it’s Jay) & Shabbo.

    1. It’d be interesting if Jay, having retired from setting weekly for Wednesdays, still appeared on occasional Thursdays. But I found this far more straightforward than I did Jay’s puzzles, so I suspect it isn’t him.

24. Late up today, after an evening with old chums, so the cogs were slow to turn.
    A Googling glance to check the laying in rest (not embalming) solution and plural toe wrigglers put me back on track.
    The 15 letter solutions evaded me for too long. I should have gone to wits savers.

25. The verbosity of the clues took away from my enjoyment of this crossword somewhat. That said I appreciated the cleverness and variety of many of them. 28a was a new word for me, indeed I was surprised that it was a word and can’t imagine when it would be used. The anagrams at 30a and 8d were first in, the other peripheral clues taking a little longer. As a nurse I knew the word at 29a and it is today’s favourite, supported by 12a and 20d. Thanks to today’s setter and Shabbo. On to the Beam toughie now!

26. I got there in the end but needed to check 28a was a word and needed Shabbo’s hints to parse 1a.
    Top picks for me were 12a,5d and 23d.
    Thanks to the setter and Shabbo.

27. There is one of our setters who particularly favours putting the definition at the beginning of clues, but I’m blessed if I can remember which one!
    Anyway, this offering was fair enough although it didn’t really ‘light my fire’. Top three for me were 15&22a plus 23d.

    Thanks to our setter and to Shabbo for the review.

28. A dnf from me as I needed Shabbo’s hint for 1a which was completely halting completion. That said it was a tough challenge with words such as 28a being an education in itself. I endorse its inclusion on The List! Cotd is 29a for construction alone. Thanks to compiler and Shabbo.

29. I find myself agreeing with TDS65 as to prominent candidates. 28A a bit unusual for a daily I’d guess, and the hom at 16D is surely as chestnutty as it gets! Nevertheless, two minor points for me in this nice work-out.

    Thanks Shabbo and Ron.

30. As I always seem to find, the puzzle on none RayT weeks is always troublesome for me.
    Took some hair pulling and head scratching today.

    2.5*/3*

    Favourites include 12a, 22a, 30a, 5d & 6d — with 6d the winner.

    Thanks to setter & Shabbo for hints/blog

31. I completed about 5 before going out this morning and when I returned I made very slow progress. Some answers were easy eg 11 12 and 30 but others I found more difficult. I had to use the hints, especially 17 and 28. So thankyou Shabbo. Thankyou setter for the challenge.

32. I’m commenting before reading the hints or comments. I did complete about half and liked what I did BUT, I’m so untechie, I couldn’t print off the damned thing. I eventually copied all the clues and printed them in Word, then printed the grid, which I could only get without the black squares. So, I had to do what I could by putting my own squares in, having to use two pages, going from one to the other. NO FUN! I’m so mad … mainly with myself, but there must be others with tiny brains. This might be my swan song, I’m so disgusted, it’ll take me a long time to get over this. A POX ON ALL THEIR HOUSES! Bring back my crossword!

    1. Hi Merusa – it really is an appallingly bad piece of web design. Execrable.

       When you try to print the puzzle are you able to select as your printer “Microsoft Print to pdf” or, if you use Apple, their equivalent? That may allow you to generate a 1-page pdf that you can then print a little more easily – and reliably – on a single page.

       Meanwhile do email Chis Lancaster – he was reading these pages yesterday (it did make me wonder if he set yesterday’s puzzle) but may not be doing so today. chris.lancaster@telegraph.co.uk

    2. Merusa,
       Click on the “More” icon in the top right corner. A menu will appear on which the third entry is “Print”. (If you have already done that, I apologize for assuming you had not done so.)

    3. I just hit print and followed the same procedure as with the old puzzle?

    4. See my comment at 4 to TipCat.

       BTW if Chris Lancaster is reading if I type the ampersand character and 4 (instead of “at 4) it rejects my comment because it is a duplicate!

       Also my details are not being saved.

       1. You can ignore my comment about the ampersand. I think it was because when I press Send there seems to be no immediate feedback so I pressed it again hence creating a duplicate.

    5. See my comment at 4 to TipCat.

       BTW if Chris Lancaster is reading my details are not being saved.

    6. No, I can’t forget this evening
       Merusa says she’s leaving
       Let’s hope that’s not the way the story goes
       She makes me smile, but in her words her sorrow shows
       Yes it shows.

       I can’t live if Big Dave is without you
       I can’t live any more
       Can’t live if Big Dave is without you
       I can’t live, I can’t live any more.

       (Apologies to estate of Harry Nilsson)

       1. Tremendous! 👏👏

       2. Hush my beating heart … Pip, oh, Pip! How could I leave you, can you find it in your heart to forgive me?

          1. Don’t throw Big Dave away
             No, no, no, no
             Don’t throw Big Dave away
             For we all want you to stay.

             Go off and have your fun
             You better
             Not read The Guardian
             But don’t throw Big Dave away.

             (‘Cos we love you, Merusa)

             1. Fantastic Pip!

       3. Brilliant

    7. I’m old, when I was young my boss bought me an IBM Selectrix typewriter that was state of the art at the time, that’s how old I am. It took me long enough to learn how to work this DT site, now they pull the rug out from under me and want me to unlearn it all. Thanks to my Florida mate, BusyLizzie, who appears to be more techie than I am, I’ve learnt what those “three little dots” in the top RH corner mean. I was looking for something saying PDF (whatever that is) format. I think I understand it now.

       I’m sorry I threw such a Mary Jane tantrum, but I was pretty cross with myself as well as the goblins at Telegraph Towers. There comes a time when I think you can make allowances for old age and tiny brains. All I need now is a Zandio puzzle tomorrow. Thank you all for your most excellent suggestions, what would I do without your expertise and your patience.

       1. Don’t worry, Merusa. Mrs C has never sent an email or used a computer. She simply does not understand it all and, in a way, I envy her. Anyway, don’t you dare think of leaving! The blog will help you sort technical problems out. Speaking of which, I have never had a problem with the puzzle site. I know I prefer to solve on the dead tree version but if I have to go on the site there is never a problem. I have solved quite a few on line recently with no trouble.
          Could it be because I subscribe to the whole paper?

          1. I was just overwhelmed, looking at a computer screen and having no idea how to make it spit out my crossword as it usually does. I love the blog and look forward to it each morning, instead of stamping my feet and screaming, I should have asked for advice.

33. I just couldn’t get on this wavelength so after 10 hard fought answers I’m giving up. A pity

34. I solved just one at first read through and that was a three letter word. But very slowly it all came together. Beautiful day here in Norfolk and do please watch Michael Portillo tonight on BBC2 at 6.30 as he visits my little village. I used to volunteer at the Wildlife Trust and I think my boss there, Bernard Bishop, gets a look in. Not someone to be messed with. When Prince Harry was about six he picked up a stone to chuck at a duck and one look from Bernard was enough – actually I think he added a few choice words! Thanks to the setter whoever that may be and to Shabbo who I think visits this part of the world occasionally

    1. We come to North Norfolk 2 or 3 times a year and always visit Cley when we are there. A fabulous place.
       Just recovering from back surgery, so we won’t be back now until late summer and then again in the autumn.

    2. I’ve never visited Cley before but it looked lovely & I’ll look to rectify that when back at Sheringham & Cromer for golf. Bernard seemed a fascinating fella.

    3. I missed the programme as I’ve only just seen this comment so I’ll find it on catch-up.
       We love Cley and try to come over a couple of times a year.

35. Why oh why has the old puzzle site closed?
    Printing on the new one seems to use a lot more ink and aesthetically the final product is less pleasing.

    1. See my comment @4 to TipCat

    2. See my comment at 4 to TipCat

36. Can’t get the puzzle on the new site. After signing in it goes to a white screen with a small circle going round and round for ever. DT and IT are are a mess!

    1. Hurrah! New site accepts me. Best to print off from the DT App.
       Thanks, Falcon, above and below, for your help.

37. First surprise was that the new puzzle site printed easily and filled my page, so thanks to all who listened and fixed that problem. I agree that the squares are very black rather than gray, and will eat a lot of ink. See my comment about Epson EcoTank from yesterday – no worries with ink with liquid ink printers. After months of worrying and thinking I might just have to cancel my subscription this was a huge relief. Very Thursdayish puzzle and I too would probably upgrade it to a **** difficulty. No guns etc in this house, so 17a was a tussle and 15d didn’t spring to mind. But we do have a gun safe, installed by previous owner. 28a awful word, never heard, never seen. But today looks like a warm up for tomorrow, so gird your loins. Thanks to the setter for the challenge, and to Shabbo for helping me finish.

    1. Hah! I bought an ecotank about 6 months ago, have printed a few hundred pages, and still have 3/4 of the original ink. A sound investment if you print regularly, or even semi-regularly.

       More upfront cost, but the savings from then on are excellent, and the hardware is much, much higher quality than the execrable £40 landfill printers out there.

38. I just want to pass on my experience in migrating to the new Puzzles site in hopes it may be of interest to others. With a digital subscription to the DT, I had access to the old Puzzles site. However, it didn’t give me access to the new Puzzles site without purchasing a separate subscription to Puzzles. I was offered a variety of subscription options that were not only expensive but also seemed illogical. Fortunately, while poking around, I stumbled on an offer of a one year subscription to the Puzzles site for 50p on The Telegraph Extra page. To reach The Telegraph Extra page, click on the “hamburger” icon (the three stacked horizontal bars) located in the top right of The Telegraph home page, a table of contents will open, click on “Offers” in the jumble of options under “More from the Telegraph”.

39. So, farewell, then much loved “Old Site” … the dreaded day has finally arrived.

    I never print the puzzles but always do them on-line using my iPad.

    The DT don’t seem to have tested this option … the fixed keyboard takes up so much space on the screen that the clue numbers are illegible and there is only room for about 5 or 6 clues to be visible at any one time.

    I have cancelled my subscription.

    1. Farewell indeed much loved old site. I also had to bite the bullet today. So far everything seems to work and I am relieved that there is still access to the archive and that one can still save unfinished puzzles online and as a bookmark. The screen can be enlarged on my Kindle touch screen. I’ll be keeping my subscription as I couldn’t do without my daily fix.
       Many thanks indeed to Chris Lancaster and all at DT Puzzles for their efforts and especially for the all the years of joy and pleasure of the old site.

    2. Oh no Jepi that’s sad. I too do the crossword on my IPad having bit the bullet a while back. Having spoken to the techies about glitches with the new site , they advised me rather than use the website to download the app, and since then I have had no issues. You can also change the font settings.

40. That Was Memorable But – Annoyingly- Really Long Wordy Margins
    That may help with setter ID …..
    I liked it a lot , a great variety of clue length and types . My faves were 1d, 6d and 14a

    1. 👍

       1. Another 5 bob down the drain. Great guzzle T.

       2. Thank you — I did wonder if it was you, Twmbarlwm, so looked at your Twitter feed after I solved it, saw you hadn’t claimed it, and decided not. I’ll try to be less impatient next time!

41. Found this one quite hard to get started initially but made progress in the E , and slowly managed to fill the grid, albeit not in one sitting. Feeling pleased and very satisfied to have completed it without any hints. Thanks to setter and Shabbo.

    1. Meant to say …I could not parse 1a for the life of me – thanks Shabbo for explaining ! 😳

42. Every now and then I get really cross with incorrect “synonyms”. In 26a “abducts” does not mean “runs away”. The nearest would be “takes away”.

    1. You’ve changed your alias so this needed moderation. All the aliases you’ve used will work from now on.
       The definition of 26a is ‘Runs away with’ not just ‘runs away’.

       1. You are right. Didn’t see that.

    2. It is clear that the words “runs away with” is the meaning in the clue, and this is made obvious in the hint.

43. Rabbit Dave @1, no setter wants to clue 28ac! Sometimes the grid forces a less popular word and you can’t always back out.
    Coincidentally it turned up in a Robyn Toughie in late October not long after I’d written this puzzle.

    Thanks to Shabbo for the blog, and to all commenters and solvers.

    1. Thank you for today’s challenge.

       It certainly had me scratching my head a few times!

44. I didn’t garner enjoyment from today’s offering. I found it too much of a slog and not getting the long peripherals did not help. I eventually sussed 30a but that was not a great help. Who wants checkers that are at the end of a clue? No favourites, I’m afraid – just happy to finish.

    Thank you, Miss Terry Setter for the guzzle. Not your fault it did not gel with me. Just look upon it as an Abe Lincoln moment. 😊 Many thanks, Shabbo for making sense of a few for me.

    Some of you may recall that my car had problems yesterday. Wouldn’t go faster than 20MPH in automatic mode but did better in manual. Anyway, I rang the dealer who got a mechanic to call me back. It went like this.
    “Where do you buy your fuel? “
    “Morrisons supermarket.”
    “Not good. Supermarket petrol does not have the additives to help clear the filter. How full is your tank?”
    “Half full”.
    “Good. Fill it up with Shell and drive 30 miles. It doesn’t matter what speed you go at just make sure the engine revs stay at 2500. When you’ve done that turn the engine off and wait half an hour for it to cool. Then turn on the ignition. If there are no warning lights problem is solved.”

    I did as I was told and it worked!

    Not once did the mechanic suck on his teeth and tell me “This is going to be expensive, squire!”

    Service indeed. 😊

    1. You’re kidding? What sort of mechanic gives you free advice over the phone? Wouldn’t happen here!

       1. The kind of local garage that has been in business for 20 years and has built up a terrific reputation in the area. 😊

          We who live in the countryside support local businesses.

    2. Honest John, who ran a motoring advice column in the Saturday Telegraph for years, regularly advised against supermarket petrol, suggesting Shell or Texaco instead, for the additives. I think the claim was that as well as being better for your engine (helping it last longer), it also gave better miles/gallon, meaning its price wasn’t as much over the supermarkets as it seems.

       I’ve no idea how good this advice is, because I’ve never owned a motor vehicle … but he repeated it often enough that it sank in!

       1. I remember Honest John, Smylers but have to admit I never read his column. Had I done so I might not have been taken in by cheaper supermarket petrol.

    3. That’s very interesting and a little odd about your car. I certainly will never ever buy supermarket fuel from now on. 😀

       1. Me neither, JM! Who knew? The guy told me to fill up with Shell and it worked.
          Makes you wonder where else the wool is being pulled over our eyes.
          I stick with the village shop and other local businesses that gain their reputation by word of mouth.
          It’s great to go into the village shop and declare, “I need a plumber!”and hear the reply “George is your man!”

45. Thought this was a puzzle of two halves. The West went in relatively smoothly but the East needed some teasing out. Just right for the later part of the week. Only crib is that the synonym of cleaner for the definition in 22a might be better fodder for a toughie than a back pager. Lots of clues to admire. Podium places for 22d 29a with top spot going to 1a
    Many thanks to the alternative Mr T and Shabbo for the review. ****/****

    1. Sorry 17a not 22a

46. I got bored and went on to the Quick Crossword, and sometimes find these more difficult than Cryptic ones, with only the definition offered.

47. This took me longer than the Beam toughie. I too had reservations about 17a and had to check 28a was a real word. Favourite by a distance was 12a. Thanks to T and Shabbo.

48. Well this was good brain exercise this evening after a late lunch with a friend! Good start in bottom right corner but I had an advantage with 29A. Had to resort to Shabber’s help – thank you! – for some. Liked 12A and 6D. 1D could have given a ‘sound alike’ hint but got it. The setter had a few self references – don’t know who but thanks for the challenge!

49. Managed the north ok but the south was way beyond me. Still can’t see how abducts means runs away but it’s probably in the BRB if I could be bothered to look. Thanks to all.

    1. Runs away with sailors across the Channel (7)

       The blogger should have underlined ‘with’ too.

50. 4*/2* ….
    liked 6D “Nimby is one jumping on my car (7)”

Comments are closed.