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DT 30606

by Falcon  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30606

Hints and tips by Falcon

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

Greetings from Ottawa, where the tulips are in bloom a bit early this year. The Canadian Tulip Festival, held each May in Ottawa, is claimed to be the world’s largest tulip festival, displaying over one million tulips. The festival is a cultural and historical aspect of the special Canada–Netherlands relationship, having originated with commemorative donations of tulips to Canada from the Netherlands for Canadian actions during World War II, when Canadian forces led the liberation of the Netherlands and hosted the Dutch royal family in exile. The Netherlands continues to send 20,000 bulbs to Canada each year (10,000 from the royal family and 10,000 from the Dutch Bulb Growers Association).

I will refrain from going out on a limb to suggest a setter for today’s puzzle. We’ll see if someone comes forward to claim credit.

After reading reports of the puzzle appearing as much as 30 minutes late on some days, I was relieved to find it waiting for me when I logged in to the new Puzzles site shortly after 7:00 pm (midnight in the UK). Thankfully, the puzzle proved to be a relatively quick solve. However, any time saved in solving the puzzle was more than eaten up while composing the review. I discovered the puzzle contained a number of subtle format differences from puzzles downloaded from the old site which played havoc with the templates I use for the review.

In the hints below, underlining identifies precise definitions and cryptic definitions, FODDER is capitalized, and indicators are italicized. The answers will be revealed by clicking on the ANSWER buttons.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought of the puzzle.

Across

6a   Mull wine with merit, maintaining temperature for this season (10)
WINTERTIME — an anagram (mull … with …) of WINE MERIT containing (maintaining) the single letter for temperature

8a   Modus operandi aboard satellite? (4)
MOON — abbreviation for modus operandi and another word for aboard

9a   Put up with prisoners, nearly all honest, going to court (9)
CONSTRUCT — link together some usual prisoners, a synonym for true or genuine without its final letter (nearly all) and the street sign abbreviation for court

11a   Novice taking pawn instead of rook: that’s a mistake (4)
TYPO — start with another word for novice; then replace the chess notation for rook with that for pawn

12a   Recording showing huge bird in retreat (3)
ROC — a lurker hiding in reverse (in retreat) in the first word of the clue

13a   Perhaps rib mate, making crockery? (4,5)
BONE CHINA — what rib is an example of in anatomy and a Cockney mate or pal

16a   Wishes to get rid of power tools (4)
HOES — remove the physics symbol for power from from wishes or aspires

17a   Accessory for fireplace or sink? (7)
SCUTTLE — double definition

18a   Protest march: habitual response of the people (7)
DEMOTIC — a shortened protest march and a habitual nervous involuntary movement

20a   A place to grow stuff, not entirely at a great distance (4)
AFAR — A from the clue and a place where crops are grown with its final letter removed (not entirely)

21a   A 1950s rocker invested in corporation at last (9)
BELATEDLY — A from the clue and an unruly or rowdy 1950s youth contained in an anatomical feature humorously referred to as a corporation

23a   You’ll probably need this, if you’re having a row (3)
OAR — cryptic definition of an implement needed to propel a watercraft

24a   Otherwise very loud German composer? (4)
ORFF — a short way to say otherwise and the abbreviated musical notation for very loud

25a   Change Nathan maybe, for deputy (9)
ALTERNATE — to change or make different and a sobriquet for Nathan

29a   One not being fired, losing will at last (4)
UNIT — remove the final letter (losing WILL at last) from a word meaning not being fired (like a stove that is not in use)

30a   Get first of trophies in exotic tree award and progress no further (5,5)
TREAD WATER — insert (get) the first (letter) of TROPHIES into an anagram (exotic) of TREE AWARD; although I believe the numeration should be (5,5), when I downloaded the puzzle from the Telegraph Puzzles website, the numeration was shown as (10)

Down

1d   Might one slip one, for the record? (4)
DISC — an anatomical feature that if slipped produces painful consequences

2d   It’s mad, getting up to create surprise (4)
STUN — a reversal (getting up) of a colloquial term meaning mad or insane

3d   Communist maybe, making a run? (4)
TROT — double definition; the “maybe” indicating that the answer may be a Communist but could denote any supporter of the extreme left

4d   Ian with tum I massaged – it’s not that big (7)
MINUTIA — an anagram (massaged) of IAN TUM I

5d   Obey rules about means of escape, leading to difficulty (10)
COMPLEXITY — a verb denoting to obey rules containing (about) a way out of a building, etc. (the clue may allude particulayly to one for use in an emergency situation)

7d   One may show off more green in France (9)
EXTRAVERT — a word meaning more or surplus and the French word for green

8d   Agree court date initially, with fragments of deal? (9)
MATCHWOOD — a charade of agree or be compatible, court or attempt to win the affection of, and the initial letter of DATE; think of deal as used in the logging industry

10d   Spot where a bishop works? (3)
SEE — double definition

13d   Working as intended? Quite the opposite: support dismissal (10)
BACKFIRING — support or help (usually with money) and dismissal from employment

14d   Trawlerman’s earnings, after deductions? (3,6)
NET PROFIT — a cryptic definition of a financial term that takes assumes added significance in the fishing industry; the entire clue is a cryptic definition in which we find embedded a precise definition

15d   A-lister to go off on one – it’s official (9)
CELEBRANT — a shortened term for an A-lister followed by at one is said to “go off on” during a fit of anger; the official is someone who officiates at a religious ceremony

19d   Sparkly decoration is good? Rubbish! (7)
GLITTER — the single letter for good and rubbish found blowing around the countryside rather than in a bin

22d   Gas, when topless, for a really long time (3)
EON — an inert gas used in illuminated signs with its initial letter removed (topless)

26d   Went on horseback in such a way, it could be said (4)
RODE — sounds like (it could be said) a way or route on which one might travel on horseback

27d   Jelly in a cloth served up (4)
AGAR — A from the clue and the reversal (served up in a down clue) of a worn, torn or waste scrap of cloth

28d   Looks at first of elephants? Affirmative (4)
EYES — the first letter of ELEPHANTS and a word used to express agreement or consent

As my clue of the day, I’ll pick 21a with its image of a once rowdy youth, now presumably an octogenarian, investing in the stock market.

Quickie Pun: SOWS + SHELL + DISTENDS + SING = SOCIAL DISTANCING

70 comments on “DT 30606”

  1. 2* seems optimistic, more like 4* for me I’m afraid.

    Mine has 30a as (10) which I’m not sure is a word.

    Tough one today.

  2. It must be me because I didn’t get on with this at all. I managed to finish but derived no great pleasure in doing so. I’m sure it’s me at fault because no doubt many others will love it.

    I do miss looking for a second to third pun in The Quickie. Not that that is a reflection on today’s setter.

    Thank you to the setter but not for me I’m afraid. Thank you, Falcon for making sense of it for me. Tulips are second only to daffodils as my favourite bulb. You have millions of tulips and they are lovely. Here, in Shrewsbury gardening expert Percy Thrower made it his aim to plant one million daffs and they, too, look lovely.

    1. PS I didn’t see the Quickie pun at all.

      Also, I wanted to edit my last post but the edit feature had gone after only a minute. It used to be possible to edit a post for up to four minutes.

    2. I always seem to agree with everthing you say. I didn’t get the quickie pun because I didn’t carry on through the clues

  3. A pleasant start to the week that proved to be not quite the romp through that the fast completion of the NW quadrant suggested it was going to be. Podium spots for 21a plus 8&15d.
    Thanks to the setter & to Falcon

  4. I agree with rp1428 regarding the star award for this puzzle which I enjoyed hugely, but didn’t find very Mondayish. The NE held me up the longest as I didn’t know either the word for novice or the required meaning of 18a. It took me three attempts to get the correct ending for 15d even though it was the only answer that would parse. Therefore it became today’s favourite. I am spoilt for choice for the remaining podium places but will plump for 17a and 21a. Thanks to our setter and Falcon.

  5. Hmm, a curate’s egg for me – ***/***

    Candidates for favourite – 21a, 24a, 5d, and 19d – and the winner is 21a.

    Thanks to whomsoever and Falcon – I concur with your comment on the enumeration of 30a.

    1. P.S. Having looked at the ‘paper’ paper in PressReader, courtesy of the Winnipeg Library, the enumeration of 30a is correctly shown as (5,5).

    2. Hello – it’s me again on a Monday. I was about to say that 30a was correctly given in the “paper” version: but someone has already commented about that… I’m a little surprised that some found it tougher than usual: but hopefully also found some amusement in the clues, which I strive to put in. Hopefully, see you again soon!

      1. Thanks for the workout, XT.

        11a was sublime. 👏👏

      2. Thank you for a fun puzzle that was a pleasure to both solve and review. I should have gone out on that limb after all and wagered a loonie or two on you.

      3. Oh dear, I’m sorry I was so negative, I think you are one of my fun setters. Never mind, maybe next time.

  6. Nothing to do with today’s crossword at all, but I’m delighted to report, after what seemed like a very long time listening to music on hold, a very nice man in Derby has arranged a refund of the ten months remaining on my Old Puzzles Site subscription. Unlike soggy East Kent, it is apparently nice and sunny up there!

      1. And over here I will be pulling them out of their pots towards the end of the month. They have put on a terrific show this winter, the “Year of the Geranium” I call it. Some with flowers too large and heavy for their stems.

  7. Not altogether easy, with a few holdouts at, the end. Althoufh, when rhe penny dropped I wondered why I found them so tricky. I liked the 5d lego clue and the 15d anagram. 30 was clevwr but should have been two words in my book. Thanks to the conpiler and to Falcon for the hints.

  8. Found this trickier than the usual Monday fare. I always think the three letter answers should be relatively easy to solve but that was not the case with this puzzle. 12a in particular held me up, until I realised it was staring me in the face – I should remember, if stuck, look for a lurker. Never heard of the wood in the 8d clue, so googled it only to find it was one of the most common woods used in furniture making. Even at my age, you learn something new every day. COTD, 8a, picture of the day, Falcon’s Ontario tulips. Thanks all.

  9. Really struggled with this today – NW went in fine but I then came to a shuddering halt and ended up needing some hints – the “deal” in 8d really threw me!

  10. Not sure what to make of this puzzle that I found tricky, witty and frustrating in equal measure. Needed Falcon’s hints to confirm a couple of answers, so thanks to him and compiler for the workout.

  11. A pleasant Monday puzzle – thanks to the setter and Falcon.
    Top clues for me were 17a and 14d (and the Quickie pun).

  12. This was harder than the usual Monday fare with the teasing out of Teesside pushing me into the next time zone.

    18a’s suffix took me forever, making it my last one in.

    My podium is 5d and 15d, for their surfaces, with the gold going to 11a as I love how he has combined two very satisfactory words with an excellent surface.

    Many thanks to the setter and Falcon.

    3*/3*

  13. An uphill struggle for me today, the short words as ever being a bit stubborn, especially 11a as I did not know the term for novice. The whole of the north east was tricky as I could not see 8d and needed the hints to get going again . All that said many of the clues were satisfying to solve and I rather liked 17a ( I like the word)

    Many thanks to the setter and to Falcon for the hints

  14. 2*/3* from me today. Could this be an X-Type compilation?

    In 9d, is “definition” with “wordplay” acceptable as cryptic grammar?

    I know it’s a valid alternative spelling but 7d never looks right to me.

    11a was my favourite.

    Many thanks to the setter and to Falcon.

  15. I for one found this more tricky than ** for difficulty. However, it was a DNF for me as I accidentally hit the ‘reveal all’ button with 3 left to do, oh well never mind, tomorrow is another day. My WI is visiting Stody Lodge on Thursday to look at the beautiful gardens. I’ve just emailed everyone to tell them that they should buy this month’s Gardeners’ World magazine as there is a voucher for 50% off literally hundreds of gardens throughout the UK for the whole year. As its £9 to go to Stody, that’s the magazine paid for already.

  16. Sorry, but just didn’t get on with, or enjoy this one at all.
    It’s a ****/* from me
    But thanks as ever to all involved

  18. I found this tricky for a Monday but now it’s done I can’t see why as all the words were familiar to me.
    Top picks were 17a, 5d and 8d.
    Thanks to Falcon and the setter.

  19. This week I found this not as easy a Monday puzzle without our former regular contributor these days.
    And yet again another late puzzle release at 32 minutes past the hour.

    2.5*/3*

    Favourites include 8a, 13a, 17a, 24a & 14d — with winner 8a

    Thanks to X-Type & Falcon for hints/blog

  20. Generally, my heart sinks when a hinter tells us what a breeze a puzzle is to solve, as I tend to find the exact opposite, and that was the case here. It’s reassuring to find plenty of pals above who found this to be a challenge.

    Yesterday, we were lucky enough to witness Thiago Silva’s penultimate home game as The Mighty Chelsea beat an unusually feeble West Ham by five goals to nil. I am a very soft and emotional person and I will shed a tear (or several) when Thiago leaves us after our last Premiership game against Bournemouth in two weeks.

    Thanks to the setter and The Bird Of Prey, amidst his 20,000 tulips.

    1. 20,000 is just the number of bulbs gifted annually by the Netherlands. According to the Wikipedia article, there are 1,000,000 tulips. I think that may include those on private property in addition to those in the public parks. Those in the public beds are dug up when they finish blooming and replaced with other flowers for the summer. New bulbs are planted in the fall for the next spring’s display. The old bulbs used to be dumped in a yard and anyone could help themselves to as many bulbs as they wanted. So there are lots of tulips in private gardens. For whatever reason, they no longer do this and I believe the old bulbs are now just composted.

  21. Something of a mixed bag for me, not helped by the fact that I wouldn’t use that spelling of 7d and initially had an incorrect second word in 14d. Ticks awarded to 17&21a plus 5d.

    Thanks to our setter and to Falcon for the review – I remember those beautiful floral displays from previous years, so nice that both countries continue to mark that wartime connection in such a beautiful way.

  22. Cannot understand the ** rating for difficulty, it’s a least a *** and arguably more.
    Some really tricky clues for me inc 18a which I had to look up in the BRB and 24a who I have never heard of.
    Managed to finish but not one to enjoy particularly. Poor for a Monday I thought.
    ***/**
    Thx for the hints

    1. Brian, the composer’s name may not be familiar, but this piece of music might “strike a chord”… It was used for the Old Spice aftershave adverts, a long time ago.

  23. I liked 5d , clever little clue.
    I liked a lot of the clues including 1d, 7d and 21 a.
    Thanks to all concerned.

  24. Hmm – I was expecting a quick finish as the NW corner went in relatively easily, but then I hit a brick wall! Definitely ****/*** for me today. Reassuring to hear I am not alone. Favourites included 21a and 14d. Many thanks, Falcon, for the review and also to the setter for the challenge.

  25. Bit of a struggle today, given that we put the rwrong answer into 14D. Held us up for ages but all sorted now.

  26. Super puzzle, the better for being quite challenging and requiring plenty of lateral thinking. A very satisfying solve. I’ll take the plethora of letter substitutions, insertions and replacements any day for this very careful rationing of anagrams! Podium for 5d, 8d, 15d, with runner-up 18a.

    2.5* / 3.5*

    Many thanks to X-Type and Falcon.

    1. These are exactly my thoughts regarding the anagram count. However, I did wonder at one point if this was what was making my solve difficult!

  27. A tricky one for me , but I got there in the end. Definitely more than 2 *. Enjoyable nevertheless.
    Not sure about 25a…..is it not and Americanism ?
    Favourite 17a…..but there were many to like.

    Thanks to X-Type and to Falcon.

    Fighting off a heavy cold kindly donated to me by Mr Meringue. Not a happy bunny.

    1. Re 25a, you appear to be correct. Collins identifies it as “US and Canadian”. However, the setter has managed to sneak it past RD.

  28. Buckle up, buttercup, for a rough ride, this was tough! I had enough gimmes to struggle through almost to the finish. I was DNF at 3d and my bung in at 19d was incorrect, not surprising as it made no sense, not that a lot of this puzzle did. Fave was 13a.
    Thank you setter, and much appreciation to Falcon, I really needed your help to understand most of this. Love your tulips and the story that goes with them.

  29. I made heavy weather of this looking for things that weren’t there and missing the obvious. I put it down to tiredness after a busy weekend rather than difficulty. I enjoyed the challenge, though, with 8d my final entry and favourite.

    Thanks to X-Type and Falcon.

  30. Can’t say I found this a **, easily a *** and perhaps drifting into **** with some of the strange clues. My margin is full of sad faces today, including the awful 8d. Some of it down to me of course, having not heard of 27a, 24a, 12a, 11a meaning novice, and the 10 letter notation for 30a which should be 5,5 as mentioned by Falcon. On the plus side, an anagram at 6a was a good start and 17a was a clever clue. Thanks fo X-type and Falcon.

  31. I sat in Shrewsbury Quarry in the hot sunshine this morning doing the crossword…………quite agree with you!

  32. Mondays don’t usually float my boat and that was the case with today’s challenge. West was marginally more amenable half. 11a novice new one on me. Not sure about 18a being a response. Stupidly failed to fully parse 21a. Surely 7d is a US spelling rather than UK. Now hoping for some Tuesday fun. Thank you X-type and to Falcon on whom I had to call once or twice.

    1. Re 7d, I think it is just as much a rarely seen alternative spelling on this side of the pond as it is in the UK.

    2. I’ve never come across the alternate spelling for 7d, I just bunged it in ‘cos it had to be!

      1. Queen sera sera
        Merusa said “had to be”
        Used American “alternate”
        Which really don’t bother me.

        (See comment 27)

        1. Why, why, oh why does my spellchecker think it knows better than I?
          Que sera sera is wot I typed! Grrr.

          And now it tried changing sera to sear. Double grrr!

          1. Don’t you love autocorrect? I’ve had some truly cringe worthy results!

  33. This crossword took me over twice as long as each of X-Type’s Monday puzzles last month (and over 3 times one of them), so I was surprised to learn who the setter was! 7d (“more green”) was my favourite: I’m bad enough at spelling that I hadn’t even noticed it wasn’t the common spelling!

    Thank you to X-Type for the challenge. I managed all of it except for the 8d definition; thank you to Falcon for explaining “deal”.

    Late on parade after … watching a parade. The school awarded best entry walked with a massive model of Rombalds, our local giant, which towered above the crowd, swinging his massive arms around.

    1. PS: 3d’s double definition reminded me of this conversation from Yes Minister, between Jim Hacker and his daughter at breakfast, which handily features both definitions. It’s from the episode ‘The Right to Know’, though it’s the version in the book of Hacker’s diaries that immediately came to my mind — mainly because it’s the book I’m currently (re)reading, and by completely co-incidence I reached this passage only yesterday:

  34. I rather enjoyed this, although I agree that 30a should be 5, 5 and as a result was my last one in. Liked 8d and 25a

    1. As Senf reported this morning, the correct (5,5) numeration was given in the “paper” paper. I checked just now and it has not yet been corrected on the Puzzles website.

  35. 7d should be spelled extrovert not extravert so the whole puzzle is faulty.

    1. Hi Ron

      I agree with you that spelling it with an ‘a’ looks a bit Doidge but it’s in the dictionary as an alternative spelling.

  36. Mainly straightforward except for 18a, 24a and 15d as I had to check the words I came up with and 25a as I’d never heard of the short form of that name. On the plus side I learnt a couple of new words and a composer. Favourite was 17a. Thanks to X-Type and Falcon.

  37. I also found this tricky for a Monday. The fact that the setter is surprised that people found it difficult shows to me the difficulty in getting the level of difficulty set to a certain level.

    The composer (never heard of) raised a smile as it made me think of farmers saying “get orff my land”.

    NE corner held out the longest. Had to dredge the depths of my feeble brain to get the novice and the meaning of deal.

    Also never seen the spelling of 7d used before.

    Rather liked 21a.

    Thanks to all.

  38. Good evening

    Late on parade, but Monday is a work day; one of only three now that I’ve gone part-time!

    I have to say that I rattled through the crozzie today. The only clue that gave me cause for concern was 4d, and that was because I read “tum” as “turn”…🙄 And I had to look up 24a.

    COTD goes to 13a. Many thanks to X-type and to Falcon.

    1. You’ve extended your alias so this comment needed moderation. Both versions of your alias will work from now on.

  40. Not my expected Monday fun. Struggled with this even though I got through quite a few before resorting to help! 24A clue was not available to me so I am none the wiser. Roll on tomorrow!”

    1. I’m not sure what happened there. The hint was present but the clue had gone AWOL. I’ve corrected the situation now.

  41. 3*/4* … nice puzzle I thought …
    liked 8D “Agree court date initially with fragments of deal ? (9)

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