Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30624
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from Almoradí where we aren’t having a public holiday so I’m not on double time!
Another good Monday puzzle today. Not too hard but a wide range of clue types and some great surfaces. There’s six anagrams and two lurkers so there’s plenty of checkers available. I’ve no idea who the setter is but perhaps he or she will call in to take the credit for a very enjoyable puzzle.
As usual my podium three are in blue. The definitions are underlined in the clues and the answers are under the “click here” buttons so don’t click on them unless you really want to see the answer. Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.
Across
1a Those people with old British criminal gang (3,3)
THE MOB: Start with a word referring to “those people” and add an O(ld) and a B(ritish). Split the result (3,3) to get a term for a criminal gang or organised crime.
5a University representative I call is officiating (8)
UMPIRING: A charade of U(niversity), the two letters for your representative in parliament, the I from the clue and a word meaning to call by telephone. Here’s the Great Dickie Bird doing some of this . . .
9a Gets hold of expert remedies (8)
PROCURES: Three letters for an expert, not ACE but the other one, followed by some remedies.
10a Shakespeare character who was a bit of an ass saying bravo when returning (6)
BOTTOM: Another word for a saying or maxim and the letter represented by the word bravo in the phonetic alphabet are reversed (when returning) to get the character who is an ass in Midsummer Night’s Dream.
11a Another novel about one flawed protagonist (8)
ANTIHERO: Anagram (novel) of ANOTHER around (about) an I (one).
12a Succeed in party we’re going to (2,4)
DO WELL: The first word of the answer is the usual party and the second is an abbreviated way of saying “we’re going to” or “we will”
13a Charlie leaves very moreish E number, say (8)
ADDITIVE: Take a word meaning very moreish and remove the C (Charlie leaves).
15a Passionate, outspoken ex-footballer Roy (4)
KEEN: This sounds like (outspoken) the surname of the ex-footballer and now football pundit Roy who was captain of Manchester United from 1997 to 2001. This was a write-in for me as I’m a lifelong Man Utd supporter but I’m not sure how it was for others.
17a Wings of sparrow injuring large swallow (4)
SWIG: The first and last letters (wings of) from SparroW and InjurinG.
19a Tattoo mad brute designed (8)
DRUMBEAT: Anagram (designed) of MAD BRUTE. Here’s some of these from John Bonham of Led Zeppelin . . .
20a Small PC left with suitable work (6)
LAPTOP: L(eft) followed by a word for suitable and then the usual work. I spent too long thinking this would begin with an S(mall), D’oh!
21a French refusal to accept a European emperor (8)
NAPOLEON: Take the French word for no and insert (to accept) the A from the clue and an eastern European.
22a Serve to Edberg partially blocked (6)
VETOED: A lurker hiding in (partially) the first three words of the clue.
23a Launch trendy, current art gallery, visited by yours truly (8)
INITIATE: A charade of a word for trendy (not HIP), the letter for current in physics notation and the usual art gallery with an I inserted (visited by yours truly).
24a Run through outskirts of Rochdale with black car (8)
REHEARSE: RE (outskirts of RochdalE) followed by a black car used at funerals.
25a Rows about leader of Guides or Cubs? (6)
TIGERS: Rows, of seats in a theatre perhaps, placed around (about) a G (leader of Guides).
Down
2d Managed to interrupt Tory leader William’s angry speech (8)
HARANGUE: The usual word meaning managed (3) inserted into the surname of the leader of the Tory party whose first name is William. Oddly enough this guy was leader of the Tories in the same years as the 15a footballer was captain of Man Utd.
3d State I’m aching after treatment (8)
MICHIGAN: Anagram (after treatment) of IM ACHING.
4d Save money for pub worker (9)
BARTENDER: A word meaning save, as in “all save these” followed by some money.
5d Not playing by the rules? In part, Elon Musk’s reformed (15)
UNSPORTSMANLIKE: Anagram (reformed) of IN PART ELON MUSKS.
6d Press love dealing with valuable material (4,3)
IRON ORE: A word meaning to press your clothes followed by O (love) and two letters for dealing with or about.
7d Unclothed, wear thin pants (2,3,3)
IN THE RAW: Anagram (pants) of WEAR THIN.
8d Betting American wears good jewellery (8)
GAMBLING: An uncommon abbreviation of American is inserted into (wears) an G(ood) and a word for jewellery. I don’t remember seeing this abbreviation of American before but I guess it’s OK?
14d Struggle with core argument’s perspective (9)
VIEWPOINT: A word meaning struggle (3) followed by W(ith) and then a word for the core or nub of an argument.
15d Collapse from Kane disheartened English fan (4,4)
KEEL OVER: KE (KanE disheartened) followed by E(nglish) and another word for a fan or buff.
16d Cheap yet fancy pirate’s accessory? (8)
EYEPATCH: Anagram (fancy) of CHEAP YET.
17d The Police’s leader admitting everyone is playing for time (8)
STALLING: The usual word for everyone is inserted into (admitting) the stage name of Gordon Sumner who was frontman of the band The Police.
18d One brings in products, shrimp or terrine sandwiches (8)
IMPORTER: Another lurker hiding in (sandwiches) shrimp or terrine.
19d Couple upset an editor showing some guts (7)
DUODENA: Start with the AN from the clue with ED(itor) and reverse it (upset in a down clue. Place that lot after another word for a couple.
Podium today is 10a, 17a and 24a with the amusing 10a on the top step.
Quick crossword pun:
PLAY + JAR + EYES = PLAGIARISE
A wonderful diversion over the Bank Holiday morning coffee. Mind you, 1a went in immediately then nothing until I came to the downs. These gave checkers for a steady solve. I was stuck on 19a for a while because I was looking at the wrong tattoo. I was also stuck for a while on 10a until the proverbial hit me on the head. 24a is rapidly joining the ranks of “orchestra” in the number of ways it can be clued. No real favourites today – I liked too many to pick one.
Thank you, setter, for the fun challenge. Thank you, pommers for the hints.
The skies are threatening huge downpours here in The Marches.
I got stuck on the wrong tattoo as well.
I don’t want to intrude but may i ask about Mrs SC? It’s ages since you mentioned her.
Thank you, JB for asking. Mrs. C is up and down. At the moment, she is going through a good spell in that she feels only mildly yeuky. She is now bed bound but the carers are wonderful and look after her well.
All in all, her situation is static.
Thank you for the update, I had been wondering! Tell her we are all rooting for her and send love.
Thank you from me too. The line between caring and nosiness can be difficult to tread.
A great start to the guzzle week.
My top picks were the same as Pommers.
I’m not a football fan but had heard of 15a’s Roy.
Thanks to the setter and Pommers.
Another crossword with an arsey component but with much to enjoy. 13 and 19a being the two in contention for favourite over which I may have to declare a dead heat .I am not sure that 5d is not only about not playing by the rules. It can be about too strict an interpretation of them as we saw when Bairstow was run out.
Any news on when we will have our name and email remembered?
Thanks to Pommers and the setter for brightening another dull and damp morning.
Pretty Quiptic but completely concur with the enjoyment rating. Rattled through it with barely a head scratch but good fun while it lasted.
Thanks to the setter for a good kick off to the new week & to Pommers,
I enjoyed this gentle start to the week. A couple too many anagrams for me, but I did like the long one down the centre of the puzzle with its clever surface read, of which there were a few this morning. The French emperor seems to be getting regular outings at the moment in one way or another. Podium places today for the amusing 24a and 15d with top spot going to 23a, my favourite type of clue. Thanks to our setter and pommers.
1*/4*. Light and fun – just right for a Monday backpager. It was all good but I can’t pick any single one as favourite.
Many thanks to the setter and to pommers.
An enjoyable puzzle for me today. I could not parse 10a but bunged it in anyway as I did not see how it could be anything else.
Not sure about 25a…..
Thanks to Pommers and to the setter.
Bright and sunny here at the moment, but the forecast is dreadful…..indoor games today.
A gentle way to ease us into the new crosswording week, much appreciated here. Rosettes awarded to 1&9a plus 17d (Sting always gets my vote!) and an hon. mention for the Quickie pun.
Many thanks to our setter and to pommers for the review.
Great fun unlocked by the anagram at 5d. Took me a while to get 4d which feels a bit stretched. Thought 17a was clever and cotd for me goes to 8d. Thanks to compiler and Pommers.
Good morning
It isn’t often that I get the crozzie done this early, but today, it all just seemed to fall into place. Last to fall today is 19d, which also takes COTD.
Many thanks to our compiler, and to Pommers. Although I deduced 10a, it was a little tricky to parse, but I get it now!
I appreciated this gentle puzzle today as I ve made heavy weather of the last few. Yesterday’s I finished in the evening . Dipped into it all day , filling the grid slowly then wondered why I’d found it a slog. Beginning to wonder if I was losing ot or something affecting my cognitive abilities so pleased to have finished this without struggling and enjoyably. Thanks to setter and Pommers.
An entertaining Monday puzzle that continues the trend for the start of week, with or without a holiday – **/****
Candidates for favourite – 9a, 13a, 5d, and 19d – and the winner is 13a.
Thanks to whomsoever and pommers.
A gentle and entertaining start to the week – thanks to our setter and pommers.
With the homophone indicator in the middle 15a could work either way round so I needed to get 16d before I could write in the answer.
The clues I liked best were 10a, 17a and 15d.
Re 15a, I thought the position of the comma gave only one possibility (assuming the setter was playing fair). 😀
Yes, but punctuation can be employed to mislead. I thought it would be fairer to have “Outspoken ex-footballer Roy’s passionate”.
Unless I’m missing something, which is very probable, I assumed the football player was spelt with 5 letters.
Sorry for being dim…
I’m the one who’s dim. I’m not great on football – I just assumed his name was 4-letters long. Oh dear, as Kath would say.
Gazza…. I’m an honest man; I can’t let you take the entire blame for that one.
I picked you up on the comma issue before the enumeration… I’m not a football expert either… it occurred to me after I posted.
Let’s cut our losses and head towards the bar…
I would have thought you’re on safe ground, Gazza, his name has 5 letters but if it’s ‘outspoken’ (spoken out loud) then it only sounds as though it has 4.
I know very little about football but always assumed the footballer had five letters. I could see it in my head. I do admit to having met a relative of his related to a friend but don’t think that is how I knew. If you see something in print it often sticks.
Just what the doctor ordered after a heavy night on the sauce (I’m so out of touch).
5d kicked things off nicely, being the spine of the puzzle.
Plenty of nice surfaces makes it tricky to select three for the silverware but I’ll go with the aforementioned, 21a and 15d.
Many thanks to the setter and Pommers.
1*/4*
Perfect puzzle for a relaxing Bank holiday! Agree with Pommers **/****. LOI was 9a – only because I tried to fit in ‘ace’ for ‘expert’ and could not make sense of it until the penny dropped. Many thanks to Pommers and the setter.
I am a fan of Mr Sumner and his work so that was nice, The Shakespearean ass has appeared recently but always raises a laugh. A fine start to the week, Thanks to pommers, pommette and setter I believe Mr Sumner got his nickname from a black and yellow striped jumper he wore when he was a teacher
Gentle and enjoyable, a well-crafted puzzle. COTD 5d. Many thanks to the setter (X-Type?) and Pommers.
I usually find the star rating suggests the puzzle is easier than I found it. This was a rare occasion where the opposite was true.
Highly enjoyable, but not particularly testing. */****
Groovy guzzle. No requirement for THE LIST committee to meet today, which is useful as they all demand double time expenses on a Bank Holiday.
We have been trying to get out for a lovely walk for a couple of days, but events, and the weather have proved to be tiresome. So we we have announced that we simply must go out this afternoon, which almost certainly guarantees heavy thunderstorms in the Surrey area.
Thanks to the setter and pommers from Vega Baja del Segura.
You’re cheating your committee members, it should be double time and a half for bank holidays!
Better not give them a day in lieu, or setters will go mad with Japanese belts and weird musical instruments
A nice puzzle to start off the non-work week much in the same line as the last couple have been. Nothing to scare the horses here.
1.5*/4*
Lots to choose from for favourites … 1a, 5a, 20a, 24a, 5d, (… no bloody kidding about the answer there…), & 17d — with winner 1a
Smiles for many like 20a, 24a,8d & 17d
Thanks to setter & pommers for blog/hints
The downs went in first on the initial run through, then the across clues swiftly followed. Lots to enjoy despite the speedy solve, and a few didn’t need working out as all four letters were completed by other clues. If I have to nominate one favourite it would be 10a.
Thanks to our Monday setter for a fun start to the week, and to pommers.
2/3. Fun start to the week with no standout favourite although many good clues. Thanks to the setter and Pommers.
respite after the head-scratching of recent offerings Gentle and rewarding in equal part -very enjoyable thanks to the setter and to the redundant ‘pommers’.
A great puzzle for a Monday, and a very nice mixture of clues and GK that I knew, even footballers!
Took me a while to work out the tattoo. No particular favourite, just very enjoyable.
Many thanks to the setter and to Pommers for the hints. The rain has just hit us having been brighter than predicted up till now.
Good Monday fare, even though my brain wasn’t in gear. I made a major boo-boo in Wordle, wasting a whole line, I just hoped that wasn’t an omen to how my day would go. I was a bit slow in the NE, then Shakespeare came to my rescue again and opened it up. I needed help with a couple of “whys”, 12a and 17d, had no idea of the Police leader, but the answer had to be. I nearly got sidetracked with the red herring at 19a. My fave is 10a.
Thank you setter for the fun, and pommers for help with the missing “whys”,
A crossword a bit like today….sunshine and showers
5 d was quite an anagram wasn’t it ?
This was a joy from start to finish, except for 15a as I had no clue who Roy was, but the hint helped. A really good, steady solve, with helpful checkers. I was fortunate with 5d, as with only the “m” in place, the answer jumped off the page at me. 19d was a reminder of when a bad surgeon removed our eldest daughter’s gall bladder (a very routine operation), perforated her duodenum, and nobody realised for 2 days. 2 days we had spent asking everyone at the hospital why she was in such pain. Two months later, after being moved to another hospital, we were overjoyed when she was finally discharged, although not well for another two months. And only 28 at the time. It taught us all to research your surgeon first. But I digress. Thanks to the setter for this lovely puzzle on our 89F Memorial Day holiday, and to Pommers for the hints.
Thanks to everyone for solving and commenting, and a special doff of the cap to pommers for the excellent blogging.
Wishing everyone a very good week!
Many thanks for popping in and for providing us with such a fun Monday puzzle.
Thanks to you, I am amazed setters can shift from toughie mode to backpager as well as you have done between yesterday and today
Ta for the chapeau and ta for a great puzzle. You going to be Monday regular along with X-type?
Very glad you enjoyed it! Not sure about others, but I think my back-pagers will be mostly Mondays for the time being.
Hooray! Thank you for the fun.
Wonderful! Hope you give us more like this, Robyn. It was a delight.
5d was my last one in. Odd I know but I prefer long anagrams containing three or four words. Like others I knew the Shakespearean ass, but could not parse him. First Shakespeare play I did aged 11 in U3. I remember my first line when asked to read it “Now fair Hippolyta our nuptial hour draws on a pace.” 13 and 24a and 17 and 19d were favourites. I liked the surface of 25a. I see Ora Meringue wasn’t sure about 25a. Having been a member of the Girl Guide movement since the time I was reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream I thought it was very clever linking two of BP’s organisations. I immediately connected Guides with Cubs. Thanks setter and Pommers.
I’d have thought this one was a bit more difficult than usual for a Monday – maybe I’m just being dim!
Wrong kind of tattoo and 5d both took ages.
I liked 1 and 17a and 7 and 22d.
Thanks to today’s setter for the crossword and to pommers for the hints and pics (specially one of Sting!!!)
I really enjoyed today’s puzzle and though I didn’t exactly romp through it with one coffee (as some of you do I have noted) I finished it with a smile. Only delay was 15a as I don’t follow football but it wasn’t a problem. Many thanks to the setter and Pommers. Typical Bank Holiday weather all weekend the sun is now shining! 🌞
I’m afraid I made harder work of this than I should have, don’t ask me why I just did. Hey ho! Maybe I’ll pick up the pace tomorrow. I don’t often choose an anagram as cotd but I think 5d deserves a mention. Thanks to Robyn and Pommers.
Very rare that I can complete a puzzle entirely on my own. But did today, and in record time! Very enjoyable and very satisfying. As a speaker of French, always like a French reference (21a).
What a delightful way to kick off the week – do hope we can look forward to more similar joys. All fair clues with unconvoluted surfaces. Being a soccer ignoramus I bunged in 15a and then looked up to see if a homophonic footballer existed. 17d was also a bung-in as I don’t know that Police. Fav 10a. Thank you to Robyn and to pommers for being there in case of need.
Late finishing the crosswords these day, so don’t often comment as it’s usually all been said. This was such an enjoyable crossword that I had to drop in and say thanks to Robyn for the entertainment. Too many good clues to pick a favourite.
Thanks to Pommers too.
2*/5* …..
liked 16D “Cheap yet fancy pirate’s accessory ? (8)”