Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30,627
Hints and tips by Shabbo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
I have my own thoughts as to who the compiler might be today, but I will leave it to you, dear reader, to play Guess the Setter. A good mix of clues, smooth surfaces, clever wordplay and plenty of smiles along the way. Thank you clever setter.
16d is my COD. A lovely clue. I took forever trying to parse 10a, when the answer was staring at me straight in the face. Disappointingly, Adele has yet to write a song called OA (rOAd), but I’m sure she will now, when she reads this! Some might find the Quickie Pun more challenging than usual?
In the blog below, the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED and the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the “Click Here” buttons. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on and what you thought of the puzzle.
Across
1a Sound of disapproval as mostly tough beefsteak presented to husband (8)
HARRUMPH: A Lego clue to start us off. Assemble a synonym of “tough” without the final letter (mostly) + a cut of beefsteak + abbreviation for husband.
5a Switzerland backs place beginning to suppress coup (6)
PUTSCH: two letter country code for Switzerland after (backs) synonym of place + first letter of (beginning to) suppress.
10a Type of music from odd Adele hit, surprisingly (6-2-3-4)
MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD: anagram (surprisingly) of FROM ODD ADELE HIT.
11a Surround Conservative student in eastern church’s central area (7)
ENCLAVE: abbreviations for Conservative and student inside (in) abbreviation for eastern + word meaning the central part of a church.
12a Towering figure in London that’s usually pickled? (7)
GHERKIN: a cryptic definition (or a double definition – take your pick) referring to a city office building designed by Foster + Partners.
13a How Ibsen upset part of Turkey, maybe (8)
WISHBONE: anagram (upset) of HOW IBSEN.
15a Fish son succeeded to trap surfaces (5)
SIDES: abbreviations for son and succeeded (hint – they are the same single letter!) outside (to trap) a three-lettered fish.
18a Pleasure boat denied American afternoon meal (5)
LUNCH: synonym of “pleasure boat” without (denied) the single-letter abbreviation for American.
20a Construction company (8)
ASSEMBLY: double definition
23a Browned off at toes getting cold ultimately (7)
TOASTED: anagram (off) of AT TOES + final letter (ultimately) of colD.
25a Disquiet fell-runner ventures to admit (7)
UNNERVE: hidden word – our answer is concealed bang in the middle of the clue.
26a Peculiar groups seen circling King’s quarters possibly (6,9)
PROPER FRACTIONS: synonym of peculiar + synonym of groups outside (circling) single-letter abbreviation for King (think chess).
27a Reportedly names places of interest (6)
SIGHTS: homophone (reportedly) of cites.
28a Both sides receiving praise for resolving compensation (8)
REPRISAL: abbreviations for right and left outside (receiving) anagram (for resolving) of PRAISE.
Down
1d Overacting allowed in play (6)
HAMLET: synonyms of overacting + allowed.
2d Discount senior journalist entering row (9)
REDUCTION: abbreviation for someone who runs a newspaper inside (entering) a synonym of row or protest.
3d Leaving appeal, dim European remains free (7)
UNLEASH: a synonym for dim (as in gloomy) without (leaving) a two-letter word meaning sex appeal + abbreviation for European + synonym of what’s left after a fire (remains).
4d Writings from scribes or poets turning up (5)
PROSE: hidden word upside down (turning up). The answer is lurking backwards within words 3, 4 & 5.
6d Make economies to no avail (7)
USELESS: double definition, the first being two words.
7d Sensational wine Tesco essentially is introducing (5)
SHOCK: the middle letter (essentially) of TeSco in front of (is introducing) + a white wine from the Rhine region.
8d Self-indulgent type, that man isn’t mobile after party (8)
HEDONIST: synonym for “that man” + anagram (mobile) of ISNT after a two-letter word meaning party.
9d Old actors taking up golf displaying giddiness (8)
STAGGERS: archaic term for actors outside (taking up) the letter signified by Golf in the NATO phonetic alphabet.
14d Switch positions occasionally (2,3,3)
ON AND OFF: double definition – the first being the two positions on a switch.
16d Hysterical and exasperated over debts (9)
DELIRIOUS: a synonym for exasperated upside down (over) + the usual abbreviation for debts. Very neat, concise and a great “surface read”.
17d Outside volunteers around supply bananas for mammal (8)
PLATYPUS: “bananas” and “supply” are both anagram indicators, so a little bit of additional thought is required here. In this instance, “bananas” is the anagram indicator and the setter is asking us to make an anagram of SUPPLY. This anagram goes outside a two-letter abbreviation for former army volunteers reversed (around). Tricky.
19d Recently stolen car producing tricky situation (3,4)
HOT SEAT: informal term meaning “recently stolen” + a type of car. I spent far too long wondering how on earth the second word could signify a car, until I realised that we are looking for the name of a car manufacturer! I’ll get my coat.
21d Love for university in German city is enormous (7)
MONSTER: remove the Ü (university) from a German city and replace it with a letter signifying “love”. Never date tennis players, because love means nothing to them.
22d Bulgarian ready to acquire English ship, revolutionary craft (6)
VESSEL: the Bulgarian currency (ready) beloved of crossword compilers outside (to acquire) abbreviations for English + ship and then turn the whole lot around (revolutionary).
24d In the middle of morning good number will regress (5)
AMONG: abbreviation for morning + abbreviations for good and number reversed (will regress)
25d Treatment of you and me in prison, stripped (5)
USAGE: word meaning you and me + word meaning imprisoned without the first and last letters (stripped).
Quickie Pun: TURPS + HICKORY = TERPSICHORE
Well, that was a delight for a Thursday. It needed some thought but was all quite doable. I’m not quite sure how “exasperated” fits into 16d but I could not see the answer being anything else given the checkers. I had forgotten the fish in 15a so that took a while to sort out. My COTD is the bananas animal at 17d.
Thank you, setter for the fun challenge. Many thanks, Shabbo for the hints.
I’ve just got exasperated in 16d! 😊
PS The Quickie pun has taught me I have been pronouncing it incorrectly for years!
Me too!
I didn’t have that problem as I had a work colleague with that muse name years ago when I lived in America although she was aka Teppie.
Exasperated = riled, then reversed (over).
2.5*/5*. This was a beautifully smooth puzzle which was a joy to solve from start to finish.
I needed to check a couple of unusual synonyms – “peculiar” in 26a and “compensation” in 28a – both of which the BRB confirmed.
There were some splendid anagrams here, notably 10a & 13a. The latter, with its LOL surface, gets my vote as favourite.
With many other clues fighting it out, 28a, 1d & 22d just nose ahead of the rest to join 13a on the podium.
Many thanks surely to Silvanus and to Shabbo.
P.S. Heaven in crosswordland today with a Beam Toughie to follow.
What an excellent puzzle! High quality and not a duff clue to be found… 2*/5*
Many thanks to the setter, and to Shabbo for the write-up.
All good fun today. SW took too long, as I imagined ‘vulgar’ was more peculiar than the correct solution.
17d seems appropriate whilst my Aussie brother is here.
Overall there were some delightful words.
Many thanks to setter and Shabbo.
I cannot improve on the superlatives offered by our blogger in his preamble, nor those by earlier commenters. I am left with my choice of favourite, 22d, and my offer of thanks to Silvanus and Shabbo.
Splendid.
Lots of excellent constructions with plenty of smooth surfaces.
I had to biff 26a (peculiar was beyond me) as well as the car manufacturer in 19d. My thinking was that, if you have a car in Formula 1, it can be called the second word. I’ll get my coat too, Shabbs. My geography isn’t too shabbo, sorry, shabby, but I’ve never heard of the German city.
The silverware goes to 10a, 13a and 16d.
Many thanks to the setter and Shabbo.
3*/4*
Good puzzle, BUT:
19d I thought trade names and brands were not allowed.
You’ve used your name rather than your previous alias so this needed moderation. Both will work from now on.
Satisfying to complete, and I felt this to be the first properly challenging back-pager of the week, but I’m very surprised at the suggestions above as to who the setter might be: I thought there were a fair few rum / stilted / incongruous surface reads, and TA not having a qualifier as being “former” surely slipped through the editorial process – it would have been highlighted in Rookies Corner. The music type in 10a was new to me, but in revenge I’ll give you an earworm for the rest of the day …
2.5* / 2.5*
I’ll go for 1a as COTD. Thank you to the setter (whom I won’t now dare to hazard a guess at naming!) and Shabbo
Mustafa, I do realise there is always going to be an element of subjectivity involved, but I am astonished at your comment about the surface readings. Although we cannot expect Shakespearean prose, I would submit that the surfaces of this selection of clues are as good as it gets in crosswordland.
Evidently I could not agree, RD, and as you so rightly say, very subjective! As I was completing the puzzle I wondered whether this was a relatively new setter, or one who was possibly putting trickery above surface – as is not uncommon, of course. I re-read the puzzle a few times after seeing the comments preceding mine but saw nothing to change my point of view, for which of course my sincere apologies to the setter, whomsoever they may be!
When I was a teenager, 10a was a term to dismiss a genre of music without passion, with its own section in record shops. It featured James Last, Bert Kaempfert, John Denver, and Doris Day. Val Doonican, in a roll neck sweater, would grin out from album covers, elbowing for space with his goatee-bearded contemporary, Roger Whittaker.
But 10a also was the name of a Scottish band who had a short run of hideous hits in the early 1970s, the worst example being their first, Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep. It is one of the most earwormy songs you will ever hear. If it comes across your path in the morning, it will still be swirling around in your head at bedtime. All of those involved should have been forced to watch their instruments being burnt to a crisp, before each of the musicians was exiled on a remote island.
Tricky guzzle in places. Needed Shabbo to explain 22d.
Thanks to the setter and Shabba-dabba-doo
Brilliant! Some wonderful words, particularly 1a, 5a and 12a. I too was held up by trying to fit ‘vulgar’ into 26a, so the SW corner took some sorting out. It is most unlike me to choose an anagram as favourite but 13a steals top spot today. I was just about to head for the atlas when the penny dropped leading to a LOL moment. Podium places for the cleverly misleading 3d and 22d. Thanks to our setter and Shabbo. Off to try the Beam toughie now.
Looks as though Mr Ed has granted me a dream team day and our back-page setter included his avatar in the puzzle to ensure that we’d know it was him!
Ticks for so many clues but I’ll restrict myself to the first three that I marked for the rosettes – 1a plus 1&2d. Special mention for the Quickie pun which was the icing on the cake.
Many thanks to Silvanus and to Shabbo for the review.
Happy to have (mostly) solved this having had a big fail yesterday. I was left at the end with 5a, had the 3 crossing letters and had figured out the penultimate letter but didn’t know the word. I can see now how the cryptic bits work but I was never going to get it myself
I enjoyed the geographical clue at 6a but,like others, took a while to work out the ramifications of ‘peculiar in26a, which was then my COTD. Like Steve, I couldnt fathom xasperated but that was because I was trying to spell the solutionwth two ‘e’s. Then I looked at it back to front. (Clang as the penny dropped). 13a,was so well misdirected it was the runner up in my top3 Thanks to the compiler and to Shabbo for the hints
A very enjoyable smoothly clued puzzle so my Toonie is on this being a Silvanus production – 2.5*/4.5*
Like our blogger, I got held up for a while on the 19d car and once the penny had dropped I did have to check that the company was still in business.
Candidates for favourite – 1a, 26a, 27a, 14d, and 19d – and the winner is 19d.
Thanks to Silvanus, or whomsoever if my Toonie goes down the drain, and thanks to Shabbo – I don’t think the single letter for King in 26a is the ‘chess one.’
On the whole with 3 exceptions a super puzzle. HOWEVER, 16d, 3d and 22d are [+++ REDACTED +++]. Shame because they spoilt the whole ambiance of the crossword.
***/***(** if you discount the above).
Thx for the hints.
Very surprised to see your comment on 16d, which was my favourite clue today. Each to their own, I guess.
Good stuff – thanks to our setter and Shabbo.
Highlights for me were 1a (great word), 12a and 24d.
I think that the 26a king is royalty rather than chess-related.
Pretty good for a Thursday puzzle, just needed the hint for 11A. As for the chirpy chirpy song I was sitting here waiting for a delivery when it changed to “ where’s my parcel gone” and now I can’t get it out of my head, still with her legs who cares what she sings🤪, whoops am I allowed to say that, will I be blacklisted, oh no I’ve done it again, I’d better go before the thought police arrive. Thanks to all.
This was very slow going for me but I managed to get there in the end. Had to check that Lev was the currency.
Couldn’t get the Quickie pun and now I’ve seen the answer it was totally new to me and will probably be forgotten in a thrice.
Top picks for me were 1a, 13a and 3d.
Thanks to the setter and Shabbo.
I’m now going to spend the remainder of the afternoon trying to avoid singing a particular 10a song so I don’t get the dreaded earworm.
As we are on RayT’s week off for today’s puzzle, I naturally assumed I would have issues on this one. However, I was nicely surprised as I went through it with very little trouble or issues. A few clues slowed me down, but all in all, quite manageable.
2*/3.5*
Favourites 10a, 26a, 2d, 9d & 17d — with winner 17d
Lots to smile and chuckle at in this one too … 1a, 1d, 6d, 7d & 14d
Several chestnuts in this one too.
All good
Thanks to setter & Shabbo for hints/blog
Many thanks to Shabbo and to everyone commenting. I have a suspicion that the Quick pun would have appealed to our much-missed friend Robert.
I’m glad that everyone found something to enjoy.
Great, puzzle, maestro. Many thanks.
So it was you! So much good stuff, I can’t believe our luck this week so far. Thanks.
A crossword of two halves for me, where one half went in reasonably straightforwardly and the second was more problematic. Stared at 19d for an age before resorting to the hints, but this was a peach of a puzzle. 1a and 17d fight for podium lower positions with 16d in top spot. Thanks to Silvanus and Shabbo.
Most enjoyable crossword of the week with some elegant clueing. I particularly liked 1a – what a wonderful word! I hadn’t realised 11a could be a verb but of course it’s confirmed by BRB. Amongst a great variety of clue styles, the others to hit the heights for me were 5a 26a 8d and 22d. Not wholly convinced by the reversal synonym in 16d nor the synonym of the answer, my LOI, but heigh-ho it was solvable so ca ne fait rien. Many thanks to our setter and to Shabbo for the well illustrated review. Add me to the list of those who’d like to see the compilers credited with their efforts.
**/*****
Not as tricky as lots of Thursday’s can be – thank goodness!!
I liked 15 and 26a and 17 and 21d. My favourite was 10a.
With thanks to Silvanus for the crossword and to Shabbo for the hints.
Off to see if there’s any chance that I might be able to do any of the Beam Toughie.
I had to work for this one but very fair, my “guess the setter” is Silvanus, but I’m rubbish at that so it may not be right. Natch, I fell for the red herring at 13a, the capped Turkey started me looking at maps of Turkey, until I fell with a thud. I didn’t understand the car at 19d but it had to be. I confess to ehelp a couple of times with word search, eg 26a. I liked 13a and 17d, but fave was 16d.
Thank you setter (Silvanus?) for the fun, and to Shabbo for the enlightenment of a few.
Really enjoyed this one – SE corner held out the longest. I am so cold I am about to put the heating on and its almost June for goodness sake! Thanks to Silvanus and Shabbo whose hints I did not need today.
Too late to guess the setter as he’s popped in but I’d have happily gone all in ‘twas Mr Smooth & very surprised MG found issue with some of the surface reads. Would have been a brisk(ish) solve but for some brain fog in the SE. Initially took over in 16d to simply mean above in a down clue & it was only when that penny dropped that the exasperated synonym ended mounting exasperation. Was also a bit slow twigging the Bulgarian folding despite the fact it’s featured numerous times before. Otherwise a problem free solve taking me just into ** time though the peculiar synonym required post solve confirmation. Ticks all over the shop – thought the first 6 across clues in particular all excellent but I’ll agree with our reviewer that 16d nabs top spot.
Thanks to Silvanus & Shabbo
Mthe SE corner was a DNF. The Bulgarian currency was unknown to me
I enjoyed the blog as much as the crossword especially comments about earwormy songs …. Anyone remember ‘little arrows’ ?! …. Thank you Silvanus and Shabbo
My usual trepidation when starting a Thursday puzzle quickly fell away as I managed to solve a large handful at first pass. Then it was the checkers that helped me move things along, and several answers that looked right to me, but I can’t honestly say I could parse them until I checked with the hints. 17d was a prime example. Luckily I didn’t fixate on Turkey as a country in 13a. Didn’t know the fish or the Bulgarian currency. Very enjoyable today. Thanks to Silvanus and Shabbo. Will we be as lucky tomorrow?
Unlike several bloggers above I didn’t particularly enjoy this solve. South (post tip-off for 26a) eventually fell in line this a.m. and then it required a break to refresh the grey matter for a return to the task in hand this p.m. to clear things up in the North. Never heard of 10a type of music. Slowed things for myself by stupidly bunging in wrong middle 2 letters in second word of 19d. Always forget the 15a fish and the 22d Bulgarian ready. Fav was 13a for its possible double entente of Turkey. Thank you Silvanus and Shabbo.
A bit tricky in places for me but I go there in the end. Very satisfying to have completed it and thoroughly enjoyable. My favourite was 17d. I needed the hints to clarify the parsing of a couple.
Many thanks to Silvanus and to Shabbo for the hints.
I found this harder than the Beam toughie but there were enough straightforward clues to give a lead in, not easy by any stretch of the imagination but a satisfying solve. Needed the hint to parse the first part of 3d. Thanks to Silvanus and Shabbo.
Favourite was 8d.
I feel like I am in a different dimension to everyone else recently. I found this very difficult and have yet to solve the SE corner.
I would rate this as a toughie, but it is obviously not going by the comments.
Thanks to all.
I’m on the same dimension as you…I didn’t find it that easy nor that enjoyable. Just one of those days, I guess.
Thanks to Silvanus and Shabbo
I agree! Found it very tough today – though probably not helped by tackling it after a long day on the allottment and a couple of G and Ts! 😃
If only I had put the “H” in the right place in 12a.
Thanks to Silvanus and Shabbo.
4*/3* ….
liked 8D “Self-indulgent type, that man isn’t mobile after party (8)”