Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30667
Hints and tips by Huntsman
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** Enjoyment ***
The sun is now shining in Harpenden after a gloomy start to the day. Fingers crossed it will continue to do so as I’m off golfing & hoping my course escaped the deluge of overnight rain that we had here.
Another fairly gentle Typically Tuesdayish AP guzzle though there’s one or two 24ds where the parsing requires a bit of thought. I enjoyed it much more than last week’s offering.
In the following hints, definitions are underlined, indicators are mostly in parentheses, and answers are revealed by clicking where shown as usual. Please leave a comment below on how you got on with the puzzle.
Across
1a Humiliated, he finally departs after a party (7)
ABASHED: link A from the clue with a synonym for party then append (after) the last letter of hE followed by the single letter for Departs.
5a Policeman perhaps in charge interrupting volunteer (7)
OFFICER: insert (interrupting) the two letter abbreviation for in charge into a word meaning volunteer.
9a Decline flipping dreadful diamonds (5)
DROOP: a synonym for dreadful + the card suit abbreviation for Diamonds then reverse (flipping) the lot.
10a Putt aside, playing shows skills (9)
APTITUDES: an anagram (playing) of PUTT ASIDE.
11a Prisoners exercise with time restriction (10)
CONSTRAINT: link a synonym for prisoners (slang) with one for exercise or work out then append the single letter for Time.
12a Original sole grips to boot (4)
ALSO: hidden (grips) in the first two words of the clue. Clever surface.
14a Devon temples spoiled housing estates? (12)
DEVELOPMENTS: an anagram (spoiled) of DEVON TEMPLES with a pic of the Secretary of State who’s going to deliver lots of new ones apparently.
18a Catherine curt about removing new make-up (12)
ARCHITECTURE: an anagram (about) of CATHERInE CURT (removing the single letter for new).
21a Fund’s last with low returns? Catastrophe (4)
DOOM: reverse (returns) another word for low (think cattle) & the final letter of funD.
22a One doesn’t like spending money a great deal feeding Charlie and Kate (10)
CHEAPSKATE: insert a synonym for a great deal or lots of between the letter Charlie represents in the NATO phonetic alphabet & KATE from the wordplay. Figured it couldn’t have anything to do with William being resentful of the cost of laying on a spread for father & wife.
25a Principal with punishment for pupils – they’re often seen in rags (9)
HEADLINES: another word for principal + a form of school punishment – mine (aged 10 when caught talking in prep) was One ought not to be intoxicated by the exuberance of one’s own verbosity 100 times.
26a Picture that is enthralling mother? Good! (5)
IMAGE: an abbreviation for mother + the single letter for Good placed between (enthralling) the usual two letters for that is.
27a Have groups of constables succeeded? (7)
POSSESS: a word for a group of constables or lawmen + the single letter for Succeeded.
28a We’ll leave as the regular characters exit lift (7)
ELEVATE: the alternate letters (regular characters exit) in the first four words of the clue.
Down
1d Kidnap sailor on canal (6)
ABDUCT: the merchant ship rank abbreviation + a synonym for canal or channel.
2d A horses’s value (6)
AMOUNT: A from the clue + how a jockey might refer to his or her ride.
3d Husband wearing shoes? Pity – bad idea (10)
HYPOTHESIS: the genealogical letter for Husband + an anagram (bad) of SHOES PITY.
4d Tot and adult play (5)
DRAMA: think alcohol rather than an infant for tot + the single letter for Adult.
5d Two dismissals? Perfect! (3-3-3)
OUT AND OUT: a cryptic definition – pick any two from caught, bowled, stumped, lbw or stumped in 🏏.
6d Teen oddly follows female a lot (4)
FATE: the single letter for Female + A from the clue + the alternate letters of TeEn.
7d Embracing cold fish outside university disheartened dad (8)
CUDDLING: the single letter for university + the exterior letters (disheartened) of DaD are placed within (outside) the single letter for Cold & a long bodied edible marine fish.
8d Answer from salesman about first of sculptures on small base (8)
RESPONSE: the usual abbreviation for a salesman goes round the initial letter (first) of Sculptures then append ON from the wordplay, the single letter for Small & the letter (Euler’s Constant) for a mathematical base.
13d Naughty child revises unexpectedly? Admirable (10)
IMPRESSIVE: a word for a naughty child + an anagram (unexpectedly) of REVISES.
15d They apparently never forget when pals set off without wife (9)
ELEPHANTS: an anagram (off) of wHEN PAL SET (without the single letter for wife).
16d Destitution’s tough on son now (8)
HARDSHIP: a synonym for tough + the genealogical letter for Son + a word for now in the sense of fashionable or trendy.
17d Support almost cutting marks for students (8)
SCHOLARS: insert (almost/cutting) a truncated synonym for support into a word for marks or evidence of healed wounds.
19d Father – man up and put on a hat (6)
PANAMA: a diminutive term for father + a reversal (up) of MAN then add A, both from the clue.
20d Respect daydreaming? Not I ! (6)
REVERE: remove the letter I from a synonym for daydreaming.
23d Passage this writer will read out (5)
AISLE: a homophone (read out) of a contraction for I shall (this writer will).
24d Reminder about a third of walnuts – this is what you’re trying to crack (4)
CLUE: a synonym for a reminder or prompt around the 3rd letter of waLnuts. Hopefully you didn’t have too much difficulty cracking this lot.
I rather liked all four of the 4 letter clues in this one so they can fight it out between themselves for podium places. Please tell us which ones ticked your boxes.
Today’s blogging music (prompted by a clue in yesterday’s guzzle) has been Suzanne Vega’s eponymous debut album. Here’s a live version of a gorgeous track off it
Today’s Quickie crossword pun: SPY + DAP + LANCE = SPIDER PLANTS
Apart from the Quickie pun, the second word of which totally eluded me, this was an enjoyable solve. It felt as if there were a lot of anagrams but I didn’t count them. I was surprised that part of the answer to 22a was in the clue but I know nothing of setting rules – if there are any. No real favourites today because it’s difficult to pick one.
Thank you, setter for the fun. Thank you, Hintsman for the hunts.
My other half had never come across the second word of the quickie either. It does have it as a dialect word in Chambers, so maybe a regional thing? I certainly took my pair of ***s to school in Wiltshire!
Same here in Wiltshire.
Never knew it, ‘til I moved to Bristol,
Had been taught the word was plimsole.
And if you called them ***s, you’d probably have got lines….Plimsoll Lines!!??
Me too!
I wore them to PE classes in Cheltenham!
For some reason we called them sand shoes.
My daughter’s godmother used the term and she is Welsh.
You’ve changed your alias again – all three will work from now on
My friend’s family always use the term, probably because her mother was also Welsh
Light and enjoyable, very Tuesday. Highlights were 21a, 6d & 28a.
Re schooldays punishments, while I do not recall that particular monotony, I do still remember being set an essay by a particularly unpleasant prefect who disliked new boys: “2,000 words on the role of metal bedsprings in the Sack Of Carthage”!
Many thanks indeed to the setter and to Huntsman. Good SV track!
Blimey, he sounds like a right charmer. Still, more original than the phone book, I guess.
It certainly helped in teaching me from an early age some of the arts of creative writing, which copying out lines or the telephone book would never have achieved!
Another splendid workout from the prof that should sit well with most punters. His is certainly the easiest of the week. So, there’s an argument that he could swap with Robyn.
19d reminds me of that palindrome about a man with a plan to build a canal in the Americas.
Lots to choose from for the silverware but I’ll go with 1a, 12a and 13d.
Many thanks to the aforementioned and Hoot Mon!
1*/4*
Much fun, little need for any help. 6d my fav.
Very Typically Tuesdayish – 1.5*/4.5*
Candidates for favourite – 25a, 4d, 23d, and 24d – and the winner is 23d.
Thanks to Mr Plumb and Huntsman.
P.S. The Floughie Lady on Toughie duty with a very enjoyable puzzle.
As per most Tuesdays sailed enjoyably through AP’s offering comprising all perfectly logical clues. 23d Fav. Thank you to AP for the fun and to Hintsman (hope you have sunny weather as do we in West Sussex after a few drops of rain earlier this morning).
I didn’t find it as easy as others seem to have, but an enjoyable unaided solve nevertheless. Last in was 3d. I often try to make sentences from the answers, today’s is 15 12 27 13 10. Foolish I know but it amuses me. Thanks to all.
That’s amusing. 😊
And amazing! Thanks Dave.
Love it.
Excellent 😀
Very enjoyable, lots of nice anagrams and some clever surface reading, just my cup of tea.
Best clues for me were 5d and 2d.
Thx to all
**/****
An enjoyable Tuesday crossword – thanks to our setter and Huntsman.
For my podium I’ve picked 1a, 25a and 27a.
It was the footwear that caused pause for thought here, both the pair in 3d where it took me a while to figure out what our setter was asking us to do and the pumps in the Quickie which were a complete unknown, although we’ve doubtless seen them previously and my over-loaded grey matter has consigned them to ‘junk’. The answer to 18a also exercised me somewhat.
Top shelf positions went to 1&22a – two words that rather appeal.
Thanks to Mr Plumb and to our intrepid golfer for the review – hope the course escapes the rain today!
Bottom LH corner held out for me – I thought of posse but was looking for succeed as my answer. I put a daisy by 7d so at the time thought it was a winner but there were others. Got to dash off to book group discussing Paris Echo by Sebastian Faulks. There will be cake! All go. Many thanks to Messers setter & Hintsman.
Very Mondayish I thought and a pleasant solve. No particular favourite for me but thanks to the setter and Huntsman for the hints.
*/***
My journey home from a great English Breakfast at the Bantam Tearooms in Chipping Campden was rudely interrupted by a massive tree that had fallen across the road. As there were no gales or lightning that I was aware of, presumably it just got tired?
Very nice, just as a Tuesday should be 😃 **/**** Favourites 21a & 27a and 5d & 2d 🤗 Thanks to A P, the real Mc Coy, and to the Huntsman 👍 It is a shame that is “so awffy dreek” here in the East, I don’t often finish this early!
How absolutely delightful, a guzzle I could solve unaided! Well, I needed Huntsman’s help to know the “why” of a couple, but that doesn’t count, I got the answer. Fave 18a, it took me long enough to see the anagram. Honourable mention to 21a.
Thank you setter for the fun, and to Huntsman for his help understanding some.
All finished and very enjoyable, lots of good anagrams particularly 10d which I will have as favourite.
The weather is still decidedly unpredictable here in the Chilterns at the moment, dark black clouds alternating with some sun.
Many thanks to the setter and to Huntsman for the hints.
An enjoyable trip through crossword land today. Only held up by initially bunging in the wrong answer in 1a – anyone else put ashamed? It didn’t completely fit the clue which should have told me. LI was 2d, with COTD going to 11a. Picture at 14a quite put me off my breakfast 🙂. Like Merusa, this was an almost all my own work, apart from a few hints to verify. Thanks to setter for a delightful puzzle and to Huntsman.
Yes – I was “ashamed” too – what BD used to say – if you can’t explain your answer it’s probably wrong!! And it was . . .
I wish people would keep their lovely sunny weather to themselves! It is 14C here and been pouring all day and very gusty so the hollyhocks are being blown over. To the guzzle – very enjoyable with no hold-ups except, would you believe it the little 12a which took me an age. Then I heard MP’s voice in my ear saying ‘look for the lurker’ and there it was. Thanks to all and, hopefully, we will one day see that round yellow thing in the sky.
Today’s started really well and cheered me up no end – the last few crosswords have rather put me off so it was lovely to have something that got me going again.
I nearly always head for the anagrams that get some answers to put in – looks encouraging anyway.
Then things went a bit wrong for a while until some answers arrived.
I liked 9a (I felt 9a anyway!) and 21a and 13 and 15d. I think my favourite was 7d.
Thanks to today’s setter and to today’s Hintsman too.
2/4. Another enjoyable puzzle. Favourites were 7,13&15d. Thanks to the setter and Huntsman.
I ve been away on a narrow boat for the last week or so. Been doing the crosswords in between locks etc dipping in and out. It just makes it so much more difficult if you have other things going on and I’ve made heavy weather of each one . Back today and finished todays no problem , and very much enjoyed it so hopefully I’m back to normal. Feel quite tired though. Thanks to setter and Huntsman.
Good evening
I’m always a little wary of a 1* rating for difficulty; having seen that rating, I wondered, as I clicked my Lucky Green Pen into action, if I’d be in for a fairly easy ride. Well, up to a point, Lord Copper! Three quadrants dropped into place reasonably well, but I was dragged to a halt by one or two in the NW; most notably by 3d, which, when I finally twigged it, became today’s COTD. 2d was last to fall.
Many thanks to Mr P and to Huntsman.
Most enjoyable. I particularly liked 27A and 20D. VMT Setter and Huntsman.
Breezed through most of this but then spent an embarrassingly long time clearing up the last few in the NW. Hey ho! I don’t often pick an anagram as favourite but I’ll pick the well disguised one in 3d my LOI. Thanks to AP and Huntsman.
Good puzzle, which did not detain me for too long.
Like Jane, I struggled far more than I should have done with 18a, trying desperately to make caricature fit by spelling it incorrectly. Apparently, that is not allowed.
No real favourite clue, but I will tip my cap to the Quickie pun.
Thank you setter and Huntsman. I hope you stayed dry and hit the ball straight at South Herts GC earlier.
I’ve been out all day today so late on parade. This was light but very enjoyable (1.5*/4*) as we have come to expect on a Tuesday.
I’m not keen on “hip” being a synonym for “now” but apart from that (and 3a in the Quickie), this was all ship-shape with 1a my favourite.
Many thanks presumably to Mr Plumb and to Hintsman.
2*/4* ….
liked 25A “Principal with punishment for pupils – they’re often seen in tags (9)”