DT 30682

75 comments on “DT 30682”

1. I needed help with a couple but other than that this was very enjoyable. I have ticks all over the paper with five contenders for the top spot. Unfortunately, 1a are no longer in newspaper – it was excellent at retaining the heat. The use of French in 10a was inspired and the Sun’s pin-up raised a laugh. Difficult to pick a favourite out of so many good clues but I will go for the reading, writing and arithmetical mistake at 13a as my COTD. Mind you, the social worker eating just after one o’clock was snapping at its heels at 3d.

   Thank you, setter for the fun challenge. Thank you, Mr. K for the hints.

   I liked the Quickie pun today.

   A little cooler in The Marches today so it looks like the mower will be making an appearance.

   1. Doesn’t affect me as I hate 1a but discontinuing newspaper for it is elf and safety gone mad! 😠

      1. That’s the trouble with Elf n Safety.

         

         1. 🙂

      2. Amazingly, we have all survived for donkey’s years eating it served wrapped in newspapers….

2. Great fun puzzle, on a scale from 1 to 10, this is easily a B+

   Clever clueing throughout with a good dollop of LT in many of the clues, glad to see no musical references, which are always my nemesis.

   Only one slight query, 9a, does youngest really relate to the four letter word outside the city? not in my book, but there again I’ve got no big red one to look it up.

   My two favourites today are 8d, and the brilliant 19d, best clue in yonks!

   1. The …. of a litter is the last one born. Or so I have always thought.

      1. The BRB refers to size rather than age.

         1. So I have spent my life with the wrong idea! Just like me. 😊
            In which case, I agree with TC.

      2. Steve, a runt is normally but not always the last born so 9a is inaccurate.

         1. 👍 I stand corrected, RD. 😊

            1. I agree with Senf, that the word in question is the smallest of the litter and not the last born.

               1. That’s my understanding of it as well, smallest and weakest.

                  1. Ok! Ok! I give in! I was wrong! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

   2. Perhaps “Youngster” would have been a better choice.

3. Enjoyably chewy in places and pretty unique. You certainly don’t see the likes of 10a every day! I share Steve’s regret that 1a is, in fact, very rarely wrapped like this these days. 25a’s 1tsp was cunning and made for a solid surface. 21a’s lurker is lovely and 7d’s fun. 3d and 17d too, etc. 8d’s an absolute belter. Many thanks to our setter and Mr K. Yes, the Quickie pun was a cracker – once I’d managed to get “icon” out of my head.

   1. I didn’t even notice that 21a was a lurker! I just saw “egg” reversed and wrote the answer in. 😳

      1. Neither did I Steve!

         1. Me too!

4. I certainly found this more testing than usual, and it took a while to get into the rhythm of the solve, which I often find with this setter. The SW quadrant held me up the longest, and that also produced my favourite, 17d.

   Thanks, presumably to Zandio, for the Friday challenge, and to Mr K.

5. Thoroughly enjoyed the North half but for me t’other half was a different kettle of fish so I weakened and sought help with several southerly clues many of which IMHO are too clever by half. Anyway my reserved thanks to setter and to MrK for much clarification.

6. I loved this one, I’d give ***** for enjoyment. 7d was the first one I solved, then the other outsiders. 10ac was my favourite. I couldn’t get the quick pun even though I solved it!

7. We’ve been treated to some excellent guzzles this week & today was no exception. Certainly the trickiest of the back-pagers though reading back through it post completion there wasn’t anything obscure. Having said that the parsing of 4d eluded me. Loved the long ‘uns so perm any 3 from 4 for podium spots.
   Thanks to the setter (Zandio presumably) & to Mr K – wasn’t familiar with the Neneh Cherry song so a pleasant surprise to hear Michael Stipe & then spent 10 mins trying (& failing) to think of which song the intro sampled – Steppenwolf’s The Pusher.

   1. Huntsman, you astonish me. Ten minutes and still a fail? Tsk. Of COURSE it’s Steppenwolf!

   2. Just relieved we were spared Captain Beefheart here

   3. Thanks, Huntsman: the video is showing as blocked here (Jersey), so I had no idea what it was, but you provided enough clues for me to find it elsewhere.

8. An enjoyable Friday challenge, which is probably the work of Zandio, with a number of clues, such as 4d, that gave pause for thought – 2.5*/3.5*

   Candidates for favourite – 10a, 13a, 25a, 7d, and 17d – and the winner is 10a.

   Thanks to Zandio, or whomsoever if it is not he, and thanks to Mr K.

9. A cracking puzzle. The 4 long outside answers went in quite quickly but the rest of the puzzle took much more brain power.

   I made a stupid spelling error in 18D and when I thought I had finished the young lady didn’t appear. I still couldn’t see my mistake, so had to do a reveal and when I saw the error I was kicking myself. The parsing of 4D escaped me as well, congrats to Mr K for cracking that one.

   ****/**** and podium place to 17D. Thanks to the setter and Mr K for the hints.

10. I think it is becoming the norm for the Friday back page setter to follow with the Sunday Toughie so I better prepare for some Zandioesque parsings.
    Like Mr K it went fairly smoothly until I met 4d and I think we have had some Roman Maths from Zandio before
    Thanks to Mr K and Zandio

11. 3*/2.5*. This was a curate’s egg for me, with some fine clues interspersed with some that I didn’t think cut the mustard together with a few unconvincing surfaces.

    The BRB gives 23a as (7).

    The prosecutor in 15d is unarguably American.

    I liked 10a, 21a, 7d, 8d & 17d.

    Thanks to the setter and to Mr K.

12. Good morning, compiler here. Thanks very much for taking the time to solve, analyse and discuss. Special thanks Mr K for the video accompanying the Quick pun — what a treat. That was worth the price of admission alone. Have a great weekend.

    1. A great guzzle, Zandio. Thank you for the fun and for popping in.

    2. Great Friday DT puzzle, thank you.

13. A wavelength thing, evidently, because I was lucky enough to tune-in even as I read the first clue. A quite brilliant puzzle even if (owing to that good fortune) brief and exceedingly gentle. So much wit and humour throughout, not a duff clue in sight, and I could have put about 20 clues on the podium but will limit to 10a (great lurker), 3d (laughed out loud when the penny dropped) & 14a (one of the best ‘oddly’ clues, evah!) with runners-up 26a, 17d & 19d.

    Chapeau, Zandio, superb. And thanks also to MrK of course.

14. Thank you Zandio, so many good clues with 7d as my favourite. Thank you also Mr K for explaining 8d!

15. A great puzzle today. I couldn’t parse 4d so thanks Mr K for unravelling it.
    Loved the quickie pun too.
    Lots of ticks all over for this one but I’ll plump for 17d, 25a and 1a for my top picks.
    Thanks to Mr K and Zandio.

16. An excellent puzzle – thanks to Zandio and Mr K.
    Top clues for me were 10a, 13a, 4d, 7d, 8d and 17d (and the Quickie pun).

17. A splendid way to finish the week.

    I had to work at it, which should be the case on a Friday, with my LOI being the unparsed 4d. Great fun.

    My podium is 26a (hilaire), 3d and 8d.

    Many thanks to The Big Z and Mr K.

    3*/4*

18. A spot on puzzle and a ***/****.
    Thanks to Mr K for the parsing of 4d which eluded me -never a solve in a million years!
    Many top class clues,10a, 26a and my favourite 8d,I was thinking of the greek writer until the penny dropped and Homer the second fell into place!.
    Top class pun too.

19. Always find it hard to see beyond this setter’s scant regard for surface reads eg 14a which rather spoils the solve for me. Add to that the fact that 1a would benefit from an indication of its having been the case in the past, 15d’s prosecutor needs a mention of his nationality and I felt that 21a requires either a ‘perhaps’ or a question mark.
    Sorry, Zandio, not for me today but thank you for your efforts. Thanks also to Mr K for the review.

    1. Whew! I thought I was crying in the wilderness again, so good to know someone else wasn’t sold on this.

20. Excellent puzzle albeit one of two halves. The top half fell into place quickly but the bottom half proved more intractable. Best clue for me was 3d, very clever. Not too impressed with 17d but only a minor issue.
    Thx to all
    ***/*****

21. What a fantastic Friday offering .1a went in straight away which always sets me up for an enjoyable solve. Likewise with the other perimeter answers, providing lots of footholds into the rest of the puzzle. I had the same problem as many others with 4d which remained unparsed, needing a visit to the detailed hint.14a provided one of the longest,with sensible surface read, alternative letter clue that I have seen – very clever. Favourite today was 8d with podium places for 3d and 6d, though I have lots of other ticks. Thanks to Zandio and MrK.

22. I enjoyed that a lot although there were some synonyms that didn’t really work for me. Wearing my pedant’s hat, a torpedo is not an explosive. It is a weapon.

23. That took quite a while to solve. Like others I needed Mr K’s explanation of 4d, and struggled with 21a and 17d.
    At last I understand 8d.
    Thank you for explaining the devious clues, Mr K, and thanks to the setter.

24. For a Friday puzzle to end the week, this was not too trying to work through. Several PD moments as well as a couple of dubious clues for me. I agree 100% with Senf that the word in question in 9a refers to the smallest of the litter and not the last born.

    2.5*/3.5*

    Favourites 1a, 13a,3d, 6d & 8d — with winner 1a
    Smiles from 10a, 24a, 17d & 22d

    Thanks to Zandio & Mr.K for hints/blog

25. What a splendid puzzle Zandio. If I have to choose favourites I vote 26 a plus 8 d. There were lots more to love. Did not know the French connection re. 10 a but it couldn’t have been anything else.Needed Mr. K to explain how my bung in for 4 d was right. Such fun.

26. It’s Friday and a Zandio production, so it was never going to be easy. Ground to a halt in SE, but after a brief snooze in the sunshine, all somehow became clear. Many excellent clues and it’s tough to limit myself to just three, but 10a lurker, 25a and in top spot 3d sheer genius get the call. Thanks to Zandio and Mr K.

27. This was a challenge but an enjoyable one. Too many excellent clues to chose one but 7d 21a 17d were great. Thanks to Mr K for explaining 4d, I guessed it but could not parse it. Neighbours are in Paris at the games and have left their two cats behind, being fed twice a day. Coco, the very elderly deaf lady, decided to move in with us. She sleeps all day, just moving to be in the sun and leaves hairs everywhere. I just hope we can turf her out before DD2 comes tomorrow with new baby schnauzer Jeff, otherwise fur will fly. As Mr K has not given us a picture, here is Coco. Thanks to Zandio as well, of course.

28. Here is Coco.

    

    1. Named for Mms Chanel I assume, if named for the hot beverage another spoonful of Cocoa for me

    2. Thank you Daisy! I needed that.

       1. The greatly missed Perks.

          

          1. Dear Perks! Please get another one.

    3. And here is Cooper, busy interrupting our younger daughter as she works from home …

       

29. Needed the hint to parse 4d obviously but not too many other problems. Enjoyable. Favourite was 8d. Thanks to Zandio and Mr. K.

30. A really excellent puzzzle from Z. Great clues, a toughish challenge and an enjoyable tussle. Many ticks and I liked 7d a lot. 4*/4*.

31. Very enjoyable and for me not as tricky as some Fridays, which was just as well, as I had to fit in the shopping and some Olympic watching. I have found the coverage incredibly irritating, just as you are in the middle of a really important bit, they decide to change channel or worse stop the coverage midway. The puzzle was on the right wavelength for me with only 4d being unparsed and 28a last in. The lurkers were well hidden 25a was my favourite.

    Many thanks to Zandio and to Mr K for the hints

32. This was a game of two halves for me. I flew through the N/NW and then came to a bit of a halt in the S/SE which needed a lot more head scratching. Such a feeling of satisfaction to finish I have to say. Glad to see that I wasn’t the only one not to parse 4D and for some reason I struggled with my last one in 8D even though I said to myself ‘surely it’s usually rocket science?? ‘ so big ‘doh’ when the penny dropped. Thanks Zandio for a splendid puzzle and MrK for the hints.

    1. You and I both with North/South divide.

33. No doubt about it, this is a Zandio offering. I completed the north and a smattering in the south, but I needed Mr. K’s help to explain an awful lot. The explanation for 4d has my head reeling, I only solved it as I had the checkers, what else could it be? I can’t really say I enjoyed this, way too weird for me, my brain is not programmed for this.
    Thank you Zandio, and Mr. K for all your explanations.

34. I thought yesterday was hard. This was a complete washout. Not a single clue solved.

    I’m off to do the toughie, which must be less difficult than this.

    1. You wish! I see it has been given *****. Good luck.

       1. Thanks. Funnily enough I solved 4 of the toughie clues but doubt I will get any more. Still fared better than the back pager.

35. Here are some of the feral cats that live at Argentina Square in Rome. They are fed by an official group of people.

    

36. Superb from Zandio … 8D an absolute classic. Many thanks to Mr K too.

37. As has already been said definitely a game of two halves, I dipped my toe in the water and the top half was completed. The lower half however was very obscure so I was forced to sit in the shade and do battle 🍺🍺 ****/*** Favourites 26a and 17d 😃 Thanks to Zandio and to Mr K for his much needed assistance

38. A most enjoyable Friday crossword. I haven’t quite finished it but after a day working in the garden I’m enjoying a beer whilst I do the last few in the southeast corner. Some very clever clues. 26a made me chuckle.

39. Good evening

    By the cringe! I have been properly and thoroughly tested by today’s offering from the Mind Of Zandio!

    Some genuinely hard clueing today; I have to confess that, although I couldn’t parse 4d or 17d, I correctly deduced them; 17d is reasonably straightforward in truth, but 4d is Toughie standard, without a doubt.

    21a (brilliant) and 25a (excellent) tie for runner-up position, but the sublime 8d is the runaway winner for COTD.

    Many thanks to the MoZ and to Mr K.

40. I never have enough time to devote to the crosswords on a Friday, so it is always going to be a challenge for me. I cannot claim to have found it gentle or enjoyable, but it was at least a tad more doable than yesterday. However, my pen clearly is of the same mind as it has also decided to call it a day, so that’s it for me. Thanks fo Zandio and Mr K.

41. Really enjoyed this. A bit of everything. French references and foodie clues, right up my street and Sun pin-up was the icing on the cake. Loved the wording of 7d too (took a while to click, that one).

42. I loved this — thank you so much, Zandio! We were busy yesterday with the youngest’s birthday, so I checked Mr K’s hints this morning to see who’s crossword I’d missed, and on seeing it was Zandio gave it a go before breakfast. I was a bit concerned by “more head-scratching than usual”, but I didn’t get stuck at any point and filled the grid in a fairly typical-for-me sort of time.

    Lots of food-related clues to enjoy, including 11a’s place of drinking, 21a’s chicken, 25a’s tsp, and 3d’s fantastic 13:03 — which I think is my clue of the day (and possibly of the month!), though there was competition from several others, including both lurkers, 13a’s 3Rs, 17d’s “one hears”, and 14a’s impressive alternating letters.

    Overall, my favourite crossword for some time!

    Thank you to Mr K for explaining the cryptic instruction in 8d and the definition in 10a … and to anybody else still reading this a day later!

    1. Thanks! Much appreciated. Hope you might give tomorrow’s Sunday Toughie a try.

       1. Ha-ha Thanks for the heads up

43. 5*/4* …. hints appreciated !
    liked 8D ” Homer apt, conceivably, to say it’s not rocket surgery? (5,8)”

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