DT 30692

95 comments on “DT 30692”

1. I had more question marks than ticks on the paper today. Never having watched Eastenders 12a was a problem and I have no idea what 17a is about. Poetic? Daughter? Laughter? A complete mystery to me. The composer was new to me and I had to check my answer with Mr. G. Were Terence here, I’m sure 4d would go on The List. All in all, a bit of a struggle for me but I’m sure others will like it. For once, the Reverend gentleman did not phase me and that did raise a smile.

   Thank you, setter for your hard work. I wish I could have found it less of a struggle but I seem to be going through a bad patch at present so it’s down to me. Thank you, 2Ks for the hints.

   I did like the Quickie pun.

   1. Chins up, Steve. I do hope things start to look up for you soon. And your enviable ignorance of EastEnders does you HUGE credit. As for daughter/laughter – how are they spelled and how are they pronounced? They’re not homophonic, etc. And what’s a very common poetic device that would involve such words? Does that help at all?

      1. Thanks, Alp. That does explain a lot. I’m sure I will leave the cruciverbal doldrums soon. I find I do go through such patches occasionally.

   2. It’s not just you that is going through a bad patch Steve. Days like today make me think I need to give up the crosswords. Clues like 14a and 18a definitely. But then we get the occasional good day and on I go.

      1. Agree in spades and I still have to look up ETYMON & EYE RHYME

         1. Steve you’re a bit like an old cabbage farmer, just going through a bad patch.

2. Another snorter from T~ (Secombe, EastEastenders, Sherlock – who else could it possibly be ?!) and hopefully slightly less divisive than usual. Largely light-ish and buckets of fun. 21a is an absolute peach. Many thanks to him and the 2Ks.

3. Exactly what ALP said other than he obviously found it easier than I did.
   Thanks to T & to the 2Ks – tee time beckons so will read the review later

   1. ….and today’s crossword is ‘T Time’.

4. Spot on for a midweeker.

   I have never heard of 17a but I love it as it’s such a good expression for it. I also didn’t know 4d but, again, it’s obvious because of the longer version that has ‘ology’ instead of the last letter.

   I’ll go with the outstanding 2d, 14a and 21a as my podium.

   Many thanks to Mr Tumble and Le Touquet.

   2*/4*

   1. Me too with 4d. Knowing the longer version was a huge help.

5. My rating is 2*/4*. Assuming this is our now regular Wednesday setter, this was very much at the enjoyable end of his somewhat 18a spectrum for me.

   My favourite was 21a.

   Many thanks to Mr T (?) and to the 2Ks.

6. Normal summer has returned to Sandhurst today, drizzly rain, that’ll teach me for washing the car yesterday.

   Great puzzle and an absolute pleasure to solve. Never heard of the term at 17a before, but couldn’t be much else with all the letters in it, very logical term when you look at it.

   Convinced myself that the 3 letter thing to carry a milk dispenser was ‘bra’, so that clue took a while!
   My two favourites of the day were 2d and the brilliant 14a, very clever.

   1. Bra?

      That’s hilarious, TC! 😂

      1. My thoughts entirely re “bra” as a “milk dispenser”, Tom. The mind boggles. I don’t think even T~ would push it quite that far!

         1. It’s one of the best shouts of the year.

            Still giggling here…

   2. Bra?? 🤣

      No worries. A storm in a D cup…

      1. Love it!

         1. Boys! Behave.

            1. You know you love it, Day Zee.

7. Quite enjoyed the birds and the meander.

   Thanks to Twmbarlwm and to our 2Ks – pleased to hear that your feathered friends are heralding Spring for you.

   1. On the 15th hole at my course today I should think at least 50 odd parakeets flew across the fairway into the trees – quite a racket to be sure & a sight to behold.

8. I really enjoyed this though found it somewhat more taxing than the 2K’s star rating. The east side of the puzzle went in relatively quickly, even though I’ve never watched an episode of EastEnders. I was held up in the NW corner and it took far too long for the penny to drop with 2d. I had just about exhausted my knowledge of bridges and was starting on the red carpet when there was a resounding clang and the rest of the puzzle fell into place. Therefore 2d is favourite today sharing the podium with 21a and 26a. Thanks to our setter for the absolute pleasure and the 2 Kiwis for their explanation of 4d.

9. RD’s opening summing-up hits the nail on the head although two clues impact on the enjoyment for me – the not a homophone for me in 15a and 13d ruined by fast food establishments creating something that can be eaten without cutlery.

   Smiles for 24a, 1d, 8d, and 20d.

   Thanks to Twmbarlwm and the 2Kiwis.

10. I thought this was at the more challenging end of the spectrum. I also have not heard of 17a before, but it had to be that. There were some I found hard to parse, including 21a, but it gets my vote as one of the best clues today.

11. I am finally getting the hang of the twisty Wednesday puzzles and thoroughly enjoyed this. I have learnt if in doubt look for a lurker word you have never heard of which has saved me a couple of times. I had not heard of 17a but can now see why it is. I had 21a as my favourite but was particularly pleased to get the spooner without being too scared!

    Many thanks to Twmbarlwm and to the 2 kiwis for the hints.

12. It took me a while to get going with this one, as often happens with this setter, but then I kept up a good speed throughout the solve. The poetic device was new to me, but that was my only real problem, with my favourite being 21a.

    Many thanks to T and the 2Ks.

13. Really enjoyable – thanks to our setter and 2Ks.
    Carefully avoiding the 23d ‘homophone’ my top clues were 14a, 17a, 21a, 24a and 6d.

14. What a wonderful and engaging puzzle. I do like this setter. At first I thought I was going to struggle but gradually the pennies dropped. I loved the parse of milk dispenser at 21a. Last in was 17a that I had not heard of before – what a clever clue. Spent a while trying to fit a D in ! Thanks so much to setter and the 2 Ks

15. A very nice challenge. Just hard enough to make it interesting. Mr. Spooner putting in appearance is usually like a red light to progress but this one I liked. 1 d was to the point unlike the answer and gained another tick. Rating for me was 3 star – even though it was completed unaided it required quite a bit of lateral thinking.Off now to exercise the body with aquarobics. Many thanks to our setter and explainer.

16. 21a my cotd. Very enjoyable puzzle if a little challenging in places.

17. I was racing through this and patting myself on the back when I hit brick wall at the parsing of 14A.

    I thought I had cracked it but I was told I had an error. After wasting ages trying all sorts of variations of 14A, I discovered I had a speeling misteak in 1A. Curses!

    A very enjoyable puzzle with lots of amusement and I’m going for 2D as my top pick.

    **/**** Thanks to Mr T and the 2Kiwis.

18. Eye rhymes can be tough
    You have to struggle through
    And when you’ve had enough
    You say ‘please stop’, although,
    As onward you must plough,
    Whilst eating at the trough
    ‘Neath nature’s laden bough,
    You probably feel rough.
    Tough!
    Go to Slough.

    1. Bravo. Your best yet!

    2. Tree menders, Pips!

    3. Thanks, Pip – that explains a great deal and made me laugh! Brilliant, sir! 🤣

       1. I meant to say “sir”! 😳
          Oh, I see my edit finally worked!

    4. 🤣🤣👏👏

    5. Clever boy!
       Go to the top of the class. I shall copy that into my Commonplace Book.

19. I seem to be the odd man out here. I really didn’t enjoy this puzzle. If I need to know that Harry Secombe was a minor character in a niche radio 4 comedy show to solve a clue I think that’s unfair. The east enders clue is of a similar ilk. I completed about a third of the puzzle and then had to resort to online help.

    1. Hi ATIB

       As a huge majority of solvers are based in The UK, there is a bias towards events, TV shows, places, people etc from these shores as is the case with crosswords in, say, Australia and The US. A lot of these references put a smile on Brits faces for whatever reason e.g a reminder of a great comic (Mr Secombe who played a major role in the groundbreaking radio show) or an event that triggers a trip down Nostalgia Lane.

       It’s how it is and it’s how it will always be.

       1. Well said. I always admire the folk who live outside the UK yet regularly do the DT Guzzle. But if I were to try and do a Xword in a ‘foreign’ newspaper I would not be at all surprised to find references I did not understand. As TDS says, that’s just how it is. The Goons are almost royalty in GB.

          1. Indeed. How could I resist?!

             1. Brilliant!

                I haven’t seen that.

                What a great line.

    2. Hi, Tyke. Both The Goons and EastEnders are, in their own ways, significant cultural institutions. It’s hard to think of anything which would be more fair to reference than either of those.

       And I say this as somebody who’s never watched or listened to either of them. (I think I’ve only ever encountered Harry Secombe as ITV’s equivalent of Thora Hird, introducing hymns on a Sunday evening.) The Goons was decades before I was born; that I’ve still heard of them shows how unniche they indeed were, credited as influences by many later comedians — and, perhaps less obviously, our current monarch.

       EastEnders in its heyday was big enough to leak out of its half-hours on TV into wider culture, including newspaper front pages. I’ve never sought to learn anything about it, and indeed I would be quite content not to have done, but it got everywhere and Dot Cotton is one of several characters whose names somehow became unavoidable.

       With pretty much any reference there’ll be somebody who hasn’t heard of it (I’m often unfamiliar with type of wines, for instance). You were unlucky that today that was you, but that doesn’t mean that the setter was wrong to include it. A crossword featuring only the subset of vocabulary known to every solver would be very restrictive and mean we missed out on so much fun.

       1. I know nothing of East Enders but I know that it’s been on UK TV for yoinks. However, because I am of a certain age, the Goons were very much a part of my younger life … yes, even in Jamaica in the dark ages. We bought vinyl LP records and reverently passed them around with friends. Happy, happy days, when our language was heavily peppered with Goonisms. What memories!!

20. This was, by and large a steady solve working clockwise from the NW. I had to confirm 4d and 17d was one that passed me by, but Pip’s excellent explanation has served to cement it in for the future, should the need ever arise! I’ll plump for 1d as my cotd. Thanks to Mr T and the 2K’s.

21. Back to a Wednesday puzzle that don’t float my boat. Some really poor parsing IMHO on quite a few clues. Make no sense to me at all.

    2.5*/1.5* today

    Favourites 10a, 15a, 21a & 24a — with winner 24a
    Not the greatest puzzle so far this week, but then I expect that from Wednesday’s

    Thanks to setter (I assume Twmbarlwm) & 2k’s having to sort this out

22. Good afternoon

    Enjoyed the crozzie, and enjoyed your comments this afty!

    Not the easiest of solves today, but happy to report all done, before I leave for work. One or two parsing queries, happily resolved thanks to the 2Ks. Excellent work, 2Ks!

    Thank you also to our compiler: do I detect the contorted braincells of Twmbarlwm at work here?
    COTD – 4d and 17d take joint honours.

    Thank you to all.

23. Very slow start whilst I searched for the wavelength which did eventually happen but the NW continued to hang fire for ages however all’s well that ends well. 11a new one on me as was 4d lurker. Amusing to finally tumble to 2d. Are 13d in fact known outside USA? 16d is rather stretched synonym. In common with SC I have never watched East Enders so needed MrGoogle to parse 12a for me. Favs 14a and 26a. Altogether not one of my favourite cruciverbal challenges which I suspect is the property of the unpronounceable one but 2Kiwis hints helped to fill NW. TVM to both.

    1. Have just done Quickie and IMHO pun is a no no.

    2. 13d are stocked in the freezers of UK supermarkets near the chips and potato waffles, and were part of the breakfast buffet at our hotel in Jersey earlier this month, so they definitely exist outside the USA!

       What do you mean by “11a new one on me”? Even if you’re the kind of person who always prefers to take a shower, presumably you’ve heard of an 11a?!

24. Enjoyable on the whole, but 14 across? Give me a break! Daughter and laughter have no connection via the “poetic device”, since the said device is aural, not visual!

    1. An eye rhyme is a similarity in spelling but not pronunciation

       1. Well, yes. They *look* like they rhyme, though they do not *sound* as though they do. So entirely visual and not at all aural, which is why the term exists in the first place!

25. I enjoyed this guzzle but had to check 4d was a word and the meaning of 17a.
    Top picks for me were 15a, 21a and 2d.

    Thanks to the 2Kiwis and the setter.

26. I’m in the middle here – I’ve loved a few clues but then I don’t even understand some – think I’m having a dim day!
    We’ve never watched Eastenders or other things like it – not “snobby” at all – just don’t enjoy them!
    11a gives me “crickety” blindness so not a hope for that one!
    I’ve never heard of 17a or the 22a composer or the 4d word – will I remember any of those, probably not . . but I’ll try . . .
    I did like 15 and 21a and 1 and 2d. My favourite was 26a.
    With thanks to today’s setter and to the 2K’s.

27. I have to go out so will read the comments later. This was strange but I did complete, East Enders and Spooner in one sitting is a bridge too far. I liked the magician and Sherlock, some good fun along the way.
    Thank you setter and 2Kiwis, I’ll have to read your hints to see the “why” for a few.

28. For me there’s a world of difference between the goon and eastenders stars with seycombe winning by mile. Thank you compiler and 2Ks

29. I’m with you on having ‘crickety’ blindness Kath although I am getting a bit better. My heart sank a bit at the Golfy one – but I am sure none of our BD golfers are 1ds. I enjoyed it all but I am a simple soul, easy to please. (George is beside me gagging). 21a was good and the Spoonerism was great for once. 4d was clever bringing back memories of Mrs Spridgeon’s English lessons and I love the idea of an eye rhyme, a great let out. 13d also had a daisy but I’m going for 16a as my favourite. Many thanks to Twmbarlwm and Le Touquets.

30. Yesterday I said that I often find guzzles difficult when others find them easy. Today was an example of that. Some were simple and others beyond my ken! (Who’s Ken!) So thanks to the 2K’s for the hints and to the setter for the brain teasing. Number one glue was 27a.

31. I loved this, and found it much more my level than Twmbarlwm’s crossword of a few weeks ago. Thank you to the Kiwis for being there in case I needed any hints or help with parsing.

    I knew 17a from its appearance in a previous crossword clue (though I can no longer remember where, when, or what it was). Nice to be reminded that I do sometimes learn things from crosswords, though!

    My favourite was either 14a’s Harry Secombe or 15a’s simple witticism (I love a simple witticism!), with kudos also for 1d’s meander, 4d’s beginning of term, and 11a’s “opener taps runs here” definition, where I spent far too long trying to fit R into the answer. And also for 24a being a Spoonerism I could get, which is rarer than I’d like. Thank you so much, Twmbarlwm — keep them coming!

32. I can never get on wavelength with the mountain man, and today was no different. Got a few clues at first pass, but then met the rock face. Will set aside while I go outside to do some needed gardening before it gets even hotter. Head down in the soil sometimes improves the brain flow 😊. Thanks to 2Kiwis, envy you your cooler weather.

33. Just beaten by the SW corner as did not know the 17a expression

34. Terms with matching bits are (eye) rhymes like wind, mind.
    Nearly works … and another school day for me.
    I did go on ok once I’d cotton-ed on
    Another pleasantly challenging puzzle from the Welsh Maestro – thanks to the 2K’s too.

35. Talk about After the Lord Mayors Show. After yesterday’s superb puzzle, we are faced with this weak effort. Unknown words (Etymon?), characters from a dreadful soap opera and the less said about 14a the better.
    I thought this was very poor.
    Thx for the hints
    ***/*

36. I enjoyed this one and not too shabby a time either. Perhaps I am improving or perhaps just ‘get’ this setter. I liked 14a

37. Liked this one…advantage to being over a certain age, watching popular culture of the time and a surviving a well-rounded education probably helped. Thanks to setter and 2K’s.

38. Very enjoyable solve. Took me about the same time to complete as today’s toughie and just as much fun. A few fairly obscure answers in both. Always good to come across new words. Thanks to setter and the antipodeans.

39. I enjoyed the puzzle but there were a few strange surface reads IMO.
    My rule of thumb is that if I recited a crossword clue in a pub and got thrown out for talking gibberish, it is probably not a good clue.
    I’m afraid 1a, 9a, 5d, 7d and 16d all fall into that category for me.
    Sorry setter. Maybe I am being a bit too critical.
    I enjoyed the puzzle and it is really nice to see plenty of original thinking. Thank you.
    Thanks also to the 2Ks.

    1. Ha, that’s certainly a bold rule of thumb, Shabbo. Try asking for “two girls, one on each knee” next time you’re down the pub. An all-time classic, but it might land you in some bother!

    2. Hi Shabbo

       I agree that 1a doesn’t flow and 9a is missing the word ‘is’ to make it work but the other three parse.

       For me, anyway.

       1. I’m with you, Tom. Well, up to a point, Lord Copper. We all love smooth, credible surfaces but … a) they’re not always possible and b) they’re not always essential. Eg, Donnybrook had a belter in yesterday’s Toughie which would definitely get Shabbo kicked out the pub!
          Just after stopping US hit men, look out for 25: 14 28 they called him! (10,4)
          Gibberish as a read, really, but utterly brilliant.

          1. What a great clue!

             Bonkers but superb.

       2. In 9a, I don’t think there’s anything grammatically wrong in eliding the ‘is’ before the adjective. ‘No student is awake before noon’ is the same as ‘No student awake before noon’. You might not like it because it’s almost telegramese and the verb is implied, but it’s still sound. Obviously I needed to cut the ‘is’ for the wordplay to work, but I wouldn’t have done so if it had involved making a grammar error (and Chris Lancaster wouldn’t have allowed it).

          To me, the ’gibberish’ pub rule can only apply to a clue with an unlikely scenario that doesn’t make any real-life sense even though the wordplay might conceivably work – eg “Pineapple spectacles contain backsliding giraffe (7)”. I can justify what the surfaces describe in Shabbo’s examples as not being in that category (for what it’s worth!), but if anyone doesn’t like them stylistically, that’s subjective.

          1. Fairy nuff re 9a, Tumble, me old cocker spaniel.

             Keep your crossies coming; they are hugely enjoyable.

             Your quirkiness and envelope-pushing is to be applauded.

             ‘Your quirkiness’ sounds like what a court jester would be called.

          2. Ha, I rather like the idea of that “pineapple spectacles” clue to be fair! But I have to agree. I didn’t clock any iffy surfaces here at all and I reckon I’m quite fussy. Each to their own.

             1. There’ll be a clue in each of my next five puzzles that will lead you to the secret location of a buried chest that contains the solution to that pineapple spectacles clue, and a voucher for a complimentary glass of wine at Bella Italia.

                1. If only that were true! I’m desperate to try and make that “pineapple” clue work now..

40. Morning all.
    Twmbarlwm has managed to elicit opinions from right across the spectrum with this one. Despite being so far away from the UK we did have all the GK required on this occasion. Perhaps our ages help as programmes like The Goons where such a key part of our childhoods. It is the obscure bits of geography that tend to floor us and there weren’t any of those here.
    Thanks for the memories and the fun Twmbarlwm.

41. Did anyone else think of ‘Educating Rita’ when working on 17a?

42. I don’t often comment on here, as I still feel like a beginner (after more years than I care to remember). But it’s only since I retired and the grandkids have grown up, that I can actually devote my brain to cruciverbal acrobatics for more than a few minutes a day! I rarely complete a grid, be it Monday, Friday or Prize day, but I love the challenge – because I love words and the English language.
    So to get to the point, I have completed today’s puzzle in less than two hours and enjoyed it immensely. Even the ones that held me up a bit – mainly SE corner – suddenly fell into place and the one I had to confirm, 17a, I had guessed correctly using the checkers.
    Still not sure about 14a. I got it, but where’s the definition?
    My favourites were 1d, 21a & 17d. with several others eliciting a very respectful ‘yes’ when the answer became clear.
    So enjoyable, I just had to say so. Thank you to the setter and thanks for the hint for confirmation of 17a.

    1. Welcome to the blog Sue C.
       Look forward to further comments from you. One small point; we avoid mentioning solving times in comments.

    2. You’ve made a slight change to your alias so this comment needed moderation. All three of your aliases will work from now on.
       Well done on completing the puzzle (though we discourage people from giving solving times – see Comment Etiquette item 6).
       The definition of 14a is Harry (as a verb). Bloggers try to help by underlining the definition in the clue and you’ll see that 2Ks have underlined ‘Harry’.
       Do continue to comment.

43. An enjoyable solve apart from 17a. A new term for me that was impossible to get if you had not heard of the term. Even the hint didn’t help (how can you hint this without spelling out the answer?) The closest I got was eye thump…

    I am not a fan of any soap operas with Eastenders being my most hated of all. I still had heard of the lady of the laundrette.

    14a was very clever.

    Thanks to all.

44. 2D and 26A my favourites. Glad to learn a poetic device! Many thanks Setter & 2Ks.

45. Only 2 stars ?
    ETYMON and EYE RHYME…out of my depth on those two…!!

46. Straightforward until it wasn’t with some clues that wouldn’t be out of place in a toughie and completing today’s will now have to wait until tomorrow. Favourite was 14a. Thanks to T and 2K’s.

47. Re the hint to 18a, Chester is indeed a See but that makes it a diocesan area and not a parochial one. Parochial refers to a parish of which there are many within a diocese.

48. Thank you for the comments, and thanks to 2Kiwis for the blog.
    Eye-rhyme is something that was taught for English at O-level, and still is now at GCSE, so hopefully not that difficult, though not everyone may remember it. Etymon, on the other hand … I almost rebuilt that part of the grid to avoid it, but decided that making it a hidden with a first-day-back-at-school surface made it gettable. An interesting word to learn if it’s new to you, but sorry for the obscurity nevertheless.

49. EYE RHYME??
    “He’s a poet – and does he know it?”

50. This 90 year old cruciverbalist is a frequent lurker but my absence for the past three months has been caused by a stroke and a stay in hospital. what a joy to be able once again to read all the comments and hints from all the lovely people who are part of this blog. Bless you all. I trust I shall never again be in a place where this newspaper does not exist.!

    1. Welcome back ToniHaha. We had wondered where you had gone.
       Look after yourself so you may have many more years of happy solving.

    2. Good to see you back. Best wishes for your continued recovery.

51. 3*/4* ….
    liked 26A “Show trial with no one in the gallery ? (5,9)”

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