DT 30705

65 comments on “DT 30705”

1. I agree with Shabbo – 5d’s triple is a tad odd. But this was all very charming. 1d’s surface is lovely, 8d’s “thinner” is fun and who doesn’t love a 17a Deal? Sterling work as ever from the minimalist. Many thanks to RayT and Shabbo.

   1. I think ‘possibly’ is part of the definition as answers aren’t necessarily solutions, especially mine 😁… and creating is there for the surface construction.

      1. I concur.

2. Another enjoyable puzzle from MrT with nothing too demanding.
   The only one I questioned was the synonym at 26d.
   Thanks to Shabbo for the write-up. I think the visual hint at 24a is meant for 22a

   1. I totally agreed with you re 26d but it’s definition #2 in Chambers! Who knew?!

   2. Thanks, Jezza. I have chopped it out and put in its rightful place.

3. And all because the ladies (and gents) love T.Ray

   Another nailed-on crossy hits the back of the net. I can’t tell you the amount of times that 6a being (2, 2) has caught me out as did the synonym of disposes.

   I’m guessing that ‘creating’ is a link word with ‘Solutions possibly’ being the definition, i.e not all 5ds are necessarily the solution, plus the parsing.

   Lots of splendid clues to choose from but I’ll go with 1d, 15a (obvs) and the beautifully constructed 24a.

   Many thanks to ‘The Man’ and Shabbs.

   3*/4*

   1. I too parsed 5d as ‘Solutions possibly’ being the definition. Had to smile at 1a – almost by definition a President has to be unhinged to want the job!

      1. 1a almost made my podium but the originality of 1d denied it the silverware.

   2. Yep, that would seem to be the consensus. But it is a main definition in Chambers so it doesn’t necessarily need the “possibly”, I don’t think. What puzzled me more was the “creating” because, as a link, it implies WP > definition, not the other way around. Having said that, it’s RayT and he can do no wrong! As we know, no one else could get away with his swEetheart..

      1. I find Philbert’s explanation, above, a satisfactory explanation of the parsing and, as you imply, RayT has earned his pedestal!

      2. I have amended the clue to show “possibly” as part of the definition, but as ALP has just pointed out, the clue now looks to be “definition for wordplay” rather than “wordplay for definition”.

      3. I agree. Technically, “possibly” is superfluous and the WP/defintion seems back-to-front. That may irk the purists but it doesn’t bother me at all.

         1. Ha, we seem to agree all the time these days, Jose. Marvellous! And, no, it didn’t bother me one jot either..

            1. Don’t get complacent – I still have a penchant for black lightweight polo-neck tops and 30 years ago they gave me the nickname “The Milk Tray Man”.

               1. Haha, I’d forgotten that. NOOOO!!

4. Le plus chewy des back page mots croisés this week, says I, boom boom says the 21a! But wot larks, and how satisfying to complete. COTD 17a with 21a (Jane will appreciate this one, I suspect), 4d (my LOI) and 9d on their heels.

   Many thanks indeed to RayT and to Shabbo

5. An enjoyable, as always, puzzle from Ray T – thanks to him and to Shabbo for the first-rate review.
   The pick of the clues for me were 15a, 17a, 1d and 21d (in spite of our reviewer’s slightly disappointing choice of illustration!).

   1. Indeed! Let’s have an illustration of the second definition

   2. Regarding the illustration for 21d, I thought it best to err on the side of caution, given the age profile of some of the male puzzlers!

      1. Good shout.

6. On wavelength as is usual for me with Ray T and enjoyable throughout. I did need Shabbo’s hint for 6a, though I think that has caught me out before. As others have said the synonym at 26d threw me, but the answer was obvious. Lots of ticks on my paper but I’ll go for the big bird/ little bird combo at 21a as favourite with podium places for the untruthful Tories at 30a and the misleading anagram at 8d. Thanks to Ray T and Shabbo.

7. Another fine puzzle from the connoisseur of compendiousness! Great clues, a nice challenge and enjoyable to solve. Favourite of a good bunch: 21d – I’m a typical bloke that’s never grown up. 3*/4*.

8. Another Dream Team day and the sun has ventured forth to mark the occasion.
   I thought our setter made us work a little harder than usual for one of his back-pagers but the end result was as satisfying as ever.
   Quite difficult to share out the prizes today so I’ll let 17,21&27a plus 14d fight it out amongst themselves.

   Devotions of course to Mr T and many thanks to Shabbo for the review.
   PS Last time I came across a 9d was when Obama resided in the White House!

9. Thanks for the challenge! (™ Steve Cowling) as I found this a jolly tricky fellow indeed. It took a couple of tips from our man in Welwyn Garden City to get me rebooted. As soon as I saw the words ‘Commit criminal trespass’ at 10a I immediately formed a mental picture of Theresa May running through a field of wheat. It was a major distraction, and that is the evidence I presented to the committee this morning when I was questioned about the above average time I spent on this guzzle.
   Additionally, seeing the word ‘bodice’ in print in the Daily Telegraph led to me undergoing an attack of the vapours. My staff had to apply a dose of smelling salts under my hooter to revive me.

   Thanks to Rr8ee and Shabba-dabba-doo

10. A lot of head scratching here and as the hints weren’t available at 8am, I had to resort to some e-help to get me over the line.

    As others have mentioned, the synonym at 26D was a new one for me. Lots to like but 21D is definitely the pick of the bunch.

    ***.5/**** Thanks to RayT and Shabbo.

11. Attempted this difficult puzzle whilst enjoying three days off work, with the added bonus of enjoying the pleasures of a Urinary Tract Infection. Not sure if it’s the same for women, but wow! It makes you grit your teeth!!

    Yes, I struggled with this one, having to come here 8 times, including four clues I simply could not answer, even with the blogger’s help.

    Not even sure what “smooth surfaces” mean.

    1. Put simply, a crossword clue should read like a normal sentence and not like a crossword clue. A clue that meets this criterion is deemed to have a “smooth surface”.
       I hope this helps.

       1. Ah yes. That does help. Thank you very much.

12. Another masterpiece from the mastery of Raytee. I did need a bit of help with a couple but it is Thursday. 6a totally foxed me and I entered “meet” knowing it to be wrong but I couldn’t come up with anything else. I thought clubs meet so that was my excuse. When I saw the hint I realised my error and that it was a great clue. 21d raised a smile but my COTD is the little bird at 21a.

    Thank you, Ray T for the challenge. Thank you, Shabbo for the hints.

    I’m waiting for an engineer to come and set up our new broadband equipment. By the number of boxes on the table I think he will be linking us to the radio telescope in Knockin! 😁

13. This Thursday puzzle is the fortnightly offering from RayT but I must say, for me today, I found this more into Beam territory as it is well into the difficult end of the RayT spectrum IMHO.

    3*/4* for me

    A few clues I had trouble parsing and several still not worked out.
    Favourites 12a, 21a, 27a, 1d & 8d — with winner 8d

    Thanks to RayT & Shabbo

14. A great puzzle today with lots to like.
    Top picks for me were 6a,21a and 17a.

    Thanks to Shabbo and Ray T.

15. I see John Cleese has just tweeted “Trump is becoming more unhinged by the day”. He’s clearly seen 1a!

    1. Marvellous

16. I loved it although definitely heading towards Beam rather than RayT – for me anyway.
    I got into a bit of a muddle with a couple of clues – I’m not up to what I used to be – dim!
    So many brilliant clues as always on alternate Thursdays including 15 and 17a and 8 and 9d.
    My favourite was 21a, or then it might have been 21d even though I’m not a bloke!
    With thanks to RayT for his crossword and to Shabbo for his hints.

17. Definitely not dim, Kath … lots of people muddled! I am usually ok with anagrams but missed 12a completely due to RayT’s smooth brevity. Thanks Shabbo for helping me out

18. RayT, no doubt about it, but at his trickier level. I needed copious help in the South, mostly SE, but that’s OK, it’s Thursday and trickier as it should be. Lots to like, two stood out 17a and 21a; Deal didn’t fool me, I was onto the setter, and I like the name of the bird.
    Thanks to RayT for the fun and Shabbo for all his help.

19. Is it me or is France pushing it a bit for 16d?

    I know it is in the context of the answer but it’s not that far away (although I suppose it depends where you are starting from!).

    India definitely is.

20. ***/***
    Quite difficult today.
    And have bunged meet in at 6ac so a DNF?
    1 and 17 ac as COTD
    Thanks for hints.

21. Knock me down with a feather, another lovely day in crossword land. Amazingly I didn’t find this a ***, the left side all going straight in and I was expecting murmurs of “gentle” etc. but then the right side put up a fight, and slowed me down for a while. I had a problem with 21d as it is pronounced quite differently for the pictured item, and I still don’t understand 18d which was a bung in. Thanks to RayT for keeping this friendly week going, and to Shabbo.

22. I found this tougher than usual for a Ray T but to be fair I always find these puzzles hardest. I did get there in the end but felt I had earned a small round of applause. I did not know the synonym in 26d and I had 21a as my favourite but also liked the clever 1a.

    Many thanks to Ray T and to Shabbo for the hints.

23. Somehow I found several of today’s clues a bit flimsy which is unusual for this setter and I had to convince myself some of my solutions were in fact correct. No Fav to pinpoint. Thank you RayT and Shabbo.

24. Phew, that was tough . Foxed by the parsing of 6a, though it is so obvious once you see it.

25. I’m sorry, but RayT is not for me. I’m giving up

    1. RayT is “an acquired taste” – once you’ve got used to him you’ll love him – trust me!!

       1. Couldn’t agree more! Stick with him JB, you may well be surprised.

          1. Verily! I used to dread RayT days and rarely completed half, let alone all of it. He’s very fair, his clues are not designed to confuse, and the end result is always logical.

    2. I used to think the same, JB. Everyone encouraged me to persevere so I did. He is now one of my favourite compilers. Stick with him and you will soon start to see his trademarks.

    3. Stay the course and you’ll be pleased he did. Back in the days when Kath used to solve his weekly puzzles for us and provide the hints, I used to wonder how on earth she did it. She is very clever without a doubt. It took me a long time, but I do much better than the days when I used to groan and moan and Thursdays, and now I enjoy his challenges.

26. Evening all. My thanks to Shabbo for the decryption and to everyone who left a comment.

    RayT

    1. Thank you, RayT for the entertainment. 👍

    2. Good evening, Mr.T. Another great puzzle, perhaps a bit on your tougher side but thoroughly enjoyable.

27. Very nice crossword. I really liked 17A, but 8D is an absolute classic, so definitely my COTD.
    Many thanks to Ray T and Shabbo.

28. Great fun! When I was a callow student at Aberdeen Uni I used to spend hours trying to complete the Scotsman crossword – with no success. There were always a couple of clues which stumped me, even when I saw the solution the next day. They were lurkers. I never knew they existed. So I have a penchant for them these days and what a beauty 7d is. Totally fooled me for ages . Thanks to setter and blogger alike!

29. A dnf due to 17a. It appears I was the only person to not get this. I vaguely remember hearing of the place though.

    I needed 17a to get 18d which had me kicking myself when the penny dropped.

    Really enjoyed solving what I could though, and pleased to have done well (for me) with a RayT.

    Thanks to all.

    1. It’s home to a super links course called Royal Cinque Ports which hosted the Open twice in days of yore.

30. Morning golf today with a Seniors Invitational at Harpenden in the lovely sunshine followed by a couple of scoops & a substantial carvery + apple crumble to follow so little wonder I was out for the count within 15mins of returning home. Completed early doors & happily on wavelength for a brisk & very enjoyable problem free finish. A coincidence with the homophones (milk here at 29a here & use at 28a in the Toughie). Choice for top spot a toss up between 17&30a.
    Thanks to Ray T & to Shabbo – are the pics at 11&17a fake? Where’s the litter?

31. Good evening
    A 3* rating from our esteemed reviewer Shabbo? At least a fourser, I’d say! I started the crozzie at 11:00 and I have only just put my pen down. This was a titanic challenge today from the Mighty Mr T, and I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent staring at the grid, and how many times I seriously contemplated hoying the sponge in.

    But I got there. COTD is my last to fall, 24a. I finally twigged how the solution worked some ten minutes after I’d written it in.

    Many thanks to Mr T and to Shabbo.

32. I made harder work of this than I should have. I needed the hints to parse 24a and 26d and never heard of a 21d but knowing our setters 9d for slightly smutty humour i looked it up anyway and there it was. Great fun as usual. Favourite was 21d. Thanks to Rayt and Shabbo.

33. For me, a slightly easier Ray T than usual but great fun. Favourite clue was 8d. Thanks to Ray and Shabbo for the hints.

34. A very late foray for me today into crosswordland. I thought this was RayT at his very best, and it all came together very smoothly. My rating is 2*/5*.

    Many thanks to RayT and to Shabbo.

    Now for the Toughie.

35. Good guzzle, my favourite was 1a. Thankyou setter and hinter.

36. Ray T at his best.
    I first treated 6a as a double definition, and put in “meet”. Too much of a stretch, even for Mr T, so thanks to Shabbo for showing the way.

37. An enjoyable one for me today where last Thursday’s had me giving up. I liked 20a and 30a.

38. 4*/4* …
    liked 27A “Worry is a barrier limiting sex (7)”

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