Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30714
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Ottawa, where a stretch of very cold, very wet weather has temporarily driven me from my lakeside retreat to the comforts of my cozy, warm home. However, this spell of miserable weather is forecast to soon pass with a return to midsummer-like conditions by mid-week.
Today we have an outstanding early week puzzle (presumably from Robyn but my setter detecting abilities are always suspect).
I think I have deciphered the Quickie pun after trying to imagine how a resident of southeast England might pronounce the words. The pun really doesn’t work for me and I expect it may also not work for those from southwest England or Scotland. I await your verdict on my efforts.
In the hints below, underlining identifies precise definitions and cryptic definitions, FODDER is capitalized, and indicators are italicized. The answers will be revealed by clicking on the ANSWER buttons.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought of the puzzle.
Across
1a Swine concealing new, bad odour in game (4-4)
PING-PONG — a porcine animal ingesting the single letter for new which is then followed by a bad odour
5a Shakespeare character left on a ship with Iago? Not half! (6)
PORTIA — string together the nautical term for left and what remains of IAGO after half has been removed
9a It’s only partially about Donald Trump (5)
OUTDO — a lurker (it’s only partially) hiding in the two words preceding the definition
10a Renovated cottages, housing the setter considers (9)
COGITATES — an anagram (renovated) of COTTAGES containing (housing) a self-referential personal pronoun applying to the setter
12a Spice Girl’s eating fan’s biscuits (6,4)
GINGERNUTS — a member of the Spice Girls (with her accompanying S) embracing a fan or enthusiast
13a Expresses disapproval of alcohol vocally (4)
BOOS — sounds like (vocally) a common term for alcoholic beverages
15a Severe stress is something Beyoncé has (5,6)
ACUTE ACCENT — link together synonyms for severe or sharp and stress or emphasize
16a Old men not coming from France (3)
PAS — double definition, the first an informal term for fathers and the second the French word for ”not”
17a A couple of names for a girl (3)
ANN — the A from the clue and two instances of the single letter for name
18a Real patriot confused in Marxist philosophy class (11)
PROLETARIAT — an anagram (confused) of the first two words in the clue
20a Wings of turtledove and robin or seabird (4)
TERN — a charade of the initial and final letters (wings) of the first two birds in the clue
21a Chatter about Wagner operas in get-togethers (10)
GATHERINGS — an informal term for chatter enveloping (about) the (3,4) name for a cycle of operas by composer Richard Wagner
24a Buzz from a Pixar film, one stopping awful lethargy (9)
LIGHTYEAR — the Roman numeral for one inserted in (stopping) an anagram (awful) of LETHARGY
26a Hazel, say, maintaining hot figure (5)
THREE — what hazel is botanically containing (maintaining) the water tap symbol for hot
27a Coming up in The King and I, what vocalists do (6)
RISING — concatenate the Latin abbreviation for king, the I from the clue, and what vocalists do
28a Most untidy Argentinian footballer is in Paris (8)
MESSIEST — an Argentine footballer widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time followed by the French word for “is”
Down
1d Cultivate earth that’s soft by Irish lake (6)
PLOUGH — the single letter music notation for soft and the Irish word for lake
2d It’s unacceptable whichever way you look at it (3,2)
NOT ON — the answer is a palindrome reading the same both up and down
3d Segment of swamp rose, cut originally for person in court (10)
PROSECUTOR — another lurker, this one concealed in (segment of) the four words following the indicator
4d Turn round in sticky liquid (3)
GOO — paste together a turn or attempt and a round letter
6d Promise of love by extremely adept husband (4)
OATH — line up the letter that looks like a tennis score of love, the initial and final letters (extremely) of ADEPT, and the genealogical abbreviation for husband
7d Flier over citadel cheers about counterstrike (3,3,3)
TIT FOR TAT — link together a small bird, a citadel or stronghold, and the reversal (about) of an informal word for cheers or thanks; then split the result per the numeration
8d Pair of idiots at home hired gun, perhaps (8)
ASSASSIN — two instances of an idiot followed by the usual two letters for at home
10d US Civil War participant organised defence rota (11)
CONFEDERATE — an anagram (organized) of the final two words in the clue
11d Rag Theresa terribly about Conservative Party’s unwelcome guest (11)
GATECRASHER — an anagram (terribly) of the first two words in the clue wrapped around (about) the single letter for Conservative
14d Attacks with grenade – it’s exploding (10)
DENIGRATES — an anagram (exploding) of the two words preceding the indicator
15d Like soldier with good American spears, say (9)
ASPARAGUS — following a run of anagrams, we return to the charades, this one comprised of a synonym of like, an airborne soldier, the numismatic symbol for good, and a two letter abbreviation for American
16d Baby’s toy in empty pannier for chatterbox (8)
PRATTLER — a baby’s noisemaker bookended by the initial and final letters (empty) of PANNIER
19d Heads of American Secret Service earning Number Ten’s approval (6)
ASSENT — the initial letters (heads) of the six words preceding the definition
22d Front of Verne novel (5)
NERVE — an anagram (novel) of VERNE
23d Perhaps tenner raised for privileged school (4)
ETON — a reversal (raised in a down clue) of what a tenner is an example of
25d E.g. gun injury in EastEnders (3)
{ ARM } — how a character in the soap opera EastEnders might pronounce another word for injury
With no shortage of clues worthy of the podium today, picking one to single out is a difficult task, so I’ve elected to go with 9a just because it was my last one in.
Quickie Pun (Top Row): TACKS + SERVE + ASIAN = TAX EVASION
A straightforward guzzle to start the week. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable and gave a few laughs such as 1a. I don’t know any English footballers let alone ones from Argentina but 28a was quite gettable especially after 25d went in. My COTD is the severe stress Beyoncé suffers at 15a. Poor woman!
Thank you, setter for a most enjoyable puzzle. Thank you, Falcon for the hints.
I loved the Quickie pun.
No rain in The Marches today, so my weather station says, which means I can mow the grass for the second time in four days. I really should not have fed it because it now grows rapidly.
I knew the footballer, he’s been front and centre since Beckham bought him for Miami a while ago!
1*/4*. Another in a long line of fine Monday back-pagers.
While solving, I thought this was a bit anagram heavy, which might have been due to three in a row in the downs. Counting afterwards, there are only six.
I spent too long trying to work out if “assegaais” could be the answer to 15d. D’oh!
15a was my favourite.
Many thanks to Robyn (?) and to Falcon.
The abundance of anagrams – 7 I think – and the normal and first letter lurkers plus a palindrome to boot rendered this an easy but pleasant solve. I thought 15a nicely conceived and my COTD. Excellent Monday fare – or is it fayre? On which topic we are checking the weather to see if Widecombe Fair which is on tomorrow will be affected. Our first visit if it happens. Thanks Falcon and our setter.
Yes, NAS, you are correct. It’s 7 anagrams. I missed 22d when I was checking. Oops.
For the first time ever I did it one pass!!!!!
I’m not sure if its that I’m on form or it was really easier than normal for a Monday.
Thanks Robyn and Falcon
A lovely start to the week.
Top picks for me were 15a, 1a and 15d.
Thanks to Falcon and the setter.
I’m off for a tour of Highgrove Garden this afternoon followed by dinner and a talk by Adam Frost. After all the rain we have had I’m concerned that the King’s lawns will end up a muddy mess after we have tramped all over them as, from memory, there aren’t paths everywhere. No doubt he has a few minions to reseed it for him 😃
Thank you to the setter. The long anagrams made this a steady, rather than speedy, solve for me, with lots of entertainment along the way — perfect! Enough of the non-anagrams were sufficiently straightforward for me to find a way in, with Falcon’s last answer of 9a being my first, and 14d being my last (parsed as an anagram immediately, but I didn’t manage to arrange the letters into a word until I had all the crossers).
My top couple were 9a with the former president and 27a with the monarch.
I was ignorant of the Irish lake in 1d, and had wrongly presumed it was the proper name of a specific lake, so thank you to Falcon for educating me on that, and for helping parse 21a where it turns out the word I didn’t know was, erm … “the” — ooops!
Encore une fois, as my ancestors would say, very enjoyable but over before it began, somewhat, perhaps even more, reminiscent of Rufus – */****
Favourite – a toss-up between 1d and 15d.
Thanks to Robyn(?) and Falcon.
While I read this fascinating blog(?) every day I very rarely comment, and as rarely do I find clues amusing/fun. I finish the crossword about five times a week but, even if I finish it in half an hour it is usually more of a brain workout than entertaining. However, for me, and probably reading other comments it will only be for me, today’s was fun, it was amusing entertainment. Surface reads were worth it alone. Top clue 15a.
Hi, Alasdair. You definitely aren’t the only solver who found today’s puzzle fun! I did like 15a as well.
(But please note that commenters aren’t supposed to mention solving times.)
Thank you for the light knuckle wrap. I will bear this in mind for the future when I finally finish a certain Thursday one that I started several weeks ago.
Gentle and enjoyable on that rare and novel but most welcome thing, a dry and sunny morning. Surprised to see ‘chatter’ twice in the clues. Honours to 15a, 16a and 15d.
The quickie pun doesn’t work for me (born in SW, early years in SE, back in SW for last 30 years) and I can’t see how it works wherever one hails from unless one habitually pronounces ‘evasion’ as uhvasion/ervasion.
Many thanks to the setter and to Falcon
Does a pun need to sound identically in order to ‘work’? Obviously a homophone cryptic crossword clue should do, but I reckon for a pun being close enough that you can tell what the word is should be sir fish ant.
Milton Jones: “A lot of people like cats. Take the Pope, for example: I read recently that he was a cat-oholic!”
Nor me in Wales!
A really good start to the week with this puzzle which required a degree of very gentle GK. My only comment, as you might guess by now, concerns the surfeit of anagrams! I was put into a good mood straight away with the amusing and easily gettable 1a and the couple of lurkers in that corner made for a good start. I was impressed with 3d taking the lurker into 4 words. I’m spoilt for choice for favourite but will plump for 15a which came from a PDM. Places on the podium for 7d and 15d. Thanks to our setter and Falcon.
Assuming that this gentle Monday starter was prepared for us by Robyn, I have to commend him for being able to switch so easily from benevolence to fiend to meet the demands of the slot he’s filling at the time.
Plenty of smiles today with the widest of them reserved for 15a & 15d. Also a mention for 10a just because it’s a lovely word.
Thanks to Robyn(?) and to Falcon for the review – hope you can soon return to your lakeside retreat.
I couldn’t agree more, Jane. I can’t think of any other setter who is able to shift so seamlessly between, as you say, B and F! Robyn is quite unique for that, I think. Incredibly impressive.
I agree wholeheartedly too! My tri-weekly battles with the mind of Robyn on the Sunday Toughie have prepared me well to have sailed through this
Thanks to Robyn and Falcon weather here similarly fickle
Absolutely though I wasn’t entirely sure this one was a Robyn production. Either way it was, as you say, a lovely gentle starter with plenty of smiles. 15a&d among my picks too even though the clue as written in the digital paper (unlike the Puzzles app) didn’t actually have one for the former.
Thanks to the setter & to Falcon
Ps 11d did remind me of when serial prankster, Lee Nelson, interrupted Theresa’s wooden conference speech & then turned his attentions to Boris on the front row
Fairly gentle but very enjoyable – thanks to our setter and Falcon.
My top clues were 15a, 21a and 15d.
I agree with Falcon on the dodginess of the Quickie pun.
Not entirely plain-sailing but fathomable. 15a hung fire since I don’t know much about Beyoncé. Like Smyler, overlooking ‘the’ made 21a difficult to parse as was 24a ‘cos Pixar and their film didn’t ring a bell. 22d = front? Anyway altogether a pleasant solve so thank you setter and Falcon (Summer continues to come and go here too).
A tip of the hat to Robyn for a top drawer puzzle for a Monday. Wit and great surfaces providing much enjoyment. So many contenders for podium positions, but I’ll go with 1a for the smile factor alone, 21a with 15d in top spot. Thanks again to Robyn and Falcon.
Like most Mondays – very straightforward but also very enjoyable. When I started doing these puzzles – many moons ago – 8d was the first cryptic I ever solved and it has regularly appeared in similar guises ever since and is my shoe in without really having to finish reading the clue!
In the hint for 15a – which I agree is an excellent clue – Falcon has added the “answer” in it’s correct place but in my online version it wasn’t there – was it included in the print version?
Thanks to setter and Falcon
I did not need to add the “answer” to the clue for 15a. It was already present in the version of the puzzle I printed from the Telegraph Puzzles website.
That’s what I thought, thanks
Very gentle, even for a Monday, but good fun whilst it lasted.
My only slight delay was trying to get GUM to work at 4d.
15a is my COD.
Thank you setter and Falcon.
Me too with gum
I toyed with “gum” also.
I thoroughly enjoyed this Monday treat. Getting 1a straight away is usually a good omen and the rest fell in place nicely with GK that I knew. 1a was my favourite closely followed by 15a, I do like the word in 10a!
Many thanks to the setter and to Falcon for the hints.
Back to hedge trimming as although it is grey and breezy it has not rained so far today.
1*/4*
Great Monday puzzle. Minor hold up blindly writing snap for the second part of the biscuit. Palindrome my favourite today.
With thanks to Setter and Falcon
A nice puzzle to start the non-work week solved in the early evening of a sunny, (26c) Sunday. Lots to like and for me another R&W puzzle.
1*/4* for me
Favourites 1a, 13a, 15a, 28a & 2d — with winner 13a for its simplicity!
All of these clues made me smile as well as 17a, 7d & 25d
Thanks to setter & Falcon
A gentle and enjoyable puzzle to start the week with some wonderful clues. My favourite was the very neat 15a. Thanks to setter and Falcon.
A lovely way to start the week, though I’m sure there are going to be rumbles about the anagrams; well, I loved them, so there! My only complaint, can we puhleeese do without that chump in 9a, he’s on the TV day in, day out, it’s too much to have him in my English guzzle as well. Strewth, can’t I get a break? Bajan Beyoncé does have a 15a, that’s my fave, but 1a is fast on its heels.
Thank you setter, that was lots of fun, and Falcon for unravelling a few. I hope your weather allows you to go back to your lakeside soon.
She’s got Messi, she’s got Trump,
A cute Beyonce too,
But she says that one’s a chump –
I can’t imagine who.
Well done, Pip! What larks,eh?
Spot on for a Monday from Mr Consistency.
My podium is 15a, 10d and 11d.
Many thanks to Rob? Y/N and Mr Crest.
1*/4*
Just me then!!! I thought this was quite difficult, in fact really quite difficult.
I’ve always had trouble with Mondays, even going all the way back to Rufus days – think it must be something to do with me!!
Having said all that I thought it was a very good crossword – took a long time though.
I got into all kinds of muddles in several places – all my own fault, all of them!
I particularly liked 1 and 5a and 11 and 15d (oh, those spears!) I’m spoilt for a favourite today.
Thanks to Robyn for the battle and to Falcon for digging me out of all the holes!
OMG. Jumping up and down day here. All done and dusted without needing to read the hints. That rarely happens, and I am even happier to see Falcon’s ** rather than the anticipated *. I must have been right on wavelength, starting at 1a (LOL) and even knowing the Argentinian footballer. Wonders will never cease. Obviously no complaints from me about the number of anagrams. Huge thank you to Robyn for making this aging lady feel good, and to Falcon, although it was a blue moon day where I didn’t need any help.
If, living in Miami, you didn’t know the name of the footballer, I would have said you live with your head in the sand! Have you ever seen so many tattoos?
I actually don’t know what he looks like, but he’s always being mentioned on the TV and radio so even me, totally not into sports, had heard of him 😊.
I think I am in the small minority of those who occasionally struggle with reading the puzzle font – in 5a, I could not distinguish between a capital i and a lower case L as they both look identical (fortunately I knew the Othello character).
Thanks to the setter and to Falcon – 1*/3.5*.
You’re not alone in struggling with the puzzle font occasionally, ,Jrzza I also struggle with the keyboard on my mobile when filling in puzzles on the app.
All went well and impressed with a very smooth Trump lurker so that’s my CotD – thank you Falcon and compiler
What a nice way to start the week 😃 ***/**** Lots of amusing clues mixed in with a couple of head scratchers 👍 Favourites were: 9a, 15a, 20a and 26a 🤗 Thanks to Robyn and to the Falcon
Absolute beauty of a puzzle. Hard to choose between so many great clues, but I’ll go for 15A and 15D.]
Many thanks Setter & Falcon.
Nice start to the week which is more than can be said for the dreadful Quickie which is full of obscure slang terms, quite possibly the worst Quickie in living memory.
Back to this one, lots of clever clues but my fav was 24a.
Thx to all
*/***
Obscure slang terms? 😳
Really enjoyed today’s guzzle. Many great clues. I liked
13a which made me smile. 15d was my favourite. Thankyou to both setter and hunter.
[This whole comment has been redacted. Please read the Comment etiquette (especially #2 and #16) before making any further comments]
Perhaps you should confine yourself to the Toughies and Elgar. 😊
Perhaps you should confine yourself to The Toughies and Elgar or even Enigma Variations? 😊
Perhaps you should confine yourself to Elgar and Enigma Variations? 😊
You’re not sorry at all. How do you think newbies feel reading your spiteful comment? We all, even you, started from the bottom up. If you can’t be kind, shut up.
Quite agree, Manders. A raison d’être of this site is to encourage those who are just starting to tackle cryptic crosswords. They should be encouraged.
Many of us, myself included, really enjoyed this puzzle today. I fail to understand why you don’t confine yourself to doing the Toughie if you find these insufficient for your mental prowess. I’m not going to let you spoil my sense of achievement today, and hopefully not for the many others who don’t comment here.
There is no Toughie today. But the Guardiian Quiptic might be too tougth for beginners?
I see that has now been switched from appearing each Monday to now being produced on Sunday. They seem to have got it pretty well spot on for difficulty of late but it wasn’t so long ago that it would often seem far tougher than the Graun Mon cryptic & certainly far harder than the DT back-pager
Thank goodness. There is no place for such rudeness on this most friendly and welcoming of blogs.
Dare to give me a clue as to the nature of your comment, not the actual words? Intellectual or rude? Just like to know what is being deleted.
I agree with most of what has already been said – a delight. And having struggled with yesterday’s STToughie by Robyn, I agree with Jane that he is remarkably gifted to switch from that tough Toughie to this lighthearted guzzle. 15a is definitely a favourite and 22a made me laugh. Like Merusa I am very ‘into’ anagrams (in other words, I’m quite good at them!). 10a is a favourite word of mine, it has great gravitas. So many thanks to Messrs Setter & Falcon – we are off to an Arts Society lecture now on Grinling Gibbons but with new responsibilities. I am now a ‘meeter and greeter’ and George has been promoted to switching the lights down when the lecture begins. Heady stuff, I do hope we don’t get too big for our boots. What a shame I am not called Rita. Or Anita – or better still, Greta!
My apologies for three replies to SM above. My laptop kept freezing.
Perhaps it needed to be said three times for it to sink in?
I doubt it, Merusa but I will never accept someone calling a guzzle drivel if they cannot produce a cryptic themselves.
His comments must have upset newbies no end.
They don’t come much more straightforward than this fine offering, my biggest hold up was breaking my pencil (well it’s a while since I’ve said it). Not easy to pick a favourite though but I’ll go with 15d. Thanks to the setter presumably Robyn and Falcon.
Splendid! I liked 24 a and 15 a bit generally a goodie. Thank you