DT 30715

62 comments on “DT 30715”

1. Another very enjoyable guzzle with just the right balance between write-ins and head scratchers. I don’t understand the parsing of 18a so I will need to check the hints. I couldn’t get “electric” out of my head for 14d but, as it was clear it was wrong, I didn’t enter it. It took a while for the answer to that one to arrive. I liked the New York thief at 28a and the hot planet at 2d. My COTD is 1a with its happy dogs behind coloured birds.

   Thank you, setter (the professor in the library?) for the fun challenge. Thank you, Hintsman for the hunts and Manfred Man. Even The Boss liked their version.

   Good news about the Princess of Wales. Long may she stay healthy.

   Ok – I understand 18a now. Thanks, Hintsman. 👍

   1. I even wrote in electric, no wonder I had so much trouble in the SW!

2. I found this tricky then straightforward then tricky again. On first pass it took me until 21a to solve a clue. Things sped up after that for a while, but I didn’t finish, with the crossing 12a and 7d defeating me.

   Also only got the first word of 1a by looking up its second word. I didn’t know it, and it seems rather same-sidey. 9d I rememembered from a previous crossword — I still don’t think I’ve heard it in ‘real life’ anywhere.

   My favourite was 18a’s family tragedy. Thank you to the setter and hinter, especially for including the Eva Cassidy track — a favourite of my dad’s, which we played at the church at the start of his funeral.

3. This was an enjoyable solve though it took a bit more teasing out than is usual for our professor in residence, especially 1a that took me an age to get. 7d also held out longer than it should have done.

   Setters are quite rightly filling their boots with Harry as it’s a verb, an anagram indicator and an opportunity to create some highly amusing surfaces.

   My podium is 21a, 27a and 16d.

   Many thanks to the prof and Hoots Mon!

   3*/4*

   1. Also filling their boots with ‘china’. Seems to appear every other day lately, almost the new serengeti!

      1. Not many, Benny! They’re out to get me.

         Just throw in a lurker that’s not in a clue and I’ll throw in the pen!

4. A cracking puzzle from our regular Tuesday setter that was a delight to complete; not overly difficult but elegantly compiled. 18a was my favourite for a superb surface.

   Many thanks to AP and The Hintsman.

5. So much to enjoy here.
   I loved the birds at 1a and 10a, I thought of our blogger driving at 13a and ticks (in no particular order) for 14d, 22d, 12a, 23a, 19a and 2d.
   LOI was 7d and I had to look up 18d (geddit?). Very difficult to pick a COD, so I won’t.
   Many thanks to our setter and to Huntsman.

6. This certainly exercised the grey cells and I loved it. For me, a leap from yesterday in terms of difficulty and solved in a very haphazard fashion as I struggled to get a toehold top or bottom. It was the anagram at 5d that fell first followed by a loud PDM as 1a yielded. The phrase at 13a was new to me in that context. Plenty of other …. offs spring to mind, but not that one! Today’s favourite is 28a supported by 18a and 7d. Thanks Mr Plumb and Huntsman.

7. 3*/4*
   A couple of more difficult clues (for me) pushed my difficulty rating up. LOI 7D – spent far too long trying to find a heroic exploit.
   Joint favs 18d and 28ac.
   With thanks to setter and huntsman.

8. Challenging guzzle but very enjoyable to solve. My brain is improving during this latest visitation of Covid, as last week words were appearing as if they were clouds, drifting about in a jungle of fog.
   I am either jolly unlucky (this is my fifth encounter with it), or Covid has fallen in love with me with such passion that it cannot help itself returning like a desolate former lover. I am taking out a restraining order against Covid and it will have to come to terms with being unwanted here.
   Essentially, I am Cathy and Covid is Heathcliff, obsessively stalking me. I can hear him now, “Misery and degradation and death and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us, you of your own will did it.”

   Please, Heathcliff, understand that you are not welcome here. Please don’t return for a sixth encounter.

   Thanks to the setter and Andy On The First Tee (great music choices, as ever)

   

   1. Oh dear Terence you are suffering. Poor H.

   2. Oh, please don’t tell me it’s possible to get the plague five times … once was more than enough for me. Get better soon Terence.

   3. Oh dear, I do hope you avoid another dose, but to risk Brian’s opprobrium I am rather reluctant to mention that the Egyptians had at least seven plagues in the Bible

9. Great fun, started in the SW (after a few blank seconds looking at 1a) and from that point progress was ‘swift’. Slightly chewier than the usual Tuesday puzzle but nonetheless benign. Some super surfaces and plenty of ticks – Honours to 1a, 2d & 16d, with runner-up 7d.

   Thank you setter, also Huntsman – especially for Eva, one of the most beautiful voices ‘evah’.

10. A first-rate Tuesday puzzle – thanks to our setter and Huntsman.
    Ticks from me for 1a, 23a, 2d, 18d and 22d.

11. Yet more terrific Tuesday fun with a little more challenge than usual due to a couple (12a and 7d) in the NE taking a while to parse. American John seems to be catching on this side of the pond and 23a joins 1a and 14d as a Fav trio. Thank you MrP for today and all your Tuesday entertainments and also TVM Hintsman.

12. A DNF but pleased to have at least solved 18a.

13. Thought this was straight out of the professor’s top drawer and thoroughly enjoyed the solve. After a hard-fought battle, the honours went to 1,18&27a with 13a & 14d nipping at their heels.

    Many thanks to Mr Plumb for an excellent puzzle and to Huntsman for the review.

14. As I am able to ‘tackle’ back pagers in the early evening ‘the day before’ I did wonder if my brain had not fully woken up from my afternoon nap for this somewhat more challenging Anthony Plumb production – ***/****

    Candidates for favourite – 1a, 9a, 12a, 21a, 8d, and 18d – and the winner is 1a.

    Thanks to Mr Plumb and Huntsman.

15. I thought this was delightful. Some gentle misdirection and typically shiny surfaces. 18d’s fun, 18a is neatly done and 27a & 22d both ring true. 1a is especially lovely but I think 16d just takes the biscuit – tis possibly the perfect anagram. Many thanks to our setter and Huntsman. I do love a bit of Floyd, ta.

16. 2*/4*. All the usual Tuesday fun with, unusually, an anagram, 16d, taking the top honours for me.

    You is surface padding in 18d. It is also a good excuse for writing a sentence where “you is” is grammatically correct!

    Many thanks presumably to AP and to Hintsman.

17. I liked this puzzle with the animal connections. There are a lot of 1a in the local supermarket car park and I often worry that they will not move in time before a car gets them.
    Top picks for me were 22d, 18a and 1a.
    Thanks to Huntsman and the setter.

18. I needed Huntsman’s help on a couple to get me finished in what I thought a decidedly tricky AP production. I was doing well with the W completed but ground to a halt in the E, hence the needed kick-start. My cotd is 1a, for the smile factor alone. Thanks to AP for the challenge that beat me and Huntsman for the hints.

19. Lovely puzzle – thanks to both the setter and to Huntsman for the hints but put us out of our misery – what type of grebe is in the picture? Doesn’t really look like any that occur in the UK

    1. It looks like a Western Grebe to me, one of our experts may say I’m incorrect – North America only.

       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_grebe

       1. You could well be right, Senf, too much white on the throat and neck for any of the more familiar suspects. Perhaps when Huntsman gets back from his golf he can enlighten us about the image he chose?

          1. Haven’t a clue Jane – all I knew was that it had a close acquaintance with the wet stuff

             1. That’s not very helpful, Huntsman………..didn’t the picture have anything written underneath it?

                1. Found the pic – Senf correct as ever. It is indeed a Western Grebe clearly distinguishable from a Northern, Eastern or Southern one by its distinctive quack 😀

          2. I did a picture search and Google returned a lot of pictures of Clark’s Grebes and Western Grebes. I suspect Senf is correct though: https://www.featheredphotography.com/blog/2014/06/30/western-and-clarks-grebes-a-comparison/#:~:text=The%20black%20crown%20of%20the,does%20not%20in%20the%20Clark's.

             1. Thanks for this and to all who responded. We looked at Clark’s and Great Western grebes but they seem to have red eyes which – as far as we could make out, this one didn’t. It will just have to remain one of life’s many great unsolved mysteries.

20. For me not so typically Tuesdayish today. Several clues I really scratched my head over to get the answers eventually.
    Definitely needed my thinking cap on.

    2.5*/3.5*

    Favourites include 13a, 18a, 28a, 4d & 22d — with winner 18a

    Thanks to setter (AP?) & Huntsman.

21. Lovely puzzle and lovely blog, the bottom half went in quite well but the top half was a bit tardy
    Thanks to H for some great hints and tunes but have you 16d who wrote BBTL?
    Here is a reminder 😉

    1. Must say John I think the Earth Band’s cover the better of the 2 versions.
       Lady Blackbird – Tony Joe White cover
       Eva – Sting cover

       1. Your probably right – the Eva Cassidy version is certainly my favourite over Sting
          I think Craig Charles on Radio 6 had a feature Cover from Another Brother/Mother which unearthed some gems. My own favourite cover version is Disturbed’s The Sound of Silence

          1. Totally agree about Disturbed, SJB. It gives it a menace that the original didn’t have.

             1. For some proper punky angst menace the Anti Nowhere League cover of Streets of London takes some beating.

                1. Absolutely, Rog. I’ve still got the “We Are The League” vinyl album somewhere, but nothing on which to play it. As you say, proper punk menace; hardcore and very much of its age.

22. Some very intricate, fiddly lego clues made this more difficultclthan the usual Plumb production. With two clues to go, I had to leave thisguzzle and try the Panagram while my brain carried on mulling them over. When I returned to it, 17d and 7a fell into place. As a life member of the RSPB, the two birdy clues (1a and 10a) appealed to me and gave me a start to this convoluted puzzle. Thanks tto AP and to Huntsman for the hints.

23. Absolutely brilliant, I loved the challenge. 7d was LOI and I had to refer to Hints man for that and 1d too caused me some problems as I had 13a as ‘put off’. (Or is that a double t?). 23a is something we have discussed recently as another word for John. Favourite is between 18a and 17d and I think 17 wins. I am busy Sorting Out frantically and this morning after I changed the bed I looked into the blanket chest at the foot of the bed. Lots of old memorabilia including a pile of love notes and poems written before we were married. We worked in the same office but different departments and we thought we were so subtle passing notes. After lunch just now I gave him a bundle to look at, saying now you see why I thought I was going to spend the next 67 years being adored, worshipped and treasured. Talk about being misled. Unfortunately, though he had a good laugh at most of the passionate hyperbole, he was most interested in the paper we used, it was largely torn up price lists and product details. He kept on exclaiming my word, I remember ST. 2130, a best seller! Look at the price! etc etc. No words reaffirming his love. Ladies, I am sure you are on my side and your hearts are bleeding for me. Thank you to Messrs Setter and Hintsman for bringing me a little happiness.

    1. Definitely on your side DG!!

    2. With you Daisy!

    3. Daisy, Daisy, George sent you a billet-doux
       He was crazy, all for the love of you.
       It’s been a stylish marriage,
       But George you mustn’t disparage,
       He knows you’re sweet, none can compete
       With harmony made by two.

       1. P cubed racks up another belter.

       2. 🥰

24. It looks as if our Tuesday setter has remembered how to flex his muscles – phew!
    Quite a few clues caused some trouble – for me anyway – and I’m not use to that on Tuesdays.
    I liked 23 and 28a and 18 and 22d. I haven’t decided on a favourite so maybe I don’t have one today!
    With thanks to our setter and to today’s Huntsman.

25. Tricky? Yup, and more, but hugely entertaining. I needed help in the SW, I don’t know why, now I know the answers what else could they be? There were enough checkers to use ehelp. I was looking for a Brit PM at 22d, but she was only part, wasn’t that clever? I remembered the second word at 1a, definitely what dogs do, but I needed google to get the first word. I don’t understand 3d, even with the excellent hints. I also liked 17d, probably my fave.
    Thank you setter for the fun, and Hintsman for unravelling a few.

    1. I’m afraid this response is rather late, but regarding 3d:
       reflect on or think about = WONDER
       well-rounded = FULL
       learner driver leaving = remove an L
       A1 or excellent = WONDERFUL

       1. Thanks, Falcon for that. I should have understood the hint, but I guess we’re all allowed a blind spot from time to time!

          1. Sorry Merusa I should have replied there. Thanks to Falcon for doing so

26. No Huntsman, you are not having a dim day, I found this one decidedly tricky in places. I still don’t understand how guys = teases. 10a, 12a and 7d also sent me to the hints. I think I was just spoilt with yesterday’s very friendly puzzle. COTD goes to 28a. Would have got 1a if I was familiar with the first word. Thanks to setter and Huntsman.

    1. These “guys” often appear in cryptics. Got a dictionary?

27. Great crossword, but today this blog’s even better with such entertaining comments from eg Terence (please recover soon) Daisygirl Pip and others plus the usual top quality music from Huntsman. Thank you compiler although the golf clue is not quite right?

28. I nearly had to pinch myself and make sure it was Tuesday as I found this very tricky. Normally I finish before going out, no chance today as I was less than half done. However on returning with a cuppa and a bit more time it slowly came together. I could not parse 3d and needed the hints to help. Now it’s completed I am very pleased, particularly having seen that it was not just me finding it tricky, that is the reassuring thing about this blog (in addition to all the quality entertainment from all the commenters). The clues were very clever and it’s difficult to find a favourite, the anagrams and lurkers were first class.

    The Disturbed version of sound of silence is one of my favourite covers too.

    Many thanks to the setter and to Huntsman for the hints.

29. Started off brilliantly in the wrong direction at 1a, by just putting in ‘tail feathers ‘, Nick at least had doggy bits and bird bits. Luckily Papa is usually a P in crosswordland, so 1d put paid to 1a, which in the end I had to hunt down with the help of Golfman. Loved the bright spark and also the God’s temple, really because it’s such a rare word for me.
    I’m indebted to the Golfman for pointing out that Thomas Crapper didn’t invent the loo, but John did 250 years earlier, much to a lot of folks relief! Though I discovered that Scotsman Alexander Cummings was the first to patent a flushing version.
    All in all I think I’ll go for 1a as COD, because ‘pied’ is such a nice word, and the bird is pretty too!
    Many thanks to the setter and to Huntsman.

    1. I was outside the White Lion. Swapped sides in the nick if time but nearly got run over by a police motor bike! Hope you read this.

       1. Hi Manders!
          Yes, thanks for the reply! Hope the policeman didn’t make you spill your drink! Hope the weather was kind to you! (Are you still there?)

30. Another great puzzle – 28A my fave. Many thanks Setter & Huntsman.

31. Good evening

    Sad to report that I haven’t so much as attempted a crozzie since Wednesday! I’ve just had so much on that they’ve fallen by the wayside, so I’m pleased to get a long enough break during my shift whereby I can have a crack at today’s.

    Fairly good start, but stumbled a little towards the end with a few hiccups in the NE quadrant. I totally wrong-footed myself when it came to my last to fall, 7d. I was trying to figure out another word for “heroic exploit” when it was, of course, “broadcast” that was the key word; I needed a quick peek at what our Hintsman had to say before the penny finally dropped!

    COTD is 18d. Many thanks to Mr P (?) and to Huntsman.

32. I’m pleased I wasn’t the only one who didn’t find this that easy although nothing was unfairly clued. Favourite was 17d. Thanks to (presumably) AP and Huntsman.

33. Did this in stages and managed all but 1 clue but I think I knew it eventually! Thanks to Huntsman and the compiler. CoD was 1A for me.

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