Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30764
Hints and tips by 2Kiwis
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Kia ora from Aotearoa.
We’ve had some record breaking temperatures lately. Lowest ever November temperature was recorded a few days ago in a place not far from us. Not at all what we expect for our springtime, but we remain optimistic for better things to come soon.
Some botany and a few tricky bits once again in today’s puzzle.
Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.
Across
1a Second best doctor covering area must be a temporary measure (7)
STOPGAP : The abbreviation for second, followed by best or outdo, then a general practitioner contains A(rea).
9a The voice of an Italian city tenor? (8)
BARITONE : A port city on the Adriatic sea and then tenor or drift.
10a Finally get ready for Russian unrest (7)
TROUBLE : The last letter of get and Russian money.
11a Hot and stuffy without a coat (8)
HAIRLESS : The tap letter for hot and then lacking ventilation.
12a Broadcast talk about road safety feature (6)
AIRBAG : Broadcast or publicise and the reversal of informal talk.
13a Pub cheers feature that’s new (10)
INNOVATION : Pub or tavern and formal acclamation.
15a Pull a face seeing piece about Republican (4)
GURN : A piece or firearm contains R(epublican).
16a European convention on information, by and large (9)
GENERALLY : An informal word for information, then E(uropean) and convention or gathering.
21a Succeeded in university education, getting employed (4)
USED : The abbreviations for university and education contain S(ucceeded).
22a Flower child must accept reason and run (10)
MARGUERITE : A child or small being contains reason or dispute and cricket abbreviation for run.
24a Submits returns (6)
YIELDS : A double definition.
25a Walks by quiet scene of slaughter (8)
SHAMBLES : The two letter instruction to be quiet, then walks casually.
27a Plain variety of orchid (7)
VANILLA : This orchid is used as a synonym for plain.
28a Suspicion about one’s annoyance (8)
NUISANCE : A suspicion or subtle degree of difference contains Roman numeral one and ‘S.
29a Drink making legions mad (4,3)
SLOE GIN : An anagram (mad) of LEGIONS.
Down
2d End what an American president does? (8)
TERMINUS : Split the answer 4,2,2 to understand the wordplay.
3d Straight home, at last sorting pipework (8)
PLUMBING : Straight or precisely vertical, then the two letter home and the last letter of sorting.
4d Loyalty perhaps found in marriage (10)
ALLEGIANCE : Marriage or joining together encloses the two letter perhaps or for example.
5d PM has answer for American civilization (4)
MAYA : PM from a few years ago and A(nswer).
6d Range of character shown by Romeo? (6)
SIERRA : In the phonetic alphabet the letter that is next to (by) Romeo.
7d Plant liable to suffer absorbing oxygen (7)
LOBELIA : An anagram ( to suffer) of LIABLE contains the chemical symbol for oxygen.
8d Poor farm labourer from Europe, as antecedent (7)
PEASANT : A lurker, hiding in the clue.
11d Complain bitterly, beset by workers supporting bars (9)
HANDRAILS : Complain bitterly or harangue is within menial workers.
14d Weirdly lovely dance game (10)
VOLLEYBALL : An anagram (weirdly) of LOVELY and a formal dance.
17d I hear you will diet about this time of year (8)
YULETIDE : A homophone of ‘you will’ and an anagram (about) of DIET.
18d City working when idle? (3,5)
NEW DELHI : An anagram (working) of WHEN IDLE.
19d A fool accepts bad is funny (7)
AMUSING : ‘A’ from the clue, then a fool or dupe contains an indiscretion.
20d Varying extent of deficit – arrears on the rise (7)
ERRATIC : A reverse lurker, hiding in the clue.
23d Riding round hopeful (6)
UPBEAT : Riding or on top of, then a round that a bobby may walk.
26d What about a 100 apiece? (4)
EACH : A colloquial version of What? contains ‘A’ from the clue and Roman numeral one hundred.
Quickie pun Cannes + Easter = canister
Too tenuous in many clues for me, hope others liked it, but not me today.
On the positive side though, I thought 2d was brilliant.
Sorry to our setter, just not my thing.
I really did not enjoy today’s offering. 22A is the perfect example of why.
lt was all reasonably ok for me but although I put the right answer I had to go to 2Kiwis for 6d and 19d for the explanation. I really enjoyed this one
Not for me today. Found the whole thing a struggle. Although have to second Tip at in their praise of 2d.
Thank you for the hints – needed to explain 22a
I don’t like giving up, but after an hour of pondering before resorting to the 2K’S hints, I threw in the towel with only 7 clues completed. I could not fathom the letter’s wavelength today. Sorry setter, not one for me. My problem, not yours.
For me, etc, a real, more than a Wednesday, challenge that was not very enjoyable except for a few PDMs such as 22a, 6d, and 26d.
Smiles for 22a, 28a, and 6d.
Thanks to whomsoever and the 2Kiwis.
I’ve certainly enjoyed puzzles considerably more than I did this one, it must be said. The unhelpful grid and some less commonly used synonyms made this a little more challenging than might usually be the case, even with a fair scattering of old chestnuts. The flower was unknown to me, and a struggle despite all the checkers. On the other hand I felt everything, even 22a, was scrupulously fair. While the clueing was very clever and the surfaces largely silk-smooth, I felt there was little humour, sadly. 9a my COTD, with runners-up 15a (I was more than just pulling a face on waking up to this morning’s news) and 3d.
Thanks to the setter and to the 2Ks
Found this harder than most Fridays, with the three botanical clues being the last one’s unsolved. Gave up after getting 22a, with 27a and 7d remaining unsolved at the end. Really should have got 7d, mind. That combined with some dodgy (stretched?) definitions – e.g. 28a and 23d – meant this wasn’t for me. ****/**
Pleased to see that I wasn’t the only person finding this at the very difficult end of the backpager spectrum, although I didn’t help myself by putting a couple of solutions in the wrong places
Thanks to the 2Ks for sorting it all out
This was worth it for 2d alone — it would probably have been my clue of the day anyway, but the topicality made it even better. Thank you to the setter. I also liked 26d (“What”) for having so many words to fit into so few letters, 6d (“Range”) for requiring lateral thinking, and 25a’s scene of slaughter, for a term I only know from visiting York, and for reminding me of this stunning photograph by David Oxtaby:
For 24a I initially put ‘enters’, as in submits information and the plural of the computer key that’s sometimes labelled ‘Return’, so it seemed to fit both halves of the double definition well enough, and I was a bit irked that it messed up crossing answers.
I feel better informed to learn that 27a is an orchid. I didn’t know the Italian city either, and was led astray by the letters “It” appearing in its name accounting for the Italian part; thank you to the Kiwis for explaining that one, and also for the round in 23a.
This felt at least moderately pacey (though it’s hard to tell, because the electronic timer continued to tick as I answered the door to a cold-calling† rival milkman and was persuaded to defect to their services), up until the point I gave in and needed the Kiwis’ hint to solve 7d: not only didn’t I know the flower, I’d also missed the anagram indicator. So a DNF for me. But worth it for 2d.
† Come to think of it, would a milkman always be a ‘cold’ caller?
Great photo – thanks for posting
Thanks. Another by the same photographer, of a different part of the street, can be seen in this Telegraph article. I bought some as Christmas cards one year, but they don’t seem to be on sale any more.
I do the same waiting for that person to get out of the way. But a few years ago, waiting in Basel for the perfect moment, a cyclist came into view and I couldn’t wait any longer as our group was moving on. I took it anyway, and everyone says the cyclist makes the picture. Sometimes it works and sometimes, like yours above, it is perfect with no one,
I do wish that this setter, Twmbarlwm, I presume, would lighten up a bit and remember that most back-page solvers are looking for enjoyment rather than just an unremitting slog to the finish line. This puzzle, plus the election news coming from the US, has done nothing to brighten my day.
Apologies to our setter and thanks to our 2Ks for battling through this on our behalf.
Me too.
I am happy to swim against the tide and admit that I enjoyed this tussle that was certainly testing but fair IMHO. The topical 2d was my COTD.
Many thanks to our setter (T?) and the 2Ks.
This was a test for a midweeker but one that I enjoyed.
The grid made things even harder with a DNF as 7d was out of my reach. It’s such a hard clue when….
1. The checkers are vowels
2. You miss the anagram indicator
3. Your flora & fauna knowledge suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks
I love lateral clues like 6d and Lego is always a winner in this household. And learning new words like 25a gets a tick from me.
A couple of people have said that one of the reasons they didn’t like the crossy is because it lacks humour. To me, it’s not a prerequisite but a bonus.
My podium is 17d, 26d and 2d, my and many others COTD.
Many thanks to Mr Tumble (?) and Le Touquet.
4*/4*
That’s quite some polemic on 7d, Tom!
Which ironically is another word that would’ve fitted the same crossing letters, presumably without complaint …
You’re on fire this week, S, you rookie blogger, you!
*Drop some hints to prompt one of your nearest and dearest to buy you this for Christmas:
https://onlineshop.oxfam.org.uk/the-observers-book-of-garden-flowers/product/HD_302456177?pscid=ps_ggl_OOS+-+Performance+Max+-+ROAS+(All)_&crm_event_code=20REUWWS08&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAxKy5BhBbEiwAYiW–x9aELEFB2ITCq3NTqfVoV460Sj4iXbcoonKs7zYYuXXjyNNHNgI6xoCm1YQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&sku=HD_302456177
A mighty fine suggestion, J, that has been duly noted.
To quote Arthur Askey: I thank you.
Quite chewy in places, this, as I know even less about botany than I do about football, ie nothing. Thank goodness for wordplay. All fair. I really enjoyed 9a, 2d and 17d. 23d’s sharp, too. Many thanks to our setter and the 2Ks.
Sorry. Not for me.
Thank you, setter and 2Ks.
PS – I did like the topical 2d.
As others have intimated this was quite tricky for a midweek back-pager but I did enjoy the challenge. Thanks to our setter and 2Ks.
I liked the neat surface for the old chestnut at 10a as well as 6d and the cleverly hidden 20d.
Wow that was a struggle. I was doing ok then came to a complete halt in the SW. 25a finally succumbed and the rest followed albeit in a very slow manner.
Needed the hints to parse 6d.
Top picks for me were 11a, 15a and 3d.
Thanks to the 2Kiwis and the setter.
Hardest for some time. ****/*
Although it was a slow burn, and I needed some help parsing the answers, I enjoyed this rather more than some others appeared to. The clues all seemed fair to me. Thank you setter and hinters.
I found this quite hard work and not being particularly botanical didn’t know of 22a or 27a but did know 7d, and I struggled through most of the other clues, but 2d and 25a were excellent which added an extra enjoyment * to my rating of ***/**
Thanks to setter and 2 Ks
5*/2*. This was very tough indeed for a midweek back-pager. For me it was a curate’s egg too, with some excellent clues and some that didn’t float my boat.
9a is not synonymous with “tenor”, and I don’t think the question mark lets it off the hook.
2d was outstanding and my favourite.
Thanks to the setter and to the 2Ks.
Re 9a, could tenor not be synonomus with tone?
Thanks, Jezza. That makes sense. I was taking “tenor?” as the definition and “the voice of an Italian city” as the wordplay.
RD, 9a. Surely tenor is synonymous with tone (which it needs to be) as in style/quality/manner: The tenor/tone of the letter was decidedly hostile.
Agreed.
On the whole a pleasant puzzle but failed completely with 22a, not a plant that I have ever heard of before and the rest of the clue didn’t help at all being over complex for a technical answer. Where is the lurker indicator in 20d?
Apart from these no great problems.
***/***
Thx to all
‘extent of’ is 20d’s indicator.
I didn’t know 22a as such, but I had heard of the name Daisy being ‘short for’ Margaret, so it made sense for there to be a flower called something like that.
Way outside of my capabilities. Did not enjoy at all.
Having just looked through the comments so far today and barely believing what I’ve read, I can only assume that I must have been bang on the letter’s wavelength, as I found it equally as easy to solve as the past two day’s puzzles have been. I thought 2d quite brilliant and with both a white and a yellow version of 22a still flowering well in pots outside, that plant posed no great problem. We pot 7downs more summers than not, but sadly they don’t last too well. 1a and 19d also floated my boat today. My thanks to our Wednesday setter and to the 2Ks. PS, the four letter word at 21a – surely one that’s rapidly becoming ‘overused?’
A fine Wednesday puzzle of Friday difficulty (no complaints from me). Good clues, a toughish challenge and a satisfying tussle. I have quite a few ticks and I particulary liked 2d and 6d. 4*/4*.
Like Tom you could write the extent of my flora & fauna knowledge on a postage stamp with room to spare but thanks to guzzles it’s slowly improving at about the same rate as Daisy is with crickety terms. The orchid variety vaguely rang a bell & 7d I did know but not 22a so that required a post solve check with Mr G once I’d eventually twigged the reason & child synonyms. A laboured solve extending into *** time but all parsed with the exception of 6d (d’oh) which I enjoyed far more than others clearly did. 2d my clear fav with podium spots for 3&19d & ticks against a good few others.
Thanks to the setter (T presumably) & the 2Ks for their usual excellent review & pics.
Ps Bonamassa’s cover of Tim Curry’s 29a has always been the encore when I’ve seen him live. Here’s my fav version which best captures the despair of the superior original
Honestly, I hope Joe’s got you on commission. Brilliant, as ever. But there’s no way this was Twm! It didn’t feel like one of his at all. No?
I didn’t think this was a Twmbarlwm production
Nor me. But I am so often wrong!
Crikey. You and CS agreeing … with me? I’ll need a cold flannel! I’m certain we’re right though..
I didn’t think so either!
Are you familiar with the original off Curry’s debut album, Read My Lips? Didn’t dare post it because of the F word repetition but it’s brilliant & very raw. Unfortunately Spotify don’t have the album.
Setter – best guess?
I wasn’t but I am now. Great tune, ta. Heart-felt and indeed raw, as you say. As for today’s setter, the botany should be a clue, but I have absolutely no idea. CS might?
Correct, it wasn’t one of his. A little bird told me. 🐦😉
Did the little bird tell you who it was, if not Twm.? Pretty please? 😉
Yet another Wednesday puzzle where answers to the clues have little parsing sense to me … ten this week for me.
3*/1* ..
I find enjoyment not there when parsing is so convoluted and scrambled and the solving is just frustrating.
Favourites 11a, 29a, 2d, 7d & 20d — with winner 29a
Thanks to setter & 2K’s
Testing……testing, very very testing.
Is the microphone working OK, then? :-)
…they’re very testing.
Ray in his early days. Marvy parvy…
Not on wavelength with the setter
Wavelength with Tom was better.
He recognised my source
Without the need for morse.
Oi, Ayres! Who are yer!
I am with you all in hailing 2d as being both brilliant and topical and I am very surprised so few people seem to know marguerites and lobelia as both are pretty common. But then, to be fair as my neighbour keeps saying (and I wonder when she says UNfair things), I know very little about football and golf. I marched along happily with my soused herrings to boost my brain power but came completely unstuck with 9a and even the hints did not help me. 10, 11,28 &29a were nice clues but it did all seem like hard work, not Wednesdaylike. Many thanks to the setter and Les Twokays – I’m off to tackle the ironing.
Well being called Daisygirl you had to get 22a!
Belated reply to Monday where you asked if I got a pay rise, and I’ve realized that actually I did! This site now knows who I am, so I no longer have to enter my name and email address for every comment (even on other bloggers’ posts). So if anybody else is invited to blog and is havering about it, maybe that’s enough of a boon to be persuasive?!
I’m surprised about the lobelia too Daisy. Anyone who has ever put together a flowering hanging basket will be more than familiar with them. Lovely trailing plants.
I did about a third of this in bed this morning with my cuppa and thought the rest looked pretty tricky. Left it for a couple of hours and, bingo, all fell into place with the help of my ancient BRB. Yesterday the Tesco Christmas booking slots opened at 6 am. I logged in at 6 + 30 seconds and was told there was over an hour to wait! I eventually booked my slot nearly 2 hours later – I was absolutely terrified the internet would go down. Don’t know why I was so stressed by it all – looked just now, no wait and plenty of slots still available for the 18th! Not the greatest guzzle but quite enjoyable and also give 2d the thumbs up. Thanks to the mystery setter and to the 2 Ks. Note to Shabbo: The largest flock of geese flew over our garden this morning that I have ever seen – must have taken all of ten minutes for them all to pass. Mr M says they are all female as there was so much squawking!
Hi Manders
Good to hear – I bet it was a great sight…and sound.
Pink foot, I presume?
It’s Wednesday and here we go again . . . .
Almost impossible but not quite as bad as the last few weeks.
I did manage a few – whether or not I’ve enjoyed it is another matter . . .
I did know the plants but have never heard of the word “pulling the face” (15a)
I liked 12 and 25a and 3 and 11d. I don’t think I have a favourite today.
Thanks to today’s setter and to the 2K’s for their hints.
Believe it or not there is a world championship 15a ing up north
On the tricky side but fun to do and very satisfying to have completed. Thanks to setter and blogger.
I am very surprised to see so many negative comments.
I enjoyed it.
Thanks to setter and 2Kiwis.
Very tough, but not less enjoyable for that….all fairly clued and the plants posed no problems for me…..like BandM I found it v satisfying to have completed it (particularly as I only got a handful of answers in on my first pass)…
Well, a definite step up in difficulty for a Wednesday in my view. I had to get some e-help with a couple. One was 20D, I always get caught out with reverse lurkers. The flowery 22A was my other failure.
Apart from those, it was a slow but steady solve. 27A was a school day for me. No particular favourite here.
****/*** Thanks to the setter and the 2Ks.
Two down clues refused to yield so I give this a *** rating , thanks 2Ks for explaining the range and the hopeful!
Hoped crossword would take my mind off the unmitigating disaster this side of the pond, but sadly it didn’t. Some of it was ok, but most rather convoluted and contributed to my usual ineptness of recognizing the definition. Following a stressful day yesterday when my CT scan was or was not going to take place (hooray, it did at 6pm) and taking a Covid test while working on the puzzle (happily negative) I would probably have had trouble with any puzzle today. I’m hoping to hear from Merusa soon that they have finally let her go home from the hospital. Thanks to the setter and to the 2Kiwis where it sounds as if you are having some nice chilly weather – sounds nice from here where even today’s strong winds are too warm.
Morning all.
Looks like lots of people found this one hard work. Perhaps we were lucky that we did know all the words required so no particular delays there but some of the wordplay took a bit more head-scratching.
Cheers.
For some reason couldn’t get going in the top left (nw), so had to look at 1a and after that this region capitulated very quickly. The rest had already been completed but not without a struggle. I began to think I was having a bad day but clearly not alone. Fortunately for me unlike some my day had started off well, when my views on politics fell into line with the majority of Americans. Many thanks to all but not my cup of tea
So as many I found this chewy in places but not completely out of reach and I did manage to complete , although confess I did have to google flowers beginning with m for 22a – never heard of it, and my last one in that I pondered for an age , including on dog walk was 6d. In the end I did a reveal on another letter and got the answer , and just checked the parsing and ….what a brilliant clue – seems obvious in hindsight. There were some other clever parsings too , so I congratulate and thank the setter and also the 2Ks for the hints.
Wow – only just finished and I’ve spelt Marguerite as Marquerite. I had to check the answer to the other flower. Not much botanical knowledge!
I did enjoy 2d and 17d
5* for difficulty/ 3*for enjoyment – pleased to have almost completed it.
But too tough for a Wednesday IMHO.
With thanks to bloggers and setter.
Pleased to have got there and to have parsed most of the clues correctly (not 9a, that was a lucky guess). Thanks to 2ks and setter. I enjoyed it!
You’ve used a new alias so this comment needed moderation. Both versions will work from now on.
I looked in on the comments earlier today and was expecting a bit of a tussle with this one. To my surprise, it all fell into place very nicely although I did struggle with a couple of parsings, 9a – never heard of the port and 22a – knew the answer and the parsing was obvious once explained!
Whisky works very well in place of gin in the 29a drink….there’s some gently infusing, hopefully ready for the Winter Solstice!
Thanks to the 2Ks and the setter.
I once made mulberry brandy. When we had a lunch party it disappeared rapidly because it was gorgeous. Sadly, our mulberry tree had to be felled because the trunk had split. No more mulberry brandy. 😢
Threw in the towel this morning but then retrieved it to try and do battle this evening but didn’t enjoy the exercise at all. A couple of Favs (2d and 17d) from an otherwise rather dingy collection. Thanks setter but sorry not my scene today however many thanks to the 2Kiwis for sorting some of the parsings.
I found this very hard and it was a dnf for me with 6 clues needing the hints or answers.
All the plants were unknown to me.
Thanks to all.
Difficult and uninspiring even with 2d I just wish he had a
longer term in prison than four years.
My clue of the day is 28a which is wonderful.
Thanks to the 2Ks for unravelling some stretched clues and thanks to the unknown setter.
Late to this and having glanced at some early comments expected it to be trickier than I found it. Did not know 27a was a variety of orchid but Google confirmed it. Held up the the most by failing to parse the bung in for 6d – very smart! I certainly enjoyed the solve whilst keeping half an eye on the Arsenal game. Can’t guess the setter. Anyone any idea? Thanks to whomsoever and the 2Ks.
I really can’t understand why people post negative comments. This puzzle was challenging but, surely, that is to be expected of a Telegraph puzzle! These days, having learnt so much from this blog, I enjoy the challenging puzzles even if they defeat me. Many thanks to all setters – I admire you all!
I have just had chance to look at this and found it tricky, particularly in the south west, where I needed a bit of help to get going. I was too tired to think too much and I am sure I did not do it justice. I had 2 d as my favourite. 22a was not familiar to me, I will try and add it to my memory banks. This did not feel like Twmbarlwm to me, I wonder who it was?
Many thanks to the setter and to the 2 kiwis for the hints
Good evening
This has taken me most of the day, and with two clues left unsolved, it’s time to hoy the sponge in and call it a DNF. 5d and 6d just wouldn’t come to me!
Other than that, I enjoyed the challenge; 25a was the one I couldn’t parse; 2d is a corking COTD with 22a a good second.
Many thanks to our setter and to 2Ks.
3*/3* ….
liked 10A “Finally get ready for Russian unrest (7) “
3 days later and I am STILL flummoxed by 6d! I get the NATO alphabet reference, but…..
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In addition to being the letter next to Romeo in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, Sierra can also be a mountain range, especially in Spanish-speaking countries
Yes, hard. Found the right side easier than the left. However could see why the answers were as they were.