Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30765
Hints and tips by Shabbo
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning, fellow puzzlers.
RayT or not RayT? That is the question. With just one reference to the queen (an abbreviated one at that) and not a sweetheart to be seen, I will leave you to be the judge. Hopefully the compiler will pop in later to take ownership of this pleasant Thursday puzzle. “But wait”, I hear you cry, “what about the brevity?”. Good point. Unbelievably, this puzzle dips comfortably below the 5 words/clue barrier at a miserly 4.8 words/clue. Remarkable. With so few words, each one has a role to play in the clue, so ignore them at your peril.
In the blog below, the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED and the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the “Click Here” buttons. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on and what you thought of the puzzle.
Across
1a Marine’s mate almost thrashing general (10)
MAINSTREAM: anagram (thrashing) of MARINES MAT(e). “Almost” indicates that the final E of “mate” is deleted.
6a Currently hot in clothes, initially (4)
CHIC: initial letters of the first four words of the clue.
10a Country from East chillier, reportedly (7)
ESTONIA: East = E then add a homophone of a word meaning chillier, which seems a bit of a stretch to me, but hopefully someone will justify it in a sentence? Maybe I am missing something here?
11a Commit criminal trespass round gaol’s opening (7)
CONSIGN: we know that trespass is a civil offence, not a criminal one, so these two words should be read independently. Take a three-letter word meaning criminal (a noun) + a three-letter word meaning trespass (as in “forgive us our trespasses”) with the second word surrounding the first letter (opening) of Gaol.
12a Standing by tee and grip’s loose (8)
PRESTIGE: one for Huntsman, our golfing correspondent. Anagram (loose) of TEE GRIPS.
13a Fan insulted occasionally in passageway? (5)
AISLE: every other letter (occasionally) of fAn InSuLtEd.
15a Spirit is virtually undiluted drink (7)
PURPORT: synonym of undiluted without the final letter (virtually) + four-letter fortified wine.
17a Sit inside explosive projectile (7)
TRIDENT: synonym of sit (think horses) inside the common abbreviation for a high explosive derivative of toluene. “Explosive” here is conceivably doing double duty, being both part of the wordplay and part of the definition.
19a Characters found in A&E? (7)
LETTERS: don’t spend too much time trying to puzzle this one out – it is a cryptic definition. A and E are merely examples of the solution.
21a Beef up heavyweight, say (7)
TIGHTEN: homophone (say) of a synonym of a heavyweight (a noun).
22a Squad of police protecting Queen (5)
CORPS: the Queen here is just a single letter and she is surrounded by (protecting) a slang term for police.
24a Digital filing system? (8)
MANICURE: a cryptic definition. Nothing to do with IT. Think fingers.
27a Bird maybe pecked bird (7)
BITTERN: three-letter synonym of “maybe pecked” + a migratory sea bird arriving on our shores in late spring. The definition is an extremely well disguised marsh bird of the heron family.
28a Familiar Republican embraced by a brute (7)
ABREAST: abbreviation for Republican inside (embraced by) A + synonym of brute.
29a French bread? (4)
EURO: forget baguettes – this is a cryptic (?) definition of the currency now used in France and many other European countries.
30a Bond accepts, say, duty (10)
ALLEGIANCE: synonym of bond outside (accepts) two letters signifying “say” or “for example”
Down
1d Submissive male with expression of fear (4)
MEEK: abbreviation for Male + expression of fear (often used in children’s comics).
2d Painter pretreats covering render (9)
INTERPRET: a hidden word clue (covering). Our answer (a verb) is lurking within the first two words of the clue.
3d Ship going around along with seashore (5)
SANDS: our usual abbreviation for steamship outside a word meaning “along with”.
4d Who doesn’t dream about celebrity? (7)
REALIST: my favourite clue today. Abbreviation for “about” plus a word (1-4) meaning celebrity (an adjective).
5d Most roguish artist lifted bust (7)
ARCHEST: abbreviation for artist reversed (lifted – this is a down clue) + synonym of bust.
7d The woman’s keeping single producing successors (5)
HEIRS: a word meaning “the woman’s” outside (keeping) a letter signifying single (think cricket, perhaps).
8d Ancient rock cut playing instrument (10)
CONCERTINA: anagram (playing) of ANCIENT ROC(k). “Cut” indicates that we must remove the last letter of rocK from the anagram fodder.
9d Fighting and winning (8)
ENGAGING: double definition.
14d Fit dad rises flexible, gripping clubs (10)
APPLICABLE: two-letter abbreviation for dad reversed (rises) + synonym of flexible outside (gripping) abbreviation for Clubs.
16d Pass from some lover’s tepid (8)
OVERSTEP: hidden word (from some) – our answer is hidden within words 4 & 5.
18d Receive internet rubbish with adult content (9)
ENTERTAIN: anagram (rubbish) of INTERNET + A (adult)
20d Influential males in pants (7)
SEMINAL: another anagram (pants – as in rubbish) of MALES IN.
21d Pentagon losing power organised for duty (7)
TONNAGE: another anagram (organised) of (p)ENTAGON. For the definition, think cargo.
23d One turns both ways (5)
ROTOR: a palindromic word (both ways) meaning something that turns.
25d Dog somewhat gigantic or ginormous! (5)
CORGI: another hidden word (somewhat) – our answer can be found within words 3-5 of the clue.
26d Dirty spot on eyelid’s front (4)
STYE: a place for pigs (dirty spot) + the first letter (front) of Eyelid. The definition is the whole clue, making this an “&lit” or “all-in-one” clue. Neat.
Quickie Pun: WAR + TOUGH + ALL = WATERFALL
I enjoyed this much more than yesterday’s offering. Although for me it was a bit of a slog I always felt I could get to the answer. I didn’t detect too much humour but I thought 4D was a cracking clue. I would be very surprised if it was RayT as it was quite wordy. Thanks to the setter and Shabbo for the hints.
Thank you for commenting.
I agree with you on 4d, but I wouldn’t describe 4.8 words/clue as wordy.
The obscure synonyms mark this puzzle as a classic RayT.
I found this a little tricky in places, but no real hold-ups.
Many thanks to RayT and to Shabbo.
3*/3* for me
I’m not sure hold-ups is hyphenated; it doesn’t look right to me when I read it
I don’t think those hold ups need a hyphen, but when referring to ladies tights (hold-ups) they probably do (or at least it’s optional). Maybe one of the doyennes on here might know?
Hmm, I’d’ve thought that particular hold-up would be hyphenated.
But, having done a search, it looks like most results have it without.
…..any excuse to google ladies’ hold ups! :-)
An extremely good shout, Jeremy.
Consign. Where does the dog part come from?
Welcome to the blog, Stewart.
Welcome to this oh so splendid blog, Stewart. You’re going to love it.
The dog is in 25d (corgi).
Consign is con sin with the g of gaol slipped in after the i.
Keep on posting!
I started out thinking this was going to be a bit easier than yesterday’s offering but changed my mind half was through. There was, for me, a very well concealed lurker 15a was my last one in, as although I could parse it, it still doesn’t feel totally accurate. 15a and 28a ware my podium choices.
Thanks very much to the setter and Shabbo.
I know what you mean about 15a. Having checked the dictionary, however, the answer as a noun (as opposed to the more common verb form) makes the clue entirely fair.
I have just read the hint for 10a. I understood the chillier to refer to a homophone for a word meaning less emotionally warm.
Of course! Thank you.
.. or … in the sentence as requested … As the evening grew stonier, the Inuit huddled together in the igloo, grateful for its shelter from the biting cold.
This was straight out of the top drawer of compilations; remarkably concise, tricky in places and good fun throughout. Picking a favourite is tough, as the choice is pretty much anything from the grid, but 28a stood out for the topicality.
My thanks to Ray T and Shabbo.
Struggled to get on wavelength & made unnecessarily hard work of it so another laboured completion for me – it actually took longer than yesterday. Think I appreciated the quality of the clueing rather more reading back through it post finish than during the solve. Agree that the chillier homophone synonym was a bit of a stretch & am more familiar with 15a as a verb rather than a noun so that penny slow to drop. Podium spots for the 24a cryptic, the 9d double & the 16d lurker.
Thanks to the setter (Ray T I reckon) & to Shabbo
Todays puzzle felt like hard work, but was eventually finished. I had more trouble understanding the synonym for duty at 21d, and also thought 15a was a stretch for me, anyway. I thought 11a and the pecked bird at 27a were the best clues. I am not in a position to guess the setter, but thanks to him or her, and thanks for the hints.
I would definitely put two of my shiny new King Charles Loonies on this being a Ray T production. So there’s no sweetheart but there is the (abbreviated as Shabbo says) reference to the queen, a low average words/clue, and single word clues in the Quickie. A very good Thursday challenge – 3.5*/3.5*
Candidates for favourite – 27a, 1d, and 14d – and the winner is 14d.
Thanks to Ray T and Shabbo.
Mr Consistency racks up another goodie though the sweetheart was conspicuous by her absence. Is that a first?
ALIB in post 1 says that this was quite wordy which I don’t get as I think he has never dipped under 5 words per clue before…or am I missing something?
The only hold up I had (no hyphen works for me, Jezzaroony) was 9d that took me forever. I can’t stand double definitions as there’s nowt to work with. Give me a Zandio ”alternate letter rekrul/dark alley/around the corner/bonkersly cryptic/Lego/wey hey!” any day of the week.
My podium is 24a, 4d and 20d.
Many thanks to the not so wordy RayT and Shabbingtons.
3*/4*
Some fun surfaces – 12a, 4d, etc. The regal brevity would certainly suggest a sweetheart-less RayT. But does 27a’s “pecked” (v surprised Tom didn’t huff at this!) really need a “maybe”? Many thanks to our setter and Shabbo.
You’re right. How did I not make a comment about it?
The ‘Master of Brevit’ (like it?) adding a word for no good reason. This cannot be?
I need to stand outside Telegraph Towers with a placard chanting….
What don’t we want?
‘maybe’, ‘say’ and ‘for example’.
When don’t we want them?
Now!
What don’t we want?
Etc
Started out by sharing our blogger’s doubts about the authorship of this one but eventually decided that sufficient markers were there to attribute it to one half of the Dream Team, although I reckon that he’s left a lot of the heavy lifting work to his oppo in the Toughie slot!
Top three clues for me were 12&27a plus 4d.
Devotions nevertheless to Mr T and many thanks to Shabbo for the review.
A very odd one for me, several flew in, others resulted in prolonged head scratching, but I did get there in the end. I struggled with a couple of the synonyms eg 15a. 4 d was my favourite. The lurkers were well hidden and the anagrams were welcome in providing some checking letters.
Many thanks to the setter (Ray T ?) and to Shabbo for the hints.
That looks like a splendid beach in 3d, Shabbo.
Is it a picture you took or did you find it online? If it’s the former, pray tell me where it is?
If you right-click on the image, you can then click on Google Lens in the options and it will search then tell you (usually) the origin. According to that method it is Saunton Sands in North Devon.
It is indeed Saunton Sands. Gazza will know it well, I’m sure.
Indeed I do. Three miles of golden sands and that’s Saunton Sands Hotel in the background.
Ah! So it is.
I have played both golf courses which are fantastic. Links at their very best.
Have you played St Enodoc in Rock (my fav links) & Burnham & Berrow?
Both and they’re absolute beauts. The Holy Trinity of the West Country.
The Himalayas…..a bonkers bunker. I always doff my cap in deference to Mr Betjeman when I walk by the church on the back nine.
I have had many a long weekend at Trevose, sitting in the bay window with a pint and toastie, watching people shank their tee shot on the first, skimming the ball across the putting area. The most intimidating first hole in golf. You can stick your opening drives at Wentworth and St Andrew’s where the sun don’t shine.
B&B has hosted many a national amateur championship and so it should. I love that place as it’s such an understated part of the world. Great curry houses, too!
Good, good, times.
My friends rent a property just down the road from the 1st tee at Trevose. One morning I took myself up to club for their excellent breakfast & watched the 20 strong old fella’s swindle go out. Went back & said to my mate that dinner was on me (we were going to Rick Stein that night) if he could tell me how many legs walked down the fairway – 40 + 11 🐕s.
They’ve made significant course improvements apparently since I was last there a few years ago.
If you’re not familiar with it Sir Robin Butler’s clever parody of the JB poem more descriptive of my golf nowadays unfortunately ☹️
Love it, Hoots.
Thank you for alerting me to it.
We do like The Seafood Restaurant in Padstein.
That’s great. Thank you, J.
My day is complete.
Thanks, Jose. Never knew that a right-click could reveal so much information.
I found this one to be very tough and I ended up revealing a number of answers. However, far more enjoyable than yesterday’s puzzle.
Not one of my favourites from Ray T. I found it a struggle and I agree with Shabbo that it didn’t really “feel” like a Ray T but given the clue word count it must be. Despite that, I agree with BBB at #14 that it was more enjoyable than yesterday’s. I nearly entered “nail file” at 24a until I realised part of the answer would not be in the clue. I did like the bird having a go at the bird at 27a and that is my COTD.
Thank you, Ray T for upping the ante somewhat. Thank you, Shabbo for the hints and explanations and the perky dog at 25d.
I’m hoping to cut the grass this afternoon. November and still cutting the grass – it used to stop growing about the beginning of October years ago.
BusyLizzie painted this lovely watercolour of our cottage. Thank you, BL. It will be framed today.
Oh, that’s lovely. Brava BL. That grass does look like it needs mowing, mind!
I did it this afternoon, ALP. It was a bit wet though.
That’s rather splendid – both the painting & the abode
The old part to the right was once a creamery and where the large window is was the entrance was for the cows entered to be milked. The milk was then taken upstairs to what is now our bedroom and turned into cream and butter.
Nice work BL, clever girl – or should I say talented woman!
Thank you Steve for the kind words, and from you other nice people. As I love painting houses and cottages, this was a pleasure to work on, giving me lots of fun. I swear painting is what got me off my BP meds 😊.
A task of two distinctly differing halves starting with a pain-free ride in the West but East was a different story and I surprised myself by eventually sorting it. 17a “sit” foxed me but bunged in. 20d “pants” in that context always grates. Joint Favs 24d (I nearly settled on menucard) and 4d. Thank you RayT(?) and Shabbo.
Another DNF for me.
I just really struggled with this and now looking at the hints , dont really know why
4*/4*
Will go with 26d as favourite today.
Thank you for needed hints and to the anonymous setter.
A typically Ray T puzzle, succinct and amusing – thanks to him and Shabbo.
Top clues for me were 24a, 4d, 5d and 9d.
A fine Thursday puzzle, surely a Ray T creation? Good clues provided an enjoyable solve. Favourite: 27a, but maybe the “maybe” is superfluous. 3.5*/4*.
You bet it is, J baby!
The pecked bird is my favourite although I do rather fancy the fit dad. I just had to look at the hints for 28a and still struggled somewhat – I suppose if you are familiar with a situation you are abreast of it, but hey ho. I looked in my Complete Crossword for a ten letter instrument beginning with C and came across a Chitlarone – I immediately thought of Terence, he would have had the Committee onto that straight away. We had a very nice policewoman/adviser here this morning to talk us through last week’s scary police scam. She brought lots of leaflets and advice etc – it is really frightening what these people are capable of doing. Many thanks to our Concise Setter and to Hinter Shabbo.
Another fine example of a RayT, master of brevity, fortnightly puzzle. Great solve! No sweetheart this week though, but all the rest of the trademarks are there.
2*/5* for me
Favourites 11a, 24a, 28a, 18d & 25d — with winner 24a
Smiles from many include 19a, 22a & 27a
Thanks to RayT & Shabbo
I struggled to get going on this and then went out to lunch. Came back and managed to complete it but it felt a bit like wading through treacle and I usually get on with Ray T puzzles.
Top picks for me were 27a, 4d and 24a.
Thanks to Shabbo and the setter.
Perhaps these miserable damp grey days are turning me into a grumpy old codger – maybe that’s part of the reason that I didn’t care much for today’s puzzle, not that it was unsolvable, far from it. I just thought that it wasn’t up to the usual Thursday standard, quite ‘dry’ and lacking in humour. 19a did little to lighten the mood – possibly one of the weakest cryptic clues in a long while and I wasn’t 100% convinced with 15a, but my answer seemed to sort of fit the clue. On the positive side I did like 24a, 27a and 30a. I wonder who actually uses the word at 5d in conversation? I don’t ever remember saying it myself. Thanks as ever to today’s setter and of course to Shabbo for all your work.
Thank you.
😃😃👍👍
If it is a Ray T it’s one of his nastier ones. I have finished it without understanding fully at least half of the clues. Probably just me but I thought this was a very poor puzzle.
*****/*
Thx for the hints
Found this a bit of a slog, but could be just down to some annoying health issues, compounded by a nasty head cold. I doubt this is a RayT as I usually find his clues, while not easy peasy, are always fair and not stretched in their definitions. Plus he hasn’t popped in yet to claim ownership. But I am no expert in identifying the compilers so what do I know? Needed hints for 10a, 15a and 20d, plus several others where I needed the hint to verify my answers. Thanks to setter and Shabbo.
After my capitulation yesterday, I blanched when I saw today was my nemesis, Ray T, in the compiler’s chair. However I did finish it with a couple of judicious nudges from Shabbo to get me back on the straight and narrow. My podium comprises 5d, 22a and 4d in top spot. Thanks to Ray T and Shabbo.
Evening all. My thanks to Shabbo for the elucidation and to everybody else for your comments.
RayT
Thanks for the puzzle, Ray T and for popping in. You had me on the run today! 😊
Good evening, Mr T. Sorry that your sweetheart appears to have left you on your own today – HM was a little terse with you as well!
Lovely puzzle, Ray. You have taken brevity to a new level!
Many thanks.
Excellent puzzle. Thanks Ray T and thanks Shabbo.
Good evening
My pen has only just been put down after a titanic struggle! Despite the absence of any sweethearts, I felt sure that I was locking horns with the Mighty Mr T – and I so nearly hoyed the sponge in. It took forever to figure out 26d; without 26d, my last to fall (28a) simply wouldn’t fall; and 9d stayed written in the margin until almost the very end.
Of the many contenders for COTD, I’m going to plump, if plumping is allowed*, for 24a.
Many thanks to Mr T and to Shabbo.
* as they used to say on Call My Bluff. Isn’t it good to see that back on the telly?
No time to finish yesterday’s puzzles on the day so didn’t comment, 1 1/2 toughies and 2 back pagers today perhaps explains why I made such hard work of this. Not that I didn’t enjoy it because I did. Hard to pick a favourite but I’ll go with 14d. Thanks to Rayt and Shabbo.
Very late on parade today after a day of unashamed nostalgia at a reunion of the Youth Club that I attended from 1961-1964. The organiser of the event managed to assemble 32 participants, with one coming from Canada and another from Scotland. On any other day I would have missed out on the crosswords, but a RayT/Silvanus double simply cannot be ignored.
My rating is 2*/4.5* for a typically enjoyable RayT puzzle.
I can’t work out how “familiar” defines 28a. As far as I can see, “familiar with” is synonymous with “abreast of”. Can anyone construct a sentence where the two single words are interchangeable?
Many thanks to RayT and to Shabbo.
Hi RD
I’ve taken a peek and ‘abreast with’ is accepted though I will never use it.
When I see the word, it makes me think of cyclists riding two abreast.
Don’t get me started.
Grrrrrrr!
Is anyone out there still awake?
This certainly wasn’t a piece of cake.
Synonyms were hard to match
But did I enjoy it? Certainly, natch!
Yep, just finished. 5d got me, Never heard of ‘archest’. Otherwise a ***/*** puzzle.
Still awake. Clever boy 😊
Very late with this one as I lost yesterday by being very busy.
A dnf due to 9d. The hint was no help for me either.
Other than that a hard but enjoyable challenge.
Thanks to all.
It is a double definition:
Definition 1 – to begin a military action against.
Definition 2 – charming.
I hope that helps.
Bizarrely we got halfway through this one, found some of the squares were not showing the letters, closed the crossword to reopen it, and found that it will not load. We’re not having any problems with any of the other cryptics, and have retried several times with no success. Have any one else had these problems?
3*/2* ….
liked 4D “Who doesn’t dream about celebrity ?(7)”