Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30796
Hints and tips by Mr K
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BD Rating - Difficulty **** - Enjoyment ***
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. I found the top half of this puzzle fairly straightforward, but things got decidedly chewy down in the bottom half, especially in the SW. That all made for a rewarding solve.
In the hints below most indicators are italicized, and underlining identifies precise definitions and cryptic definitions. Clicking on the answer buttons will reveal the answers. In some hints hyperlinks provide additional explanation or background. Clicking on a picture will enlarge it or display a bonus illustration and a hover (computer) or long press (mobile) might explain more about the picture. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.
Across
1a Sure is baffled regularly (4)
SAFE: Alternate letters (regularly) of IS BAFFLED
3a Maybe koalas, kangaroos, rails and pumas mixing (10)
MARSUPIALS: An anagram (mixing) of RAILS PUMAS
9a Name of man taking part in oral exam (4)
ALEX: A male name is hidden in (taking part in) ORAL EXAM
10a Nice to receive teaching books from Italy (10)
FLORENTINE: Nice or OK containing (to receive) both teaching or wisdom and a usual abbreviation for a set of biblical books
11a Factory located by railway (7)
FOUNDRY: Located or discovered with an abbreviation for railway
13a Temperature warm with respect to part of hospital (7)
THEATRE: Link together the physics symbol for temperature, a verb synonym of warm, and “with respect to” or regarding
14a Treason's brewing in office of governor (11)
SENATORSHIP: An anagram (brewing) of TREASON’S with in or fashionable
18a Put away at home, case keeping bow close to fiddle (11)
INCARCERATE: At home or not out is followed by a strong packing case containing (keeping) both a synonym of bow and the final letter of (close to) FIDDLE
21a Form of bug going round, one that flies (7)
PATTERN: The reversal (going round) of another word for bug (a telephone line, perhaps) is followed by a sea bird
22a Bearing uniform, soldiers on station (7)
POSTURE: Putting the bits in order, link together station or appointment, the letter represented in the NATO phonetic alphabet by uniform, and some usual abbreviated soldiers who are engineers
23a Alice's dining companion in cold buffet is one known to rabbit (10)
CHATTERBOX: Alice in Wonderland’s mad dining companion is sandwiched between the single letter for cold and buffet or hit with a fist
24a Succeeding by being involved in final (4)
NEXT: The letter meaning “by” or “times” inserted in (involved in) final or not gross
25a Slept and dared to readjust device for getting up (10)
STEPLADDER: An anagram (to readjust) SLEPT DARED
26a Exercised having pondered scratching head (4)
USED: A synonym of pondered minus its first letter (scratching head)
Down
1d His raft's damaged sea creature (8)
STARFISH: An anagram (damaged) of HIS RAFT’S hint
2d Habitual worry about monarch losing heart (8)
FREQUENT: A synonym of worry containing (about) a monarch minus her central letter (losing heart)
4d Initially overlooked ship's passage (5)
ALLEY: A Greek or Roman warship minus its first letter (initially overlooked)
5d Covered frame far side of boulder supporting stone carver (9)
STRETCHER: Concatenate the abbreviation for stone, the last letter of (far side of) BOULDER, and a carver of engravings
6d Old mail system of Post Office, New York state (4,7)
PONY EXPRESS: The abbreviations for Post Office and New York are followed by state or say
7d Fly advanced by using wings in time (6)
AVIATE: Glue together the single letter for advanced, by or through, and the outer letters of (using wings in) TIME
8d Land sown intermittently, bountiful place (6)
SWEDEN: Alternate letters (intermittently) of SOWN with a biblical bountiful place
12d Damaging land, termite going berserk (11)
DETRIMENTAL: An anagram (going berserk) of LAND TERMITE
15d New Labour's tone is freshly oriented (9)
RECENTRED: New or modern is followed by the tone or colour associated with the Labour Party
16d Family in drama about places occupied by the French (8)
CAPULETS: The (2) Latin abbreviation for about or approximately is followed by places or sets containing (occupied by) “the” in French. Read about the family here
17d Joined fellows inside church then attend regularly (8)
CEMENTED: Some fellows or chaps are sandwiched by (inside) the abbreviation for the Church of England and alternate letters of (regularly) of ATTEND
19d Step in non-revolutionary chess openings (6)
SPACES: Step or tread inserted in CHESS after deleting a usual South American revolutionary (non-revolutionary)
20d Gas energy filling one article with another (6)
ETHANE: The physics symbol for energy is followed by a definite grammatical article containing an indefinite grammatical article (filling .. with)
22d Writing experts in conversation (5)
PROSE: A homophone (in conversation) of an informal word for some experts (who might make a living using their expertise)
Thanks to today’s setter. Which clues did you like best?
The Quick Crossword pun: PRY + VET + CHOKE = PRIVATE JOKE
Tough, fair and enjoyable is my take on today’s offering. Getting the first three straight away set the mood and it was a slow but steady solve after that. Difficult to pick a favourite but, if pushed, I would go for the Italian teaching books at 10a.
Thank you, setter for the fun challenge. Thank you, Mr, K for the hints and pusskits.
Jeez, that was a battle and a half. Top half went in pretty quickly, but the bottom was a cat of a different coloUr.
Absolutely loved it though, very clever, very entertaining.
Last one for me again was a short one, 24a, and took a while even with 2 letters already in it, I was drawn towards ‘best’ for a bit, but couldn’t make it work, glad I stuck it out until the coin finally dropped.
So many brilliant clues that its hard to pick just two, but it will have to be 16d and the wonderful (yep, intended) 23a.
Many thanks to our setter today, a real peach.
Off to walk to the shops now in a very grim looking Sandhurst, will have to look out the very warm coat for the first time this year.
Yup, I had 24a wrong too!
This was an enjoyable tussle that I managed to win on points.
As has been said, the north reeled me in but the south put me in my place. The 18a/15d comby was the last to drop.
I can’t quite give it full marks as some of the surfaces didn’t flow as well as Mr T’s and Mr S’s offerings this week though there were some goodies.
My podium is 10a, 14a and 24a.
Many thanks to Zandio (?) and Mr K.
4*/4*
Lots of unusual synonyms and cunning misdirection mde this a lengthy solve. There were some good anagrams like 3a. I liked the geographical lego clue at 10a and also 23a and 8a. Some of the parsing was tricky and some teverse engineering helped. Thanks to the compiler abd to Mr K for the hints and kits
4*/5*. Mr 4X has tried to mislead us today with 2Xs in the SE corner and none in the SW, although by way of mitigation, one of those two Xs is in a word starting in the SW!
This was great fun and very nicely challenging, made more so for me by looking for too long in the wrong place for the fourth X.
I have too many ticks to list them all, so I’ll just say many thanks to proXimal and to Mr K.
I am pleased to read that I am not alone in considering that today’s puzzle was very challenging. Now is it a proXXXXimal? There are 4 Xs but two are in the SE, although the word ending in X does ‘start’ in the SW. ****/***
Candidates for favourite – 11a, 16d, and 22d – and the winner is 16d
Thanks to proXXXXimal(?) and to Mr K.
Now that my eyes are fully open I see that RD beat me to the XXXX analysis.
An enjoyable puzzle but tricky in the South – thanks to our setter and Mr K.
Top clues for me were 10a, 24a, 15d and 19d.
Excellent! Great clues, a toughish challenge (just right for a Friday) and a satisfying solve. Plenty of ticks and I’ll pick 10a as my favourite, 4*/4*.
A straightforward back-pager in the N, a Toughie in the S, with 16d my LOI.
COTD 10a, podium places to 15d & 23a.
Thank you Proximal (?) or whomever the setter may be, and MrK
Like earlier commenters, I was slowed up considerably by some stickiness in the southern quadrants, but as is usually the case, the sense of reward and satisfaction was high as a result. I don’t need to look any further than 10a for my COTD.
Many thanks to proXimal for a great challenge, and to Mr K.
This one was right at the limit of my solving abilities. Very complex and left field. Far too difficult to be considered enjoyable but satisfying to complete. Not my favourite by a long way.
*****/**
Thx for the hints
To pinch a couple of adjectives from RD above, fun and challenging.
16d was solved by following the wordplay instructions and then checking on google, 15d caused a lot of unnecessary head scratching, and my favourite was 19d (non-revolutionary chess took ages to parse!).
Many thanks to proxxxximal for an excellent puzzle.
Like others it would seem, I was lulled into a false sense of security by the top half of this and then bludgeoned in the lower reaches. Finally emerged victorious although, like Tom, it was definitely a win on points rather than anything outright! I think it was 15d that caused the main stumbling block but that doesn’t surprise me when it comes to that particular outfit……..
Ticks here went to 10&23a plus 6&16d.
Thanks to proXimal with a sliding x and to Mr K and his felines for the review.
* star difficulty upstairs but the full ***** down below – 5 clues took over double the amount of time it took to solve the rest of the puzzle. I can’t really claim an unaided finish having confirmed what I figured was the def by sneaking (without reading the hint) a peek at what Mr K had underlined for 16d & even then the penny took an eon to drop.
I was also led astray by expecting to find an X in the SW quadrant instead of two in the SE though I suppose the source of one of ‘em originated in Devon & Cornwall. Ticks for 10,18,21&22a plus 2,6,15&16d.
Thanks to proXimal & to Mr K
I started out gung-ho, then I needed copious help, but there was a lot of fun along the way. Why did I need help with 23a? I think the tiny brain must be taking a day off. I have lots of ticks sprinkled all over, 11a and 6d for a start, but 10a really stood out.
Thank you setter, I had too many wrong ‘uns but it is Friday after all. Thank you Mr. K for your help, and all the lovely kitties, they really made my day!
I agree with Mr K’s intro remarks …this Friday puzzle is one of two halves; the top was great but the bottom not so much. Currently a DNF for me due to that. Considering the 4 X’s I’m sure this is a proXimal offering.
3*/2.5* for me
Favourites 3a, 11a, 13a, 25a, 6d & 8d — with winner 3a
Thanks to proXimal & Mr K
I think it has all been said. The first three went in pronto then we gradually worked our way down the grid but then got bogged down. I really didn’t see the removal of the Revolutionary nor the final at 24a so Mr K came to the rescue. 23a has to be my favourite although 14a was a close runner. Many thanks to Mr Setter and Mr Kay, adorable felines. I am so excited because my new tartan trousers arrived today from a Scottish clothing company in time for Christmas. My paternal grandparents will be spinning in their graves at me not wearing the family tartan and I don’t think I would dare to wear them in front of my very proper brother. Don’t tell.
Brian continues to surprise me.
Challenging but fair…I had to reverse engineer quite a few to understand them, but they all seemed to work well once understood with the exception of 24a – Ami alone in having reservations about this?
Thanks to Mr K for the review and to commenters for comments. I did slightly modify the MO for this one.
Thank you, proXimal for a great puzzle and for popping in.
I for one hope we can look forward to more of your MO ante 😨.
Thanks for dropping in and for creating a puzzle that was fun to solve and to hint.
Thanks also to everyone who has commented today.
Good afternoon
Well, crikey! A definite toughie this afty, fully deserving the four stars from Mr K.
Also, this was a very deceptive crozzie today. The first nine or ten solutions went straight in. Then the horrible reality of having peaked too early kicked in. I carried on, but came grinding to a halt in the SW quadrant. I have to confess to having looked at the hints for 21a, 19d, and 20d; also I misdefined “succeeding” at 24a and entered BEST, which is, of course, wrong. Therefore I should fess up and declare a DNF.
Great fun attempting it, though. COTD, out of many great contenders, is 15d.
Many thanks to proXimal and to Mr K.
A curates egg today with a mixture of read and write intermingled with some difficult clues
19d favourite
4*/2*
Thanks to Proximal and Mr K
My brain hurts.
Needed ehelp today.
Thanks for the challenge, Proximal, and the explanations, Mr K.
Like Merusa I began so well and then … some answers were way beyond me but the clues are fair. Thank you Proximal and Mr K
Thanks Mr K and proXimal. Today was my first DNF in a while, all filled in but a couple were wrong, thanks Mr K for the clarification. When I started it I thought we’d got an early-week offering by mistake but the bottom half put paid to that idea. Great fun though.
****/****
Thank you Mr K for your assistance, especially on 24a which completely stumped me. Lots to like, a great Friday puzzle thanks Mr setter. 16d and 20a
As others have said, started reasonably well and then got decidedly tricky. Not too tricky by Friday standards, but too tricky for any high degree of satisfaction at finally finishing. I ruled out 15d as I was a silly Billy and trying to spell in the American way… well it has been 42 years. Not sure I understand 10a completely, nor did I know that term for the office of a governor. Thanks to ProXimal and Mr K.
I suspect the governor reference pertains more to ancient Rome than modern America.
Ah ha, that explains it, thanks.
It’s all been said, I struggled and needed help for the south west, so thank you Mr K. I was particularly pleased to have done so well at the top. I enjoyed the tussle.
Many thanks to ProXimal and to Mr K for the hints.
I am reassured to find I am not alone in having found this a “game” of two halves. As MrK & Co. have said the North was reasonably solvable but t’other half was for me a nightmare and anyway I am tired from today’s chores so I have thrown in the sponge and will now look forward to reading MrK’s and other bloggers’ comments. Thank you Proximal for a tough work-out and MrK for sorting it on our behalf.
Nowhere near a finish tonight. Congratulations to all who managed this one! Even on reading the hints there were answers I would never have got. Thanks to Mr K.
4*/3* ….
liked 23A “Alice’s dining companion in cold buffet is one known to rabbit (10)”