DT 30824 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
View comments 

DT 30824

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30824

Hints and tips by Senf

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ****

A very good Wednesday morning from Winnipeg where the temperature roller coaster continues – yesterday it was minus 20-something all day and today we might get above zero for several hours.

For me, etc (I have to say that for Terence), this was quite entertaining and reasonably straightforward. But, once again, I am not going to hazard a guess as to who the setter might be.

Candidates for favourite – 9a, 12a, 28a, 2d, 6d, and 22d.

In the hints below, the definitions are underlined. The answers are hidden under the Click here! buttons, so don’t click if you don’t want to see them.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

9a Body temperature, more or less (5)
TORSO: the single letter for Temperature and a (2,2) phrase equivalent to more or less – somewhat unfortunate that OR appears in the word play and the answer.

10a A religious leader and artist attached to very long-running show (4,5)
SOAP OPERA: all of A from the clue, a four letter religious leader, and the two letters for a highly respected artist placed after (attached to) a two letter synonym of very.

11a Gift that is given to journalists (7)
PRESSIE: the Latin based abbreviation for that is placed after (given to) a collective term for journalists.

12a Hippy doctor available after work? (7)
DROPOUT: the two letter abbreviated form of doctor, and a synonym of available placed after the two letter abbreviated form of a synonym of (a musical?) work.

13a Extent of blubber on lass’s rear? (5)
SWEEP: a lachrymal synonym of blubber placed after (on) the last letter (rear) of lasS.

14a Pride perhaps may be extremely secure and idly scattered (6,3)
DEADLY SIN: an anagram (scattered) of the outer letters (extremely) of SecurE with AND IDLY – yes the conjunction is required for the anagram material.

16a Give up, and include drier (as part of deal) (5,2,3,5)
THROW IN THE TOWEL: a type of drier added as an incentive(?) to complete a deal.

19a Looking ahead, and seeing working farm by lake (4-5)
LONG-RANGE: the two letter synonym of working and a synonym of farm placed after (by) the single letter for Lake.

21a Extremist beset by powerful trauma (5)
ULTRA: a lurker (beset by) found in two words in the clue – yes, the answer can be used as a noun.

23a Gags drug smugglers harbouring two females (7)
MUFFLES: a term for drug smugglers (frequently apprehended at airports according to the YouTube videos) containing (harbouring) two of the single letter for Female.

25a Receiver needing a new number on tap regularly (7)
ANTENNA: A from the clue, the single letter for New, guess a number between nine and eleven, and alternate letters (regularly) from oN tAp.

27a Zen ethics adapted for a German thinker (9)
NIETZSCHE: only in German, a name with five consonants in a row in a total of nine letters – an anagram (adapted) of ZEN ETHICS.

28a Hide, covering English group of fliers (5)
SKEIN: just for Manders! – a nounal synonym of hide (with reference to an animal?) containing (covering) the single letter for English.

Down

1d Heartless expensive measure (4)
STEP: a five letter synonym of expensive with the centre letter deleted (heartless).

2d Band releases for broadcast (6)
FRIEZE: a homophone (for broadcast) of a synonym of releases.

3d Where poor gathered, assuming small measure of potency (10)
HORSEPOWER: an anagram (gathered) of WHERE POOR containing the single letter for Small – yes, a single word in the BRB – not two words or hyphenated.

4d Rise when cold on purpose (6)
ASCEND: the two letter synonym of when and the single letter for Cold placed before (on) a synonym of purpose (as in objective).

5d Money could be difficult – cold remains (4,4)
HARD CASH: a single word synonym for could be difficult, the single letter for Cold (again!), and a synonym for remains (of a fire).

6d Jack goes in low – it’s magic (4)
MOJO: The single letter for Jack (in a pack of cards) inserted into (goes in) a verbal synonym of low (related to cattle).

7d Cutter wasn’t holding one up (5,3)
TENON SAW: the reversal (up) of all of WASN’T containing (holding) ONE.

8d Wild tales again in Constable country? (4,6)
EAST ANGLIA: An anagram (wild) of TALES AGAIN.

13d Hamlet‘s agreement? (10)
SETTLEMENT: Nothing to do with Old Bill Shakes – a double definition – the first relates to a local community.

15d Decisive trial sees fresh titles accepting obligation (6,4)
LITMUS TEST: an anagram (sees fresh) of TITLES containing (accepting) a synonym of obligation.

17d Form of tenancy producing no tears? (4-4)
RENT-FREE: a double definition(?) – the second depends on the pronunciation of tears.

18d An extraordinary thing Unesco developed in case of Nazareth (8)
NONESUCH: an anagram (developed) of UNESCO inserted into (in) the outer letters (case) of NazaretH.

20d Dazzle man-eater holding up glossy coat (6)
ENAMEL: a reversed lurker (holding up) found in two words in the clue.

22d Can leftie set up match here? (6)
TINDER: a synonym of can (as in container) and a colourful synonym of leftie reversed (set up).

24d Book rescued from fire in lounge (4)
LAZE: the single letter for Book deleted (rescued) from a synonym of fire.

26d Relative‘s jolly trip without leader (4)
AUNT: a single word for a jolly trip with the first letter deleted (without leader).


Quick Crossword Pun:

PAUSE + HOLES = POOR SOULS


83 comments on “DT 30824
Leave your own comment 

  1. For weeks now I’ve reckoned that Wednesdays had become the new Fridays, but not today old chum, quite the easiest puzzle in ages.

    Answers just flowed off the nib……, until 22d, the last one to go in.

    I’d got an answer, but couldn’t really see why, until I realised I’d spelt 28a wrongly.

    Quickly adjusted this and all fell into place nicely.

    Many thanks to our setter today, a joy.

      1. Hi Sim

        We can add it to this very short list of rule-breakers:

        caffeine
        codeine
        protein
        seize
        species
        weird (debatable that it’s pronounced with a long e)

        All the others aren’t pronounced with a long e.

      2. I before E, except when your weird foreign neighbour Keith receives eight counterfeit beige sleighs from feisty caffeinated weightlifters. However as Tom points out only a few are pronounced with a long e.

          1. Good shout, S.

            I should have said ‘Words in the dictionary’.

            Saying that, your name would be in the Aussie versions.

    1. Reasonably tricky, I thought, but quite brilliant. There have been some cracking puzzles recently, and this is one of them.

  2. I have only one word for this crossword. Brilliant!

    I began slowly and thought it was going to prove to be a stinker but, no, it gradually revealed its secrets and became a satisfying solve. I will admit to having to look up the spelling of 27a because I had no checkers to help. I have ticks all over the paper so it is difficult to pick a favourite but, if pushed, I would opt for the cutter at 7d.

    Thank you setter for a fun challenge. More please. Thank you, Mr. Mustard for the hints.

    1. 27a is an absolute brute to spell. So, I just came up with this which works for me…

      This young German thinker was bored (Zzzz) in school (SCH), looking out the window, contemplating life.

      The Z of Zzzz and SCH of school are in his surname (zsch).

      If ET is an issue, then we can say that, whilst looking out the window, he saw Elliot cycling ET back to his spaceship.

      So, we have ‘etzsch’.

      No problem if it isn’t doing it for you.

  3. 2.5*/3*. I thought this was just about right on terms of difficulty for a Wednesday and, aside from a few odd surface readings, it was fun to solve with 22d my favourite.

    I am leaning towards this being a Welsh hill puzzle. If so, thanks to Mr T, and thanks too to Senf.

    P.S. I am a bit puzzled by the need to include “of the deep” in 19a in the Quickie. I would have solved that clue far more quickly without that.

  4. I can only echo Steve’s ‘brilliant’. This was right up my street with lots of my favourite lego type clues. None of them held me up for too long, though I did spend a little while looking for a latin phrase for a decisive trial for 15d! Typical of me to overcomplicate things. Ticks all over my paper so I’ll just list the contenders today, rather than try to choose a podium. 10, 13 and 25 across, 5, 13, 15, and 22 down. Many thanks to whomsoever for the absolute pleasure and Senf for the comprehensive blog.

  5. The thinker was new to me and I had to check the answer to 18d meant what it does but I thought this a great puzzle.

    Top picks for me were 10a, 13a and 2d.

    Thanks to Senf and the setter.

  6. I don’t comment very often, but today’s offering stirred even a lazy bones like me to put pen to paper.
    A brilliantly clued. and modestly presented classic, perfectly suited to all abilities.
    Thanks to the setter, your skill has brought brightnesses to a dull and drear Surrey Wednesday.

  7. Well this week seems to be in reverse. I found that easier than Tuesday, which I found easier than Monday. Tomorrow will surely be a walk in the park.

    Difficulty aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle. 22d was the last one in, which I blamed on the answer referring to an app rather than a proper word; on reflection I suppose it works using the original meaning of the word. Grumble, grumble. */****

  8. Like others, I was floored for a time by my LOI, 22d. Once I had cracked it, that became my favourite clue from a fun and reasonably testing midweeker. The grid was a delight to solve, and well worth the four stars attributed to it for enjoyment. The 27a thinker is interesting, in that I cannot think of any other names that have five consonants within it unbroken by a vowel (cue a long list of names to prove me wrong).

    Thanks to our setter and Senf.

      1. Yep, it’s a goodie which I often use when setting quizzes.

        Knightsbridge

        The only regular words, deriving from this Sceptred Isle, with six consecutive consonants are compound words, e.g sightscreen, catchphrase.

        There may be some howdy doody medical term but I haven’t found one yet

      2. One could argue that these examples could be hyphenated thus breaking the sequence or in the case of the crickety ‘thing’ two separate words as shown in the BRB.

        1. Hi S

          A fair observation (choice of words was intended) with sightscreen but catchphrase is a one word jobbie.

      1. It’s a truly top call Karona. But, as you say, the y is playing the role of a vowel which takes away the fun of a bunch of consonants.

        It’s why I haven’t included rhythm (its root) in the list.

        However, it would most certainly be a contender for THE list.

        1. Just to throw in another crumb. What is the longest word with alternate vowels and consonants?

          I have come up with “verisimilitudes”. 😊

          1. Love it!

            I’ve never been asked that before.

            Taramasalata is the longest word that I know that is a consonant/same vowel/consonant/same vowel etc.

            But, I do like your one. 👏👏

          2. In Love’s Labour’s Lost, one of the characters says:

            O, they have lived long on the alms-basket of words, I marvel thy master hath not eaten thee for a word; for thou art not so long by the head as honorificabilitudinitatibus: thou art easier swallowed than a flap-dragon.

            But — unlike so many other Shakespearean coinages — ‘honorificabilitudinitatibus’ hasn’t caught on, making it a hapax legomenon.

            The same length as ‘verisimilitudes’, but with consonants and vowels the opposite way round, is ‘overimaginative’.

            1. What a great word that is!

              You’ve got to love a bit of Billy Waggledagger.

              I reckon he had the same idea when constructing it, e.g consonant/vowel etc.

              It’s like the Eton boys coming up with floccinaucinihilipilification to see how many Latin stems they could come up with.

              The fear of long words is a belter: hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

              Such fun.

  9. For me, and I stress for me (™ Senf), this was rather a jolly guzzle, with 6d as Glue Of The Day.
    Old matey boy at 27a with his jaunty moustache – always hard work to wade through his sometimes contradictory polemic.

    As anticipated, a frustrating evening at Stamford Bridge with The Mighty Chelsea held to a draw by the Cherries of Bournemouth. Bizarre coincidence – got talking a bloke in hospitality; turned out he lives next door to the place we rented in the Cotswolds over Christmas. What are the chances, eh?

    Thanks to the setter and The (Shivering) Man From Manitoba

  10. Not for the first time, I was slowed down by my failure to recognise lurker indicators. I’m sure I’ll get the hang of them though and these are still early days for me. A very well-constructed puzzle and I particularly enjoyed16a. Thanks to the setter and to Senf.

    1. ‘Tis a common affliction. If I get really stuck the first thing I do is double-check for them. And 4 times out of 5 …

    2. Someone no longer on here said a long time ago, if you can’t make head nor tail of the clue, look for a lurker. It’s saved me many a time.

  11. Very enjoyable indeed. The chief difficulty was remembering how to spell the egghead with the tash so left him until last with all checkers in. Podium spots for 22d plus 13&16a.
    Thanks to the setter & to Senf

  12. Sorry to butt in – I am still working on DT 30815 from last Saturday week and I can only find the hints. Have we stopped getting the full answers?

    1. Your comment went into moderation because you used a different alias to the one you used some time ago. Both should work from now on.

      Now to your query. The full review of DT 30815 is available but our ever busy Reviewer mis-labelled it as DT 30813 (Full Review) which has now been corrected.

        1. Am I not supposed to mention daleths? I am sure I typed daleths but it wants to correct it to deleted. C’est la vie. (And that came up as Chester until the third attempt!)

  13. A very gentle midweeker which makes me think it could be a benign Mr Tumble. But, my guesses at the moment suck. So, whadda I know.

    I only knew 18d without the fourth letter. Day Zee and Jezzeroony will have heard of the park near Sutton.

    7d was a neat construction but has been denied a podium place by 10a, 3d and 27a (you can see my effort to remember the spelling under SC’s post above).

    Many thanks to the setter and Senf.

    2*/4*

  14. A relatively mild but enjoyable puzzle for a Wednesday although I hate non-words such as 11a. Some jostling going on for the medals today and I’ll leave 9&13a plus 7,13&17d to fight it out amongst themselves.

    Thanks to our setter – no guesses from me, and thanks also to Senf for another excellent review.

  15. Splendid stuff so thanks to the setter and Senf.

    Fav was the cutter at 7d and I also admit to looking up the spelling of 27a.

  16. A slow start that led to a leisurely finish. I particularly liked the lurker at 20d and my loi, 22d. But from many ticks on my page, I’m going with a podium of 9a, 13d and 4d in top spot. Thanks to compiler and Senf.

  17. Still working on this but I am a little confused by 12a surely the Doctor is un-available?
    Ignore me, if The Doctor is a magazine it would be available when published!

    1. You are, perhaps, making it more complicated than it actually is. I took it to be two separate parts of the ‘construction’ of the answer:

      1. The two letter abbreviation of doctor.

      Then, separately,

      2. Find a synonym of available and place it after the abbreviated form of a musical work.

      Nothing to do with the doctor being available or not.

      1. I think the setter’s choice makes it a better surface, ie the laid back, chillaxed doc says….

        ‘’Hey dudes. You can see me anytime as my door is always open to any of you cats. Now, where’s my Camberwell carrot?’’

  18. Many thanks to the setter for a most enjoyable puzzle. The only one I needed to check was the spelling of the German thinker. Since then I cannot stop singing to myself the Monty Python philosopher’s song!
    1*/4*

  19. This week, I found this Wednesday puzzle much more accessible than the last couple have been. One new word in this one for me but the rest were pretty much everyday words.

    2.5*/3.5*

    Favourites 9a, 11a, 16a, 25a, 6d & 8d — with 8d the winner for me … and those that have followed my comments will know why. I will say if 8d wasn’t there the winner would have been 16a .. it mad me laugh.
    Smiles too for 23a, 3d & 6d

    Thanks to setter & Senf for his second blog/hints this week.

  20. I solved this enjoyable puzzle on my flight to Rome for a city break with Mrs E.

    With no reference sources available at 30,000 ft, I had to guess the order of the 5 consecutive consonants in 27A and was well chuffed to discover that I had nailed them. 10A was a bung in that I totally failed to parse until I saw the hints.

    Thanks to the setter and Senf for the hints.

    1. I’m not with you, Corks.

      The pun has ‘poor’ in the answer.

      What’s the ‘paw’ connection other than it being a homophone of ‘poor’ though people north of the border pronounce it with two syllables.

      Setters always ask for some latitude with these puns.

    2. Pleasant puzzle for a Wednesday. Thanks to the setter and Senf for the hints which we don’t use and find our own muddle through. Top picks 16a, 17d and 15d. Val enjoys multi word clues, “bring them on” she says. Gary and Val

  21. Greetings again from Edmonton. We certainly seem to have a wide range of Canucks commenting here. A gentle but elegant puzzle, with 13a and 16a being rib-ticklers.

    1. Canucks canoe you up the river
      Canucks canoe you up the stream
      Canucks once sold me down the river
      I didn’t see the lumber beam.

      (Don’t ask)

      1. A word of uncertain origin that while many use it as a sort of term of endearment the BRB also suggests that it can be derogatory but what do they know!

  22. A slow start for me too but then the answers came one after the other. Some wonderful clues. I had to check the spelling for 27a and 28a was a new meaning for me . My favourite was 22d. Thanks to the setter and Senf.

  23. I thoroughly enjoyed this and found it easier than Monday and Tuesday this week. I had to check the spelling of 27a but otherwise it went very smoothly. No particular favourite as I just enjoyed it all.

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

  24. Good evening

    This crozzie today was a classic slow-burner: you find a way in; seven or eight solutions become clear, then a quadrant is done. Then you have to go away and come back, and one by one they gently fall until the last one, which today was 18d.

    One standout contender for COTD: 20d.

    Many thanks to our setter (nope, not placing any bets!) and to Senf.

  25. I really enjoyed today’s puzzle. Most answers just flowed in but I did dither over 2/3. Needed to check that I had the right spelling for 27a. Two good puzzles in 2 days 🤞for tomorrow. Many thanks to the setter and Senf.

    NB I noticed there are a few regulars missing from today’s blog. Hope you are all keeping warm and well.

  26. I was going to comment earlier but must have got distracted. Anyway, I found this puzzle easier than anticipated for a Wednesday and really enjoyed it. I spent a while trying to think of a synonym for where poor gather, and couldn’t, as workhouse didn’t fit the clue or number of letters. I ‘bunged in’ the right answer eventually but I needed Senf’s hint to parse it; silly me for not spotting an anagram. Thank you to Senf and setter.

  27. After a very early (pre breakfast) doctor’s appointment this morning I was more than pleased to find this lovely Wednesday puzzle waiting. I had begun to dread Wednesdays but this one was a joy to solve. In fact, I often 16a on Wednesdays, but not today. I do confess I did have to spell check the 27a anagram. Was surprised to see the use of 25a as that was always called an aerial in England before we became expats. Please Mr Puzzle Editor, can we have more Wednesdays like this? Thanks to setter and to Senf.

  28. Excellent puzzle ** / ***** rating . Plenty of quirky clues, favourite 22d and very pleased with myself to spell the German thinker right first time !
    Thanks to senf and setter

  29. East side went straight in West took a little longer. Looking at the jumble of letters in 27a and only having the last letter as a checker I suddenly thought ‘I know who that is’ but didn’t have a clue how to spell it, so entered an incorrect spelling into Google and it came up with the right one. 18d is a word I’ve never used and probably never will. I thought 2d was a bit of a stretch but what do I know. Favourite was 13d. Thanks to the setter and Senf.

  30. An otherwise excellent puzzle spoiled for me by 27a. Even with the checking letters I had to look him up. Thanks to Senf for the blog.

  31. Thank you to Senf for helping me get this finished: I thought I was going to manage it myself, but had two crossing clues left in the top-left corner. Overall I found it pretty medium: not many across clues on the first pass, but more steadily filled in, and all the answers were things I’d heard of.

    I particularly liked 24d for its smooth book-rescuing surface, 7d for the wordplay making that cutter out of reversing two completely unrelated words, 22d (“Leftie match”) for the humour, and 13d (“Hamlet”) for being so simple yet evading me for so long. Thank you to the setter.

Join the Conversation, Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 2 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video, document, spreadsheet, interactive, text, archive, code, other. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop file here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.