Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30834
Hints and tips by Smylers
Hello, from a train hurtling up the East Coast Main Line, carrying a precious cargo of macarons back to Yorkshire from this blog’s Birthday Bash in London at the weekend. At the time this is published I should be somewhere between Peterborough and Grantham, if the service is keeping to schedule. And if the train wi-fi is working, I might even have had time to add some pictures or music to the hints below.
Thank you so much to Sloop John Bee and Elgar for arranging the Bash. It was so lovely to meet people in person. We must do it again sometime.
On to today’s crossword: hints and explanations are below, with the definition parts of clues underlined. Do ask if anything still isn’t clear, and let us know how you found the puzzle and which clues you particularly liked. Comments from lurkers would be as welcome as they are oxymoronic. Check the etiquette guide for house rules.
Across
1a Trainee reporter capturing that lady’s heavenly figure (6)
CHERUB: Here we need a term for somebody learning to be a journalist, and the pronoun indicating something belonging to somebody female. Make the trainee capture the pronoun by surrounding it.
5a Contemptuously dismiss pair of spinning rings (4-4)
POOH-POOH: For the first half of the answer, spin round something that’s ring-shaped, so it’s spelt backwards. Then make a pair by doing exactly the same for the second half.
9a Spicy food and French alcohol boy rejected, along with two doughnuts? (8)
VINDALOO: Enter in turn: the French word for an alcoholic drink associated with France; another word for a boy, rejected such that’s back-to-front; and 2 of the letter that’s the same shape as a doughnut
10a Wise and divine female thus entertained by non-drinkers (6)
ATHENA: We need a word for ‘thus’ in the sense of something happening after another, and an abbreviation for a group who include both non-drinkers than those trying to give up alcohol. The latter entertains the former by going round the outside of it.
11a Singer covering Queen, say – or Ziggy Stardust? (5,3)
ALTER EGO: The question mark is important here, because the answer is something that David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust character is an example of. The components here are a singer, classified by their vocal range; the letters used to indicate our most recent queen; and an abbreviation which can mean ‘say’ in the sense of indicating possibility. The singer covers the other parts by going round them.
12a Mother’s energy low, initially – might she be in distress? (6)
DAMSEL: Think of a well-known phrase involving somebody female being in distress, and put that in the grid. Then working backwards, note that the answer ends with the intial letter of ‘low’, and before that is the letter used in physics to represent energy, and the possessive S from the clue. That leaves the first 3 letters, which turn out to be a word I didn’t know for the female parent of a farm animal (though a related word with an E on the end of it is well-known).
13a Beg Laura to get stirred up for debate (8)
ARGUABLE: Stir the letters of the first two words to get the answer, which is an adjective — note the definition isn’t just the last word.
15a Endlessly study writer of a lot of nonsense (4)
LEAR: Take the end letter off a another word meaning to study.
17a 151 pence for something you could see on YouTube (4)
CLIP: Convert 151 into a different numeral system; given this is a crossword, one using letters would be handy. After that, put the abbreviation for pence.
19a Possibly bitter about untamed fox (8)
BEWILDER: Put what bitter, as a noun, is an example of around a synony of ‘untamed’. The answer is ‘fox’ as a verb. I love clues like this where multiple parts of speech aren’t what they initially seem from the surface reading.
20a Tread heavily in tango with Barnaby in a novel (6)
TRUDGE: Follow the letter represented by ‘tango’ in the Nato alphabet with the surname of a titular Charles Dickens character with the first name Barnaby.
21a Going out touring clubs is intoxicating (8)
EXCITING: Here we need another word for ‘going out’, as in leaving, and to make it tour round the outside of the letter that’s an inferior way of writing ♣.
22a Artist breaking strangely tiny item on a desktop (2-4)
IN-TRAY: Put the letters of ‘tiny’ in a strange order, and break them up by inserting the usual abbreviation for an arist.
23a One who performs a ritual live, caging mythical monster (8)
EXORCIST: Think of a synonym for ‘live’ as a verb and use it as a cage to contain a creature found in fantasy literature.
24a Beautiful stuff Vogue’s oddly ignored (8)
GORGEOUS: Start with another word for ‘stuff’ as a verb, as in food into ones mouth, and end with what’s left of ‘Vogue’s’ after ignoring all the letters in odd-numbered positions.
25a Musical work about love and girl’s final farewell (2,4)
SO LONG: Place something musical around the letter that looks like the digit of a score of love and the final letter of ‘girl’.
Down
2d Very fine hotel supported by EasyJet, say (8)
HAIRLINE: Follow the letter represented by ‘hotel’ in the Nato alphabet with the kind of thing that EasyJet is an instance of. (Video Contains swearing.)
3d Coniferous tree Edward planted in Yorkshire town (3,5)
RED CEDAR: Inside the name of a town in North Yorkshire, plant one of the pet forms of ‘Edward’.
At the Birthday Bash I mentioned a crossword which included reference to another northern town in a clue which I loved but many others objected to, saying the place was too obscure. That day Chris Lancaster defended it by pointing out well-known places in the south of a similar size. Today’s northern town is a bit bigger, so hopefully even southerners have heard of it. It has a similar population to Dover, Epsom, and Fleet.
4d Bird wailed periodically, circled by hunting dog (4,5)
BALD EAGLE: We need some letters selected from ‘wailed’ periodically — that is at regular intervals. In practice that means to use every other letter, but the clue doesn’t provide guidance as to whether that’s those in the odd or even positions, so pick one set and if it doesn’t work, try the other. They get circled by a breed of hunting dog round the outside of them.
5d Inflammatory quality of Conservative, so badly under pressure (15)
PROVOCATIVENESS: Put the letters of ‘Conservative, so’ in a bad order, underneath the physics symbol indicating pressure. Kudos to anybody who solved this without any crossing letters in place.
6d Possibly steamed fruit for thrilling occasion (3,4)
HOT DATE: Start with the adjective describing the state of something that has been steamed, and follow that with a fruit. The ‘possibly’ is because steaming is just one way of bringing about that state.
7d Exaggerate the merits of lines at the end of old poetry (8)
OVERSELL: Start with the abbreviation for ‘old’ and another word for poetry, and at the end put the abbreviation for ‘lines’ (or more than one of the abbreviation for ‘line’).
8d Leader and Liberal politician welcoming a source of illumination (8)
HEADLAMP: Here we need in order another word for a leader of something, an abbreviation that was used to indicate the Liberal Party, and an abbreviation for a (particular type of) politician. Together they welcome the A from the clue by including it somewhere among them.
14d Most of crude oil wasted by American – absurd! (9)
LUDICROUS: Take most of the letters of ‘crude’ (specifically all but the final one) and all the letters of ‘oil’ and get them wasted, so they’re in a different order. Place them by an abbreviation meaning ‘American’.
15d Abandoned unfinished wine – good red, perhaps (4-4)
LEFT-WING: Enter in order: another word for ‘abandoned’; most of the word ‘wine’ from the clue, but making it unfinished by leaving off its last letter; the abbreviation for ‘good’.
16d A reason to go to the bookies, trembling (8)
AFLUTTER: Somebody might go to a betting shop to have one of these — an informal term, including the A from the clue.
17d Important person who reviews case of appeal (8)
CRITIAL: The case of ‘appeal’ is its outer letters. Those go after the job title of somebody who reviews things.
18d Popular educational institutions working together (2,6)
IN UNISON: Enter in turn: the usual synonym of ‘popular’; a kind of instutution that provides education, in a shortened form, and plural; and the usual word for ‘working’.
19d Lions test match? (3,4)
BIG GAME: Something which lions are (sadly) an example of could also be a phrase decribing a Test match, especially when compared to shorter forms of cricket. (In the sports pages, The Telegraph write ‘Test’ in that sense with a capital T, but Chambers has it all lower-case, and the puzzles team have gone with that rather than follow their sports colleagues.)
Quickie Pun
The first 3 clues in today’s Quick Crossword are italicized, indicating that their answers when read aloud together can be made to sound like another word or phrase. If you want to check, here are the answers and pun:
STAY + TUSK + WOE = STATUS QUO
I brought few rounds of quiz sheets to the Big Bash on Saturday. They were more intended for looking at in groups than as solo take-home activities, and that conversation flowed so freely without needing such gimmicks is a positive reflection on the event and those present. But if anybody did grab one (before they become too soggy to handle) and would like the answers, mention it your comment below, and I’ll email you. Same if you would like the questions, I suppose.
A bit harder than usual for a Monday I thought but still enjoyable. It took me longer than normal and I will own up to having used Mr. G. to solve 5d. Even now, I don’t understand it but I’m sure enlightenment will come from the hints. I thought Ziggy at 11a was very neat but my COTD goes to the bitter fox at 19a.
Thank you, setter (not sure it’s Robyn but I know nowt) for the Monday challenge. Thank you, Smylers for the hints.
No matter how I say it, I cannot make the Quickie pun mean anything. (No wonder – I had “fang” as the second word).
Yeay- 5d was an anagram 😀
I totally missed the Ingram indicator, DG. 🙄
Is an ‘Ingram indicator‘ a retired major sitting nearby who suddenly coughs whenever it looks like you’re about to choose the wrong answer?
I’ll put you on my dial a friend list, Smylers. 😂
That was fun! Solved quite early this morning on my not very good tablet – a freebie when I changed my mobile phone a few years ago. I presume that it was one of many ‘leftovers’ that was either ‘give away’ or ‘throw away’ and, of course, by giving away it was added to my plan but not for free. Anyway, back to the puzzle which was enjoyably entertaining – 1.5*/3.5*
Candidates for favourite – 5a – a recent repeat, 16d, and 19d – and the winner is 19d.
Thanks to whomsoever and Smylers.
Lots of fun, while it lasted. Equines still at ease. 5d a very well-spotted anagram. Honours to 12a, 5d & 19d.
Thanks you setter and Smylers, hope you’re having an uneventful journey.
Thanks. The actual making progress up the country is going well, but the wi-fi is so flaky I’ve already had to reconnect in the middle writing this comment — so I was relieved to see the blog had published itself on time. (And I’ve now fixed the broken picture.)
1*/4*. I found this light and very enjoyable. I’ve no idea who set it and I’m not going to hazard a guess.
I had a couple of things to mention but Smylers has already done so in his comprehensive review so I won’t repeat them.
My crowded podium comprises 5a, 19a, 23a & 19d.
Many thanks to the setter and to Smylers.
PS. Miss Fifi, where are you?
Hi RD, which I now know stands for ‘Republican Dave’.
I told her not to rush it as her opening post needs to be a goodie: first impressions and all that malarkey.
So, it may take a few days.
Why, when you say Miss Fifi, do I want to add ‘de la Bonbon’ ?
Was she a Carry On or music hall character ?
Mademoiselle Fifi was a character in Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh.
Sorry, that should have said Mademoiselle Fifi de la Bonbon!
Then I bet Kenneth Horne used to add the bonbon!
Oooooh! Ee don’t care do ee?
An enjoyable start to the week with some clever misdirection. 15d was my last one in after some barking of the wrong tree variety while 9a caused me to spend time thinking how to fit in the letters in a common slang term for alcohol after removing a boy and two doughnuts. 11a was my favourite, although that might be partly because of a significant Bowie bias on my part. Thanks to the setter and to Smylers for both helping me to parse 12a and reassuring me that I wasn’t the only one who struggled with it.
A fatrly approachable guzzle for me . I loved the long a nagram at 5d, the cryptic reference to Ziggy at 11a and tge double meaning at 16d. Thanks to the setter and to Smylers for the hints
An excellent start to the week.
Lots of nice surfaces on a friendly grid with a big, fat, juicy anagram running down its spine which always helps. I got its initial and last four letters straightaway that made it easier to crack.
Not easy to ‘pick a pody’, a good problem to have, but I’ll go with 23a, 24a and 5d.
Many thanks to the compiler (having met some at the w/e, they are more than happy with that term) and the founding member of the Alphablocks Fan Club.
1*/4*
Not too taxing for the grey matter here after a busy weekend. Some really nice clues, particularly 12a and 15d.
I served a fantastic haut-médoc on Saturday evening when my niece and her partner came round for dinner, which I’m pleased to say was neither abandoned nor unfinished!
A lovely puzzle that brought many a smile. Only hiccup was being determined to put TT (tea total) in 10a – took far too long to look for the alternative!
Many thanks to the setter and to smylers for the hints which I didn’t need but enjoyed reading anyway
Friendly and enjoyable – what more do we want on a Monday? Thanks to our setter and Smylers.
My ticks went to 19a, 6d, 15d and 19d.
Gentle and enjoyable flying start to the week . Some nice clues. Thanks to setter and Smylers.
Excellent puzzle & review. Like Chris M 11a was my clear favourite if only because it prompted me to play the album – I well remember being fascinated by Bowie as a 10 year old.The Hammersmith Odeon concert where he put the character to bed would be high up on a list of gigs I would have loved to have been at. Ticks too for all of Gazza’s 4 picks.
Thanks to the setter & Smylers
when i first saw 11a I really wanted it to be a anagram (ziggy) of stardust. i guess that would be asking too much
A great start to the week. LOI was 10a as I was fixated on it containing TT even though the non-drinkers were on the outside.
Top picks for me were 11a, 15d, 19a and 9a.
Thanks to Smylers and the setter.
Slightly trickier than usual for a Monday which makes me wonder if it isn’t one of Robyn’s.
I thought the spicy 9a excellent, but my favourite was the Ziggy 11a. Last one in the longest clue at 5d and like Smylers said – serious kudos if you got this without any checkers!
**/****
Thanks to setter and Smylers
I thought the definition for 13a was in the last 3 words of the clue.
Also, the bloggers symbol for the plying card suit in 21 a is the wrong one.
Agreed but what did you make of the puzzle?
I thought the puzzle was typical for a Monday – not too testing.
Thanks, Vince. I’m now home, with an internet connection that stays up for more than 2 minutes, and have tweaked those, plus a nearby grammatical error in one of those clues.
I’ve tried a number of times to reply to you Huntsham, but the system doesn’t seem to allow it. I found the puzzle typical for a Monday- not too testing.
Oh! Noow it has got through!
An enjoyable puzzle to take the mind off the horrible weather. I was floundering in the SW until the misdirection resolved itself in 15d. Trying too hard to get something wine related into the second half of the answer when the obvious was staring me in the face all along. From a bunch of excellent clues, my cotd is 11a. Thanks to compiler and Smylers.
I thoroughly enjoyed this with ticks everywhere. I spent too long pondering 10 as I was trying to spell her with an ‘e’ the end not an ‘a’. 11,12,22,24 and 25a and 1,5 and 16d all made me smile.
Speaking of smiles, I pondered on your puzzles on the train coming home Smylers, finished the toughie, enjoyed the categories, immediately dismissed the football grounds, but am being driven mad by the circular one! My brain just won’t seem to get it. So yes please, answers! And I wish you had not mentioned the macaroons because I immediately had to have one and I am desperately trying to lose the Christmas pounds. Very many thanks to Messrs Setter & Smyler, I too was flummoxed by
Stay Fang Woe ( well known Chinese Dentist).
Late in today having spent quite some time involved in a ‘lively discussion’ with an underfloor heating engineer! Took me a long while to register the anagram element of 5d but found this reasonably straightforward elsewhere. Top three here were 19&23a plus 16d which made me laugh.
Thanks to our setter and to Smylers for the review – pleased to hear that you got back home safely.
Great start to the week, with several lovely epiphany moments (9a and 18d). Favourite was 4d – seeing these fly just overhead when we were in Vancouver was a huge thrill. Thanks to the setter and Smylers
As I switched my phone off after commenting I saw a news flash about Auswitch. I was ten 80 years ago and I remember vividly coming downstairs and taking the paper from the letterbox. As I walked into the dining room I unfolded it and saw the front page. I stood there shaking – my mother shouted and grabbed the paper from me but that image has never left me. Sadly, the world has not changed much. What do they say, plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.
You have some incredible memories, Day Zee. Do you have them recorded, either on paper or audibly, perchance?
I’m only asking because my 95 year old mother told us so many over the years which we haven’t made a note of and her memory is fading fast. She, like you, is a great raconteur, adding so much colour to these anecdotes.
So, my siblings and I have, regrettably, missed the opportunity.
I thought this Monday puzzle was a tad more challenging than normal this week. Required more head scratching than normal for me.
2*/3.5*
Favourites include 1a, 9a, 11a, 17a, 6d & 19d — with winner 19d
Thanks to setter & Smylers
A little harder than some Mondays but a very entertaining solve. 11 a was my favourite and last one in but several others brought smiles.
Went to walk the rescue dogs and got caught out by a sudden and very heavy hail storm, it looked like it had snowed. We both got soaked and looked like drowned rats when we got home. Consequently I’m refusing to go out again today!
Many thanks to the setter and to Smylers for the hints.
Bit more of a stretch today.. Ticks for 5 and 19 across and 16 down.Always a delight to be led up the occasional garden path without brambles that would make for impenetrability.Thanks to our as yet mystery setter and Smylers.
Enjoyed this and always laugh when I see two doughnuts in a clue! Thank you compiler and Smylers
A very enjoyable puzzle for me today, though it took me a while to get going.
Like others I was determined to fit in TT to the wise and divine female until i saw the light.
Favourite today 4d. I’ve always liked Snoopy and the other Peanuts characters.
Thanks to the setter and to Smylers.
Busy start to the day so just got round to this fun gentle start to the week. Podium places to 19a and 16d with top spot going to 19d my first one in and which made me chuckle. Excellent review Smylers, glad you’ve made it home safely with the macaroons!
Thanks too to our compiler Robyn?
A bit more than a two star for me.
Welcome to the blog, Jerry.
I notice that sometimes an afternoon solve can take me twice as long to complete the puzzle compared with my normal morning routine.
A fairly stressful morning which involved a 2 hour call to HMRC meant the crossword had to wait until late afternoon…
The one that caused the most confusion for me was 13a. I was convinced that debate was the definition and not up for debate (as pointed out by Smylers).
Thanks to the setter and to Smylers for a most comprehensive write-up.
Sorry to hear about your phone call — hope it’s all sorted now.
That’s reminded me that I need to call them as well. I’m not sure whether to thank you for the prompt, or to be irked about the feeling of weariness thinking about it has brought about …
Good luck with your phone call.
Be prepared for a wait of roughly 1 hour before you get to speak to anyone.
Whilst listening to the horrendous background music, I managed to empty the washing machine and dishwasher, have a wet shave, and cook my son’s lunch…..
I sympathise! I waited two hours to speak to BT. What annoyed me most was the irritating rap music and the repeated message that my call was important to them.
I long for the days when you could pick up the phone and speak to a person.😡
I was on the telephone to some organisation a few weeks ago and the music was driving me mad. I said to George if this music doesn’t stop soon I’m going to kill myself. Just at that moment the music fid stop and a human voice said Oh please, madam, don’t do that for goodness sake. I then got excellent service!
I must try that, DG!
Oh and credit for ‘up for debate’ has to be shared with Vince. My original version of 13a’s hint had the definition as ‘for debate’ — which was probably enough to get people away from just ‘debate’, but Vince was right in it being 3 words, not 2.
Great start to the crossword week, hard or not I completed it in ** time without needing resource to the clues. Will it continue like this during the week?
Had a lecture from the nurse at our surgery this morning telling me I should cut down on the sugar. Maybe I had one too many of those lovely macaroons on Saturday….
Not sure where we should be sending our photos for the gallery but I have now written a web page about my day, mainly about my pre-bash walkabouts which probably interests you not one bit but a few photos at the end. I see our lovely Daisy Girl seems to have sneaked into every one of them! Enjoy:
https://davesergeant.com/walks2025/stjames.htm
Great photos, PD. Thank you for sending the link.
Thank you, Dave, I enjoyed following your route.
After I had solved the more straightforward clues I slowed down a tad but each time I got another it led me to another answer using one of the letters I’d just inserted, this continued to completion leading a steady solve which I found rather satisfying. I don’t normally pick an anagram as favourite but 5d was so good it just had to be. Thanks to the setter and Smylers.
I’ve been watching tennis in the morning for the last two weeks so my solving of guzzles came very late in the day. So it’s good to be back to my usual routine. I did enjoy the tennis though!
I also enjoyed today’s challenge. A bit more difficult than some Mondays but still managed to finish.10a took the longest to work out and the bald bird was my top pick. Looking forward to seeing the pictures from the bash.
Thanks to setter and Smylers for your detailed hints.
A great start to the week with no hold ups. Favourites 11a, 18a and last one in 28d.
It just shows a crossword doesn’t have to be a struggle to be enjoyable
1* / 4*
Thanks to Smylers and setter
Good evening
A little chewier than we might usually expect on a Monday, but I’m not complaining. I found, by and large, that most of the RHS went in nicely, but the LHS proved a little trickier. I particularly enjoyed the misdirection of ‘fox’ in 19a. 11a nearly had me! I had —E-/E-O, and on seeing the Ziggy Stardust reference, I so wanted the answer to be BRIAN ENO, which would mean 3d was wrong. What a numpty! 11a is therefore joint COTD with 19a.
Many thanks to our setter and to Smylers.
Very enjoyable, favourites 9a and 11a (i also tried to fit Brian Eno at first!)
5d was last to solve but got there in the end.
Glad you enjoyed it, Dee — and thank you for delurking! Welcome to the blog, and I hope you’ll continue to comment.
Welcome to the merry band, Dee and I echo Smylers. Please keep commenting.
2*/5* …
liked 12A “Mother’s energy low, initially – might she be in distress (6)” amongst others.