DT 30841 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 30841

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30841
Hints and tips by Huntsman

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

A perfectly pleasant & pretty 26a puzzle today although not perhaps one that will live long in the memory. It’ll be interesting to see if others have a different view but for me both this week & last have lacked a bit of the usual sparkle.

In the following hints, definitions are underlined, indicators are mostly in parentheses, and answers are revealed by clicking where shown as usual. Please leave a comment below on how you got on with the puzzle.

Across

1a Sorry if Renoir’s second-rate (8)

INFERIOR: an anagram (sorry) – IF RENOIR.

5a Children entering John’s revolutionary educational establishment (6)

SCHOOL: insert the two letter abbreviation for children into a reversal (revolutionary) of an informal synonym for johns/toilets.

10a Angry, in golf, after birdie? Be wary of this when driving (7,8)

PELICAN CROSSING: a synonym for angry + IN from the clue & Golf (NATO alphabet) all preceded by (after) a large water bird.

11a Bishop’s staff more optimistic after cathedral’s opening (7)

CROSIER: the initial letter (opening) of Cathedral followed by (after) a comparative adjective meaning more optimistic. I always spell it with a Z but both acceptable.

12a Fierce knight in purple (7)

VIOLENT: insert the single letter chess letter for knight into a shade of purple.

13a Penning poetry, socialist will get sent back (8)

REVERSED: insert (penning) a word for poetry into a term for a socialist.

15a You might wear these belts (5)

SOCKS: double definition.

18a Samoa’s island’s hidden haven (5)

OASIS: lurking (hidden) in the opening two words.

20a Commanding lead in race dons ignored, unfortunately (8)

ORDERING: an anagram (unfortunately) of IGNORED including the (dons/lead in) opening letter of Race.

23a Plant releases one gas internally (7)

FREESIA: a synonym for releases + the Roman numeral letter for one & the central letter (internally) of gAs.

25a Refurbish English shop after little resistance (7)

RESTORE: E(nglish) + another word for a shop/retail outlet all preceded by (after) R(esistance).

26a Even football player, perhaps, gets piece of cake (15)

STRAIGHTFORWARD: link another word for even/aligned with a player’s position on the football pitch.

27a Brave baby losing heart (6)

DARING: remove the middle letter (losing heart) from a term of affection synonym for baby/sweetheart.

28a Hated something done in cricket match? On the contrary (8)

DETESTED: it’s the international cricket match that is inserted (on the contrary) into the something done/action.

Down

1d Politician supports current work force (6)

IMPACT: the single letter for current + a parliamentary politician + a synonym for work.

2d Fans of Orwell’s novel (9)

FOLLOWERS: an anagram (novel) – OF ORWELLS.

3d Get trick right for daughter (7)

RECEIVE: replace the single letter for Daughter with R(ight) in a verbal synonym for trick.

4d Proprietor’s old wife in tears on a regular basis (5)

OWNER: O(ld) + W(ife) + the alternate letters (on a regular basis) of iN tEaRs.

6d Curse tailless cat’s habits (7)

CUSTOMS: a truncated (tailless) verbal synonym for curse/swear + male cats – the term apparently originates from of a book published in 1760 featuring the adventures of a promiscuous feline protagonist so called.

7d Where skaters might be kept waiting (2,3)

ON ICE: another double definition.

8d Least heavy ball ultimately gets hit badly (8)

LIGHTEST: the final letter (ultimately) of bal(L) + an anagram (badly) – GETS HIT.

9d If parking, do drive all over the place (8)

PROVIDED: P(arking) + an anagram (all over the place) – DO DRIVE.

14d Crazy Sam shot around 100 bears (8)

STOMACHS: an anagram (crazy) of SAM SHOT with the Roman numeral for 100 inserted (goes around).

16d Social worker following prisoners on X? (9)

CONSONANT: a synonym for prisoners/lags + ON from the clue + a social worker who works in a colony. The question mark indicates definition by example.

17d Bewildered about working with female American editor (8)

CONFUSED: a bit of lego required as follows- link the single letter Latin abbreviation for about + a synonym for working + F(emale) + an abbreviation for both American & then editor.

19d Sounds upset describing second meeting (7)

SESSION: reverse (upset) a nounal synonym for sounds & place around (describing) S(econd).

21d Book about what soldiers do? (7)

RESERVE: a preposition for about/concerning + what service personnel are asked to do.

22d Motorway stopped getting repaired (6)

MENDED: M(otorway) + a synonym for stopped/finished.

24d In mirror, Rebecca lifted slip (5)

ERROR: hidden (in/lifted) in reverse.

25d Anger surrounding loud gun (5)

RIFLE: insert (surrounding) the musical letter for loud into a synonym for anger/annoy.

 

The top two for me today are 16d & 11a but reckon my favourite was to be found in the Quickie pun. Please tell us which clues ticked your boxes.

 

Today’s Quick crossword pun: CHA + MAR + FENCE + SIEVE = CHARM OFFENSIVE

 

This morning’s blogging music has been House of Sticks, the excellent new album release by Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado. Here’s a single from it –

 

65 comments on “DT 30841
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  1. A typical Tuesday offering from, I assume, The Professor in the library. I had a slow start, though, only solving six on the first pass and putting the answer to 18a into 15a didn’t help matters. I soon saw the error of my ways and I was away. Getting the long one at 26a gave the checkers to get the south started. However, the other long one at 10a took some time to unravel. Most enjoyable and my COTD is 5a with the children entering John’s.

    Thank you, A P for a great challenge. Thank you Hintsman for the hunts.

  2. Outstanding. Truly, outstanding. Nearly every clue is a winner.

    I had satchmos as my answer for 14d, having seen that it is the name of a miniature teddy bear. Alas, it wasn’t to be.

    Five Lego pieces in an eight letter answer (17d) is always a joy to see.

    Impossible to pick a pody but I’ll go with 5a, 2d and 14d.

    Many thanks to The Prof (this one is in The Pantheon) and Hoots Mon!

    1*/5*

    1. Well I’ve clearly missed something….
      Satchmo turned up in the Graun yesterday (nowt to do with teddy bears though) & immediately made me play this Van & Kurt duet

      1. Thank you for that, Hunts. We like ‘Van the Man’….a lot.

        I love why Louis Armstrong was called Satchmo: he had a huge mouth so he was called ‘Satchel mouth’.

        I found about about 10 years ago that the s of Louis is supposed to be pronounced. But, I’ve said it without the s for so long that I’m struggling to get out of the habit.

        At the same time, I heard that the second w of Warwick is pronounced when saying Dionne’s surname. Now with this one, I refuse to change. How dare the septics tell us to pronounce a British name differently! I can’t have it nor can Simon Mayo. All the other DJs have obliged which I, of course, understand. But, not Mr Mayonnaise. No, no, no.

        Good boy!

          1. I was so late to this one. So, thank you, Republican Dave.

            It does beg the question why everyone in Blighty pronounced it and St Louis incorrectly, for yonks.

            Or should that be…Yonkers.

            I know all the summer and winter Olympics venues (obvs) and was surprised to that St Louis, Missouri was the first one in America, taking place in 1904, after Athens in 1896 and the City of Light in 1900. So, I did a bit e-digging and saw that they wanted to combine it with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, taking place in the same year, that was celebrating the centenary of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 (St Louis was roughly the centre of the land that was purchased from The French).

            Sticking with Missouri a tad longer……Kansas City, that sits on the Missouri River, is in the state of Missouri not Kansas. It is the central city of the Kansas City metropolitan area that straddles the Missouri–Kansas state line. I am very, very happy with that.

            Here’s a thought…why do we say River Thames but our cousins, stateside, say Mississippi River, i.e the name before the river?

            Answers on an e-postcard….

  3. A fairly simple yet quite elegant puzzle for a cloudy Tuesday morning. I liked the old chestnut at 2d, but my favourites were 5a and 14d.

    Many thanks to, presumably, AP and The Hintsman.

    The puzzles section of the website seems to have thrown a wobbler since I returned from holiday, with all the statistics from the last year or so since I switched to a lap top reverting to zero. Not only that, some of today’s puzzles were showing as completed or part-completed. Does anyone else have similar problems?

    1. Yes, the puzzles site had a wobble last week with the new printing options being reinstalled and taken away again as they were loaded in error plus some other shenanigans.
      The official advice re the lost of completed puzzle markers and lost achievements is to log out/in again and if that doesn’t work:
      Delete and then reinstall the app
      Ensure that the device is up to date
      Ensure that the app is up to date via your app store
      Delete all cookies within the device you can see how to do this here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/contact-us/help-telegraph-website/using-our-website/reset-remove-cookies/
      Delete all past editions within the app: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/contact-us/how-to-delete-edition-telegraph-app/

      I tried the logout/in and it didn’t work. I haven’t tried the cookies etc. yet.

  4. A gentle but very good puzzle, a lesson to budding setters in how to construct a polished and entirely approachable crossword composed of elegant, fair, concise clues, with super surface reads.

    Many thanks Setter (AP?) and Huntsman

  5. Today was the first time I’ve attempted the crossword on a screen (desktop, wouldn’t be able to see it on my phone) and I found it so much more difficult than having it on a printed page. My printer ran out of toner just after printing yesterday’s puzzle and the replacement one didn’t work even though it was a branded one. I’m now waiting for the delivery of a new one so I can go back to pen and paper.

    The above sucked all enjoyment out of the puzzle for me but I did like the quickie pun and 10a.

    Thanks to Huntsman and the setter.

  6. There were a couple of answers where I might have inserted a z instead of s, namely the bishop and the plant, however their wordplay prevented me from doing so.

    Many thanks to the setter and to Huddersfield

    1. I put a z despite the wordplay coz that is how I have mostly seen it spelt. Of course it is not affecting any other word do I can ‘do it my way’

    2. I’ve just spotted my thanks to Huddersfield?? That is the strangest autocorrect I’ve ever seen on my phone!
      Thanks to Huntsman!!

  7. I thought this was on a par with our usual Tuesday offerings, fairly 26a but, nevertheless, very enjoyable. Winners for me were 1&5a plus 6&16d with a smile for the Quickie pun.

    Thanks to AP, presumably, and to Huntsman for the review.

  8. I made an 24d with 28a by initially putting down resented, the first word that came to me fitting the definition. No wonder I couldn’t parse it. Other than that, an easy crossword. I liked 3d, 16d and 25d, so they go on the podium. Thanks to the setter, I have no idea who, and for the hints.

  9. Plenty to enjoy in this Tuesday puzzle.
    1* / 3* much easier than yesterdays which I struggled with for some reason, although no one else seemed to !
    Thanks to setter and Huntsman

  10. Gentle fun with ticks for 10a and 11a, but 16d was the stand-out for me. As well as Al and Van, or course. Thorbjørn’s interesting, reminds me (slightly) of Robert Cray. Ta lots to our setter and Huntsman.
    PS … the ever-popular Chalicea’s puzzle in t’other place really isn’t much tougher than this – there’s just a little extra vocab.

  11. Well this was cruising along to */**** until I was just left with 6d to fill in. For some reason the penny was very slow to drop, which isn’t really surprising as I had the tailless cat as CA at the beginning and then S-O-S for some habits to give a word for curse, d’oh!
    So, **/**** it is. Favs for me were 5a, 10a and said 6d, once I’d twigged how it works!

    Many thanks to the setter and Huntsman.

  12. I kept getting distracted while doing this, which I’m sure was down to my failings rather than the elegant work of the setter, to whom many thanks. Thanks also to Huntsman for the tips which helped me to retrospectively resolve a couple of parsing issues. Funnily enough, we were discussing Free last night while in the foyer of the Barbican (obvs) for the David Crosby event.

      1. It was very enjoyable, with a top-notch band and some charisma courtesy of the Staves and Ed Harcourt. My only gripe would be that the “greatest hits” in the second half seemed to be ordered strictly chronologically, so we were treated to Almost Cut My Hair and Wooden Ships early on, while the conclusion consisted of a series lesser known (to me anyway) material. I’ll check out JI, so thanks for the (additional) tip.

  13. Like Una I was not happy with 29d although George kept saying it had to be, I had to look at the hintsman’s hunt. All pretty 26a as has been said, 16d was the only one I marked as a special but also liked 23a.I was chuffed to finally finish Sunday’s Toughie this morning – I am a tortoise rather than a hare! My garden suddenly looks like spring, loads of snowdrops of many different varieties, winter pansies, jasmine and the wonderful winter clematis Jingle Bells which does do well in my garden. And daffodils in bud. Is spring really on the way? Many thanks to Mr Setter and Mr Hintsman. I hope Senf has got home safely.

  14. For me a Typical Tuesday offering this week. Went in well with SW last in.

    1.5*/3.5*

    Favourites 5a, 12a, 15a, 27a, 14d & 16d — with winner 16d

    Thanks to Ap & Huntsman

  15. 1*/4*
    Very light today but no less fun although over all too quickly. 16d and 19d favourites today. 19d LOI as I was i itially looking for a homophone of upset.
    Thanks to Prof and Hunts

  16. Pleasingly unchallenging yet still sparkling†. Thank you to the setter. My top few were 26a’s even football player, 16d’s X, and 21d’s book about soldiers. I think that’s the 4th time in 10 days for the poetry in 13a.

    And thank you to Huntsman for the music.

    † Though it feels like a contradiction for something to be both still and sparkling …

  17. Good afternoon

    Far be ot from me to disagree with our esteemed blogger, but I quite liked today’s crozzie. As I gave it its initial scan this morning, I identified a way in, but as a precaution, I reached immediately for my Lucky Green Pen; I figured it might be an LGP day.

    As indeed it was. Certainly not as 26a as one might have suspected!

    28a and 9d tie for COTD. Many thanks to our setter (The Prof?) and to Huntsman.

  18. This is exactly how these cryptics should be, at least for me. No deep dives into GK, just about every clue workable, with just a handful requiring a bit more effort. Mondays and Tuesdays are definitely my favourite days of the week. 10a is my COTD. Thanks to AP and Huntsman.

  19. Another fine start to the day, although it’s not been fine outside for my trudge through The Cotswolds. As others have said, this puzzle was not the greatest challenge, but brought a smile to my lips.
    Thank you Professor and Huntsman.
    Now to rest my weary limbs.

  20. A very good Tuesday puzzle, with lots to like and no stand out favourite.

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

  21. First time poster…play nice!

    Have completed for third consecutive day, hurrah, however I don’t ‘get’ 19 down. Help!

    1. Welcome to the blog, BluePG.
      Now that you’ve introduced yourself I hope that you’ll become a regular commenter.

      19d Sounds are NOISES – does that help?

      1. Obviously! Idiocy. Tiredness had kicked in after a long day. Thank you to those who chipped in.

        Have been doing the cryptic crossword now since my mid-20s, so over twenty years now, yet have had the occasional extended hiatus with children appearing.

        I had an epiphany on Saturday morning and committed to getting back on the proverbial horse… three days in and thoroughly enjoying the crosswords again.

        1. Under 50s always welcome as regular commenters – you’ll single handedly lower the age profile. Keep letting us know how you’re getting on

    2. Well done on 3 consecutive days! And don’t give up when it doesn’t all work out – there’s always another day 😊.

  22. Well I enjoyed todays puzzle despite initially putting the answer for 21d in 25a! Loved 10a but that’s probably because I got it straight-away. Many thanks to the setter and Huntsman.

  23. I have to confess to having made harder work of this than most. It took an embarrassingly long time to get 26a, a word I often use in my comments (I never use the the word easy). I did enjoy this though. Favourite was 19d. Thames to AP and Huntsman.

  24. Wrote a long comment that has disappeared! As I spent ages trying to capture last glimpse of moon and Venus despite awful photo will attach it! Looking forward to meeting up with Madflower and discussing what you all look likel!

  25. Dear All, This is my first comment! I have been attempting the DT cryptic crossword for about 8 weeks now, initially (not a clue!) solving very few clues but having grasped most of the subtleties – “about” can mean “re”, “c”, “put around”, “reverse”, “approximately” (and more) – I can now fully manage most Mondays and Tuesdays, a fair few Wednesdays and Thursdays and some Fridays: I don’t attempt Saturdays and Sundays but tend to fill in my occasional weekend spare moments by grappling with the last half dozen clues from Friday. Oddly (again, not a clue), I seem to struggle with some clues that you good people find easy but solve some of your difficult ones quickly – which shows we are all different, thankfully. I enjoy your various comments and the atmosphere on the blog and hope to comment regularly myself but generally I will comment late as I start in the afternoon – and it takes me a little while to solve some of the clues. Solved all of today’s and enjoyed it but needed to check some of the parsing afterwards. Looking forward to future solves and blogs!

    JohnF

    1. Welcome from me too John. Have you got hold of a copy of our esteemed ed’s invaluable 📕 How to Solve a Cryptic Crossword? Sounds like you’re making rapid progress but you’ll still find it a great aid.
      Look forward to regular comments from you.

          1. Thank you Steve; I am busy on a fair few days, including today, but hope to comment a few times a week, even if they are late comments. John

    2. Welcome to the blog John.
      I never used to do the weekend puzzles as I equated prize with difficult but have since found that they are less tricky than a Friday one so if you have access to them at a weekend I’d recommend giving them a go.

      1. Thanks Madflower, I tend to be busy – with social activities – at the weekend but I hope to try the puzzles sometime.

  26. Simple enough today but enjoyable due to the absence of obscure GK. Just one small complaint: technically 25d is not a gun! Thanks to setter and Huntsman.

  27. Well, I have only just finished this! Isn’t it strange that sometimes you can get on the right wavelength and complete a crossword which is classed as being difficult and other times you get stuck on one that is supposed to be easier? Ah well …. I will now go and buy today’s paper and have another go.
    Many thanks to all setters, hinters and contributors. I look at the blog daily to check solutions and always enjoy the comments.

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