Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30846
Hints and tips by Smylers
Hello to everybody who’s had a go at today’s Telegraph Crossword. If you’re stuck on a clue or puzzled by an answer, the hints and explanations below should help. And remember, don’t apologise or feel bad for looking at a hint: that’s what they are for! If it weren’t for Big Dave setting up this site and bloggers providing hints, I wouldn’t be able to solve cryptic crosswords now. Those dabbling in cryptic puzzles, and those completely baffled, are just as welcome to join in with the comments as the experienced solvers who haven’t required a Monday hint in years. It’s always lovely to receive comments. Please see the etiquette guide to avoid any faux pas.
The definition part of each clue is underlined. The (except this one) blobs are hiding the answers, so despite what they are instructing you to do, feel free to only actually click on them if you wish to see an answer.
I’m not actually here right now. I mean, obviously I’m here as I’m typing this, but (so long as the technology works) I’m not here at the point these hints go live on the website, because I’m Hearing People Sing. Specifically, I’m ‘helping’ on a school trip with our 10-year-old’s year group. It’s to watch a performance of the musical Les Misérables, at a secondary school that many in the year will be starting at in September. We saw some rehearsal in October while looking round on an open day, and I was really impressed. So when the 10-year-old’s school last week asked for some parent volunteers, I immediately offered to come along. How hard can it be?
So apologies in advance for any mistakes in the hints, and that I won’t be able to remedy them straight away. And also apologies if there aren’t yet any illustrations nestled among the hints: the trip means I need to be breakfasted and stop blogging earlier than usual. If I don’t manage to get pictures or videos in initially, I’ll sneak a few in later when I’m back.
Across
1a Welsh are agreed about English film (5,6,4)
WHERE EAGLES DARE: Move the letters of the first three words about, and finish with the single-letter abbreviation for ‘English’.
9a Hide article penned by king (7)
LEATHER: The answer is ‘hide’ as a noun, despite the surface reading trying to make us think of it as a verb. Pen a grammatical article inside the name of a king that Shakespeare wrote about.
10a Champion beer gathers support (7)
APOSTLE: The outside of this answer is a type of beer. That’s gathering a support, often of the vertical variety. The whole thing is a noun for somebody who is being a supporter, rather than a winner.
11a Cake best with bit of butter? (5,4)
CREAM HORN: This is a word meaning ‘best’ followed by the distinctive part of an animal that is known for butting.
12a Encourage Rush to cut intro (4)
URGE: Think of a word for a sudden mass movement and cut off its introductory letter to get the answer. Or think of a word that means the definition and work out what letter you could add to get the rush; the choice is yours.
13a Tense and irritable when getting cropped top (1-5)
T-SHIRT: ‘Tense’ can be abbreviated to just its first letter. I don’t know why — it isn’t a word I’ve ever felt the need to shorten, and online dictionaries don’t list it (though presumably it’s in The BRB) — but putting that in and seeing the enumeration and definition should be enough to fill in the answer. Then think of a letter you could add to the second word to make it mean ‘irritable’, so that without it the irritable word will have been cropped.
15a Spotless pub, once derelict, beginning to trend (8)
INNOCENT: Enter in turn: another word for a pub; the word ‘once’ made derelict by putting its letters in a different order; and the beginning letter of ‘trend’. This pub is far from spotless, but I couldn’t resist including it — I’m going to have it stuck in my head all day anyway, so you lot might as well:
18a Heading west, part of trail I’m after is close (8)
FAMILIAR: Make some words in the middle of the clue head west by reading them backwards, then take a consecutive part of it to find the answer.
19a In the auditorium, convention is crammed (6)
PACKED: There’s a word for a convention or agreement that if you heard somebody saying (in an auditorium, for instance) would sound like the answer. Here’s a photo of a people crammed into a board-game convention that takes place in Harrogate every March. Last year there were 4500 of us (though not all in the photo):
22a Pins on badges at last (4)
LEGS: This is a crickety ‘on’: we need the other name the on side is also known as, followed by the last letter of ‘badges’.
“
23a Playful girl with shy pet sadly lacking energy (9)
SPRIGHTLY: Put the letters of ‘girl’ with those of ‘shy pet’, have them lack the abbreviation for energy, then make them sad by putting them in a different order. (It’s OK: they won’t really be sad — they’ll enjoy being playful. No letters were harmed in the making of this crossword.)
26a Chemical compound maybe concerning American chap (7)
REAGENT: Enter in turn: a Latin word that indicates ‘concerning’ in the sense of ‘on the topic of’; one of the abbreviations for ‘American’; and a synonym of ‘chap’. My chemistry knowledge is minimal, but Chambers Online defines the answer as “any chemical compound that participates in a chemical reaction” — which suggests the answer is unquestionably a chemical compound, so this isn’t a definition by example and I can’t work out what the “maybe” in the clue is doing.
27a Rogue duck in quiet parking place (7)
PLAYBOY: The definition here is a noun, not the adjective that the surface reading is trying to make us think of. Follow the musical abbreviation for ‘quiet’ with a parking place by the side of a highway, and somewhere in there insert the letter that looks like the number indicated by ‘duck’ in cricket.
Pic credit: Miles Gehm
28a Where reflective studs are in a way colourless (6-2-3-4)
MIDDLE OF THE ROAD: Here ‘way’ is what vehicles drive along. Describe where reflective studs are located in one to get a word meaning ‘uninteresting’.
Pic credit: Adél Grőber
Down
1d Lynx perhaps excited about ocelot’s tail (7)
WILDCAT: Enter in order: a word meaning ‘excited’, in the sense of being enthusiastic for something; one of the abbreviations for ‘about’; and the letter at the tail of the word ‘ocelot’. The answer is, co-incidentally, the name of the class that I’m escorting to see the musical this morning, but I don’t suppose that will be any help to the rest of you.
Pic credit: Eric Kilby
2d Cheer meal, regularly consumed (5)
ELATE: This ends with a synonym for ‘consumed’. Before that we need letters taken from ‘meal’ at regular intervals; there’s two possibilities, so go for the one that doesn’t lead to trying to make a word with double-A in it.
3d Short Harper Lee novel entertains Mike in passing (9)
EPHEMERAL: Make ‘Harper’ short by omitting its last letter, then create a novel arrangement of the remaining letters plus ‘Lee’ and have them entertain the letter indicated by Mike in the Nato alphabet, by welcoming Mike’s letter among the others. The relevance of this particular song is at about 32 seconds (though of course the name of the band means they would be tangentially relevant with any of their songs):
4d Appearance by Sting that makes things feel cooler? (6)
AIRCON: Follow a word for ‘appearance’ as in ‘general impression of’ with another word for an instance of tricking somebody. The answer happens to be the word that the board-game convention I mentioned in 19a is a pun on. I’ll leave it to you to judge whether adding Sting to a song makes it cooler:
5d Liberal taking home instruction (8)
LEARNING: This is the single-letter abbreviation indicating the Liberal party in politics, followed by ‘taking home’ in terms of what an employee gets to do in return for their labour (though it’s more likely to involve transferring directly into their bank account then for them actually to be taking it home physically).
6d Mum with ring returned to display (4)
SHOW: Start with the sound you make when telling somebody to keep mum. Follow with the abbreviation for ‘with’ and the letter that looks like a ring, but return those last two so that they are in the other order.
7d Cut top from wooden beam and pack in part of ship (9)
AFTERDECK: The beam here is one that forms part of a roof. Cut off its top letter (this is a down answer) and follow with a synonym for ‘pack’ in the sense of playing cards.
8d Copper’s one suspicion (7)
ELEMENT: Copper is one of these, for instance. The answer can also mean ‘suspicion’ in the sense of a small part of.
14d England defenders once wary of Germans crossing on the wing? (4,5)
HOME GUARD: This is a cryptic definition of a group who existed once, with duties including defending England from Germans flying over. Elsewhere in the UK, too, but using just ‘England’ in the clue makes it sound misleadingly football-related, and the question mark covers that it’s just an example.
16d Spoiled, one raged about a fizzy drink (9)
ORANGEADE: Spoil ‘one raged’ by putting the letters in a different order, and around the A from the clue.
17d Register is wrong, with too much written up (8)
FALSETTO: Start with another word for ‘wrong’. End with an abbreviation meaning ‘too much’, written up the grid rather than down. The answer is a register in a specific context.
18d Female left after United crumbled in first half turning point? (7)
FULCRUM: Here we first need the abbreviation for ‘female’. Next comes one of the abbreviations for ‘United’ with the abbreviation for ‘left’ after it. Finally there’s the first half of ‘crumbled’.
Pic credit: Eric Kilby, of a sculpture by Philippe Geluck
20d Untouched grey not good, dyed in new style (3-4)
DRY-EYED: From the letters of ‘grey’ remove the abbreviation for ‘good’, then put them with the letters of ‘dyed’ and re-arrange them into a new style to get a phrase meaning ‘not emotionally affected by’.
21d Sleeve with hole where deodorant’s applied (6)
ARMPIT: This is a synonym for ‘sleeve’ followed by a synonym for ‘hole’, which pretty much is the etymology of the answer.
24d Bat upside down over ball? Not acceptable (5)
TABOO: Enter ‘bat’ upside down, followed by the abbreviation for ‘over’ in cricket and the letter that’s the same shape as a ball.
25d Cry my red Lilo needs scrubbing occasionally (4)
YELL: Occasional letters are those which aren’t consecutive. Scrub a set of alternating letters from ‘my red Lilo’ to get the answer. ‘Lilo’ has a capital letter because it’s a trademark; who knew?
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:
ORE + HINGE + USE = ORANGE JUICE
Slightly more difficult than is usual for a Monday, I thought and there were a couple I did not understand. Where do “Badges” come into 22a and “suspicion” in 8d? No doubt the hints will enlighten me. Strange that part of the answer is given in the clue to 24d and there are two ducks. Talking of ducks I did like the rogue in 27a. My COTD is where the reflective studs are in 28a.
Thank you, setter for the challenge. Thank you, Smylers for the hints.
Ok – I now get 22a but I’m still not sure about 8d.
I took it to be like ‘element of doubt’ as in a suspicion of doubt.
Quite difficult. 1a was opportune following the game.
An excellent start to the week that almost got full marks. Nearly every surface is a winner but a handful didn’t quite grab me.
Therefore, there are so many clues to pick from for the podium but I’ll go with 1a, 14d and 18d.
5d is giving the Serengeti a good run at the moment. It can’t get enough!
Many thanks to, I assume, Robyn and Smylers.
2*/4*
Super puzzle, just the right amount of chew for a Monday morning. 1a anagram a very good spot. Good surfaces.
Many thanks Robyn and Smylers – enjoy your day, you brave chap!
Great puzzle to kick off the new week. Found myself doing Burton impressions of Broadsword calling Danny Boy from the off then switching to Bud Flanagan halfway down & mercifully Chrissie Hynde was there at the end to ensure the earworm potential of 28a’s dreadful ditty didn’t get a chance to take hold. Podium spots for 11a plus 1&14d.
Thanks to the setter (Robyn surely) & to Smylers whose review I’ll now read.
More difficult than is usual for a Monday, I thought, but very enjoyable. The clever misdirection in 9a and 11a makes them both podium contenders. So much choice for favourite but I’ll go for 3d for the length of time it took me to realise that the letter I needed to remove was an r and not an e. The quickie pun doesn’t work for me today. Thanks to our setter and Smylers. As a veteran of many school trips I think you’re about to find out ‘ how hard it can be ‘ ! Enjoy.
A couple of slight delays but a very enjoyable start to the week. 11a was my favourite clue.
Thanks to today’s setter and Smylers.
Has Daisygirl seen the article in the Features column in today’s Daily Telegraph Features page?
The author is only 80! bless you DG!
Yes thank you! I read it whilst eating my porridge (stirred with a spurtle) and had a smug grin.
A very pleasant and relatively straightforward solve this morning that was just right for a miserable Monday morning here in Shropshire. There were plenty of terrific clues from which to pick a favourite, and my choice was 14d.
Many thanks to, presumably Robyn, for a great start to the crosswording week, and to Smylers.
Definitely somewhat more challenging than recent Mondays but as enjoyable as ever – 2.5*/3.5*
Candidates for favourite – 10a,11a, 15a, 22a, and 21d – and the winner (slightly tongue in cheek) is 10a.
Thanks to whomsoever and Smylers.
I thought this was excellent – not a duff clue to be seen.
Many thanks to the setter and to Smylers for the write-up.
2*/5* for me.
Definitely a step up in difficulty for Monday but very entertaining – thanks to our setter and Smylers.
My ticks were awarded to 11a, 4d, 14d and 17d.
1.5*/4*. This was a light delight to brighten up a grim Monday.
I can’t do better than piggyback on TDS65’s podium selection of 1a (what a good film that was!), 14d and 18d.
Many thanks to probably Robyn and to Smylers.
Relatively simple Monday fare with lots to enjoy. My favourite was 28a. Thanks to the setter and to Smylers for the hints and the clip of the band fronted by a man who wore his fringe like Roger McGuinn’s. For various reasons, I’ve found it necessary to discard both the hairstyle and the horizontal striped 13 acrosses in recent years.
As others have said , not as easy as is usual for a Monday but nice and chewy without being too too hard. I felt very pleased with myself to have got the register in 17d , and also I didn’t know the ship word at 7d but managed to parse it. A very satisfying solve. Thanks setter and Smylers.
More l8ke Wednesday than Monday. Enough said.
Late start for me but quite enjoyed this one apart from the Quickie pun which was perhaps too much of a stretch. Top marks went to 11&28a plus 4&14d.
Thanks to our setter and to Smylers for the review – heaven help you marshalling a group of 10-year-olds on an outing!
Thanks. It was fine — mainly just a bit of standing in the 28a at junctions and warding off traffic with my rainbow umbrella while children crossed behind me.
And it was definitely worth 20 minutes of that for the 2½ hours of watching some amazingly talented teenagers sing, act, play in the orchestra, do the lighting, and so on — an amazing performance which didn’t even feel amateur, let alone being a school production. I feel very lucky to have witnessed it (not least of which because my spouse and I each separately volunteered for the trip, and school said they only needed one of us …).
A very chewy Monday offering which, for me, didn’t feel like a Robyn production. Now being an abysmal compiler spotter, I could make a complete ass of myself in thinking X-type. Anyway took two stabs at this and Smylers help for 4d as I didn’t get the wordplay. I thought 1a was fun, but my cotd hoes to 18d. Thanks to compiler (if it is you Robyn, my apologies) and Smylers.
PS to my comment above. The article I mentioned was about doing the splits but DG has nothing to be concerned about as the author was only 80. I’m over 90 but I’ve never been able to do the
splits.
Didn’t know that 4d is a word?
That one word spoilt the puzzle for me and like you, I didn’t consider it to be a real word, although, after all these years of solving cryptic crosswords I should accept that almost anything goes. Otherwise, a most pleasant Monday solve with no real hold-ups. 28a is my cotd. Thanks to Robyn and Smylers.
Sadly 4d is in the BRB. Up until today, I was only familiar with the complete hyphenated (apparently) word or the two letter abbreviation.
Don’t worry Senf, I’m just old fashioned, lol. Top of my current hate list is “App” , I can’t abide the use of it.
4d definitely gets used. I’m pretty sure I hear it far more like that than with -ditioning on the end — though lately I’ve also encountered people using the abbreviation “Hvac”.
With the weather as it is today, I’d be quite glad of a reason for somebody to use any form of the expression, really …
😀😀
Ugh! Up until after 4:00am (UK time) watching the Super Bowl, and thus rose at noon. Kendrick Lamar somewhat disappointing to me as the half time show, but then I am not his market. Lotta posturing; little substance.
Quite a tricky guzzle for a Monday. Like Andy, I am trying to allow The Pretenders to resonate in relation to 28a and I’m attempting to push the Chirpy people out of earworm range.
Thanks to the setter and Smylers (who has become an excellent addition to the hinting crew)
I considered embedding the chirpy people, but didn’t so that I could instead add a cat picture for it later, which I’ve now done. I’ve somehow ended up with 3 feline-containing photos — hope that doesn’t confuse anybody into think it’s Friday!
(And thank you; that’s kind of you to say.)
Ah,but you didn’t meet him and find out what a lovely lad he is too!
When do you meet Kendrick Lamar?!
😀😀😀
I thought this Monday puzzle was a little trickier than normal this week, but it could be just be me with several computer related issues with my back-up drives having issues as well as spending most of the weekend watching the Six Nation games. Maybe my brain needed a rest … but I really enjoyed the games.
Anyway, as far as the puzzle goes, I still rate this 2*/3.5*
Favourites 1a, 10a, 11a, 15a & 28a — with winner 28a … but all were good.
Thanks to Robyn(?) & Smylers
I’m glad that I wasn’t the only one who found this quite tricky for a Monday.
Top picks for me were 11a, 14d and 17d.
Thanks to Smylers and the setter.
3*/4.5*
Trickier than normal but excellent puzzle. I would have give the full 5* for enjoyment but for my LOI 4d – that just doesn’t work for me, is it a word?
So many great clues – will go with 1a, 11a and 3d as favourites today.
Thanks to ?Robyn and Smylers
Hi Slate.
These words evolve like electronic mail becoming e-mail and is now email.
Abbreviations are rife because of texting.
One funny example is ”Can’t be a*sed’. It became CBA but is now Seebs because CBA is too long to say. Hardly any of these text words will make it into the dictionary but some will sneak in.
I haven’t heard the full expression in 4d in quite a while, certainly not by someone under 30.
I agree with Smylers’ assessment that this puzzle was a tad more challenging than the typical Monday offering. I got 1a quite early, perhaps because I was working on the puzzle during the frequent and lengthy commercial breaks in the Super Bowl broadcast. (Of course, you can guess who I was rooting for — us birds got to stick together!) By the way, it was reported that advertising slots were going for up to $8 million per minute. I tried hard to find some wordplay in 14d before conceding that the clue must just be a cryptic definition. As for the abbreviated tense in 13a, think of tense as a grammatical term.
Yeah, I thought it was the grammatical term, but I still don’t feel it’s a word that I’ve ever encountered abbreviated. (Though obviously it would be even weirder to find the ‘Tense and irritable’ meaning from the surface reading so abbreviated!)
It feels odd that it gets used by crosswords even though (at least some) dictionaries don’t list it under ‘T’: Chambers Online has it standing for ‘tenor’, ‘Thailand’, ‘tesla’, ‘tritium’, ‘tare’, ‘temperature’, ‘ton’, ‘tonne’, and ‘troy weight’ — so they presumably consider using it to mean ‘tense’ to be rarer than any of those.
Quiet tricky for a Monday but then I did manage to solve so I canna grumble 😬 ****/*** Favourites: 10a, 11a, 15a and 16d 😃
Thanks to the Compiler whoever they may be and to Smylers hoping he enjoyed the performance 🤗
Pers obs if we don’t use the : it will disappear like the wearing of ties at the golf club!
I very much did, thanks. (See reply to Jane above.)
On the fire marshal course with St John Ambulance that my employer sent me on recently, there was an assortment of people from different workplaces. The only person there wearing a tie said they had to because they worked in … a casino. So, dens of gambling now officially more smartly dressed than golf clubs, offices, and most other places!
Like others, I found this trickier than usual for a Monday, but no less enjoyable for that. Thanks to the setter and Smylers – especially for attempting to explain the parsing of 4d?!
Looking forward to a gentle Monday as bodyclock all over the place after a Superbowl session last night which was somewhat unsatisfactory as so ine sided. Took a bit of chewing over but got there in the end. Thanks to both for clues and hints.
Very enjoyable with the rogue clue as my favourite for its smoothness thank you compiler and Smyler (love the Gaga Sting video clip!)
Definitely trickier than the average Monday but still enjoyable. A few headscratchers and a couple needing the hints to explain the parsing. No particular favourite today.
Many thanks to the setter and to Smylers for the hints.
I struggled with this a bit but I did it in little spurts between yoga, Royston Ladies luncheon club (talk on restoring coronation robes) and a brief nap. Managed to finish with Smylers help and now dashing off to an Arts Society lecture. It’s all go. Many thanks to Messrs Setter & Smyler. I haven’t even managed to get a gin and tonic!
Got there unaided but felt it was harder than the norm. for a Monday. It would have been a shock if others hadn’t had the same opinion. It was worth the effort because it paid back in enjoyment. Thanks all round.
The left went in quite easily but the right took til after work to solve.
Broadsword calling Danny Boy… 1a my favourite today and there is a bit of wordplay in 28a that may have gone unnoticed by those who have forgotten to brush up on The Highway Code. Colourless cats eyes are reserved for the 28a with other colours indicating the left and right edge and junctions…
White: Separates lanes or marks the middle of the road. Red: Marks the left edge of the road or motorway’s hard shoulder. Amber: Shows the central reservation on dual carriageways or motorways. Green: Marks junctions, slip roads, or where access roads meet the main road.
Great start to the week and a great blog too I hope you enjoyed your production of The Glums
Way trickier than usual for a Monday but got there in the end. 3* / 4*
Liked 7d, 18d and the big anagram at 1a
Thanks to setter and Smyler
Took me nearly twice as long as a Monday would normally; this may be the two Margaritas at lunchtime (penultimate day of the holiday) or else it was hard for me. Clever and fun, I liked 28a, needed Smyler assistance on 19a (just couldn’t hear it). Thanks for a lovely puzzle and the explanations
Tricky for a Monday. Still head-scratching
Setter here. Thank you all, and thanks to Smylers for the review. (Nice find for 27a’s pic!)
Oh, it’s you! Thank you so much for commenting. I thought this didn’t feel like Robyn or X-Type, but I hadn’t thought of you. It’s a delight to blog one of your puzzles.
Busy so didn’t start this until 6pm and initially regretted it as seemed difficult for a Monday (in my limited experience) but once I solved a few, I sped along. Could not however solve six without the hints: 4d (don’t like it as a word), 10a (stretching a definition of champion but I am getting used to such stretches), 11a (but got the “cream” all by myself), 17d (my musical ignorance), 19d (actually thought of the answer but rejected it – and still not convinced even with the hint). Thank you to the setter and for everyone’s comments, which as always, we’re re-assuring.
Thank you for commenting, John. For 10a I was fine with that meaning of “champion” (somebody who champions a cause), but I wasn’t previously aware of the answer having that meaning.
It’s worth remembering the buttery goats in 11a, because they crop up quite often in crosswords. It’s probably one of those things that catches out everybody the first time.
For “19d”, if you mean “19a”, the meaning of “convention” misled me for a long time. But it gets used in things like the Geneva Convention, which are agreements rather than just guidelines, so the clue is fair.
Thank you for these helpful comments Smyler. Your comment on 10a is actually what I intended to say. Will definitely (he says) remember the butting in 11a for the future. Got 19a now – still a little stretch for me but as I said I am getting used to them.
3*/3* ….
liked 27A “Rogue duck in quiet parking place (7)”