Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30847
Hints and tips by Huntsman
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty */** Enjoyment **/***
A fairly typical Tuesday puzzle with nothing to frighten the horses. Nicely clued throughout & with a couple of neat surfaces. For me a bitof a return to form after the last two weeks though reckon still a wee bit short of his best. Back on Thursday as I’m subbing for our man in the Cape.
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 Phones groups of political activists? (5)
CELLS: double definition – what they call mobiles over the pond & political groups with subversive intent.
4a Rock star finally leaves limo and enters drunk (9)
LIMESTONE: an anagram (drunk) of LIMO ENTE(r)S – omitting the last letter (finally leaves) of staR.
9a Swore after former lover cried (9)
EXCLAIMED: a synonym for swore/maintained follows (after) the usual for former lover.
10a My small European birds (5)
GEESE: another word for my in the sense of a mild exclamation of surprise followed by S(mall) & E(uropean).
11a What you might do with bra – attempt something audacious (3,2,2)
TRY IT ON: I suppose this could be considered a double definition. The first bit could apply to advice in respect of any number of clothing items before purchase though, the latter to chance one’s arm or pull a fast one maybe.
12a Stylish top from emporium on social worker (7)
ELEGANT: the opening letter of (top from) E(mporium) + the on side in cricket + our usual social worker that labours in a colony.
13a What journalist may write about vessel crossing river (6)
REPORT: the usual preposition for about/in respect of + a cooking vessel around (crossing) R(iver).
15a You might find food in these drawers, Romeo’s admitted (8)
PANTRIES: insert the letter Romeo represents (NATO alphabet) into an informal word for drawers/female underwear.
18a Lifting bird in grass (8)
STEALING: insert a breed of duck into a synonym of grass/spill the beans.
20a More stout? Beer enthrals king (6)
LARGER: insert (enthrals) the regnal letter for king into a type of beer brewed at low temperature.
23a Mountaineer’s cold arm possibly uncovered here (7)
CLIMBER: C(old) + the word for an arm (or leg) body part + the interior letters (uncovered) of hERe.
24a Adult permitted wearing the jumper? (7)
ATHLETE: A(dult) + THE from the clue with the insertion (wearing) of a synonym for permitted/allowed. Question mark signifies definition by example.
26a A dead loss in record time (5)
INEPT: IN from the clue + the abbreviation for a record with more tracks than a single but fewer than an album + T(ime).
27a Decent leg spinning is overlooked (9)
NEGLECTED: an anagram (spinning) of DECENT LEG.
28a Scare off bloke’s cleaner (9)
DETERGENT: a synonym for scare off/discourage + an abbreviation of a polite/formal term for a bloke.
29a Nearer cobra, regularly stumble (5)
ERROR: the alternate letters (regularly) in the first two words of the clue give you a nounal definition synonym.
Down
1d Breeds around half of your animals (9)
CREATURES: insert (around) 50% of yoUR into a synonym of breeds/brings into being.
2d Game with no pressure – that’s fortunate (5)
LUCKY: remove the single letter for Pressure from another word for game/spirited.
3d Shock from second character Alice meets (7)
SHATTER: S(econd) + the tea party host.
4d Deplore feeble set of books (6)
LAMENT: a synonym for feeble + a biblical set of books.
5d Old-fashioned tailor made veil (8)
MEDIEVAL: an anagram (tailor) of MADE VEIL.
6d Parcel, for example, chaps found in street (7)
SEGMENT: insert (found in) the abbreviation of for example + a word for chaps into the abbreviation for street.
7d Working hard leaving another pig crackers (9)
OPERATING: an anagram (crackers) of ANOT(h)ER PIG (Hard leaving).
8d Competition’s level and tense (5)
EVENT: a synonym of level/uniform + T(ense).
14d Hoover, perhaps, first bit of irritating dust in here (9)
PRESIDENT: insert the opening letters of I(rritating) & D(ust) into a synonym of here/in attendance. Perhaps signifies definition by example once again. Neat clue & nowt to do with my frequently malfunctioning Dyson.
16d Abandon terribly red nurse on run (9)
SURRENDER: an anagram (terribly) of RED NURSE + the cricket single letter for Run.
17d Electrify gate (8)
ENTRANCE: double definition.
19d Shy, unfriendly, tailless marine crustacean (7)
LOBSTER: another word for shy/throw + a truncated (tailless) synonym for unfriendly/forbidding.
21d Realise that is Victor in pain (7)
ACHIEVE: insert (in) the Latin abbreviation for that is/in other words + Victor (NATO alphabet) into a synonym for pain.
22d Single out sailor on land (6)
TARGET: another word for a sailor + a synonym of land/obtain.
23d Juvenile student in lecture scratching bottom (5)
CHILD: insert the usual single letter for a student into a truncated (scratching bottom) verbal synonym of lecture/scold.
25d Aberdeen terrier holding log (5)
ENTER: hidden (holding).
14d was my clear favourite today & with podium spots for 4&18a. Please tell us which clues ticked your boxes.
Today’s Quick crossword pun: CANE + ENABLE = CAIN AND ABEL
Saw a terrific acoustic set by Jason Isbell last night at The Barbican. He played half a dozen songs from his soon to be released new solo album interspersed with many old favourites. I was delighted this gorgeous love song made the setlist.
I think the Quickie pun is a pair of Biblical brothers.
So it is – d’oh
Hmm, a different Quickie grid compared to the one that we have had every Tuesday for goodness knows how long. A different setter or Mr Plumb messing with our minds? A little bit of Tuesday head scratching for me – **/****
The 8 letter spelling of 5d just looks completely wrong; I much prefer the 9 letter version.
Candidates for favourite – 11a, 15a, and 14d – and the winner is 15a.
Thanks to Mr Plumb if it is he, or whomsoever if it is not, and thanks to Huntsman.
Not difficult but on the whole poorly clued. Stretched synonyms and sloppy clues imho.
Not much fun.
**/**
Thx for the hints
15a has left me with a horrible mental image!
I agree with Brian concerning the elastic synonyms though I thought it was very cleverly and fairly clued throughout. There was nothing wrong with the synonyms – eg claimed/swore, surrender/abandon – just not the first that sprang to mind, keeping us on our toes. No overall favourite today but I liked 24a, 14d and 21d. Thanks to Mr Plumb, if it be he, for the enjoyment and Huntsman for help with parsing 12a. When will I learn that if in doubt the answer’s cricket?!
A straightforward offering today, although I enjoyed it nevertheless and some of the surfaces were amusing in the way that one associates with a Tuesday morning. Thanks very much to the setter and to Huntsman for the usual excellent assortment of tunes. I rarely listen to the Purple these days and my Zeppelin-loving youngest regards them as being vaguely ludicrous(!), but CIT was probably their finest moment.
A pleasant puzzle which went in without any problems today.
Thanks to the setter and to Huntsman (I made sure my phone did not change my typing to Huddersfield this week !)
Quite gentle today, unlike the last few weeks’ Tuesday backpagers. I liked the double definition phrase at 11a and the awfully clever Lego clues at 12a and 4a. Thanks to Huntsman for the hints and to the conpiler
Great fun with a couple of laugh out loud moments as answers revealed themselves, 25a a case in point. It never ceases to amaze me at how often women’s underwear seems to feature in some form in either the clue or answer in a Telegraph cryptic. I’m sure a learned paper could be written and I feel a doctoral thesis coming together. Digression over. My podium is 4a, 11a and 18a. Thanks to AP and Huntsman.
Fairly typically Tuesdayish even if the identity of the setter might be in some doubt. Unlike one or two earlier comments, I thought this was fairly and constructively clued throughout the grid, with 14d my favourite this morning. Good fun.
My thanks to our setter and The Hintsman.
Ditto. Thanks for saving me from typing, YS!
A pleasant puzzle – thanks to our setter and Huntsman.
The clues I liked best were 9a and 14d.
We did this during a long wait in Addenbrookes this morning. At a first run through I just did one and thought ‘is it Thursday?’ Then we put our heads together and it all fell into place. The receptionist said how nice to hear people doing the crowsword- mostly they just sit and stare at their phones. We got into a cruciverbalist conversation and she said she was no good at Cryptics so of course I told her about Big Dave. Just then we were called in and as I went past I flashed the mythical pen at her. Such a show off.
So we shall be doing the Toughie over lunch!
Lovely guzzle full of wild geese chases, Brian is wrong imho. I liked the decent leg spinning and the juvenile student as d the pig crackers. Many thanks to Mr Setter and the Hintsman. Loved the quickie pun.
Daisygirl! Stop trying to convince me the pen is real. We all know it’s a myth. Those of you who paraded it before me at the birthday bash know it was created by AI. The Mythical is what it is, a figment of fevered imaginations under the influence of laudanum.
Pass me the smelling salts!
Fun. 4a’s surface was immaculate and 14d’s great. Many thanks to our setter and Huntsman. Lovely bit of Lucky.
A gentle , enjoyable and swift solve for a Tuesday. Thanks to setter and to Huntsman.
This took me a while to get into but I put that down to my current bad patch at solving. Once I got going, it was enjoyable with smiles along the way. I don’t agree with Brian because I thought it well clued with no sloppy ones among them. What is the obsession that compilers seem to have with underwear? Not that I’m complaining – they often raise a smile as did 11a and 15a today. My COTD is the vacuum cleaner at 14d.
Thank you, setter for the fun challenge. Thank you, Hintsman for the hunts.
Back to marking!😳
Didn’t feel particularly like an AP production but it did contain some of his favoured Americanisms so I could well be wrong. No favourite to mention in the main puzzle but I was rather taken by the Quickie pun so that gets the gold medal.
Thanks to our setter and to Huntsman for the review.
Goes without saying…
Oh yeah? You’re going to say it anyway aren’t you?
that the music choices were as sparkling as ever. I hadn’t seen that Deep Purple clip before – how young they all look. Made my morning.
I thought this guzzle was a real whizzer. Not lemon-squeezy but within reach.
Undergarmentry, as Steve Cowling notes, is a common theme with compilers. Do they have a vested interest?
Thanks to the setter and Andy On The First Tee.
Vested interest Terence? Are you joining the compilers with their preponderance of underwear? 😃
Good afternoon
I failed even to look at yesterday’s crozzie, so I was especially keen to get back to it today. I’m sat sitting on the train to work as we speak and I’ve just finished.
Decent crozzie for a Tuesday, pitched at just the right level, I’d say. A little bit of help needed with the parsing of two down clues: I deduced 14d from “Hoover”, but couldn’t quite grasp the way the rest of the clue worked. The synonym for “shy” in 19d was bleedin’ obvious, with the precious gift of hindsight!
Many thanks to our setter and to Huntsman.
I D for papers inside ‘here’ present
Does your puzzle have “papers” in 14d, Daisygirl? The puzzles website has “first bits of irritating dust”, as Huntsman does above
My first attempt at following the wordplay in that clue yielded ‘Herbidert’ (putting ID inside the first name of which somebody called Hoover is an example); as fun as that was to say, I wasn’t convinced it was a valid word, so I deleted it and waited for another crossing letter before attempting it again …
I am sorry, I did not phrase that very well. No it did not say paper but of course ID is also known as papers. And ‘here’ is present so put ID in present. I tried to do the toughie but golly I found it really tough. And in my paper the answers are revealed and I don’t like that. I want to have a go at working it out myself from the hints. It’s all good fun, isn’t it!!!
I enjoyed this. I was distracted by my partner, who doesn’t go near any sort of crossword but likes sudukos, saying 20a was ‘peanut’. This was before I got anywhere near that section of the grid. When I said the answer was larger with lager and r he said he was correct as you have peanuts with lager in the pub. I give up!
Top picks for me were 15a, 18a, 26a, 21d and my favourite 19d.
Thanks to Huntsman and the setter.
This was spot on for an early-weeker with lots of humour from the prof to go with plenty of great constructions. He really is an excellent setter.
Binning the ‘a’ of 5d has resulted in the world and his dog pronouncing it with three syllables which makes me wince.
My podium is 4a, 27a and 23d.
Many thanks to the prof and Hoots Mon!
1*/4*
Well, again this week a Tuesday puzzle that seemed to be easier than the Monday offering. Went in smoothly and with just a few head scratches and some chuckles along the way, all complete in good nick.
1.5*/4* for me
Favourites 18a, 23a, ,3d, 4d, 17d & 21d — with winner 3d
Smiles a chuckles from 11a, 20a & 21d
A couple of old chestnuts too that rounded things out
Thanks to AP(?) & Huntsman
I really enjoyed this apart from the spelling of 5d. I needed the hint for the parsing of 19d although the answer was obvious. 1a I put in straightaway and then found it was wrong when I got on to the downs! I had taken “phones” to be the verb. Much easier than recent Tuesdays. I probably liked 12a the best because I always have difficulty spotting the cricket ones which are so well hidden. Thanks to all concerned. I wouldn’t be improving without Big Dave.
Thought this was going to be a stinker as I only got 4 of the acrosses on the first pass. However, the once I got most of the downs, it all fell into place nicely. Thanks to the setter for a most enjoyable puzzle, and Huntsman for the hints.
Greetings from Cape Town and advanced thanks to Huntsman for filling in for me on blogging duties on Thursday.
I enjoyed the puzzle, with plenty of smiles during the solve.
I didn’t get off to the best of starts by confidently bunging in RINGS at 1a. I was surprised to see that RD didn’t object to the unflagged Americanism.
Thank you setter and the hard working Huntsman.
Smooth clues throughout thank you compiler and Huntsman; 15a as my favourite
Anxious today so it was good to have my knitting on the way to the consultant and the puzzle for the waiting room. Hoorah , my dear husband has the all clear so any puzzle today would be met with joy. Actually it just fitted the bill. Not too difficult and certainly a nice distraction. Thankyou to our setter and all the hard work of Huntsman.
Pleased to hear some good news on the medical front for a change.
So nice to hear good news!
Wonderful news, Dyslex! My best wishes to you and your husband. 😊
After a slow start I soon got to grips with today’s puzzle and really enjoyed it. Just a query with 10a, should it have a homophone indicator? Thanks to the setter and for the hints.
Please ignore the bit about 10a.
Where has Weekend Wanda got to?
Good question, DG. I hope all is well with her.
Sorry to swim against the tide but this old nag was terrified, and it is only Tuesday 😳 ****/** I don’t know the compiler as I never attempt the “The Toughie” 😟 Anyway had a few favourites 18 & 20 across and 3 down. Thanks to the Compiler 😬 and to the Huntsman
This helped get the day off to a good start.
After a bit of a struggle yesterday, which is unusual for a Monday, for me Tuesday’s was full of grace.
Can’t stop earworm of Rhinestone Cowboy, with my rhyming mind reading 4a. I shan’t compose a silly song today.
After a slow start this all came together, I particularly enjoyed 14d.
Many thanks to the setter and to Huntsman for the hints.
I see Twmbarlwm was the setter yesterday which explains why it did not feel like a typical Monday.
This was a pleasing one to finish throughout the day, finally finishing at The Marlow Donkey whilst youngest was next door for maths tuition. The ‘My’ for ‘Gee’ did confuse me until I checked the hint above.
A question to all of you established folk on here, how do you know the setters’ names?
We don’t really for the back-pagers but they’re listed for the Toughie puzzles. Many pop in & claim ownership. Tuesday is usually an Anthony Plumb production – I still reckon this is his but he never confirms & my punt on yesterday’s setter was spectacularly wrong.
Hi, BluePG. As our Hintsman says we don’t usually know but there are clues – what else would there be with regard to cryptic puzzle? For example, Ray T, who provides every other Thursday never has clues longer than six words. He often incudes “sweetheart” in his clues and all clues in the Quickie are single words.
After a while you get to know styles but, even then, you can be wrong. 😊
Steady going today, much easier than yesterday!
Last one in 1a, favourites 7d and 15a
1* /. 3*
Thanks to setter and Huntsman
Found this to be more straightforward than yesterday’s but did need a wee bit of help from Monsieur Huntsman, so thank you for that.
15a made me LOL 🤣
On my own in finding this quite difficult. Currently missing much of the west side.
I doubt I will improve on this. I had some wine at a work conference, but that shouldn’t make my brain stop working completely.
Thanks to all.
Soon after posting the above, I got 13a and the rest of the west was solved quickly. Why this didn’t happen sooner I don’t know!
Still couldn’t get 15a though. Had pastries in my mind and couldn’t get past that.
Anyway, a good result considering my struggles a short while back.
Thanks again to all.
Pleasantly straightforward after yesterday’s escaped toughie. A few smiles along the way. Favourite was 14d. Thanks to the setter and Huntsman.
A steady solve whilst watching the obligatory City collapse, all well clued. Thanks to the setter and Huntsman for the old one/two 😉
A pleasant and fairly gentle solve. My last in was 1a, which I’m blaming on the unindicated Americanism (but could also be because I fixated on ‘Phones’ as a verb and a word only one (non-crossing) letter different from the answer.
My favourite few were the game in 2d, the parcel in 6d, and the shy crustacean in 19d. Thank you to the setter and the double-shifting hintster.
I’m writing this on the way back from this month’s Puzzled Pint gathering. The train wi-fi blocks videos, which is fair enough. But it does so in a way that provides no indication of which specific videos were in the page. I’ll try to remember to come back tomorrow and look at the musical selection.
Thought this was easier than yesterday’s so a **/*** from me. Did not quite get home without the hints as I could not solve 24a, thinking that the “?” indicated a cryptic definition, rather than an example. Also, got 26a wrong: I went for “inert” and got some answers without fully understanding the clue. In particular, I knew from the checkers that 19d was lobster but I still don’t understand the parsing even with the hints. Thank you to the setter, to Huntsman and for the comments.
Now understand 19d.
2*/2* ….
liked 14D “Hoover, perhaps, first bits of irritating dust in here (9)”