Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30851 (Hints)
The Saturday Crossword Club (hosted by Gazza)
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Crypticsue is on holiday so it’s down to me to provide a few hints for the Saturday Prize Puzzle.
Today’s setter is easy to identify – he’s given us another enjoyable puzzle. There are six anagrams here (including both the multi-word clues) and I haven’t hinted any of them.
Most of the terms used in these hints are explained in the Glossary and examples are available by clicking on the entry under “See also”. Where the hint describes a construct as “usual” this means that more help can be found in The Usual Suspects, which gives a number of the elements commonly used in the wordplay. Another useful page is Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, which features words with meanings that are not always immediately obvious.
Please ensure that you do not run foul of the instructions in red below and also take care to abide by the comment etiquette.
A full review of this puzzle will be published after the closing date for submissions. Good luck if you’re hoping for a prize!
Across
1a Sound of gong a bit intrusive (10)
String together a homophone of another word for a gong or award and a word meaning ‘a bit’.
15a Stupid clobber dresses man and wife (7)
A verb to clobber contains a short male forename and the genealogical abbreviation for wife.
17a Rum delivery in case (7)
A synonym of rum or strange and a delivery at cricket. Case here means an unconventional person.
24a Glance from affluent alien entertaining company (8)
A synonym of affluent and our usual Spielberg alien contain the abbreviation for company. Glance here means to hit something at an angle and bounce off.
30a Supporter brings complaint about new player (10)
An informal word for a complaint or whinge contains the abbreviation for new. Add a player or performer.
Down
1d Spy in Marilyn Monroe feature? (4)
Double definition.
2d Concentrated – failed to keep quiet (9)
A verb meaning failed (such as a machine that’s stopped working) contains an adjective meaning quiet or tranquil.
4d Night owl determined to secure work (4-3)
An adjective meaning determined or steadfast contains our usual abbreviated work.
9d Eyeshadow for inspector? (8)
Charade of a verb to eye and a verb to shadow or trail. The answer is a person or group set up to monitor governmental or commercial operations.
18d Restitution united people over time (9)
Assemble a phrase (2,3) meaning united, a generic term for people and the physics abbreviation for time.
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The Quick Crossword pun: HUGH + MARS + BEE + JOAQUIN = YOU MUST BE JOKING!
Great Saturday fare full of NYDK wit and charm. Tried to ram the famous fictional spy into 1d until sense prevailed. Many contenders for podium places, but I’ll go with 1a, 24a and 9d in top spot. Thanks to NYDK and Gazza.
2.5*/3*. A mixed bag for me today with a few answers in the SE corner holding out for a while.
We had a vague man in 15a and the use of a “lift and separate” device in 9d. I don’t mind the latter at all (and it is one of my top picks today), but I have been labouring under the impression that Telegraph editorial policy is that, if L&S is used, it needs to be indicated. I am probably wrong, but I can’t recall one cropping up in a Telegraph back-pager before without indication.
My podium choices today are 24a, 30a, 4d & 9d.
Many thanks to NTDK (?) and to Gazza for stepping in to allow CS to have some well-deserved time off.
As the supportive device becomes ubiquitous the Playtex™ lift & separate is getting just as common 😉
Good gracious that’s going back a long way!
I suspect the muscle memory of removing one in asingle handed flick has gone rusty with lack of practice🤦
Oh, I think I could still do it! 😂
Oops. NYDK – well the Y is next to the T on the ketboard. 😉
Like it
Gentle and anagram-rich, with the expected bah-humbug feeling on glancing at the print-out. Equines still at ease in their stables, some old friends and odd surfaces, but no GK needed other than the presumption that the (very) late actress in 1d was indeed so adorned. COTD 9d.
Thank you Donny and of course Gazza for stepping in to the breech.
I found this to be a bit of a struggle today. The 8A & 20D combo didn’t fall until I had nearly all the checkers and of course, that gave me the 16D 6A pair which was a mystery until then.
Favourite and last one in was 9D. The arrival of the mythical will compensate for all the hard work!
Thanks to the setter and Gazza.
I really love Sat mornings at the moment. Thanks NYDK!
Completed on-line at 06:30 and strangely for a prize puzzle was congratulated with a shower of confetti.
No real favourite, just an enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks to the setter and Gazza.
Nice and friendly start to the w/e. I esp liked 9d and of course 17a (allows up for a cricket clue).
No obscure religious priests or weird poets 😀 and all answers made sense when solved.
Thx to all
**/****
Just seen that my comment yesterday was redacted presumably for a short shout. Not sure how else to get the DT to take notice but I apologise if it upset someone.
Thank you for apologising, Brian. It can be frustrating when you are eager to provide feedback on something and there isn’t an obvious mechanism for that, but leaving a comment on an unofficial website probably isn’t an effective way of contacting The Telegraph anyway. It’s best to compose your comments with others in the Big Dave community in mind as their intended audience.
(Also, given that different people have different tastes and preferences, it’s entirely possible that The Telegraph have been taking your feedback into account; it’s just that when they also take into account other people’s views and various other reasons for and constraints on doing things, the outcome still isn’t as you personally would prefer. It’s the school half-term holidays this week and I will take notice of the children’s preferences in deciding what we do on Tuesday — but that doesn’t mean the children will definitely get exactly what they wanted.)
Thx for such a polite and well-reasoned reply. I have tried contacting the DT directly but don’t seem to have had much luck. I love being part of this online community but at my age I sometimes get a bit grumpy!
As I often say, Brian, please never change.
About twice a year, a new-ish person toddles along here, notices a Brian missive and goes full pearl twirling “Oh this Brian should be banned!”
No! Brian adds a delicious flavour to BD. Clearly a lovely man who simply gets a bit grumpy at times. I say ‘let Brian be Brian’ and this place would be less fun without him.
Hooray for Brian!
Definitely!
Heartily seconded. Brian always brings a chuckle. This site is a daily joy, and brings enrichment day after day. Thank you BD, and all those who put in so much endeavour. Today’s puzzle and hints being no exception. Great fun, but couldn’t quite finish without the wonderful Gazza’s help. Thank you Gazza and NYDK, and all who contribute.
Well said Terence.
A big hear, hear from me too
Agreed. I don’t know what was redacted yesterday, but I support his right to be grumpy.
Grumpy is fine. Hurtful personal attacks directed at setters are not.
Brian, the setters that you rail against are real people with real feelings who are known to many of us. If you wouldn’t feel comfortable going up to a setter in person at the Birthday Bash to tell them that you hope you never encounter another one of their puzzles ever again, then perhaps you shouldn’t express such sentiments here where those setters will certainly read them.
I do agree that Brian should not attack our esteemed setters. I enjoy his curmudgeonly rants but he, nor anyone else, should berate a setter just because they cannot solve the puzzle. As I have said many times before, if you can’t solve a puzzle look at the hints, find out why you can’t solve it and learn.
Brian – just in case you thought you had upset me yesterday (I realise now my comment might have been taken that way), I can assure you it didn’t. I was being ironic. Please carry on, you curmudgeon you. 😊
I suspect Brian is tolerated because he’s been around for so long, and he provides schadenfreude to other strugglers. A newbie who turned up here to constantly post zero marks for enjoyment and repeatedly make unhelpful and aggressive remarks (“dreadful”, “nasty”, “I hope this setter is never used again” etc.) would not be at all popular with the same people.
Lovely puzzle pitched just right for me and lots of great clues and I really liked 1a and 17a. For some reason I was able to get the 16 / 6 combo before 8 / 20 – strange what goes on in the little grey cells when trying to solve clues
Same on the two split clues!
Me too!
So much improvement over yesterday. Fairly straightforward. Thank you all.
If anyone’s interested, Django is a guest on Saturday Kitchen now!
He was V interesting too, I am glad he insisted that setting wasn’t a vanity project. and I am looking forward to the return to his “day job” with the new series of Modern Life is Goodish
Thank you to NY Doorknob for the entertainment, and Gazza for explaining the mysterious case of 17a’s definition.
I didn’t know the goddess in 29a, but fortunately remembered the explosive from a recent Toughie. And like Mustafa above, I was unaware of the Marilyn Munroe feature.
My favourite clue was either 9d’s eyeshadow (as picked by many commenters today) or 11a’s backed musical.
9d was my favourite too, but more than that I loved the way you subtly said that children don’t always get what they want😁
Golly gosh – found that hard, but my head is full of cold still. Needed the hint for 17a – thanks Gazza. Favourite were the gentleman from Verona…once the penny (or should I say euro) dropped. Thanks also to NYDK.
I needed help to complete this but that is not due to the clues or the setter. I enjoyed the anagrams and linked clues.
Many thanks to the setter and to Gazza for the hints.
I’m with Eeyore in that I found it a bit of a struggle. I wrote in the wrong answer at 14d. It fitted the checkers I had but messed up the SW for quite a while. My choice for COTD is between two – 11a ands 9d and, after due deliberation, I have gone for the musical at 11a.
Thank you, New York door furniture for the fun challenge. Thank you, Gazza for the hints and for stepping up to the plate.
Grey, cold and drizzly in The Marches today. Roll on Spring! 😊
Spring roll: nom nom.
Now you’re talking! 🫔🫔 😋
Enjoyable puzzle that was satifying to solve. Just the right mix of difficult and not so difficult clues. The two multiword clues interacted, and while I knew 8 & 20d was an anagram, it took a while to get, and then the other made sense. 9d and 18d get my vote for COTD. Thanks to the setter, and for hints.
Another dose of wit and something approaching wisdom from NYDK. As is so often the case, my podium occupants are the two related clues, with 16 6 being a lovely surface, and the other one inter alia remembering to recognise the contribution of us ladies. We are not always to be found in the kitchen (unless we are Dame Evelyn Glennie).
9D is indeed interesting. Hard to discuss without encroaching on The Step, but my first thought was that as both cryptic part and answer word are one word, it ought to be okay. Then, of course, I saw that really (for me) the cryptic part ought to have been two words. Hard to do that without losing the idea, I guess, and like others I’m not really bothered by it. I’m finding my Saturday outings to the PP much too much fun for that.
Happy hollies Sue, and thanks to Gazza for his hints.
Rather fun today, a couple of oldies Mr Crosby and Marilyn but the linked anagrams were fun.
Thanks to Gazza for the blog and giving seesue the chance to have a holiday. Thanks to NYDK for the puzzle.
And B for the apology
I didn’t get your reference yesterday to Heinlein?
TANSTAAFL
From the Sci Fi Author Heinlein is an acronym for there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch
Sci Fi was a guilty childhood reading delight
In reference to your comment about the creepy solar tube guy yesterday. Btw what are solar tubes?
I suspect that DG is referring to a form of skylight. When I had them in a house in Kansas they were called ‘Sun Tunnels.’ But, then, I may be out to lunch which would be very nice.
Ah I have seen those on Grand Designs and the like, mirrored on the inside to allow natural light in. Why on earth would some stranger want to look at them? Casing the joint for a burglary😮
No they are Daimler- Benz aerospace solar collector tubes which heat all our water. We have eight of them on the roof and they have been there some 20 years. Every so often they have to be topped up with glycol. They work on ultra violet rays and during the summer our boiler never fires and the water is always piping hot. Unfortunately we had them put in before solar panels came along – they would presumably have heated the house as well. Even at minus 15 degrees centigrade they still work! So says George.
I’ll look into those, the solar panel people say we cant have panels unless we get rid of the Velux
Our Saturday setter manages, yet again, to incorporate examples from many different areas of our rich language, It would be very interesting to get a look inside his brain! Something for everyone today, my personal choices being 1,24&30a plus 9d.
Thanks to NYDK and to Gazza for providing holiday cover for CS. Nice for us to get an extra helping of cartoons!
Not my cup of tea I’m afraid. I no longer look forward to the Saturday prize puzzles as I am not a fanvof the linked clue week after week. However, 21 was a clever cryptic clue, more of those,please. I alo like thelego clue at 14a. Overall, a struggle, especially in the east, but it all fell into place in the end. Thanks to the compiler and to Gazza for filling in for CS with the hints.
I’m a big fan of Donny’s SPPs & today was no exception. Liked the two linked clues but I’ll plump for 1&24a plus 9d as podium picks with numerous ticks elsewhere.
Thanks to Donny for the entertainment & eliciting a 👍 from Brian. Bit of an easy week for our blogger then – 3 reviews & a NTSPP…..Don’t know how you do it but many thanks.
All on my own today as George has gone in the freezing drizzle to watch Hertford play. Strange creatures, men. Anyway a good guzzle to do before going out to spend some money in a nice warm shopping mall. Several anagrams which are right up my Rue but I think I shall join Steve in going for 11a as my favourite. Many thanks to Messrs Setter and Gazza – hope SeeSue is having fun!
On the money for a Samedi. An array of constructions were on display on a friendly grid.
Rood Bonk has even managed to get MG back on board, having only use two sprawlers, made sweeter by connecting them. I reckon MG’s cut-off to attempt one of his crossies is three. i.e. four is a dale (dealbreaker).
A plethora of clues to choose from but I’ll go with 11a, 30a and the superb 9d (the question mark works for me).
Many thanks to NYPD Blue and Gazza.
2*/5*
Love the dale idea Tom.
Thank you, Crazy River.
This took a tad longer than usual mainly due to some stickiness in the SE quadrant. Great fun to unravel, though, with the linked clues plus 9d coming out on top of the pile. LOI 26d.
Many thanks to Donny for the challenge and to the hard-working Gazza.
For me, and I stress…. that’s tomorrow you fool!
Anyway, I wish to complain in the strongest possible terms, in lime-green ink, about the unauthorised absence of ‘Cryptic Sue’ (which I have always suspected is some sort of pseudonym. Perhaps she is a spy or secret agent who works under this assumed name).
These people, the so-callled ‘hinters’ are paid an absolute fortune (on par with Premier League footballers, it is rumoured) and then believe they can just swan off like this. It is an outrage, pure and simple.
Great guzzle; thanks to NYDK, and to the former Spurs and England midfielder.
Official Leave of Absence forms were submitted a week and a half ago and duly authorised by Gazza so you will just have to accept that I’m allowed to go and meet my new tiny grandsons and then our two older grandchildren in NI
On completion and review of the completed grid I wondered why it had taken as long to solve as it did, definitely no obvious reason for NYDK at his enjoyable best.
Candidates for favourite – 1a, 13a, 21a, 14d, and 25d – and the winner is 25d.
Thanks to NYDK and Gazza.
I am afraid this was not my cup of tea today.
A wavelength thing I think…plus I am not fond of the linked clues…..
Thanks to the setter and to Gazza .
Took me ages, but thoroughly enjoyed this one. Completed without help except for 9d – could kick myself as I knew the last 3 letters so I really should have got it.
Many thanks to NYDK for great puzzle, and of course to Gazza for the hints.
I made hard work for myself with this today. However, once I had 1a, the rest seemed to fall into place. Several PDMs.
Enjoyable challenge though.
Thanks to all.
Thank you to Gazza for standing in for me
We managed to stop cuddling our new grandsons for a while and went out to find out all about the Battle of the Boyne. Had the weather been kinder we would have walked further round the site, but we will come back in the summer and have another go
Newgrange is well worth a visit too, but maybe in better weather.
We went there in 2023 in perfect weather
We are really only here at this time of year to meet the babies
I think you have to join a wait list to be in the chamber when the solstice lights it up, maybe they could cut the list with some of Daisy’s Solar tubes
Went along swimmingly until it didn’t. It is as if a stoppage also becomes a mental block. Finished with help from Gazza . Lots of great clues and clever answers. Just not my day. Thanks to all.
re Quick Crossword pun: is it a UK thing to pronounce names however the heck you want to, regardless of how the people actually say them? “wah-keen” Phoenix would not be flattered by his inclusion here, and I imagine Jule (“julie”) Styne rolls over in his grave whenever a BBC announcer says “jewel”
I agree, Jonny D.
I’m all for crowbarring words that need to be tweaked and then some, a la Officer Crabtree, but jo for wah is nowhere near.
The pun is very apt.
I think it’s pretty common for many people, wherever they live, to end up localizing the pronunciation of names that are unfamiliar to them, whether accidentally or otherwise.
Colin Powell pronounced his first name the same as Colins Baker, Firth, Sell at the Piano, and From Accounts — but the American public decided otherwise. Cricketer Marnus Labuschagne moved from South Africa to Australia with a 4-syllable surname, but it now seems to end in “Shane” whenever spoken by a teammate or journalist.
I’m not saying this is right, or in anyway defending it, but I think it’s more that humans are bad both at pronouncing names and being culturally sensitive than it’s a specifically a UK thing.
I get that but NYDK has got this one wrong.
I have never heard it pronounced like that and, my guess is, I never will.
It’s like pronouncing the letter w in the word ‘sword’ due to ignorance which Amol Rajan did about five times when covering for Simon Mayo a few years ago.
Very, very hard to listen to.
Sure, I’m with you on the pronunciation of ‘Joaquin’ — I’m just disagreeing with Jon that it’s specifically “a UK thing”!
Hi S
I don’t think Jon really meant that it was a UK thing.
I think, like me, he couldn’t believe NYDK did it. He was trying to excuse him,
To me a pun is a play on the sound of a word as opposing to an eye rhyme.
You should hear how the US pronounces Geoffrey 😊.
It can’t be ‘Gee’offrey with a hard G?
Tell me it isn’t so, BL…
Fully agree – a deserved immediate entry into a quality top 10 list of dreadful puns.
I enjoyed this although at one point I just got mired down and couldn’t get back into it reading the same clues over and over again until one finally fell.
I also struggled with the quickie pun as the only Grant actor my brain would unearth was Cary! Finally remembered the foppish one.
Top picks for me were 9d, 16/6 and 1a.
Thanks to Gazza and NYDK.
I won’t have access to the puzzle for a few days but am looking forward to meeting Manders in North Norfolk.
Aw, that’s lovely that you can meet in real life. Have fun!
Me too Madflower! Haven’t commented today as made such a pig’s ear of it by putting 2 very reasonable answers in that were wrong. Wrong athlete and wrong fruit so took an age to sort out! See you in Monday Madflower.
Nice one today. Though got a bit stuck after the first 7 or 8 answers. Then it flowed again.
21a – have got the answer, but not sure of the second way of getting it.
Being the simple soul I am, I quite liked 14d.
And the UK/US connection in 13d was appreciated.
Thanks to the setter and Gazza.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
I made a mistake with my name when typing … sorry!
Nice to see NYDK on duty today and enjoyed both his trademark style clues. Got them early on so gave some fodder for the rest of the puzzle. All good with no issues for me today.
2*/4* for me
Favourites 10a, 12a, 13a, 27a, 28a,(made me laugh) & 1d — with winner 13a
Thanks to NYDK & CS
Spike did not want me to finish this!
He’s in because it’s raining👀
If it wasn’t I would be able to see the Foresta 22ac from outside (the largest deciduous forest in Europe!) but it’s in the clouds.
But that makes 22ac my COTD.
Once I sorted out the linked clues all went well . Another excellent SPP. Thanks to Gazza for the blog.
That looks like one fierce cat!
I bet he is a “pussy” 😻😊
Stop it, SJB! We’re watching reruns of “Are You Being Served?” 😊
He’s a beast, but a beautiful one😎
Fairly straightforward for a Saturday but no less enjoyable for that. Numerous contenders for favourite but we’ll go with 30a. Thanks to Donnybrook and Gazza.
Fairly straightforward.
Carry on being grumpy, Brian – it’s a tonic to us oldies.
Thanks Gazza, and thanks all for comments.
As for the Q-pun, I’m saying it’s an eye rhyme :D
Thanks for the entertaining puzzle, NYDK.
The more groanworthy the Quickie Pun the more enjoyable as far as I’m concerned.
Go on then. Only because you are an excellent setter.
Thank you for the puzzle, NYDK. Ads for the Quickie pun, I loved it. Very groanworthy. 😊
An enjoyable puzzle with a nice flavour of chewiness for me. I am wondering what is NYDK’s calling card ? Is it linked clues which makes it obvious ? My heart generally sinks when I see them but actually they are usually fine. Thanks NYDK and Gazza for standing in.
That was fun. Rattled through most of it, then got stuck in the NE. Top picks 11a, 28a and 9d (despite not being a massive fan of lift and separate clues like that).
Thanks CS and NYDK.
Excellent puzzle, plenty of great clues with steady solving until 9d for some reason.
3* / 4*
Thanks to NYDK and Gazza
Ps Loved the very tenuous quickie pun the
Arrrgh!! Struggled with this one… 9 down was a proper piglet and as for 8 & 20.. 😃
Not the easiest for me but hopefully got them all – can’t see logic to 30 across but only word that seemed to fit. Like others I font enjoy linked clues – 19a comes to mind
Does my hint not help with 30a?
Was 11a doubly cryptic/clever? Because the first few letters also spelled something ‘musical’, which prevented me solving the rest of the clue for a while. But when I put in what had to be the answer, I saw how it worked. So was the additional musical item just coincidental? (Must be careful what I say here!)