Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30854
Hints and tips by Senf
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A very good Wednesday morning from Winnipeg where the meteorologists are forecasting that the Arctic freeze is coming to an end and, by this time next week, we could be running around in tee shirts and shorts. However, my faith in meteorologists has not yet fully recovered from its nadir of Michael Fish’s ‘what hurricane?’ in October 1987.
For me, etc (I have to say that for Terence), after last week’s Monday on a Wednesday back pager this was a little challenging. If I were a betting man I would wager a shiny new King Charles Toonie on this being a Toombarloom (a tribute to Merusa) production.
Candidates for favourite – 1a, 7a, 26a, 2d, 5d and 15d.
In the hints below, the definitions are underlined. The answers are hidden under the Click here! buttons, so don’t click if you don’t want to see them.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.
Across
1a Inhuman, like spectre or Dracula! (4-7)
COLD HEARTED: A descriptive phrase for the positioning of the single letter for Cold in spectre or Dracula.
7a Enthusiast with dog and particular breed of pigeon (7)
FANTAIL: A three letter synonym of enthusiast and (with) a verbal synonym of dog.
8a Misses going after first of gymnastic tumblers? (7)
GLASSES: A synonym of misses (as in young ladies) placed (going) after the first letter of Gymnastic.
10a Brought back fish sauce in Isle of Wight resort (8)
YARMOUTH: The reversal (brought back) of a three letter fish and a synonym of sauce (with reference to being cheeky).
11a Stick that man on commercial, in the first place (6)
ADHERE: The third person pronoun that can indicate that man and the Latin based synonym of on (as in concerning) placed after (in the first place) an abbreviated form of a synonym of commercial.
13a Water flowing west in pipeline (4)
NILE: A reversed lurker (flowing west in) found in the last word of the clue.
14a A bit thick, not working … (3,2,5)
OUT OF ORDER: A double definition – the second are the words often seen on a sign placed on something that is not working.
16a … old labourer on back (6-4)
SECOND-HAND: A synonym of labourer placed after (on) a synonym of back (as in a proposal).
18a Copyright each and every title (4)
CALL: The letter used to indicate that something is copyrighted and a three letter term equivalent to each and every.
21a Bear dancing amuses (6)
ASSUME: An anagram (dancing) of AMUSES.
22a Rich from weekly lotto, regularly party (4-2-2)
WELL-TO-DO: Alternate letters of (from . . . regularly) WeEkLy LoTtO and our favourite two letter party.
24a Vacuous Twitter scrap leads to defeat (7)
TROUNCE: TwitteR with the interior letters removed (vacuous) and a synonym(?) of scrap (as in a small weight).
25a Small kid behind seabird briefly, one from a colony? (7)
TERMITE: A term for a small kid (as in child) placed after (behind) a seabird with the last letter deleted (briefly).
26a Deal with soft soap that’s on the side of bath? (4,7)
FACE FLANNEL: A single word for deal with and a synonym of soft soap (as in flattery).
Down
1d Be in charge of key (7)
CONTROL: A double definition – the second is in the bottom LH corner of my keyboard, it might be somewhere else on yours especially if you are letting Steve Jobs manage you from beyond the grave!
2d Might setter have this to deceive? (4,2)
LEAD ON: In this case setter is a four legged canine and it might have ‘this’ when going walkies.
3d Prevarications from Verity, small beer at first (4-6)
HALF-TRUTHS: A small beer (in terms of capacity of a glass) placed before (at first) a synonym of verity (which is singular, but the plural is needed for the answer).
4d Legendary vessel found in Cheddar Gorge (4)
ARGO: A lurker (found in) contained by two words in the clue.
5d Coming up, cross character actor’s entrance? (8)
TRAPDOOR: The reversal of all of (coming up) a type of cross (usually found in a church) and a synonym of character (played by an actor).
6d Start to negotiate delta south of high tide’s swell (7)
DISTEND: The initial letters (start to) of Negotiate and Delta placed after (south of) and anagram (high) of TIDE’S.
7d Travelling by plane with Dawn, it’s good to get off to this … (6,5)
FLYING START: A single word term for travelling by plane and (with) a synonym of dawn (as in beginning of a new day?).
9d …country, and one rare isle at sea (6,5)
SIERRA LEONE: An anagram (at sea) of ONE RARE ISLE.
12d Engineer is patient about old plant (10)
POINSETTIA: An anagram (engineer) of IS PATIENT containing (about) the single letter for Old.
15d Way to recall exhausted man heading off furious (8)
MNEMONIC: MaN with the interior letter removed (exhausted) and a synonym of furious with the first letter removed (heading off).
17d Players leaving, no longer wanted (4-3)
CAST OFF: The collective noun for players on stage and a synonym of leaving.
19d American Tea Party possibly unwilling to join with others (7)
ASOCIAL: The single letter for American and a single word synonym for tea party? (possibly).
20d US lawyer leaving US state with note and coin (6)
FLORIN: The two letters for a US (prosecution) lawyer removed from (leaving) a US state and (with) a single letter for Note.
23d I can be seen in last part of famous Christmas film (4)
SELF: The last letter (part) of famouS and a three letter Christmas film from 2003.
Quick Crossword Pun:
BORE + DIRT + AREA = BORDER TERRIER
I found today’s offering somewhat confusing. I have three possible answers for 6d none of which make sense to me. I don’t understand the “head off furious” part of 15d or “with Dawn” in 7d so will need to see the hints for both of these clues. I did like the old labourer at 16a and this becomes my COTD.
Thank you, setter for the head scratching solve. Thank you, Mr. Mustard for the hints.
(D)emonic is my guess.
I thought that, LS but I’ve never associated the word with being furious. Evil, yes but furious?
Thank you, and every other kind hearted person for the remedies for my poor old arthritic hands ! Unfortunately with my medication I cannot take ibuprofen or codeine and am really confined to paracetamol. I have been given an ibuprofen gel to use externally on the understanding that I use it sparingly. The heated wheat wrap was the most comforting but cannot quite bring myself to use an ice pack when I’m already cold! However, miraculously this morning the pain has eased somewhat so I am not in tears. I shall certainly look up Will Harlow, BusyLizzie, I’m open to all suggestions (except ice!!)
Yay, good to hear of the improvement, Daisygirl. Thanks for letting us know.
I think at one point a relative of mine gave up eating citrus fruit to help reduce their arthritis, which seemed to work. (Though obviously do try not to contract scurvy instead.)
High strength turmeric capsules seem to work for me, Daisygirl – I get mine online from Purolabs – 6 packs at at time as it’s far cheaper per pack when bought in bulk.
Zipvit is another good online e source.
https://www.zipvit.co.uk
I have used Zip Vit for many years – works really well on my knees. I forgot to mention in my previous comment that I also use compression gloves when my hands are particularly painful and being fingerless it’s still possible to write whilst wearing them.
Zipvit is another good online source.
Sorry for the duplication
Sorry about the duplication – internet playing up.
Hi DG
I take a teaspoon of apple vinegar daily in fruit juice. Cider vinegar is recommended but I can’t get it here in Italy.
It seems to help but when we have weather like this week … cold, cloud and drizzle since Valentines Day nothing works (except maybe whisky!)
Great. I had 3+ years of treatments for sciatica, bursitis and arthritis, including epidurals, radial frequency ablation, chiropractic and acupuncture. I had also tried turmeric, and have been banned from citrus for years anyway. Only codeine helped and I obviously did not want to get hooked on that. I truly believe what fixed me in the end was down to learning on Harlow’s videos the exercises I needed to do, and vitally, those I needed to stop.
An aged Alsatian I knew (the dog, not a disputed Franco German inhabitant) could hardly walk with arthritis, but after a couple of months of green-lip mussel oil was bouncing about like a puppy! My golfer’s/tennis elbow was sorted out by a few ginger poultices. Having difficulty lifting a pint mug! No problem now. 🍺
Emu oil is good.
Considerably chewier than the last couple of days, even yesterday’s Dada Toughie, but a most enjoyable and hugely satisfying solve requiring some lateral thinking and with plenty of broad smiles when pennies periodically plummeted. Some odd surface reads but clever and deceptive clueing, all entirely fair throughout.
Highlights for me were 1a, 26a, 2d (my LOI, loud clang from the penny, that one) & 15d
Many thanks to the setter (I’d thought Twm for Monday, but he usually pops up to claim and didn’t, so maybe it is indeed him today – the quirky humour would fit) and to Senf – hope your Arctic freeze does indeed thaw soon!
2*/3*. This was a pleasant Wednesday puzzle with 1a my favourite when the parsing penny finally dropped.
Many thanks to, I suspect, Twmbarlwm and to Senf.
1a was very clever and my favourite from this quite friendly midweek puzzle. I had no real sticking points, and the four long peripheral clues went in fairly quickly to establish a firm foothold in the grid. Great fun.
Many thanks to our Wednesday setter and Senf.
Like Steve, I had problems parsing some of the clues but as the checkers went in, rhe solutions were easier to find . Quite an enjoyable guzzle, if a bit confusing in places. I liked the geographical anagram at 9d, the cryptic bath-time clue at 26a and the cryptic definition clu at 3d. Thanks tko
Thanks to Senf for the hints and to the compiler
CC we don’t eat a lot of red meat, salmon is my favourite meal. I have taken powdered Turmeric each morning for years with a spoonful of Cod Liver Oil shaken up in orange juice (with bits😌) on the advice of my Yoga teacher. As someone said yesterday. Thank goodness for the guzzles, this website and, for me, books. Others might say golf!!
An enjoyable midweek puzzle – thanks to our setter and Senf.
I assumed that the ‘small’ in 3d is meant to go with the verity rather than the beer.
I ticked 24a, 2d and 17d with my outstanding favourite being 1a.
This was right up my street, with some answers going straight in and others requiring a little head scratching, though not to the point of frustration. I’m struggling to equate out of order in 14a with being a bit thick. Perhaps it’s just a phrase I’ve never heard of, but I can’t find any reference in the BRB. Lots of contenders for podium places today. I’ll settle for 1a, 16a, 26a and 20d. Thanks to our setter and Senf.
One meaning of a bit thick is to be unfair or unreasonable.
as in “ I say old chap, that’s a bit thick! “ Bertie wooster might have said it
Great guzzle today but a question please – where is the pigeon’s head in the 7a picture? Looks as if its up its bum!
Sorry, rude of me, thanks to the setter and Senf
I found this quite hard. The clues did not click for me. 1a went in because of the checkers and I thought the explanation strange.
Harder than the last couple of days but very satisfying to complete. I needed the hints to explain the parsing of 1a, which is very clever and my favourite.
Many thanks to the setter and to Senf for the hints.
The usual hmms and queries that I associate with a Twmbarlwm production so I’m guessing this is one of his. I don’t understand the first of the definitions in 14a, nor do I see why the addition of ‘particular breed of’ is necessary in 7a, surely it’s very basic GK?
Top clue for me was 2d.
Thanks to our setter and also to Senf for the review – I wouldn’t be too anxious to dig out the tee shirts and shorts for a while if I were you!
For me, and I stress for me (© Senf) this was a T-R-I-C-K-Y guzzle. I needed substantial help from The Wise Man Of Winnipeg.
Once I, (or Senf), worked out an answer, I could see that the glues were very glever, but initially, I struggled.
Unless washed daily, surely a 26a must be one of the most unhygienic items one could find in a home. I never use ’em.
Thanks to the setter for the challenege, and to The Man From Manitoba.
A hoot. 1a’s superb, 2d’s fun and 5d made me smile. 14a flowing into 16a worked really well too. Many thanks to our setter and Senf.
As stated previously, a little chewier than of late. 23d eluded me, not being any sort of a film buff since maybe the 1960s and I stared for ages at 18a and wanting to put ‘earl’ for my answer, but not finding a way of parsing it – until the copyright penny dropped. Otherwise an enjoyable solve, which took longer than many recent puzzles have done. No real favourites, but 9d brought back happy memories of my childhood trainspotting days, when a steam engine of that name was a regulat ‘passer through’ our local railway station on express passenger duties. Thanks to setter and Senf.
Marvellous start to the day. 3 d. made me laugh because our youngest granddaughter is called Verity and she is prone to prevarications. When she was born 11 years ago it seemed that her name might be difficult to live up to.
For once I had no trouble with any of today’s offering. It is odd how we all experience our daily puzzle differently. Often I am shocked that my struggle is given a one or two star.Now I can bounce off to aquarobics feeling the gods are with me for once. Thanks to Senf and my wave length setter.
Some great clues, nice variety, and I managed to get on the right wavelength and work through it at a fairly even pace. 1a and 5d are wonderful!
Thanks to all.
Wonderful! Also tricky, but the sort of trickiness that I like — and, being off work today for half-term childcare, I had time to devote to it and appreciate properly.
Well, not quite properly: I’d missed the reverse-indicator wordplay in 1a till Senf explained it — thank you to him and today’s setter, for that is a wonderful clue. It feels like Twmbarlwm, but I’ve been wrong before. Twm used to claim crosswords on Twitter, but he deleted his account there sometime after posting his Wordle score on Sunday, so we no longer have that as a place to check ownership. Hopefully he’ll pop in here.
My favourite few were 8a (“misses”), 26a (“side of bath”), 23d for extending the repertoire of Setters’ Film Club, and 1d for “key”, which I was trying so hard to be “central”.
In 10a — once I stopped looking for letters to “re-sort”, and then trying fit “IOW” in the answer — I finally realized there must be a place of that name in the Isle of Wight, having only previously been aware of the one in Norfolk that Bellowhead sing about:
I’m reasonably hopefully that I’ll remember that, and can add it to my list of Things I’ve Learnt From Crosswords.
I don’t understand the 21a definition; can anybody suggest a sentence where either can be used?
21a She undertook to bear responsibility for the decision ?
Thanks, Gazza.
My loi was 23d, somewhat embarrassingly, as I failed to spot the obvious and spent for ever trying to find a four letter Christmas film. Otherwise a very enjoyable if slightly tricky puzzle for Wednesday. I liked 5d, but my cotd is 7d. Thanks to compiler and Senf
This was just about right for a midweeker though on the slightly easier side.
The four peripheral clues kicked things off very nicely with no checkers required.
I liked the 14a/16a comby. I ‘ve just looked up ‘a bit thick’ which is an old variant of ‘a bit strong’. So, that works for me. Quite spooky that 10a should pop up as I’m off there tomorrow for a fortnight.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard 15d mispronounced. Ironically, the m (for memory) is silent. If you’d like to know its origin, it’s from Mnemosyne, the Goddess of Memory and the mother of the nine Muses by her nephew Zeus (the Greeks loved to keep it in the family!). The prefix ‘a’ means opposite, e.g symmetric and asymmetric. This is where we get the word meaning loss of memory ‘amnesia’, i.e ‘a’ plus ‘mnesia’ (the first three letters of 15d and the goddess)
There endeth Tom’s lesson.
My podium is 1a, 2d and 5d
Many thanks to Mr Tumble (?) and the Manitoban mountie.
2*/4*
Thanks Tom. A mine of information! Funnily enough I now think of you whenever I have to think twice about spelling, which, thanks to a good old fashioned Grammar School education and six years of Latin is not very often. Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move – those children dancing to your mnemonic was delightful.
It certainly was!
And I can’t claim the credit as someone else told it to me, many moons ago.
A bit like you, Day Zee, it’s an old classic.
For me, AISFM, this was right up my alley. Most answers fell into place without a lot of head-scratching, and the few that weren’t immediately solvable required only a modicum of untangling. Having grown up on the IOW, 10a was obvious to me, and once I’d stopped trying to use Idaho somehow in 20d it made more sense!
Thanks to the setter and Senf.
I thought this was a very clever puzzle, which is perhaps why it took me a while to get my head around it. 1a is very good indeed, even though I chucked in the answer without having the first idea why it was correct. I like 16a too, although the same applied. Thanks to Senf for helping me to see various lights and to the setter for something a little out of the ordinary for midweek.
Great guzzle, vastly helped by not having to nurse a wheat bag and write at the same time. If I am picky I am not sure that 14a is a bit thick but 1a was a gem as was 3d and 20d – what a nice old coin that was. As was the half a crown – and does anybody remember the guinea? All my mother’s clothes seemed to cost guineas instead of pounds, I wonder why? And the absolute thrill of a Great Aunt giving you a crinkly big white £5 note. Cor. Many, many thanks to Mr. Setter and my Man from Winnipeg.
I remember the florins and half crowns, Daisygirl. Not forgetting, the farthings and what one could buy with them from the sweet shop on the way home from school. I had a lovely great uncle who would come and stay whenever it was the Chester races and he always gave me a £5 note. Happy memories of buying my first box of Reeves paints in Shrewsbury after one such visit and gift.
So sorry to hear of your arthritis and the pain it is inflicting. Do hope you can find something to relieve it asap
Good fun. Can’t think why, but I struggled with 19d.
Thanks to setter and Senf.
More of a normal Wednesday for me and I agree with Senf’s comments this it seems like a Twmbarlwm. From my POV many clues don’t make sense to me and even with parsing I find them questionable to my way of thinking,
2.5*/3*
Favourites 1a, 10a, 14a, 26a & 3d — with clear winner 10a as I lived in its sister city that starts with Great …. that was in the 60’s. The sister city has one of the best beaches in the world for dogs, fishing and swimming.
Thanks to setter (Twm?) & Senf
14 Across
Out of order in BRB “outside normally accepted standards, excessive”
A bit thick in BRB “more than one can reasonably be expected to put up with”
I made a good start with this guzzle and completed about half of it before going to the gym. When I returned I managed most of it but got stuck on 19d which I needed the hint from Senf to explain. Thanks for that. 7 and 8a were favourites. Thankyou to compiler.
Having initially thought blooded at 1a I bunged in the correct answer then forgot to go back & figure out the why. Otherwise a pretty straightforward & enjoyable solve. A mate of mine is the only person I’ve ever heard saying that’s a bit thick for something that’s not on so liked that one but 1a&2d the picks for me.
Thanks to the setter & to Senf
Slightly tricky today, held up by some school boy errors – wagtail and earl at 7a and 18a
3*/4*
Will go with 15d and 20d as favourites
Thanks to setter and senf
This was a nice slow plod for me today, but nothing too untoward. Took ages to get the Christmas film, mostly because I desperately wanted to put and ‘i’ in it. Favourite was the exhausted man – I’m a great fan of his! Thanks to the setter and Senf.
A nice mid week solve with for me the right amount of chewiness to make it enjoyable. I got into a pickle parsing my last one in 15d. I got the word in the end but I missed the meaning of ‘exhausted’ which now of course seems obvious. Thanks to setter and Senf
I found that tricky for a Wednesday, but most enjoyable. 1a is superb.
Thanks to Senf and Twm (?).
A bit of a chewy Wednesday, but satisfied that I got about 75% of it on my own. Not sure which setter and doubt it is the Welsh Mountain man as he can rarely understand his. I do like hyphenated clues, but glad there were no linked clues. Very little knowledge of birds, but 7a just had to be. Thanks to setter and Senf.
I whizzed through this. Right up my street as someone else said. Only 15d had me perplexed.
Agree with the *** rating with the last down clue being the last one in, that one took me ages for such a little word with two checkers! Thank you compiler and Senf
I’m still not satisfied with the explanation for 1a .Yes I can see why the answer is right but in my opinion nothing to do with Dracula or the spectre .My understanding of a spectre is a ghost with very ill defined boundaries .! Therefore no heart
Perhaps someone could enlighten me .A difficult and different puzzle.Many thanks to all
Have a look at the labels on your water taps, then at the middle letters of spectre and Dracula.
Both spectre and Dracula are examples of the solution, ie middle letter c for cold ❄️
Enjoyable crossword but too tricky for me in parts so DNCO 😟 Thanks to Senf and the Compiler
What I love about this blog (it’s international flavour apart) is its helpfulness, the medical advice given to Daisy today was brilliant 👍
A bit of a battle to get started but thereafter solved steadily without understanding all the subtleties although needed the hints for 12d, 15d,19d, 23d and 26a. 1a almost too clever but it is my COTD even though I solved it using the checkers and only saw the cleverness when I read the hints.. Thanks to the setter and Senf. ***/***
Needed the hints to parse 1a and 1d, blindingly obvious now it’s been pointed out. A number of stretched synonyms, I don’t mind a couple but …. . No real favourite but if pressed I’d go with 2d. I too have been impressed with the kind and helpful advice being offered on people’s ailments. Thanks to the setter and Senf.
1a very clever and only understood the answer properly (which was a suggestion from my spouse) after reading Senf’s explanation. Many thanks.
Thanks Falcon and Jules in Essex, I think it’s now my favourite clue!!
4*/4* …
liked 1A “Inhuman, like spectre or Dracula ! (4-7)”