Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30879
Hints and tips by Shabbo
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
As last week, this puzzle is definitely not one of the regular Thursday setters, so over to you, dear reader for “Guess the Setter”. I have no idea. Twmbarlwm, perhaps?
18 degrees forecast for us today, so if you need me, I’ll be in the garden.
In the blog below, the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED and the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the “Click Here” buttons. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on and what you thought of the puzzle. Please also try to be positive – it’s only a bit of fun.
Thank you, setter.
Across
1a Send review to upset soul singer (6,6)
STEVIE WONDER: anagram (upset) of SEND REVIEW TO.
9a Fear restricts Gunners backtracking on the ball (5)
AWARE: synonym of fear outside (restricts) abbreviation for Royal Artillery backwards.
10a Engineer sour and vulgar, not very chatty (9)
GARRULOUS: anagram (engineer) of SOUR (v)ULGAR. “Not very” invites us to remove V from the anagram fodder.
11a The Office manager, twit or high-flyer? (5,5)
BRENT GOOSE: the character played by Ricky Gervais in the sitcom The Office + a synonym of twit. Good luck to non-Brits with this piece of GK. We are off to North Norfolk again on Sunday and will see loads of these.
12a Paragraph covers site of the Taj Mahal (4)
AGRA: hidden word (covers). Our answer is lurking within “paragraph”.
13a Expression of displeasure at showers in Asian country (7)
BAHRAIN: an expression of disgust or contempt + synonym of showers.
15a My catch hothead oddly ignored went by boat (7)
YACHTED: every other letter (oddly ignored) of mY cAtCh HoThEaD. I’m not sure the surface read makes too much sense?
17a Will this secure locks in style? (7)
HAIRNET: cryptic definition.
19a Large stain and inkspots in the middle chalet (7)
SPLODGE: the middle of inkSPots + synonym of chalet.
21a Bearing with website that’s occasionally unavailable (4)
WEST: abbreviation for With + the even letters (occasionally unavailable) of wEbSiTe.
22a Daily Telegraph possibly in Universal film (10)
BROADSHEET: synonym of universal + synonym of film.
25a Manner of speaking in clue too tricky (9)
ELOCUTION: anagram (tricky) of IN CLUE TOO.
26a Where damp clothes may be fine? About right (5)
AIRER: a letter and a numeral indicating fine + usual abbreviation for about + abbreviation for Right.
27a Employees who were once exchange students? (12)
TELEPHONISTS: cryptic definition.
Down
1d Bridge partners live for gin! (5)
SNARE: two compass points representing who would be partners in a game of bridge + synonym of live. The definition is a trap, not an alcoholic drink.
2d The writer heard tune that can make you teary (9)
EYESTRAIN: homophone (heard) of how the setter might refer to himself/herself + synonym of tune.
3d Rowing about top of nail attached to flesh thus? (7)
INGROWN: anagram (about) of ROWING + N (top of nail).
4d Unlikely to graft plant and first couple of hydrangeas (7)
WORKSHY: synonym of plant (think factory or yard) + the first two letters of HYdrangeas.
5d Refusal in French, one that could be proper or common (4)
NOUN: “refusal” in English + “one” in French.
6d Drawn-out do with teen gal dancing (9)
ELONGATED: anagram (dancing) of DO TEEN GAL.
7d British adult holding snake up, initially by African tree (6)
BAOBAB: abbreviations for British and Adult outside (holding) a three-letter snake upside down (up) + initial letter of By.
8d One son left with Madeira perhaps (6)
ISLAND: the letter signifying “one” + abbreviations for Son and Left + synonym of “with”.
14d Praise 14lb I drop rapidly (9)
HAILSTONE: synonym of praise + another word for 14lb.
16d Viruses needing periods of rest in wintry spells (4,5)
COLD SNAPS: synonym of “viruses” + synonym of “periods of rest”.
17d Boo-Boo Bear regularly seen beside bark (6)
HOWLER: the even letters of bEaR after (seen beside) a synonym of “bark”.
18d History misrepresented a little Conservative (7)
TORYISH: anagram (misrepresented) of HISTORY.
19d Mum presently touring Northern Irish river (7)
SHANNON: synonym of “mum” (as in keep quiet) + synonym of presently (or soon) outside (touring) abbreviation for Northern.
20d Old flame with a lot of sweet cake and milk (6)
EXTORT: old flame or former partner + a sweet cake without the final letter (a lot of). The definition is a verb.
23d Losing head, longs for gains by Labour (5)
EARNS: a synonym of “longs for” without the first letter (losing head).
24d Gospel line we ultimately contemplate (4)
LUKE: abbreviation for Line + two-letter abbreviation for the islands that we inhabit (we) + the final letter (ultimately) of contemplatE. My LOI.
Quickie Pun: STAY + TUSK + WOE = STATUS QUO
Absolutely no idea on who the setter might be of today’s fun puzzle. Of the plethora of excellent clues, I’ll pick a podium of 4d, 19d and 20d in top spot. 18d was a hoot and a strong contender. Thanks to whomsoever and Shabbo.
I found this quite tricky and needed the hints to parse 24d. Lots of smiles though with my top picks being 27a, 19a and 11a. I also liked 4d for it’s misdirection as I was looking for a plant as is my wont.
Thanks to Shabbo, who I’m envious of for his trip to North Norfolk, and the setter.
I have never watched a single episode of 11a (my last in), so I needed all the checkers in place before I got that one.
I nearly wrote in pin for the ending of 17a, and at one point toyed with sores for the second word of 16d – luckily I did not write in either of them!
Favourite clue was the “gains by labour”.
Thanks to the setter, and to Shabbo.
I did go for pin!
Great fun. 11a tickled me, as did 1d’s surface, and 17d’s sweet. 4d’s crackerjack. Many thanks to our setter and Shabbo.
1a
It’s quite an annoying thing and something of a juxtaposition. Acts that would appeal to a more mature audience are booked for the concerts in Hyde Park each summer, but the venue is standing only. I feel many would love to see 1a this summer, but, like me, simply can’t stand in one spot for hours on end.
One is not allowed to carry in any form of seating. Each year you can see piles of discarded folding chairs at the entrance, as security explain the rule to disbelieving 75 year olds.
Good guzzle, and quite the challenge. Handy that I use a pencil as I lightly bunged in ‘stockbrokers’ at 27a, only to rather quickly see the error of my impulsiveness.
Thanks to the setter and Shabba-dabba-doo
Today’s crossword soundtrack. Steven Wilson – The Overview
Could you get away with an old fashioned shooting stick, Terence ? Surely tthey wouldn’t take it from you if it looked like a walking stick?
Gosh, I thought you were talking about going to see a tribute act, Terence, but see he’s still alive! I second Chriscross’s excellent suggestion, and there are many excellent shooting/walking sticks out there that are very comfortable indeed.
Much harder than usual and, despite a few good clues, not one of the more enjoyable puzzles for me. Some of them definitely belonged in the Toughie, and I would have described 13a as a middle eastern country rather than Asian.
Still, a good challenge – thanks to the setter, etc.
Crikey T wouldn’t have thought The Overview was your bag. I’m with you on the seating issue but even if it was provided the money that they’re asking for Van & Neil is astronomical. Having said that I’m very tempted by dinner & a show at the Europa Hotel in Belfast with a chance to toast the man’s 80th birthday.
For me one of the more testing back pages for a week or three and as a challenge it was satisfying, but as a crossword I found it rather less so – maybe I was just in a bad mood from the start with the inclusion of the utterly ghastly character in 11a!
Two of the six anagrams (3d & 18d) were very weak indeed, three “remove the odd or even letter” clues felt one or two too many, and I’m uncertain what purpose was served by either “in style” (17a) or “students” (27a), while how can one have “beside” in a down clue (17d) when it should be something indicating below?
OTOH there were plenty of pearls before this particular swine: COTD the wonderful 1d, and with a good many ticks elsewhere the other podium places are taken by 5d & 19a.
Thank you setter (I have no idea either, but this did not feel like a Twmbarlwm creation to me), and thanks also to Shabbo
Mustafa, I’m totally with you on your analysis!
Welcome to the blog, Tricky Dicky.
I don’t know who the compiler is but it was a particularly enjoyable guzzle due to the varied nature of the clues and the inclusion of some General Knowledge. I liked the 1a anagram of the soul singer, the bird lego clue at 11a, the geographical lego clue at 13a and cryptic definition 17a. Many thanks to the compiler and to Shabbo for the hints
A couple of bits of GK apart this was fun, I had most to think about in the NW until the penny dropped on Ricky Gervais’ character (the italicisation helped – does that appear in the paper too?)
Thanks to Shabbo and Setter, TTTTT (time to tackle the toughie)
Beware if you are printing it, SJB – yet again (3rd day this week) – one of the two puzzles cannot fit on a single page, and today it’s once more the turn of the Toughie.
Didn’t think I’d start, let alone finish. That was tougher than the Toughie I did by mistake yesterday, and by some margin!
Gradually got a foothold, and then made some steady (slow) progress, can’t see that Friday’s offering can be much harder than this one, but famous last words……
Some brilliantly seldom used words today (don’t think I’ve ever yachted anywhere, don’t think I ever will)
My two of the day have to be 19a and the wonderful 27a, sheer genius that one.
I put a big question mark against 15a. I am surprised Terence did not rail against it.
Finally back on-line after multiple issues with my dear old laptop finally forced me to invest in a new one. Can’t say I like it very much at the moment but I guess I’ll get used to it eventually. On to the puzzle, which floated my boat about as much as the new laptop has! To judge by all the ‘hmms’ I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that this is a Twmbarlwm production. Ah well, I did award ticks to 13a and the Quickie pun so all was not lost.
Thanks to our setter and to Shabbo for the review – very envious as always of your return visit to Norfolk.
Welcome back, Jane. We’ve missed you!
Ditto!
Ditto from me too. If you had been absent for much longer I was going to crowd fund a top of the range all singing & dancing new model
Lovely to hear from you again. Welcome back!
Welcome back from the Beehive too – we have missed you
I found this really challenging but was delighted to finish it without needing hints. For me I found a couple of the surface reads didn’t sit well with the answers. 27a – why students? 24d – what is the indicator for the middle two letters? But thanks to the hinter and setter. I look forward to discovering who the latter is.
Well, I guess 27a folk had to learn their trade somewhere!
Hi, Suffolk Lass. In 24d the middle two letters are indicated by “we”. Whether that works for a particular solver depends very much on where they are doing the crossword, but in Suffolk you should be fine!
2.5*/2.5*. Curate’s egg day for me. I might have completed this in 2* time had I not initially confidently put in “hairpin” as the answer for 17a.
13a was my favourite.
Thanks to the setter and to Shabbo.
This was an enjoyable ‘end of the week’ tester which I managed to stay on top of though I slowed down a tad in The Home Counties.
Things started off very nicely with the most excellent 1a. Did you know that he left Berry Gordy’s Motown after almost 60 years? How can you fall out with each other after all those years? It hasn’t stopped him, though. He immediately set up his own record label at 70. This boy’s a machine!
Back to the crossy….
There were lots of great constructions with a fair bit of teething out required. I always like clues that end ‘ish’ Great fun. I have never heard of the tree or bird but both were very gettable.
I’m trying my best to see the relevance of students? Obviously, it makes the parsing very neat but I can’t work it out. Maybe, when you start the job, you are a student of it, i.e a novice? He’s bunged a question mark at the end but I can’t give it to him at the mo. Hopefully, there is an explanation.
My podium is 1a, 11a and 1d.
Many thanks to the setter and Shabbs.
3*/4*
An enjoyable puzzle – thanks to our setter and Shabbo.
I ticked 1d, 8d and 18d with my favourite being 4d.
It seems that I’m in the minority today as i really didn’t enjoy this at all.
I found the cryptic definitions rather weak, synonyms stretched, anagrams barely mixed and GK obscure
4*/2*
Thanks to Shabbo for the much needed hints and setter for a challenge beyond me today.
Having had a tooth extracted this morning I was in need of a distraction as the anaesthetic slowly wears off and this excellent puzzle proved to be just what the doctor (dentist) ordered with 19a and 27a being my favourites, though I do think the setter was making up words with 15a & 18d 😅
***/****
Thanks to setter and Shabbo
I also about wondered about 15a and 18d, but they are both in Chambers.
Re 15a whatever Chambers may say, I have never yet come across “yacht” being used as a verb.
Grammarian?
‘Yachting World’ and ‘Yachting Monthly’ have been on the shelves of W.H. Smith for decades!
For future reference, conjugation of the verb to yacht from Collins:
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/conjugation/english/yacht
Still not sure – perhaps I should become a yachter?
This is an interesting one.
The noun yachting is common place like swimming and surfing but I’ve never seen yachted.
So, I’m with Grammarian on this one.
Finally finished but got a bit stuck in the south and needed a hint for 24d. I enjoyed this very much, particularly the anagrams but did think it was tricky in places. I too had hairpin at 17a.
Many thanks to the setter and to Shabbo for the hints.
As is the norm for me I found this puzzle on RayT’s off week more difficult than one of his puzzles. Not sure why, but that’s the way it is.
2.5*/3*
Favourites 13a, 15a, 26a, 27a, 1d, 14d & 20d — with winner 27a
Smiles for 13a, 17a, 1d & 14d
Thanks to setter & Shabbo
Plenty to enjoy and just the right level for Thursday. Liked the soul singer, large stain and favourite the Boo Boo at 17d
2.5* / 4*
Thanks to Shabbo and the setter
Today is the first day ever!!! I have not needed help. The only one I didn’t understand was 9a but I had all the other letters so it was a process of elimination until I double checked on here.
Congratulations, Susie — that’s fantastic! May more days like it be along soon.
Go Snoozy!
It’s such a great feeling. Huge congrats.
Don’t get too carried though as fiendish Friday is lurking…..
No danger of that Tomds65!
Ha ha!
As you can see from the comments above, today was a tester. So, well done, again.
It’s almost worth getting drunk off the back of it!
Your pic says Suzi88.
Is it Susie or Suzi?
Either way, it must get misspelt by people alllllllllllllllllllllllll the time.
Many fun clues, and I found it less taxing than Thursday crosswords often are. Less than some recent Monday and Tuesday backpagers have done, come to think of it. I even managed all the anagrams by myself for once!
13a made me laugh, especially since Manama gets about 3″ of rain a year, to 24″ in Leeds (and I reckon Ilkley is even rainier than Leeds). The 12-year-old is doing a geography project on India at the moment, so 12a is apt: I’ll try to remember to ask tonight whether they have a paragraph covering the site of the Taj Mahal. My favourite is 19a with the inkspots.
I’ve never seen an episode of The Office either, but the character is famous enough to somehow have forced its way into my general knowledge. Instead, my delay with 11a was not knowing the second word could mean ‘twit’.
Thank you to the setter and blogger, and welcome back to Jane.
I am also a non/ Office watcher – it was a wild guess
…or should that be ‘wild geese’.
The character is called David [first word of 11a], played by Ricky Gervais, and known — I think — for being an obnoxious boss, saying ridiculous things, and bad dancing for Comic Relief (which is tomorrow, co-incidence fans!):
I had no desire to acquire any of the above knowledge, but it somehow got past my defences, so now I’m inflicting it on you as well.
Well I thought at first that today’s offering was going to be a bit of a stinker but in the end it fell into place reasonably easily with gk learning points at 1d and 7d eased by the very fair cluing. 1a took m longer than it should have done, given that one of my sons called me last night for what I thought was just a chat before he suggested I might like to buy tickets for Hyde Park. I reminded him that we’re going to see Neil Young the following day and that two consecutive bouts of standing around and drinking in a park is too much even for those of us still in our seventh decade. Thanks very much to the setter and to Shabbo for the excellent hints.
I’m with SL8 . Didn’t find it amusing and some of the answers were seemingly madeupish .!
I took ages to get 1a and after that it was straightforward, but the clue I really didn’t like was 27a .Am I missing something here?
The toughie today was exactly that and if anyone thinks this was tough, go and try it.
Thanks to all
Hi Francis
You have changed your user name from Fran to Francis Walsh. Both names will now work.
After 4 days of great puzzles, I sadly found little enjoyment in today’s offering. Having almost zero knowledge of The Office and despite living in England for the first 35 years of my life, I have never heard of an 11a. Is 15a really a word? Clearly not my cup of tea and too much to do today to spend any more time on this.
Having spent the morning working in the garden, this was just the sort of light and comfortable puzzle I was hoping for to take my mind of my aching limbs. From the other comments, this appears to be a Marmite kind of crossword, and for the record I enjoyed it, with 27a my favourite.
Thanks to whomsoever compiled it and to Shabbo.
Finished with a little help from my friend, I don’t like doing a ‘reveal’ but a hint is an acceptable nudge in my opinion. And I needed it for 27a. My mother was one, she auditioned for the Golden Voice for the telephone clock. My father fell in love with her voice – he used to telephone another accountant, going through the switchboard, and eventually asked to meet her. The rest is history. Many thanks to the setter and Shabbo
That is a great story!
I enjoyed this despite a dnf.
Never heard of the high flyer nor the synonym for twit. Maybe I need to watch period dramas to hear terms like this…
At the risk of sounding like Brian, 24d was too religious for my limited knowledge of the bible.
Thanks to all.
Finding this one tricky so just joined the blog to see what others have said. Started it earlier and then been busy so will be a late finish. I will try to stick it out – haven’t looked at the hints yet. Actually that’s a lie as I just cheated with the tree at 7 down and used ChatGPT . I had most of the letters but couldn’t work it out. Not a tree that I have heard of. Anyway ….onwards and upwards. Thanks to setter and Shabbo.
Finished it. Of course the second half went in fairly easily with checkers etc. and once I’d figured the anagram at 1a – doh . Wonder why I made such heavy weather of it !
This going to bed too early then waking up at an ungodly hour & tackling the puzzle malarkey might have served me well yesterday but less so today. A distinctly laboured solve to say the least. Can’t abide RG & have never watched The Office so struggled to recall the character’s name & took an embarrassingly long time to peg the twit synonym – didn’t help that I was also unfamiliar with the flyer. Enjoyed the puzzle nevertheless though I did think there were a few strange surfaces. Lovely to start with little Stevie – many only familiar with his later stuff (much like Elton John) have no idea just how good his early 70s output was. 27a & the Quickie pun were my favs today.
Thanks to the setter & to Shabbo
Ps 19a reminded me of this birthday card
An escaped toughie for me. Never seen the office, couldn’t believe 15a and 18d were really words and the less said about 27a the better, there were others i had reservations about. I nodded off halfway through. I also made few inroads into the toughie which probably put me in a grumpy mood. As I can’t think of anything positive to say I think I’ll leave it there.
No chance of finishing this one. Most clues meant nothing to me at all. *****/-
Started this evening and as often, thought it looked impossible but battled on and almost finished without using the hints, despite the oddities mentioned in the other comments: unfortunately, I put hairpin in for 17a, which prevented me from solving 2d and 18d – so I needed the hints for those. Thanks to the setter and Shabbo. COTD 1d for the Lego, surface and diversion. ***/***
Welcome back Jane !
As for the puzzle ….4*/1 *
liked 1D “Bridge partners live for gin ! (5)”