Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30893 (Hints)
The Saturday Crossword Club (hosted by crypticsue)
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Another lovely sunny morning (hopefully it will warm up a bit later) and anenjoyable Saturday Prize Puzzle which I found on the solver-friendly side. Only one multi-word solution this week so hopefully there won’t be too much grumpiness
Please ask for help if you are stuck on clues I haven’t hinted, but before doing so, please read the comments that appear before yours, so that you are not duplicating questions, and make sure you obey both THE INSTRUCTIONS IN RED at the end of the Hints and the blog’s Comment Etiquette – Big Dave’s Crossword Blog)
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.
A full review of this puzzle will be published after the closing date for submissions.
Across
1a Refashioned “A” from Ascot in official device (4,2,4)
An anagram (refashioned) of A FROM ASCOT
6a Unlikely way to downsize corporation? (4)
Only a slight chance (unlikely) or a way to downsize a particular part of the body (cue all the people who never remember the informal meaning of the word corporation
11a/13a Old PM clear: army trains here (9,5)
A Conservative Prime Minister in the late 1800s and a synonym for clear. For some unknown reason, my first boss used to be very proud of the fact that he’d managed to lose a whole column of tanks here, so I always think of him when I see a reference to this place!
12a Sea current advanced in Orwellian superstate (7)
A large sea, the symbol for electrical current and the abbreviation for Advanced – one of the three Superstates in George Orwell’s novel 1984
28a Money one might charge incautious tourist? (5)
I have only hinted this clue because of the number of people who continue to say on a regular basis that they don’t know this archaic slang word for money
29a Are we told to nurture flightless creature? (4)
A homophone (are we told) of a verb meaning to nurture
30a Evil-doer‘s Y-chromosome? (10)
Split this evil doer 4,6 and you should see a description of a Y-chromosome
Down
1d Mould in shed (4)
A mould of something or a verb meaning to shed
3d Cat at any time eating mouse’s heart (5)
I always feel that there are more of this rare wild cat in crosswords than in real life. Insert the letter at the heart of moUse into an adverb meaning at any time
5d Old puffer in shopping centre on a road (7)
A shopping centre, A (from the clue) and an abbreviated road
9d Stick at defending peace proposal (3-5)
AT (from the clue) into which is inserted (defending) an instruction to be quiet (peace) and a proposal
14d Hopeless idea main or pudding suggests? (3-7)
If you were only ordering a main dish or a pudding, this would suggest that your meal order wouldn’t include a first course
25d More in middle: tons in two areas for vessel (5)
The middle letters of mORe and the abbreviation for Tons go between two abbreviations for Area
26d Secure extra portion did you say? (4)
A homophone (did you say) of a synonym for additional (extra portion)
As this is a Prize crossword, please don’t put any ANSWERS, whether WHOLE, PARTIAL or INCORRECT, or any ALTERNATIVE CLUES in your comment. If in doubt, leave it out
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The Quick Crossword pun: GNEISS + TORQUE + INTO + EWE = NICE TALKING TO YOU
An excellent puzzle spoiled by another regional homophone at 26d but I have moaned about them before and we still get them.
I have spent many fruitless days tying to dig trenches in the chalk of 11a/13a so it must be my favourite today.
Thanks to the setter and crypticsue
Not sure what you thinkbthe problem is with 26d. Not regional as far as I’m aware.
Nor me.
Homophone also doesn’t work for me, (from the north east), but I got it and it doesn’t bother me
I’m grateful to CS for parsing my answer to 9d. I stared at this clue for as long as it took me to finish the rest. I just could not convince myself of the parsing. That said the rest I thoroughly enjoyed. Much wit on display, especially in 14d and 21a. My podium comprises 11/13a, 18d and q4d in top spot. Thanks to NYDK (?) and CS.
Ditto on 9d. Not a phrase I’d heard but I couldn’t fit anything else to the checkers. Most dictionaries have it as a single, unhyphenated word, which didn’t help. **/***
Agree, never seen that word before.
A very satisfying solve for me today.
Many a witty clue on display, including the wonderful sausage rolls, incautious tourist, evil-doer, cat, pudding and more in middle. After much deliberation, or in fact some, the evil-doer has just pipped the sausage rolls, so podium for that one.
Many thanks Sue and setter (guess NYDK).
Nope, beat by four clues today, still can’t get 28a and 26d even with the hints.
Good luck over the pond with 5d and 11a.
Never mind, there’s always tomorrow……….
Hi TC
These crosswords constantly have answers that are associated with this green and pleasant land and quite right too as they often trigger memories or an anecdote whether it be Eric Morecambe, a sporting reference, a musician, a moment in time or a location.
My guess is that 90% of solvers live in The UK or spent most of their life here. It’s a case of knowing the audience.
So, if the casualties are non-Brits who are overseas then so be it.
I reckon we should stick an extra 10% tariff on all US subscriptions, that’ll learn ’em!
Like it, Officer Dibble. Like it.
And yet you complain about Americanisms?
On 26d, think Oliver Twist.
Ta, got it now, that’s also given me the Money one.
Some quite tough for a SPP, but I got there eventually. I liked the place where DaveP was digging and the restaurant but prize to the illustrated roadside shopping centre as it always a highlight when visiting the NRM
I thought this was an absolutely superb SPP with any number of PDMs and some terrific misdirection to push out the solving time. I could pick pretty much any clue for a favourite such was the quality on offer, but I will go for 21a and my final entry, 28a.
Many thanks to our Saturday Setter for a great challenge, and to Sue.
Quite a few good clues but the two animals that only appear in crosswords, the archaic slang for money (never heard of) and 9d which I couldn’t parse and again was unfamiliar were all very frustrating. I loved 26d. Thanks to CS for parsing and to the setter for several nice PDMs.
Really good today, also beaten by (redacted – if only I had a pound for every time someone ignored the instructions in red, I’d be a very rich person). The quick one could be extended by another word !!
The quick pun in the paper only has four words in italics so I assume that’s all that was intended
Well, as the late Jimmy Greaves said, for me, this was “a game of two halves”. I positively romped through the top half – almost a read and write – and had every one of the northern lights completed, and I caught myself thinking “this is going well – I certainly won’t need CS’s hints today” and, like the crossword solver’s equivalent of the proverbial commentator’s curse, I immediately ground to a halt with the entire southern half almost completely blank. Thanks to a couple of CS’s fortuitously well-placed hints (and a little electronic assistance) I managed to finish. And very enjoyable it was too.
For favourites, I can’t really improve on Jeanne Vincent’s list above.
With thanks to the setter and to CS.
This should keep most punters happy: lots of straightforward but nicely crafted constructions, a bit of lateral thinking and some gentle GK.
My LOI was 9d which immediately went on to my podium along with 30a and 4d.
Many thanks to Rood Bonk and she of the crypt.
3*/4*
Plenty of our setter’s humour on display today, just his definition of 9d that I didn’t find particularly persuasive. Top clue for me was 21a – simple enough to answer but it really made me laugh.
Thanks to NYDK, presumably, and to CS for the hints.
I was stuck (pardon the near pun) on 9D for ages after completing the rest of the puzzle and eventually filled in what it had to be although the parsing parsed me by until I read Sue’s hint. Incidentally, all the references I found had it as an 8 letter word, not 3-5.
Otherwise, lots to enjoy, and my vote for first place goes to the chromosome at 30A.
Thanks to the setter and CS for the hints.
We parsed 9d but never heard of the word. Also couldn’t find in a dictionary as 3-5
9d. The Chambers Dictionary 12th Edition has it hyphenated. Page 85.
V much enjoyed. Particularly 15, 27, 28 and 30a. Can’t give a preference. Had forgotten 22a’s association with Orwell. Worked out 9d, but didn’t know it was one! (Electronically confirmed)
Many thanks to the setter and to CS.
A very enjoyable SPP challenge. No problems with the simple, for me, multi clue but that was counterbalanced by 9d; It took a while to convince myself that the answer was the answer, I should have consulted the BRB sooner.
Candidates for favourite – 15a, 21a, 30a, 3d, 5d, and 14d – and the winner is 5d.
Thanks to NYDK, or whomsoever if it is not he, and thanks to CS.
A very enjoyable time spent on today’s offering except for two small beefs. Neither homophone came to my Glasgow accented mind until I made my poor RP impersonation.
2*/5*. This was an excellent SPP. With a plethora of ticks to pick from, 30a was my runaway favourite.
I’ve never heard of 9d but the answer couldn’t have been anything else. It was quite a coincidence to see the homophone in 29a crop up again so soon after the great debate recently on the blog as to whether the answer is one, two or perhaps one and a half syllables!
Many thanks to NYDK (?) and to CS.
After a forbidding first impression this turned out to be a lot of fun. Imagine there will be lots of contenders for a DT prize (unlike Daisygirl I gave up trying years ago!). After a bung-in for 9d North came in first due to a couple of hiccups with wildlife in SE. Surely 6a is not necessarily “unlikely”! TVM setter and CS.
A trip to the dictionary may prove useful for 6a
Sue, I of course don’t need to consult a dictionary to discover the double entendre but on reflection perhapi my comment was out of order in that jit only considers one.
I have to admit that I would have given up long ago if I were not able nowadays to submit on line. Mind you, scanning to printer has been a bit of an issue with the new computer but I think I have now mastered it. 3pens and a pack of cards over some 70 years has surely been paid for in postage. I will not feel at all guilty if I get another pen, but having photographed it for you unbelievers I shall send it to Steve! Watch this space.
This was more tricky in the south than usual and it was just as well this fell on a day when I had time to do it justice as it was very enjoyable. Lots of excellent clues and a few older ones that were less familiar. I liked many clues but 21a was my favourite.
Many thanks to the setter and to CS for the hints
Looks like NYDK is back with one multi word clue for this week. Well worded clue. Several other great clues in this one too that show up in my favourites.
2*/4* for me
Favourites 11/13a, 17a, 30a, 2d & 21d — with tie for winner 11/13a & 30a
Smiles for 15a, 21a, 8d & 26d
Thanks to NYDK & CS
What a great puzzle with lots of smiles and a soupcon of chewiness.
Top picks for me were 25d, 17a, 30a and 7d.
Thanks to CrypticSue and NYDK.
Delicious to be back in Guzzleland after two days of being prodded, poked and photographed – and not always on my best side. I loved this, I resisted George’s suggestions for 9d until there wasn’t anything else to put in. The anagrams were neat, the sausage rolls amusing, quite a lot of testosterone about and hard to pick a winner. Many thanks to the Not Your Daughter’s Jeans man and to dear Ceesue who mothers us all. I wonder what is on offer on the naughty step today – I feel like a slice of cake !
Flapjack which I left in the oven a tiny bit too long – probably because I was solving the General Knowledge crossword – but it’s still quite nice
Yum yum. I won’t complain. But on the other hand, it has just struck Gin O’clock…..
I’ve been known to grumble at multi word clues but not today….it was the first one in…but I was born and brought up there! I found it quite tricky in the southeast but overall an enjoyable crossword.
Thanks to Cryptic Sue and NYDK.
Very enjoyable with the N falling in read and write fashion except 6a. The S was tricker but contained favourites 21a and 30a. Also liked 16d. But back to 6a – even after CS’s hint and reading the blog I still couldn’t get it without a trip to a thesaurus. That also stopped me ‘getting the girl’ at 7d, which should have been simple. I’ll be joining InfiniDim Enterprises next week – dur!!!
Thanks CS and I presume NYDK unless the linked clue was by an imposter.
Did better than usual but I do have to put my hand up to not knowing/remembering the 28a word for money. Assume it came into use after we flew the coop in 1982 or perhaps just wasn’t used in our part of Berkshire. I would have been stumped at the linked clue, but Peter helped me out. Spoiler for me was 9d, although I did figure it out, but without knowing why. Thankfully I’ve only had to use one of those for a short time. Thanks to setter and CS.
Hi, BusyLizzie! Chambers 21st Century Dictionary says “etymology: 17c”, which I think is a little before you left the UK!
I didn’t know it either. Searching this site shows that CrypticSue explained it in 2012 and again in 2017, when Big Dave added it to the Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing list (but there’s no evidence I did either of those puzzles).
We parsed 9d but didn’t know the stick. Enjoyable in general. Favourite was 16d. Thanks to the setter and CS.
Excellent, great fun.
I quite liked the American with large weapon, but ‘chromosome’ gets my vote.
2 quick points to raise: first, while that homophone is fine for the way I speak, does ‘do we hear?’ excuse it, or would ‘some say’ be a universal way out for setters? Second, what is ‘NYDK’?
Thanks Sue and setter.
The setter is normally known as Donnybrook; he has made an anagram of that to become NY Doorknob, and this has been further abbreviated to NYDK, probably a bit silly really but crossword peeps cant help playing with words. As to your first query, there are probably as many homophone indicators as anagram indicators, just more ways for setters to toy with us
And I call him Not Your Daughter’s Jeans as that is the name of a brand
of jeans I wear on the odd occasion I do wear jeans! Other makes do exist, I believe.
An excellent guzzle. Three quarters of it yielded without a struggle then 3 in the NE put up some resistance. Embarrassingly slow to twig both 6a&7d which left 9d where the wordplay provided the answer but like Jane I wasn’t keen on the definition. Too close to call between 21&30a for first past the post.
Thanks to Donny (presumably) & to Sue.
This was tough for me today. Was pleased 9d was hinted as completely unsure of the answer.
4*/3*
30a favourite today. 5d – unhinted Americanism?
Thanks to NYDK and Sue for 9d
An enjoyable puzzle and not too taxing. Like others I completed about 80% quite rapidly then things slowed down considerably. I dis require electronic assistance on a couple of clues, others yielded themselves eventually.
Favourite clue, 30a, made me smile. Probably been seen before but not by me.
Probably all been said above, very enjoyable Saturday Prize Puzzle, 3* / 4*. Learnt a new name for a stick, reminded of charging money and liked the quickie pun.
Too many top notch clues to mention.
Thanks to Sue and Setter
After a slow start, the clues fell into place with increasing rapidity as the checkers went in. I acrually had an incredibly sturdy 9d, which I vpurchased, while on holiday in the Lake District 40 years ago. I enjoyed remembering using it. There were some nice geog clues and I particularly liked the 11a/13a combination with the historical twist and 20d.This compiler has agift for amusing clues and 21a was my COTD. Thanks to the compiler for an enjoyable SPP. THabks also to CS for the hints. .
I’ll echo the “game of two halves” comment above. I raced through the top half, then got completely stuck on 5 or 6 clues in the bottom half. Got there in the end though. Favourites for the day were 15a, 16d and 21d.
Thanks to the setter and CS.
Quite enjoyed this.Got there within norms. A couple of small niggles (it’s the British way). 21a seems just a bit too let me tell you the answer. And those lurkers..
I might have been happier if I’d picked the Grand National winner
I found this challenging, in a good way — I’m only finishing it on Sunday morning, but I got there in the end and I loved it! Thank you to NT Doorknob.
16d’s top marks and 27a’s display of too much skill were jostling for being favourite until I solved 30a which is wonderful. Thank you to CrypticSue and other commenters.
For me this was **** difficulty and needed loads of hints even after a night’s rest but overall very fair thank you CS and NYDK
Hello. Thanks Sue, and thanks for all the comments.
Cheers
NYDK
Could someone explain the logic behind 21d and 27a? It would give me great peace of mind!
Welcome to the blog
21d is simply a word meaning for men only inserted into a tool to produce someone taken prisoner as security
27a the name of this sausage roll would imply that a cool cat wouldn’t like it at all
What did you think of the rest of the crossword?
Thank you, it’s a pleasure to be here.
21d – I can see it now!
27a – I think we are talking about different clues, it is “Display too much skill around restaurant”
As for the rest of the crossword – loved it!
A restaurant is found by reversing (around) a verb meaning display, an abbreviation meaning too much and a synonym for skill
online version – not able to submit the prize cryptic. Anyone else had issues ?
You seem to be trying to submit a puzzle from last month, rather than today’s… entries have closed.
ahh i see – thought i’d clicked on today’s. – thanks