Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30908
Hints and tips by Senf
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BD Rating – Difficulty 2.5* – Enjoyment 4*
A Happy St George’s Day and a very good Wednesday morning from Winnipeg where, on Sunday, we exceeded 20 degrees for the first time since October 20th last year – six months!
For Manders, not a Pink-Footed Goose in sight, about 130kms West of Winnipeg and nowhere near a sea or ocean.
For me, etc (I have to say that for Terence), an entertaining midweek puzzle which could be the work of Twmbarlwm, we haven’t ‘seen’ him for a few weeks, or someone else. Whomsoever it is, thank you.
Candidates for favourite – 1a, 21a, 23a, 1d, and 2d.
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 Option when tumble-drier’s broken? Relax (3,2,3,4,3)
LET IT ALL HANG OUT: An expression that came to the fore in the 1960s which also suggests a method of drying laundry?
9a Had a go at playing cricket? (7)
SLEDGED: Verbally insulted or harassed an opposing player while playing cricket.
10a British stew, rabbit (7)
BLATHER: The single letter for British and a synonym of stew (as in a state of (mental) agitation).
11a Bring in American books of value (9)
IMPORTANT: An alternative term for bring in (goods from another country), the single letter for American, and the abbreviated form of a collection of 27 books.
12a Going around spacious southern country (5)
SYRIA: The reversal (going around) of all of a synonym of spacious and the single letter for Southern.
13a Hotel about to fill drinks and water bottles (7)
SIPHONS: The letter represented by Hotel in the phonetic alphabet and a two letter synonym of about all inserted into (to fill) a synonym of drinks (in small quantities).
15a Something to eat from Spooner’s harbour catch (7)
TEACAKE: The Spooner treatment of a (3,4) homophonic phrase equivalent to harbour catch – I am not convinced, any better suggestions?
17a Pretentiousness in Zeppelin, perhaps (7)
AIRSHIP: What Zeppelin can be an example of (perhaps).
19a Considerate, cut fat off crown of lamb (7)
TACTFUL: An anagram (off) of CUT FAT and the first letter (crown) of Lamb.
21a Think duck is by tree (5)
OPINE: The letter representing a crickety duck placed before (is by) guess a (cone bearing) tree.
23a Frauds social worker checks on X, for example (9)
CONSONANT: A four letter synonym of frauds and a six legged (mostly non-flying) social worker contain (checks) ON from the clue – and nothing to do do with a messaging app.
25a Pest getting into beat, beginning to imitate drums (7)
TIMPANI: A synonym of pest inserted into (getting into) a synonym of beat followed by the first letter (beginning) of Imitate.
26a Feelings of guilt concerning detective (7)
REMORSE: The two letter Latin based term for concerning and a well-known fictional detective.
27a Writer, reportedly serious, may whinge when bothered (6,9)
ERNEST HEMINGWAY: A homophone (reportedly) of a synonym of serious and an anagram (when bothered) of MAY WHINGE.
Down
1d Jenny possibly entertained by stories for girls in Balamory? (7)
LASSIES: What Jenny is a female of in the animal kingdom (possibly) contained (entertained) by false stories – for those of you desperate to know, Wikipedia tells me, Balamory is a Scottish live-action children’s programme on CBeebies for pre-school children, about a community on a fictional small island, of the same name, off the west coast of Scotland.
2d Prepare to drive sheep around empty enclosure (3,2)
TEE UP: A term for a male sheep containing (around) EnclosurE with the interior letters removed (empty).
3d I got them to fly around river in biplane (5,4)
TIGER MOTH: An anagram (to fly) of I GOT THEM containing (around – again) the single letter for River.
4d Prisoners hoarding extremely dim adult publications (3,4)
LAD MAGS: A four letter slang synonym of prisoners containing (hoarding) the outer letters (extremely) of DiM.
5d Home ground, where not much stops bowler? (7)
HABITAT: A (1,3) phrase equivalent to not much inserted into (stops) bowler as a type of head wear.
6d Approaches one bar, as missing all starters (5)
NEARS: The first letter deleted (missing all starters) from oNE bAR aS.
7d Spouse‘s alternative beer? (5,4)
OTHER HALF: A synonym of alternative and a small measure of beer.
8d Time Italian restaurant served up mayonnaise (7)
TARTARE: The reversal (served up) of all of a period of (geological?) time and the abbreviated form of an Italian restaurant – my understanding is that mayonnaise is an ingredient of the answer not equivalent to the answer.
14d Odd misnomer associated with soft fruit (9)
PERSIMMON: An anagram (odd) of MISNOMER and (associated with) musically soft.
16d Fix piece for television presenter (9)
ANCHORMAN: A synonym of fix and a term for one of thirty-two pieces on a board made up of sixty-four squares – the BRB shows the enumeration as (6,3) or (6-3).
17d Follower‘s online comment inspired by boundless Dales (7)
APOSTLE: A single word term for online comment contained (inspired) by the interior letters (boundless) of dALEs.
18d Rubber disc is hard and liable to do someone a mischief! (7)
PUCKISH: A rubber disc used in a game played on ice, IS from the clue, and the single letter for Hard (on pencils?).
19d Supported by mate at first, truant lost temper (7)
TANTRUM: An anagram (lost) of TRUANT followed (supported) by the initial (at first) letter of Mate.
20d Sweep left river creature close to Sooty (7)
LOTTERY: The single letter for Left, a river creature, and the last letter of (close to) sootY.
22d Test duplex Amsterdam houses (5)
EXAMS: A lurker (houses) found in two words in the clue.
24d Dart that’s fine, but not new (5)
ARROW: A synonym of fine with the letter that can be an abbreviation for New deleted (but not).
Quick Crossword Pun:
GELS + SEE + PUN = CHELSEA BUN
Wow. A fabulous **/***** this one. I kept thinking that will be my COTD and replacing it with another. 15&20a were excellent and the latter clever and amusing. 1,2,4. & 5d all great. My favourite was the magnificent 22a. I needed the hints to understand 17a and 8d. Thanks Senf and the setter.
Many thanks to the setter for an enjoyable puzzle.
Not sure about 15a. I stand to be corrected, but as far as I am concerned, a key and a harbour are two completely different things.
A key is a land mass, and a harbour is a body of water. Perhaps I have missed something?
2*/4* for me.
What about a quay?
I think you need to use the “quay” spelling of the word?
Ah yes… thanks CS and Shabbo… I never thought of that!
A key is a landmass as in the Florida Keys
I think you need to pronounce the C soft. So it becomes “sea take”
I really enjoyed this.
Ticks for 1a, 9a, 12a, 23a, 2d, 5d, 8d, 14d and 18d.
I read the Spoonerism at 15a the same way as you, Senf.
I have never seen the children’s programme at 1d, but am reliably informed that is was filmed in the colourful town of Tobermory in Mull, where we spent a very enjoyable week in 2000, despite Covid restrictions.
Thanks to setter and Senf.
Spent a equally pleasant time there, researching the Bee family tree, long before children’s TV fame came. They were diving for a Spanish Galleon in the harbour
Lovely long ‘uns and the splendid 9a tickled me. 2d’s very smooth too. Best thanks to our setter and Senf.
A really enjoyable midweek puzzle – many thanks to our setter and Senf.
I took the definition of 17a to be the last two words with the wordplay being synonyms of ‘pretentiousness’ and ‘in’.
I have lots of ticks on my printout including 9a, 17a, 23a and 5d.
AHH – thanks for the explanation of 17a
Found today to be quirky and full of smiles. Some great clues although never knew 17a could mean that.
Btw Jezza I think 15a is referring to key with a q!!
Thanks to the setter and form the hints which I shall. Have a gander at now!
Thanks Magichatuk – I was having one of my dim moments!
2*/4*. Apart from not being able to make much sense of the surface for 25a, I enjoyed this.
I’ve always spelt 13a with a Y, but I see that both spellings are given in the BRB.
Personally, I think that 9a would be even better if the word “playing” was removed.
Mrs RD and I were much relieved when our granddaughters grew out of their obsessive love of CBeebies, and I had hoped never to hear of Balamory again!
Many thanks to the setter and to Senf.
… probably not as much as the residents of Tobermory on the Isle of Mull who were plagued by “fans” knocking on their doors looking for the characters in the series!
.. and apart from that “sledging” eh! Who knew? Another weird and wonderful term from the strange world of cricket. However with a bit of luck it may turn out to be a wet summer🤣
A tricky little rascal with some cracking clues, ideal for a solver of my average ability.
Can’t see how 15a works however.
Rating 3/4 , thanks to the setter & Senf for an hours worth of grey matter stirring.
Thanks folks,
15a now sorted.
For a while I did wonder if we were supposed to pronounce cee as sea and then Spoonerise C(S)ea take, but the quay makes much more sense to someone raised on fish and chips from the Tynemouth Fish Quay
Thanks to Senf and Setter
You & me too & I settled on that & moved on.
Any mileage in “C (sea)(h)ake ,eat(tea) ? For 15 a .It works , kinda.Last one in on a very amusing puzzle .9a my clue of the day .
Thanks to all
Thoroughly enjoyable throughout. Getting 1d first was all that was needed to solve the multi word 1a and the top half went in with only a little pause over the Spoonerism and the alternative spelling of 13a. The lower half of the puzzle was a little more of a challenge, but again, the long one was a great help.18d is not a word I have heard in that context ( or any context for that matter) but very fairly clued. Favourite today was 23a, joined on the podium by 1d and 17d. Thanks to our setter and Senf.
Really enjoyable and very nicely clued. I liked an anagram for my favourite, 3d, mainly because it read so well.
Thanks very much to our setter and Senf.
The Toughie is very accessible and good fun today.
Lovely puzzle, a smooth solve much earlier this morning with plenty of smiles. 15a leapt from the page as quay-take, and worked perfectly for me. Broad smile at 1a, great surfaces throughout. Many thanks to setter (yup, Twm is my call, too) and to Senf.
If you have the time and inclination, do have a go at Hudson’s eminently approachable Toughie. For me this hugely amusing puzzle is a candidate for the year’s top 10, with ticks against nearly every clue – although of course YMMV!
Yes I too enjoyed today’s Toughie, it’s well worth a try.
As others have said – a great puzzle today, tricky in places
3*/4.5*
Fav today 4d and 27a
Thanks to setter and hinter
I have the spoonerism as quay take/ T cake
I hate Spoonerisms, they should be banned! 15a last one in for me and still not convinced.
What’s not to like in this one! Only that I agree with RD on the surface of 25a being clunky. But this is more than made up for by the exceedingly smooth surfaces of 13a, 23a and 1d in particular. It’s hard to pick out favourites, my contenders were 1a, 13a, 15a, 1d and 8d. Agree with other that the “quay” for 15a works best but like them I had “cea” as the first word prior to the Doctor’s treatment.
Agree with Gazza that “Zeppelin, perhaps” is the definition for 17a with the wordplay being that ones “airs” are “hip”.
I spent some time trying to get “posts” or “tweets” into 23a but loved the actual answer. Agree with Senf that 8d is an example of mayo rather than mayo and that 16d needs to be 6-3 or 6,3.
Thanks to setter and Senf
The Ron Burgundy 16d is a single word, and since its release I don’t think I’ve encountered anybody hyphenating it or writing it as two words. The Telegraph write it as a single word in their news articles, so it makes sense they would in their crosswords as well.
Oxford have it as a single word; Chambers need to catch up!
For me, and I stress for me (© Senf), there are some writers with whom I just cannot get along. 27a is one of those. Hello Charles Dickens – you’re another one. Tolkien, Joyce, and Virginia Woolf – you lot too.
Tricky guzzle in places. Enjoyable to solve.
Thanks to the setter and The Man From Manitoba, basking in the Winnipeg sunshine.
Today’s crossword soundtrack: Moonchild – The List
Gosh, Terence you have mentioned most of the authors on my not favourites list 😊. I usually am met with frowns if I say I find them unappealing, and often depressing reads.
A very enjoyable puzzle for me today.
Only issue for me was the Spoonerism…I really dislike them , probably because the homophones often don’t work for me. In this case I could not parse it until I saw Senf’s hint, though from the checkers it had to be what it was.
Agree with Senf about 8d too.
Otherwise, great clues for me.
Thanks to the setter and to Senf.
Glorious day here. Going down to Edinburgh this afternoon to go to the theatre this evening to see “Pride and Prejudice…..sort of” which I am assured is a hoot.
Hope so.
An enjoyable guzzle with a nice variety of clues. I liked the cryptic definition qt 1a, the Lego clue at 23a, the writer at 17a and the unusual Spoonerism at 15a. Thanks to the compiler and to Senf for the hin ts.
A gentle midweeker which is always warmly received.
1a kicked things off nicely and it fairly flowed from there.
I didn’t know the variant spelling of 8d and was interested to see that the original spelling of 13a is an i not a y. I’ve just looked up why a y appeared and it’s purely aesthetic, i.e yph is more pleasing on the eye than iph which is complete nonsense.
Gotta luv the English language!
My podium is 27a, 3d and the nostalgic 20d.
MTT to the setter and the Manitoban mountie.
2*/4*
I always like to see long perimeter clues. If you can solve them straight away they are a great help, and if you can’t it’s fun to try working them out as crossers gradually appear. I’m not sure why a couple of people think ‘Pest getting into beat, beginning to imitate drums’ doesn’t work as a surface. Perhaps they have never been near someone who is so into the music they start playing air drums! Particularly annoying at live gigs. Anyway, amusing and made perfect sense to me.
I agree.
Sport was always my ‘thang’, when I was a tyke, meaning I didn’t learn an instrument.
I’m planning on learning either the drums as rhythm is in my bones or the Joanna because playing it looks like such an enjoyable experience. If I do the former, I’ll need a padded room to not hack off the neighbours.
Decisions, decisions….
I thought that was a very good puzzle indeed and one brimful of inventive clues. My favourites were 1a, 27a and 4d. Last one in was 9a, which was a new word/concept for me. Thanks very much to the setter and to Senf for the hints.
Super puzzle. I love the words in solutions to 10a and 18d.
8d and 21a delayed me, the latter being another rarely used but worthy word.
An excellent puzzle with only 9a holding me up as I did not know the term, any cricket I know about I have learnt on here! The rest of the clues were entertaining with great variety. I liked a number of clues but will have 20d as my favourite.
Many thanks to the setter and to Senf for the hints.
At first glance I thought this was going to be impossible. However a bit of application and twigging 1a opened up the top half to a top half, bottom half completion. My only subsequent delay was caused by stupidly spelling 14d incorrectly. A very enjoyable solve. Tough to pick a podium but 1a, 9a and 18d get the nod. Thanks to compiler and Senf.
Enjoyable and completed in a usual sort of time. So many potential favourites: the 1d stories for girls, the 2d sheep-driving, and the 20d sweep, among them. I’ll pick the 18d rubber disc.
Thank you to Twmbarlwm (now confirmed on social media) and Senf.
Not a bad puzzle for Wednesday, I thought. A few tricky spots, but some clues that induced a smile or two for me.
2*/3.5*
Favourites 1a, 13a, 26a, 27a, 7d & 16d — with winner 1a
Smiles for 1a, 26a, 7d & 16d
Thanks to setter & Senf
How wonderful to find you have a gooseless North Norfolk Senf – thanks for the picture. I enjoyed this puzzle but a couple held me up. I had no idea what 1d was about and just bunged it in. I was chuffed to get 9a straight away. COTD 1a. All in all an enjoyable solve so thanks to the setter and to Senf.
Thanks. There must be some of the eponymous geese there but I didn’t see any as I ‘whizzed’ by.
In Manitoba, a (Rural) Municipality is a ‘collection’ of small communities, 5 for North Norfolk, with a single Council, a little like a Rural District – do they still exist?
Not the best spoonerism in the world but still an excellent challenge thank you compiler and Senf ( that Hombres song is fun!)
I enjoyed this but needed Senf’s hints to parse 13a as I spelt it with a y.
I remembered the cricket term as we had it previously and am pleased to say that I’ve never watched Balamory but knew it was set in Scotland.
Top picks for me were 23a, 10a and 18d.
Thanks to Senf and the setter.
1* / 4* I breezed through this after yesterday’s travails and thoroughly enjoyed it. Loads of excellent clues including 18d, 20d and 1a.
Only slight query would be whether the first word of 4d should be plural, but it’s probably correct.
Thanks to setter and Senf
The BRB has the first word of 4d as singular but I was wondering if it should have a possessive ‘S at the end – not that that would show in the enumeration if it were the case, it would just be (4,4).
Thanks for the reply
Clearly I have my contrary hat on today, as I did not enjoy this one at all, and believe Senf is right in his setter assumption. I can never find this chap’s wavelength. Felt it surely got lost on its way to the Toughie slot. Glad so many of you enjoyed it. Needed too many of Senf’s hints to derive any satisfaction. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.
Like BusyLizzie I felt out of step with this puzzle and needed Senf’s hints. Glad to know that so many enjoyed it and obviously found it satisfying. Go to France tomorrow to see about selling the small house we have shared with family and friends this last 18 years.
Many thanks to all involved and will have tomorrow’s crossword to take me to St.Valery sur Somme.
Just had a google peep at St.Valery – what a lovely place.
I did enjoy this one apart from the cricket (not a clue). Thanks all
Very enjoyable from an excellent starter at the top to a neat clue along the bottom. After we’d thrown the balls up for partners I asked who wanted to drive the sheep around the empty enclosure first & was met with blank stares. Didn’t parse the Rev clue correctly but otherwise straightforward. 20d my fav for getting Sooty & Sweep into the surface.
Thanks to the setter & to Senf.
Ps not sure how a P is pronounced as a B so thought the Quickie pun a bit naff.
Teacake was pushing it a bit…very tenuous…nice crossie though…I like the setter…Doug
An enjoyable solve but got totally sidetracked by the Zeppelin clue – was thinking of any combination of Plant, Page, Bonham or Paul Jones instead of the obvious. Felt a bit cheated on 13a as I entered the British spelling as opposed to the American spelling.
Favourite clue, Sooty and Sweep!
Thank you to both the setter and Senf for the hints.
Hi FB
I looked up the etymology of 13a earlier today and saw that the original spelling from Greek is i not y. So, purists would use an i.
Some clown felt that yph is more pleasing on the eye than iph which is completely ridiculous.
So, our cousins over The Pond have got this one right.
We’re the vain fools.
Spellings change over time regardless of etymology. For me the ‘I’ would be a hard ‘I’ and the ‘y’ would be soft. However we spell things is the correct way as its the ‘English’ language.
I hear you, TG, as language does evolve.
A lot of the reasons for letter and pronunciation changes make sense.
But, this one, i.e it’s easier on the eye not to aid its pronunciation, is lame, to say the least.
I did say ‘for me. 😁 Anyway it still doesn’t look right to me.
No problem, Tailor.
There appears to be just three of us that didn’t find this paticularly straightforward or that enjoyable. Surely 13a can’t be an English spelling, I’m probably wrong (I usually am) but I would always spell it with a ‘Y’ and more likely to contain soda than water. The south went in fairly quickly, the north much less so. No real favourite but you may have guessed that it wouldn’t have been 13a. Thanks to the setter anyway and Senf.
Im afraid this was one long slog for me so hats off to those who completed without reference to MrG or similar. Too many ughs to name any in particular. Thank you to whomever set this horror and to Senf for much needed hints.
4*/2* ….
liked 7D “Spouse’s alternative beer ? ( 5,4)”