Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30921
Hints and tips by Huntsman
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ***/****
Back home yesterday evening after 7 rounds of golf on successive days in the Algarve so my aching body certainly appreciated a night back in my own bed & it was a bit of a struggle getting up early this morning to do the blog.
I haven’t bothered to do the sums but it is the usual impressively low word count & an appearance of the trademark sweetheart that tells us it’s a Ray T production. I was grateful that it wasn’t taxing as I’m a little woolly headed this morning so hopefully the hints, if required, are correct.
In the hints below the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED & the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the Click Here buttons. Please leave a comment below telling us what you thought & how you got on with the puzzle.
Across
1a Huge romantic also getting sloppy (12)
ASTRONOMICAL: an anagram (sloppy) to kick us off with – ROMANTIC ALSO.
9a Rotating mechanism for fans? (9)
TURNSTILE: a cryptic definition – fans in this instance nowt to do with cooling & ventilation. Doubt the fella on the right below is Terence as I like to think of him in hospitality.
10a Flight of adult incarcerated in prison (5)
STAIR: insert (incarcerated) the single letter for Adult into a slang term for prison.
11a Bring out criminal to be heard (6)
ELICIT: a homophone (to be heard) of a synonym for criminal or illegal.
12a Eager to acquire Dali’s last canvas (8)
PAINTING: insert the final letter (last) of Dali into a synonym of eager as in craving or gasping for – John, Sylvia, Anthony & Harry were.
13a Intelligence agency in extremely large party (6)
SOCIAL: place the acronym for the US intelligence agency between a synonym for extremely & the single letter for Large.
15a Mature offspring adopting a boy (8)
SEASONED: insert (adopting) A from the clue + the word for boy/male child into a synonym for offspring.
18a Bone in undergarment on detailed top (8)
VERTEBRA: a synonym for top/peak minus the last letter (de-tailed) followed by (on) a female undergarment.
19a Greek god’s about gutted abiding heathens (6)
PAGANS: place the Greek god of amongst other things shepherds & flocks and companion of nymphs together with the possessive S around (about) the exterior letters (gutted) of AbidinG.
21a Through ageing ingests indigestible food (8)
ROUGHAGE: hidden (ingests) in the first two words of the clue.
23a Binge, occasionally nude, consumed by drink (6)
BENDER: insert (consumed by) the alternate letters of NuDe into an alcoholic drink.
26a Start to gather meagre harvest (5)
GLEAN: the initial letter (start to) of Gather followed by a synonym of meagre.
27a Butcher and master butcher possibly (9)
TRADESMAN: an anagram (butcher) – AND MASTER.
28a Refined extract insect queen’s discharged (12)
QUINTESSENCE: another anagram (discharged) – INSECT QUEEN’S. Our Tuesday Toughie reviewer would expect a bit of Hamlet in the rain to accompany this one.
Down
1d Assert cast’s upset about performer (7)
ACTRESS: hidden in reverse (upset/about).
2d Trunks maybe too drastic, oddly (5)
TORSI: contained in the alternate letters (oddly) of the 3rd&4th words of the clue.
3d Dogged old boy’s fed, eating can (9)
OBSTINATE: insert (eating) another word for a can between the abbreviation for old boy + the possessive S & a verbal synonym for fed.
4d Exclude from old Cambridge University (4)
OMIT: Old + a Cambridge University – not a college in Daisy’s neck of the woods but the abbreviation for the research uni over the pond.
5d Restated attractive quality sweetheart valued (8)
ITERATED: the two letter term for attractive quality/ sex appeal + Ray T’s customary swEetheart + a verbal synonym for valued/assessed.
6d Crime of passion to inflame (5)
ARSON: I’ll plump for a cryptic definition & underline the lot – think pyromania.
7d Ranch had a nice spread (8)
HACIENDA: an anagram (spread) – HAD A NICE. Also the name of the famous Manchester music venue so popular in the eighties & early nineties.
8d Female perhaps strict and distant (6)
FRIGID: Female + a synonym for strict or unbending.
14d Motor with old exhaust left roundabout (8)
CAROUSEL: Assemble a type of motor vehicle + Old + a verbal synonym for exhaust (maybe with up) + Large. A standout sequence in Hitchcock’s Strangers On A Train.
16d With dodgy males, she’s turning immodest (9)
SHAMELESS: an anagram (dodgy) – MALES SHE’S.
17d Light up seaside resort, it’s said (8)
BRIGHTEN: a homophone (it’s said) of the east Sussex resort albeit there’s only the difference of a vowel.
18d Amazon sign containing arrow’s head (6)
VIRAGO: insert (containing) the first letter (head) of Arrow into the an astrological sign of the zodiac.
20d Line under street from elsewhere (7)
STRANGE: the two letter abbreviation for street followed by (under in a down clue) a synonym of line/row.
22d Back nun, at heart a believer (5)
HINDU: a synonym for back/rear + the central letter (at heart) of nUn.
24d Devil, even malevolent or nasty initially (5)
DEMON: an acrostic (initially).
25d Naked except for lingerie finally (4)
BARE: a synonym for except + the last letter (finally) of lingeriE.
Today’s Quick crossword pun: FURS + STAID = FIRST AID
Pick of the clues today for me was the surface read at 16d & I’m guessing the lady wasn’t 8d. Podium spots also for 9a&14d. Please let us know which clues ticked your boxes.
I found Ray T a bit tricksy today with some parsing eluding me at first. I had to work things out after I had solved the clues. They all fitted the available checkers so I was fairly certain the answers were correct. All were well crafted, of course, but I struggled to get on Mr. T’s wavelength. Still, I enjoyed the tussle and I did like the rotating fans at 9a and the dogged old boy at 3d. My COTD is the mature offspring at 15a.
Thank you, Ray T for the challenge. Thank you, Hintsman for the hunts.
I wonder if I’m the only one who put ‘O” instead of “E” at 17d?
The field next to the house has been spread with chicken manure. The stench is cloying but it has to be ploughed in within 24 hours.
Gosh, yes I did put O instead of E in 17d; in fact I hadn’t realised it was wrong until you said!
So did I!! Definitely would not have got the Mythical for that slip.
Me too.
After 3 readings of the clues I still couldn’t understand why I had not received the confetti.
Grrr!!
Yep, me as well with the O and E
In 2008 I parked my shiny white motorhome in a lay-by on a lane next to a fence with a large field beyond. Then went for a long walk in the Staffordshire countryside. I came back four hours later to find one side of my pride and joy splattered with a liberal coating of cow manure! Not quite as bad as chicken muck, admittedly.
I can imagine your comments, Jose! 🤣
Very enjoyable. 12a, 23a and 14d all floated my boat. Best thanks to RayT and Huntsman. Welcome back. I’d have bet my mortgage on 28a. And double Van to boot? Nice! Good man.
I thought that Ray T was in a very generous mood today. Maybe the stars were aligned but all went in reasonably smoothly with just a few moments to ponder the odd parsing. In answer to Steve C in 1 above, I too bunged in an “o” in 17d before the error of my way dawned on me. Many contenders for podium positions from which I’ll pick 23a, 4d and 18d in top spot. Thanks to Ray T and Huntsman
Slow going today, not helped by failure to spot the homophone at 11a and some forgotten geom at 18a. My COTD was 9a, which also took a while to twig. Thanks very much to the setter and to Huntsman for hints, music etc.
Enjoyable stuff from the ever-reliable Mr T. Thanks to him and Huntsman.
My pick of the clues involved 9a, 12a and 6d.
Django’s Toughie today is great fun and not too tricky. I thoroughly recommend it.
Definitely **** for difficulty for me today, but all fair and above board – I always find his puzzles tricky but stimulating
As Prawn writes at Comment 3, Ray T in a very generous mood for today’s puzzle. Perhaps he knew that Huntsman had swapped with Shabbo and that he would need some TLC after his exertions in The Algarve. 2*/4.5*
Candidates for favourite – 10a, 18a, 23a, 5d, 8d, and 20d – and the winner is 18a.
Thanks to Ray T and Huntsman.
I’d like to think so.
I do enjoy Mr T Thursdays and wasn’t disappointed today. 23a made me smile, thinking of one of our bloggers who was out on a pub crawl with his brother last night, wonder how his head is today? From a wide choice, I’m giving the honours to 15a for its very nice construction.
Devotions, of course, to Mr T and thanks to Huntsman for the review – hope your current stiffness was worth it!
This was a nice, reasonably painless stroll through crossyland with my LOI being the 18a/18d comby.
There seemed to be a small, I’m sure, unintentional, ‘Wey hey!’ theme with undergarment, attractive quality, naked, nude and immodest appearing in clues. But, that’s just me.
I thought 1d was an excellent rekrul and I liked RayT using ‘queen’ as a red herring, i.e not the usual ER indicator.
My podium is 1a, 23a and 14d.
MT to the aforementioned and Hoots Mon!
3*/4*
That’s interesting. I didn’t notice the rekrul but parsed it as C for about and anagram of assert.
I started doing the same but soon saw the error of my ways.
A really terrific guzzle, but I needed help from The Hintsman, hither, and also thither.
Yesterday I went to the GP surgery for a steroid injection into one of my fingers. All went well, although it was a bit ouchy.
Inexplicably, as I left I attempted to fist bump the nurse who carried out the procedure.
She looked at me as if she was one step from pressing the emergency help button.
Now I can never go back there.
Possibly, we will have to move to another country.
Regarding Free – what an astonishing set of individual talent in one band.
Later today, off to
hostilityhospitality at Stamford Bridge where we certainly do not have to undergo the indignity of turnstiles. Good grief, imagine having to mix with those sort of people. It would be unbearable.Thanks to RayTee and Andy Not On The First Tee Today.
You do not feel the need to List 28a then? It is not exactly in every day parlance.
For me a bit harder to get into than others seem to have found. I got there in the end but it certainly was not plain sailing. It was, however, very enjoyable and there were plenty of excellent clues and anagrams 9a was my favourite.
Many thanks to RayT and to Huntsman for the hints.
After my first run through I had only solved a few clues and thought I was really going to struggle but knowing who the setter was, I went back and read the clues again with my Ray T hat on and sure enough the answers started revealing themselves one after another – a sure sign of an excellently crafted puzzle.
Many thanks to Huntsman and Ray T
A tad friendly it may have been, but the elegance and easy style of the compiling is as much of a delight as always. 15a seems to be a popular choice for favourite clue, to which I will gladly add my vote.
My thanks to both Mr T and The Hintsman.
Excellent choice of music to brightEn the day.
Thank you Alasdair.
An enjoyable and reasonably gentle RayT over the lunchtime BLT. For me, the homophone at 11a just doesn’t work – the two words don’t sound the same to me. COTD 4d.
Many thanks to RayT & Huntsman – welcome back.
3*/4* Very enjoyable, lots to like, but favourites are the huge 1a, 9a mechanism and the excellent anagram at 28a
Thanks to Huntsman and RayT
As much as I enjoy RayT’s fortnightly visit, in many ways I thought this was closer to a Beam offering today. It took me much longer than usual to work through it and complete. Sweetheart in this puzzle and the queen that showed up this week was not the usual one.
3*/3.5* this week
Favourites 9a, 12a, 23a, 28a, 14d & 17d — with co-winners 9a & 17d
Many smiles in that lot too.
Thanks to RayT & Huntsman
Delightfully elegant. What a master. I particularly liked 19a and 22d. I agree that we have had a lot of underwear lately, but it’s preferable to sporty clues for me. Many thanks to the sweetheart man and to the Hintsman for getting up early after his recent gruelling experience.
All good apart from 11a which doesn’t quite work for me. Maybe it’s an accent thing.
My favourites were 12a, as the clue flows so well, 18d, a word which I shall endeavour to drop into conversation next season at The Den and 28a, which is the name of a rather out-there band from back in the day.
Thank you RayT and Huntsman.
Chapeau for putting the blog before your aching bones.
Thought this was going to be a **** challenge after getting one solve from the across clues, but all got easier once starting on the down list! Thank you RayT for a smashing puzzle (and for teaching me the plural of trunks). Great illustrations as usual from Huntsman … despite being golfed out
Another fine puzzle from Ray T. For me, this was about average difficulty for one of his but a tad above average for a typical back-pager. The usual elegantly succinct clues gave a satisfying solve and much enjoyment. I have ticked quite a few and will pick 12a as my favourite. 3*/4.5*.
This was not a quintessentially Ray T puzzle as I managed it bar one clue. So many thanks to Ray T for his benevolence and to TallyHoman for explaining why I got some of them of right. I gave a hint of my favourite clue in the first sentence. It is such a wonderful word everyone should use once a week at least along with my favourite word fetid.
Good shout, Corks,
Thank you Tom.
Like Steve Cowling, I found this tricky today, and can’t claim to have found this a benign or easy RayT. Got about half done, but will return at lunch time for another stab. Thanks to himself and Huntsman.
Finally finished, and my brain cannot understand why I found it so tricky this morning…
My first attempt at this RayT was hopeless … but not, apparently, “popeless”.
😊
Nice one.
Very late on parade today. I headed off just before 11 am to travel 40 miles to play my first game of cricket for the season in Southend. It felt colder than the Arctic with a biting wind blowing off the Thames estuary but at least we won convincingly by 9 wickets. As I was due in at number four, I didn’t get a chance to bat before driving 40 miles home!
The opposition’s scorer spent the afternoon outdoors vaping, and so she was frequently shrouded in white smoke. She got rather fed up with the players asking her if she had elected the new Pope.
I thought this was tremendous puzzle from Mr Brevity. Not difficult but a lot of fun.
Many thanks to Ray T and to Hintsman.
Fantastic accompaniment to my train journey to London yesterday, then no time to comment until today! Ray T at his best and revised use of Her Majesty in 22a superlative!
Thank you!
Evening all. With apologies for my extreme tardiness, many thanks to Huntsman for the review and to all for your comments.
RayT
2*/4* ….
liked 9A “Rotating mechanism for fans ? (9)”