DT 30927

68 comments on “DT 30927”

1. 2*/5*. I enjoyed this a lot and it improved my mood immensely after yet another error in PlusWord (which I see has now been corrected online). I liked the Quickie pun too.

   With plenty of ticks to choose from, my top picks are 10a, 13a, 25a & 21d.

   Many thanks to the setter (could it be Hudson?) and to Hintsman.

   1. It was Hudson yesterday. I think today’s compiler might be Karla.
      I love The Times’s crosswords but I reckon the Telegraph’s back page puzzles are currently the most consistently entertaining ones out there.

      1. Karla could well be a good call, Michael.

         Do you know for sure it was Hudson yesterday? Smylers did suggested it might be him, but only as a guess.

         1. CS seems to be quite good when it comes to spotting Hudson’s puzzles, perhaps she could enlighten us.

         2. He was asked via one of the social apps yesterday and confirmed it.

            1. Thank you, there’s our answer.

   2. I’m taking the credit for PlusWord being fixed online! I emailed the setter about 6 this morning.

      Michael, do we know who set yesterday’s? The only comment I can see mentioning Hudson is from … me — and I’m often wrong!

      1. (Ooops, I clearly should’ve refreshed the page before posting the above: none of the above 4 comments where there when I wrote it, but clearly they already were on the ‘live’ site.)

2. I found this tricky but still enjoyable.

   Top picks for me were 10a, 18a, 25a, 7d and 5d.

   Thanks to Huntsman and the setter.

   1. I agree – I found some bits real head scratchers and others quite simple – a real blend but enjoyable none the less

3. I have to post a dnf as I needed too many hints / electronic help to complete the N of this puzzle. Having initially drawn a blank in the N, I made steady headway in the S only to once again fail to get any traction in the top half. Overall I found it somewhat unrewarding. Sorry, compiler, too good and not one for me today. Thanks also to Huntsman for the very necessary hints.

4. Took an embarrassingly long time to see the sandwich (HP and butter in white doorsteps a better accompaniment IMO) but otherwise a nice start to Thursday
   Thanks to Huntsman and setter, let’s see if Silvanus is as accommodating in t’other place

5. I really enjoyed this, it was challenging in places and I spent a while trying to work out the parsing of a couple but I got there and feel suitably pleased. 21d will be my favourite as it made me chuckle but it could have been many others.

   Many thanks to the setter and to Huntsman for the hints

6. A very enjoyable Thursday challenge from whomsoever, Hudson perhaps? – **/****

   A pleasant change to ‘see’ the ‘complete’ 1a drink and not just the first four letters.

   Candidates for favourite – 10a, 12a, 18a, 3d, and 15d – and the winner is 10a.

   Thanks to whomsoever and Huntsman.

7. Ah! Those notorious East End villains… I had a small part in the 1990 movie of their life. Their brother Charlie was a consultant on the movie and a complete pain in the butt on the set every day. I remember filming in Prospect Park in Reading, and somewhere in London where sand had to be strewn in the gutters to cover up the double yellow lines (not in existence in the 1940s and 1950s). Best bit was making lifelong pals with lovely Kate.

   Fun guzzle. Each glue a little delight. I thought 27a rather an out of date expression, but I’m very wrong; they are sold hither, thither, and even at IKEA.

   Thanks to the setter and Andy, roaring Rory onwards.

   

   1. A solid film with the Kemp boys surprisingly good. Also liked Peter Medak’s next one, Let Him Have It with Chris Ecclestone – shame he was lost to TV drama albeit he directed some great stuff there. Could see Kate’s face but couldn’t remember her surname so had to look the cast list up. Remember seeing the film in the cinema with my ma on one of her visits & her telling me she used to play with Billie Whitelaw when they young girls growing up in Coventry.

   2. Heard a lot about the shenanigans in the making of the movie from my brother who was associate producer. He adopted a dog that kept turning up on location. It had just three legs so they called Lucky!

   3. I wouldn’t want to mess with you, Terrance. You look as if you mean business!

      1. Terence! Sorry. 😊

   4. The twins came to a big wedding in our church when my then hairdresser got married. The reception was all cockle and whelk stalls and jellied eels. Great fun. Of course this was before we knew who they really were!

      1. Blimey — does everybody else here have some kind of personal connection to them?! I’m beginning to feel a bit left out …

8. I agree with Huntsman that on first impression this seemed more difficult than it actually was. The problem, in my case, is that I do like to solve 1a before moving on (silly I know) and even when the answer became obvious, with a couple of down clues solved, it took ages to parse it. When done,of course, I wondered what the issue had been! Moving on, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole puzzle with a good variety of clues, some humour and a little head scratching. Favourite today was the aforementioned 1a, joined on the podium by 7d and 20d. Thanks to whomsoever and Huntsman.

   1. I’m with you on “needing” to get 1a done first.

9. A few head-scratchers here today but uite an enjoyable guzzle. My favourite clue was the 10a homophone, short but sweet, unliike the gangsters in question. I also liked the lefo clues, thepiece of furniture at 27a and the national at 11a. The geographical lurker is the other clue on my podium. Thanks to the compiler and to Huntsman for the hints. Cool and cloudy i South Oxfordshire today.

10. Solved alone and unaided…..but needed a lot of explaining of the parsings…..Dim, as Kath (I think) used to say. Also took me ages to finish with 2 breaks for coffee/to do other things. Always helps to break….gets your right brain going….
    Because of my inability to parse, not as enjoyable for me.

    Thanks to the setter and big thanks to Huntsman.

    Another beautiful day here….back to the gardening this afternoon.

11. For me, this came as a complete contrast to yesterday’s back-pager, hilarity replaced by sheer hard work! Crossed the finish line eventually but with many hiccoughs and pieces of reverse parsing along the way. Top clues here were 10&13a plus 5d.

    Thanks to our setter for a real work-out and to Huntsman for the review – hope Shabbo is enjoying his Highland fling!

12. Enjoyed this, all done & dusted by 0545, with the sun just having risen above Dartmoor in the distance. Good from start to finish, with only eyebrow-raise being 1d – not sure I’d call Google itself an App (and Spawn of Satan didn’t fit) but there were plenty of smiles at the witty clueing and surfaces. Honours to COTD 18a (great combined surface read and answer), 13a & 24d, while 5d & 7d both resulted in broad grins.

    Many thanks to the setter & to Huntsman

13. An enjoyable end of the week tester that required some thinking with my LOI being 27a as I haven’t heard of it.

    I love that 16a can be spelt four ways.

    My podium is 9a, 26a and 21d.

    MT to the setter and Hoots mon!

    3*/4*

14. Thought 17d was a bit risky, as putting ‘place’ around H can cause all manner of misunderstanding.

    Very hard puzzle apart from that, would not have been out of place tomorrow or on the Toughie page.

    My last one in was 10a, funny really as Ron lived the last of his years in a very large redbrick place
    about 100 yds from where I went to primary school, and a few years later one of my friends went to work there
    and often played snooker with him.

    My two of the day are 1a for the small cat, and the lovely 26a, great fun.

15. Not that tricky for a Thursday

    Thanks to the setter and Huntsman

16. Great fun. 19a reads beautifully, 25a’s fun and 27a appealed. Best thanks to setter and DJ.

17. A splendid puzzle — thank you to the setter, especially for 18a’s trans-Atlantic iron, 27a’s artist, and 5d’s growth area.

    Anybody else try to make ‘abuse’ work for 25a’s complaint? The first 3-letter sandwich I thought of was ‘sub’, so I put that in the centre letters of ‘Deal’ and turned the whole thing about. Obviously ‘about’ can’t indicate both a reversal and a container, but it seemed so close to working that I spent quite some time trying to force it in.

    Thank you to Huntsman for The Pet Shop Boys — that video is fantastically bonkers! — and for parsing both 1d (‘spare’ ) and 1d, where I didn’t know that Google is an app, despite my being a 6d. Not that I got 6d by myself, either; that was one I ended up putting in an anagram solver, even once I had a crossing letter.

    Regarding the surface of “Bloc working to support academic institution”: the latest I heard about the 5d for academics is that the 5d’s own staff, who are themselves are members of a different 5d for administrators, were on strike, complaining about how the first 5d is treating them. As such, academics attending some 5d meetings found themselves having to cross picket lines — something which as good 5d members they were of course unwilling to do, leading to a farce all round. I hope the members paying their 5d dues think they are getting their money’s worth!

18. Many thanks to Huntsman for stepping in for me this morning. When I would normally have been busy blogging, we were watching dolphins, seals and plenty of seabirds at Chanonry Point on the Black Isle, just north of where we are staying in Inverness. Gorgeous weather here in the Highlands this week. Off to Strathconon tomorrow in search of eagles, with the weather forecast to be 21 degrees and sunny all day.
    A nicely challenging Thursday puzzle by our mystery setter, to whom, many thanks. I struggled to parse 1a as I was trying to use the wrong S for “small”.
    Steady progress elsewhere with the two homophones at 2d (seen this morning!) and 10a being my last two in.
    Very enjoyable.

    1. I stopped at a very pleasant b&b near Chanonry Point – it was claimed that it was where the Golden Retriever was first registered as a breed
       Just checked – It was a place called Tomich just a wee bit south of Beauly

19. As it was RayT last week, this is his off week, so we have a different setter to entertain us. Not as easy for me when RayT is not here on Thursday and I struggled with this in places. Parsing unfathomable on many for me, yet I knew the answer was correct.

    2.5*/3*

    Favourites 22a, 25a, 6d, 7d & 21d — with winner 25a, with 7d close second

    Thanks to setter & Huntsman

20. Quite enjoyable but I’d agree with Jane in post #11 that this felt more like hard work than enjoyment in several places. Is it just me (it must be as no-one else has mentioned it) but in 25a, should the first word be “Complain” rather than “Complaint” – the answer doesn’t work for me with the clue as written. The answer can’t be used as a noun can it?

    To Mustafa G in post #12 above, you’re correct that whilst Google is much more than an app, it is also ‘an app’, or to be very correct, several apps, Google Earth, Google Maps etc. However, there is one of them that is just ‘the Google app’ so the clue works for me (© Senf/Terence etc.) since I’ve written it twice now!

    Thanks to Huntsman and the setter.

    1. Alfiepops, I think 25a is OK as a noun (and, rather more importantly, so does the BRB).

       1. Thanks for that, RD. It caused me to reflect further (and look at my LRB) and come around to agreeing with you!

21. My fastest finish so far this week after a few hours at the 5d. Mind you, I did find myself chucking a lot of answers in and only working out why they were right afterwards. A fun puzzle, with 11a possible my favourite and 10a (also good) my last in. Thanks very much to the setter and to Huntsman. The CSNY tune reminds me that my youngest, who is supposed to be revising for his A-levels, messaged earlier to inform me that Skunk Baxter plays on The Hissing of Summer Lawns (along with C&N). My work is truly done.

    1. I see Larry Carlton also played on the album. Have just listed to a few tracks on it – not heard it in years. Are you going to the Stanley Dee gig at The Horn on June 14th? Think it was you who gave them the 👍 & saw them in Putney.

       1. I hadn’t spotted that. I would have gone but I see that I’m supposed to be at the Stranglers (yes, I know) in Southampton that night. Shame as I really like the Horn and the Dee are generally at their best in that sort of venue.

22. Thought this was great fun with some tricky wordplay that took some reverse engineering to unravel. Not convinced the solution of 8d is defined by creepy sort and 24a seems to me to be the wrong way round with the word play from the answer. Having said that there too many other crackers to mention. Podium places for me go to 1a, 1d and 12a
    Many thanks to our setter and to Huntsman – fingers crossed for Rory or maybe Justin Rose this time!

    1. Jeemz, in 24a “from” is not a link word between definition and wordplay. The final three letters of the answer mean “steal from”.

       1. Ah! Thanks RD I see it now.

    2. Sorry meant 24 down!

23. With my contrary head on today, I can honestly say I didn’t enjoy this at all, and could not get a good foothold. After a brief peek at the hints I can see I would never have got very far, the setter is way above my pay grade, and even some of the hints left me scratching my head. Posting this just others who are silently struggling, that they are not alone. I’m going to use melatonin as my excuse 😊.

24. Late on parade because of a power cut that started at 9.30 and finished at 3.30. To be fair, we were informed because essential work needed to carried out. However, I forgot!

    I also didn’t sleep last night because of a pain in the shin so I’m not firing on all cylinders. This is, probably, why I found today’s offering a bit taxing. I needed far too many hints to get over the line because my brain insisted on staying in reverse gear. I did, however, like the sandwich at 25a.

    Thank you, setter but you left me in the doldrums today. Thank you, Hintsman for the hunts.

    I was going to go to the village hall this evening to see Conclave but I think I’ll go to bed instead! 😴

    1. I can access the puzzles site now, can you? Hope your poor shin improves soon.

       1. Yes, I can, Manders thank goodness. My shin is now fine – it was just one of those mysterious pains that appears at night and goes by the following afternoon. I get them from time to time.

          1. Know what you mean, Steve. My left wrist, which I fractured a few years ago, aches when it’s going to rain. More reliable than any weathher forecast.

25. Phew that was tough going but I did enjoy the exercise. Is 1a really an energy drink? Creepy as noun didn’t occur to me for 8d. Fav clue 25a. Thanks to whomever the setter was and also to Huntsman.

    1. You had me checking my underlining there Angelov – energy is just the E at the end of the wordplay & creepy sort is the nounal synonym.
       Give me a glass of Asti over Lucozade any day.

       1. Thanks Huntsman, I take your points but have to admit I don’t care for either lucozade or AS however the latter might in fact be preferable these days as my no alc regime means my tipple is Freixenet 0% sparkling wine although that in fact is quite nice.

26. Tough North not helped by Google being an app , but I’ve been left behind by the internet world we now live , in so anything sounding vaguely techish is off my radar .
    Last one in 8d . Needed the hint. Are all alcoholic beverages energy drinks ? I must reconsider my relationship with real ale ?
    Thanks to all. Favouite 11a

    1. See above, Francis — and in particular, note Huntsman’s underlining in the hints. The definition is just ‘drink’; the word ‘energy’, just hanging around next to it to mislead us, is nothing to do with the drink and actually part of the wordplay.

27. Thanks to Huntsman for the blog and to everyone who has commented today. Wordplay for 1a perhaps a tad tricksy, I hold my hands up. Toughie duty next Friday, see some of you then I hope.

    1. Hello, thank you for popping and and confirming that it is indeed you! I’m not up to your Toughie standard yet, but hope to see you on the back-page again soon.

    2. Thanks for popping in Karla & for providing an entertaining puzzle.

28. Thanks Karla and Huntsman. This was brilliant!

29. 1.5* / 4* Yet another enjoyable challenge, only needed to check parsing for 1a.
    Favourites gangsters at 10a, victory at 12a and the growth area 5d

    Thanks to Karla and Huntsman

30. Can someone explain 1a please. I cannot parse despite the hint.

    1. Hi, Baranawarp. It’s a bit involved:

       ‘Adult’ = A
       Then ‘spare’ = ‘stint’, ‘small’ = S, ‘cat’ = puma.
       The spare ‘saves’ the small cat by putting the latter inside the former, to make ‘stinspumant’.
       ‘energy’ = E

       1. Smylers, you are a star!

          Many thanks for putting me out of my misery in failing to parse this.

31. I’m in the ‘a tad tricky’ camp but a sight more straightforward than yesterday’s thankfully. It took a while to get on wavelength but I got there in the end. Favourite was 3d. Thanks to Karla and Huntsman.

32. Very late today, it’s been very busy. As others have said, the south went in like a dream but apart from 6d I needed help in the north. Once I had 1a it helped of course. So glad I stayed awake and finished it. Many thanks to Karla and the Hinstman.

33. 3*/3* ..
    liked 21D “Barrel drained by German chap, drunk(6)”

    1. You and me both!

       1. 😊

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