Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30966
Hints and tips by Smylers
Good morning. It’s been a busy time in our household, with the 10-year-old’s final half-term of primary school featuring many additional events and trips. Last week’s induction day at their next school seemed to go well (they got in the house they wanted!), and we survived the second-hand clothes scrum at the evening event for parents. This week we get to see the leavers performing the musical they’ve been rehearsing for weeks. Once parts were allocated, the children came home with costume requirements — at which point we found ourselves wondering why on earth a tweed jacket to fit a 10-year-old would even exist, let alone where to acquire one cheaply; my mum came to the rescue with a great find on a second-hand website.
On to today’s crossword. Hints and explanations for each clue are below, with definitions underlined and the answers hidden inside the Will you never learn? boxes — though don’t click that one, obviously. Do leave a comment sharing how you found the crossword, which clues you particularly liked, if any of my explanations aren’t helpful enough, or you can’t work out what a video or picture has to do with its clue. Please see the etiquette guide for how things are done round here.
Across
1a Oban chasm wrecked this vehicle (6,3)
HANSOM CAB: Wreck the preceding words so they spell out the answer.
6a Penny-pinch to cream off pounds at first (5)
SKIMP: Start with a word meaning to cream off something (such as the cream from the top of full-fat milk). Follow that with the first letter of ‘pounds’. I spent too long presuming ‘pounds’ would be represented by L and ‘at first’ was an instruction to put it at the beginning of the answer, which obviously didn’t work.
9a Spirit provided by good innkeeper (5)
GHOST: After the abbreviation for good we need a word for an innkeeper that Chambers labels as ‘old use’.
10a Animal getting gold trophy in softwood case (9)
PORCUPINE: We need one of the terms for gold and a trophy, for instance one awarded to the winners of a sport tournament. Encase both of those in a softwood tree.
11a Unfortunately sire, I can’t row the other way round (12)
CONTRARIWISE: This anagram was beyond me, but most solvers seem to find anagrams the easiest clue type, so hopefully you’ll be able to find the unfortunate arrangement of ‘sire, I can’t row’.
14a Cocky individual invading kangaroo’s territory (7)
ROOSTER: This individual is quite literally cocky. They have invaded the final two words of the clue and can be found lurking there.
16a Although only half, explosive should not … (7)
OUGHTN’T: This is a bit sneaky, because the answer has an apostrophe in it. Form it from half of ‘although’ (there’s only two possibilities, so try each in turn) and an abbreviation by which an explosive is commonly known; much kudos to anybody who can spell its full form without looking it up.
The sons of Hermes love to play
And only do their best when they
Are told they [16a];
Apollo’s children never shrink
From boring jobs but have to think
Their work important.— WH Auden
17a … in this measure, blow the lid off Hades! (3)
ELL: This is a historic measure of length that I’ve mainly encountered in Cross Atlantic crosswords, where it presumably has a sequence of letters that setters find convenient in those grids. Think of another word for Hades, then blow off its lid by removing its first letter.
18a A new idiot in an old city (7)
ANTWERP: Enter in order: the A from the clue; the abbreviation for ‘new’; and one of many colloquial names that an idiot may be called. I wasn’t aware that this city was notably old, but it doesn’t have an O in its name, so the ‘old’ must be part of the definition.
Struggling to think of the right idiot? It gets mentioned in this famous clip:
20a Rob upset with game ban (7)
EMBARGO: Upset the letters of ‘Rob’ and ‘game’ to get the answer. That’s ‘upset’ in the sense of knocking them over so they’re in a different order; there’s no need to make them feel sad.
22a What one wears when there’s nothing on? (8,4)
BIRTHDAY SUIT: This is nothing to do with TV schedules, but instead a term for what somebody is wearing when they don’t have anything on.
26a Half singe cooked sea creature (9)
ANGELFISH: Cook the preceding words to spell out the answer.
Pic credit: © Heinz Albers, CC BY 3.0
27a Fate may be more peaceful, as some say (5)
KARMA: If somebody said a particular word meaning ‘more peaceful’ or ‘less noisy’, it could sound like this answer.
28a Is fond of taking part in commando tests (5)
DOTES: Take part of the last two words in the clue to find this answer lurking.
29a Begone wet, frightful middleman! (2-7)
GO-BETWEEN: Make a frightful arrangement of the preceding words.
Down
1d Very big embrace needs energy (4)
HUGE: Follow a synonym for ‘embrace’ with the physics symbol for energy.
2d Up or down, it’s the same time (4)
NOON: Once this time of day has been entered in the grid it will read the same upwards as it does downwards.
3d Mail going off in distant settlement? (7)
OUTPOST: Think of another word for mail. Then think of the trays traditionally on a desk for the two sorts of mail. The mail that’s going off (rather than coming in) could be described with a term which is the answer split 3-4.
4d Caught by old mine, get punished (3,2)
COP IT: Enter in order: how ‘caught’ is indicated on a cricket scorecard; the abbreviation for ‘old’; and another word for a mine.
5d Boatman’s song in pub, with girl (9)
BARCAROLE: I didn’t know this word; I didn’t even know there was a word specifically for songs sung by gondoliers. We get it from another word for a pub followed by a female name.
6d American turns up drinking round, with call for getting bitter (7)
SOURING: The answer is a verb. Start with an abbreviation which can mean ‘American’ (or ‘America’, but when used before a noun it functions as an adjective). Turn it so it reads upwards. Then make it drink the round letter, by putting the latter between the letters of the backwards American. End with a word for ‘call’, as in on the telephone.
We’re off to see Mika this week as well — the same day as seeing the 10-year-old’s musical in the afternoon. Both performances will be spectacular, in their own ways.
7d Those who start riots? I ain’t involved! (10)
INITIATORS: Don’t think about riots; that’s just part of the anagram fodder, because here we need a more general term for people who start unspecified things. The answer involves the preceding 10 letters.
8d Promotional function, one covering avoidance (10)
PREVENTION: Enter in order: an abbreviation used to describe those involved in promoting things (normally a noun, as with the abbreviation 2 clues ago, it also can be used as an adjective, to match ‘promotional’); another name for a function, as in something that happens and people can attend; the Roman numeral for ‘one’; and a word for ‘covering’ as in ‘on top of’.
12d Book studied on deal? This may help when using one’s loaf! (10)
BREADBOARD: Enter in order: the abbreviation for ‘book’; a word for ‘studied’, for instance a subject at university; and what a deal can be. This meaning of ‘deal’ was one I was unaware of till last month when X-Type thoughtfully used it in the surface reading of a clue (where we didn’t need to know the meaning to solve it) and was then kind enough to comment explaining it. I think this is a fantastic policy, and would encourage all setters who wish to use an obscure word or meaning in a clue to teach us it by first using it in anagram fodder or similar in an earlier puzzle and then coming here and telling us what it means.
X-Type and Sloop John Bee then swapped their qualifications in wood science. So this deal plus the mention of softwood in 10a makes me think today’s crossword might be another X-Type creation. Anyway, the answer here isn’t to do with using common sense but an item that may be of use for somebody with an actual loaf.
13d River good and straight? (10)
FORTHRIGHT: We need a UK river — for a change, not one of those that we frequently encounter in crosswords — and a word meaning ‘good’ as in ‘correct’. The definition is a particular sense of ‘straight’, not the physical description that might apply to a river. This was one of my favourite clues today.
15d Salesman acting as consumer, doing it again (9)
REPEATING: The consumer here isn’t a shopper but one engaged in a more literal act of consuming. Put what they are doing after the
usual salesman.
19d Once healthy son pants? (7)
EXHALES: Enter in order: another word for ‘once’, as in the usual crossword term for ‘former’; a word meaning ‘healthy’; and the abbreviation for ‘son’.
21d Initially, botulism threat with alien meat joint (7)
BRISKET: Enter in order: the initial letter of ‘botulism’; another word for a threat or something that may happen; and the usual alien.
23d Almost say hello meeting bishop, respected person in India (5)
SAHIB: Enter in order: almost all of ‘say’ from the clue; another (shorter!) word for ‘hello’; and the chess notation for a bishop.
24d Regret after end of fight? Correct (4)
TRUE: Place a word meaning ‘regret’ after the end letter of ‘flight’.
25d Hock piece of little value (4)
PAWN: This is a clever double definition. One of the meanings of ‘hock’ is also the name for the lowest-value piece in a particular context (chess).
Pic credit: AnRo0002
Quickie Pun
In today’s Quick Crossword the first 4 clues are italicized, indicating that their answers when read aloud together can be made to sound like another word or phrase; if you want to check, here are the answers and pun:
DIRE + TREE + SUP + LAMENTS = DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS
Recent Reading
One of the main things I picked up from this memoir by Paul Merton is what a kind and thoughtful person he is. I don’t mean that it’s full of anecdotes of him self-servingly describing his own acts of kindness, more of an overall impression. He mentions his split with his first wife, but only because it’s needed for other events to make sense; he doesn’t criticize her, nor share things that are private between them, instead expressing gratitude for what she brought to his life.
And when the Angus Deayton scandal first broke, he explains how the jokes he made about it on Have I Got News for You were crafted to minimize the damage to the show and increase the chance that Angus would be able to continue presenting it. That’s another theme that transpires: the consideration and planning that goes into Paul’s comedy, including the 5-year plan he made to get him from leaving his job as a civil servant to writing a radio sketch show. He may specialize in making off-the-cuff remarks and improvised comedy, but he put in a lot of thought working out how to get there.
Like many autobiographies, the content is largely chronological, and I found the early chapters on his childhood held my attention less at the time — but often later turned out to have provided a significant influence on his career or adult life. The book isn’t laugh-out-loud funny throughout; events are largely narrated straight, without inserting humour into occasions that weren’t intrinsically funny. So this isn’t one of those memoirs that’s so entertaining to read as a work of art in its own right that I’d recommend it even to somebody unfamiliar with its author. But for anybody who’s admired Paul Merton on Just a Minute or on television, or seen him live, then this book is both interesting and will likely leave you thinking well of him. Only When I Laugh was published in 2014, but I’ve only just got round to reading it.
Today’s guzzle was kinder than recent Mondays making it most enjoyable. Mind you, I don’t like the word at 16a – to me it should be two words with the second “not”. Now I will be shot down by those who will tell me language is evolving all the time. Maybe but I doubt I will ever use the “word”. Nice misdirection at 18a because it had me going through all the ancient cities I could think of. I didn’t know the measurement at 17a but it was an obvious solve. That is where the name for the arm joint comes from. My COTD is what to wear when there is nothing on at 22a.
Thank you, setter for getting the week off to a great start. Thank you, Smylers for the hints.
The measurement at 17a is widely used in the cloth trade, linen trade particularly – 45”
to be precise! No idea where it come from, no doubt Sir Linkalot will know! I guess we could save it up for Terence to consider when he returns.
45″ in England, but a little over 37″ in Scotland … and just 27″ to the Flemish! (According to The OED.)
Hi DG
I didn’t know but had to find out why it’s 45cm the Vikings said it was from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger.
The group Elbow are too recent to have released any of their songs on 45s.
Yes I’ve always beentold its the distabce fromthe elbow to the tip of the middle finger, some haberdashers used to measur cloth roughlywith their forearm when I was young.
I can believe haderdashers doing that … but how on earth has that turned into 45″? Nobody has a forearm that long, and I’d be surprised at encountering somebody with half of that.
It began as 45cm with The Vikings which is about right. But, the length was made longer by stacks of countries for various reasons.
Ell derives from ulna, the Latin for forearm.
Oh, we do so love a link, yes, we do.
Did centimetres exist at the time of the Vikings?
Nay.
The Vikings decided it was 18 inches (circa 45cm)
When we travelled the fine art circuit we had quite a number of Tunbridge Ware tape measures that used nails as a unit of length. A nail was a sixteenth of a yard or two inches.
16 × 2 = 32 inches in a yard? What happened to the other 4 inches?
A 16th of a yard is 2.25 inches
Sorry, guys – memory failing me. A nail is 2.25 inches. It comes from the time when haberdashers would hammer brass nails into the countertop to use as a measure for cloth.
Ah, that works out, Steve. I’m impressed anybody can remember these kinds of things at all!
About ten years in the fine arts trade, Smylers. It’s amazing the things you pick up but, even more amazing, the fact I remember them.
I always thought it was from the tip of your nose (head turned away) to the end of your fingers -which is about 45 inches and possibly why material used to be in 45 inch (also 36 and 54) widths
Ditto Steve on 16a.
I thought ok today although 17a and 5d were new ones for me but guessable. The 6 anagrams helped a lot so for me this was a */**** and flowed well thereafter. Well constructed clues with my favourite being 16a. Thanks Smylers and the setter
Mondays have become a tad tougher. So, I’m guessing this is the work of X-Type.
I worked through it at a steady pace but slowed down in Tyne & Wear with my LOI being 5d, a new word for me as was 17a (love the elbow link!)
I understand that setters don’t need to but I think they should apostrophise contractions. It throws you off the scent which is the duty of a surface.
I have said it before but, for the newbies to the blog, 20a backwards, read as (1, 4, 2), makes for a relevant expression even though the first word is missing an h.
I hate the overuse of words ending with the last four letters in 11a; it’s lazy. I will accept clock/anticlock, street, other, un & like though any may get the thumbs-up if I’m in a good mood.
My podium is 22a, 29a and 19d.
MT to X-Type (?) and Smylers.
3*/3*
A 5d is best enjoyed whilst eating a Cornetto, Tom!
Thank you, you lion, you as I didn’t know its origin.
A very pleasant Monday puzzle that 16a to occasion too much crumpet scratching. No particular favourite but lots to like. Just driven 25miles for a rheumatology outpatient appointment (parking charge £6.60) that lasted a mere 4mins & 45seconds (you’d get more time speed dating) & could have easily been dealt with via a telephone consultation had one been available. Hopefully a game of golf, albeit in this infernal heat, will put me in better humour.
Thanks to the setter & to Smylers, whose review I’ll read later.
Ps sad to read Mick Ralphs has died – a great player with MTH & Bad Company
A very enjoyable challenge to start a somewhat strange (non-)work week – Canada Day Holiday tomorrow – **/****
I wasn’t very keen on 16a but five consonants in a row is quite an achievement.
Candidates for favourite – 9a, 10a, 22a, 4d, and 5d – and the winner is 5d.
Thanks to X-Type, or whomsoever if it is not he, and Smylers, come on, have you never heard the 5d from Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffman? Music only here.
Hi Senf
The way that I remember that July 1st is Canada Day is that, as they always come SECOND to the Americans (stop it), their national holiday begins the SECOND half of the year.
Here are some more (there’s no stopping me)…
As it has the longest coastline, why do they call the drink Canada Dry?
Its capital is Ottawa and its national animal is a beaver…..
Is an OTTER A national animal of Canada?’
No, it’s the beaver.
Shouldn’t it therefore be called CanaDAM?
Toronto is the capital of Ontario…..TorONTario
Oh, that’ll do, Tom.
As my old Latin master, ‘Moses’ Mulholland, would say – droll, very droll.
I just HAVE to know why was he called Moses.
Sorry about my COTD Senf: northern origins for me may not help!
I liked 16a because one particular explosive immediately sprang to mind and was just as quickly dismissed as obviously there’s no way those 3 consonants could appear consecutively in the answer … before the much slower realization that yes, actually, they can.
I understand Tom’s point about apostrophes in enumerations, but including them can result in the opposite problem of the enumeration with an apostrophe making an answer so immediately apparent that there’s no need to solve, let alone appreciate, the wordplay. There isn’t really a neutral option, so I’m just happy that it’s somebody else’s decision to make, and I’ll accept it either way.
I was hoping that quoting Auden using 16a would avoid comments about it being a new coinage or not a word that proper writers would use …
Hi S
In my view, not having the apostrophe is wrong.
I’ve always felt that having a contraction as an answer should be consigned to Room 101 along with The BRB.
Knowing what most of us on this site are like regarding perceived abuse of grammar, I imagine there will be quite a few comments regarding 16a.
The explosive referred to has had its fuse well and truly lit by the setter. Stand back and watch the fireworks!
I found this one to be slightly more involved than is usual for a Monday.
I have ticks against 19d and 21d but my COTD is 8d which took a bit more thought to parse.
Thanks to Smylers, I hope the weather cools a bit before your 10-year-old has to be clad in tweed! Thanks also to the setter, a great start to the week.
Tweed jacket? I am thinking Wind in the Willows and Mr Toad.
It’s a musical specially written for children leaving primary school. I don’t know what this year’s is called, but a couple of years ago for the other child it was I’m an 11-Year-Old … Get Me Out of Here!, a spoof TV show.
Whatever this year’s show is, the 10-year-old is one of several children playing teachers. They each have different dress styles, presumably to match their characters’ personalities.
When my youngest son was in his last year at primary, they did a spoof of Blind Date as the leaver’s show. They wanted someone who could fake a decent Scouse accent as Cilla.
Tom got the part.
Black wig, dress, makeup etc and a bit of swagger. The teacher did a great job with the script, all the kids loved it and it got a lorra lorra laffs from the audience.
This was in the days before camera phones which is just as well, as I’m not sure the now 6ft 5 1/2inch, 19st version would have ever lived it down!
Fantastic, Frankie!
I enjoyed that and found it easier than some recent Mondays. I thought 25d was a very clever double definition and will have 10a as my favourite. 19d was last one in as I just couldn’t see what was needed
Many thanks to the setter and to Smylers for the hints, stay safe in the heat.
An enjoyable start to the week, even if it did take a moment or two to remember how to spell 5d
Thanks to the setter and Smylers
Good to be back in the saddle with an enjoyable puzzle after a few days in my van up in Lancashire, where it was considerably cooler and damper than in Hertfordshire. Luckily my plants just about survived my absence. Like others, 5d was new to me and I had forgotten 11a if I’d ever known it in the first place. Both were gettable though and 10a was my COTD. Thanks very much to the setter and to Smylers.
Nice start to the week, albeit I needed Smylers to put me on the straight and narrow for 16a. Cotd for me is 10a. Thanks to compiler and Smylers.
An enjoyable puzzle – thanks to our setter and Smylers.
I’m glad that the setter included ‘some’ in 27a.
My favourite clue is 14a.
Thanks for your comments, all. I love Venice (except when Jeff Bezos is there!); so the song is something I’ve known for ages. (See attached photo that I was lucky enough to get, one Xmas, a few years ago.) Re 16Ac – it was the only word I could fit in the grid, without re-casting (and thus re-cluing) several other entries: so I’m actually quite pleased with its clue…
Hi X
It’s a nicely constructed clue.
I am a mere mortal and can’t hold a torch to you demigods but I think setters should apostrophise contractions as it throws people which is the surface’s role.
Great pic, btw!
I need to get my sweet derrière to Venice, pronto.
I think it is already too late. It was fabulous forty years ago. That’s not very helpful, is it?
Of course it is. If it’s good enough for Day Zee 40 years ago….
Did you know that forty is the only number that has its letters in alphabetical order?
Why they dropped the u in forty and not fourteen is bonkers as fortnight derives from fourteen nights.
Why drop the u at all???
Onwards!
As sennight derives from seven nights. 😊
Thank you for that, SC. I’ve never heard of it or should that be ne’er heard o’ it.
What is the deal with v getting dropped?
Poor v.
Pure laziness, TDS65 like skin on fries. 😊
a Sesquifortnight is a three week period but don’t ask me how that came about. It would never be used anyway. I do use sennight occasionally just to see people’s faces.
Sesquifortnight – one and a half fortnights, in the same way that sesquicentennial is one and a half centuries, so 150 years. 😊
Thanks, MG. One lives and learns. 😊
Nice knowledge gents.
It’s like that most excellent word that is the fear of long words hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
We love it!
We like the skin on fries, shout, SC
As we discovered on our recent trip to Germany, France and Switzerland, towns and cities we loved in 2017, 2018 and 2019 are now unrecognizable – overrun with tourists, development and tackiness. Glad we went when we did, but this time it was disappointing. And not even into peak season.
It looks like Tom Disappointing Sturges will be disappointed when he goes.
A nice start to the week. 17a was new to me but gettable from the cluing. I knew 5d as we tried to play the Offenbach one in the school orchestra. At the time I thought it was the most boring piece of music. However, once I heard it played properly it was like a totally different offering. Our school orchestra wasn’t very good to put it politely. I seem to remember there only being 8 of us in it and all of us had been press-ganged into joining.
Back to the guzzle, top picks for me were 19d, 16a and 10a.
Thanks to Smylers and the setter.
The only time we forked out the exorbitant charge demanded by one of those boatmen, he most certainly didn’t sing for us; we got our allotted few minutes on the canal and were then unceremoniously ‘dumped’ and left to find our own way out of the maze of small waterways! I digress – this was an interesting Monday puzzle with my ticks going to 10a plus 13&25d.
Thanks to X-Type (?) and to Smylers for the review.
Great guzzle done in the shade of the trees. I put the garden thermometer in the sun and to registered 40 or 120, take your pick. ( that is how to confuse an (dare not say it) put him in a room with four shovels and tell him to take his pick. There must be some advantages in being old and one is you can just do nothing if circumstances allow. All fell into place nicely even the anagrams. I’ve done yesterday’s toughie, tried to get some tangles out of next door’s cat whilst they are on holiday and might just now go to sleep preferably in my 22a. Many thanks to Mr Setter and Smylers.
My holiday must have boosted my brain cells. For me this was the easiest Monday puzzle for a long time. Thanks to the setter and hinter.
Long-time lurker, but previous form years ago.
I agree. I’m astonished at the 3* rating. Did this in half my average time, and an all time record. All about wavelengths on the day I suppose.
P.S. What’s happened to Brian?
Hello. Welcome back, Chris — lovely to have you commenting.
Partway through solving I rated it as **, on the basis that while I struggled with the anagrams, many others find those the easiest sorts of clues. But after I got to 5d and 17a I added a star, on the basis that some solvers won’t be familiar with those words. I’d rather give somebody the pleasant surprise of a crossword being easier than rated, than lull somebody into thinking a crossword is straightforward and then them finding it otherwise.
An enjoyable solve and an excuse to stay out of the heat!
I liked 10a, 14a, 20a, 22a, 5d and my LOI, 8d, which also takes my COD award. It took me ages to solve it and parse it, but it was well worth the effort.
I am familiar with the Offenbach piece that you mention, Senf, so no problems with 5d.
Thanks to Smylers and our setter.
A one fingered comment from me as our painter doing our outside paintwork managed to cut the Wi-Fi cable in 2 so no internet! And it’s the first day of Wimbledon. However the lovely BT man (engineer coming tomorrow) talked me through finding my hotspot (no smirking) on my iPhone so this Kindle can use the iPhone internet, how clever is that but I couldn’t make the computer understand. Anyway enjoyed the guzzle which I thought was slightly trickier than a usual Monday. No particular favourites but thanks to all.
For me, this Monday puzzle was a little tricker again this week. I think there maybe some discussion today on one of my favourites in the NE. Overall I liked the puzzle though.
2*/3.5*
Favourites 6a, 14a, 16a, 18a, 22a & 13d — with winner 16a with 22a the runner-up
Smiles for 18a, 22a & 25d
Thanks to X-Type(?) & Smylers
A fairly enjoyable Monday puzzle . I like the Lego animal at 10a , the 11a anagram and the geographical lego clue at 18a. What a day to chhose for a meeting with a financial advisor. Ive been catatonic, slumped in a chair ,humming, It’s too darn hot” ever since he left. Good job he’s an entertaining chap! With all the windows open, I could have done without the noise from my neighbours, digging up and replacing their concrete drive
I was on wavelength today , so a fairly swift solve and it was looking to be a personal best until , held up mainly by 16a , and 5d a word I didn’t know. I chuckled once I worked the parsing of 16a , so not surprised at the comments. Once 17a fell into place (another new word ) , the girls for 5d became obvious. Thanks so much to Xtype for a great start to the week, and to Smylers , also for the review. I am a fan of Paul Merton but never read any of his books.
In that case, Jenny, you’re exactly the sort of person who should read Paul Merton’s memoir! It’s probably available quite cheaply now, given it was published over a decade ago. I think I picked up my copy in Barter Books.
Thankful for a friendly Monday puzzle, which would have been even more enjoyable without 16a, 17a and 5d. I have also spent my entire life thinking 26a was two words, despite my grandmother having an aquarium full of them. Thanks to Xtype and Shabbo.
After a couple of crossword-free days courtesy of friends staying for a long weekend, this would have made a pleasant enough return to cruciverbalism had it not been spoilt by the dreadful 16a and the vague girl in 5d. I suppose I should be happy that we have had very, very few instances of ill-defined forenames in recent months so I suppose the bubble had to burst at some time.
I was not convinced that “right” and “good” in 13d were synonymous, and a quick scan of the BRB definitions for “good” did nothing to change my mind.
25d was my favourite.
Thanks to the setter and to Smylers.
All went in except 16a, thank you X Type and Smylers; so enjoyed today’s blog with all the illustrations and the book review.
A really enjoyable puzzle, perfect for the Modern Monday difficulty level. All known and I even remembered the song, so did not have to think of the girl’s name. COTD the lovely anagram and surface read of 11a, clever lego of 8d, and smile at our old friend in 22a. At16a I did wonder what Rabbit Dave would make of it … and was not wrong!
Many thanks indeed to X-Type and Smylers
Mondays no longer provide the pain-free cruciverbal challenge as was the case in days of yore however I stuck with this and somehow came through almost unscathed with just a hitch in SW. 17a was definitely an unparsed bung-in as was 8d. Thank you X-Type and chatty Smylers.
Going great guns apart from the NE corner where I came to a bit of a halt so had to revert to the hints. Would never have got 5d and like overs have some reservations about 16a. I didn’t help myself by making a complete horlicks of 6a. No particular stand out clues today nonetheless thank you to the setter and Smylers for the hints.
Found this just right for a Monday and very enjoyable. Just one question about linked clues as with 16a and 17a. I am not sure if it is a way of using two clues to help the surface read or is there some other link I am missing? Douglas
Hi, Douglas. Good question, because linked clues are used both ways (and the only way to work out which it is in a particular puzzle is by solving it!). In today’s crossword the link is indeed for the surface reading; it particularly helps disguise the definition of 16a, where otherwise it might be awkward to end a clue with “should not”.
But linked clues can also carry meaning across, such that the answer of the first is implicit somewhere in the clue to the second.
Enjoyable fairly easy Monday puzzle. Thank you setter. Heatwave will wear us down as the week progresses! COTD 10a.
Gary and Val
Good evening
Just about finished with a few stumbles along the way, and a huge kick up my own hint-end for taking so long to twig my last to fall, 22a! Thank you for your comments above which help explain the second half of 12d.
Many thanks to X-type and to Smylers.
Not a fan of this today. 16a was a poor clue – how did this get through without indicating the apostrophe?
Without the checker from 16a, I think 5d, a new word to everyone who isn’t a gondolier, is very difficult to get.
I failed to get 8d as well.
Another excellent puzzle. Best laugh at 18A. 22 and 10 pretty good too.
VMT X-type and Smylers.
Hi Smylers, thanks for your reply and explanation. I had a suspicion there could be more than one way they could be connected and your answer sums it up very well.
Straightforward until it wasn’t mostly in the NE with words like 11a and 16a and 5d which I didn’t know existing and arguably shouldn’t. 17a was a bung in but just had to be what it was. The aforementioned three rather took the shine off this for me, particularly as they were all in the same quadrant, in an otherwise decent Monday crossword. It would be churlish of me not to pick a favourite so I’ll go with 22a. Thanks to X-Type and Smylers
A great puzzle. */**** The poetic licence surrounding 16a doesn’t really exercise me. It was nevertheless LOI, accompanied by a sigh and “of course, of course”. Clever.
1.5* / 3.5* A good Monday challenge, not too easy.
Favourites cocky 14a, 19d pants and also the quickie pun was the best for ages.
Thanks to X Type and Smylers
2*/4* ….
liked 9A “Spirit provided by good innkeeper (5)”