DT 30982

107 comments on “DT 30982”

1. An excellent piece of work by Sade (?) on a very friendly grid made this a joy to solve.

   10a was fun and 12a was an excellent lurker

   My LOI was the clever 1d which went straight on to the podium along with 14a and 24a.

   MT to the smooth operator, if it is indeed him, and Mr K.

   3*/5*

   1. Here another question for you, George is reading Trollope and suddenly asked me why we call a Loose Woman a trollope. I said I knew a man who would know. (Not that I am suggesting that you are an expert on loose women of course)

      1. Good to hear from you, DG, you nimble nonagenarian, you.

         I didn’t know its origin so I’ve looked it up.

         Its root ‘troll’ comes from the French hunting term ‘troller’ and German ‘trollen’, meaning to wander, to roll about or to wallow.

         Hence ‘stroll’ and ‘troll the internet’.

         So, a trollop is a woman who would roll about or wallow.

         There endeth the lesson.

         In nomine patris et filii et spiritus sancti.

         Fr Tom (ably assisted by altar boy Gary Google)

         1. I just love the thought of rolling and wallowing. Is it too late for me?

            1. Well, it’s Drinks o’clock. So, you’re probably doing it as I type.

               Poor George….

            2. And here is me rolling about in titters after reading that. We know Daisy can still roll and even wallow though I missed the actual performance at Little Venice earlier in the year! Keep it up Daisy!
               A good crossie today, took 4* time but got there eventually. Some Fridays are easy, some impossible, this was a nice one in the middle.

         2. I’ve got the origin of trolling on the internet wrong.

            It refers to a fishing technique of dragging a baited line behind a boat, i.e dragging something to provoke a reaction.

            1. I think Harold Macmillan once said something about going to bed with a good Trollope. I believe that he was being slightly tongue in cheek.

               1. You are indeed correct, FB.

                  When Trollope was a Post Office employee, he introduced The UK to the pillar box, having seen it in France.

                  It was painted green to blend in with the environs which people complained about as they couldn’t see it. So, they were changed to red.

                  We love it!

2. A very fine Friday offering with just the right amount of chewiness in places to up the challenge level. Many ticks on my page particularly the lurker at 12a and the reverse lurker at 27a. My podium, though, comprises 6a, 4d and 17a in top spot. Thanks to compiler and Mr K.

3. Too hard for me, beaten by five clues, well done anyone who finished it, Gunga Din and all that….

4. For me, etc, quite gentle for a Friday and I suspect not the work of any member of the Friday Triumvirate but the heat and humidity might have addled my brain. 2.5*/4.5*

   Candidates for favourite – 12a, 17a, 26a, and 4d – and the winner is 17a.

   Thanks to whomsoever and Mr K and beware of letting your daughter out with one of these.

   

5. Last letter of 1d is half of M.

   1. Goodness me, that’s brilliant!

   2. Got the answer, couldn’t quite see why thanks

6. A faairly difficult challenge today and rther a long-windes solve. The lastt three clues on the lright hand side of the grid took an age to fall. The COTD for me was the auperb lurker at 12a followed by the long anagram at 21a, the geographical Lego clues at 12a and 25a. Thanks to the setter for a real mental workout and to Mr K for the hints, which I shall now read as I still don’t understand some of the parsing

7. Re 1 down: in Roman numerals D is 50% of M.

   1. Welcome to the blog

      1. Thank you. Great fun!

   2. Welcome from me, as well, Harry. Please comment again.

   3. Hi Harry. That’s fantastic thanks. Welcome to the blog and hope to see you here again.

8. Thank you to the setter for so many fun clues, and also to Tom for highlighting 1d (which I’d failed to spot that I hadn’t parsed) and to Mr K unusually for not explaining it — which forced me to think harder and spot what was actually going on (I see Wahoo has now explained.). I did need Mr K to explain the 6a city though; additional thanks for that.

   My top few included the impressively long lurkers in 12a and 27a, 26a’s hollow tooth, the pun in 6d, and dating everyone in 20d, with my favourite being 4d’s council.

9. A really enjoyable puzzle – thanks to our setter and Mr K.
   I’ve never heard of the 8d podcaster but it couldn’t be anything else.
   My ticks went to 10a, 19a, 24a, 4d, 16d (‘listener covers’ – excellent) and 20d.

   1. Hi G

      8d will irk quite a few solvers as they won’t have heard of him even though he has the biggest podcast in the world.

      Goodness knows why.

      1. I confidently wrote in the answer to 8d thinking initially “ah, must be a nickname of that intensely irritating Radio 2 presenter who makes me reach for the off switch – no idea he had a podcast”, then thought that no, not him, but I’d vaguely heard of the podcaster and but could not think of the context.

         And having looked at his Wikipedia page, I find I have no desire to learn anything more about him, let alone listen to his podcast!

         1. I was stumped by 8 d and having read this have no desire to store this information!

      2. Quite apart from some of his unpalatable views he’s not my fav fella as his podcast caused Neil Young (after a him or me ultimatum) to remove his discography from Spotify & my lovingly created playlist with it.
         There was only ever going to be one winner there & Young eventually relented happily

      3. Re 8D, although I realise the Telegraph and this blog has an international audience, shouldn’t the American link have been indicated in the clue?

         1. Hi SL

            I reckon not. AIs are for terms that are derived and chiefly used in the good old US of A.

            For example, having ‘director’ for Spielberg or ‘film’ for ET is fine.

   2. If your life is currently free of the 8d podcaster, then may I suggest it’s probably fine to leave it that way and that you don’t prioritize learning anything about them.

      (That’s probably a reasonable rule for most podcasters, come to think of it.)

      1. I have never listened to a podcast and have no wish to do so. After it appeared in a guzzle a while back, my current read is Three Men in a Boat. Far better! 😊

         1. I actually do listen to podcasts when I’m wandering about, but those on interests I already had and none by anybody famous enough to feature in a crossword (or, if they did, it would be for something else, because they were already respected in their field as an expert or writer or similar, not for their podcasting).

            So I’d recommend podcasts, just not necessarily podcasters!

            One of the Three Men in a Boat featured two Mondays ago (backwards, I seem to recall). At some point you’ll encounter them saying “Hang it”, as featured in this Monday’s crossword.

            1. I think podcasters are OK when they are already knowledgable or famous for what they’re podcasting about. A podcaster who is only famous for podcasting – and I think the man in question fits this bill – are the ones to avoid, whether or not you agree with their views given the format inherently favours them and usually leads to massive polarisation and little compromise or common ground. Perhaps that explains the current state of the western body politic too! :”-)

         2. Me too, Steve, and for the same reason – Three Men in a Boat that is. What a valuable resource this blog is. Still cannot parse 1d though despite getting the solution pretty quickly.

         3. You shouldn’t knock it til you’ve tried it !

         4. I’m with you on podcasts. They rank right up there with “influencers”.

      2. I think that’s not just a reasonable rule but an excellent one, Smylers. I like voice radio (mainly R4, R4E & Times Radio; current affairs through to drama, audio books to comedy) and have not yet found many podcasts that come close to a professionally produced and presented radio programme.

         Of those that do, two epics, “The History of Rome” and “The History of English” are very good indeed, and are worth seeking out IMV

      3. What’s a Podcast?

         1. A podcast is basically the audio equivalent of a blog: somebody says some stuff, uploads it to the internet, and other people can listen to episodes on a regular basis to hear what they are saying.

            But you can also think of them as being like speech radio programmes that you can download to listen to at a time and place of your convenience. Indeed, there is overlap, in that many radio programmes are also available as podcasts — in which case they have the same production quality, fact-checking, and so on that you’d expect on the radio. Others are basically one person with a microphone and an internet connection saying whatever they feel like.

            As with many things in life, there are some superb high-quality instances available among a large number that aren’t, and some of names who become best-known are those who are controversial on purpose or pedal conspiracy theories.

10. Amazed that this fine offering is given such a high difficulty rating because the clueing was fair .As an ex tooth doctor I am shamed to say I didn’t get the parsing although the answer could not have been anything else. Would never have known the reference to podcaster in 8 down but again the answer was obvious from the letters already in place. Still do not get 1 down although my bung in fitted the definition and was OK. Favourite was the Italian city.
    Many thanks.

11. Get 1 down now. Often get tripped up by those substitution clues.

12. What a great puzzle, a sheep in wolf’s clothing. Thought initially it was going to be chewy, but worked AC from the NW and it fell into place much more swiftly than I had feared.

    Lovely clueing throughout, great surfaces, and ticks everywhere including 6a’s Italian city, the clever 10a, ingenious lurker of 12a, 4d’s lego, but honours in the end go to 24a’s player, 26a’s tooth doctor, and 11d’s Mail tags.

    Bravo! and thanks to the setter, and thanks also to MrK

13. I’m pleased to see others found this somewhat bizarre. I, too, don’t get 1d and, like Dyslex, having been a tooth doctor, I wondered why it took a long time to get 26a. It’s obvious, really. My COTD is, for the first time, a lurker. I thought the one at 12a was superb.

    Thank you, setter for the brain mangling. Thank you, Mr K for the hints.

    1. Hi SC

       There’s so much going on in 1d which is impressive for a word with four letters.

       I couldn’t get the sidewalking shellfish out of my head for yonks but the parsing escaped me.

       Think of a shellfish that is also a verb (followed by ‘up’) meaning to suddenly go silent due to embarrassment. Its last letter is a Roman numeral which, when halved, becomes another Roman numeral, resulting in the past tense of a verb meaning ‘dressed’, e.g **** in sheep’s clothing (quoting MG above)

       Phew!

       1. Thank you for taking the time to explain it, TDS65. That now makes sense. Like others, I stuck with crab for too long.

          1. It really is a brilliant clue as the implied ‘Dressed crab’ is an excellent….red herring.

             Get in!

             Could this be the work of Karla, I wonder?

             1. It sure is. Had me fooled completely. It could well have been my COTD had I understood it.

          2. Me too, Steve!

14. A lovely end to the (non) working week, with an excellent lurker at 12a and other favourites at 6a and 16d. Pleasing to know that people haven’t heard of that particular podcaster, although I suspect the bulk of this group isn’t likely to be in his core demographic. Thanks very much to the setter and to Mr K.

15. What a great puzzle. I finished in reasonable time, though with the dissatisfaction of unparsed 1d & 27a.
    Thanks to Wahoo for seeing the cleverness of the former and MrK the latter. When will I learn that if it looks like an anagram and smells like an anagram but cannot be crowbarred into shape, it’s a lurker or the sneaky reverse.
    Nice one setter.
    **/****

16. I made hard work of this. Didn’t know the podcaster (I’m another who never listens to them) and needed help parsing 24a.
    I also needed help parsing 19a as I couldn’t see pitch/sell until I thought of sales pitch so I’m not sure if Mr K’s hint is correct unless I’m missing something with tar.

    Top picks for me were 12a, 14a and 16d.

    Thanks to Mr K and the setter.

    1. I agree with your parsing of 19a, Madflower.

    2. I wasjust about to post the same observation

17. 8d was my only bung-in as I would never in a million years have parsed it correctly. I mean really? That horror aside, this was great fun and a pleasure to solve with 16d my top clue.

    Thanks to our Friday setter and Mr K.

18. There are some days where imgive the utmost thanks that this site and all it’s contributers exist – today being one of those times. I never in a million years have worked out 1d had it not been for the wonderful folk on here it would have nagged away all day. So to all on here thank you!

    And obviously thank you to the setter and MrK!!!

19. A lovely surprise for a Friday, in that I managed to finish and I haven’t had lunch yet, I needed help to understand 1d, thanks to those who explained. I also did not parse 19a, which I now can from the hint but I am not sure what tar has to do with it, I don’t think it is needed as pitch alone is enough. My favourite lurker was 12a and my favourite anagram 21a (I suspect that is cheating).

    Many thanks to the setter and to Mr K for the hints.

    1. Yeah, I interpreted ‘pitch’ = ‘sell’, as in the action of making a sales pitch, so I don’t think any tar is necessary.

    2. I think Kath might allow you to have two favourites in different categories!

       1. I wondered if I had found a loophole!

20. Hugely enjoyable and not too difficult, a great puzzle to end the week.
    I agree with comments above regarding the clever lurker in 12a and the completely unknown (to me) famous podcaster in 8d.
    I’m surprised that a certain regular contributor has not as yet picked up on 3d’s AI, though perhaps that one has already made his list.
    My podium is also topped by the very clever 1d, (how many bunged in crab without parsing it properly?), the two degree holders facing off in the diamond at 19a and the oddly ignored twisted attack in 18d.
    My thanks to the setter and Mr K.

    1. ‘Plastic’ is fairly common as an anagram indicator. As an adjective meaning ‘capable of having its shape changed’, it’s older than the 20th material named after it.

       I can remember school physics lessons in which we applied forces to various substances and had to record whether they were ‘elastic’ (they sprang back to their original form once the force was removed) or ‘plastic’ (they stayed deformed). Though I could imagine some setters using ‘elastic’ as an anagram indicator, too — those would have to be letters that temporarily spelt out the answer then sprang back to spell the original words …

       1. You’re right Smilers, I’ve certainly seen it before.
          Plastic, elastic, anything else ‘astic’ is fine by me. It always amuses me when an AI is particularly disliked and it all kicks off.

          1. Hi FM

             I’m okay with this one as I’ve seen it a few times and it does make sense.

             But, we all know it’s a matter of time before I go into one about another totes ridic AI.

             Grrrrrr……

             1. Oi oi Tommy boy,
                Glad you’re happy this time, but I look forward to the havoc created when you’re not!

                1. U betcha!

21. Going against the flow here, I really didn’t enjoy this very much although others obviously have done. I certainly know absolutely nothing about podcasters so asking about an American one just made me laugh! Fortunately, I arrived at the answer courtesy of the definition and checkers. Top clue for me was 24a.

    Apologies to our setter – Zandio? and thanks to Mr K for the review, plus Senf for the kitty cartoon.

22. 4*/2.5*. This was certainly very challenging and there are good reasons why it is probably not the handiwork of any one of our regular Friday back-page setters. I’d was hoping to be able to say that I had enjoyed it but, to use TDS65’s apposite word, I was well and truly irked by 8d. There were also a couple of surface readings that didn’t make much sense.

    My podium comprises 17a, 1d & 4d.

    Thanks to the setter and to Mr K.

23. I thought this was a super puzzle, and just right for a Friday. Favourite clue was 1d, after I got the sideways walker out of my head, and 6a raised a big smile. I had to look up www to confirm the podcaster in 8d as I’d never heard of him, but otherwise all went well. Thanks to Mr K and setter.

24. For this octogenarian indigenous English puzzler there is little, if any, pleasure in obscure clues based on an intimate knowledge of USA

    1. You have had a number of aliases and, like the others, this one will work from now on

    2. My sympathies, I’ve lived in the US for 40+ years, and I don’t get the so called American clues either.

25. I’m struggling to describe this adequately. I found this really quite difficult (typical Friday) but completed it really quite quickly. How does that work???

    Enjoyed it though and did know the podcaster although I’ve only ‘seen’ clips on the news etc. – agree, best avoided, see earlier reply post.

    Loved the couple of long lurkers, they both got ticks. Loved the 50% of a roman numeral at 1d – thanks to the posters for explaining that as I couldn’t!

    Favourite for today was 19a where the answer came quickly but the very well disguised significance of ‘pitch’ raised a broad smile for the parsing when the penny plummeted and pulverised the park!

    Great thanks to the setter, whom I don’t recognise and to Mr K

26. Hello, compiler here. Thanks very much for taking the time to solve, analyse and discuss. Have a good weekend, and I hope you get a chance to have a go at the Sunday Toughie.

    1. Excellent crossword, Z. Thank you.

       1d is a contender for COTY.

       Keep ’em coming.

    2. Oooh, you are crafty ! You know how to tease a girl.

    3. * loins girded for Sunday, I hope it is not as hard as today’s time trial up the altiport runway at Peyresourde🚵‍♂️🚵‍♂️🚵‍♂️
       Thanks for a fine Friday guzzle with a brilliant lurker in 12a and a deceptive Roman Numeral in 1d

27. Very good Zandio , only 1d eluded me.Perhaps slightly easier than some Friday offerings .21&24 my favourites .
    Thanks to all

28. I had heard of the podcaster fortunately so no parsing problems there. About right for a Friday I’d say though some of it was far from straightforward. COTD has to be 1d even though it was a bung in for me, once the parsing was pointed out it showed the cleverness of it. Thanks to Zandio and Mr. K.

29. Joe +++++ has 20 million subscribers, of whom l am not one, and with whose opinions I am in complete disagreement, but I don’t consider that a reason for not knowing who he is, indeed just the opposite. Recently I have found Friday’s crozzies worth the effort of finishing, whereas sometimes, if I can’t get going I say a combination of rude words and give up.

30. Good afternoon

    Relieved to have a full grid after yesterday’s DNF, I turned to Mr K’s hints and explanations, and I’ve got one wrong! I wasn’t sure at all about the parsing of 1a; I put CRAB because it is a shellfish which is dressed – quack quack oops! Need I wonder I couldn’t parse the bloomin thing!

    The other one I deduced but had to check was the podcaster in 8d – no idea who he is.

    It comes as no surprise to find that I have been doing battle with the legendary Mind of Zandio. My favourite clues are 18d together with my last to fall (by a long way!) which is 27a. Brilliant!

    Many thanks to the MoZ and to Mr K.

31. Thank you to the Setter for some clever clues and Mr K for the hints. We arrived at the answers in a our usual random way. Neither of us listen to podcasts. COTD 12a.
    Gary and Val

32. Enjoyed this. No problems. Knew about clam chowder from a visit to San Francisco. A brilliant podcast if you like comedy is “ its a fair cop”
    It’s by an ex policeman who presents an old case to an audience to see what they think should have happened.
    Thanks to Zandio and Mr K

    1. That used to be on Radio 4 — very funny.

       1. It’s still on radio 4 and there are 9 series on the podcast.

33. Came to this late sitting in the garden in an impossible temperature, I too got lead down the Crab route, but everything else fell into place except for 8 d – I don’t do boxing! A superb lurker, I would love to know how you set about finding those, I also liked the hollow doctor. I’ve had a hard day. My fairly recently acquired cleaning lady turned out two of my kitchen cabinets this morning and I had to watch her bin a load of tins and packets only just out of date. Then she told me she was moving to Scotland st the end of August. Then I went to visit two old friends recently gone into a care home, then lunch with a friend whose husband has dementia so the guzzle came as a welcome relief from real life. Many thanks to Zandio and Mr K. Have a good weekend everyone.

    1. Sorry you’ve had such a trying day, Daisygirl. If your cleaner’s going to desert you anyway, it’s a shame she didn’t do it before binning your food — especially cans, which basically never go off. Hope you manage to find a replacement soon.

       1. Smylers, as someone who spent my working life for a company which supplied lacquers and coatings for cans, I would strongly urge you not to consider canned foods as having no shelf-life limitations. There are two particular situations where caution is necessary: firstly, for acidic products (e.g. white fruits and tomato based products such as tomato soup and baked beans). These are often filled into cans with unlacquered bodies where the tin dissolves over a period of time. Excess tin is removed from the body via sickness and diarrhoea. Secondly, if the can is dented. This means that the protective layers of tin and lacquer inside the can might be disrupted thereby exposing the product to steel which can adversely affect the quality of the food.

          Two morals: take “use by” dates seriously; and avoid using dented cans unless you know for sure how recently the can was damaged.

          1. Fair enough! I considered putting “unless they’re dented” in my previous comment, but decided DaisyGirl would know that anyway. Good explanation about acid in fruit and the like.

             Obviously use-by dates are important for food safety, but packets and cans often have best-before-end dates, which is more to do with its quality than health concerns. If DaisyGirl wants to take the risk, I’m not going to tell her to stop!

    2. Have a good weekend, Daisy.
       You’ll be better off without that cleaner.
       Hope you find a much better one after August.

34. Could any more experienced solvers please explain why I breezed through today’s puzzle rated 4 star without any help,clues etc., but could only complete roughly half of yesterday’s puzzle,also rated 4 star? I am literally puzzled. Thank you.

    1. It’s all about how your mind works and how the compiler’s mind works, JMB 1947. Some people call it being on the same wavelength as the compiler. Even expert solvers can have a bad day and wonder why everyone else is eulogising about a puzzle that they found tricky or unenjoyable. We are all different and that’s what makes life and crosswords interesting. I, myself, always have a few problems with today’s compiler for some reason, my problem not his .

35. 3.5*/ 4* A proper Friday challenge from Zandio, I think everything’s been said already so I’ll just name a few favourites.
    1d brilliant once the parsing was explained (I did get though), the controversial 8d and the lurker in 12a for the misdirection
    Many thanks to Zandio and Mr K

36. Brilliant puzzle by Zandio, and VMT also to Mr K.

    Clearly 1D is an all-time classic – too good to be considered for just COTD. So I’ll put in a word for 25A which has happy memories. As the saying goes, they have two seasons there, winter and 4th of July.

37. Not disappointed today, as I expected something way above my pay grade, being Friday. I will never understand why the DT persists in putting out **** when there is a Toughie to satisfy the MENSA folk. Clearly they have no interest is providing something for the rest of us.

38. The solve was the longest of the week, edging into ** time, but I didn’t think it was too tricky for a Friday. I rather enjoyed it & thought Zandio throughout the solve then someone suggested Karla & my head was foolishly turned. 1a&d were good starters & 12a a neat lurker so they can have podium places.
    Thanks to Zandio for both the puzzle & for popping in as per and to Mr K.
    Ps in all the talk of podcasts nobody has mentioned The Daily T which has some excellent/informative editions though I do miss Kamal Ahmed now that he’s moved on.

39. That was a challenge and for a 4* offering was pleased to complete the grid until only two clues remained before I had to resort to Mr K’s hints. Hard but fair would be my assessment. COTD for me was 1a, apart from the word play there was something about daughters, cars and money which immediately chimed. I thought the hidden at 12a was very cleverly constructed. Pedantic point but 17a would be found on a meteorological chart rather than a map. There is a difference.
    That said, thanks as always to the setter and Mr K for the hints.

    1. I should have mentioned 1d, like others I was also considering crab as the answer but on seeing the hints the answer became obvious but not the word play. Have seen the explanation, brilliant.

40. My final attempt as 2 previous comments were lost in the ether. Managed to finish this but I didn’t enjoy the challenge which had so many obtuse clues leading to much bunging in (was it Shabbo who coined that charming phrase?). What is a podcast anyway. Thanks Zandio and MrK.

41. Yes Mr K, it was REALLY hard! Suitable for a Friday night although I’m sharper on a Monday night so would prefer it the other way around. A great challenge nonetheless. Thank you to Setter.

42. Surprised myself by finishing this one…bar of course 1d which I can now see is brilliant.

    Needed help parsing a few…especially 8d….a total guess.
    Loved the lurkers.

    Thanks to Zandio and to Mr K.

    A trying day for me today…we have had a new Internet router installed with extenders to get the signal to the upstairs of our very old house…so spent an awful lot of time getting tablets, phones and printers hooked up…… as well as the darned extenders. Plus doing laundry, plus baking gingerbread (the Scottish kind of course that we slice and eat with butter), plus watching for deliveries of various kinds, plus making soothing noises to Mr Meringue whilst he dealt with the drain cleaner man and his jets.
    All done now thank goodness and we have clean drains and signals everywhere.
    Why does everything have to happen all at once ?

43. Well that was a lot of fun and therefore I should have know it was a Zandio production. Slightly chewy in parts ,and as others I failed to parse 1d and I fell into to the crab trap ! I also hadn’t heard of the podcaster , and think I’ll steer clear. Thanks so much to Zandio and Mr K.

44. Can someone explain 18D to me?

    1. Your comment went into moderation because you added a middle initial to your name. Both versions, with and without the middle initial, should work from now on.

       Now 18d – I don’t think that Mr K has got it quite right in the hint. A synonym of past and the even letters (oddly ignored) of iNqUiRy reversed (twisted) for a synonym of attack. I hope that helps.

45. Ooh, difficult one for me this. I got 1 Down via a different route but got there. 17A must be my favourite as I like Tubes and maps. I was well and truly kicked into touch by 24A before reading the hint.

    1. Welcome to the blog

46. 3*/4* …
    liked 14A “Steep plunge in numbers – I have to ring editor (8)”

47. A lovely Zandio puzzle which I printed off at the time and saved for later. A very good idea!
    I really enjoyed this puzzle, the only fly in the ointment being 1d which, like others, I failed to parse.
    As usual, I have many ticks on my printout. I have whittled them down to 6a, 14a, 24a, 4d and 5d.
    I can’t believe I solved 27a without seeing it was hidden! What a brilliant lurker!
    Many appreciative thanks to Zandio. And many appreciative thanks to Mr K for his review and for enlightening me re 1d and 27a.

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