DT 31005

89 comments on “DT 31005”

1. A typical Ray T that veered towards the more difficult end of his spectrum. Still enjoyable, though, with the usual trademarks in evidence. As usual I mixed up the two meanings of number and put “eight” in at 7d until 12a sorted that out. I also chased the wrong volume in 12a. All good fun and my COTD is 15a with its figures caught in corsets.

   The Quickie pun was suitably groanworthy raising a huge grin when the penny dropped.

   Thank you, Ray T for the fun. Thank you, Shabo for the hints.

2. Almost a *** but just about a **. As ever the anagrams helped – 5 I think – and 12a reminded me of my professional days looking at unregistered titles. 7d is always amusing once it clicks! My favourite was the cleverly hidden anagram at 17a. Thanks Shabbo for explaining 1a and our setter of course.

   1. Straightforward and enjoyable. 10a my cotd, 5d last in

3. An enjoyable puzzle but no walk in the park. LOI was 25d, it’s always the short ones which take the longest time to fathom.
   Top picks for me were 1a, 6a and 27a.

   Thanks to Shabbo and Ray T.

4. Quite straightforward, although the definition of 5d in this sense is new to me.
   As our blogger points out, the setter’s fingerprint is easy to identify in this typically enjoyable offering.
   7d’s Queen number sounded good and I liked the boozer in 14d, who possibly sought the lurker in 16d. 
   Thanks to Shabbo and RayT.

5. I have not looked at the guzzle yet, but can anyone please tell me how I can access recently deleted emails on my new Lenova – I use Outlook and have a BT account. I just have Sent items, Archive, Drafts and Junk on the left under Favourites.. The other thing i would like to have is a list of contacts.
   Oh , how I wish my grandsons lived around the corner..
   I will spend all day on the naughty step if this plea is not allowed!

   1. Under Favourites you should have another inbox with all your other folders in, if deleted files is there just drag it into favourites.

      1. Hallo all you lovely men in shining armour – I have managed to find my lost deleted stuff, which led to me spending 45 minutes deleting old stuff AND I have found out
         how to report some of these awful people who offer me things no lady should know about so that they are blocked. I’m talking Gaming and strange pills etc!
         I’ll say thank you again tomorrow in case you are all in bed now – but so grateful.
         My next job is to try and create a list of all my contacts. New computers are all very well but…..

   2. DG, although I am not with BT, I use Outlook. I have a Deleted Items folder, and one of the options in this folder is “Recover items recently removed from this folder”. Your challenge is to try to find your Deleted Items folder which should be available somewhere in a list of all folders. It’s probably a sub-folder of Inbox.

      Maybe Google “find my Deleted Items folder in Outlook” for some more help.

      Good luck!

   3. Distressed that all my emails declaring love for Daisy have been deleted.

   4. I did the same and the only thing that worked was reaching out to my email carrier (not BT) and asking them to restore, which they did.

   5. Thank you everyone. I knew somebody would have a suggestion. Now I have to see if I can make it work. It’s no good doing a ❤️ emoji as it will probably come out as a bracket.

6. 2*/5*. RayT at his best and most concise. Many thanks to him and to Shabbo.

7. The Master of Brevity at his best – 2.5*/4.5*

   Candidates for favourite – 12a, 24a, 7d, and 25d – and the winner is 7d.

   Thanks to Ray T and Shabbo.

8. A nice, solid, straightforward crossy from Arty with my LOI being 8d (I eventually got rid of the e for sweetheart)

   14d is one of only two regular words that have all five vowels in order. Care to tell me the other one, folks?

   My podium is 7d, 16d and 26d.

   MT to the aforementioned and Shabbs.

   2*/4*

   1. FACETIOUS?

      1. Nice work, Crazy River.

   2. Equivocally

      1. It’s a good shout, SC, but the vowels need to be in alphabetical order.

         1. Ah. How about

            Adventitious.

            1. Nice work, SC.

               One more to add to the irregular list along with Senf’s corkers.

               14d and facetious are the only regular/high-frequency ones.

               It’s a classic quiz question.

   3. Cheating a bit – Facetiously!

      1. Nice….and correctamundo.

         One more wordie question if anyone fancies it:

         Give me the only word beginning tm……

         I’ll be very impressed.

         When I tell you its meaning, you’ll say….”Ah, is that what it’s called.”

         1. TMESIS

            1. Bravo!

               I guess you know its meaning but for those of you who don’t….

               A word is placed in another word for emphasis or comedic effect, e.g absobloominglutely.

               1. The BRB App is a wonderful thing!

                  1. I’m sure I’d like it but only a smidge.

                     1. Smidgen, please!!

                        1. Like it, RD. Like it.

                           Maybe I should have put an exclamation mark as I was having a giggle.

                        2. I would have spelt that smidgeon. Or why not smigeon as in pigeon . Or smidgyon? What a crazy language we have. (But I love it!)

                           1. U betcha, Day Zee! It’s related to smudge.

                              Check this out…

                              There are 13 ways to pronounce the sound shn at the end of a word though one is debatable:

                              station, magician, Egyptian, Russian, tension, truncheon (debatable), stanchion, ocean, crucifixion *, session, freshen, suspicion and fashion.

                              Asian is pronounced slightly differently and you could argue that the second s in session isn’t part of the second syllable. The u in shun is pronounced like the u in cup so I haven’t included it.

                              * Michael Palin: ”Crucifixion? Good. Out of the door. Line on the left. One cross each.”

                           2. One more for yer…

                              The sound ij in smidge can be spelt nine ways though one is, again, debatable…

                              marriage (iage)
                              bridge (idge)
                              college (ege)
                              pigeon (ig) *
                              smidgeon (idg) *
                              knowledge (edge)
                              manage (age)
                              sandwich (it can be pronounced two ways)
                              vestige (ige)

                              * If these are a bit dodge then digit and fidget

               2. Well, I didn’t know it was called that, Tom!
                  Though the example you give is much more polite than the constructions I am familiar with…

                  1. Good shout.

                     I had to fight the urge.

   4. ARSENIOUS – containing arsenic in the trivalent state (in The Crimson Tome)

   5. CAESIOUS – bluish or greyish green (in The Crimson Tome)

      1. Excellent work Senf (x 2).

         Even though they are not on my list of regular words they are tremendous answers.

9. I struggled less with this one than usual and thoroughly enjoyed completing it, 5d was a new synonym to me and 16a my favourite.

   Many thanks to RayT and to Shabbo for the hints.

10. An unaided completion of a Ray T offering is a red letter day for me. Thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, some parts were straightforward, others needed a crumpet scratch or two but all succumbed in the end. 5d was a new definition for me. My podium comprises 1a, 8d and 26a in top spot. 15a gets an honorable mention in despatches for the smile factor. Thanks to Ray T and Shabbo.

11. Another cracker from the RT production line that was as enjoyable as it was concise. Beautifully clued as ever, I was spoiled for choice picking a favourite, but decided on 7d for the clever construction and neat misdirection.

    Many thanks to Mr T and Shabbo.

12. Another cheerful puzzle with ahappy time solving it

13. An excellent and entertaining puzzle

    1. A fairly straightforward guzzle, from Ray T roday, which I thoroughly enjoyed . The anagram at 14d and theego clue at21d were good fun and I liked the Royal canine clue at 3d. Thnks to Mr T and to Shabbo for the hints

14. Definitely more than 2* difficulty puzzle for me.

    Favourite the Royal dog.

    Thanks to Ray T and to Shabbo.

15. Last full day of my little IOW tribe’s visit to Anglesey so they’re desperately trying to fit in everything possible. It’s exhausting just watching them and left very little time for me to concentrate on today’s puzzle!
    Finally completed, along with some extra squiggles added by young Isabella, and I awarded the biggest ticks to 21,22,24&27a.

    Devotions as always to Mr T, and many thanks to Shabbo for the review.

    1. Lucky you. They grow up and away so quickly!

16. Not for me. Got there eventually but found the whole thing a slog with no real enjoyment. I appreciate I am alone and am pleased that so many others loved it. I hope one day I will enjoy a puzzle by this setter.
    Thank you to him and our hinter

    1. Don’t worry, Magichatuk. I didn’t get on with Ray T to start with but he’s now one of my favourite setters. Keep plugging away and the light will dawn.

    2. You are not alone. I have grown to enjoy Ray T puzzles, but today I struggled.

       1. Thank you both for your words of encouragement! I shall persevere!!

17. Seems possible 6a could be peep as in homophone of sea.

    1. But there isn’t a river Pee as far as I know. Bound to be one in the depths of China.

18. Ray T’s on form today – thanks to him and Shabbo.
    My favourite clue was 13a.

19. Nice to have RayT back for his fortnightly stop over to the back page. Another offering with his succinct clues and his usual precise brevity. Nice to see the Queen and sweetheart making an appearance too.

    2*/4.5*

    Favourites 10a, 24a, 27a, 7d & 16d — with winner 7d
    Smiles for 10a, 24a & 26d

    Thanks to RayT & Shabbo

20. Finished the guzzle many hours ago and it’s only dawning on me now how 7d is related to ‘number’! One (though not the only one) bit of crosswordese that consistently trips me up. Thanks to Shabbo and RayT

21. Like Fred above, it took far too long for me to realise why 7d is a number. Generally an entertaining Ray T production which I would perhaps have completed sooner were it not for the jazz guitar lesson in the adjacent room and the after effects of A-level results morning stress. Thanks very much to RT and to Shabbo.

22. Can I just give a shout out for the vintage puzzle today. Published on 21st July 1969 on the day of the moon landing although there is no mention of it. The puzzle is very much like those of today and very friendly.

23. I was swimming against the tide with this puzzle (happily not a rip tide). For me, definitely at the harder end of the Ray T spectrum. Had Her Majesty not put in appearance I would have thought it was by someone else. 5d solved ok, but still don’t see how that is a number – clearly lateral thinking is not my strong suit. LOL at 17a, the answer and the definition are synonymous at present. But it exercised my brain cells so not a waste. Thanks to Ray T and to Shabbo.

    1. You have to think of a number as ‘something that numbs’.

       1. Oh, never thought of that ????

       2. Thank you for that! I came across this old crossword that I had put aside and that was the one clue that defeated me. I’d forgotten about the alternative definition of NUMB-ER!

          1. Welcome to the blog. I hope you continue to comment.

24. Getting more on RayT’s wavelength each week. Having said that, the 1a Track, 10a NHS and 5d sermon took as long as the rest of the puzzle! Can’t really see why though; just couldn’t nail them for a while. Loved 15a Figures, 19a Stayed and 12a example as well as 14d Sober and 21d fantasy. What great words, 12a, 19a and 14d are. Along with the trademark conciseness and the superlative misdirection, the PDM for how well hidden the lurker was at 4d made this a joy from start to finish.

    So, guess I liked this – can you tell?

    Many thanks to RayT and Shabbo.

25. Pure pleasure. Thank you Mr T. I always look forward to alternate Thursdays – and join Jane in devotions. Thank you too to Shabbo.

26. We struggled today. Perhaps we need to do more of Ray T puzzles to get on his wavelength. However we did finish without resorting to Shabbo’s hints.
    Thanks to both Ray T and Shabbo for the work they put in. Gary and Val

27. This was jogging along ok , but then I got stuck on a few that slowed me right down. 8 d for instance , I had the first bit and the last , but I just couldn’t think of the 3 letters in the middle and a word meaning effect. In the end resulted to going through the alphabet. 1a also eluded me for ages , and the parsing also which I have just looked at the hint for. Thanks to Ray T for a slightly chewy but enjoyable puzzle, and thanks to Shabbo for the hints.

28. A delightful cryptic from RayT that provided many smiles.
    As per usual, I have a large selection of ticks on my printout, including 10a, 15a, 21a and 22a as well as 7d, 8d, 21d and 26d.
    I also enjoyed the lurkers. RayT is a pastmaster at setting these!
    I had problems trying to sort out 1a. The worddplay is obvious when one knows the answer!
    Many thanks to RayT for a most enjoyable puzzle and to Shabbo for the review.

29. It just shows how different we all are – I don’t normally comment on ‘easy’ guzzles as that’s not fair on beginners but I sat down to drink my coffee before going out to lunch (that’s all you can do when you are old – go out to lunch) and I raced through thinking is it Monday. A lovely guzzle, thank you so much. I like to pronounce 12d as ‘eppy tome’ as our one time hilarious PC Chairman used to say it. I’ve told you about him before, ancestors who come after us etc. Anyway, as I said thanks to Messrs Setter & Shabbo. Thanks to my IT advisors – I shall wrestle with that tomorrow. And a message for Terence – a love like ours transcends deleted emails. 15 mins to my medication ????

    1. A quizmaster once asked ‘What is an eppyfanny?’ and wondered why the whole pub roared.

       1. Like the mother whose son had hurt his arm. When asked if he had broken it she said , “No, it’s much worse than that – he fractured it!”

          1. Love it

30. The usual top quality from RayT with the American politician getting my vote for best clue because of its smoothness. Thank you Shabbo for the blog

31. I needed lots of electronic help for 5d and dismissed my (correct) answer. My BRB has a tenuous link between the answer and sermon and my Thesaurus was no help.

    I have a stinking cold (man flu), so that didn’t help. I certainly found it much harder than most seemed to, even accounting for it being a RayT.

    Thanks to all.

32. Hurrah Ray T on a Thursday ???? ***/**** Favourites 6a, 12a & 7d Thanks to Ray T and to Shabbo I appear to have lost my emojis, ah well ????

    1. It’s better than losing your mojo, JL.

    2. We’ve all lost our emojis, Jaylegs and life is not the same without them.

       It took me three attempts to stop spellchecker naming you Joyless, which I’m sure you are not.

33. I struggled today, but almost completed it until the NE sector defeated me and I had to resort to the hints for 13a and 8d (and 10a for some reason, although that seems quite obvious with hindsight!)
    Although I solved 7d, I didn’t understand the definition of number, until I saw the comments and the penny dropped and a smile ensued……for that reason it’s my favourite.
    Thanks to the setter & hinter.

    1. I always forget that meaning of number and I was a dentist!!

       1. lol

    2. Snap. Very similar experience.
       Anyway, thank you to the setter and Shabbo for the hints. Definitely needed today for the NE corner.

34. Beaten by Ray today but I will persevere!
    5*/4*
    Thanks to him and for the above much needed hints

35. Evening all. My thanks to Shabbo for the elucidation and to everybody else for your observations. As always, much appreciated.

    RayT

    1. Thank you for a great puzzle, Ray T and for popping in – it is always appreciated.

    2. Good evening, Mr T. Very late with my greetings tonight but appreciated the puzzle as much as always, many thanks.

36. I didn’t find this overly difficult but if there was a garden path to be led up I was there. That of course only added to the enjoyment. As usual hard to pick a favourite but I’ll go with 10a. Thanks to Rayt and Shabbo.

37. Reckon Ray has been pretty easy on us for his last few puzzles & today no exception. 1a got thinks off to a nice start & I rather liked the fodder & indicator for the definition at 14a – it’s what my hepatologist expects of me but a couple of scoops of cold Cruzcampo were much needed after golf today. Those 2 clues & 7d can have my podium votes.
    Thanks to Mr T & to Shabbo

    1. meant 14d.

38. Very nice from Ray – 7D my favourite. VMT Ray & Shabbo.

39. 3*/2* …
    liked 18D “Vehicle entrance ? (9)”

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