DT 31031 (Hints)

78 comments on “DT 31031 (Hints)”

1. So long as 1a had been solved other clues were unlocked. However, to a football ignoramus such as I it proved a stumbling block meaning the whole was something of a curate’s egg. I did not know the term for Roman emperor so 26a held me up for far too long. I liked 15d but did not know it was in Russia. However, geography is not my strong point. My COTD is 19d because I’ve said it many times thinking it funny only to receive wry smiles.

   Thank you, setter for a brain teaser. Thank you, CeeSoo for the hints.

   This is the time of year in The Marches when it’s cold in the mornings and evenings but warm in the afternoon. I don’t know whether to relight the Aga or not.

   1. I’m with you on 1A Steve: and so on the linked clues. Otherwise not a bad day.

2. Another Saturday cracker from NYDK. However I do think an earworm alert should have been posted for 7d as it will stick in my mind all day. With so many excellent clues it’s tough to pick a podium, but the jury’s decision goes to the oldie, but goodie, 16a, 15d and 25a. Honorable mentions to 1a/7d combo, 2d and 8d. Thanks to NYDK and CS

3. Thank you for the tips. I have a love/hate for long anagrams. Was there no lurker in this, or did I just overlook it?

4. A welcome relief after yesterday’s failure but still no walkover as befits a prize puzzle.

   As Steve says, once 1A succumbed, the related clues made sense. The aforementioned 1A was my pick of the bunch. The morning chills have relegated my shorts to the chest of drawers. Brrrr!

   Thanks to the setter and CS.

5. Teasingly tricky this morning with a couple of hold-ups, but a very worthwhile solve and about right for a prize puzzle. The linked clues were a great help, although I spent too long looking for a specific club. 26a my favourite with 18d my final entry.

   Thanks to our Saturday setter and Sue,

   1. 18d was my last as well. Still not convinced about the first part of the wordplay.

      While I’m here posting, thanks to the setter and to CS.

      1. … it’s an old railway man’s expression … refers to a direction towards a central node in a network or hierarchy, a railway line leading to a major terminus.
         Apart from that .. I struggled today, again, probably as I have no interest in 1a. My COTD was 22d.

         1. Ah OK. Thanks for that info. I didn’t know that.

6. Thankfully I solved 1A at the start, otherwise I think I would have given up at an early stage. I still have too many bung ins, which although I am sure are correct I cannot parse. The mounting litter in 5D eludes me, 6D is still a mystery, the hilarity in 16A passes me by. Also although I managed to parse it I thought 12A was weak. Thanks to Crypticsue for the hints and to the setter.

   1. If you have a BRB look up the hairstyle. If not, put a knot in your hanky to remind you to look at my full review on Friday

   2. I don’t think this is naughty step material but for 5d think of other meanings of litter (ie not just stuff thrown out of a car window). I think I would be on the naughty step if I strayed in to hinting 6d. I thought the puzzle was quite tough (and certainly I was very slow) but really enjoyable with some lovely clues and penny drop moments. LOI was 2d which along with 25a was my favourite. Thank you setter and CS particularly for parsing 4d which eluded me.

      1. I can see the litter but not the drunk!!

         1. The ‘drunk’ word appears quite often in crosswords

   3. Look at half of the Aussie cricket team

      1. I meant for the haircut bit of this thread! Not the drunk bits!!

7. I’m with Steve. This guzzle was wasted on me as I long agolost interest in the theme topic which linked many of the clues, although I’m sure many ccrossword aficionados will thoroughly enjoy it. With the help of Mr Google(I had no idea rhere was a song)I did eventually finish it. However, Having read 8d, I liked the great poem clueand the 6d composer, painter clue was very clever. 15d was a great geographical clue too.So a curate’s egg for enjoyment too. Thanks to the compiler and to CS for the hints

8. A gentle and enjoyable start for the LGCs with nothing to delay completion once I’d got the wrong sort of dope out of my mind. Some super surfaces (esp 16a) and everything very fairly clued. COTD 25a.

   Many thanks to Donny (surely) and CS

9. Good morning. Too much football for me! Reasonably straight forward save for 15d, which I guessed, then confirmed with the atlas. Thank you for the review and to the setter. Let’s wait for tomorrow’s offering. Bon Weekend.

10. Definitely quirky but fun to solve.

    My podium comprises 25a, 17d & 22d.

    Thanks to NYDK and CS.

11. A friendly gentle solve which is what I needed after an afternoon ‘on’ fentanyl. 1a was definitely the ‘key’ to the solve.

    Candidates for favourite – 23a, 25a, 15d, and 18d – and the winner is 18d.

    Thanks to NYDK and CS.

    1. Oh dear, that’s a drastic drug? Are you OK? Silly question, obviously not ☹️

       1. Legally administered in a medical facility so that I didn’t have a care while my nether regions were being explored for the umpteenth time. Now I have to wait for the results of the analysis of what was found and removed. Not the first time that has happened.

          1. Nether regions can be a damned nuisance. Fingers crossed.

12. I have little to no interest in the round ball game, so I was a little dismayed to find so many clues linked to 1a about which I had no idea. However, with a few checking letters, the penny dropped for 1a (of course I have heard of the answer) and I was able to tackle more of the puzzle (but I reiterate my hatred of, and restate the unfairness of, linked clues).
    I will admit that there were a few where I needed electronic (or CS) help with – but I got there in the end and have to say that I enjoyed it in the main (not something I usually say with this setter).
    To my shame, I couldn’t remember the location of the Taj Mahal – so I asked Google. I had to scroll past hundreds of entries about local Indian restaurants before I was reminded of what I was actually looking for!
    Many thanks to NYDK and to CS
    [edit] I am livid with myself. Having gone back into the puzzle on the app, I discovered that I had accidentally overwritten a correct character with an incorrect one on one of my answers – but I had already submitted it. Sigh… no mythical for me!

    1. I’ve aent the puzzle off with one wrong letter a few times. I do sympathise. It’s sso frustrating.

13. Fortunately I got the linked clues quite early on which helped me progress as there were several synonyms that were new to me. I had to check a few answers after I had completed it eg 26a, Ia was my favourite. I thought this was definitely a bit harder than some recent Saturdays but enjoyed it very much.

    Many thanks to the setter and to CS for the hints.

14. Great puzzle, great fun, must dash……..

15. This was a fine Wedding Anniversary present today. Favourite was 16 across and next best for me was 17 down. Daunted by so many football references but since the 2 long ones were anagrams that made all the difference.
    Must apologise for my rather bad tempered complaint about yesterday’s crossword saying I would not have pronounce the car in that way to give the Shakespearean character. This morning I woke up to realise that “ a car “ made all the difference. Mea Culpa or in other words silly idiot.
    Thanks as ever to our setter and CS.

    1. Bet you have a long way to go to beat our 68 years! But have a happy one! 🥂

       1. 68 is truly outrageous…as are you. Platinum is nailed on.

          The 80th is oak as I reckon they ran out of gemstones.

          I can’t do the crossie as I’m overseas, meaning I can’t play ‘Guess the grid’ due to the lack of clues on this oh so splendid bloggy bloggy.

       2. We are only up to 57 years and the odds are against us ever catching you up. Celebrated at The Pantiles in Tunbridge Wells and thank you Daisygirl (always enjoy your posts)

          1. The Pantiles!? Not far from me. I lived in T Wells for 29 years before moving 7 mls further south, just over the ‘border’ in East Sussex. I must go and remind myself of the antique arcade.

    2. A Very Happy Anniversary, Dyslex. Have a wonderful day. 🍹🍾

       1. Thank you Steve. There is a marvellous antique arcade at The Pantiles Tunbridge Wells, so spent a happy half an hour there before dinner. Getting married on the
          13 th, turned out very lucky.
          .

    3. Happy anniversary, D!

       1. Your best wishes very happily received.Cannot imagine why you could possibly be disappointing, Rosie

          1. Ha!

             Do you know the story behind it?

             I’ll tell you someday if you don’t.

16. Hi Sue long time since we met in the Saturday club! Are you still baking cakes? I used to enjoy your lemon drizzle 🤣 I seem to remember being in the naughty corner several times!!!!! Hope all is well in your world … being really rusty today’s puzzle is a bit of a headache for me … I couldn’t work out the anagram for 1a until I say your photo! So I’m putting it down for now and back later!

    1. I often read all the chat on the blog and remember the day, long ago now, when someone told us off for discussing the weather in our different ‘sides’ of the country as this is a crossword blog, not a place to chat!

       I have to be sugar free these days and if I can’t have cake, then I am sorry, no-one else can have cake either!

       1. Oh ! That’s not very public spirited of you besides which we might get up to all sorts of mischief if we don’t have cake to satisfy our desire.
          Seriously though, I take on board what you say about our idle chat and this being a Crossword Discussion Group, but I think that Covid and the lockdown had a huge impact on this site and kept some of us sane. It is quite hard to forget that strange intimacy we had. Rap my knuckles if I get out of hand.

          1. I’m sure I’m not the only cake baker round here

       2. Silly me. I thought that this was a book club where we occasionally ‘talk’ about crosswords –

17. Quite late to this today as I made use of the dry weather to get some gardening done. Pouring with rain now though.
    I’m another non-football fan but once I got 7d then 1a was obvious.
    The sausage was new to me but fairly clued.

    Top picks for me were 19d (like Steve C I also use it in a comical way), 9a and 6d.

    Thanks to CrypticSue and NYDK.

18. I found this Saturday puzzle quite tricky and hard to get going. Seems like this is a NYDK production, I agree.
    I really liked the underlying theme.
    A slightly different puzzle from the norm, but I enjoyed it.

    2.5*/4*

    Favourites 1a, 14a, 19a, 21a & 7d

    Thanks to setter & CS

19. No help from George today as he is ensconced in front of a rugby match. Managed to complete it nevertheless without recourse to the hints although I did check a couple of parsings. I think 23a is a splendid word as is 21a. My favourite is 26a. I guessed the sporty 1a by isolating the first three letter word ( I am trying to avoid the naughty step although I really feel like some comfort cake today). So excited about tonight’s Prom, although so many of them have been splendid tonight we have Bohemian Rhapsody !!! I’m not really a pop music fan but that has always moved me. Yippee. Many thanks to Mr Setter and Ms CeeSue.

    1. Daisygirl, I saw the most incredible flash mob of Bohemian Rhapsody recently – searched through all my WhatsApp and Messenger groups for the link without success …. now have the feeling it may have been on this blog! But just in case you haven’t seen it, do a search for Julian Cohen Bohemian Rhapsody flash mob (I’m sure I should be able to find a link having found the YouTube video, but my social media skills are somewhat lacking!)

       1. Oooh found it! https://youtu.be/rfUEstWJUkA?si=m7jNwDKv0B7yr3RV

          1. Wow, that was fantastic. Thank you for sharing it.

          2. Excellent. Thanks for posting

       2. Yes, was that the one in Paris? Oh how I wish I’d been there! Way back in the past the Cambridge Evening News used to run a column called ‘Personally’ to which I would contribute. I remember writing a piece on BR when I first heard it, and marvelling on its length – six minutes. I wish I could lay my hands on it although I dare say I would cringe now.

20. Loved this. Quite tough in parts. Thanks to CS’s hints to confirm my answers for 25a and 26a. For 5d, I must’ve missed the word for drunk ‘that appears often in crosswords’ but the answer works so well I must have it correct. Biggest tick went to the hairstyle and whilst a few might shy away from ‘hilarious’, it works for me.

    Surely the work of the Knob of the American Door and many many thanks for it. Thanks also to CS.

21. I could not solve a single across clue but 7 d opened the flood gates and I was off at great speed. Like many on this blog I am not a footie fan but learning fast. Having only keen cricketers and hockey players in the family. My grandson when 8 years old drew me a picture of the positions on a cricket field which has helped over the years. Thank you Cryptic Sue and the setter. I do hope Senf has a satisfactory result as these tests add another worry to the day.

22. A teasing challenge but got there in the end, admittedly having to rely on the dictionary to confirm a couple of the clues. Like others, I recognised 1a as an anagram but could not see the solution. It was the solving of 19a which led me to the answer. Although I guessed at 10a I did need confirmation that it was a type of sausage. Also had the wrong final vowel for 22d, which held up the solving of 26a.
    No great favourites today but nonetheless enjoyable.
    Thank you to the setter and to CS for the hints.

23. Quite an effort but worth it. A good mix of intuitive and rational solving got me there in the end and made short work of a long bus journey. Thank you.

24. Thanks to NYDK and CS. Found this very tricky even though we got 1a straight away. COTD 25a and LOI 18d. Happy anniversary to D! Now for some sunshine!

25. For me this has been the hardest of the week maybe because of the ….aaarrggh football theme. Anyway I had time today to engage brain and gradually it all fell into place. I enjoyed the sausage clue – I had all the bits , but took a while and checkers to get them in the right place as I didn’t know the word. Feel pleased to have completed and actually on reflection , it wasn’t really that bad. Thanks to setter and CS.

26. Thoroughly enjoyed this, and completed unaided (not a normal state for me). Many thanks to setter and CS for confirmation. Now off to try to submit from website as I’ve learned from this wonderful site that numerous submissions from the App have been a total waste of time.

27. Just waved off a couple of ‘old’ girlfriends who had come over to Anglesey for the day and arrived bearing lunch. We hadn’t met up for over 10 years so you can imagine what the noise level has been like in my house!
    Once I realised that the answer to 1a wasn’t the name of a football team, everything went well and I’m handing out humour awards to our long-term friend at 16a plus the onions at 19d.

    Thanks to NYDK and to CS for the hints.

28. Sorry NYDK bur rather unusually for me on a Saturday this did not bring much enjoyment.
    2*/4*
    16a – why hilarious? I must be missing something.
    I did like 2d and 26a
    Thanks to Sue and NYDK

    1. See my reply to comment no 6

    2. Well it was fashionable once & many celebs (actors, musicians, sports folk etc) had their barnet cut in the style.

29. Nice indeed to be reminded of a certain recent sporting success. I was an avid watcher, and I still can’t quite believe how at least two of the matches were won. They’re ‘never done’, you see, according to Leah Williamson, so that must be it.

    Many a high-end clue here, and in addition to the mini-theme, I think I’m plumping for the virtue-signaller and the outrageous 19D.

    Thanks NYDK and CSue.

30. Apropos nowt -7d has just been sung at finals day by the person who introduced it to mainstream sport in the uk (and it was cricket way before football) take a bow bumble.

    It was sung previously at baseball games (I think The Boston Red Socks?)

    Nice crossword – just wanted to add trivia

31. 2.5*/ 4* A good Saturday workout, not easy but all getable with excellent clues.
    Favourites include the excellent 1a, element at 25a and the 26a ape
    Thanks to setter and Sue

32. A pedestrian solve that took longer than yesterday’s Silvanus puzzle. 2d last in & a painfully slow penny drop. As ever with a NYDK SPP great fun & nicely clued throughout.
    Thanks to Donny & to CS

33. Have no interest in today’s theme so took ages to solve 1a which hampered overall progress. Good to have clues which read sensibly even if some solutions IMHO were a bit far-fetched. Tried to use wrong side in 11a. Not sure about ape as noun for 26a. Needed MrG’s help with 19d although I had the Asian leader in place. 19d raised a smile. Thank you NYDK and CS.

34. Overall, I found this a bit easier than last week’s SPP, when i had to have electronic help for several clues. Only had to do a search for solutions to 18d, as I had one letter wrong – then the parsing became clear! (Although I am a bit dubious as to whether the answer is truly a synonym for ***** in the clue ..). My favourite today was 16a and I also liked 25a.

35. Very enjoyable challenge. Got there in one day which is top notch for me. Some great clues to engage the brain. Thanks setter and CS.

36. Having abandoned the puzzle yesterday afternoon I picked it up again this evening. Funny how solutions popped into my head for clues that previously stumped me. I guess my grey cells were still processing data in the background.

    This puzzle gave me much more pleasure than Friday’s in which I found very difficult to get a toehold.

37. I hope in a couple of weeks you will highlight the Rosa species form of ball game. I too have limited or nil interest in 1a games but with the exception of when 1a play.

38. 19 D … how I loved that.

39. Did anyone else get confused by the (rare) error in the instructions for how to enter the prize draw? Thought I was going crazy!

40. 3*/4* ….
    liked 5D “Drunk amid mounting litter ? Divorce results ! (5,2)”

    1. Me too, I knew what the answer was but couldn’t figure out why for ages!

       1. 🙂

41. I too struggled with sport themed clues, football ones I can normally work out with the help of my football mad son, but cricket positions is like a whole new language. Enjoyed this weeks challenge still a few to do.

42. Still don’t understand the solving of 10a, which as my last in was then easily cheated by looking up! Will have to wait for your full explanation.

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