DT 31052 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 31052

by Senf  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31052

Hints and Tips by Senf

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****

A very good Wednesday morning from Winnipeg.  I was going to ask Dijon if he wanted to help me today but he has gone off in a huff, probably crying into his Grey Poupon, because I didn’t respond to his comment on Saturday.

For me, etc© (I have to say that for Terence), a very enjoyable challenge in a symmetrical 28 clues.  I am boldly prepared to put a shiny new King Charles Toonie on this being a Hudson production but there is always a chance that I might be incorrect.

Candidates for favourite – 19a, 25a, 2d, 7d, 15d, and 22d.

In the hints below, the definitions are underlined. The answers are hidden under the Click here! buttons, so don’t click if you don’t want to see them.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

1a Novel kind of music Polish broadcast introduces (8,4)
BRIGHTON ROCK: A homophone (broadcast) of polish (ignore the misleading upper case P) placed before (introduces) a kind of music (which came to the fore in the 1950s).

8a Dubious remedy using onions, it’s occasionally weird (7)
NOSTRUM: Alternate letters (using . . . occasionally) of onions, its (I’ll let you decide if its odds or evens) and a synonym of weird.

9a Kind of cake Nick discovered is heavenly (7)
ANGELIC: The illustrated kind of cake and nICk with the outer letters removed (discovered).

11a Hold back Tory money article probes (7)
CONTAIN: One of the indefinite articles inserted into (probes) an abbreviated form of a synonym of Tory and a slang synonym of money.

12a Micronutrient found in broth, I am informed (7)
THIAMIN: A lurker (found in) ‘concealed’ by the last four words of the clue.

13a Cuts of meat the Spanish will carry home (5)
LOINS: The masculine plural definite article in Spanish contains (will carry) our favourite two letter synonym of home.

14a Exhausted wife spent extravagantly, losing head (6-3)
WASHED-OUT: The single letter for Wife and a (6-3) term equivalent to spent extravagantly with its first letter deleted (losing head).

16a Short trip arranged with Ashley and Bob, perhaps (9)
HAIRSTYLE: An anagram (arranged) of TRIp with the last letter deleted (short) and (with) ASHLEY.

19a Took London Underground train westwards, arriving at premiere (5)
DEBUT: the reversal (westwards) of a 5 letter past participle for took London Underground train – yes, the informal name for the London Underground can also be a verb.

21a Tree occupying waste site oddly ignored initially (2,5)
AT FIRST: An evergreen tree inserted into (occupying) wAsTe SiTe ignoring the odd letters.

23a Cartoon receiving Oscar, finally it’s put on (7)
TOPCOAT: An early 1960s cartoon series containing (receiving) the letter represented by Oscar in the phonetic alphabet.

24a Overhaul of the Navy? (7)
SERVICE: A double definition – the second is an example indicated by the ?

25a Aromatic plant old ass goes round (7)
OREGANO: No complaining, we have seen the ass, which is native to Asia, a number of times. The single letter for Old and the reversal (goes round) of the name of the ass.

26a Party in divorce case right to flee reporter (12)
CORESPONDENT: A synonym of reporter with one of the single letters for Right deleted (to flee) – until today, I would have enumerated the answer as (2-10).

Down

1d Dog found by Jack entering part of the UK (7)
BASENJI: A synonym of found placed before (by) the single letter for Jack (as in the playing card) inserted into (entering) a two letter abbreviated form of part of the UK.

2d Popular Greek island said to get hostile attacks (7)
INROADS: A two letter synonym of popular and a homophone (said) of a Greek Island.

3d Writer may whinge dreadfully (9)
HEMINGWAY: An anagram (dreadfully) of MAY WHINGE.

4d Abstract paintings some extrapolate in retirement (2,3)
OP ART: A reversed lurker (some . . . in retirement) found in the word sandwiched by the indicator.

5d This setter’s to stop playing great syncopated music (7)
RAGTIME: Two letters (1’1) equivalent to this setter’s inserted into (to stop) an anagram (playing) of GREAT.

Nothing to do with the Country of the Maple Leaf, more likely associated with the ‘Maple Leaf Club’ in the city of Sedalia, Missouri.

6d Doctor after round visits Mark briefly in capital (7)
COLOMBO: All of two letters for a doctor placed after the round letter inserted into a (punctuation) mark with the last letter removed (briefly).

7d Fools joint principals of school (7-5)
KNUCKLE-HEADS: A finger joint and the plural of a school principal.

10d Establishment first off supports firm set of rules (12)
CONSTITUTION: A synonym of establishment with the first letter deleted (first off) placed after (supports) the two letter abbreviated form of a synonym of firm (as a noun).

15d Resent cow that’s uprooted vegetable (9)
SWEETCORN: A big groan – an anagram (that’s uprooted) of RESENT COW.

17d Conclude unspecified number love work by Dante (7)
INFERNO: A synonym of conclude, the letter for an unspecified number, and the letter that represents the score of love in a racquet game.

18d Fish and game left unfinished (7)
SARDINE: A game based on hide-and-seek with the last letter deleted (left unfinished).

19d Reduce key nursing personnel primarily (7)
DEPLETE: A 6 letter key on a keyboard (often reduced to 3 letters) containing (nursing) the first letter (primarily) of Personnel.

20d Outside university lad at intervals was not cheerful (7)
BUOYANT: A synonym of lad containing (outside) the single letter for University and alternate letters (at intervals) of wAs NoT.

22d Moor that is surrounded by sheep (3,2)
TIE UP: The Latin based abbreviation for that is contained (surrounded) by an alternative term for a male sheep.

Quick Crossword Pun:

PIECE + WHOOPER = PEA-SOUPER

The second word of the pun:

 

72 comments on “DT 31052”

  1. Hardest Wednesday one for ages, really belonged on the Toughie page.

    Good to see my cousin getting a mention at 23a, last one for me was the dog, but got there in the end by stubbornly staring at it until the penny about ‘found’ finally dropped.

  2. 2.5*/4*. This proved to be a very pleasant mid-week puzzle of medium difficulty.

    One “yuk” from me for 19a. What a horrible verb although, to be fair to the setter, it is (surprisingly) in the BRB! But really, who would say “I tubed to Victoria” rather than “I took the tube to Victoria”? Sloppy language, in my opinion.

    With plenty of ticks, 1a, 14a, 26a & 7d make it onto my podium.

    Many thanks to the setter (Hudson?) and to Senf.

  3. I am completely befuddled by oregano. I got it but can’t see why. I don’t know the name of the Asian ass . And when I tried to google it, you wouldn’t believe what I was offered. 😱
    Please help!

  4. Good morning. This was good fun with two new words added to the vocabulary . Favourites are 1a, 23a, 26a, 2d, 7d, and 17d. LOI was 2d and 16d took time to parse. COTD is 19a. Many thanks for the review and to the setter.

  5. I enjoyed this although it wasn’t all plane sailing. 1d was a new word for me. Struggled to get Tintin out of my head for 23a but loved the answer once I’d twigged the correct cartoon.
    Lots of ticks on the page.
    Top picks for me were 23a, 1a, 18d and 19d.

    Thanks to Senf and the setter.

    For those of you waiting for my response from DT towers about the error messages after submitting the prize puzzles, I have an update of sorts. They came back to me yesterday saying they couldn’t find me on the database. I’d used a slightly different email address when I contacted them. I’ve had to provide all sorts of info to them. I got the impression the fault won’t be passed onto the technical team until they verify who I am. Can’t see why it should matter who reports a fault to them. Anyhow, I would suggest that you each raise a case with them so they might take some notice. In my original case I did say that other people were affected by it too but they might not pick up on that.

  6. This was more sifficult than ** for me but I did enjoy completing this guzzle. I liked the missing letter clue at 26a, theLego/homophone combination at 1a, and the lurking micronutrient at 25a. I had vaguely heard of the dog at 1d but had to look up the spelling. Thanks to the compiler abd to Senf for the hints

  7. I am glad others enjoyed it. I resorted to cheating before I’d even read all the clues. Maybe I should have had a second coffee. Only stubbornness drove me to see it through.

  8. This was a very nice midweek tester that kept me on my toes until my LOI, 18d.

    I love playing with words, slang, abbreviations etc but the verb in 19a is pushing me to my limit. Even though I’m a Londoner, I’ve never heard it used though I suppose it may be an answer to ‘How did you get here?’…’I tubed it’. Still, I applaud the setter for pushing the boundaries.

    I’ve never seen 26a without a hyphen but I guess it’s okay and 1d has been added to my furry and feathery list.

    My podium is 9a, 7d and 15d.

    MT to the setter and Senf.

    3*/4*

    1. After a little more research on 26a this morning, The Crimson Tome has 26a as used by today’s setter without a hyphen while Collins, on-line at least, opines that without a hyphen is American English and with a hyphen is British English.

      1. Thanks, S.

        The OED agrees with Collins.

        Another nail in the coffin for Chumpers.

        Did you type online as on-line to have a bit of fun or do you use a hyphen?

        Another goodie.

        1. Reference to The Crimson Tome again, and Collins, on-line, agrees, shows that it can be on-line or online, and, incidentally, e-mail or email. Personally, I consider that on-line is more elegant and without the hyphen is probably lazy American usage.

          1. Interesting and thank you or is that thank-you or even thankyou?

            Oh, that’ll do.

            1. The below has something to do with our chat:

              I got a five pointer this week in the Connections round of Only Connect which they, surprisingly, struggled with. They only got it after the third one even though one of the team worked it out after two.

              The first box had ‘Fabric: ___n’ which was enough for me to solve it.

              Can anyone work it out? Obviously, you are blackballed if you saw it.

  9. I didn’t find this as sparky as Wednesday puzzles often are, and struggled to solve the final quarter or so of the clues. The 1d dog was unknown to me (and chances are will remain so); thank you to Senf for explaining it, but I’m still struggling to think of a sentence where ‘base’ or ‘found’ can be used interchangeably.

    And I have no memory of the 25a ass. That’s not to say that I haven’t encountered it before, but if so then it didn’t stick. Maybe this time?

    My top couple were the westward underground in 19a (seems like a fun formation to me) and the 23a cartoon. Thank you to the setter.

  10. Tricky, but really enjoyable.
    I’m still struggling to parse 14a. I have “splashed out” as “spent extravagantly”, but the first three letters cannot be the head, surely? It’s probably just me missing something bleedin’ obvious.
    Silvanus is on Toughie duty today and on top form.

    3. Remove first letter of a synonym for spending wildly, then front it with first letter of wife

      1. Your comment went into moderation because, assuming that you are one person using the associated e-mail address, you are now using a fourth alias.

        But, what did you think of the puzzle?

    4. 14a did give me a pause for thought until I found cash out, as in squander, in an on-line Thesaurus (but that probably makes it an American usage).

      1. Thank you all.
        Cash out, lash out, splash out…so many choices.
        I considered “lash out” but was only familiar with its use as to “strike someone”. I see it is in Chambers. Every day a school day.

        1. I just assumed it was “cash out” and moved on! Correcting that sort of thing, is (in part) why I read this blog and the comments!

          1. Thanks, everybody. I’d also considered ‘splash’ and then gone with ‘cash’, without knowing about ‘lash’.

            Not a term I can ever see me using. Mainly cos I’m stingy and so can’t ever see how it would be relevant …

  11. An entertaining midweek puzzle – thanks to our setter and Senf.
    The clues I have ticked include 1a, 14a, 2d and 22d.

  12. Thanks to the Setter and Senf for the hints.
    After our usual late start we struggled with this puzzle. Got there eventually. COTD choice between 1a and 7d. LOI 19d. 1d was a new word for us.

  13. I found this a little chewier than our blogger, although in fairness everything was very fairly clued. I dragged up the name of the ass from some deep recess of my memory, and 23a was my favourite because it reminded me of my childhood. Like RD, I hated 19a, as I usually do detest nouns that become verbs.

    Many thanks to our midweek setter and Senf.

  14. I, too, found this quite chewy with 14a holding me up considerably and not helped by biffing in an anagram of onions it’s for 8a which was daft as It just didn’t parse. Consequently the NW was a bit of a car crash with a very messy print out to boot. Do I recall the dog in 1d being previously inducted into The List? Maybe not. Apart from my moments of stupidity this was great fun. Thanks to compiler and Senf.

  15. Late on parade because of an insurance company. Despite my having told them at least half a dozen times, they refuse to accept that my wife is dead and keep asking her for money.

    Maybe that’s why I struggled with today’s puzzle. It’s not easy to concentrate while seething. I have never heard of the dog and, despite the hint, I still don’t understand it. I thought there should be a hyphen in 28a and the joint in 7d took an inordinate amount of time to appear. I did like the Oscar winning cartoon at 23a and that is my COTD.

    Thank you, setter for the challenge. Thank you, Colonel for the hints.

    1. I’m sorry to hear about your troubles with the insurance company. It’s so deeply frustrating – and in this case probably painful – when they can’t fix something that should be trivial to fix. “Computer says no”.

    2. That’s awful, Steve. I hope they see sense soon, and that you manage to do something fun to de-seeth.

    3. Hi Steve
      Sorry to hear you are having problems having dealt with a few family deaths in recent years I know how hard it can be.
      Have you asked to speak to the bereavement department – most large companies have them – and they are normally good at getting things sorted. Good luck.

    5. Thank you all for your kind comments. I “de-seethed” after taking Hudson for a long walk, Smylers.

  16. Have to confess that I’ve never read the 1a novel – the online synopsis doesn’t convince me that I’d want to either, but it was a very good clue. The exhausted wife made me smile but I hesitated over Mark in the capital despite the answer being obvious from the checkers – that particular Mark didn’t occur to me for quite a while. Thought this was a very enjoyable Wednesday offering although it doesn’t seem as though the ‘guess the setter’ game has reached any definite conclusion – Hudson seems to be the favourite at the moment but I have my doubts.
    Top scorers here were 1&24a (I do love a succinct clue) along with 7&15a and a nod to the Quickie pun – goodness, how well I remember those from my schooldays with those rather frightening detonator devices on the train lines!

    Many thanks to our setter for a clever puzzle and thanks also to Senf for the review and the music clip – can’t beat a bit of honky-tonk on the old Joanna!

  17. Another tough Wednesday puzzle for me. Struggled quite a bit for whatever reason.

    3*/2.5*

    Favourites 16a, 19a, 7d & 17d — with winner 19a

    Thanks to setter & Senf

  18. Charged ahead with this until I came to a full stop. Friends of ours had a 1d and I always thought it had a double ’s’ but obvs not. (I hate, hate, hate obvs!!) I could not get the cartoon even with Senf’s illustration although I did get the garment I couldn’t justify it. Where would one have seen that cartoon? I think I shall go for the uprooted vegetable as favourite. I was disappointed not to see the super moon last night as we had cloud cover. Many thanks to Messrs Setter & Senf.

    1. The cartoon was shown on the BBC (pre BBC 1 and 2) starting in May 1962 but, as there were only 30 episodes ever made, it was no doubt repeated. The episodes were 25 – 30 minutes long and I have a vague recollection that they were broadcast after Grandstand and before the early news on a Saturday afternoon.

      1. It has been repeated dozens if not hundreds of times over the years, but was called Boss Cat over this side of the pond originally, as a particular feline food brand objected to the actual name apparently and threatened legal action!

        1. It was broadcast from 1962 (originally late afternoons on Wednesdays) to 2007 according to the BBC Genome archive of Radio Times magazines, though using the name ‘Boss Cat’ in the 80s when I watched it — which was confusing, because while it was listed as that, and the opening titles were bodged to show that name on screen, the original audio was used, so we still hear “Top Cat” being sung:

          Though the line after “Close friends get to call him ‘TC’” is so hard to make out that I remember when it was being shown on Saturday mornings the children’s continuity presenter sought viewers suggestions for what it could be and read one out each week. He promised that on the final week he’d reveal what they are supposed to be … but we were away, so I didn’t get to find out.

          1. I think the next line you were missing is “Providing it’s with dignity”. Hope that helps : :smile:

            1. Yeah, decades later I was able to look up the lyrics on the internet! Clearly such a feature wouldn’t work on TV now.

              Still sounds like “providing it’s wetting the tea” to me, though …

  19. I found this difficult and not much fun. Think I’ll leave it there.
    But thanks to setter for the challenge and Senf for the hints.

  20. Setter here. It’s nice to slip under the radar occasionally! Apologies to Senf that he has lost his bet, but I won a jestful bet I made yesterday; I said to a friend that “I bet some commenters will say they have never heard of the 1d canine”, and lo, dear readers, it duly came to pass! This site’s excellent Search facility tells me that 1d has appeared on no fewer than nine previous occasions since 2013, in four back-pagers and five Toughies. I used it myself in puzzle number 29,831 in 2021.

    It is truly a great and rare honour to have a back-page puzzle and a Toughie appear on the same day, just the fourth occasion it has happened to me since 2020.

    Many thanks to Senf, not often we encounter each other on here these days, and to all those commenting and solving. See you all again soon.

    1. Thank you for popping in. I am quite happy losing my bet in these circumstances. You could have probably have included the Asian ass in your jestful bet; like the dog, its appearances are numerous and are in double figures since the blog began.

    2. Well, you little tinker! AND, you’ve made poor Senf lose one of his precious Toonies – not sure how many he’s got left in his sock drawer…..
      Nevertheless, it was an excellent double-whammy from you today, many thanks for both challenges.

  21. The blog is as much fun as the excellent puzzle, I had forgotten how much I adored the cartoon. Thank you Silvanus, Senf and Smylers!

  22. Way beyond me today. Not sure how everyone else has done so well.

    Solved 3 clues before leaving well alone.

    1. I persevered with this finally solving 11 clues.

      I have revealed the answers (none of the hints seemed to help) and, for me, this was the hardest crossword I can remember in 30 odd years of doing this crossword.

      So many obscure names and words and very hard cluing. E.g. Sardines, the dog, op art, ragtime, all new to me.

      I cannot fathom the level of genius required to solve this.

      Thanks to all.

  23. Lovely puzzle from Silvanus.

    I especially liked 1A – superb book – and 16A.

    VMT also to Senf.

  24. Not a barrowload of fun for me. Surprised myself by finally making the grade but admittedly thanks only to a pointer or two. SW came on board first. 23a cartoon rang no bells and 5d was unparsed. 7d too hard. Thank you Silvanus and Senf.

  25. Couldn’t post earlier as we were golfing at Cromer. Had an inkling this might have been a Smooth production even though I’d checked to see who was on Toughie duty. Struggled with it pretty much from the off & a number of the whys needed teasing out. Never heard of or played the 18d game so that required confirmation from Mr G & initially having an incorrect 1st word in at 15d didn’t help things either. The top & bottom long uns were my favs – the former a good read & a great film adaptation; along with Get Carter & The Long Good Friday it’s on my podium of the best British gangster films of all time ahead of Sexy Beast & In Bruges (Guy Ritchie outwith the washing).
    Thanks to Silvanus for a typically enjoyable puzzle & to Senf for the review.

  26. Presumably, Dijon didn’t want to appear because he knew that he couldn’t cut the mustard?

    Does that make senf sense?

    1. As I have said before, as my old Latin master Moses Mulholland would say, droll, very droll.

  27. Wasn’t going to comment but here goes 1d couldn’t see base equivalent to found , so even though I could picture the dog, I had to confirm by looking at the hints.20d kept looking for ” not cheerful ” 18d had the fish but couldn’t think of a game , hence last one in . These plus the cartoon character held me up and resorted to using the hints far too much . Hardest Wednesday,or any day, for a while . Thanks to all .

  28. 2* / 4* Really enjoyed this one, plenty of wit and misdirection. Favourites include 16a bob, 23a for reminding me of possibly my favourite cartoon and the barkless hound at 1d
    Thanks to Silvanus and Senf

  29. I found this different to the usual Wednesday puzzles but very entertaining and clever….now I know it was Silvanus it all makes sense!
    I freely admit that I did not know 1d or the ass but I will now try and remember them.

    Many thanks to Silvanus and to Senf for the hints.

  30. Oof! Way too fiendish for ** difficulty. Really struggled with this today whereas I’ve been on a roll for several weeks totally enjoying the challenges

  31. I have to confess to nodding off three quarters of the way through, that’s no refection on the puzzle I was just 14a, hence my (even for me) late post. I knew the dog, if I’m not mistaken it cannot bark, and the ass. Favourite was 19d. Thanks to Silvanus and Senf.

  32. Good evening

    A particularly tricky challenge today, and I have to report, one that I was unable to finish. 1d got the better of me, because I’ve never heard of one; 18d seems obvious in retrospect but I just couldn’t get it; and I guessed 19d but needed Senf’s help to parse.

    Many thanks to the Brain Of Silvanus and to Senf.

  33. I couldn’t believe this was given 2**. Never heard of the dog in 1d. Still haven’t finished and probably never will.

  34. Well glad it wasn’t just me who found this one tricky , but I do like to be challenged. With 2 left I thought I’d sleep on it, got one on waking but was defeated by the dog at 1d and the parsing so just did a hint reveal, and never heard of it, so feel a bit vindicated. Thanks To Silvanus for the challenge and Senf.

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