DT 31065

52 comments on “DT 31065”

1. A typical Ray T puzzle, complete withunusual synonyms, the Queen and a sweetheart. I liked the 1a double definition and the 4d anagram and the sensational birdsong at 16d. Thanks to Mr T and to Shabbo for the hints.

2. Good morning. This was fun solve which required quite a bit of thought, not difficult but not a read and fill, for me anyway. Particularly liked the following clues: 1a, 10a,12a,13a,19a 7d, and 8d. Hard pressed to pick a COTD, but any of those mentioned are worthy of consideration.

   1. Yet again, I forgot to say thank you to the setter and the reviewer. Thanks to all!

3. A good way to start the day. Straightforward for a Thursday but very entertaining.Last in 11a . Favourites 1d and 17d . Thanks to all .

4. Shabbo does have a point regarding the brevity of Ray’s clueing being at the expense of humour.
   That said, there was plenty of clever wordplay in evidence, particularly in the improved diet at 11a, 14d’s Conservative deceit and the wooden ships in 17d.
   Pick of the bunch though is the medical intervention at 25a.
   Thanks to our setter and blogger.

5. A solid crossy from Arty.

   I keep forgetting the synonym for dismiss in 1a and intravenous injection is brilliant.

   I do agree with you Shabbs about the restrictions on the humour. The same goes for the lack of dark alleys to be led down. That is the problem with Ray’s work. It truly is mastery. So, he will always be on my podium of favourite setters but he will never look down on everyone else. I’m surprised you’ve given it two stars but, of course, each to their own.

   Lots to choose from but I’ll go with 25a, 7d (great word) and 23d.

   MT to R & S.

   3*/4*

6. I found this a bit tricker than normal due to some unusual synonyms with 1a and 1d holding out till the end, but still thoroughly enjoyable. As ever I amazed at the ability to get the message over in so few words, which to me makes these puzzles more challenging for me. I rather liked 7d once I twigged.

   Many thanks to Ray T and to Shabbo for the explanations.

7. The Master of Brevity as excellent as ever, and what’s wrong with some gravity to go with the brevity? – 2.5*/4.5*

   Candidates for favourite – 5a, 25a, 1d, 18d, 24d – and the winner is 1d.

   Thanks to Ray T and Shabbo.

   1. Rather a master of brevity than “asophistical rhetorician inebriated by the exuberance of his own verbosity” to paraphrase Disraeli speaking about Gladstone. Sometimes I find the convoluted clues more aoff-putting than the brief ones and humour can be quite subjective .

8. I enjoyed this and it made me think which isn’t a bad thing.
   Top picks for me were 11a, 1a, 25a and 1d.

   Thanks to Shabbo and Ray T.

9. I thought this a bit of a cracker to be honest, and having seen “fine puzzle” in the intro, I too was surprised at the rating, but such matters are always entirely subjective – unusually for me I found less enjoyment in Hudson’s puzzle yesterday than did many others of the commentariat. I enjoy RayT’s wry (sometimes saucy) humour, and am always impressed with the consistent stand-alone credibility and smoothness of the surfaces despite the self-imposed brevity.

   Enough of that. I found it slightly more testing than some this morning, not seeing immediately a few of the synonyms, masked as some of them were by the red herring surfaces. In the end honours went to 1d (a Doh! moment when that fell), 24a (broad smile at the surface) and 2d (for the fnar fnar moment).

   Many thanks to Ray and to Shabbo for the A1 blog

10. Having forked out an Onassis earlier this week on new Dormer bedding I retired far too early to check it out. NTS I was up making a cuppa & taking it back to bed to tackle the puzzle at 3am. Brisk trouble free progress bar 18d & after staring at it for a couple of minutes thought sod this & turned the light off. On waking 11a the very first thought to enter my head was the missing & fairly obvious answer – funny how the brain works.
    Podium spots for 7,14&16d.
    Thanks to Ray T & to Shabbo – re your 17a hint you’re not supposed to quaff half a bottle a few 🍺s + a good choice of pic.

    1. Re 17a: several decades plus ago, my flatmate and I had a very firm policy: a bottle of port, when opened, would go off if not emptied by the morning, whether that was going to be 9 hours or 3 hours later. Did not matter whether it was ruby, tawny, LBV or vintage, it was “not worth the risk of leaving it to spoil”.

       An enjoyable stricture to observe at the time, but it did lead to some cracking hangovers!

11. I thought this was a spiffing guzzle, I liked 1d (though seem to think we have seen it or something similar before) and 18d but then there were so many others I could mention. Really a pleasure to do – but am struggling over the quickie!. Many thanks to RayTee and to Shabbo.

12. Took a short while to get going but then this flowed more quickly than usual for me for a RayT. I too always forget the 1a synonym so needed all the checkers before that went in. Have to give an “ugh” to the first four letters of the answer to11a, horrible Americanism. But big ticks to the minor test at 25a and COTD for me, the 16d sensational tweeting. What has the world come to when the first thought is Elon’s outfit rather than birdsong!

    Many thanks to RayT and Shabbo.

13. Thanks to RayT and Shabbo. Usual late start for us on this very wet and windy morning. COTD 12a. LOI 17d. Relatively straightforward solve once we got going.

14. Like Huntsman, I also solved (and blogged) this in the small hours and, in hindsight, I think I was a bit mean on the enjoyment rating.
    Upon further review this morning, I have added another star and apologise to Ray for my late night grumpiness.

15. For me, this was another great puzzle from our fortnightly back pager from RayT. As always succinct clueing along with precise wording as well as the Queen and sweetheart putting in appearances too.

    1.5*/4.5* for me

    Favourites 9a, 10a, 12a, 25a & 1d.
    So hard to pick a winner but I choose 1d
    Smiles at 9a, 12a & 1d

    Another great solve for my Wednesday evening in the rain.

    Thanks to RayT & Shabbo

16. I think that when Ray T Thursday comes around my brain, what’s left of it, goes into hiding. Consequently I made heavy weather of this puzzle but on looking at it again post completion I do wonder why. Hey ho. 16d made me smile as did 14d, but cotd must go to the minor test in 25a. Genius. Thanks to Ray T and Shabbo.

17. At last I have finished and enjoyed a Ray T puzzle. I have tried so hard for many a day. With other compilers I do not have the same struggle. As bloggers have said strange how the brain works. So my thanks to Ray T and to Shabbo.

18. Another great puzzle from my favourite setter – love his compendious clues. A nice challenge provided much enjoyment. Plenty of ticks and I’ll go for 25a as my favourite though it could be any one of half a dozen others. 3*/4*.

19. Just started this offering when I realised that it was time for Knitter Natter followed by Paracise and lunch. Well, it was worth waiting for this puzzle. Elegant is the word. Loved 1 across and 1 down which made the top left hand corner a challenge. Not sure what to make of 7 down ? It could be taken to be rather rude or is that just me ? Great crossword and many thanks to Ray T and Shabbo

    1. D, 7d. No, it’s not just you. Some of Ray T’s surface reads are decidedly and deliberately fruity/suggestive. Very clever/amusing, I reckon.

    2. My thought exactly – he’ll be on thin ice with Jane & last week’s reprimand

       1. No thin ice here – perhaps it’s more a case of one’s interpretation!

          1. 😀

20. A joy to solve as always with Ray T’s succinct clues, with 18d being my favourite. Thank you Shabbo and hope you enjoy Norfolk.

21. The second time in a (fortnightly) row that I have enjoyed a RayT puzzle. Have I finally seen the light? I often wondered what others saw that I was constantly missing!

    Thanks to him for an enjoyable solve and to Shabbo – I thought you raised a very interesting point regarding limiting the answers to single words only at the expense of humour.

22. Hate to disagree with our venerable reviewer but I invariably find plenty of humour in this setter’s puzzles, one of the reasons why I remain devoted to
    Today’s little gem resulted in big ticks for 9&25a along with 7,14&18d – gold star going to 25a.

    Devotions as always to Mr T and many thanks to Shabbo for the review – hope the grumps fade whilst you’re in Norfolk!

23. A fair and friendly Thursday crossword, much enjoyed. When I got stuck the checkers mostly came to my aid, giving me some head smacking moments. Thanks to Ray T and Shabbo.

24. Evening all. My thanks to Shabbo for the analysis and to everybody else for your observations.

    RayT

    1. Good evening, Mr T. I think there’s plenty of humour in your puzzles so take no notice of any naysayers!

       1. Hi Jane

          Apologies if you’re not referring to me with your humour comment but RayT is a witty setter, for sure. 7d is hilarious.

          It’s just that having only five to six words in a clue makes it extremely difficult to include humour on a regular basis.

          It’s the price a setter pays for keeping their clues so short.

          I am most certainly not a naysayer but a Raysayer.

    2. Excellent puzzle Ray. So many good clues. Thank you very much.

25. Excellent Thursday fare from Ray T. 11A my favourite today. VMT Ray & Shabbo.

26. 1* / 4* well I really enjoyed this one, started in the NE and moved steadily clockwise to finish with two of the best clues 1a and 1d. Plenty of other top clues including the whole affair at 7d and the howling hounds at 9a.
    Also a nice iffy quickie pun
    Many thanks to RayT and Shabbo

27. I’ve run out of superlatives for this setter. I also think there is always some schoolboy humour in there, nudge nudge wink wink. I also think it took me longer than it should have as, if there was a garden path to be led up I was there, blithely walking up it. There is a horrible origin for that phrase but I still use it and close my mind to it, though I wish I’d never found out. Favourite was 27a, one of those garden paths I mentioned earlier. Thanks to Rayt and Shabbo.

28. A brilliant offering from RayT with the usual hallmarks in place. Mind you, I’m still undergoing cardiac tests so my mind is not firing on all cylinders. At least I’m out of hospital now and back with Hudson. He had a wonderful time while I was incarcerated – so many of my friends and neighbours came to look after him.
    Anyway, as I’m not 100%, I didn’t finish today’s puzzle but my COTD is the minor test at 25a.

    Thank you, RayT for the fun. Thank you, Shabbo for the hints.

    1. Good to have you back Steve. Glad to hear that Hudson was well looked after in your absence but I bet he’s overjoyed to have you home.

       1. I’m not sure, MF. He was obviously spoiled and has put weight on. No, he went bananas when I arrived home, sat on my feet and refused to move. 😊

          1. At least you’re back home, a step in the right direction.

             1. It is, TG. Just got to go through some cardiac investigations. Until they are done and the results are known, I’m going to feel somewhat nervous. Thank goodness for the DT Cryptic!

    2. Onwards & upwards Steve. Good to hear from you.

       1. Thank you, Hintsman. Strangely enough, “Onwards and Upwards” is the motto of the company I freelance for.

    3. Really pleased to hear from you Steve, Hudson will take care of the exercise for you and the DT crossword will keep the grey cells active too.

    4. So good to see you back, Steve – the place felt quieter and empty without you. Don’t overdo things, and enjoy Hudson’s happy company once more!

    5. We don’t know each other Steve but I have noticed that you are normally the first to comment and your absence from pole position on the grid has been noted. Trust all works out well with the tests, and as a variation on ‘onwards and upwards’ I will offer the motto of a previous employer of mine, ‘Per Ardva Ad Astra.’

    6. So nice to know you are back in the fold! 🥰 I bet Hudson was ecstatic when he saw you.

       1. Good luck wth the tests Steve. Glad you’re back. So is Hudson by the sound of it and it’s nice to be appreciated.

29. Just finished with 17d the last to be entered. Very pleasing completion since I didn’t need to refer to the hints or any other reference. Although, having now seen the hints, I am aware how 1d works, being unaware of what a last is, so having the other letters it just had to be. My two favourite clues today, 1a, which had me flummoxed for a while but brought a smile when the penny dropped and 2d.
    Thank you to the setter and to Shabbo for the hints.

30. Really enjoyed this challenge today.

    Very pleased to have solved a RayT unaided. 18d was my LOI and it took ages for the penny to drop.

    Thanks to all.

31. 3*/4* …
    liked 3D “Individual doing little except relax initially (5)”

Comments are closed.