DT 31061 (Full Review)

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31061

A full review by Rahmat Ali

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This puzzle was published on 18^th October 2025

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

Greetings from Kolkata. A nice, lovely Saturday puzzle from NYDK that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a review of the same for your kind perusal and significant feedback.

Ganymede, the answer to the clue at 1a, took me down memory lane and I could reminisce that I used to love reading the Shakespeare stories one after another and I also remembered reading about this character in Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’. I now learnt from the internet that in Greek mythology, Ganymede was a beautiful Trojan prince who caught the eye of Zeus, the king of the gods, while tending sheep on Mount Ida. Zeus, enamoured with the young man, disguised himself as a great eagle and flew down to abduct Ganymede, carrying him up to Mount Olympus to serve as the cupbearer to the gods, a role previously held by Hebe, the daughter of Zeus himself. As an honour for his service, Zeus granted Ganymede immortality and placed him in the stars as the constellation Aquarius, the water-bearer. The eagle Zeus used for the abduction was also immortalised in the sky as the constellation Aquila, which can be seen near Aquarius. Ganymede was, in fact, the son of King Tros and was considered the most handsome of all mortals. To compensate Ganymede’s grieving father, Zeus gave King Tros a pair of immortal horses. Greek mythology describes Ganymede as a divine hero whose homeland was Troy. Homer describes Ganymede as the most handsome of mortals and tells the story of how he was abducted by the gods to serve as the cup-bearer for Zeus in Olympus.

Sieve, the answer to the clue at 13a, was solved instantly; just a glance at the wordplay was enough. Yet, it left me bewildered, as it represented the Jumblies’ craft! A sieve is a kitchen tool with a mesh bottom used for straining or sifting, not something one would expect to float, let alone sail in. So, after finishing the puzzle, I turned to the internet and discovered that a sieve is indeed a deliberately nonsensical floating object, full of holes, in ‘The Jumblies’ by Edward Lear who wrote, “They went to sea in a Sieve, they did, /In a Sieve they went to sea: / In spite of all their friends could say, / On a winter’s morn, on a stormy day, / In a Sieve they went to sea!” Lear’s whimsical characters, the Jumblies, choose a sieve, a clearly impractical ‘craft’, as their boat. Calling their vessel a ‘sieve’ is a key part of the poem’s nonsense style; it emphasizes their adventurous spirit, whimsical optimism, and rejection of practicality or logic. Despite the sieve being an obviously terrible sea vessel, they sail off anyway, and the poem celebrates their journey rather than mocking it. Lear chose the word ‘sieve’ precisely because it is utterly impractical and silly, highlighting the foolish bravery and charm of the Jumblies.

Pound, part of the wordplay to the clue at 24a, was familiar to me from my days at Joseph Day School, a primary-level school that taught students upto Class IV in those days. At the age of nine, I excelled in mathematical problems involving farthings, pennies, shillings and pounds and could easily perform the conversions from one to another. This time, I found myself wondering why L serves as the abbreviation for the pound sterling and discovered that the letter ‘L’ stands for the Latin word ‘libra’, meaning scales or balance, and by extension, a pound in weight. So, historically, ‘L’ was used as an abbreviation for pound in money and weight. Over time, the handwritten ‘L’ evolved into the ‘£’ sign, often written with a crossbar, that went on to inspire other currencies to follow suit. Hence, L became the historical abbreviation for ‘libra’ from which the £ symbol derived and became the currency symbol for the British pound sterling. Several currencies, like the euro, yen and yuan, use two crossbars, while the US dollar uses a single vertical line. Among modern currency symbols, the Indian rupee (₹) is indeed the only one with a single horizontal crossbar in the middle of the letter, while the upper horizontal line is integral to the letterform.

Bad, part of the answer to the clue at 2d, is also a slang term originating in the United States meaning good or attractive, so says the BRB.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

1a           Smitten gay men date heartless Trojan hunk (8)
GANYMEDE: An anagram (smitten) of GAY MEN followed by D[AT]E from the clue devoid of its inner letters (heartless) takes to the definition of the beautiful Trojan youth who was abducted by Zeus, the king of the gods as mentioned in ancient Greek mythology

5a           Lucky animal in mum’s bed (6)
MASCOT: The definition of a person, animal or thing that is supposed to bring good luck, especially one linked to a particular organisation or event is reached from a charade of MA’S (mum’s) as denoting belonging to ma or mum that is a colloquial term used especially by a child to address or refer to its mother and COT (bed) as a small bed with high barred sides for a baby or very young child

9a           On time, with time, league organised training (8)
TUTELAGE: With a combo of T (time) as the symbol for time in physics and LEAGUE from the clue subject to an anagram (organised) preceded by or coming after (on) T (time) as again the symbol for time in physics leads to the definition of a noun meaning training, tutoring, teaching or schooling

10a        Made to smile with a thought (6)
AMUSED: The definition of a verb in the past tense meaning made or caused to laugh or smile by being funny is arrived at with A from the clue followed by MUSED (thought) as a verb in the past tense denoting thought, pondered or contemplated

12a        British artist at home was hard to indoctrinate (9)
BRAINWASH: B (British) as an abbreviation for British, RA (artist) as the abbreviation for Royal Academician, denoting a practising artist of the Royal Academy of Arts, IN (at home) as at or inside one’s home, WAS from the clue and H (hard) as the symbol for hard in lead pencils guides to the definition of a verb meaning to indoctrinate forcibly or to teach or accept a system of thought uncritically

13a        Jumblies’ craft is returned the night before (5)
SIEVE: The definition of a utensil with a meshed or perforated bottom for sifting or straining, an example of which is the unlikely and unseaworthy craft or boat, full of holes, that the fictional characters, the Jumblies, used to said the seas in Edward Lear’s famous nonsense poem, ‘The Jumblies’ is attained from IS from the clue coming from the other end (returned) as a reversal in the across clue followed by EVE (the night before) as the night or the whole day before a festival

14a        Looker’s sore in Vogue, not ultimately cool (4)
STYE: The definition of a small inflamed swelling at the edge of the eyelid, caused by bacterial infection is reached from STY[L]E (Vogue) as a noun denoting fashion, trend, rage or vogue that is devoid of (not) the ultimate or terminal letter (ultimately) of [COO]L

16a        Short step allowed in three rhyming lines (7)
TRIPLET: A charade of TRIP as a light, short step or skip and LET (allowed) as a verb in the past tense meaning allowed to go or come takes to the definition of a noun denoting three lines rhyming together

19a        Like French and German articles in pieces (7)
ASUNDER: AS (like) as a conjunction denoting ‘like’ that is used to indicate by comparison the way that something happens or is done, UN and DER (French and German articles) as UN referring to an indefinite article meaning ‘a’ or ‘an’ placed before a masculine noun in the French language and DER to one of the definite articles in the German language meaning ‘the’ that is used in front of a masculine singular noun in the nominative case and in front of feminine singular nouns in both genitive and dative cases leads to the definition of an adverb denoting in or into separate parts or pieces

21a        Person unknown from a Crown Dependency (4)
MANX: A charade of MAN (person) as an adult male person, as distinguished from a boy or a woman and X (unknown) as a variable, unknown or yet to be ascertained quantity or factor as used in mathematics, especially in algebra takes to the definition of an adjective denoting from, of or relating to the Isle of Man, a Crown Dependency i.e. not part of the United Kingdom but self-governing under the Crown

24a        Couple with pound for peasant (5)
YOKEL: A charade of YOKE (couple) as a verb meaning to join, couple, unite or link and (with) L (pound) as the historical abbreviation for pound yields the definition of an informal term for a peasant or hick, chiefly in Canada and the United States

25a        General’s wife some French fiend initially assailed (9)
DESDEMONA: The definition of the wife of Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army in William Shakespeare’s tragedy, ‘Othello’ is arrived at from DES (some French) as the plural indefinite article in French, used for countable nouns regardless of gender (e.g. ‘des livres’ = some books, , ‘des amis’/‘des amies’ = some friends) and also as the plural counterpart to ‘un’ and ‘une’, both meaning a/an in English and used before a singular masculine and feminine noun respectively followed by DEMON (fiend) as a fiend, devil or evil spirit and the initial or starting letter (initially) of A[SSAILED]

27a        Mrs Batty going into Marks periodically for garment (6)
ANORAK: NORA (Mrs Batty) as referring to Mrs Batty, a character in the long-running British sitcom ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ getting inside (going into) the regular letters (periodically) of [M]A[R]K[S] leads to the definition of a warm waterproof hip-length jacket usually with a hood, originally worn in polar regions, but now worn for any outdoor activity

28a        Established church in French region (8)
PROVENCE: A charade of PROVEN (established) as an adjective meaning established beyond doubt or showed to be true or correct and CE (church) as the abbreviation for the Church of England guides to the definition of a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, bordering Italy and the Mediterranean Sea

29a        Program from tech giant, leader in tech (6)
APPLET: The definition of a small program designed to be downloaded from the internet to run on a webpage that a user is accessing is reached from APPLE (tech giant) as referring to Apple Inc., an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California in Silicon Valley, best known for its consumer electronics, software and online services and followed by the leading or initial letter (leader) in T[ECH]

30a        Students exploit master (5,3)
CLASS ACT: A charade of CLASS (students) as a group of students taught together, commonly used to refer to pupils or learners and ACT (exploit) as a notable deed, feat or exploit guides to the definition of an idiomatic expression meaning someone who excels in their field or behaves with exceptional skill, grace or integrity and essentially a master of their craft or conduct

Down

1d           Deer raised by mysterious millionaire (6)
GATSBY: STAG (deer) as the adult male of various deer, especially the red deer sent upwards (raised) as a reversal in the down clue followed by BY from the clue leads to the definition of the enigmatic and fabulously wealthy central character, Jay Gatsby, in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ who is known for throwing lavish parties and living in luxury and whose sudden rise to wealth despite his obscure past fuels rumours and fascination and makes him the mysterious millionaire

2d           Fair comment? (3,3)
NOT BAD: Double definition; the second being a noun referring to a general comment or a gentle or mild remark that takes to the first an adjective denoting fair, like saying something is acceptable, okay or alright

3d           Staff gathered round the Italian financial centre (5)
MILAN: MAN (staff) as to staff or provide with personnel placed around or covering (gathered round) IL (the Italian) as the definite article ‘the’ used in front of a masculine singular noun in the Italian language takes to the definition a major city in northern Italy that is the country’s leading financial and economic hub, home to ‘Borsa Italiana’ the Italian Stock Exchange and numerous international banks and corporations

4d           Lower in rank, Democrat agreed changes (7)
DEGRADE: The definition of a verb meaning to demote or lower in rank, grade or status is arrived at from D (Democrat) as the abbreviation for Democrat who is a member of the Democrat Party followed by an anagram (changes) of AGREED

6d           Right to enter guilty plea? (9)
ADMISSION: Double nounal definition; the second referring to an act of admitting or conceding something, such as a confession of guilt that leads to the first denoting the right or permission to enter a place

7d           See 26 Down

8d           Con man and two Lawrences dine on hearts (3,5)
TED HEATH: The definition of a man from the Conservative Party whose full name was Edward ‘Ted’ Heath and who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 is reached from a combo of TE and DH (two Lawrences) as referring to the initials of two Lawrences viz. Thomas Edward Lawrence, famous for his role as a British army officer during the Arab Revolt (1916-1918) against Ottoman rule during World War I as also noted as an archaeologist, writer and intelligence officer and better known as ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ and David Herbert Lawrence, a major English novelist, poet and essayist, celebrated for his novels like ‘Sons and Lovers’, ‘The Rainbow’, ‘Women in Love’ and ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ followed by EAT (dine) as to dine or have dinner and placed upon (on) H (heart) as the abbreviation for the card suit of Hearts

11d        French feline in casual conversation (4)
CHAT: Double nounal definition; the second denoting an informal or casual conversation that takes to the first referring to the French word for cat, pronounced like ‘sha’

15d        Crashing bore corrupted live data wife enters (5,4)
TIDAL WAVE: The definition of an extremely large wave caused by movement of the earth under the sea, often caused by an earth and also known by other names like crashing bore i.e. a cryptic reference to a powerful surge of water with bore alluding to a tidal bore is arrived at when LIVE DATA from the clue is subject to an anagram (corrupted) and W (wife) as the genealogical abbreviation for wife gets inside (enters)

17d        Singer last to apply choke in Russian car (4,4)
LADY GAGA: The definition of the celebrated American singer, songwriter and actress whose full name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta is reached from a combo of last or terminal letter (last) to [APPL]Y and GAG (choke) as to choke, suffocate or struggle for breath placed inside (in) LADA (Russian car) as a brand of small cars manufactured by AvtoVAZ, a Russian state-owned company that was originally named as VAZ

18d        Musical comedy avoids publisher (4,4)
DUCK SOUP: The definition of a 1933 American pre-Code musical comedy film that was also the last of the five Marx Brothers films released by Paramount Pictures is obtained from a charade of DUCKS (avoids) as a verb in the third person singular present tense meaning avoids or evades a blow, unpleasant task etc and OUP (publisher) as the abbreviation for Oxford University Press, a prestigious and internationally recognised publishing house affiliated with the University of Oxford

20d        Rough diamonds in Parisian street (4)
RUDE: The definition of an adjective denoting rude, coarse or ill-mannered, especially of behaviour or character is fetched from D (diamonds) as the single letter for diamonds in a pack of cards placed inside (in) RUE (Parisian street) as the French term for ‘street’ that can be heard in Paris, the capital of France

21d        Fog with beginnings of rain and light wind (7)
MISTRAL: MIST (fog) as a thin fog resulting from condensation in the air near the earth’s surface and (with) the beginning or initial letters (beginnings) of R[AIN] A[ND] L[IGHT] guides to the definition of a dry cold northerly wind that blows in squalls toward the Mediterranean coast of southern France

22d        Region in terrain so bare up country (6)
BOSNIA: Part of or hidden inside (region in) [TERR]AIN SO B[ARE] in an upward direction (up) as a reversal in the down clue directs at the definition of a noun referring to the larger, northern part of the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina that has existed as an independent country since 1992, following the breakup from Yugoslavia

23d        Person consulting doctor not one generally accessible (6)
PATENT: PAT[I]ENT (person consulting doctor) as a person who is consulting or being treated by a doctor or a dentist devoid of (not) I (one) as the Roman numeral for one takes to the definition of an adjective meaning generally accessible or lying open

26d and 7 Down               Cellist loves silly old singer-songwriter (5,8)
ELVIS COSTELLO: An anagram (silly) of CELLIST LOVES followed by O (old) as the abbreviation for old as OT in Old Testament leads to the definition of an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host who was born Declan Patrick MacManus

There were several clues that I liked in this puzzle such as 1a, 5a, 12a, 19a, 27a, 28a, 1d, 8d, 15d, 17d, 18d, 21d and 26d/7d; 8d being the best of the lot. My prayers to the Almighty for the eternal rest and peace of BD and my thanks to NYDK for the entertainment. Looking forward to seeing you here again. Have a nice day.