Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31077
Hints and tips by Huntsman
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty */** Enjoyment ***/****.
After a couple of bright & unseasonably warm days it’s pretty dreary & miserable looking here in Harpenden so very much doubt I’ll be venturing far.
Shabbo is away to visit his mum but I do know it’s the opening night of a beer festival that is run by his brother so I expect a pint or two or three will be enjoyed. Anyway you’re stuck with me & I was more than happy to get a pretty gentle Ray T puzzle to blog. He has been a bit sneaky with his sweethearts but other than the music genre nothing really obscure. As you would expect impeccably clued & perfectly enjoyable.
As ever there are an assortment of tunes to accompany the (hopefully correct for a change) hints.
In the hints below the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED & the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the Click Here buttons. Please leave a comment below telling us what you thought & how you got on with the puzzle.
Across
1a Tempo has changed penning Queen air (10)
ATMOSPHERE: an anagram of TEMPO HAS goes around (penning) Regina, the single letter for queen. Nowt to do with Mercury’s mob & I’ll spare you Russ Abbott’s song.
6a Can possibly with old sauce (4)
MAYO: a synonym for can/might + Old. Better than ketchup with fries.
10a Paganini’s sorry about backing composer (7)
ROSSINI: hidden in reverse (about/backing).
11a Almost certain Brazilian bread’s bizarre (7)
SURREAL: a shortened (almost) synonym for certain + Brazil’s currency unit.
12a Frank Oppenheimer discontented seeing film-maker (8)
DIRECTOR: nowt to do with Robert’s younger brother. Frank/candid + the outer letters (discontented) of OppenheimeR.
13a Proposed being stingy with sweetheart, finally (5)
MEANT: another word for stingy + sweethearT (finally this time & not the usual swEet).
15a Enlisted and sailed on destroyer’s prow (7)
DRAFTED: a synonym for sailed is preceded by the 1st letter (prow) of Destroyer.
17a Get wrongly cut off following motorway (7)
MISHEAR: a synonym for cut off/crop goes after (following) the abbreviation for the UK’s first full length motorway.
19a Attract fish turning downwind (7)
LEEWARD: reverse (turning) first a synonym for attract/lure & then a slippery fish.
21a Dubious party holding American power (7)
SUSPECT: insert (holding) the usual two letter abbreviation for American + the single letter for Power into a synonym for party/faction.
22a Soft fabrics used for briefs?
SILKS: a double definition – the latter a legal term & nowt to do with nether garments.
24a Revolting reputation’s right concerning Viking? (8)
NORSEMAN: another reversal (revolting) of all 3 elements – reputations/standing + Right + a two letter synonym for concerning/about.
27a Running after sweetheart? (7)
ELOPING: a cryptic definition/all-in-one. Falcon has helpfully pointed out (which I missed) it is indeed Ray’s usual swEetheart preceding a synonym for running.
28a Go in sea, suffering serious discomfort (7)
AGONIES: an anagram (suffering) of GO IN SEA.
29a Restraint having run on bank (4)
TIER: restraint/tether synonym + the cricket abbreviation for Run.
30a Fidelity, for instance, inside marriage? (10)
ALLEGIANCE: the for instance/example abbreviation inserted (inside) a synonym for marriage/union.
Down
1d Arrogance and, indeed, real snobbery, initially (4)
AIRS: an acrostic (initially).
2d Team acts badly protecting single champ (9)
MASTICATE: an anagram (badly) of TEAM ACTS goes around (protecting) single (Roman numeral letter for one).
3d For the audience, harmonious musical piece (5)
SUITE: a homophone of a synonym for harmonious.
4d Uplifted and entertained around island (7)
HOISTED: insert (around) the single letter for Island into another word for entertained.
5d Stage riot oddly before play (7)
ROSTRUM: the alternate letters (oddly) of RiOt precede (before) a style of play on a guitar.
7d Realm is gripped by warfare, naturally (5)
ARENA: hidden (is gripped by).
8d Purge using crushed bitter aloe (10)
OBLITERATE: an anagram (crushed) of BITTER ALOE.
9d States quietly careless consuming energy (8)
PREMISES: the musical letter for quietly followed by a synonym for careless going around (consuming) the single letter for Energy.
14d Minor fuss over the French perfume (10)
ADOLESCENT: link fuss/kerfuffle with the French masculine definite article followed by a synonym for perfume.
16d Move mass blocking passage (8)
TRANSMIT: Mass (physics symbol) is inserted (blocking) a synonym for passage.
18d Height of evil? Atone somehow (9)
ELEVATION: an anagram (somehow) of EVIL ATONE.
20d Finished with colleen in Irish county (7)
DONEGAL: finished/over with + the Gaelic context of colleen.
21d Top expert beneath waves (7)
SURFACE: a synonym for expert goes under (beneath in a down clue) another word for waves/spindthrift.
23d Wobbly toilet’s beginning to explode (5)
LOOSE: one of the many informal words for toilets + Explode (beginning).
25d Jack and I supporting rock icon (5)
EMOJI: the single letter for Jack + I from the clue support (go under in a down clue) a rock/musical genre that apparently combines hardcore punk with emotional & confessional lyrics. New to me.
26d Man, say, is insulted periodically (4)
ISLE: the alternate letters (periodically) of InSuLtEd.
I had ticks against 15&30a along with 2,5&16d with the last of ‘em my favourite. Please tell us which clues ticked your boxes.
Today’s Quick Crossword pun: REAR + LUST + ATE = REAL ESTATE
This morning’s listening whilst preparing the blog has been my London Grammar playlist on shuffle.They are a three piece indie band from Nottingham & their singer, Hannah Reid has a rather lovely voice.
I thought top end ** today. My LOI was 25d and I thought tricky. The anagrams helped a bit and 22a was amusing. My favourite was 27a. Thanks Huntsman and the setter.
This was a fairly straightforward and thoroughly enjoyable Ray T puzzle. I liked the reverse lurker at 10a and the reverse Lego clue at 19a and the anagram a2d was well-misdirected. An oldie but a goodie was the 4-letter geoclue at 26a. Thanks ro Mr T abd to Huntsmn for the hints
As straightforward as they come, but proof once again form the Maestro that a super crossword does not always require the furrowing of brows.
Many thanks to RayT and to Huntsman. Nice to hear the Christy Moore – haven’t listened to him for a good while.
I was introduced to Christy by a Dublin lass I lived with in my early 20s. First saw him at The National Club in Kilburn around the release of the Ride On album & have seen him countless times since. Never gives a bad performance, great interaction with a devoted audience (the girls often sing along to great effect) & Declan Sinnott is such an underrated player. One of those artists that has to be seen live to be fully appreciated
Crikey, I didn’t find this a gentle guzzle at all. My gruel and orange juice with no bits were a distant memory by the time I finished this fellow.
I picture RayTee in his turret, cackling to himself, “I’ll get ’em with the sweetheart! I’ll have ’em twisting themselves into knots!”
He should be imprisoned for life with no possibility of parole.
On a Hintsman day, as I battle the guzzle, I amuse myself by trying to guess the musical accompaniments he will (with impeccable taste) select. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young were my winners today.
Terriific guzzle – thanks to RayTee and Andy Not On The First Tee
Like Terence I found this quite a challenge and not straightforward at all. Some very good clues though for a most enjoyable (almost) solve. I thought both lurkers were excellent and I only realised they were lurkers after biffing the answers. Thank you Ray T and Huntsman.
This all fell into place quite nicely on a friendly grid with my LOI being 6a.
I liked the use of Robert O’s bruv and that Paganini did indeed collaborate with his fellow countryman. I didn’t know the meaning of Colleen and 27a was fun.
My podium is 21a, 14d and 25d (neat).
MT to Arty and Hoots!
2*/4*
An engaging and amusing puzzle with plenty of ticks.
I like the Brazilian bread in 11a, the destroyer’s prow in 15a, the Viking revolution in 24a and the Gretna Green scenario in 27a.
I’ve also picked the champ in 2d and the Colleen in 20d.
My thanks to Ray T and Huntsman.
Good toughie pun too.
Good morning. I thoroughly enjoyed this x word. The West side went in pretty quickly while the East required more effort. I enjoyed the partial anagrams of 1a and 2d. 6a, 10a, 11a, 22a, 5d and 21d also made me smile. Hard to pick a COTD as there were so many to enjoy, but if pushed, I will say 14d. Thanks to Huntsman and Setter for their efforts
Like Terence, I found this offering from the Master of Brevity a little more challenging than Huntsman but as enjoyable as ever – 2.5*/4.5*
Too many candidates for favourite, but from my list 13a comes out on top for the ‘non-conforming’ use of sweetheart.
Thanks to Ray T and Huntsman.
Lots to like as always with Ray T but it wasn’t a walk in the park.
Top picks for me were 14d, 24a, 2d, 20d and 25d.
Thanks to Huntsman and Ray T.
I was in the ‘straightforward but beautifully clued as ever’ camp, with my favourite the schoolboy humour exhibited by 23d.
My thanks to Mr T and The Hintsman.
My Thursdays are getting better with Ray T. I even managed both his sweetheart clues but my favourite one was 20 d with the Irish Colleen. Thank you to Ray T and the Huntsman, the Gloucestershire weather is much kinder than in Harpenden and made leaf sweeping almost a pleasure, with the stunning colours of the leaves.
PLEASE don’t put a picture which gives away the answer. I look at the hints for, well, a hint to enable me to solve the clue, and seeing the answer given away before I can read the hint is very annoying! I’m not referring to this crossword in particular, more a general request.
Hi JJ
This is a very tricky issue and I’m not sure what parameters the bloggers are given.
Many of the pics & toons they manage to find are so good and perfect for a clue that, sometimes, give it away.
It would be a shame to ask them to stop doing that as I find them highly entertaining. When I need a hint, I manage to look at just the text, though I have to concentrate a bit. But, it’s worth the effort.
No specific advice from BD Central. There is a facility in WordPress, at least I presume it’s still there, to ’embed’ some text into a picture which appears when the cursor is placed over it which some commenters found very annoying. I did use it when I started blogging but haven’t used it for a long time. As suggested by Smylers, I will try, often unsuccessfully, to provide an illustration for one part of a Lego clue in the hope that it may provide a ‘nudge’ needed to clear a blockage. As for music ‘hints,’ I would like to think that I have never included a musical hint in a PP blog and personally I usually(?) include only one or two in a back page blog. A music hint that is not ‘direct’ can be useful, such as this for today’s 10a which requires some lateral thinking:
Thanks, S.
I have got so much time for you bloggers for the amount of effort you put in. Tally Ho! (superbly coined by Corks) has gone for it today with 15 of ’em; a stellar performance.
I don’t find it that difficult to not look at them. So, crack on. That’s what I say.
Love ‘BD Central’, btw.
As I’ve said before: you can’t know that a picture is giving away the answer without solving the clue.
Sometimes a photo will illustrate the answer. Sometimes it will illustrate the surface meaning of a clue, or a component of the wordplay, or merely something vaguely connected with the answer.
For instance, if on scrolling past today’s clues somebody sees the lovely bowl of prunes illustrating 16d and then puts in ‘prunes’ as the answer, they’ll be wrong! A picture might be the answer, but it also might not — merely seeing it does not tell you either way.
To be fair to John he may be (I don’t know) referring to the music captions (eg 10a) which annoyingly sometimes reveal too much. Unfortunately I don’t have the know how/skill to blur them out & can’t always think of a relevant clip that simply vaguely alludes to the answer.
I’d love to know the IT wizardry required to do this too. If anyone knows, I’m all ears!
I think it is wonderful and astounding that you hinters get up early and take the time to solve the guzzle and prepare the hints for us for such little reward. I understand the pay is pathetic! 🥰
I’ve been doing these puzzles since the dark ages. A great many of us love the picture clues. On days when I need the hints, I limit myself to just those with pictures. Not because of the pictures but as a way to limit the number of hints I use, finding little satisfaction if I need too many hints. There were probably twice as many picture hints today, which was unusual.
I enjoyed this puzzle, just right for a Thursday. About three quarters of it flew in but then I got bogged down in the SW. It took a while but eventually I got into gear again and finished fairly quickly. Thanks to Huntsman and RayT.
Thanks to RayT and Huntsman. Not a walk in the park but quite accessible once we got into it. 28a has two possible answers, only one giving the correct checker for 26d. COTD 19a. LOI 26d.
I might have misunderstood your alternative answer but if it’s the verbal form with the last two letters swapped then I don’t think it works as from the clue structure the answer needs to be a noun (I THINK)
I did the same until I got to my loi at 26d. I then realise my error.
It seemed to work for me when putting in 28a.
2*/5*. RayT at his best.
It was good to be reminded by Huntsman of Richie Havens, whom I saw perform for several hours at the Isle of Wight pop festival in 1970 in the early hours of the morning. It was an extraordinary feat to keep strumming rhythmically like that for such a long time and keep the audience awake.
I would have said that the synonym of enlisted in 15a is an American term. The BRB agrees but Collins supplies the get-out-of-jail free card for the setter with “mainly US”.
23d was my favourite.
Many thanks to RayT and to Shabbo. Yes, I know it was Huntsman, but I mistakenly thanked him yesterday when Shabbo was in the chair!
or the day before even 😀
IOW 1970 – what a line up; would love to have been there but I was only 8. Enjoyed the documentary about the general chaos/logistical issues that ensued.
Who knows what day it is? I certainly don’t.
I grew up on the IOW but was just too young to be allowed to go to the pop festival. I was more involved in clasical piano and music festival competitions then and hadn’t yet developed an appreciation for (what is now) classic rock.
1.5* / 3.5* I found this a lot easier than yesterday’s challenge, with plenty of humour and misdirection.
Favourites include my last one in 22a briefs, the Irish county at 20d and the devious icon at 25d
Thanks to Huntsman and setter
I thought this was verging on a three star for difficulty. After a flying start got bogged down in Dumfries and Galloway. Did anyone else think 22a was “pants” and then ponder why ants=fabric? Also 25d had me beat emo eh! Who knew?
Thanks to Huntsman for explaining that and setter for beating me. 😤 … emoji!!!!!
Emo was way, way out of my comfort zone.
Me too for 22a.
I would first like to thank all of you who wrote such kind messages yesterday about my condition ; it was much appreciated.
Down to earth today with my regular DNF with RayT. I enjoyed having the mysteries unfolded by Tally Ho and reckoned the puzzle was a fine one.
Love ‘Tally ho!’
Not my day today. Just could not get to grips with it and resorted to the hints to finish. Once enlightened, I could see the elegance, but too good for me. Thanks to Ray T and, especially, Huntsman.
This Thursday is the fortnightly visit from RayT much to my enjoyment. As always, I enjoy his succinct, brief and clear clueing once again. I see the Queen showed up but not the usual sweetheart this week.
1.5*/4.5* for me
Favourites 13a, 17a, 27a, 5d, 20d & 23d — with winners 20d & 23d
Thanks to RayT for another excellent offering & Huntsman for hints/blog
A most enjoyable challenge from RayT today. Thanks to him and Huntsman.
Re the different treatment of sweetheart, it does play its usual role in 27a which is an &lit. clue where the wordplay is the E from sweetheart followed by a synonym for running. This may be implied by Huntsman’s description of the clue as a “cryptic definition/all-in-one” but it is hard to know as “all-in-one” is a rather imprecise term that seems to be used quite loosely by many commenters.
Thanks Falcon – completely missed that so it immediately gets promoted to my pick of the clues – and there was me thinking I’d managed an error free blog 🥲
Emo was way, way out of my comfort zone also. But this was a Great Guzzle, very chewy and satisfying. 25d was a complete guess – thank Hintsman for explaining it but I doubt if it will ever enter my life again. I’m surprised Sir T didn’t banish it to one of the high shelves in the List Annexe. I liked the neat and appropriate reverse lurker (frightened to say rekrul now) at 10a, liked the briefs and the subtle misdirection of champ and minor. Huge thanks to the clever RayT and to the Hintsman. So disappointed last night that the sky was too cloudy to see the moon.
Hi Daisy,
I managed to see the moon on my way home from a hospital appointment, just before it got obscured by clouds. Surprised that it looked very yellow, I’d been expecting it to look much more orange.
Ran into problems with the parsing of 25d as I’ve never heard of the required ‘rock’ – has to be something our setter’s son introduced him to! No real issues anywhere else although I was a bit slow on the uptake where 3&9d were concerned.
Prizes awarded to 19a plus 14&20d.
Devotions as always to Mr T and thanks to Huntsman for the review.
With just three answers going in at first pass (and one of those was wrong) this was above my pay grade. I usually fare much better on RayT days, so pretty annoyed with myself. I imagine I was not the only one who had agonise for 28a. I do agree with others who found this to be at least a *** difficulty level. Thanks to RayT for the challenge and to Huntsman.
Hello. Could someone explain how 24 across works? It was a bit of a bung in for me. I got the last four-letter reversed ‘reputation’s right’ part of it, but can’t see how the front four letters work. Thanks in advance.
Hi KW – from right to left (in reverse) names = reputations + R for right + on = concerning
giving you no/r/seman.
Hi KW. Reputation is “name”, Right is “r” and concerning is “on”. Reverse it all (revolting) gives the answer. 😊
This was a superb puzzle from Ray T that I largely flew through , however got stuck on the icon at 25d and the 6a sauce. At one stage I had ELOJI for 25d , thinking ELO were rock icons, but of course the clue didn’t work with that , and what the hell would an ELOJI be – I thought maybe a Greek icon or goddess I hadn’t heard of 😳! When the penny dropped it was a big doh moment. 🙄I gave up on the sauce , as I’d gone through the alphabet so had to look at the hint. For some reason I tend to get word blindness with words with letters like Y in them , so that was frustrating when it was of course it was obvious from the hint. Thanks to Ray T and to Huntsman 🙏 Icons thrown in for good measure.
I found this easier than some RayT puzzles as I usually have to have a bit of help along the way. Today I finished without help and so feel proud of myself and of course it also means it was the best puzzle ever. I thought 27a was very good and will be my favourite.
Many thanks to RayT and to Huntsman for the hint#
Congratulations, MTF.
You should, indeed, be very proud of yourself.
It’s such a thrill.
Not sure how the answer to 9d equates to ‘states’ – estates yes but….
EM in 25d new to me too.
Failed to finish but fun as far as I got.
9d was new to me also but several dictionaries confirm that it can mean state as a verb and statement as a noun.
A late entry today because of the need to get a hungover son back to Oxford for his 10.30 tutorial followed by attempts to sell one of the cars. An amusing puzzle anyway, with 2d my favourite once I’d stopped assuming that champ meant a top performer. Thanks very much to Ray T and to Huntsman. I’ve only seen Christy Moore once, at Glastonbury many years ago, and yet could see several of him on that occasion. I am of course slightly obsessed with the Laurel Canyon scene, so particular thanks for CSNY and JT.
** / ***
Either I’m starting to get Ray T’s wavelength or this is at the easier end of his spectrum – for me © etc. at least. Ran through this pretty quickly with only 2 or 3 to go back to at the end and furrow my brow over. Ticks all over the place, liked the differing sweethearts this week, maybe in two weeks we could get a couple of queens!
Particularly liked 20d’s Irish Colleen (wonder why she wasn’t capitalised) and the stingy sweetheart in 13a. COTD went to 21a where ‘dubious’ is almost doing double duty as it could be part of the description of the party as well as being the definition of the solution.
Excellent RayT fare. Thanks to him and Huntsman
Didn’t get near the puzzle until Knitter Natter and Paracise were over. Thought it much harder than a 1 * more like a 2.5 * but most enjoyable. In 28 across got the last 2 letters round the wrong way so at the end I was 2 answered short and glad to have Hintsman / Huntsman on hand. As for the question of the enjoyable illustrations giving away the answers before working the answer out from the hint I personally do not mind during the week but find it disconcerting when we are looking at a prize puzzle at the weekend. I used to be rather mystified by Ray T puzzles but have grown to recognise the trickery. Favourites were 17 and 27 across . Thanks for the fun.
You added an extra letter to the end of your e-mail address that sent your comment into moderation.
Late on parade again because having to do some driving for the local voluntary car service. I did the crossword in the car park of the Princess Royal at Telford.
A superb Ray T I thought. Not easy by any means but fun as usual. I did like the two versions of sweetheart because I was thrown thinking “e” was needed for both. Did anyone know “emo”? I certainly didn’t but it, apparently, has characteristics of “hardcore punk with emotional, often confessional lyrics.” No wonder I’ve never heard of it. The sauce at 6a flummoxed me and I confess to needing the hints for that one. In 2d I have always said “chomp” so I spent ages trying to find a champion. My COTD because it made me laugh is the wobbly toilet at 23d.
I could not make sense of the Quickie pun. No wonder – I had ‘want” as the second word.
Thank you, Ray T for a challenging but fun puzzle. Thank you, Hintsman for the hunts.
Evening all. My thanks to Huntsman for the hints and to all who left a comment. As always, much appreciated.
RayT
Good evening Mr T. Looks as though you fooled a number of us with EMO – doesn’t sound like something that would interest me!
Hi Jane,
Me neither!
RayT
Emo came up at least twice in Daily Telegraph puzzles that you commented on last year. Also last year it was a solution in an Independent puzzle in which one commenter said that she “despised” the word! That was you, by the way! Seems odd to have such passionate feelings for a word one year to never having heard of it the next.
Thanks for popping in, as always. Enjoyed the puzzle.
Great puzzle, Arty! Thank you for the fun and for popping in.
Rattled through and enjoyed three-quarters of the puzzle but came to a halt and needed a couple of hints to get me over the line. I dismissed the answer for 25d as it seemed too easy and EMO didn’t mean anything to me. Couldn’t get the ELO out of my mind. Liked the reverse lurker at 10a and the ‘briefs’ in 22a. Many thanks to Ray T and Huntsman for the hints. Other than 10a I will play the music once Bill leaves the room!
Ray T on top form. A bit verbose by his standards. Shockingly , a large number of the clues have as many as SIX words…! How does he do it? A masterpiece of clear conciseness, but still generating plenty of need for thought. Thanks to Ray T and to Huntsman for the blog. Especially unearthing the rock… I can’t see that being on my permitted domestic playlist any time soon!
Didn’t get my paper until 5 o’clock due to having no car but at least that gave me the chance to finish yesterday’s cryptic and toughie which I didn’t manage to finish on the day. No such problems today, though I don’t hold out much for for the toughie. Favourite was 22a thanks to Rayt and Huntsman.
Thoroughly enjoyed this game – although I stumped myself temporarily with AGONISE (not agonies) for 28a. Thank you all
Welcome to the blog, Chris.
Now that you’ve introduced yourself I hope you’ll become a regular commenter.
Welcome to our merry band, Chris. Please keep your comments coming. All the more the merrier! 😊
All good stuff. The exploding toilet at 23 down seemed a bit far-fetched, but an amusing thought nevertheless. Favourite was the wordplay of Frank Oppenheimer.
3*/4* …
liked 20D “Finished with colleen in Irish county (7)”