DT 31078

117 comments on “DT 31078”

1. Oh dear, I didn’t get on with today’s offering at all. I had solved only three after the first pass and the rest refused to reveal themselves. I resorted to Mr. G far too early and this always takes the enjoyment away. I don’t understand 23a at all nor do I get notice in 16d. I’m afraid I threw in the towel and I am going to need Mr. K to explain things. I can’t make sense of the Quickie pun, either.

   Thank you, setter but I could not rise to your challenge. Thank you, Mr. K. for the much needed hints.

   1. I didn’t get the Quickie pun because I had “deed” as the third word. I’m not doing very well with the quick crossword at the moment. 😳

      1. I did get there in the end, but it was probably the most difficult back page crossword I have ever done. More difficult than most toughies (except elgars).

   2. Three on first pass? Respect! I scored zero, after two passes. Just too complicated for me and I admire folk who can see things I can’t.

      1. Those I managed were 11a, 25a and 4d.

   3. “Thy son” is “your lad”, then move one letter from front to back.

      1. Thank you, STB. 👍

      2. Thank you for the explanation. This was the only one that I could not parse. COTD even for a Toughie!

2. I got five.

   1. Snap .. then I struggled with rest with a couple of “bung ins” for good measure. I eventually gave up and resorted to Mr K.
      On reflection, I’m with Steve on 23a .. I understand the word play but the definition is way above me and ditto 26a (poorly defined in my humble opinion)… and as for 1a … half referring to “some beer” … maybe in the Home Counties or some quaint English pub!!! Half is a measure of whisky. Bring on tomorrow.

      1. Oi, leave the home counties alone!

         But you’ve got a point, I went to a pub in Marlow years ago only to be informed ‘We don’t serve beer in pints sir’.

         That particular visit ended about 15 seconds later!

         1. If you ask for a pint and a half in Scotland you are served a pint of beer and a whisky.

            1. It used to be that if you asked for “a hauf an’ a hauf” they served you a whisky and a half pint…..but I haven’t heard that for a long time…..maybe because I rarely go to pubs…

3. **** / ***
   Quite a tussle today with 11 answers where I’m unsure of my parsing! Ticks went to the 1a shot and 9d redundant counsellor, great clues. But COTD goes to the lurker at 20d where I took forever trying out theories before resorting to looking for a lurker. Fantastically disguised. The SE in general held out the longest but it was worth the effort on this non-working day for me. If I was working, I think this would have lasted to an evening re-visit.
   Thanks to the setter and in advance to Mr K for the parsings I’m about to check

   1. Thanks again Mr K, those parsing are indeed very intricate and a few I would never have got but rather just be stuck with an assumed answer. The only one I remain dubious about is 21a where I just don’t see, how “contraction for “one’s” from the perspective of the setter”, we can get the first two letters required from “One’s” even though the answer can only be what it is.

      Thanks again!!!!

      1. Re 21a, one’s (one is) is an old-fashioned way of referring to oneself. The setter in this case has used a contraction of I am (Im).

         1. Ah as in “one’s going to….”. I had been looking at it as “one’s cat” and thinking it should be “my” not “I’m”. I expect I have spelt it wrong too and it should be “ones” but that looks really weird.

            1. One’s about to go to bed..
               Or I’m about to go to bed

               I wouldn’t say it myself, but then again I’m not royalty

4. Befitting a Friday backpager, this one would be appreciated by more experienced solvers methinks, with some quite convoluted clueing.
   Took a while to get going, I was darting around all over the grid but once I got a few checkers, it all fell in to place.
   Apart from not really seeing a definition in 23a, unless it is perceived as an &lit, all else was fairly clued and parsable.
   I liked the shot in 1a, the art rip-off in 18a, and the boredom induced by 5d.
   The flags being put down (again) in 15d and the prunes being swallowed in 16d were also ticked.
   My thanks to our setter and Mr K, this was a very enjoyable challenge.

5. Well, it’s certainly Friday! 1a, 10a and 18a are all very smart. 23a’s dead clever too. Best thanks to setter and Mr K.

6. Phew! Top end **** for me. Desperate but some classy clues. Mr K assisted greatly with my eventual understanding of a couple of fortunately correct guesses including 24a. I thought 26a and 16d the best.Thank you setter.

7. This was quite tricky, and took a longer time to complete than the (excellent) Karla toughie.
   Many thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle, and to Mr K for the write-up.
   I put a double tick next to 1a, so that gets my vote.

8. I found this an order of magnitude tougher than any of this week’s Toughies. A puzzle to be admired perhaps but not enjoyed.

   Thanks anyway to the setter and to Mr K.

9. Blooming heck. An all dayer for me and several revisits but very enjoyable and when the penny dropped I never felt cheated. I am 7 hours ahead of most of you guys so the temptation to resort to the hints is not available until early evening here but I did use them to confirm my lucky guesses. Thanks to the setter and to Mr K for the hints.

10. The achievement of finishing this unaided was the highlight of my crossword week. I can’t say I enjoyed it very much and I have the correct answer for 23a but I still don’t understand why?
    Have a good weekend everyone.

11. I will borrow ALP’s first sentence and RD’s second sentence and summarise it with probably the most brain mangling brain mangler ever!

    Smiles for 1a, 18a, 1d, and 22d.

    Thanks to whomsoever and Mr K.

12. Managed about half then decided to throw in the towel. Well above my pay grade but thanks to setter and Mr K. Now to lunch at Wells Crab House, what bliss.

13. Like others, I found that much harder than other offerings this week but then it is fearsome Friday and it was all very fairly clued and the solutions gradually became evident, although more rapidly in the N than the S. I’d almost forgotten the mathematical concept at 3d, but that was one of my podium contenders. I also liked the machine at 27a and the unwanted commentator at 9d but there was much more to appreciate across the grid. Thanks very much to the setter and to Mr K.

14. This was certainly a fair old battle to get across the line, but one I enjoyed all the same. I can understand why others may have disliked it, or just found it impenetrable, but I found it very rewarding to complete. Admittedly, I only solved five on the first pass and was beginning to wonder if there was a way in, but I solved a couple of the longer clues and I was away. 5 and 9d were my particular favourites.

    Many thanks to our Friday setter for a stiff challenge and to Mr K for making sense of it all.

15. I thought that this was as tricky as we get on Fridays and I enjoyed it a lot. Thanks to our setter and Mr K.
    I ticked 10a, 14a and 18a with my favourite being 9d.

16. This was tricky and took way more time than I like to devote to the back pager. Nevertheless it was a joy to finish and the clues were excellent. The bung ins required time to parse. 6a, 11a and 14a are my podium but there are so many worthy of praise. Brilliant crossword. Many thanks to setter and reviewer.

17. I finished and was rather pleased with myself but it took a very long time and I used xword solver on a couple.But then , after checking the hints found I had the wrong answer for 15 and it was so obvious . Still some good clues but I can’t say this was enjoyable.Thanks to all favourite 24

18. This Friday puzzle is either way above my pay grade or an escaped toughie. Almost on the same level as last Saturday’s horror.
    DNF with three left unsolved and those I figured out were non-parseable in my mind.

    Only favourite I had was 7d which is what I did with the paper I printed the puzzle on.
    As Senf says a real brain mangler,

    1. Hi Poco
       I am over in Langley and could not get on the website to get my fix, did you hanre any problems your end? and just incase does anyone have the address of the old website. I have not tried to solve it yet so I have no opinion asd of yet.
       Stay safe and travel safely
       Worworcrossol

       1. it should read}”website last night to get my fix,did you have any problems your end”

          1. No I had no issue getting on to the site …. But wished I hadn’t got in !! /

             1. Above my pay grade, a 4 or 5 star Toughie. have a great weekend.

19. Wow, that was a slog 🤔
    After only getting one answer in my first run through, I had to check – a couple of times – that I had not opened the Toughie in error.
    I did manage to complete but most remains un-parsed.
    I will now examine Mr K’s comments to see the reasoning

    1. I can now understand the parsing but a couple of the definitions are still unclear:-

       11a – I just don’t understand how the definition relates to the answer
       26a – I don’t understand Mr K’s explanation of the definition ( sorry Mr K ). My only thought is that the place identified in the answer is miles away from Edinburgh – but then so are a lot of other places
       9d – I think I understand the definition – but it is quite tenuous ( in my opinion)

       1. 11a You wouldn’t normally see someone wearing a stetson in this place.

       2. JS, 26a. Mr K’s explanation of the whole-clue definition is fine as far as I can see but I’ll have a go at trying to simplify it for you. Firstly the answer is specifically “miles above” Edinburgh, not just miles away. Consider: Edinburgh is located in the coutry of (or “called”) Scotland. Similarly you could say: Arthur’s Seat is located in the capital of (or “called”) Edinburgh. And what is miles above capital of Edinburgh (or any other capital) – a homophone (indicated by ?) of the answer!

          Any good?

          1. I got there in the end but found it a very woolly, imprecise clue.

       3. Or maybe the definition is merely saying that the answer is what’s miles above [or north of] capital of Edinburgh.And that is factual (though very arbitrary) I suppose.

20. Like some others, I really struggled today. Thank you very much for the tips. Although there were some explanations that I didn’t understand. Brain not working well today. Roll on Saturday

21. *****/** for me. Too convoluted and not enough laffs. 23a a fine example of this.

22. I thought I was never going to get into this on the first pass from which only 8 revealed themselves to me. However with the checkers it started to come together although I did resort to Mr K’s hints for the final 4; 23a, 16d, 17d and 20d.
    Favourites were 14a and 18a.
    A very worthy Friday puzzle.
    ****/***

23. Thanks to the Setter and MrK.
    Like those posting before us we found this very tough going and out of sheer frustration resorted to a few hints. COTD 26a. LOI 23a.

24. That took me most of the morning but I was happy to get a completion without resorting to the hints. Ticks went to 1,18&21a plus 9&22d. Some very clever wordplay but perhaps a bit too ‘clever’ to be truly enjoyable.

    Thanks to our setter – Zandio perhaps – and to Mr K for the review.

25. Too good for me. Of those I did complete I failed to parse a good half, as to the remainder of the clues I have no idea. So a big tip of the hat to Mr K for the blog which I will now go through and the compiler for the brain mangling.

26. Wow that was a brain tester. Struggled to start with then slowly got on the setters wavelength and when I finished wondered why I had found it so difficult to start with.
    Many thanks to the setter – many brilliant clues – and to Mr. K for the hints

27. An excellent and suitably tough puzzle for a Friday – just up my street this one. Great clues provided a formidable challenge and much satisfaction on completion – which took several quite lenghy visits. Maybe a Z production, not really sure? Four &lits in one puzzle is quite rare.

    Far too many fine clues to pick a favourite so I’ll just mention 1a/6a. Pleasing to see two clues linked with ellipses that actually have a mutual connection and 6a is a better-than-normal way of clueing this oft-seen answer. 4.5*/4.5*. Phew!!

28. I struggled to get into this but was so glad that I persevered. What a fantastic puzzle, I don’t think my page has ever had so many ticks before. It was very chewy but once I’d solved each clue I could see how clever it was. LOI was 20d as it took ages to spot. Still unsure about the definition of 23a, worked it out from the wordplay but don’t understand it. Maybe it’s a religious thing.

    Top picks for me were 10a, 12a, 18a, 9d, 15d and 26a.

    Thanks to Mr K and the setter.

    1. M, 20d. With hindsight, I’m now unsure about the definition.I thought it could be: Your (thy) sun (homophone) first appearing (or rising) in the East? But I’m contriving to mix word-play/def when it should be all def.

       Anybody know, please?

       1. I interpreted the clue as being phrased in the form of a hint as to the identity of the answer: Your son was born (first appearing) in the (Middle) East.

          1. Ah, got it … at last. Your son – Mary’s son. Thank you.

29. This level of difficulty is what I would anticipate in a Toughie, where I expect to be defeated. I consider that to be fair and reasonable.

    Here, I would expect to be challenged, entertained and mostly successful, but not always. I am not sufficiently arrogant to expect success every time – a DNF or two during the week is fair enough, but when I bounce off a completely blank grid after the first pass, followed by a need to read Mr K’s explanations two or three times in an attempt to understand exactly what is going on, I consider it borderline unfair. This is further exemplified by the “detailed explanation” buttons on a number of hints today, buttons that are not often seen.

    May I remind those at Telegraph Towers that I (we?) subscribe to the puzzle app. In other words, I pay for this “entertainment”. I am not obliged to do that. I can seek my entertainment elsewhere.

    1. I too pay for this “entertainment” and consider my subscription excellent value: easier puzzles (both back page and Toughie) complemented by harder puzzles (ditto). The back page puzzles traditionally get more challenging through the week from Monday to Friday, and while this one may have been stiffer than some Toughies of the last couple of months (an entirely subjective view) initself it was no Toughie and did not employ the tricks and twists one might expect to encounter on the inside pages.

       Telegraph Towers has to balance both your subscription requirements and mine. It is a hugely unenviable task and one that I think the Editor and compilers achieve with remarkable consistency.

       1. An excellent response.

    2. Dryden

       MG has produced a far more considered response to your comment than I am prepared to construct.
       To be brief, I pay for my subscription too and I couldn’t disagree with you more. You can indeed seek your entertainment elsewhere.

       While I’m here i thought this was very clever and difficult too. However I managed to finish it and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. Thank you to Mr K and Zandio

30. Hats off to Mr K for all his hard work in parsing this one and congratulations to those who persisted. It reminded of what the late great Rudyard Kipling said of Gunga Din.

31. Wow – that was tough. Only just finished. Mind you after only getting a few on first pass I never thought I would get there. After taking a couple of breaks the answers slowly revealed themselves until I had a completed grid. My brain is too frazzled after that to feel remotely smug, so before I go for a lie down in a darkened room I just want to say thanks to the setter and well done to Mr K for providing the hints to a deadline!

32. Really enjoyed that, a properly challenging Friday backpager and a good warm-up for today’s very approachable Toughie, which deserves a wider audience than it will probably get.

    Fairly clued but needing some prising apart, the N and SE were reasonably straightforward but I ran into treacle in the SW, especially with my final three. Some superb and very smart clues – kicked myself at the excellent 26a when that penny dropped, 18a was so well constructed, 1a was right up my street and I’ll doubtless have a few rums tonight; loved 3d & 9d.

    Thank you Setter for the great entertainment, and thanks also to Mr K

33. Hello, compiler here. Thanks very much for taking the time to solve, analyse and discuss. Apologies if it was on the hard side.
    Thanks for all the comments on individual clues.
    23a works exactly as Mr K says. In the definition, we are describing her son but the emphasis is on “you”, the person in the answer.
    In 26a the wordplay is, as Mr K says, a three-letter word and an initial. The definition is the whole clue — what’s miles above Edinburgh (on the map)? It could be anywhere miles north of Edinburgh, but the wordplay gives only one possibility.
    Can I offer some music? A nod to a fellow Telegraph compiler, here’s a song by Blue 20d Cult, co-written and sung by lead guitarist Buck Dharma.
    Thanks again for the interest, and have a great weekend.

    1. Thank you, Zandio for the puzzle. It beat me hands down but I do appreciate the skill and artistry behind it. Thank you, also for popping in. It is greatly appreciated.

    2. It felt a bit like special A level maths but there were rewarding moments Zandio. Thank you for your brilliance.

    3. These days, I enjoy a challenge so many thanks. I almost got there unaided. Many thanks to Mr K, too, for his detailed explanations.

34. This one was too tough for me to complete unaided, I managed three quarters but then felt I had reached my limit, not bad as I only had one clue on first pass. I found completing it with help from a few of the comments and then Mr Ks, as ever, helpful hints very instructive. All the answers and parsings now seem so obvious….just very clever. I particularly enjoyed cracking the long clues and Lego clues myself (eg 11a)

    Many thanks to Zandio and to Mr K for the hints

35. Goodness! That was hard and therefore extremely satisfying to finish with my LOI being 22d which was brilliant.

    People do need to stop saying ‘Escaped toughie’ or ‘Toughie in disguise’, they really do. It is a toughie, as it often the case on a Friday. You don’t need to say the word ‘escaped’ or ‘in disguise’. I will keep saying this until people stop using these terms because we know it annoys the setters. You could argue that all the Toughies in the middle of the paper are ‘Escaped Fridays’!

    Enough now.

    Saying that a crossword is tough is, of course, absolutely fine. But, complaining that is tough is not. A brute like this is going to rock up, once in a while. Deal with it.

    I don’t understand the query about the word ‘Half’? I often say ‘Can I have a half as I’m driving?’ and they pour me ‘some beer’.

    Is 23a addressing Mary, i.e as he first appeared to the wise men as a star in The East, the setter is asking her ‘Will your son be first seen in The East?’

    That’s probably complete tosh.

    My podium is the truly brilliant 1a, 7d and 8d.

    MT to Z and Mr K.

    5*/4*

    1. I forgot to say that 23a and 17d remind me a of a great story…

       A quizmaster read out the following question: What day of the year is the Feast of the 17d?

       But, he pronounced epi as eppy and rhymed the subsequent two syllables with granny.

       The whole pub roared and the poor fella didn’t know why.

36. Good afternoon.

    By the cringe! That was HARD! I have been so close to hoyin’ in the sponge on several occasions today.

    I was just about to pack in for good about half an hour ago, after several attempts, when I “7d-ed” the black pen I was using and went to find my Lucky Green one. That and a cup of tea appear to have done the job. Up to then I had struggled to get to the point of having nine solutions remaining. Then inspiration hit me, and in went 18a in lucky green ink. 7d had me fooled because I was looking for a (non-existent) anagram of “plane it’s”. With 15d, I’d figured out the component parts, but was trying to fit the first four letters at the end of the word! With 24a, I was trying to concoct an answer out of alternate letters, having fallen into the trap of seeing the word ‘regular’ and treating it as an instruction. Half of 14a was handed to me on a bloomin plate, for Heaven’s sake….

    Anyway – a superlative challenge from the Mind Of Zandio! COTD is the excellent 3d. Many thanks to the MoZ; many thanks also to Mr K, whose help parsing a couple of answers was most welcome.

    1. Excellent commentary on your effort, SJ. It felt like a football match.

       Highly entertaining.

       1. Thank you Tom! Thank you Smylers also

    2. I think I attempted exactly the same (wrong) thing with each of those clues you mention, ShangaJi!

37. I enjoyed this — a proper Friday puzzle! I started misleadingly quickly (4 of the first 5 across answers straight in) … then slowed down massively, but I got there in the end. Lots of fun 17d-s and parsings to unpick.

    Many potential favourites including putting flags down in 15d, one out of three in 3d, the redundant counsellor in 9d, and 19d’s prune-swallowing (a co-incidence, after Huntsman illustrated a clue with prunes yesterday), and the quickie pun.

    Thank you to Zandio for the entertainment, and to Mr K for explaining which Jerry we needed for 10a — I really should’ve thought of that!

    To those whom this puzzle didn’t suit, please remember we’re all different. There are plenty of Tuesday and Thursday puzzles which I really struggle with, but many others get on with them and there is a place for those in the repertoire just as much as there is for today’s. We all just have to accept that sometimes it’s somebody else’s turn to have the crossword suit them!

    Have a good weekend, all. We’re going to BD is Lit — which isn’t a ‘lit’ festival as in literature but as in illumination.

    1. I’d be too embarrassed to admit how long it took me to realise it had nowt to do with those sort of prunes

38. Really hard for me today…..DNF without help .
    Still, it is Friday so I should expect it to be difficult.

    Thanks to the setter and huge thanks to Mr K. I definitely would not have been able to parse most of this without you.

39. DNF for me but many thanks to Mr K for his enlightenment. Even with it all in place it was too clever by half for me. Thanks to Zandio but no more too clever by half for a week or two please.

40. Thanks for the explanation on 23a. Last in, but I had no idea why! Perhaps son with a capital S would have been a bit fairer?

    Otherwise a good but difficult puzzle – thank you, Zandio – and it got easier once I stopped looking for the obvious.

41. That was a challenge. About 75% completed before I had to resort to the hints and the dictionary. I am still at a loss for 22d, the recording media. That said, some very enjoyable clues with 1a, 14a and 3d my favourites.
    This does appear to have been a challenging week for puzzling or maybe just me!
    As ever, thank you to the setter and to Mr K for the hints.

    1. Hi FB

       Seedy sounds like CD.

       It was last one in and went straight on to my podium.

       (I’ve just seen Jezzeroony’s reply below)

       1. Thank you. Penny dropped.

42. Good evening to all,
    Have known about and enjoyed this site for a long time and this is a first post. As an ageing shepherd the DT cryptic crossword is a distraction at around 04:15 each morning (earlier in the summer or when we used to lamb outside). Found this puzzle tricky but would score it as a ****/****. Have been a DT cryptic solver (well in the early years not always a solver) for 50 years following in the wake of a father who used, each morning, to complete the DT and Times cryptics without his pen (fountain) leaving his hand. He would complete both in about *****. ******** on the DT is “par for the course” for his son and this took nearly ******, hence the **** for difficulty.

    1. Welcome to the blog, Nick.
       As you’ll see in Comment Etiquette point #6 we don’t like solving times being quoted so I’ve edited your comment.

    2. Welcome, Nick – it’s good to have you on board. Please do post again and let us have more of your shepherding tales. 🐑

    3. Hey, Nick — welcome! Please do keep commenting.

43. 22d – recording media. They are round, thin, have a hole in the middle, and when said aloud, sound the same as your answer to the clue.

    1. That was meant as a reply to Flyboy

       1. Ta. Totally on the wrong track, I was thinking of recording decks, tapes, etc. The obvious one passed me by.

44. Just read through the comments. Glad it wasn’t just me. Quickly realised this wasn’t the puzzle for glancing at on the mobile between teeing golfers off & abandoned it half a dozen answers shy of completion. Once back home they eventually yielded but not without a deal of frustrated crumpet scratching – particularly so in the SW with those bloody prunes & then taking an age to peg the indicator at 17d which only then gave the game away at 26a. When ALP says a clue is dead clever it’s odd on that it’ll go over my head – 23a was a pure bung in & wouldn’t have parsed it this side of Christmas but happy with the rest of ‘em.
    Once completed appreciated it much more reading back through – 1,10,14&18a + 3,9&17d particular likes.
    Thanks to Zandio & especially to Mr K – I’d have had kittens had I been tasked with explaining this one.
    Hoping for an easier gig with Karla over in t’other place.

45. As many others I found this one quite tough but I had time today and managed to engage brain sufficiently to finish. I do need to check a couple of parsings though – I was also a bit mistified by 23a , thinking maybe it had something to do with the East End of a church where Lady chapels are found – wrong ! I did suspect Zandio, being a fan, so pleased to be right on that count. Thanks so much to Zandio and to Mr K.

46. Yep – hard work, but hugely satisfying … and with so many brilliant clues. An absolute classic – well worthy of appearing in some 22nd century vintage series. VMT to Zandio and Mr K, and other commenters above.

47. Completely beyond my capabilities today with none solved.

    Kudos to the people who have solved this even if only partially.

    Thanks to all.

48. I found the Friday Toughie easier than this and completed in less time too. Not sure that it was quite my cup of Earl Grey but satisfying to finally finish.
    Thanks to Zandio and Mr K

49. I know it’s Friday, but… I tried to ignore the **** and tell myself that perhaps it wouldn’t be too bad. Especially as 11a jumped off the page at me, followed by a paltry two more answers. Clearly not for me today, another towel thrown into the pile. Thanks to setter and Mr K.

50. Six clues solved. One turned out to be wrong. Couldn’t cope with this at all.

51. Got as far as 6 clues not solved and thought I had done badly but it was a very difficult puzzle by general agreement. Favourite was 9 down. Least favourite was 23 across. There was some very clever clueing but there is only so much time in the day. The towel was well and truly thrown in. Thank you Zandio and Mr. K deserves a medal.

52. Like others I only had a handful of answers on first pass. Spotting the anagrams gave me a foothold and I progessed slowly to a conclusion. I needed the hint to parse 5d but I managed all the others. Favourite was 22d thanks to Zandio and Mr. K.

53. There was a recent discussion about kimchi. I have never tried it but, as everyone sang its praises, I decided to buy a jar. I’m so glad I did because it’s wonderful. It’s amazing what is discovered from this wonderful blog. 😊

54. After comments about the Friday toughie, i thought I would give it a go.

    So far I have solved 16 clues.

    I don’t understand why the back pager is harder than the toughie.

    Anyone care to explain?

    1. Hi B

       I’ve tried the official Toughie a few times and often come second. I find them harder than Fridays. But, every once in a while, we get a beast of a crossy thrown at us at the end of the week and quite right too. Why not? This has happened for years and long may it last. Creating a new section in the middle of the paper doesn’t mean we lose these occasional brutes.

       It was a really hard crossword which I enjoyed as it put me, and clearly many others, through the wringer.

       People should say it was impossible but not moan about it.

    2. Maybe this one just snuck through somehow? I guess if you are a compiler or editor, it can be quite difficult to assess the difficulty….if you’re an expert in something, the answers can seem obvious perhaps? I did Zandio’s Sunday Toughie a couple of weeks back and it was definitely easier than this and hugely enjoyable too. So maybe this was just a one off…..or an escaped toughie!!!

55. It’s reassuring to know I wasn’t alone in being unamused and defeated by this horror which, as per Corky, was also IMHO too clever by half. I threw in the sponge/towel with some relief. Sort of thanks but no thanks Zandio and TVM MrK for making sense of some of the more outlandish clues. Regrettably I have to admit in the main fings just ain’t wot they used to be with DT cruciverbal challenges but then other readers are obviously on the wavelength.

    1. As a forty five year veteran of the DT back pager I find myself agreeing. The main reason I found myself doing the back pager all those years ago was that, unlike the other broadsheet puzzles, on most occasions, I could complete the puzzle in my lunch break. I then had the time to go about my very busy day. That has been the case for the vast majority of those years.I was able to complete today’s puzzle with a couple of bung ins but it took an inordinate amount of time and wasn’t particularly pleasurable. Perhaps I will enjoy this type of puzzle when I have more time when I retire in three years. In the mean time I find myself indulging in nostalgia for the days when Giovanni provided so many wonderfully precise puzzles every Friday!

       1. 😐 yes, bring back Giovanni & Co.

56. Thanks to everybody who has commented today to share their experience with this puzzle, and thanks to Zandio for creating it.

57. Afraid that 3d is not correct! The answer would refer to one of those where the top half is bigger than the bottom! So not “one out of three” but “three over one”. Any maths teacher out there, please correct me if I’m wrong! Otherwise a horribly difficult Fri puzzle!

    1. I’m no maths teacher but I think you are thinking of proper and improper fractions where in the later the top number (numerator) is equal to or larger than the lower number (denominator).
       A vulgar fraction is a number described as a fraction as opposed to a decimal so 1/3 not 0.3333.
       I hope that is right.

       1. Go to the top of the class, MTF!

          That is indeed correct. Vulgar derives from the Latin for common. So, in this case, it means regular or normal, ie any fraction.

          1. I stand suitably corrected! Thank you both!

58. 4.5* / 3.5* A very tough challenge and wouldn’t want to tackle a puzzle like this every day. However loads of top clues to like.
    Needed Mr K s help with a quite a few of the parsings.
    Thanks to Silvanus and Mr K

59. Impossibly difficult

60. 23 a. That’s a peculiar clue (like some of the others.). I would never have got Our Lady in a month of Sundays. But where is the hint at the answer in the wording of the clue ? I vaguely see it, but it is…….vague.

    1. Welcome to the blog, Frances.

       1. Thankyou.

    2. I think it’s a ” Who are you?” variation on the “Who am I?” game. The clue cryptically asks “Your son was born in the (Middle) East. (Who are you?)”. There is also (as Tom has suggested) an allusion to the star in the East that guided the Three Wise Men.

61. 4*/4* ….
    enjoyed working through with the aid of the hints …
    liked 11A “Dude with Stetson, say, and sunburn – out of place here ?(9)”

62. Phewww! That was tough – 3 days to complete it but what satisfaction when the last one went in. Favourite was 18a. I was already nearly a month behind ‘real time’ and this has hasn’t help me catch up 😂.
    I know nobody will read this but felt I had to celebrate the fruits of my stubborn persistence.

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