Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31100
Hints and Tips by Senf
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
A very good Wednesday morning from wherever I am. Oh, I remember, I am back in Winnipeg after my flying visit to Somerset which went something like this – flight delays; horrendous traffic on the M25 trying to escape from Heathrow at 3:00pm on a Friday afternoon; no access to hotel until quite late because of a Christmas Market; a beautiful wedding; meeting my two year old great-great-niece for the first time; an attempted murder; getting back to Heathrow much easier than getting away from it; more flight delays; arriving home at zero dark thirty yesterday morning.
For me, etc© (I have to say that for Terence), a very enjoyable puzzle which was just right for me as I might be suffering from jet lag and that will be the reason if you find any errors. We seem to be alternating between two setters on a Wednesday. I have a 28a left over from my visit to Somerset that is telling me that this is a Twmbarlwm production.
Candidates for favourite – 16a, 23a, 29a, 6d, and 18d.
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 Urchin from dreadful ghetto running at first glimpse of rozzer? (3,6,6)
THE ARTFUL DODGER: How’s your Dickens? An anagram (running) of DREADFUL GHETTO followed by the initial letter (at first glimpse) of Rozzer.
9a Who’s grasping money in film by Stone? (9)
SKINFLINT: A synonym of film and a type of stone.
10a Drunk fast (5)
TIGHT: A double definition, both adjectival as far as I can make out.
11a Former PM, vocal regarding Sadiq Khan? (7)
MAYORAL: The surname of the second female PM and a synonym of vocal.
12a Egg eaten by school sneak (6)
SNITCH: One of the eggs that the school nurse looked/looks for contained (eaten) by the three letter abbreviation for school.
15a One who charms confrère cross about sandwiches (8)
SORCERER: Don’t worry, you don’t need to know what confrère means – a reversed lurker (about sandwiches) found in two words in the clue.
16a Following on, England’s opener is Broad (4)
FREE: Time to ignore capitalisation in the definition – the single letter for following, the Latin based two letters equivalent to ON, and the first letter (opener) of England.
19a Public school expelling Oscar, a sporadic smoker (4)
ETNA: A well known public school across a river from a castle with the letter represented by Oscar in the phonetic alphabet deleted (expelling) followed by A from the clue.
20a Act on edge, nervously forgetting golf story (8)
ANECDOTE: An anagram (nervously) of ACT ON EDgE with the letter represented by Golf in the phonetic alphabet removed (deleting).
23a Iron crease for Tom? (6)
FELINE: The chemical symbol for Iron and a synonym of crease.
24a Choose artist to depict Agamemnon’s daughter (7)
ELECTRA: If your Greek mythology is good enough, this could be a write-in, if not a synonym of choose (when performing your civic duty) and a two letter abbreviation for an artist.
26a Show remorse in initially awful mood (5)
ATONE: The first letter initially of Awful and a synonym of mood.
28a Model has rocket that’s sweet and tasty (9)
SHORTCAKE: An anagram (model) of HAS ROCKET.
29a Bit of Money, composition on LP! (5,5,5)
FIFTY PENCE PIECE: A generic synonym of (musical?) composition placed after (on) the number represented by the Roman numeral L and an ‘expansion’ of the abbreviation P.
Down
1d Tense question on original television game show (10)
TASKMASTER: The single letter for Tense, a synonym of question placed before (on) a synonym of original – apparently the game show is on Channel 4.
2d Novelist Beryl, no time to relax (5,6)
EMILY BRONTE: An anagram (to relax) of BERYL, NO TIME – a member of a famous family who only wrote one novel, memorialised in song by Kate Bush.
3d Judges mention court rising (8)
REFEREES: A synonym of mention and the reversal (rising) of a verbal synonym of court.
4d More ruffled, I’ll fire cooks by end of year (8)
FRILLIER: An anagram (cooks) of I’LL FIRE placed before (by) the last letter (end) of yeaR.
5d Most recent ordeal when supporting City (6)
LATEST: A synonym of ordeal placed after (when supporting) the two letters that can represent an American city.
6d Get the better of Doug, edging away with Charlie (6)
OUTWIT: dOUg with the outer letters removed (edging away) and (with) a synonym of charlie (as a fool).
7d Live performance that’s no different when turned up (3)
GIG: A palindrome (that’s no different when turned up) of a three letter term for a live performance.
8d Consider traitor essentially unrepentant (4)
RATE: A three letter synonym of traitor and the centre letter (essentially) of unrepEntant.
13d Tout from estate at this event? (3,4,4)
CAR BOOT SALE: An event at which people attempt to sell (tout) unwanted junk from the part of their vehicles of which estate is an example.
14d Some people in West Africa see eagles flying around noon (10)
SENEGALESE: An anagram (flying) of SEE EAGLES containing (around) the single letter for Noon.
17d Yellow Class A drug cut in empty urban clubs (8)
UNHEROIC: A class A drug (derived from poppies) with the last letter deleted (cut) inserted into (in) UrbaN with inner letters removed (empty) and the single letters for Clubs (as in playing cards).
18d Type of bottle cap team found in bar (8)
SCREWTOP: A synonym of team inserted into (in) a verbal synonym of bar.
21d Dig large yard? Probably (6)
LIKELY: A verbal synonym of dig (as in appreciate) and the single letters for Large and Yard.
22d Tenant agrees seller’s upset to some extent (6)
LESSEE: A reversed lurker (upset to some extent) found in two words in the clue.
25d Flower starts to droop after first frost (4)
DAFF: An informal term for a flower from the first letters of (starts to) four words in the clue.
27d Spoiled female visiting Corfu regularly (3)
OFF: The single letter for Female inserted into (visiting) alternate letters (regularly) of Corfu – I’ll let you decide it is odds or evens.
Quick Crossword Pun:
LAIR + MONK + HERD= LEMON CURD
My last word on The Marlow Murder Club and others of that ilk, such as Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club. They are all types of fantasies in which eclectic groups of individuals of varying abilities decide that they should assist/interfere with police murder investigations. Therefore, one should not be surprised at what sort of tangled web the author comes up with to reach a conclusion. Anyway, I regard the books as ‘easy readers’ and, in this instance, Murder on the Marlow Belle was suitable reading for when I was ‘trapped in a tube’ at 36,000 feet for several hours at the end of last week. I would certainly never put Tolstoy’s War and Peace into my carry-on bag!
A tad more difficult than the last two days and I will need the hints to check a couple of parsings. I’ve never heard of the gameshow at 1d but the clue was quite easy to follow. It took me a while to see the “egg” in 12a and putting “cap” at the end of 18d held things up for a while. My COTD, once the penny dropped, is touting from an estate at 13d.
Thank you, setter for the workout. Thank you, Colonel Moutarde for the hints.
Loved the pun.
Bright and frosty in The Marches today.
This was a very enjoyable midweeker but I can’t decide who put it together. Hmm…
Hudson is the ‘go to’ setter for this slot at the moment but it has two rekruls and a middle letter of a fat word (8d) which smacks of Mr Smooth. But, it is quirky (29a) and has a fun pun which is pushing me towards Mr Tumble. Oh, I don’t know! Let’s go with….wait for it…wait for it….cue drum roll…..Mr T!
I know we’ve spoken about it before but you can only dig a yard across The Pond. So, it needs an Americanism Indicator (shall we call that an AI to keep Gazza happy? Oh, leave it, Tom!)
My podium is the excellent opener 1a, followed by another opener 16a (neat) and the beautifully constructed 17d (it’s playing with a synonym which I don’t like but it was the obvious choice which therefore passes muster).
MT to the setter and the Manitoban mountie.
2*/5*
P.S
I often mix up which 2d sister wrote what book and the way I remember that 2d wrote Wuthering Heights is her initials are together in the middle of KatE Bush.
That is a game-changer TDS.
Thanks, GD. I was pleased when I spotted it.
29a and 13d were the two outstanding clues for me this morning from this friendly yet enjoyable romp through crosswordland. An honourable mention, too, for the Quickie pun which I had to say out loud a few times until the penny dropped.
Many thanks to T and Senf.
2*/4*. Apart from a couple of dodgy anagram indicators, this was good fun.
Many thanks to the setter and to Senf.
I solved this at 4am while suffering from insomnia*, which may explain why I found it quite tricky. That said, I wrestled most of it into place before resorting to e-help for the NW quadrant. It turned out I had a fatigue-induced typo in 1a meaning one of the down clues was unsolvable! Ah, well. The lovely 29a was the easy pick for clue-of-the-day. ***/***
* you will be unsurprised to know that this activity didn’t help my insomnia.
As a fellow insomniac (a shock as I was a sound sleeper until being old) I sympathise. Many a night will find me reaching for my latest library book at silly o’clock to try to get back to sleep. But if it is a really good book I read for much too long. Melatonin works great, but only if I take it no more than twice a week. My other friend is Harvey’s Bristol Cream, a small tot of which sometimes can make me doze back off 😊. I don’t think attempting the cryptic would help me at all at 2am…
Fairly gentle for a Wednesday, a light-hearted and enjoyable solve. Biffed 1a from the definition and enumeration, came here to see how it worked; presumably 1d is a game show – it means nothing to me. Few do!
COTD 13d. Many thanks to the setter and to Senf.
Needed a bit of thinking time, but flowed fairly easily. Needed the e-dictionary for 17d, but then I am not up on illegal substances.
Favourite is 29a, the LP clinched it for me.
3*/3*
Some great spots – 1a, 2d, etc. 29a tickled me and 13d’s fun. Cracking Quickie pun too. Best thanks to setter and Senf.
An excellent midweek puzzle – thanks to our setter and our globetrotting blogger.
I ticked 6d, 13d and 25d with my favourite being the very neat 29a.
Good morning. Pretty straight forward, but not a read and write. 23 and 29 across are superb as are newest concerts at 5 and 7down respectively. All in all very enjoyable and completed in good time. Many thanks to Senf and setter for the entertainment
Isn’t 18d. A 5-3 or is it 1 word. Otherwise and enjoyable solve.
It should be two words 5-3!
HI RP, you 14 times tables lover you.
This is an interesting one.
The noun is two words and the adjective is hyphenated. One word is allowed but I don’t think it’s that common.
Knowing Chumpers, it will have it as one word like it did for machinegun which I’m still reeling from. Machine gun is the same rule as 18d, i.e machine gun for the noun and machine-gun for the adjective.
Love it or hate it, we have to know that the setter will have checked the enumeration of 18d in one particular publication which shows one unhyphenated word.
I am not going to lose any sleep over it. The setter`s puzzle, his rules…….
Hi all, a big thanks for the warm welcome, congratulations, and encouragement I received yesterday following my post about completing my first crossword. Unfortunately due to IT issues I wasn’t able to thank each of you individually – when it comes to IT I’m known (affectionately I hope !) as PICNIC – Problem In Chair, Not In Computer.
My dad got me into the DT cryptic many years ago, but life (mainly kids !) got in the way. I picked it up again in the last few years as a fun thing to do with my dad as his ‘senior moments’ become more regular. But it’s a double-edged sword – it will be both a great day and a sad day when I’m able to solve more of the clues than him.
Final note to say that I too thought ‘the world’s your lobster’ was a Hilda Ogden saying (o:
Most definitely Arthur Daley
I’ll blame it on ‘er indoors’
Love Picnic, DC.
And ‘er indoors.
You’re on fire!
Hilda was better known for her ‘murial’ though it was actually Eddie Yates who said it first.
Ah yes, the mural and the ducks with one askew.
Marvels parvels.
My favourite Hilda line was when she used to give Stan his well earned dinner.
As she put it on the table she’d say “ get yerself outside that Chuck”
( Hilda accent necessary )
Brilliant!
I don’t remember that gem.
Hey Dc. Lovely to see you back , and to hear about you and your Dad.
I guess it’s that time of year, Jack Wild will no doubt be on TV as 1a sometime soon.
It would be nice if there was a new Dickens interpretation this year, though I shan’t be holding my breath as I gather his works are now sadly considered problematic by many cultural progressives.
My other ticks are for the munch rustled up in 28a and the no questions asked Sunday morning bring and buy at 13d.
My thanks to our setter and Senf.
A well pitched midweek puzzle although no particular clue stood out for me.
Thanks to our setter and to Senf for the review – pleased to hear that you arrived home safely following what seems to have been a somewhat ‘eventful’ few days!
Like Anorak, I did this crossword in the early hours die to insomnia.b. I find this compiler difficult to fathom, as I am just not on his or her wavelength. The first few clues took ages and , only after getting a lot of checkers, did I make progress in the top half of the grid. However, I did like the two anagram-fed literary clues, 1a and 2d, together with the cryptic definition at 13d and the geographical clue at 14d. Thanks to the compiler for a challenging solve and to Senf for the hints.
My sympathies. People who’ve never had insomnia have no idea how much it can affect one’s life.
Oh, another member of the middle of the night club. See my comment to Anorak above.
I found this to be a bit of a trial. Just struggled after getting 1a straight away. The remainder wasn’t helped by inserting the answer to 17d in 18d and wondering why the SE wouldn’t work. Hey ho. Must try harder. I’ll pick 17d as my cotd. Thanks to compiler and Senf.
A lovely little puzzle but forget that – isn’t someone who knows him better than myself going to ask Senf about the attempted murder?!!
I was horrified when I began to read that you had been involved in a murder during your eventful few days in the UK, Senf. But as I read on, I assume you are referring to the book you were reading -,in which case I am surprised it was only one murder! I needed your help for 25d. I blithely put in F for first Frost then lag for droop. But when I got 29a I realised it had to be something else. As if flag is not bad enough for the noble Iris, we then get that monstrosity daff. Ugh. Wordsworth is spinning. But apart from that, dear Setter, I very much enjoyed the guzzle, 11,23,24a and 2,7,13,18d received the Daisy sign of approval. Any thanks of course to my KISA whom I am very much hoping to meet again in January together with the rest of the gang. More ladies, please! Don’t let the boys have it all their own way.
No. It was a real attempted murder, in and around the hotel but not involving the staff or anyone staying in the hotel other than we ‘confined to barracks’ for a few hours.
https://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/news/2025/11/man-in-custody-after-wincanton-assault/
What on earth is happening to this country? I seem to read about murder every day.
Anyway, that is somewhat political so I will go no further.
Goodness me! What is the world coming to.
Funny old life, only managed about 3 first thing this morning but had masses of chores to do and came back to it at lunchtime and it just flew in! Very enjoyable guzzle so thanks to the setter for the fun and to Senf for the hints which I will now reada.
I thought this was a rather tricky puzzle for this Wednesday, as they quite often seem to be. Struggled in parts of the grid and others were ok.
3*/3* for me
Favourites 1a, 11a, 23a, 2d, 13d & 25d — with winners 1a & 23a
Thanks to Twm(??) & Senf
** / ***
This would have been 1* time except for the intersecting 26a and 21d, neither of which I could fathom for quite a while. Ticks went to the egg at 12a, the sweet and easy at 28a and 13a Tout. Thanks to Senf for the parsing of 28a, I got the answer but didn’t see how LP came into it – very clever.
Many thanks to the setter and Senf. If it is Twm then once again I hope I’m getting onto that wavelength permanently.
Late on parade, as I was busy with the Toughie this morning.
For those who shy away from the Toughie, I found today’s puzzle no more difficult than this back pager.
I did a lot of aimless biffing on the long ones today, which definitely did not help my progress:
1a – Bow Street Runner
29a – fifty pound notes
13d – The Boat Race
Good puzzle.
Thank you setter and the jet-lagged Senf.
Yesterday was great with a trip to Royal College of Surgeons and dinner with granddaughters. Very late home as Southern tipped us out of the train at Oxted with no warning and no transport home. The crossword was a blur this morning and did not complete by 2 answers. Loved 1 across and the marvellous 13 down. Have to say there are a lot of question marks so feel much gratitude to Senf .
Early to bed and early to rise – might be able to see the crossword before one’s eyes.
Thanks to the Setter and Senf for the hints. Late starting this puzzle and found it hard going. Once it got dark outside we resorted to hints. Sorry just not on the setters wavelength at all today.
Completed this enjoyable puzzle before going out so I cannot recall much except it was fun and I liked 1a.
Many thanks to the setter and to Senf for the hints.
I’m a little surprised at the somewhat underwhelming reaction to this one. I thought it was top notch. 3 clues held out (12&16a + 13d) extending the solve well into **time & taking longer to twig than the rest. Shabbo wasn’t alone with the boat race & it was only when the penny finally dropped with the context of estate that the dominos tumbled. 29a was my fav – I do think the clue would have read even better without ‘bit of’ even though it’s been pointed out to me that bit = coin. ✅s also for 1,9&16a + 1,6&13d.
Thanks to the setter & to Senf
Many thanks to setter and Senf. Any clue that has the great 2D as an answer is going to get my vote.
I really enjoyed this one today, apart from a few holes which I managed to fall down. Will justify by saying I am in the same club as Anorak and Chriscross and wasn’t firing on all pistons this morning. Had to come back at lunch time to finish, by which time brain cells had figured most of the remaining answers, except for 9a, 16a, and 24a. Thanks to setter and Senf. I share your love of reading, but nowadays it has to be a good book. In my younger days I would persevere to the bitter end with some not so enjoyable ones, but now I ration myself to those that warrant at least a **** (out of 5).
I enjoyed this puzzle sat here with the dog and the fire lit , as I had to engage brain up a couple of notches up from yesterday. I did wonder at one stage if I would finish , but as usual it did all come together. I was interested to read about insomniacs doing the puzzle at night , as I can’ imagine having enough brainpower in the early hours ! Thanks to the mystery setter and Senf.
Escaped toughie for me or just not on wavelength. The south went fairly easily the north far less so. No real favourite but if pressed I’d go with 13d but I needed all the checkers. Thanks to the setter anyway and Senf.
Many thanks to all solvers and commenters, and to Senf for the review.
And thank you.
An excellent crossword.
3*/3* …
liked 13D “Tout from estate at this event ? (3,4,4)”