Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31102
Hints and tips by Mr K
+ - + - + - + - + - + - + - +
BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. Today we have an enjoyable pangram. I have no idea who created it, so I hope they drop in later to claim it.
In the hints below most indicators are italicized, and underlining identifies precise definitions and cryptic definitions. Clicking on the answer buttons will reveal the answers. Clicking on a picture will enlarge it. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.
Across
1a Traveller, regularly on vacation, touring country (6)
ROMANY: The outer letters (on vacation) of REGULARLY containing (touring) a country in the Middle East
4a Figure they use regularly to feed anger (8)
PHYSIQUE: Alternate letters (regularly) of THEY USE inserted in (to feed) a synonym of anger
9a Before start of play, tense captain's opening ploy (6)
TACTIC: Before a (3,1) phrase fo the first section of a play comes the single letter for tense, and that’s all followed by the first letter (…’s opening) of CAPTAIN
10a One failing to remember a cinema's being renovated (8)
AMNESIAC: An anagram (being renovated) of A CINEMAS
11a Etiquette for old army officer over time (8)
PROTOCOL: A short word meaning for and the single letter for old with an abbreviated army officer are containing (over) the physics abbreviation for time
13a Interest son in horse race (6)
STAKES: Interest or investment with the single letter for son
15a Cosmetic appearing in fewer and fewer shops? (9,5)
VANISHING CREAM: A cryptic definition of a type of cosmetic
18a Fiddle Peter is running that's lacking in initiative (14)
UNENTERPRISING: An anagram (fiddle) of PETER IS RUNNING
22a Schoolboys terrified to swallow shellfish (6)
OYSTER: SCHOOLBOYS TERRIFIED is hiding (… to swallow) the answer
24a Back island runner to lose lead for sure (8)
RELIABLE: A usual island and a middle-distance runner without his first letter (to lose lead) are joined and reversed (back)
26a I have to stop drunken revel (4,2,2)
LIVE IT UP: A contraction for “I have” inserted in (to stop) a (3,2) informal phrase meaning drunk
27a Useless female subsequently useful? (6)
FUTILE: The single letter for female with a synonym of useful
28a Lengthy quarrel at event sadly involving daughter (8)
VENDETTA: An anagram (sadly) of AT EVENT containing (involving) the single letter for daughter
29a Old measure of class (6)
LEAGUE: A double definition, with the old measure being a unit of length
Down
1d Insert text again, in entirety perhaps (2-4)
RE-TYPE: The answer is hidden in ENTIRETY PERHAPS
2d Modern household item, clanger primarily in war movie that's shot (9)
MICROWAVE: The first letter (primarily) of CLANGER inserted in an anagram (… that’s shot) of WAR MOVIE
3d Capital from Italy mostly weary Scotsman raised (7)
NAIROBI: The fusion of the IVR code for Italy, all but the last letter (mostly) of a verb synonym of weary, and a common Scottish first name, all reversed (raised, in a down clue)
5d Carol maybe that man picked up (4)
HYMN: A homophone (picked up) of a pronoun for “that man”. The maybe indicates that the definition is by example
6d Doubting Thomas is infected, visited by Charlie (7)
SCEPTIC: A synonym of infected containing (visited by) the letter represented in the NATO phonetic alphabet by Charlie
7d Ready to replace Conservative with right peculiarity (5)
QUIRK: In a synonym of ready, the single letter for Conservative is replaced by the single letter for right
8d Apology for a dance? (6-2)
EXCUSE-ME: The answer without its hyphen can be an apology
12d Old ladies wanting month's rest (6)
OTHERS: What “old ladies” can mean informally, minus (wanting) the single letter for month
14d Course with tenth green repeatedly out of bounds (6)
ENTREE: TENTH GREEN with the outer letters of both words deleted (repeatedly out of bounds)
16d Creating a peer of knight nine blog furiously about (9)
ENNOBLING: An anagram (furiously) of NINE BLOG containing (about) the chess abbreviation for knight
17d Further man upset over verse in Slovenian formerly? (8)
YUGOSLAV: Synoyms of further and man are joined and reversed (upset, in a down clue) and that’s all followed by the single letter for verse
19d Keith awkwardly eats skinned eels and similar things (3,4)
THE LIKE: An anagram (awkwardly) of KEITH contains (eats) EELS minus its outer letters (skinned)
20d Broadcast witnesses your arrest (7)
SEIZURE: Homophones (broadcast) of a synonym of witnesses and your
21d Very bad cut on end of toe (6)
SEVERE: Cut or separate is followed by the last letter of (end of) TOE
23d Number of Poles surrounding First Lady (5)
SEVEN: The letters for the Earth’s two poles containing (surrounding) the first lady to appear in the Bible
25d Barely deserved (4)
JUST: A straightforward double definition
Thanks to today’s setter. Which clues did you like best?
The Quick Crossword pun: GROSS + ARIES = GROCERIES
A very straightforward Friday puzzle and a pangram to boot. What’s not to like?
My ticks are for the 15a cosmetic, the 22a shellfish, the 28a quarrel, the 14a course and the 20d arrest.
Thank you setter and Mr K.
A pleasant Friday jaunt. Thanks to both.
I was tootling along very nicely with this puzzle until I got to the SE and ground to a halt. 24a was my undoing and I needed Mr K’s hints to set me right and unlock the remainder. My podium (at random) from the plethora of great clues is 8d, 15a and 17d. Thanks to compiler and Mr K.
This was very straight forward for a Friday with half the grid being completed on the first pass. After that, with all the partial fills, it was mostly a case of read and write with no hold ups. It was only upon completion did I realise that 1d was a “run-in” Hard to pick a podium as there are too many to like, never mind a CoTD. Thanks to Mr k and setter.
If only all Fridays were like this. Difficult enough but not to the point of screwing it up, throwing in the bin, and a torrent of words which are rarely found in Telegraph crosswords.Thank you setter for not spoiling the day.
I found this trickier than the above posters – I ground to a halt with three clues remaining. Almost threw in the towel until I remembered Napoleons exile.
All fairly clued and lots to like
3.5*/4.5*
26a favourite
Thanks to ?Silvanus and Mr K
I am with you SL8 – I could not justify 24a because I missed the subtlety of ‘out of bounds’ in 14a! I’ve wasted far too much time and I have to go to Waitrose 😢
Must be me then. This took me a bit longer to complete than I had expected, with several sticking points throughout the grid. All fairly clued, though, so I guess I was just off wavelength this morning. I enjoyed the battle, though, with 14 and 17d my favourites.
Many thanks to our Friday setter and Mr K.
No, not just you. This took me longer than I would normally take to complete a Friday puzzle.
Many thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle, and to Mr K for the review.
You are not alone! This was “uphill both ways” for me today, and even using the hints towards the end I was still well into **** time. But looking back at it I can’t see why I had so much trouble, which is often the case.
Many thanks to the setter and to Mr. K.
Unusually gentle for a Friday, with the island runner at 24a being my top pick.
Thanks to our setter and Mr K.
Straightforward enough, a swift solve bar 29a, my LOI. It took me a long time to parse 15a satisfactorily, and am still uncertain as to the 4-letter synonym of weary in the otherwise obvious 3d.
Enjoyable puzzle, many thanks to the setter (leaving my fiver in my pocket) and Mr K
Mustafa, in 3d, as mentioned by Mr K, “weary” is a verb and as such I think it’s fine as a synonym.
2*/4*. This was a light and enjoyable pangram to end the week with 15a my favourite.
Many thanks to the setter and to Mr K.
A guess-fest for me today…..managed to complete the grid but several parsing completely eluded me.
Thanks to the setter and many thanks to Mr K .
A very enjoyable puzzle perfect for a Friday – plenty of cranial exercise with no brain mangling. Naturally I missed the pangram. Two half crowns from the endless supply at the back of my sock drawer on this being the work of the ‘smooth’ member of the Friday triumvirate – ***/*****
Candidates for favourite – 4a, 15a, 5d, 14d, 23d, and 25d – and the winner is 14d.
Thanks to Silvanus, or whomsoever if my half crowns go down the drain, and to Mr K.
I always miss the pangrams too, Senf, and this wS no exception. I enjoyed the puzzle and quickly comompleted three-quarters of it, stalling on three cclues in the SE. I particularly liked the Lego clue at 4a and 11a, the 18a anagram and the geographical clues at 3d and 17d. Thanks to Silvanus and to Mr K for the hints and kits.
Pretty gentle for a Friday but very enjoyable indeed. Rattled through it at a brisk pace & didn’t even notice it was a pangram. The only head scratch was the course at 14d where the surface was particularly apt for me standing on the 1st tee telling members which greens were on temps due to the frost (the 10th was one of ‘em) so maybe that was why I was slow to twig OOB. Ticks aplenty with a top 10 of 1,4,9,13,24&26a + 6,7,14&20d with the starter in at No 1.
Thanks to the setter (Karla perhaps) & to Mr K
Ps not that it bothers me in the slightest but I’m just curious to know if the current streak facility actually works correctly for anyone in the puzzles app.
Thanks to the Setter and Mr K. A Friday solve without resorting to hints. Pitched perfectly on our level. COTD 15a. LOI 25d.
Relieved to see that I wasn’t alone in failing to register that this was a pangram, I also managed to miss the reversed ‘hidden’ despite having solved the clue! What a delightful Friday puzzle and I’m happy to go along with those who felt that this was a Mr Smooth production. My paper has a mass of ticks on it but I’ll give the prizes to 15&26a along with 8d.
The cute Quickie pun raised a smile as I reached it just as my weekly shop arrived!
Many thanks to Silvanus and also to Mr K for the review – nice to see that you let out some of the felines this week.
On the gentle side for a Friday but very entertaining – thanks to our setter and Mr K.
For my podium I selected 4a, 13a and 14d.
Well this certainly was not like a lot of Friday puzzles can be, but it still wasn’t a breeze to go through as well as some parsing I struggled with. However, a few smiles along the way too. Been a while since we have seen a pangram as well..
2.5*/3.5*
Favourites 10a, 14a, 29a, 5d, 7d & 14d — with winner 15a and one of my smiles!
I would have to pick 29a as a co-winner.
Other smiles were for 5d, 7d & 23d
Thanks to setter & Mr K
Was held up in the SE as took far to long to get the homophone and the runner. Had also never encountered the synonym for useful – that’s one to squirrel away for future crosswords (I can’t imagine I will see it anywhere else)!
Thanks to the setter and to Mr K
A lot of fun and I didn’t even realise it was a pangram. Anagram indicators are becoming increasingly far-fetched but I suppose that could be justified as a “cryptic” definition. NE was last quadrant to fall. I bunged in but didn’t really parse 9a. Favs 15a, 26a and 14d. Thanks setter and MrK.
*** / ****
Three quarters filled in in well under 1* time then major holds up as bad as the roads in my neck of the woods, in the NE and SE. Had two breakthroughs: 20d and 6d, which unlocked each E corner. But I was into 3* time by then. Saw the pangram coming when the ‘Q’ went in but forgot I’d already put an ‘X’ in and thought it might be an X-less pangram. The forgot about it altogether until reading the review.
Particularly liked the 9a ploy, the 15a cosmetic, the 14d course and 19d skinned eels!
Many thanks to the setter and to Mr K for confirming a few parsings.
I did get the pangram fairly quickly but was completely stuck on 13a (George kept on saying the answer but it seemed too facile) and 14d/24a. So thank you Mr K for sorting that out for me, I did not need a reveal – your hint was enough. I think 1a is a lovely old word, far more romantic than the reality. I’m feeling a bit chipper because I have had five Wordles in 3 in the last 7 days. Just call me Bighead. Many thanks to Setter and Hinter.
Hi Day Zee
I’m on the continent for a couple of days, meaning I don’t have the paper and haven’t had time to solve it by playing ‘Guess the grid’.
But, I thought I’d jump on to give you a nod for getting five 3s on the bounce in Wordle. A fine effort.
My first guess for cacti was aurei, meaning that I had a shot at two as the i was in the right place (I always use one of the eight words that contain four vowels as my initial guess)
But, I couldn’t, for the life of me, get cacti. So, I went for khaki and balti before I got it in four.
Otherwise. I’d’ve got the last five in three like your good self.
We sooooooo love Wordle.
😊
I too enjoy a daily dose of Wordle plus Dordle, Byrdle and Quordle.
I’m not doing very well with Wordle at the moment. I tend to rush it rather than thinking it through because I want to get to Spelling Bee.
A highly entertaining puzzle which for me had several where I needed to go away and come back. I had 14d as my favourite but thought the lurkers were very good too today. I missed the panagram.
Many thanks to the setter and to Mr K for the hints
Just could not click and probably my worst failure for a very long time. For 18 across I put in unenthusiastic and from then on the SE corner was in trouble. Took umbrage at the definition for “old ladies” in 12 down. Bad day all round since a rodent had chewed through the brake fluid connection and when we got to the garage there was no brake fluid left. Was told that this was not uncommon ! We had to be taken home by taxi.
Thanks to Mr. K for the explanations.
West easy, east difficult – with help needed for the middle distance runner. Thank you MrK and compiler
Setter here, many thanks to Mr K and to all those solving and commenting.
May I wish everyone a good weekend.
Late on parade because of having to spend most of the day in Shrewsbury.
A bit of a tough one today but still enjoyable. It does no harm to have to struggle with a guzzle and it is Friday, after all. Plenty of great clues to think about and dropping pennies and aslapping of the forehead when deciphered. One of my last is was 22a because, rather stupidly, I did not see the lurker. The cosmetic at 15a raised a smile and I also liked the apologetic dance at 8d. My COTD is the course at 14d.
I missed the pangram but nothing unusual there. 🙂
Thank you, silvanus for the Friday fun. Thank you, Mr. K. for the hints and pusskits.
The enjoyment enjoyed over the last couple of weeks is no more.
Although there were some fun clues, this was too complicated for me – please bring back the entertaining and mind exercising puzzles.
I didn’t think this was too bad for a Friday. Plenty of chew though to make it nicely enjoyable. I’ve just checked the hint for the parsing of 24a ..mmmm I hadn’t heard of the term for the runner before , my friend just told me – I also had my i and e round the wrong way in 20d so had an incorrect checker which didn’t help. I also didn’t spot the pangram. Thanks to Silvanus and Mr K.