Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31103 (Hints)
The Saturday Crossword Club
(hosted by Cryptic-Sloop John Bee)
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
Sloop here again, I thought I might have had to go down on bended knee to be here again, but I guess that Sue’s is still a bit sensitive to knee comments.
Five linked solutions that are anagrams or partial anagrams have curtailed my hinting of 14a and 16d clues today, but I hope you find enough checkers to fill the lights.
I’m providing hints for what I consider to be some of the harder clues. If you’re really stuck on one of the clues I haven’t hinted I may provide a bit more help. However, I have to take Mama Bee out Christmas shopping/coffee drinking, so beware of the naughty step, as no cake is available.
Please check out Rahmat Ali’s review on Friday; they are always informative and worth a read. They will explain this clever puzzle much more than I can in the hints.
Most of the terms used in these hints are explained in the Glossary and examples are available by clicking on the entry under “See also”. Where the hint describes a construct as “usual” this means that more help can be found in The Usual Suspects, which gives a number of the elements commonly used in the wordplay. Another useful page is Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, which features words with meanings that are not always immediately obvious.
Please ensure that you do not run foul of the instructions in red below and also take care to abide by the comment etiquette.
A full review of this puzzle will be published after the closing date for submissions.
Across
1a Tea garden’s end in violent storm (7)
A brand of tea that would never knowingly pass my lips, when Yorkshire Tea is available, and a final letter.
5a, 17d, 9a and 11a Afflicted here, espy malefactors He put on hoof? (3,4,8,2,3,10)
A cryptic all-in-one, they afflicted us with War, Death, Pestilence and Famine in the 13d of St. John the Divine. (Thanks, Anorak)
18a Annoyed assistant of actor that’s Portia, say (5-7)
A synonym of annoyed, and the actor’s assistant becomes what Portia became to deceive Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.
22a Deranged family that could cause downfall (6,4)
Deranged or mad, and one’s family. They are often used in comic books as a means to ensure the downfall of enemies.
26a A musical interlude lurks within
28a Pit worker against a goddess (7)
A pit worker against authority
Down
1d More perhaps from zero used in complex maths (6)
More would have to be capitalised here, even if he wasnt the first word in the clue. The letter that looks like zero in an anagram.
7d Black fish in hotel, skinned, well past prime (8)
An abbreviation and a flat-fish inserted into what remains of hotel when skinned.
8d Understandable Irish uprising English mock (8)
Clear and understandable and an abbreviation of Irish are reversed (uprising in a down clue) and then an English abbreviation.
13d Voltaire, Candide , at last deciphered: new book with 5 17 9 11 (10)
An anagram of Voltaire, the last letter of Candide and n for new. This and 5 17 9 11 were worked out without resort to letter circles, but rest assured, I checked for you.
15d Resistance soldiers in country telling tales (9)
The abbreviation of resistance and some artillery soldiers are contained within the people of a country.
16d Weapon holder: one who won’t strike Shakespeare? (8)
One who refuses to withdraw his labour and a poetical term for Shakespeare
20d An African ape shunning hostile goat (6)
An, from the clue, and what remains of the large African ape when the hostile feeling has been shunned.
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The Quick Crossword pun:
SPINE HOVELS = SPY NOVELS
A terrific challenge from New York Door Furniture. As usual the linked ones had to wait for checkers to arrive. I have ticks all over the paper such as the tera garden at 1a and the one refusing to strike Shakespeare at 16d. My COTD is the annoyed assistant at 18a.
Thank you, NYDK for a fun puzzle. Thank you, SJB for the hints and for standing in for CS whom, I hope, is recovering well.
Thanks for reminding me, it is clearly a NYDK production today. I liked lots, even some that hitting the cutting room floor. The bad weather that turned peaceful for example.
This was a struggle. Only half a dozen on the first pass and a hard slog to complete the grid. Either I am falling out of favour with the Saturday Prize Puzzle or it is falling out of favour with me. As such, it is difficult to pick a podium or a CoTD. Nevertheless many thanks to the setter and CSJB
I found this one really tricky too, for what it’s worth. I’m not sure whether the very long answer fits the definition. 1d was a fun one though, as were a handful of the others (particularly Voltaire and Candide). Last Sunday’s was a bit less esoteric, if that helps.
See Anorak’s comment #4 Afflicted? with the question mark allows it to be a cryptic all in one, and doesn’t cause the anagram indicator to do double duty.
There`s safety in numbers! As I have stated previously, I always found the SPPs to be the easiest puzzle of the week, but since September, I think I have failed to finish three and found the rest to be testing, except last Saturdays which was fine. I don`t like to spend too much time on them, any more than 2 cups of tea and I get testy mysel!
What a cracking SPP, one of the best for a very long time.
Some excellent misdirections and amusing wordplay in a very enjoyable puzzle.
I left the multi-word clue alone until I had enough checkers in, then the answer became obvious. This broke the back of it and all fell in to place.
I enjoyed the tea in 1a, the annoyed assistant in 18a and the bad weather in 25a.
More perhaps in 1d was a clever deception and the Irish uprising in 8d also got a tick along with turned West in 23d.
My thanks to our setter for the fun and to SJB for the blog.
Very enjoyable puzzle indeed that trod that beautiful line where the checkers gradually turn baffling clues into solvable ones.
I had very long clue starting at 5a as an all-in-one rather than being defined by the first word alone, and that was the reason for the question mark. ***/*****
I think you are correct there, my way has afflicted doing double duty as indicator and definition. I’ll check what Rahmat says on Friday.
Hint amended – Thanks
A tricky puzzle, requiring a fair bit of General Knowledge I liked the cryptic definition of the Shakespeare character at 18a, and , after fulling ib some of rhe SW corner, I realised what 17d was and filled in the 5a, 17d,9a,11a multi word clue, and to 13d which was quite clever. My COTD, however, was thecleverly misdirected 1d. Unusually for me, I really enjoyed this multi-word wonder. Thanks to the compiler and to SJB for the hints
Top notch again from NYDK. The five linked clues were excellent and fell early thanks to checkers in the SW. So much wit and amusement today; 1a take a bow. I spent too much time wondering about which type of tea. Great clue. Honorable mentions go to 28a, 22a and 20d but my cotd is 18a. Thanks to NYDK and CrypticSloop.
Video for 28a is a bit lively for the good ole DT Sloop.
Apologies for the sweariness of 28a. I am big fan of Billy Eliot, as Mama Bee grew up in a mining village and I went to see the musical version the first time I came to a Big Dave Birthday Bash.
A really satisfying but strange solve. I got 6-8 clues fairly steadily and then ground to a complete halt for absolutely ages. Was about to give up when finally the penny dropped on the linked clues and the puzzle opened up very quickly. Generally I am a big fan of linked clues but they dominated the puzzle a bit too much for me today. In the end it was a rather slow but completely unassisted solve which is pleasing. Amongst many excellent clues 18a, 22a and 1d (also my LOI) were my favourites. Thank you NYDK and CSJB
An enjoyable puzzle – thanks to our setter and to SJB for the hints (and for his dedication in checking the 30-letter anagram).
Top clues for me were 25a, 8d and 19d.
PS The Quickie Pun appears to have suffered from a late delivery.
Hopefully now amended, live blogging from the Tancred Farm shop cafe.
An incredible anagram at 5 etc, and a host of great clues in what must be an NYDK creation. Voltaire also caught the eye, and for me the Curry clue is about as good as misdirection gets. Super stuff.
Thanks NYDK and Sloop John Bee.
2*/3*. Although I enjoyed this on the whole, I am not keen on clues like 5a/17d/9a/11a. Although it is very clever, as soon as you have two or three checking letters, the enumeration gives the game away and a large chunk of the puzzle is solved in one fell swoop.
18a was my favourite.
Many thanks presumably to NYDK and to CSJB.
2* / 4.5* I thought this was a brilliant Saturday puzzle, loved the linked clues and plenty of humour.
Favourites from many possibles are 27a cooler, the excellent 1d (although I did have doubts!) and 8d mock
Many thanks to setter and SJB
Ps 19d was should also have elbowed it’s way onto the podium
I am normally a fan of linked clues, but having four of them with thirty letters was a huge help in solving the grid in pretty good time. I still enjoyed the challenge though, with the outstanding 18a my favourite this morning. All very clever and entertaining.
Thanks to Donny and SJB.
Initially I thought I would not get started but suddenly it all came together and was thoroughly enjoyable. The anagrams were excellent.
Many thanks to the setter and to cryptic sloop for the hints, you were nearly cryptic slop!
Solved after a little outing to the Church Christmas Fair – only my fourth time out of the house in five weeks and the first non-medical outing. I’ll be reading my book through my closed eyelids this afternoon
Lovely crossword but as I said to Mr CS there’ll be quite a few people commenting on the difficulty level. Hard to pick just one favourite so I won’t
Thanks to NYDK and SJB. The Quick Pun as shown bears no resemblance to the crossword in the paper
Sorry folks, I am not used to quickie puns and just solved the one the app served up. I will try and amend when I get home from coffee and cakes with Mama Bee.
We miss you CeeSue (although SJB is doing a grand job of course!🤭) Glad to hear you are getting out a bit.
Yes CS, you are indeed missed but hopefully it wont be long before you are back in harness. Anyway best wishes for a complete recovery.
A gentle romp from NYDK. Following the mantra of leave the likes of 5a etc alone until later in the solve it quickly fell after 15d gave itself up quite easily. **/****
Candidates for favourite – 1a, 22a, and 28a – and 28a comes out on top.
Thanks to NYDK and SJB.
Crikey! That was hard going but very enjoyable all the same, probably the hardest Prize Puzzle I have ever tackled.
I don’t normally like these long, linked, clues but the particular subject matter here made them very interesting to me. Can’t say much more at the moment in case I get sent to the Naughty Step!
I would agree with the choice of 18a as COTD. I am a fan of The Bard of Avon but you didnt really need to know about his work to solve this clue because the answer is fairly self contained.
I often find myself thinking when I finish a marathon like this puzzle how on earth does anyone compile a challenge like that? Well done Setter and thanks to SJB for the hints and insights.
Once the long anagram fell into place courtesy of a few checkers, this was a fairly straightforward solve with a nice smattering of humour along the way. My top two were the wrecked tea garden and the weapon carrier with a nod to the Irish uprising.
Thanks to NYDK and to SJB for stand-in duties. Our blogging team have done a great job of covering for CS whilst she’s in recovery, many thanks to all of you.
Hear Hear!
I agree I think they should lobby for a pay increase.
Thanks to NYDK and SJB. We solved the long anagram 5a etc. straight away. The rest followed on fairly easily after that. COTD 22a. LOI 24d. Blowing a gale here so putting Christmas 🎄 up later.
What a beauty of a puzzle. I felt so downhearted after yesterday but today is the tomorrow that we are urged to look forward to. So many superb clues it is invidious to put them in order. Lots of misdirection and head scratching. Last one in was 12 across those short clues do not give much leverage to open them up. So grateful to NYDK and SJB . Happily I can submit because it was done unaided.
I recommend the NTSPP by Rahmat to everyone. It is a delight.
Hear, Hear
2 or 3 checkers + the enumeration may have given the game away with the 30 letter anagram for RD but it certainly didn’t for me. Can’t remember spending so long on an SPP but of course once completed (eventually) you struggle to see why you made such a horlicks of it. As ever with an NYDK puzzle hugely entertaining – the downs at 1,2,7& best of all 19 would be my picks.
Thanks to Donny & Sloop.
Ps I’m not really a huge fan of multi-word anagrams though sorting out fodder for 6 words & 30 letters is undeniably impressive. That said Brummie’s clue in the Graun during Covid times about Cummings remains one of my all time favs:
Real bastard contrived implausible eye test (5,2,7,6)
The infamous drive to Barnard Castle… 40 letters to check when you add Voltaire New and candidE
Like others I ignored the daunting multi clue until I had checkers and suddenly the penny dropped. What a masterly anagram! I thought 1d was brilliant misdirection, loved Portia’s assistant and the other Shakespearean clue and the deranged family was hilarious. Huge thanks to the clever Not Your Daughters Jeans and to Sloop. We have brilliant sunshine today, it certainly lifts the spirits.
Nice to see a puzzle this week from NYDK with a multi-word answer. Whilst some don’t like them, they add an extra challenge that I enjoy. A good one this week too.
As far as the rest of the puzzle goes for the most part it was an enjoyable work through, with a few that stretched my grey matter.
2.5*/4.5* for me overall.
Favourites were many but I chose 22a, 25a, 1d, 6d, 13d & 24d — with winner 13d that linked nicely with the multi-word 5a, 17d, 9a & 11a
Thanks to NYDK for a great puzzle & SJB
Simply superb. Quite a challenge but laden with humour. Clues of the day went to 13d Voltaire and the 14a anagram, which stuck me as being as clever as the multi-light clues and their link to the aforementioned 13d. Ticks also went to the 22a deranged family, the bad weather in 25a, the 27a cooler, the 8d Irish uprising and the 16d weapon holder.
***/*****
Thanks for a great challenge to NYDK and to SJB for standing in.
Coffee, Bacon and Sausage Buttie and me checking the anagram. Mama Bee is drinking tea and a scone with all the trimmings just out of shot.
No brown sauce???!!!
Must have been in the three-quarters already eaten.
I’ve never had coffee in a Buttie.
But coffee and sponge fingers (close to bread IMO) is a basis for a good Tiramisu.
Patchy condiment distribution!!! – but glad Wilson’s gravy was in there
I hope you pulled them up about the butcher’s apostrophes on the menu, John.
Ha ha I have just noticed them…
They are allowed to get away with it as the butchery is much better than their grammar.
I see they are in Whixley, which is about a mile or so from Allerton Mauleverer where I spent many a happy holiday on my uncle’s farm.
T’other side of Whixley from AM, just behind Queen Ethelburga’s girls school. If you are lucky one of the sixth formers makes your scones.
Never
Never thought I would see Whixley mentioned in these pages! Nor Allerton Mauleverer!
I grew up in the 1950’s in Great Ouseburn, which was then a farming village a couple of miles away from Whixley. GO now a commuter village as far as I can see from a recent visit.
A small world, but I wouldn’t want to paint it!
I used to go canoeing by Aldwark Toll bridge in the 70’s.
They are planning a large new town around the railway station at Cattal, which will radically change the area.
Allerton Mauleverer, Steve.
Sounds like a very posh prefect at Eton.
Or a character from Dickens.
Actually, FMW he’s my alias for when I am on HMK’s unofficial business. Don’t tell anyone or I will have to kill you! 😊
Your secret’s safe with me, mate.
A nod’s as good as a wink to a blind bat.
Surprisingly straightforward for a Saturday. My spirits sank to the very bottom of the lowest pit on seeing the enumeration of the peripatetic second across clue. I CBA to read it, completed the rest of the puzzle, then filled in that final wandering answer based on the checkers.
Completing online rather than onprintout made for a relatively new experience, and with the clues disappearing left nothing for me to tick or recollect. On re-reading care of the blog I’ll go for 28a, 1d & 13d on the podium.
With thanks to Donny and to SJB
You can change a setting so that clues don’t disappear when solved. If they did that here I wouldn’t be able to cut and paste the clues into the blog.
Thanks SJB, will try that – although my 99 in 100 option will remain to print the puzzle!
Quite difficult until it wasn’t, when the 5a combo seemed to solve about half of the outstanding clues. Hard to pick a favourite but we’ll go with 7d thanks to Donnybrook and SJB.
I don’t normally post. But the crossie was so good I thought I should mention it. ***/****
I’m glad you enjoyed it, please come back and comment often, the more the merrier.
Thanks all, esp Sloop for the blog.
It is a feature of multi-light clues that half the puzzle gets filled as soon as it is cracked. I think the longest one I’ve done so far is
Good-day Rupert, Sooty, Biffo, Yogi! Wow! Around us is tree-house spread! (2,3,2,4,2,3,5,5,5,4,2,1,3,8)
which might have been composed with the assistance of a certain Elgar, about 100 years ago, IIRC, but it is REALLY LONG. There were other clues in that puzzle (on Guardian grid 29), but not many.
Cheers
NYDK
I am seeing Elgar on Thursday, I’ll be sure to ask him about it if I haven’t worked it out before then
Nice clue! I got it from those mentioned plus the enumeration (once I’d managed to count properly, having tripped up over an apostrophe).
It then took me ages to verify all the letters in the wordplay …
If you go down to the woods today you’re sure of a big surprise.
Is spread an anagram indicator or clue to The Teddy Bear’s Picnic?
Glad you checked the anagram Smylers it was beyond me! (solved from bears and spread)
Greetings from freezing Edmonton. The multi-light clue is perhaps the best anagram I can recall seeing.
Great puzzle / took me a while to get 23d – last one in / thanks to setter and blogger and wishing csue a good recovery
Superb from NYDK – lots of laughs from the tea garden onward. The 4-clue one was brilliant, along with the deranged family, but prize has to go to Portia. VMT also to SJB.
Oh dear, I am not over endowed with much patience so the linked solutions were off-putting and it took some tenacity to stick with this tricky number however there were several nicely challenging clues so the multi-words could wait. 22a and 19d were Favs. TVM NYKD and SJB.
I was just preparing for the next blog when I noticed this is actually my 400th posted blog. I am rather pleased that that landmark coincided with such a fine puzzle. Thanks to CS and Gazza for allowing me here and Thanks to NYDK for providing us with such a fun puzzle.
If the sequence doesnt miss a beat I think I may expect a broadside 23d from RayT’s alter ego tomorrow.
Congratulations, SJB. A wonderful achievement. 👍
Nice one SJB! I’ve especially appreciated your hints and tips on the Sunday Toughies. Here’s to another 400!
400 blogs, John?
You don’t look old enough, mate!
You must have started this lark when you wore shorts, riding up them cobbled streets to fetch some Hovis for yer mam!
Heartiest congratulations to Sloop John Bee! Hitting 400 posted blogs is an amazing milestone and a remarkable voyage. Wishing your next 400 to be smooth sailing and excellent blogging!
Started late so finished late. What a crackingly chewy puzzle with some brilliant misdirection. I did stall over the linked clues at first which rather halted things but once that was solved I was in a roll again. I thought 19d was brilliant. Thanks to NYDK and SJB.
After 2 last Sats I thought my brain was softening – got there with a hint or two. This week knocked off in two rounds so a TKO.
I don’t know why I’m using fighting language but there is a touch of horror / aggression throughout this grid.
Good to get some prog rock in the hints😁