Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31110
Hints and tips by Smylers
Hello and welcome to Monday’s crossword. Yesterday our church held a brass band carol concert, where we sang Where Shepherds Watch Their Flocks by Night to the traditional tune of On Ilkla Moor Baht ’at:
That went better than last year, when the vicar introduced it as such — only to be met by a sudden look of fear on the faces of the band, who’d rehearsed the other tune. Though he still hasn’t gone with my suggestion that we should sing In the Bleak Midwinter to the tune of the theme from Hawaii Five O (try it!).
Last time I mentioned the Telegraph’s Christmas Christmas Appeal and how Crossword Editor Chris Lancaster had written movingly of life with MND. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who, on learning that he and his wife can’t afford a wheelchair-accessible vehicle, wished there was a way of helping them directly. The very next day, Chris launched a personal fundraising appeal enabling us to do just that. The fantastic news is that the £7500 target was quickly met by generous supporters. However, that money was only “to help” fund the vehicle he needs to be able to leave his village, and in his latest update expressing his thanks, Chris also says “I’ll leave it open for now, just in case” — so any further donations would still be welcome and can only make it easier for Chris and his wife to have some day trips.
Hints and explanations for today’s crossword are below, with concealed answers. Have a go on this one for practice and to open the latest door in my vent-ad calendar: 
. Please do leave a comment below, and be sure to follow Big Dave’s etiquette guide.
Finally, Merry Christmas to all of you. It’s a pleasure hanging around with you like this, and I’m looking forward to doing more of it next year.
Across
1a Insect sheltered by cascara buckthorn (6)
SCARAB: A lurker to start with today: this insect can be found sheltering among the final two words in the clue.
5a Desire last of laundry bringing in (8)
YEARNING: Start with the last letter in ‘laundry’. The rest is another word for ‘bringing in’ — in the context of a pay packet rather than, say, laundry.
Pic credit: Nick Page
9a Phone unwrapped, ring singer in US city (8)
HONOLULU: Unwrap ‘phone’ by removing its outer letters. Follow that by the letter that looks like a ring. Think of which US city starts with what you’ve got so far, and note that the remaining letters are the name of a singer whose hits were mostly in the 60s.
10a Declare around 500, then start to bowl quickly, for example (6)
ADVERB: This is ‘declare’ in the sense of stating something, not cricket. It goes around the Roman numeral for 500, then at the end we put the first letter of ‘bowl’. The definition is what the word ‘quickly’ is an example of.
11a Tech company introduces ostentatiously good English course (5,3)
APPLE PIE: Enter in order: the name of a well-known tech company; a short word meaning ‘ostentatiously good’ (labelled as “informal, dated” in The OED, and which outside crosswords I’ve only encountered with ‘-ous’ on the end); and an abbreviation for ‘English’. The whole thing could be served as a course of a meal.
12a Agitated fellow, one cold outside court (6)
HECTIC: Join together a pronoun used to refer to a fellow, the Roman numeral for one, and the letter used to identify a cold tap, then put those all outside of the abbreviation for ‘court’.
13a Critical part of ball game lay ahead of Mark (3,5)
SET POINT: This is one of the critical moments in a specific ball sport. We put a synonym for ‘lay’ (the table, perhaps) ahead of a word for ‘mark’ (ignore the capital M), in the sense of drawing attention to something.
15a Wife steering clear of stingers and biters (4)
ASPS: Think of some possibilities for what could be described as ‘stingers’. Choose one that has the abbreviation for ‘wife’ in it, and remove that abbreviation to get the biters.
17a Alpha males will provide the last word (4)
AMEN: This is the letter indicated by ‘Alpha’ in the Nato phonetic alphabet (by those who can’t bring themselves to use the official spelling of ‘Alfa’), followed by a word that refers to more than one male person.
19a Theatre worker who cues more Swift (8)
PROMPTER: A double definition, in which the first is for once somebody who is involved with dramatic productions, rather operating theatres. Ignore the capital letter in the second definition.
20a About to visit capital for upper garments (6)
TUNICS: One of the abbreviations for ‘about’ visits, so inserting itself into, the name of a capital city.
21a Pulp stun with tour attendances (8)
TURNOUTS: Pulp the letters of ‘stun’ and ‘tour’ together until they spell out the answer.
22a Clear and windy when touring lake (6)
GLASSY: The definition is ‘clear’ in a physical sense. We need a word for ‘windy’ (but which pronunciation?) which tours round the outside of the abbreviation for ‘lake’.
23a Smiley, perhaps too nice, running to hug Mike (8)
EMOTICON: Make the letters of ‘too nice’ run (in the sense of paint running, rather than the 100 m), and then for the them to surround the letter that Mike represents in the Nato alphabet in a hug. The answer is a noun, defined by example.
BBC4 are repeating the 1979 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy from December 30th.
24a Author‘s large book about novelist Virginia losing heart (3,5)
TOM WOLFE: A word for a large book goes round the outside of this answer. Inside that put the surname of the well-known novelist with the first name Virginia, minus her middle letter.
25a Pay for sink (6)
SETTLE: This is a double definition: pay what’s owing, or particles in a liquid sinking to find their level.
Down
2d Police officers surrounding hotel – they’re part of a trap (8)
CHOPPERS: The Nato alphabet makes its third appearance with the letter represented by ‘hotel’. Surround that by a slang term for police officers, then realize we’ve run out of wordplay, so use the longer form of that slang term to fill in the remaining spaces. The answer is a colloquial word for something that is part of what ‘trap’ can be a slang term for.
3d Wandering carelessly, lost rose (8)
ROOTLESS: Arrange the letters of ‘lost rose’ carelessly and … they probably won’t spell out anything, that being the nature of carelessness. But of the ten thousand possible arrangements of these letters, one of them will spell out the answer, so maybe you’ll get lucky?
4d Safe to hold up Navy flag (4,5)
BLUE PETER: This ends with what The OED labels as “Criminals’ slang” for a safe. That’s holding up what Navy is a particular form of.
5d What hitch-hiker says getting dropped off? No idea! (5,3,2,5)
YOU’VE GOT ME THERE: A whimsical double definition. Interpreted literally, it could be what a hitchhiker says to their driver at the end of their journey. More usually it’s used figuratively to mean “No idea”, for instance in response to a question one doesn’t know the answer to.
6d Maybe beef in wine with marrow (3,4)
RED MEAT: This is simply a classification of wine so general that even I’ve heard of it and what marrow is.
7d Costumier leaving uniform off the rails for wintry weather (3,5)
ICE STORM: We get to practise our Nato alphabet for the fourth time, needing the letter represented by ‘uniform’. That gets left out of ‘Costumier’, with the remaining letters going off the rails to spell out the answer.
8d Betray hired thug guarding rear (2,4,2)
GO BACK ON: A hired thug goes round the outside of this, guarding another word for ‘rear’.
14d Infamous, presumably them drinking old port (9)
NOTORIOUS: This one’s a little bit tricksy. We could presume that something refers to ‘them’ if it’s been described by a two-word phrase ruling out the opposite. That then drinks into it the abbreviation for ‘old’ and a well-known port city somewhere in the world.
15d Salieri occasionally strained and impenetrable (8)
AIRTIGHT: I didn’t know who or what Salieri was, but fortunately we don’t need to know that to sole the clue: we take its occasional letters in a regular pattern, then follow with a word meaning ‘strained’ in the physical sense of ‘stretched’.
16d Ghost taps human leaving university? Ludicrous! (8)
PHANTASM: Take most of the letters of ‘taps human’, but leaving the abbreviation for ‘university’ behind, and put them in a ludicrous order.
17d Criminal getting a match on Tinder? (8)
ARSONIST: This whole thing is a cryptic definition, which has nothing to do with online dating — until just over a decade ago, this wouldn’t seem cryptic at all!
18d Election quiz mostly exploits poor Liberal (4,4)
EXIT POLL: We need most of ‘exploits’, except its last letter. Its letters are put in a poor order, then followed by an abbreviation for ‘Liberal’ that might have appeared in the answer when that party featured in elections.
19d Artist of note seen accompanying head of Academy in photos (7)
PICASSO: The note here is the name of one of the musical ones. It accompanies the rest of the wordplay, by appearing after it. We need a colloquial term for photos, into which we place the head letter of ‘Academy’.
Quickie Pun
In today’s Quick Crossword the first 3 clues are italicized, meaning their answers can be spoken aloud to sound like another word or phrase. If you can’t get it at first, keep saying it out loud and listen to yourself — or check it here:
ROAR + NIB + AGA = RONNIE BARKER
Recent Reading
Following the recent death of Tom Stoppard, I’ve been reading Arcadia again, his widely acclaimed 1993 play. Obviously plays are designed to be seen on stage rather than read alone, but this is so well written that there’s still great pleasure to be gleaned from reading it — and indeed, it allows dwelling on and appreciating the many clever lines, which one has to take in at speed during a performance.
It’s under 100 pages, so recommended as a lightish read which both entertains and lets you appreciate Tom Stoppard’s genius. A favourite exchange from the first scene: “You insulted my wife in the gazebo yesterday evening!” / “You are mistaken. I made love to your wife in the gazebo. She asked me to meet her there, I have her note somewhere, I dare say I could find it for you, and if someone is putting it about that I did not turn up , by God, sir, it is a slander.”
Arcadia is being performed at The Old Vic early next year. I’d hoped to see it when in London for this blog’s Birthday Bash, but unfortunately the change of date means both that the friend who put me up last year is unable to do so and trains from Leeds aren’t running, so sadly it doesn’t look like I’m going to make it.
I found this a bit of a struggle and had solved only five after the first pass. Although I had the answer to 2d, I didn’t enter it because I couldn’t see how to parse it. I was considering every trap except the correct one. I spent too long considering Whitney Houston for 9a until I realised I had the wrong singer. My COTD is the hitch hiker at 5d.
Thank you, setter for what, for me, was quite a challenge. Thank you, Smylers for the hints.
The Quickie pun was particularly groanworthy, I thought.🙂
PS I want to donate to Chris but the link on Just Giving doesn’t work.
BTW, Smylers. the wrong puzzle number is given in the Recent Posts column.
Well spotted, and thank you — now fixed! I remember going through all 4 places that need updating, but I must’ve finger-slipped on one of them.
Sorry if I’ve messed the link up, Steve. It looks to work for me, but just in case here’s a lower-tech version of it:
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/chris-lancaster
You didn’t mess up the link, Smylers. It takes you to the Just Giving page but the “Donate Now” button doesn’t work.
Ah, I see what you mean. It worked for me in Firefox last week, but now if I press ‘Give Now’ I just get a lot of spinning without the page ever loading. It does still work for me in Chrome, though, so it might be worth trying a different browser?
Just tried Chrome and still get the spinner. 😳
I have donated to the DT appeal but it would have been good to have supported Chris directly.
Boo! There’s some tips and a contact form here which may help: https://help.justgiving.com/hc/en-us/articles/200670451-I-m-having-trouble-donating
I tried all the tips but still get the spinner. The page can’t be closed because donations have been made in the hour or so. A mystery. 🤔
Thanks for trying to help, Smylers.
A lovely Monday romp. 22a’s fun and 5d & 17d are crackers. Chucklesome Quickie pun too. Best thanks to setter and Smylers.
This was perhaps a step up in difficulty from recent Mondays but still nothing too awkward about it. Like my fellow Salopian above, I went for 5d as my favourite this morning. Persisting down with felines and canines here.
Thanks to our setter and Smylers.
After a slow start, things picked up nicely though there was no let up.
Funnily enough, my LOI was 5d which went straight on to the podium. Great fun as was ‘windy’ which we’ll all be in 10 days time. If you don’t like sprouts then hang your head.
To get cascara buckthorn (a new one for me) into a five word clue is outstanding. A very neat lurker. I’ve also haven’t heard of 16d
Keeping 5d company on the podium are 1a and the splendid cryptic dooberry in 17d.
It’s such a shame that we need ‘for example’ in a clue as it very often mars the surface. In this case, 10a which would have got a rosette.
MT to X-Typingtons (?) and Falcs.
3*/4*
Tom, I absolutely refuse to believe that nobody has ever said “Shut your trap” to you!
Just to explain Smylers’ post….I said in my original post that I, too, couldn’t see the connection between ‘trap’ and 2d. I saw the error of my ways and amended the post but not before Smylers had posted his superb and accurate comment.
“To get cascara buckthorn (a new one for me) into a five word clue is outstanding.”
Thanks. My green fingers came to the rescue.
(I’m also a big fan of Cascara Buckthorn’s Telegraph column.)
Which came first: seeing scarab in the plant or working out how scarab could lurk in an expression?
I hope it’s the former as it would be a great spot.
I’m constantly looking for words inside expressions in life, whether it be a lurker or a emordnilap, e.g company names, shop signs, adverts etc.
It sure beats ‘I Spy’!
It was the latter, sorry.
I presume you’re familiar with the famous chef Yotam Ottolenghi’s hidden reverse.
Thank you Twmbarlwm for popping in and confirming this fantastic crossword as one of yours. (I did think it was you, but sometimes I’m wrong!)
Thank you for the review.
Quite a tough one II thought at ***/**** with some crackers in it: 5d was the best of the crop with 8d and 10a runners up. Extremely enjoyable start to the week. Thanks Smylers and our setter.
It must be my age. Or the wobbly bus I was travelling on. II was of course I. I really need a secretary if not a carer.
This one was reasonably straightforward. Like Steve I was also struggling to parse 2d fully. Still not sure I’ve got it completely even after reading the hint for it. My favourite clue was 17d for its great surface, closely followed by 14d. Thanks to Smylers for hints and to the setter.
For 2d, you want one of the slang meanings of ‘trap’ — not the jazz drums!
Ah, I get it. Thanks.
Good morning. I raced through this and enjoyed it very much. The SE corner took a few moments longer, than I had hoped for, but I’m not sure why as it was mostly a read and write from the get go. Ticks go to the run in at 1a, 5a, 10a, 12a and the dating pyromaniac at 17d, which is my CoTD. Thanks to Smylers and Setter for the hints and puzzle respectively.
I found this a little tricky in places but very entertaining.
I ticked 9a, 10a, 4d, and 5d… but I could easily have ticked more (including 2d, “part of a trap”).
Many thanks to the setter and to Smylers.
It was a slow start, as this tricky a few knotty cluea, that I found difficult to parse. However, as usual, things improved as the checkers went in. I liked the convoluted 1a lurker, the 2d cryptic definition, the 9a geographical Lego clue and the cleverly worded 4 letter clue at 15a. Thanks to Smylers for the hints and to our Monday compiler
Great puzzle with 5d my favourite. 10a also fantastic. @Smylers I think the only reason most people know Salieri is because of the wonderful 1980s film Amadeus partly about the rivalry between the (genius) Mozart and the (journeyman composer) Salieri. Couldn’t parse 11a as i’d never heard of the two letter would for good. Thank you setter and Smylers
The 2-letter word for good is worth remembering, as it crops up fairly often. It’s in The Usual Suspects under ‘religious’.
Thank you for the information on Amadeus (which I haven’t seen) — that explains why Mozart kept cropping up when I was searching for Salieri videos.
Thank you – I’ve never navigated to The Usual Suspects but I will now.
The award laden Milos Forman film won best picture, director & adapted screenplay in the 85 Oscars & F Murray Abraham won best actor for his portrayal of Salieri. Sky are about to show a new miniseries adaptation in about a week’s time so it’ll be interesting to see their take on the Peter Schaffer play. The film is well worth catching
An ideal Monday puzzle – thanks to our setter and Smylers.
Top clues for me were 2d, 5d and 14d.
For the 3rd day running a laboured grid fill. My crossword brain, such as it is, seems to have gone walkies so wasn’t entirely sure if it was just me who felt this a good bit trickier than the average Monday. Anyway a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle. 9&24a plus 2&17d particular likes. Marrow in 6d caused a bit of a head scratch & assumed the synonym related to the nitty-gritty/gist of things – it did prompt a play of one of my favourite Ray Davies tunes though.
Thanks to the setter & to Smylers for his usual comprehensive review.
I found that very enjoyable indeed once I got going. 5d is brilliant and 9a, 21a and 24a were among others that made me smile. Thanks very much to the setter and to Smylers for the excellent hints/blog.
3*/3*. I agree with those who found this more challenging than usual for a Monday.
5d didn’t quite work for me. Surely you would say “here” as the last word having reached your destination.
My repetition radar bleeped with “leaving” being used in both 7d & 16d to indicate a letter removal.
17d was my favourite.
Many thanks to the setter (X-Type?) and to Smylers.
I saw the question as ”Are we close to your destination?”
Since I ‘m not going to Zumba today it gave precious time to this splendid crossword. One of the late ones in was 17 down. Brilliant ! Last one in was 5 down. Usually the long ones yield reasonably easily but For me it was a slow burn but was another great clue. Always love a literary reference so a big tick to 24 across.Cannot leave out the Smiley reference – how it made me smile.Thank you to Smylers. Having read the small piece from Arcadia that you posted as a tribute to the late Tom Stoppard I too will read it. Didn’t need your help but sure did need that reading nudge.
As well as being a little more challenging than usual for a Monday, somewhat of a curate’s egg for me. For example, an American author, not Virginia, I had never heard of as the answer for 24a – 2.5*/3*
Candidates for favourite – 25a, 4d, and 18d – and the winner is 18d.
Thanks to the setter and Smylers.
Well, that was a bit of a tussle for a Monday. I’m glad I stuck with it as it turned out to be a very enjoyable challenge. A couple needed some courage to enter in the grid as the parsing wasn’t obvious, 2d take a bow. Honorable mentions to 24a and 20a, but cotd myst go to 5d. Thanks to compiler and Smylers.
A little slow getting started, but once the first few were in, the rest followed without difficulty, but not as straightforward as most Monday puzzles as it did require some grey matter to be engaged.
23a had me going down the Le Carre route for a while until I found the other Smiley.
Last in was 5d which gets my COTD .
**/****
I enjoyed that however did find SW a bit of a grind including problem with 24a author who was unknown to me so my last to fall. In spite of various comments above 2d still not fully parsed by me. 11a had to be but surely “course” is rather broad. 5d “first” is hardly one 5-letter word – rather 3,4. 18d and 19d both bunged in. Thank you setter for the fun challenge and Smylers for hinting.
The hard things in the trap are often called 2d. 😊
Yes, I appreciated that Steve but it doesn’t make the clue any more relevant.
Hi AV
Forgive me if I’m repeating what someone else has said but 2d is another word for teeth which are inside a mouth that is known as a trap.
O K, I guess I must rest my case.
I hope you didn’t say to your patients: Open your trap for me.
Of course I did, Jose! 😊
Seemed to have quite a few ‘well, I suppose so’ comments written on my paper but I did find enough enjoyable ones to fill a podium – places going to 25a plus 17&18d.
Thanks to our setter and to Smylers for the review.
Good to see I’m not alone in finding this tricky. Thanks to the setter, but it was a ****/** for me.
I loved the hints though, thanks Smyler’s. Your brass band video brought back many happy memories of my Dad, who campaigned tirelessly (but fruitlessly) to persuade the choirmaster at his church to use the alternative tune. Now off to find a recording of Hawaii Five O theme tune to give In the Bleak Midwinter a go!
A little bit harder than usual for Monday
2*/4*
5d last in and it didn’t really work for me in the first part of the double definition.
17d favourite today. A smile for 2d – have just returned from the Dentist.
Thanks to Smylers and Setter.
PS – Steve – you were correct, not as bad as expected although it does take a while!
I’m pleased you found it so and, yes they do take a long time. My appointments were always an hour and a half. Is it all finished or do you have to go back for a restoration?
Need crown lengthening and then crown. Hopefully then it will be done!
I trust it is sealed well? 😊
* / ****
Really enjoyed this, a great start to the week. Pretty much read and write all the way through. Ticks for the unwrapped phone in 9a, the infamous 14d and double ticks for 17d where I won’t labour on how I was misdirected by ‘Tinder’ ☺ and my COTD, the long-un at 5d. Having said that, RD has a point in post #14 above regarding the final word.
Many thanks to the setter and Smylers.
Tricky for a Monday, but plenty of smiles along the way.
Thank you setter and Smylers.
I thought this Monday offering a little more challenging than normal. Maybe just me, as I have had a lot going on this weekend and am feeling exhausted.
For me today 2*/3.5* with several clues that required Google searching.
Favourites that I figured out include 5a, 9a, 25a, 2d & 4d — with winner 9a from my previous encounter with the middle part of the answer at Bonds in Norwich.
Thanks to setter & Smylers
I found this on the tricker side than usual but did get there in the end after a very ploddy sort of effort.
Now I’ve finished I can’t see why I was quite as slow, I think I have pre Christmas brain. I liked 5d.
Many thanks to the setter and to Smylers for the hints.
Where do I start. Missed a lot of the parsing due to my ignorance. I wouldn’t know an adverb if it hit me in the face. I was enrolled in a little Private School in Clifton Bristol at the age of 10, the class was well into parsing sentences, I didn’t have a clue, so embarrassing tears followed. Luckily they gave up parsing shortly afterwards. The hints helped me with the rest. The safe, I vaguely recalled, not the trap though. I object to the synonym for Marrow. It is not meat. The last few letters of the ghost nearly threw me. However I was saved by 24a an author I have only distantly heard of. Favourite clue. The City kin Hawaii.
Overall very enjoyable. But apart from the parsing, quite easy; so thanks both. **/****
I had the same thought re marrow – see my comment #12. Reckon the context is meat/marrow/nitty-gritty etc
Used the wrong name so my comment will go into moderation
[I’ve edited it to your usual name. Gazza]
Thanks to the Setter and Smylers for the hints (which we didn’t need).
Unlike most we found this a relatively easy solve and typical Monday level. Perhaps a recent visit to the dentist helped us get 2d straight away. COTD 5d. LOI 23a.
I didn’t get on very well with the guzzle today.
I achieved about half before seeking help from Smyler. I thought 9a was my top pick. Perhaps tomorrow will be more friendly.
The Telegraph named their best primary schools today. My daughter is a TA at one of the first few chosen so that cheered me. Thanks to the setter and Smyler.
Why does an AI Assistant pop up on so many sites? Found the Just Giving site for Chris Lancaster but it covered my message and made it impossible to check whether it made sense. Why can’t we have a space to tell it to go forth and multiply in the original Hebrew?
I managed to finish on my own but am seething so much it is a wonder my mobile didn’t go out of the window without me opening it.
Thanks to the setter and Smyler which is not what I am at the moment.
Guessed the flag without knowing the slang for a safe – one for my long list of things to learn! Thank you compiler and Smyler
I was surprised to find that no indicator was included for the apostrophe in 5d. Is that not normal practice? Thanks to the hinter and setter.
I have now managed to donate to Chris Lancaster via DuckDuckGo.
Yay! Well done on your persistence.
And thank you to Steve and everybody else who has donated — I see the totalizer has gone up several hundred pounds today.
It could do with going up more, folks. Chris has given us a lot of entertainment and wheelchair accessible vehicles are not cheap. You can donate if all you do is stay in the background of the blog. Let’s help get Chris mobile.
Monday’s puzzles recently seem to be the trickiest of the week with Saturdays and Sundays being the most enjoyable and playful…or is it just me?
Not just you, CC. Mondays do seem to be trickier than they used to be.
A gentle and enjoyable start to the week . I need to revisit yesterday’s prize puzzle as I was going out and ran out of time , having got stuck on the last few. Thanks to the setter and Smylers – I see what you mean about In The Bleak Midwinter !
Got ther finally with 18d being the last in, not realising it was an anagram. With Christmas approaching it has been a bit hectic of late what with meeting old friends, lunches and reunions, so have tended to be finishing late in the day or the following morning. Hopefully slowing down for a few days. A pleasant puzzle and completed without reference to the hints, which I will now peruse, and after the struggles of last week in a reasonably respectable time, for me at least. COTD, or clues, were 24a and 18d.
Thank you to the setter and to Smylers for the hints.
Started off like a train and then ran out of coal ( I’m old fashioned,so no diesel or electric for me ).Last two in 5d and 24a , although 24a obvious but I simply didn’t know him and 5 down last word not to my liking .Marrow and meat? Not on my bone ! 23 had me thinking gusty ? And finally 8d knew it but again didn’t like it . Finished but for a Monday it took ages . Despite all my carping I found much of it enjoyable . Thanks to all . Favourites 10 and 17
1.5* / 4* A perfect start to the week for me, pitched at just the right level. My favourites amongst many are the 2d gnashers, the deer with no eyes at 5d and the fire starter at 17d
Many thanks to setter and Smylers
Fairly easy going apart from the Author and 25A.
Being a pedantic old bore, the picture at the top is a trumpet, rarely, if ever, used in brass bands.
Until you mentioned it, CH84 I hadn’t realised trumpets were not used in brass bands. I always thought the cornets were trumpets so another fact learned. 👍
If you watch the video from the beginning, you’ll see our vicar start the service by saying he realizes that the picture is of the wrong instrument and therefore he doesn’t need people pointing that out!
Well it wasn’t being pointed out to your vicar, Smylers. 😊
Like others hadn’t heard of the author and couldn’t see that marrow is meat. The rest were difficult for a Monday, doesn’t augur well for the rest of the week. Favourite was 17d, helped by not knowing Tinder is, it just pipped 14d. Thanks to the setter and Smylers.
The donations to Chris Lancaster are approaching £10,000 and it seems they have come from members of Big Dave including some lurkers. Thank you so much. Keep it going, my friends. Even if you have never commented, Chris has given you pleasure by editing the DT puzzles. Any amount is welcome so please donate. Let’s see if we can get Chris mobile and out of the village to visit his friends. 👍
Just to remind you all, the link to Chris Lancaster’s Just Giving page is
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/chris-lancaster?utm_medium=CF&utm_source=CL
I think it must be me but I couldn’t get on the right wavelength with this at all and found it very difficult and a bit weird! Never mind, I’m sure tomorrow will be better.
You’re not the only one Geraldine, I agree with you. I looked at a Zandio toughie from the archives too and found it much easier and more enjoyable.
An unheard of dnf for a Monday. 15d strained=tight? Couldn’t see that, which made bottom left unfinished. I did like 10a, though.
Hi, Kaymar. Thank you for commenting — they’re all appreciated, no matter when.
That synonym wasn’t immediately obvious to me as well, but in Chambers one of the definitions of ‘strain’ (number 5) is “to stretch out or draw it tight”, so I think it’s acceptable.
I’m just getting into Cryptic Crosswords and find the learning curve to be a little challenging. But being an engineer I developed a tool to help me. It takes a clue and breaks it down, giving hints (not the answers). It has been really helpful. It will analyze the clue and you can get hints, but it never gives you the answer. I developed it for my own use, but I’d like to know if anyone else finds this interesting and useful.
3*/3* …
liked 10A “Declare around 500, then start to bowl quickly, for example (6)”