Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31125
Hints and tips by Shabbo
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning, fellow puzzlers and a very Happy New Year to you all.
I have been blogging the Thursday back-pager since August 2023, but I now need to pass the baton on. I have been invited to join the Telegraph team of setters and there is an unwritten, but understandable, rule that setters should not comment on other setters’ work. My first DT puzzle will appear in the Toughie slot on 7th January.
Naturally I am thrilled to join the group of setters, but I will miss my blogging duties, particularly as I now leave the coast clear for Huntsman to win the race to 200 blogs! I will not, however, miss setting my alarm clock every Wednesday evening! My thanks go to the BD management team for inviting me to take on the role in the first place and particular thanks to Gazza for teaching this IT Luddite the joys of working with WordPress. I wish my successor well.
What about today’s puzzle, I hear you cry? Good point, well made. This is undoubtedly the work of RayT as all of his trademarks are there. He has even excelled himself by smashing through the 5 words/clue barrier. If my calculations are correct, he is averaging a miserly 4.9 words per clue. Remarkable.
I found it slightly trickier than usual, but then I solved it at silly o’clock when I was woken up by the local celebratory fireworks at midnight. I hope you enjoyed it – the puzzle, that is, not the fireworks.
Many thanks to RayT and to the DT Crossword Team.
Across
1a Appropriate gossip about Queen (4)
GRAB: three-letter synonym of gossip outside (about) the abbreviation for Regina. The solution is a verb.
4a Game bird is all dressed (9)
BILLIARDS: anagram (dressed) of BIRD IS ALL.
10a Left and right in a party (9)
ABANDONED: four-letter synonym of “right” inside A + synonym of party (or group). I’m not convinced that I have parsed this correctly. Alternative suggestions welcome.
11a Overly big, excessively stout, even initially (5)
OBESE: initial letters of the first five words of the clue.
12a Beak’s imprisoning one for rackets (6)
NOISES: synonym of beak + S outside the letter resembling one to reveal what woke me up last night.
13a Force to accept Church rejected faithful (7)
PRECISE: synonym of force outside abbreviation for Church of England reversed (rejected).
16a Post on X, endlessly affected (4)
TWEE: what a post on X used to be called (before Musk changed the name just to annoy crossword setters) without the final letter (endlessly).
17a Said in passing to cause dismay (10)
DEMORALISE: synonym of said (or spoken) inside synonym of passing.
20a Private secret with dirt spread (10)
RESTRICTED: anagram (spread) of SECRET + DIRT.
21a Mole or spy overheard (4)
PIER: homophone (overhead) of spy. Think breakwater for the definition.
23a Tonsure cut around top of head (7)
SHAVING: an economic cut outside (around) the first letter (top of) Head.
25a Underpants maybe showing outlines (6)
BRIEFS: double definition.
28a Organ this person’s taken in hands (5)
LIVER: another way of writing “this person has” inside Left and Right (hands).
29a Unconscious patient welcomes auntie oddly (9)
INANIMATE: synonym of patient (or prisoner) outside (welcomes) the odd letters of AuNtIe.
30a Workers in a welcome consensus (9)
AGREEMENT: synonym of (male) workers inside A + synonym of welcome.
31a Designs on a person’s body? (4)
TATS: cryptic definition. The answer is an abbreviation, but it is in Chambers.
Down
2d Bedspread, in essence, covers eagerness (9)
READINESS: hidden word (covers). Our solution is lurking within words 1-3 of the clue.
3d Animal is perhaps hound (6)
BADGER: double definition. The second definition is a verb.
4d Rubbish place to retire (4)
BUNK: another double definition.
5d Hide Bayern kit? (10)
LEDERHOSEN: nothing to do with football. This is a cryptic definition for traditional Bavarian male clothing made of leather (hide).
6d Cold rain destroyed warship (8)
IRONCLAD: anagram (destroyed) of COLD RAIN. The solution is shown as two words hyphenated in Chambers.
7d River fish possibly found in rocks (5)
REELS: abbreviation for River + slippery fish (plural).
8d Upping sweetheart’s pace (4)
STEP: synonym of sweethearts reversed (upping – this is a Down clue). Ray is teasing us again. SwEetheart is usually E in his puzzles, but he has used this technique in 18d below.
9d Terrible shower seek solutions losing head (9)
RAINSTORM: a method of seeking solutions without the initial letter (losing head).
14d Commercial centre with mail shot (10)
MERCANTILE: anagram (shot) of CENTRE + MAIL.
15d Unhappy with newspapers in action (9)
DEPRESSED: synonym of newspapers inside synonym of action.
18d One can rave about sweetheart wandering (9)
ITINERANT: a Lego clue comprising four “bricks”. Letter signified by one + synonym of can (a noun) + synonym of “rave” after the heart of swEet.
19d Cross Tory occasionally hostile (8)
TRAVERSE: the odd letters (occasionally) of ToRy + synonym of hostile.
22d Part is testing part for performer (6)
ARTIST: hidden word (part). Our solution can be found within words 1-3.
24d Start to hang above? (5)
HOVER: initial letter of (start to) Hang + synonym of above. The definition is the whole clue.
26d Reportedly run away seeing insect (4)
FLEA: homophone (reportedly) of “run away”.
27d Rapidly overweight eating seconds (4)
FAST: synonym of overweight outside (eating) abbreviation for Seconds.
Quickie Pun: BAIT + OAF + URN = BEETHOVEN
Happy New Year
Ray T at his devious best with a cracking puzzle. The misdirection at 1a set the scene as I pursued the wrong meaning of “appropriate”. This was followed by the smooth surface of 2a. I then had to wait quite a while for others to provide checkers and it became a steady, if slow, solve. It was all very satisfying and I loved the dismay at 17a, the tonsure at 23a and the unhappy newspapers at15d. Difficult to pick a favourite but I will go for the hands at 28a.
Thank you, Ray T for a great start to 2026. Thank you, Shabbo for the hints.
Happy New Year to all. 🙂
Once again, the web site is playing up. I tried to edit my post but it wouldn’t go through. I’ll wait a while to see if the edit appears out of the ether before writing the edit again.
Ok, nothing has appeared so:-
Congratulations, Shabbo on your elevation to the ranks of setter. Your blogging will be missed but all the very best of luck. It is well deserved.
Certainly is. An honour!
Happy New Year to all, and many congratulations to Shabbo on his much deserved appointment as a Telegraph setter.
My rating for today’s typical RayT puzzle is 2*/5* with 1a, 17a, 21a, 25a & 30a my top picks.
I don’t much care for the answer to 31a but it is in the BRB.
Shabbo, I parsed 10a as you did although it took me a while to convince myself that “right” and “done” could be synonymous.
Many thanks to RayT and to Shabbo.
Thanks. I’m still not convinced about the synonym at 10a.
If you append ‘thing’ after the two synonyms it makes sense to me.
Congratulations on your elevation and thanks to the setter and yourself.
How about: “It’s rude to interrupt people. It’s not right/done”?
Got it. Thanks.
It’s Ray T Thursday and quite challenging too. Can’t blame a muzzy head from NYE as I had an early night. But I did enjoy the challenge even if I now need to check on a couple of parsings. Lots of potential c’sotd, but I’ll plump for 18d. Congratulations to Shabbo on your elevation but please occasionally be gentle on us tyro toughie attempters! Thanks and HNY to Ray T and Shabbo.
Really enjoyed this. Needed assistance with parsing in 17a and 21a but answers could only be what they were.
9d reminded me of a reason I’m glad I am no longer in the classroom – we were advised not to use the word (with its head), replacing it with ‘thought shower’ to avoid offending the more intellectually challenged of our pupils 🙄. You couldn’t make it up.
Happy New Year to all
Morning All!, I just popped in to say Happy New Year and also to mention how much I enjoyed this one (RayT is up there in my favourites list! .I may have time for more crosswords soon (Not retiring but more WFH).
Regarding the synonym at 10a the BRB lists ‘socially acceptable’ as in ‘Doing the —– thing’ being ‘the —- thing’.
Thanks, Shabbo and congrats on the appointment – I will endeavour to get back into the Toughies.
It’s great to see you here again, Gnomethang – Happy New Year to you.
Now that you have more leisure time how about resuming your blogging career?
I dont have that time yet, Gazza, but in the words of Sean Connery “Dont shay never live and die another day onshe again”
I cant remember hish lasht Bond film….
Shabbo, many thanks for your significant efforts over the last three years. I have always enjoyed reading your blogs. Without people like you and your fellow bloggers this excellent site would be no more and that would be a huge shame. Good luck with your new venture.
Ray T on good form as ever I thought. Perhaps a little more tricky than recently.
Happy New Year to all
Happy New Year to all.
RayT at his best (4.9wpc…)I was particularly fond of the hide football kit, but others came close.
Congratulations to Shabbo on his elevation, a Beam Toughie isn’t much harder than this and I expect your Toughie on the 7th is going to attract a lot of solvers graduating to Toughies. I hope the current Mrs Shabbo and yourself can still come to the Birthday Bash on the 31st.
Today’s Toughie has been set by Samuel, which is the alias Chris Lancaster used before he became Telegraph Puzzles Editor.
It’s well worth giving a go.
Thanks RD, I’ll take a look.
Can I second RD’s recommendation – it’s a terrific puzzle, plenty of wit & some cracking clues. Very gettable too – reckon this one the harder of the two.
I found this very challenging (i lrobably shouldn’t have stayed up to first foot it and watch the fireworks!). There were some good anagrams with unusual synonyms, like 14d , 20a and 4a,with some clever misdirection. I liked the lurker at 2d and the cryptic definition at 5d too. Thanks to Mr T and to Shabbo and congratulations to the latter on becoming a setter.
This took me longer than usual as I completed it whilst watching/listening to the New Year’s Day concert from Vienna. I got a foothold in the south, but the north held me up a bit. Now all done, and as superb as ever. Our setter has quite surpassed himself in the conciseness stakes without compromising the understanding or solvability of the clues. 5d was my favourite this morning.
Many thanks to Ray T, and thanks and congratulations to Shabbo. Your blogs will be missed by us all, but good luck in your new ‘career’.
A fun romp that felt very Jan1 appropriate. Best thanks to RayT and Shabbo – HUGE congratulations on getting kicked upstairs. We’ll miss you in this slot but love you in t’other.
Thanks to Ray T for the puzzle and thanks and congratulations to Shabbo on becoming a Telegraph setter. We will miss your excellent blogs.
I particularly liked 17a and 5d.
Having totally lost track of the days of the week I printed this out, saw the brevity of the clues and thought it’s got to be a Ray T Thursday 😃
An enjoyable puzzle as always from this setter with my top picks being 5d, 18d and 16a.
Thanks to Ray T and thanks to Shabbo for all your past blogs and congratulations on your promotion.
A Happy New Year to all after a frustrating solve. Very often the puzzles web site and app ‘cannot cope’ with the calendar ‘rolling’ to a new month and when another layer of ‘rolling’ to a new year is added publishing of the puzzles is delayed considerably. Such was the case for today’s puzzles, ho hum.
Somewhat of a brain mangler for me – 3.5*/4*.
Candidates for favourite – 10a, 3d, 5d, and 18d – and the winner is 5d.
Thanks to Ray T and Shabbo, congratulations on your elevation.
Very enjoyable and satifying crossword to solve. I think my COTD is 5d that had me thinking football for a long time. Just wondered about 31a. Is it possible that the last letter could be u? That word is also in Chambers. Or would that have to be plural, so needing an s?
Congratulations on your promotion! I’m very proud of you. I’m quite sure the Toughie will be far to difficult for me but I’ll give it a go!
Congratulations Shabbo and well done. Hope you are not confined to Toughie duty though. As soon as I know it’s a Toughie I struggle for some reason – must be the way I’m wired. Incidentally, I’m currently working my way through the 2017 cryptic archive when Silvanus was a regular blogger and look what he’s achieved in becoming one of our very best setters.. Speaking of which – another gem from RayT so it’s thanks to him, Shabbo and all at the blog. Happy new year .
Not sure if the booze consumption last night was to blame for the hard work I made of this one or that it actually was chewier than the usual Ray T back-pager. Either way I was just happy to eventually fall over the line with the last in mole. Another vote for 5d as fav with 4,10,17&28a plus 3,4,9&19d other particular likes.
Thanks to RT for a cracking opening puzzle of the new year.
Huge congrats to Shabbo on his joining the roster of DT setters. I think I may start a campaign to have him installed as the new resident Monday Toughie setter. Thanks also for the numerous times he has covered for me when I’ve bunked off blogging duties.
If this is the ‘new, improved’ version of our setter for the New Year, please can I have the old one back…..
Took me ages to sort out some of this one, particularly 10a and the required cut in 23a. Can’t even blame it on NYE over-indulgence.
Nevertheless, I did find a couple of potential favourites in 4a&15d.
Devotions, just about, to Mr T and many thanks to Shabbo for this and all your previous reviews for us. Your blogs will be sorely missed but I do wish you well as you enter a new chapter. A very Happy New Year to both of you and, indeed, to everyone else on the BD site.
This started so well, with several answers flying in at the start. I thought great, I must be on the setter’s wavelength… then ground to a halt. Thank goodness for the blog, which got me going again. The meaning of mole in 21a was new to me, and I wouldn’t have thought of 5d in a million years without help; what a clever clue! Congratulations, Shabbo, and thanks for the hints; thanks also to RayT for the fun.
Many congratulations Shabbo! Happy New Year to all and a huge thank you to all the bloggers who selflessly devote their time to providing hints.
Loved this one, thanks RayT for a great puzzle. Listened to a program this morning on the best way to deal with a hangover, then immediately discounted the advice, since a greasy spoon breakfast was not recommended. Maybe if I’d followed their suggestions I would have struggled less, but I did eventually complete it unaided so what do they know?!
Well for someone who looks forward to RayT showing up on the backpage every fortnight, I thought he exceeded himself almost to a Beam puzzle … unless it was just me today. I found it quite tricky in parts of the puzzle. Maybe it was his welcome to the new year for us! Anyway, with perseverance I got through it. Nice to see the queen and sweetheart show up too.
3*/4* for me
Favourites include 12a, 25a, 3d, 4d, 9d & 26d — with winners 3d & 4d
Thanks to RayT & Shabbo
A good, enjoyable start to the year,if slightly challenging.Last ones in 4d and 21a , didn’t know this meaning. Thanks Shabbo for all your efforts over the years and good luck as a setter,not that you’ll need it . The little ones caused the most problems today. Favourites are 4and 5d .Thanks to Mr T . Happy New year to all .
I thought this one to be on a par with today’s toughie in terms of difficulty.
Rosettes for the dismay caused in 17a, the organ in 28a and the cross Tory in 19d.
My thanks to Ray T and Shabbo.
A slow ponderous but methodical solve for me. However, I needed the above explanation for parsing 10a, plus Shabbo’s hints to put me straight on 17a, 21a and 4d to get me over the line.
Favourites was the Bavarian kit.
Thanks to RayT and good luck to Shabbo.
Good afternoon and HNY to year to you all. Just about found time for this super x word. The Southern Hemisphere went in first, picking off the North in a slower than average pace. Hard to pick a podium or a CoTD. 17a was LOI. Many thanks to Shabbo and also congratulations on your new appointment.
Not for me today – uphill both ways! Gave up about 1/2 way though and resorted to the clues.
Happy New Year to all the setters, bloggers and contributors, and best wishes to Shabbo in your new endeavour.
Many thanks to RayT for the puizzle and to Shabbo for today’s hints.
Happy New Year to All! Thanks to RayT and Shabbo. At least it is not dark when we finished today’s puzzle!
As per usual for a Ray T puzzle I struggled from start to finish and derived very little pleasure from it. I had hoped I would have got over my negativity regarding this setter but it seems not. One day I will become a convert to the church of Ray T like so many others on here. Thanks to the setter. And of course to Shabbo. All the best with the setter position
This bad boy put up a fight but I got the split decision after a 15 round scrap with my LOI being 17a which immediately went on my podium. An excellent clue.
Dipping below a 5 average really is outstanding.
There were some terms I wasn’t aware of: 13a faithful, 21a mile and 6d warship.
Keeping 17a company on the podium is 5d and 19d.
MT to RayT and Shabbs.
And huge congrats to you Shabbs for being asked to be a setter. What an achievement and an honour! Will your alias be the same? I think it’s quite cool for a setter to have a trademark. I wonder if you’ll ever have one? Maybe you already have one in mind?
Well done, again.
4*/4*
The sequence is still going. I hope tomorrow’s is a ‘What the? How the?’ Zandio special so I can give it 5 stars for difficulty.
A mole not a mole
Oh, get your act together, Tom!
A mole not a mile.
Best wishes to Shabbo on their promotion(sorry about the inclusive pronoun). A case of poacher turned keepmager (as Dr Spooner might have put it.)?
I thought 5d should be “Hide Bavarian Kit.” Or is that Schadenfreude on Ray T’s part?
Coming up with the answer was one thing parsing was another thing completely, and needed the hints to parse several. The rest were just plain difficult. Thanks to Rayt for the brain mangling and Shabbo for the the hints and congratulations on the promotion.
This was nicely chewy for New Year’s Day , and very satisfying. Well done Shabbo – excellent news. Thanks also for the hints and to Ray T for a smashing puzzle.
Congratulations Shabbo, and thank you for your many and most welcome reviews. Thank you too to Ray T for today’s challenge. Every good wish to all for the year ahead, and especially to Shabbo in this new chapter.
Great puzzle thank you Ray T and congratulations Shabbo on your promotion!
An enjoyable puzzle though I had to work a lot harder to get over the line today. Slow to get 5d but was amused when the penny finally dropped. I was actually checking the football kit for said team! 🤔 LOI 17a. Not sure I like 31a but if it’s in Chambers who am I to query it! Many thanks to Ray T and especially Shabbo. Many congratulations on your elevation it’s well-deserved! I think it will be sometime before I get to the Toughie level 😊
Evening all. My thanks, farewell and welcome to Shabbo, if you know what I mean! Many thanks and a Happy New Year to all who left a comment.
RayT
Far too late now to say my customary Good evening to you, Mr T, but I do want to wish you a very Happy New Year, may it have wonderful things in store for you and yours.
Well that’s me starting the New Year with a DNF, so hoping this will not be the trend. RayT definitely upping the difficulty today. Several answers I achieved, but could not parse. I had never heard of that type of pier, my ignorance, and missed out on a few others that I really should have got. Was fast asleep before the fireworks stopped last night but awoke at 5:40am and was still reading at 8:00am 😫 so that is my excuse. Thanks to Ray T and Shabbo. Congratulations on your new appointment, sounds like a lot of fun.
Ray definitely making us work a bit today with his excellent puzzle. 5D has to win it, with 18D as runner-up. VMT and congrats to Shabbo.
Looking forward to having a go at Mr Lancaster’s Toughie later.
A bit of a challenge today for me, but then I stayed up too late. Some really clever clues from get go and several which made me have to peek at the hints.
Many thanks to Ray T and thanks and congratulations to Shabbo on your promotion.
For years, Ray T has been one of the setters (either on the back page or Toughie) that I “got”. No longer. This was a pretty joyless struggle, and there have been many similar recently. I don’t like 10a at all, other than as a bung in.
Congrats to Shabbo on crossing to the Dark Side, and I look forward to tackling his puzzle next week – although I will be late as it is a work day!
A very challenging solve which I managed to enjoy before discovering RayT was the culprit, which made nearly solving unaided even better!
New terms in 6d and 21a for me and still unconvinced about the passing of 10a which, not surprisingly was my loi.
Thanks to all and congratulations to Shabbo!
Felt like we’d gone back to first base on this one. Just didn’t get it at all. Clearly need to practise more RayT puzzles. Thank you for the totally needed hints (and, frankly, answers)!
I know how you feel, FOB. I didn’t get RayT at first but was told by others to stick with him. He’s now one of my favourite compilers but he can still knock me sideways occasionally.
I nearly dnf due to to an impasse in the NW but had another more successful go after my annual treat of watching the Vienna Philharmonic New Year concert. Bunged in (a Shabbism?)17a without parsing at the time. Agree with RD in jibbing at 31a. 16a didn’t spring to mind as my electronic activity is limited.
23a was Fav. Thanks RayT and Shabbo to whom all the best for your forthcoming setting responsibility 🤞.
4*/4* ….
liked 18D “One can rave about sweetheart wandering (9)”
Catching up now that I have a Puzzles subscription as a 2026 gift to myself.
Certainly had to toil at this one. Slowly but surely got there, NE corner hardest, would have helped if I’d been more alert on the simpler-in-hindsight anagram of the game in 4A. And my ego was pleased to see other comments on the meaning of DONE applied in 10A, I see it now.