Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31126
Hints and tips by Mr K
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BD Rating - Difficulty **** - Enjoyment ***
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. Today I couldn’t fully parse one clue or get the Quickie pun, so not a great start to the year for me.
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. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.
Across
1a Getting on train for college? (8,6)
BOARDING SCHOOL: A verb meaning “getting on” with a synonym of train
10a Curious western howdy-do - no university in Oklahoma!? (9)
WHIMSICAL: Link together the single letter for western, a short word of greeting, and what Oklahoma defines by example (?) minus the single letter for university (no university)
11a Wash, getting grumpy with piercing cold (5)
SCOUR: The single letter for cold is inserted in (piercing) a synonym of grumpy
12a Fellow joining offspring to fence in island home? (7)
MANSION: Another word for a fellow followed by a word for his male offspring that contains (to fence in) the single letter for island
13a Savage foiled - rocked after making regular sacrifices (6)
FIERCE: Alternate letters (after making regular sacrifices) of FOILED ROCKED
15a Woman like Sinéad O'Connor, slightly short (4)
IRIS: The nationality of Sinéad O’Connor, minus its last letter (slightly short)
17a Leading minister stoned, performing strip taking ecstasy (4,6)
HIGH PRIEST: Another word for stoned is followed by an anagram (performing) of STRIP containing (taking)
18a Polish sign language interpretation guides (10)
GLOSSARIES: A synonym of polish with a sign of the Zodiac
20a Rescue crew's round is over wide area (4)
ASIA: The abbreviation for an organisation that rescues stranded motorists containing (round) the reversal (over) of IS from the clue
22a Unlikable beast in hospital dept, going after staff (6)
RODENT: A usual abbreviated hospital department comes after a staff or pole
23a Timeless English, like mother but not ma (7)
ETERNAL: The single letter for English is followed by a word meaning “like mother” minus (but not) MA from the clue
26a Bottle Romeo's filling still overturned (5)
NERVE: The letter represented in the NATO phonetic alphabet by Romeo is inserted in (is filling) the reversal (overturned) of still or flat
27a Not bound to release documents being held? (5-4)
LOOSE-LEAF: A cryptic definition of a type of unbound folder which makes it easy to add or remove documents
28a Female member that's gifted? (8,6)
STOCKING FILLER: This small Christmas present might also, whimsically, describe a female member that’s a leg
Down
2d Vegetable one bites into over and over (5)
ONION: The Roman one is sandwiched between (bites into) two copies of synonym of over
3d Country tune on the rise across American South (6)
RUSSIA: The reversal (on the rise) of a tune or melody containing (across) both an abbreviation for American and the single letter for south
4d Repacked in dry ice, an explosive device (10)
INCENDIARY: An anagram (repacked) of IN DRY ICE AN
5d Opening game - love lost for United? (4)
GULF: In a game that involves hitting small white balls, the letter representing a love score in tennis is replaced by the single letter for united (love lost for united)
6d One counts the cost of America's hierarchy (7)
CASHIER: The answer is hidden inside (of) AMERICA’S HIERARCHY
7d Rambling roses old hosts cut, trimming the ends, wanting bouquet? (9)
ODOURLESS: An anagram (rambling) of ROSES OLD contains (hosts) CUT minus its outer letters (trimming the ends)
8d Right to tuck into beer, compared to being extravagant? (6,4,4)
LARGER THAN LIFE: The single letter for right inserted in (to tuck into) a type of beer is followed by words meaning “compared to” and “being”
9d Often wet clothes dangle about one's masculine chest, beginning to shrink (8,6)
SWIMMING TRUNKS: A synonym of dangle containing (about) both a contraction for “one’s” and the single letter for masculine, followed by a synonym of chest and the first letter of (beginning to) SHRINK
14d Coffees he'd tossed down (7,3)
CHEESED OFF: An anagram (tossed) of COFFEES HE’D
16d Hoping one could perhaps pot red, Ron is missing all ends up (2,5,2)
IN ORDER TO: POT RED RON IS reversed (up) and has the outer letters of the phrase deleted (missing all ends)
19d Slumped around last month in part of cruise ship? (3,4)
SUN DECK: A synonym of slumped containing (around) the abbreviation for the last month of the year
21d Have a ball taking in a show (6)
REVEAL: Have a ball or make merry containing (taking in) A from the clue
24d Sweet packed with energy for relative (5)
NIECE: A synonym of sweet containing (packed with) the physics symbol for energy
25d Diagram of flat with no one in (4)
PLAN: A flat expanse of land minus the Roman one (with no one in)
Thanks to today’s setter. Which clues did you like best?
The Quick Crossword pun: OWN + LEVER + LOW + NELLY = ONLY THE LONELY
A typical Friday offering that requires the elderly grey cells to wake up and do some work. Mine were a bit lazy today because I found this hard going with only three solved on the first pass. Once I got going it became a steady solve with a number of proverbial coins dropping. With some, I had the answer then had to reverse parse to see if it was correct. The Sinéad O’Conner clue at 15a was neat and the leading minister on ecstasy raised a huge smile. My COTD is 9d with its wet clothes dangling.
The Quickie pun was rather groanworthy.
Thank you, setter for the enjoyable brain mangle. Thank you, Mr. K. for the hints.
Well done Steve. I can’t work out the Pun…….will try again later.
The pun takes a few goes, Conor with different emphases on vowels etc.
Good morning. This was very gentle for a Friday. About half the grid was filled on the first pass, including the perimeter, which made for a quick fill of the remaining clues.
There are lots to like; the run-in at 13a, the stoned clergyman at 17a and the shiny lexicon at 18a, which was my LOI. 8 and 9d are also great clues. Any of the above, and several others could make the podium. As such, I cannot pick a CoTD. Many thanks to the setter and MR Kto the hints.
Sent from my iPhone
I thought this was pretty straightforward for a Friday guzzle. I liked the Lego clues at 9d an 18a, the anagrams at 4d and 14d. A little of the fluffy white stuff fell in rural South Oxfordshire in the early hours of this morning. A little settled on my car and the grass but tthe roads and pavement were clear. Thanks to the compiler and to Mr K for the hints
For 9a, it think that the second M comes from the contraction of one’s to I’m (one is / I am).
The Quickie pun is a song by 25a. Rather than put the spoiler here, I will edit the blog post to show the pun.
Thanks! Hint now updated.
Still don’t see where “the” comes from?
Mmmm. Interesting indeed. I thought ***/** and quite tricky. No real stand outs and I needed Mr K to fully understand one or two. Not sure who the setter is and apologies if I didn’t particularly enjoy it although it was a challenge so relieved to finish it! Thanks to whoever the author is.
Somewhat of a brain mangling which I suspect is the work of Zandio – ****/**
The only clue of note for me is 14d.
Thanks to Zandio, or whomsoever if my suspicion is incorrect, and to Mr K.
Something for 28a:
I love that for 28a, Senf!
What happened to the hints? They’re all in a block.
It happened when I added the Quickie pun. Mr K has a bespoke method of creating blogs and this sometimes happens when the post is edited. It should be corrected now.
Not to me in a block!
Just goes to show the problems of writing the blog and what you all have to put up with behind the scenes.
4*/2*. Curate’s egg day for me today. There were some good clues but several which didn’t float my boat, particularly 27a & 16d, together with some iffy surfaces along the way.
The CD in 27a doesn’t seem to work. In 16d, wouldn’t “hoping to” be a much shorter satisfactory definition and I don’t think “all” works to indicate the first and last letters of a string of four words?
18a was my favourite.
Thanks to the setter and to Mr K.
I found that reasonably challenging but both doable and enjoyable. In any case, it was good to know that I hadn’t entirely destroyed my brain cells while bumbling around south London on NYE/NYD (I couldn’t bring myself to even open yesterday’s offering). The long border clues were very helpful in bringing the grid to life and the (albeit slightly groanworthy, to quote Steve C) stocking filler at 28a was my COTD, with 10a in second place once I’d finally twigged it. Thanks very much to the setter and to Mr K.
I found this to be on the slightly easier end of the spectrum for a Friday, but nonetheless required some due diligence to prise the answers.
Favourites were 1a, 10a, 17a, 20a and 9d with COTD awarded to 28a which was delightful.
Thanks to the setter and MrK
3*/4*
I rather enjoyed this one & had a fair number of ticks after a reasonably brisk solve for a Friday. The only real difficulty was accounting for the 2 Ms at 9d but twigged the contraction after a bit of a crumpet scratch. Some of the surfaces were a bit strained but that didn’t detract in the least from my enjoyment. I did wonder if 6d lacked a containment indicator & also thought the Quickie pun was a bit ambitious – not sure what accent required to make VER sound like THE.
1,10,17(my fav),18,20&28a + 5&14d particular likes.
Many thanks to the setter (Zandio I assume) & to Mr K
In linguistics it’s called ‘th-fronting’. Common in toddlers but a small number of people never grow out of it, I have known a few.
A colleague in a previous job did that. I did feel it was a little unfortunate for his wife, inevitably introduced as ‘Roof’.
Most enjoyable and just enough of a challenge. Favourite was 9 down. Least favourite was 22 across because the definition is not true of the answer. I must write to David Attenborough.
Many thanks to our setter and Mr. K.
Heaven knows why our setter chose to use ‘unlikable’ when many of them aren’t at all – he could surely just have referred to them as beasts.
My guess is that the setter has used ‘unlikeable’ because the staff don’t like being chased by it.
This was hard work so respect to those who didn’t find it too challenging.
My LOI was 20a which took forever. However, it wasn’t quite 5* territory which mucks up my 1*/2*/3*/4*/5* sequence for the week. Gutted.
Re 9d, whoever coined them budgie smugglers should be knighted or made a dame. It’s brilliant.
I’m okay with ‘all’ in 16d as the setter is asking for some latitude by including ‘perhaps’.
My podium is 1a, 17a and 22a.
MT to Zandio (?) and Mr K.
4*/4*
I thought this very benign for a Friday and solved steadily with no real hold ups. 5d and 20a put up the most resistance.
6d and 18a favourites.
9d – one’s masculine in my mind should be im/iim and not imm but i guess it could work that way?
BW for the new year and thanks Mr K and possibly Zandio for the puzzle.
One’s (One is) = I’m (I am) and then m (masculine)
A challenging puzzle for me but I got there in the end.
Top picks for me were 18a, 10a, 23a and 15a.
Thanks to Mr K and the setter.
ChatGPT got me the pun 😊
Can’t say that I particularly enjoyed this one but at least I managed to parse 9d, which seems to have fooled Mr K and some other solvers. My main stumbling block was 16d where, like RD, I didn’t feel that ‘all ends’ was adequate when applied to a string of four words.
No favourite to mention, even the Quickie pun left me cold, but c’est la vie.
Thanks nevertheless to our setter – Zandio is my guess, and to Mr K for the review – a very Happy New Year to you.
A fine Friday offering, from Z I wonder? Great clues, a decent challenge and a very enjoyable solve. I’ve ticked a fair few and will go for 1a as my favourite. 3.5*/4*.
My favourite has to be 20a where AA is used as a rescue crew when apparently in Canada it is considered an assistance service – from a comment I made about parsing IsAAc some weeks ago. As ever my thanks to our Canadian hinters.
Finally a Friday where I was on the same wavelength as the setter. Much enjoyed particularly 28a!!
My thanks to ver setter and Mr. K
Currently about halfway through this challenge but just had to pause and whilst acknowledging that 28 Across is very clever, I thought I’d ask if there’s anyone out there who’ll join me me in a campaign to make the use of ‘gifted’ illegal when there is nothing wrong with ‘given’. I know, I know that language develops but this one really gets my goat. Rant over. Happy New Year everyone.
Hi RL and HNY to you.
I do agree that it’s a shocking verb though I’m okay with it in the context of sport, eg the defender gifted him that goal by trying to nutmeg him (or something similarly outlandish) as ‘given’ doesn’t stress how foolish his manoeuvre was)
Thanks for your support and explanation!
Richard
One more use that works for me…regifting a present.
But, as a rule, I’m with you all the way.
Coming late to this challenging but very enjoyable puzzle. Needed a bit of assistance but (almost) got there in the end. Re ‘gifted’ don’t legal documents use it as in “the house was gifted to the grandchildren in perpetuity” etc etc. Thank you setter and Mr K
You are correct, Tardy Trainer.
It’s everywhere!
1.5* / 4* Well I thoroughly enjoyed this Friday treat. Lots of clever and witty clues, favourites include the 1a college, curious 10a and the excellent misdirection at 18a
The quickie pun also made me giggle
Thanks to Mr K and setter
This was a struggle but enjoyable , having said that the east fell reasonably quickly. I thought 20a brilliant and my cotd , but until I solved 9d the west hung on grimly.Many outstanding clues but I liked 1a ,10a, 17a and 8d .A bit non plussed by16d . Thanks to all for making this an entertaining start to the year .
Super puzzle, pretty straightforward but a wonderful challenge with which to finish the back-page week. Did mentally query the specifically female member in 28a, but the ? excuses it. Honours to 7d, 10a, 17a & 18a.
Many thanks to setter & Mr K
No real problem in the South but NW, particularly 10a, slowed things up. 20a had to be but unparsed as were 16d and 8d. Thanks Zandio and MrK.
This should have been a stand-alone comment not a response to Mustafa. Don’t know what happened. Apologies.
I thought that too & thought of Tim Curry
Most of this crossword went in relatively easily, apart from 9d – got the answer but couldn’t fully parse it. Thanks to Mr K and Prolixic for their help in solving it. Overall it was a ***/**** for me, a slow but steady solve. Favourite clues included the whimsical 7a, the High Priest in 17a, and the cashier in 6d. Many thanks to Mr K for the hints and to our mystery setter. Like others I suspect it is Zandio.
Hooray – now completed.10A last one in. Podium places to 7D, 9D, 28A.
This was clearly a Marmite production, judging by earlier comments. I rather liked it, despite some clunky surfaces, with 18a my favourite.
Thanks to whomsoever and Mr K.
I know it’s Friday and one should expect to be challenged, but for me this went through chewy and tough, to almost inedible. So hats off to those who found it otherwise. First thing this morning I had one I felt confident enough to enter in the grid so thought I’d attack it again after a gym session. Well that didn’t help a great deal, but kept plugging away at it until I had to consult the hints for 9d – doh. Oh well at least it opened up the rest. For me this was a true mind bender, but I’m glad I stuck with it. 17a gets my cotd on smile factor. Thanks to compiler and Mr K.
This seemed like a typical tough Friday puzzle to me as we start the new year. Not a big fan of it although there were some good clues.
Parsing for me was difficult too for many on this grid and still couldn’t work them out even with the answer.
3*/3* for me
Favourites 1a, 22a, 28a, 2d, 14d & 23d — with winner 1a
Thanks to setter & Mr.K
My confusion regarding which day of the week it is at this time of year was not helped by this offering as I thought it was rather gentle for a Friday.
To throw me further, the paper was late in being delivered so I solved this on the app. I much prefer to go down the pen and paper route as I like to make the odd note as I go. That sounds rather sad reading it back.
Still I enjoyed this and it left a bit more time to tackle the toughie which was just as well.
My thanks to our setter and Mr K.
Hello, compiler here. Thanks very much for taking the time to solve, analyse and discuss. Always appreciated.
Here’s a little New Year wake-up call, ‘Time Bomb’ by Texas rock band Whiskey Myers. I came across it in my favourite TV series. As one of the YouTube comments notes: “You’re here from Landman, ain’tcha?”
Have a great weekend.
Thanks for the challenge, Z. Most enjoyable.
And here’s to plenty more frighteningly fiendish, Friday frazzlers throughout 2026.
Impressive, Tom.
Your alliteration extends to five words.
Well it does for me…
Love it!
A great start to 2026 Frankie baby on the chuckleometer.
I think the Chuckle Brothers should have been in the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics along with The Crankies and Timmy Mallett.
You can stick Billy Waggledagger, Queenie, Isambard and 007 where the sun don’t shine.
Have a snifter, TDS65 and you’ll feel better! 🤣
Extremely good advice, SC…..hic!
Cheerth! 🥃
The Chuckle Brothers.
British comedy at its finest.
Back in the day when I worked, there were two blokes on my staff who were the spit of ’em.
They weren’t related at all.
When they stood next to each other, tears would roll down my trouser legs!
Paul has just got an MBE.
Marvellous. Marvellous. Marvellous.
Thanks Zandio- Whiskey Myers have somehow passed me by – right up my street too.
Thank you for the puzzle. Several clues had me head scratching, especially 5d, but I got there in the end. All round, very fair clues.
Good tussle today and found the shorter clues harder than the longer ones, so often the case?! Thank you Zandio and MrK
Thank you Zandio and MrK. Unusually for me I got through this in a reasonable time, helped by the long outsiders. I often struggle with Fridays when Zandio or Silvanus are the setters but maybe it was a case of new year, clear head? I liked 18a, though it took me a while to get it .
I thought at first this was going to be hard going , but it fell into place one by one and was a satisfying and enjoyable solve. I can’t actually believe that I had a ‘woke’ thought when I got to 28a questioning the word ‘female’ ? Well the world has gone mad hasn’t it , so maybe I’m heading that way too. Thanks to Zandio and Mr K.
Regarding the request for suggestions in respect of 9 down … I think that the second “M” is an abbreviation of masculine while the first “M” comes from a word meaning “one’s” (I’m). Could be wrong though.
We found this tough, though on completion we couldn’t see why. An enjoyable challenge. Favourite was 11a. Thanks to Zandio and Mr. K.
Tough but fair for a Friday puzzle. Thanks to the Setter and Mr K. As ever we came to this later in the day. Been dark for an hour. Log burner blazing and comfortable warm. Val just commented that there are a few clever clues eg 17a, 18a and 10a.
Being Friday I surprised myself by finishing this without too much trouble. Not that it was a quick solve but time and patience delivered the goods. If the weather forecast is correct and there is more snow I should have the time if not the patience to tackle the prize crosswords this weekend. I now find snow is a welcome visitor as it puts off others from dropping in as they are passing if I haven’t already put them off.
1 and 28a best of the bunch and my thanks to Mr K and the setter.
Well I’ve had to learn from you guys for some time but I’m now getting the hang of the Telegraph cryptic and amazingly this one was straightforward for me.
I’ll keep plugging away in 2026!
Welcome to the blog, Villan.
Welcome, Villan and please keep commenting. As a matter of interest, have you been solving the DT back pager for long?
Thank you.
I’ve been having a go for a few years and then completing using this blog but it’s only really clicked very recently. So I was astonished to see this rated as four star difficult after I’d completed it.
I do enjoy the blog!
Great and you’ll find you will improve even more if you keep commenting because you can ask questions about things you don’t understand. This blog is for everyone no matter what their level is. You are most welcome. 😊
Mmm that was a tad tricky today
I enjoyed this and found it a lot less hard than yesterday. It was fairly gentle compared to some Friday solves.
I needed the hint to fully parse 9d.
Thanks to all.
Great stuff from Zandio – 18A gets my vote. VMT also to Mr K.
A tricky number for me but I got there in the end after the well known ‘go away and return technique’, I still needed some help with the parsing of a couple but enjoyed the puzzle very much. I thought the lurkers were well disguised and enjoyed the 4 outside clues.
Many thanks to Zandio and to Mr K for the hints.
I always look forward to solving the Friday crossword when we get back from our Friday morning jaunts. I don’t know why, as I am invariably stumped with no hope of finishing sans hints. Today I needed 11 hints, far more than I usually allow myself, quite disgraceful, but decided to use it as a learning experience. COTD definitely 28a, shopping for which is much harder than the “tree” presents. Thanks to setter and Mr K.
4*/4* …
liked 17A “Leading minister stoned, performing strip taking ecstasy (4,6)”