Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31184
Hints and Tips by Deansleigh
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** Enjoyment ****
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the midweek back-pager blog. I found today’s puzzle suitably challenging for a Wednesday workout: there were a couple of (for me) obscure words that held me up, pushing me just into 3* time. I found it very hard to pick a favourite clue, as there was so much to enjoy and admire, with some great misdirection and several amusing cryptic definitions. I especially liked 10a, 14a, 3d, 7d and 9d, but today’s winner for me is 16d for its excellent surface reading and because it taught me a new word. Many thanks to today’s setter.
In the hints below the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED and indicator words (e.g. anagram indicators) are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the Click Here buttons.
Across Clues
1a Church bigwig, a Roman Catholic hard man (10)
ARCHBISHOP: ‘A’ from the clue, the abbreviation for Roman Catholic, and the abbreviation for ‘hard’ are followed by a ‘man’ or chess piece – in this case, the one that can only move diagonally.
6a Impressive digital snap? (4)
EPIC: The prefix indicating digital or electronic is followed by an abbreviation for a picture or photo.
10a Reject odds on holder of The Ashes (5)
SPURN: The abbreviation for the odds at the start of a race is followed by a description of the most famous trophy in cricket.
11a Response involving day editor’s work (9)
REDACTION: A synonym of ‘response’ is surrounding or ‘involving’ the abbreviation of ‘day’.
12a Shed alien group of ministers (7)
CABINET: A word that can mean a shed or hut is followed by a famous cinematic extraterrestrial.
13a Heinz regularly seen in Italian city underground section (7)
RHIZOME: Insert the alternate letters (regularly seen) of ‘Heinz’ into the Italian capital city to give you a word for an underground plant stem.
14a After work pint with cerebral bloke close to Victoria (6,6)
PRINCE ALBERT: An anagram (after work) of PINT CEREBRAL.
18a Chopin and Liszt casually discussed items to be purchased? (8,4)
SHOPPING LIST: Homophones (discussed – the first one being rather dodgy, hence ‘casually’ and the question mark) of two composers.
21a Snack, one eaten by uncommon baronet (7)
RAREBIT: The Roman numeral for ‘one’ is surrounded (eaten) by a synonym of ‘uncommon’ and the abbreviation of ‘baronet’.
23a Russian government gets new leader, mischievous individual (7)
GREMLIN: The seat of the Russian parliament, which is also a metonym for the Russian government itself, has its first letter replaced (gets new leader).
24a Item produced by automaker (new CEO, T Blair) (9)
CABRIOLET: An anagram (new) of CEO T BLAIR.
25a Club legend is counting cups (5)
DISCO: A lurker that ‘legend is counting’ contains or ‘cups’.
26a Long, tense parliament (4)
DIET: A word that can mean to long or yearn for something is followed by the abbreviation of ‘tense’ to give the name of a parliament or legislative body.
27a Shot dispensed from large barrel in dive? (10)
CANNONBALL: A double definition. This projectile is also a word that can mean a jump or (very loosely, hence the question mark) ‘dive’, resulting in a large splash.
Down Clues
1d French region: unlimited salsa, great service (6)
ALSACE: The word ‘salsa’ minus its outer letters (unlimited) is followed by a word for an unreachable service in tennis.
2d Charlie (one’s other half) is a bit roly-poly (6)
CHUBBY: The letter represented by Charlie in the NATO phonetic alphabet is followed by an informal word for a male spouse.
3d Lots of hands get chopped off in this country! (6,8)
BANANA REPUBLIC: A cryptic definition (I hope!). ‘Hands’ here are bunches of fruit.
4d Vital neurotransmitter derived from ironstone (9)
SEROTONIN: An anagram (derived from) of ‘ironstone’.
5d System command (5)
ORDER: A double definition. A word meaning command or instruction can also mean a system or structure of society.
7d Dnepr is one river (including one controlled by locks) (8)
PRISONER: A lurker, that the first four words of the clue are hiding or ‘including’.
8d Tory shoo-in beginning to orchestrate work for players (8)
CONCERTO: A three-letter abbreviation for a Conservative is followed by an abbreviation for a sure thing and the first letter of (beginning to) ‘orchestrate’.
9d Area vulnerable to Paris strike? (8,6)
ACHILLES TENDON: A cryptic definition: this part of the lower leg, often prone to injury, is named after the Greek warrior killed by an arrow shot by Paris during the Trojan War.
15d Illuminate new line in 18, draining last energy (9)
ENLIGHTEN: Spell the word represented by the number 18, insert the abbreviations for ‘new’ and ‘line’, and remove the final ‘E’ (last energy).
16d Shellfish roast arranged on top of white fish (8)
OSTRACOD: An anagram (arranged) of ROAST is placed before (on top of, in a down clue) a white fish often served with chips. The answer is a tiny crustacean; this was a new word to me.
17d Doctor finally lances her boil, flipping awful (8)
HORRIBLE: The last letter (finally) of ‘doctor’ is inserted into (lances) an anagram (flipping) of HER BOIL.
19d It’s pretty cold here – unfortunately, koala cleared out (6)
ALASKA: A synonym of ‘unfortunately’ is followed by the outer letters (cleared out) of ‘koala’.
20d Old-fashioned uniform for one colour sergeant? Nothing left (6)
UNCOOL: The letter represented by ‘uniform’ in the NATO phonetic alphabet is followed by the abbreviation of the group of military ranks of which ‘colour sergeant’ is an example (for one), the letter that looks like a zero, and the abbreviation for ‘left’.
22d First to teach student in America, OK city (5)
TULSA: The initial letter (first to) of ‘teach’ is followed by the abbreviation for the United States of America, into which the usual abbreviation for a student or learner has been inserted, giving a city in the US state for which OK is an abbreviation.
Which clues did you like best? Please let us know in the comments section below.
The Quick Crossword pun: HARRIS + TOFF + ANISE = ARISTOPHANES
Well, that had a number of obscure words! I have not heard of the river despite it being one of the longest in Europe and the shellfish at 16d was new to me. I put the wrong church bigwig at 1a because I didn’t read the clue properly and jumped to the wrong conclusion. Fortunately, I knew the neurotransmitter at 4d. I thought 18a quite strange as it almost gave the answer in the clue. Not the most enjoyable of guzzles for me but I got there in the end. Unusually, I have a short one for COTD and that is digital snap at 6a.
Thank you, setter for the challenge. Thank you, Lain Hedges for the hints.
How is Hudson today Steve? Despite being a black lab, he looked red with embarrassment yesterday wearing his lampshade!
He’s not too bad, Manders thank you but a bit miserable because he keeps crashing into furniture and can’t go for a walk. At least he can now put weight on his leg but the wound still looks very angry.
For a Wednesday this was surprisingly easy, certainly less difficult than the previous 2 days.
Having said that their was a lot of clever wordplay and smooth surfaces. Too many ticks to list them all, but for me Victoria’s cerebral bloke and the Paris strike stand out. 15d was a new word for me but readily parsable.
My thanks to the setter and Deansleigh.
1*/4.5*
The Quickie pun is also very clever
Yes, I liked the quickie pun too. The answer made me remember his play Lysistrata, in which the women come up with a novel way of persuading their menfolk to end the Peloponnesian war.
Challenging but fair **/****. Got stuck on 26a, only 4 letters in total and I had two of those! Many thanks to setter and reviewer.
Tricky **/**** I thought. Unusual in some respects. 13a was my last one in but readily parsed with the cross checkers. 9d was hard. 6a was good. 3d was magnificent! Thanks Huntsleigh and our setter. Enjoyable.
I enjoyed this puzzle and have lots of ticks on my page. 16d was new to me.
Top picks for me were 13a, 15d, 3d, 2d and 6a.
Thanks to Deansleigh and the setter.
Toughest weekday one in a while in my view, took about twice as long as usual for a Wednesday, with a couple of really obscure words chucked in for good measure.
My last one was 2d, because for some reason all I could see was ‘crumbs’ and just couldn’t get that out of my mind for ages.
My two of the day were 18a and the very clever 15d, great fun all round today.
Welcome! Welcome indeed to 16d, voted without any opposition, on to its rightful place on The List. it will be exhibited in the Summer Pavilion, our new attraction funded by a legacy left to us by Colonel Bagshot’s seventh wife. Despite the unusual circumstances of her demise, the inquest did clear the Colonel of any wrongdoing. Again.
A tricky guzzle. Enjoyable to unravel.
Thanks to the setter, and Single Head. Continuing best wishes to Jane.
I just knew that 16d would go straight onto The List, no dissenters or abstainers. .
As usual for Wednesday a varied and tricky guzzle with a few clues in which I didn’t understand the parsing and fair nunbrer in which i emreverse engineered the parsing. I liked the lego clue shellfish at 16d, the neurotransmitter anagram at 4d, the letter change pest at 23a and the anagrrammatic person who was close to Victoria at 14a
I’ve been lurking around here for a year so so, but this is my first comment – to mark the first time I’ve completed it in a single sitting. I usually manage half a dozen or so over breakfast and the rest in the evening, but today the answers just kept coming! As ever there are a few I worked out without fully understanding the clue, but that’s where you guys come in! 18a made me smile, but COTD was 3d. Glad I’m not the only one for whom 16d is a new addition to my vocabulary.
Welcome to the blog, Nickyjames.
Now that you’ve de-lurked I hope that you’ll become a regular commenter.
Welcome from me, as well, NJ. Please keep commenting even when you don’t finish in a single sitting. 😊
I’m a lurker too NJ – I remember my mum doing the DT cryptic when I was young and thought I’d never fathom it!!! Sometimes I still can’t but mostly I can complete over a couple of sittings. As you say though, it’s not often I can do it in one!!!
Welcome to the blog, Jamo.
Now that you’ve introduced yourself I hope that you’ll become a regular commenter.
I found this reasonably straightforward but there were a couple of new words for me, that I had to look up, namely 13a and 16d. Top picks are 6a, 14a and 9d. 9d is something I have managed to injure over the last couple of years from running too quickly for too long. All in all, a fun crossword and nice to learn a new word or two. Many thanks to the setter and Deansleigh.
May I add my welcome to Nickyjames – well done on the one-sitting completion and good to see you delurking to add a comment!
I really enjoyed today’s puzzle and agree it was slightly chewier than usual for a Wednesday back-page. Some great surfaces and clever constructions, and I did enjoy the cryptics. Thought 16d a little unfair for such an unusual not-at-all-General Knowledge answer, since the initial anagram could as easily have been Astro as Ostra, necessitating a trip to Mr G for confirmation. Ah well, it’s in the memory bank now at least.
Honours to 7d, 9d and 27a, with runner-up 22d
Many thanks to the setter and of course to Deansleigh, too
For 16d I agree that the anagram opens up 2 possibilities, but I banked on the correct one because of its similarity to “oyster” which the dictionary defines as “any of several edible, marine, bivalve mollusks of the family Ostreidae”. QED. Another word for nearly everyone’s lexicon it seems.
Totally agree on the obscure 16d where the letters that could be in either position are unchecked. Thanks to the setter and Deanleigh
An enjoyable Wednesday Workout – ***/****
Candidates for favourite – 10a, 21a, 3d, and 8d – and the winner is 8d.
Thanks to whomsoever and Deansleigh.
Thought this was excellent… many thanks to the setter and to Deansleigh for the blog.
Nicely chewy in places. I came up with an answer for 16d which I discounted, looked it up and lo, it was correct. Not surprised that it’s made the List mind. 18a and 24a made me smile, but cotd goes to 3d. Thanks to compiler and Deansleigh.
Quite tricky as everyone has noted. And I was defeated by 26a and three clues in the SE. 3d 9d 18a were all terrific but favourite was 15d for the clever misdirection of ’18’. Thank you setter and Deansleigh.
Unusually accessible for a Wednesday and fun to unravel. South came in first. 2d took a while to fathom as I had wrong (if feasible)10a solution. 16d new one on me so thanks MrG. 17d a bit far-fetched. Fav 9d. TVM setter and Deansleigh.
An entertaining puzzle ideally pitched for a Wednesday – thanks to our setter and Deansleigh.
16d was new to me and, as Mustafa G says. the anagram allowed two possibilities so verification was needed.
Top clues for me were 1a, 7d, 8d and 9d.
Certainly a slight notch up in difficulty though still a brisk 1.5* solve albeit an incorrect 1st submission under strict exam conditions. As MG points out the dilemma at last in 16d (assuming crustacea isn’t your bag) was ostra or astro & NTS I lost the coin toss. Otherwise largely straightforward with ticks aplenty – 6&14a + 3,7&9d the standouts for me. Very enjoyable.
Thanks to the setter & to Deansleigh
3*/3*. I found this quite challenging and mostly enjoyable. However, some of the surfaces were less than convincing and, to me, “for” looks like padding in 20d.
I think you might need to be Brahms and Liszt to pronounce Chopin anything like the first word of 18a! I don’t think hiding behind “casually” gets this one off the hook.
Add me to the long list who had never heard of 16d.
1a was my favourite; it made a great start.
Thanks to the setter and to Deansleigh.
Found this Wednesday puzzle at the usual sort of Wednesday difficulty level. However I found the across clues a lot easier to suss out than the down clues … who knows why.
3*/3*
Favourites 1a, 18a, 23a, 3d & 4d — with winner 18a
Thanks to setter & Deansleigh
Just me then – I found this entertaining crossword more of a Monday than a Wednesday, but then I had, as usual on a blogging day, ‘warmed up’ by doing the Toughie first, so that might have made a difference
Thanks to the setter and Deansleigh
A struggle on some of the anagrams and the answers to 16d and 26a were new to me.
Disappointed with a curate’s egg of a display at Oakwell last night but a point is a point.
Some classic Doors 🎸 today
16d/26a just had to be guesses, but I liked the two long ones, especially 3d, a wonderful, funny clue.
Only obscurity, as for most, was 16d, so confirmation with professor G required. Everything else was pretty straightforward for a Wednesday. Favourite was 9d. Thanks to the setter and DL.
Dirty not meant as a reply.
Sorry not dirty. Oh dear.
Glorious sunshine for a wonderful guzzle. Like others I did not know the shellfish bit did have the white fish. Another piece of useless knowledge to go into the poor overstuffed brain. I thought 13a was outstanding, a brilliant clue and am ashamed to say I did not spot the lurker. Yes, I know – when in doubt look for a lurker but I didn’t. I had a bit of trouble in the north east as I put redactING for 11a which held me up a bit in getting 8d. It is always good to welcome newcomers to the group – does CeeSue know how many hits the site gets per day? Anyway, huge thanks to Mr Setter and to Deansleigh.
I’m not sure of the total hits per day but I can tell you that this page has been viewed 1.3K times today and the Toughie blog, 47 times since it was published at 2 pm
I probably have a bit more time on my hands than Sue, so I decided to take up your challenge. I have compiled some stats for last week and posted them at Big Dave’s Stats for March 2-8, 2026.
Thanks Falcon. I note with interest that the two days with most Visitors and Views were the two Prize Puzzle days. I wonder if anything, about lurkers for instance, can be read into that.
Thank you for that, Falcon. It makes for interesting reading,
Interesting stats, Falcon. Thanks for all the work you did to compile them.
Very entertaining and initially I thought I was going to race through but I then got held up by 3 or 4. Like others 16d was new to me and needed confirmation. 15d held me up as I was trying to do something with the answer to 18 to work it out. I had 9d as my favourite.
Many thanks to the setter and to Deansleigh for the hints.
More question marks than ticks which shows that today’s offering did not come easily. COTD was the one I didn’t get but thought it brilliant when helped by Deansleigh. Many thanks all round.
I didn’t know the shellfish either or the parliament but otherwise a lovey guzzle for midweek. Thanks to all.
I took a little longer than I might have expected as I found a couple of the wordplays a little confusing, and had to convince myself that I was on the right lines. Two of the less contentious were my favourites, 8 and 9d.
Many thanks to our Wednesday setter and Deansleigh.
Some lovely clues today and I agree with newcomer nickyjames regarding 3d being the favourite. Thank you Deansleigh and compiler
Took me a while to get going on this one today, then 14a and 18a were gifts. I see however I got 8d wrong as I bunged in concerts. Never heard of the crustacean at 16d .. obviously not one that is served on a plate!
Incidentally, being a pedant, shouldn’t 13a read irregularly or oddly?
Cotd 3d … as Saudi Arabia didn’t fit!
I know it’s a bit late to comment, but yesterday was a busy day.
In 13a, the word “regularly” is correct. It refers to a ‘regular sequence’ of letters drawn from the fodder denoting every second letter which can be either the odd-numbered sequence or the even-numbered sequence. While technically other regular sequences exist (for example, every third letter), in practice they are not, to the best of my knowledge, ever used in cryptic crossword puzzles.
An ‘irregular sequence’ of letters would be a random selection of letters from the fodder, such as the first, third, fourth and eighth letters. Would it not be totally bonkers to expect a solver to decipher that?
.. thanks for replying .. I had assumed (obviously incorrectly) for a long time that regularly referred to the even numbered letters in fodder … don’t even know how I got the notion…. Every day a learning day.
This one didn’t really do it for me, which is extremely rare for a Wednesday, with not many clues being ticked for their surfaces.
Saying that, 18a is absolutely superb. ‘Show pan’ is definitely close enough for me. Such fun.
Some new words for me: the shellfish, river, underground dooberry and a colour sergeant. So, I enjoyed that.
Sticking with the river….it’s very annoying that The Urals, that divides Europe and Asia, aren’t 1000 miles farther to the west as it mucks up quiz questions. For example, the longest river and highest mountain in Europe should be The Danube and Mont Blanc but they’re in Russia (R.Volga & Mt Elbrus).
My pody picks are 14a (love the anagram indicator), 18a (obvs) and 3d (love it).
MTT the setter (I find it too difficult to decide between ‘Mr Tumble and The Hud’ *) and Single Head.
3*/3*
* Sounds like an A.A.Milne book
I keep my choir music in a bag emblazoned with Chopin Bag, so 18a went in straight away. I missed completely the lurker at 7d and was convinced the answer was hairpins! Chopped off hands is my favourite clue. Many thanks to the setter and Deansleigh.
Finished this in two sessions and I rate it as 2.5*/4* Starting in the NW corner most clues fell in place as I progressed, although a couple of the longer clues I’d classify as ‘educated guesses’! Thanks Deansleigh for explaining them. 1a gave me a good start, followed by favourites 14a, 3d, 8d and 9d. Thanks to the setter (whoever they may be?) and to Deansleigh.
I enjoyed today’s puzzle and a number of clues brought a smile especially 3d and 16d. I just knew Terence would be putting the latter on ‘the List’. Though I scratched my head about Colonel Bagshot. I don’t recall him losing so many wives in such a short time?! I confess I had to resort to the hints for 9d despite having the checking letters. I was completely up the creek without a paddle. I spent too much time thinking of the capital city 🤔 and strikes! Many thanks to the setter and Deansleigh.
I’d always assumed he was just a randy but essentially harmless old buffer but it appears there may be something more sinister.
Well, the Committee got a legacy that bought them a summerhouse…….suspicions are aroused….
** / ****
Just into 2* territory due to the shellfish where I needed help to put two of the vowels in the right place. Before the checkers and even though it couldn’t be correct, ‘asteroid’ stuck in my head. Didn’t know the dive meaning for 27a and that was my last one in. Ticks went to 14a after work which made me want to start for ‘op’ or ‘on’, the 7d controlled by locks – lots of distraction in that clue to hide the lurker and the 8d shoo-in.
Thanks to Single Head and the setter.
Ps; I eventually got back to the Fri/Sat/Sun puzzles and oh my, they were a tough end to the week and weekend!
3* / 3.5* Found this trickier than your average Wednesday puzzle but very enjoyable.
Favourites 14a Victoria’s bloke, OK city at 22d and 20d old fashioned
Thanks to Deansleigh and compiler
An enjoyable puzzle for me today, though I had to resort to the anagram solver for the shellfish….had never heard of it.
Thanks to the setter and to Deansleigh.
Much colder again up here with a snell wind.
Am I the only one to query the association with Achilles. It’s one’s heel that is the vulnerable part, on account of that’s where he was held when dipped into the magic water. If its tendon it has nothing to do with the Trojan warrior Paris.
And how i didnt get the republic is just crazy.
Didn’t complete but enjoyed the challenge.
I thought the same, SP. Always been heel for me.
Merci
I wouldn’t usually blog this late as just finished the puzzle after a busy ish day, but there were some great clues today and new words to me, 16d , 13a and the word for parliament. Nicely chewy, but enjoyable. Thanks to the setter and Deansleigh.
2*/5* …
liked 3D “Lots of hands get chopped off in this country! (6,8)”