Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31205 (Hints)
The Saturday Crossword Club
(hosted by crypticsue)
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Happy Easter to all solvers, lurkers and fellow bloggers
Yes, I know I should have moved the car, but I’d already spent enough time on the Easter Tree and needed to get on with other things
I thought this was trickier than we are used to when it comes to solving the Saturday Prize Puzzle. I have a good idea as to who probably set it, but I will wait and see what others think and if the setter turns up to claim responsibility
Please ask for help if you are stuck on clues I haven’t hinted, but before doing so, please read the comments that appear before yours, so that you are not duplicating questions, and make sure you obey both THE INSTRUCTIONS IN RED at the end of the Hints and the blog’s Comment Etiquette – Big Dave’s Crossword Blog)
Most of the terms used in these hints are explained in the Glossary and examples are available by clicking on the entry under “See also”. Where the hint describes a construct as “usual” this means that more help can be found in The Usual Suspects, which gives a number of the elements commonly used in the wordplay. Another useful page is Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, which features words with meanings that are not always immediately obvious.
A full review of this puzzle will be published after the closing date for submissions.
Across
1a A delusion Hamlet suffers in film (6,3,6)
An anagram (suffers) of A DELUSION HAMLET I might come back on Friday when the full review is published and tell you what I originally wrote in the grid and then realised I couldn’t parse it. As one of my fellow competitors at the Times Championships always says, if you can’t explain it, it is probably wrong!
9a One scrolling text in car in front of Rod (7)
A short form of a vehicle (car) goes in front of a rod used in games played on a rectangular table
11a Ridiculously late, one certainly not hurrying (2,7)
An anagram (ridiculously) of LATE, the Roman numeral for one and a synonym for certainly
23a In vain, perhaps save more litres close to July (9)
If you save more, you xxx xxxx, followed by the abbreviation for Litres and the ‘close’ to JulY
25a Charlie and Dizzy originally improvised jazz? (7)
A informal name for a fool (as is Charlie) and the original letter of Dizzy
27a People who hold their elders in high esteem? (4,11)
A nice deception cryptic definition – when I saw the word ‘elders’, the first part of the solution wrote itself in, but Mr CS and I did spend a short while muttering about what the second word could be, until I had some checking letters from the Down solutions
Down
1d Leaving female in cafe, take out bun (7)
An anagram (out) of CAfE TAKE without the F (leaving female)
4d Approaches American meeting places (7)
The abbreviation for American and some meeting places
7d Where you might catch Ray, for the most part (2,3,4)
The ray with a lower-case R being a type of fish and the solution could describe where you might catch it
18d City junior to do the cleaning and ironing (7)
An abbreviated American West Coast city often found in crosswords and junior or subordinate
20d E.g. McCartney’s band topped slogans (7)
For example and the band McCartney formed after he left the Beatles without its first letter (topped)
24d Racket held up by Stefan Edberg, initially scornful (5)
A racket or loud noise inserted in reverse (held up) the initials of Stefan Edberg
As this is a Prize crossword, please don’t put any ANSWERS, whether WHOLE, PARTIAL or INCORRECT, or any ALTERNATIVE CLUES in your comment. If in doubt, leave it out
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The Quick Crossword pun: SUB + HAT TRICK + MOORE = SIR PATRICK MOORE
I thought this suitably taxing for a prize puzzle but with a number of laughs to be had. I hadn’t heard of the Hispanic lady at 21a but the clue was straightforward. Neither did I know that 25a was improvised jazz but when I checked on YouTube, I realised I knew it just not what it was called. My COTD is 27a with people holding their elders in high esteem.
I liked the Quickie pun today.
Thank you, setter (not sure it is NYDK) for a fun puzzle. Thank you, CS for the hints.
Good to see you in your rightful place!
Seconded! Hooray, all is well in the world!
…Until our football match tonight!!
Thirded
21a was my LOI as I was looking for the usual fashionable!
I concur with Steve C. Said it all. Thanks to all.
This was steady fare for a SPP with a balanced mix of difficulty. I saw 1a straight away to set the ball rolling and finished with 27a, although I had never heard the expression before. Unlike CS I got the second part first, and then mulled as to what the first word could be and concluded it could not be anything else. I am assuming this is more prevalent in the US than here.
Favourite was the expert US lawyer at 15a.
My thanks to NYDK? and crypticsue
2*/3.5*
My first attempt at ‘guess the setter’ and donnybrook shows up to deny it’s one of his. Bah!!
Yes it was a tricky SPP.Syrangely, although I am not conscious of ever having heard the word for improvising jazz, it poppoed into my mind straightaway. Maybe I heard it from a cousin, who used to play sax and clarinet in a Modern Jazz Quartet, great clue anyway. I also liked the old PM at 3d and the bloomer at 16d. How evr my COTD was the cryptic definition at 27a, which made me chuckle. Thanks to the compiler and to CS for the hints.
I agree with Steve on every point!
I wish everyone a Happy Easter, unfortunately we seeme to have a return to typical bank holiday weather.
Many thanks to the setter and to CS for the hints.
2*/3.5*. I thought this was quirky and good fun with 27a my favourite.
Many thanks to the setter (NYDK?) and to CS.
This was a nice enough challenge for a Saturday with a splendid film to kick things off on a v friendly griderooney.
I liked ‘save more’ in 23a and 19d is a great word.
My pody picks are 11a, 27a (I’d love to meet one of these) and the aforementioned 19d.
MTTT setter and she of the crypt.
Come on Sue, give us your guess. You won’t be spoiling anyone’s fun.
2*/3*
I spend far too long most Saturdays exhorting people to obey the Red Instructions, so I’m hardly likely to contravene them!
I have assumed that you saying you have an idea means you don’t know or do you have some inside info? If so then keeping schtum (top word) is fair enough.
If not then there’s no reason why you can’t play ‘Guess the setter’.
I read your comment in a hurry and misunderstood. And, no, I’m still not saying who I think it is
A very nice Saturday puzzle!
I have heard of, but never watched the film at 1a, and I needed to confirm the improvised jazz at 25a. Other than that – all tickety-boo.
Many thanks to the setter and to CS.
Once I dismissed 1a as “xxxxxxxxxx” sailed through surprisingly.
Easter greetings to everyone .
Lots of lols here as I finished and submitted this morning only to come to the blog and find I had the wrong answer at 9a doh!!
Nice and easy otherwise and COTD is 27a or maybe 25a?
Good sound puzzle, just right for this spot. My meagre Spanish vocab has been extended, and I’m not sure from where I dragged the jazz form, but it was good to get that one. COTD 27a.
Many thanks to setter and Sue
Good puzzle with which to put off doing what I meant to achieve today. I liked the elder lovers at 27a and the ray location at 7d among many other fine clues. Always pleasing to see some recognition of Macca’s later work as at 20d, even if a fair chunk of it is below par. Thanks very much to the setter and to CS.
From my perspective that was trickier than normal for a Saturday but nevertheless a little gentler than the past two days. Thanks to Crypticsue I’ve parsed 25a (thank you), the answer went in because I could not think of an alternative but it’s not a term I am familiar with.
Clues of the day for making me smile – 27a, I suppose they must exist somewhere and 17d for reasons I had better not explain on a Saturday.
My thanks to crypticsue and the setter.
….and a welcome back to SC
I found this pretty straightforward for a SPP but still nicely entertaining. Like others before me, I liked 27a the best.
Many thanks to our Saturday setter and Sue.
I am in the trickier than usual for a SPP camp. More like DNYK than NYDK if it is he at all. ***/****
No problems with ‘unscrambling’ 1a but, like Croye Dave, I had to wait for the PDM on the first word of 27a.
Candidates for favourite – 25a, 27a, 5d, and 17d – and the winner is 25a.
Thanks to whomsoever and CS.
I thought I was getting the hang of the terminology used in the blog, but PDM was new to me until Mr AI enlightened me.
T-R-I-C-K-Y, but enormous fun to unravel. Last one in was the elders in high esteem. Like Super Sue and her husband, I had the first word safe and secure; but I needed every checking letter to clamber home.
Here, the house is in total confusion again as the sitting room is being redecorated in H’s ‘Sitting Room Makeover Blitz As Part Of Turning The House Upside Down’ strategy
Shortly, we are orf to Stamford Bridge. It’s only lowly Port Vale in the F.A. Cup. Nothing can go wrong… can it?
Thanks to the setter for a delicious challenge, and PC Security (anag) – love the Easter tree.
Plenty of challenging but fair clues today, some requiring a bit of time before the penny drop. I think I completed it correctly, but I’m not 100% sure 🤷♂️
My favourite for raising a smile was the clown fan at 17d. Thanks to setter and Sue.
1*/4* Surprisingly I found this a straightforward solve but nonetheless very enjoyable.
Only slight doubt was 21a. Favourites today include 20d sayings, the fair target at 16d and the 15a expert
Thanks to Sue and compiler
I found that this Saturday puzzle was as difficult as the Thursday puzzle, (and I am darn sure it ain’t a NYDK offering!!), and I can’t say I really enjoyed it either. The west side of the puzzle was ok, but the east and especially the SE was absolutely impossible. It took as long as the rest of the puzzle to complete.
3.5*/2.5* today
Favourites 1a, 9a, 13a, 23a, 3d & 18d — with winner 23a even though it took for flippin’ ever to work it out. As I said I struggled with the SE hugely.
Thanks(?) to setter & CS
21a gave me the most problems once I had finished going through all the well known quotations from Hamlet. Great guzzle, I am all for esteeming elders – very proper so to do. 17a made me smile as did the US lawyer. A very satisfactory solve. Reading in the DT this morning that Susan Calman is ‘into’ cryptic crosswords I thought SueCee/CeeSue? What is going on here? This could be tricky. Anyway, many thanks to Benevolent Setter and the Easter Bunny tree lady. Don’t eat too many chocolates.
Not doorknob’s turn today. Great puzzle by someone else.
All went in fairly easily apart from misreading 24d and not flipping the middle and 1a not jumping out at me until I had all the letters and seeing what I had left. Not a 1 but prob 2 * for difficulty. Fun, maybe 3*.
Found this very straight forward for a PP but super enjoyable while it lasted. Great surfaces and lots of humour. Brilliant stuff. Ta setter and CS for the review which I shall now read – or cant i say that now!?
I shall be tackling today’s back pager a little later. First a plea for help.
I think one or two others here have mentioned issues with the puzzle website in that it sometimes crashes leaving you with just a blank page. I have never found out exactly what triggers it, I just click on a square to enter a letter as normal and everything goes blank. If I try to reload the puzzle it momentarily displays it filled in as far as I have done but immediately goes back to the blank screen. In the past I could change browser, eg open Edge, and continue, or load it on my mobile phone (browser, not app) and similar. But with recent changes this is no longer possible, I get the same issue on all of these, sometimes an error message, but still the blank screen. It happened during yesterday’s Toughie so I never completed the Elgar…
Do others get the same? I imagine emails to Telegraph towers will get me nowhere but presumably it is something they are aware of.
It has happened to me, and I have found that a clear cache and reboot usually gets me back to most of my puzzle progress
Thanks SLB. I think that might have helped in the past but since it now seems to be corruption on the website itself (such that using a different browser or computer doesn’t help) I suspect it is something else.
It happens to me on my MacBook most days at the moment, presumably because there’s a mismatch between the current version of iOS or Safari and whatever the DT is using. Like SJB, I resolve it by going into Safari settings, clicking on manage website data and then remove all. That generally works, although it’s frustrating because you then have to sign back in to everything. There have been similar phases before, which generally seem to resolve over time before the problem recurs. As you say, it’s difficult to know exactly what triggers it, although it always seems to happen when pressing a key. I don’t think it’s ever happened when doing a puzzle other than the cryptic or the toughie (I’m an avid kakuro fan and that always seems to work, despite a similar format).
I get this issue a lot and usually resolve by clear history – 1 hour. Sometimes that is not enough and I have to clear one day. But usually last hour is enough
Thanks again all. I never had any success with clearing history and it seems as if something has changed very recently as opening it in a different browser or on another computer (which would have no previous history) used to work but does not now. Guess all we can do is to wait until DT sort it out..
Didn’t nail 1a and 1d and consequently struggled with the north , the south being straightforward .Not sure this was enjoyable but it had two or three clues that tickled my fancy . first two in 3d, 26 and 27 a . They can sit or stand on the podium . Thanks to all .
I agree with Steve. Thanks to Sue and Setter
Had to check 21a, there are 27a’s in the world but personally I didn’t know they existed. The rest were fairly regulation with no real real favourite but if pushed we’d go with 20d. Thanks to the setter and CS.
Thanks to the Setter and CS. Not heard of 25a. Stumbled rather than tumbled to complete this prize puzzle. Resorted to a few hints to put us out of our misery. LOI 9a. COTD 17d.
Unsteady as my favourite clue because of its neat brevity – thank you compiler and Cs
I found this much easier than normal which is surprising given the comments above.
1*/4*
I had to check 25a, my LOI.
4d, 18d and 27a favourites.
Happy Easter everyone and thanks to Sue and the mystery setter.
Another pedestrian(ish) solve & of all things 1a was last in & was the biggest delay – like Daisy I was in Elsinore but twigging the indicator. Terrific film incidentally. Lots to like in this splendid PP – podium places for 25a (loved Parker & Gillespie in the surface)&19d but clear fav has to be 27a.
Thanks to the setter (a sporty punt on Dharma) & to Sue
Setter here.
Thanks all, and thank you to Sue for the write-up and hints.
Thank you, Twmbarlwm for a most entertaining puzzle. The Mythical is bound to come my way? 😊
Completed puzzle in 2* time, a little tricky for a SPP but nothing untoward. Never heard of the film in 1A, needed Mr Google, but otherwise fine.
Well I got there in the end! I didn’t know the film at 1a but by the time I had got most of the checking letters it couldn’t have been anything else. There were 2/3 where I got the answer but couldn’t fully parse them until much later. LOI 27a and I spent quite sometime not getting the 2nd word! Many thanks to the setter and CS. Typical BH weather today. I hope any of our fellow cruciverbalists located in Scotland stay safe from storm ‘Dave’ especially with the likelihood of snow to cause much disruption. Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone. Keep warm and safe.
I am being stupid here but I just don’t get 9a
Apologies – I just realised I put the wrong answer in 😐
I thought this wasn’t as tricky as the usual DK Saturday’s so I had thought it wasn’t his. Still nicely chewy though and very enjoyable also. Thanks to the mystery setter and to CS.
Away for Easter, so little time to use the phone other than answer calls usw. The SPP has not been my favourite x word since last September. However today’s was great fun as I did it with my sister. We enjoyed it immensely and sailed through it. 4d, 8d and 26a are my top picks. Many thanks to the setter and hinter.
As ever, fascinating to see the range of verdicts from folks on the difficulty of this puzzle. For me this was a welcome stroll compared to Thurs and Fri, most today went straight in.
Pody picks – 23A’s ‘save more’ (nice), 20D’s McCartney clue and let’s go 1A, which helped a great deal to get off to a good start.
I haven’t actually seen 1A, I should put that right. On another note, so to speak, there’s a very good McCartney doco out recently, focusing on the years of ‘his band’.
Thank you to setter and to CS – and your point about wrong answers being unexplainable … this is often what I tell the unconverted is why I love the cryptics ⭐️
Nice one today. I enjoyed 1a (the answer); 17d is lovely. 15a tricky but fun when solved. Some excellent, if quite challenging, clues.