Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31216
Hints and tips by Mr K
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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday.
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. In some hints hyperlinks provide additional explanation or background. Clicking on a picture will enlarge it or display a bonus illustration and a hover (computer) or long press (mobile) might explain more about the picture. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.
Across
1a Sailor that could make a meal with beans (4,6)
ABLE SEAMAN: An anagram (that could make) of A MEAL BEANS
6a Great book in my opinion (4)
TOME: The answer split (2,2) could mean “in my opinion”
9a Circuit court regularly fell for it (5)
ORBIT: Alternate letters (regularly) of COURT with a word meaning “fell for it”
10a Came into discontented institution he tried to change (9)
INHERITED: The outer letters (dis-contented) of INSTITUTION with HE and an anagram (to change) of TRIED
12a Staff splash first young swimmer (7)
TADPOLE: A splash or dash comes before (first) a staff or rod
13a Sierra with funny Nora Batty navigation system! (5)
SONAR: The single letter for Sierra with an anagram (funny) of NORA. Ignore the capitalisation of Batty to see that the definition is a bit cryptic
15a Times describing bad drive as hair-raising experience? (4-3)
BLOW-DRY: Another word for times containing (describing) both a synonym of bad and the map abbreviation for drive
17a Focus of ceremony before couple hug (7)
EMBRACE: The central letters of (focus of) CEREMONY come before another word for couple
19a Hot drink picked up for one of us (7)
INSIDER: Hot or trendy with a homophone (picked up) of a drink made from apples
21a Enjoys attacks (4,3)
GOES FOR: A straightforward double definition
22a Liberal politician framed by porter? (5)
AMPLE: A usual abbreviated politician contained by (framed by) what porter defines by example (?)
24a Mad tirade one's written in Liverpool, say (7)
FRANTIC: A synonym of tirade and the Roman one are inserted together in (written in) the abbreviation for what Liverpool (or Arsenal) define by example (say)
27a Journalist on publication is certainly not 24 Across (9)
ORGANISED: A usual abbreviated journalist comes after (on, in an across clue) both another word for a publication and IS from the clue
28a Banal tips from trainer and Aintree odds must be cut (5)
TRITE: The outer letters (tips from) of TRAINER with the even letters (odds must be cut) of AINTREE
29a Hairy Tibetan welcoming North American (4)
YANK: A Tibetan animal that’s hairy containing (welcoming) the single letter for north
30a Jack sad about delay for writer (1,1,8)
J D SALINGER: The playing card abbreviation for jack is followed by an anagram (about) of SAD and a verb synonym of delay
Down
1d Anxiously awaiting a hiding to nothing ultimately (4)
AGOG: A from the clue with the final letters (ultimately) of the next three words in the clue
2d Alcoholic drinks from club I found during Pride? (9)
LIBATIONS: Another word for a club and I from the clue are inserted together in (found during) what pride is a collective noun for
3d Located high-grade tissue boxes on the counter (5)
SITED: The reversal (on the counter) of HIGH-GRADE TISSUE hides (boxes) the answer
4d Maintenance of whichever luxury car breaks (7)
ALIMONY: An informal word for a big luxury car is inserted in (breaks) a synonym of whichever
5d Reach a church one day before (7)
ACHIEVE: Link together A from the clue, the map abbreviation for church, the Roman one, and a word for the day before something
7d Regularly got naked to have following on X (5)
OFTEN: GOT minus its outer letters (naked) with the single letter for following and what X is as a Roman numeral
8d Bush Senior and Barbara evoked Ronald Reagan years initially (10)
ELDERBERRY: Another word for senior with the first letter of (initially) BARBARA EVOKED RONALD REAGAN YEARS
11d Comic possibly seen removing top after run (7)
RISIBLE: A word meaning seen or in sight minus its first letter (removing top) comes after the cricket abbreviation for run
14d Unfortunately royal bigot is unavoidable (10)
OBLIGATORY: An anagram (unfortunately) of ROYAL BIGOT
16d Resentment of failure having no say after retirement (7)
DUDGEON: Another word for a failure is followed by the reversal (after retirement) of the fusion of NO and the Latin abbreviation meaning say or for example
18d Moving - as stopgap accepting offer after banks withdraw (9)
AFFECTING: A stopgap or temporary (appointment, perhaps) containing (accepting) OFFER minus its outer letters (after banks withdraw)
20d Recycled clothes female turned down (7)
REFUSED: A synonym of recycled contains (clothes) the single letter for female
21d Piano make with 50 per cent off for family member (7)
GRANDMA: A type of big piano with half (with 50% off) of MAKE
23d One doesn't believe name a clothes shop rejected (5)
PAGAN: The fusion of the single letter for name, A from the clue, and clothing store chain is reversed (rejected)
25d Everyone trusts this every now and then (5)
TUTTI: Alternate letters (every now and then) of TRUST THIS
26d Possibly does article in Bild without English (4)
DEER: A German (in Bild) grammatical article containing (without) the single letter for English
Thanks to today’s setter. Which clues did you like best?
The Quick Crossword pun: CARR + BUNK + HOPPY = CARBON COPY
What a wonderful puzzle with some clever clues. Not easy, as befits a Friday, but an enjoyable tussle. An old favourite was given new treatment at 22a and it required a knowledge of the various meanings of “splash”. I thought the misdirection in 26d was very neat and I liked the hug at 17a. I have a number of candidates for the podium but I’m going for Nora Batty at 13a as my COTD.
Another great Quickie pun but is 1a really a comedian? ☺️
Thank you, setter for a great Friday challenge. Thank you, Mr. K. for the hints.
I think he is a comedian or is it because you don’t think he’s funny ?
I don’t think he’s funny but, then, I have peculiar tastes. 😊
Who is the comedian in 1a, can’t see one?
First element of the Pun in 1a of the Quickie. I am inclined to agree with SC.
Ah, thanks. I was looking at 1a of the puzzle. Agree with Steve as well!
Alan or Jimmy?
I agree with Steve, not at allfunny and his voice prompts me to press the mute button🥴
I do SO agree
Mmmm. Top end *** for me! Needed Mr K to understand 12a and 26d. My favourite was 2d followed by 3d and 19a. Quite a struggle but ingenious so thank you our setter.
A fairly gentle offering for a Friday The SE was the final hurdle with the 28a/26d combo last to fall.
My favourites were the bush at 8d, the hot drink at 19a and my top pick is the nicely clued writer at 30a.
Many thanks to the setter and Mr K
1.5*/3*
An enjoyable tussle.
Top picks for me were 19a, 2d, 4d and 8d.
Thanks to Mr K and the setter.
A little chewier than the other back pagers this week, fittingly enough, a satisfying solve and a lot of fun. Some great surfaces, plenty of humour, and a good few red herrings. A pity the puzzle could not fit on a single page, requiring a quick reversal and reinsertion of the paper into the printer.
Honours to 15a, 4d & 16d. Many thanks to the setter and of course to Mr K
A relatively gentle Friday offering with some quite ebjoyable clues, many of which I wrote in before working out the parsing. I liked the cleverly clued writer at 30a and the eually clevwr clue for resentment at 16d (such a loveely old-fashioned word). My COTD however, is the anagram for the less used mening of came into at 10a. Thanks to the compiler and to Mr K for the hints
2*/4* What a great way to end the week. I found the top half quite straightforward and the bottom much trickier. Loved the misdirection and humour.
Hard to pick a top three but I’ll go for 20d turned down, the 8d bush and my last one in the brilliant does
Many Thanks to compiler and Mr K
Ps also a top quickie pun
Setter is Django.
Thank you for that spot, Tilsit (and good to see you ‘back on the board’) – Django featuring in the back pages is a welcome addition to that particular team. A very creative and imaginative setter.
Nice to hear from you, Tilsit.
Welcome back, Tilsit! 👍
This was a perfect antidote after an awful day yesterday. Mrs RD had a GP appointment in the morning, who said she would get seen faster at A&E! All seemed to be proceeding quite well at the hospital with the preliminaries including blood tests done within 60 minutes. The next step was for her to be seen by a doctor!
That “step” took nine hours, following which she was admitted overnight. The doctor apologised and said that her name had been mistakenly removed from the waiting list. This beggars belief as, after the first couple of hours, I regularly and politely asked (perhaps too polite with hindsight) how long we might need to wait only to be told “she is on the list” which clearly she wasn’t. I await more news this morning.
At least I had two very good puzzles to amuse me for part of the waiting time even though I wasn’t able to post about them. The Silvanus Toughie in particular was absolute perfection.
Today’s backpager, which has a fresh feel about it, is also superb. My rating is 2.5*/5*.
Many thanks to the setter. Please reveal yourself! Thanks too to Mr K.
Very best wishes to/for your wife, RD.
I was sent to A and E for an x-ray and some blood tests, left without the results after 12 hours when I was told the waiting list was another 12 hours.
Gosh, what a tale of woe, RD. Best wishes to you and your wife.
All the best Mr and Mrs RD!
Thanks to everyone for their good wishes. They are keeping her in for another night for observation and more tests …
Oh dear what a nightmare. Hope all gets sorted quickly and satisfactorily.
Well what to say…I exercised more of my grey cells today that I have for some time. 16d took an age even with the checkers in place! Mr K’s help enabled me to parse 15a where I now assume the other word for ‘times’ comes from ‘multiply by’? My second sticking point was 26d (my LOI) the answer is a German article if I remove the single letter for English but I’m not seeing how the answer takes me to ‘possible does’.
My COTD was 27a
Having said that this was a most enjoyable puzzle with some cracking clues…I judge success on getting the right answers and being able to parse them all, so today was a failure but also an incentive to try harder next week.
Many thanks to the setter and high praise to Mr K for invaluable help.
For 26d, you have to add the E for English. The Does in this case are females of the answer.
Thank you very much…I am now laughing at my inability to spot the blindingly obvious
My last one in, a brilliant clue
Omg. Yes. Brilliant clue. I hadn’t twigged that at all
Typical Friday fare. Some nice things. 26D is COTD. The clue would worked better, in my opinion, if the setter used “with” instead of “without”.
I took it as meaning the article was outside (without) English.
It was my last in as well, the misdirection of does was brilliant.
One of those puzzles where the solve took less time than than the experience suggested but, not a walk in the park by any means – ***/**
Smiles for 6a, 22a, and 8d.
Thanks to Django and Mr K.
Friendly for a Friday or was that because I did battle with Elgar first? Either way, I very much enjoyed this and hope Django appears on the back page on a regular basis.
For the second time today, I solved the annoying last clue on a second page as I read it and so didn’t need to spend time writing on the print out
Thanks very much to Django and Mr K
Very enjoyable and amusing fare – thanks to Django and Mr K.
My podium consists of 13a, 20d and 26d.
Needed a rest today as things have been hectic – so having got stuck in the south west corner and having been fixated on a certain snowman I threw in the towel. However this is an ace of a puzzle today and favourite was 15 across. The fact that I didn’t complete can be taken on the chin when the clues were such fun. Many thanks to Mr.K and our setter.
I jumped straight in with the snowman as well, Dyslexics.
Dyslex! Sorry – spellchecker!
Likewise with the abominable 29a, until I got a checker
A Friday puzzle I really struggled with this week. Some tough parsing that I was just unable to figure out.
However, I did manage to finally suss it all out;
3*/3*
Favourites 1a, 6a, 10a, 29a & 4d
Was nice to see a comment from Tilsit … been a while
Thanks to Django & Mr K.
This was delightfully tricky and enormous fun to complete. Some of the clues were very innovative and clever, which enhanced my enjoyment of the puzzle. To pick one favourite is virtually impossible, but I will go for 20d.
My thanks to Django and Mr K.
I found this highly entertaining, no walk in the park but it’s Friday so as it should be. I stumbled at the parsing of 4, which were of course blindingly obvious once I read the hints. I am having 26d as my favourite but it could have been so many others.
Many thanks to Django and to Mr K for the hints.
Surely one of my quickest Friday solves, I enjoyed many clues and surfaces, I seemed to be on the setter’s wavelength, with only exception being 26D – between the clever definition and not knowing Bild, only trial and error got me over the line.
Pody picks all ‘downers’ – enjoyed 2D’s surface as a Brighton-ish resident, 8D’s construction and surface, similar for 16D and I didn’t know this word’s meaning.
Many thanks to setter and to Mr K ⭐️
Do you live in Hove, actually? Apparently when asked if they live in Lytham St Anne’s the response is ‘Lytham’ actually. Lytham being more upmarket than St Anne’s. Or so they say. Likewise Brighton & Hove – well, Hove actually. We lived in Cheam and my mother always added Cheam Village, actually – as opposed to North Cheam! Vanity, vanity, mother dear.
Worthy of a Friday slot, there was plenty going on here.
One of us at 19a, the bush at 8d and the family member at 21d all got ticks, but the resentment in 16d tops the lot for being such a damn fine word.
My thanks to Django and Mr K.
I nearly gave up on this today, getting bogged down in the SE. I got there in the end but 24a and 18d were bung ins as I couldn’t parse them.
Last in was 18d.
Cotd 26d … the female deers were well hidden from me initially!
Thanks to setter and Mr K for the hints.
Ps I’m with Steve on the comedian (not)!
This was a real tussle but got there in the end although resorted to e help for 16d , just couldn’t see it . Needed hint to understand 24a but 26 raced in . A fine way to finish the week. Favourites 6 , 18 and 30a . Thanks to all.
*** / ****
Strangely felt 3* difficulty and I’m going with that but time wise it only really took 2* time. Very enjoyable though. Need help from Mr K for a few parsings after the fact. I wonder whether 15a might be one of those rare clues where someone not from these isles would get it more quickly as they would immediately see “Batty” as an anagram indicator, even with the capital “B” rather than think about the character or programme.
That clue got onto the podium, as did the superb 26d but the winner is 7d with getting taken on X – wonderful.
Now to get back to yesterday’s puzzle that I missed due to work and a 4hr train journey home (across many legs) from Manchester.
Many thanks to Django and Mr K.
Many thanks to
A dnf unaided for me today as having struggled to a near completion with a handful to complete I ran out of steam and resorted to the hints. Then felt a complete alias. Still, of those I did complete, I liked 30a, 8d (class) and 9a to name but three. Cotd though is the Nora Batty navigation system. Thanks to Django and Mr K.
A super puzzle which went in rather quickly for a Friday (for me that is!) – I was coincidentally watching some old Modern life is goodish episodes last night – so could have put me on the right wavelength.
Thanks to Django and MrK
Was also convinced this puzzle must contain a googlewhack – imagine my surprise when ‘Pagan Tango’ turned up this!
I had to look up googlewhack! Hoo new? 😊
Steve check out Djangos (aka Dave Gorman) Googlewhack adventure.
Thanks, Magichatuk. I’ve started watching it and it’s very good. Going to watch the rest this evening.
I thought this was benign for a Friday. It always helps when 1a goes straight in and provides initial letters for 5 down clues.
13a favourite for the cryptic definition.
2*/4.5*
Docking half a star for 29a as it’s such a horrible word!
Difficult even for a Friday but all fairly clued. I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. Hard to pick a favourite but I’ll go with 18d. Thanks to Django and Mr. K.
Very enjoyable with the great book as my favourite clue, thank you compiler and MrK
This was a fantastic puzzle with lots of clever clues and misdirection. I gave up with my last one in 26a , and only having seen the comments has the penny dropped re does. Fantastic. I will go through it to check some of the passings. Thanks to Django and Mr K.
Great puzzle today which I worked through slowly and steadily. Gave a giggle at 26d – very clever. Finished OK but it took its time. Should have really put up my comment when I agreed with SC about the annoying comic with the really silly voice at #1 above. Thanks to setter and Mr K
Great crossword and a sense of achievement at finishing it. Thank you to all.
I agree with most of what has been said. A hard but fair and very witty slog – perfect Friday Fare. Many thanks for the Hints Mr K. It is a pity about Mr Carr and his giggle, I think he is actually very clever and I’d like to be able to watch his makeover programmes on delapidated buildings but I just have to switch off. Many thanks to the Setter for the Brain workout.
26d took so long, but was a real groan and laugh when I got it. Not finished yet, but enjoying the clues slowly dropping into place. NW still emptiest, but a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle today. Thanks all!
Finished now. Favourite puzzle of the week, all answers felt fair and satisfying, and they all came out without too much stalling. Thanks for the blog, which helped parse 16d.
I found today’s puzzle quite challenging in places but it is Friday! Always satisfying to get the top half in but then things went awry in the bottom half. I inserted ‘instead’ at 19a as I was convinced I needed tea in the answer. That mistake then led to difficulty in getting 16d. I had to resort to the hints to put me right on that one. What can I say about 26d? Female deer never entered my head despite understanding the German article! Many thanks to the setter and Mr K. Have a nice weekend everyone.
PS Rabbit Dave thinking of you and hope better news for Mrs RD tomorrow.
Steve C hope you are feeling much better and think of Hudson regularly. Wish him well from me and ‘Mr Tucker’.
Thanks to the setter for this intriguing puzzle today, did about 3/4 before having to resort to the hints listening to Muse today 🎸