Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31220
Hints and Tips by Deansleigh
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** Enjoyment ***
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the midweek back-pager blog. For me, this was the hardest solve of the week so far. It took me a while to get the three long anagrams 1a, 1d and 8d, but once I’d cracked these everything else fell into place. I liked the cricketing misdirection in 17a and the dull French group in 3a, but my favourite today was the pachydermal pothead in 28a. There is also an excellent Quickie pun. Many thanks to our 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 Roman Loren – I’m crazy about Italy’s last superstar (7,6)
MARILYN MONROE: An anagram (crazy) of ROMAN LOREN IM is placed around the last letter of ItalY.
9a Emollient Conservative, seasoned elite (4,5)
COLD CREAM: The single-letter abbreviation for Conservative is followed by a synonym of ‘seasoned’ (in the sense of well-established or experienced) and a word that can mean the best or choicest part.
10a To me, Gazza embodies the ultimate character (5)
OMEGA: The first three words in the clue form a lurker which hides (embodies) the last letter in the Greek alphabet.
11a Wager gold that’s rolled is fit for a king? (5)
ROYAL: A word that can mean to place a bet is followed by the word for gold in heraldry, and then the whole thing is reversed (rolled).
12a Cheerful air of retired Illinois subaltern (4)
LILT: The abbreviation for the state of Illinois is reversed (retired) and followed by the abbreviation for lieutenant (subaltern).
13a My base heart! (4)
CORE: A synonym for ‘My!’, i.e. an interjection expressing surprise, is followed by the symbol for the natural logarithm base in mathematics.
15a Without travel permit finally visited Serbian city (4,3)
NOVI SAD: When split (2, 4) the first six letters can refer to the absence of a permit to enter a country. This is followed by the last letter (finally) of ‘visited’, giving the name of Serbia’s second-largest city, on the banks of the Danube.
17a Wide area for bowling, both ends of Lancashire crease (7)
WRINKLE: The cricketing abbreviation for a wide is followed by a word that can mean a portion of a bowling green, and the first and last letters (both ends) of ‘Lancashire’. The answer is a synonym of ‘crease’ completely unconnected to cricket.
18a Fish wraps in this place stuck together (7)
COHERED: A popular white fish is placed around (wraps) a synonym of ‘in this place’.
20a Left English drunkard husband last seen in Cairo (somewhere in Africa) (7)
LESOTHO: The abbreviations for Left and English are followed by a word for a drunkard, the abbreviation for husband, and the final letter (last seen) of ‘Cairo’.
21a Madame returned Yankee TV award (4)
EMMY: The French abbreviation for Madame is reversed (returned) and followed by the letter represented by Yankee in the NATO phonetic alphabet.
22a Scot’s opposed to fine being docked from pickpocket gang leader (4)
AGIN: The abbreviation for fine is removed from the name of the leader of a gang of pickpockets in Dickens’ Oliver Twist, giving us a Scots dialect word for ‘opposed to’.
23a Ring that chap found in church (5)
CHIME: A synonym of ‘that chap’ is found inside the abbreviation for the Church of England.
26a Soldier in Salvation Army who’s working over Christmas (5)
SANTA: A word for an insect of which ‘soldier’ is an example is placed inside the abbreviation for the Salvation Army.
27a Allegedly, this compiler traduces a Nordic citizen (9)
ICELANDER: Here we are looking for a homophone (allegedly) of how our setter might say that he or she traduces, verbally maligns or defames somebody.
28a Plant that helped Dumbo to get high? (8,5)
ELEPHANT GRASS: A cryptic definition. This plant, native to the African savannah, could be a description of a pachydermal narcotic.
Down Clues
1d Ah … ice cream: one’s naughty lunchtime dish (8,6)
MACARONI CHEESE: An anagram (naughty) of AH ICE CREAM ONES. I probably wouldn’t have this for breakfast, but I don’t think it’s solely a lunchtime dish.
2d Recover everybody stuck in railway (5)
RALLY: A synonym of ‘everybody’ is placed inside (stuck in) the abbreviation for railway.
3d The French group sounded dull (10)
LACKLUSTRE: The French feminine singular definite article is followed by a homophone (sounded) of a six-letter word meaning a group or bunch.
4d Irritated, required to be injected with last of phial (7)
NEEDLED: A synonym of ‘required’ contains, or is ‘injected with’ the last letter of ‘phial’.
5d Shmo breaking rule that deals with Resistance (4,3)
OHMS LAW: An anagram (breaking) of SHMO is followed by a word for a rule established by authority.
6d Fleece man on board (4)
ROOK: This word meaning to charge exorbitantly is also the name of a piece on a chessboard.
7d Watches unlimited hockey on top of terrace where pupil sits (3,6)
EYE SOCKET: A synonym of ‘watches’ and the internal letters (unlimited) of ‘hockey’ are placed before the first letter (on top of, in a down clue) of ‘terrace’. The pupil here has nothing to do with school.
8d Geese afraid, pot boiling, this the result? (4,2,4,4)
PATE DE FOIE GRAS: This French delicacy is an anagram (boiling) of GEESE AFRAID POT.
14d Scottish rock, R&B singer David after new alias (5,5)
AILSA CRAIG: The first name of a Southampton-born singer-songwriter follows an anagram (new) of ALIAS. This Scottish island in the Firth of Clyde is the source of the granite used to make curling stones for the Winter Olympic Games.
16d Brave he-men certain to maintain forcefulness (9)
VEHEMENCE: A lurker, hidden in the first three words of the clue.
19d Small shark – could it be curling? (7)
DOGFISH: This type of small shark is known to curl into a doughnut shape when threatened. (Additionally, of course, as Madflower and Graham Powell have pointed out, the first part of the answer is a cur and the second part could be a ling! Thanks to you both.)
20d Partners of Dec and Eric carrying large light (7)
LANTERN: The abbreviations of the names of the partners of Declan Donnelly and Eric Morecambe are placed after (carrying, in a down clue) the abbreviation for ‘large’.
24d Country home admiral regularly vacated (5)
INDIA: The two-letter word that can mean ‘(at) home’ is followed by the alternate letters (regularly vacated) of ‘admiral’.
25d Horse runs into Ms West (4)
MARE: The abbreviation for ‘runs’ in cricket is inserted into the first name of a famous American actress.
Which clues did you like best? Let us know in the comments below.
The Quick Crossword pun: OWED + ECHO + LOAN = EAU DE COLOGNE
For a Wednesday this was fairly gentle with smooth surfaces throughout. I had to wait for the checkers in order to decipher the 4 outside long’uns, but then easily gettable with 8d LOI. My pody places are the Serbian city (13a), the pupil holder (7d) and COTD the fearful geese (8d).
My thanks to the setter and Deansleigh.
1*/3.5*
Quite tricky I thought. I needed Deansleigh to understand fully the solutions to 13a 26a and 27a. The excellent anagram in 8d was my favourite although 22a was great as well. I took a while to spot the lurker in 16d which was well hidden to me for some reason I know not. Thanks to our setter.
Fairly straightforward for a Wednesday with the only curve ball being 15a which was fairly clued but needed e-confirmation, not being au fait with Serbian cities. My podium comprises 14d, 16d and the high jumbo at 28a. Thanks to compiler and Deansleigh.
A splendid crossword at a perfect level for me, with good mix of clue difficulties: enough straightforward ones for a way in, but plenty that required some thought as well. Highlights included Gazza getting praised at 10a (deservedly so, with everything he does for this site), the Scot opposing in 22a, and the alleged traducing in 27a. Thank you to the setter.
And this puzzle is a great example of how general knowledge can be used in crosswords but clued in such away that the answers are gettable even by the generally ignorant: ‘subaltern’ in 12a, the 15a Serbian city, the 17a bowling area, and 6d as a verb with that meaning were all new to me.
13a was my last in: there are lots of expressions which can be used like ‘my’ and those crossing letters didn’t really help. Thank you to Deansleigh for explaining the curling in 19d. And you’re right: that Quickie pun is excellent.
A cracking Tuesday evening with The Sky Blues sealing the championship followed by very enjoyable start to today with a puzzle filled with some excellent clues.
Not for the first time my only hesitation came in the form of two tiddlers – 6d, the obvious answer in my mind being Hess, then realised I was on the wrong ‘board’ and 13a where the checkers gave me two possibilities, I opted for the double definition but worried about the use of “my”, I’ve Deansleigh to thank for explaining the correct parse.
Having lived for a year just outside Glasgow where occasionally I would not understand what was being said 22a made me smile.
My two COTD are 19d which, after waiting for the penny to drop, I thought very clever and 17a for its misdirection.
Thanks to the setter and Deansleigh
I’ve just realised that I parsed 19d somewhat differently….cur = dog and ling = fish. I hope that makes sense.
I parsed it the same way, we posted our comments at the same time!
Thanks to both of you. I’ve updated the hint.
That’s brilliant — both by the setter for thinking of it, and you for spotting it!
A very enjoyable puzzle. I had to confirm the Serbian city.
Not knowing of 19a’s propensity to curl up I got to the answer by splitting curling to be a dog then a fish.
Top picks for me were 19d, 20a, 3d, and 26a.
Thanks to Deansleigh and the setter.
What a lovely friendly Wednesday crossword – it didn’t take long to solve but was most enjoyable while it lasted.
I did like the Gazza clue and I parsed 19d in the same way as Graham @5
Thanks to our setter and Deansleigh.
Really good. COTD is la cluster in 3d ! The quickie is also great, a lot packed into such a short one.
Thanks to all concerned.
The answers I didn’t know were so fairly clued that it was straightforward to arrive at the result , 15 across being one such. Just chewy enough and a delight. Top of the clues was 3 down.
I have dissected 3 small sharks for zoology at school and the curling posture never came up so the second route in worked for me for the solve.
Thank you Deansleigh and pat on the back for today’s setter
This was good fun and a quick full. 20 and 21 across and 8 down are my top picks with 8d being my COTD. Many thanks to the setter and hinter.
As Conor says, this was good fun, not really a Wednesday puzzle at all – 1.5*/4.5*
Candidates for favourite – 10a, 27a, 3d, and 25d – and the winner is 3d.
Thanks to whomsoever and Deansleigh.
I thought I had already left a comment but it doesn’t seem to have been published so apologies if this becomes a duplicate.
I enjoyed this challenge but it was a DNF as 14D was outside of my general knowledge. I did think a more precise definition for the second word would have been fairer as the number of singers called Dave is infinite. Thanks to Deansleigh and the setter for the fun though.
With respect to my ongoing challenge with the Thai language, by far the biggest challenge is the tonal nature of the Thai language. In effect what that means is that any word spelt the same way can be pronounced in 5 different ways. High tone, middle, tone, low tone, rising and falling. Although the letters are the same the tone will determine the meaning. So a word which sounds to the western ear as the name for a bovine animal,”cow”, can have 5 different meanings. Cow, cow, cow cow, cow, can translate to news, white, rice, knee, mountain.
Wish me luck
Good luck with that . Sounds fascinating and challenging !
Love the cow meanings.
A gentle and enjoyable solve with some nice clues. I didn’t know the Bosnian city , but it was a straightforward parse and I did feel pleased to have got it right. I spent a good few minutes on 8d my last one in. Thanks to the setter and Deansleigh.
8d is brilliant! Struggled with it until the penny dropped, and smiled in awe. Not the hardest of crosswords but very satisfying to complete.
This was great fun and perfect for a Wednesday.
I love a bit of new knowledge and this had plenty. I’ll remember the name of the Balkan city as losing a tennis match makes ‘**** ***’ (Novak Djokovic who is a Serb or should that be Serv)
I didn’t know the bowling term nor the pachydermal pothead (great alliteration, D!)
‘Cur ling’ is a great spot by the solvers above. I had to look up shmo and, sure enough, it’s a shortened version of the most excellent word ‘schmuck’ though the first c has dor some reason been dropped.
My pody picks are the outstanding 1a, 3d and 8d.
MTT…..hmm….Hudson (?) and Nigel Hades.
2*/5*
I enjoyed that very much – a good level of challenge and amusement without being irritatingly obscure or impenetrable. Even the anagrams had super smooth surfaces. I particularly liked Dumbo’s relaxant at 28a and 14d reminded me of trips to Galloway, which may well be my favourite area of the UK (I concede that I might have struggled with it otherwise, despite having spent many pub hours making a case for the R&B singer concerned being at the root of all evil in the world). Thanks very much to the setter and to Deansleigh. Now to finalise my plan to see Paul Simon in Liverpool in a couple of weeks. Art Garfunkel announcing a gig in Watford has made me want to see both of them while they’re still around.
You must absolutely watch Simon and Garfunkel, CM!
Well jel.
A good, solid puzzle which was definitely at the easy end of the week-week offerings. I went to school with a girl called Ailsa Craig, but didn’t twig why she had the name until decades later! */***
1.5*/4*. This was good fun, mostly not too challenging with a handful of clues needing teasing out.
19d was my last one to parse simply because we have always been led to believe that Telegraph crossword editorial policy is not to allow “lift and separate” clues without indicating the separation. As Prolixic often comments in Rookie Corner when a setter has used one of these devices, “some editors will not allow lift and separate”. Until today that was the case with Telegraph puzzles!
Many thanks to the setter and to Deansleigh.