Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31236
Hints and tips by Falcon
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from Ottawa, where spring must be here as the annual Canadian Tulip Festival has begun. We are being honoured this year with a visit by Princess Margriet of the Netherlands. During the Second World War, the Dutch Royal Family took refuge in Ottawa and Princess Margriet was born here (part of the hospital was temporarily declared to be Dutch soil to ensure she had sole Dutch citizenship). As a token of appreciation for providing wartime shelter to the Royal Family as well as for Canada’s lead role in the liberation of the Netherlands at the end of the war, the Netherlands gifted Canada 100,00 tulip bulbs and continues to gift 20,000 tulip bulbs each year. These constitute part of the approximately 1 million tulips in bloom across Ottawa.
The puzzle today is the expected gentle warmup to the week but provides plenty of enjoyment, especially to those who are fond of anagrams and charades. Two weeks ago, the puzzle was set by X-Type and he said he expected to return in May. However, I don’t think this is one of his but I’m not confident enough to risk one of my shiny new King Charles loonies.
In the hints below, underlining identifies precise definitions and cryptic definitions, FODDER is capitalized, and indicators are italicized. The answers will be revealed by clicking on the ANSWER buttons.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought of the puzzle.
Across
1a Stuffy broadcast by the French succeeded (7)
AIRLESS — we start with a charade of broadcast or transmit, a French definite article (the French), and the royal lineage abbreviation for succeeded
5a Shy female in party surly every so often (7)
BASHFUL — place the genealogical abbreviation for female between a noisy party and an alternating (every so often) sequence of letters from SURLY
9a Weirdo bold lad upset (7)
ODDBALL — anagram (upset) of BOLD LAD
10a Exceed acceptable limits when praising bit of test, for example, by head of geography (7)
OVEREGG — line up a division of play (bit) in a test match, the abbreviated Latin term meaning ‘for example’, and the initial letter (head) of GEOGRAPHY
11a Replacement in box with record and drawing (5,4)
SPARE PART — link together a verb meaning to exchange light punches, a phonograph record with a relatively small number of tracks, and a term encompassing drawing and other creative activities
12a Inventor put back float on and off (5)
TESLA — reverse (back) put or place and follow it by an alternating sequence of letters (on and off) from FLOAT to obtain a Serbian-American engineer and inventor
13a Nerd you and I put in base to the west (5)
DWEEB — place the pronoun that encompasses you and I in the reversal (to the west) of base or foundation
15a Popular street with one barrier to start (9)
INSTIGATE — cement together the usual short word for popular or trendy, the abbreviation for street, the Roman numeral one, a barrier across a road or pathway
17a Reserve position for material (9)
SUBSTANCE — a shortened synonym for reserve or spare and position or opinion (on a topic of discussion)
19a Relative with time to give (5)
GRANT — an elderly relative and the single letter for time
22a Quietly lounge drug-free by a public square (5)
PLAZA — concatenate the abbreviated musical direction to play quietly or softly, a verb synonym of lounge with the one letter name for the recreational drug ecstasy removed, and the A from the clue
23a Record a go at clue being rewritten (9)
CATALOGUE — an anagram (being rewritten) of A GO AT CLUE
25a Reunite regularly with alcohol and twist (7)
ENTWINE — an alternating sequence (regularly) of letters from REUNITE and an alcoholic drink most commonly fermented from grapes
26a Beds made from cut up cedars left inside (7)
CRADLES — an anagram (cut up) of CEDARS with the single letter for left inserted
27a News of strikes after IT returns (7)
TIDINGS — strikes of a bell following a reversal (returns) of IT
28a Tempts hospital department with sorbets (7)
ENTICES — a hospital department frequented during allergy season and another name for sorbets
Down
1d Soared around clutching uniform getting hot (7)
AROUSED — an anagram (around) of SOARED wrapped about (clutching) the letter represented by uniform in the NATO phonetic alphabet
2d Engineer operated without leader or bureaucracy (3,4)
RED TAPE — remove the initial letter (without leader) from OPERATED and form an anagram (engineer) from what is left
3d Dodge publicity welcomed by the First Lady (5)
EVADE — a short commercial message or bit of publicity contained in (welcomed by) the first lady mentioned in the Bible (not the one residing in the White House)
4d Rescue avian lost at sea (9)
SALVATION — an anagram (at sea) of AVIAN LOST
5d Swell line crossed by canoe perhaps (5)
BLOAT — the academic footnote abbreviation for line is contained in (crossed by) the general term for a canoe or similar craft
6d Acting detective let his gun off (9)
SLEUTHING — an anagram (off) of LET HIS GUN
7d Flower faeries dancing (7)
FREESIA — an anagram (dancing) of FAERIES
8d Bags of time following clumsy bloke by end of landing (7)
LUGGAGE — a long period of time follows a clumsy bloke and the final letter (end) of LANDING
14d One mammal thanks another group in combat (9)
BATTALION — link together a small flying mammal, a short expression of thanks, and a much larger mammal
16d Show Mark fishing gear, we hear (9)
SPECTACLE — a homophone (we hear) of a tiny mark or spot and some fishing gear (ignore the intentionally misleading capitalization)
17d Wise saint loses heart eating pastry (7)
SAPIENT — remove the middle letter (loses heart) from SAINT and replace it it by a sweet or savoury item of pastry
18d Cursed bishop went on for a long time (7)
BLASTED — the chess abbreviation for bishop and endured or went on for a long time
20d Glance shiftily, taking in the setter being saintly (7)
ANGELIC — form an anagram (shiftily) of GLANCE and insert into the result a pronoun the setter would use in reference to themself
21d Locks small son in forest perhaps (7)
TRESSES — insert the clothing label symbol for small and the genealogical abbreviation for son into the collection of large plants that constitute a forest
23d Game found in trunk missing base and top of spinner (5)
CHESS — remove the final letter (base in a down clue) from a trunk or large storage container and append the initial letter (top in a down clue) of SPINNER to the result
24d Left direction for poorest (5)
LEAST — the single letter for left and a direction of the compass
I expect the favourites today will be well distributed across the clues. Let us know which clue you liked best.
Quickie pun:: CON + NECK + SHUN = CONNECTION
On this day …
in 1981, reggae pioneer Bob Marley died in Miami, following a lengthy battle with melanoma. The Jamaican singer-songwriter was instrumental in popularizing his country’s music with a global audience, thanks to his irresistible fusion of reggae, ska, and rocksteady. Just 36 at the time of his death, Marley left behind an impressive – and enduring – catalog of music, while his greatest hits album, Legend remains the best-selling reggae album of all time. Marley received numerous accolades before and after his death, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and Jamaica’s Order of Merit, recognizing his contributions to the arts. Ever the poet, Marley’s last words to his son Ziggy were “money can’t buy life.”
Oh dear. I thought this too end ** so not as easy as Falcon. I was in a noisy coffee shop so that is my excuse. The plethora of easy anagrams helped. I didn’t have a particular favourite although 6d was good. Enjoyable nevertheless so thanks to our setter.
I found rhis an enjoyable guzzle, with enough of a challenge to.make it quite absorbing. I like the lego clue at 5a, the anagram at 23a and the cleverky worded double mammal clue at 1d and the saint eting atreat at 7d. Thanks ro thecompilervandcto Falcon for the hints.
Gosh – only just spotted my typo – top should have been top. How embarrassing. Apologies to all you cruciverbalists out there
Too
Bumpy bus from Mary Tavy
I shall forego posting on public transport
😳
This was great fun. I have ticks all over the place; starting with the across clues, 5,10,11, 15, 17 and 25. The downs include 14, 16, 17, 18 and 24. How does one pick a podium with so many to choose from; almost impossible! As such, I will share COTD with 11a, 14d and 17d
Many thanks to Falcon and the setter
A nice and gentle intro for the crosswording week. Honorable mentions go to 25a, 17d and 21d but cotd goes to 10a. Thanks to compiler and Falcon.
Even for a Monday, this was, for me, at the easier end of the setting spectrum, with very few hold-ups to slow down the solve. There seemed to be plenty of anagrams which always help the process along. It was one of these, 6d, that I earmarked for favourite.
Many thanks to our setter and Falcon.
A traditionally gentle start to the week – thanks to our setter and Falcon.
The puzzle seemed very anagram-heavy with five in the first seven down clues.
I liked 5a and 27a.
Gentle but good fun throughout. 10a a new word to me – not in my reputable dictionary either – but fairly clued.
Many thanks to the setter and Falcon – enjoy the tulips – mine are long past
A nice gentle start to the week that should please all-comers.
‘Bit of test’ is pushing it a tad but I’ll let it go, seeing as I’m a cricketer an’ all.
I’m sure the slew of anagrams in the first few down clues will put a smile on MustafaG’s face. What would be the collective noun for anagram, I wonder…a confusion?
Prizes go to 5a, 28a and 6d.
MTT the setter and Falcs.
1*/3*
When there are this many, a harrumph of anagrams, perhaps?
Like it.
Maybe a granama of anagrams.
Very enjoyable and a nice start to the week to compensate for the weather having decided today is winter again —0 degrees this am and now raining. I had 6d as my favourtie.
Many thanks to the setter and to Falcon for the hints.
You can keep the 0 degrees, but we’d love some of your rain.
I’m not greedy I am happy to send some your way. The garden definitely needed it, it was the first for several weeks, I just didn’t need to have to go back in the winter clothes.
As said already, a Monday level for sure. I agree with tds that ‘bit of test” is pushing things as I needed Falcon to explain, although the answer couldn’t be anything else. Difficult to pick a winner, but I’ll go with the public square at 22a.
My thanks to the setter and Falcon.
1*/3*
This didn’t suit me: I struggled to get into it (it felt like there were lots of anagrams, which never helps), and getting a full grid took me a little longer than Dada’s crossword yesterday, and considerably longer than Django’s on Friday.
I particularly liked the 27a news and the 14d mammal expressing thanks. Thank you to the setter. And thanks to Falcon for explaining 2d, where I’d turned ‘engineer’ into the first 2 letters of the answer, then got stuck.
10a took a while to parse; I’m used to that meaning of ‘test’ having a capital T, which it does in Oxford dictionaries and The Telegraph‘s own sport pages. But I see that Chambers have it lowercase, so it’s a perfectly valid clue.
I didn’t know the 8d clumsy bloke.
An enjoyable puzzle to start the week although I glanced at it before going out and nothing gelled. Have come back from grocery shopping (I know how to live!) and it started to fall into place although I solved it by haphazardly going around the grid.
Top picks for me were 14d, 11a, 6d and 2d.
Thanks to Falcon and the setter.
1*/4*. This was light and good fun as befits a Monday, which is just as well as I played my first game of cricket of the new season yesterday and I have rediscovered a slew of muscles that I had completely forgotten about.
I am sorry to say I have two grumbles: “test” in 10a should be capitalised, and 13a is, without any shadow of doubt, an Americanism.
I didn’t know the “clumsy bloke” in 8d but it couldn’t have been anything else.
5a was my favourite.
Many thanks to the setter and to Falcon.
Hi RD
Regarding 10a, I remember seeing in a crossword the French resort Nice as nice. So, having Test as test would work.
I’m okay with 13a as it’s been used in Blighty since the 90s (I heard it then, for sure), possibly 80s. You’re not, which is, of course, absolutely fine but I thought I’d point it out to the others.
I disagree with your ‘nice’ example: setters can misleadingly add capital letters (because any word can still have that meaning when capitalized), but they aren’t allowed to remove a capital letter which is required by a word (because that changes the word). That there exists a crossword that broke this rule doesn’t suddenly make it acceptable!
(But, as mentioned above, I accept ‘test’ in today’s clue, because of your favourite dictionary.)
Smylers, in this specific case, Chambers is wrong! But I do accept that the DT treats the BRB as gospel. It is on my side regarding 13a!
Ah, I’ve got it the wrong way round, Thanks, S. If that’s the case, the clue doesn’t work for me as it needs a capital T.
Don’t forget gents, saying that something is in a dictionary carries no weight with me. I appreciate that setters use them but it means naff all to Tommy boy.
I agree with your point regarding dictionaries.
The Oxford Dictionary of Music, for example, offered a definition for Trill” that suggested: “See ‘Shake’”. The entry for “Shake” read “See ‘Trill’ “. A circular reference?
Brilliant!
PS to Falcon.
Looking at the header while not wearing my reading glasses, I thought my vision was unusually blurred. Then when I put my glasses on I noticed it was a typo! It should be DT 31236 not DT 312336.
Nice & gentle so a brisk completion (rare of late) with an absence of crumpet scratching. That said I didn’t peg the bit of test part of the wordplay, skipped ‘over’ it, bunged in the answer then forgot to go back & fully parse. Fav was 9a for no reason other than it reminded me of Donald Sutherland’s tank commander in Kelly’s Heroes. I think 13a a great word too.
Thanks to the setter & to Falcon.
Ps gave up trying to figure out why the puzzle app decreed my Quick grid incorrect & pressed the check button. There are 2 possible synonyms at 27a & ‘wail’ isn’t the answer.
Reasonably plain sailing this morning although, like Smylers, I spent a while trying to parse 2d with an engineer at the top. Lots of good clues but I’m going for 17d because it’s a good word that I’d forgotten and the news at 27a. Thanks very much to the setter and to Falcon.
After the challenges presented by the weekend PPs this was very welcome relief with a typical Monday puzzle – */****
Candidates for favourite – 15a, 3d, 8d, and 16d – and the winner is 16d.
Thanks to whomsoever and Falcon.
A gentle start to the week that lasted for one mug of Taylor’s Hot Lava Java. I agree with RD that “test” should have been capitalised and the fact it wasn’t stalled the solve for a while. I’m not familiar with the nerd at 13a but the clue gave clear instructions. My COTD is the mammal thanking another at 14d.
Thank you, setter for a fun puzzle. Thank you, Falcon for the hints and enjoy the tulips.
The nerd at 13a is US derogatory slang, according to Chambers: three good reasons to forget it.
Thank you, Phil! 👍 Collins agrees too.
I didn’t know the drummer of Genesis did the cryptic!
All very Mondayish and light. Enjoyed 10a ‘bit of test’ but see that it has caused some discussion. My dictionary has the uncapitalised version as an alternative spelling – although I fear that may just stoke the fire!
Speaking of TDS (!) Many thanks for your help regarding 18d yesterday – I only noticed it this afternoon.
Thanks also to the setter and Falcon
No problem, MHUK. It took me a mighty long time to parse.
I kept thinking best = top somehow reversed and tried in vain to force the rest. Thank you for your help and now I have one less niggle in my life. I hope I didn’t get you placed on the naughty step.
Far from it. Senf praised me, saying that, if I keep giving hints like that, I’ll be asked to be a hinter.
Maybe one day…..
I saw that as more of a threat!!!
Congrats if you are elevated to the rank of hinter, it is a role that is to be admired – I would simply crumble under the weight of responsibility!
I’m not ready for it yet. Maybe later in the year, depending on how my project is going.
After my struggle with yesterday’s PP this was a lovely start to a new week, very well clued and, with one exception, nothing too obscure.
My sticking point was 13a where an incorrect response to ’you and I’ led me astray and it became my LOI. Returning with a clearer mind I followed the clue and discovered a new word.
My thanks to the setter and to Falcon for the hints.
COTD is 14d
A light puzzle to accompany a light lunch. Far too many anagrams for me (I count 9 from only 32 clues) but generally good surfaces and a few smiles. COTD 16d.
Thank you to the setter and to Falcon, whose name assisted with a weekend prize puzzle in another paper!
Very pleasant and fun.Thanks to all concerned.
Gentler than Saturday’s puzzle. Enjoyed working out 14d and 17d.
Misspelling 7d caused me grief!!
Planet Waves by Mr Dylan today 🎸
* / ****
Missed the weekend due to other engagements and Mrs AP not being well. Did look at Saturday and it looked very difficult and haven’t even seen Sunday’s yet as I mistakenly printed the Toughie instead of the back pager!
Greatly enjoyed today though. Glad for a ‘typical Monday’ to get back into the swing. 13a is American to me; you move in different circles to have met that so long ago over here TDS – or maybe you know a few – I certainly do ☺!!
Favourites today were the 7a Replacement, which was nicely constructed, the mammals working together at 14d and again the nice construction of 16d’s Show.
Many thanks to the setter and Falcon.
Hi A-Pop
I first heard it in the 90s when I was playing cricket. I was in my 30s and a couple of yoofs in the team used it.
I encountered both terms in the late 80s/early 90s as brands of small fizzy sweets. They seemed like rivals, but were both made by the same manufacturer.
Wow, what a sheltered life I didn’t know I’d led ☺
A pleasant start to the non-work week after the weekend puzzles for me with today’s offering. A couple of clues with parsing I didn’t quite get but nonetheless grid is complete.
1.5*/4* for me
Favourites 11a, 13a, 28a, 3d, 4d & 21a — with the lego winner 11a
Thanks to setter and Falcon