Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31251
Hints and Tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment ****
Thanks to today’s setter for an enjoyable puzzle which I found slightly trickier than its predecessors this week but still pretty accessible.
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.
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Across
1a March followed by Queen perhaps hosting Republican politician (8)
DEMOCRAT: a brief synonym for a march or rally followed by what a queen can be in the animal world containing (hosting) the abbreviation for Republican.
5a Returned some swedes, palpably out of date (6)
LAPSED: hidden (some) and reversed (returned) in the clue.
10a Marsupials, wild native animals circling daughter and son (9,6)
TASMANIAN DEVILS: an anagram (wild) of NATIVE ANIMALS containing (circling) the genealogical abbreviation for daughter and followed by the genealogical abbreviation for son.
11a Ambles in front of sickeningly provocative posters (7)
STROLLS: the front letter of sickeningly and online posters who deliberately set out to annoy.
12a Have Spellbound rental playing for husband to get into (7)
ENTHRAL: spellbound here is falsely capitalised to try to make us think of the Hitchcock film. We need an anagram (playing) of RENTAL into which the genealogical abbreviation for husband is inserted (to get into).
13a Darling Auntie brushing off second black insect (5,3)
HONEY BEE: a term of endearment like darling and another informal term for what Auntie is in the broadcasting world without its second abbreviation for black.
15a Largely bad-tempered, yelled on vacation, turning red (5)
RUDDY: an adjective meaning bad-tempered or churlish without its last letter (largely) is followed by the reversal (turning) of the outer letters (on vacation, i.e. vacant) of yelled.
18a Racecourse records form regularly (5)
EPSOM: abbreviated records and regular letters from ‘form’.
20a Sleep with ring on, embracing the French emperor (8)
NAPOLEON: string together a brief sleep, the ring-shaped letter and ON from the clue containing (embracing) one of the French definite articles.
23a What noisy soccer fans may do around one – start to imbibe drink (7)
CHIANTI: what noisy soccer fans may sing to rally their team contains (around) the Roman numeral for one. Finish with the starting letter of imbibe.
25a I’m not impressed at first by Italian gelato portion (3,4)
BIG DEAL: the initial letters (at first) of three words in the clue followed by a synonym of portion.
26a Drunk inhaled his teeth and got media attention! (3,3,9)
HIT THE HEADLINES: an anagram (drunk) of INHALED HIS TEETH.
27a Troublesome Spike wacky at the end (6)
THORNY: a synonym of the falsely-capitalised spike or prickle and the end letter of wacky.
28a Persevere with American singer going after retro look (4,2,2)
KEEP AT IT: an abbreviation for American and a songbird follow the reversal (retro) of a quick look.
Down
1d Loathe the essence of academic experiment (6)
DETEST: the central two letters (essence) of academic and a synonym of experiment.
2d Sprouts ultimately moreish – or so mum’s snarling! (9)
MUSHROOMS: an anagram (snarling, in the sense of entangling) of the ultimate letter of [moreis]H and OR SO MUM’S.
3d Actress Theron ignoring unknown goon (7)
CHARLIE: remove the algebraic unknown from the forename of the actress.
4d Wrong answer held up by schoolgirl (5)
AMISS: an abbreviation for answer is followed (held up, in a down clue) by the title of a schoolgirl.
6d Accessory to crime in area streets ahead (7)
ABETTER: the abbreviation for area and a comparative meaning ‘streets ahead’ or superior.
7d One practising winter sport, Victor escapes layabout (5)
SKIER: the letter that victor represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet disappears from another word for a layabout or idler.
8d Shows what negative theatre critics do (8)
DISPLAYS: split the answer 3,4 to get what negative theatre critics do.
9d Very involved, awfully keen on training editor brought up (4-4)
KNEE-DEEP: an anagram (awfully) of KEEN followed by (on, in a down clue) the reversal (brought up, in a down clue) of abbreviations for training and editor.
14d Spooner’s enjoyable snack for tea party (3,5)
BUN FIGHT: Spooner would have mangled this into an enjoyable snack (FUN BITE).
16d Stumbling on to nudes, become incensed (2,4,3)
DO ONE’S NUT: an anagram (stumbling) of ON TO NUDES.
17d Change gear here with possible dip ahead? (5,3)
BEACH HUT: cryptic definition – this is nothing to do with motoring but where you might change into your Speedos or bikini.
19d Violinist‘s bill of fare, limitless thing (7)
MENUHIN: a bill of fare and ‘thing’ without its limiting letters.
21d Cricketer‘s PIN error (3,4)
LEG SLIP: what the falsely-capitalised pin is an informal word for followed by a careless error.
22d Visiting court, fail to find cupboard (6)
CLOSET: a verb meaning fail to find goes inside (visiting) the map abbreviation for court.
24d Prelude in Fortnite getting a twist (5)
INTRO: hidden (in) and reversed (getting a twist) in the clue.
25d Slow part of snooker match broadcast (5)
BRAKE: a homophone (broadcast) of a word for a succession of successful shots by a snooker player.
I liked 13a, 25a, 6d and 25d. Which one(s) hit the mark for you?
The Quick Crossword pun: SEA + AIR + SLEW + WHIZZ = C S LEWIS
Another enjoyable puzzle to muse over on a slightly cooler morning in The Marches. The cupboard at 22d took me ages until I realised I had put the wrong last two words at 28a. I should have realised because my answer did not contain a singer. I had ticks against the theatre critics at 8d and the violinist at 19d but my COTD is changing gear before a dip at 17d. I spent far too long thinking of cars.
Thank you, setter for the fun. Thank you, Gazza for the hints and cartoons.
Loved the Quickie pun.
Another lovely puzzle with a hint of chewiness. LOI was 17d. Bit cooler today after a tremendous thunder storm last night with the lighting show going on for hours.
Top picks for me were 17d, 19d, 23a, 1a and 11a.
Thanks to Gazza, loved the cartoons, and to the setter.
Moments of excitement overnight as cracks of thunder and streaks of lightening had us rushing around to make sure all of the windows were closed.
I found today’s puzzle to be enjoyable but a little flat after yesterday’s cracker.
I had to search for the 3d actress because I did not know how to spell her christian name.
I was not familiar with the 16d expression although some years ago living in Herefordshire, I often heard “it’s doing my head in” to express growing anger.
The two long anagrams became easier once the checkers were in and I did smile at the thought of a drunk who inhaled his teeth! (would have wiped the smile off his face).
My COTD was 13a, it took a moment or three to recognise the auntie.
My thanks to the setter and Gazza for the hints.
For some inexplicable reason the SE took the longest to complete even with a good selection of checkers. Loi was 28a. A number of contenders for podium places, but they go to 17d, 8d and 14d in top spot. Thanks to compiler and Gazza.
Now look, don’t ask me – it’s hours and hours since I completed this guzzle. My whole world is upside down. I am required to rise at dawn (well… 7am) so that I can let the builders in and hear their moans about their time spent at a standstill on the M25. Then I make my gruel and team it with a glass of orange juice with no bits. I’m told that by Saturday we will have a new kitchen. This is good and is in contrast to those blokes who took five and a half weeks to install two small bathrooms last December (we got rid of them, finally, on Christmas Eve).
What? The guzzle? I don’t remember what I did five minutes ago, never mind four hours back.
It was great and I completed it.
At least Chelsea can’t lose this week.
Thanks to the setter, and the former midfielder for Gansu Tianma.
But will Chelsea lose on the 22nd of August?
An enjoyable mid-weeker and good to see a few old friends again. Had vaguely heard of someone called Theron but the checkers were helpful in working out what her name must be. A good few went in on their definitions, with parsing to follow. Honours to 25a, 10a and 20a.
Thank you to the setter, and to Gazza for the excellent blog!
I’d agree with our reviewer that this one was a notch up in terms of difficulty without being a crumpet scratcher. Very enjoyable it was too. Podium spots for 25a&d + 8d.
Took an age & a variety of accents to twig the pun – they seem to be getting more inventive of late.
Thanks to the setter & to Gazza – cracking cartoons as per.
Ps Donny’s Toughie well worth a crack at over in t’other place if only for 3 funnies at 3,9&15d.
I found this a shade easier than yesterday’s challenge and although it had some excellent clues, for me it didn’t hit the consistent highs of yesterday. I thought 1A was excellent. Is the presence of CR in the answer another misdirection or a coincidence? 11A raised a grin. I too was looking for automobile links in 17A. In the process of typing this I’ve changed my vote for COTD to 17D due to the last three words in the clue. Thanks to Gazza for the hints and to the setter.
Thai corner.
Thai corner. Farang, a westerner, usually pronounced falang.
If you are a westerner in Thailand then one of the words you will frequently encounter is farang which is the word Thais use to refer to westerners. Thais will have no hesitation using it in your hearing, partly because they don’t think you will understand it and partly because the Thai culture doesn’t see it as offensive labelling someone as other to them. It can help however to understand why the word might be being used. Firstly westerners plough a very narrow furrow in Thailand, rarely appearing off the accepted tourist route. This means that if you are in a non-tourist area you will be a curiosity and Thais will point you out to their friends and comment on your strange behaviour. Most of the time it is a friendly and welcoming interest. Secondly westerners are seen as more generous than native Thais with their spending so it is often a code word to highlight to others that you should get preferential treatment. I have been seated in busy restaurants by the host in preference to a Thai customer and taxi drivers actively ignore Thais hailing them, if they think they can get a westerner in their cab. Finally, there is a negative use where especially in popular tourist areas the falangs are seen as gullible and it can be a code word to tell others an easy touch is approaching. Farang on its own actually means guava but it is added to a huge number of Thai words to suggest a western format of a Thai object. Thus, Yam fareang is a potato. Bamboo shoot farang is asparagus.
For some reason I found this straightforward at */*** no idea why! My favourite was the humorous 8d and 1a also excellent. Not sure who the setter is….. but thanks to him or her.
I found the SW tricky, whereas the other corners were straightforward, but fun. 19D was the problem
A most enjoyable quick diversion after a busy morning, firstly trying to find somewhere to park at Sainsbury’s as quite a lot of the car park was filled with large lorries containing bottled water and a queue of people coming to collect it; and then secondly unbunging the drain in the shower, and following that task with another smelly one- removing excess weed from the pond
Thanks to the setter and to Gazza – the clues I liked were the same as yours
I found today’s offering easier than yesterday. All fairly straight forward. The cricketing term … leg .. whit? … did hold me up though … not being a fan. I’ve tried … just don’t get it… apart from maybe the deck chair in the sun and a cold drink … the thud of leather on willow .. rather watch paint dry😊.
Cotd 17d, my last in was the cupboard at 22d.
Thanks to setter and Gazza.
Marginally more challenging than yesterday but not as enjoyable – 2*/3.5*
Candidates for favourite – 1a, 11a, 23a, 21d, and 25d – and the winner is 21d.
Thanks to the setter and Gazza.
If for some strange reason there is anybody requiring closure on yesterday’s fish story, here it is. We could not find a volunteer to dispatch the fish in order that we could cook it. It was suggested that we surreptitiously empty the bucket into the canal that flows through our village but I objected to that as the canal is so polluted it would be a fate worse than death. A very kind devout Buddhist neighbour then offered to take the fish to the nearest temple and release it into their fish pond. All concerned agreed and the deed was carried out. A meeting of those involved was then held to ensure that when the gifter asked if the fish was tasty we were as one as to what dish we had prepared with it and that our stories matched about how the process was undertaken. If you are still interested the fictitious dish was a Thai orange curry and the fish was delicious.
Love it!
The problem is that the gifter may keep on giving.
So, you may need to have some other recipes up your sleeve.
As it is RayT’s off week for the Thursday back pager we have another setter today. Not sure who it might be, but I must say it was a fun solve with a lot of enjoyable clues to ponder over. I thought this was easier than Wednesday’s offering.
2.5*/4.5* for me
Favourites, all of which made me smile/laugh … 13a, 18a, 8d, 17d & 21d — with winner 13a … but it could have been any of them really
Thanks for a great puzzle to the setter & Gazza for hints/blog
* / ****
Another enjoyable day and less interruptions to deal with, hence this flew by. Particularly liked the noisy soccer fans, Spooner’s tea party and those nasty critics! Thanks to Gazza for declaring 17d a cryptic definition as I was otherwise struggling to parse it.
Thanks to the setter and Gazza
A nicely constructed, well-thought-out puzzle that didn’t trouble the horses too much (I thought I’d give the original expression a showing).
I didn’t know that the violinist had an h in his surname and that the first syllable of 8d can have one s (nice clue).
Using the synonym ‘cupboard’ was an interesting choice as it’s fairly random.
My podium is 23a (I always think of the happy-go-lucky Mr Lecter when I hear this wine mentioned), 26a and the clever 17d.
MTT Gazza and…hmm…I’m going with Mr Tumble as he loves to crowbar a quickie pun.
2*/4*