Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31263
Hints and Tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment ****
Thanks to today’s setter for an enjoyable puzzle which provides a step up in difficulty from the earlier ones this week.
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 British bird in wood (4)
BOWL: an abbreviation for British and a wise bird.
3a Get down: get up (10)
UNDERSTAND: stick together an adverb meaning down or below and a verb to get up.
10a Brunette with heroin in unknown quantity (4,5)
DARK HORSE: the colour associated with brunette and a slang word for heroin.
11a Advanced short distance in train (5)
AFOOT: the abbreviation for advanced and a short distance of about 30 cm.
12a Drains initially cleared? They hold water (5)
EWERS: start with a word for drains which carry away waste matter and remove the first letter (initially cleared).
13a Bestsellers list clobbered local shops (3,6)
HIT PARADE: a verb meaning clobbered and a term for a row of shops.
14a Fish can lose moisture – none consumed (4,4)
JOHN DORY: can is a US term for a lavatory – we need another mainly US word for the same thing. Add a verb to lose moisture with the zero-resembling letter inserted in it (none consumed).
16a Low clouds artist rendered imaginatively (6)
STRATI: an anagram (rendered imaginatively) of ARTIST.
19a Ready to assimilate City formula (6)
RECIPE: an adjective meaning ready (to eat, possibly) contains (to assimilate) the postal area of the City of London.
20a Collie‘s power penetrating hedge so tangled (8)
SHEEPDOG: the physics abbreviation for power goes inside an anagram (tangled) of HEDGE SO.
22a Slave losing it in fight with Roman historian (9)
SPARTACUS: assemble a verb to fight or box and the name of a famous Roman historian. Now delete IT (losing it).
24a Artist in pig’s blanket? (5)
BACON: double definition – an Anglo-Irish painter and what’s used to wrap the sausage in a Christmas-time side dish.
26a Unknown state car a follower enters? (5)
LIMBO: a posh car into which the letter B (follower of A, in the alphabet) is inserted.
27a Rose for example worker planted in row (9)
EGLANTINE: start with the abbreviation for ‘for example’ then insert a worker insect in a synonym of row,
28a Gory moment disturbed field marshal (10)
MONTGOMERY: an anagram (disturbed) of GORY MOMENT.
29a Joint leader in Košice born in Paris (4)
KNEE: the leading letter of Košice and the French word for born (relating to a female).
Down
1d Star appearing in many westerns? (5)
BADGE: cryptic definition of what the sheriff traditionally wears in Westerns.
2d Moral justification for hard labour? (4,5)
WORK ETHIC: a (not terribly) cryptic definition of the principle that steady employment is virtuous.
4d Hornet bothered sailors from Carlisle perhaps (8)
NORTHERN: an anagram (bothered) of HORNETS followed by the abbreviation for our senior service. In what is supposed to be a national newspaper I think ‘from Inverness perhaps’ would be more appropriate.
5d Picks caught in stone slab that’s lifted (6)
ELECTS: insert the cricket scorecard abbreviation for ‘caught’ into the reversal (lifted, in a down clue) of a word for upright stone slabs.
6d At least be prepared for main event (3,6)
SEA BATTLE: an anagram (prepared) of AT LEAST BE. Main here means the ocean.
7d Greetings from Honalo Hawaii (5)
ALOHA: an all-in-one clue where the answer is hidden.
8d Indecisive princess introduces musical drama (9)
DITHERING: string together the short name of the “people’s princess” and Wagner’s musical drama (3,4).
9d America drug-free in such a manner (4)
THUS: start with a synonym for America (3,2) and remove the letter used to mean Ecstacy.
14d Rule foremost of judges reversed keeps 50 in holy city (9)
JERUSALEM: reverse a synonym for rule or statute and the first letter (foremost) of judges then insert (keeps) the Roman numeral for 50.
15d Characters together as one lower hot pants (9)
DIPHTHONG: glue together a verb to lower or submerge, the tap abbreviation for hot and a skimpy type of pants.
17d Habit taking supplement outside clubs (9)
ADDICTION: another word for supplement or extra bit contains (outside) the cards abbreviation for clubs.
18d US artist having a peep? (8)
WHISTLER: cryptic definition of a US painter (most famous for the picture of his mother) who could be someone making a high-pitched sound.
21d Second best comedian (6)
SCREAM: the abbreviation for second and a word meaning best or elite.
23d A row about motorway management (5)
ADMIN: A (from the clue) and a loud noise (row) containing the abbreviation for motorway.
24d Maybe rib second-class individual (4)
BONE: the letter used to mean second-class and a synonym of individual or single.
25d One’s related report of coastal city (5)
NIECE: this sounds like (report of) a coastal city on the Mediterranean.
I liked 10a, 8d and 15d. Which one(s) were a hit for you?
The Quick Crossword pun: WHIRLED + WAUGH = WORLD WAR
Enjoyable but on the tough side somewhat is my take on today’s offering but it is Thursday. Plenty to like but also some real head scratchers to add spice. Once I got it, I thought 3a was very clever as was the unknown state car at 26a. Two old favourites were welcomed back at 27a and 18d and drug free America at 9d raised a smile. My COTD is the indecisive princess at 8d.
Thank you, setter for a great Thursday conundrum. Thank you, Gazza for the hints.
Just taken delivery of a pork pie and a jar of Piccadilly Piccalilli (to die for!) from Fortnum and Mason. Going to be a great lunch!
I trust you have a good bottle (or two) of beer to quaff with it – yummy
Actually, Hintsman, a pint of Weston’s vintage. 🍺 😀
Enjoy .. sounds delicious.
What a humdinger of a crossword, very enjoyable but still with chewy bits. I had to check on the stone slab as that was new to me as was the heroin. Haven’t seen 27a for ages, it used to be quite a regular one.
Difficult to pick top clues for me but here goes :- 1d, 1a, 26a, 14d, 8d and 15d.
Thanks to Gazza and the setter.
Certainly the most difficult backpager this week with every clue requiring careful consideration. I was not aware of the slang term for heroin in 10a, but clear from the clue. A profusion of likes including 22a, 8d, 19a and 16d, but my LOI 1d is my COTD. Although with checkers the answer is obvious, I thought the order of wordplay in 14d could have been improved; or am I being picky?
My thanks to the setter and Gazza
2.5*/3.5*
A real brainburner and I’m sure I will appreciate the brain exercise when I’ve had my headache pills. 10a and 1d were cleverly thought upand 24a was really musing. Of course, I got thoroughly confused about the spelling of 15d too. Thanks to the compiler and to Gazza.
Please ignore my comment re- 14d. As recorded by YS and FM the wordplay is totally accurate; just too quick to comment, should engage brain first.
Another excellent backpager that I found very accessible and terrific fun to solve. Any difficulties were soon overcome by following the instructions in the concise and accurate wordplay. Any one of many could have been my favourite, but I went for the brilliant 15d.
My thanks to our Thursday setter for cheering up a dreadful Shropshire morning, and of course to Gazza.
Cracking puzzle today which I really enjoyed. Lots of great clues and a few bung ins which I had to parse later. Horrible day here – middle of June and I’m tempted to put the heating on! Thanks to the setter and to Gazza – love your cartoons.
I was just thinking the same and George said shall I light the fire! Village fete on Saturday……..
My heating has been on for the last few days – flaming June!
Super puzzle, a welcome challenge, and for me slightly chewier in the W than the E, with the NW holding out longest. Great surfaces and humour, clever clueing, some good red herrings. Nice to see our old friend the rose again. Given that particular princess died nearly 30 years ago (how has that much time passed!) one wonders how much longer the title will be synonymous with her name. Mind you, as Anne for Queen is still quite popular, we could have the princess for many decades yet.
Honours for me went to 22a, 26a & 14d, with runners-up 3a, 9d & 23d.
Many thanks to the setter (all in on Sylvanus this morning) and to Gazza for the great blog.
Tricky in places and it didn’t help that I put one solution in the wrong place. My favourite was 15d
Thanks to the setter and Gazza
Well as this puzzle is on RayT’s back pager day off, I have no idea of the setter. However, as I started reading through the clues I really thought this was one I was not going to get anywhere with. Nothing was jumping out at me. Then on second and third read through a couple or three clues made sense. Bit by bit I worked through it and to my surprise most came to light pretty quickly in the end. As always, I had a few where parsing made no sense to me, but the answers had to be what they were.
3*/4* in the end.
Favourites included 1a, 20a, 24a, 28a, 4d & 6d — with winner 20a
Lots made me smile including all the favourites as well as 29a & 24d
Thanks to setter & Gazza
Very few bung-ins, but as YS says in comment 4, if the wordplay was broken down, a second or third reading of a clue would yield dividends.
Plenty of ticks on my page, including the horse in 10a, the fish in 14a, the slave losing it at 22a and the holy city in 14d.
All in all, a very enjoyable challenge.
My thanks to our setter and Gazza.
I am afraid that this puzzle just did not do it for me.
I found it difficult and not particularly enjoyable as I could not do a lot of the parsing.
Sorry, setter. We can’t win ’em all.
Thanks to the setter and to Gazza
I totally agree. Not enjoyable and very far fetched.
You’ve changed your alias so this needed moderation. Both aliases will work from now on.
What do you mean by ‘very far fetched’? Please read Site Etiquette #4 Do leave comments about what you like or dislike about a puzzle, but please try to justify any negative comments – comments such as “rubbish puzzle” will be deleted.
My thoughts exactly Ora.
What a great puzzle. I solved very few in the first pass but then had the satisfaction of finishing unaided. I’m not sure that the measurement in 11A is particularly short given the range of shorter distances that could be used, all of which I tried. I also don’t understand the need for the word, ‘in’, in 1A, but I’m sure someone will explain it to me.Thanks to Gazza and the setter.
Thai corner.
It’s 30 degrees and drizzling, which means that very few people are on the street as they genuinely believe that being rained upon causes illness.
Hi Thaike. I hope all is well.
Re 1a, ‘in’ is a link word to make the sense work grammatically.
I don’t understand 1a at all. I may be being thick, as nobody else has struggled with 1a, but I cannot see how the answer has anything to do with wood.
I must say I was as perplexed as you re wood in 1a. However, I discovered that in the game of bowls, a bowl is also known as a wood.
Hi BW
In the sport Bowls, a ball is known as a bowl and a wood.
I must have been on the setter’s wavelength as I didn’t find this too tricky (**) until I did that is. I was totally defeated by a single clue 11a (grrrr). 15d my favourite. I couldn’t parse 14d so thank you Gazza and the setter for a great puzzle.
Two questions on drugs today . Must have missed out in my youth , even though I was at uni in the flower power era of the late sixties. Not sure how cryptic 10a is ? A really enjoyable solve if on the difficult side.Somehow put erects for 5d grrr. Favourites from a field full of talent 1a, 1d, 14, 24 and 26 . Thanks to all
Doesn’t it just make a nice surface while still obeying the rules around clueing? In this case “put the abbreviation for British with the name of a bird INside the letters of the word meaning wood”. Missing out in makes an inelegant surface I think.
Jeez that was tough, got 7 on the first go, so left it for an hour, came back and it still took ages to complete.
Still no idea why 5d works so will see the hint, no doubt I’ve missed summat obvious!
Struggled with 18d, but mother helped with that one.
Easily the best and cleverest Thursday puzzle for yonks, great fun.
My two of the day are 1d, 3a and the brilliant 10a, take a bow Mr Setter, a gem!
Well, with so many of us here being former addicts, the heroin clue was a good staring pointOh! I think I got confused there.
Hooray! World Cup Day is here.
I know that every single contributor and reader here is as excited as meSorry, I became confused again.
Groovy guzzle. Thanks to the setter and the former midfielder for Gansu Tianma.
Difficult with 15d the main culprit, abetted by 26a, leading to a DNF.
Every days a school day with the slab also new to me.
Thanks to all. 10a favourite.
Tiptop & a marked increase in difficulty. Most of it went in without too much problem until a few holdouts (5&15d + 26a) ensured the crumpet got a good scratch. Like MG I’m all in it’s a Smooth production. I was familiar with the H slang but the upright stone needed post solve confirmation & while I knew the term at 15d I can never quite remember exactly what it is.
Ticks all over the pitch – 3,10,14,22&26a along with 2,6,8,14&18d are my top ten with 8d in at number one.
Thanks to the setter & to Gazza for his usual excellent review & cartoons.
Ps I’m off to see Jason Isbell & his band at the Royal Albert Hall tonight – the last leg of his 8 gigs in the UK & Dublin before going over to the continent. Unlike most acts nowadays they don’t stick to the same setlist so you’re not sure what you are going to get & in what order. I’m hoping to hear Danko/Manuel for the first time live 🤞
Danko and Manuel – great musicians but terrible drivers…
A long, very wet, morning sorting out everything associated with our annual Christmas Food Parcel programme before getting back home and printing off today’s offering.
A frown appeared when I failed to unravel anything in the NW corner! Headed off in another direction, managed to get a foot in the door and revealed one of the best puzzles I’ve tackled for ages. Brilliant clues such as 3a, 22a, 2d, 14d and 15d, which needed read, reflect and read again before a solution emerged – I loved it all. Then started again to go through the parsing…how clever is 9d, which was the last to fall.
I had to check BRB for the Heroin synonym, obvious from the clue and checkers but new to me. Similar with the upright stone which I knew how to say but not spell!
Many thanks to today’s setter and Gazza for the hints
This gave a welcome distraction from the ongoing downpours. It was not until I reached the most southerly part that I got my first answer. From then on I made slow and steady progress. I completed it with 4 that needed help to parse, including 5d – the new slab. 9d was last in. I had 14d as my favourite. Overall quite tricky but very enjoyable and satisfying to complete.
Many thanks to the setter and to Gazza for the hints.
Above my pay grade this one – needed hints for about 6 clues – some tricky words I thought – thanks Gazza and setter
A tricky little devil that took some teasing out. I spent too long dragging my memory through Roman historians in 22a before I read the clue a bit more closely, followed the instructions and hey presto it worked. A real podium contender. Unfortunately it lost out to 10a, 18d and 8d in top spot. Thanks to compiler and Gazza.
I agree with the majority that this was an excellent guzzle with lots of daisy marks – 11,13,24 and 25a and 9d. Two (I don’t know how to do italics on my phone) Americanisms for 14a, can and John I’m surprised that has not caused comment. 1d was last one in. I did suggest the star at 1d but it didn’t seem right. The reference to Squire Tickell in yesterday’s paper prompted George to write to the editor. They’ll probably twig he’s related to that batty old woman who keeps writing in and not publish. George left out something I wanted him to say , namely a new acquaintance was trying to tell me about Kim Tickell and she said to me confidentially ‘of course, you know, Squire Tickell isn’t actually his real name. He was born Signor de Genitalia.’ She truly had no idea what she was saying. But G wouldn’t include that! Anyway, as usual I digress. Thank you so much for a very clever guzzle Mr Setter and to Sir Gazza for confirming 1d.
A very enjoyable solve that took a bit of teasing out.
I’m not convinced it’s the work of Sade for the following reasons:
1. There’s not a rekrul (or r_e_k_r_u_l) in sight
2, There are no single letters in the middle of a fat word.
3. He tends not to have rarely-seen words or expressions like the stone slab, the slang for heroin and ‘in train’
4. There are a lack of blind alleys or pitfalls
5. His number count is normally higher
It could be Zandio in a benign mood or maybe X-Type.
Anyway, back to the crossy…
The synonym of rule in 14d is a great spot and I love ‘a follower’ for the letter b. The choice of the country that has joint leaders in 29a was nicely done.
I wish I had been with the setter when they were scrolling through settlements in Hawaii that end with the first three letters of 7d. They must have been somewhat relieved when they got to the 126th most populated one, Honalo.
Marshal is one of the most-commonly misspelt words that have a single l along with pavilion, fulfil, instil, skilful and instalment.
22a is a brute of a clue as it requires you to play with a word that requires specialist knowledge. It’s that dilemma of making it a tough clue or easy by having the Roman historian in the clue. I think I’d’ve gone with the latter.
My picks are the excellent 3a, 28a and 15d.
MT to the non-Silvanus setter and Gazza.
3*/4*
Oh well that’s me on water, bread & cheese for the rest of the week then ☹️
I could well be wrong. Like you, all my chips are in.
I love the reason why highly-valued companies are called Blue-chip: in a casino, the blue one is the chip with the highest value.
Every day’s a school day and all that caper.
2.5*/4.5*. I did enjoy this puzzle which had a remarkable spread of difficulty for the clues ranging from the straightforward to the super-tough (I’m looking at you 22a) and everything in between.
I firmly believe that only those Brits who have become inured with US TV programmes would ever use the word for toilet needed in 14a.
Can anyone make any sense out of the surface reading for 15d?
8d was my favourite.
Many thanks to the setter and to Gazza.
Re 15d, a bunch of ‘interesting’ people simultaneously drop their tight-fitting ‘Kylie’ hot pants. Commas after ‘Characters’ and before ‘lower’ would have helped the surface
I’ve used the slang for ‘can’ for decades and am pretty sure I wasn’t influenced by our cousins the other side of The Pond.
I knew you would be the single exception!
Single exception?
Interesting….
No, not single! There’s a woman at the end of our street that says can/john. Only the other week she came round and asked: “Can John borrow your lawnmower?”.
*I’ll get me coat …..
Boom boom!
We love it, J.
RD, 15d. The surface is obviously a stage direction in a live production of the Female Full Momty – All characters on stage to simultaneously lower their hot pants.
Hello. We are two of those folk who lurk and comment rarely. Lunchtime has always been crossie time for us and we enjoy every puzzle. Always fun to solve, whether simple-ish or on the trickier side.
Unlurk! We are lunchtime guzzlers as well.
Yes, I agree with Daisy – please delurk! 👍
A super puzzle littered with great clues, including 10 and 22a and 8d. A slow start but it gradually came together in a most pleasing manner as I listened to Joni’s From the Roses (which on some days I’d say is her best work). Thanks very much to the setter and to Gazza.
That was a bit if a mind gym but Ingot there in the end. I struggled particularly in the NW.
Last in being 9d. 10a was a bung in .. who knew that horse was heroin .. I need to get out more!
Cotd was 24a .. that was a “light bulb” moment😊
I had 14a in fairly early on but it was only latterly did I figure out why! Incidentally, I’d never eat one as they are very sedentary and consequently are prone to being infected with parasitic worms. Enjoy!
Thanks to setter and Gazza for the hints.
Did it before going to knitter natter and could not dwell. Consequently put in “ about “ for 11 across which sort of works but I did feel a little uneasy at the time. Many answers over the years have made me feel uneasy but have been perfectly good bung ins. So technically it’s a did not finish.
My goodness it was a good puzzle. For cleverness 22 across is up there. Admit I had to go for help in spelling 15 down but still knew it was the right answer. 2 artists in one puzzle is always well received especially if they make way for football and cricket knowledge.
Gazza had his/ her work cut out today so many thanks as well as to our setter.
Hands up those who could spell 15d! Like many, I started with no hope but persevered and completed the whole thing in ******** (yes, I am retired) and feel quite chuffed. And educated. There were several words, names and slang that were new to me.
We try not to discuss solving times on the blog – please see the Comment Etiquette point 6.
Oops, sorry, lesson learnt.
Don’t worry – we’ve all done it once. 😊
** / ***
A very curious solve today. It felt very difficult but the time was a lot less, for me © etc., than yesterday! The stone slab was new to me and needed the hint to link the comedian to the synonym although obvious once I saw it.
Ticks went to the 8d indecisive princess, the 11a short distance and the 3a limitation of the definition to a short common word. Also really like the ‘a follower’ in 26a.
Many thanks to the setter and Gazza.
Some great clues with moral justification and pigs blanket taking the biscuits! Thank you Gazza and compiler
An enjoyable puzzle though I had to consult the thesaurus to confirm another name for heroin! Lots to like and agree with Shrimp’s comments re 2d and 24a. COTD 15d. Many thanks to the setter and Gazza. Relentless rain all day again and more tomorrow. Had to switch the heating on mid-afternoon and it’s June. As our dear, late, Terry Wogan would remind us ‘the nights will start drawing-back in soon’!
This was a great puzzle with some lateral thinking needed at times. I was left stuck with a few clues that I stared at for quite a while , for example 1d was one of my last few which was actually quite a simple and kind of obvious answer. 15d was also a great answer, having realised that the anagram didn’t work, the word sprang from the crevices of my brain , and yes I got the spelling wrong too. Thanks so much to the setter and to Gazza.
Didn’t know the slang for heroine in fact the strongest stimulant I’ve ever taken is probably coffee. I did know the roman historian and the stone slab though. Several contenders for favourite but I’ll go with 26a for the ‘a follower’, very droll. Thanks to the setter and Gazza.
I found this straightforward and enjoyable though several answers were obvious without me being able to parse them so thanks to Gazza for the explanations. Favourite was 3a.
This took great perseverance while watching the World Cup opener, then a while after. Last few were western, LOI was 15D – my wife’s a speech and language therapist, I’ll ask her about this tomorrow.
I think I’m the only commenter mentioning 1A – how is this ‘wood’?
Pody picks in this non-Toughie toughie – 10A and its new (to me) heroin alias, 14A’s arid fish and 26A for foxing me for ages, it was my penultimate entry, paved the way for 15D and satisfying to crack after looking at it all wrong for ages beforehand.
Many thanks to setter and to Gazza ⭐️
Hi Wriggles
In the sport Bowls, a ball is called a bowl and a wood.
Re 1a, see my reply to Bananawarp in the thread @11
‘struth, that was tough, but a good’un ! ****/****
Hello
Aha! It was you, was it.
Thank you for a very enjoyable puzzle.
Keep ’em coming.
Thanks for the very entertaining challenge.
Well I never! Big Apple Door Fitting was responsible! Thank you for the challenge, sir.
Great puzzle – knew it was set by one of my Dream Team of setters just picked the wrong one.
Thanks, Donnybrook. That felt like a Toughie to me, and after completing the bottom-half I needed Gazza’s hint for 3a to get me unstuck at the top, as well as the explanations of the bowl (thanks to the 1a cartoon) and stone slabs.
Highlights were a follower in 26a, the 14d judges, the 16d hot pants, the 17d supplement, and the 11a train.
4*/4* …
liked 15D “Characters together as one lower hot pants (9)”