Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31272
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from my lakeside retreat near Ottawa where an overcast, rainy Saturday gave way to a warm, sunny Sunday.
Today we have the expected introductory gentle warmup to ease us into this week’s slate of puzzles.
I must give a shout out to Senf who came to my rescue on the Quickie pun. I discover I have been mispronouncing the answer my entire lifetime.
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 A rebel news broadcast showing energy resources (10)
RENEWABLES — an anagram (broadcast) of the first three words of the clue
6a Spoils Bruno, perhaps? (4)
MARS — double definition, the second an American singer-songwriter
10a Stand-in worker with zero speed (5)
TEMPO — the shortened name for a stand-in worker and the letter that looks like a zero
11a Like individual I included for criticism (9)
ASPERSION — a synonym for like followed by an individual into which the I from the clue is inserted (included)
12a Snug, if he ordered way of arranging furniture (4,4)
FENG SHUI — an anagram (ordered) of the first three words of the clue
13a Follow storyteller, returning after end of account (5)
TRAIL — reverse (returning) the teller of fabricated stories following (after) the final letter (end) of ACCOUNT
15a Crooked dealer in hotel getting different result (7)
HUSTLER — the letter represented by hotel in the NATO phonetic alphabet and an anagram (different) of RESULT
17a Hair cut initially, diamonds used instead, as clothes! (7)
DRESSES — start with a feature of a hair cut (or perhaps lack of cut) and replace its first letter by the letter used to represent the card suit diamonds (initally … used instead)
18a Hires some workers, e.g. Agnes from the east (7)
ENGAGES — a reverse lurker (some … from the east) concealed in the words between the indicators
21a Nearly perfect elbow in type of suit? (7)
BESPOKE — all but the last letter (nearly) of another word for perfect and a synonym for elbow as a verb
23a Part of a score that’s the same either way (5)
MINIM — the answer is a palindrome (the same either way)
24a Day before awful fog hit, hiding Germany’s leader in aerial combat (8)
DOGFIGHT — the single letter for day preceding (before) an anagram (awful) of FOG HIT into which is inserted (hiding) the initial letter (leader) of GERMANY
27a Good person by road, eating fish, choked (9)
STRANGLED — the abbreviatons for a good (religious) person and road containing (eating) fish as a verb
28a Permit to lie around topless (5)
ALLOW — remove the initial letter (topless) from a word denoting to lie around (out of production, such as farmland)
29a Young animal shows part of leg (4)
CALF — double definition
30a Ms Jones, perhaps, with personal capital in the West Indies (10)
BRIDGETOWN — Ms Jones who kept a personal journal and a synonym for personal
Down
1d Cry of frustration as heavenly body rises (4)
RATS — a reversal (rises in a down clue) of a heavenly body or celestial object
2d Book for anaesthetists? (7)
NUMBERS — double definition, a book of the Bible and a whimsical description of medical professionals who induce a lack of sensation
3d Grown wild? That’s not correct (5)
WRONG — an anagram (wild) of GROWN
4d Black bubbles? Nonsense! (7)
BLATHER — the single letter for black and soap bubbles
5d English parliamentarian, bound to be discharged (7)
EMPTIED — abbreviations for English and parliamentarian and a synonym for bound or constrained
7d Cruelly, ma nails creatures (7)
ANIMALS — an anagram (cruelly) of MA NAILS
8d Performed with some girls – aviators, maybe? (10)
SUNGLASSES — performed vocally in a musical sense and some Scottish girls
9d Pigs’ feet for Del Boy’s family (8)
TROTTERS — double definition, the second alluding to the television programme Only Fools and Horses
14d Use chemist to rewrite paper covered in notes (5,5)
SHEET MUSIC — an anagram (to rewrite) of the first two words of the clue
16d Connective tissue – mangle it badly (8)
LIGAMENT — an anagram (badly) of MANGLE IT
19d Non-specific rank (7)
GENERAL — double definition
20d Leatherworker not so happy housing student? (7)
SADDLER — a word denoting not so happy containing (housing) the symbol displayed by a learner driver
21d Claim father reported in ancient city (7)
BAGHDAD — the answer sounds like (reported) other words for claim or secure and father
22d Old time greeting for Shakespearean hero (7)
OTHELLO — abbreviations for old and time and a word of greeting
25d One put a value on cross (5)
IRATE — the Roman numeral for one and a verb meaning put a value on
26d Southern, very pale bird (4)
SWAN — the single letter for Southern and a word denoting very pale
What in this puzzle stood out for you? Let us know in the comments below.
Quickie pun:: TURPS + HICKORY = TERPSICHORE
On This Day …
… in 1971, Joni Mitchell released her celebrated fourth album, Blue. Written after a break-up with Graham Nash and amid a budding romance with James Taylor, the album explores all of the emotions that come with a relationship and features several of the Canadian singer-songwriter’s most enduring songs, including “California,” “A Case of You,” and “River.” Long regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time, Blue was a commercial success upon its release, landing in the Top Ten in the UK and Canada, and peaking at No.15 in the US.
The Spirit of Rufus is with us! */*****
Candidates for favourite – 6a, 21a, 29a, 2d, and 8d – and the winner is 8d.
Thanks to whomsoever and Falcon.
A gentle start to the week. I couldn’t work out the Quickie pun and now I’ve seen the answer I wouldn’t have got it in a million years! Will have to look up what it means.
Top picks for me were LOI 21a, 8d and 14d.
Thanks to Falcon and the setter.
I’ll help you out on the Pun – the muse of dance and choral song in ancient Greek mythology (with a definite ‘ee’ sound at the end).
Thank you. I doubt I’ll remember it but you never know!
At school in the first year we did Terpsichore in strange pale green short tunics slit right up the sides with ties holding them together, navy blue knickers in full view. We followed the leader weaving round the room. Very weird. We were all glad when that stopped.
Me too with the quickie, I’ve no idea how to pronounce it😂
I’d vaguely heard of the ‘terpsichorean’ variant in respect of dancing, but didn’t know the source. I’m indebted to Senf for giving the low-down.
It made an appearance in Monty Python and the cheese shop sketch, as in “I am one who delights in all manifestations of the terpsichorean muse.”
I was beginning to lose faith in my rookie cryptic ability, especially after yesterday’s horrendously difficult PP, as this was my first unaided completion in months. I’m nothing if not tenacious. If I don’t cross the finishing line I feel I shouldn’t comment. I love reading this blog everyday, following the lives of all you lovely, interesting people. LOI the aviators at 8d. Great puzzle. Thanks to the setter and to Falcon.
Please don’t think you have to complete the puzzle in order to comment. Many of us on here don’t complete it every time. It’s always good to hear what people think and which clues, if any, they enjoyed. We are all on here to learn from each other, that’s how I look at it anyway.
Hi, Debonair. As Madflower says, please do comment even if you need help to finish the crossword.
Apart from it being more fun that way (we get to hear from more people!), it’s also useful as a blogger to hear which clues people used hints for (to help anticipate in future which types of clues people find trickier, for hinting future crosswords).
Yesterday’s was horrendous I thought too , and I posted yesterday with barely a few clues completed . I had started late yesterday , so went on to the blog to see how others felt given I was struggling. Even now I still have 2 left to complete !
Thanks to Madflower, Smylers and Jenny m for encouraging me to comment more frequently. I now intend to do so
You definitely don’t have to finish to comment. I am 5 hours behind and don’t tackle these until 7pm UK time, so I don’t always comment as I doubt many are still reading the blog by dinner time over there. But it’s nice to read when others share your delight with a great puzzle, or their frustrations with a decidedly chewy one.
A gentle start to the week for me. Very enjoyable.
Thanks to the setter and to Falcon.
Thankfully we are not yet experiencing the extreme heat here….overcast and cool….which suits me just fine.
A nice gentle puzzle to start the week with nothing too onerous. 21a was last in waiting for its initial letter from the city at 21d. 30a, 18a & 8d were the pick of the bunch for me.
Thanks to the setter and to Falcon for the Joni Mitchell tribute.
1*/3*
Lovely gentle start to the week, with lots to enjoy
Many thanks to the setter and Falcon
Very straightforward indeed until I came unstuck on 21d and 21a (which obviously share a starting letter). Those two took longer than the rest of the puzzle and I was forced to reveal the aforementioned starting letter, after which they both fell in moments. Really quite annoyed with myself.
0.5*/4* excluding those two clues
3*/3* including them
A delightful start to the week, which provided me with enough challenge to tick the brain over at an appropriate level for a Monday. I did think there was a little too much specialised GK e.g. 6A, 8D, 9D, 30A, 22D. Lots of great clues to pick a COTD from, 13A gets my vote for its simplicity.
Thai corner. Why do the Thais seem to stutter.
As mentioned previously any noun when counted in Thai must have a classifier unlike English where only uncountable nouns require a classifier. In Thai a lot of the classifiers are also the same as the noun that they refer to. The classifier for leaf is leaf, bottle is bottle, body is body etc. This means that when Thais form a sentence where the classifier and the noun are the same they have to repeat it. The sentence thus becomes (don’t forget no plural form in Thai), leaf two leaf, body four body, bottle three bottle, which can seem strange to a western ear.
It certainly is!
Thank you, Thaike. Very interesting.
Change in routine today due to the heat and dog walking – it was lovely and breezy but will be a nightmare later. Pleased the puzzle was a gentle offering, as I really struggled with yesterday’s needing hints and still have 2 clues to complete. Thanks so much to the setter and Falcon.
This was a real pleasure after the tussel yesterday, or should that be tussle? Lovely day here but off to the hospital in Norwich shortly to have a laser guided steroid injection into my shoulder – what could possibly go wrong. As our usual route is closed for lengthy roadworks will have to rely on satnav which told us, correctly, we were lost last time and then turned itself off! Hey ho. thanks to the setter and to Falcon – perhaps someone can tell us how to pronounce the quickie.
Good luck Manders with both the injection and the navigation.
Sitting in the waiting room which is air conditioned!!! Journey a nightmare even with satnav as she leaves everything to the last minute, still here now.
I had a steroid injection for my stiff neck and shoulders two weeks ago. They stuck it in my bottom!! I wondered if it had a navigation system to go north instead of south- in fact it has made no difference at all.
Ha ha! Didn’t have the injection, consultant said no point, now down for a shoulder replacement.
Hi M
It rhymes with: ”Burps!”….”Hic!”….. ”Cory!!!’
It’s spelt ‘tussle’ that has the same final four letters as ‘hassle’ which have a natural relationship.
A very friendly start to the week that didn’t cause any headaches.
My picks are 2d, 14d and 2d.
Many thanks to, I reckon, Heron and Falcs.
1*/2*
Excellent start to the week. My cotd from many contenders is the aerial combat at 24a. Thanks to compiler and Falcon.
A nice mixture: some answers in straight away, some that took a few passes, and the last couple holding out for a while once the rest was compete. The quickie pun was beyond me, though, so thank you to Falcon and Senf for that one.
Highlights included the 17a haircut, the 23a part of a score, and the girls performing in 8d. Thank you to the setter for the enjoyment.
I took some time for to remember the 6a Bruno. Looking up tracks by them, this one was played in the disco at a friends’ wedding a few years ago:
I do like clues like that, though: things which are well-known by much of the population but not necessarily by traditional cryptic-crossword solvers help give newbies a chance and encourage a new generation into this hobby.
Based on your comment at 3 above about which ones to clue this was one of the more niche clues with not obvious crossing letters to help, so a picture of the aforesaid singer with his name shouting itself was more an “answer” than a hint !! 😀.
The number of early tesponses from the gang today compared to yesterday tells its own tale, a very friendly guzzle. I likedthe 1a and 12a anagrams and the geographical clue at 30a. Thanks to the compiler and toFalcon for the hints. Your lakeside retreat, Falcon, sounds wonderfully cool as the temperatures soar ever higher into the 80’s and 90’s F here. At least there’s a breeze here in rural Oxfordshire.
A delightful start to boost the confidence which was rather dented yesterday. 8d was my favourite and rather suitable for this weeks forecast, especially as we are now in the red zone.
Many thanks to the setter and to Falcon for the hints.
1*/4*. Just right for a Monday back-pager.
8d was my favourite.
Many thanks to the setter and to Falcon.
Not too challenging but many elegant and witty clues. 30a was my favourite although it took me a while to parse. 21a was my last in and took as long as much of the rest of the puzzle combined as I failed to alight on the appropriate definition of elbow. Thanks very much to the setter and to Falcon.
21a also my loi. Found this hardly half a * and am sure there will be some anagram grumbles. But as a xword at the lighter end of the spectrum I am sure most would welcome its appearance!
Thanks to both 👍
PS I won’t mention the unmasking of the pun before I had got to it……oops! 🤨😉
Now look here, just be grateful I’m not updating you about the kitchen.
I’m thinking of standing in the contest to become Prime Minister. When I win I intend to choose Daisy as Secretary of State for Culture, Media, and Sport (she has a growing knowledge of the latter). Senf will be Foreign Secretary, and Cryptic Sue will be Chancellor as she is so sensible. I’m going to put ChrisCross in charge of the NHS.
Smylers will have a special role as Minister For The Far Away Regions. Colonel Bagshot will be Home Secretary.
The dream team!
Thanks to the kindly setter and The Bird Of Prey (Minister For Greek Mythology)
Thank you for my part, ive certainly had experience at the point of delivery! We couldn’t make a worse muddle than the present incumbents could we? But then the road to hell is paved with good intentions,vso they tell me.
And there’s obviously worse to come!
I’ll vote for this team. 👍
So will i!
After the traumas of the weekends tricky PPs this was a relief. Pleased to have completed unaided with 21a the last in as I was sidetracked by the wrong type of suit!
I started by putting Grace in as the beginning of 30a and then I tried the word sngle these blunders made me think I was doomed. However the rest fell easily and within my target time.
1a is my favourite today merely because its topical as we are fighting big corporates plans to build an enormous wind farm on the moors that form part of the Bronte moors that the sisters wandered on.
I do feel a bit of a NIMBY but the site of Wuthering Heights is not the place for a wind farm.
Anyway down off my soapbox
Enjoyable solve thanks all
Sat outside with a cuppa at 6.45 this morning and it was already warm…crossword and garden tasks completed early, it’s going to be a sizzler.
What a difference a day makes. After yesterday’s struggle, perhaps hindered by a couple of glasses of St Emilion that may not have reached the parts other reds would have, we were back on terra ferma today. Gentler that some Monday’s we have seen but I enjoyed it, excellent wordplay and nothing too obscure.
A couple of years living in Singapore helped me to understand 12a and apart from that everything else seemed very straightforward.
COTD was the good person by the road at 27a
As an aside – Telegraph Puzzles Newsletter. Clue of the Week. To my ear ‘Cow’ would have been a better solution.
Couldn’t see that clue of the week, whether it is cat or cow, just didn’t make any sense to me.
A nice easy start to the week.
Interesting 28a I removed W to get the answer but Falcon’s better suggestion also works.
My thanks to the setter and Falcon
I too removed a W
I removed a W too.
Ditto – Flanders and Swann’s Hippopotamus Song instantly came to mind when I read the clue!
Infuriatingly I haven’t been able to get that song out of my mind all day
Add me to the list of ‘Ws’. I am sure the setter intended it to be, but I’m usually wrong in my predictions.
Me too with W!
Definitely an ‘F’ for me
F for me too
Enjoyed this one today! And another one on the W list for 28a!
I also parsed 17a slightly differently to above as the hair being cut initially (-T)
I think the aviators was my COTD although it took me longer than it should have. I blame the heat. Elbow/suit also my last in.
Enjoyed this one today! And another one on the W list for 28a!
I also parsed 17a slightly differently to above as the hair being cut initially (-T)
I think aviators at 8d was my COTD although it took me longer than it should have. I blame the heat. Stared at 21a elbow/suit for a long while before the penny dropped, so that was my last in.
Another one in the F camp here.
A gentle and enjoyable start to the week – thanks to the setter and Falcon.
Like Jimbob I thought that the letter to be deleted in 28a was W (thinking of a hippo lying around in a muddy pool).
Top clues for me were 27a, 30a and 21d.
For me this seemed a tad harder than normal Monday, but It has been a very busy Sunday for me being Father’s Day and doing other more important stuff than cross wording, so I am pelting through this very late on Sunday evening.
2*/3*
Favourites 12a, 29a, 7d, 8d, 9d & 22d — with winner 9d
Thanks to setter & Falcon
A lovely gentle puzzle to startbthe crosswording week. I was another who deleted the W not an F at 28a.
Thanks setter and Falcon
As gentle and welcome today’s puzzle was, I initially got confused by 14d until I realised I had the two words the wrong way around😆
Dire Straits 🎸 today – somewhat apposite description of our great nation given the news from No 10 😳
And I was thinking fallow! A great start to the week, completed sitting in the garden with half an avocado and an apple juice. I am deeply honoured by the suggested appointment in government but might decline if it means travelling to Westminster each day. On the other hand it might give me the opportunity of ordering three coffee machines (one for each department) and a Lalique cruet – I hate the thought of a motor home, if I’m on holiday someone else does the work. I’ll let you know – of course the upside would be my lovely fellow ministers. My hot news is that I Wordled in Two this morning which brings my total of ‘twos’ to 26. I really enjoyed the guzzle, amazingly I knew Bruno and I got 1a even though I am not sure what renewables are. No, don’t bother to explain – I can live without them. I just agree they should not be put in Brontë country. Thanks to the Setter for mentioning George’s beloved 21’s, and to Falcon for the aviators explanation.
‘Wordle me Durdles’ in two is a splendid effort.
I was happy with three!
I’m afraid I took six goes! I just could not get the order of the vowels.
I took 4 today.
It’s a great feeling to get the best score on the planet because, as sure as eggs is eggs, no one would have got today’s in one (I had to)
Daisy rocks!
Again….
None of my 2s are that special, i.e it’s highly likely that someone got it in one. However, my son got quark in 2 which no one probably got in one.
An exclusive club.
Saying that, I got idiom and quail in 2.
Oh, do shut-up, Tom.
Can I remind you I did solve in one?
Pure luck, of course but I wonder if anyone else has solved in one?
Ah, yes. I had forgotten.
Lucky, lucky you.
I suppose if you do the same high-frequency word, it’s a matter of time.
Was your word a one-off or did you use it repeatedly?
1* / 4* After having chauffeuring duties at 4.15am I needed a gentle puzzle to start the week and this was perfect.
Favourites today include 21a suit, 4d nonsense (good word) and the 8d aviators
Thanks to Falcon and compiler
Ps One bonus of the early start did mean a saw a barn owl and a tawny owl within seconds of each other on my drive
only an american could have got 6A. BRUNO MARS.
Who he?
UK clues only PLEASE
Bruno’s not really that obscure he’s had five No1 singles and two No.1 albums in the UK !
Surely it’s how well known somebody is in the UK that’s relevant, not their nationality? Unless you think it’s fine for clues to involve Olivia Dean (a UK singer with much recent success, including being at number 1 for a quarter of the past year) but not, say, Elvis Presley (an American)?
For a crossword appearing in The Daily Telegraph, there have been many articles about, reviews of, and interviews with Bruno Mars over the past 15 years from which Telegraph readers could have learnt of his existence. For instance, here’s Neil McCormick giving a London show 4 stars.
It’s entirely reasonable not to have heard of him; everybody has areas they aren’t interested in, and it’s also reasonable to skip those sections of newspapers and other media. But clues are going to feature people and things from those sections, so we just have to accept that sometimes we won’t know something. That doesn’t make the clue unfair. If a clue features somebody I wasn’t previously aware of (like today’s quickie pun), I treat that as a hint that perhaps I should know of them.
Well said, Smylers – my thoughts exactly.
My goodness 15 years!! I would have guessed 5 at the most it’s true time speeds up the older you get
It’s true, SC. I’m already at next Saturday.
I was expecting 10 years, till I noticed The Telegraph carried a brief review of his first album in 2011 (also 4 stars, as it happens).
There are many of us Brits doing these cryptics from around the world, and we’re often stretched to come up with TV shows etc that aired after we left, personalities that we’ve never heard of etc. I’m not into music, but even I have heard of Bruno Mars. It’s an English puzzle, but it would be a shame if it excluded words etc from around the globe.
Mostly favourable comments – thank you all. I didn’t think Bruno was that obscure – I don’t listen to “pop radio”; but I’d heard of him for quite a while, now.
And I suppose my classically-leaning education made me go for the Quickie pun: once again, I didn’t think it was that obscure a word/person. See you again sometime…
Thank you, X-Type. It was a lovely puzzle to solve and even I have heard of Mr. Mars.
Thanks for popping in, X-Type.
Can you adjudicate between the F-ers and W-ers on your intended interpretation of 28a?
Thanks for popping in & claiming ownership.
A very enjoyable puzzle that I didn’t find quite the doddle others seem to have done. 8d was my fav with podium spots for 8&30a.
Thanks also to Falcon – I was in the W deletion camp but the F was my initial thought.
Had to take a lady to Princess Royal in Telford today so late on parade.
Like others, I thought this to be a great start to the week. I always forget the anaesthetists at 2d and I should have committed it to memory by now but it refuses to stay put. I loved the casting of nasturtiums at 11a and the aviators at 8d but my COTD goes to the awful fog at 24a.
I also removed “W” from the hippo’s bath and I think it is the better of the two words.
I also knew the Quickie pun. I guess some of the classics lessons have stuck.
Thank you, setter for a fun puzzle. Thank you, Falcon for the hints, which were not needed but were read and appreciated.
A really enjoyable puzzle after the weekend. Completed yesterday’s this afternoon as too many interruptions yesterday including a hospital visit. The latter involved walking down a long corridor and I enjoyed the coolness after the heat outside. However, I realised how lucky I was after leaving a completely hot and airless ward. By the end of my visit it wasn’t just the patients that were suffering from respiratory problems. I couldn’t wait to get outside!
Lots to like today including the anagrams. LOI 8d as I was held up with 11a. Many thanks to the Setter and Falcon. Couldn’t get the pun due to mispronunciation!
What a relief to finally have X-Type reveal him/herself as no one had plumped at identifying
the setter. I started at a gallop with three-quarters almost R & W but ground to a walking pace in the SE with clever 30a last to to go in. Not necessarily sure about performed in 8d. AI’s becoeme
increasingly obtuse e.g. 7d. At least the week has kicked off in gentle manner. Thanks X-Type and Falcon.
Wow, just completed in my fastest ever time, although I am sure there are better solvers than myself who would have taken far less time, without any reference to any external assistance. After some of the head scratchers of recent days this was a welcome relief, not sure how it rated 2*. No real standout clues but as usual thanks to the setter and to Falcon for the hints.
One minor complaint, surely the picture for 8d should have been of Maverick!
As straightforward as they come and most welcome after the weekend’s brain mangling. 21a was also my loi but as I’ve said before something has to be. Add me to the list deleting a ‘W’. Favourite was 8d. Thanks to X-Type and Falcon.
I must get out more. Finished quickly but 8d I got with no idea of why the aviators until I googled it!
Evening all 😊. What a lovely start to the week after yesterday (and Friday) when I once again began to think it was time to throw in the towel. Thanks to the setter for this treat and to Falcon,
BL – A change of e-mail address sent you into moderation; both should work from now on.
It’s been quite a day, I’m pleased to finish it with a crossword, a gentle one, and the football.
I don’t track my solving times generally, but I do know this is my second fastest since coming back to the fold in January.
11A was LOI, only because I’d spelt it wrong such that the parsing didn’t make sense. Pody picks are 15A’s hustler, 8D’s specs which don’t suit me unfortunately, and 5D’s parliamentarian which is right on the money today!
Many thanks to setter and to Falcon – GREAT to see the Joni feature, Blue is one of my top 5 faves for sure. 💜
At 28a, I may well have removed a W had I continued through the alphabet to that point rather than stopping at the first remotely plausible option.
I would like to thank Terence for nominating me as a member of his cabinet, However, I fear there may be constitutional obstacles — no Canadian has sat in the British cabinet since the Imperial War Cabinet during World War I.
2*/3* …
liked 24A “Day before awful fog hit, hiding Germany’s leader in aerial combat (8)”