Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31278
Hints and tips by Smylers
Hello. Lovely to see you all for this Monday crossword. And it would also be lovely to see you in person in Birmingham next month. All solvers, commenters, lurkers, bloggers, editors, and setters from Big Dave’s Crossword Blog are welcome to the site’s summer bash. It’s in Birmingham centre during the day of Saturday July 25th and Sloop John B has the details.
If you’re new, you’re are most definitely still invited. And don’t worry about your solving ability: this is a social occasion, not a competitive event — and of course the whole reason Big Dave set up this site and founded this community in the first place is to help those who need assistance to solve cryptic crosswords, so please don’t get the impression that gatherings (or indeed comments) are only for those who already can solve them unaided!
I really enjoyed today’s puzzle. Here are hints and explanations for the clues,
with answers hidden by the Boo! blobs.
Across
1a Bet Olive disguised sign of amorous encounter (8)
LOVE BITE: Disguise the first two words in the clue by anagramming them.
5a Fiery character‘s doctor reduced severe pain (6)
DRAGON: Start with an abbreviation for ‘doctor’. After that is a word for ‘severe pain’, which has been reduced by omitting its final letter.
10a Boozer‘s diet? (5)
LOCAL: An informal term for a boozer could also be split 2-3 and interpreted as an adjective indicating the diet form of some food or drink.
11a Separated blokes tango in US residence (9)
APARTMENT: Concatenate: an adjective meaning ‘separated’; a word meaning ‘blokes’; and the letter represented by ‘tango’ in the Nato phonetic alphabet. Chambers label this usage as ‘N Amer’, whereas Oxford have it as ‘mainly North American English’; it also encountered in the UK. When I lived in Leeds centre I preferred it for my home inside a larger building, because I was too pedantic to call it a flat when it had two floors (so definitely wasn’t flat), and the estate-agent jargon of ‘duplex’ just sounded ridiculous.
Pic credit: © Matt H Wade, CC BY-SA 3.0
12a Present for one under strain (5)
TENSE: This is a lovely double definition where the split between the two parts is nicely obscured. ‘For one’ here means ‘for instance’, the first definition being something that preseent is an example of.
13a Unfeeling, Scargill’s outfit beginning to bicker (4)
NUMB: The abbreviated name of the organization associated with Arthur Scargill is followed by the beginning of ‘bicker’.
Pic credit: Les Golding, North East Museums
14a Perfectly good penalty (4)
FINE: This one’s a double definition too: an adjective and a noun.
16a Prepared spirit measures for sporting events (5,7)
MIXED DOUBLES: Think of a particular size of spirit measures, then what a bartender might have done to prepare them with other incredients. The answer describes a particular classification of a sporting contest.
21a Cocktail and cooked food I handle, saving seconds (3-9)
OLD-FASHIONED: Cook ‘food I handle’ and the abbreviation for ‘seconds’ to spell out the name of a cocktail which is more commonly encountered in North America and which some solvers hadn’t heard of when it previously cropped up in November 2024. Have those who didn’t know it then remembered it for today?
24a Drive operation’s decline (4)
DROP: There are two abbreviations for ‘drive’ — one used in automatic cars and one on street signs. Pick the one that goes before an abbreviation of ‘operation’ to form the answer.
25a Ms Blyton‘s feast sent back (4)
ENID: The first name of a famous Ms Blyton is also a verb meaning ‘feast’ sent back to face the other way.
27a Chaucer character tempted woman to follow King Edward, at first (5)
REEVE: One of the Geoffrey Chaucer’s pilgrims is formed from the name of a woman known for being tempted following both of an abbreviation for ‘King’ and the first letter of ‘Edward’.
29a Is one unable to understand abbreviated Chinese language? (9)
CANTONESE: Here we need a synonym for ‘is one unable?’. I got it by first thinking of a word meaning ‘to be able’, then negating it, then adding the ‘one’ back in. It’s followed by another word for ‘understand’, which itself gets abbreviated by losing its final letter.
30a Bands finally catch my mistake! (5)
HOOPS: After the final letter of ‘catch’ we need something somebody might say to acknowledge ‘my mistake’.
31a On reflection, part of flat is debauched, cheap digs (6)
BEDSIT: The clue is asking us to extract part of ‘flat is debauched’ and then reflect it. Personally I find it easier to do it t’other way round: reflect the entire phrase first and then extract part of that; if you do the extraction before looking at what the letters spell in reverse, it’s going to be pure luck whether you end up with the right letters.
32a Any pilot changes hairstyle (8)
PONYTAIL: The first two words change themselves into the answer, by re-arranging their letters. At least that’s what the clue is claiming, though I found that they just sat there completely unchanging and I had to do the re-arranging myself.
Down
1d Controversial novel that’s funny and vital uncovered (6)
LOLITA: Here ‘novel’ isn’t an indicator, so stop looking for anagrams. Start with a modern informal abbreviation which can be used to indicate that the writer found something funny. After that, ‘vital’ from the clue is uncovered by having its outer letters removed.
2d Empty container in another (6)
VACANT: This is a container clue: we put one type of container inside another type of container.
3d Footballer in Accrington houses dancer (9)
BALLERINA: The answer is found housed among consecutive letters of the clue’s first few words.
4d Revolutionary new international art school (5)
TRAIN: First concatenate the abbreviation for ‘new’, an abbreviation for ‘international’ (the length of the other components will help with how short an abbreviation is required here), and ‘art’ from the clue. Then revolve the combination and enter it up the grid. The answer is a verb.
6d Judge and Republican scoffed (4)
RATE: Follow an abbreviation for ‘Republican’ with a word that’s a synonym for one of the meanings of ‘scoffed’.
7d Posh European bores interrogate a fighter (8)
GUERILLA: The letter popularized by Nancy Mitford to denote being posh and an abbreviation for ‘European’ both bore inside an informal term for ‘interrogate’. That’s all followed by the A from the clue.
8d Group of teachers formerly in Brazil? (3)
NUT: The question mark is part of the definition, indicating that ‘Brazil’ is an example of the answer, which is also the abbreviated name of a group which teachers could be a member of (until 2017, when it merged with another organization and took a new name).
9d Started liking two-armed exercises (6,2)
WARMED TO: Exercise ‘two-armed’ by moving a couple of its letters. (Don’t be misled by the mention of exercises and put in a different second word, to get something people may do when starting exercises.)
15d Each saint’s direction (4)
EAST: Abbreviate each of ‘each’ and ‘saint’ to get a direction, and thank today’s setter for including some more straightforward clues like this one, to provide crossing letters for those which are less obvious.
17d Stop taking chances, barely improved (8)
ENHANCED: A word meaning ‘stop’ takes inside it ‘chances’ from the clue after the latter has been made bare by removing its outer letters.
18d Weird article in Le Monde rude about Lima (9)
UNEARTHLY: Start with a grammatical article when may be found in Le Monde (or any writing in the French language). Follow that with a word which can mean ‘rude’, which is wrapped around the letter that ‘Lima’ represents in the Nato alphabet.
19d On the radio, praise nobleman (4)
LORD: A word meaning ‘praise’ when heard on the radio sounds like the answer.
20d Met a radio presenter over in England, drained (8)
ADJOINED: Enter in order: the A from the clue; the common abbreviation used for a radio presenter; the abbreviation which indicates an over in cricket; the ‘in’ from the clue; and the word ‘England’ drained of all its inner letters.
Pic credit: © Julie anne Johnson, CC BY 2.0
22d Animated explorer beneath iron hat (6)
FEDORA: The name of an animated explorer, who has been shown on CBeebies and other childen’s TV channels this century, goes beneath the chemical symbol for iron. If you aren’t familar with recent children’s programme’s, here are some extra hints: The explorer is female, and her name rhymes with ‘explorer’ (at least in some accents).
23d Deceitful person‘s wife, supporter of artist (6)
WEASEL: The abbreviation for ‘wife’ is followed by something an artist may use for support.
26d Because of Alien, visiting pair of performers (3,2)
DUE TO: An abbreviation for an alien (also the name of a film) visits inside a term for a pair of performers.
28d Desert US soldier protecting old bishop (4)
GOBI: The usual abbreviation for an Ammerican soldier forms protection round the outside of abbreviations for both ‘old’ and ‘bishop’.
29d Taxi caught regularly maybe (3)
CAB: The cricket abbreviation indicating ‘caught’ is followed by letters taken at regular intervals from ‘maybe’.
Quickie Pun
We don’t do star ratings for the Quick Crosswords, but I found today’s quickie significantly harder than average. The clues for the two answers on the top row are italicized, meaning that when spoken together they sound like another word, a phrase, or a name; check your answers here:
FILIP + WRATH = PHILIP ROTH
Recent Reading
Anthony Horowitz’s Hawthorne novels have always been delightfully meta, featuring as the main characters the real author Anthony Horowitz himself (writing in the first person) working in collaboration with the fictional detective Daniel Hawthorne. The characters don’t really get on, but have come to an arrangement where they make money by the author writing up the detective’s cases.
So Anthony Horowitz takes on a Captain Hastings-like role, ostensibly just recording what’s happening, but also getting in the way, drawing incorrect conclusions, and generally being much less intelligent than the actual detective. Except that in this case the real Anthony Horowitz also created the detective, so can’t actually be as witless as he portrays himself in the books. To blur things further, he occasionally mentions other real people or real events from his life among the made-up characters and events. And the actual mysteries are always very clever with delightful twists.
A Deadly Episode, the sixth in the series, somehow manages to be even more meta, because the action takes place filming a TV adaptation of the first book in the series, The Word is Murder. A book which actually exists in the real world, featuring the characters which are encountering its fictional filming in the latest book. I loved it. Whether you would probably depends on how you feel about the whole conceit of the author placing himself in a fictional setting; if you that appeals, you’ll probably be less confused starting with the first book rather than this one.
Another great start to the week but not without a couple of curveballs to catch the unwary. When it comes to clues such as 19d, I never know which word is the answer so I had to await checkers. Not liking football, my heart sank when I came to 3d only to realise after a while that it had nothing to do with the sport. My COTD is the topical spirit at 16a.
Thank you, setter for an enjoyable puzzle. Thank you, Smylers for the hints.
Morning squire.
You’re quite right when it comes to homophones when the indicator split the words which isn’t the case today. So, the answer is the one which isn’t adjacent to it.
Thanks, Tom but I will still ponder such clues and await checkers if needs be. 😊
Tom’s right: because “On the radio” is at the start of the clue, it means the term next to it, ‘praise’ has to be the homophone and ‘nobleman’ the definition.
And as Tom also points out, it would be ambiguous were the homophone indicator between the two options, but setters generally only do that when the soundalike words are of different lengths, so the enumeration disambiguates. Of course you’re welcome to solve however works for you, and waiting for crossing letters simplifies things. I just wanted to clarify to any beginners reading this exchange that setters and editors do strive to avoid clues having multiple equally correct answers.
I was caught out by smartly entering ‘dine’ when of course it should’ve have been the very obvious! When in doubt, read the question.
You are not alone – I entered dine first too
My Google check told me 7d has a double letter in the middle which stymied my completion for a while. BTW, what’s the opposite to CoD? I want to give it to 29a , a horrid clue I thought!
How about BOTD with the B being short for Boo!?
May I ask why it’s not doing it for you as I nearly put it in my top three? I thought it was beautifully constructed with a neat surface.
You can ask but I’m not sure I have a logical answer. It just rubbed me up the wrong way! Maybe it’s an apostrophe thing (I am a member of the Apostrophe Preservation Society).
Fair enough. You are quite right that an apostrophe needs removing from the wordplay to get the answer, something that I failed to mention in my hint. I’ll try to remember that kind of thing in future.
What a great society to be a member of!
I dont know how long youve been on this blog but apostrophe’s (I had to) are often not included when they should be or the other way round. So, prepare to be rubbed up the wrong way more often as it’s very common crossword etiquette.
A local village butcher used to put up as sign stating “Fresh Sausage’s”. When people went in to tell him of the mistake he explained he did it deliberately so folk would come in and tell him. He would then ask how many sausages they wanted. 😊
Yes, I am a newbie. But did you have to wind me up further with that greengrocer’s apostrophe?!!
I didn’t mean to wind you up, Crispin. If I did, I apologise.
The comment was meant for Tom, not you Steve! If I blog here more often, you’ll all get used to my sense of humour … or not!
We welcome humour, CW.
As you can see in the brackets, I couldn’t resist it. My three mistakes were a cheap shot, I admit.
Love the bangers story, SC! I do wonder if he made a mistake originally and ran with it to get himself out of jail.
Either way, it’s a belter.
What a start to the week. An amorous encounter, a controversial novel, a couple of lurks and a cocktail before 7am is not generally how I kick off my Monday mornings, but it was all in good taste. The weird 18d and the translation of 29a took a couple of read throughs before sense prevailed.
All in all, an enjoyable puzzle with some clever wordplay.
My COTD medal is going to 7d with 10a a close runner up.
Many thanks to the setter and Smylers for the hints.
Really? I always try and have at least an amorous encounter AND a cocktail before 7am. Oh, sorry – should be 7pm.
Oh Daisygirl, I do like your sense of humour and love of life. Lady P has been baking this afternoon so I’ll have a lurk in the kitchen and see whether complementing her handiwork gets me anywhere! Have a wonderful day.
An amusing start to the week with clear smooth surfaces. I had the same issue as SC with 19d, but the 21a checker solved that. The sporting events at 16a is my COTD with a special mention for the Chinese language 29a.
My thanks to the setter and Smylers
1*/3*
This was an excellent crossword, a tad harder than recent Mondays, but all the more enjoyable as a result. One of my final entries was 16a and that became my favourite.
Many thanks to our setter and Smylers.
This one took a bit more teasing out than usual on an interesting grid that contained 34 answers, 10 of which had four letters or fewer. I can’t recall a backpager that has had 36 or more.
I love the choice of Accrington as it could have been any place with the same initial letter. I have to show this great advert…
We love the setter being up-to-date with the first part of 1d.
My picks are 5a, 10a (nicely done) and 7d (great scenario).
Many thanks to one of the Monday triumvirate (Heron, X-Type and Weatherman) or has there been a fourth in the last couple of months?
3*/4*
Accrington Stanley is one of the world’s oldest footy clubs. Great advert though.
It’s probably the best name for a footy team though Hamilton Academicals give them a good run for their Scottish pound.
Indeed, and often confused with Accrington FC, who were founder members of the football league. Formed even earlier but failed to make the start of the 20th century. Local rivals Stanley were formed a few years before their demise but did not become a football league team until the early 1920’s.
And whilst on ancient football history, to be strictly correct no S on Academical !!
Good to know.
Thank you, also, for the correction. I’ve called them Academicals for yonks.
I see they are known as The Accies which is a tad ironic.
I also love the setter’s choice of Accrington and agree that’s a great advert but I’m not sure you had to post it when it’s already above, illustrating the hint for that clue!
Apologies, S. I only look at the tips when I haven’t got the answer.
Thank you for today’s blog, btw.
A nice puzzle for me if a little harder than usual .
Got caught out by 25a….doh! You’d think by now I knew how clues work……
Thanks to the setter and to Smylers.
Was beautiful up here earlier on but the clouds are gatthering now……
1*/4* from me for a delightful Monday puzzle with 16a my favourite.
Many thanks to the setter and to Smylers.
A good start to the week indeed. A sweep from NW to SE which is rare for me. A couple of daft mistakes on the way, misreading clues 2d and 25a reminds me of the saying, ‘measure twice, cut once’!
I thought this was a great start to the week. Excellent clues, not too easy and a couple of head scratchers. I was slowed down by putting my answer to 17D in to the slot for 20D but when that was sorted out finishing was straightforward. I agree with all the comments above about the merits of individual clues. My COTD goes to 10A for it’s simplicity and humour. Thanks to Smylers for the hints and to the setter.
Thai corner. A very handy tip.
Steamed buns are sold everywhere in Thailand they are delicious with a doughy exterior and are filled with either sweet fillings such as custard or meat fillings such as BBQ pork. They are cooked in huge steamers and sold on street corners or in markets. As it is impossible to know what the filling is from looking at the bun as the exteriors are identical small dots of food dye are placed on the top to show what’s inside. A red dot indicates a Char Siu pork filling and Orange a custard type interior. Ingenious eh?
Brilliant!
A gentle start to the week for me which was welcome after a busy weekend.
Top picks for me were 30a, 22d and 10a.
Thanks to Smylers and the setter.
I’m also enjoying the Anthony Horowitz Hawthorne series.
A tad trickier than of Mondays past, but good fun. For a moment I wondered if we were to be offered TU bingo as an extra, but sadly not 😄. Many contenders for cotd, but 27a gets the nod just ahead of 10a. Thanks to compiler and Smylers.
Great puzzle today – only when I read ATIB above did I see why 10A was the answer – funny! I loved 16a too. We really are spoilt by our fantastic setters, day after day of ingenious cluing or should that be clueing? Now two weeks sitting on my bum watching Wimbledon – all is right with the world. Don’t speak too soon Manders. Thanks to our setter today and to Smylers.
You’ve changed your alias from your usual ‘Manders’ so this needed moderation. Both will work from now on.
A smidgeon trickier than usual for a Monday but well up there on the enjoyment front – thanks to our setter and Smylers.
Ticks from me for 16a, 29a and 1d.
An enjoyable and gentle start to the week, an ideal Monday puzzle. Honours from me went to 7d, 20d and 1a.
Thank you to the setter and to Smylers
A very enjoyable start to what will be a busy (non-)work week including a garden party, or is it a party in a garden, on Wednesday – 1.5*/4.5*.
The Pun did need e-confirmation that there was a so named individual.
Candidates for favourite – 16a, 27a, 30a, 1d, 2d, 22d – and the winner is 30a.
Thanks to whomsoever and Smylers.
Feeble at the crossword today and it’s only Monday. There were certainly some very entertaining answers to those I got. Top notch was 10 across and 1 down in that north west corner which looked like a great start. Petered out when I could not find the sporting event which happened to be an excellent clue.
Lot of thanks to Smylers today and submit defeat to our setter.
I thought that was an excellent start to the week – reasonably accessible but with a degree of challenge and plenty of humour. 22d made me laugh and is therefore my COTD. Many thanks to the setter and to Smylers.
Ooo Err! What was wrong with my comment? I can’t see it anymore so sorry if there was something wrong with it, can’t remember what it could have been.
You used your full title! Most impressive. 🥰
That was a big mistake and completely unintentional! However I can confirm there is ‘alphabetism ‘. Allocating hotel rooms for groups etc, they usually allocate the As first and start top down. Same with group theatre bookings and other things. I was a J before I married and noticed it immediately.
* / ****
Back from holi-bobs and a lovely re-introduction to crossword-ing! Liked the humour ticks went to the empty container at 2d, 26d because of Alien and 7d’s posh European.
Many thanks to Smylers and the setter.
Nice start to the week, liked 16a best.
Led Zeppelin today 🎸
Nice to once again have a typical Monday puzzle to start the non-work week after the weekend prize puzzles. Enjoyed this one with lots of chuckles on the way through.
Going to be a busy week or six for me, so I may not appear a lot over the next while.
1.5*/4* for me
Favourites 1a, 10a, 25a, 30a, 26d & 28d — with winners 10a & 30a that both made me laugh.
Other smiles and chuckles from the rest of the favourites as well.
Thanks to setter & Smylers
Yes, typical Monday – loved it. Makes you feel good. 16a my favourite as it takes me back to my schooldays, when our Sixth formers (and most excitingly also those from Rutlish) were allowed to go to the gates at Wimbledon and as all the society people who were only there to be seen would leave at 4 to be driven back to town to prepare for the evening’s Debutante’s engagements we would be given the best seats in the house to watch the rest of the match. Maybe I have told you that before. Maybe several times. I’m sorry, you have to be kind to old ladies. I’ve never seen Dora the Explorer but it is an unforgettable title. Thanks again for the book recommendation – my choice for our Group this month is The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers by Samuel Parr. I couldn’t resist it. Im seriously wondering if Sam might be one of you ………. Many thanks to the Setter for the entertainment and to Smylers for the hints. I shall be off to the station to book my ticket for Birmingham, crazy that I can still do the splits but need to be helped on and off a train. Well, it’s more for poor old George, really.
I also really enjoyed that book Daisy. I recommended it on here several months ago and wondered if any of our fellow Big Dave members could be any of the characters. Hope your book club like it too.
Some fine clues today.
I fixed many a 21A in my time as a bartender in Atlantic City also quite a few 16As.
Your photo of the late Sir Terry reminds me of a notice that I saw on the wall of a TV studio some years ago: “Defense de Fumer! Verboten Terry Wogan!!” The Eurovision Song Contest hasn’t been the same since.
A fairly ynusual grid, as has been said, made thisxpuzzle tricky in places s d it was vharder to use the checkers. I liked the fun and games with mixed drinks at 16a, the lurker at 3d and the little well-concealed homophone at 19d. Thanks to the compiler and to Smylers for the hints.
A super puzzle with a couple that took a bit more working out than is the norm for a monday (I’m talking about you Mr 29a!)
All great fun and ticks a plenty. Thanks to the setter. And to Smylers for the excellent blog. In a strange coincidence I picked up this very book from my library and am eager to get started as the previous ones have been excellent.
I’m just learning cryptics, and I cannot understand (in 29a) what licenses ONE to come after CANT when the clue text would suggest otherwise, and there is no positional indicator. Can someone explain to me please?
Hi, Pauls — thank you for commenting, and welcome to Big Dave’s Crossword Blog.
That’s a great question, and I’m sure one may others will be wondering about. The answer is that the phrase “Is one unable to?” gets translated to “Can’t one?”, so there isn’t anything in the cryptic instructions telling you which order to but the words in. It’s just that in English those phrases put the verb and subject in different orders (something that is linguistically interesting, but is beyond my abilities to explain).
Or maybe it’s actually easier to think of the entire phrase “Is one unable to understand?” turning into “Can’t one see?”, and then “abbreviated” applies to the phrase as a whole rather than just the last word. Thinking about it, it might have been neater if I’d hinted it like that.
Very enjoyable and completed earlier today. Lots of excellent clues so difficult to pick a favourite but I will go for the apt 16a.
Now I need to try yesterdays puzzle which I never had time to do.
Many thanks to the setter and to Smylers for the hints.
Apart from an embarassing moment when the Chinese escaped me (Niece speaks both Chinese languages after teaching there for ages) a nice Monday puzzle. Plenty of literature too. (Nabakov in 1d and Philip Roth in the pun), but I think Smylers recommendation of the Horowitz is better than either of those.
Thanjs to setter and Smylers and double tbanks for mentioning the get together. I can only repeat that all will be welcome and it will be a fun day out. I will be updating the post, with final information soon and asking for names and numbers
I too thought this was a bit up a notch from a usual Monday but still quite gentle and enjoyable. I am glad to see I wasn’t the only one to have entered 25a the wrong way round. I also spelt 7d incorrectly which meant my last one in was 14a as one of the checkers was wrong. I am still feeling quite lethargic , and just need to force myself to have an early night I think. Thanks to the setter Smylers.
I am sohappy to read I am not the only one with spelling issues😀 My spelling lets me down frequently.
I actually found this hard for a Monday and was genuinely concerned that I could be a DNF!! Took me almost twice as long as a usual start the week. Maybe I wasn’t in the right wavelength
Liking the cocktail theme in 18a & 21a however I think my COTD has to be 30a. We have airb&b hosts in France, have visited many times, and they have a lovely dog named Oops! So this clue made me smile.
Thanks all and fingers crossed tomorrow will be “the one”
In the Monday+ club for today’s crossword but despite wanting to put Congolese in 29a for some random reason soon came to my senses. Thanks to both.
1.5* / 3.5* A good puzzle to start the week, most enjoyable.
Favourites today are the weird 18d, the amourous sign at 1a and the deceitful person at 23d
Thanks to Smylers and compiler
I tried for ages to make an 8 letter word out of 1a. Surprised to find the answer is 4,4 instead. Was the on line clue incorrect?
Hello, BusyLizzie. Good point! I just presumed it was a single word — it feels like a single word to me — but dictionaries I’ve checked have a space in there (or a hyphen in some citations).
A great start to the week. Not difficult though maybe a tad trickier than recent Mondays & tomorrow’s puzzle will very likely be. I always think 21a is such a terrific name for a cocktail – neat that it came underneath 16a too. Lots to like – 16&29a + 1,20,22&26d the ones that stood out for me.
Thanks to the setter & to Smylers – 👍 for that rendition of Drive & for the ad
A late Monday night solve amid very busy times, and the football (watching Germany v Paraguay extra time right now).
Enjoyed this slightly harder than average Monday. Had a little trouble in SE, LOI was 23D, needed the hint to parse weird 18D, my main protagonist… EARTHY means rude? I didn’t know this.
Pody picks are Dora’s 22D hat, 7D’s fighter and 14A’s penalty seeing as I might be watching a bunch of them in 15 minutes’ time… ⚽️
Many thanks to Smylers and setter ⭐️
And what a dramatic shoot-out it was! Go Paraguay!
2*/4* …
liked 16A “Prepared spirit measures for sporting events (5,7)”