Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31291
Hints and tips by Huntsman
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BD Rating – Difficulty * Enjoyment ****
A dull overcast start to the day & comparatively chilly outside with the welcome benefit that the temperature in my flat has now fallen to a tolerable 25C.
I thought today’s Anthony Plumb production was a fair bit easier than yesterday’s offering. As ever nicely clued throughout & with some neat surfaces. I enjoyed it much more than last week’s puzzle so I’ll be interested to see what others make of it.
Our regular Sunday prize puzzle setter is on duty over in t’other place & Tuesday Toughies are invariably very accessible so well worth dipping your toes into slightly deeper waters. Whybird is on hand to chuck in a rubber ring if you get into any difficulty.
As usual there is a selection of music to enjoy or ignore.
In the hints below the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED & the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the Click Here buttons. Please leave a comment below telling us what you thought & how you got on with the puzzle.
Across
1a This could be apt thing done by Ginger Rogers? (3-7)
TAP DANCING: we kick off with a reverse anagram. The 4th (well spotted Steve) word is the fodder then think of an appropriate indicator to give you something Fred’s partner was a dab hand at.
6a Musical ensemble repelled by ordinary place in Norway (4)
OSLO: reverse (repelled) the acronym for the ensemble whose home is at the Barbican then append the single letter for O[rdinary].
10a Papa illegally obtained old picture (5)
PHOTO: P[apa] (NATO alphabet) + adjectival slang for illegally obtained/stolen + the single letter for O[ld].
11a Giving cook organic cod with nothing removed (9)
ACCORDING: an anagram (cook) of [o]RGANIC COD (nothing removed).
12a Judgement broadcast in French church (8)
SENTENCE: a synonym for broadcast + the French for ‘in’ + the usual two letter abbreviation for our protestant church.
13a Fibrous material that’s produced shiny long trousers (5)
NYLON: hidden (trousers).
15a Musk is calm with all closures abandoned in Chicago? (7)
MUSICAL: remove the last letter (all closures abandoned) from the 1st three words in the clue. Definition by example.
17a Trouble for no female in ship’s crew (7)
SAILORS: insert (in) a verb meaning to trouble + [f]OR (no F[emale]) in between the usual two letter ship prefix.
19a Almost injure head getting tackle on horse? (7)
HARNESS: truncate (almost) a verb meaning to injure then append a geographical head/promontory.
21a Description of Cleopatra? Fair, devious, cold and short (7)
AFRICAN: an anagram (devious) of FAIR + C[old] + AN[d] (short). Neat clue.
22a Little container in street (5)
SCANT: place a container within the two letter abbreviation for street.
24a Put down ‘er instrument (8)
RECORDER: a synonym for ‘put down’ in an audio context + ‘ER. Nowt to do with a Cockney putting a lass back on her feet.
27a Actress and I tangled crossing a set of steps (9)
STAIRCASE: an anagram (tangled) of ACTRESS I. A close call for the musical clip but Peter Griffin edged out Robert Plant.
28a Where drivers might stop, somewhat unable to move backwards (5)
MOTEL: hidden in reverse (somewhat/backwards).
29a Concluded poet lacks heart (4)
DONE: remove the central letter (lacks heart) from the surname of one of the metaphysical poets – memories of A Level English Lit back in the day.
30a Still paper’s delivered (10)
STATIONARY: a homophone (delivered) if a synonym for paper. I still have to pause & think which vowel to use – no doubt Tom has a trick to help remember which is which.
Down
1d Trump put on small crowns (4)
TOPS: a synonym for trump/outdo + S[mall]. Nowt to do with orange fella.
2d Model poses for Harvard’s third employee there? (9)
PROFESSOR: an anagram (model) of POSES FOR then append HaRvard’s (third/letter).
3d Close to a fight (5)
ABOUT: A from the clue + a term for a fight/boxing match.
4d Fashion designer pens new guide (7)
CHANNEL: a French fashion house goes around (pens) the single letter for N[ew].
5d Steal golfer’s coins in America (7)
NICKELS: a slang term for steal/pilfer + the surname of a South African four time Major winner affectionately known as The Big Easy.
7d Something chemist might give you after beginning of stomach upset (5)
SPILL: possible medicine from the pharmacy preceded by (after) S[tomach] (beginning of).
8d Sorting out Iran’s going badly (10)
ORGANISING: an anagram (badly) of IRANS GOING – no sh*t, Sherlock! though some would have you believe otherwise.
9d Border force operating after Republican row (8)
FRONTIER: 4 bits of lego in this charade – the physics single letter for F[orce] + R[epublican] + the usual for operating/working + a synonym for row/rank.
14d Stressed European politician has promised 50 per cent off (10)
EMPHASISED: E[uropean] + in the UK a constituency politician + HAS from the clue + [prom]ised (50% off).
16d Animal found guarding historic city (8)
CREATURE: insert AP’s oft used city-state in ancient Mesopotamia (now Iraq) into a verb synonym for found/institute.
18d Group of players generating the roars outside clubs (9)
ORCHESTRA: an anagram (generating) of THE ROARS goes around the card suit abbreviation for C[lubs].
20d Chauffeur perhaps specified collecting right vehicle (7)
SERVANT: insert (collecting) R[ight] + a road vehicle for transporting goods or people into a synonym for specified or prescribed.
21d Very old social worker keeping inactive on a regular basis (7)
ANCIENT: insert (keeping) the even letters (on a regular basis) of [i]N[a]C[t]I[v]E into a social worker from the Formicidae family.
23d American advantage once more (5)
AGAIN: A[merican] + a synonym for advantage/profit.
25d Young lover’s little jumper enthralling this writer (5)
ROMEO: a personal pronoun for how the writer may refer to himself placed within (enthralling) an abbreviated term for a jumper found Down Under.
26d Waste time dropping off daughter’s friend (4)
ALLY: delete (dropping off) the genealogical single letter for D[aughter] from a verb meaning to waste time.
I’ll plump for 21a as my pick of the clues today & I also liked a good few of the others – 15&28a + 8,9,14&21d among them. Please let us know which clues you liked best.
Today’s Quick crossword pun: GOA + LONG + WHEY = GO A LONG WAY
Having just nabbed two of the few remaining tickets to see her at the Royal Albert Hall in November this morning’s listening has been my Melody Gardot playlist. Here’s the official music video to a track off her Currency of Man album, which was the first song I ever heard sung by her.
I found this somewhat of a strange puzzle in that I had answers before I had fully parsed many of the clues. All in all, I found it a bit of a struggle with only four solved after the first pass but I eventually crossed the line. Yet another way to clue an old favourite at 18d – I wonder if anyone has counted them? Another visit by POTUS at 1d who is probably visiting to cancel the by-election in Clacton. (No politics, Cowling). My COTD is Ginger at 1a, which I thought quite brilliant.
Thank you, Professor for what was, for me, a challenge. Thank you, Hintsman for the hunts.
An enjoyable puzzle with the NW holding out the longest. Took me ages to spot the 28a lurker. I got the answer but couldn’t parse it until I looked more carefully at the clue.
Top picks for me were 21a, 1a, 30a, 7d and 25d.
Thanks to Huntsman and Mr Plumb.
Yet again, the edit of my post did not work. I wanted to add a note to Hintsman – do you mean the fourth word in 1a? 😊
Probably- my eyes are a bit blurry 1st thing 😴
Will amend anon
A pleasant Tuesday */*** with 21a being my favourite. Although obvious I thank Huntsman for his hints to fully comprehend 17&28a. Thank you our setter.
Except that historians regard her as Greek, actually.
That’s an interesting one, Una.
She was born in Egypt, spent all her life there and embraced all things Egypt.
It’s difficult to know how she saw herself. As she spent all her life in Africa, you could argue she was African irregardless (!) of her heritage.
My mother was born in London to Irish parents and spent all her life there.
I think she saw herself as English but was extremely proud of her roots.
I suppose it’s down to the individual.
I’m beginning to feel the heebie-jeebies. The World Cup nearly over and more than a month until the Premier League returns. What am I to do? I am like a ship without a sail. Like Tolstoy’s Ivan Ilyich I am beginning to feel the loss of my own life whilst still living it. (Almost) like Joan Didion I will experience a month of magical thinking. I am utterly collapsed. I lounge with glazed eyes, or weep tears of sheer weakness. I shall listen to nothing but Mozart’s Requiem for a month.
Woe!
What? Oh yeah. Great guzzle. Solved it but have a couple to understand/parse, so I will direct myself to The Hintsman for clarification.
Thanks to Bob, and Andy On The First Tee.
😂
You could always spend an hour or two on the 25th July, in the company of fellow cruciverbalists. As long as The Old Joint Stock in Birmingham isn’t too far from home😉
Now there’s a thought! Get yourself to Brum, Terence. It will banish the doldrums! 😊
We would all love to meet you. 👍
Nicely pitched for a Tuesday with no real holdups. My favourite today is 17a although 25d ran it a close race. Thanks to AP and Huntsman.
Very entertaining – thanks to our setter and Huntsman.
I don’t think ‘some’ is needed in 13a – ‘trousers’ as a verb does the job.
I nominate 8d as the clue of the month – I also liked 1a and 10a.
Of course – didn’t read it carefully enough (d’oh)
And still didn’t – hint now correct after a further nudge from Senf & Dave.
No wonder I’m finding Dada’s Toughie slower going than usual
I concur on ‘trousers’ doing the job in 13a but, with my over heated brain, I did wonder if ‘that’s produced’ was part of the definition.
The usual Tuesday excellence; entertaining and and not too taxing. 1a went in straight away and remained my favourite throughout the solve.
Many thanks to both AP and The Hintsman.
A Typically Tuesdayish offering from Mr Plumb – 1.5*/4.5*
Candidates for favourite – 1a, 21a, 3d, 14d, and 21d – and the winner is 3d.
Thanks to Mr Plumb and Huntsman.
Outstanding.
The 2d is at the top of his game with nearly every clue getting a tick. Having stint as my answer to 22a didn’t help things but 23d soon sorted that one out.
I was never sure how to spell Mickelson’s name until I saw Ernie in the middle (The Big Easy). A perfect swing.
Nice to see AP including the e in judgement. He knows the rules.
An invidious task to pick three but I’ll go with the brilliant 21a as she was, indeed, short, the topical 8d and 9d.
MTTTA and Hoots!
1*/5*
2*/4*. Good fun and TT.
I took “that’s produced” as part of the definition for 13a.
My top picks were 1a, 10a, 21a, 9d & 21d.
Many thanks to AP and to Hintsman.
E for envelopes.
It’s a goodie, Mary.
I’ve only just seen your comment about this, Hoots. Do any of these float your proverbial?
(I assume it’s okay to write the answer as it not a prize jobbie)
1. A stationer, funnily enough, sells stationery (add a y to stationer)
2. Email is killing off stationEry
3. StAtionAry? Call the AA
4. Buy some new AA batteries if your toy is stAtionAry.
5. A stationARY cAR
Hopefully, my work is done.
I thought it was
A for ’orses
B for lamb
C for yourself
D finitely
E for brick
F for vessence………etc
We were taught that it is easy to remember stationARy meaning still, as it has AR from car. Otherwise anything not movement related was stationERy.
Yep, that works well BL.
Thanks Mary – I must be particularly dense today as I hadn’t a clue what your comment referred to until the penny dropped reading later comments from Anna & Essar.
I see Tom has weighed in with a multitude of suggestions – as I was confident he would
agreed this was a great puzzle.
Took me longer than it should as got held up in the NW corner, 1a is obvious once I got it however I could not stop trying to find an answer that stated with red!!
13a is my COTD I loved the use of the word “trousers” even if there were superfluous words in the clue it didn’t spoil it for me and raised a chuckle!!
thanks all
The Nimmo brothers song is a real gem. A great band to see live, I imagine.
Never got to see them as The Nimmo Brothers but have seen Stevie a number of times & Alan’s band, King King. Stevie now plays in his kid brother’s band so it’s interesting to see how the dynamic has changed. Both terrific players & always a great vibe/energy at their gigs – worth catching.
What did you make of the puzzle incidentally?
A for the adjective. I usually lurk but the retired English teacher in me can’t resist pointing this out.
You’ve expanded your alias (from Anna W) so this needed moderation. Both will work from now on.
It would be good to get more comments from you.
That’s a goodie, Anna (not Anne).
How many times?
Grrr…..
An enjoyable crossword with just a few holdups, probably due to the excessive heat frazzling what passes for my brain! Just couldn’t fathom 18d, despite the number of times I’ve seen it and 18d beat me, too. Many thanks to both setter and solver whose efforts are always appreciated!
Huntsman – I was taught in Primary School, a very long time ago that the pare version has an “e” for envelope in it. Hope that this helps in the future.
That’s a great one, Essar.
It can only be a coincidence that stationer begins with an s and ends in an r. Put them together and what do you get?
SR or should that be….Essar which I’m guessing are your initials?
I can’t stop myself….nurse!
Apologies – meant 20d! My brain has obviously finally succumbed to the heat!
Another Typical Tuesday to my way of thinking
1.5*/3.5*
Favourites 1a, 22a, 27a, 30a, 3d & 4d — with winner 27a
Thanks to AP & Huntsman
Once again oodles of smashing surfaces. This setter really is the finest there is in that regard. Also for the consistant level of humour – i find myself doing these crosswords with a huge grin on my face (I must look a right twerp to any onlooker!).
Didn’t know the 29a poet and don’t feel the urge to delve into 17th century metaphisical verse – not today anyway.
So many great clues but COTD has to be the sublime 8d. Brilliant.
Thank you setter and to Hintsman
Lovely neat clueing as always on a Tuesday, Cleopatra as my favourite … thank you compiler and Huntsman
An enjoyable Tuesday puzzle of the quality we have come to expect and a little mre tricky than the 1* it ws given from my viewpoint. I liked the 13a lurker, 18d, yet another anagram for this popular word. The 14d LegoClue and the 6 a ge3 clue are my other two picks. Thnks to Professor for an absorbing puzzle and to Huntsman for the hints
I agree that 8d was a cracker, as was yet another version of the musical band. But 21s and 21d are vying for my top marks. We have some really strange weather here, cloudy, dull and looking like rain then suddenly hot and sunny. My grass looks like a harvested cornfield but strange that the weeds still manage to be green….. Many thanks to our Setter with congratulations for 18d and thanks to the Hintsman for explaining the rather tortuous 6a which I guessed but had to see why.
Hi Day Zee
Torturous and tortuous are often, understandably, mixed up.
The former is linked to torture and the latter to tort (wrong or twisted) and torque.
I meant it to be wrong and twisted.
I guessed you did.
Seeing you use tortuous made me think of this classic misspell that I thought was worth a mention.
Solving this was a welcome relief; just to sit in the cool and ponder having just played 18 holes of golf. At least there was sufficient breeze to assuage the heat of the last few days.
Certainly a more enjoyable solve than AP’s last and easier than yesterday. My podium selection comprises 1a, 21d and top billing to the ships crew at 17a.
Thanks to AP and Huntsman, not least for the introduction to Melody Gardot.
1*/3*
I completed this before going out, it was an excellent Tuesday puzzle with the usual balance of clues, I had 21a as my favourite.
Many thanks to the setter and to Huntsman for the hints.
An post work attack at the crosswords was curtailed by being tied to a webchat with Sky. Why do they try and sell you a different package at least three times? Now I am going to watch the TdF highlights back in a bit
…
An excellent if not tricky back pager, so thanks to our setter. Lots of clever clues, but in the end I’m also in the 8d prize camp! A few minutes to catch up on the music before the World Cup final that isn’t… but then there’s the hydration break and half-time prattling to sir the remainder. Thanks, Huntsman.
I made harder work of this than should but, as usual, on completion couldn’t see why. Didn’t know the poet so a bung in. I wouldn’t describe 13a as fibrous unless I’m missing something. Nice to see the return of an old friend in 18d after a brief spell away. Favourite was 21d. Thanks to AP and Huntsman.
Finished but made a mess of 26d. Dropped a ‘d’ from delay and hoped for the best. Wrong. Other than that a pretty steady solve with one or two hold ups where there shouldn’t have been. I liked 1a so that is my COTD.
Thanks to the setter and to Huntsman for the hints.
Lots to enjoy today. Thanks to setter and Huntsman. Having had an injection to ward off osteoporosis yesterday, and two skin biopsies today (requiring needle painkillers) I am feeling like a pin cushion right now. But there’s nothing like a visit to the doctor’s waiting room to make you thank your lucky stars…
Very enjoyable crossword with well designed clues.
2*/3* …
liked 8D “Sorting out Iran’s going badly (10)”