Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31306
Hints and tips by Mr K
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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday.
In the hints below most indicators are italicized, and underlining identifies precise definitions and cryptic definitions. Clicking on the answer buttons will reveal the answers. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.
Across
1a Child caught with this, discovered boarding vessel (6)
URCHIN: The single letter for caught and THIS minus its outer letters (dis-covered) are inserted together in (boarding) a vessel that’s a bit like a vase
4a Pupil of expert, say, inspired by support (8)
PROTEGEE: An informal word for an expert who’s not an amateur is followed by a support for a golf ball with the abbreviation for “say” or “for example” inserted (… inspired by …)
9a Mind clean armchair's sides being wiped (6)
SANITY: Clean or hygienic minus the outer letters (…’s sides being wiped) of ARMCHAIR
10a Fly medics to the west of S American capital (8)
MOSQUITO: The plural of a usual abbreviated medic comes before (to the west of, in an across clue) the capital of a South American country
11a Going off shift (9)
DEPARTURE: A double definition. Shift as in deviation
13a Hebridean island's last to convert to mass religion (5)
ISLAM: The last letter of a Hebridean island is changed (converted) to the single letter for mass
14a Illegal gambling in America smart Ken Bruce condemned (7,6)
NUMBERS RACKET: An anagram (condemned) of SMART KEN BRUCE
17a Managed to visit your aunt's spoilt son, one appearing in Jurassic Park? (13)
TYRANNOSAURUS: Managed or operated inserted in (to visit) an anagram (spoilt) of YOUR AUNT’S, followed by the single letter for son
21a Car given MOT without second inspection (5)
AUDIT: A German car brand is followed by MOT minus (without) an informal word for a second or a short time
23a Make unfit claim after Test cricket team's leaving ace out (9)
INDISPOSE: Claim or suggest comes after a pretty good Test cricket nation with their ’S from the clue and minus the playing card abbreviation for ace (leaving ace out)
24a Slope in garden, it is staggering (8)
GRADIENT: An anagram (is staggering) of GARDEN IT
25a Work of King is supported mostly (6)
CARRIE: All but the last letter (mostly) of a synonym of supported. The King here is an author, not a monarch
26a Offer coat to lady in a loving manner (8)
TENDERLY: Another word for offer with the outer letters of (coat to) LADY
27a Pass instruction to salon how to style one's hair? (6)
PERMIT: The answer split (4,2) could be an instruction to deliver a particular hair treatment
Down
1d Positive aspect apparent in hiccups I'd experienced (6)
UPSIDE: The answer is hidden in (apparent in) HICCUPS I’D EXPERIENCED
2d Kitchen gadget, new, cuts pear once assembled (3-6)
CAN-OPENER: The single letter for new is inserted in (cuts) an anagram (assembled) of PEAR ONCE
3d Playwright not quiet over one male's acting (7)
INTERIM: Harold the playwright minus (not) the musical abbreviation for quiet is followed by the Roman one and the single letter for male
5d State in full focus of Cypriots? (5,6)
RHODE ISLAND: The answer is the full name of a US state whose abbreviation is the central letters of (focus of) CYPRIOTS
6d Engineer quit ale for another alcoholic drink (7)
TEQUILA: An anagram (engineer, as an imperative) of QUIT ALE
7d Interrogate female promoting Republican student (5)
GRILL: A young female after moving upwards (promoting) the single letter for Republican, all followed by the usual single letter for a student or learner driver
8d Ill-will describing soldiers causes outrage (8)
ENORMITY: Another word for ill-will containing (describing) some usual abbreviated soldiers
12d Reserved amount, one I wasted speculating essentially (11)
UNEMOTIONAL: An anagram (wasted) of AMOUNT ONE I is followed by the central letter (essentially) of SPECULATING
15d Service provided for a smacker? (9)
KISSOGRAM: A cryptic definition of a service that provides what a smack can describe informally
16d Respectable poker hand (8)
STRAIGHT: A not too difficult double definition
18d Salt man just delivered (7)
NITRITE: Homophones (delivered) of a particular man on a chess board and just or fair
19d Say again what others did while I fasted? (7)
RESTATE: The answer split (4,3) could be “what others did while I fasted”
20d Join broadcast, missing the first half (6)
CEMENT: The second half (missing the first half) of a noun synonym of broadcast
22d Pulled downwards, rising a little (5)
DRAWN: The answer is hidden (… a little) inside the reversal (rising) of DOWNWARDS
Thanks to today’s setter. Which clues did you like best?
The Quick Crossword pun: CHILLED + WREN + SPLAY + AIRIER = CHILDREN’S PLAY AREA
Just about right for a Friday backpager I’d say, a few bung-ins but several requiring careful dissection.
I liked the armchair’s sides being wiped in 9a, King’s work at 25a and the cleverly described act of gallantry in 26a.
My thanks to our setter and Mr K.
That was quite chewy after yesterday’s puzzle but very enjoyable. I needed Mr K’s help to parse 20d and 23a.
Top picks for me were 25a, 1a, 3d, 9a, 21a and 15d.
Thanks to Mr K and the setter.
I got there in the end – some obvious clues and then some really obscure ones – like 18d I wasn’t keen on, 20d was also a bit odd and 25a – I mean, come on – “work of king”
I did actually find it marginally easier than yesterday.
Thanks to Mr K and setter
I thought 25a was rather good, thank the lord we don’t all think the same way, or this blog would be dull as ditchwater.
Not too difficult to finish but several guessed answers as parsing was way beyond me so my thanks to Mr. K
Much enjoyed so my thanks too to the setter
I found this quite tricky but a very entertaining puzzle.
I was converted the “going off shift” was nightwear, before I had any checkers, so had to apply the tippex shortly after.
Favourite clue, 10a.
Many thanks to the setter and to Mr K.
4*/4.5*.
That’s an excellent answer to 11a (though the clue would probably need a QM).
Very good, J!
Took ages to get into this and several were good guesstimates like 14a – great anagram though. No particular stand out favourites today but thanks to Mr K and the setter.
I thought this was a real Friday workout with a couple that needed Mr K’s assistance to parse.
Failed to see the abbreviation in 5d and spent too long fixated on a Greek Island. Had the abbreviation for the 18d man but failed to expand it into a homophone of the full title of the piece.
Reminded of two things today – puzzles with three star difficulty rating are about my limit, and secondly that Mr K and his fellow tipsters are saviours!
Two stand out clues today – 4a because it took an age before the coin dropped and 23a because I’m a cricket fan.
Many thanks to today’s setter and Mr K for his invaluable help.
Another Joe Bugner of a puzzle today, last one in was 11a, god knows why, it was simple enough.
Never thought 8d meant outrage, no doubt it’s in the Dick and Harry somewhere.
Very strange thing in Sandhurst yesterday, for about an hour some weird wet stuff fell out of the sky, no idea what it was….
A very enjoyable puzzle – thanks to our setter and Mr K.
I selected 25a, 26a and 5d for my podium.
Perfection from Sade with my LOI being 20d. ‘Speculating essentially’ is sooooooooooooo Silvanus. If it’s not him then, going forward, this or any other setter isn’t allowed to use it with long words as he owns it.
Having to play around with a synonym which is not necessarily the first one off the rank is possibly the hardest nut to crack, in this case 9a and the aforementioned 20d. I immediately knew where the clue was going but had to wait for the checkers. Even then, it was a struggle until I thought that many long words end ‘ment’ (I had the e and t). So, I had five sixths of the answer. Boom!
Having seen King in last week’s crossword (answer: horror), I went down that route but couldn’t get it. But, I knew it had to be a verb ending ed with the d dropped (supported mostly). So, I had _ a _ r _ ed for the verb. The chances are the letter between r an e would be i then it hit me. I love cryptic crosswords.
17a can be tricky to spell. Just remember that dinosaurs were in the years BC not AD (Anno Domini). ‘Anno’ is in the word (we’ll ignore BCE and CE). Many think that the M and T of MOT are either Motor or Test or both. But, it stands for Ministry of Transport. To quote Mr Caine…not a lot of people know that.
8d originally meant great wickedness, viciousness or, as Silvanus has said, outrage. Literally ‘out of the norm’.
As I type, Ken has just mentioned 14a on his Greatest Hits Radio show! I’ve never heard of the game.
I need to get out of the habit of thinking engineer is always RE.
8d is one of those long one-syllable words. Can anyone give me a 10 letter one? Not easy.
In 1d, is it okay to have just ‘child’ or does it need ‘Naughty’ before it? I guess not.
My picks are 14a (nice surface), 3d and 6d (another great surface).
MTTTA and Mr K.
3*/5*
Hi Tom, I’m missing where 8d is one syllable. How do you pronounce it?
4 syllables?
Scraunched?
I was stumped by 25 across and 18 and 20 down. The answer to 20 down is used regularly, but I was bemused by the clue. Unaware of the author and chemical.
Ah well, back to the March archive.
Thanks to setter and hinter.