Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31311
Hints and Tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** Enjoyment ****
This is the trickiest puzzle of the week so far which is just right for a Thursday and I enjoyed it a lot. Thanks to today’s setter.
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 Lurid coverage of something very juicy? (6,4)
ORANGE PEEL: cryptic definition of the bright covering of a citrus fruit.
6a Reported bent pipe (4)
DUCT: this sounds like (reported) a verb meaning bent or stooped.
10a Show bow (5)
FRONT: double definition, the second what bow means on a ship.
11a Maybe Python Cleese finally takes little drink (9)
SNAKEBITE: join together what an uncapitalised python is and the final letter of Cleese then insert (takes) a synonym of a little or a small portion.
12a Graze from rodent caught in school (7)
SCRATCH: a type of rodent and the cricket abbreviation for caught go inside an abbreviation for school.
13a 5 Down for example, flipping geezer drilling safe (7)
SURNAME: reverse (flipping) another word for a geezer or chap inside (drilling) a synonym of safe or sound.
14a Magazine reports on gallery’s piece (3,9)
NEW STATESMAN: assemble a word for reports or the latest information, Crosswordland’s favourite art gallery with its ‘S and another name for a piece on a chessboard.
18a Where inaccurate lobbed pass could go, too hard (4,4,4)
OVER ONE’S HEAD: where a lobbed pass might go if it’s too high to reach.
21a Giant model in attic (7)
TITANIC: an anagram (model) of IN ATTIC.
23a Musical instruments brother takes home (7)
CORNETS: an exclamation of surprise (brother!) and a verb meaning ‘takes home’ after taxes, NI etc. have been deducted.
24a Quality of chicken, farm animal I cared about (9)
COWARDICE: a bovine animal followed by an anagram (about) of I CARED.
25a Elegant second wife is hot (5)
SWISH: weld together abbreviations for second and wife, IS (from the clue) and the tap abbreviation for hot.
26a Back four in Swedish team (4)
SIDE: the reversal (back) of four letters hidden in the clue.
27a “Maestro possibly bored by performing with Queen” – Mercury expert? (10)
ASTRONOMER: an anagram (possibly) of MAESTRO contains (is bored or pierced by) an adverb meaning performing (in a theatre, say). Finish with the Latin abbreviation for queen.
Down
1d Sean Connery’s bureau is cool (6)
OFFISH: an informal word for cool or aloof is how Sir Sean with his minor speech impediment might have pronounced another word for a bureau.
2d American poet getting in round on ship? (6)
ABOARD: an abbreviation for American and a literary word for a poet contain (getting in) our round letter.
3d Get away from London? Many PMs do this (2,2,3,7)
GO TO THE COUNTRY: double definition – a phrase which means to call a general election could mean to go to a rural area (or, very topically, to move parts of the government to Manchester?).
4d With great speed, present glue to Spooner (9)
POSTHASTE: Spooner might convert this to a verb to present or compère and a type of glue.
5d English vehicle heading to Stewart Lee, comedian (5)
EVANS: an abbreviation for English, a type of road vehicle and the first letter (heading) of Stewart.
7d Protesting angrily, engineer ruins map (2,2,4)
UP IN ARMS: an anagram (engineer) of RUINS MAP.
8d Mobile beneath old comic (3,5)
THE BEANO: an anagram (mobile) of BENEATH followed by the abbreviation for old.
9d Best Ford for musician? (6,8)
GEORGE HARRISON: we need to stick together the forenames of a) footballer Best and b) Hollywood actor Ford.
15d Answer stupid, mostly deserve punishment (1,5,3)
A THICK EAR: bring together an abbreviation for answer, an informal adjective meaning stupid and a verb to deserve or merit without its last letter (mostly).
16d Gets hold of visual aids (8)
CONTACTS: double definition, the second an informal term for the visual aids which might allow you to discard your spectacles.
17d Given Prime – outstanding (8)
BESTOWED: glue together a superlative meaning prime or finest and a synonym for outstanding (like an unpaid bill).
19d Psychic‘s channel (6)
MEDIUM: double definition, the second being a means of communication.
20d Criticises therapist embracing Bible book (6)
ESTHER: the name of an Old Testament book is hidden (embracing) in the clue.
22d Snack cold in middle of brasserie (5)
CHIPS: stick together the tap abbreviation for cold, an informal adjective meaning ‘in’ or fashionable and the middle letter of brasserie.
I plumped for 23a, 24a and 3d for my podium (with a nod for the Quickie Pun). Which one(s) did you warm to?
The Quick Crossword pun: BAY + CANON + EXE = BACON AND EGGS
A great guzzle. I thought an intriguing ***/**** with 5 helpful anagrams. Not sure of this is the masters work. 9d was my favourite although13&14a close joint second. Whoever the compiler is well done and thank you. Also Gazza of course.
With what I had already entered for 9d I nearly put in Gershwin but as it didn’t fit the clue I had to think a bit.
I was lucky Lynne on that one that it struck me pretty much straight away. It could just as easily not have done!
9 down was my last one in. I was desperately trying to fit Henry in somehow. I’d completely forgotten about the MU ace.
I also went down the Henry cul de sac!
I’m not sure whether my grey cell was asleep or if today’s offering really was a step and a bit more difficult than we’ve seen so far this week.
I’m not sure about the parsing of the lurid 1a, is a simple colour bright enough? I’ve been caught out by the 23a brother before so avoided that trap.
There were some cracking clues across the piece and I particularly liked 13a for it’s misdirection – I was looking for another comedian – and the trip down memory lane with 8d…who can ever forget Dennis the Menace or The Bash Street Boys.
I’m getting better at figuring out the utterings of Sean C and Dr. S and we a good example of both today.
My COTD though is 9d…which is actually quite obvious, but it took some time for the coin to fall.
Many thanks to today’s setter and Gazza for the hints.
Lurid can mean bright/vivid and I think the colour in question is just that. Lurid is a bit of a contranym/Janus word – it can also mean pale/ashen.
Never would I equate orange with lurid.
Well, that was a grind, more befitting of an early week Toughie in my book. I took ages to get going and then everything needed diligently teasing out, but satisfyingly it was completed unaided. Can’t say I’ve heard of the 5d comedian but clearly parsed. My pick of the bunch are 18a, the spoonerism at 4d and my COTD is the 9d musician.
Many thanks to the setter and Gazza
3*/4*
A chewy but satisfying puzzle. LOI was 23a and I needed Gazza’s help to parse it.
Top picks for me were 13a,11a,16d and favourite 17d.
I liked the Quickie pun too.
Thanks to Gazza and the setter.
What stood out for me in this particularly enjoyable solve was the less than obvious definitions subtly hidden by very clever wordplay. The musical instruments at 23a and the luckies at 22d being prime examples.
I suspect the musician at 9d will be a popular choice for COTD, but the punishment at I5d was my pick, a fine old expression which brought back painful memories.
When we were playing up in public as kids, we needed to be put straight by our dads with the least possible fuss. This was achieved by having the top of our ear grasped between forefinger and thumb with pressure applied by the thumbnail. Didn’t half hurt! My old man was particularly adept at this technique which kept us in line, at least until the pain wore off.
Daresay he’d be banged up for doing that nowadays..
Thanks to our setter for reminding me of that and to Gazza for the blog.
At secondary school in the mid 60s we had a history teacher called Mr Wilkinson and we used to call him Acker (after Acker Bilk). He was a large, fearsome bloke with a big belly, glasses and a red face. He became infuriated at the drop of a hat and when maddened his face turned even brighter red and he literally exuded a white substance from the corners of his mouth. He had a penchant for throwing the wooden blackboard cleaner at you, slapping you round the head or pulling your ears. A bit of a monster, really. Teachers like that were not uncommon in the 60s. One day, during one of his rages, he came round the back of me and lifted me up out of my chair by my ears! It split the back of one and caused it to bleed. But nothing came of it, I didn’t complain or mention it. It was pretty much par for the course back then – mild corporal punishment I guess.
Brutal!
And it wasn’t even a rough inner city school – it was in a small market town in rural Derbyshire! In PE, if it was raining/snowing heavliy outside and the girls were using the gymnasium, us lads had to stay in the changing room for the period. Mr jackson, the PE teacher, would get out two pairs of battered old brown boxing gloves then pick out two random lads to fight each other and then they’d have to knock seven bells out of each other. Lovely times, those.
It was all character-forming.
Ahem
Talk of this and 22d reminds me of one of the best films of all time. He’s replying to the line…”Poor, Chips. He never had any children”.
Donat quite rightly pipped Gable to the Oscar.
What a film!
It is, indeed, an excellent film. I must watch it again.
Yes, it encouraged me into forming characters for sure – spelling words, semantics, etc.
I’ll get me coat …
Nonsense, We love it!
So period 1 Monday morning, 2A Latin 1962, with Mr Booth. As usual the members of the U13 football team were summoned to the front of the class, asked what the Saturday score was and if we had lost (we usually did) each member was given a hard clip around the ear. So unfair in retrospect – we were a two form entry grammar school often playing six form entry schools and 2B didn’t do Latin!
When we lost 2-0 in a local derby one of my “friends” added that I had scored two goals. Oops! My reward was three clips. Amo, amas, amat etc was a bit hazy after that. My retrospective view was that Mr Booth was one of my best ever teachers. Nowadays I think dismissal would be inevitable 🤔
A really enjoyable crossword. Thank you to all involved.
Great stuff, Farrers!
Getting hit for losing……hilarious. Not at the time, though.
1975-ish: Our (fantastic) maths teacher was insistent that we use fountain pens, but one lad forgot his. The punishment was the application of a size 11plimsoll to his derrière. It certainly helped his memory, and served as a warning to the rest of us.
Worse than this was my dad’s experience in his first music class in secondary school. The master recognised the surname and asked if he was Edwin’s brother(who was in the school choir). When dad confirmed he was, he was asked to sing along as the master played the piano. The master assumed dad was taking the mickey and was caned for being unable to sing like Edwin.
How times change!
Crossword was a challenge today. I needed lots of help to finish the bottom half. Really liked 1a and 3d.
Thanks to all
Your poor pop.
As we go back every decade, it gets worse and worse. It beggars belief what it must have been like in Victorian times!
Dad could never hold a tune but he was great with lyrics. Mum has a lovely voice but makes up her own words. Family journeys were a joy if a little cacophonous.
Great stuff. I have a very funny image in my head.
You didn’t have the option to plug in to listen to something else in those days.
Thanks for this, Lorraine. I look forward to your next anecdote.
Cacophony is in my list of Top 10 words. It’s Greek for bad or, even better, evil sound which I love.
My daughter had a Maths teacher called Mr. Booth who also taught Latin.
Acker sounds like Father Burrows, our history teacher, J.
He demanded silence in class and if he heard anyone whisper when he was writing on the blackboard, he’d spin on his heels and launch the wooden duster at the offenders head.
We’d all raise our desktops as shields but it wasn’t unknown for a kid to cop one in the face.
We dared not mention it, as we knew it was our fault for talking in the first place!
Toughened us up, it did. Character forming, as Tom said.
Bonkers.
Naughty boys would get the ferula at my school. The room, that was on the third floor, overlooked the playground, So, we could see the teacher’s raised arm and hear his laugh between lashings.
I was a cheeky chappie but never got in trouble. So, no book was stuffed down the back of my trousers.
I’ve got that wrong.
The ferula was hit on the palm not derrière.
Our headmaster had a thick stick about six inches long. If we had erred, he would line up the culprits, ensure all hands were level, then quickly walk down the line flicking the stick at each palm. By heck, it hurt and you had to remember to keep your thumb out of the way otherwise it was even worse if that were hit. Oh, and woe betide anyone who moved their hand out of the way. You then got double.
The thing is, if you told your parents they would more than likely say that you had no doubt deserved it.
For sure.
For mucking about in PE we got the cricket bat round the jacksie!
Ouchy!
I had a French and German teacher (1964-67) called Mr Ray (aka CosRay) who wore his university gown. When we made mistakes he’d call out “Piffle Boy!”, creep around the back of you winding up his cloak around his arm and belt you across the head with it.
My best ever teacher😎
Piffle is such a great word.
Isn’t it funny how the draconian martinets are often people’s favourites.
How odd. I got this this one very quickly. It felt more like a Monday puzzle to me
Note that, ninety-nine times out of one-hundred, I’m usually surprised the blogger found it straightforward when I’ve sweated over the puzzle for an eternity. So not bragging, just bemused. Wavelengths, eh!
COTD was the cleverly disguised rekrul at 26a which needed both checkers before I saw the light. 1.5*/4*
Well, that was a chewier back pager than we’ve had for a while! A very satisfying coffee-time solve, where actually finding the definition was sometimes the key, or breaking down and parsing every word in the clue. Beautifully constructed puzzle. LOI 22a, which really had me scratching my head.
Honours to 14a, 27a, 9d & 16d. Many thanks indeed to the setter (silvanus? Really not sure today) and to Gazza for the excellent blog.
I found this considerably harder to solve than Django’s Toughie this morning, with the SW corner the last to yield its secrets. There was a nice sense of reward once I had completed the grid. I hate to admit it but my favourite clue was the very good Spoonerism.
Many thanks to both our setter and Gazza.
I really thought that I might not be able to complete this puzzle. John brought me a second coffee and I gave myself a break. Obviously, one had to look for unusual answers. Got there unaided but I had never heard of the drink, so it was a bung in.Only knew 5 down because he was at the Edinburgh festival . I would say that 1 across is not juicy in my opinion. It was definitely worth the struggle and the misdirection was rife and so inventive. Favourite was the quality of chicken and last in was 1 down.
Well done Gazza and hats off to our cunning setter.
I’m surprised that you don’t think an orange is juicy.
I think it’s the full answer – ie including the second word – that is not juicy – I thought the same as Dyslex.
Oh – just read Tom’s comment – about the ‘coverage’ … now I get it! Sorry 🙈
I presumed that lurid referred to the bright/vivid colour of the covering (“lurid coverage”) not the actual juiciness of the fruit it encloses?
Wasn’t some dodgy paintwork on a car referred to as this in olden days?
Quite possibly. You still quite often see a lurid pink or lime green car these days.
Sorry. I meant the faulty finish of the paintwork on some cars was referred to as having an O P finish. Meaning it resembled the skin of the fruit in question, not the colour.
Ah, got you!
My Sweet Lord! Well I completed it, but some of the parsing has parsed me by so I need to go and check on those or they will bother me all day. Still… all things must pass.
We’re entering the final stages of the house refurbishment, with a flooring bloke coming tomorrow and a furniture delivery on Saturday. Then that should be ‘it’ for the time being. Famous last words, eh?
It will be a novelty to enjoy one’s day without having to consider where various workmen might be clonking about.
Thanks to the clever setter, and the former midfielder for Gansu Tianma.
Love the Harrison references, Terence. 👍
Like Terence above, I finished this OK but had to read the hints to see why – I bunged in chips and it was right but couldn’t for the life of me see why. I think on the whole this puzzle was a bit ‘stretched’. Didn’t particularly enjoy, sorry, I’m sure the compiler enjoyed flummoxing us! Thanks all
I too was confused about 22d until I risked it as my LOI. I understood it post hoc. I loved the way that the setter hid the important bit within the wordplay.
An excellent challenge for the business end of the week with the last two to yield being the10a/2d comby.
It doesn’t feel like a Silvanus production as there aren’t enough blind alleys or trapdoors. So, I’m going to go with….I’m torn between Mr Tumble and Karla……hmm…..Karla!
I liked the use of coverage in 1a and brother in 23a. I’m now fully up-to-speed with ‘engineer’ as my anagram antenna bleeped like a good’un.
Doesn’t 22d need an American indicator as they’re not called a snack in this sceptred isle?
My picks are 11a, 3d and the outstanding 27a.
MTTTA and G.
3*/5* (I’ll let 22d slide as the setter has accumulated enough beans in the jar. Call it a mulligan)
A fine example of what, if the accounts are accurate, Alan Turing might have used for his ‘Bletchley selection test’! 4.5*/3.5*
Candidates for favourite – 12a, 2d, 4d, and 17d – and the winner is 4d.
Thanks, I think, to the setter and definitely thanks to Gazza.
Some fantastically misleading wordplay today. I have so many I liked but 9d gave me the best coin drop so it is my COTD.
22d hid the meat well, and who doesn’t like Shean Connery’sh speech? 1d made me smile. (He once wanted to speak to Tim Herman about tennis but Tim was busy all morning).
***/****
A satisfying and enjoyable solve – helped by quickly bagging a couple of biggies mentioned below – over a pre-work breakfast sandwich and coffee in Brighton.
18A – “inaccurate” … isn’t the whole point of a (good) lob to go 4,4,4 ?
3D – needed the hint to be sure of the definition part here. Didn’t find this terribly cryptic?
Pody picks – 9D’s trio of stars from different walks of fame, 24A’s avian quality (tricked me for a bit, was key to completing) and everything about the splendid 27A – maybe they were performing Hot Space 🎵
Honourable mention to 1A – now that I understand it properly! Thanks to this wonderful blog 🙂
Thanks to setter and to Gazza ⭐️
Hi Wriggles.
The setter is referring to rugby not tennis. Maybe they included ‘lobbed’ to fool us into thinking they meant tennis.
3d is cryptic as the second meaning is to announce a general election. I loved this clue as Andy B is planning to spend a day in Manchester once a week.
Quite agree, the word ‘pass’ implies it’s football or rugby in my book.
I had 3d as a double definition! Not so sure now.
I agree that it’s a double definition and and I’ve now amended the underlining to reflect that.
Oh, rugby?! Yes, I’m clearly not so close to this sport. Makes sense 👍🏻
3D – the ? and the hints suggest the first part is the intended cryptic? Did feel more like a DD to me.
A DD is a cryptic clue.
Yes, a DD is a type of cryptic clue but doesn’t have any cryptic word-play as such – just two straight definitions. Decades ago when I first started they were called “double straight” clues. I took 3d as a DD comprising a pair of cryptic definitions.
I love ‘double straight’.
18a The setter had larger balls than tennis in mind.
So did SJB for a while after that bollard incident!
A really excellent puzzle but way, way tougher than what has preceded it this week. I found myself royally bogged down in the SW but got there in the end. Too many great clues to list but special mentions for 1a, 3d and 16d, while 9d was in tune with my currently renewed Beatles obsession on the back of the recent John and Paul book. Thanks very much to the setter and to Gazza.
3*/4*. I found three quarters of this nicely challenging but the SW corner was a brute although I got over the line in the end.
With ticks aplenty, the Spoonerism in 4d just noses in front as my favourite.
Many thanks to the setter and to Gazza.
A tricky little perisher that took three bites to finish. Took an age for me to insert the second word of 1a in the grid, but once I did, 4 and 5d fell swiftly. It’s a toss up between 4d and 9d for cotd, so they can have it jointly. Thanks to compiler and Gazza.
9d belongs in a Toughie in my opinion, got it by staring at the checkers until it popped out, then went backwards to see how it worked.
Finished all but 16d, tried all the visual aids I could think of and eventually gave up and looked up the answer, I wouldn’t normally mind, but I wore the bl***y things for over forty years!
I am about 3/4 of the way through without consulting the hints. Annoyingly I have to go out now so I shall be cogitating all afternoon. I’d rather sit and guzzle!
I didn’t find this one too bad , but I was really focused today , brain was free of ‘noise’ and I know that makes such a difference. Connery came up a couple of weeks ago, and I had stalled then , but I was ready for it today , and I liked the answer. A nicely chewy and satisfying solve. Thanks to the setter and Gazza.
A cracking Thursday puzzle! Fine clues, a good challenge and a very enjoyable solve. Plenty of ticks but I’ll go for 27a as my favourite – great surface misdirection. 3.5*/4*.
A difficult puzzle today on RayT’s backpager off week. Definitely the toughest of the week thus far.
3*/3*
Favourites 14a, 18a, 3d, 7d & 16d — with co-winners 3d & 9d
Thanks to setter & Gazza
That was HARD! Some of the parsing way beyond me. For all that, there were some excellent clues. Many, many thanks to Gazza, and the setter for making my brain hurt.
That was tough. Pushed my solving abilities to the limit. Some took an absolute age to parse but got there without resorting to the hints -eventually! Loved the challenge and some very clever clues – with many of the definitions not the first (or second or third) that come to mind.
Thanks to the setter for a brilliant battle and to Gazza for the blog which I shall now read to no doubt discover which ones I failed to fully understand/parse
I love how divisive this has been on the solving scale. I found this gentler than yesterday’s and probably lighter than the average Thursday (for me). Guess I should try the Toughie then …
Struggled today but so enjoyed reading this blog with all the nightmarish school punishment memories … I don’t feel so hard done by now!
Late on parade because of a very convivial lunch with an old friend and only just got back.
I found the Django Toughie slightly easier than today’s backpager. Fortunately, the long 3d fell early so that allowed me into the rest of the grid albeit slowly. I haven’t heard of the drink at 11a And the Beatle was way beyond me. How does the clue indicate that first names are needed? The old comic at 8d brought back happy memories before I transferred to The Eagle. My COTD is getting out of London at 3d.
Thank you, setter for a right brain mangler. Thank you, Gazza for the hints.
After lunch, my friend and I had a look round the village church and came across this. I was the first thing my friend came across and she just burst into hysterics.
Superb!
I should have said she burst into hysterical laughter not hysterics. Nice to see a vicar with a sense of humour so long as it is removed before a real funeral. 😊
It’s very, very funny.
I like visiting churches, especially in rural areas. I’m not religious at all, just love the architecture, timelessness and peaceful/tranquil ambience in those places. And I’ve always liked a good practical joke, but that somehow makes me feel rather ill at ease/disconcerted. Must be a very avant garde vicar there!
Maybe he was getting some shuteye before the funeral.
4* / 4* A really enjoyable challenge with some clever left field misdirection.
Loads of great clues to choose from, favourites include 5d comedian (like the fact that one of the best comedians is in the clue), the 24a chicken and the old comic at 8d
Also a top quickie pun
Many thanks to compiler and Gazza
This was a wonderful challenge for a Thursday, some real head scratchers and several where I didn’t understand the why but overall it was excellent. Yet again the spooner was my favourite with 9d close behind and with 6a last in as I was on the completely wrong wavelength.
Many thanks to the setter and to Gazza for the hints which I needed.
I enjoyed this (for me) tough challenge but with three minor gripes. 6A am I supposed to accept ducked means bent? 23A brother is now a synonym of cor? And I am not keen on the occasional Sean Connery reference which is crossword elitism and belong in the toughie category.
Bent means ducked as in ‘she ducked down to pat the dog’.
I’m with you WW on 23a. “Brother” – cor blimey, it’s not even rhyming slang.
Hi C and WW.
The exclamations ‘Cor!’ and ‘Brother!’ are synonymous, for sure.
But, I’m with you on duck/bent. It’s in the dictionary as a synonym but it’s certainly not the first cab off the rank.
Aren’t cor/brother exclamations of surprise/disbelief, same as many others? Gosh, crikey, yikes, etc
Yes, as in “Oh, Brother!” stated in exasperation.
Today’s puzzle doesn’t bode well for tomorrow! Needed a few more of Gazza’s hints and tips than usual. Thanks Gazza, and the setter for the challenge. Everyday’s a school day!
A very satisfying solve. Excellent misdirections. I couldn’t parse 6 across so thanks for your explanation Gazza. And thanks to the Setter. Silvanus?
I found this quite tricky today. I’ve been trying to do cryptic crosswords for a few months and this site has been brilliant – thank you! As always, the reaction when I look at the answer to a clue I couldn’t get is “of course” or words to that effect..
1a and 3d were my favourites today.
Welcome to the blog, PatrickB.
Now that you’ve introduced yourself I hope that we’ll get lots of comments from you.
Welcome from me, as well, PB. As Gazza says, please keep commenting. 👍😊
Welcome Patrick, keep contributing.
This was certainly a tough puzzle for someone just getting into cryptics
Setter here – thank you to solvers and commenters and thanks to Gazza for the write-up.
Re bad-tempered, blackboard-rubber slinging teachers in school, many of the older ones up to the 1970s at least will have served in WWII and quite probably have been badly affected by the experience, with little or nothing in the way of counselling or even much sympathy when they had to adjust to going into teaching afterwards. I can see how some cheeky carefree youngsters might have set them off.
Thanks for the top-notch puzzle, Twmbarlwm.
Thanks for a very enjoyable puzzle T.
Ticks aplenty – 1,11,14&23a + 3,9&15d particular likes.
Thanks too Gazza also
Thank you, Tumbledown Mountain. It proved a bit tricky for me but that’s no bad thing.
When I was in school in the fifties, the form master had a constant eye twitch and my father wondered if he had shell shock so your comments are valid and something I had not considered.
You’re right, Twm, at my old-fashioned grammar school, we had several senior masters who I gather were war heroes. Needless to say, they’d never speak of it in front of us kids. Their approach to discipline was undoubtedly shaped by their experiences and the desire to turn us in to young adults who were worthy of the sacrifices they made.
School of hard knocks. No complaints from me.
Well said, FM and I totally agree. The modern education system could do with such teachers. They were firm but fair and showed us that life can be great but also disappointing. A lesson well learned.
All this talk of teachers long ago made me look up a couple of great scenes from Kes – Brian Glover as Bobby Charlton in PE & Mr Gryce, the head, meting out punishment – the young actors were tricked by Loach & didn’t know they would actually get whacked
Brilliant scene.
The **** rating clearly denotes this as one that belongs in the Toughie slot. And several answers were stretched IMOH, including 1a. I’m not a drinker so 11a would never have come to me, and I’ve never heard of 5d chap. At least I did use to read 8d, along with The Dandy. Didn’t get anywhere in the satisfaction meter with this one, but the price for several great puzzles in a row. And tomorrow is Friday…. Congrats to all who can honestly say they solved this without help, and especially to Gazza,
I’m in the wrong envelope camp as it took longer to compete than the toughie which it could have quite easily swapped places with, but no complaints one of each just done in a different order. I had to check 5d and had reservations about 1a, 2a, 3a and 23a but it didn’t stop me from, belatedly, from entering them. Interesting comments about teachers, we had our share of brutes, ear twisters and blackboard rubber throwers. They were universally disliked and nobodies favourite. Favourite clue was 14a. Thanks to T and Gazza.
For my part this was a horror with no saving grace and numerous far-fetched synonyms and dodgy clues including 18a, 25a and 15d. I threw in the towel with barely 50% complete and no incentive to continue. Must be a sign of my advancing years (four score and ten on Saturday) but today is an example of how DT cryptic has moved out of my reach after so many years of fun. Thank you Twmbarlwm for the mindbender and to Gazza for being there for us once more.
Started, gave up, had another stab with some Steely Dan 🎸 and had a bit more joy but couldn’t finish it. I used to as a kid use celebrity names in conversation so Best Ford was right up my alley!
Hope for a more friendly puzzle tomorrow!
First time back to crosswords after a long break. Really appreciate the extra clues to help dust off the rust from my brain
Welcome to the blog, AJB.
Now that you’ve introduced yourself I hope that you’ll become a regular commenter.
I’m new to cryptic crosswords – introduced by a friend who also told me about this blog.
It’s so helpful, thank you ☺️
I get as far as I can before looking here for tips and have to admit that even with your hints there are some I still don’t get so a lot more learning to go.
I love the Sean Connery clues this setter creates. They make me smile. There was a similar one recently involving roof tiles I recall.
Welcome to the blog
Welcome to the blog, Lisa.
Now that you’ve found us I hope that you’ll become a regular commenter,
If there’s anything you don’t understand after reading a hint do please ask.