Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31334
Hints and Tips by Deansleigh
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** Enjoyment ****
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the midweek back-pager blog. I found today’s puzzle quite challenging – an excellent Wednesday workout. My favourite from a plethora of fine clues is the naked president in 22a. I also enjoyed the Quickie pun. Many thanks to our 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.
Across Clues
1a Go westwards over motorway, having walked (7)
TRAMPED: A synonym for ‘go’ or ‘leave’ is reversed (westwards) and placed round the abbreviation for motorway.
5a Upper-class bishop leaves rum cocktail measure (7)
CALIBRE: Remove the abbreviations of ‘upper-class’ and ‘bishop’ from a rum-based cocktail. ‘Measure’ here means ‘degree’ (of excellence, for example).
9a Studio curtains ordered, hosting new RSC production (5,10)
TITUS ANDRONICUS: This gory Shakespeare play is an anagram (ordered) of STUDIO CURTAINS around (hosting) the abbreviation for ‘new’.
10a Finale of Byron poem that might bring a lump to the throat? (4)
NODE: The last letter (finale) of Byron, and a word for a lyric poem.
11a Crazy pub, goodness! (5)
BARMY: Another word for a pub, and an interjection expressing surprise.
12a Giant conger-eel regularly sliced (4)
OGRE: The alternate letters (regularly sliced) of ‘conger-eel’.
15a Native American agreed to put on cotton cloth (7)
CHINOOK: An informal way of saying ‘yes’ (agreed) follows a cotton fabric used for making trousers.
16a Daffy actor playing Mickey Mouse? (7)
CARTOON: An anagram (daffy) of ‘actor’, and a synonym for ‘playing’ (at the cinema, for example).
17a Terminate bank clerk (7)
CASHIER: A double definition.
19a Surrey town‘s blemishes reported (7)
STAINES: A homophone (reported) of ‘blemishes’.
21a Burden ordinary youngster carries (4)
LOAD: A word for a youth or young man is placed around around (carries) the abbreviation for ‘ordinary’.
22a Disgraced president naked? (5)
NIXON: Split (3,2) this could mean ‘not wearing anything’; the first part is an informal word for ‘nothing’.
23a Skip – very clever dog – denied good run (4)
OMIT: Remove the abbreviation of ‘good’ and the cricketing ‘run’ from the name of a much-loved animated dog.
26a Klopp counsels us to work, work harder (4,4,5,2)
PULL UP ONES SOCKS: An anagram (to work) of KLOPP COUNSELS US.
27a Dismissed job in far-flung location (7)
OUTPOST: A word that means ‘dismissed’ in cricket and a synonym of ‘job’ or ‘position’.
28a Massage revered figure after which there’s no going back (7)
RUBICON: A synonym for ‘massage’ or ‘apply friction to’, and a word for someone who is revered or admired.
Down clues
1d Film, one that went down, in the main, rather dreadfully? (7)
TITANIC: A double definition, the second one being a cryptic description of the fate of the film’s subject.
2d Sun, Daily Star etc put out work of fiction (1,5,2,7)
A STUDY IN SCARLET: An anagram (put out) of SUN DAILY STAR ETC.
3d Urge American to visit British drinking establishment (4)
PUSH: An abbreviation for ‘American’ inside (to visit) the abbreviation for a public house on an Ordnance Survey map.
4d Men travelling in Black Country (7)
DENMARK: An anagram (travelling) of MEN inside a word meaning black or gloomy.
5d Work from Potter after getting fired? (7)
CERAMIC: A cryptic definition of a potter’s output.
6d Left at home finally gutting fish (4)
LING: The abbreviation for ‘left’, the usual word for ‘at home’, and the last letter (finally) of ‘gutting’.
7d Notes produced by the Speaker for the lobby? (10,5)
BACKGROUND MUSIC: A cryptic definition of the sound that comes out of a speaker in a public place such as a hotel lobby.
8d Oriental religious festival ending in afternoon (7)
EASTERN: A Christian festival, and the final letter of (ending in) ‘afternoon’.
13d Doctor set up appropriate theme (5)
MOTIF: An abbreviation for a doctor or medical officer, and a reversed (set up, in a down clue) synonym of ‘appropriate’ or ‘apt’.
14d Holiday snap (5)
BREAK: A double definition.
17d California agent rejected old West Indian song (7)
CALYPSO: The three-character abbreviation of California, a reversed (rejected) word for a secret agent, and the abbreviation for ‘old’.
18d End in torn clothing (7)
RAIMENT: A synonym of ‘end’ or ‘objective’ inside another word for ‘torn’.
19d Tesco use recycled bags one found in Liverpool (7)
SCOUSER: Hidden in the first three words of the clue.
20d Exercise leg and bottom? (3-4)
SIT-UPON: An abdominal exercise, and the term for the leg side in cricket.
24d Engine Charlie parked in station, out of Water? (4)
LOCO: Remove the word ‘Water’ from the name of a London terminus, and insert the letter represented by Charlie in the NATO phonetic alphabet.
25d Taxi carrying southern strikebreaker (4)
SCAB: Another word for a taxi comes after (carrying, in a down clue) the abbreviation for ‘southern’.
Which clues did you like best? Let us know in the comments below.
The Quick Crossword pun: FOUGHT + NUMB + MANNED + MASON = FORTNUM AND MASON
This was definitely a step up in difficulty from the past 2 days, with plenty of excellent clues. The main sticking point for me was to unravel the three long anagrams, after which the remainder fell into place. LOI was the disgraced president which required reverse parsing; a very clever clue. My other favourites were the speaker notes at 7d and working harder at 26a.
Many thanks to the setter and DL
3*/4*
Plenty of low-hanging fruit, but there were some particularly amusing references.
The rum cocktail at 5a, the president in the buff at 22a and Wallace’s pal in 23a were my pick of the crop.
My thanks to our setter and Deansleigh.
Nicely chewy for a Wednesday workout. Started off at a canter, but was slowed down by a few clues in the east which needed some teasing out. All in all, thoroughly enjoyable. My podium comprises all across clues, 28, 15 and 22. Thanks to compiler and Deansleigh
A real challenge but very enjoyable.
After a first pass I look for anagrams, especially long ones to unveil checkers. I can only admire today’s setter for three brilliant examples of the art at 9a, 26a and 2d. How anyone can create one let alone three is completely beyond my comprehension. I had to start again and seeking checkers from elsewhere.
Only slight wobble was the naked president, an obvious answer but not sure about the parsing.
COTD – the anagrams
I really enjoyed this puzzle as I teased out the answers.
Top picks for me were 22a, 23a, 16a, 11a and 4d.
I also liked the Quickie pun.
Thanks to Deansleigh and the setter.
This was a very enjoyable crossword, penned, I reckon, by Mr T, purely based on the humour of 22a. I was trying to convince myself that ‘linto’ meant ‘disgraced’.
24d doesn’t quite work for me as Water’s initial is capitalised and I’ve never heard of the cocktail.
I still have it in my head that 19a is in Middlesex which I know is wrong.
My picks are 26a, 2d and 4d.
MTTTA and Adele Singh.
3*/4*
I forgot to say that I haven’t heard of 20d which is brilliantly self-descriptive and funny.
3.5*/2*. A puzzle of extremes for me both in terms of enjoyment and difficulty.
I couldn’t parse 5a, and I’m not surprised having read Deansleigh’s decryption. Even though PH in 3d appears on OS maps, it is not in either the BRB or Collins. The definition for 20d seems decidedly dodgy, even with the question mark. The capital W in 24d is unnecessary and ruins the surface. I thought it was a pity that three of the four long answers were anagrams (although no grumbles from me about the indicators!)
I did like 11a, 15a, 22a, 23a & 7d.
Thanks to the setter and the hinter.
A step up in challenge and a hugely enjoyable crossword, I wasn’t making much progress until I cracked the four long clues which opened up the rest of the grid. I too thought 22a was excellent and 23a, 7d and various others were pretty good too. Like TDS, I hadn’t heard of the cocktail and thought 19a was in Middlesex, despite clearly being on the Surrey side of the river. Thanks very much to the setter and to Deansleigh. I’m off to the Escher exhibition at Somerset House in a bit and looking forward to it.
Hi CM
Many moons ago, 19a was in Middlesex and changed in 1965 which is was earlier than I thought.
Pretty tricky in places for me today. The upper case ‘S’ in Speaker threw me as I thought that setters avoided such breaches of English usage. I spent far too long thinking about the house Of commons Chamber Music.
20d was a new use of that phrase for me but the word play led me there.
I have used 2d to prompt me to listen to that story again from my audio book collection. We can only guess what Sherlock Holmes would have thought of crosswords, as he retired just as they were introduced. My guess is that he would have considered them a waste of his time and grey matter. Perhaps he sat on his sit upon on the promenade at Eastbourne when he no longer had more consequential problems to solve.
23a is my COTD.
Having put outcast in 27 I made a right Horlicks of the south west .. Also not convinced about 20 d , Surface? Apart from these, the rest went in very quickly.I really enjoyed this puzzle despite my shortcomings.Favourites 2 and 24 . Thanks to all .
Enjoyed that very much, despite being unable to parse 5a – fortunately the answer was evident. Some very clever anagrams and a good variety of clues. I did like the cryptic ones.
Honours to 22a, 23a & 2d, with a mention in dispatches to 26a.
Many thanks to the setter (really not sure … Hudson, maybe?) and to Deansleigh