Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31335
Hints and Tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment ****
We have a very enjoyable puzzle today. 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.
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Across
1a Do their victims leave them deflated, figuratively and literally? (7,8)
WHOOPEE CUSHIONS: items used for practical jokes which leave their victims humiliated and which are deflated once the trick has worked.
9a Cheers sitcom’s over (7,2)
BOTTOMS UP: a sitcom starring Rik Mayall and an adverb meaning over.
10a Statute meeting zero resistance in Washington, for example (5)
ACTOR: a synonym of statute or law followed by the zero-resembling letter and the abbreviation for electrical resistance.
11a Service‘s last word, with one extremely teary (7)
AMENITY: assemble the last word in a religious prayer, the Roman one and the outer letters (extremely) of TearY.
12a In time cuddles moggy returning uninjured (6)
INTACT: IN (from the clue) and the physics abbreviation for time contain (cuddles) the reversal (returning) of a moggy.
15a Bad egg at the end of short trip somewhere in France (8)
TOULOUSE: an informal word for a contemptible person (bad egg) follows a trip or journey for pleasure without its last letter (short).
16a High point from Requiem Carreras recalled (4)
ACME: hidden (from) and reversed (recalled) in the clue.
19a Pets for some celebrity from the east (4)
RATS: reverse (from the east, in an across clue) a celebrity or leading light.
20a Some Italian water and fizzy cola, OK with me (4,4)
LAKE COMO: an anagram (fizzy) of COLA OK ME.
23a Biased newspaper rejecting small fine (6)
UNFAIR: the name of a UK tabloid without the abbreviation for small is followed by a synonym of fine or sunny.
24a Before start of term, find only half of boring school soup (7)
BORSCHT: prior to the starting letter of term we need half of the word ‘boring’ and an abbreviation for school.
26a Planet‘s craft – what controls it? (5)
EARTH: a spoken request for clarification (what?) contains (controls) a synonym of craft or skill.
28a Pen second Dickensian character, female past her time (9)
SHEEPFOLD: string together the abbreviation for second, the surname of Uriah the Dickensian character, the abbreviation for female and an adjective meaning ‘no longer young’.
29a Where player might be in collapsed scrum, yanked about? Shut up! (5,4,3,3)
UNDER LOCK AND KEY: shut up here is not an instruction but a description. A rugby union player in a collapsed scrum might be squashed by a tall second-row player – append an anagram (about) of YANKED.
Down
1d Site managers grasp spades beneath netting (10)
WEBMASTERS: a verb to grasp or get the hang of and the cards abbreviation for spades follow (beneath, in a down clue) a synonym of netting or mesh.
2d Where finger is ready for action? Exactly (2,3,6)
ON THE BUTTON: where your finger may be positioned ready to start a sequence.
3d Conditions favouring five pit stops periodically (8)
PROVISOS: glue together a preposition meaning favouring, the Roman numeral for five and regular letters from ‘pit stops’.
4d Writer says it’s ridiculous to support English (8)
ESSAYIST: an anagram (ridiculous) of SAYS IT’S follows (to support, in a down clue) an abbreviation for English.
5d Outstanding PA in college ultimately rewarded (6)
UNPAID: insert PA into the abbreviation for a college and append the ultimate letter of rewarded.
6d Loves suit (6)
HEARTS: double definition – an informal verb meaning loves and a card suit.
7d Ticket scalper scratching head, possibly stumped (3)
OUT: drop the first letter (scratching head) from someone who profiteers from reselling tickets.
8d Dress right when going around India (4)
SARI: a very neat all-in-one or &Lit clue where the clue provides the whole definition and consists entirely of wordplay. Line up (dress, in a military sense) an abbreviation for right and a conjunction meaning ‘when’. Now reverse that (going round) and add the letter that India represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet.
13d Mad spy’s timepiece (6,5)
CUCKOO CLOCK: an informal adjective meaning crazy and an informal verb to spy or notice.
14d Lord Peter Wimsey’s latest suspect, allegedly (10)
REPORTEDLY: an anagram (suspect) of LORD PETER [wimse]Y using just the latest letter of his surname.
17d Dawn: reddish-brown duck observed by Spooner (8)
DAYBREAK: Spooner might see this as a reddish-brown colour (used of horses) and a male duck (BAY DRAKE).
18d A reprint ordered for The Swimmer (8)
TERRAPIN: an anagram (ordered) of A REPRINT. The Swimmer is an old film starring Burt Reynolds Lancaster.
21d Santa’s reindeer – deer oddly ignored? (6)
DASHER: punctuation is important! Start with the punctuation mark in the clue and add just the even letters of ‘deer’.
22d Player’s quick break during pressure over (6)
PRESTO: this is a musical instruction to play quickly. Insert a synonym of break or breather between the physics abbreviation for pressure and the cricket abbreviation for over.
25d List of courses Mickelson enjoyed naming, usually at the front every time (4)
MENU: the first letters (at the front every time) of four words in the clue.
27d Maybe Stewart Granger finally departs holding Oscar (3)
ROD: the final letter of Granger and an abbreviation for departs contain (holding) the letter that Oscar represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet.
I liked 1a, 26a, 17d and 21d with my favourite being 8d (and a plaudit or should that be a raised eyebrow for the Quickie Pun?). How about you?
The Quick Crossword pun: ROAR + CHUM + AWE = ROGER MOORE
)))A very satisfying mid week puzzle with plenty of amusement. The NW was last to fall, but with the checkers, 1a brought a big smile and unlocked the site manager and the sitcom. Otherwise no real hold ups with clear and fair parsing throughout. 29a was my COTD.
My thanks to the setter and Gazza
1.5*/3.5*
An excellent puzzle with plenty of humour.
5* enjoyment for me.
So many ticks but I’ll vote for 13d, with 1a in second place.
Many thanks to the setter and to Gazza.
A super puzzle which initially threatened greater resistance than it actually put up. A broadly NW to SE solve though 21d was my LOI.
Ticks absolutely everywhere, from clear COTD 21d to podium contenders 14d, 13d, 10a, 20a, 24a & 16a.
Many thanks indeed to the setter – I’m hazarding a guess at Twm – and to Gazza for the review.
For me, this took a lot of thinking about and winkling out, but nevertheless a satisfying puzzle.
I slipped up on only one – 21d. I knew the correct name, but because I couldn’t parse the clue, I put in the other name for the man in red. He’s three months too early again.
Thanks to setter and hinter.
Today’s offering was a good fit for my grey cell and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.
Once I had enough checkers in place to recognise 1a my first reaction was “no, it’s can’t be”, nothing better than starting the day with a big smile.
There were questions asked when Santa made an appearance in August, is September too early for the clever 21d?
The 26a planet was the final parse; I read it at least three times before the coin fell (slow down and read each word!)
COTD – 29a with 28a as the runner up.
My thanks to today’s setter and Gazza for the hints
3*/4*. This was nicely challenging and good fun, but why use an American word in the clue for 7d? (For what it’s worth, both Collins and Chambers agree).
I didn’t know the specific spelling needed for 24a but simply following the instructions in the wordplay led to the right answer.
I wouldn’t normally pick an anagram as my favourite but the superb surface for 14d wins the day today.
Many thanks to the setter and to Gazza.
I got 1a straightaway and then it all seemed to go swimmingly until the bottom half which pulled me up. An enjoyable puzzle with lots of ticks on my page. I liked the Quickie pun too.
Top picks for me were 21d, 13d, 9a, 27d and 1a.
Thanks to Gazza and the setter.
I really liked the pun too once the penny dropped. It made me think of Bill Murray in Sofia Coppola’s wonderful Lost In Translation
Great fun, challenging in the south. 21d LOI and COTD when the penny dropped with a clang.
Thanks to Gazza and Setter
What a superbly crafted crossword.
It’s got Silvanus written all over it but the UA (Unindicated Americanism) in 7d makes me hesitate a tad. Could it be Mr Tumble? Hmm…
I always like a clue when the word ‘some’ isn’t a lurker indicator. It also made me smile as I know someone who has them as pets.
I loved the use of the punctuation mark in 21d and now know the spelling of the loop de loop.
My picks are 26a (very clever), 28a (nice Lego) and 14d.
Many thanks to G and……….Silvanus!
3*/5* (I’ll let the UA slide as there are far too many beans in the jar for it to affect my rating)
As this is RayT’s back pager week off who knows who the setter maybe. A little trickier for me with RayT being off, but with some head scratching I made it through.
2.5*/3.5*
Favourites 1a, 11a, 15a, 29a, 2d & 17d — with winner 29a
Thanks to setter & Gazza
My sock drawer is staying firmly closed! I am not even going to suggest who the setter might be. ***/***
Smiles for 11a, 24a, 22d,and 27d. Definitely a Hmm for the Pun.
Thanks to the setter and Gazza – rather him than me this week!
A fine Thursday puzzle with good clues providing a challenge slighly above average difficulty for a back-pager. I hate gratuitous indicators of any kind in cryptic clues but the word in 7d probably should have one – very rarely used with that meaning in the UK and I’d never seen it before – apart from maybe in a TV Western or to describe an over-enthusiastic barber in the 1960s. Difficult to isolate a favourite today but I’ll go for 14d – a truly excellent clue. 3*/4*.
From my MRB:
Purist/idealistic solvers might consider this one.
A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it. (Tagore).
Like Jezza & Tom it’s the full 5* enjoyment in my book. I also had it as a Smooth production but RD & Senf usually peg those so maybe MG is on the right track with Twm.
Ticks all over the shop – 1,10,20&29a plus 2,3,14,17,21&27d my top 10 with 29a in at number 1.
Thanks to the setter & to Gazza.
Ps 1a prompted a visit to You Tube to watch Michelle Pfeiffer’s wonderfully sexy rendition of Gus Khan’s lyrics in The Fabulous Baker Boys, which I might rewatch tonight
A very pleasing puzzle that took a while to get into but then revealed some masterful cluing. 21d was my favourite once I’d finally parsed it but 1a (suspect syntax aside) and 29a were both very good too. I didn’t have a problem with 7d, but that might just be down to not knowing that the offending word was an Americanism. Thanks very much to the setter and to Gazza.
What do you find suspect about the 1a syntax?
21D The answer had to be what it was, but the rationale is funny! Enjoyed this puzzle.
1.5* / 5* A rare 5 star rating from me, I thought this was the most enjoyable puzzle, clever , witty and quirky.
Favourites out of many great clues, 14d allegedly, Santa’s reindeer at 21d and the 9a cheers.
Also a special mention for an excellent tenuous quickie pun
Many Thanks to Gazza and compiler
Excellent fare today. Seemed to tune in quite quickly. Last one in 28a. Loads of ticks especially 1a, 2d and the superb 21d.
A great icebreaker with new teaching staff was to share tales of wild and wonderful pupil names and their spellings that we had encountered, some of which made one wonder whether the person registering the birth had dallied in the pub on the way. I’d been leading for some time with Shyvonn (I’d smugly asked the new student if the spelling was Siobhan and she stared at me as though I had two heads!) but a new colleague trumped me with a young lady named La-a. Read as in the clue 😂. Never was beaten!
Sorry, I omitted the thanks due to setter and Gazza
Spent far too long trying to shoehorn balloons into 1a, but once I kicked the idea into the long grass, I slowly filled in the north. Showing my ignorance of things web based I had to confirm the existence of a 1d. I thought the lego 28a was excellent as was 29a, but cotd goes to the Spoonerism at 17d. Thanks to compiler and Gazza.
The most clever cryptic I’ve come across in ages. 21d stumped me. Thanks to setter and Gazza
What an excellent puzzle. To my shame I missed the anagram in 14d despite thinking it was one several times. I also needed help with parsing 21d. I am having 28a as my favourite as I know remarkably little about the required sport but my limited knowledge helped me get the correct answer.
Many thanks to the setter and to Gazza for the hints.
** / ****
Very enjoyable today! It felt as though the average letter count of the answers was high on this grid. That can sometimes increase the challenge but today it helped as the long ones were relatively benign I thought.
Ticks went to the 20a Italian water, the 7d stumped and the 13d mad spy – all for their super-smooth surfaces. Then, along came 21d and the use of the punctuation and that became my COTD.
Many thanks to the setter and Gazza
Tough but full of character thank you compiler, and Gazza for explaining the lord peter clue which had me going off on a huge tangent
Could someone please enlighten me? In 10a, how does the solution relate to “Washington for example”?
Chris
The “for example” is saying that you are looking for something / someone / somewhere that is known as or called Washington and in this case what it is / they are. In this case of all the possible Washingtons we need the award-winning American one whose first name is Denzel.
3*/3* …
liked 6D “Loves suit (6)”