Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31336
Hints and tips by Mr K
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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
Hello, everyone, and welcome to an enjoyable Friday puzzle.
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
4a Nun hiding - is a church in trouble (8)
NUISANCE: NUN containing (hiding) IS A from the clue is followed by the abbreviation for the Church of England
8a Newspaper exposed Stew (6)
RAGOUT: An informal derogatory word for a newspaper with a synonym of exposed. The false capitalisation of stew is for misdirection
9a Player invited to compete is unbroken facing deuce? (4,4)
WILD CARD: Unbroken or untamed with what deuce defines by example (?)
10a Dogs graffiti artist Rob conclusively draws outside (3,5)
PIT BULLS: The final letters (… conclusively) of GRAFFITI ARTIST ROB are contained by draws or tugs (… draws outside)
11a Idiot getting money back with it (6)
NITWIT: The reversal (back) of an informal word for money is followed by the single letter for with and IT from the clue
12a and 13a: Doctor, doctor - who let mine be born? (4,4,3,5)
COME INTO: An anagram (doctor, as an imperative) of DOCTOR WHO LET MINE
13a See 12 Across
THE WORLD: See 12a
16a When rejected, Yellowcoat Ted never harbours bad blood (8)
VENDETTA: The reversal (when rejected) of YELLOWCOAT TED NEVER hides (harbours) the answer
19a Case for Hazel, say, to have lines after she pursues group of teachers once (8)
NUTSHELL: Link together the abbreviation for a teacher’s labour organisation, SHE from the clue, and two copies of the single letter for line
21a Jumble sale occasionally helps out (6)
ASLEEP: An anagram (jumble, as an imperative) of SALE with alternate letters (occasionally) of HELPS
23a Publication of article on playing chess - essentially rook captures bishop (8)
YEARBOOK: A grammatical article comes after (on, in an across clue) the central letters (essentially) of PLAYING and CHESS, and that’s all followed by the ROOK from the clue that contains (captures) the chess abbreviation for bishop
24a Abundance provided by Norse god through prayer (8)
PLETHORA: A Norse god with a big hammer is inserted in (through) a prayer or serious request
25a Stock of wine retailer picked up (6)
CELLAR: A homophone (picked up) of another word for a retailer
26a Immaculate header from Uruguay devastated Denmark (8)
UNMARKED: The first letter (header from) of URUGUAY is followed by an anagram (devastated) of DENMARK
Down
1d Caretaker's rent reduced after New Year's Day (7)
JANITOR: All but the last letter (reduced) of a word meaning rent or ripped comes after a (3,1) abbreviation for the date that is New Year’s Day
2d Hotel offering British journo large drink at entrance (6,3)
DOUBLE BED: The single letter for British and a usual abbreviated journalist are preceded by (… at entrance) a large drink of an alcoholic spirit
3d Scarf - top of neck is hot (6)
STOLEN: A scarf that might be made of fur is followed by the first letter of (top of) NECK
4d Place where police found clue to dastardly con (3,8,4)
NEW SCOTLAND YARD: The answer interpreted as wordplay would give (clue to) DASTARDLY CON
5d Man's man, for example (8)
ISLANDER: The first Man here needs to be capitalised because it is a place (known for its tailless cats). The for example indicates that the definition is by example
6d American spy avoiding university town (5)
ASCOT: The single letter for American with a spy or somebody who goes ahead, minus (avoiding) the single letter for university
7d Friendly drink (7)
CORDIAL: A straightforward double definition
14d Aware of travelling to hen party (2,3,4)
ON THE BALL: An anagram (travelling) of TO HEN is followed by a formal party where there might be dancing
15d Son with top tip - it helps manage leaks (8)
STOPCOCK: Concatenate the genealogical abbreviation for son, TOP from the clue, and a verb synonym of tip (your hat, perhaps)
17d Musk penning letter to Aristotle - and another (7)
EPSILON: The first name of entrepreneur Musk containing (penning) a character in the Greek alphabet (letter to Aristotle) gives another character in the Greek alphabet
18d Failure of almost all arson, incredibly (4-3)
ALSO-RAN: An anagram (incredibly) of ALL minus its last letter (almost) and ARSON
20d Stupor caused by knight taking smack? Quite the reverse (6)
TRANCE: Inverting the wordplay (quite the reverse) a word meaning a smack or small amount is containing (taking) the chess abbreviation for knight
22d More out of context rants (5)
EXTRA: The answer is hidden in (out of) CONTEXT RANTS
Thanks to today’s setter. Which clues did you like best?
The Quick Crossword pun: THICK + EAST + OWN + COPSE = THE KEYSTONE KOPS
That was tough! Well, it was for me. A DNF because I had to resort to Mr. G. for a couple and, even with the answer, it took a while to sort out the parsing. In fact, I’m still puzzled by the graffiti artist at 10a so thank you, Mr. K. for explaining that. The jumble sale at 21a took a while to decipher because I was searching for a word that meant “helps out”. That was a great misdirection. My COTD is Hazel’s case at 19a.
Great Quickie pun today.
Thank you, setter, for the brain mangling. Thank you, Mr. K. for the hints.
Thankfully I was in no hurry this morning because my grey cell had a real work out…exactly what I expect from a perfect Friday puzzle that had everything.
The parsing of Musk at 17d and the 23a publication took some figuring out but, not for the first time this week, slowly reading every word in the clue got me there in the end.
Two stand out clues – firstly the 12a/13a combination for its brilliant misdirection and 4d for being, in my mind, a perfect crossword clue.
Thanks to today’s setter and to Mr K for the hints.
Discussion on the BBC Sport site this morning over the cost of tickets for the 2027 Ashes Test at Edgbaston…£165 + £2.50 booking fee in the Hollies Stand. What will the Barmy Army think about that?
Pitched about right for a Friday with a few head scratchers and a reverse anagram clue.
The 10a/3d combination the last to fall.
21a favourite – very cunning.
26a I thought a poor clue in an otherwise excellent puzzle.
Thanks to Mr K and Setter
Hi Slate
I think, occasionally, when there is a brilliant surface screaming at the setter, they sacrifice a usual anagram for an outrageously straightforward one.
The surface was so good that I almost put it on the podium.
Agreed. Good clue in my book
Talking of easy anagrams, I’ve just come across this one in a crossword book. A very easy anagram but a decent-ish surface:
Expect nuts in bar (6)
A goodie but, as you say, not the most challenging!
At first pass I was drawing blank after blank and thought it was going to verge into Toughie territory, but perseverance paid off as 1 by 1 it succumbed. 12/13 kept me busy as I read the second doctor to be the instruction as opposed to being part of the anagram. Thank you Mr K for enlightening me as to where the Y in 23a came from, I saw the chess essentially but didn’t look back. I thought the cop shop at 4d was brilliant and 2d needed to wait for the checker from the 10a dogs to be LOI. In the end it proved to be good fun, so thanks to the setter and Mr K.
3*/4*
They used to say you never see a copper when you want one, but if you know where to find ’em, 4d would have cracked this puzzle wide open.
Standout winner is 23a which took an age to parse, with honourable mentions to Rob the graffiti artist drawing dogs at 10a, the bad blood lurking backwards in 16a and prayers answered by the Norse god at 24a.
My thanks to our setter and Mr K.
The quickie pun fits in nicely with my first paragraph above.
Like Steve C in 1 above, a dnf from me as I needed some hintage to get me over the line. A great challenge with much to admire that had me beat, but enjoyable all the same.
My cotd is Hazel’s case at 19a. Thanks to compiler and Mr K.
What an excellent finish to what has been a very enjoyable week with my LOI being the growlers.
I’m guessing that it was compiled by NYPD Blue because of the 12a/13a comby. ‘Doctor, doctor’ is brilliant.
My picks are 23a (great construction), 4d (outstanding) and 14d.
As I mentioned in my post to SL8, I almost put 26a on the podium because the sublime surface more than trumps the easy anagram.
MTTTA and Mr K.
3*/5*
An ‘interesting’ start, the answer for 26a ‘leapt’ off my laptop screen while I was waiting for my printer to burst into action and then, for some inexplicable reason, I wrote the answer in 4a! Fortunately that ‘senior moment’ was quickly corrected. Overall a curate’s egg for me – **/***
Candidates for favourite – 16a, 19a, 1d, 3d, 5d, and 17d – and the winner is 5d.
Thanks to the setter, NYDK based on the 12a/13a ‘combo’ but I am not certain, and Mr K.
A good puzzle today, with some taking a while to solve. Thanks to setter and Mr K for the hints, some of which I needed.
24a reminds me of a joke I heard at a funeral:
A friend of the deceased was asked by the widow to say something at the funeral.
He duly got up to the front and said “plethora”, then stepped down.
As he passed the widow she took his hand and said
“Thank you. That means a lot “
Love it!
Excellent! Another smile after those engendered by the crossword. ☺
I think that I have been suffering concussion since my fall so it was encouraging that I got through today’s offering without help.In fact many answers just jumped out. It certainly is unusual for me. Last in was 5 down which is something of a chestnut. 1 down was the first and one of the best so I’ll nominate it.
Dr. John has advised rest today so in thanks to him I booked tickets to Wilton’s Theatre for next month. We have never been there and it is part of London’s history.
With much appreciation to our setter and Mr. K
Beat by three today, never thought of a stole as a scarf, but there you go…
Went to Marwell Zoo yesterday and it seemed very run down compared to when we last went about ten years ago, only about half as many animals, and lots of enclosures really overgrown. Can only hope it picks up again.
Can only hope
Reminds me of the old joke
“I went to the zoo the other day”
“The only animal they had was a dog”
“It was a Shih Tzu”
I’ll get my coat
Nonsense. It’s an excellent joke that I’ll add to my repertoire.
Clearly a day for good jokes, another I’ve not heard!!
My crossword is now sprayed with coffee!!!
Surely a scarf goes around the neck, and a stole goes around the shoulders…
Hi BL
Having consulted my farrrrrrrr better ‘arf, she agrees with you that they are different.
Yes but if a scarf goes round the neck it can also be across the shoulders. 🤔
It can but a stole can’t go around the head.
A step up from yesterday but that’s as it should be. I needed Mr K’s help parsing 10a but otherwise it all came together.
Top picks for me were 1d, 21a, 24a, 4d, 15d and 5d.
Thanks to Mr K and the setter.
Reasonably gentle for a Friday and entertaining – thanks to our setter and Mr K.
Top picks for me were 9a, 1d and 2d with my favourite being 4d.
An excellent Friday puzzle. Fine clues provided a decent challenge and an enjoyable solve. Plenty of ticks and my favourite today: 4d – a clue of Toughie calibre. 3*/4*.
From my MRB:
Atrophy: wasting away, degeneration, emaciation.
Entropy: measure of disorder in a system, randomness.
I’ve never heard of the latter.
So, thanks for that, Jaymundo.
Worth knowing, Tom, as entropy is (somewhat counter intuitively) always and forever increasing and underpins the very notion of the direction of time!
Thank you, to,, A-Pop
I thought everyone knew that. 😊
Time flies like an arrow…
Fruit flies like a banana
Entropy also crops up in internet security — basically because secure encryption requires random numbers (because if the numbers are predictable, an attacker could crack the code), and because coming up with random numbers is one of the things that computers are naturally terrible at, so there’s much discussion in security tech circles of how to get a good source of entropy.
Thank you for that, S.
** / *****
A superb end to the week with a few head scratchers and plenty of humour. Ticked so many that I’ve had to be harsh to list only 3 for the podium: the dogs at 10a, the 17d foreign letters and the 24a praying Norse god. We’ve had the answer to 24a pretty recently haven’t we?
Adding the humour to the 12/13 combo, I’ll join those guessing this was NYDK. So, many thanks to him (or whomsoever) and Mr K.
Tricky today! I had to get some tips for 3 or 4 in the NW corner.
I thought today’s offering was hard yakka as we say in Oz. Thanks Mr K for explaining the wordplay of some of the hmms. Anyway, a good challenge. Thanks to the setter too.
Best, Flyingfox 🦇
PS Where are the cat pics? 😜
Found today to be quite gentle compared to the usual brain mangling on a Friday. Lots of humorous surfaces and lots of ticks all over the page. Thanks to the setter and to Mr K and to the pair of jokers for a couple of excellent gags!
Initially I thought I was going to struggle but in the end it came together nicely once I started half way down, it was a very enjoyable puzzle. The north held out longest and I needed to check the parsing of 10a. 4 d was my favourite.
Many thanks to the setter and to Mr k for the hints.
I don’t think I’m going out on too much of a limb, (I hope?!), but I really liked this NYDK offering for a Friday puzzle.
Lots of chuckles around the grid including the multi-word clue.
A nice puzzle today for what is generally tough puzzle on Friday that one can often dread.
2*/4.5* today
Favourites 4a, 12/13a, 25a, 26a, 4d & 18d — with co-winners 12/13a & 4d
Thanks to NYDK & Mr K.
3*/4* …
liked 4D “Place where police found clue to dastardly con (3,8,4)”
I initially thought this was going to be harder than it was but once I’d got a foothold it all went surprisingly smoothly. All done and parsed. LOI was 10a. Favourite was 17d. Thanks to Donnybrook and Mr. K.
3*/3*. This provided a pleasant Friday challenge. I rather liked 1d but was pipped on the finishing line by 4d,
Many thanks to the setter and to Mr K.
Am in agreement with Steve @ #1 (good to see you back in the groove) about “brain mangling”.
Persevered to the end, taking a long time – three cups of tea plus biscuits and lunch.
21a – the short word “out” can mean so many different things.
Thanks to setter and hinter.
Great fun with the man’s man as a wonderful clue, thank you compiler – and Mr K for explaining the rationale behind the dogs … filled in the spaces correctly but without any understanding!
Unusually for a Friday I got round to completing this (at silly o’clock) before (rather than during) work so it got my full concentration & a very enjoyable solve it was too. Fortunate to tune in pretty much from the off for a brisk(ish) finish with only last in 10a proving a bit of a crumpet scratch before the parsing penny dropped.
Ticks aplenty – the fodder in 4d for the reverse anagram was a great spot so that gets my vote as pick of ‘em. 9,12/13,19&23a + 1,2&20d other particular likes.
Thanks to the setter & to Mr K
A very satisfying solve, I had to turn to the hints for one or two ( the dogs held out as did 20d not being sure what smack was!) but 12a was brilliant, I liked the stew and Mr Musk’s involvement with Aristotle. Enjoyed reading all the comments. Many thanks to our Setter and to Mr K. Took a friend out to lunch today in our largest Garden Centre and noticed their extensive range of smart garden furniture being cleared. Tentatively I said to one of the young people please don’t tell me you are preparing for Christmas? ‘Fraid so, he replied!
Morrisons near our office already has half an aisle of mince pies† and the like.
† With a use-by date in late September, of course.
Fun, and for me the fastest solve of the week. I particularly liked 21a’s jumble sale, tthe new year’s rent reduction in 1d, and
17d with Musk and Aristotle, and the Quickie pun is one of the best ever. Thank you so much to NY Doorknob for the entertainment, and to Mr K for explaining the tip in 15d.
Well I really enjoyed that! I have a routine of doing the cogs then the “tough” code word first thing in the morning as they warm my brain up to see letter patterns. Followed by my attempt at the toughie (on a timer so I don’t spend all day on it). I then do the back pager later on in the day. Tonight we are in the BBQ hut and the wind is so strong outside, blown a far few bits of garden furniture around.
Anyway I found this a really quick solve I must be on the setters wavelength for a Friday. Just one bit of help which was synonym of scarf as my mind had gone blank and that NW corner was my last in.
Lots of fun clues but I think my COTD is the graffiti artist in 10a
Thanks to the setter for a fun Friday and to Mr K for helping me understand aome of my answers!!
17D and 4D my faves today – VMT Setter & Mr K.
That puzzle was completed significantly more rapidlyvthan usual and I quite enjoyed i it. I liked the aanagram at 4d and the lego clue at 4a and the reverse lurker at 16a. Thanks to the compiler and to Mr K for the hints.
While I can in no way claim that I sailed through this today, needing numerous hints to finish, I did find it decidedly friendlier than recent Fridays. 10a and 17d vied with each other to be LI. But loved 4d. Thanks to setter and Mr K.
Thanks Mr. K, thanks all.
Thank you for a most enjoyable puzzle that had some stonking clues.
Thank you, Django for a most interesting puzzle and for popping in.
A-ha, it’s you! Thank you very much.
Should’ve guessed, from the linked answers being neatly arranged next to each other.
Yep that was the tell & we still missed it.
Wish he set more back-pagers if this is anything to go by
Thanks for dropping in and thanks for a fine puzzle to solve and to hint.
That was an enjoyable struggle but I managed to finish it. Thanks to the compiler.
Just been to a Pulp and Blur tribute night in Worthing.
Found this more on my wavelength than Thursday’s. Pody picks are the doctored 12A, the case of 19A and 4A which policed a good start.
Thanks to NYDK and Mr K ⭐️
I don’t usually blog if I finish late , but firstly I needed to check the parsing of 10a which had me scratching my head , and also it was such an excellent puzzle which needed saying and I was interested in who the compiler was and see Django has claimed. 21a was my favourite. Thanks to Django for the wonderful solve and Mr K too – re 15d I didn’t think a ‘you know what’ was called a tip , had me chuckling though !