Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31359
Hints and Tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ***
A pleasant and not too taxing puzzle including no obscurities but a couple of colloquial terms which probably wouldn’t have made it into the Telegraph a decade ago. Many thanks to our setter.
In the hints below the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagram fodder is 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 Last in group directed Cinderella, a hit (4-3,7)
TAIL-END CHARLIE: an anagram (directed) of CINDERELLA A HIT produces a phrase which was originally used to describe the rear gunner in a WWII bomber aircraft.
8a Begins games hosted by old partners (5)
OPENS: the abbreviation for games lessons in school is contained (hosted) between the abbreviation for old and two partners in a game of bridge.
9a Maybe Scorsese film is one demanding discipline (8)
MARTINET: stick together a male forename (that of Mr Scorsese, maybe) and Spielberg’s film which is such a boon to crossword setters.
11a Joining son, more mature during golf (9)
SOLDERING: assemble the genealogical abbreviation for son, a comparative meaning more mature or advanced in years, a preposition meaning during and the letter that golf represents in the Nato Phonetic Alphabet.
12a Draw relic (5)
TRACE: double definition, the first a verb.
13a Lift up articulated narrow beams (4)
RAYS: a homophone (articulated) of a verb to lift up.
14a Now and then three newly-weds meeting somewhere in Scotland (8)
HEBRIDES: regular (now and then) letters from tHrEe and a word for newly-wed females come together (meeting) to form the answer.
17a Talk at length about chasing teacher ending in punishment (6,2)
RABBIT ON: a preposition meaning on or concerning follows (chasing) a religious teacher and the end letter of punishment.
19a Sarcastic American detectives (4)
ACID: an abbreviation for American and the detective department of a UK police force.
23a Mentioned spades ahead of short card game (5)
SPOKE: the abbreviation for the card suit spades precedes a betting card game without its last letter (short).
24a Large plant parent feels out of bounds somehow? (5,4)
PLANE TREE: an anagram (somehow) of PARENT and [f]EEL[s] without its enclosing letters (out of bounds). I’m not sure why the question mark is needed.
25a Bird is warm in Durham river (8)
WHEATEAR: a verb to warm is contained in the river that flows through Durham.
26a Conclusion of elegy worries poet (5)
YEATS: the concluding letter of elegy and a verb meaning worries or gnaws away at.
27a Picture lawyer beginning to enjoy new number by Queen (5,9)
BRIEF ENCOUNTER: string together an informal term for a lawyer, the first letter of enjoy, the abbreviation for new, a synonym of number and the cipher of our late Queen.
Down
1d Thieves stealing busy rep’s accessory in hotel (7,5)
TROUSER PRESS: a verb meaning thieves or pockets unlawfully contains (stealing) an anagram (busy) of REP’S.
2d Husband going away, lie low with friend in theory (7)
IDEALLY: a verb to lie low or conceal oneself loses the genealogical abbreviation for husband. Add a synonym of friend or accomplice.
3d Chelsea’s Terry taking a break (6)
EASTER: hidden (taking) in the clue.
4d Henman possibly angry about curses (6)
DAMMIT: stick together Mr Henman’s forename and an adjective meaning angry then reverse the lot (about) to get an interjection expressing disappointment (curses!).
5d Like getting introduced to male leads? Let’s do it! (4,4)
HERE GOES: the abbreviation of like or ‘for example’ is inserted (introduced) into a word for the principal male characters in a story or film.
6d Doctor or sister has noisy party? (8)
ROISTERS: an anagram (doctor) of OR SISTER.
7d Country cousin finally relaid rocks (7)
IRELAND: an anagram (rocks) of the final letter of [cousi]N and RELAID.
10d Less shrewd cooks touching overturned item in the kitchen? (5,7)
WELSH DRESSER: another (our third in a row) anagram (cooks) of LESS SHREWD followed by the reversal (overturned) of a preposition meaning touching or concerning.
15d Beer found under sacks in discount event (4,4)
FIRE SALE: a type of beer follows (under, in a down clue) a verb meaning sacks or dismisses.
16d School allowed Steppenwolf, essentially unabridged (8)
COMPLETE: charade of the abbreviation for a type of school catering for pupils of mixed abilities, a verbal synonym for allowed and the central (essentially) letter of Steppenwolf.
18d Monk and dog crossing river (7)
BROTHER: a verb to dog or torment contains (crossing) the abbreviation for river.
20d Delivered present, fruit (7)
CURRANT: a homophone (delivered) of an adjective meaning present or contemporary.
21d Redesigned F1 car incorporating black material (6)
FABRIC: an anagram (redesigned) of FI CAR containing the abbreviation for black.
22d Get Oxford University to support Yankee later (3,3)
SEE YOU: a verb to get (in the sense of understand or twig) is followed by the abbreviation for Oxford University after (to support, in a down clue) the abbreviation for Yankee. Later here is an informal word (chiefly US) meaning ‘goodbye for now’.
I liked 9a, 27a and 4d. Which one(s) appealed to you?
The Quick Crossword pun: EGGS + CUES + SMEE = EXCUSE ME
The unindicated Americanism in 4d will no doubt ruffle a few feathers, though it wasn’t the only casual term here.
The two film references at 9a and 27a were sharp but my favourite was the dawdler at 1a, an amusing term for the equivalent of the lantern rouge in Le Tour.
My thanks to our setter and Gazza.
Hi FW
4d is an English expression that dates back centuries.
Well, I live and learn.
I’d have thought if it was written down in English it would be two words, the first ending in an n. Seeing it spelt like that looks like a colloquialism I’d associate with our cousins across the pond.
No worries, guv. It was a very fair assumption to make.
No indication of Americanism for 4d in The Crimson Tome.
Another relatively straightforward backpager although a step up from the 3 previous days. I found that for most I had to read the clue twice to understand the direction of travel, but nothing too onerous. Plenty of ticks although difficult to pick a winner from 1a, 27a, 1d, 5d and 26a.
Many thanks to the setter and Gazza
1.5*/4*
Anyone born in the Edwardian era will have been at a distinct advantage when solving this guzzle rooted in life in the 1940s. Were Chips Channon or Nancy Mitford still with us they would have breezed through.
We were in Oxford yesterday. Despite the intrusions of modern life it retains all the charm and, of course, the magnificent architecture. Amazingly, many of the little shops and coffee houses I remember from my youth are still in situ.The new electric buses in the centre are very helpful, reducing noise. We didn’t bump into any Mitfords. Not even Evelyn Waugh.
Thanks to the setter and the former midfielder for Gansu Tianma.
Come to Cambridge. Oxford is a city with a university, but Cambridge is university with a city!
That’s fightin’ talk!
I can only assume they put the week’s crosswords in a bag and drew them at random. After Tuesday’s terrible trickiness we’ve had Wednesday’s walk-in-the-park and now a Thursday, um, easy one.
1a and 1d were first in which set the scene for a steady solve with few hold ups. Even my twin nemesises (nemesees?) of plants and birds didn’t stop me, though the bird at 25a did need a swift google to prove its existence. I’ll plump for 14a as CotD, though several others could easily have got the gong. 1.5*/4*
PS Is 4d an Americanism? Neither online dictionary I’ve looked at indicates it as such. I shall await the Bunny’s adjudication.
It’s fine by me!
Much studying and deciphering kept me intrigued for quite a while with 16d and 27a going in last.
I suppose 1a must be a special term for a specialised event. The anagram was difficult for me to untangle and needed 4d to clinch it.
I smiled at the thought of Tim cursing.
Thanks to setter and hinter
Have just refreshed my memory regarding 1a which refers to the brave men who served as rear gunners in bombers. An incredibly lonely position to be in.
… which is what I wrote in my hint.
Sorry.
I did read your hint, but my ageing memory failed me. Note the time lapse in between my comments.
Don’t worry about it, Clicker.
I realised a long time ago that few of those who access the blog actually read the hints. One April Fools Day I was blogging and one answer was Garbo – I wrote something like ‘It has recently been revealed that she was actually a man which is why she always wore high-necked dresses’. I expected lots of comments about that – I got not a single one.
Had a feeling that this was going to beat me. Getting started was very slow. 1 across and 1 down gave hope and I had extra time as Knitter Natter was ditched as am now on the tail end of this cold. Took ages to get 9 across but thought it very good when finally teased out with the checkers. Second to that was 4 down. Difficulty rating was more like 3 * and enjoyment even more.
Thank you Gazza and our setter
This crossword was just right for me.
Hard enough but not too hard.
Required some thought but did not stump me.
Thanks to the setter and to Gazza…though I did not need his hints….
A lovely autumn day up here. Crisp and bright. Will enjoy a stroll after lunch.
Found this on the tough side because 1a and 1d didn’t drop for quite some time .1a my favourite followed by 14a , 17 and 27 . Many thanks to all .
A very enjoyable Thursday puzzle although, as the DT computer and/or clock appeared to be on a go slow, I was beginning to wonder if there was going to be a Thursday puzzle at all. **/****
Candidates for favourite – 11a, 25a, 27a, 15d, and 16d – and the favourite is 27a, partly for the ‘poaching’ of Ray T’s Queen which makes me suspect that this is a smooth production but all coins, old and new, are staying in drawers and pockets; my ‘setter radar’ is becoming very unreliable.
Thanks to, perhaps, Silvanus, or whomsoever if it is not he, and to Gazza.
This took a bit of work as it should do on a jeudi.
I’ve never heard of 1a, which I love, 26a and 10d but all perfectly gettable. Another way of saying 1a could be LC. Any takers?
My picks are 5d, 7d and 18d.
Many thanks to G and the setter (the middle letter of a long word smacks of Silvanus but I’m not convinced)
3*/3*
Perhaps 1a is an Americanism. My uncle-in-law served in the RAF in this position, which was always referred to as rear gunner.
Now put me out of my misery. What is LC?
A welcome step up in challenge level from the last few days and a very enjoyable puzzle, even if at a ratio of 1: 4 the number of anagrams was excessive. All GK known and familiar, which helped. Could have had a very long list of ticks but shall limit to 9a, 14a 1d & 16d.
Many thanks to the setter and to Gazza for the excellent blog
Hi MG
I’ve never seen a 1:4 ratio for anagrams in a crossword though I’m sure it’s happened.
This one is slightly under that (6.33) though you, hating the overuse of them, were always going to round it up. I, like your good self, will look out for it.
I count seven anagrams in this one, Tom, whether full or partial; I’ve seen it go as high as 8, even 9, but that’s exceptional. From only 28 clues though, it’s too many however good they are – and in this puzzle there are some crackers.
I was surprised to see three homophones. Sometimes there are as many as three lurkers, but only one today. I’ve no idea what the editorial guidelines are but, so long as there’s a good variety of every clue type, hopefully several cryptics, and not too many of any one in particular, that’s fine with me!
No problem, MG.
This is why I’m not convinced it’s a Silvanus production due to 22.6% of the clues being anagrams.
How many anagrams are you working on?
7/28 = 25%
6.5/28 = 23.214%
6/28 = 21.429%
Hi J
1d is a third not a half.
So, it’s 6.33 out of 28.
I mentioned 6.33 further up.
Gotcha! I presume M is counting any clue with a full/partial anagram as an “anagram clue”. Your method seems to calculating a partial anagram by the ratio of anagram letters of the answer to the total letters of the answer. Is this system a new one or the established convention?
Hoo nose.
I see an anagram clue as the whole answer being one. Whereas MG doesn’t which is absolutely fine.
As I said at half-twelve, in my book anagrams are anagrams whether full or partial, whether it’s of 3 letters within a 15-letter answer (or 33 letters for a Donny) or all 4 letters of a 4-letter answer.
No problem, MG.
When I see that at least 20% of clues are anagrams it makes me smile as I picture you saying ‘Grrrr!’ when your antenna starts to bleep like a good’un.
Let me at that keyboard!
I’m curious……do you put a tick next to a clue every time you see one or do you only start totting them up when you feel it’s getting close to your personal Mount Etna erupting?
No problem if you don’t want to answer as this chat has gone on long enough.
Ticks for clues that tickle.
I sometimes annotate with a type of shorthand to classify clues as I go through, just for an idea as to how many there are of different types in a puzzle. So I tend to circle the clue number if it’s an anagram; C for cryptic, H for homophone, underlines with arrow heads for lurkers/rekruls, -L/-LL/+L/+LL for letter removals/additions, A+B(+c+d..) for lego clues, dashes under letters for acrostics and odds & evens, insertion arrows, etc etc.
Brilliant!
I was hoping you’d say something like that and, unlike me, you most certainly didn’t disappoint.
You’ve made my day.
I’m still chuckling at ticks for tickles.
Genius!
Maybe it would be easier to count single “instances” of (any) anagrams rather than clues that contain full or single ones. Just a thought!
How would you deal with a single clue that contains 2 partial anagrams?
Or as M says at 3.27 above.
With 1d, MG would put a 1 in the ‘anagram’ column and a 1 in the ‘word inside word’ column whereas I would put a 1 inside the ‘Comby’ column.
This means that his total number of 1s in today’s crossword would be more than the number of clues, i.e 29. I would have 28.
That’s the difference.
proXimal is a master of compound anagrams, wher an anagram of one word is removed from a larger word before re-anagramming what remains. As long as there are two anagram indicators I just love them. Check the next proXimal Sunday Toughie, he is bound to have a couple
An interesting technique, Sloopingtons. Thank you.
You can never have too many anagrams, Mustafa, akthough I find it is quite posibble to have too many linked clues,. One man’s meat is another man’s poison.
I am with you on this, CC – we are the anagram queens.
I counted only two homophones, Mustafa. It is the three consecutive anagrams which make me doubt that this is a Silvanus production.
My mistake, Gazza, sorry – I’d quickly skimmed the puzzle after completing it, using my shorthand for clue types, and erroneously included an extra one!
Really good crossword. I usually finish these and, if not, it’s usually because even with unlimited time I still wouldn’t get them. A real challenge today and a great sense of satisfaction on completion. Many thanks to all concerned.
I really struggled to get on the compiler’s wavelength and thought it was going to be an all-day crossword until it sll fell into place quite suddwnly. I did like the anagram atc1a, the geographical clue at 14a and the lego clue at 25a. Thanks to the compiler, although the puzzle wasnt really my cup of tea andbto Gazza forvthe hints
I struggled, too. Glad it wasn’t just me. Had only 3 answers (13a, 19a and 26a) before leaving for a Pilates session this morning. This weekly appointment generally refreshes the parts that other ………but today it seemed to block out all connections, thought processes and vocabulary. Gained two more answers then had to use the hints to kick-start. 1a particularly helped with the adjoining down clues and I had a surge of successes and “of course” comments to myself before crawling over the line.
Once again I am reminded how amazingly difficult a crossword is when there isn’t a shared wavelength between compiler and ‘doer’.
Many thanks to compiler and Gazza, without whom I would still be struggling.
I have an issue with 14a. I don’t regard ‘now and then’ as regular. An alternative could be first letters of “hardly ever”, but that would leave the question of the “3”
I think maybe the clue is flawed.
C, 14a. The setters are rarely wrong and I’m having some difficulty assimilating this one. My take is that now and then = sometimes = on and off/off and on. So, taking the letters of three off and on/now and then = HE. Not sure if that will be any help?
Hi Chris
Why would the clue be flawed?
To me ‘now and then’ means select alternate letters from tHrEe. Seems very clear to me
Another enjoyable puzzle, we are having a good week, with several needing extra thought and one or two new words/phrases eg 1a and 25a which were confirmed after.
Many thanks to the setter and to Gazza for the hints
I found this very hard but also very enjoyable. 1a was new to me and getting it very late on along with 1d didn’t help. I almost gave up when I had completed the bottom half but only had 3 in the top. Perseverance paid off though.
Top picks for me were 25a, 27a, 14a, 1d, 16d and 18d.
Thanks to Gazza and the setter.
A fine Thursday puzzle which I found to be a tad above average difficulty for a back-pager. Great clues provided an enjoyable solve. I have ticked quite a few and my favourite today is 27a – possibly influenced by the fact that in the mid 90s I did some work on Carnforth Station. 3*/4*.
* Earlier, I noticed that my watch was over a minute slow, so I decided to reset it. The times on my laptop, mobile and BBC News were all slightly different. I asked Google and was advised that my mobile is the most accurate but to get the correct time I should use an online atomic time checker. So, I did and of course that was different to the other three but I did use that one.
*From my MRB:
You can own too much. A man with one watch knows the time; a man with two watches is never sure.
*** / **
Found this a real struggle compared to recent days and not so enjoyable – it’s probably me rather than the puzzle. Had to check 4 parsings after completion. Two made the podium: I can imagine the newly-weds watching 27a in the 14a.
Many thanks to the setter and Gazza
As it is RayT’s day off this week from the backpager, I wasn’t holding out a lot of hope for today’s puzzle. I was right, at least for me.
Rather tricky with parsing issues in this one. Even with the answer in, still no clue … and no pun intended.
2.5*/3* for me today
Favourites 13a, 14a, 3d, 7d & 20d — with winner 14a
Thanks to setter & Gazza
A good cranial workout. On first reading I just got about four but as I worked through I appreciated the clever clues. 15d was LOI as I didn’t know about Fire Sales but I assume they are rescued good from a conflagration which must smell of smoke, so I am not sorry to be ignorant there. I knew the WWII gunner.10d was favourite Glorious sunshine here in South Cambridgeshire, and I actually got an appointment with a doctor this morning by ringing at 8 am. I have got an ECG booked for 5th November!! Anyway, does anyone else have the Chancellor Press Complete Crossword Companion? It is a gem. Many thanks to our Super Setter and the Great Gazza.
3*/4*. For me, this was much the toughest puzzle of the week so far, but I did enjoy it.
My one query relates to 10d, which seems to rely on the fallacious assumption that A must be a synonym C if A=B and B=C. In this case I can see that “touching” = “on” and “on” = “re” but I don’t think “touching” = “re”.
9a was my favourite.
Many thanks to the setter and to Gazza.
10a. The preposition “touching” means: on the subject of/regarding/relating to or RE.
10d!
Thanks, Jose. I can see now that it is valid but I really don’t like it as it sounds so unnatural.
AI confirms my reservation saying “this isn’t a normal usage in contemporary English, and it is prone to sound a little awkward even when used grammatically. It is more common to use touch on”.
I was slow to get going on this one and overall found it a steady and nicely chewy solve . Once I’d got 1a and 1d that set me in my way. The anagram for the noisy party at 6d was not a familiar word so that caused a pause . 5d was my last one in which I finally got by resorting to the alphabet, but after it seemed obvious as always , and the parsing was quite neat, so is my favourite clue even though it caused me a headache ! Thanks to the setter and Gazza.
Finished in moderate time but like Alfiepops I struggled to parse several answers. I’m still not convinced about the second word of 17a and ‘touching’ in 10d, and the ‘out’ in 24a seems to do two jobs. I’m sure the experts will tut at me and tell me the clues are fine.
The bird at 25a was new to me.
Like several others, my CoD is 14a (and now and then works for me!).
S. I’m no expert but I do like analysing cryptic clues in detail. I would never dream of tutting at a fellow commentor, but I do think those clues are fine:
17a. About = ON as in: She gave a lecture on/about semantics.
10a. Touching – see my comment at 21 above.
24a. “out of bounds” is an instruction to remove the enclosing letters of (f)EEL(s). The “out” isn’t required for any other purpose.
Took a while to get going but once the fabulous 4 NSEW answers went in, most then fell into place with a few holdouts but got there save the Durham river bird.
The Black Keys superb Ohio Players album today 🎸