Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31370
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 to be the most challenging of the week so far – an excellent Wednesday workout. There are some very clever clue constructions: I especially liked 9a, once I’d worked out what was going on, and I thought 7d was ingenious. 25a might divide opinion, as it requires some cricketing general knowledge, but it makes it onto my podium as well. 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 Busy Lizzie among herbal samples (6)
BALSAM: This plant of the genus Impatiens is hidden in the last two words of the clue.
Credit: Thegreenj CC BY-SA 3.0
5a Sign onto system outside taxi building (3,5)
LOG CABIN: A two-word expression meaning to sign on to a computer is placed around (outside) a synonym of ‘taxi’.
9a Elite soldier, November Delta Oscar (8)
COMMANDO: The name of the punctuation mark in the clue, and the letters represented by November, Delta and Oscar in the NATO phonetic alphabet. It took a while for the penny to drop when parsing this one.
10a Gregg no good holding drink (6)
EGGNOG: Hidden in the first three words of the clue.
11a Tom with 13 Across product protecting a burial chamber (8)
CATACOMB: An animal, the male of which is known as a tom, and an item used in the activity described in 13a are placed around (protecting) ‘a’ from the clue.
12a Free Spanish bubbly after cycling last two sections of event (6)
VACANT: Take the name of a Spanish sparkling wine, move the first half to the back (after cycling), and append the final two letters (last two sections) of ‘event’.
13a Maintenance of Barnet Locks? (4,4)
HAIR CARE: A cryptic definition. The capital letters are a misdirection: ‘Barnet’ here is rhyming slang.
15a Drink beer, just a half, virtually drained (4)
BEVY: The first half of ‘beer’ and the outer letters (drained) of ‘virtually’.
17a Hands over in exchange (4)
SWAP: An informal word for one’s hands is reversed (over).
19a An advocate of women’s rights, Duke entertains a Young British Artist (8)
FEMINIST: The body part known informally as a ‘duke‘ surrounds (entertains) the surname of a member of a group of artists who dominated the British art scene in the 1990s.
20a Sarah left without cover after bank loses billion in capital (6)
ANKARA: What’s left of ‘Sarah’ once you remove the outer letters (without cover) follows ‘bank’ minus its first letter (loses billion).
21a Saw house with a kind of solid outside (8)
APHORISM: ‘A’ from the clue and the name of a solid like the one Newton used to disperse light into colours are placed outside the two-letter abbreviation for ‘house’, revealing a word for a saw or proverb.
22a “Bared heart with a kiss” – gooey stuff in Listener (6)
EARWAX: ‘Heart’ without its first and last letters (bared), the abbreviation of ‘with’, ‘a’ from the clue, and the letter that represents a kiss.
23a Sounding rough, tummy ultra upset (8)
GUTTURAL: Another word for the stomach, and an anagram (upset) of ULTRA.
24a More hip outer district in German city (8)
TRENDIER: A word for an outer district inside the name of a German cathedral city on the river Moselle. I hadn’t come across this definition of ‘outer district’ before, but it’s in Chambers.
25a Understand good England opener failing to get century (6)
GATHER: Here, ‘England opener’ actually does refer to a player who used to open the batting for England, and not to the letter ‘E’. Start with the abbreviation for ‘good’ and add the surname of a former England cricket captain without the informal term for a score of 100 runs (failing to get century).
Down clues
2d Lovely winding road on Elba heading north (8)
ADORABLE: An anagram (winding) of ROAD precedes (on, in a down clue) the word ELBA reversed (heading north).
3d Pity Sinatra’s intro turned My Way close to schmaltzy (8)
SYMPATHY: The initial letter (intro) of “Sinatra’s”, the word MY reversed (turned), a synonym of ‘way’, and the final letter (close to) of ‘schmaltzy’.
4d Instrument, one used for making julienne (9)
MANDOLINE: A double definition. The musical instrument is more commonly spelt with eight letters, but both spellings are in Chambers.
5d Play creatively, balance king and rook (4,4,2,5)
LOOK BACK IN ANGER: An anagram (creatively) of BALANCE KING ROOK. This realist drama was written by John Osborne.
6d Related vacuous tale after endless brandy (7)
COGNATE: ‘Tale’ with its inner letters removed (vacuous) follows a variety of French brandy without its final letter (endless).
7d “Balogun must play!” – leader in White House (8)
BUNGALOW: An anagram (must play) of BALOGUN, and the initial letter (leader) of ‘white’. Folarin Balogun is a footballer who plays for the US national team. He received a red card during the 2026 World Cup, which was rescinded after intervention from President Trump, enabling Balogun to play in their next match.
8d Close bottle top around Tango drink before bedtime (8)
NIGHTCAP: A synonym of ‘close’ or ‘near’ and a word for a bottle top are placed around the letter that Tango represents in the NATO phonetic alphabet.
14d The cigar’s gone out – somebody set fire to it! (9)
REICHSTAG: An anagram (out) of THE CIGARS. This German government building was seriously damaged by fire in 1933.
15d Upper-class flat set up in top location on the Danube (8)
BUDAPEST: Start with the letter representing upper-class popularised by Nancy Mitford, reverse (set up) and append an informal word for a flat, and put it all inside a synonym of ‘top’ or ‘highest quality’.
16d Norse woman rider angered key rival (8)
VALKYRIE: an anagram (angered) of KEY RIVAL.
17d Musical introduction captivating Germany and America (8)
STARDUST: A synonym of ‘introduction’ is placed around (captivating) the International Vehicle Registration code for Germany and the two-letter abbreviation of the United States. This 1974 musical starred David Essex and Adam Faith.
18d Advanced position consumed faithless individual (8)
APOSTATE: The abbreviation for ‘advanced’, a synonym of position or job, and another word for ‘consumed’.
19d Cheeky, possibly hawkish Democrat (7)
FORWARD: A phrase (3,3) meaning ‘in favour of conflict’ (possibly hawkish) and the abbreviation for ‘Democrat’.
Which clues did you like best? Let us know in the comments below.
The Quick Crossword pun: AUSSIE + MANDY + ASS = OZYMANDIAS
Three of the answers to the Across clues are words that appear in this poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Just about right for a mid-week back-pager with everything manageable with a little thought. The anagram at 14d eluded me until I had all the checkers and that was one of my choices for the podium, the others being 3d, Sinatra’s pity and my top spot goes to 9a with the clever use of the punctuation.
Many thanks to the setter and DL
1.5*/4*
Certainly quite a lot going on here for a midweek backpager.
I read up a bit fair about arson at the German parliament thanks to 14d, very interesting.
Strange how the slang for drink has reappeared so soon at 15a, again spelled with only a single v.
My favourites were 25a where the (ex)English opener failed to get a ton and the brilliant reference to Trump’s World Cup red card interference at 7d, shame that clue didn’t appear closer to the tournament.
The eclectic range of subjects touched upon greatly added to my enjoyment.
My thanks to our setter and Deansleigh.
A very fast start, with lots of answers going straight in at the top … then being held up by the final few answers towards the bottom, leading to a typical sort of time overall. Thank you to the setter for the entertainment, especially the 9a comma, the 21 solid house, the centuryless cricketer in 25a, Sinatra singing My Way in 3d, related in 6d, and the 19d hawk.
Thank you to Deansleigh for explaining who Balogun is (to me it just looked like a convenient collection of letters to use for fodder), the 14d fire, the 17d musical, and the quickie pun, all of which were outside my general knowledge (though, except for the pun, that didn’t hamper solving them).
I thought this was very difficult; perhaps the trickiest back-pager I’ve solved for a long time.
Very enjoyable though…
Many thanks to the setter and to Deansleigh.
I’m hopefully the toughie today is less demanding.
* I’m hoping….
Am I the only person with a Samsung android phone that decides to change what I write into something that is illogical?
This wasn’t for me. I finished unaided but needed Mr G to confirm my suspicions of the general knowledge required. I found the completion of this puzzle to be so heavily reliant on general knowledge that it felt more like a quiz than a cryptic puzzle. 15A is a very recent return and I seem to remember a similar clue to 9A in the not so distant past. I did however think that 5A,9A and17A were excellent clues with 5A mounting the podium. Thanks to Deansleigh for the hints and to the setter.
The south east was as difficult as it gets and though I am an avid cricket fan I never would have got 25 a ..It didn’t help that 18d eluded me . The other 3 quadrants fell so quickly I thought it was going to be over in quick time . A DNF for me . Favourites , even though I didn’t get it initially 25 followed by 22 and 23 . Thanks to all .
3*/4.5*. I found this nicely challenging and a lot of fun. I would have awarded 5* except for the (non) anagram indicator in 16d.
7d was very clever and stands on my podium alongside 5a & 19a.
Many thanks to the setter and to Deansleigh.
A crossword that would have done very nicely for yesterday’s Toughie spot, taking me exactly the same time to solve as today’s Weatherman
My favourite has to be 9a as I do like a bit of sneaky punctuation in a clue
Thanks to the setter for the brain exercise and Deansleigh for the blog
Between reading a Kate Atkinson , doing the crossword and drinking coffee there seems nothing better. Oh yes, the sun is shining. Great puzzle . 9 across gets biggest tick. Nearly didn’t see it. Several German references and I chose the wrong location with Belgrade but the checkers got me to the right place. Got 14 down immediately because the previous answers had given the prompt I suppose. Knew what 16 down sounds like but no way could I spell it .It had to be an anagram but I put the y in the wrong place.
After 3 weeks of feeling rough with this bug am going to try an exercise class today. So this puzzle gives me heart.
Thankyou Deansleigh for explaining 24 across and to our setter.