Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31375
Hints and tips by Huntsman
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** Enjoyment ***/****
A miserable, damp & somewhat chilly morning here in Harpenden so no excuses for not attending to neglected domestic chores.
Not sure if it was just me being slower on the uptake than normal but I found this one maybe a tad trickier than usual for a Tuesday & a slower grid fill than Heron’s puzzle yesterday. Unmistakably an Anthony Plumb production with all the usual characteristics of his setting style & a very enjoyable solve it was too. I’m far from confident that I’ve pegged the Quickie pun correctly – Jonathan Ross issuing advice to the remedial English Lit class is the best I can come up with. As ever I’ll be interested to hear what others make of the puzzle.
Dada is on duty over in t’other place & though I’ve only glanced at it briefly it looks reasonably accessible & Tuesday Toughies are usually the day to dip your toes into deeper waters if looking for a further challenge. Whybird will be delighted to hear your thoughts.
As usual there is a selection of music to enjoy or ignore. Apologies if I’ve gone overboard a bit.
In the hints below the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED & the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the Click Here buttons. Please leave a comment below telling us what you thought & how you got on with the puzzle.
Across
1a Almost avoid boss’s funny business (8)
MISCHIEF: truncate (almost) a verb for avoid/dodge + a synonym for boss.
5a Reproduced pastry dish without fish? On the contrary (6)
COPIED: key here is twigging the context of without, the Prof’s oft used adverb or preposition meaning outside of/the opposite of within. On the contrary tells us it’s the pastry dish inside of the 🐠.
9a Leered as criminal’s freed (8)
RELEASED: an anagram (criminal) of LEERED AS.
10a Still in charge after short predicament (6)
STATIC: a truncated (short) synonym for a predicament/pickle followed by (after) the usual two letters for in charge.
12a Next item I made poorly (9)
IMMEDIATE: an anagram (poorly) of ITEM I MADE.
13a Revolutionary, fifty one, holding Queen record (5)
ENROL: insert the regnal single letter for Queen/R[egina] into a reversal (revolutionary) of the Roman numeral letter for fifty & ONE from the wordplay.
14a Regularly point at prime minister (4)
PITT: the alternate letters (regularly) found in the two words between indicator & definition.
16a Put spades I found in warehouse (7)
DEPOSIT: insert the card suit single letter & I from the clue into a warehouse/storage facility.
19a Oscar heartlessly writing introduction (7)
OPENING: O[scar] (NATO alphabet) + a gerund/present participle synonym for ✍️ less its middle letter (heartlessly).
21a Pretty wounded by European (4)
CUTE: wounded (by laceration) + E[uropean].
24a There you are initially very overjoyed in US city (5)
VOILA: the first letters (initially) of the 5th, 6th & 7th words in the clue + a Californian city.
25a Panorama gets Trump exasperated, essentially (9)
LANDSCAPE: a splendid surface & nowt to do with the litigious inclinations of the orange fella over the pond. Link verb a synonym for gets/obtains with one for trump/outdo then append [exasp]E[rated] (essentially).
27a Religious leader with little time for gossip (6)
RABBIT: a Jewish religious leader + T[ime].
28a Handsome, vacuous bloke approaching (8)
BECOMING: b[lok]e (vacuous) + a synonym for approaching.
29a Lobster Newburg enthrals writer (6)
STERNE: hidden (enthrals). The writer was an 18th century Anglo-Irish novelist whose most well known work is The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman – the subject of Michael Winterbottom’s 2005 film, A Cock and Bull Story, featuring Steve Coogan & Rob Brydon making a screen adaptation of the novel.
30a Trendy position, for example (8)
INSTANCE: an adjective meaning trendy/fashionable + a synonym for position/viewpoint.
Down
1d Sheep looking up can sort of swallow (6)
MARTIN: reverse (looking up/down clue) the term for a male sheep or tup & link with a can/container.
2d Single man oddly serious (6)
SOLEMN: single/solitary + m[a]n (oddly).
3d Caught rook breaking nut (5)
HEARD: insert (breaking) the chess piece single letter abbreviation into the part of the body that may be informally termed nut or bonce. A neatly misleading surface.
4d Polished hospital department, squeezing a gel all over the place (7)
ELEGANT: insert (squeezing) an anagram/coincidentally a reversal (all over the place) of A GEL into the usual hospital department.
6d Where pimple patch is placed straight away (2,3,4)
ON THE SPOT: a double definition. It was just a dab of Germoline in my day, which was my mother’s solution to every ailment short of major trauma.
7d Moment playwright quietly leaves East Street (8)
INTEREST: remove (leaves) the musical letter for quietly/P[iano] from the front of the surname of a playwright who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005 then append E[ast] & the abbreviation for street. The definition synonym isn’t maybe the first to spring to mind but works if preceded by ‘of’ in the context of something consequential or worthy of attention.
8d Submissiveness shown by one student in London, say, after party (8)
DOCILITY: insert the Roman numeral letter for one + the single letter for student/L[earner] into what London is (say indicates definition by example). Precede with (comes after) the usual for a party.
11d Was first admitting wife’s vulgar (4)
LEWD: insert (admitting) W[ife] into a past tense verb for was first.
15d Mock imperfection leader’s dismissed (9)
IMITATION: remove the 1st letter (leader dismissed) from a synonym for imperfection/impediment.
17d Detailed talk about temperature changes (8)
CONVERTS: remove the final letter (de-tailed) from a verb meaning talk & place around (about) the single letter for T[emperature].
18d Royal Engineers likely to be trustworthy (8)
RELIABLE: R[oyal] E[ngineers] + an adverb for likely/inclined to.
20d Game involving putting strap upside down (4)
GOLF: reverse (upside down/down clue) a verb meaning to strap in the context of administer punishment. My game yesterday certainly involved plenty of it – fine tee to green then five 3 jabs no less.
21d Business trouble (7)
CONCERN: a straightforward double definition.
22d Not in a bad state (6)
NATION: an anagram (bad) of NOT IN A.
23d Got primarily overwhelmed by passionate, uplifting type of music (6)
REGGAE: G[ot] (primarily) inserted into (overwhelmed by) a reversal (uplifting/down clue) of an adjective meaning passionate or avid.
26d Strongly recommend going after second beer (5)
STOUT: a verb meaning to strongly recommend or plug preceded by S[econd).
Lots to like here but The Donald throwing his toys out of the pram & suing for umpteen trillion was my standout favourite. Please let us know which clues you liked best.
Today’s Quick crossword pun: WEE + DAB + HOOK = READ A BOOK (maybe)
An enjoyable crossword. Thanks to setter and hinter. Did anyone else try pool to start with for 20d?
Yes to pool !!
I often find Mr Plumb’s puzzles more difficultt thaanvother solvers do, so I thought it was juat me finding it unusually hard to solve. There are still a few that I cant prse so I vlook forwRd to Huntsman’s explanations. I liked the 27a Lego clue, the PM at 14a and the twitcher special at 1d. Thans to Mr Plumb and to Huntsman for the hints
A gentle & enjoyable “quicktic”, with honours to COTD 25a for the outstanding surface read, 13a for the red herring, 23d & runner-up 7d.
Many thanks to Huntsman & the setter.
A PS: has anyone who subscribes to the “puzzles only” option (currently £59pa) received on logging-in the advertising splash about 3 months free and then £3pm? If you have tried going for it, have you been rejected for already having a subscription, and how hard has it been to cancel the existing subscription, please?
This probably won’t help you at all, MG, because I can’t remember the circumstances.
On 8th August 2025, I was offered 1 year’s subscription to puzzles free, followed by 1 year at 50 pence. On 28th May 2026, I was offered All Access Subscription for 1 year for £29.00. So, I am currently with the latter.
But it does show you what is available.
I’d put this on a par with Heron’s offering of yesterday. Fairly straightforward with just the 23d music genre at the end requiring a bit of thinking. I’ll go with 17d as my COTD.
My thanks to AP and Huntsman
1*/2*
Business as normal for a Tuesday with a nicely compiled crossword that certainly helped to cheer up a thoroughly wet and miserable morning here in Shropshire. The inspired 25a gets my nod for favourite.
My thanks to both AP and The Hintsman.
I agree with Huntsman, a tad trickier than usual for a Tuesday but still quite typical with quite a large Hmm for the Pun – 1.5*/4.5*
Candidates for favourite – 1a, 5a, 21a, 30a, 18d, 20d, and 23d – and the winner is 5a.
Thanks to Mr Plum and Huntsman.
I found this puzzle to be quite challenging for a Tuesday but managed to finish unaided in a reasonable time. I thought the clues were first class with excellent surfaces and very fair but a lot of work needed. It may be my fault but I didn’t detect much humour the whole process of solving was a bit workmanlike. A lot of excellent clues but my nomination for COTD goes to 8D but there were a number of other worthy contenders. Thanks to Huntsman for the hints and to the setter for a very solid puzzle.
Thai corner.
The last 50 breeze blocks have been delivered and painted with primer and a very fetching blue paint. Tomorrow we have to empty all the cupboards in the kitchen to place them on the blocks ready for the next flood.