Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31382
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 quite a head-scratcher, and a definite step up in difficulty compared with yesterday. I needed several checkers to get the two long anagrams, 10a and 26a. They are both on my crowded podium today, which also includes the lurkers in 1a and 8a, and the draught-excluding PM in 20a. Many thanks to our setter, who (judging by the suggestions in yesterday’s Toughie blog) may very well be Hudson.
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 Volume compiled with patient details? (8)
CASEBOOK: A cryptic definition.
5a Running faster course to finish (6)
AFTERS: An anagram (running) of FASTER.
10a Order siesta to help men – it takes some beating (7,8)
SPANISH OMELETTE: An anagram (order) of SIESTA TO HELP MEN.
11a Voter mechanism for leaving seat, with Liberal ousting Jack (7)
ELECTOR: A device enabling aircrew to escape from an aircraft, with the letter representing Liberal replacing (ousting) the abbreviation for a jack in a pack of cards.
12a Congealed, like ringlets of hair worn by daughter (7)
CURDLED: An adjective that could describe ringlets is surrounding (worn by) the genealogical abbreviation for daughter.
13a Buy balls for playing with? Sweet! (8)
SYLLABUB: An anagram (for playing with) of BUY BALLS.
15a Drink second brew (5)
MOCHA: An informal term for a second or a very short period of time, and another word for tea.
18a 100-500 sheets of paper, yellowish white (5)
CREAM: The Roman numeral for a hundred, and the unit of measure corresponding to 500 sheets of paper.
20a Where the PM can escape Downing Street draughts (8)
CHEQUERS: A double definition, the first one referring to the Prime Minister’s country residence in Buckinghamshire.
23a Small country article Knightsbridge store sent round unwrapped (7)
ANDORRA: The indefinite article, and the name of a famous Knightsbridge store reversed (sent round) and without its outer letters (unwrapped).
25a Storm over new bike frames (7)
CYCLONE: A synonym of ‘bike’ goes around (frames) the letter representing ‘over’ in cricket and the abbreviation for ‘new’.
26a Roam like Manx cat, all over the place! (11,4)
EXCLAMATION MARK: An anagram (all over the place) of ROAM LIKE MANX CAT. It took me a while to spot the definition here.
27a Mock Independent editor, embarrassed to go back outside (6)
DERIDE: The abbreviation for an editor and the colour you turn when embarrassed are reversed (go back) and put round (outside) the abbreviation for ‘independent’.
28a Injure Dylan cycling in eastern state (8)
MARYLAND: A synonym for ‘injure’ or ‘damage’, and ‘Dylan’ with the first letter moved to the end (cycling).
Down clues
1d Civil War officer buried in public US territory (6)
CUSTER: Hidden (buried) in the last three words of the clue.
2d Excess weight one carried in the boot? (5,4)
SPARE TYRE: A double definition, the first one being informal or humorous.
3d Bertie regularly put up items for auction in the city (7)
BRISTOL: Every other letter (regularly) of ‘Bertie’, and a word for items in an auction, reversed (put up, in a down clue).
4d Different parent, not married (5)
OTHER: A female parent without the abbreviation for ‘married’.
6d Nearly complete scrimmage without second prop (7)
FULCRUM: A synonym of ‘complete’ missing its final letter (nearly), and another word for a scrimmage in rugby without the abbreviation for ‘second’.
The answer is also the NATO code name for the Russian MiG-29.
7d Praise former partner instructed to have day off (5)
EXTOL: The informal term for a former partner, and a synonym of ‘instructed’ or ‘ordered’ without the abbreviation for ‘day’ (to have day off).
8d West End hall home to French writer (8)
STENDHAL: Hidden in the first three words of the clue.
9d Friendly fire? Blame CIA (8)
AMICABLE: An anagram (fire) of BLAME CIA.
14d Loudly support a traitor in high stakes competition with banker (8)
BACCARAT: A homophone (loudly) of a synonym of ‘support’, ‘a’ from the clue, and an informal term for a traitor or informer. In this card game, players gamble by comparing their hands with the banker.
16d Italian classic vehicle Bonar Law unveiled (9)
CARBONARA: A motor vehicle, ‘Bonar’ from the clue, and ‘Law’ without its outer letters (unveiled).
17d Joint heads of Senior Common Room curtailed timetable (5-3)
SCRAG-END: The initial letters (heads) of ‘Senior Common Room’, and another word for a timetable or programme of activities without its final letter (curtailed).
19d Extraordinary swimmer from habit regularly dipped in the sea (7)
MERMAID: The alternate letters (regularly) of ‘from habit’ are placed (dipped) in an abbreviated intercontinental sea.
21d Weird posh childminder taking care of Charlie (7)
UNCANNY: Nancy Mitford’s letter for ‘posh’ or upper-class, and another word for a childminder around (taking care of) the letter that Charlie represents in the NATO phonetic alphabet.
22d Reached the highest point rather resentful, it’s said (6)
PEAKED: A homophone (it’s said) of a synonym of ‘rather resentful’.
24d Last month Oliver cleared out bits of furniture (5)
DECOR: The abbreviation for the last month of the year, and the first and last letters (cleared out) of ‘Oliver’.
25d Punch a mate (5)
CHINA: A slang word meaning ‘punch’ or ‘strike’, and ‘a’ from the clue.
Which clues did you like best? Let us know in the comments below.
The Quick Crossword pun: FIE + LOAF + ACTS = FILOFAX
I get so cross with myself when the last one to go in is a lurker. It happened again today. In my defence, I’d never heard the word before. Loved it all though. 26a made me smile the most.
Ah, 8d, I’d wager. I share your pain. LOI, and after resorting to e-help there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Yet again, I forget The Golden Rule: when in doubt, check for the lurker.
Of the two Hudson puzzles we have enjoyed this week, I found this one a bit trickier than yesterday’s
Thank you to him for the fun and Deansleigh for the blog
What a feast. Must be careful not to get a 2d.
An enjoyable regular cryptic crossword. Even 8d was decipherable.
My favourite I think was 26a, where you have to take notice of the whole clue.
Thanks to setter and hinter. Len Dishage?
I’ll take Len Dishage, Clix.
2.5*/5*. A superb mid-week puzzle, presumably from Hudson, to be followed by a SIlvanus Toughie. What more could a solver ask for?
I’ve got too many ticked clues to single any out.
Many thanks to Hudson and Deansleigh.
Held up by an unparsed answer to 15a which made a horlics of the NE until some sanity prevailed. Otherwise this was a complete joy, testing in places but all fairly clued. Choosing a podium from the plethora of ticks on my page is tough, but I’ll go with 20a, 16d and the excellent lurker of 8d. Thanks to Hudson and Deansleigh
Hi P
15a could be an alternative beverage to ‘horlicks’ in the expression ‘to make a horlicks of something’.
Horlicks was a euphemism created either by the upper class or theatre-goers as they felt the original one with b*****ks was a tad too coarse. I do like that there is a coarse word at the end of coarse.
I really enjoyed that but found it pretty hard going with a solve time in near-Toughie territory. 26a is excellent. Thanks very much to the setter and to Deansleigh.
A cracking midweek puzzle – many thanks to our setter and Deansleigh.
Among my many ticked clues were 20a, 27a, 14d, 17d and 19d.
Struggled with this one. My spelling let me down for the PM escape and I put career for 5 across. It got worse with not spotting the answer to the writer. It was a very entertaining offering despite the head scratching. Got to love 2 down.
Really did need Deansleigh , so a big thank you and to our clever setter.
Hi D
You were a bit unlucky with your alternative answer for 5a as it almost parses.
Does this help with the spelling of 20a? The que of queen is in the word. So………
”Did The QUEen ever go to ***QUE**?”
No worries if not.
Certainly typically Wednesdayish as opposed to Tuesdayish with a modicum of head scratching at the end. I did far better with the downs than the across clues with virtually all the latter requiring the checkers for leverage. Last in for me was 26a; I do like those using punctuation as part of the clues, but often fail to spot it. Too many worthy contenders to pick a podium, but my favourite was the 17d joint.
Many thanks to Hudson(?) and Deansleigh
2*/4*
It is Hudson, it will have to wait until I get home though as I can’t even crack the sample clue!
A very entertaining and enjoyable puzzle with some significant hold ups for me in the North East. I got there in the end and particularly liked 26a.
Many thanks to Hudson and to Deansleigh
A definite step up from yesterday. The top deck went in quite smoothly, but I did get held up by inserting the full anagram for 13 across as a sweet school curriculum. The lower deck had me in a tiz until I managed the anagram in 26 across. A thoroughly satisfying puzzle. Many thanks to the setter and to Deinsleigh for the hints.
Three 5*s on the bounce. What a week!
Obviously, I didn’t know the Gallic scribe but it was easy enough to get. 14a is a top word.
People mix up the Roman numerals L (50) and D (500). I tell them that it would be a ‘dream’ for a writer to have a book published that often has 500 pages. The word dream comprises the D for 500 and ‘ream’ which is 500 sheets of paper. Simples!
I used to get the ! and ? the wrong way round when putting them together. I recently found out that !? is the correct order. It has a great name: an interrobang. A bang is a slang term in a printing room for an exclamation mark as it was too long a term to be understood in the noisy environment. I’m very happy with that. It was originally one on top of the other. But, there’s no key on the keyboard for that. So, they decided to put the ! before the ?
My picks are 26a, 17d and 21d.
Many thanks to The Hud and Aiden Glesh (© Clix)
3*/5*
For a Wednesday puzzle this week, I found it gentler than some, but definitely a step up from the beginning of the week.
2.5*/3.5*
Favourites 1a, 20a, 26a, 1d, 2d & 9d — with co-winners 20a & 2d … both of which made me smile.
Thanks to setter & Deansleigh