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DT 30221 (Hints)

by crypticsue  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30221 (Hints)

The Saturday Crossword Club (hosted by crypticsue)

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A pangram with several anagrams – there’s no doubt in my mind as to who set today’s Saturday Prize Puzzle

As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, an assortment of clues, including some of the more difficult ones, have been selected and hints provided for them.

Most of the terms used in these hints are explained in the Glossary and examples are available by clicking on the entry under “See also”. Where the hint describes a construct as “usual” this means that more help can be found in The Usual Suspects, which gives a number of the elements commonly used in the wordplay. Another useful page is Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, which features words with meanings that are not always immediately obvious.

A full review of this puzzle will be published after the closing date for submissions.

Some hints follow.

Across

1a    Only definite object that’s exactly what is needed (4,3,5)
An adverb meaning only, a definite article and an object

9a    Swindle over a capital cover for horse (9)
A swindle goes over A (from the clue) and a European capital to produce an ornamented covering, made of rich cloth, for a horse especially a warhorse. I did know this word but I’ve hinted it for all the people who won’t have heard of it

12a    Went round town perhaps (8)
Went round something, quite often, but not always, a town

21a    Wavering, likely to survive crossing a river (8)
An adjective meaning like to survive into which is inserted (crossing) A (from the clue) and the abbreviation for river

26a    Criminal sent to catch another one, so it is said (5)
A reference to a saying that if you set this sort of criminal to catch another one, he’ll succeed

27a    Took what is left (9)
A cryptic definition of what happened if you took what was left in a will

28a    Speed at which one can give and receive money (8,4)
This reads as if it could be a cryptic definition of the ratio at which one type of currency can be given for another

Down

1d    Joseph gave part to a lady (7)
A diminutive form of Joseph, a simple way of saying gave [a] part to, and A (from the clue)

6d    And not mother but another lady (5)
A conjunction meaning and not and another word for mother

8d    Had, in second edition, been hatched? (6)
HAD (from the clue) inserted between abbreviations for Second and edition

16d    Regularly heard in club restaurant (9)
The regular letters of hEaRd inserted into an old golf club

17d    Spring approaching? Nearly (4-4)
A type of spring and a verb meaning approaching

20d    Too late when the field changes? (7)
Split 4,3 this would be an indication that the positions on a cricket field would change

25d     Feature most of porcelain articles (4)
This facial feature uses most of the name of some articles made of porcelain


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The Quick Crossword pun: STAG + FLAY + SHUN = STAGFLATION

63 comments on “DT 30221 (Hints)”

  1. 2*’4*. This was good fun and I thought I was heading for a 1* finish but got held up in the SE corner taking me to my 2* time. Embarrassingly, parsing 20d delayed me the most. :oops:

    I suspected a pangram after I had completed the top half, and so it proved to be.

    Many thanks presumably to Cephas and to CS.

    1. We have had so many cricket-themed clues this week I couldn’t believe this was another one.

      1. :yes:

        PS. This was doing the rounds last week and raised a smile:

        My wife asked if I had seen the dog bowl.

        I said I didn’t even know he played cricket.

    2. I had no idea what 20d meant, apart from the obvious. I’ve never heard it before and we’ve had lots of crickety clues here.

  2. Enjoyable puzzle.
    Many a chuckle eg 12 and 19a and 20d.
    Good surfaces.
    6d brilliant.
    So, **/5*
    Many thanks, Cephas? and CS.

  3. A nice gentle stroll through this one. Only last in 7d proved a bit of a head scratch as slow to twig the indicator though I did also confirm 9a to remind myself exactly what it was. 16d my favourite & frustratingly clubs (new or old) of no use today here in Joburg as the rain hammers down relentlessly. Liked the Quickie pun & Cephas has given us a pangram there also.
    Thanks both.
    Ps A lovely Paul prize puzzle in the Graun has helped to while away a bit more time.

    1. I too enjoyed the Guardian prize puzzle today, especially since I’ve not been working them lately. Got them all but 14a. Shame on me. Favourite: 5a.

      Too bad about all that rain in Joburg. Any sign of clearing?

      1. We’ve a chance tomorrow & maybe Monday which is our last day. There’s always the chance of an afternoon thunderstorm at this time of year but unusual to have relentless rain. Good job there’s always a puzzle to keep me amused & am about to watch All Quiet On The Western Front though I’m sure the iPad won’t do it justice.

        1. It wasn’t all cricket thought was it ? I believe I saw a golfie one in there too. I am getting better at spotting them.

      2. 5a was my last in & unfamiliar. Yes probably my fav too though oddly 14a ran it close once the penny dropped. First 3 words the def if you haven’t got it now.

  4. At first glance I thought this was going to be a struggle, but then it came together as I worked from the bottom up. Briefly held up by bunging in the wrong option in 12a, but the anagram in 7d soon sorted that out.
    1d and 9a were new to me, but fairly clued and doable from the wordplay. No real favourites today.
    Thanks to all

  5. Fairly straightforward and enjoyable with favourites 12a and 19a as well.

    Needed the hint for the cricket alternative for 20d. Note to self – check for a cricket link when struggling. Not much played up here in the land of kilts, haggis and caber tossing.

  6. Was on pangram alert from the very off with 1a, and 2d and 3d served to confirm that suspicion. And then the same thing happened as yesterday – by the time I remembered – ‘oh, it’s a pangram’ – I had all the alphabet’s letters already in the grid bar an X. At least with yesterday’s crossword being an X-less proXimal offering I was fairly confident that an X would feature today and so it proved. Thanks CS – I needed your hint to parse 20d. Joint COTD – 8d and 25d. Thanks Cephas for an enjoyable puzzle. Will now submit and join the prize lottery.

  7. Tough but fun. Probably approaching my solving ability limit. Last in was 16d which was a bit of a groaner but I liked it when the penny dropped. Crosswordland must be the last remaining bastion of the ancient names of golf clubs!
    Thx to all
    ****/****

    1. Arbory Brae Golf Club at Abington in Lanarkshire opened in 2000 with the intention that golfers would use hickory clubs and wear traditional tweed clothing. Unfortunately, the opening coincided with an outbreak of Foot and Mouth. Being surrounded by grazing land, the club was forced to close and never reopened.

  8. 1a for a Saturday morning with just my attempt at another interpretation of 8d delaying proceedings.
    The surface of 28a made me smile so gets my vote today.

    Thanks to Cephas and to CS for the review.

  9. Great pangram fun, with the NE (10a, 7d) my last to yield. I rather wondered if there are ladies named 1d these days, especially since the archetypal one lived such an, ahem, unusual life. Anyway, my favourites: 1a, 17d, & 20d (once I parsed it!). Thanks to CS and Cephas. **/***

  10. Feeling virtuous and CrypticSoovian today, shower, two loads of laundry, played with next doors cat, made a lasagne from scratch and rattled through the review for next week. All that and this crossword before noon. I had similar holdups to RD but got there eventually. Still time to take Mama Bee out for morning coffee where we are enjoying a flat white, long black and chocolate orange brownies!
    Thanks to Cephas and CS

  11. I missed the pangram but rhought it nicely balanced for difficulty and clue type. It was athoroughly enjoyable SPP. Iiked 3d, 21a and 17d but my COTD was 9a. Thanks to CS for the hints and to Cephas (?) Ffor a great puzzle

  12. My five bob went on Cephas with about 60% completion, a letter roll call to confirm the pangram was not really necessary. Good fun a good example of what a SPP should be – 2.5*/3.5*

    Candidates for favourite – 13a, 28a, 2d, and 8d – and the winner is 28a.

    Thanks to Cephas and CS.

  13. Another wonderful puzzle! Thought I had 1a straight away but I spent ages trying to fit the wrong third word. I also had the incorrect first word in 28a until the checkers proved me wrong. I’m hoping I got 11a right because I have never heard the word. My favourite and COTD is 1d with 17d a close second.

    Many thanks to Cephas? for the fun. Thank you, CS for the hints, which I did not need but will now read.

    I have never heard of the Quickie pun, either.

    1. 11a Steve – think back to your youth when you were collecting vinyl LPs! Hope I have avoided the naughty step.

      1. Ah – I had the wrong answer to 1d, Manders but it did fit the clue. This means the pen remains mythical. :smile:

      1. It could still happen, Huntsman given the way things are going.
        I hope the rain stops soon and you can get a few more rounds in.

      1. The answer has never been the phrase I use, Angellov. I have always used the one I was trying to enter. :grin:

  14. Thought this was going to be a struggle, but found a foothold in the SE & steadily worked round anti-clockwise with the NE last to fall.

    2*/3*

    Fav 28a LOI 7d

    Thanks to the setter & CS. Off to do battle with Dadas alter ego in the Graun.

  15. For me this was the best crossword of the week.
    Lots of lovely fair clues and I knew the word in 9a which was a bonus!

    Thanks to the setter and to crypticsue.

    Eagerly awaiting the arrival of our son whom set out from Tromso at some ungodly hour this morning and is being collected from Aberdeen by Mr Meringue! Despite delays etc he and baggage seem to have got to Scotland!

  16. Found this very gentle today. Top half went straight in with only 9a holding me up long enough for a dictionary search to confirm the word that was new to me but easily gettable from the wordplay. The only other problem was the second word of 17d which led to another look at the BRB, this time to find an answer – I suppose that’s cheating! Favourites today were 11a,27a, 16d and 20d. Thanks to Cephas and Crypticsue.

  17. I thoroughly enjoyed this gentle romp today until I got to 18d and 21a which took me longer than the rest of the puzzle. The Council were giving away trees for free so we collected a rowan and a hazel which are only about 3ft high and I guess the muntjac will get them. After that the above 2 clues fell into place. CS the Pecks on Amazon is not the real thing and I gather rather disgusting. The ‘real’ thing was the consistency of fish paste in quite a large jar. Gentleman’s Relish is too salty and too stiff to spread easily. You can find the recipe I shall be trying at whats4chow.com

  18. This was gentle, but enormous fun. The fact that it was a pangram naturally escaped me until the end, but the skill of our compiler never ceases to amaze me. 20d was my favourite clue.

    My thanks to Cephas and CS. Now for the rugby.

  19. Well, it’s been a while since we had a pangram on Saturday, but I’m gonna put a tenner on this being a Cephas puzzle.

    Very enjoyable and 2*/4.5* for me as I solved this on Friday night. Six Nations beckons me on Saturday. Think France and Ireland could be interesting … but my bet is on Ireland

    Favourites include 1a, 11a, 13a, 19a, 28a, 2d & 6d — and winner could be any of them but I pick 1a with 11a a close second. All in all a great puzzle.

    Laughs were the order of the day with 15a, 19a, 28a, 2d & 18d

    Can’t ask for a better puzzle than this … a fun solve and great clues.

    Thanks to Cephas and CS

  20. I found this rather tricksy. I needed the hints for 17d and 8d, the latter mainly because I had made an error at the end of 12a which didn’t help! – note to self to check more carefully. I learnt a new word in 16d and it took far too long for the penny to drop in 27a. I can see this was an excellent crossword just my grey cells/ knowledge let me down.
    I really liked 11a as years of training by FUH (fairly useful husband) mean I know my way around such things.
    Many thanks to the setter and to CS for the much appreciated hints.

  21. That was 1a with only the SW slowing things down. Glad to complete so can now concentrate 100% on Ireland v France which so far has been a hyperactive exhibition of RFU skills. My Fav was another sporty one – 16d. Thank you Cephas (?) and CS.

  22. Most enjoyable and difficult enough in places. We went on pangram alert early on. Hard to pick a favourite but we’ll go with 17d. Thanks to Cephas and CS.

  23. Ditto, ditto, ditto. Late today as we were treated to lunch as one of George’s birthday presents, delicious meal at the Plough in Coton. He is now comatose in his chair waiting for me to wake him up in time to watch the rugby. Shall I be mean and leave him to see how long he sleeps? 9a is a lovely word and I always think of it when passing lorries with great covers on them and lots of ties hanging down along the sides like a fringe. Well, I know what I mean. All very enjoyable, thanks to Cephas and Cryptic Sue.

  24. Good afternoon
    Thankfully completed this afty, and makes up for yesterday’s dismal showing – I couldn’t get started (and I, er, “neglected to mention it” on here….)
    Thank you CS for the hints; I needed them to explain 20d. Dr Google was necessary for 9a.

  26. This offering was compiled with me in mind, I was on wavelength from start to finish and I needed no help! My only real holdup was 18a where I was fixated on Greek mythology, but suddenly remembered her name and ruled it out. I didn’t know the crickety meaning of 20d but it had to be what it is. I had to google 1d bur the clue was quite clear. Fave? Impossible to choose, I had so much fun solving this one, 9a? 19a? Too many to choose.
    Thank you Cephas, you’ve quite restored my ego, the brain still works. Thanks for your hints CS, I needed you to unravel 20d.

    1. Ah, but there is a Greek mythological figure there in today’s puzzle. Did you remember her?

      1. I bet Oedipus did!

        A very “complex” person was Mama 1d

        1. Only Tom L could joyfully rhyme duckbill platypus with Oedipus! Oh the days of wine and roses and laughing with old Tom in our college rooms at dear old Clemson U. We sang along, knew all the words, and even learned how to play a few of them (well, I did anyway) on the piano. Impossible now to believe that it all happened!

          1. Yes, I did remember her, but spelt it with the wrong last letter, screwed up 13a, but fortunately it came to me as I solved 13a. Tom Lehrer, how much fun we had with him in the ’50s and ’60s.

        2. Thanks SJB for posting this. I have all his stuff on CD now and still play them and sing along when on a car journey. The great man is now 94 and I understand he has relinquished all rights to his works and put them in the public domain. Daniel Radcliffe called him the cleverest man of the 20th century and his hero. Not far off in my book.

          1. I have been a fan since my father introduced me to him on That was the week that was. Never heard that about Daniel Radcliffe before, I have a triple CD of Tom Lehrer called The Remains of… I think

    3. Yes thanks from this humble solver as well. It just makes my day when there is a puzzle not completely above my pay grade.

    4. Thank you, Cephas. A wonderful puzzle but my stupidity with 1d means “The Pen” will elude me yet again. Love your puzzles and thank you for popping in. We appreciate it when setters do so. 👍

  28. An enjoyable Saturday puzzle. Really my only hold up was 1d and after spending an infinite amount of time cogitating with the checking letters in place resorted to Danword to confirm but I am none the wiser! 9a was a new word to me and the last 3 letters of 20d had me dangling but it had to be with the checking letters. Many thanks to Cephas and to CS. Good end to the Cryptic puzzles week. Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone.

  29. Started on time during breakfast, but then the delivery men arrived with the new refrigerator. Hopefully this one does not have a mind of its own and keep picking the settings itself. But finally got back to this lovely crossword, and any holdups were purely my own fault, well mostly. I had never heard of 9a, and although 1a sprang immediately to mind, it was a while before I wrote it in as I was stumped by the 1d lady. A really enjoyable puzzle, so thanks to Cephas and to CrypticSue for a great start to the weekend,

  30. A few years ago Mrs. C gave me the issue of The Times that was published on the day I was born. I read the front page – all small ads – and decided to keep it safe in its rather posh folder. I decided to look through it today and thought the blog might like to look at a crossword that is 76 years old.

    I find it rather endearing that they explain that the numbers in brackets after the clue means the number of letters in the answer. 😊

  31. I’m only a very occasional commenter, though I usually read with interest and amusement.

    An entertaining puzzle with a couple of educated guesses needed. I fell down on 17d and I’m not convinced that the second word is a verb. “Look, someone is ____ing” doesn’t work for me I’m afraid!

    Thanks to Cephas and CS for the fun, which passed a train ride from Bristol nicely.

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