DT 30353 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 30353 (Hints)

by crypticsue  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30353 (Hints)

The Saturday Crossword Club (hosted by crypticsue)

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One of those Saturday mornings where the weather isn’t quite sure what to do – for the second day running, the weather app on my phone thinks it is raining here but apart from a very short shower this morning, I’m not convinced it knows what it is talking about

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. Quite a few of the ones I haven’t hinted are anagrams or lurkers.

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    Big shot in the film industry? (5-2)
A film shot that is taken near at hand and thus detailed and big in scale

9a    Signal to stir Reverend East, unwell before start of Eucharist (8)
An abbreviated reverend, the abbreviation for east, a synonym for unwell and the start of Eucharist

11a    Suspend revolutionary press in part of China (8)
A reversal (revolutionary) of a verb meaning to suspend and people or animals in a mass (press). The capital C for China is there to mislead

15a    Pipe potato, briefly? (4)
Almost all (briefly) of a type of plant such as a potato

16a    Pilot or labourer with spat reported (9)
Homophones (reported) of a labourer and a covering for the lower leg and ankle (spat)

28a    One getting the present set (8)
Someone getting a present or an instrument such as a telephone (set)

29a    Edward, languishing, going round and round (7)
A diminutive form of Edward and a synonym for languishing

Down

2d    Sweet student, American, beginning to consolidate debts (8)
The usual abbreviations for student and American, the beginning of Consolidate and some debts

3d    Son with scam: teen regularly affected (8)
The abbreviation for Son, a scam and the regular letters of tEeN

11d    Flier‘s here naked, peering around outside (9)
An anagram (around) of peering goes outside the inside (naked) letters of hERe

14d    Animals are barred from crossing this (6,4)
Something with bars to prevent animals from crossing a field entrance

20d    Hold the setter up, and get ready! (7)
A reversal (up) of how the setter would refer to themselves and an instruction to make oneself ready for a blow etc

23d    Team consumed by anger over magic potion (6)
The Roman numerals used to indicate the number of players in a particular team inserted into (consumed by) a reversal (over) of a verb meaning to anger

26d    Info about large valley
Slang for information goes ‘about’ the abbreviation for Large

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As this is a Prize crossword, please don’t put any ANSWERS, whether WHOLE, PARTIAL or INCORRECT, or any ALTERNATIVE CLUES in your comment. If in doubt, leave it out!

Please read these instructions carefully – they are not subject to debate or discussion. Offending comments may be redacted or, in extreme cases, deleted. In all cases the administrator’s decision is final.

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The Quick Crossword pun: STEAL + BANNED = STEEL BAND

103 comments on “DT 30353 (Hints)”

  1. Pleasantly tricky I thought. Mistakenly trying to [redacted] kept me away from 25 for a while. 11a was good misdirection but favorite pure sentence is 10a.

  2. Hi Sue, Just a quick note hopefully before people see it to mention that I think you have accidentally included the answer to 29a.

    1. Thank you. It is very easily done when you are used to blogging crosswords where the solution is included, although usually hidden

      1. I am sure it is. I imagined that is what had happened – the word was capitalised and in the place where the hidden answer will appear when you publish the full review. I would like to add that the time you devote to the blog is greatly appreciated.

  3. Usual tough Saturday fare but eventually finished as a joint effort with Mrs B. If 19d has an anagram indicator, it must qualify for one of the worst ever!
    Too hard to be fun, all a bit of a slog.
    ****/**
    Thx for the hints

      1. Anagram indicators are like lurkers.
        Sometimes obvious and up front.
        Sometimes not.

    3. Thanks Brian – I was stuck on 19d having I completely missed the anagram indicator. Found it rather slow going today, but have got there finally with your help 😃

      1. You’ve used a different alias to those you’ve used in the past so this required moderation. All the different aliases you’ve used will now work.

  4. A pleasant, not too taxing SPP. I didn’t much care for 22a being used as a noun to mean “traveller”, but when I checked my BRB I was surprised to find it there (but it’s not in Collins).

    10a was my favourite.

    Many thanks to the setter and to CS.

  5. A slightly more tricksy guzzle this week or so I thought. I took a while to get into it with my only having about four after the first pass. However, the checkers these gave allowed inroads into the rest and most enjoyable it proved to be. I know 25a is an old chestnut but I love it all the same. I have never heard of 11a but it could be nothing else. My favourite and COTD is 13a.

    Many thanks to the setter for a fun challenge and CS for the hints.

    Torrential rain here in The Marches so I’ll get up to pentangle in the attic and start casting! :grin:

  6. A really straightforward SPP, apart from 11a, which puzzled me and held me up for a bit . It was an enjoyable solve and I particularly appreciated the clever misdirection in clues like12a, 28a and 20d, in particular. Thanks to the compiler and to CS for the hints. It rainedsolidly from just after lunch yesterday until about 8 am this morning here. Sunshine and blue skies now

  7. A strange grid fill today. The NW acrosses then the SE acrosses, the NE downs and then the SW downs left me with a half filled crossword with virtually no intersecting clues, a bit of pondering and plethora of checking letters helped me over the line. It took the longest to parse the China.
    Thanks to setter and Sue
    Intermittent sun then heavy rain – I hope it is reasonable for the Flying Legends Airshow at Church Fenton

  8. Thank you for the explanation/hint for 11a. I had the solution but struggled to parse the whole clue.

    The rest went in reasonably easily once I had woken up properly after a disturbed night of torrential rain and the dog wanting fed at 02:30. Bonny day now.

    Our trip to see the entertaining girls at 6d was scuppered by Covid and doesn’t look as if it will happen now.

    Thanks to the setter for the puzzle with 6d and 14d amongst the favourites. Thanks to crypticsue for her assistance too.

    2. I hope you didn’t feed him at that hour, he’ll be doing it every night from now on!

      1. She had a stroke three weeks ago and is still getting things back to normal so she is getting what she wants – at the moment.

        1. Oh, I didn’t know, but of course you must. I hope she gets better, good wishes to her.

        2. I am sorry to hear about your dog, Dave. She is obviously in good hands. Those of us who have dogs in our lives know exactly why you are feeding her at 2.30am.
          I hope she recovers soon.
          What’s her name?

          1. Dog lovers need to check out Sunday Toughie 76 – the review will be out Weds and is a must for our Canineophiles

            1. Caninophiles, SJB!

              Sorry – I’m marking post grad essays at the moment! 😳

              1. 🐱 Cat lovers are called ailurophiles derived from the Greek word ailouros, which means “cat,” and the suffix -phile, meaning “lover”.

                🐶 Dog lovers on the other hand are called Cynophiles or dogophiles!

                That must be why Grammarly didn’t autocorrect me

          2. She is 14 year old lurcher called Emmy. She came to us as a one year old rescue dog and you could not get a more gentle companion.
            .

              1. What a looker, please keep spoiling her with all the love and attention she wants

              3. She’s lovely, Dave. I can understand why you want to do the very best you can for her after all those years of devotion.

  9. I thought this was quite tough – I needed numerous trips to the dictionary and thesaurus. It was another puzzle that exposed holes in my general knowledge – I was unaware of 11a (and I am getting the feeling that in crosswordland you simply ignore capitalisation), or of the relevant synonym for spat in 16a. 25a seemed familiar though, and 4d and 7d were amusing. Overall, not my favourite crossword, but I guess the prize crosswords shouldn’t be too easy.

    1. Had these spat homophones [redacted – can you please come back and repeat this when the full review is published on Friday morning]
      .

      1. Thanks Dave. Interesting. From what I read about these things, [redacted – can you and Dave come back and have this discussion again when Rahmat Ali’s full review appears on Friday]

  10. A f/iery/riendly guzzle. Of course, after the shortest committee meeting to date, 11a was added to THE LIST.

    As much as I love my cricket, golf, and horse racing, I do miss football very much. It leaves an aching hole in a summer when there is no Euros or World Cup. Only a month to go now until the Premier League and all other football returns. This is the period, pre-season, that I think of as the phoney war, where every team’s supporters from Luton Town to Manchester City dream of winning the Premier League. Yet, by September, reality has set in for most of us and we wonder by how many points will Manchester City win it this year.

    Thanks to the setter and PC Security (anag)

    1. There are have been a couple of entertaining games involving Welsh teams playing in the Europa Conference League Qualification First Round on YouTube this week and Scotland Wifies defeated N. Ireland Ladies on BBC Scotland last night.
      Maybe not the same standard as you are used to at Stamford Bridge. 🤔

    3. Oh Terence, don’t depress me. It makes me cross that in the football season Sunday breakfast time is given over to football match and we normal folk don’t get the news. Why doesn’t the BBC put it on BBC2?

      1. I’m with you, Daisygirl. I cannot abide football – full of vastly overpaid egotists.
        My apologies to Terence and others who rave about it but the game is not my bag at all.
        Sorry 😏

    4. It took a while to get on wavelength today, but I got there eventually except for 11a. I agree it is a definite candidate for THE LIST.
      I’m also missing the football and not looking forward to our noisy neighbours being top at the end of the season. Thankfully United have another friendly match this week.
      Thankyou Sue for the hints and the setter for the challenge.

  11. 11a was my final entry after much head-scratching, and 10a my favourite from this pleasantly tricky but ultimately rewarding puzzle. I thought this was pitched about right for a SPP.

    Many thanks to our setter and the hard-working CS.

  12. A bit of a mixture for me today. Some straightforward , others not.
    Needed help from CS for 11a….I thought it was spelled with an A not an E…..and curiously was held up for ages by 5d.
    All sorted now.

    Thanks to the setter and to CS.
    Overcast and threatening rain again here after pretty torrential ,but thankfully short-lived downpours yesterday.
    No washing going out today!

  13. Held up in the NE. 8d put up a good fight before a groan and then I needed CS’s nudge to get the NHO 11a. Hopefully filed for another day.

    2. It happened again when I replied to you just now. A page popped up with the Amazon logo and a message that reads:

      “Congratulations!
      Today, 15 July 2023, you have been randomly selected to take this survey. It will only take a minute and you will receive an amazing prize:
      Apple iPhone 14 Pro!
      Like every Saturday, we offer amazing prizes to 10 users. Today’s prize is an Apple iPhone 13! Only 10 lucky users living in United Kingdom will be the winners!
      This survey is conducted to improve the services provided to our users, and your participation will be 100% rewarded!
      You only have 1 Minutes 20 Seconds to complete this survey.
      Hurry up, the prizes are limited!”

      Obviously, I just exited the page without clicking on anything!

    3. I am getting Norton Antivirus popping up saying that this is a malicious website!

    4. For me it is a link to tinder, I wonder if it is trying to sell you something and or find me a date ;)

      1. I got an offer to press ‘Allow’ for some group I didnt know to send me messages to prove I’m not a robot and then I couldn’t exit without closing the blog site.

        1. I’ve had that as well, Chriscross. Annoying to have to close the blog site.

        2. I’ve been getting that for a few days, not sure what it was as I clicked on X too fast to read it!

    5. When I click on the blog I sometimes get Apple popping up advertising their latest phones, bizarre as I have no bookmarked Apple links, and nothing remotely like that close to my blog link. Whatever it is, they are disappointed as I just click right off. And I suspect it is not them anyway.

    6. I disabled all official ads on the site last night, which apparently did not remove the popups. So I’ve now disabled a plug-in that BD was using that could have been compromised. If anyone is still seeing the popups after clearing the cache on their browser please let us know.

      1. I’ve not had any pop-ups recently, Mr. K so, hopefully, your tweaks have worked. Worrying, though, how sites can very easily be infiltrated. The Facebook page for Oswestry frequently states that Asda are giving away £100 to the first ten who click the link.

        Stay aware, my friends. Never click on anything!

  15. Kept me busy this morning, easier once kids disappeared. As with others, 11a the last in, [redacted]
    Favourites 13a and 4d, plus 18d

  16. Never heard of the answer to11a before, so did not finish this one, oh well… live and learn eh?

  17. Just about the right level of difficulty for a prize puzzle, I thought, with a good mixture of clue types. I managed to finish unaided though it did take me a while to parse 11a and 1a took me far longer than it should have done. Favourite today was the lego clue at 9a with podium places for 13a, 2d and 23d. 14d amused me and isn’t 17d a lovely word? Thanks to our compiler and Cripticsue. Your sterling work this week is greatly appreciated.

  18. Enjoyed this mixed bag of clues.
    Tricky in parts.
    Last in, rather stupidly, 23d.
    Got stuck in a groove thinking
    It was another 4 letter word
    For part of it.
    Many thanks to the setter and to CS.

  19. I’m off to get ready to watch the tennis (come on Ons!) and test out whether the recipe I’ve found for chocolate brownies with courgette in the mixture, are a good way to use up a small part of our courgette mountain. Please note that I’m not preparing refreshments for the Naughty Corner so please take note of the instructions in red under the hints and also read the previous comments before adding your thoughts

    1. CS, brownies with courgettes sound great. My late husband used to make a delicious courgette cake but we never thought of adding chocolate. I will look up a recipe.

      1. Oh no it’s not WW. Men’s singles final tomorrow is the swansong and I for one look forward to the Djokovic v Alcaraz face-off. 👏

    3. I have had just one, albeit a handsome one, courgette from my two plants despite watering religiously. Perhaps that was the trouble, maybe they are pagan courgettes.

    4. She was the better player, I’m so sorry she lost, I was crying along with her. Ms. Tattoos didn’t really win, Ons lost, Centre Court nerves I’m sure.

    5. I am not even a tennis watcher, but I find myself rooting for Alcaraz 😊. Predictive text annoyingly keeps wanting to change to Alcatraz.

  20. Really enjoyed today’s SPP although it did have its moments – put the wrong second word into 7d until 13a showed me the error of my ways and had forgotten about that particular China.
    Tough call to name a favourite but think 10a edges it for the surface read.

    Thanks to our setter and to the indefatigable CS for the hints.

  21. I’m furious with myself. Sailed all the way through so I stopped at 11a and 6d. Who was it who said “If all else fails look for a (blank)”. If I had got that I might have had another go at 11a. I’d sort of got the first part although wrongly parsed. I don’t mind unfamiliar words if you can construct them from the clue but not possible for me here. Favourites 12 13 and 16a and 2 19 and 23d. Thanks Dada and CS.

  22. I’m furious with myself also. Having abjured 😌 George not to get dressing on the paper as it is a PP I entered the 25 answer into the 28 grid. I stuck a piece of paper across it and marked in the squares. Do you think when the Prize panellists look at our emails they deduct points for alterations? Or untidiness? I lie awake worrying about these things.

    1. If that is the case, DG it is no wonder The Mythical is not materialising! :grin:

      1. I’m rarely clever enough to even qualify to submit, but it wouldn’t matter anyway, as those outside the UK are excluded from winning any prizes anyway. I assume DT couldn’t possibly afford the postage 😊.

  23. Once I had sorted out my dogs breakfast of a clue, I was up and running. 23d was last in, 9a was the favourite although 13a a close runner up. Nice Saturday fare, fair and just enough tricky ones to make it worthy of The Mythical. Many thanks to Mr Setter and to Madam CS. It has just started to rain again ! Maybe my courgettes will flourish after all.

  24. I was reassured after yesterday’s poor showing to find I still have sufficient marbles left to easily locate wavelength and enjoy today’s teaser with only a brief hold- up in the SW plus needing a prompt for 11a. 7d was Fav. Thank you Mysteron and CS.

  25. 2/4. I enjoyed this puzzle particularly for its many terse clues. My favourite was 13a, one of the more verbose clues but clever Lego structure. Thanks to the setter and CS.

  26. I was slow to get started with today’s guzzle and never really sped up, just not on the wavelength today it seems. I fully endorse 11a going on Terence’s LIST, as an answer I had to Google and the “press” synonym being pretty tenuous in my view. I thought 14d a neat all-in-one, 19d a sneaky anagram but my COTD goes to 13a ***/***

    Thanks to our setter and CS 👏

  27. Catching up with the puzzles after 2 long days at work, with one eye on the tennis. Fairly straightforward & entertaining Saturday prize crossword, held up by my LOI 11a, admit I got the word from the fodder but had to look the word up to confirm.

    2*/3.5*

    Fav 4d LOI 11a.

    Thanks to setter and CS.

  28. I found this a little tricky but very approachable and enjoyed it. Only hold up was the tennis distraction, yelling at Jabeur to get herself together. It all came to me when I was able to pay attention! I sometimes helped an archaeologist in Jamaica looking for Arawak remains, so I was familiar with 11a, but spelt differently as noted above. I didn’t know they had 14d in UK, I don’t really like them, having seen a cow with a broken leg after attempting to walk across one. Lots to like, 10a was neat, but fave has to be 13a.
    Thanks to setter and to CS for unravelling a few.

  29. As Pat said at the top, “pleasantly tricky” sums up today’s puzzle. Lots of answers that could actually be teased out from the clues, much more satisfying than bung ins. I’ve 5 left on the eastern side, but I’ll come back after I run some errands, hoping brain will have solved by then. Thanks very much to setter and CrypticSue.

  31. A gentle pleasant stroll after yesterday’s labours though 11a needed BRB confirmation. No particular fav but enjoyed it.
    Thanks to the setter & to CS

  32. 25a and 19d as great clues but don’t see the cryptic quality of 14d. Thank you setter and CS

    2. Really enjoyed this, I needed it after struggling for the past couple of days, so special thank you.

      1. Ditto to Merusa and special thanks to Cephas now you have kindly identified yourself.

  34. Held up a while in NE and SW after a rattling start but got there in the end. Favorite 11a.

  35. I struggled with this.

    The theory that Saturday is easy to get lots of entries (and hence addresses) can no longer be true. Not just today, but seemingly for some while.

    11a seemed a difficult clue for an obscure once is a lifetime word.

    I used the hints for a couple and Google for a couple of others because I ran out of spare time for this crossword. Still can’t parse 22a.

    Thanks to all.

  36. A rather late comment this evening – probably a bit too late to say anything,
    I thought it was quite difficult today for a a Saturday.
    As lots of others have said I also had trouble with 11a even though I HAVE met it before – just forgotten it!
    20d is still causing trouble – I’ve either get the wrong answer or I’m being dim and don’t “get” it.
    I think my favourite might be 12a – also my last answer.
    Thanks to Cephas for the crossword and thanks too to CS.

    1. It took me a while to work out what you are asking. The person in the solution is definitely a doctor

  38. I would have sailed through this but mad bad spelling made my life hard. I do love a fine crossword and it must help my spelling . 11 across was muddling to me and unhelpful in my endeavours.I am too embarrassed to tell you what my other spelling mistake was. The rule is I cannot submit if there has been any mishaps or the puzzle looks messy. Can understand why Daisygirl also finds this a problem.

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