DT 30564

91 comments on “DT 30564”

1. I needed help with 27a because I had never heard of the term and I wouldn’t have solved it in a month of Sundays. This upset what would have been an unaided finish of an otherwise great puzzle. I managed to drag the writer of farces up from the depths of my memory and 9d raised a smile. My COTD is the American spelling of “fish” in 7d.

   Thank you, Campbell for the fun and the new word. Thank you, CS for the hints.

   I tried to explain the intricacies of cryptic crosswords to the rest of the morning gang in the village shop. They all looked at me as though I had just arrived the planet Zog!

   1. I sometimes think I live on the planet Zog.

      1. You and me both, had to look up 27a, obviously an everyday word in the English language NOT, Ruined a perfectly good crossword.
         **/*
         Thx for the hints
         PS just noticed it’s a Campbell, my least favourite setter.

         1. Hi Brian, I’m a newbie who struggled today. How do know it’s a Campbell please?

            1. Although The Daily Telegraph doesn’t credit setters on the back page puzzles, some of them have “tells” With Campbell the most obvious one is having more than one quickie pun

            2. It’s the sort of thing you get to know after a while, KFK. As Sloops says Campbell usually has two Quickie puns. Ray T, who sets puzzles every other Thursday, never has more than six words in his clues and often uses “ sweetheart” to represent the letter “e”. After a while you tend to get a “sense” of the compiler but I confess I am no expert at setter spotting.

               1. Thanks SteveC and Sloop. I’ll keep a lookout

   2. Whenever I need to explain that I do cryptic crosswords, not GK, I am met with a blank stare over here Steve. If I go on to try to explain I quickly realise I have lost my audience 😊.

      1. There are those that get cryptics and those that don’t, BL. I gave the example of “HIJKLM (5)”.
         Even when I gave the answer they turned away and talked of football! 🤣

         1. NO! 😁

            1. Sad but true. 😒

         2. Unfortunately, living in a retirement apartment development mostly occupied by old ladies, I get blank stares if I talk about cryptics or football!

         3. Haven’t you left out two letters, or am I missing something ?

            1. Welcome to the blog

2. I rather liked 1a’s Lego – adventurous girl is brilliant. I don’t think 18a’s second “definition” quite works. But, some smart surfaces. 7d was fun, 21a too. Cracking the third quickie pun was the hardest bit for me! Thanks to Campbell and CS, yet again stepping into the breach.

   1. ALP. 18a is fine – school/t***n a horse. Direct definitions.

      1. Ha, I can always rely on you Jose to disagree with me! And of course, school is a verb, too. It was just the ? that bothered me. Why is it there?

         1. Nothing personal, ALP. There could be 18,000 (or more) page views on here today and many of those people might assume that posted comments are all correct. Maybe the ? is there because the setter simply decided to phrase the clue as a question to throw us all a bit?

            *I’ve just been looking at the Statistics tables under the ABOUT button – they all finish in 2020. I assumed that they were automatically updated regularly by some installed software. Anybody know?

3. The synonym for ‘head’ was a new one for me in 13a. It was clearly the right answer given the checkers, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why. Wholly unconvinced by word for ‘tearful’ in 27a, and not totally convinced by the alternative for ‘columns’ in 8d, though neither doubt stopped me putting the answers in.

   27a was not a new word for me, but only because I’m a Cumbrian and surrounded by the fluffy things! **/***

   1. Tearful is one of a great number of definitions of the required word

      1. It’s wrong then. Perhaps we should write to Chambers

   2. You’d look neat
      Walking down the street
      You’d look dapper from your napper to your feet.
      Make me smile, dressed in style
      With your father’s old green tie on
      But I wouldn’t give you tuppence for your old watch chain
      Old iron, old iron.

      1. Thanks, Daisygirl: I’ve heard the song but didn’t know all the lyrics. I thought I’d never heard the word, but clearly I must have done.

         It’s vocabulary like this which I always seem to get stuck on with Monday puzzles, which puts me off trying them. I much prefer the simpler puzzles on Fridays, with familiar words like ‘applets’!

4. It’s Monday It’s Campbell **/****

   Candidates for favourite – 1a, 1d, and 9d – and the winner has to be 9d.

   Thanks to Campbell and CS.

5. Great start to the week; thanks to setter for an excellent, most enjoyable puzzle. Personal favourites were 26A, 17D & pick of the bunch 7D.

6. It’s 1.5*/3.5* from me for a light enjoyable start to the week.

   I’ve got two ticks, one for a properly qualified girl in 1a and the other for a properly indicated Americanism in 7d (my favourite), but a cross for the unindicated Americanism in 15d.

   Perhaps I should have gone to Specsavers but I couldn’t see the answer to 21a meaning an alcoholic drink in either the BRB or Collins.

   Many thanks to Campbell and to CS.

   1. Oh dear. George uses it. 21a I mean.

   2. I had a friend sadly gone now who used to use 21a as time to open or frequent a bar early.

7. A very friendly and enjoyable puzzle for a sunny Monday morning, with 1a and 9d my co-favourites.

   Thanks to the triple punner and Sue.

8. It’s Monday … It’s Campbell …
   A nice start to the week as per usual with his offering.

   1.5*/4*

   Favourites 18a, 27a, 5d,7d & 9d — with winner 9d
   Smiles from 26a, 5d, 7d & 9d of course.

   Thanks to Campbell & CS for hints/blog

9. An enjoyable challenge for a Monday morning to accompany the coffee. Concise clueing, many good surfaces, enough gimmes to keep one rattling through, sightly heavy on the anagrams, some nice lesser-used synonyms, and no obscure GK. What’s not to like? Podium places to 1a, 7d & 27a.

   1.5 / 3

   Many thanks to Campbell and to CS

10. The usual fun from Mr Monday, including his signature three puns.
    Ticks here for 1&26a plus 1,7&9d.

    Thanks to Campbell and to CS for relieving pommers from duty.

11. Spot on cluing throughout .
    Favourites were 4d 8d -14a brought on the d”oh moment as did 21a.
    Special mention for 27a.
    Going for a **/****.
    Spotted the three puns for a change!

12. Good fun from the mincing gong.

    No doubt the spelling of the second word in 14a will get a hammering though it’s mighty fine by me as is 21a which I use a lot. I love saying ‘Fancy a ********?’

    I’m a huge fan of words from north of the border like the one for ‘head’ in 13a; they’re such good fun. There are oodles of terms to do with the weather, understandably! ‘Dreich’ is a belter. I also love the political term in 27a and its origin.

    My podium is 11a, 7d and 15d as ‘zany’ is such a great word….as is the answer!

    Many thanks to Campbell and the legend that is CS.

    2*/4*

    1. Didn’t know the head in 13a came from north of the border – despite having spent 4 years up there. The expression I still remember refers to altercations in pubs – “Ane of the heed and twa of the bunnet.”

       1. Marvellous

    2. Similarly I have no issue with 21a, other that that one 21a can too easily lead to a second!

       But 13a being north of the border? My first thought on seeing the clue went to the lyrics of that not-very-Scottish-at-all cockerny ‘classic’, Any Old Iron: “you look a dapper from your 13a to your feet!”

       1. Most excellent, MG!

    3. 13a – Cockney, see Any Old Iron above. You’re just too young!

       1. It’s never easy to follow a multi-threaded conversation on these bloggy bloggies.

          Is your post for me? If so, I’m not with you…

    4. Tom, have you noticed that at Wimbledon the audiences make a terrible racquet these days? Most unbecoming!

       *Was it worth it?

       1. Go on then, J. As I’m in a good mood.

       2. 🙂

    5. Tom, Tom, thinks words are fun
       Give him a clue and away he’ll run.
       His lines are neat
       And , some, discreet
       Without his skills we’re incomplete.

       1. You love it, Pipsqueak!

          Well done on spelling ‘discreet’ correctly. A classic howler.

          1. ‘Tis the better part of velour.

             1. Like it, ‘P cubed’.

    6. No, I no longer fight the spelling of 14a, tilting at windmills comes to mind!

13. Ideal back page teaser.
    Smiles at 14 and 18a
    And 15d.
    Clever Lego 27a
    Delayed completion by
    Taking some time to
    Twig 4d was an anagram.
    Many thanks Campbell
    And CS.

14. A pleasant Monday puzzle from Campbell – thanks to him and CS.
    There seemed to be more anagrams than there actually were, possibly because four of them were clustered together in the across clues.
    Top clues for me were 1a and 7d.

15. Thanks for doing the blog today Sue at short notice.
    Pommets was at doctors at 8am and then had to dash home to take me all the way to Alicante hospital (2 hours round trip) just for a 10 minute appointment to get my wound checked over (it was a bit leaky) and dressing changed. Had a new knee last Tuesday.
    Thank heavens my other knee is in good condition, as i think i can safely say i wouldn’t want this done again!

    1. Had my left knee done last July and it was the best thing I have done . It’s just awesome to have no pain anymore . Right knee is getting done this coming Friday and I can’t wait for it !

       1. I am also in the NKC the new knee club, three years ago. Blooming painful but so worth while. Now the right one needs doing but at my age…. and my heart ….! It is an amazing operation. Good luck with the second one.

    2. Mr CS had a partial replacement of his right knee six weeks ago and has made a great recovery. He’s on the list to get the left one done and then hopefully we might be able to visit all places on the list I made before his knees and COVID put paid to going far. Although I will say that when we went to Hever Castle last November, he was able to get around quite well, not least because the very nice volunteers all watched him come up sets of stairs and then offered him their chairs for him to have a sit and a rest before tackling the next ones

       1. David had a new knee about 15 years ago. I went with him for his last consultation prior to the op and his consultant said ‘these new knees are marvellous, they last at least 10 years which should easily see you out!’. He was deadly serious and I was too shocked to speak. I repeated this to my own GP who was, like me, appalled.

          1. But that’s surgeons for you.

          2. Reminds me of a good friend when he was buying a second hand tv set and the seller made the same comment to him when asked how long it might last!

    3. Good wishes for continued improvement, pomette!

16. Thought this was a tad harder than the average Monday, but no less fun. As I’ve said above didn’t know that 13a contained a Scottishism. But 17d did remind me of my time up north, when I spent some time as an ASM and lighting designer for the theatre in its original premises – late 60s.
    Should have spotted the course in 3d sooner – exactly what it means over here in France.
    8&9d need special mention too, my dad had an 8d costume for his fancy-dress parties, and 9d just wrote itself!
    If I have to choose a fave, let it be17d, for the memories (and a career that might have been!)
    Many thanks to Campbell and to CS, for standing in and for the picture of what a 27a really is!
    (Best wishes to the Pommers too!)

17. Whay a joy to find Siouxie Sioux on duty! It’s like Christmas come early!
    “Oh for heaven’s sake! You’re such a creep!”

    Meanwhile, Campbell should be exiled on St. Helena for the second word in 14a.

    Thanks to the aforementioned Campbell, and Super Sue. Best wishes to the pommers family.

    

    1. Or exiled in the Mediterranean if he’s suffering from tennis Elba!

    2. Leave St Helena alone. I spent six weeks there in 2001 and enjoyed the island, the people and the home of the exiled Frenchman. He had raised paths in the garden so people would not think he was a dwarf as well as a frog.

    3. I think 14a spelling is an Americanism, Terence, but I haven’t heard the hue and cry about that yet!

       1. I decided not to make an issue of it.

18. 2/4. Good fun with several ticks. 8d gets the gold medal. Thanks to Campbell and CS.

19. I thought this was quite a lively workout. Some clues very fair and they jumped out at you whilst others caught you by surprise. Took me a while to fall into 14 a as I am in the -quet camp. 1a was clever, I was trying to think of a Dr Who assistant. I dragged 27a from the depths of this messy overfilled filing cabinet which is my brain but was trying to fit Brian Rix into 27d. Best wishes to the Pomms and to CS for holding the fort and of course, salutations and salaams to the setter, commiserations to all dodgy knees.

20. I am also in the -quet camp but I actually loved the clue. Never heard of the alcoholic drink and I was also looking at Brian Rix! Thanks to the setter and CS and must now go and re-seed some patches in the lawn that failed to grow in the autumn. Despite covering in chicken wire, the b….y muntjac have managed to devour my tulips which were so magnificent last year. Now a Chinese water deer has decided to join in the fun too!

21. All going swimmingly until 27 a. There is only so much time I can allow the crossword before I get very cross with myself so had to resort to the hints. Glad I gave up quickly because the word was not in my vocabulary. Otherwise enjoyable . Ticked the adventurous girl, the American way and the clowns. The author of farces was difficult because play writes are so numerous but the definition made it doable. Many thanks Campbell and CS.

22. Great Monday crossword with lots of good clues of which 26a stood out for me.

    Many thanks to Campbell and a hat tip for CS for standing in so well.

23. I found this one rather more chewy than most, and more so than recent Mondays. I had 13a in the margin but wasn’t happy with the head synonym and needed to the hint to verify that it was indeed right. Also never heard of a 21a, but I’ve led a sheltered life 😊. And I am in the “qu” club and will never get used to seeing it written otherwise. Clearly I have always been spelling 27a incorrectly, and I have always had a horror of all types of 8d. On the plus side, 7d was easier for me, with the Florida one about 2 miles from our house, near enough for convenient north and southbound travel, but far enough that we can’t hear it. Thanks to Campbell and CS, and best wishes for a speedy recovery to Pommers.

24. I found this trickier than the Dada yesterday! However, it was fairly clued and I could work it out. I have heard of 27a but didn’t know what it meant, I also wanted to put an “a” in there. Of course, it took forever to remember the “wether” part, nothing to do with rain! Fave was 9d, that went right in and gave lotsa checkers. I also liked 1a, adventurous girl was good!
    Thank you Campbell, and thank you CS for standing in yet again. Get well soon pommers!

25. Thought this one right out of Campbell’s top drawer. 1a was a cracking starter & just pipped 7d as my pick of an excellent assortment of clues. The head at 13a vaguely rang a 🛎️ (possibly from the song lyric MG reminded us off) but checked it out anyway post solve. 15d reminded me of the great comedy film genre – Bringing Up Baby, It Happened One Night & His Girl Friday three of the best examples. I had plenty of ✅s elsewhere – 11,18&27a plus 3&9d particular likes. Like ALP the bottom pun in the Quickie posed the biggest head scratch for me as the psyche synonym penny wouldn’t readily drop.
    Thanks to Campbell, to Sue for subbing & best wishes to Pommette for a speedy recovery from her procedure.
    Ps pretty sure I first became aware of 7d from this James Taylor song

    1. Same here with 7d!

       1. In the highly unlikely event that your mighty mob meet my lowly gang in the final (we can but dream) maybe we’ll see one another at Wembley. I’m clinging onto the fact that we beat Man Utd at Old Trafford en route to our win in 87 as an omen…..

    2. I think I first heard the word in America by S & G:

       Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike.

       1. I’d quite forgotten that one.

       2. Yes, that’s the first time I’d heard of it as well.

       3. And there’s also Mama Cass Elliot “Standin’ on the turnpike, thumb out to hitchhike ‘Take me to New York right away.'”

26. I haven’t had time to read the comments yet but I found this difficult compared with recent Mondays 😳 ****/*** Favourites 18a and 4d Thanks to the unknown Compiler and to Sue for her excellent and much needed help 👍

27. I feel like I am doing a different crossword to everyone else. I am less than half way through and have ground to a halt.

    One of the few I have is 27a though…

    Will have another attempt later.

28. There’s a super Picaroon (our Robyn) in the Graun’s Quiptic slot if anyone is looking for another puzzle.

29. Enjoyed this much earlier, nice to see the pic for bellwether as most people seem to assume an a in we(a)ther and have forgotten about the poor sheep with the bell
    Although turnpike is an Americanism now I think historically it is from the days of private roads when you had to pay the gateman to open the turnpike – there is still a curved wall on the way out of Tadcaster, where travellers had to pay to go to York
    Thanks to Campbell and CS

    1. The Turnpike Trusts

       The potholes may be a pain nowadays but nothing compared to how they used to be

30. Finally completed after a busy day ( gardening etc). 27a held out and eventually I gave up and looked at the hints and realised I would never have got it. 1a was my favourite out of the rest.

    Many thanks to Campbell and to CS for the hints, all the best to Pommette for a speedy uncomplicated recovery.

31. I had Campbell down for this early on as I realised I was not on the same wavelength so I expected a lot of Americanisms and I was right. Never heard of an 18a or a 21a or the author in 17d. I came across 27a in a toughie a while ago, what does that tell you. If I had to pick a favourite it would be 1a. Thanks to Campbell anyway and CS.

32. Thank you the Setter, thoroughly enjoyed this on the train this morning. 1A worried me at the start. A bit too early for me I think but I then got going. Happy start to the crossword week.

33. I found this one a little knottier than a usual Monday , and dipped in an out a few times so only just finished . 27a also got the better of me , so I guessed at letters until the app gave me the green light. Some really good clues. I do like it when ‘support’ is the undergarment. Makes me smile. Thanks to Campbell and CS

34. Without fail, I always forget about the three quickie puns..

    14a was my COTD, then I remembered I’m in the -quet camp, so changed my mind in favour of 18!

35. This wasn’t a bed of roses but it did acquiesce without too much hassle. 9d went in early which was a great help. 21a was new one on me as was 13a head in photographer. Thanks to Campbell for the puzzle and to CS for being reliably there for us as always.

36. An enjoyable puzzle. I think I’ll have the fish the US way for a tasty morsel.

    My sister, who lives near Manchester (the UK one) tells me that Campbell’s Soup — the one that makes double — is no longer always available in her local Tesco. Ah the joys of the chicken one. She is devastated.

37. 3*/3* …
    liked 10A “Plump, a Parisian in bar (5)”

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