DT 30593 (Hints)

64 comments on “DT 30593 (Hints)”

1. Nicely quirky today. 12a’s fun, 17a’s jolly, 9d’s unusual and 21d is certainly topical. I didn’t love the slightly odd 15a but 24a is verging on perfection. Many thanks to setter and CS.

2. Not the most difficult Saturday puzzle with some super clues in 5d, 1a and my fav 9d.
   However I felt that 7d was clumsy and 16d just plain poor.
   Thx to all
   ***/***
   PS is anyone else having problems with the site not remembering them?

   1. You asked that question yesterday but obviously didn’t read the reply. MrK has removed that option in order for the site to keep working while he sorts out the problem that caused the site to stop working

   2. 16d was my last in and I thought it was an excellent clue plus a new word for me . Horses for courses and all that .

   3. Brian, all I do is type in the first two letters of my email and it brings it up, then I just click on it. Takes a couple of seconds.

3. This puzzle didn’t do it for me I’m sorry to say. The inclusion of the GK sullied an otherwise ok cryptic.
   Each to their own, but for me I derived very little enjoyment.
   Thanks to the setter and to CS.

4. 1.5*/4.5*. Although this was light, I thought it was terrific and one of the best ever SPPs.

   I kept on ticking clues as I worked my way through and my top picks were 1a, 21a, 2d, 4d, 7d, 21d & 26d.

   Reveal yourself setter, and take a bow. Many thanks to whomsoever and to CS.

5. I thought this was great once I got the hang of the quirky nature of the beast. 21d made me smile and some of the anagrams were well disguised. The general knowledge was all in my sphere today which helped.

   Many thanks to the setter and to CS for the hints.

6. Absolutely terrific puzzle.

   Not for the first time I find myself in agreement with RB, having a long list of candidates for the laurels. We’re going to need a bigger podium! Despite this I’m going with ALP for the prize winner, 24A: it’s a superbly misleading definition, with the wordplay continuing the misdirection. I was almost off to Manzi’s.

   Thanks CS for hints, and Mister On for a lovely solve.

7. This was a cheery guzzle to accompany the gruel and orange juice with no bits. Some clever nods and winks amongst the clues. Most enjoyable.

   And so… off we go to Wembley in a couple of hours to watch The Mighty Chelsea take on the terrifyingly well-organised and skilled fellows from Manchester City. We travel in hope but have limited expectations. Chelsea will have to play as they did against Everton last Monday, and Manchester City will need to play as if they are Forest Green at the foot of Division Two.

   Remember us in your prayers.

   Thanks to the setter and Super Sue.

   

   1. If H goes with you every time, dear Terence, she is surely a saint.

8. This was perfect for a Saturday with most clues, I’m sure, being in reach of all-comers.

   I enjoy clues like 9d and the cockney ones raise a smile every time. 24a is a splendid word and I’ve always liked the Greek God being a reversal of a key event.

   My podium is 24a, 7d and 21d which is of course hilarious (I didn’t intentionally choose this adjective).

   Many thanks to the super Saturday setter and super Sue.

   2*/4*

9. Enjoyable puzzle. Mostly straightforward with a few to think about. 21d my favorite

10. Very light, some rather odd surfaces but all GK within reach, and a good variety of clues. Hon Mentions to 12a, 19a & 9d.

    <1* / 2.5*

    Thank you to the setter and to CS

11. I don’t think many will have had to ignore Smylers exhortation to avoid Danword and the like today. I am in agreement with Beer Tricks Potter (ALP)
    21d very topical and 24a just sublime
    Thanks to Setter and Super Sue, the definition of fluff amused me too

    1. Ha! What’s going on Sloop? You appear to have morphed into Tom!

       1. Sloop Tom Bee

12. Enjoyable puzzle.

    Last one in 26d….and my favourite.

    Thanks to the setter and to crypticsue.

    Any word on Daisy ? Hope she’s getting on OK. That was quite a fall she took.

    1. I haven’t had a reply to the email I sent yesterday. Hopefully it is simply a case of being told to rest her hand more is preventing her using the keyboard

       1. Fingers crossed. I’m very fond of Lovely Daisy.

       2. Oh I am here! I did not see an email but will certainly look and respond. How kind everyone is. Have been feeling bruised and battered this week but fingers on right hand were re a sages haha re bandaged but only superficially as they did not want the bleeding to start again. So I don’t yet know what the damage looks like. I have four sausages so many tasks are difficult!! Mascara impossible to apply – disaster!

          1. You’re a treat, Daisy. Only you could think of mascara in the midst of disaster, you’re a model for the rest of us.

13. I love a cryptic crossword with the added spice of some GK content. Variety is the spice of life. 1a was a great literary allusion ad the splendid misdirection in 1d made it my COTD. I don’t usually enjoy political content in clues but 21d was slyly humorous so it appealed to me. There were some clever 4- letter clues of which26 d was the best, very testing on the GK, leading to a loud clang aas the penny dropped for me. Thanks to the clever setter and to CS for the hints.

14. What a lovely SPP! Full of if not LOL moments, definitely chuckleworthy ones!
    Liked 4, 9, and 14d, equally, but going for 21a as today’s winner.
    Many many thanks to the setter and to CS.

15. Plenty of fun in this one with just the mazy run necessitating a bit of guesswork – not something familiar to me.
    Contenders for podium places are 1&17a plus 4,8&21d.

    Thanks to our setter and to CS for the hints.

16. A corker of a puzzle from start to finish. Much wit and imagination typified by the brilliant 26d which makes it my cotd. Thanks to the compiler and CS.

17. An enjoyable SPP challenge which, for me, lacked some ‘sparkle’ – 2.5*/3.5*

    Had a guess at 15a’s Mazy without resorting to an e-search so I still don’t know, and apparently I don’t need to know, who, presumably, he is (or should I say they are).

    Candidates for favourite – 17a, 21a, and 9d – and the winner is 17a.

    I am inclined to place my Toonie on NYDK. So thanks to him, or whomsoever if it is not he, and thanks to CS.

    1. Try looking up mazy in the BRB and relating it to the run

       1. I thought it was the name of someone, thanks for that it explains a lot!

18. Nicely chewy for me today with just the right mix of easily divined and brain-stretching clues. 14d was new to me but easily gettable from the clue and the checkers. Many thanks to the setter, and to CS for the mercifully unneeded hints which I will now read.

    1. You have to be a bit younger than the average commenter on here, but I had heard of it from various youngsters.

19. A great puzzle with lots to like today. Top picks for me were 24a, 4d, 9d and 26d.
    Thanks to CS and the setter.

20. Is 13 across a mistake
    [redacted – see instructions in red]

    1. Remove the first letter (not initially) from a human ‘rat’ to get the aquatic creature which was in your comment I redacted as you are asked not to give away solutions for a Prize Puzzle

21. I sat looking at my final entry, 26d, for ages until the old penny dropped. That became my top clue this afternoon. Overall I found this beautifully clued and a real pleasure to solve. One of the best.

    Thanks to our Saturday setter and Sue.

22. A really enjoyable puzzle for this Saturday. Lots to like, great clues and many smiles within the answers.

    1.5*/4* today

    Favourites were once agin many including 1a, 17a, 21a, 8d, 25d & 26d — with winners 25d/26d
    Smiles from all of the above too

    Thanks to setter & CS for hints/blog

23. E seton’s has said it all really/mostly. That should be everyone. How they type with a thump I do not know. Too many favourites for me to chose any one it2 was a sparkling guzzle. Thanks to setter and CS 🥰

    1. Good to hear from you, DG. How are you doing now? I do hope you are in better shape than your greenhouse!

       1. Struggling RD. but still here to tell the tale thank the Lord.
          So grateful for the distraction of the guzzle!

          1. Also I might add it is past six o’clock and I have my
             Gin and tonic, lemon but no ice – ever.

             1. A good guzzle and a G&T makes everything seem less bad. Hope you make a full recovery soon.

             2. I must have missed your injury Daisy, due to being too busy to read the blog some days. However it’s good to hear that you can still get the mascara on without blobs. I’m sure it made you feel more human after the accident. Get better soon

                1. Thanks CC. I have my fingers bandaged up like sausages!

24. Straightforward for the most part with parsing two or three in the NE being the most problematic. An enjoyable solve though with numerous candidates for favourite and will go with 1a. Thanks to the setter and CS.

25. I was very much on the setter’s wavelength today , thankfully after the mind bend yesterday, with only a few clues causing a head scratch. Many excellent clues to choose from. Think my favourite was 16d which misdirected me well and was a word not registered in my consciousness. Thanks to the setter and CS.

26. Enjoyable fun today but realise after reading CS’s hints my last one in, 26d, is wrong although my answer made perfect sense. Must admit I don’t ever send in for the mythical (have to give Steve a sporting chance!) but I would be a bit hacked off if people just look everything up on answer sites and send them in. The whole point of the crossword is solving the puzzle yourself and maybe a little peek at the hints if really stuck. Can someone at Telegraph Towers please ask CL not to move the cryptic to the puzzles site (they seem to have already moved the Toughie) as there must be hundreds of people like me who can’t access the puzzles site. Thank you and thanks to CS and the mystery setter today.

27. quite a stroll in the park today with the odd head scratcher! (although I do admit I’m sitting lunching outside in the sunshine before hitting the stage tonight !) Loved 12 A and could hear the voice and imagery to make me grin – I do love gladioli!!
    Thank you sue as the odd hint does help the parsing even with the answer!
    Happy Saturday all!

28. Great puzzle – felt fresh and modern, most enjoyable! Like others I am curious as to the setter…

29. A mixed bag for me, the good far outweighing the questionable. I was DNF with 26d, wasn’t that clever? I found some a bit tricky to know the “why”, but all were explained by our own Sue. I’m guessing 9d is footballish, that’s what it was – a guess. Lots of really good stuff, 12a was a giggler, but I must pick 23d.
    Thank you setter for my Saturday fun, and CS for the enlightenment of a few.

30. A truly delicious puzzle today, after the indigestible offering yesterday. So many great clues, impossible to pick a COTD but I have smiley faces alongside 17a, 5d, 20d, and 25d. My Uncle Mick was a 30a, we were teenagers during the popularity of the 25d, and were lucky to spend a glorious weekend in 1d in 2019 so this was full of nostalgia for me. I often sympathise with Brian, but cannot see anything wrong with 7d. Thank to the setter for making my Saturday start with a smile, and of course to Cryptic Sue.

    Re the non saving problem, my iPad remembers and anticipates what I am starting to type, so putting in my name and email is not at all onerous and hope Mr K is not driving himself nuts trying to fix that quirk right now,

31. I thought this was brilliant. So many excellent clues. 5d was my last one in after I had completed the NW. I can’t possibly give all my favourites so must restrict myself to 1a and 2d. I have been away with no access to the crossword. I have cancelled my subscription from mid May. However they took away my online version immediately. To add insult to injury they have now taken my direct debit for the next quarter.

    1. Oh dear WW, does that mean we are going to lose you. Or can you
       Sneak into the local library and do the guzzle there!

32. 26d…I cannot forget it as it was the year I got married. Petrol rationing made it all very difficult but we made it!

33. I took a while to get going but gradually it all came together in a rather disjointed way. Mazy in 15a baffled me as did both hearty in 24a and play away in 7d and 14d didn’t occur to me whilst I wanted to use the famous diarist. My Fav was 1a. I am hopeless at identifying setters but it’s interesting that there has been only one guess at the setter so I look forward to a revelation but thank you to whomsoever that might be and to CS.
    Best wishes for a continuing successful healing process DG.

    1. I didn’t get the “play away” at 7d, but Sue explained it … wasn’t that clever?

34. Hello. NYDK at your service.

    Thanks Sue and thanks to all who have commented.

    Cheers!

    1. Thank you for taking ownership, and thanks for the fun!

    2. So Senf placed his Toonie correctly in Comment 17. I wonder what conveyed your identity to him. Anyway thanks again for the fun.

35. I made that hard for myself with 3 wrong answers along the way. Grateful for the hint on 26d

36. I found this quite hard and was a dnf due firstly getting 26d wrong (I thought it was a lurker, which works for my feeble brain), and secondly, I needed Danword to get 28a. I doubt I would have ever got this.

    Thanks to all.

37. So much variety.
    All went well
    Until 28a and
    26d.
    Both delayed my
    Completion until
    The pennies.
    Certainly the latter
    My COTD.
    Many thanks NY and
    CS.

38. 2/4. Late on parade due to a flat tyre and a problem getting it sorted at the local shop. An enjoyable puzzle with top of my list being 21a and 16d. Thanks to the setter and CS.

39. Super puzzle with a lot to amuse.

    Being a past, season ticket holding Villain, 9d has to be my favourite.

    Thanks to NYDK for the entertainment.

40. 3*/4* ….
    liked 21A “Collusion: accountant sounds warning(7)”

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