DT 30745 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 30745

by Shabbo  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30745
Hints and tips by Shabbo

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***

Huntsman and I have swapped days this week, so I am doing today and he will do Thursday.  Don’t worry – this is a one-off and you will have both of us back in our rightful spots next week.

We are currently away on our twice yearly birding fix in North Norfolk staying in an apartment overlooking the harbour in Wells-next-the-Sea.  The pink foot geese are just starting to arrive apparently – I haven’t seen any yet.  Today at RSPB Titchwell, we ticked off kingfisher, rock pipit, bearded tit, spoonbill, cetti’s warbler, hen harrier and, of course, loads of marsh harriers.  This evening I managed to catch up with the pallid harrier at Warham Greens.

Anyway, enough about birds (although I know Jane will be interested).  I found today’s puzzle fairly straightforward – just right for a Tuesday.  20d was my LOI – my excuse being that there are so many wines to choose from!

In the blog below, the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED and the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the “Click Here” buttons.  Please leave a comment telling us how you got on and what you thought of the puzzle.

Across
1a Works out daughter madly loves PE (8)
DEVELOPS: abbreviation for daughter + anagram (madly) of LOVES PE.

5a Crows about male’s offences (6)
CRIMES: synonym of crows (a verb) outside (about) abbreviation for Male.

9a Meandering bus ride collecting 50 construction workers (8)
BUILDERS: anagram (meandering) of BUS RIDE outside (collecting) Roman numeral for 50.

10a Noticed her in conversation – she’s probably on the web? (6)
SPIDER: homophone (in conversation) of a synonym of “noticed her”.

12a So there! (Shout from golfer) (9)
THEREFORE: the compiler has generously given us the first five letters as a freebie.  To this we add the shout that a golfer should make to warn others that he has hit the ball off target and it may be heading their way.  I’m sure Huntsman has never had occasion to use this, being meticulously straight off the tee.

13a Retreating emperor remarkably admits blunder (5)
ERROR: hidden word backwards (retreating…admits).  Our solution can be found backwards in words 2 & 3.

14a Returning satisfied? I object (4)
ITEM: synonym of satisfied + I all reversed (returning).

16a Cases for weapons prime minister found in ship (7)
SHEATHS: former Tory PM inside abbreviation for steamship.

19a Salesperson feeds parrots (7)
REPEATS: three-letter abbreviation for salesperson + synonym of feeds. The solution is a verb, not a noun.

21a Chronic drinkers appeal for help – about time (4)
SOTS: appeal for help (often at sea via Morse code) outside abbreviation for Time.

24a Announced work’s requirements (5)
NEEDS: homophone (announced) of a synonym of works, as in massages.

25a Gave belt out, enthralling European? Swede perhaps (9)
VEGETABLE: anagram (out) of GAVE BELT + outside (enthralling) abbreviation for European.

27a Hen do is oddly ignored by flipping rubbish newspaper employee (6)
EDITOR: even letters (oddly ignored) of hEn Do Is + synonym of rubbish reversed (flipping).

28a State made law a reality, in part (8)
DELAWARE: hidden word (in part). Our solution is lurking in plain sight inside words 2-5.

29a Moans squeezing first of the spots (6)
SIGHTS: synonym of moans outside (squeezing) the initial letter (first) of The.

30a Rock LP I study foolishly (8)
STUPIDLY: anagram (rock) of LP I STUDY.

Down
1d Argument from English barrister’s beginning in court (6)
DEBATE: abbreviation for English + initial letter (beginning) of Barrister inside (in) a synonym of court (as in woo).

2d Five movie crews regularly producing singers (6)
VOICES: Roman numeral for five plus every other letter (regularly) of mOvIe CrEwS.

3d Boy almost allowed large spoon (5)
LADLE: synonym of boy + synonym of allowed without the last letter (almost). I wondered what to do with the L (large), but it is part of the definition.

4d Work for each group of students (7)
PERFORM: synonym of “each” + synonym of “group of students”.

6d Show Fred unwrapped gift (9)
REPRESENT: unwrap (f)RE(d) and add a synonym of gift.

7d Easy chair (8)
MODERATE: double definition.

8d Shock sir with super bust (8)
SURPRISE: anagram (bust) of SIR + SUPER.  On reflection, I don’t think I’ll post an image for this clue.

11d Writes pages in French with mistakes at the end (4)
PENS: abbreviation for page(s) + French for “in” + the last letter of mistakeS.

15d Ferry entrance (9)
TRANSPORT: double definition.

17d Royal at home with Charlie surrounded by journalists (8)
PRINCESS: word meaning “at home” + C (phonetic alphabet) inside (surrounded by) a generic term for journalists.

18d Carol holds drink up, moving too fast (8)
SPEEDING: synonym of carol (a verb) outside (holds) a term meaning the sea upside down (up).

20d Free wine Oscar ignored (4)
SAVE: a white wine from North East Italy without the O (Oscar ignored).

21d Doctor gets hugs leaving hospital, getting intimate (7)
SUGGEST: anagram (doctor) of GETS (h)UGS. The hospital (H) “leaves” the rest of the anagram fodder.

22d A table on the plane? (6)
ABOARD: A + synonym of table.

23d Only bank supporting this writer (6)
MERELY: synonym of bank (a verb – think depend) after (supporting – this is a down clue) how the setter might describe himself.

26d Bit upsetting, pinching maiden’s bum (5)
TRAMP: synonym of bit upside down (upsetting) outside (pinching) cricketing abbreviation for maiden.  The definition is an Americanism.

Quickie Pun:  PAD  +  DID  +  SELLS  =  PADDED CELLS

66 comments on “DT 30745”

  1. Another delightful guzzle to brighten what is a very grey day here in The Marches. The maiden’s bum took me a while because I was using the wrong definition. The state at 28a was well hidden and I stared at it for ages before it leapt out at me. I don’t get the parsing of 18d but I suppose the middle part can be called the drink. `I tried for ages to get a rock from “LP I study” until I saw the error of my ways. No COTD today, just a steady and enjoyable solve.

    Thank you, setter for the fun. Thank you, Shabbo for the hints.

  2. The 5 anagrams and three lurker based clues helped smooth this Tuesday fare to the rating given by Shabbo. 10a was my last one in as I missed the homophone connection, but it amused me and was my COTD. Thanks Shabbo and our setter.

  3. I usually enjoy an undemanding romp on Tuesday and today was just that. Lots of goodies but 10a particularly appealed. Now brace myelf for the rest of the week’s challenges. Thank you Mysteryone and Shabbo – enjoy your birding, as a long-time resident of Suffolk I am always nostalgic about N.Norfolk and Cley, etc. where we nearly bought a house.

    1. Funny, although we live in Cley, we are frequent visitors to Suffolk and indeed have booked a week in Aldeburgh for Christmas.

      1. Bit early for Merry Xmas, so Happy Halloween instead!
        Would love to join you, but wife bedridden. :(

  4. I was underwhelmed today for some reason since everything went in without the need for a head scratch and I’ve still got half a cup of coffee left! Thanks to our setter and Shabbo. Loved the illustrations, especially Bob the Builder.

  5. This was one of those puzzles that was over too quickly to really enjoy whilst solving, but was certainly worth reviewing afterwards to fully appreciate the skill and wordplay. The lurker at 28a was my favourite.

    Thanks to our Tuesday setter and Shabbo.

  6. It’s happened before, finishing quickly and feeling pleased with myself and then see it only gets a one star difficulty rating! I don’t get the parsing for 18D either but a pleasant solve.

  7. An enjoyable Tuesday puzzle – thanks to our setter and Shabbo.
    I’m rather surprised to see P as the abbreviation for pages (plural) in 11d since both Chambers and Collins allow it only for a single page.
    I liked 10a, 28a and 26d but my favourite has to be 8d for the amusing surface.

  8. Enjoy the birding Shabbo, re the third item on your list I didn’t realise Bill Oddie was there 😉
    Crossword was friendly apart from a few in the NE which were a little more resistant

  9. What a great crossy! Oodles of fab surfaces with some excellent humour.

    16a reminds me of a game I made up where you start with a one letter word then add a letter (before or after) to make another one and you’ve got to see how far you can get. My best is eight with…

    a
    at
    ate
    late
    elate
    relate
    relates
    prelates

    My kingdom for a nine letter answer.

    My hotly-contested podium is 19a, 29a and 8d.

    Many thanks to The Prof and Shabbs.

    1*/4.5* (I docked half a point for the first five letters of 12a)

  10. Very Typically Tuesdayish, this can only be an Anthony Plumb production – */****

    Candidates for favourite – 10a, 12a, 29a, 21d, and 23d – and the winner is 10a.

    Thanks to Mr Plumb and Shabbo.

  11. I enjoyed this puzzle a lot and managed to finish it off in bed this morning. At long last getting to grips with digital lay-out although it is irritating to only see only clue at a time especially when there is a multiple word answer. Glad to see you up here again Shabbo – I hope you are paying a visit to Wells Crab House. Plenty of Pink Foot around – taking a visitor to Holkham some years ago I told him that round the corner he would see about a third of the worlds population of Pink Foot Geese – there wasn’t a single one, not one! It’s going to be much warmer tomorrow for bird watching. Thanks to the setter and to you.

    2. Glad you are getting used to the digital. Assume you are using it on your phone ? You get all the clues displayed on an ipad.

  12. Splendid guzzle with several amusing, misdirecting, glues.

    Regarding the glue for 30a… I wonder if anyone else misses the tactile experience of holding the old 12″ LPs; and like the clue, I would study them from front to back, learning who produced, engineered and so on.
    ‘Orchestration by Paul Buckmaster’; ‘Chief Engineer – Geoff Emerick’ ; ‘Printed and made by Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd. Patents pending.’
    I took it all on board, rather more than my Latin verbs or mathematical equations. Spotify can’t replicate that experience, but is so much easier. All my albums are in the loft.

    Thanks to the setter and Shabba-dabba-doo.

    2. Easier sure but they don’t sound anywhere near as good on Spotify either no matter how good a streamer you use. I do wish also that they would finally introduce a premium lossless service like Tidal has. Vinyl was much more fun & am pleased to see it is a growing market once again.

      1. Some of them sell for a pretty penny, and I threw mine out! I saw one of mine on sale the other day for $400.

  13. Very enjoyable puzzle which I did not find too difficult. In fact I managed to get 18 in on my first trip around the grid, which is a record for me.

    I didn’t think I was going to need help for this one, but my very last one in (16a) had me scratching my head. For some reason I thought the PM in question was Labour, so that messed up my solving. In the end I had to Google a list of PMs. Seeing the answer had me groaning at my stupidity.

    Yes, agree with the blogger for the difficulty/enjoyment ratings.

  14. Dare I say it, almost too straightforward even for a Tuesday, but all good fun while it lasted, so thanks to all involved

  15. Thanks very much to Shabbo for swapping – very much doubt I’ll be lucky enough to get anywhere near as straightforward a puzzle to review on Thursday but 🤞. I’ve had to take the car in for a full service (that’s over £500 down the swanny once a few bits & pieces are done to it) so the blog would have been awkward to fit in. Anyway a pleasant enough AP puzzle though I wouldn’t put it up there with his best. No specific favourite but I did like the 8d surface & the lurker at 28a.
    Thanks to Anthony P & once again to Shabbo – have a nice time away.
    Ps since seeing Nearly Dan on Sat night I’ve been playing the real thing constantly so this one would have featured ordinarily

    1. As I think you play golf at Verulam, I can also recommend Stanley Dee, almost an anagram but with added energy, and Hertfordshire’s number one purveyors of the Dan’s finest. They perform at the Horn in St Albans from time to time.

      2. Thanks for that Chris – I’ll keep an eye out for them.
        Used to be a member at Verulam but have now gone back to South Herts.

  16. 1*/4*. Another in a long line of light but fun Tuesday puzzles.

    My only qualm was the one mentioned by Gazza. P is the abbreviation for page. It’s PP for pages. The surface would still be fine if the clue said “page”.

    My top picks were 10a, 8d & 26d.

    Many thanks to presumably AP and to Shaboo.

  17. This is frustrating! I posted a comment and got a message saying duplicate comment detected, but there is no sign of my comment.

    I always copy my comments before posting, so I tried again by pasting my original comment in the box. But alas – “duplicate comment detected” 🥺

  18. It must be me, but I found this to be a bit of a chore. Clearly I’m missing something as it seems it has near universal praise. I’ll put it down to miserable weather and not enough tea. 10a is my cotd for the smile factor. Thanks to AP and Shabbo.

  19. Very straightforward but very enjoyable – shame it was over so quickly – now, where have I heard that before 😀

  20. Good lurker in 28a, and a lovely surface in 21d, but otherwise as a couple of comments above note, “underwhelming” and “undemanding”, which pretty much sums it up for me. I thought 12a rather below par … and not in a good golfing way!

    Thank you setter, just not “what the doctor ordered” for me today; thank you also to Shabbo.

  21. So nice to have a straightforward puzzle like this sometimes, especially as it didn’t compromise on enjoyment. Thanks to Shabbo and the setter.

  22. I found this one of the easier ones for quite a while – it’s always the wavelength thing.
    I got into a muddle with18d – can’t be bothered to explain how and why – just did!
    There seem to be a large number of little short answers.
    I liked 12 and 30a and 2 and 26d. My favourite by a long way was 10a.
    With thanks to whoever set this one and to Shabbo for the hints.

  23. Yes indeed, Jane was very interested to read your birding report Shabbo, lucky you to connect with the pallid harrier!
    Usual enjoyable Tuesday fare from Mr P, I was rather taken with the meandering bus ride.

    Thanks to our setter and to Shabbo for sparing time from his hols to bring us the review.

  24. A fairly speedy solve for me, but enjoyable anyway.

    Favourite by far was the maiden’s bum at 26D. 🤣

    */*** Thanks to the setter (I nearly typed SETTEE, is that an acceptable alternative) and Shabbo.

    Back to the sunbathing now.🌞

  25. Stared slowly and was just beginning to despair when the pennies started dropping at a startling rate.Finished with a flourish so **/*** for me. Four in a row now, which is about par for the course for me because I typically struggle with Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Many thanks to the setter, and to Shabbo for the mercifully unneeded hints, which I will now read.

  26. A very suitable puzzle for a Tuesday, lots of lovely clues. My favourite was 10a but I enjoyed the clever lurker and anagrams too.

    Many thanks to the setter and to Shabbo for the hints

  27. Another fun (sorry, Angelov) solve, how I love the start to the week. My only ? Is 5a, does “crows” = “cries”? I suppose it does. My fave was 17d, but 10a also amused … there was lots to like.
    Thank you setter for the enjoyment, and Shabbo for your hints and tips. I’m sure Jane will love the birding, but I did too. If I were younger, I think that’s something I would really enjoy, being a “twitcher”.

  28. Well, that didn’t frighten the horses but it was quite enjoyable. I’d give it */*** as well.

    Can’t say I feel any different now I’m no longer a blogger but I’ll probably miss it a bit a week on Monday, which would have been my next one if I hadn’t retired.

    Thanks to the setter and Shabbo – enjoy the twitching.

  29. An enjoyable exercise today, but it seems as if Monday and Tuesday got swapped, as yesterday was definitely more chewy than today. Not complaining, I’ll take a friendly puzzle any day of the week. A steady solve but needed a few hints to verify my answers, including 5a (cries = crows?). Thanks to setter and Shabbo. Sympathies to Huntsman who will now have to do battle on Thursday.

  30. An enjoyable and gentle solve although had to check the hints for a couple of parsings, namely 18d – ah the drink ,of course – excellent , and I didn’t know the golf reference for 12a. Thanks so much setter and Shabbo.

  31. Gentle is the word for this one as noted by Jenny – smooth clues throughout. Thank you compiler and Shabbo

  32. Very straightforward and enjoyable today. Thank you setter and thank you Shabbo for your efforts even though, happily, I didn’t need your help! 😀

  33. A great guzzle today, very enjoyable. I think the lurker at 28a was my favourite. Thankyou to Shabbo for the hinting in the middle of birding. Also the compiler deserves a huge thankyou.

  34. After a week at the Literature Festival
    It’s good to be home once again.
    That’s the place that I like just the best of all
    Even when it is pouring with rain.

    So Big Davers – I’m back with my ditties.
    Today’s was a straightforward piece.
    I’m waiting for Mr K’s kitties
    While Shabbo is waiting for geese.

  35. Nothing to ruffle the feathers today – apart from maybe Angelov saying they enjoy a romp on a Tuesday!! 😱😉

  36. Nice crossword but I found a few clues a little obscure for a Tuesday ergo ***/*** 😬 Favourites were 12 & 16 across and 6 & 26 down 😃 Thanks to the Compiler and to Shabbo wow! A Pallid Harrier

  37. Yes straightforward, yes enjoyable, what’s not to like? And the bonus is we’re still alive! Last quadrant in was the SW, no reason other than it was the last one I did. Favourite was 10a. Thanks to AP and Shabbo.

  38. Good evening

    A reasonably straightforward crozzie over three quadrants, but for some reason, the NE proved a little elusive; I had to pull my usual trick of going away and leaving it to my subconscious to get on with it. It all came good in the end.

    Many thanks to our compiler and to Shabbo.

  39. That surprised me — my fastest finish in months, by some margin, with no electronic assistance or needing any hints, even for parsing I’ve no idea what happened, because there are plenty of Tuesday puzzles I’ve really struggled with.

    Like Gazza and Rabbit Dave, I thought the wordplay for 11d should’ve led to an additional P. I hadn’t heard of the 20d wine, but managed to work it out from the rest of the clue.

    My favourites were the pairing of “So there!” at 12a and “I object” at 14. I also liked the intimate doctor in 21d. And since I gave credit yesterday for “journalists” not indicating the usual “ed”s, I suppose it’s only fair I do so again, for 17d — though it will feel progressively less of a change if it continues to be used every day this week!

  40. I ended up doing this after the toughie today.

    Favourites 9a, 16a, 30a, 2d & 4d — with winner 16a

    Thanks to AP & Shabbo

  41. 2*/4* ….
    liked 10A “Noticed her in conversation – she’s probably on the web ? ( 6)”

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