DT 30754

65 comments on “DT 30754”

1. A delightful end to the cruciverbal week although I was held up in the Southeast by entering “shampoo” as the second word for 9d. I have no idea why because it didn’t fit the clue. A case of writing without thinking. Getting the wonderful word at 7d opened up quite a few but giving 18a an extra “L” held me up for a while. My COTD is the touchy solicitor at 21d.

   Thank you setter for the fun challenge. Thank you, Mr. K. for the hints and pusskits.

   1. Wot pusskits? I ain’t got no pusskits!

      1. Click on pictures 10a and 8d 🐈

         1. Oh I say, clever stuff, thanks Steve! Would not have occurred to me to click on the pictures

         2. Ha! How does he do that? The man really is a whizz.

            1. I love that warning sign at 10a – a clever & very witty way of driving home the point!

               1. Same as this, which is a local sign. 😳

                  

                  1. An acquaintance has one of those signs on a gatepost leading to his farm. For added emphasis he shot it a few times, so it is perforated by pellet and bullet holes!

2. I thought this was difficult, but very satisfying to complete. There were a few where I had to stop and think; in particular 8d, where I was very slow to parse the first four letters of the answer.
   Many thanks to the setter. 4*/4* for me.

3. Excellent crossword which flowed well. (*/****). Special mention for 4d, 8d, 9d and 25d. Thanks setter and Mr K.

   Osmosis quite gentle today as well.

4. As Mr K says, this was spot on for a Friday.

   Lots of excellent constructions with plenty of nice surfaces. I love clues like 17d where your skills are tested to the full as it has it all. Pub game was brilliant.

   My LOI was 27a that took me forever. 7d is, as we know, very satisfying to say but it gets topped by the rarely seen 18a. What a magnificent word. 20a is another goodie.

   My hotly-contested podium is 1a, 23a and 21d.

   Many thanks to the setter (Silvanus is my guess as he loves an alternate letter rekrul) and Mr K.

   3*/5*

   1. 17d was really sneaky.

      1. It certainly was, Splitseeze.

         Pub game threw me off very nicely: skittles, shove ha’penny, dominoes.

         Great fun.

5. Suitably Friday-ish, with some splendidly smart touches. Refreshing to see “or” that way round for a change in 8d. 25d tickled me too. And 18a’s a lovely word. Many thanks to our setter and Mr K.

6. A terrific end-of-the-week crossword and that was great fun to complete. You have to love a grid that contains 18a and 7d. My favourite was 21d.

   Thanks to our Friday setter and Mr K.

7. A few challenges and I was glad of the hints at the end. Some 17d for example were really puzzling and even with the hint I was confused but it.

8. A steady and enjoyable solve with a few head scratchers along the way. The touchy solicitor held me up until the penny dropped but my cotd from a great number of excellent clues is 8d. Thanks to compiler and Mr K.

9. Three-quarters were a five-finger exercise admittedly with a couple of bung-ins but SE was a different kettle of fish. Always forget 20a component as key. 17d rather contrived. 23a and 22d joint Favs. 21d solicitor took while to dawn. TVM setter and MrK especially for some parsings.

10. I got off to a flying start with 1A, but I confess I didn’t bother parsing it until I was finished. I loved 18A, what a great word, but I’d never heard of 16A, although it just had to be that.

    I wasn’t aware that 27A and harangue meant the same, but again, it had to be. Favourite was the amusing 21D, closely followed by 18A.

    ***/**** Thanks to the setter and MrK

    Here’s a puss for those with withdrawal symptoms.

    

    1. Lovely photo Eeyore and pussy cat!

11. Well I completed it mainly by letter substitution for it contained what I would describe as [*** REDACTED ***] in 6d, 17d, 25d, 8d and 20a. Thx for the explanations in the hints for I could not make a single word in the clue fit the answer! However, I did like 9d.
    For me *****/*(* extra perhaps for 9d).
    Thx for the hints.

    1. Chuckling away here seeing my top three all appearing in your bottom five, Brian!

       Horses for courses, eh.

12. Cracking puzzle from first to last, gentle but extremely clever and witty: what larks! Slowed towards the SE and spent a little extra time trying to parse 27a without an x, y, or z, forgetting the other unspecified number. Am more familiar with 18a having two Ls, and meaning ungainly or clumsy, but I see that’s only the second definition in the BRB.

    COTD by a country mile to 25d, with podium places to 17d, 20a, and runner-up 18a

    Many thanks to the setter and of course to MrK

    1. Ooh, ta lots for reminding me about 17d. I’d forgotten all about that. An absolute belter.

13. This took me longer to complete than the previous four days, and I found it tough but at the same time enjoyable.

    There were a few clues that I was able to answer purely because of the letters already present yet looking at the answer and the clue, I have no idea how the clue worked.

    I would say a 2.5-3 star for difficulty and a 4 star for enjoyment.

14. Again this week another Friday puzzle I should have skipped.
    No enjoyment for me and convoluted clueing in my mind, especially compared to yesterday’s RayT offering.
    Parsing was not to be found on so many for me.

    4*/1* for what I did

    A DNF for me as I was not enjoying it.
    Not the setters issue, but mine.

    Liked 18a, 24a, 4d & 7d … and that’s about it.

    Thanks to setter & to Mr K

    1. I agree.

15. Any crossword that fits in both 18a &7d gets the thumbs-up from me although I would use a rather different, and even less flattering, definition of the former. Given all the reversals and football teams involved in the grid, I think we can safely say that this is the work of Mr Smooth and most enjoyable it was, all the way from 1a to the Quickie pun. Biggest ticks here went to 1a plus 6,8&22d.

    Many thanks to Silvanus for a perfect Friday back-pager and to Mr K for the review.

16. An excellent Friday puzzle – thanks to our setter and Mr K.
    I’ve selected 8d, 21d and 25d for my podium.

17. Challenging for me specially on the E side, but I got there in the end.

    Favourite clue…..has to be 5d!

    With 7d and 18a getting highly commended.

    Good puzzle for a rainy day.

    Thanks to the setter and to Mr K and his hidden pussies.

18. That felt much harder today – I only had one I was sure of before turning to the hints (3d, which I got almost immediately and was very pleased about, until I saw the rest of it!). I had pencilled in 12a correctly and, once hints nudged me in the right direction, I enjoyed 26a (which I should have got, but was overthinking – trying to fit hija in somehow), 24a, and 25d.

19. That was the icing on the cake at the end of good crosswording week. 1a was a good start and a pointer to how much head scratching was to come. You know I’m not a fan of anagrams but I found 7d very useful today for the number of initial letters it revealed. What a lovely word as well! Favourite today was the convoluted 17d. I was barking up the wrong tree for quite a while. Podium places for 23a and 21d. Thanks to our setter and Mr K, whose parsing help was needed for 5d and 27a.

20. Connection between ‘hob’ and ‘rustic’?

    1. Welcome to the blog

       If you look up the former in the dictionary, the first definition is the latter

    2. I always thought ‘HOB’ was the devil, like in ‘Quatermass and the pit’

21. Tricky in places so a definite *** for me … must remember that ‘key’ can refer to a keyboard, always seem to forget! Thank you compiler and Mr K

22. Late on parade today getting ready for a holiday in the sun in Crete. I’ll be glad to see the back of British weather for a while!

    This puzzle made a delightful finale before my break. It was quite challenging in parts but a joy from start to finish. My rating is 2.5*/5*.

    I can’t quite work 12a out. Can someone please help me with a sentence in which you could substitute “part not working” with the answer?

    As I often find, I can’t better Gazza’s top picks of 8d, 21d & 25d.

    Be good whilst I’m gone.

    Many thanks to the setter (Silvanus?) and to Mr K.

    1. Break (as a verb) means part and ‘down’ is not working.

       1. Thanks very much, Gazza. It seems so obvious now you’ve explained it, but I couldn’t see it at all when solving. Very clever (devious!) clueing.

23. Good afternoon

    Unfortunately I was so busy yesterday that I never even glanced at the crozzie; having read yesterday’s blog, I dipped out on the chance to cross swords with the Mighty Mr T. However, today’s tussle was equally as epic, with some fine examples of misdirection (6d being the stand-out), witticism and general headscratchery.

    The LHS seemed to fall reasonably well enough, but by the cringe! – the RHS proved much trickier. Although I did manage to figure them all out in the end, I had to check my parsings, and in the case of 17d, look up how it works. For his invaluable help here, my thanks to Mr K.

    COTD is 17d, 6d and 8d are runners up. I’d be prepared to put a deep sea diver on this being a Brain Of Silvanus production; my thanks to him, or whomever, for the challenge.

24. An enjoyable puzzle. I needed the hints to be able to parse the clever 25d and had to check 16a as I hadn’t come across it before.

    Top picks for me were 1a, 8d and 17d.

    Thanks to Mr K and the setter.

25. For me 25d was a poor clue , why pilot ? could have been a host of people / professions, not helped by 27a . ( last two in ) Also thought pact could fit into 22d quite comfortably. New word at 16a, despite having several musicians in the family, symphony Orchestra standard!
    Good to finish but not much enjoyment. Thanks to all.

    1. For me 25d was a poor clue , why pilot ?could have been a host of people / professions, not helped by 27a . ( last two in ) Also thought pact could fit into 22d quite comfortably. New word at 16a, despite having several musicians in the family, symphony Orchestra standard!
       Good to finish but not much enjoyment. Thanks to all.

       1. Heard you the first time Fran.

    2. I’m sorry that you disliked 25d, others had it amongst their favourites.

       Why pilot? Well, because pilots typically will use 25d to represent the second letter of the alphabet in their day job. Yes, certain other professions would do the same (hence the question mark in the clue), but I would suggest “a host of people/professions” is quite an exaggeration.

26. For me this was at the absolute edge of my abilities but I have finally finished without hints but with several where I put in an answer but just could not parse it. I feel very pleased with myself. I have read the helpful hints and now understand all my answers. There were a couple of new synonyms in 16a and 27a. I very much enjoyed 7d and 18a, such great words and very helpful in the grid. I had 9d as my favourite.

    Many thanks to the setter and to Mr K for the hints and pics

27. This was a great Friday puzzle and not as hard as I found yesterday’s. My last one in was 4d for some reason – took a while for the penny to drop. Just checked the parsing for 25d – ah I see 🤔. Thanks to the setter and Mr K

28. Many thanks to Mr K for his Hints and Tips (and elusive felines!) and to everyone solving and commenting.

    I had the misfortune to read the original, now redacted, comment from Blog Rules Ignored As Normal, so well done to whichever Blog administrator wisely deleted such rude nonsense.

    May I wish everyone a good weekend. See you all again soon.

    1. Blog
       Rules
       Ignored
       As
       Normal

       Hilarious!

       I haven’t read any of his posts since you spoke up about his comments a few months ago on behalf of the setters.

    2. 👏🙂to aptly identifying the OTT blogger.

    3. Thank you for all your wonderful guzzles. 17d – pub game indeed. Sneaky.

    4. Thank you, silvanus for a terrific guzzle and for popping in. It is always appreciated that setters take the time to do so.

29. Very enjoyable and all fairly clued except that I am not convinced harangue is a genuine synonym of orate. And I thought unspecified number generally suggested x or y. My basic understanding of algebra is that any letter can represent an unspecified number. So all slightly dodgy in my view.

    1. Thank you, William.

       Chambers gives “unspecified number” for N, we setters tend to use “unknown”, i.e. yet to be ascertained (number) to refer to X, Y or Z.

       I’m no mathematician, but even I (I think) can see that there is a difference.

30. I thought this was very difficult but very enjoyable, some great words in there. I needed the hints to parse a couple. Equally difficult is picking a favourite but I’ll go with 8d. Thanks to Silvanus and MR. K.

31. I’m both 1a and 7d as to how much I enjoyed this. Particularly the use of words I’ve almost long forgotten – 18a and 20a come to mind! Can’t think of one particular fave, but all a delight.
    Very many thanks, silvanus and Mr K for the blog (and hidden kitties!)

32. I’ve had an up and downy week, sometimes not being able to get to the guzzle until bedtime. Very satisfying to have completed this, nice to see 20a, a word I like to use as it sounds like it’s meaning. (There must be a word for it but brain is befogged) Nice kitties, thank you Mr K. I’ve already said thank you to Mr. Setter. Terence has not looked in but I am pretty sure 16a would go on The List. Have a good weekend everyone.

    1. It’s “Onomatopoetic”, DG. 😊

       1. 😁

          1. Or even onomatopoeic!
             Spell checker!🤣

             1. Funnily enough, the root of the word is poem…..for anyone who’s not gone to the Land of Nod.

33. Though my Silvanus spotting radar has been a tad awry of late I’d have happily gone all in on this one. Terrific guzzle with ticks all over the show – stick one against pretty much every clue. Completed the grid in bang on *** time but a good few of the whys waited on a later bus so had I been tasked with providing hints there may well have been some mounting panic – got there in the end with the exception of 12a which I’d have struggled to explain correctly. Impossible to pick a fav.
    Thanks to Silvanus & to Mr K for a tip top review & pics – loved the Metallica song on the lute – only know it as a result of Chris Stapleton’s cover. Anyone fortunate enough to have caught him on his tour over here that finished last night at the O2?

34. This one was my level and very satisfying to complete apart from 14a which was a blind spot for me.
    It restores my confidence when I have felt demoralised by other people’s comments about a crossword I have found very difficult and they say the opposite. Note to self “Keep trying Rosemary.”

    1. Welcome to the blog

35. 3*/4* ….
    liked 9D “Reprimands tearful person that keeps the house clean ? ( 6-7)”

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