Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30858
Hints and tips by Smylers
Happy Monday, everybody. This weekend we went to a Miffy exhibition in Leeds, to celebrate the cartoon rabbit’s 70th birthday. I was particularly interested to learn how Dick Bruna coloured the illustrations by cutting out coloured sheets of paper (by hand) and layering them behind the black outlines transferred onto clear film. And that the wobbliness in the black lines was achieved by painting them originally onto bumpy watercolour paper.
There’s also some impressively layered clues in today’s today’s Telegraph Crossword, which is giving off the aura of having been dreamt up by Twmbarlwm. Lots of fantastic clues, with plenty of twists along the way.
Hints and explanations for each clue are below, with the definitions of each underlined and the answers hidden behind the Boo! blobs. Do leave a comment sharing how you found it, which clues you particularly liked, if any of my explanations aren’t helpful enough, and any suggestions you have for the bits I got stuck on.
Across
1a Police officers will accept promise to pay in full (7)
COPIOUS: Take a slang term for police officers and make it accept the abbreviation that indicates a promise to pay somebody, by inserting the latter in the former.
5a Consult an analyst – that bears fruit (7)
SULTANA: The first few words of the clue bear the answer, lurking in consecutive letters.
9a Mistake to keep occasionally fiery animal (7)
GIRAFFE: Take some occasional (non-consecutive) letters from ‘fiery’ and keep them inside a word for a mistake or social blunder.
10a Soon hero fell for Inga, according to insiders? (7)
ERELONG: The insiders here are the ‘inside’ letters of some earlier words in the clue — that is take the first and last letters off each word in the fodder, and what’s left will spell out the answer.
11a Run out, over the moon to be different (9)
UNRELATED: Put ‘run’ out by moving its letters about, and add a word meaning ‘over the moon’ or really happy.
12a Rubbish emptied in European river (5)
RHINE: Enter in turn: ‘Rubbish’ after you’ve emptied out all of its middle letters; ‘in’ directly from the clue; the abbreviation for ‘European’. Since ‘European’ is used in the wordplay, it isn’t part of the definition, so the river we’re looking for could be anywhere in the world; don’t be misled by the clue into thinking that it’s necessarily European (but equally don’t be misled by this hint into thinking that it necessarily isn’t …).
13a Ultimately well-meaning type ruined country (5)
EGYPT: The ultimate letter of ‘well-meaning’ and all the letters of ‘type’ are rearranged to spell a country. The clue claims this rearrangement ruins them, but given they weren’t spelling anything to start with, I’d say it’s an improvement.
15a Large clubs put loner off (9)
CORPULENT: Start with the alternative for ♣ which has the advantage of actually being in the English alphabet. Then the next two words have gone off, so their letters are no longer in the same places. That generates a word that I didn’t know meant ‘large’, but fortunately dictionaries exist to make up for my ignorance.
17a Unattractive companion missing members (9)
CHARMLESS: Follow the usual abbreviation for a particular sort of companion with an adjective that could be used to describe somebody who’s missing some members or limbs.
This picture has nothing to do with the clue; it’s just the only word I could think of that fitted when I had all the crossing letters except for 18d:
19a Retreat from Moscow? (5)
DACHA: This isn’t ‘retreat’ as in running away, but a noun: a cottage that may be a haven for somebody from Moscow, for instance.
22a England cricketer, second to go in, bats on this? (5)
ROOST: Put the abbreviation for ‘second’ (the single letter used to denote the period of time, I mean; I appreciate that ‘2nd’ is also an abbreviation of ‘second’, but the digit in there makes it considerably less useful in cryptic crosswords) into the surname of a cricketer who’s been playing for England since 2012 (and, most recently, the day before yesterday). Simple subtraction shows they have a 4-letter surname, which very much narrows down the possibilities.
23a Team, reportedly weary, keep trophies in here? (9)
SIDEBOARD: Follow another word for a team of people playing a sport with a word that if you heard somebody reporting it out loud sounds the same as a word meaning ‘weary’. The definition includes the question mark, to indicate that it’s an example of one place where trophies might be kept; other trophy-keeping locations are possible.
25a Inspect area in former colliery, say (7)
EXAMINE: Insert the abbreviation for ‘area’ in mathematical formulae into a phrase meaning ‘former colliery’. Please do comment below if you can explain what the “say” is doing in this clue: so far as I can see the clue involves none of a homophone, an example, or the letters ‘EG’.
26a Granny piercing material (7)
NANKEEN: After an alternative name for a granny, we need a word that means ‘piercing’ in the sense of shrewdness (rather than the stabby meaning). The whole thing is a type of cloth that I wasn’t familiar with.
27a One’s pushed unpleasant person you once backed (7)
TROLLEY: Start with a term for somebody who’s unpleasant, especially being offensive online. End with a word that once meant ‘you’, turned round backwards.
28a Carry out banker? Sweet! (7)
EXECUTE: The question mark in this clue is for the surface reading and doesn’t help with solving. The banker here is a river, the name of a specific river in south-west England. Follow that with another term for ‘sweet’ in the sense of charming rather than full of sugar.
I saw Thea Gilmore and band perform this song last summer squashed into a tiny venue in the basement of a pub in Barnoldswick (in a bit of the West Riding of Yorkshire that seems to belong to Lancashire these days). It’s from These Quiet Friends, her new album of covers, released this coming Friday.
Down
1d Coat from new catalogue? No thanks (7)
CAGOULE: Remove a word meaning ‘thanks’ from ‘catalogue’, then put its remaining letters in a new order.
2d Beg to include men beginning to talk in picture (7)
PORTRAY: We need a word meaning to beg or wish for a particular outcome and then to include in that one of the usual words for ‘men’ and the beginning letter of ‘talk’. The answer is a verb.
3d Refuse to eat? (5)
OFFAL: This clue is crafted to make us thing of ‘refuse’ as a verb but it’s actually a noun: the answer is a food that’s also a term for waste.
4d In some respect, a clever display (9)
SPECTACLE: In some of the following words we can find the answer lurking.
5d Rate drug (5)
SPEED: The answer can mean ‘rate’ as a noun (the rate at which something happens, rather than assessing), and is also a slang term for a particular drug.
6d Relax with pork pie and a number of drinks (3,6)
LIE AROUND: Enter in turn: what ‘pork pie’ is slang for; the ‘a’ from the clue; a term to describe a number of drinks when purchased togther in a bar.
7d “Bacon,” I teased, “contains something poisonous” (7)
ACONITE: The first few words of the clue contain the answer in consecutive letters. Which is handy for people like me who could have spent all day trying to think of the names of poisons without coming up with this plant; I do appreciate it when setters choose such helpful wordplay to clue more obscure vocabulary.
Solvers on the Puzzles website will encounter this clue with "boring" straight quotation marks that are the same at each end, whereas those with the printed Daily Telegraph get the pair of “more elegant” curved symbols.
8d Enhance base of pizza with ground nutmeg (7)
AUGMENT: Start with the base letter in ‘pizza’ if written down the page, and follow with ‘nutmeg’ after its letters have been ground into a different order. I suspect this sentence works better as a crossword clue than it does as culinary advice, but if it has inspired you to make pizza with nutmeg in its dough, you should definitely leave a comment letting us know how it tastes.
14d Study start of television broadcast about cycling event? (4,5)
TIME TRIAL: Thank you to Gazza for explaining this one in comment 2 below.
16d Home cider seen brewing (9)
RESIDENCE: Brew the preciding words and stir well, until they spell out the answer.
17d Opening of roof in centre court is right (7)
CORRECT: Place the opening letter of ‘roof’ inside a word meaning ‘centre’. End with the abbreviation for ‘court’, which I presume is used by legal folk or those who often need to refer to courts? (My initial thought was it was from street names in addresses, but that would need to be ‘Court’ with a capital C.)
18d In EastEnders ruin a party, finding something to smash? (7)
AVOCADO: This starts with how somebody in EastEnders would stereotypically pronounce a noun meaning ‘ruin’ or ‘destruction’ — which means the word needs to be one beginning with H, so that it can be dropped for entering in the grid. Follow that with the ‘a’ from the clue and one of the usual words for ‘party’. The whole thing is a food which is often served smashed.
20d Unusually cheap gold hat (7)
CHAPEAU: Put the letters of ‘cheap’ in an unusual order (though what crossword-solvers may find most unusual about it is how few letters move), then end with one of the ways of writing ‘gold’.
21d Rather slow article by Italian poet (7)
ANDANTE: The answer is a musical direction, made up from one of the grammatical articles in English and the name of a famous Italian poet, writer, and philosopher.
The video from 9a would also work here, though in this case for the name of the act rather than the song.
23d Disreputable prophet, not drinking, runs out on two separate occasions (5)
SEEDY: Here we need a word for a prophet (a general term, not the name of a specific prophet) and an adjective indicating not having alcohol. Put those together and we’ve got something that both isn’t a word and is too longer for the answer space. Remove the cricket abbreviation for ‘runs’ from it twice, and it turns into the answer.
24d Perhaps writer turned up for session (5)
BINGE: Put together an abbreviation indicating ‘perhaps’ and something that can be used for writing. Turn the whole thing upwards in order to get the answer downwards.
Quickie Pun
The first 2 clues in today’s Quick Crossword are italicized, indicating that their answers when read aloud together can be made to sound like another word or phrase. If you want to check, here are the answers and pun:
HARDER + SNAILS = HARD AS NAILS
The bottom 2 across clues aren’t italicized, but as Steve Cowling points out below (thank you!), they also form a pun:
PROPER + GANDER = PROPAGANDA
That was a great start to the week and with two puns in the Quickie to boot. I started slowly so thought it was going to be a struggle but the downs came to my rescue and I cruised to a steady finish. I forgot the thing that can be smashed at 18d, which is strange because when we visited Melbourne you could get it in every eatery. For once, I remembered the retreat from Moscow and it was nice to welcome an old chestnut at 26a. My COTD is the unpleasant person at 27a.
Thank you, setter (Robyn) for the fun. Thank you, Smylers for the hints.
A mixture of sunshine and rain in The Marches so no gardening today.
A pleasant Monday puzzle (though if this is a Robyn production I’ll eat my hat) – thanks to the setter and Smylers.
My favourite clue was 19a.
For 14d we need to assemble a synonym of a study or den, the first letter of television and a verb to broadcast or issue then reverse the lot.
This was one of those puzzles where the clue seemed more complicated than they actually were. Once I had realised that I filled the grid quite quickly, with 27a my favourite this morning. A most enjoyable start to the week.
Many thanks to our setter and Smylers.
The last two on the quickie also make a pun. Not had any extras like this for far too long ! Thank you Setter !!
We had one last week as well, MN.
Yeah, I should’ve remembered that and thought to check. Whereas actually once I solved the italicized clues in the quick crossword, I moved on to the cryptic without even looking at the rest of it.
It does suggest that this week’s setter might be the same as last week’s, though.
Smylers, the lower Quickie pun is “propaganda”. 😊
I thought that’s what I’d put in there, but apparently I didn’t. Now fixed.
The marching bands are in full swing. The crowds are clamouring to get a glance of 26a as it is welcomed on to THE LIST. A very special place has been allocated between ‘cassowary’ and ‘philodendron’. It is to be hoped that 26a enjoys its stay with us.
We went out for a lovely walk yesterday. Managed about three yards before a deluge engulfed us, so we took refuge in the Gomshall Inn where we played cards and watched the rugby. H had two glasses of wine; I had a pint of Diet Coke and we shared a bag of crisps. It’s a life of pure hedonism.
Fun guzzle, just right for a Monday. Thanks to the setter and Our Man In Ilkley.
Poor Granny, being ostracised just for showing a bit of pluck!😔
On the categorisation of walks. Surely it can only be lovely once experienced, as ydays outing showed. So it starts as a walk and becomes lovely as it progresses, or not in this case! 😉😁
Mondays have become more difficult this last week or two. No complaints from me. I really enjoyed the whole thing ( give or take the cricket references, which are definitely increasing my GK on the subject!) Thank you Gazza for the explanation regarding the parsing of 14d. I couldn’t see it at all, though the answer was obvious. The Russian cottage at 19a was a new word for me. Whether or not it finds a permanent place in my memory, time only will tell. Lots of ticks on my paper today but I thought the dodgy prophet at 23d a very clever clue, so my favourite. Podium places for 27a and 21d. Thanks to our setter – doesn’t feel like Robyn to me, and Smylers for his comprehensive blog.
Nice start to the week. I agree that some of the clues had many words, some for short answers. For example 23d, for which I got the synonym for a prophet, but couldn’t parse the last two letters of the answer, so that one was bunged in. I parsed the cycling event at 14d, and it goes in as one of my COTD. The other one is the hidden word in 5a. Thanks to the setter, and for the hints.
I found this one more annoying than entertaining, hope others liked it, just not for me today.
Thank goodness, I thought it was just me.
A great start to the week, clever clues with some head scratching but a great balance. I needed the hints to explain the parsing of a couple including 14d, thanks Gazza. I had 27a as favourite.
Many thanks to the setter and to Smylers for the hints.
2*/3*. This was mostly enjoyable although a couple of surfaces didn’t quite pass muster. I am also not convinced that “perhaps” and “eg” are synonymous in 24d. The former implies a measure of uncertainty whereas the latter leads to a definite example.
I thought the SW was markedly more challenging than the other three corners.
Fortunately I knew 7d through acquaintance with Agatha Christie. I think it was her poison of choice in The 4.50 from Paddington.
Many thanks to the setter and to Smylers.
More recently the poison ‘appeared’ in The Queen of Poisons the third novel in Robert Thorogood’s Marlow Murder Club series.
Bah, I read that last summer, so I really should’ve known it! I thought the means of disguise was impressively novel in that story, but apparently didn’t pay enough attention to the weapon.
Bother! The Queen of Poisons is next on my list to read …
… although I don’t suppose that information is likely to spoil it for me!
I think ‘perhaps’ gets used to mean ‘for instance’ with definite examples: “Let’s get a takeaway — perhaps fish n chips?”. Though I accept that’s more of a specific suggestion than a neutral example of something in a category.
But it still seems less confusing that using ‘happen’ to mean ‘perhaps’, which people do round here. (Well, they’ve both got ‘hap’ in them, so presumably they are linked).
Well done on remembering the Miss Marple. I could only recall a different method of death from that story; checking Wikipedia, I see that the BBC adaptation Joan Hickson omitted the poisoning, so that’s my fault for watching it rather than reading it.
Positively skipped through this one with just a slight pause when it came to the parsing of 14d. Ticks went to the unattractive companion and the simple but effective Quickie pun.
Thanks to our setter – I would very much doubt that it’s Twmbarlwm – and to Smylers for the review. Thanks also to Steve C for pointing out the second pun.
A great start to the week. I wonder if this is Mr Tumble? If so, then he is assuming this gentle role admirably.
23d was an anomaly as it would sit well in a Toughie. Good clue though and enjoyable to parse.
Lots to choose from but I’ll go with 27a, 6d and 14d.
Many thanks to the aforementioned and The Big S.
2*/4*
I didn’t find this much fun. Not what is expected for Monday. Been helping my daughter start the puzzles and had told her Monday was easiest. Hope that’s not the case this week as I found this to be *****
Me too. And gentle Mondays seem to be a thing of the past, sadly.
I started this very slowly before the fog slowly lifted and I was able to proceed steadily to completion. As others have said, the puzzle wasn’t quite as tricky as it had first appeared. 23a was my favourite. Thanks to the setter and to Smylers for the hints.
An enjoyable start to the back page week with, for a change, a complete absence of three and four letter word answers – **/***
Candidates for favourite – 11a, 19a, 26a, and 24d – and the winner is 26a.
Thanks to whomsoever and Smylers.
Great start to the week but a little more challenging than one might expect for a Monday. Favourites: 19,23,28 across and 23 down. Was grateful to have 14 down explained although as someone else commented it just had to be the obvious answer. I love auction rooms and as buyers we would joke that like 17 across some of the items were missing members. Thanks to Smylers and our clever setter.
No idea who set it but certainly enjoyed it though I agree that some of the surface reads were a bit odd. Can’t say I knew 7d was a member of the buttercup family but knew it was toxic & the why at 14d was a head scratch until the about penny dropped.
Thanks to the setter & to Smylers
I see these as a 95 Yr old as a test of advancing Altzimas. I enjoyed and finished today without help so there is hope yet. I have learnt that you smash avocado’s which I cannot bear.
Pleased to remember Root’s name.
Encouraging and enjoyable. Thankyou.
Impressive, Mr Brewer, and I can only hope that in the event I reach your age, I too will be similarly determined and evidently successful in resisting mental decline, and just as able as you to make use of the new technologies then available!
I think you’re doing fine Mr Brewer. Very fine indeed
You’re an inspiration, Mr. Brewer.
A nice change of pace for a Monday. I was a little slow to dial in but it all fell in to place but I did not see 14d for its full glory for a while. I got stuck reversing 3 letters for show after the T for far too long.
For once I started at lunchtime on the correct day due to an early medical appointment. I thought it was splendid. Didn’t get them all on first pass but they all came Some quicker than others. I knew the material at 26s and don’t think it is a stranger in Xwordland and neither is the poison at 7d. My favourite was the Moscow retreat which caused no hesitation. Other favourites were 17a and 18d. Some others in SW I was not sure of until I had all the checkers. Thanks Setter and Hunter although the latter only needed to check my parsing.
I enjoyed today’s puzzle but needed Gazza’s help parsing 14d.
Top picks for me were 27a, 23d and 17a.
Thanks to Smylers, Gazza and the setter.
I am in accordance (see previous mentions of long departed PC Chairman Mr Malaprop) in liking this clever guzzle. It was nice to see the name of my beautiful daughter, who sadly no longer answers to it and even barely knew me the last time we saw her. I had to guess at the crickety one of course. The ‘core’ hidden in 27d was crafty and I liked the cheap hat and the ruined country but favourite is the very clever prophet. And so we move into another week. Many thanks to Messrs Setter an Smyley – the Miffy exhibition must have been fun. Our Dutch friends in Maastricht have a lot of Tintin advertising stuff in the spare bedroom where we sleep when we stay ( or used to stay – can no longer climb up the almost vertical Typically-Dutch winding stairs!) from the family bookshop, I reckon it must have some value.
What a beautiful daughter you have DaisyG
Cricketer was last to fall for me, but kudos for the bats misdirection!
Anyone else for 9A as a favorite? Any animal in a puzzle of any type makes me jump for joy…
Very enjoyable and as gentle as they come, lovely Monday fare. Talking of which, had some great 3d last week (lamb liver and bacon with onion gravy) and will be having kidneys later this week – delicious!
Honours to 10a (v clever and good surface), 18d and 23d.
Many thanks to Setter and Smylers (had never heard of the rabbit – every day a school day!).
For me this was not a usual style of Monday puzzle and was quite tricky for the most part. Four new words for me in this one, so definitely not the usual Monday setter I would assume.
2.5*/3*
Favourites include 1a, 5a, 25a, 4d, 5d & 6d — with winner 6d
Thanks for the headache(!) setter & Smylers for deciphering
I went out this morning and wished I had my 1d over my jacket.
That reminds me that I once followed The Ashes and forgot to take my 1d. In Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth no shop assistants had heard of one. I arrived for a family Christmas in Melbourne and expressed my surprise at this. My sister in law, who spent some years in England said “What’s one of those?”
Oh yes, the crossword. It seemed a little harder than the usual Monday offering, but was certainly not 17a. Thank you setter and Smylers.
Enjoyed this puzzle a lot thank you compiler, but not as much as the wonderfully chatty hints, grâce á Smylers. Like others, 14d gave the most trouble, mainly because of the reversal of “air” which went with broadcast but nothing else did!
Thank you. Those who were here shortly after the hints went live will have seen me also attempting to make sense of ‘air’ backwards, before Gazza came to my rescue.
The south west undid me although very fairly clued and my cotd 18d located ere . followed by 9a
Expected a carousel being Monday but found myself on the dodgems.
Thanks to all
A very pleasant Monday puzzle.
Favourite for me was the rubbish going into the river at 12a.
Thank you setter and Smylers.
Just added
Todays setter remains as much a mystery as “Light” in the Sunday Toughie
Would be shocked if this is a Robyn production, too many clues with 🙁 now inked in by their side. Top half went in reasonably quickly but the bottom half put up a fight. When did somebody recently say 10a? And I had no idea any buttercups could be poisonous, so although suspecting it was a lurker, I failed abysmally with this answer. 18d was also out for me as EE stopped being shown over here years ago and even with the picture I was still at a loss. One of the few vegetables I really don’t like, and didn’t know they were “smashed”. So not the gentle Monday start some of us would prefer. Thanks to setter and to Smyler.
Hey, BL – you sound unusually negative today! My yoga teacher tells us every Monday morning that our glasses must always be half full. 🥰
you do yoga? of course you do Yoga!
Everything was enjoyable today except the Eastenders reference, can’t help but get the shivers whenever that soap is mentioned! Thank you compiler and Smylers
Tricky for a Monday, but a lovely, lovely puzzle. ***/****
On 23d: “Disreputable prophet, not drinking, runs out on two separate occasions”, I think it works just as well without “not drinking” or the commas. “two separate occasions” become the single letters for two time periods. I do like ’em pithy.
On the setter’s wavelength from the off today so very enjoyable. No particular favourites so thanks to the setter and Smylers.
Held up by the last two (24d and 28a) in what was otherwise a speedy solve. 1d and 26a are lovely words. Thanks to Smylers and Compiler(s).
As a cyclist I sort of bunged in La Contre de Montre but pleased to say I could parse it when I looked at the grid in reverse.
Enough of a test for Monday and Thanks to Smylers and setter whomsoever…
Todays setter remains as much a mystery to me as “Light” – was yesterday
Being eased into the new cryptic week is but a distant memory. How fondly I remember the time when Monday setters gave us an oh so gentle shoulder shake to wake us from our post-weekend slumber……now it’s more of a bucket of water over the head 😳😳
As Mustafa says above, as gentle as they come.
If it hadn’t of been for 19a, I might have got through this in sub 1* time.
Many thanks to the setter for an enjoyable puzzle and to Smylers for the write-up.
Like Manders, on wavelength today so thoroughly enjoyable. Thank you Mr Setter and Smylers. Never in a million years did I think I would hear the word ‘Barnoldswick’ on the blog. I am a stone’s throw away in Salterforth.
Hello there — I was wondering whether anybody would know of Barnoldswick! Do you say it as it’s pronounced or as ‘Barlick’?
Or Ravenstonedale, Cumbria, pronounced Rissendle?
Or Ratlinghope in Shropshire pronounce Ratchup. 🤔
Hi Smylers I can confirm that Barnoldswick is pronounced as Barlick. My husband used to visit a client there and was soon told the locals refer to it as Barlick.
Off to Essex in the morning courtesy of British Rail. Not looking forward to getting from Euston to Liverpool Street!
Good evening
I suppose I should start by saying that technically, today is a DNF; I was able to deduce 23d from the first part of the hint, but the explanation eludes me still.
Apart from that, it was a good crozzie with some great clueing, especially 18d (runner-up) and 10a (COTD)
Many thanks to our setter and to Smylers.
Sorry, Shangaji, for not being clearer, and thank you for pointing that out — there are probably others lurking who were wondering that as well. I should’ve put extra clicky things with the actual words. ‘prophet’ = ‘seer’ and ‘not drinking’ = ‘dry’, so together that’s ‘seerdry’. ‘runs’ = R, so ‘runs out’ means to remove an R; doing so on two separate occasions removes both of the Rs from ‘seerdry’, to get the answer.
Thanks Smylers!
It does seem awfully convoluted, doesn’t it? Or, as the great Sir Terry Wogan said, “is it me?”
I liked it, but it’s certainly more involved than we’ve been used to on Mondays.
Definitely a step up from a normal Monday puzzle, but everything came together in the end. Two parsings held me up 14d and 23d.
2* / 4* excellent start to the week
Thanks to Smylers and setter
Last but hopefully not least 😬 A very nice start to the week **/****😃 Favourites: 1, 9 & 23a 👍
Thanks to Smylers and the Compiler
So a game of two half’s for me. Two thirds of it flew in but then came to a halt mainly in the SW . Yet another cricket reference that I worked out in the end. I did like the 18d Eastend ruined party and the answer was quite a surprise having parsed it , so that was my favourite clue. I’d not heard of 19a and just got lucky with the letters I put in – my last one in. Enjoyable. Thanks setter and Smylers.
Lovely start to the week. Thought this was going to be really tough, but the answers just kept coming. Thanks to the setter and Smylers
Thought this was more difficult than Friday’s and took awhile to get into it but thereafter, gradually made progress and enjoyed the steady solves, although I missed some of the parsing also mentioned by other commentators. Needed the hints for seven: 6d and 9a (two easy ones I should have solved); 18d (not aware of the soap subtlety); 26a (not heard of it but did know Nan was in there somewhere); 23d, 24d and 27a (just too difficult for me). COTD 10a for the construction. ****/***
I’m afraid I’m going to go against the majority who enjoyed this and found it straightforward as I found this bordering on ‘escaped toughie’ territory in places. I was obviously on the wrong wavelength. Had to look up 7d, 22a and 23a didn’t really work for me, didn’t know the ‘smashing’ part of 18d and needed Gazza’s explanation for parsing 14d. Not a Monday puzzle for me. I did quite like 17a though. Thanks to the setter anyway and Smylers.
Sorry, neglected to say thanks to the setter and Smylers.
Started this very late and it took a while to get on the right wavelength. Enjoyable and some very clever clues. Managed without the hints but the explanations were, as always, very helpful. Many thanks.
3*/4* …..
liked 9A “Mistake to keep occasionally fiery animal (7)”
Thanks, Robin. It’s always nice to get your comments a few days later!
😊