Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30870
Hints and tips by Smylers
Hello. Today’s Telegraph cryptic crossword features appearances from Edward, Richard, Sarah, Mark, Leo, Jack, Charlie, and Daisy — is the setter paying tribute to a group of relatives or relatives? And if so, do they have a dog called Rover?
Today puzzle is by Twmbarlwm, making a swift return after being on Thurday last week. I seem to get on well with Twmbarlwm’s wordplay, but some others don’t; if that includes you, add a star or so to the difficulty rating.
Hints and explanations for each clue are below, with the definitions of each underlined and the answers hidden behind the Happy 70th Birthday to my father-in-law! blobs. Do leave a comment sharing how you found it, which clues you particularly liked, if any of my explanations aren’t helpful enough, or if it isn’t clear what a picture or video has to do with the clue it’s supposedly illustrating.
Across
1a Sweet jam put in front of Edward and Richard (7,4)
SPOTTED DICK: Consolidation is a recommended teaching practice, giving somebody the opportunity to use recently acquired knowledge. So this clue is especially for last Monday’s birthday blogger and anybody else for whom this sweet was new. The ‘jam’ we want is a bothersome situation, which goes in front of traditional short forms of the two names.
10a Talk of content of poem about grass (5)
ORATE: The content of ‘poem’ is its inside letters. The grass here is an informer. The poem letters are split up and put about the grass to make a word for ‘talk’ as a verb.
11a Captain America perhaps here, playing with US pro (9)
SUPERHERO: Play with the letters of ‘here’ together with those of ‘US pro’ until they re-arrange themselves into the answer.
12a Green Day’s publicity? (9)
LIMELIGHT: We need a shade of green and something that distinguishes day from night.
13a Mum leaving edible bulb to get dish out (5)
ALLOT: ‘Mum’ here is keeping quiet. Think of a short exclamation that also means to be quiet, then list bulb-based vegetables until you get to one that contains that exclamation. Remove the exclamation from the vegetable and you get the answer, which is a cleverly disguised verb.
I you haven’t experienced Sarah & Duck before, see if you can recognize the actor who is voicing the narrator.
14a Say no to scrap (6)
REFUSE: This is a double definition, with the first being a verb and the second a noun. They aren’t pronounced quite the same, with the stress being different in each.
16a Mark loudly leading superb gangster film (8)
SCARFACE: Enter in turn: a mark somebody might have on their body; the letter used to instruct musicians to play loudly; and an informal term meaning ‘superb’. The ‘leading’ just says to put the loud letter before the ‘superb’ word, which is what we would’ve done anyway, but it makes the surface reading better. I’m really not into gangster films, but even I’d heard of this one.
18a Book put out by head writer of Utopia again (4,4)
ONCE MORE: This is the clue that took me longest to parse. Partly because it involves the name of the writer of a book written in Latin and published in 1516. Before that we need a slang term for ‘head’ from which we remove the single-letter abbreviation for ‘book’. Well done to anybody who solved this straight away; I had to wait till I had some crossing letters from down clues, at which point the synonym for ‘again’ became apparent.
20a Teams going after winning tips (6)
UPSETS: Another definition nicely disguised by the surface meaning — this one’s a verb. Put a generic word for groups after a word indicating winning.
23a Scent of animal is weak on sierra (5)
SPOOR: I didn’t know this word. Maybe I should’ve stuck an extra star on the difficulty rating to account for this (and a few other answers of words I’d heard of but didn’t know they meant exactly what they do in this crossword), but I get the impression that most solvers have a better vocabulary than I do. Start with the letter indicated by ‘sierra’ in the Nato alphabet, and on that put a word meaning ‘weak’ in the sense of ‘not good’.
Guess how much this Sierra scent costs, before clicking on the picture to find out.
24a Flier delivered by some bank (9)
PARTRIDGE: ‘Delivered by’ here is just the (longer-than most) linking phrase, so don’t be trying to fit ‘sent’ or anything in to the answer, which consists of another word for ‘some’ followed by a type of bank — the sort involving raised ground, rather than the money-based ones. The flier is something that flies, rather than an unwanted paper advert thrust at you as you try to walk along the high street.
26a Rioting mostly due to change in culture? (9)
ERUDITION: Take most of the letters of ‘rioting’ (all but the final one) and all of those in ‘due’, then change them around to spell out the answer.
27a Depression affecting corporation? (5)
NAVEL: Another cryptic definition. This one involves knowing that ‘corporation’ is a term for a paunch (“informal, facetious,” says Chambers; “dated, humorous,” says Oxford) — something I only know from encountering it previously in crosswords.
28a Very amused, prepared to catch trout and salmon? (7,4)
TICKLED PINK: Here we need a past-tense verb of something sometimes done to trout to make them stay still, followed by what ‘salmon’ can be an example of.
Down
2d Sacred song Sarah’s introduced to after noon (5)
PSALM: This is one of those where the definition and enumeration together narrow down the options sufficiently that I jumped straight to the answer from those. Looking at the wordplay afterwards, we can see that the first and last letters of the answer are the initials for the Latin phrase meaning ‘after noon’. The bit between those, that has been introduced to them, is is a short form of a woman’s name. Now typically a name in its own right, but which apparently was originally a pet name for people called Sarah. If you’re a Sarah who’s known as the name here, do leave a comment below — I don’t think I’ve ever met one!
3d Covered by theatre, Blessed’s large drinks (7)
TREBLES: The answer has been covered by other words in the clue: it can be found lurking among them.
4d Jack and Leo possibly supporting England’s opening pair (6)
ENSIGN: Think of what Leo is an example of in a particular context. Balance on top of it the opening pair of letters from ‘England’ to get another word for a jack (but not the sort that’s used to lift up cars).
Last Christmas’s Rock n Roll Pantomime at Leeds City Varieties was Jack and the Beanstalk, and the cast performed this song at the point that Jack was being sent away for his poor investment choices. It fitted the plot so well that the children presumed the lyrics had been changed for the panto, and were surprised to discover there’s actually a song called this.
5d Maybe hummus and piece of celery for Charlie (8)
DIPSTICK: Follow what hummus is an example of is with a unit of celery. If the various names in this puzzle are tributes to real people, then Charlie might not entirely appreciate the less-than-flattering definition their name is being used for here!
6d Is RAC possibly collecting gold Rover? (7)
CORSAIR: This is a possible arrangement of the letters ‘Is RAC‘ with one of the 2-letter terms that indicates ‘gold’ inside them. The rover is sea based and described by the online Chambers as “old use”.
7d Ride in luxury car, care of Daisy (13)
ROLLERCOASTER: Enter in turn: a nickname for a particular marque of expensive cars; the abbreviation for ‘care of’ (albeit without its customary slash); and a breed of flower of which I’m presuming is a type of daisy.
Apologies for not having uploaded my Birthday Bash photos yet. I will get to it soon, but for now here’s a photo relevant to this clue — click to see it bigger.
8d Someone to share porridge with? (8)
CELLMATE: This whole clue is a cryptic definition. ‘Porridge’ here isn’t the breakfast food but something it’s used as a slang term for. Once you’ve got that, think of how it could apply to sharing.
9d Doctor learns theory comprising temperature and wind (5-8)
NORTH-EASTERLY: Doctor here is a verb indicating to mess with the order of the letters of the following words. Into those insert the abbreviation for temperature. The definition is the blowy thing, not ‘wind’ as in turning.
15d Handyman fiasco, tool oddly falling on stomach (8)
FACTOTUM: Use the odd letters from the first two words (as in the letters in the odd-numbered positions; there isn’t anything peculiar about the letters themselves), and follow with an informal word for the stomach (though not the one from 27a).
17d Kid Rock performing without piano, a punter’s preference? (4,4)
DROP KICK: Make the letters of ‘Kid Rock’ perform until they’ve danced into a different order, then put them outside of the letter used to indicate playing piano in music. ‘Without piano’ could just as easily be the opposite instruction, to remove the piano letter from the anagram fodder; that it’s the ‘outside of’ meaning of ‘without’ is most easily determined by ‘Kid Rock’ being a letter short for the solution and none of its letters being the piano one. The answer is presumably a cryptic definition where a punter is somebody in a sports team. Having read the Wikipedia page for the solution I’m still not entirely sure which variant of sport with an oval-shaped ball this is, and exactly who gets a preference. I’m content to remain ignorant, but if you need more detail, I’m sure there’ll be somebody along in the comments shortly to explain.
Kid Rock does have piano in this song; he’s taken it from Warren Zevon’s Werewolves of London.
19d Dean maybe beginning to imbibe gin cocktail (7)
MARTINI: This answer ends with the beginning letter of ‘imbibe’. That plus knowing it’s a cocktail may be enough to jump straight to the answer and see that the rest of it is the (stage) surname of a famous Dean.
21d Spar denied son bargain veg (7)
PARSNIP: Deny that ‘spar’ ever had the letter indicating ‘son’ in it, and enter that before a slang term for a bargain.
22d Run into Indian river after leaving small farmhouse (6)
GRANGE: Start with the name of a well-known river in India, and make the clothing abbreviation for ‘small’ leave it. Then insert the cricket abbreviation for ’run’ to get the answer.
25d Nirvana videotape partly propped up sofa (5)
DIVAN: Take part of the first two words and prop the letters upwards to get the answer. Apologies that the music this week is so male and American, but this clue was pretty much requesting a Nirvana video.
Quickie Pun
I particularly like the pun in today’s Quick Crossword. The first 3 clues 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:
WREN + HEADACHE + HEART = RENÉ DECARTES
I can’t see (well, hear) a pun in the bottom row, which was a suggestion that today’s setter wasn’t the same one we’ve had recently who’s been reviving Campbell’s practice of additional puns.
As I wasn’t here yesterday, this is my first opportunity to send best wishes and love to Steve on his very recent loss.
R.I.P. Lesley
Please forgive my piggybacking your post, Terence, being in a similar position to you re being around yesterday.
My sincere condolences to you, and your family, Steve, on your loss.
An appropriate tribute, Terence, since Steve so often is the first commenter on these crosswords.
I was also AWOL yesterday. Desperately sad to hear the news about Lesley. My thoughts are with you, Steve.
Sorry to hear your very sad news Steve, our thoughts are with you.
Not a good puzzle to start the week. My heart sank when I saw the lengths of the explanations!l. A bridge too far methinks
I did send my condolences yesterday but not under my usual name although I did sign it. So I’ll say again how sad I am to hear of your dreadful news
Very difficult guzzle, I feel.
I had to wrench each answer out and even then, I used the lightest of touches with my pencil, lest I was incorrect. I can’t parse several, so shall head to the tips shortly for the revelations.
We need to bear in mind I’m an eejit – the pencil is important. About ten years ago I was moaning about how my guzzle sometimes became a mess as I wrote over wrong answers with my pen. Senf said, “Try using a pencil…” and (again bear in mind I’m ‘eccentric’) this was a game changer. I can write with a feather-like touch and then over write if necessary, or erase the answer and start over. It was the simplest tip but has changed my world over the last ten years.
Went to Stamford Bridge yesterday to watch the dullest football match ever undertaken by grown men.
Thanks to the setter and the excellent Smylers From The West Riding
The Man U game yesterday could give it a close run for dullness!
At least we didn’t lose for a change!
Good fun for the start of the week – **/****
Candidates for favourite – 13a, 28a, 5d, and 7d – and the winner is 13a.
Thanks to whomsoever and Smylers.
I also didn’t see the message yesterday. I am very sorry for your loss, Steve. I wish you the best.
A really e enjoyable guzzle today with a good variety of clues. I liked the lego clues, 26a, 27a and COTD 7d, a fitting tribute to one of our contributors. Thanks to the compiler andd to Smylers for the hints
A cracking way to start the week. A nice balance of the simple and those requiring a tad more thought. Witty too. Many ticks on my page so choosing a podium from a cornucopia of excellent clues is difficult, but I’ll plump for 7d, 16a with 15d in top spot. Thanks to compiler and Smylers.
A light and enjoyable puzzle to greet the sun’s rise this morning. Honours to 28a (great surface), the second helping in as many weeks of 1a, and 7d.
Many thanks to Setter & Smylers, and here’s a great Weird Al Yankovic parody of that Nirvana classic:
Ha — wish I’d thought of that one, Mustafa!
I also found this a bit tricky. 17d held me up for a long time, and even after getting the anagram, I don’t understand the “a punter’s preference”?
Having said that, I thought the puzzle was very good. My candidates for COTD are 7d, 28a and 8d.
For the quickie pun the best I could come up with before seeing the solution was “rented a cart”, which didn’t quite ring true.
Punt as in kick a ball, usually a long way. More formally used common in American Football, but still used in Br. English.
A charming romp. 13a, 28a and 7d all made me smile. And I loved 17d’s smart definition. Great quickie pun too. Many thanks to our setter and Smylers.
1.5*/3*. A pleasant enough Monday puzzle with just a couple of queries from me.
“By” seems to me to be entirely the wrong word in 18d. The B is removed “from” head and not “by” head.
The definition for 17d in incorrect (even with the ?). The answer and a punt are different types of kick when playing rugby and possibly other sports where the ball is played using both hands and feet. For the answer, the ball is dropped from the hand and must make contact with the ground before it is kicked. A punt is when the ball is kicked before it touches the ground.
My podium selection is 1a, 28a & 7d.
Thanks to the setter and to Smylers.
Ah, I was rather hoping you’d be able to explain it to the rest of us! Wikipedia says that in rugby league “when kicking for touch (the sideline) from a penalty” a 17d or a punt kick may be chosen, so I was wondering if that’s where the preference for one or the other may come in — but I don’t actually understand the bit I’ve quoted, and I fear that having enough context to do so would take quite some time.
I see RD’s point, of course. But there is a QM and a “preference”. You can never score three points, directly, from a punt, so 17d could/would be such a kicker’s preference, no?
No! IMHO that’s stretching the definition to breaking point.
Surely the “punter” here refers to the “kicker”, who has a choice (preference) in certain cases to punt the ball into touch or do a Jonny Wilkinson?
Thank you, Stone Waller — that was exactly the sort of explanation I was hoping for.
I’m going to choose to believe that that’s completely correct and that we never need discuss this ever again.
You’re welcome. Thanks for the blog. I found this a little brain mangling for a Monday but got there in the end.
Condolences to Steve.
17d: Yes, there’s a difference between a punt and a **** **** in rugby, but the clue isn’t unequivocally saying they’re the same thing.
It’s already been said, but any player known for occasionally punting the ball could at the last second change their mind and opt for a **** **** instead of a punt. And for people unfamiliar with rugby, punt can simply be a synonym of kick (Collins: “any long high kick”) with punter meaning kicker.
18a I think it’s an accepted device to phrase a deletion as if the word itself had agency. Eg last year’s Keenness of wife ignored by golf club for EDGE
Ah, you’ve claimed the challenge! Thanks for that😎
I am not sure this is one of our regular setters. I found it really hard and it wasn’t my cup of tea at all. I shall be interested to see what the overall reaction to it is. But thanks to the setter and hinter.
I agree
You were Jerry before so this needed moderation. Both aliases will work from now on.
18a was my only hold up and therefore my final entry from what was a very straightforward yet mostly enjoyable stroll through crosswordland. I had the sane thoughts as RD about the dropkick/punt but otherwise no problems in completing the grid. My favourite was 7d.
My thanks to both setter and Smylers.
I’m sure RD will be relived to have his thoughts labelled as “sane”!
👍
A very enjoyable start to the cruciverbalist week with a reasonable degree of challenge in places and lots of clever cluing, but nothing to make me think that I’d forgotten what day it is, as has been the case on some recent Mondays.
Condolences though to Steve C. We’ve not met, but I always read and appreciate your contributions to this blog.
A fun Monday puzzle – thanks to our setter and Smylers.
I particularly liked 28a, 5d and the Quickie Pun.
I found this a crossword of two halves. I went through the across ones first and could only solve a few – checking that it was actually Monday as this shouldn’t happen on a Monday 😄 – I started on the down clues and filled everyone in as I read them then with all those checkers in place the rest of the puzzle was easily solved.
Enjoyable nonetheless
**/****
Thanks to setter and Smylers
I’d agree this feels like a different setter. Seemed pitched at the same level as a normal Monday but with a few that were much trickier. Liked it though. Favourites were 20a, 24a, 28a and top spot for 5d. Won’t get drawn into the kicking debate especially because of the need then to be specific about which form of Rugby we’re talking about and then of course American Football also has punts but not this kick designation.
Condolences to Steve C. We share our joys and sadnesses. Favourites 13 16 24 27 and 28a and 8 19 and 21d. Tried to add some photos of the bash but too large. I tried to downsize as I’ve done before but didn’t work.
You can send them to my email and I’ll have a go if you like, I didn’t manage to take many myself because of the Teams link
This was hard for Monday. Gave up on the parsing of 18a and there were some tricky clues that stubbornly held out.
3*/4*
Thanks to setter and Smylers.
A delightful puzzle to start the week. I got 17d but couldn’t parse it but as it was sport related I wasn’t too bothered.
Top picks for me were 28a, 7d, 5d and 20a.
Thanks to Smylers and the setter.
I think the hint for 26a is slightly out as it is most of rioting and all of due in the anagram.
Thanks, Madflower: you are quite correct. Apologies not for fixing it sooner; the computer I write the hints on was by then being used my another member of the household.
I thought this Monday puzzle was trickier than the norm. Maybe it’s the loss of an hour of sleep … who knows.
2.5*/3*
Favourites 1a, 6d, 7d, 8d, 9d, & 19d — with top two winners 6d & 8d
Thanks to setter & Smylers
Too tricky for my taste, with some very stretched and peculiar clues. 17d in particular, closely followed by 5d. Any clue that needs 9 lines to provide a hint qualifies as awful IMHO. Got 1a straight away, but then we had the same one just this last week? Plus I was ignorant of 23a being scent. A disappointing Monday, but happy to see many above found it enjoyable. Thanks to setter and Smylers.
Fair enough that this puzzle doesn’t suit you, BusyLizzie — we all have different tastes. But I don’t think it’s fair on the setter to say a clue “needs” 9 lines of hints just because it happened to me blogging that day! My style is wordier than most other hinters’, and I sometimes choose to throw in extra bits about things not to do, such as in 17d mentioning a meaning that “without” doesn’t have in that clue (but might do in other clues) — that isn’t the setter’s fault! I reckon that could be clued in the usual couple of lines by a terser blogger who also knew (or was prepared to learn) something about rugby.
May I be allowed to say that I like your stream of consciousness approach to some of the clueing. Makes it feel less functional and more conversational.
Also like the more out of the box setting from Mr Tumble, so all’s well today. Thanks to both 👍
So sorry to hear Steve’s news. My thoughts are with you x
I thought this was trickier than our usual Monday fare, but enjoyable all the same. Thanks to the setter and Smylers for some much needed explanations re parsing.
I found this tricky too. But tomorrow’s another day.
Sorry to hear your sad news Steve, how difficult it must be for you. My thoughts are with you.
What’s going on! This is the second Twmbarlwm crossword in a row that I’ve been on wavelength with, unheard of. High enjoyment factor and hard to pick a favourite but I’ll go with 28a. Thanks to T and Smylers.
As seems to be the case most of the time of late didn’t peg it as a Tumbledown production. Thought it a great start to the new week & pretty straightforward other than I certainly wouldn’t have known who wrote Utopia had it been a quiz question. No problem with the punter’s preference here but I would beg to differ with the description of Brian De Palma’s 16a as a superb film – Pacino’s performance hopelessly OTT & the whole thing overblown. Clear fav was Daisy’s motor at 7d & particularly liked 1&28a plus 5d as well as the Quickie pun.
Thanks to T & to Smylers for a most comprehensive review + music. Recognised the narrator’s voice, could see his face & think of a few things he’d been in but couldn’t bring his name to mind so looked it up.
I recognise his voice too, it sounds a bit like Fred Thursday, first boss of Endeavour Morse. I think he was in Alan Bennett’s Lady in the Van but the name won’t come
That’s the one!
Roger Allam
Thanks I’ll be able to sleep now
Really the compiler is excellent for his Thursday slot but on a Monday! 😬 and who is Rene Decartes 🤔 any way there were some really good clues but for me ****/**** Favourites were 13a, 28a, 4d and 5d (how I was made to feel) Thank you to Smylers for much needed help and to the unpronounceable one. Look out next week though I believe England are on the up🏉 and of course commiserations to Steve
He was a drunken f…
I drink therefore I am
I did this early doors over a ☕ while Mama Bee had her dental appointment, the bottom half of the coffee was still hot when I got the confetti
Thanks to Twmbarlwm and Smylers for explaining a few of my bung ins
No bottom line pun in the Quickie. However, while not a pun, 22a and 23a go well together.
Great start to the week, loved it. Thanks to today’s setter and Smylers.
Sorry to hear about your trouble Steve. Will be thinking about you and holding you in the light.
After a rather hectic day I finally settled down to try this and found it a bit of a challenge. That said I enjoyed it and eventually it all came together. 28a was my favourite, I enjoyed the variety of clues.
Many thanks to Twmbarlwm and to Smylers for the hints and detailed explanations.
Smylers I think the explanation for 26a should be to miss the final letter of rioting not due (otherwise the anagram does not work]
Yes, now fixed — see reply to Madflower above.
1* top half 3* bottom half / 4*
Definitely on the trickier side for a Monday but enjoyed it very much.
Favourites 28a, 12a, 9d and 5d
Thanks to Smylers and setter
Your comment went into moderation as you used a different email – @hotmail instead of @yahoo. Both, if they remain valid, will work from now on.
A little tricky and needed the hints for 17d (which I thought was too complicated), 20a, 24a and 26a. Otherwise enjoyed it. COTD 7d for the Lego and surface. Thanks to Twmbarlwm and Smylers. ***/***. Only joined this blog a short while ago so don’t know anyone but feel as if I do: sorry to hear of Steve’s sad news.
My condolences to Steve …
as for the puzzle …
2*/4* …
liked 5D “Maybe hummus and a piece of celery for Charlie (8)”