54 comments on “DT 30924”

1. I agree with Falcon a **/**** with some crackers. 1a and 2d were both ingenious although my favourite was 28a as very well constructed. The 3 lurker type clues and 5 anagrams were useful for cross checkers and my LOI was 29a: it took a while for the penny to drop! Thanks Falcon and our setter.

2. Loved this. Cracking cryptic definitions at 20a (outstanding) and 29a. 2d and 8d tickled my fancy too. Etc. And a delightful Quickie pun to boot. What’s not to like? Best thanks to setter and Falcon.

3. 2*/3*. This made a fun start to the week. I particularly liked 1a, although 20a was my favourite.

   Many thanks to the setter and to Falcon.

4. Lots of fun clues — thank you to the setter — including 10a’s crumbs, 1d’s Discovery, 2d’s book, 17d’s detective experience and 18d’s gloomy squad. And 29a, which was my last one in.

   I can’t get 23a to work for me, unless there’s an accent in which ‘[iron] ore’ and ‘[Midge] Ure’ are pronounced the same. Thank to Falcon for blogging ­— especially since our household was busier than usual this morning, with the 10-year-old having to set up early to for a pre-Sats breakfast at school.

5. This was great fun, with some clever and witty clues to enhance the solve. I could pick any one of four longish clues as favourite, but I will go for 20a.

   Many thanks to our Monday setter and Falcon.

   1. Like playing Bach – harder than it looks but very rewarding. Lovely puzzle.

6. Some very tricky cryptic definitions plus the fact that i took a long time to get on the setter’s wavelength meant rhat this guzzle was considerably more than 2* for difficulty for me. 1a and 29a were particularly clever cryptic definitions, but once I had to get a lot of checkeers beforethe penny finally dropped.9a and 14d were good anagrams too. Thanks to the setter and to Falcon for the hints

7. A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle with some outstanding cryptic definitions. Thanks to our setter and Falcon.
   I really enjoyed 1a, 20a, 29a and 8d.

8. Today’s offering was not for me, I’m afraid. However, I put that down to being distracted by having to take the car into the garage first thing, which upset the routine. Even so, some parsing eluded me and I will need to see the hints for explanation. I did like 14d because the word was part of our slogan for Kinton Grange Antiques, which we ran for ten years. So, 14d is my COTD.

   Thank you, setter for the challenge but I could not rise to it, I’m afraid. Thank you, Falcon for the hints, which I will now read avidly to see where I was going wrong.

   I had a BBQ last night and that is why thunderstorms are now on their way. It is known locally as “The Cowling Curse”.

9. That made a really good start to the week with a good variety of clues. I particularly enjoyed the misleading and humorous 29a and the clever 28a which can share the podium with today’s favourite, 20a. 1d and 2d deserve honourable mention. Thanks to our setter for putting me in a good mood for the day and Falcon for his comprehensive blog which I enjoyed reading.

10. A great start to the week with a very accessible bunch of clues bar one in 23a that I still struggle to make work even with the hints. The 1a /1d combo were excellent and 9a raised a smile, but my podium comprises 29a, 3d and 8d in top spot. Thanks to compiler and Falcon.

11. Sublime.

    Gone are the days of being eased in gently to the week’s proceedings. But, who cares when you have a beaut like this.

    My LOI was the 10a/8d comby and 20a took a while too.

    ‘Dan saff’, we pronounce ‘sure’ the same as the synonym for ‘safe’ though I appreciate other regional accents on this sceptred isle * may say it another way. It’s always the case with homophones. So, I don’t know why I’m typing this.

    From now on, I propose that we are all banned from saying that a homophone doesn’t work. I’m not holding my breath that it’ll get seconded but you get the point.

    I’ve circled sooooooooooo many clues that picking a pody is v hard. But, I’ll go with 1a, 10a (neat) and 29a.

    MT to X-type and Falcs.

    3*/5*

    * Is it on or in this sceptred isle? I often go to The Isle of Wight and hear both versions though I favour the former.

    1. Agree re safe/sure. Can’t think of any other way of pronouncing sure unless I put a plum in my mouth 🤣
       A rare early crossword op today whilst working on the base tan for golf in Spain next week! Going with the consensus on 10a/29a being pick of the crop. Although I expect 10a provided an apt 5,4,6 for some who had to tune in to FM! 🤷🏻‍♂️
       Thanks to both.

       1. Where are you golfing Rog?

12. What a cracking puzzle. It did take a while for me to tune into the setter’s wavelength though so at one point I thought it was Friday.
    My original thought on reading the clue for 1a was “do you come here often?”!

    The 23a sound alike was fine with my SE London accent.

    Top picks for me were 29a, 8d, 20a and 1d.

    Thanks to Falcon and the setter.

13. Hugely enjoyable and one of the best – and slightly more challenging – Monday back pagers for some time. Loved the cryptic clues and, after all, these are “cryptic” crosswords – more, please.

    Honours to 28a, 20a, 1a & 1d

    Many thanks to setter and of course also to Falcon – thank you for the tulip clip!

14. Cracking puzzle. Especially loved the cryptic definitions – absolutely brilliant work from the setter.

    Thank you to them and to the hinter who’s words of wisdom I shall now read.

15. The 1a/1d combo got this one off to a good start, swiftly followed by 3,9&17d. Great way to start the week for which my thanks go to our setter and to Falcon for the review.

16. It took a while, probably too long, to ‘break into’ today’s puzzle which I will put down to brain ‘mush’ from excessive heat. Nevertheless, it was as enjoyable as ever for a Monday, presumably, X-Type – **/****

    Candidates for favourite – 1a, 20a, 2d, 21d, and 27d – and the winner is 21d.

    Thanks to X-Type and Falcon.

17. Slightly off topic but are there two acceptable answers for the German city in 16a in the quickie?

    1. Hi RB

       Are you referring to Koln? If so, we call it Cologne. So, Koln won’t be the answer.

       It’s like saying Roma as opposed to Rome.

       1. We as in UK? If you Google Koln it’s a city in Germany so why is that derivation not acceptable? If a British team plays Koln then they play FC Koln, not Cologne?

          1. Crosswords in British newspapers choose the version that is used in The UK which is fair enough.

             ‘Roma’ will never be an answer unless the clue is ‘What Italians call Rome’ or ‘The name of a footy team in Italy’s capital’.

             1. In a perfect world we would use one spelling I suppose, but I do get what you are saying thou. Maybe harks back to cologne-ial time when it was the Brit way or no way!!

                1. Like it, Todge. Like it.

18. That was fun, some very clever clues which make perfect sense when solved. I must admit that 1a does remind me of Monty Python’s version of Salad Days – I was going to post a link but thought that some people may be eating lunch!
    ***/****
    Thanks to setter and Falcon

19. This was a really fine puzzle. Have so many ticks and must thank our setter for that. Favourite must be 20 across with 29 across and 1 and 2 down not far behind. I would give it 3 for difficulty but it was fair and so funny. Day 1 is setting the bar high.

20. Like Falcon, I appreciate a good cryptic clue (which isn’t to say I find them easy, just more rewarding than anagrams, lurkers etc.) and there were some great examples today, with 29a my favourite. That and 28a, which I also liked, were my last two in. Special mention also for the very clever 20a. Thanks to the setter and to Falcon.

21. A monday puzzle? righto chum, that was about as tough as it can be for me without being a DNF,

    Got three on the first readthrough, and thought my brain must have oused out of my ear during the night, but soon got a few more
    and soldiered on.

    My two of the day were 1a ( which was also a great song by Cream) and the brilliantly cunning 8d.

    Off to do a dive called ‘The Lake’ now on the west coast of the island, a beautiful undersea valley between the two coral reefs.

22. Back to a gentle Monday puzzle again this week. Nothing to scare the horses in this one and lots of smiles and chuckles.

    1.5*/3.5*

    Favourites 1a, 12a, 20a, 29a, 7d & 21d — with winner 29d
    Smiles for 1a, 10a, 20a and of course 21d

    Thanks to X-Type(?) & Falcon

23. It took a while for me to get on the right wavelength and get my cryptic clue head on but then it all flowed nicely and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The variety and quality of the cryptic clues was much appreciated and I really can’t pick one favourite.

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

24. A big charity golf day at Centurion today so a rare Monday working for me – 4 days of consecutive early morning starts takes its toll so a mid afternoon siesta definitely required to catch up on some kip especially as it’s blog day tomorrow so no lie in to look forward to. A very enjoyable Monday puzzle. Last in 20a my fav once the penny dropped – the long ‘uns top & bottom + 2d (made me think of fly fishing) & 8d other particular likes

    1. Ha, exactly what I thought of too. And I’m sure we weren’t alone! Enjoy the festivities.

25. Like Steve and Tipcat, this was not for me today. Not helped by waking at 2:30am, reading from 3 – 4:00am, and still awake at 4:30am, so read again until 5:30am. Peter then had to wake me at 9:00am. Yawn. That’s my excuse for not being up to the challenge today. Had to use the hints for some of the answers I had already inked in, as they didn’t seem right, even though they were. Several clues qualified for a Toughie IMHO and didn’t feel like at X-type. And that was after I struggled with Wordle, finally getting it at 5. I think I need to go back to bed. Thanks to setter and Falcon, but more like a *** for me.

26. I really enjoyed today’s puzzle and getting the long clues early on was really helpful. My only hold up was 25d as I was convinced ‘saw’ had to be in the answer! However, the ‘spinach eating’ sailor had to be right. Many thanks to the setter and Falcon.

    Huntsman, that advert has always stuck with me. Nice bit of nostalgia!

27. Top quality, so many good clues – vegetable matter as favourite. Thank you compiler and Huntsman

    1. Not me Shrimp – the review was error free 😀

       1. Error free … well perhaps with the exception of incorrectly identifying the setter.🙂

          1. Sorry both! 😊

28. Brilliant puzzle but two clues really held me up so a long solved for a Monday. Completely missed the Discovery as was in media mode and that didn’t help with 15a which was a guess from the checkers. Thanks setter and falcon

29. I struggled in places but got there in the end. I mopped up the final few really quickly which surprised me a little. Still a full grid is a full grid. Favourite was 1a. Thanks to the setter and Falcon.

30. Loved this especially the tar reinforced with vegetable matter💪
    Thanks to Falcon and Twmbarlwm (he has just popped up on my twitter feed)
    Can any ornithologists identify this chap? He was most vocal as we wandered through his sand dunes on the beach at Bamburgh Saturday. I don’t think he was nesting but looking for a mate perhaps
    As as not being an ornithologist I am no David Bailey either!

    

    1. It’s a male stonechat.

       1. He was certainly chatty

          Thanks

          

    2. Well, I can take solace in correctly predicting that I would likely incorrectly predict the setter.

31. 1.5* / 4* Great start to the week with some excellent clueing. Similar favourites to others 1a, 29a and the last one in but exceptional 29a.
    re: the homophone it’s not how I would say it but appreciate others do.

    Thanks to setter and Falcon

32. Thanks to Falcon for the tips and our setter for a great puzzle. I struggled to get started but once I had a few letters to work with it all went nicely. 1a and 29a are two super clues and 14a is just a lovely word. The week is off to a great start.

33. A challenging start to the week and certainly needed the help of the hints. Didn’t help that for 1d I came up with Cerne Giant! Enjoyed 1a and 2d. For my standard, more than a **, more a ***. But practice makes perfect.
    Thank you to Falcon and the setter.

34. Good evening

    A DNF by a country mile! The whole of the NW quadrant a vast, inkless wasteland! Terrible show on my part today. I just couldn’t get my braincell in gear.

    *Stands in corner, wearing conical cap emblazoned with a D*

35. Utmost respect for the seasoned puzzlers who managed today’s offering. I just could not get my head round it. Had several goes at it. Having said that, 1a, simple but genius!

36. Many thanks to Falcon and the setter. This has been one of the most difficult Monday puzzles for a while and at least *** for me. Found the clues a bit contorted. Always love doing the crossword & appreciate I am usually very late to the forum

37. Took a while to get going- just one answer on the first pass. After that I was just full of admiration for this setter’s clues. Too many good ones to pick a favourite but 1a, 29a and 1d were exceptional. Thanks to setter and Falcon.

38. Late to comment on this but thought I had to as I’m giving it the full 5* for enjoyment.
    Great puzzle, great clues – will go with 20a, 28a and 29a as favourites.

39. 3*/4* ….
    liked 10A “Sole coated with crumbs is ready (5)”

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