Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30942
Hints and tips by Smylers
Hello. We got back last night from an enjoyable half-term holiday. The train journey took about 6 hours and includes one of the most scenic stretches of track. Can you triangulate where we were from these pictures (click to enlarge)?
One final clue for the specific town: it might look like it sounds like we were in the north-east (but it doesn’t).
On to today’s crossword, which I found significantly gentler than of late. I haven’t answered so many across answers on the first pass since Robyn was our regular Monday setter. He did find time among his new editorial rôle to compose yesterday’s Toughie (his first since last year), so perhaps he can also fit in contributing some Monday backpagers? Though I don’t recall having to hint a double definition during Robyn’s time, and there are 3 below, so I suspect today’s puzzle-setter is X-Type, going easy on the anagrams for once.
Hints and explanations for each clue are below, with definitions underlined and the answers hidden behind the Again‽ blobs — though don’t click that one, of course.
Do leave a comment sharing how you found the crossword, which clues you particularly liked, or if any of my explanations aren’t helpful enough. Please see the etiquette guide for how things are done round here.
Across
1a Occasional servings of absinthe or a snack (4)
BITE: These occasional servings are from the word ‘absinthe’; they’re very regular occasions, so take every other letter.
3a Hospital equipment comes first for old friends (4)
KITH: We need the road-sign symbol for a hospital, after first another word for ‘equipment’; I think the ‘old’ in the definition refers to this being an old-fashioned term (though it isn’t labelled as such in the dictionaries I checked).
6a Outside corridor displaying furnishings, etc (5)
DECOR: The answer is displayed in some consecutive letters from the first 2 words; the ‘etc’ indicates its a definition by example.
10a Currency mentioned in store (5)
CACHE: If somebody mentioned a synonym for the physical manifestation of currency, it would sound like the answer; this is currency in general, not a particular country’s currency.
11a Thrilled to be put in the dark, one might say? (9)
DELIGHTED: This is being put in the dark literally; if that happened to you, it might be because of the removal of something that was previously making it not dark.
12a Clubs inflate the bill with second admission fees (5,7)
COVER CHARGES: Start with the alphabetic alternative to ♣ and end with the physics abbreviation for second(s); between those put a term for inflating a bill, such that a customer ends up paying more than they are supposed to.
15a Allow Harry to become deadly (6)
LETHAL: Enter another word for ‘allow’; follow with a pet form of the name ‘Harry’.
16a Fixed in place and embracing housework? (8)
ANCHORED: The sneakiest thing about this clue is that the ‘and’ isn’t an innocuous word just linking the wordplay to the definition, but actually forms part of the answer; make its letters embrace what housework is an example of.
20a Mediterranean, say, produced amber fish (3,5)
SEA BREAM: This is what The Mediterranean is an example of followed by producing ‘amber’ so its letters spell out something else; handily the word break in the answer corresponds to the split between the wordplay components.
21a Searches, using force and threats (6)
FRISKS: Start with the physics symbol for force; follow that with another word for ‘threats’, as in the possibilities of undesirable things occurring.
23a Spectacular show next: Ava Gardner’s first to be arranged with Zara (12)
EXTRAVAGANZA: Take ‘next Ava’, the first letter of ‘Gardner’, and ‘Zara’; then arrange them to spell out the answer.
27a Agitating ants with noise and commotion (9)
SENSATION: Agitate the letters of ‘ants’ and ‘noise’; I can’t quite make the answer mean ‘commotion’, so if you can think of a sentence where they are interchangeable, please put it in a comment below.
28a Completely unclothed in snake dance (5)
NAKED: Find the answer lurking in the remaining words in the clue; nothing else to say, really.
29a Young chap with the French kitchen utensil (5)
LADLE: Start with another term for ‘young chap’; end with one of the French words for ‘the’.
30a First of all, England’s choirs have organised a repeat performance (4)
ECHO: Take the first letter of all of ‘England’s choirs have organised’; the ‘a’ seems to be padding just to make the surface reading smoother.
31a Neat playing part of a poker game (4)
ANTE: Play with the letters of ‘neat’ to spell out something which poker players pay at the start of each hand; this word often crops up in Cross Atlantic puzzles, so I guess it has letters which make it easy to cross.
Down
1d In US, tender male animal (4)
BUCK: Resist the surface reading trying to make you think of a tender animal; this is a double definition, where the first is something that’s tender in the US.
2d Approval sign for parasite (4)
TICK: Another double definition; the sign is one that might be made on paper to indicate approval of something written by another.
4d At home, pegs out labels (6)
INDIES: This is the usual word meaning ‘at home’ and what ‘pegs out’ is an informal term for (when applied to a person, not laundry, or even a tent); the labels are record labels, but not the major ones.
5d Once working in pit for an epoch (8)
HOLOCENE: Work the letters of ‘once’ so they’re in a different order, and place them in another word for a pit; the epoch is the one we’re living through right now.
6d Follow mother’s unquestionable belief (5)
DOGMA: Here ‘follow’ isn’t an instruction for ordering parts of the wordplay; it simply indicates a synonym of ‘follow’, which we then follow with one of the colloquial terms for ‘mother’.
7d Tom maybe with conceitedness given extra pay in group (10)
CATEGORISE: The definition here is ‘group’ as a verb; it’s formed from a creature that can be a tom, another word for ‘conceitedness’, and the term for a worker permanently getting extra pay.
8d Clear directions given for cycling events (5)
RIDES: Don’t cycle any letters here; the answer is formed from a verb meaning to be clear of something (in the sense of banishing it), and a couple of compass directions.
9d Elegant and classy young lady broadcasting (8)
DEBONAIR: ‘Broadcasting’ in cryptic crosswords often indicates either a homophone or an anagram, but here we need a phrase that could be used to describe, say, a radio studio that’s currently broadcasting; put that after the shortened form of a term for a young lady in their first season in upper-class society.
13d Large discharge outside, as well (4)
PLUS: We need the clothing abbreviation for ‘large’; outside that put a discharge, as in a substance that may leave a body.
14d Reporter’s made less crooked, put in difficulties (10)
STRAITENED: Think of a word meaning ‘made less crooked’ then imagine a reporter conveying it; ideally a radio or TV reporter, rather than a print journalist, because it’s the sound of it that matches the definition.
17d Are such views always on the level? (8)
HORIZONS: Don’t think of trustworthiness; these views are literally level.
18d Sleep with heartless sisters after party (4)
DOSS: Make ‘sisters’ heartless by removing all but its outside letters; place that after one of the usual terms for a party.
19d This could be used for soothing upset male Inca (8)
CALAMINE: Upset the final two words of the clue so that their letters spell out the answer; I have a tendency to mix up the word for this lotion with a herbal tea which can also be soothing.
22d Corporation aldermen initially featured in satirical magazine (6)
PAUNCH: This is a meaning of ‘corporation’ I’ve only encountered in cryptic crosswords; form it from the name of a former satirical magazine with the initial letter of ‘aldermen’ featured among it.
23d Stand and carefully move line (5)
EASEL: Despite the surface reading trying to make us thing otherwise, this stand is a noun; form it from a verb meaning to move carefully and the abbreviation for ‘line’.
24d Adult presented succulent plant (5)
AGAVE: First, enter the single-letter which indicates ‘adult’; after that put another word for ‘presented’.
25d Hide outside? (4)
SKIN: A double definition; both parts are nouns.
26d Paper boss, for example, going around border (4)
EDGE: First we need the journalists’ boss at a paper; follow that with the abbreviation for ‘for example’ which has been spun around.
Quickie 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:
WRASSE + BURY + JAMBE = RASPBERRY JAM
Apologies for so many music videos today rather than pictures; embedding videos in the blog is faster than adding photos, and after a week away I need to log on to work and see what awaits in my inbox .
Today’s hints are a tribute to yesterday’s Puzzles Newsletter (which was less emotional than last week’s); feel free to follow in style in your comments. Also in that newsletter, I liked that the two-minute teaser was gettable without actually needing to know who Jake Norris is (apologies, Jake, if you’re reading); just the knowledge that there are people who do the appropriate sort of throwing was sufficient. And I’ve now learnt the name of a theatre in Basingstoke; I don’t know why I’ll ever need to know that, but after making a lucky guess and then checking it, I now do.
I’m finding Monday guzzles harder than they used to be and I now prefer Tuesdays. I have never associated 6a with furnishings always having thought they were colour schemes etc. I don’t understand 12a so will need the hints for an explanation. All in all, a curate’s egg for me today but I am sure others will love it. I did like 9d and this is my COTD.
Thank you, setter for the challenge. Thank you, Smylers for the hints.
My goodness – 12a is convoluted. Well, it is to me. 🤔
We liked our holiday home’s 6a, which Chambers defines as “the style of decoration, furnishings, etc in a room or house”; that obviously includes the colour scheme, but furnishings are definitely part of it.
I think 12a might have been my favourite; though it did take me a while to work it out!
5d, committee, LIST, thanks setter & Smylers, gotta go.
5d isn’t a word I knew either; however, the combination of the wordplay being straightforward and the definition suggesting what kind of an ending it would have, made it possible to work out without knowing it. It seems reasonable to be aware of which epoch we’re currently experiencing, so I was happy to be educated; I’m actually hoping it crops up again a few times, to increase the chance I remember it!
New to me as well. Along with Anno Domini which is now Common Era I think, it is no wonder I am confused. If ‘holo-‘ is whole I am even more confused. My grandson is a physicist I wonder if he can explain it to me. Anyway, pleased it is on The List and I hope it is in a dark corner.
Hello, Daisygirl; you’re right that ‘holo-’ = ‘whole’. Unfortunately the dictionaries I checked don’t then explain what ‘whole’ has to do with the current epoch; if your grandson does know, then please do share it with the rest of us!
However, I think you’re premature to declare it on The List; Terence merely scrambled the committee; their verdict is not yet known.
You are quite right. Protocol has to be followed.
Explanation from Wiki:
Etymology
The word Holocene was formed from two Ancient Greek words. Hólos (ὅλος) is the Greek word for “whole”. “Cene” comes from the Greek word kainós (καινός), meaning “new”. The concept is that this epoch is “entirely new”.[7][8][9] The suffix ‘-cene’ is used for all the seven epochs of the Cenozoic Era.
So it is a whole new world…
This was a tad more gentle that the previous couple of Mondays on an interesting grid.
A couple of new words in the shape of 5d and 24d and nice to get a namecheck in 7d.
22d is a splendid word and 23a is very satisfying to say.
My podium is 11a (good fun), 12a and 9d.
MT to the setter and Smylers.
2*/3*
Hi -it’s me again this Monday. I’m slotting in here, to respond to the praise for 22dn as a “splendid word” (not praising my clue). I just wanted to say that, many years ago, in a restaurant in Turkey, a dish made from an animal’s belly fat was given in their “word -for-word” translation in English as ” ****** Soup”! 😁
Thanks for that, XT, and thank you for the crossy that has kicked things off nicely for the week.
I just found this….
In Turkish cuisine, “****** soup” refers to tripe soup, a traditional dish made with cow’s stomach, often used as a “hangover remedy”. It is also known as Kelle Paça, a soup made with the skull and feet of a sheep.
Sometimes, it’s better not to find out the ingredients and to simply tuck in.
Tom, I have just seen a recipe for Bulgarian Paunch Soup … it sounds vile, a dish where on reaching the end of the process one is better advised to throw away the finished product and eats the pan instead. I have a wonderful (spoof) recipe book, “First, Peel The Otter”, and Paunch Soup sounds as though it comes straight from its pages.
What a great book! The title is hilarious.
There are some reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally bad recipes out there. My school meals were a disgrace. I could eat most things but their stewed dumplings saw me off.
In a way……good times.
Thank you for confirming, X-Type — and thank you for such a gentle-but-fun puzzle.
Strange grid, lots of clues to solve. Gentler than last few Mondays in my opinion and good fun. Love 7d and 12a!
Thanks setter and Smylers
Is that Babbacombe model village? Near Torquay? The tortoise must be your stand-in for “herds of wildebeest sweeping across the Serengeti.” [a sitcom never bettered].
Puzzle good fun, and actually at a Monday level for once. */****
Well done on the model village, Anorak; I liked the Banksy-style artwork on the end of one of the houses. And after a day in Torquay we did indeed introduce the children to Fawlty Towers; it’s held up well, and got plenty of laughs from the youngsters.
The tortoise is perhaps bigger than it looks in the photo, weighing more than a gorilla; it, and the swans, are from other places we visited in the area.
Ha! I hadn’t seen the art. That’s brilliant, and I believe a direct copy, not just in that style. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well_Hung_Lover
You may need to speak a brand of estuary English foreign to my ears, but the bottom row of the quickie could be a pun for icicle. If so it could suggest that this is the work of the other half of our editorial team. He said recently he was doing double puns in tribute to our former Monday regular Alan Scott.
Thanks to Mr Lancaster if so and thanks to Smylers
I had icicle too.
Hmmm, I’ve tried saying it out loud multiple times but can’t make it sound like that; the final syllable insists on remaining as ‘co’, rather than ‘cul’.
Chris Lancaster’s (and Twmbarlwm’s) puzzles often expand our cultural knowledge, of which there wasn’t really any today, but you could be right; X-Type’s have more often expanded our vocabulary; alternatively it could be Twm proving that he can do gentle.
I didn’t find this as tricky as previous Mondays which was a relief. 7d made me think of Mr DisappointingSturgess but not the conceitedness part 😃
Top picks for me were 7d, 22a and 9d.
Thanks to Smylers and the setter.
Sorry Smylers, I couldn’t get a ; in there but a very wild guess at the location is Bourton on the Water.
Thank you Crazy River.
I’ve only just seen that ‘once’ is inside the word ‘conceitedness’. I knew that ‘once’ is aptly concealed in ‘concealed’ but not conceitedness.
As Steve Cowling says, a curate’s egg – less challenging than recent Mondays but also less enjoyable – 2*/2.5*
Smiles for 3a, 21a, 7d, and 8d.
I can’t agree with SJB’s thought on a bottom line pun so thanks to the setter, whomsoever it may be, and thanks to Smylers.
As X-Type has owned up I plead mea culpa, I did have to adopt a strange version of estuary English to turn the o at the end to a dropped ell of icicoo
For me easier than recent Mondays and very enjoyable. I did need Smylers to help me parse 8d, and 5d was a new word to me but otherwise if all fell into place nicely. My favourite was 22d as it made me smile.
Many thanks to the setter and to Smylers for the hints, good to hear you had a good half term break.
Re the hint for 27a
Does “He caused a sensation”
and “He caused a commotion” work for you?
Thanks, Arthur; yeah, it was that meaning of the answer that I was missing.
Had a job to fine the hints today as the puzzle number is given as 30930
Apologies, Paul; thanks for pointing this out. The puzzle number appears in 4 places; I’d updated 3 of them, but neglected that one.
Spot on for a busy Monday morning, with plenty of strong contenders for a favourite. That honour goes to the popular 12a, with 23a a worthy runner-up.
Many thanks to our setter for the fun and to Smylers.
Gentle and enjoyably straightforward. Excellent surface read for 5d, truly connecting with the answer, and my COTD. Joined on the podium by 12a & 9d.
Many thanks to the setter for an excellent puzzle, and to Smylers for the blog on what is clearly a very busy day!
Pleasantly straightforward for a Monday
2*/3*
19d LOI as I kept trying to shoehorn a soothing tea into the grid.
18d COTD – surely almost too rude for the Telegraph audience?
Thanks to Smylers and ?Setter.
Found this somewhat easier than recent Mondays have been but would doubt that it’s the work of our esteemed editor. Top clues for me were 12a plus 7&9d.
Thanks to our setter and to Smylers for the review.
This is a gentle and enjoyable start to the week (as Mondays used to be); thanks to our setter and Smylers.
Don’t the two definitions in 25d mean pretty much the same thing?
Top clues for me were 11a, 12a, 16a and 7d.
1*/4*. Very busy today so I’ll just echo what Jane said at 15, including her top three.
Definitely Mondayish. The most problematic (apart from the aforementioned 5d) was 13d as I desperately wanted to put also. I don’t like to think of the discharge. Many thanks to Messrs Setter & Smyler. I think I shall go and lie down in a darkened room and contemplate living in a Holocene period. I am currently reading Robert Harris (author of Conclave) The Second Sleep which is set in the future after the holocaust in 2025. It is too much.
This Monday puzzle seemed to be a little easier than last week’s offering. There were two words I did not know in the top half that slowed me a bit, but overall went well. Lots of smiles and chuckle clues too.
2*/4* for me
Favourites 23a, 1d, 6d, 9d & 18d — with winner 23a
Smiles for 11a, 1d, 2d, 17d & 26d
A fun solve on a sunny Sunday evening on the West Coast of BC
Thanks to setter & Smylers
I’m with several above commenters in that I usually enjoy Tuesday’s cruciverbal offerings to Monday’s. Needed help with 4d and 5d and unsure about 17d. 7d was fun to fathom. Thank you setter and Smyler.
That’s a lot more like a Monday 😃 ***/**** Favourites 23a, 6d & 7d 👍 I did not know the word at 5d, and still don’t understand the answer 😳 Thanks to the compiler and to Smylers and I enjoyed the music 🤗
The answer is the name for the current geological epoch; it’s made up by inserting an anagram of ‘once’ into the word ‘hole’; hope that helps!
Thanks Smylers it was new to me
Firstly, devotions to Smylers for an absolutely excellent blog. Lots to enjoy here. I especially loved the smiling turtle and the Searchers clip (what a tune) and had no idea they were still performing. Secondly, imo the crossword was firm but fair; I needed help to understand how to parse the clue for 17d which was exactly as it was written and idk what the problem was. Thankyous to XType and Smylers.
I agree with others that this, while fun and reasonably challenging, was the gentlest Monday offering for a while. 12a may well have been my favourite, while I managed to dredge 5d from somewhere in the depths of my late middle-aged memory. Thanks very much to X-Type and to Smylers for the blog, music etc.
The comments and the puzzle both made me smile although I did not find it particularly easy. Thanks to Smylers (I knew where you were but I have never been, my Nana liked it) and X-type.
Almost back to our regular Monday puzzle. I really enjoyed today’s offering but couldn’t get 3a and 5d with checking the hints at the end. Many thanks to X-Type and Smylers. Appreciated the hints and all the photos etc
Back from golf so the first chance to comment. Other than 5d (who knew but at least the wordplay was reasonably straightforward) this was much more Mondayish than of late & enjoyable too. 11,12,16&20a along with 7&14d particular likes.
Thanks to X-Type & to Smylers for another tip top review.
Ps 19d prompted the playing of a Mulligan Brothers tune which I think is a gem of a track
Generally, a steady, enjoyable solve this evening but I needed the hints for the first word of 12a and for 13d. COTD 9d for the construction and surface. Thanks to X-Type and Smylers and for the comments, which as always, explore the relevant minutiae.
Sorry, forgot: **/****
1.5* / 3.5* A good start to the week, plenty to like. Favourites 29a fish, 11a thrilled and 3a old friends
Thanks to X Type and Smylers
3a, 5d, 24d beyond me I’m afraid, but always up for a challenge (even if it is only Monday!)
Don’t apologise — we’re all different, Greymatta, and it’s absolutely fine not to get all the answers; apart from anything else, if we could all get all the answers in every crossword, Big Dave wouldn’t’ve have had reason to start this delightful blog, and we wouldn’t all have met!
Thank you everybody for your comments; I find it tricky to identify favourite clues when I’m solving-and-hinting at the same time, but on reflection I think you’ve collectively managed to pick out the ones that I like best too.
And special thanks to Gazza and Celia (and Madflower, I suppose) for joining in with the semicolons; those were the topic of Chris Lancaster’s newsletter yesterday.
Congratulations to those who identified the photos as being places along the south Devon coast; for completeness, the black swans are in Dawlish; the model village is in Torquay; and the giant tortoise was one of many creatures we encountered at Paignton Zoo. We were actually staying in Teignmouth; the first syllable is pronounced ‘Tin’, so it isn’t a homophone of Tynemouth, even though it looks like one.
And hello to anybody arriving after this; please do still comment: they will all get read!
I was teaching my daughter cryptic crossword lore with this puzzle, which proved suitable and fun.
However, in 5d we had “mine” instead of “hole” for a synonym for “pit” in the clue. This yielded “minocene” which IS an epoch!
This led to her choosing “benighted” for the intersecting “in the dark” clue (which didn’t really work for “thrilled” but was quite a seductive pun!
Do you think “minocene” was a deliberate misdirection answer (wrong term?) or coincidence? It seemed so perfect at the time!
Welcome to the blog, Ben and Bee. You daughter sounds as though she’s learning fast.
2*/4* ….
liked 22D “Corporation aldermen initially featured in satirical magazine (6)”