Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31038
Hints and tips by Smylers
Welcome from Ilkley, where we now have the best butchers in the country. And happy World Rhino Day — here’s one we saw yesterday at the Art of the Brick exhibition in Leeds (also on in Montreal and Schenectady):
(You can click to enlarge this photo, and the other Lego pictures in the hints below.)
Today’s Telegraph crossword has a helpful grid and accessible wordplay, but also several words unfamiliar to me — so it’s probably an ideal puzzle for somebody who’s a beginner at cryptic crosswords but has a good vocabulary.
Please do leave a comment — it’s lovely getting to know you all, and even better when I don’t have to make mistakes in the hints in order to lure out the lurkers! See Big Dave’s etiquette guide for the house rules.
Across
1a A group of detectives in charge is sharp (6)
ACIDIC: Enter in turn: the A from the clue; the usual detectives; the abbreviation for ‘in charge’.
Pic credit: isizawa
5a Concerning and a little bit far away (6)
REMOTE: Follow the usual ‘concerning’ with a word for a little bit of something — a tiny speck, perhaps.
Pic credit: Glenn Carstens-Peters
10a Heather is another girl’s name (5)
ERICA: A type of heather (often encountered in PlusWord puzzles for its handy vowel positions) is also a female name.
11a This regularly beats free newspaper – getting little chap to appear topless! (9)
METRONOME: Start with the name of the newspaper distributed free at UK railway stations, and follow by the name of small figure which has been made topless by removing its first letter.
12a Sign on railway showing place to find books (7)
LIBRARY: This is a sign of the zodiac then an abbreviation of ‘railway’.
Pic credit: © Ulrike, CC BY-NA-SA 2.0
13a Passed some inside spa, leisurely heading back (7)
ELAPSED: Take some consecutive letters from the following words in the clue and make them head back to give the answer.
14a Really scared if I’d messed about with Peter (9)
PETRIFIED: Mess about with the letters of ‘if I’d’ and ‘Peter’ until they spell out the answer.
17a More than one of these heard when toasting happiness? (5)
CHEER: This is the singular of something we encounter in the plural when making a toast.
18a Leads to trouble in parts of Yorkshire? (5)
DALES: The letters of ‘leads’ get in trouble and spell out the answer.
Pic credit: © Robert J Heath, CC BY-SA 2.0
19a Middle of comic’s bad quips, sadly unimpressive thing (4,5)
DAMP SQUIB: The middle letter of ‘comic’ plus all of ‘bad quips’ are sad because their letters have been placed in a different order.
21a Ballet, oddly, in concert? It’s difficult to manage (7)
PROBLEM: Put the odd letters of ‘ballet’ inside the informal name for a classical music concert in which some of the audience are standing.
This is the publicity image for The Nutcracker and the Music Box, coming to Ilkley in November. Both of our children are in it, with the 13-year-old having been cast as King Rat — whom I thought was from a panto (Dick Whittington, probably?), but apparently is a legit ballet character in The Nutcracker as well. Tickets now on sale — do let me know if you’re coming and we can say ‘hello’ while you’re in the area!
23a A police officer with mostly tough question for “Fatty” (7)
ADIPOSE: As with 1a, we’re entering components in turn starting with the A from the clue; and as with 1a, we’re following that with a detective, though just one this time — it’s in The Usual Suspects under ‘policeman’; end with most of a term for a tough question. The answer is an adjective and a technical term; if Oxford’s citations are representative, then it seems only ever to be used to describe ‘tissue’.
Note that since 2021, this Beano character’s classmates in The Bash Street Kids have been calling him Freddy, having decided his previous nickname, while always used affectionately, wasn’t appropriate
25a Complete item of jewellery: centre’s missing – charming! (9)
ENDEARING: The definition sounds sarcastic in the surface reading but for the answer it’s genuine. Form it from a word for ‘complete’ as a verb and an item of jewellery without its middle letter.
26a When required, a hospital doctor comes round (2,3)
AD HOC: This is the third answer where the first component to be entered is a literal A copied from the clue. After that we need an abbreviation for ‘doctor’ which is placed around the letter that indicates a hospital.
27a Tedious, being back in outskirts of Derby (6)
DREARY: Place a synonym for ‘back’ inside the letters that are at the outskirts of the word ‘Derby’.
28a Cold and damp, but spacious, by the sound of it (6)
RHEUMY: The answer sounds like a word that means ‘spacious’.
Down
2d Charlie needing a leg to get up? (5)
CLIMB: After the letter represented by Charlie in the Nato phonetic alphabet put a word which can be used like ‘leg’ in their metaphorical senses (or which an actual leg is an example of).
3d Carts maid off in highly emotional scenes (9)
DRAMATICS: The letters of ‘carts maid’ have gone off and now spell out the answer.
4d Quite theatrical MC irritated with pay (5)
CAMPY: I didn’t know this form of this adjective. It means the same as it does without its final letter, and is formed by irriating the letters of ‘MC’ and ‘pay’.
5d Cad meets obstruction in European city (9)
ROTTERDAM: We need another word for a cad and a specific type of obstruction.
The title of this song is a spoiler, so to see (and hear) it, you need to Hide it again.
6d Set up a machine to make money (5)
MOOLA: I was only familiar with the spelling of this word with an extra letter on the end. By now the ‘a’ in the clue should immediately make you think of an A in the answer. Follow that with the name of a particular machine, then turn the lot round to set it up the grid.
Pic credit: Chris Chow
7d The Yorkshire artist making a bride’s wedding gear? (9)
TROUSSEAU: This is a cryptic definition of a word I haven’t even heard the straight definition of, with wordplay largely based a French post-Impressionist painter I didn’t know either. (And the ‘a’ in this clue doesn’t even indicate an A in the answer!) Hopefully your vocabulary and general knowledge is better than mine. I did know the stereotypical Yorkshire way of (barely) pronouncing ‘the’ though. That is followed by the painter, to get a bundle of clothes and other items presented to or acquired by a bride for use in married life.
8d Lightened up about weight, seeing fold of loose skin (6)
DEWLAP: This answer was another new word to me. Chambers says it’s specifically “a flap of loose skin hanging down from the throat of certain cattle, dogs and other animals”. However the clue is perfectly solvable without knowing that: think of a word meaning ‘light in colour’; turn that into a past-tense verb; reverse it, so it’s pointing up the grid; and insert the letter indicating ‘weight’ where it will fit.
9d More colourful, whichever way you look at it (6)
REDDER: This word indicates more of a specific colour whether you read it forwards or backwards.
Another photo from the Lego exhibition.
15d A six-footer giving instructions? It may be an impossible demand (4,5)
TALL ORDER: The first word is an adjective which could describe a person who’s a six-footer. The second is a synynym of ‘instructions’ — or indeed of ‘demand’. The answer is something which may be impossible, though not necessarily.
16d I mend tiny breaks in security (9)
INDEMNITY: The first three words are broken up and re-arranged to spell out the answer.
17d Severely criticize players having one way to enter (9)
CASTIGATE: Enter in order: players in theatrical production; the Roman numeral for ‘one’; and a place where one may enter something — a garden, perhaps.
18d Salesman by apartment returning smartly dressed (6)
DAPPER: Here we need the usual salesman and an informal word for an apartment, then make the combination return so it’s going up the grid.
20d Left in seat, shrink back (6)
BLENCH: Another word I didn’t know; the shrinking back is in fear. Put the abbreviation for ‘left’ inside a seat, for example one found in a park.
This was cleverly Lego representation of this famous painting, with the figure in 3D in front of the rest of the picture on the wall behind.
22d Liberal owns a place in Tibet (5)
LHASA: This city in Tibet another word I didn’t know, but again the wordplay leads clearly to it. Enter in turn: the abbreviation for ‘Liberal’; a word meaning ‘owns’; and, for the fifth time today, a literal ‘A’ copied from the clue.
23d Park official losing head in rage (5)
ANGER: Take the head letter off the word for a park official.
24d Celtic lettering unearthed in bog hamlet (5)
OGHAM: Kudos to anybody familiar with this answer. Not only was I unaware of the word for it, I was ignorant of the thing itself — “an ancient British and Irish alphabet, consisting of twenty characters formed by parallel strokes on either side of or across a continuous line,” says The OED. Unearth it by discovering it spelt out in consecutive letters among the final two words of the clue.
Pic credit: © Runologe, CC BY-SA 4.0
Quickie Pun
In today’s Quick Crossword the clues for the first 3 answers are italicized, meaning their answers sound like another word or phrase. Today’s is a flower I hadn’t heard of — but saying it out loud a few times and listening to what I was saying, it was still possible to come up with the answer:
WOODEN + EMMA + KNEE = WOOD ANEMONE
Pic credit: © Lilly M, CC BY-SA 3.0
Recent Reading
This is a memoir that’s a love letter to books themselves. It’s actually Lucy Mangan’s second such book: Bookworm covered the books of her childhood; Bookish continues with moving into adult fiction, reading at university (compulsory and otherwise), and the books — fiction and non-fiction — that have continued through further phases of her life — including through becoming a parent and experiencing children’s books from the opposite perspective.
It’s charming, well-written, and entertaining. I suspect any book-lover would enjoy it, though during pages in which she’s praising wonderful fiction books I haven’t read, it did occur to me the irony of spending time reading in a non-fiction book about novels instead of reading those novels themselves. That of course does mean it contains inspiration of many books to read, and could be especially useful for widening tastes into more genres. Co-incidentally it’s also the second book in a row I’ve reviewed here which features north Norfolk, the location of many of the second-hand bookshops Lucy Mangan used to build up her collection of over 10,000 books.
This is my spouse’s book. After reading the section on children’s picture books, I commented that Library Lion sounded really good, and it was a shame we’d missed it when our children were younger. On the plus side, it seems we’re in agreement on that. On the down side, it also turns out I need to be better at listening: it turns out Spouse had said exactly the same thing to me when they’d read the book a few weeks ago. Oooops.
This book has no relation at all to the identically named TV programme by and starring Mark Gatiss. Which confused our children on Saturday: I had Lucy Mangan’s Bookish with me for reading on the train to Bradford where we were in the audience for the live broadcast of Radio 4’s Loose Ends from St George’s Hall — where one of the guests on stage happened to be Mark Gatiss, whose unrelated Bookish of course got mentioned.
What fun! Thank you
1*/4*. This was light and great fun.
Although I didn’t know the answer to 24d, it was easily derived from the wordplay.
Many thanks to the setter and to Smylers.
It is bound to go on The List!
What a perfect accompaniment to a sunny Shropshire morning, full of great clues and good wordplay. Not too difficult but most entertaining. 11a was my favourite. I think the letter ‘a’ in 7d is part of the answer.
My thanks to our Monday setter and Smylers.
Hi. I’m pretty sure 7d is one of the clues in the minority today where an ‘a’ in the clue doesn’t indicate an A in the answer. There is an A in the answer, but it’s part of the painter’s name, so I don’t think we need to add another one.
The spelling of 6d threw me for a while as like Smylers, I thought it had an additional letter. Other than that, a fairly straightforward solve for a bright and breezy Monday. Cotd for me is the anagram at 19a. Thanks to compiler and Smylers.
As Smylers says, some good vocab here, with new to me words at 20d and 24d. Nevertheless, possibly for the first time ever, the solutions fell into place from top to bottom without too much head scratching. Lots of neat clues, but my favourite is possibly the homophone at 28a with the Yorkshire painter at 7d and 9d’s palindrome making up the podium. Thanks very much to the setter and to Smylers (the Lucy Mangan book looks worth a read).
I’ve just remembered a note of caution about the Lucy Mangan book that I forgot to put in the review: near the end there’s a sad part where she brazenly confesses to not seeing the point in crosswords!
She’s wrong, of course! Apart from anything else, solving crosswords has made me better at reading books, by teaching me new words. For instance, there’s a word X-Type introduced me to earlier this year which then made an appearance in the novel I’ll be reviewing here in a fortnight …
Great puzzle and very gentle for me which took half my usual time. 8d and 20d are unfamiliar but were clued fairly. COD the 28a homophone. Thank you setter and Smylers.
For me 8d called to mind schooldays and Puck in a Midsummer Night’s Dream!
Extremely light (I’d be surprised if tomorrow’s from The Prof is any more straightforward than this) and an enjoyable start to the week’s cruciverbal challenges. I did think the “pick a random machine” in 6d somewhat vague but the answer was evident so it posed no delay. Honours to 11, 14 and 28.
Many thanks to the setter and to Smylers.
Re 24d – Discworld fans will know that Nanny Ogg’s ancestors invented the ancient language of Oggham. Clever old STP, yet again!
Good morning. This was fun, in that I raced through it in record time. Like others have noted 20d and 24d were the only problems and new words for me. Thank you for the review and to the setter.
This was quite an enjoyable challenge, with tge NW corner pro ing to be quite difficult to get into. The clues were pleasantly varied and some were refreshingly difficult. I liked the geographical Lego clues at 5d and 22d and the Celtic lurker at 24d but my COTD was the well-misdirected 11a. Thanks to the compiler and to Smylers for the hints.
Doing nicely until 6 down. Krona came to mind but that didn’t work. Help from the internet on that one as Smylers was not available at that point. Now done and dusted and all very enjoyable Thanks to our setter and Smylers
An enjoyable start to the cruciverbaling week; I even have a vague recollection that we have ‘seen’ 24d before – **/****
Candidates for favourite – 5a, 11a, 17d, and 18d – and the winner is 5a.
Thanks to whomsoever and Smylers.
An enjoyable puzzle but not a walk in the park for me.
Top picks for me were 7d, 11a and 15d.
Thanks to Smylers and the setters.
Smylers, I enjoyed the E C Nevin book you recommended. I also couldn’t work out the twist on the last page to the Lamberts book after re-reading it. I ended up Googling it and came across a long Mumsnet thread where they also couldn’t fathom it out!
Thank you. Glad you enjoyed A Novel Murder — I’m not even sure I recommended it as such; I think that was the least-enthusiastic I’ve been about a book I’ve reviewed on here! (It’s fine, nothing wrong with it; it just happens to be one of many similar books in that genre.)
And massive thanks for trying with Lamberts, with apologies for burdening you with the frustration. Yeah, I’ve seen that Mumsnet thread. There definitely seems to be some puzzle in that book which most of us are yet to work out.
A gentle start to the week , without any real holdups, but much enjoyment. My last one in was 6d , I too tried Krona , before I had 5a but once all the checkers were in place I got it.- a nice clue. A learnt a couple of new words 20 and 24d , and I hadn’t heard of the place at 22d. Thanks to the setter and Smylers.
Such a morning! The committee met in an emergency session to consider 23a, 8d, and 24d, for The List. In unprecedented scenes, all were admitted. However there was much confusion about 24d, as Colonel Bagshot, who had left his hearing devices at home, gave vent to his feelings about a town between Staines and Virginia Water. He recounted that he had kissed a girl on VE Day on the railway station platform and tossed a policeman’s helmet on to the track. His refusal to pay the £5 fine handed down by the magistrate led to a leader in The Times: ‘Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?’
Miss Abinger became distressed and had an attack of the vapours. The meeting ended in disarray.
Thanks to the setter and T’ Lad From Ilkley
😀. I just knew you would convene an emergency meeting over this one.
Thank goodness The List comes under FAQ as a newbie would be completed flummoxed by Terence!
Sometimes I think even Terence is flummoxed by Terence. 😊
Light and breezy and fun to solve.
DNK 20d and probably won’t remember it, but it was fairly clued.
I did not help myself by biffing medallion at 25a, which held me up in the SW corner somewhat. It does, of course, make no sense at all.
28a and 7d on my podium.
Thank you setter and Smylers.
I very much enjoyed this although like others there were some new words that needed checking, 24d and 20d. I wonder how long I will remember them. I had 29a as my favourite.
Many thanks to the setter and to Smylers for the hints and confirmation that he also had not heard of some of the words.
Nobody got me by name today – so far…Interesting comments about unfamiliar/unknown words: maybe my vocabulary has been expanded by years of trawling through the dictionary whilst setting clues – plus my age gives me more experience than some younger solvers, perhaps? Anyway – I’m glad you found today’s back-pager fun and the clues enjoyable. (BTW: I’d argue with Smylers about having the best butchers in the country: where I live probably has the best one in Yorkshire – which then automatically makes it the best in the whole country!) 😁
Thanks very much for popping in and for providing us with such a good puzzle for our entertainment.
Thanks for confirming, X-Type — the vocabulary-expanders are usually you!
It isn’t me you’re quibbling with over Lishman’s, but Meat Management magazine, a publication so renowned that I literally hadn’t heard of it until they happened to give our local butcher this national award.
As though knowing which is the best butcher’s shop in the UK is a meaningful thing anyway. ‘Best butchers vaguely in the vicinity’ would be useful — we used to go out of our way to call in at Lishman’s before we moved to Ilkley — but nobody’s going to switch from their usual butcher to one that’s 100 miles away. (But do come and try their pork pies when you’re for The Nutcracker and the Music Box!)
A very nice start to the week. Dimly remember covering Ogham in Eng. Lang. Class and I’m sure it has come up before. Thank you XType.
Thanks for a brilliant start to my week.
I’m of a certain age but that still didn’t help today with 4 new additions to my personal Thesaurus! Anyway it’s still good to live and learn so many thanks for your contribution to that.
A wonderful puzzle x-Type, thank you for it. Also, thank you for taking the time to pop in.
As for butchers, there is none finer than Ryan’s of Much Wenlock, the home of the Olympic Games.
Oddly enough, whilst I knew all the required vocabulary, I was unaware of the free newspaper! The puzzle itself wasn’t really one that I enjoyed but I did like the Quickie pun, the answer being a delightful woodland flower.
Thanks to our setter and to Smylers for the review.
The free newspaper was handed out in large quantities at stations and piled up in buses starting in the early 00s — at a time before smartphones, so it had a ready audience. It was launched the Daily Mail publisher but with the aim of being political neutral: short articles with just the facts and no opinions.
But unless you live in London or you’ve commuted by public transport into a big town or city one this century, there’s no reason you’d have encountered one. It’s one of those things which is restricted to a subset of the population — yet so ubiquitous within that subset that it’s hard to conceive of others not knowing of it.
Adipose certainly sounds better than ‘fat’. When I go to collect my paper at about 8am I see the schoolchildren daily handing over a £10 note for crisps, chocolate, coke and cakes for their lunch. No wonder we have so many 23across citizens. Interesting that they all begin with C – for cholesterol maybe. 19a made me think of my Spanish sister-in law with a Dr Spoonerish approach to English. She refers to a ‘damp Squib. My brother kept a book of her quaint sayings. They were staying with us when Indira Ghandi was assassinated and she walked into the kitchen as I had just heard it on the radio. I told her the news and she replied oh dear, but she’s not dead, is she? Anyway, enough. Many thanks to our Setter and to Smyler for his hints – and the book sounds like one for our Reading Group.
My late wife had some amusing mis-sayings: she referred to a “damp squid” – and when I told her it wasn’t that, she said, “Well, a squid is damp, isn’t it?” There’s a logic there, I suppose… (She also said, of an idle person, that they were “swinging the leg”). Always fun to be had with words!
My late mother in law, who never used a word right if she could use a word wrong, was always referring to damp squid. She also liked a Brambley apple, presumably as it went well with blackberries in her wonderful apple pies
My sister-in-law, who has previous in this regard, once told us her friend was fatally injured in a car accident. Apparently it took months before she fully recovered.
In a separate but memorable incident an old boss of mine was once looking to have a bit of a party in our conference room for some clients. He wanted there to be music and asked if anybody had a gateau blaster he could borrow.
I think there must be more of these…….
A £10 note? My how times have changed. We were given a three penny bit each morning. But that didn’t have to cover our lunches as that was paid by handing over our “dinner money” on Monday mornings. Such joy in spending the three pence on 2oz of pear drops etc.
At our children’s schools, dinner payments are all online, no cash accepted. The 11-year-old’s is activated by thumb print on a scanner at the till: choose whatever you want, touch your thumb on the scanner, and no need to think about how much it’s depleting your balance because dad and mum will top it up anyway!
No no no. I corrected that twice. She says a damp SQUID
Thought this Monday puzzle more difficult than a normal Monday offering. Two words in the SE I have never encountered.
2.5*/3*
Favourites 12a, 14a, 18a, 23a, 26a & 5d — with winner 23a
Thanks to x-Type & Smylers
Great fun. 24d no problem as I used to work in a place that has its name inscribed in this form outside the front door – it’s another form of IPA!
If you have ever attended rugby internationals in Dublin you probably walked past it without knowing.
Welcome, Conall — top knowledge! And thank you for posting. Terence’s list notwithstanding, I think it’s worth having some lesser-known words as solutions in order to bring out new commenters.
Please do continue to post, whether solutions are right outside your front door or otherwise.
Welcome from me, as well, Conall. Please keep your comments coming. 👍
Just in case proof was needed. The writing is on the stone pillar on the right of the picture.
Terrific puzzle today with a couple of new words for me. Certainly did not know the money or the Celtic lettering but I bet they crop up again soon. I think our butcher is the best in the country, he even does Marmite sausages! most of their meat is home grown and all of it local. I am especially fussy about gammon which I love but refuse to buy it anywhere else as it is usually Danish and their poor pigs are often kept in awful conditions. Thanks to x-Type and Smylers and see you all again tomorrow.
A pleasant solve and although completed in quite a good time due to some new words I had to check with the dictionary to confirm that they existed. I was aware of ling for 10a but not the actual answer, that was new to me, as was 8d, so came a bit unstuck in that NW corner.
That said, my COTD is 10a because it reminded me of a certain rugby match at Twickenkam, England v Australia, back in January 1981 and an event at halftime. Trouble is I missed it being at the bar getting some beers in for me and my mates!
Anyway, thank you to the setter and to Smylers for the hints.
Knock me down with a feather – a puzzle I was able to do completely without help. Definitely found this more of a * than a ** difficulty. Must have been right in wavelength for once. I didn’t know 24d but it just had to be from the clue. I even knew 20d, having seen it in many books, but admit to almost inking in squid instead of squib to begin with, before I remembered those Guy Fawkes nights when my Dad would curse at a dud firework and call it a damp squib. Thank you to X-type for the *****enjoyment and to Smylers.
I was also able to solve this as I read each clue – so enjoyable, definitely ***** Regarding difficulty it was ** for me as I was determined to solve each clue before I moved to the next one! Tripped up with 15d as, in my haste, I thought it was a ‘tall story’. Quickly realised I was wrong when it was obvious the second letter to 27a was an ‘e’. A couple of new words for me: blench and ogham. Must try dropping them casually into my conversation over the next week! Many thanks to X-type for a brilliant puzzle and also to Smylers for the hints.
Despite the four new words added to my vocabulary (for the next day or so if I’m lucky), I still managed to solve the very fair clues. My favourite was 11a, the topless little chap. Thanks to the setter and to Smylers
Thanks to X-Type and Smylers. Quick solve today. New words well clued so didn’t hold us up. Good to expand vocabulary. COTD 28a. LOI 9d. Sat in warm sunshine 🌞!
Late on parade because an old friend came for coffee. We have not seen each other for about forty years so there was a lot of catching up to do.
What a fabulous start to the week. Thank you, X-Type. As others have said, there were new words but they were quite gettable. I loved the Yorkshire artist along with the troublesome parts of Yorkshire. My COTD is the charming jewellery at 25a.
Once again, thank you , X-Type for getting the week off to a great start and for giving newbies something to get their teeth into. Thank you, Smylers for your usual detailed blog.
I usually find Monday heavier going than Tuesday and indeed today wasn’t all plain-sailing as South took a while to pan out. Newcomers for me were 28a (obvious now), 6d, 20d and 24d. Began with different solution to 14a but couldn’t use Peter. Have to admit I was not familiar with 22d capital. Thought an insect was needed in 15d as I don’t really think of a six-footer as being tall these days! Thank you Type-x and Smylers.
A splendid start to the week from The Big X on a very busy grid thanks to the 32 clues.
A couple of great new words to put on the crib sheet, especially 20d. What a word! As is 6d. I do love our language; it’s such a hoot.
My podium is 11a, 23a and 26a.
MT to Sax.
2*/4*
An enjoyable challenge with some new words to remember for next time! Despite having 3 checking letters for 24d I wasn’t confident with my answer until reading the hints Thoughts of Terence and ‘The List’ instantly came to mind! COTD for me was 11a. Many thanks to X-Type and Smylers. Enjoyed reading about where to buy the best sausages in Yorkshire!
I realise nobody likes a smart arse but, for once there were no words I didn’t know. I entered 5d as per the the clue and moved on, I’ve never known how to spell it so didn’t doubt it’s validity. Most enjoyable. Favourite was 5d. Thanks to X-Type and Smylers.
Well done for knowing all the words, Taylor! I’m impressed, and it’s good to know that solvers such as you exist!
Though I’m guessing it isn’t actually 5d that you haven’t ever known how to spell?
2*/3* …
liked 3D “Carts maid off in highly emotional scenes (9)”
Hello,I am new to cryptic crosswords and have started them to keep my 91 year old mother company. Thank you so much for the help on this site where the hints and comments always make me laugh, I feel, after quite a long time of studying the solutions, that I might actually be getting better..I’ve submitted the prize cryptic crossword twice.My favourite clue today was 28a.
Mary.
Welcome to the blog, Mary.
Well done on your progress; stick with us and you’ll soon be submitting prize puzzles every week!
Do keep commenting.
That’s so lovely to hear, Mary. Thank you for your comment, and do continue to join in: we’re a friendly bunch. Regard to your mother — tell her we said “hello”!
Welcome, Mary it’s good to have you with us. Does your mother do cryptics as well? Say hello to her. Please keep commenting and if there is anything you don’t understand please ask. 👍
Welcome, you’re doing fine if you’re submitting prize puzzles
Started late this afternoon and had a real battle with this crozzie, almost giving up several times but kept going back and essentially solved it. I say “essentially” because I had never heard of the heather in 10a and thought the answer was “Erisa”, a rare girl’s name – and actually a lurker, which just about works, I think. Also needed to check a dictionary for the meanings of 9d and 20d, even though I had solved them. Thanks to X – Type and Smylers. COTD 22d for the construction and topical surface. ***/****
Heather worth remembering, it’s a cryptic favourite
Thanks Imposter; still think Erisa also works.
A lovely gentle puzzle completed over 21 hours ago having discovered the puzzles app occasionally loads the next day’s puzzle in the archive section before the midnight hour. Both 20&24d were unfamiliar but easily gettable.
Thanks to X-Type & Smylers
1* / 4* An excellent gentle start to the week.
Thanks to X Type and Smylers
Really enjoyed this despite a dnf caused by 7d.
Never heard of the artist even though my mother had a print one of his paintings many years ago. A Google search was required.
As for the brides linen, an obscure word I doubt I will hear again if I live a thousand years.
Thanks to all.
I hope you didn’t take any of the compound in 1a when solving the crossword Smylers!!?? Far out Man!
Great puzzle, thanks X-Type and thanksto Smylers for the blog.
A very pleasant start to the week, and lots of interesting comments too. I have seen the Ogham Stone Conall mentioned, so that came to mind. Hello to Mary too. My 89 year old Mama Bee started me on crosswords many years ago and they remain a good conversation point. I am sure 1 and 5a are quite recent repeats and Erica is such an old friend now. I liked the Yorkshire references and an email from the Courtyard Dairy reminded me I need to get up the “leads” again as the new oozy Vacherin Mont D’or has just arrived
Excuse my manners Thanks to x-type and Smylers, cracking blog gromit.
A fun crossword today. Especially liked 11a and 9d
Spelling let me down for a while on 22d and 6d was new to me.
Thank you!
Nothing much to add regarding the puzzle itself. A few words I hadn’t seen before, but all fairly clued. After reading the hints, 18a gets promoted to my COTD – I went in totally the wrong direction after the first word and never managed to find my way back. The blog and comments were a great read this morning. Thanks to X-Type and Smylers