DT 31054

54 comments on “DT 31054”

1. I was completely flummoxed by this puzzle.

   Thank you, setter but you certainly got the better of me. I’m sure others will love it. Thank you, Mr. K. for the hints, which are most definitely needed.

   1. I’m definitely flummoxed. Wasn’t going to even look today, but had a rotten morning so thought I’d cheer myself up with a crossword…

2. This was chewy but enjoyable once parsed. I was glad that the record label was one that I’d heard of as I don’t know many.
   Lots of ticks on the page but top picks for me were 19a, 11d, 3d, 21a and 24a.

   Needed help deciphering the Quickie pun.

   Thanks to Mr K and the setter.

   1. I had the record label company as a customer in Hayes years ago, really nice people and a fascinating place for an electronics engineer to visit…

3. Well up to Mr K’s **** rating, thought I’d never start, let alone finish, but dogged stubbornness saw me through.

   Last one, 4d, took ages as I convinced myself that it had to end in ‘mum’ for the quiet bit of the clue.

   Do our friends over the pond use the term at 14a? never heard it used over there myself.

   All in all very fair clueing, with my two of the day being 21a, and the brilliant 8d, many thanks to our setter, can’t wait to see hoo it is.

4. I hope that I solved the same puzzle as Mr K and Steve C because I found it only just a tad more challenging than Silvanus on Wednesday and Ray T yesterday so, for me, and I stress for me – 2.5*/3.5*

   Candidates for favourite – 6a, 24a, 8d, and 22d – and the winner is 8d.

   Thanks to, I presume, Zandio, or whomsoever if it is not he, and thanks to Mr K.

   P.S. Oh dear, another appearance for the ‘Serengeti’ six footer in 21a!

5. well I got there in the end after correcting my wrong answer of 24a, which I put in a type of soldier.
   Needed the hints for parsing though.
   thanks setter and Mr K

6. Just the job for a Friday, I thought, demonstrating nous and care. 12a, 8d and 16d stood out for me. Best thanks to setter and Mr K.

7. This was a tester I managed to finish in fairly good time that smacks of Zandio.

   I biffed 12a as I didn’t get the ‘on sets’ part (nicely worked out Mr K) and I love the expression in 14a.

   I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people add an s to the Spencer of M&S and Tesco.

   My podium is 4d, 8d and 11d.

   MT to the aforementioned and Mr K.

   3*/4*

8. Good morning all. I completed this reasonanly quickly with a lot of “Bung ins”. The toughest part was trying to parse some of them. I went for Voodoo on 15a and was shocked at the end to see that it was wrong. My podium consists of 1a, 14a and 16d with 14a taking gold.

   1. Of course. many thankls for the review and to the setter; how remiss of me to have forgotten this in my first post!

9. As Mr K says, there waas some tricky parsing in this puzzle and, once a few checkers were in, I guessed the answers, using the definition.nparsinng was easier retrospectively. 1a was a great letter substitution clue, 21a a clever Lego clue but my was the 3d Lego desvription of an ugly duckling. Thanks to the setter for an intriguing Friday challenge and to Mr K for the hints, which i will now read to clarify a few elusive parsings

10. I thought this was excellent. For me, a contender for the most enjoyable puzzle this year.
    Many thanks to the setter, and to Mr K.
    5* perfection.

11. Back from birthday and trip to Uppingham so have missed many days of puzzling. What a joy to come back to this fine challenge. Favourite has to be from across the channel 16 down. Used the term of 14 across only the other day and my favourite rock band mentioned. Have been in the company of a Zen master and I truly feel that total immersion in a puzzle like today even as it totally engrosses the mind also stills the background chatter . Many thanks to our fine setter and Mr. K.

12. I found this puzzle relatively benign for a Friday.
    2*/4*
    8d, 11d and 7d on the podium today
    Thanks to Mr K and ?Zandio

13. Very tricky but fun to solve, I would not have managed with out the digital edition correcting a couple of errors. I liked the Lego clues.

    Many thanks to the setter and to Mr K for the hints

14. Lovely puzzle for the Friday morning coffee break – slowish to start but then came together very swiftly, overall quite benign for a Friday, I thought. Many absolutely cracking and often humorous surfaces, a good variety of clue types, and no arcane ‘G’K required.

    Ticks all over the shop, so honours restricted (with difficulty) to 19a, 8d & 11d – a well-spotted anagram.

    Many thanks presumably to Zandio, and of course to MrK – especially for the Friday morning burst of The Sex Pistols.

15. An excellent, if trickier than usual, puzzle with much to admire. My favourite was the homophones at 15a. Going with my youngest to see the first part of the solution and 12a, as part of our see them while we can project, has provided two of the most enjoyable evenings of recent years. Thanks very much to the setter and to Mr K.

16. Made a slow start but then everything seemed to flow well so finished in reasonable time. Rosettes awarded to 10a plus 3,8&16d.

    Thanks to our setter – Zandio I presume, and to Mr K for the review.

17. Some super clues in a relatively easy puzzle, but one or two I bunged in without fully parsing the clue.eg 13d .I kept looking for the letter K grrr . Favourites out of many , 3d and 15a .Thanks to the setter for a rather refreshing Friday offering and Mr K .

18. I found this Friday puzzle easier than the last several have been, but that is not to say I found it easy. On the contrary. I agree with Mr K in his opening comment as it needed a lot of thought and many of the clues did not give up their parsing. Use of the cross check letters from those that did, assisted in the finishing of this puzzle.
    Given what the puzzle was, I think it is likely a Zandio production as I struggle with his offerings.

    3*/3* for me

    Favourites 21a, 25a, 26a, 27a, 16d & 20d — with winner 26a
    Smiles for 6a, 27a & 16d

    Thanks to Zandio(?) & Mr K.

19. Made more difficult by not following the instructions properly in 1a (in fact doing the opposite) which made 4d impossible (unless rustique is a kid of charm). Took me far too long to discover my error. When will I ever learn not to rush to fill in an answer!

    Thanks to the setter and MrK for the review which I shall now enjoy

20. Really enjoyable and not too tricky for a Friday – tanks to our setter and Mr K.
    I’ve ticked lots of clues including 1a, 12a, 15a, 8d and 16d.

21. The SE corner held out for ages and ages – and thank you Mr K for also explaining the good shots answer. The leader from across the channel is a terrific clue, thank you compiler. Ps the stones track shows just how good a drummer Charlie Watts was

22. At first I thought that this was going to be a “retired, hurt”. However a bit of tenacity resulted in a very satisfying solve and a myriad of ticks on my page. Honorable mentions to 4d, 26a and 5d to name but three, with podium places going to 16d, 1a and the excellent 15a in top spot. Thanks to Zandio (if it be he) and Mr K.

23. I found this about right for a Friday, with some slightly tricky parsing. No complaints about the clue structures, though, as they were all fair and well put together. 8d was my final entry and proved to be my favourite. A great end to the non-working week.

    Thanks to our setter and Mr K.

24. This was my fastest grid-fill of the week! Not to say that it was easy, but I finished it faster than Wednesday’s backpager (and I always struggle with Ray T and Anthony Plumb). Though I concede that Monday’s time was inflated by writing hints, choosing pictures of seagulls, and the like.

    Thank you to Zandio for the fun. My top couple were the popular 16d former leader and 26a Eastern couple in Yorkshire.

    I didn’t know 15a with that first letter — but then I couldn’t think of a rock band pronounced “The Voo”. The View come close, but not quite close enough:

    Anyway, I’m trying to remember the answer, so that I Won’t Get Fooled Again …

    1. You could always use a substitute……

25. An excellent Friday puzzle of about average difficulty for this day. Great clues and an enjoyable solve. Feels very much like a Z production to me but I could be wrong. Favourite: 8d. 3*/4*.

26. Thanks to the Setter and Mr K. We found this tough going and resorted to a couple of hints in the end. LOI 4d COTD 21a. 15a we hadn’t heard of either. Now to enjoy rest of the day.

27. I was delighted to finish this crossword correctly without resorting to any assistance. At 81 it is reassuring to know that the old grey matter is in good order.

28. I was ready for a Friday Stinker but it was quite benign i thought – I guessed 21a early on but could not parse it and even when I read the hints I couldn’t see the ‘lie back’. Sit? Anyway I did a bung in eventually and it worked. I liked 22d and 14& ;27a but the outstanding clue for me was 8d. Very many thanks to our Setter and Mr Kay. Have a good weekend, everyone.

29. Overall I found this needed more thought to complete than I initially expected and would agree with Mr K’s 4/3 grading.

    I found the same as others on the amount of Bung Ins, needed to make quite a few as the parsing eluded me.

    COTD for me was 8d, being a fan at shopping at M&S

    Thanks to Mr K and Setter!

30. Middling difficulty today not helped by bunging in the wrong second word of 1a, which slowed 4d for ages. Also, I’m with Smylers in getting, I presume the same, wrong, first letter of 15a! Good job it’s not a prize submission as that’d have ruled me out.

    Enjoyable though and loved the unattractive 3d and the useless 11d.

    Thanks to the setter and Mr. K for helping me with 4 parsings.

31. 3*/4*. A good fun, medium challenge for a Friday.

    I can’t see any need for the slash in 13d. Very strange.

    12a was my favourite with 8d runner-up.

    Many thanks to the setter and to Mr K.

    1. I felt the same with 13d, RD, and typed a sentence about it but then didn’t.

       I thought that maybe the slash is a way of saying a theory. Putting it in inverted commas may have helped (‘bananas/potassium’ theory). It’s well-known that bananas contain a lot of potassium. So, I like the theory…so to speak.

       I’d’ve preferred a bananas potassium theory, i.e a bonkers idea.

32. 2.5* / 4* A good steady solve with plenty of lateral thinking required. Lots of favourites to choose from, but the top three are 12a old wrinkly players, 15a bad luck and the very clever nationality at 25a.
    Many thanks to setter and Mr K

33. My fav back pager of the week thus far though unlike some others I found it a none too easy grid fill & an even trickier parse. The old rockers at 12&15a grab top spots & any one of half a dozen clues worthy of a bronze. Nice try with the Quickie pun but can’t see how a K sounds like a G.
    Thanks to the setter (Zandio with a small saver on Karla) & to Mr K

34. My comment vanished (yet again!) so suffice to say best of back pagers this week for me.
    The old rockers at 12&15a joint favs.
    Good try with the pun but can’t see how a K sounds like a G or 2 of ‘em.
    Thanks to the setter (Zandio probably with a saver on Karla) & to Mr K

    1. Your comment vanished because a typo in your email caused the comment to end up in the spam folder (no idea why it went there instead of into moderation). I’ve approved that email address so comments using it should appear correctly in the future.

35. Hi, setter here.
    Many thanks to Mr K and all those who have commented, much appreciated.
    My intended parsing of 16d was as an all-in-one (“from across the channel” being “de”) given the said person’s notorious stubbornness!

    1. Thanks for an excellent Friday puzzle

    2. Hello, Dharma. Thank you for the puzzle, and apologies for misidentifying you — there was a clue I should’ve picked up on.

    3. Darn it – those political clues should have alerted the radar but forget that you occasionally pop in from t’other place.
       Thanks for popping in Stephen – great puzzle

    4. Thanks for dropping in and for a great puzzle to solve and to hint. Thanks also for the clarification on 16d. I felt like I was missing something there, but I was tired and reached the point where it was time to press “Schedule” on the blog before I was able to untangle it. I’ve corrected the hint.

    5. Hello Dharma,
       Great to see you here. Thanks for a cracking good puzzle. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

36. Fantastic entertainment from Dharma with some beautiful clues. Tough to choose, but I’ll go for the superb 8D.

    Many thanks also to Mr K.

37. 16d is the most terrible clue I have seen. Gaulle is not a homonym of Gall and is “de” meant to be a homonym of “the”? Grrr

    1. ‘de’ is ‘from across the Channel’, i.e. the French for ‘from’.

38. I struggled in places but on completion I couldn’t see why, the art of good compiling I suppose. A fair bit of reverse engineering due to the amount of inspired guessing and then trying to find out why on earth it was right. Voodoo was also my initial thought but obviously didn’t parse and it wasn’t much of a stretch to come up with the correct answer. Enjoyable though. Favourite was 3d. Thanks to Dharma and Mr. K.

39. Interestingly, I found this straightforward. I was obviously on the setter’s wavelength. Unlike yesterday where I solved less than half.

    A very enjoyable solve and rather pleased to have solved unaided with a **** rating.

    Thanks to all.

    1. Correction. I am on leave at the moment and was talking about the Wednesday solve where I only got 11 clues.

       I was away yesterday and solved unaided but didn’t comment, which is a shame as I sometimes struggle with RayT. Enjoyed the solve too!

40. What a superb puzzle! It was skilfully clued throughout and I enjoyed it immensely.
    Needless to say, I have a multiplicity of ticks on my printout. Here is a rather large selection: 1a, 9a, 10a, 12a, 14a, 17a, 19a, 24a, 25a and 2d, 3d, 4d, 8d, 11d, 16d, 20d and 22d. Of these, the brilliant 8d is top of the podium.
    15a is an excellent clue. Alas! I also had ‘voodoo’ even though I wasn’t completely happy with it… Mea culpa. No excuses.
    Many appreciative thanks to Dharma for super 5* entertainment.
    Also many appreciative thanks to Mr K for the excellent review.

41. 3*/4* …
    liked 21A “Lie back beside appealing guy, six-footer (7,6)”

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