DT 31059

49 comments on “DT 31059”

1. Whereas 1a wrote itself in as I read it, and I made my own horlicks at 6a, when I wrote in “benign”, parsed as ‘be’ (grant) homophone of nine, a cardinal number. That really slowed things down in the NE when 6d and 8d meant 6a had to be something else entirely. The rest was a perfectly-judged testing, teasing, Thursday trial.

   Super surfaces, in particular 20a, which makes my podium along with 23d (for the same reason) and 13d.

   Many thanks indeed to Silvanus for a superb puzzle, and to Shabbo for an equally inspired (as ever!) blog.

   1. Thank you, Mustafa. You are too kind, but it is much appreciated.

2. Beaten by 11a, just couldn’t see it even with the instrument, oh well….

3. Alot of the ckues to today’s puzzle, were difficult to parse, until I had already figured out the answer, using the definition, the checkers andd the online Thesaurus. It was a good brain work-out, if a little long-winded. The double definition at 1a, the geographical clue with alternate reverse letters and the reverse lurker atc8d were my favourites. Thanks to Shabbo for the hints and to the compiler for a good challenge.

4. A top-notch puzzle full of little traps for the unwary. I loved it – thanks to our setter and Shabbo.
   Ticks from me for 10a, 16a and 5d with my favourite being the very clever 22a.

5. Quick note to Terence – have you read Eric Sykes autobiography? You must have known him. What a story.

6. Much tougher, I thought, than many offerings but then I’ve been away for a few days and am out of practice. There were a lot of very good clues but I’m going to nominate the maths at 10a, the car accessory at 16a and the setter at 21d for the podium. Thanks very much to the setter and to Shabbo.

   1. Are you going to see Nearly Dan at the 229 Club this Saturday? Saw them last week at The Stables & they were in excellent form. I’m on the wait list.

7. As Chriscross I got many of the solutions from the definition, and retrofitted the parsing. Couldn’t parse 6a until looking at the hints, many thanks, Shabbo. Also found that I got 5d slightly wrong. That was annoying. I particularly enjoyed 13d, 21d and 24a. Thanks also to the setter.

8. If Mustafa G is correct, and even without a SPFL team in the grid he probably is, and with Beam on Toughie duty, our Ynys Mon correspondent will be very happy that today is another Dream Team Thursday. A very enjoyable Thursday challenge – 2.5*/4.5*

   Candidates for favourite – 9a, 29a, 2d, 8d, and 21d – and the winner is 2d.

   Thanks to Silvanus, or whomsoever in the unlikely event it is not he, and thanks to Shabbo.

9. i thought this was very tricky, loads of bung ins, like the fish, so will now read the hints to see how I got there. My new keyboard seems to have gone berserk so am typing this with one finger, taking ages! Oh well, off to the Lighthouse for lunch in a minute. Thanks to setter and hinter.

   1. Hi Manders
      Trust you had a good lunch. Where is The Lighthouse?

10. Hello all. Similar to yesterdays for me; North went in first with the South requiring a little more lateral thinking. Nevertheless a quick fill. 10a and 16a share joint honours as COTD. Many thanks for the review and to the setter

11. Thanks to Silvanus and Shabbo. We got off to a good start and then slowed right down. LOI 22a. COTD 13d. Blue sky on the horizon drifting nearer, hopefully some sunshine 🌞 soon!

12. I made heavy work of this but there were lots of smiles along the way.

    Top picks for me were 22a, 6a, 10a and 26d.
    Thanks to Shabbo and the setter.

13. A nice end-of-the-week workout from The Big S with my LOI being 16a.

    His clues for playing with a synonym are, to me, next level. Almost every time, I biff them and work out the parsings afterwards. In this case 9a, 5d (both v difficult), 15d and 26d.

    10a goes on to my crib sheet and I liked his trademark r_e_k_r_u_l (28a)

    My podium is 24a, 17d and 21d.

    MT to the SAS.

    3*/4*

    1. It’s a tricky balance isn’t it. If the cryptic part of the answer is unparseable without the answer, is that a good thing?

       To my mind, 9a is an example of where the answer is tough to get from the definition but the wordplay provides little help. At the other end of the spectrum, lurkers and rekruls (as at 28a) lend themselves to much more obscure definitions as the answer can be ‘seen’ directly. Obviously YMMV with all of this, and I still enjoyed the puzzle enormously.

       1. I don’t mind the occasional one when the synonym is the obvious choice. But, to arrive at the synonym with ‘free from scandal’ is nigh on impossible.

          All of these synonyms are, of course, perfectly acceptable. Maybe two per puzzle would make sense….for me, anyway.

14. I found parts of today’s offering quite tough. Indeed I resorted to the hints for 24a, and then felt a complete dunce after the nudge in the correct direction. That said I do have many ticks on my page. Whilst 20a seems to have become the tonsorial equivalent of the Serengetti, as it seems to appear regularly, there were smiles for 19a, 8d and 22a but cotd goes to 10a. Genius. Thanks to compiler and Shabbo.

15. Found this massively tough, just wasn’t on the wavelength today. Many thanks to Shabbo without whom, I wouldn’t have got as far as I did! A swathe of clues needed the hints for parsing plus 4 I wouldn’t have got at all. Gave the ticks to the 8d Scandinavian and rarely, a 3-letter clue, the ever strange 15d.

    As I think I’ve commented in recent weeks, this probably is Silvanus as I struggle with his puzzles for some reason I can’t put my finger on.

    Many thanks to him or whomsoever and thanks again to Shabbo!

16. I found this non-RayT Thursday puzzle this week a relatively smooth solve but with a couple of hiccoughs along the way.
    No weird or tricky words in this one either.

    2*/3.5*

    Favourites 1a, 14a, 16a, 8d & 18d — with winner 1a
    Chuckles for 1a, 4d & 18d

    Thanks to setter and Shabbo

17. As Sent rightly predicted, this correspondent is one very happy bunny, dream team days can’t come often enough for me! The last hurdle to fall here was 10a but then maths was never my strong suit. Big ticks went to 10,11,16&30a plus 13,21&26d with the last of those claiming the gold star for being so perfectly formed.

    Many thanks to our own ‘smooth operator’ Silvanus and to Shabbo for the excellent review.

    1. Thank you, Jane.

18. A fine Thursday puzzle. Great clues, a decent challenge and a very enjoyable/entertaining solve. I have many ticks and it’s nigh on impossible to pick a favourite so I’ll randomly nominate 25d. 3*/4*.

19. I found this on the gentler side for a Smooth production (presumably) & hugely enjoyable too. Having said that completion in a shade over 1.5* time got the dreaded almost correct message so began reading back through clues & answers. 4d was the culprit having bunged in sauce – I’ve got into the habit of filling in the grid against the clock & then going through the answers imagining I have to write hints for them so the error stood out. As ever terrific surfaces & you could stick a tick next to pretty well all of ‘em so next to impossible to pick out a fav. Having just driven back from Mid Herts golf club on a road riddled with them the sentiment in 18d was an if only, 1a brought back memories of World of Sport on a Sat afternoon & I see the Spectator editor continues to be compiler’s fav former Tory.
    Thanks to Silvanus & to Shabbo.

20. I just typed a long comment and now it’s disappeared

    I’ll wait and see if it turns up before trying to remember what I said about this wonderful puzzle.

    1. That’s happening with me quite regularly- very irritating it is too. Wonder why it happens

21. Brilliant puzzle, best for quite a while for me!

22. Last comment should have been under my usual moniker

23. 4*/4*
    Very tough – needed 3 bites of the cherry to eventually complete without resorting to hints.
    Do new cars not come with 16a’s?
    22a favourite
    Thanks to all

24. I found this difficult and in the case of one or two clues rather rambling .I might try the toughie and hope that’s more my cup of tea . Favourite 16a . Many thanks to all .

25. I managed to go through all the acrosses without getting any of them on first pass, so was relieved to have more success on the downs.
    Some great clues here with 11A and 22A outstanding.
    VMT Silvanus and Shabbo.

26. This one put me in my place, so needed Shabbo’s help! Thanks compiler

27. For me this was tricky and I needed some help to complete the last couple, although they were obvious once I read the hints. It was very clever and I enjoyed it but did not have enough spare time to do it justice. 11a was my favourite.

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

28. Many thanks to Shabbo for his usual excellent Hints and Tips and to all those solving and commenting. Much appreciated.

    See you all again soon.

    1. No, thanks to you for the entertainment!
       I felt quite chuffed at getting the golfy one.

    2. Sorry Silvanus I hadn’t seen your comment just ahead of mine but now I can thank you personally for the entertaining cruciverbal challenge.

29. Got nowhere with this this morning but got a second wind in the p.m. and then it all came together nicely with one or two unparsed bung-ins (I believe today’s hinter may be responsible for introducing that expression to the blog and I for one make regular use of it when I fail to parse). West acquiesced first. I still don’t see the “synonym” for outlet in 29a. I’m so thick that Grant didn’t occur to me for my 6a bung-in. TVM setter and hinting Shabbo.

30. This was a lovely chewy puzzle a notch up from yesterday’s. Some wonderful clues , however I was foxed by my last one in 16a – just got back from dog walk where I gave it some final thought before checking the hint. All so obvious as always , I was just on the wrong track. I need to check a few parsings, meanwhile thanks to Silvanus and Shabbo.

31. NE last in. Altogether pretty difficult but nothing unfairly clued just hard to work out. My 4×4 has a 16a feature but it is 22 years old. I believe they still fit cigarette lighters but I suppose they call them something different, mine has three. Favourite was 27a. Thanks to Silvanus and Shabbo.

32. 3* / 3.5* I found this quite hard going but got there in the end, some tricky but fair parsing.
    Favourites the excellent 22a spelt and old car feature at 16a
    Thanks to Shabbo and Silvanus

33. A few days ago I read that Steve Cowling feels that “he’s struggling a bit these days”. It’s an all too familiar feeling. I was comforted by the recent comment from Jenny M that ” sometimes frame of mind, tiredness, and other things going on can throw us off kilter, or maybe just the setter’s wavelength”. Having successfully completed today’s production from Silvanus, my waning self-confidence has been restored!

34. Managed to solve with a couple of visits to Google. 10a is a term i have heard of but forgot the meaning. Quite the challenge that took a couple of attempts, but was well worth the effort.

    I worked out 5d must end in an E, so with all the checkers 11a eventually came to me.

    I guessed the correct answer (of the two synonyms for pickle), but needed the hint to parse.

    Thanks to all.

35. 4*/3* …
    liked 22A “Change the way mostly this might be spelt ?(5)”

36. Found this mildly difficult. Not sure were Frank comes into the clue on 10a

    1. Welcome to the blog, Steve.

       1. Chambers defines the solution as “frank, honest and forthright”.

37. I, too, was thrown by the seeming Hume reference – a clever false scent. Quite an enjoyable puzzle overall, though I thought ‘key’ as a synonym for ‘escape’ a stretch?

    1. Welcome to the blog.

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