DT 31064

72 comments on “DT 31064”

1. Good morning. This was reasonably straightforward with the only hold up being 16d. Top marks for 10a, 20a and 21a. Many thanks to the reviewer and setter

2. In answer to Senf’s question about 16d, Mr CS did, and I quote “I thought everyone knew that”. I have to disagree but I’ve noted it down for future reference

   Super crossword, I could list so many clues but will go for 21a and 3d – for once a Spoonerism that made me smile

   Many thanks to our setter and Senf

   1. Please assure Mr CS that not everybody knew about 16d!

   2. I might be short on some GK, but that I did know. It’s probably talked about more over here regarding what happens if that country is gobbled up by China.

3. Like Senf I had problems with parsing some clues (i xfigured that ‘training’might be an anagram indicator in 1a and’ trips’ in 1d perhaps?). I thought 8d was a super cryptic definition and 3d a brilliant Spoonerism (once the penny dropped). The homophone (got the spelling right today) is the otger one on my podium. Achallenging puzzle but I did ebjoy it, so thabks to the compiler and to Senf for the hints.

4. I thought this was a fantastic puzzle, if somewhat tricky for a Wednesday, perhaps?
   I have an idea who might have set it, but will keep my powder dry. Let’s hope he/she pops in later.
   My ticks are for the well concealed anagram at 1a, the back massage at 9a, the unlimited funds at 27a, the fabulous anagram at 1d, the excellent Spoonerism at 3d, the radio commercial at 4d, the cryptic definition at 8d and the unpleasant affliction in Belgium at 19d.
   I am torn between 1d and 3d for CoD, so will go with 3d, as it made me laugh when the penny dropped.
   Like Senf, I did not know the chips at 16d which was my LoI.
   Great fun.
   Thanks to our setter and to Senf.

   1. (First time comment for me – been lurking and loving all your work for weeks!) but 3d genius! Have never LoL’d at a cryptic clue before.
      Thank you to Senf and to you and all for your work – I’m learning and loving it in my newly semi-retired world where ******* a day with the DT Cryptic is a joy!

      1. Welcome to the blog, Smidgesmum.
         Now that you’ve introduced yourself I hope that you’ll become a regular commenter.
         NB We don’t like mentioning solving times on the blog – see Comment Etiquette #6

5. A very enjoyable midweeker from The Hud (?) with my LOI being 16d as I just couldn’t work out the anagram.

   Talking of which….training and trips? The AI list just goes on and on.

   Lots to pick from but I’ll go with 21a, 27a and 8d.

   MT to the aforementioned and Senf.

   3*/4*

6. A fair amount of woolly thinking took me way past the usual solve time & reading back through the puzzle once completed not sure why really. Matters not helped by initially putting in ALGO for LOGA at 7d which delayed 1a – remember when Del Monte was the height of sophistication. I had to check on the French for month to parse it & given that there is only 1 word that could fit with the checkers at last in 16d I took an embarrassingly long time to twig it then even longer to realise what it had to do with chips. Hey ho – an excellent puzzle with ticks aplenty. 8d my standout fav with 9,21&27a + 3&16d other particular likes.
   Many thanks to the setter (Hudson my punt) & to he who shines on SUNDAY & every other Wednesday.

   1. forgot to mention the excellent 4d.

   2. I also had algo to begin with.

      1. Ruddy autocorrect! Algo was what I entered!

         1. I was in good company then 😀

         2. Algo also went in first for me

         3. Another algo-er here — which led me to spending a surprisingly long time trying to make ‘gymkhana’ work as the second word of 1a.

            1. I was on the gymkhana search too!

               1. And me!

   3. I also put in algo as the start of 7d, and was quite proud of myself, until I realised I was wrong ☹️.

      1. Ditto!

7. A top-quality and very enjoyable puzzle – many thanks to our setter and Senf.
   I’ve selected 12a, 27a, 3d and 8d as the best of an excellent bunch.
   The Quickie Pun’s pretty good as well.

8. The jury’s still out here when it comes to the enjoyment rating but it certainly had its moments. Top scorers for me were 27&28a plus 8d.

   Thanks to our setter and to Senf for the review.

9. A super puzzle with lots of smiles. 16d took an embarrassingly long time for the penny to drop.

   Only slight quibble is 22a – I’m fairly sure that cru doesn’t mean vintage? I could be wrong tho

   Thanks to the setter and to senf

   1. There is at least one dictionary, the Big Red one, that supports the use of cru to mean vintage.

10. I also struggled to parse some of the clues after having the answer from the definition. In particular I hesitated a long time before writing 16d. I kept thinking that the word could make a good pun if one split it 2,1,3,3. Thanks to the setter and to Senf for hints.

11. I really liked that, despite a slow start as I adjusted to a rather more idiosyncratic style than we’ve seen in recent days. So many good clues, including a few that made me chuckle – for example the cleaner at 21a (my LOI), the angler at 23a and the chip variety at 16d. Thanks very much to the setter and to Senf.

12. This was a real gem. A nice balance of the obvious and the devious. I liked the reverse lurker at 18a, a great word for a crossword but cotd, from a large set of options goes to the spoonerism at 3d. Thanks to compiler and Senf.

13. An absolutely excellent midweek puzzle – typical of Wednesdays in recent weeks. Great clues, a decent challenge and an enjoyable solve. Many ticks and it’s hard to pick a favourite out of such a fine bunch but I’ll go for 3d. I like a good Spoonerism and this was a cracker; far from easy to resolve, took a fair bit of cogitation. 3*/4*.

14. A head scratcher in places. Needed Senf’s help to understand 16d.

    Top picks for me were 8d, 27a and 23d.
    Thanks to Senf and the setter.

    1. Re 7d – me too !
       As George Gershwin wrote
       “Algorithm…” x3
       Who could ask for anything more?
       Eeeeee!

       1. Oh, that’s a groaner!

15. Thanks for the blog, dear Senf, and thanks to those who have left a comment.
    I’m just packing my spare toothbrush and jim-jams before heading to the UK tomorrow to attend the annual Sloggers & Betters Fest organised by John & Jane in, or nearish to, the glorious city York on Saturday.
    See you there maybe!
    Best wishes to all, Rob/Hudson

    1. the glorious city *of* York even

    2. Thanks for the parsing challenge! Safe travels.

    3. I’ll see you there.

    4. Great puzzle. Please keep them coming.

16. A very decent midweek challenge. I too had the wrong ‘rithm’ in 7d, though alarm bells rang when I had a few checkers in 1a and thought it unlikely to end in an a.
    The chips clue at 16d was my favourite. Although I got it from the anagram, I was still unsure of the parsing. News to me also.
    As Gazza said, the quickie pun is a belter, too.
    My thanks to the setter and Senf.

    1. Good wins for the pair of us last night. What price we both go up without the dreaded play offs?

       1. I’ve stuck my neck out and already predicted that we’ll both be there come the sharp end.
          If our lot can cut out the odd wretched showing like the league game v Cov, we’ll be ok.
          Last night we were superb, won the game in the first half and closed out the second, a real professional performance. Sadly, we’ve had recent serious injuries to key players which could take its toll.

    2. Me too with 7d. Led astray by Seiko!

17. Totally agree with Senf in that this was a super crossword with some quite tricky parsings. Got 1a but didn’t even spot it was an anagram for example! Loved the back massage in 9a, the 21a clean Amsterdam, the 27a Lord’s chip away, the 4d Virgin, the 8d super cryptic definition and top of the class: the 3d spoonerism – wonderful.

    Even working in the IT industry for thousands of years, I didn’t get the parsing of the best chips.

    Many thanks to Senf and the Setter.

18. Tremendous fun, with pleasingly medium difficulty. Thanks, Hudson. Sorry I won’t be in York this weekend: somehow I wrote it on our calendar for the wrong weekend, and by the time I’d spotted my error, we already had a wedding anniversary booked for this weekend. I hope all those who are more competent in their planning have a good time.

    Senf, thank you for explaining about the chips.

    My top few clues are 11a, for Victor not indicating V; bestowed on a Lord in 27a; the audacity of the 3d Spoonerism; and my last in, 21a, once I finally realized which kind of side it is.

19. I found this week’s Wednesday puzzle on the easier end of the spectrum which was a nice surprise. Lots of great cluing I thought and a few chuckles along the way too.

    2*/4*

    Favourites 1a, 28a, 1d, 3d & 7d — with co-winners 28a & 3d, with 3d making me laugh.
    Other smiles from 10a, 15a & 5d

    Thanks to Hudson & Senf

20. Great puzzle, if a bit tricky. I tripped over the tent peg of 3d, which was a new word for me. Or rather a word I was aware of, but the Baptists (my father was one) tend to use it to mean “church” in general, rather than a canvas one. ***/****

21. Yes definitely a bit quirky. I only got a spreadout handful on the first pass and none of the first acrosses so I thought it was going to be a difficult one, but suddenly it all clicked, even the Spoonerism (which was my favourite) and I got it done in ******* with no help (just a couple of confirmations). I can only give it * because of that, although it could be ** because if the oddities. **** for enjoyment ( or is that just because I am feeling pleased with myself? 😃 Thanks to everyone concerned.

    1. Please don’t include solving times in your comments – see Comment Etiquette #6.

       1. Oh I’m so sorry. I didn’t realise that was a problem. I will read the etiquette rules to remind myself.

22. 2.5*/4*. I enjoyed this a lot with 16d my favourite and 4d in second place. The Quickie pun was excellent.

    I don’t really warm to the surface of 3d.

    Many thanks to the setter and to Senf.

    PS. I won’t be around for a couple of days as I’m having a cataract op tomorrow.

    1. Hope it goes as well as Mr CS’s did the other Saturday. He has a check up on Friday to see if he can have the other eye done on Sunday week

       1. Thanks, Sue. This will be my second one, about 18 months after the first.

          1. We have an excellent clinic held at weekends at our GP surgery. He only had to wait six weeks for the first one and they’ve just rung up to say if all goes well at the two week check up on Friday, he’s having the second eye done on Sunday morning

          2. I had my second one done 6 months after the first, although doctor said it could wait 2 years. I decided sooner rather than later. Best of luck. And I’m sure you’ll do great.

             1. I had two successful ops 10 years apart!

    2. I had both eyes done within 6 months … I could then see all the clues perfectly … alas I couldn’t see the solutions so easily!

       RD, hope all goes well!

23. Just to echo general acclaim. Pilar and I thought this puzzle top notch. Some beautifully crafted clues 27a , 4d and 3d were our favourites too. By the way Pilar is Spanish. Any other non-native speakers doing the cryptic?

24. As usual we have sat down to do the crossword later in the day. Thanks to the Setter and Senf (for the hints). 16d was tricky as we didn’t have the knowledge. Our COTD was 3D the spoonerism.

25. I enjoyed most of this, although there were definitely some chewy parts along the way. Learnt a new meaning for 3d today, but got 7d wrong until I figured out it didn’t work with 1a. Thanks for Hudson and Senf.
    You are right about “formerly” in 20a. BA dropped from the “world’s best” quite a time ago (Qatar holds that right now). For us it was in the 1990’s when checking in for a flight to the US early one October morning (we were first in line) for a flight booked 8 months before, and told they weren’t sure if we actually had seats on the flight. After a couple of hours, and several returns to the BA desk they condescended to confirm our seats. Yes you’ve guessed it, we were flying on BA frequent flyer miles. In all our trips home since then, we’ve never booked with BA again.

26. I thought this to be on the harder side, talking of which the right side flew in and then was held up by 3 ,16 and 21.I didn’t finish 16 until I used e help that then freed up 21 which if I had parsed earlier, I would probably have got 16.Spooner for me is what he is ! Some really good clues , eventually thought it a toss up between 1,4 and 16 . Thanks to all.

27. This was a great puzzle which benefited from the enforced gap between my 2 efforts meaning that the few I had left, which seemed impossible, miraculously were obvious. 16d was my last in without understanding why so thanks to all for the answer. Too many excellent clues to pick just one, the anagrams were particularly good.

    Many thanks to Hudson and to Senf for the hints.

28. I got off to a good start getting 1d, 8d, and 30a very quickly but it was some considerable time before I realised I had the wrong anagram fodder for 1a! 16d was my last one in despite realising it was an anagram it took forever to solve! Lots of good clues and enjoyed the challenge. Actually managed the Spoonerism which for me was amazing. Many thanks to Hudson and Sent for the hints.

29. Certainly going up in difficulty. There was some general knowledge that was not in my sphere so required a bung in. Lots to enjoy and that is what we are here for. Favourite was 8 down and loved 18 across because it is such a fine word and not used much. Raised a chuckle with 27 across. Many thanks to Hudson and Senf

30. Brilliant from Hudson, with 16D an absolute beauty. VMT also to Senf.

31. An enjoyable solve that had the edge taken off by failing to solve 3d and 9a.

    9a was too complicated for my brain and needed to reveal the answer as the hint didn’t help me.

    The tent in 3d is new to me so I had no chance of solving.

    Thanks to all.

32. Almost a complete solve apart from being defeated by 16d, apparently not the only one. Yes, I was thinking of our national dish rather than IT. I knew that the island makes a lot of them but are they the best, which is what the clue is claiming?
    Never mind, still an enjoyable excursion with my COTD 1a and 1d, took me ages to recognise that they were anagrams and the Spoonerism at 3d.
    Thank you to the setter and to Senf for the hints.

33. Excellent puzzle, thanks Hudson. And thanks also to Senf for the blog, especially the Great Blue 23a. I didn’t know the 22a word, but it was clearly clued. More useful knowledge filed away.

34. Late finish for me as a busy day. A nicely enjoyable and chewy solve with a few parsings to be checked. I was pleased to get 26 a word I hadn’t heard of. I did think the synonym of ‘chancellor’ would be more taxing , but lucky for me not. I did stumble when inputting 7d, as I did think there was a vowel missing , not having written the mathematical term for many many years. I was pleased also to recall 3d as being a tent from my Sunday school days. Thanks Hudson for the fun and Senf.

35. 28a and 16d were both bung ins as I’d never heard of the former and didn’t twig the IT connection in the latter. A lot of head scratching and a fair bit of reverse engineering went on. Favourite was 8d when the penny dropped. Thanks to Hudson and Senf. I’m not sure I’ve got the mental fortitude left to carry on with the toughie.

36. That took some unravelling with hold-ups over 3d, 4d and 21a. Liked surface of 22a. “Is compelled” in 20a prevented my parsing. Have been dipping in and out of this all day so am relieved to have finally sorted it. TVM Hudson and Senf.

37. Good evening

    It’s taken me forever to finish today’s crozzie; far be it from me to disagree with our esteemed blogger, but I think today’s clues were definitely worth 3*.

    I really didn’t reckon I’d get to the end; a few tricky clues on the LHS of the grid almost had me beaten. I put away the blue pen I’d been using, and fetched my Lucky Green one – at which point 1d fell into place, and the rest fell after that, with 9a last one in.

    COTD: joint honours to 16d and the superb Spoonington at 3d.

    Many thanks to Hudson and to Senf.

38. 3 down hilarious!

39. Plans/mice/men update….There’s transport carnage in central Europe due to a major storm and I didn’t even make it to the station never mind the airport so I’ll be a no show in York unfortunately.
    Have fun everybody!
    Rob/Hudson

40. 3*/4* …
    liked 7D “Loth to struggle with a grim topic of a maths class (9)”

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