Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31246
Hints and tips by Mr K
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BD Rating - Difficulty **** - Enjoyment ***
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. I found today’s grid fill and parsing a little more challenging than those of recent Friday puzzles.
In the hints below most indicators are italicized, and underlining identifies definitions. Clicking on the answer buttons will reveal the answers. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.
Across
1a Bird, female, going over fence (7)
SWALLOW: A female farm animal containing (going over) a synonym of fence
5a Preset a broadcast for most BBC Four programmes? (7)
REPEATS: An anagram (broadcast) of PRESET A. The ? indicates that the definition is by example
9a A domain for press officer dealing with personal cover (5)
APRON: Link together A from the clue, an abbreviation for what a press officer does, and another word for “dealing with”
10a Spooner's fancy, girl that starts out hot and bubbly (9)
DISHWATER: Apply the Spooner treatment to the fusion of fancy or desire and a girl as seen by her parents
11a Academic clue: Controversy over king and slavery (6-4)
DONKEY-WORK: Concatenate an informal word for an academic, another word for clue, the reversal (over) of a controversy or fight, and the chess abbreviation for king
12a Latest about caging rook and another bird ... (4)
WREN: The reversal (about) of a synonym of latest containing (caging) the chess abbreviation for rook
14a ... 'I deny smuggling bird' - rogue holding right papers? (8,4)
IDENTITY CARD: I DENY from the clue containing (smuggling) a small songbird is followed by another noun for rogue containing (holding) the single letter for right
18a Growing high and mighty, called out the arts (12)
HORTICULTURE: A homophone (called out) of a word meaning “high and mighty” is followed by another word for “the arts”
21a Reckless to use bit of bacon with a third off (4)
RASH: Two thirds (with a third off) of a word for a slice of bacon
22a Cartoon character, old and troubled by love (6,4)
DONALD DUCK: An anagram (troubled) of OLD AND with the cricket equivalent of a love score in tennis
25a In retreat, I'd keep quiet about our humiliation (9)
DISHONOUR: Cement together the reversal (in retreat) of I’D, an interjection meaning “keep quiet”, about or concerning, and OUR from the clue
26a Magnetism found in taps before detachment (5)
CHARM: The single letters for the two taps on a sink come before another word for detachment
27a August time consumed in scheming (7)
STATELY: The physics symbol for time and a synonym of consumed are inserted together in another word for scheming
28a Desmond and Helen's city break (7)
DESTROY: A contraction for Desmond with the city associated with Helen, daughter of Zeus
Down
1d Drink available after seconds (6)
SHANDY: Available or nearby comes after the single letter for seconds
2d Unwell, with change of direction causing exposure (6)
AIRING: In another word for unwell change the single letter for one handedness to the other (with change of direction)
3d See the answer, fill in, see do I like this fluid setter? (7,3)
LINSEED OIL: The answer is hidden in (see the answer …) FILL IN SEE DO I LIKE
4d Central London party attended by wife whose husband's left? (5)
WIDOW: Glue together a postcode for central London, making use of the Roman one, a usual word for party, and the single letter for wife
5d Check surplus water coming down - first sign of trouble (9)
RESTRAINT: Join together another word for surplus, water coming down from the sky, and the first letter of (first sign of) TROUBLE
6d Smallest man's raunchy pictures reported (4)
PAWN: A homophone (reported) of raunchy pictures or videos. The definition is a bit cryptic
7d Heading north in Guatemala, I retraced sort of road (8)
ARTERIAL: The answer is hidden reversed in (heading north in, in a down clue) GUATEMALA I RETRACED
8d Love song endears, writhing with ecstasy (8)
SERENADE: An anagram (writhing) of ENDEARS with the single letter for the drug ecstasy
13d Side effects for cutting through pipes (2-8)
BY-PRODUCTS: for or “in favour of” sandwiched by (cutting) synonyms of through and of pipes
15d Loony urge resolved in doctor's study? (9)
NEUROLOGY: An anagram (resolved) of LOONY URGE
16d Guessing game as race's entered by a Democrat under 100 (8)
CHARADES: A verb synonym of race, with its S from the clue, containing (entered by) both A from the clue and single letter for Democrat comes after (under, in a down clue) the Roman symbol for 100
17d Tory PM cycling south-east area deep in our region (5,3)
IRISH SEA: The first name of the last Tory PM with his letters cycled one place is followed by the single letters for south, east, and area
19d Gold couple will give nanny? (2,4)
AU PAIR: The chemical symbol for gold with another word for couple
20d Heavens, grasping minx getting tight (6)
SKIMPY: A synonym of heavens containing (grasping) a minx or mischievous person
23d Harsh Republican taking LSD? On the contrary (5)
ACRID: Inverting the wordplay (on the contrary) another word for LSD is containing (taking) the single letter for Republican
24d Left grounded after regular absences (4)
GONE: Alternate letters (after regular absences) of GROUNDED
Thanks to today’s setter. Which clues did you like best?
The Quick Crossword pun: THYME + STABLE = TIMES TABLE
Great puzzle, some lovely clues, 11a was my favourite. Thanks to todays setter and Mr K.
I found this easier than yesterdays but there were still a few that took some effort. 1d, 17d and 28 across are my top picks. 1a is also very clever.
Many thanks to the setter and Mr K
Oh dear….not a good day for me.
A guess-fest. I finally made it but had very little idea of a lot of the parsings.
Thanks to the setter and to Mr K
Oh dear after being happy about quite a long run of completed puzzles this defeated me. I’d managed less than half the clues in my normal time. Thank you Mr K I will learn from studying the parsing later today. And of course thanks to to the setter too.
Only three in at first pass and a Spoonerism to boot. I got there though last (bung) in was 11a and I couldn’t parse it.
The homophones at 18a and 6d don’t really work for me .. I’ll need to do something with this Scottish pronunciation!
Plenty to choose for cotd but 17d is my main contender… yes a pun!
Thanks to setter and Mr K.
I found today3 backpager heavy-going. It was particularly hard to get a start in the NW and I filled in many of the ues using the definition and the checkers. Much of the parsing became clear only retrospectively. However, I did like the splendid lurker at 3d, the well-disguised lego clue at 1a and the anagram at 15d. 18a was a clever love it /or hate it clue and I’ m not sure which. Camp to join. Thanks to the compiler and to Mr K for the hints.
One or two less than flowing surfaces took the edge off this otherwise very decent backpage workout.
Thumbs up for what was growing in 18a, the humiliation in 25a and august in 27a.
My thanks to our setter and Mr K.
Excellent puzzle, hugely enjoyable, and certainly – appropriately for a Friday – for me more chewy than the other back pagers this week.
Could not immediately see the first few clues in the NW so started in the SE with what turned out to be my COTD, possibly COTM, 28a – brilliantly witty. Moved steadily upwards, then NE and finally the NW with a loud clang as the penny dropped at 4d. Good range of clue types, admirable self-restraint from the setter on the inclusion of anagrams, lovely surfaces and plenty of humour – big smiles at 5a (very unfair!) and 6d.
Honours to COTD 28a, 18a & 8d. Many thanks to the setter (Twm or Zandio?) and to Mr K for the blog.
I found this tough, with too many leaps of faith and reverse engineering to derive much enjoyment from completion. I found the Spoonerism a bit of a stretch. Cotd is a toss up between 3d and 17d with the former winning by a nose. Thanks compiler, I’m sure others will love it, but not really one for me today. Thanks also to Mr K.
4*/2.5*. I found this challenging particularly in the NW corner which took me longer than the other three quarters put together.
I thought it was a bit of a stretch that PR in 9a is a domain, and that papers (plural) in 14a equate to ID (singular) but I guess the question mark lets the latter off the hook. I can’t make sense of the surface for 3d, and wouldn’t 4d be better with “late” instead of “left”?
Thanks to the setter and to Mr K.
I took ‘fluid setter’ to refer to the oil found in the lurker being used as a setting agent with putty.
Hi Graham, I understand that “fluid setter” is the definition but it is the overall reading of the surface of the clue that I can’t make head nor tail of.
Lurkers often conjure up crowbarred surfaces and this is sure one of ’em!
I can make head of it but not tail…
I’ve worked out the answer (I saw it) and filled it in. See? ( as in ‘Take a look’). I’m now trying to decide if I like this setter’s fluid style of writing.
That’s how I read it though it could be complete tosh.
That was one of the iffy surfaces I referred to above.
I found this very chewy but got there in the end. At one point I thought it was going to be a DNS let alone a DNF.
Top picks for me were 18a, 11a, 17d and 3d.
Thanks to Mr K and the setter.
Only 2 across fill-ins on first pass, but the downs from the bottom proved to be slightly more productive after which a steady but chewy progression. Several reverse parsed having got the answer from the definition and checkers. 18a was last in, delayed by opting initially for the wrong PM in 17d (Lord North), but 21a soon changed that. Plenty of lovely surfaces, once I got onto the setter’s wavelength and I’ll go with 18a as COTD
MT to the setter and MrK
2.5*/4*
Quite a tricky puzzle as befits Friday – thanks to our setter for the entertainment and Mr K for the review.
For me both homophones were stretched so far that the elastic broke.
I ticked 10a, 27a, 28a and 17d.
If you usually avoid Friday Toughies like the plague because you find them too difficult today would be a good time to dip your toe in the water because Luxor’s puzzle is relatively friendly.
Interesting on the homophones: they were unproblematic in my internal accent, and on reading your comment I can’t work out how not to pronounce them the same! Are you able to describe how they differ for you?
For me, both halves in the first one rhyme with ‘naughty’ and ‘forty’, and both in the second with ‘corn’ and ‘lawn’.
There’s no letter R in either pawn or haughty so the homophones don’t work for me.
You’re correct, S. If you google the appropriate words and click on the audible pronunciation button, they do rhyme with no perceivable R sound. And they certainly rhyme for me and people in my vicinity. But that doesn’t mean everyone says them that way. Many people in the UK, especially in the SW and Scotland, do indeed say poRn and hoRticulture with a decidedly perceptible R sound.
This needed some work but I got there in the end. It smacks of Zandio with some tough asks which I’m more than happy with on a Friday.
Isn’t it funny that some PMs are known just by their first name because they (the names) are different, e.g 17d, Boris and Winston?
My LOI was the reverend which I enjoyed.
Medals go to 22a, 28a and 15d.
MTTTA and Special K.
4*/4*
Wow that was fun!! Got slightly stuck in the Cape Wrath corner but 1a flew past and the rest fell into place.
CsotD have to be 10a and 14a with a special smile for 1d – my old faithful Lab of many years ago.
A warm day with wind – kites are calling.
My thanks to the setter and of course Mr K
A very early start before a trip to the excellent eye clinic at Royal Shrewsbury – back home and waiting for my vision to clear…apologies for any typos.
Plenty to think about making today’s offering a near perfect end to the mid week puzzles.
Both of the lurkers were well disguised…3d reminding me days long ago and cricket bats. I had to recite 18a a couple of times before I could parse the first half of the solution and the same applied to the spoonerism (I assume the second half of which is a homophone).
I wonder if 26a would have been clearer using “on taps’.
11a and 22a were clever but my COTD is 27a with 17d as the runner up.
Many thanks to the setter and Mr K
GP, 26a. I suspect the setter didn’t use “on” because many taps don’t have H or C on them nowadays.To be pedantic, the C and H are the wrong way round in the answer (not that it matters). The plumbing covention in the UK and US is to position individual pillar taps with hot on the left and cold on the right; similarly with the levers on central mixer taps
Tricky to get started on and several that I could not parse but once finished I felt very satisfied. I liked 22a and the well disguised lurker at 3d.
Many thanks to the setter and to MrK for the hints.
Didn’t spot the lurker! Kept me occupied for the second half of our drive to Aldeburgh. Due to A47 being closed had to follow Satnav until beyond Norwich so my mind was occupied. Great puzzle with the south going in first. Not sure donkey work is slaving though. Thanks to Mr K and setter
That was tougher than most Fridays but Abe Lincoln was right. I see I’m not alone in not understanding some of the surfaces such as 3d. I did like the cartoon character at 22a and it reminded me that if you turn upside down you get POTUS. My COTD is the city belonging to Desmond and Helen at 28a.
Thank you, setter for a good brain mangling. Thank you, Mr. K. for the hints.
That’s a quacker, Steve!
That is superb!!!
A top-notch Friday puzzle, from Z?? Fine clues, a pretty tough challenge and a very enjoyable tussle – just up my street, this one. I have ticked a fair few and my favourite, by a whisker, is 28a. 4*/4.5*.
I found this to be a tale of two halves, the south fell very quickly but the north west held me up for an age because I put barrier in on first reading it .(Harrier to barrier). Once the right bird flew in the rest followed apart from 11a ? even though I could see it began with don grrr.I Not sure how much I enjoyed this but potd is 17d followed by 14a . Thanks to all
My kind of crossword: imaginative clues, with lots of fun working out the wordplay. Thank you so much to the setter. I finished this in about the same time as Monday’s, the lower number of anagrams in today’s helping to balance out other kinds of hardness.
Highlights included the 14a bird smuggling, growing high and mighty in 18a, 28a with Desmond and Helen, exposure in 2d, the PM cycling in 17d, and 3d for the pretext to include this Two Ronnies sketch:
Thank you to the setter, and to Mr K for confirming a couple of parsings.
I found this Friday puzzle tricky this week and a few clues I could not parse. With the answers that came I was able to use cross check letters to work the rest out.
3*/3*
Favourites 10a, 21a, 28a, 1d 15d & 19d — with winner 1d
Thanks to setter and Mr K.
Hello all, compiler here. Thanks very much for taking the time to solve, analyse and discuss. It’s always appreciated.
I was lucky enough to spend much of the last month trying to write clues in a new bar called Top Hat & Tails in Teignmouth, Devon. It has a nice “speakeasy” vibe with cool American music, and I particularly enjoyed their blues playlist. I don’t know if it improved the clue-writing but it was certainly inspiring to hear classics like this one from 1967, when Albert King hooked up with Booker T & The MGs and the Memphis Horns.
Thanks again, and have a good weekend.
Thank you for the puzzle, Zandio, which certainly exercised my grey cells. A great weekend to you and yours. 😊