Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31252
Hints and tips by Mr K
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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. Nice puzzle today. Biggest holdup was parsing the crafty 22a.
In the hints below most indicators are italicized, and underlining identifies precise definitions and cryptic definitions. Clicking on the answer buttons will reveal the answers. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.
Across
1a Claim ability to lose weight for free originally (7)
PROFESS: In a word meaning ability or skill the single letter for weight is replaced by (to lose weight for) the first letter (originally) of FREE
5a Exposed splits about temperature in nightclub (7)
CABARET: Exposed or naked is inserted between (splits) a Latin abbreviation for about or approximately and the physics symbol for temperature
9a Thinks highly of council tax formerly (5)
RATES: A double definition. The first is informal
10a Calling to back bill's acceptance (9)
ADMISSION: Calling or vocation comes after (to back) a contraction for a bill that might be selling something
11a Domestic oath as yet needs revision, taking month (4-2-4)
STAY-AT-HOME: An anagram (needs revision) of OATH AS YET containing (taking) the single letter for month
12a Miss absent from show counter (4)
DISC: A word meaning miss or forget is deleted from (absent from) show or divulge
14a Dish, say, girls on vacation by Scottish mountain order (4,8)
EGGS BENEDICT: Concatenate the abbreviation for say or for example, the outer letters (on vacation) of GIRLS, a Scottish word for a mountain, and an order or command
18a Heard famous writer and family in railway carriages (7,5)
ROLLING STOCK: A homophone of the famous writer who created Harry Potter is followed by a synonym of family or ancestry
21a Models formal clothes, striking uniform (4)
SITS: A formal clothing outfit minus (striking) the single letter for uniform
22a Equivalent time in country flipping twit is touring (10)
TANTAMOUNT: Insert the physics symbol for time in the reversal (flipping) of a country in the Middle East, which is all contained by (… is touring, in the sense of going around) a verb meaning twit or tease
25a Pester rebel strangely catching fever (9)
BELEAGUER: A anagram (strangely) of REBEL containing (catching) a usual fever mostly encountered in crosswordland
26a Letter from Greece not half appalled King earlier (5)
KAPPA: Half (not half) of APPALLED comes after (…earlier) the chess abbreviation for king
27a Dispute wife has right point of view (7)
WRANGLE: Join together the genealogical abbreviation for wife, the single letter for right, and another word for “point of view”
28a Lowest quality, extremely elasticated fabric (7)
WORSTED: An adjective meaning “lowest quality” is followed by the outer letters (extremely) of ELSATICATED
Down
1d Rather like standard district (6)
PARISH: The answer might, whimsically, mean somewhat like the standard (on a golf course, perhaps)
2d Disney upset over Universal previously making Robin Hood? (6)
OUTLAW: The first name of Mr Disney is reversed (upset) and placed after both (… previously) the cricket abbreviation for over and the single letter for universal. The ? indicates that the definition is by example
3d Late again travelling around southern part of England (4,6)
EAST ANGLIA: An anagram (travelling) of LATE AGAIN containing (around) the single letter for southern
4d Hit tennis shot (5)
SMASH: A straightforward double definition
5d French produce representative inspired by Felix maybe (9)
CAMEMBERT: A representative (in parliament, perhaps) contained by (inspired by) what cartoon character Felix defines by example (maybe)
6d President occupied mostly with healthcare at first (4)
BUSH: Occupied or not free minus its last letter (mostly) is followed by the first letter of HEALTHCARE
7d Sign of cold Irish criminal conveying money around (8)
RHINITIS: An anagram (criminal) of IRISH containing (conveying) the reversal (around) of a slang word for money
8d Paralytic, an Etonian raised to embody toughness (8)
TENACITY: The reversal (raised, in a down clue) of PARALYTIC AN ETONIAN is hiding (to embody) the answer
13d European blocks initial leader in race perhaps for UN Secretary-General? (10)
PEACEMAKER: The single letter for European is inserted in (blocks) a person paid to lead the early stages of a running race. The ? indicates that the definition is by example
15d Form of ID in Iran guest forged (9)
SIGNATURE: An anagram (forged) of IRAN GUEST
16d Weapon angry boyfriend picked up (8)
CROSSBOW: A homophone (picked up) of a phrase meaning “angry boyfriend”
17d Returning everything provided, crowd aboard number of ships (8)
FLOTILLA: Another word for a crowd is inserted in (aboard) the reversal (returning) of the fusion of synonyms of everything and provided
19d University course in place? One may have a hand in it (6)
PUPPET: The abbreviation for a university course covering three topics is inserted in place or set
20d Cope with purchasing essentially coarser yarn (6)
STRAND: Cope with or tolerate containing (purchasing) the central letter (essentially) of COARSER
23d Cast during broadcast (5)
THREW: A homophone (broadcast) of a synonym of during
24d Revolting insect bite (4)
TANG: The reversal (revolting) of a small flying insect
Thanks to today’s setter. Which clues did you like best?
The Quick Crossword pun: TIE + TANNIC = TITANIC
A mixture of fairly easy and quite convoluted clues, which is fair enough for a Friday backpager.
I liked the flipping twit in 22a, the French produce in 5d and the race leader being blocked in 13d.
My thanks to our setter and Mr K.
This idyllic corner of the Garden of England is becoming increasingly less fragrant as we have been without running water since early on Tuesday.
I found this relatively gentle for a Friday .. and I’m posting before Steve!
I do admit to an error though … cast threw me at 23d and I homophoned my way to throw!
I was pleased to correctly parse 22a without needing the hint (been there btw and not going back)
13d was my last in … and it was a “light bulb” moment. Although UN Secretary General peacemaker … mmmm! … on paper maybe. Not seeing much peace at the moment. I think he needs to get out more.
Thanks to setter and Mr K.
This all went fairly smoothly until I hit The Home Counties which took me an age.
Sure enough, my LOI was the imparsable (impossible to parse) 22a which I eventually worked out. Not knowing the verb ‘twit’ didn’t help. I spent too long with 19d trying to justify that ‘ten’ meant ‘course in place’ to get mitten. Solving 26a put a stop to that nonsense.
Someone told me a nice way to remember the pronunciation of JK’s surname. She is indeed ‘rolling’ in it.
I think this is the work of ‘His Smoothness’ because:
1. There’s a rekrul
2. The middle letter of a seven letter word is required in 20d
3. We need to think of a synonym of ‘show’ and ‘miss’ both of which aren’t the obvious choices. I’ll be impressed with solvers who work it out from the parsing as I biffed it. An extremely difficult clue.
My podium is 22a, 15d and the brilliant 2d.
MTTTA and Mr K.
4*/4*
I found today’s xword fairly straightforward but I don’t understand the explanation of 12 across.
Can someone please explain it to me.
OVER removed from DISCOVER? I must admit I originally parsed it as O leaving DISCO but wasn’t entirely happy!
I took disclose as a synonym of show and removed the synonym for miss (I did check both in the BRB.
That’s cleaner. Thanks.
The much fresher start to the day is a welcome relief from the recent scorchers but as the weather cooled the crossword warmed up…today’s excellent puzzle gave me a couple of head scratching moments.
If I had heard of the slang term for money in 7d before it has erased itself from my memory. I had to check I had the correct synonym for ‘exposed’ at 5d. The surface of 9d perhaps unkindly made me think of a recent PM.
14a and 18a were both very well constructed but joint winners for COTD – 22a and 17d. I thought they were beautifully crafted and assembling the elements into position was very satisfying.
Many thanks to the setter and Mr K for the hints.
I seem to have lost the ability to read and write….5d is really 5a and 9d is actually 8d.
Well I finished with all the correct answers but several were unparseable by me so many thanks for that Mr K – my admiration for you bloggers knows no bounds.
My thanks to the setter for a real challenge
Normally manage to chew my way through the parsing post-completion but was grateful for the blog for four of these. The three letter abbreviation in 19D was unheard of to me. I just know the face masks and overalls!
TIL that TWIT is a verb. How has it taken 60 years and decades of crosswords to discover this? I’d be lying if I said that was the only reason I struggled today.
You’ve changed your alias (from DickyR) so this needed moderation – both will work from now on.
I found this more than a bit chewy and some of the parsings, esp 22a, were beyond me and was grateful for the hints to set me straight. I thought 2d was an excellent construction and liked the French produce at 5d. Podium places go to 18a, 1d and 14a in top spot. Thanks to compiler and a tip of the hat to Mr K for the hints.
The trickiest back-pager of the week (as it should be) and very enjoyable. Thanks to our setter and Mr K.
It’s difficult to pick a podium from such a fine selection of clues – I’ll go with 5a, 18a and 19d but I could have selected many others.
One to go searching around the back of my sock drawer to see what coins I could find which turned out to be one half-crown and one florin which together are saying that this is a Silvanus production – **/*****
22a was a ‘bung in’ until the matryoshka revealed itself.
Candidates for favourite – 14a, 28a, 1d, 3d, and 7d – and the winner is 14a.
Thanks to Silvanus, or whomsoever if my 22½p (~41.7¢) goes down the drain, and to Mr K.
I, too, found this the hardest of the week and a pleasantly stiff challenge as befits a Friday. I had plenty of options for a favourite, but the winner was the clever 19d.
Many thanks to our setter for the challenge and to Mr K.
A toughie if ever I saw one, I was beat by 4 today, so roll on tomorrow…
4*/4.5*. This was certainly challenging for my poor brain after yesterday’s heat and humidity soaked cricket match, but it was well worth the effort. Like many others, the meaning of “twit” needed in 22a was new to me.
I couldn’t make any sense out of the surface for 14a, which is the one thing which makes me think this might not be a Silvanus production.
On which subject …
I was out all day yesterday but noticed a posting this morning about surface readings citing a comment by Big Dave when interviewed that beginners should ignore surface readings. Having had several conversations with the great man on this subject, I believe that this was only intended to help beginners when solving to stop them from confusing the surface of the clue with the wordplay.
BD however was, like me, an avid believer in the importance of a believable surface as part of a satisfactory clue – the so-called “pub test”: if you overheard someone saying the clue out loud in a pub, would it make sense?
Many thanks to the setter and to Mr K.
Grub ordered by lasses on their hols in the Highlands?
I’m all in it’s a Smooth production so hope that you’re wrong – there’s always a first time?
Sorry Dave – ignore that wrong clue.
Many cryptic clues do have really smooth/literate surfaces but a good proportion of surface reads wouldn’d pass the “pub test” because they don’t make immediate sense as stand alone sentences/statements or some that are just gobbledegook. You can usually contrive/crowbar some sort of believeable conotation out of them if you must (for a clue surface) but they wouldn’t pass any pub test. You would never see the surfaces of 14a or 26a (for example, there are others) written down or heard spoken in a pub in that form and even if you did they wouldn’t make any sense because they have no surrounding context. They are contrivances to cradle the cryptic word-play and for that purpose they are perfectly fine.
Hi J
I think what it boils down to is some people give a lot of value to surfaces, others not so much.
I’m not a strict as RD’s pub test as I’m perfectly okay with, for example, 14a. We often see clues that create hugely random, almost Daliesque, scenes which I love but wouldn’t pass the pub test.
As long as it makes sense and is grammatically correct then I’m a happy bunny.
It seems like you’re aren’t too bothered about the surfaces or have I got that wrong?
I prefer good, smooth surfaces just like most solvers but a fair proportion of them simply don’t make immediate sense as stand-alone sentences/statements that would pass any so-called “pub test”. It’s just a fact. Of those, you can usually contrive to extract some believeable/literal connotion (which is what us solvers are good at) and that’s fine. But you would never see them written down in that form outside Crosswordland or spoken in a pub. I’m happy with all the surfaces in this and most cryptics. It really is best not to concentrate on surface reads – it can distrsact and misdirect you away form the word-play which leads to the answer. To me, this “pub test” is a nonense concept with no real merit.
Interesting and thank you.
You and I are going to have to disagree on this, Jose. As far as I am concerned, smooth surfaces are an essential component of the enjoyment of a cryptic puzzle. The converse that clunky surfaces spoil enjoyment is also true.
Still, it’s just as well that everyone on this site doesn’t agree with everyone else as there would then be no need for debate!
You did read my comment? I specifically and quite plainly said: “I prefer good, smooth surfaces just like most solvers ….”. Smooth surfaces are preferable but not obligatory and clunky ones are not at all uncommon – take it up with the setters and editors, not me. Many clue surfaces that you/me would consider “smooth” (in their specific context of a cryptic clue) would not pass your “pub test” because they are written in somewhat contrived/non-standard language (to suit the cryptic wordplay) that normal people would’nt use in everyday conversation. I don’t think we disagree as deeply as you imply.
I found that hard going and as I can’t blame it on the heat today I’ll blame it on the 3AM start to get to the Somerset Levels to hear the Savi’s warbler and great reed warbler!
I needed Mr K’s help to parse 22a and 19d as I didn’t twig the twit and didn’t know the abbreviation for the course.
Top picks for me were 1d, 7d, 24d and 13d.
Thanks to Mr K and the setter.
Lovely puzzle, a little more challenging than those that have preceded it this week, as should always be the case on a Friday. Great surfaces, humour, and a few other tells all suggest the work of Silvanus. Am more familiar with twit when used as a verb in what the BRB gives as an alternative meaning, “to upbraid”, and so parsing my answer to 22a was left to the end. Honours to 18a, 1d, 2d and 19d – which took me an embarrassingly long time to get, given it was my degree …
Many thanks indeed to Silvanus (or whomever else if not he) and Mr K
Quite a workout with – as Frank said at comment #1 – a mix of the straightforward and fiendish. I’m still struggling to parse 12a despite the clue above. I don’t see how the four letter word which needs deleting is a synonym for “miss”. Probably just having a moment, but if anyone can put me out of my misery, that would be nice. ****/***
Lose – miss – taken away from disclose meaning show
Thanks. All I could think of was ‘discover’!!
Thanks. All I could think of was ‘discover’. ‘Over’ doesn’t work, but feels like it might if you look at it funny.
A difficult guzzle but I really enjoyed the challenge of completing it, although parsing it took longer to parse it. 22a was my COTD, a very clever lego clue with a geographical element to help me, although it took awhile to work out the synonym for ‘twit’. I also liked the 14a dish anagram, the 7d lego clue and the 8d reverse lurker. Thanks to the compiler and to Mr K for the hints.
Can’t decide between clever or convoluted. Parsing proved to be the biggest hurdle and I am greatful (as ever) to our bloggers – Mr K, thanks for explaining 12a and 22a I had them both but was not satisfied with my (incomplete) parsing.
Thanks also to the setter and to the weather for being a little cooler!
Now that was a poser and no mistake! Still, as others have said and I I have afore, it is Friday. I’m so grateful to Mr. K. for explaining 22a but, even with his excellent hints, it took a while to sort out. How convoluted can a clue get? 😊 I tried far too long trying to use “gauntlet” or a derivative for 19d and I thought the reverse lurker was well hidden. I did like the wife with the right point of view at 27a. It reminded me of the directions to the toilets in my favourite Yorkshire pub “Gentlemen left because Women are always right.” My COTD is the famous writer at 18a.
Thank you, silvanus cos, surely, it be thou? Or to whomsoever, if not. Thanks you, Mr. K. for the hints, which were appreciated and needed and here’s a pusskit for you.
That was a tough one!
I don’t think it’s Perks is it Steve? Lovely picture though
For me again this week, a rather tricky Friday puzzle to gear us up into the week-end of Prize Cryptics. Again lots of parsing I didn’t get as I fumbled my way through. Probably tired this Thursday night after having to be up at 4am.
3*/3* for me
Favourites 27a, 3d, 8d, 16d & 24d — with winner my place of birth , 3d
Thanks to Silvanus(?) & Mr K.
I also thought this to be a fairly balanced mix of straightforward and obscure. The only one I needed assistance from Mr K was the counter at 12a; I was trying to convince myself that a french metallic bar surface was appropriate but couldn’t justify it, so thank you all for the explanation.
I really liked the 14a dish, the railway carriages and the french product at 5d.
My thanks to the Silvanus and Mr K
2.5*/3.5*
Trickiest of the back-page week for me too & by a margin despite a good few gimmes scattered around the grid. Had to confirm the ‘twit’ synonym & hadn’t previously realised JK’s surname was pronounced that way. A couple of whys (12d&22a) travelled on a later bus but all parsed in the end.
Cracking puzzle – particular likes included 14,18&27a + 2,7&13d. Fav was 2d – Universal distributed the Russell Crowe/Cate Blanchett version & Disney abandoned a planned remake.
Thanks to the setter & to Mr K
** / ****
Most difficult of the week as would be expected for a Friday but not as difficult as some other Fridays with 5a and 7d nearly gaining it a third difficulty star. I had a total block on those and needed the hints.
Otherwise, enjoyed it greatly and ticked lots, chief among them the 14a girls on vacation, the 13d European blocks and 17d Returning everything.
I’ll go with the Silvanus shout of others above.
Many thank to him or whomsoever and Mr K for the hints.
Didn’t know the twit so it was a bung in and had to check the university course even though I may have come across it before. Lots of really good clues so hard to pick a favourite but I’ll go with 25a. Thanks to the setter and Mr. K.
This was as straightforward as could be for a Friday until I got to the bottom right hand corner ? SE . Like others didn’t know twit as a verb and only when 13 went in, did it all fall into place . favourites 14,18,19 and 1d out of a very good bunch. I’ve no idea what a surface is so the arguments and counter arguments went right over my head .! Many thanks to all. I think I’ll miss today’s toughie and go back to yesterday’s which I only half tinkered with ,due to playing a bowls match , second in a week .too much in this heat .Golf this morning compounded my exhaustion.Siesta time .
Lovely crossie which lasted me the whole 2 hours run home from Aldeburgh. I found this decidedly tricky in places. It didn’t help my concentration that as part of the A47 (the part we use) is now closed we had to navigate our way around Norwich on the Satnav. There were 6 or 7 junctions in quick succession including 3 sets of lights and we ended up in the left lane instead of the right – all my fault of course – so went a long way before getting back on track. Will remember for our August trip. Thanks to the setter for the brain mangling and to Mr K and to Steve for the pusscat. My computer says my antivirus has expired so shall log off double quick. In fact I renewed it before we went away so now will have to find out whats going on – internal IT!