Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31258
Hints and tips by Mr K
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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ****
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday.
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 Checks digestive issue - without question these things are a let-down (4,6)
DAMP SQUIBS: A synonym of checks or moderates and the abbreviation for a digestive issue are sandwiching (without) an abbreviation for question
6a Couple object (4)
ITEM: A double definition
10a Physical strength of brute moving weight to the end (5)
SINEW: In another word for a brute move the single letter for weight to the end of the word
11a One working on cool apartment's expansion (9)
INFLATION: The Roman one and working or not off both come after (on, in an across clue) cool or fashionable and another word for apartment
12a Rum - extremely sweet variety (7)
STRANGE: The outer letters (extremely) of SWEET with a synonym of variety
13a Artful trick from minor in audition (7)
SLEIGHT: A homophone (in audition) of an adjective meaning minor
14a Graham's band's involved in robbery? (5-3-4)
SMASH-AND-GRAB: An anagram (involved) of GRAHAMS BANDS
18a and 21a: Words to suggest let's try comic TV show (8,4,7)
STRICTLY COME: The answer interpreted as wordplay (words to suggest) leads to LET’S TRY COMIC
21a See 18 Across
DANCING: See 18a
23a Take advantage of some candles I lit up on the counter (7)
UTILISE: The answer is hidden in the reversal (some … on the counter) of CANDLES I LIT UP
24a Humiliation in a cellar (9)
ABASEMENT: A from the clue with another word for cellar
25a Initially Westward Ho! is really lovely for brief trip (5)
WHIRL: First letters (initially) of the next five words in the clue
26a Possibly left team (4)
SIDE: Another double definition. The possibly indicates that the first one is by definition
27a Guy fined in Barking is not improving (10)
UNEDIFYING: An anagram (barking, as in crazy) of GUY FINED IN
Down
1d Stop in Germany and in France catching ships regularly (6)
DESIST: The IVR code for Germany with “and” in French containing (catching) alternate letters (regularly) of SHIPS
2d Old woman with carer after son leaves to get dressing (6)
MANURE: An informal word for old woman or mother with a hospital carer minus the single letter for son (after son leaves)
3d Singer makes these EMI castings when taking time out to be flexible (6,8)
SEWING MACHINES: An anagram (to be flexible) of EMI CASTINGS WHEN minus the physics symbol for time (taking time out)
4d Something cleaner than PG Tips for us - nose varies when brewed and left (9)
UNIVERSAL: The first letters of (tips for) US and NOSE are followed by an anagram (when brewed) of VARIES and the single letter for left
5d Coach handles very loud fans (5)
BUFFS: Another word for a coach contains (handles) the musical abbreviation for very loud
7d Spurs team principally supported by oil workers (8)
TRIGGERS: The first letter (principally) of TEAMS is followed by (supported by, in a down clue) some oil workers
8d Crew on island with boat abandoned somewhere in Canada (8)
MANITOBA: A verb synonym of crew is followed by (on, in a down clue) the single letter for island and an anagram (abandoned) of BOAT
9d Model met wife with a vodka - I disapprove (4,1,3,4,2)
TAKE A DIM VIEW OF: An anagram (model, as an imperative) of MET WIFE A VODKA I
15d Esteemed American clubs rely on journalist (9)
ACCOUNTED: Concatenate the single letter for American, the playing card abbreviation for clubs, a synonym of rely, and a usual abbreviated journalist
16d Old wheels when cycling caused risk occasionally (4,4)
USED CARS: The letters in CAUSED are cycled two places and then followed by alternate letters (occasionally) of RISK
17d Close to Old Ford Road hosting function in boozer (8)
DRUNKARD: The fusion of the last letter (close to) of OLD, a two-letter Ford car, and the abbreviation for road is containing (hosting) function or operate
19d Big kid with no bottoms, returning home to get swimming costume (6)
BIKINI: BIG KID minus the last letter in each word (with no bottoms) is followed by the reversal (returning) of home or not out
20d Traveller's complaint having rented posh car from Spooner (3,3)
JET LAG: Apply the Spooner treatment to a (3,3) phrase that could mean “rented (a particular brand of) posh car”
22d Constituents to mingle and gather (5)
GLEAN: The answer is hidden as part of (constituents to) MINGLE AND
Thanks to Django for today’s fine puzzle. Which clues did you like best?
The Quick Crossword pun: CHUM + ACHE + HER = JAMAICA
A worthy level for a Friday back-pager with an appropriate amount of thought provocation. An erratic start very slowly started to fill out. On reflection, nothing too onerous, but I’m still needing the parsing for 1a as I just don’t see the digestive bit! The singer at 3d had me trying to find a) a musical artist and b) a bird until the penny dropped; loved it. 18/21a was nicely crafted as was 9d.
My thanks to the setter and Mr K
2.4*/4*
The last three letter of the solution are the issue.
Thanks GP.
We like the appropriateness of a GP telling you the medical bit of the word. Yes, we do.
… am glad that question was asked because I could figure out how the “t” went missing from the “squits”🤣.
A typical Friday brain work out ending in the NW, with 2d last it. I was well shot of the mark here too ..: I was sure mayo was involved with the dressing.
Cotd 3d … although tbh I thought that brand went down the tube many years ago, at least the Clydebank factory shut its doors but the railway station remains to this day,
Thanks to setter and MrK.
A backpager with a couple of toughie-level clues thrown in, it must be Friday.
I liked the cool apartment in 11a and the old Ford in 17d but my COTD has to be something cleaner than PG in 4d, which I thought was a brilliant deception.
Smashing puzzle, my thanks to our setter and Mr K.
A lovely puzzle with nothing to cause too much brain chewing.
Top picks for me were 4d, 2d, 3d, 11a and 24a.
Thanks to Mr K and the setter.
For me that was a very enjoyable three star Friday special, that I did not quite finish.
My crossword methodology is very simple; Step 1 – solve the clue, Step 2 – parse the solution. I knew when I was midway through Stage 1 that parsing was going to present a few challenges and I was not disappointed.
1a – remembered that without can mean the opposite.
13a – do not recall seeing ‘audition’ used a homophone indicator before.
18a/21a – Failure on my part – the first two words of the solution are an anagram of three words in the clue. The third word of the solution I’ve assumed is being used as an anagram indicator. Not sure I really understand how the wordplay brings them together.
Today’s favourites:
9d because it made me smile.
17d needed four separate elements to be placed in their correct order….clever
My COTD is 4d – very clever – with misdirection of the first order, PG Tips and brewed could only mean one thing thanks to the capitalisation of Tips. How wrong could I be!
My thanks to the setter and Mr K for the hints
Hi, Graham. Just in case you encounter it again, the homophone indicator is “in audition”, not just “audition” (which on its own wouldn’t be the right part of speech to work as an indicator).
3*/4*. This proved to be a good Friday challenge especially in the SW corner where I failed totally to parse 17d.
I did enjoy the solve with 4d my favourite.
Many thanks to the setter and to Mr K.
I found18a/21a a very confusing clue, and wasn’t sure what the synonym for digestive issues was supposed to be in 1a so it was a DNF for me. I did like the geographical clue at 8d but didn’t particularly enjoy the puzzle overall. Thanks to Mr ,K, I needed the hints today and rhanks to emthe compiler
Friendly and fun – thank you to Django and Mr K
The expression at 1a always reminds me of my mother-in-law who got more words and phrases wrong than right and always replaced the firework with a cephalopod!
V funny CS.
Aren’t they all wet?
A super puzzle with 18/21a and 4d top of the pile for me. I actually completed this one quicker than most this week in terms of identifying the correct solutions, although some of the parsing was definitely Friday-appropriate. Now I should get some exercise given that it seems to be neither raining nor ridiculously hot. Thanks very much to the setter and to Mr K.
This excellent offering took two bites to get it done and a fair bit of crumpet scratching in places too. I very much liked the anagram at 14a, plus 3d, 5d and the spoonerism at 20d. Cotd however goes to 1a. Thanks to Django and Mr K.
A very enjoyable Friday-level puzzle – thanks to the setter (who I see that Mr K has identified as Django) and Mr K.
I have lots of ticks on my printout including 1a, 18/21a, 4d and 20d.
I found this challenging to complete and needed the hints to parse several. Once I had got there, 18/21A and 4 D became my favourites. Many thanks to setter and hinter.
Hmm – so, for the first time ever, to my knowledge, the setter, Django as already noted, was identified in the on-line versions, web page and app, of the puzzle. Is this a change of policy or did today’s puzzle begin its life as a Toughie and then was changed to a back pager? Watch this space!
An enjoyable not too demanding Friday challenge – ***/****
Favourite, what else could it be – 8d!
Thanks to Django and Mr K
When I saw 8d I immediately thought of you Senf. Thought you’d like that, what an honour.
I very much hope it’s a change of policy, Senf!
So good to see the setter deservedly credited on the back page, just as they are on the Toughies. I’ve never understood why the setter should be denied their moment in the limelight and sincerely hope this is a permanent change and not a cock-up.
I’m bucking the trend here because I did not find this very friendly but I am going through a bad solving patch at the moment. I have never watched the programme at 18 & 21a so that had me at a disadvantage. My first in was the wife with the vodka at 9d, which shows how dismal my performance was. A great puzzle but one I could not do justice to. However, I did like the digestive issue at 1a and that is my COTD.
Thank you, Django for a good old mangle. Thank you, Mr. K. for the hints.
You and me both Steve. Not a great solving day 😥
A superb finish to the week with jang in splendid form. There were so many excellent constructions and surfaces which makes it a perfect crossword.
18a is great fun as is 4d. Kudos to him for getting PG Tips in a clue and I liked the use of Singer.
An invidious task to pick a three but I’ll go with 14a, 8d and 9d.
MTTTA and Mr K.
3*/5*
Another surprise this week as this is a nice Friday puzzle to go on with.
2.5*/4* for me
Favourites include 14a, 18/21a, 8d, 9d, 19d & 20d — with winners 19d & 20d
Thanks to Django & Mr K.
Definitely worthy of a Friday with several in the south west holding me up.
3*/5*
19d, 20d and 4a favourites today.
Thanks to Mr K and Django – named in the on line app version for the first time.
Cracking puzzle – natch, since it’s a Django creation – and a most enjoyable N-S solve which at first left only two missing in the S. Returning an hour later and suddenly the fog lifted and those two went in as well, leaving me wondering what the earlier problem had been.
Honouors went to COTD 4d, 9d (great surface & anagram), and 11a, but many others could have gained the podium as well.
Many thanks indeed to Django and to Mr K
A top puzzle to end the week in: lots of twisty fun, but at just the right level for me to complete it unaided and in a middling sort of time — except for the Ford in 17d, to which thanks to Mr K for explaining.
Highlights included: 1d with the regular ships (one of those where I cautiously just did what it said and was surprised when a valid word appeared); the 2d dressing; the 3d singer, I mean Singer; 4d with PG Tips; and the 16d old wheels — thank you to Django for all the entertainment.