Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Daily Telegraph Cryptic 25788 – 1 Dec 08

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There are a number of crossword forums (fora?) on the internet, sharing thoughts and tips about all the various cryptic crosswords in circulation. There is a good one for The Times Cryptic. Another was set up to cover the Guardian and Independent. But there is not one, at the moment, for The Daily Telegraph Cryptic. This is a shame. I propose to rectify this, at least, in part (and for a while) by putting some solutions and thoughts on this blog, with an explanation as to ‘why’ the answer fits the clue.

Why? Partly to drive traffic to this site, obviously. To sell my book. I have a natural affinity with the DT, since the story of Crossword Ends in Violence (5) revolves around solutions found in The Daily Telegraph crosswords in 1944. The newspaper is not named in the book, because the account is fictionalised.

But I’m also putting up this stuff because I keep running into people who’d like to get into cryptic crosswords but don’t know where to start. Well, here are some solutions – and their working – to get you started. Some crossword experts have written fine books on crossword-solving, and some of these are abbreviated on the web. But I find that crossword-setters sometimes forget how dispiriting it is to be unable to cryptic clues, and how alien the whole process is for the beginner. So here is my attempt to rectify the situation.

But first, some golden rules of crossword solving:

1. It takes time, effort and concentration. This is not a skill you’ll be able to pick up quickly. I’ve been doing them on and off since I was about 13. That’s twenty years. And I still rarely finish them. And this is partly because I don’t do them every day. Crosswords are not like Sudoku, which take a hour or two the first time, and then automatic thereafter (hence they’re no fun). So the first golden rule is to be modest in your expectations.

2. There are lots of conventions that ‘you just have to know’. This can often make people cross – including me. Certain words are abbreviated in certain ways that you might know, or not know, but the regular solver, they are second nature. A Tory is often ‘Con’ or a member is often ‘MP’. A sailor can be ‘Tar’ or ‘PO’ (petty officer). See? You have been warned. (I’ve just bought a book of abbreviations as I’m tired of not knowing them!)

3. Usually, the clue is not to be read and solved ‘as a whole’. That’s the biggest, first and most common mistake in my experience. And I keep making it. A cryptic clue is like a concise clue, but with extra bits. And normally the clue means the first or last part of the clue and the rest is extra, to confirm that meaning. Confused? Let me explain with today’s Daily Telegraph. For this, you’ll need a copy of the Daily Telegraph. (I’ve had a look on their website and they don’t have today’s crossword on there. Smart.)

So, let’s have a look at:

Daily Telegraph Cryptic Crossword 25788 – 1 Dec 08

Clue type 1 – Anagram

This is a common type of clue and a good place to start. There are a few of them in today’s crossword:

14 Down: Ordering a hybrid South American flower (3,6)

Ignore the whole sentence, as it were. The answer is going to be ‘Ordering’ or ‘Flower’. Possibly a south american flower. But wait, ‘flower’ is not all it appears. Often in crossword, ‘flower’ is ‘one that flows’ – a river, that is. South American river? Amazon? No, but we’re in the right area. Look at the work ‘hybrid’ in the clue. That means a mutation or a change. Anagram. Then I count up the letters of ‘Ordering a’ and discover there are nine of them. This could be it. Play around with the letters and we get ‘Rio Grande’. That’s a river, in Southern USA (American) and Mexico. So that’s the answer. Rejoice.

3 Down: Jumping bail, I must find a defence (5)

Whenever you see a slightly clunk word order, it could be an anagram. And the word ‘jumping’ suggests letters moving around. This time ‘the surface reading’ of the clue is helpful because it point you towards courtrooms, and police. So if jump around the letters of ‘bail i’ we end up with ‘alibi’.

22 Down: New asset is more than enough.

New can be ‘n’ or mean it’s an anagram. Let’s assume it’s indicating an anagram of ‘asset’. ‘Sates’ means that it’s satisfied and more than enough. So the answer is ‘Sates’/

Clue-type 2 – Word-building

This time, you use the clue bits to piece the word together.

21 Across: Union leader quietly mounting revolution (8)

25 Across: Revised point I’d put back to Edward (6)

This clue is going to mean ‘Revised’ or be a famous Edward perhaps. Much more likely to be the former. A ‘point’ is often a point on a compass – N, S, E or W. We’ll decide which in a sec. Then ‘I’d’ is put back, that is reversed, and written ‘di’. And it’s put next to Edward – which can be shortened to ‘Ted’. So it must ‘N/S/E/W-di-ted’. That settles it. ‘Edited.’

Clue-type 3 – puns/plays on words

Some call these groaners. I write a comedy show with Milton Jones, so I should be very careful about calling puns groaners. Anyway, there are a couple of these in today’s DT.

13 Across: They provide relief for map-readers (7-5)

Relief? Portaloo? Mobile toilet? No, the other sort of relief – that you get on maps. Contour-Lines.

24 Across: At home with the bowling, apparently (3,3)

At home? This can just be ‘in’ sometimes. With the bowling? Cricket reference. DT likes those. Well, this is quite a detailed cricket reference. If ‘you’re at home with the bowling’, ie unchallenged by it, you’re batting well and still at the crease. ‘Not out’ in fact. Which means ‘At Home’.

Once we’ve filled in these, we see that 18 down is -N-U–. So that’s worth looking at. 18 Down is a fairly unexciting clue:

18 Down: Such heroes are not celebrated (6)

Ans: Unsung. Not very cryptic, really.

This means that 26 Across is ‘–E-S-G-’. And the clue:

26 Across: Don gets silver, note, in Olympic Event

The answer that both fits and is an Olympic Event is ‘Dressage’. Silver’s chemical sign is ‘Ag’ which makes me confident I’ve got the answer right, but I don’t know why Don gets is ‘Dress’. Oh hang, yes I do. It’s not the name ‘Don’. It’s ‘put on’, or ‘wear’. ‘Don’. Or ‘Dress’. And note is ‘E’. (as in ‘ABCDEFG’ in a musical scale). So it’s Dress-ag-e. It’s a word-building clue.

That’s all for now. More clue-types tomorrow. Hopefully enough to get you started, or at least a way of making you look intelligent once you’ve written in the answers to these…

Leave a comment for other clues/solutions. But not all of them, or it slightly ruins the fun…

Comments

1. Flower is the one that most consistently and most irritatingly tricks me. I fall for it almost every time. Banker is another one (river = thing that has banks), though I tend not to spend so much time mentally running through list of bankers as I do for flowers.

   by Ros December 1, 2008 at 12:37 pm

2. Excellent stuff. As a fellow crossword sufferer it’s always nice to get to see someone else going through the pain. BTW does the Telegraph work like the Guardian and get gradually harder through the week?

   by George December 1, 2008 at 12:54 pm

3. Very helpful, thanks!

   What’s the point of the ‘apparently’ in 24 down? Anything?

   by Cathy December 1, 2008 at 1:42 pm

4. This guide is very useful. My record is five clues in one crossword. I might start trying a bit harder now. At the weekend I did one of my Dad’s leftover clues for the first time in my whole life(32 years!).

   Incidentally, I hate to be discouraging, but my parents don’t buy the DT because they reckon that the crossword is too easy!

   by colin December 1, 2008 at 5:29 pm

5. @George: No, although different days do have a different setter and thus a different flavour. I’ve always found Friday quite tricky.

   @Colin: Yes, the Telegraph is definitely easier than the Times, Guardian or Independent. Which makes it a good place to start.

   by Ros December 1, 2008 at 7:28 pm
6. @Colin
   The Telegraph tends to be reliably “non-evil” when it comes to crosswords, avoiding the crueller setters. The discrepancy isn’t huge though: a lot of the setters write for multiple papers. Don Manley writes as Quixote in the Indie, Pasquale in the Grauniad, Bradman for the FT and uncredited in the Telegraph. Ruth Crisp (Crispa in the Guardian) used to write for all the broadsheets. 

   by George December 2, 2008 at 11:12 am

7. Good post James. I’ve slowly learnt how to do cryptic crosswords through the Belfast Telegraph – they have two sets of clues which yield the same answers. I’m now trying to have a go at the cryptics first and just use the quick clues to confirm the answer!

   by Gary December 2, 2008 at 1:38 pm

8. Oh, this is splendid. There was a BBC4 programme on cryptics the other day (with the chap who sets the CT puzzle) and I had a go at the one in the Guardian for the first time yesterday. I got ticked off, a bit bored and just two answers. Doing one in company is a top idea.

   by Simon December 3, 2008 at 12:12 pm