Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25847
A nice easy one to start the week
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
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Across hints:
1a Man goes round a short way with dispatch (5)
He (man) round a st(reet)
4a Items of clothing used by violinists (1-7)
… and strippers!!
8a It’s awkward, being in an ugly riot (8 )
An anagram (riot) of “in an ugly”
9a A base got destroyed by enemy action (8 )
Another anagram, this time of “a base got”
11a Speak fast (7)
Dual meaning – fast like a type of train
13aThe first man to fly an aircraft (4,5)
Not very cryptic – Brian Trubshaw was one
15a Rather clever way optimists look (2,3,6,4)
Just like Monty Python
18a He finds criminals working for the police (9)
Again, not very cryptic
21a Go down to see master getting degree (7)
Dip (go down) lo (to see) ma (master)
22a Not a good place for Harold, as things turned out (8 )
Yet another not very cryptic – it happened in 1066
It happened in 1066 – an anagram of “as things” – and I completely missed it, so thanks Mike
24a Fellow actor? (8 )
Those old enough may remember one of Arthur Askey’s catchphrases, the younger ones may prefer Hugh Hefner’s friends
25a Continue to look after a small bird (4,2,2)
Keep (look after) a tit (a small bird)
26a They’re the last to recognise death is near (5)
What a priest says for a person close to death
See James’ comment below for some down hints, here are the rest
1 Audience standing up, well-pleased with one’s address (5-5)
House (audience – we had this only a few days ago) proud (standing up)
4 Ridicules supporters (4)
Double meaning – the supporters are used to hold up tents
5 About to take successful action to recover money (6)
The successful action is a coup
6 An extra modest sort of dance? (2,4)
It’s those cricket extras again
10 Allocated as indicated (8 )
Indicated is signed – a bit too similar to 2 down for my liking
12 A sailor in the cast is naturally a good mimic (8 )
I’ve seen better clues – the cast is a sling
14 Music of the spheres? (3,7)
As composed by Gustav Holst
16 The fiscal system makes allowances for him (8 )
That’s you and me as well – if you pay subscriptions to the Inland Revenue
17 Blissfully unaware (8 )
Again not very cryptic – ignorant
19 Sit out with a girl in gauzy fabric (6)
An anagram of sit precedes a girl’s name
20 Misdeed on a battle-ground (6)
A synonym for misdeed + “a” – The Charge of the Light Brigade was on this battle-ground (not so much a battle-ground, more a war – see Peter’s comment below)
22 Derelict vessel may be incredible (4)
… and turn green
23 Slight quarrel with father in the street (4)
St(reet) around pa (father)
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Thanks for the Across hints, Dave. Very handy.
Here’s a few of ‘downs’
2 Down – lovely clue which plays on words – it’s what happens when you leave you signature at the bottom of a letter (I probably haven’t helped, have I?).
3 Down – This is how you address a cardinal – and it’s not ‘Your Holiness’ (pope), ‘Your excellency’ (ambassador), ‘Your majesty’ (queen), ‘Your highness’ (prince)… I’m out.
7 Down – the top of a foresail is an ‘f’. And the ‘rough’ indicates an anagram of ‘sea’.
Hope that helps.
Had a go just to compare notes. My guess is that this is a Roger Squires puzzle – I think he’s still Mr Monday at the DT.
I slipped up for a while with INNOCENT as a fairly plausible answer for 17, but then fixed it with 24A.
I wonder if 20D’s battle-ground is a bit lazy – the Crimea may be best-known here as a territory where a war took place, but calling it the battle-ground seems like using battleground = WORLD on the basis of WW1 or WW2!
Uninterestingly enough, today’s Grauniad cryptic also had “speak fast” as a clue (with the same answer, thankfully).
Good to have a Telegraph blog – well done!
One comment: 22a you describe as not very cryptic. I thought the anagram was not only subtly hidden but made the clue an &Lit.
That’s what happens when you do the blog at two in the morning – well that’s my excuse!!
I like to explain terms on this site – I dredged this definition off the web:
“In cryptic crosswords, &lit is a term applied to clues where both the definition and the cryptic parts are the whole clue itself, and not separate parts of the clue. These clues are usually signalled by a ? or a ! at the end.”
Cheers Big Dave, I appreciate your help on this site, a couple of your explanations have helped me complete today’s puzzle.
&Lits: The stuff about a ? or ! needs taking with a whopping great pinch of salt in the UK. Some US cryptic puzzles REQUIRE &lits to be signalled in this way, but as far as I know this rule is not imposed by any UK xwd editors. (There are various web pages about cryptics which talk about local rules as if they apply everywhere.)
&lit is supposed to stand for “and literally so”, but this doesn’t help much. I’ve tried calling them “double whammies”, and Tim Moorey in his recent “how to” book calls them “All in one”. As he’s got the book out, Tim’s name wins for me.
Thanks, yet again, Peter. It takes you a while to realise how public everything you do actually is!!
I suppose it’ a tiny bit like those reality TV programs, where you think you are talking to one person, and many more are listening in.