Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25875
Hints and tips by Libellule
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Another good solid puzzle, following on from yesterday’s, with a good variety of clues, spread thoughout.
•
Across
3. Month in which boy gets an illness (6)
{MALADY} – The month is probably named after the greek goddess of fertility into which we need to place LAD (boy), giving another term for illness.
6. The old man, a holy person in history (4)
{PAST} – PA (the old man) plus ST (a holy person) to mean history, i.e. what has happened.
8. Midlands football team very badly needing ace (5)
{VILLA} – V(ery) ILL (badly) A(ce). The name of a Birmingham football club, whose ground is located close to the Aston expressway.
9. Craftsperson’s good girl born in a humbler position (5-6)
{GLASS BLOWER} – G(ood) LASS (girl) B(orn) LOWER (humbler position) to give a type of craftsperson.
10. Woman in love embraced by one fellow returning (5)
{NAOMI} – I (one) MAN (fellow) reversed (returning) with O (love) inside (embracing), to give a girl’s name.
11. Fuller cow, I fancy, having eaten a vegetable (11)
{CAULIFLOWER} – An anagram of FULLER COW I (fancy) to produce a tasty vegetable that goes particularly well with cheese.
16. It’s hell before public vehicle comes along (6)
{EREBUS} – Another word for the son of chaos (hell), derived from ERE (before) and another word for a public vehicle (BUS)
17. Taut side awkwardly positioned (8 )
{SITUATED} – An anagram of TAUT SIDE (awkwardly), to give another word for positioned.
19. Audacious between Southampton and IOW? (8 )
{INSOLENT} – A cryptic defintion, that requires you to know the name of the body of water between Southampton and the Isle of Wight.
20. Order money to be paid (6)
{CHARGE} – Double definition of an order to attack, and a bill.
22. Female takes long time in cooking steak (5,6)
{FILET MIGNON} – F(emale) with an anagram of LONG TIME IN (cooking) to produce a cut of beef.
25. German writer that often gets cut (5)
{GRASS} – A double definition, the name of a famous german writer who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1999. If you haven’t read “The Tin Drum”, then perhaps you should. Also if you have a garden, it will soon be time to start cutting it.
27. Overshadowing a stupid sailor (11)
{ADUMBRATING} – Sometimes the simplest clues are the best – A DUMB (stupid) RATING (sailor) to give another word for overshadowing.
28. Pain from past coming to American city (5)
{AGONY} – AGO (past) NY (New York)
29. Inclination to give peculiar talk (4)
{CANT} – A Double definition of leaning and what is generally known as hypocritical pious language.
30. A girl’s going round the East to find Greek hero (6)
{AENEAS} – A ENA’S (a girl’s) going round E(ast) to give the name of a Trojan hero who was one of the few not killed in battle or enslaved.
Down
1. Old archdeacon’s kitchen item (4)
{OVEN} – O(ld) plus VEN (VENerable, archdeacon) to give a useful large kitchen item.
2. Loveless bod suffering? It may go to one’s heart (5,6)
{BLOOD VESSEL} – An anagram of LOVELESS BOD (suffering) that is part of your circulatory system.
3. Bug disposed of with metallic superdrug (5,6)
{MAGIC BULLET} – An anagram of BUG and METALLIC to give another term for something for example that might cure cancer.
4. The French leading fit group (6)
{LEAGUE} – LE (the french) AGUE (fit) to give a word meaning an alliance of states, or a group of teams that compete with each other.
5. Girl’s sanctimonious, right? It brings dismay (8 )
{DISPIRIT} – DIS (girls) PI (slang for sanctimonius) R(ight) IT, to be down hearted.
6. Seen in post office there’s steamy picture (5)
{PHOTO} – HOT (steamy) inside P(ost) O(ffice), another word for a picture.
7. Meals we desire will include this root vegetable (5)
{SWEDE} – included in “Meals we desire” is a large yellow root vegetable also called rutabaga.
12. It’s inspired and may give you the giggles (8,3)
{LAUGHING GAS} – A cryptic definition of something that you might inhale, that would make you laugh.
13. Running toward ma, ewe in country area (5,6)
{WATER MEADOW} – An anagram of TOWARD MA EWE (running) to produce an area of grassland that were typically flooded on a regular basis to increase their fertility.
14. Man given perch, famous French soldier (6)
{RODNEY} – Another term for perch, either as a roost, or as an old measurement, plus the name of one of Napolean’s famous Marshals to give a man’s name.
15. Moan about learner, one offering opinion (6)
{BELIEF} – BEEF (moan) (about) a L(earner) along with I (offering), to give a word for opinion.
18. Die in act, upsetting show (8 )
{INDICATE} – An anagram of DIE IN ACT (upsetting), to give a synonym of show.
21. Privileged to be playing with ten others? (6)
{INSIDE} – a cryptic definition of what you would be doing if you playing in a football team for example, that could also mean that you have access to information, not publically available.
23. Rain drastic? He may be involved! (5)
{INDRA} – Within “Rain drastic” is the Indian god of war and weather.
24. English male encountered tourist in the South West (5)
{EMMET} – An E(nglish) M(ale) MET (encountered), to give a cornish nickname for tourists or another name for an ant.
26. Underground river doesn’t shift, we hear (4)
{STYX} – A river which formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld (Hades) which sounds like its not going to move.