ST 2492 – Hints – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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ST 2492 – Hints

by Big Dave  

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2492 – Hints

Selected hints by Big Dave

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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****

Once again, the highlight of the week.  Excellent clues, and some tricky wordplay, for a puzzle that is ideally suited to  a lazy Sunday morning.

A full analysis of this puzzle will be available at 12.00 next Friday, 17th July.

Across

1a Gold components used in circuits (6)
… of planets around the sun, for example

4a Artist carrying back very old pie (8)
Find a famous British artist, and insert the abbreviations for Very and Old, but reversed, and you get a British dessert

10a Divided about drug being not serious (9)
Out of interest, this answer is one of a handful of words in the English language that contain all five vowels in alphabetical order!  Abstemious is probably the best-known of the others.

11a Politician and his party damaged by charge (5)
This American politician was Vice President under Bill Clinton; add the abbreviation for his party and you could get damaged by a charging bull in Pamplona

18a Curse old woman put on every article (8)
This curse is built up from the indefinite articles (both of them) and the definite article, all before MA (old woman)

20a Educational achievement, so elementary (5)
An Arts graduate, followed by the Latin for so gives a word meaning elementary

29a Old star you heard has gone – he was worshipped at one time (6)
A charade of O(ld) and the Dog Star, but without the U (you, heard, has gone) gives an Egytian god

Down

1d A bit of a bad egg, and somewhat yellow, perhaps (3-5)
A pair of cryptic definitions of a slightly yellow colour!

7d Medicinal plant short-lived king used without success? (7)
This one has been puzzling us all morning.  The answer is the easy bit!  This explanation, from dr b, is the best so far:

The short-lived king is Edward V, who reigned from 9 April – 22 June 1483, and is believed to have died before his fifteenth birthday; without success is in vain.
Put ER V in V..AIN to get a medicinal plant that was believed to have been used to treat Jesus’s wounds.

8d Cheap drink provided by fly-by-night operator? (3-3)
This double definition of American slang has a poor-quality whiskey on the one hand and an overnight aeroplane journey on the other – either of these could result in you looking like this

A few weeks ago, Phil McNeill, Puzzles Editor for the Telegraph Media Group, said:

“The Toughie setter Jed has indeed been setting our recent Sunday puzzles.  ….  He did tweak some of his unpublished Toughies to realign them for Sunday”

It looks like this was one of them!

14 comments on “ST 2492 – Hints”

  2. At long last I was able to input my answers into Cluedup, a record of 6hrs 24min for me to solve it, I think not!. However this regular IT hiccup did not spoil what must, as you say Dave be the best cryptic crossword of the week. Too many well worked clues to pick the best, but 16d may just edge ahead of the rest.

  3. Being really slow tonight ( a bit like the CluedUp site!) – any clues on 11a and 8d please?

      1. Awwww! Thats nice to know. Thanks for the hints, finally managed to complete the puzzle this morning as the site just didn’t want us on there!

  4. Lucky you being able to do the crossword. I accessed the site briefly in the morning before being disconnected by my computer and couldn’t get back on to Screwedup for the rest of the day.

    1. Fallingstarr

      I wrote to the Puzzles editor and received this reply:

      “Regarding the “difficulties” you mention, it does come as a surprise. As far as I am aware the Telegraph has not received any complaints about CluedUp of late!”

      I can only suggest that eveyone who is having “difficulties” contacts The Telegraph – this is an extract from their FAQs:

      “You can email us at telegraphenquiries@telegraph.co.uk or call us at 0800 316 6977 if you have any further questions.”

      1. WHEN WAS THE PREVIOUS TIME IT CRASHED DAVE, SO I CAN INCLUDE IT IN MY EMAIL, THE TIME WHEN EVEN LIBELLULE COMPLAINED!

        1. I’ve just e mailed them – fat lot of good that will do. I was going to say wasn’t Kram having problems as well judging from his 6hr 24 min posting? Are you from Australia too? Maybe they get their act together come 9.00am and the phones start running hot.

          1. Et al, Sunday was a major screwed up day. I had to go out early Sunday morning, and returned at lunch time to log on and to get my fix (and see if I could help out on the wordplay for 7d). Forget it, I could not get in to the web site at all. In the end I had to get BigDave to send me a copy that he had made much earlier when the web site was “sort of” working.

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