DT 25996 – Hints – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 25996 – Hints

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25996 – Hints

Selected hints by Big Dave

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment: ***

Once again we are presented with an easy prize puzzle.  Don’t forget that you can give  your assessment of the puzzle.  Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.

As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.  Peter Biddlecombe’s full review of this puzzle will be published at 12.00 on Thursday, 6th August.

Across

1a Work to locate resistance (10)
This is a simple charade of the short word for work that is much used in crosswords and a word meaning to locate, as in GPS; put them together and you have a synonym for resistance

9a Do nothing on behalf of pessimistic investor (7)
Another charade in which a synonym for to do nothing is built up from words meaning “on behalf of” and a “pessimistic investor” on the stock exchange

10a Framework round hatchway opening said to be difficult to handle (7)
This little-used word for a framework round a hatchway opening sounds like something that is difficult to handle, particularly for those of us with larger fingers!

12a Jenny Turner? (8-5)
I always used to forget the name of Jenny Seagrove until I built this mental picture of this item in a grove by the sea.  I used to rubbish that technique but it does work.

I did meet her once, at the theatre with Michael Winner and I still have the autographed program.  I have never seen anything like it, she walked from one side of the bar to the other and every pair of male eyes followed her.  Truly stunning.

Down

1d Some superior female fish (4)
This fish is hidden in the clue

4d High chair (6)
… fit for a King or Queen, but not for a baby

7d Extraordinary Israeli composer (7)
This composer’s name is an anagram of Israeli

18d Transport unwieldy cases round Thailand before end of day (7)
This frequently misspelt word meaning transported into a state of exalted pleasure or happiness, often by using a drug of the same name, is an anagram (unwieldy) of CASES around T(hailand) and followed by the end of daY

20d Permit His Excellency, a knight, being oblivious (7)
This is a charade built up from a synonym for to permit, His Excellency, A and N (knight) – it’s an adjective based on the river of the underworld causing forgetfulness in all who drank of it.

It may have been easy, at least for some of us, but there were several clues with excellent surface reading – I particularly liked 8 down – Kingly fellow with excellent hand (5,5)

Further hints are just a comment away!

21 comments on “DT 25996 – Hints

  1. Really enjoyed this puzzle – a good crossword for a Saturday morning. Got a bit stumped by 10a as none of my ‘aids’ seemed to recognise the word.

    1. You need Chambers online!

      That would have given you “an iron framework round a hatchway opening”, remarkably similar to the clue!

  2. Back to the easy Saturday prize cryptic, when an extra difficult one would have passed more of the time whilst waiting for the Test to start!. However once again thank you Chambers.Yep, I also liked 8d, took me back to my misspent youth!

  3. Just found this blog. Excellent, very useful. I wonder how many people send the prize crossword in.

    1. Welcome to the blog James

      I did ask the Puzzles Editor, but he refused to be drawn on the subject. You can read his reply in “Prize Puzzles”, which you can access via the Pages widget in the sidebar.

  4. Once again the easiest of the week by a long chalk. There is nothing in it particularly noteworthy in my view. I will enter as usual, however, but do not expect to win!

  5. Odd – found the last three simplistic – just can’t going on this one. I’m sure there are more like me !

  6. Yes; not too difficult and I did like a couple of the clues. I’ve filled it with a red bic this week and maybe, just maybe, after 20 odd years, it may stand out enough to win! Do you think I’ve got any chance when I don’t put my email address in or is that part of the conditions for going into the draw!

    1. Welcome to the blog Stevie

      As far as I’m aware the presence or otherwise of an email address should not affect your chances. Thousands of other correct entries will do that!

  7. Big Dave, do you have a view on those occasional answers that are strictly hyphenated words? Am I being too pendantic?

    1. Hi LD

      I seem to remember from Susie Dent on Countdown that the hyphen gets to be dropped when the word is in common usage.

      In my early days in IT, on-line was always hyphenated but today it is usually online.

      I personally think that for Telegraph crosswords Chambers should be the final arbiter and all three in this puzzle are hyphenated there.

      I’m not sure that I have fully answered your question, so if I have not then could you point me to a specific clue?

  8. Hi Big Dave, I recall “two-wheeler” or something similar recently. I agree we should follow Mr Chambers which is what I rely on.

    1. It is a pity that there is occasional inconsistency. In ST 2475 we had water diviner (5,7) but in DT 25907 it was water-diviner (5-7).

      Chambers gives (5,7).

  9. I couldn’t get 21, 23, and 25 at all on Saturday. Picked up the paper again 6.00pm Monday and completed them in seconds. Isn’t it funny how our minds work?

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