DT 26014 – Hints

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26014 – Hints

Selected hints by Big Dave

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment: **

The girls are back in town – or at least one of them – and you still need to keep your atlas handy for this Saturday puzzle.  The grid is one of those dreadful ones that only the Telegraph, among quality dailies, still allows.  This is four puzzles in one, joined only by the two long answers.

If you are using CluedUp today, then check the printable version for the correct wording of 9 across. This problem has now been fixed!  Just why this site can’t handle accented words and randomly drops apostrophes is a mystery.

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, 27th August.

Across

1a Defender having a game point (9)
A tricky start to today’s puzzle, this is someone who defends by argument rather than on the sports field – he is a charade of A then a game played by royalty, among others, and finally the main point of, say, an argument or discussion

9a Doubles partner in café upset (6)
Warning – if you are doing this on CluedUp café is shown as caf – fixed!

11a Half number by the way having ardent desire (6)
You have to take half of a number and then add an abbreviated way to get this ardent desire – if it helps, only numbers which are spelt in eight letters are eligible

27a Chart of Mafeking? (6,3)
Lord Baden-Powell became famous as a result of the Siege of Mafeking – if the town hadn’t been relieved then there would have been no Scout Movement! – apologies to those who think this is too cryptic, but the background is essential in order to understand the clue

28a Two Poles with agreement to contradict (6)
This should read “Two Poles each with an agreement”, and the answer is one of those archaic words that owes its continued existence to crossword puzzles – get the checking letters and you are almost there

Some more hints after lunch (Big Dave’s Chicken Tikka Masala again!).

… four hours later

Ok. it was a long but enjoyable lunch.

Down
2d Recover spirits when incidental benefit has increased (4,2)
The incidental benefit is one that you can get from a particular job – like a duck house if you’re an MP, but more probably cheap travel if you work for an airline – just add a short word meaning increased in order to recover your spirits

4d Lady from Rutherglen dancing (6)
This lady is in hiding!

5d Make a difference? (5,2,8)
… by beginning a disagreement

8d Attend one duet performed with extreme happiness (9)
This clue is better than the surface reading would lead you to believe – two two-letter words that mean to attend are followed by I and then performed indicates that an anagram of DUET is needed to complete the charade which defines extreme happiness

15d Dumpy one’s new name (9)
An anagram is needed here to get a type of name – fans of the setter known as Dumpynose will already know the answer (as a total aside, Tilsit was asked this question when he appeared on Mastermind!)

23d Support a Scottish island (6)
Support yourself with a pole, but don’t forget to add the letter A to get this Scottish island

If that’s not enough to help you finish, just ask and I will see what I can do. 

Please don’t put whole or partial answers in your comment, else they may be censored!