ST 2504 – Hints – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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ST 2504 – Hints

by Big Dave  

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2504 – Hints

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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

Once again a highlight of the week, it’s a pity that more people don’t do these Sunday puzzles.

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 Friday, 9th October.

Across

1a Measure covering opening of studio for Picasso, say (6)
Put an ancient measure around the opening letter of Studio to get an artist of the group popularised by Picasso

10a Conservative majority, like 8 and 17 here (9)
Look at where 8 down and 17 down are placed in the grid!

13a Extremely gentle male that is over 50 (7)
You need the Latin for “that is”, not the more common abbreviation

Down
1d Sloppy stroke round leg — last out (8)
A word meaning sloppy is created by putting a word meaning to stroke around LE(G) without the last letter

3d Demonstrated Sir Henry is cabinet material (9)
A phrasal verb meaning demonstrated, as in protested, is followed by conductor Sir Henry (of Promenade Concerts fame) to get a material from which cabinets cab be made

6d Record information left on first person killed (5)
To record information put L(eft) in front of Cain’s victim

7d Couple playing together, back in movie (7)
It’s those bridge partners again, but not North & South, add a word meaning back and you get a cowboy movie

19d Awfully bad sign for corporation’s site (7)
We haven’t seen corporation meaning stomach for a while, but it’s back today

24d Player taking little part gets no ball, perhaps (5)
A no ball in cricket

!f you need further help then please 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!

19 comments on “ST 2504 – Hints”

  1. Hi Big Dave,
    1a answer could also be an art form expression like impressionist and fauvist. Hope I’m not giving too much away.
    Thanks for the blog

  2. Thought there were some really good clues there – think I’ve got them all right apart from 22d which I can’t understand. How annoying is it to get them all but one?!!! Couple of cracking anagrams. 16d was very clever, Never heard of the answer to 27a but cannot see it could be anything else – don’t normally see adverbs that end in those two letters. 28a is clever – got the answer quite quickly but took ages to see how it fitted the clue! Liked 25a.
    What does the compiler have to do to get more than 3* out of you Big Dave?? I thought this was excellent-(but what do I know!) Wouldn’t have got 3d or 10a without your clues- Many thanks

    1. I gave 4 stars for the last 9 Sunday puzzles – I thought this one a bit less enjoyable than those 9.

      Clues like 27a were responsible for this puzzle only getting 3 stars. An easy anagram leading to a word that is in Chambers but I don’t recall seeing before.

      22d Snake’s head twisted to and fro, in a way (4,2)
      Prepare to kick yourself! S(nake’s head) is followed by an anagram (twisted) of TO and FRO. The definition is “in a way”.

      1. Two minutes ahead of me – off out for dinner so must go.
        Thanks for all your hints Big Dave – they help.

  3. I agree with Toby – I enjoyed this very much. My sticking point was the cricket term but got there in the end when I had the across words.
    BD – my concept of 22d is that you take the s from snake’s head and then an anagram of to fro – does that give too much of it and is my interpretation right?
    Really liked 16d – thought that was a very clever clue.
    Learned something new with 19d – thanks for the hint.

  4. I enjoyed this – the only stumbling block for me was 16d – I could have kicked myself when the penny dropped!

  5. Hi!! Have just returned form a weekend in Yorkshire and have a non-crossword related question for Libellule! Don’t know if this is allowed, but I have my sister with me who lives in South of France and she wants to know if UK DAB radios work in France – thought Libellule might have some hints! Sorry – won’t do this again! Going to do the crossword now.

          1. Thanks Dave – We suspected as much-my sister says ‘typical French’ and will have to make do with er crystal set to listen to radio 4.

            1. nanaglugglug,
              Apologies re. UK DAB radios working in France – I have no idea, as I don’t own one. If I need to listen to Radio 4 (for the cricket for example) I use the internet, or satellite, as do most of the other “Brits” over here. Either that or you put up with whatever signal you can get on a normal radio.

  6. Quite enjoyed this one – a couple of sticking points-don’t quite understand why 29a, but probably jet lagged!

    1. 29a Two countries reduced to make one, formerly (6)

      I thought this one verged on being unfair – take the first three letters (of four) from two counbtries, one in South America and one in the Far East, and you get the former name of a Middle Eastern country.

  7. I got a chuckle out of 19d, at first i worked it out from the clue but did not get the corporation association right away, later i did and burst out laughing as I have been on an exercise regime to lose weight!

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