ST 2506 – Hints

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2506 – Hints

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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

If you found last Sunday’s puzzle a bit on the tough side, then this one is a little easier.

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, 23rd October.

Across

1a Live quartet heard previously (6)
Here a charade of a word meaning to live and a word that sounds like (heard) the number in a quartet gives a synonym for previously

4a Scion not on hunting expedition (8)
Chambers defines a scion as a detached piece of a plant capable of propagating, especially by grafting; another charade builds this word from “not on” and “hunting expedition”

11a China correspondent? (9)
This must be a cryptic definition , it can’t be a charade as the words are in the wrong order, which is a pity because it is very nearly an all-in-one clue – china is Cockney rhyming slang (china plate = mate) so you are looking for a mate with whom you might correspond

24a Open to investigation likely to include drug (9)
A word meaning open to investigation is constructed by putting a word meaning likely around a drug taken for its stimulant and hallucinogenic properties

Down

1d Luggage – altogether, nine of fifteen (8)
An item of luggage that is used by round-the-world travellers is over-cryptically defined as one of the players behind the scrum followed by the scrum itself, a total of nine players out of the fifteen in a Rugby Union team

3d Old dog moving right to top gets award in show (7)
First combine O(ld) and a type of dog, then move the R(ight) from the bottom to the top (as this is a down clue) and you get an award given in a show to a vegetable, a horse or even a dog!

7d Honours bestowed on European with big corporation (5)
Corporation here is an anatomical reference to the stomach

8d People from house demolished in Stroud (6)
These people include Henry VIII, and are derived from an anagram (demolished) of STROUD – the “in” is padding introduced to improve the surface reading

16d Frantically clear top of chest (8)
Another anatomical reference, this time to the chest!

20d Author seizing power in university position (6)
Put this French author, philosopher, and journalist around P(ower) to get a position in the ground of a university

This one was host to the Times Crossword Championships last weekend:

!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!