ST 2507 – Hints – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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ST 2507 – Hints

by Big Dave  

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2507 – Hints

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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

Another delightful Sunday prize puzzle – I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

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.

A full review of this puzzle will be published at 12.00 on Friday, 30th October (Peter Biddlecombe is on holiday).


Across

1a Scattered the rice, initially, in all directions (6)
This is a word meaning scattered that is made up from the initial letters of The Rice inside all four points of the compass

4a Piece of oak, say, used in old ship (6)
A word that sounds like (say) a piece of oak, or any other tree, gives a name for an old ship – I’m not sure about “used in” which appears to be padding

11a What differentiates man and many people in general? (4)
Answer the question “What differentiates man and many?” and you have the answer

25a Habitual user of commercial reference book, in short (6)
This habitual user is derived from a short word for a commercial followed by an abbreviation of a reference book that is invaluable when solving crosswords

Down

1d Sky viewer delighted by brilliant late show? (8)
An excellent cryptic definition of this person to whom a red sky at night is a delight

5d Country included in international ban I activated (7)
… it wouldn’t be a Sunday puzzle without a hidden answer!

17d ‘Watch closely,’ I shout, as you can hear (7)
A word meaning to watch closely sounds like (as you can hear) a combination of I and a synonym for shout

!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!

37 comments on “ST 2507 – Hints”

  1. Thaks for the tips Big Dave,
    2d was a funny one, I still don’t know where diversion, or people holding hands comes into it but a gentle Sundat test on the less.

  3. Wonderful stuff. Quite restores my faith after yesterday’s puzzle. I agree that 1d was brilliant – best clue of some very well set clues this Sunday.

  5. Bit of a struggle for me today but have finished (I think)- I have a word for 24a which means happened but not sure where the awfully cruel character is!
    21a – have a word which fits with “performance ONE gives” but not sure how this fits with first half of clue!
    Also, like Nubian, have struggled with 2d – I see the first 3 letters as meaning strange, not sure where the last two letters come from but the whole is a diversion (game) in which each holds a hand – so I guess I have the correct answer even though I am not sure if I have got there correctly – presumably I need to have a rest with a drink made up partly of tonic, ice and lemon?
    Also 20a I am sure I have the correct answer but not sure where Hanry James fits in or where the first 4 letters come from – I assume the whole is types of coins and “as royalty” is the clue for the last 6 letters.
    Any help appreciated! – Thought 11a was a cracking clue!

    1. Toby
      21a 24a – last 4 letters of answer are an adjective, which, according to Chambers means: cruel; dire; ruthless; fierce;deadly.
      2d. – the whole answer means strange.
      20a. – try putting “and” between the first two words.

      1. Your 21a explanation is a bit obscure Gazza, I think the first half refered to by Toby is another word for goodbye with a couple of letters missing or have I got the wrong answer ?

            1. Thanks to all of you for trying to help – sadly think I must have made a mistake!! 2d I had correct but did not recognise the whole word as meaning strange – had just thought the first 3 letters meant strange.
              20a was correct – thanks for enlightening me on why!
              24a – am I correct in having ****** or have I made an error?
              21a I have ****, hence “performance one gives” seems obvious but I am not convinced that I am correct – presumably this is nothing to do with a character from “Star Wars”!

              1. Toby
                I’ve removed some of the letters you put in your text. You’re right on both 24a and 21a (for explanation of 21a see Nubian’s comment above).

    1. 4a woof!
      very enjoyable, struggled with 24a till the cruel synonym finally dawned. very LOTR!

  8. 21 across I have an answer for which is the same as toby but i can’t see where the answer comes from
    same as my answer for 24 a I am sure it is right but can’t quiet see how i got it
    which leaves me with just 8A which i am struggling on

    1. 21a No good coming ultimately from farewell performance one gives (4)
      Nubian has explained this above – a word meaning farewell without the N(o) and G(ood).

      24a Happened to have awfully cruel character (6)
      Gazza’s explanation above for 21a is actually for this one: last 4 letters of answer are an adjective, which, according to Chambers means: cruel; dire; ruthless; fierce;deadly.

      8a Finally respect monarch less, such as Victoria (8)
      This is a charade: which breaks down as: finally respecT / monarch / less; Victoria being an example of the answer (as is Waterloo, Kings Cross etc.).

  9. thanks i had misread Nubians comments thats the answer i had anyway
    8a easy now i see the break up thanks

  10. Not my cup of tea today. My brain is on a different wavelength to the setter. Got most by guessing and then much puzzling about some of the answers ;(

    1. sometimes guessing is good Lizwhiz because then we can work them backwards and we learn from that…..
      Mary – a member of the ‘clueless club’ :)

  11. hi dave would not have got 1d without the other letters and when i did get it i thought ‘but the ********* weren’t delighted (thinking of the nativity) they were terrified…… then I switched on the blog and read your hints and the penny dropped :)…..I cant believe i actually did it today without the hints ( had to use my chambers of course) thanks once again for brilliant site

      1. oops sorry everyone but i didn’t exactly say it did I sicere apologies please feel free to delete me :(

          1. mmmm I did get it then I had to have it explained to me by my brother apparently the second 4 letters of the word mean ‘cruel’ I had never heard it before but don’t forget you are asking a member of the ‘clueless club’ :) still don’t quite understand the need for the whole clue though!

          2. Toby
            24a. It’s difficult to provide much help without giving the answer. The definition is “happened to”, as in “an accident …… me on the way to work”.

            1. Many thanks for trying it must seem like you are hitting your head against a brick wall!! I may have it right but just cannot find the 4 letter adjective meaning cruel – Is it also a name for a hill/mountain in Yorkshire?

  12. Many thanks – thats what I had along! I couldn’t find that meaning in Chambers though -perhaps I am not looking in the full unexpurgated (is that a word?) version. I have now managed to spend virtually a whole day on the crossword – wife V impressed!

  13. Bit of a late comment, but its taken ages to finish this one and I,m still not sure about 24a.
    Excellent blog Dave, I find it very useful, although I rarely finish the DT crosswords without help !! I will soldier on.

    1. Jezzer – your comment needed moderation as you previously left comments as jezzerl. Both should work now.

      There are hints for 24a above – see Gazza’s comment at #5

      24a Happened to have awfully cruel character (6)
      The definition is happened (past tense). If you split it into (2,4) then it could be saying “to have awfully cruel character” as per Gazza’s comment. If you have the checking letters it should now be easy.

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