Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26082
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
Is it just my having a bad day, or is this one trickier than the standard Ray T puzzle? I certainly thought so – let me know if you agree or disagree. It has the usual sprinkling of smile-inducing clues.
Incidentally, this is one of those rare (or perhaps not so rare) days when the Toughie is easier than the Cryptic. Again, this is just my opinion – why not have a go at both and leave a comment with your view?
As usual the answers, should you need them, are hidden inside the curly brackets at the start of each hint – just select the white space inside the brackets to reveal them.
Across Clues
1a Princes don’t turn out undistinguished (11)
{NONDESCRIPT} – an anagram (turn out) of PRINCES DON’T produces an adjective meaning undistinguished or run-of-the-mill.
9a Intimate sprees thrown with adult content (7)
{EXPRESS} – you would normally expect “with adult content” to mean that an A had to be included, but here it’s an X (as in X-rated, adult, film) – put an anagram (thrown) of SPREES round it to end up with a verb meaning to intimate or state.
10a Gallery opening to allow circulation (6)
{LOUVRE} – double definition, the gallery being a famous one in Paris.
12a River fish one’s found inside croquette (7)
{RISSOLE} – put together R(iver) and SOLE (fish) with I’S (one’s) inside.
13a Fit for occupation (7)
{SEIZURE} – double definition.
14a Clothes shop’s carrying small pants (5)
{GASPS} – the clothes shop is GAP – add an S (because of the ‘s) and put S(mall) inside.
15a Gentle pulse, perhaps, before guy taking Ecstasy… (9)
{PEACEABLE} – an example (perhaps) of a pulse is PEA – add CABLE (rope, guy) with an E (Ecstasy) inside to construct a synonym for gentle.
17a …got better grass outside man, right? (9)
{RECOVERED} – the definition is got better. Put REED (grass) around COVE (man) and R(ight).
20a Telegraph, page after page, eagerly read initially (5)
{PAPER} – take the first letters (initially) of the middle five words.
22a Meths or rum container (7)
{THERMOS} – an anagram (rum) of METHS OR.
Jack is not a very bright chap but 10 years after leaving school he manages to get a job labouring on a building site. As a reward for this his mum buys him a thermos flask, explaining that it’ll be useful for his new job because it keeps hot things hot and cold things cold. This impresses Jack a lot.
Jack turns up for his first day at work and meets the site foreman. The foreman asks him what he has got in his bag and Jack shows him the flask and explains that it’s for keeping hot things hot and cold things cold. The foreman then asks what Jack has in the flask and Jack replies “Some coffee and a choc ice”.
24a Criminal type’s associate (7)
{CONSORT} – a charade of CON (criminal) and SORT (type).
25a Fairy Queen consumed by bitterness (6)
{SPRITE} – put R(egina) inside (consumed by) SPITE (bitterness).
26a Weary say, with sentimentality, old hat (7)
{TRICORN} – start with a sound-alike of TRY (to irritate or weary) and add CORN (something banal or sentimental).
27a Censures any drunk getting wasted (11)
{UNNECESSARY} – an anagram (drunk) of CENSURES ANY.
Down Clues
2d United almost start to get hard (7)
{ONEROUS} – united is ONE – add most of ROUS(e) (start, as in to flush an animal from cover).
3d Girl’s pet may get this (9)
{DISTEMPER} – put together DI’S (girl’s) and TEMPER (pet, ill humour).
4d Selling drinks after last orders (5)
{SALES} – put ALES (drinks) after the last letter of orderS. Not the most brilliant clue with the definition and answer being virtually the same.
5d Formula One’s new course outside (7)
{ROUTINE} – put I (one) and N(ew) inside ROUTE (course) to get an unvarying procedure (formula).
6d Ruffle caught in chopper turbulence (7)
{PERTURB} – a verb meaning to ruffle is hidden in the clue.
7d Cool about ‘Great Fire’ out of control (11)
{REFRIGERATE} – start with RE (about) and add an anagram (out of control) of GREAT FIRE.
8d Old party leader works and works (6)
{OPUSES} – the initial letters (leader) of Old Party are followed by USES (works, as in “operates a machine”).
11d Carrying gym bag before class (11)
{PENETRATING} – string together PE (gym), NET (to capture or bag) and RATING (class of a crew member) to get an adjective meaning carrying (like a loud voice).
16d Gives up seat with cab I’d ordered (9)
{ABDICATES} – an anagram (ordered) of SEAT CAB I’D produces a verb meaning gives up or renounces.
18d Caught bird eating parrot? Disgrace! (7)
{CHEAPEN} – start with C (caught, in cricket) and follow with HEN (bird) containing (eating) APE (to mimic or parrot).
19d Hammer staple? (7)
{VAMPIRE} – cryptic definition – by putting Hammer as the first word the setter has disguised the fact that it requires a capital letter, because it refers to the film production company Hammer House of Horror, whose staple fare was films about blood-sucking monsters, who could only be killed by having a stake hammered through their heart.
20d Bag lady in dock (7)
{PANNIER} – put ANN (lady) inside PIER (landing stage, dock) to get a bag or container.
21d Quietly tramps on moon (6)
{PHOBOS} – put together P (piano, quietly) and HOBOS (tramps) to get one of the moons of Mars.
23d ‘Panorama’ is watched, reportedly (5)
{SCENE} – a sound-alike (reportedly) of SEEN (watched) gives a view (panorama).
The clues which I enjoyed included 14a, 25a and 19d, but my clue of the day, for its elegant simplicity, is 22a. What do you think? – leave us a comment!
I have justt finished it – got stuck on 8d for a while but finally clicked. I can’t say that there were many that stood out for me but I liked 25a and 26a.
Will now vote and then read the hints. Thanks Gazza for the advice re Toughie – will give it a go after I have a break.
I have just read 22a and like the definition – thanks…..
Morning Bid Dave,youre having a busy week with cays and heating.
Lots of clues I didn’t like today and ended up using your hints for the top righthand corner.
19d was just weird
15a didn’t understand clue
several others too obscure
Gazza wrote this one, not me!
Nubian,
Is cays a typo for cats? Or have I missed something?
or cars???
Mary,
Initially I was going to suggest not, then I realised that D is two keys over from G, so it is possible for Nubian to miss the “correct” key on his keyboard by at least two
this is getting confusing, maybe Nubian can tell us what he meant???
I too thought that this one was more difficult that Ray T’s recent puzzles but nicely so with lots of good clues and groans as things fell into place. My favourite was 19d followed closely by 7d and 11d.
I would encourage anyone who has not tried the Toughie to go for it today. Based on solving time (which is of course highly subjective), I would say that Busman’s Toughie is about three times easier than Ray’s puzzle.
Would agree that this was definitely trickier today. Got stuck on a couple in the bottom left corner, so put it to one side and moved on to the Toughie, which for me was relatively easier to complete.
I thought this was reasonably easy today, with a few tricky clues. Clue of the day, for me, is 19d.
One small complaint about inconsistency. In each of 12a, 14a and 3d there is an apostrophe “s”, where the “s” is used in the answer. In 5d, however, there is one that isn’t used in the answer.
Vince
Perhaps, if we’re lucky, Ray T will drop in and comment.
Here I am…
Thanks for the review, Gazza. To address Vince’s complaint, the simple explanation is that I use the apostrophe ‘s’ in the answer when I need to, and when I don’t need to, I don’t!
I don’t see this as a problem if the clue is grammatically sound, but I would say that, wouldn’t I…?
I also thought that was a tough one. Got there in the end but took ages. Some well constructed clues. 19d was brilliant. Definitely my favourite.
Dear me, what a perfectly dreadful puzzle for me! I don’t think I would finish this if I lived to be 100. I like a puzzle thats is diverting for an hour or so, not one that requires the amount of effort that solving this one would require. Def not for me.
with you on this one Barrie
Hi Gazza
Just when I think I am getting there, beginning to understand them, along comes another just to put me in my place!!! lots I didn’t like today and not just because I couldn’t do them, managed about half without your help, thank goodness for this site, is it just myself who has never heard cove=man?? seems todays toughie might be easier, will let you know how i get on
Mary,the only reason I knew cove meant man was that last week in Parliament a Tory MP said a Lab MP was a ‘likeable cove’, I thought it must be something to do with yachting!
Mary
Perhaps you ought to add a copy of Bradford’s Crossword Solver’s Dictionary to your Chritmas list! Admittedly cove is not given against man, but it is given against chap.
BTW a new edition was released vey recently. Mine is the 7th edition, so presumably the 8th is the latest.
thanks Dave – are u warmer today??
Mary
Yes – have ordered a new programmer, but if you keep switching the old one on and off, eventually it works.
Brand new programmer (same model as before) prices:
Plumb Centre – £104.06
Screwfix – £57.95
B&Q – £49.98
Ebay – £25.99
as gas engineers we get most of our parts from Plumbcentre, people are usuallu in a hurry to get it fixed and so we don’t have time to shop around, but what a wide variation in prices, all for the same model??
I liked this very much, especially 11d and 19d. Enjoyed your little joke Gazza, great review. The toughie was indeed much easier fare but also enjoyable in its way.
Would not have finished it without help from crossword solver and anagram solver. Managed to complete without going so far as looking at Gazza’s clues but found it pretty tough. Many thanks for clues though Gazza as I had got a couple without quite knowing how – 2d, 15a!
When I put ‘gasps’ in for 14a I had no idea how it worked. Thanks to your write up Gazza I see GAP is a clothes shop, never heard of it, nor has Chambers, but you and t’others are always correct so will add it to my list of new words. Liked 25a as it got me wrongly thinking of ‘Twelfth Night’.
Gap is a retailer’s name – as far as I know it is mostly women’s clothes but then again we don’t get too many here in Norfolk either!
Cheers Toby, it must be that Gap in the market that everyone is looking for, me and Chambers included!.
Sorry, I should have made it clear that GAP is the name of a retail chain which sells clothes. I just assumed that everyone would have heard of them!
Cheers Gazza, is it fair then to have the name of a branded retailer in a clue, this surely is worse than the usage of the names of little known towns and christian names which BD so loves!. M & S is probably allowable!
Micawber used L AND G a few months back, but rather spoiled it by describing them as a Building Society.
Hi Dave, I see what you mean, but does it infer that we have to add the A-Z of registered companies to our reference books, along with Chambers, World Atlas, Road maps of UK etc?.
Kram
It seems to me that it’s a matter of degree. Words like Hoover and Thermos are actually brand names, but have become synonymous with the devices. But would Panasonic or Dell be acceptable?
As far as retailers are concerned there’s a big difference between Harrods and Tesco on the one hand (we had Co-op recently) and, say, Spar and Costcutter – but where do you draw the line?
Cheers Gazza, dell would be acceptable , but not as a company name . Where does one draw the line, with names that are not widely known here or abroad.
I thought this was a tough one today with some very lateral thinking. Crosswordpuzzlehelp.com provided me with some back ups when I really couldn’t see the logic. Gazza’s explanations make it all plain. Had to laugh at 19d. 14a I got pretty quickly but thought “it’s very left field”. 15a was too convoluted for my simple brain. I had 8 down quite easily but got there somewhat differently with the key word being works which usually indicates OP. A clever clue.
Regarding the Thermos, I am reminded of a joke that I have seen in various forms over the years. Here is one:
An engineer, a physicist, a mathematician, and a mystic were asked to name the greatest invention of all times.
The engineer chose fire, which gave humanity power over matter.
The physicist chose the wheel, which gave humanity the power over space.
The mathematician chose the alphabet, which gave humanity power over symbols.
The mystic chose the thermos flask
.
“Why a thermos flask?” the others asked.
“Because the thermos keeps hot liquids hot in winter and cold liquids cold in summer.”
“Yes — so what?” said the Physicist
“Think about it…” said the mystic reverently.
“That little flask— how does it know?”
I thought the ‘man’ in the grass was the cover from cricket!! If it is cove where does the extra r come from in recovered? Reed is grass right?
sorry, just saw the hints – should read them before eh?!!!
Got the top half quite quickly, then stuck on the bottom – it finally started moving again once I’d deciphered ‘unnecessary’. 19d was a nice one!
This puzzle took me longer to finish than it normally does but it was well worth the effort.
For some reason that I can’t explain I have always been a fan of Ray T’s trademark one-word answer style.
My favourite clues were 25a and 19d (brilliant!).
Thanks to Ray T for this puzzle. Keep up the good work.
This kept me busy on and off for most of the day but completed it without looking at the blog . Favourite clue was19d. Took me a long time to get 11d and 15a. I was held up quite a while with9a because got ‘asperse’ from putting ‘a’ in anagram of ‘sprees’ which, I think fits the clue but did not cross check.
Hi Jane
I also thought 9a was asperse – part of the reason it took me longer than it usually does to finish this puzzle.
Really tricky today – got less than half without resorting to clues:-(
I’ve never got halfway through a crossword without resorting to the clues!!
Hi Guys, recently started using this site and have not yet dared attempt the toughie. Your encouraging comments made me feel that today is the day. But errrrrr where is it?
Welcome to the blog JWED2000
Inside the paper on a left-hand page with several other puzzles – usually near page 20
forgive me, was looking at Mondays! Cracking site Dave!
Monday you get the Herculis GK and no Toughie.
Thanks for the compliment – it’s fun to do as well
Sneaky, difficult, couldn’t finish.
Cove = Man. Apparently. I must remember to use that on my friends.
GAP = Clothes Store, yes, true. Can we also allow, say, River Island? or perhaps Urban Outfitters? Next? What next for heaven’s sake? Gamestation? Specsavers?
And, regarding Ray T’s mention of sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn’t – I say – SNEAKY!
Not impressed. Didn’t click with me at all.