ST 2510 – Hints – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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ST 2510 – Hints

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2510 – Hints

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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

More excellent fare from Sunday’s Supremo. As I have said before, this puzzle is worth the price of the Sunday paper all on its own.

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, 19th November.

Across

1a Catamaran at sea carrying key historical document (5,5)
An anagram of CATAMARAN is to be placed around a musical key to get an historical document signed in 1215

6a It slows down horses when oats get cut by 50% (4)
To get a command used to slow down horses, take 50% of WHEN and add 50% of OATS

17a Record holder recovered after accident (5,3)
.. to an aircraft – why are they called this when they are usually red?

27a Old-fashioned print worker kind to dog (10)
An old-fashioned print worker is a charade of a word meaning a kind and a breed of dog

Down

1d Low temperature up in the air (4)
A cleverly worded clue disguises that low is a verb rather than an adjective – add the usual abbreviation for Temperature to get a word meaning up in the air

3d Hands are moved thus to adjust for fall (13)
Spring forward, fall back – which way do you move the hands?

13d Colleague in final chess position taking bishop (10)
Tricky for those that don’t play chess, but the final position is one where neither side can win; just insert the abbreviation for a bishop (another chess term!) and you have a word meaning a colleague

23d Attach to river bank (4)
A word meaning to attach is followed by the crosswordland’s usual abbreviation for a river to get a word meaning a bank

If 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!

28 comments on “ST 2510 – Hints

  1. Hi Dave
    I struggled for a while with one or two today but got there in the end without the blog, liked 13d, 17a, 24a, in fact liked a lot today 15a took me ages I just couldnt see it and so did 6a, I don’t understand 21d though I have the answer, i didn’t find it easy but perseverd and enjoyed it, finished early enough to take the dogs for a walk on the beach :)

    1. Mary

      21d One group losing revenue, initially, as drops accumulated in freeze (6)
      Start with one and a group of people with similar interests, remove the initial letter of Revenue and the result is the hanging, tapering piece frozen water

  2. Our Sunday setter certainly seems to have hit his stride with the last few puzzles. Although not as tough as some, they are delightfully constructed and bring smiles to the lips. My favourites today were 13d and 3d but these were the pick of a strong group of contenders.

  3. excellent crossword some very easy clues and some very difficult a really good mix. well done setter!

  4. Lovely Sunday offering, loved 13d, however Dave is the ‘and a’ necessary in the hint to 27a when ‘to’ would in my humble opinion serve the purpose better.However once again thanks for your great write up.

    1. It was there emphasise that “kind” was one part of the charade. When writing it I also very nearly used that first word instead of “breed”!

      1. The clue to 27a from Clued Up reads ‘Old-fashioned print worker kind to dog’ there is no ‘and a’ ???

    1. Mary

      My “cheap” CH Programmer arrived on Friday, and everything is now back to normal. How can the Plumb Centre charge nearly double the price charged by others, and over three times what I paid?

      1. I agree its immoral, but as a small company who have customers unlike yourself want everything fixed ‘now’ we don’t have the luxury of time to shop around :0

  5. Some good clues here & several that took a while to work out even though I had the answer! However I’m stuck on two – 16d and 24a. Any hints gratefully received.
    Also why ‘got’ on end of clue to 8d?

    1. 24a Help to catch bird — booby or loon (7)
      Put a word meaning help around a flightless South American bird – result – a Reality TV contestant

      16d Otherwise acted in cunning and in sleazy way (8)
      This looks as if it is going to be an anagram of acted inside a word meaning cunning, but it’s not. The contents are words meaning otherwise and acted, the container is a word meaning cunning, and the definiion is “in a sleazy way”

      1. Why the ‘got’ in the 8d clue Dave?, 6th president plus computer company should be enough to produce the physical attribute that males beat females with!, and boy there are not many of those!.

  6. Thanks Dave – all finished now. Had the help bit of 24a but then got stuck.
    Glad you’re ‘back to normal’ & hope you had your share of sun today – it was glorious here!

      1. 27a Old-fashioned print worker kind to dog (10)

        Old-fashioned refers to the fact that today printing is largely computer-controlled, so using a rectangular piece of metal or of wood on one end of which is cast or engraved a character, sign, etc. is no longer relevant. The answer is the job of the person who used to arrange these pieces. The first word in this name can also mean a kind or sort of something and the second word is a breed of dog derived from the spaniel and the pointer

      1. Why thank you Dave, I guess if I had not got 23d wrong (there is a credible alternative answer in my humble opinion!) the breed would have jumped out at me! All sorted now! Enjoy the blog very much, thanks.

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