ST 2516 – Hints – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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ST 2516 – Hints

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2516 – Hints

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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

A pleasant post-Christmas puzzle to solve while eating the left-over turkey!

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 Tuesday, 5th January 2010.


Across

1a    Scribbles in first part of diary a great deal (7)
These scribbles are derived from the first letter of Diary followed by a word that means a great deal, as in lots and lots

19a    Craft he famously executed (5)
This looks as if you need to drop the initial letter from a word to get a craft, but it’s not! This is actually a double definition – a small two-masted sailing vessel or a former public executioner

28a    Turn away and go to other side, crossing line (7)
A word meaning to turn away is constructed from a word meaning to go to the other side, as in transferring one’s allegiance, around the abbreviation for a Line

Down

1d    Musical accompaniment needed in Buxtehude’s cantatas (7)
This musical accompaniment is hidden in the rest of the clue

18d    Horn, for example, in part of castle (7)
A surprisingly clumsy clue in which a part of a castle is cryptically defined as a component of a male sheep

24d    The fellow one put inside as criminal (5)
A nice easy one to finish this puzzle – take THE and the abbreviation for Fellow and insert one to get a criminal

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!

13 comments on “ST 2516 – Hints

  1. Nice puzzle.

    I whizzed through half of this puzzle very quickly but the other half required much more time and work.

    With 9 across, I think I have the right answer but I don’t really understand the word play. I would greatly appreciate a hint so I can assess my answer.

    Thanks Big Dave for the review.

    I’m off to bed now (it’s 1:25 am here in Queensland where I am spending the Christmas/New Year break at my parents’ home). I will check back later in the day.

      1. Nice response!

        I was busy making the sauce for that most essential of Christmas meals, the Left-over Turkey Curry. If it’s any good I might add it to Big Dave’s Kitchen

  2. Another gem from Brian with which to end the year of Sunday puzzles. Favourite clues were 17d and 27a.

  3. 26a has got me stumped. I have got the answer but don’t know how. I assume the certainly bit is the second part of the answer but I ca’t see where the beginning fits,

    1. 26a Rest of flowers made into garland? Certainly! (7)
      The Hawaiian garland of flowers is the first part and the definition is the first word. Time to kick yourself?

  4. I’m having a crossword orgy and did this one quite quickly this morning. No special problems and I enjoyed it, though it took me a while to get 9a — probably because I did! I thought 2a was pretty funny and also 16d. Now, on to the next one :-)

  5. Hey ho merry christmas and a happy new year to everyone! As a small treat to me I would love to get a gift from someone explaining 22 across Thanks

    1. 22a Indian batsmen, finally, getting over 1000 (5)
      The definition is an Indian, possibly from Rishi’s home town of Chennai – batsmen, finally is a word used for the last few batsmen and you put this around the Roman numeral for 1000.

      Happy New Year

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