Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2521 – Hints
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
A bit more difficult than last week’s Prize puzzle, but still excellent quality.
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, 5th February.
Across
1a Steps some Londoners take to produce fruit (6,3,5)
Cockney slang for stairs
11a Statement of dismissal on other grounds (4)
… when you team is not playing at home
18a Produce the first shot and so cause anger (3,3)
This two-word phrase can mean to take the first shot to begin play at a hole in golf and it can also mean to anger or annoy
25a European city where many Irish people live (7)
… a German city or an Irish province, as long as you ignore the umlaut
26a Personal stake of setter’s evident when upset (6,8)
Upset is the indicator that tells you that this personal stake is an anagram of SETTER’S EVIDENT
Down
1d Fruit in a case briefly leading to difficulty (7)
This fruit is a charade of A followed by the shorted form (briefly) of the case of a word when a person or thing is addressed and finally a difficulty or trouble
3d Latin and French one got in school (4)
Combine the Latin for “and” with the French for “one”, as a pronoun, to get Crosswordland’s most popular school
5d Spread out from Land’s End whenever ready to set off (8)
For me this was the most difficult wordplay today – a word meaning spread out (past tense) is built up from the last (end) letter of land, and a short phrase saying that an explosive device in this state is ready to be set off (it would have been a lot easy to give the answer!)
8d Strange dramas in Indian city recalled (6)
… no doubt Rishi can recall the former name of the city where he lives!
13d One can provide juice that a presenter may require (5,5)
… the second definition refers to a product in the Microsoft Office package that is (10) not (5,5)!
23d The moment that’s not repeated (4)
If it happens this often, it can never be repeated
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!
Dave,
3d I thought that the french for one was une unless the meaning is as in your (familiar) rather than votre.
20d I also thought a bit of a stretch. I would like to know the explanation behind that one.
Overall I enjoyed the puzzle and tried to make it last.
Mary
Thanks for your concern yesterday, I was at a family wedding on Friday and it lasted well into Saturday. I think I have surfaced again but I may be just bubbling under
Nubian
3d. It’s the French pronoun for one, rather than the indefinite article or number.
20d. Part of flower found in either part of the Bible (6)
The names of both parts of the bible contain (found in) this hidden word.
Thanks Gazza, I see it now I have surfaced.
I was just going to reply aka Gazza…
one (impersonal) (as subject)
e.g. one would like to think that – ** aimerait penser que
Thanks Libellule,
I was probably trying to be a bit too clever in assuming the first letter of the answer as roman and and the rest as the below
your [ˈjɔːr ˈjʊər](STRONG) [jər] adj
(familiar form) → ton*(ta), tes pl; (polite form) → votre, vos pl; (plural form) → votre, vos pl
Shame though, it could have worked with a slightly different clue.
Tut, tut – one has censored you, Libellule
19d was favourite clue with 1d and 9ac also appreciated.
18 across raised a laugh (until I read your hint above), as without the benefit of Chambers it had an alternative first letter!
yes I was on the same wavelength Chris :
Yes, wouldn’t have got this apart from the hint!
Liked 7d and 17a, and we also got a bit stuck on 18a, not being golfers
Quite a nice puzzle for me today though I did get stuck on 19d, 22a, 25a, a fair few anagrams, which i enjoy
not sure if 23d is correct but don’t see what else it can be
Enjoyable as ever with lots of smiles and head scratching over some clues. 12a took the longest to resolve. 19d and 20d were my favourite clues.
Thanks Mary for your reply of yesterday regarding the Clueless Club. With today’s effort I feel I could have been one of the founder members. Mind not working at all, probably due to being extremely grumpy after the tennis.
Liked today’s, specially 12a and 15a, also 19d.
Took a long time to get the duh effect on 20d, even with your tips.
Any help on last one 9ac
Hi Little Dave 2 – welcome to the blog.
9a. Zero, less than zero, about zero? That’s awful as forecast (7)
There are three parts to the wordplay – two zeros which are represented by the letter which looks like zero, and less than zero which is the sign used to denote a negative number. You have to assemble them as instructed to get a description of a forecast that is not good.
I found this fairly tough, took me a good couple of hours on and off. Last to go in were 12a and 17a following a complete mental block. All seemed very fair though.
Many thanks gazza finally got it, it is getting easier week by week.
Another good puzzle from Virgilius.
The last one to go in for me was 5d, even after the hint it took ages for the penny to finally drop.
Very enjoyable puzzle.
Best for me were 1a, 9a,14a & 26a. 2d, 7d, 13d & 19d.
Am about half way with this, and liking it very much, now that I am feeling more confident, and taking more time over it. Think I have got 5d correct, but will have to see how the others fit in with it.