Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2526 – Hints
Hints and tips by Big Dave
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
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, 12th March.
Across
1a Experiences a blow — it helps provide comfort in prayer (7)
A charade of synonyms for experiences and a blow leads to a firmly stuffed cushion for kneeling on in church
13a Type of European city (5)
If you don’t read this carefully you can puzzle over the answer – it’s a double definition the first one being a type of lettering used in printing and the second is “of European city”
28a Scots knew why, it’s said, this leader was slain (7)
The Scots word for knew (note the past tense) is followed by the letter that sounds like why to give a US President who was assassinated
Down
1d Hard master maltreated one often seen on treadmill (7)
The abbreviation for hard, as seen on pencils, is followed by an anagram, indicated by maltreated, of MASTER to het a small animal often seen on a treadmill (or on Top Gear!)
3d Source of oil, as it happens (5)
All-in-one clues can sometimes look easy but prove difficult – by the time you have combined the first letter (source) of Oil with a TV program being broadcast as it happens to get the definition you must read the whole clue again
14d What Canadian provinces do, in place of political leader (6,3)
Count the Canadian provinces, and then compare the result with the residence of the Prime Minister
24d Collapse, divided by new dispute (3-2)
A word meaning collapse, as in downfall, is dived into two parts and N(ew) is inserted to get a dispute
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!
Help, Help, am really sttuck on bottom l/h corner 17d, 18d, 22a, 25a, have been here ages must have something wrong !!
17d. Killer charged in Spain (7)
The thing doing the charging has two horns.
How stupid am I totally blinkered thinking on that one thanks Gazza
18d. Part of same issue is raised by flashy articles (7)
The definition is part of same issue, i.e. having the same father and mother.
A thouroughly enjoyable crossword today.The answer to 6d crops up on a regular basis but besides that I don’t remember seeing that clue before,(now your going to tell be it’s an old chestnut).It is very clever, having been to the said answer just recently, it reminded me of it Frankly
Reasonably diverting and a good fair puzzle again this week.
Enough ti make you think.
Per Nubians comment on 6d, are we missing some form of anagram indication or am I missing something?
23d and 11a were favourites for me.
I thought ‘you can get’ was the indicator
Easy enough but can someone explain the wordplay for 10a?
10a, Second of March? (7)
Double definition, the latter meaning “of the current Month” (normally a shortened form of this is used in formal documents).
Just stuck on 23d 25a and 17a…..mind has gone dead…any hints to guide me in right direction please?
23d. He’s enjoyed a long partnership in local match, we hear (5)
The name of the male partner of a long-established couple sounds like a match between two local teams.
17a, After service, male assistant put back TV etc. (4,5)
The definition is TV, etc. Start with a church service and add M(ale) and an assistant reversed (put back).
(5,4)? It’s (4,5) in the paper version ??
Sorry – a typo caused by trying to type and watch a rugby match at the same time – now corrected!
Ok, that’s another one in!
25a, A tramp is a type of ship (7)
Double definition, a tramp being someone who wanders around with no fixed abode.
I very nearly posted a hint for 25a just so that I could link to this video:
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U-H3hPYBmA&rel=0&w=247&h=200″]
Brilliant video, I have been listening to Hank Williams since I was 12yrs old and still haven’t tired of him, however my wife says it is music to slit your throat by. enjoyable crossword too.
Are any other CC members as utterly defeated by this as I am? Cannot get into this one, filled in the hints from the pictures and about 3 more and that’s it … and that after finishing on the last 2 or 3 sundays.
It was tougher today Geoff particularly I found the bottom l/h corner eventually finished it 2 mins ago after leaving the two i had left for a couple of hours!
It certainly is tougher today Mary. I’ve got the lower half in place, barring 20d, and most of the NW corner is done too. It’s the NE corner that’s still looking rather bare! A hint on 4d would be useful – I’m guessing here are young goats involved in this somewhere.
4d Novel youngster dropped off (9)
The novel was written by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Thanks BD. That gives me 15a now, of which we had letters 1-4 recently and already I had forgotten its reference to ‘soldier’.
Very enjoyable. 6d was a piece of cake for me!!!
Very good word play throughout.
I liked 13a, 17a, 26a and the bottom two. 3d, 14d & 16d.
I daresay that some of the lassies will have to start swotting up on rugby as well as cricket and golf!
Thanks!
Thanks BD – a couple of your hints were just what I needed to get me going on the last section! Quite a tricky one I thought and last to go in was the SW corner …. except 2d. Despite having all checking letters (assuming they’re right!) I just don’t get it No doubt I’ll kick myself but a hint would be great.
Among my favourites today were1a,10a, 12a, 5d and 20d the last two because I spent ages on the wrong track before the penny – satisfyingly – dropped
2d Daily broadcast that’s illuminating, naturally (7)
This light is radiated (broadcast) naturally every day – it’s that easy
Think I was trying too hard!! By the way – I liked 11a and 18d (once I got it) too.
same with me Claire that is the corner I was stuck on too, all finished now, I hope
2d , I think there is a Sally Army song, that goes something like ‘Jesus wants me for a ‘*******’ and a very good ‘*******’ I’ll be, at least I think that is the answer
Thanks BD and Mary – I do indeed know the song – can’t believe I didn’t get it – am kicking myself right now!!
I suspect the point about 2d is being missed. Remember that in crosswords, “daily” very often means a newspaper. The second part, as a verb, can mean “broadcast”.
Not missed, Brian, just badly explained. Thanks for doing it better!
Favourite puzzle of the week for me. Really enjoyed it, some excellent clues. Fav was 14d for me.
BD
Just a quick comment to say that by the time I come back tomorrow evening I expect you will have passed the magic 1,000,000 hits.
Congratulations and thanks to all the bloggers for such helpful comments over the months since I found your blog.
It was late in the evening when the NE corner finally fell into place, just 20d unfilled; all the checking letters are there, but can I see the word? Maybe I will before Friday, or cheat!
looking for a word for amazing Geoff
That’s what I expected. Tried Chambers online thesaurus, will look it up elsewhere – oh no, it’s that dreadful american word and that will explain why it wasn’t in Roget! Definitely my least favourite of the day …