Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2534 – Hints
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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A few hints to get you started.
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, 7th May.
Across
1a Time in lesson certain to expire (6)
Put T(ime) inside a lesson, in ethics perhaps, to get an adjective meaning certain to expire or corporeal
18a Something between rounds eaten in golf club (8)
… on the Kent coast
26a What’s said to get attention about a volume that’s serious (5)
Put something you might say to get attention around A V(olume) to get a word meaning serious or intense
29a Become furious in office of bishop and cardinal, say (3,3)
A phrase meaning to become furious is a charade of the office of a bishop and deep scarlet colour, like a cardinal’s cassock or hat
Down
1d Short new style altered in decorous fashion (8)
New, as in up-to-date, is abbreviated (short) and followed by an anagram (altered) of STYLE to get a word meaning in decorous fashion
19d Firm including a worker in commercial transaction, initially (7)
A word meaning firm, in the sense of resolute, is built up by putting a worker (no, not an ant or a bee this time) in between a commercial and the first letter (initially) of T(ransaction)
24d Act on desire to be top person in field (5)
A charade of to act and a desire give a top person in a given field
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!
I need so much help today, that i’m not going to ask yet, will carry on watching the football – (even though the best side is losing) and come back to it, unfortunately the hints are all for ones I have done, how am I ever going to mark COW this week, if I can’t do the crosswords, worry worry
Hi Dave. Thanks for the hints. Finished now – SW corner was last to go in, your hint on 19d got me going again.
12a was a nice clue, I thought. I also like 8d.
mark
Another wonderful puzzle. 28a, 22d and 4a were superb.
Thanks to Mr Greer for delivering the goods again. I’ll but him a pint on Saturday if he is there.
It’s a bit unlikely as he lives in Portland, Oregon!
but I’m sure he appreciates the sentiment.
Safe bet then!
I surprised my self and managed all but 21d after a bad start by putting in Intensly fo 1 down….any one else fall into that? Best clue 5d…though have to say it took me 2 hours to almost complete.
But 21d given the letters already included does not appear in my dictionary?
21d Note no longer as expression of love (7)
Both parts of the double definition are in Chambers!
* A pound sterling
* An enthusiastic or exaggerated kiss
Ah thanks for that big dave I had a z instead of an s………no wonder I could not find it.
Thoroughly enjoyed today’s puzzle favourites were 8, 17 and 22d
Desperately stuck today particularly on top left corner 2d & 3d would help hopefully, any hints anyone, please???
2d. Save most of cake in small room (7)
Think of a long thin cake with chocolate on top and cream in the middle, drop the last letter and put what’s left inside an abbreviation of room.
Mmmm sounds lovely could eat that now Gazza, thanks for both may be back for more, we’ll see how this helping goes
3d Education reforms offered lots to people (9)
It’s an anagram (reforms) of education. Think of lots as items offered for sale.
Well that’s it I think except for 7d, all others filled in, though not sure they are all right!! I will soon tell if someone can help me out with 7d i would be grateful, I found this really tough today, was it just me, it has taken me all day on and off, i will be really glad to finish it
Its ok i can see 7d, just means I have 11a & 8d wrong, hmmm that’s what i was afraid of
Semms I haven’t finished after all, any help 11a & 8d please, i have all the checking letters, they must be so obvious, not my day today!! Did anyone else find this tough??
11a. Defintion is the page on the right hand side. It is from a name for a clergyman (or woman) with the last letter removed.
8d. You need a type of weapon (like Excalibur) reversed (hoisted) on the final letter of gantry to make a word meaning sleepy (liable to drop off).
You bet! Barely halfway and that’s about it, I think. But the snooker has most of my attention.
S’ok thanks have got them with a little help from chambers, never heard that word 11a, i was working on rabbi(t) !
Another cracker of a puzzle from Virgilius today. Many thanks for the continued fun you give us on Sundays.
Thanks Prolixic, all finished now with a big sigh of relief
Phew at last, finished, at least 4* for me, got that top right corner all mixed up, I was convinced 4a was something to do with ‘prostates’ without the p, so i put in rotateers, which of course was so stupid, ah well thanks Gazza for prompts
Well I’m damned (unlike the clergyman)! I came up with with 11a about three hours ago and thought, no it can’t be, without even bothering to look it up!
Another phew, finished at last! Now I can look forward to PB explaining the clues next w/end.
Thanks for asking your questions Mary, they helped me along!
Thanks to Virgilius for a superb puzzle today. I struggled through it, (partly because I solved it next to my son watching Tom and Jerry at full volume) but enjoyed it all the way! Many thanks.
Hi Big Dave, thanks for this brilliant site. I’ve been doing the DT crosswords for just a month now and it’s starting to make a bit of sense. It’s like learning a new language. I can typically get about half of the answers without help, but some are just too out there. To that end, I’m struggling with 16d and 25a. Any tips?
Karl,
16d – The reference to a painter is actually a reference to something thats used to tie a boat up.
25a – The defintion is excel militarily – you just need to find a word meaning “not in” and another word meaning offensive.
Thanks Libellule, it’s the drunken painter = something used to tie up a boat thing that really baffles me about crosswords. I’m getting there though, thanks again.
16D: Just painter rather than “drunken painter” – “drunken” is doing another job. In my review of the puzzle which appears on Friday I’ll try to find some points to highlight for beginners.
“Like learning a new language”: a very good analogy. And just like learning a language, practice is the key to success – hang in there, read the write-ups, and it will all make sense.
Could not start this yesterday as was stuck on the Snooker at Sheffield so started early this mornng and got through it!
Some very good clues.
I liked 4a, 12a, 14a & best 28a. 5d, 8d, 9d, 16d, 21d & 23d.
How many of you saw the 1935 version of the film re 28a???
I think Clarke Gable was Fletcher Christian and Charles Laughton Captain Bligh. Yes I saw it and also Laughton as the hunchback of Notre Dame. Even now as we hear any church bells ring one of the family says “Those bells, those bells!”.
Finished:). Only 2 days late and with help from 2 of your hints! Learnt 2 new words, one being 11a, the other being ‘verso’; must try to drop them into the conversation the next time i’m standing next to the printer.