DT 26276

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26276

Hints and tips by Gazza

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

We have a typical Giovanni today (but with the usual sprinkling of religious references). Let us know what you thought of it in a comment.
As always the answers are hidden between the brackets under the clues. Just drag your cursor through the white space between the brackets to reveal one.

Across Clues

1a  Trailing after a nag? (5-5)
{HORSE-DRAWN} – an all-in-one clue (where the whole clue is the definition). It’s constructed from a word meaning pulled along (trailing) after what a nag is. The attempted misdirection is trying to make you think of a nag as someone who is always finding fault, but I don’t think it works very well since I believe that most solvers will immediately associate nag with the word in the answer.

6a  Business putting out English jazz (4)
{TRAD} – a type of jazz comes from a synonym for business without its final E (putting out English).

10a  Held cold part of body (5)
{CLUNG} – a verb meaning held or embraced is a simple charade of C(old) and an internal organ (part of body).

11a  Asian cell forged partnerships (9)
{ALLIANCES} – an anagram (forged) of ASIAN CELL.

12a  Fools don’t expect honesty from the cleaner! (8)
{CHARLIES} – one of the countless words for fools in English, if split as (4,4) indicates that the cleaner tells porkies.

13a  Birds — gosh! — going over the Home Counties (5)
{GEESE} – these birds are a charade of an exclamation of surprise (like gosh!, but used more by North Americans than by us) and the geographical part of the country where the Home Counties are located. Since this is not a down clue, what do think of the use of “going over” to mean followed by?

15a  Model test lots only half completed (7)
{EXAMPLE} – this model is a charade of a formal test followed by the first half (only half completed) of a word meaning lots or more than enough.

17a  Hanging around the bar, Edward stayed behind (7)
{TRAILED} – a verb meaning stayed behind (as used in 1a) is constructed from a familiar form of Edward surrounding (hanging around) a bar or rod …

19a  Rod gets hot working inside pit (7)
{POTHOLE} – … and speaking of rods, we want another synonym for rod or bar here with an anagram (working) of HOT inside it. The answer is a natural underground cave (pit).

21a  Notice little girl having hesitation, being not so well (7)
{SEEDIER} – a comparative meaning more unwell or out of sorts is a charade of a verb to notice, a two-character abbreviated girl’s name and an exclamation expressing hesitation while you try to think of what to say next.

22a  Chip receptacle being taken around house (5)
{NACHO} – a piece (chip) of tortilla, typically topped with melted cheese and flavoured with peppers, is a receptacle or vessel which is reversed (taken around) followed by an abbreviation of house.

24a  Lighter chaps? (8)
{BARGEMEN} – cryptic definition. A lighter is a flat-bottomed boat used to transfer goods to and from ships in harbour.

27a  Brief signal coming on time, received by the Virgin (9)
{MOMENTARY} – the definition is brief or short-lived. Put a signal or portent ahead of T(ime) all inside (received by) the forename of the Virgin as revered by Roman Catholics.

28a  Undefined article included in the levy once (5)
{TITHE} – this is an old levy, equivalent to one-tenth of an individual’s income, which was once raised to support the church. Put a pronoun describing something of unspecified sex inside (included in) THE.

29a  Dispute using low tactics initially (4)
{MOOT} – this word is used these days mainly as an adjective meaning debatable, but, as here, it can also be a verb meaning to dispute or plead. Put a verb meaning to sound like a cow (low) in front of the first letter (initially) of T(actics).

30a  British record agent with a ruddy good motto! (2,8)
{BE PREPARED} – the definition is the motto of the Boy Scouts (“good” appears to be just padding). String together B(ritish), an old record format now largely confined to crosswords, a sales agent, A and a synonym for ruddy.

Down Clues

1d  Ham and wine (4)
{HOCK} – double definition, the second a dry white wine from the Rhine valley.

2d  Thug chucked coat (9)
{ROUGHCAST} – string together a synonym for a thug or hooligan and a verb meaning chucked or threw to get a covering (coat) for the outside walls of buildings.

3d  King housed in walled garden (5)
{EDGAR} – the name of an English king (959-975) and also of a later Scottish king is hidden (housed) in the clue.

4d  Register shows each learner is in RE (7)
{REALISE} – register here is used as a verb meaning to become conscious of something. The outer letters of the answer are given to us, and inside we need to put EA(ch), the abbreviation for a learner and IS.

5d  Very small city film properly put together (4-3)
{WELL-SET} – start with the smallest city in England (and the only city in Somerset) with a population that only just exceeds 10,000. Then add the Spielberg film about an alien which is getting a repeat showing today after its screening yesterday.

7d  Engineers start to conduct church survey (5)
{RECCE} – a slang term (especially used by the RAF) for a preliminary survey is constructed by stringing together the usual abbreviation for the Royal Engineers, the first letter (start) of C(onduct) and the abbreviation for the Church of England.

8d  Lords’ feuds destroyed German city (10)
{DÜSSELDORF} – an anagram (destroyed) of LORDS’ FEUDS produces the city on the Rhine which is the capital of Nordrhein-Westfalen.

9d  Tongue of monkey shortened over time (8)
{LANGUAGE} – a synonym for tongue is a long-tailed tree-dwelling Asian monkey without its final R (shortened) followed by another word for time.

14d  Looking after mother and saying nothing (7,3)
{KEEPING MUM} – this double definition is a bit of an old chestnut, but amusing if you’ve not seen it before.

16d  Publicist came across as intense (8)
{PROFOUND} – start with the abbreviation for a public relations officer (is this the same as a publicist?) and add a verb meaning came across or discovered.

18d  Old jockey reportedly in city with race course (9)
{LEICESTER} – the forename of a famous (now retired) flat-race jockey sounds like (reportedly) a city in the East Midlands with a racecourse (I’m not sure why racecourse appears as two separate words in the clue).

20d  Grab drug, having gone to doctor, then run (7)
{EMBRACE} – a verb meaning to grab is a charade of E(cstasy) (drug), one of the abbreviations for a doctor and a verb meaning to run or go quickly. The Earl of Sandwich is reputed to have said to John Wilkes “Egad, sir, I do not know if you will die on the gallows or of the pox”. To which Wilkes replied “That will depend, my lord, on whether I embrace your principles or your mistress”.

21d  One administering infant baptism maybe in second part of service (7)
{SPRAYER} – someone who baptises an infant sprinkles water and could be (maybe, at a stretch!) described as the answer. It’s a charade of S(econd) and a constituent part of a church service.

23d  Short piece arrived with ring attached (5)
{CAMEO} – a short performance, often by a well-known actor, is a synonym for arrived followed by O (ring).

25d  Poets getting drunk in bar (5)
{ESTOP} – a legal term meaning to bar or preclude is an anagram (getting drunk) of POETS.

26d  Crook, object given to bishop (4)
{BEND} – a verb meaning to crook (one’s finger, say, when partaking of tea) is an aim or object after (given to) B(ishop).

The clues I liked today included 24a, 27a and 8d, but my favourite was 12a. What do you think? Leave us a comment!