ST 2549 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
View closed comments 

ST 2549 (Hints)

by Big Dave  

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2549 (Hints)

Hints and tips by Big Dave

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.

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.

Peter Biddlecombe’s full review of this puzzle will be published at 12.00 on Friday, 20th August.


Across

1a    Walk like our rulers (14)
A delightful double definition – walk for the benefit of one’s health and existing subject to fixed laws

14a    Slight addition to injury that makes situation worse (6)
This slight or affront, when added to injury, forms a phrase meaning makes the situation worse

19a    Part of whale bow of dinghy hit by accident (6)
Combine the lobe of a whale’s tail with the first letter (bow) of Dinghy to get a word meaning hit by accident – edged through the slips, perhaps


27a    Wife and nipper, perhaps, awfully brash youngster (14)
W(ife) followed by an anagram (awfully) of NIPPER PERHAPS gives a brash youngster

Down

1d    Discovered doing something wrong, as acrobat might be (6,2,3,3)
A phrase that means discovered doing something wrong could describe part of an acrobat’s performance

2d    Weapons inspectors turned up slightly odd clues in atomic centre (7)
The organisation that was represented in Iraq by weapons inspector Hans Blix is reversed (turned up) and followed by an anagram (slightly odd, as only a couple of letters are moved) of CLUES to get the centre of an atom

13d    E.g. fine region within which a trip could be risky (7,4)
Combine something of which a fine is an example with a region to get the part of a football pitch where a trip could be risky

25d    Propitiatory offering as usual way of doing things, initially (3)
A propitiatory offering spells out the initials of Standard Operating Procedure (usual way of doing things) – not an abbreviation that came readily to mind, but it is in Chambers

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!

42 comments on “ST 2549 (Hints)”

  1. Enjoyable puzzle from Virgilius today. I have found an iPhone app that will download the Daily Telegraph crossword if you are a Clued Up subscriber so did not need to get out of bed to do this one! Many thanks to Virgilius for the puzzle and to BD for the notes. Favourite clue was 19a.

  2. A very enjoyable puzzle this morning, thank you Virgilius. I thought all the clues excellent apart from 11a which has nothing wrong with it apart from being a fine example of my pet hate. Had the answer but wasn’t sure why until I invoked Gnomethang’s law and then read the word “odds”!

  3. Friendly enough puzzle today with one or two teethsuckers but overall pretty enjoyable. 21d was a bit “well all right”.
    Fav was 22a. Thanks to Big Dave and Virgilius for all their work.
    Off to visit Gibside Hall, I’ve been promising to go for forty years and finally the day has come.
    Have a nice Sunday everyone.

      1. Just got back, wonderful place. Yes I noticed when we were there you could stay in the Banqueting House but couldn’t have a look as it was cordoned off. The Queen Mother should have kept the main house going thoigh, it looks like it was quite a pile.

  4. Yep, agree with the above – not too simple and a few new words for us anyway. Favourite clues 8d and 22a. Can’t get the pic for the 19a -what am I doing wrong, BD? Thanks Virgilus for a good Sunday Morning.

  5. 14a was my favourite today: by no means the hardest clue, but in my humble opinion very nicely written.

  6. Triffic puzzle. 1a and 12a were tremendous clues.
    Many thanks to Virgilius and to BD for the notes,

  7. It’s so good to be back! First Elgar, then Prolixic and now this one. Great puzzle, Virgilius. Favourite clue 1a. Thanks to BD, too.

    Off to see what might happen in 13d this afternoon………..

      1. Better than one side losing … but I think we need some new players. not least a goalie.

    1. At last someone has mentioned 12a, last to go in for me, never ever heard of it, but should have guessed from monarchs, but what has ER to do with anything?

      1. I knew it would be a word I didn’t know. Fortunately, a classics friend, fluent in Latin and Greek, just happens to know it and could see it fitted with checking letters 1, 7, 9 and 11!

    2. 12a is an anagram (could be) of “APPLIED TO ER” and monarch is a reference to a type of butterfly….. a really good clue.

      2. Thanks Libelulle, I really didn’t see that and I had looked at it for sooooooo long :) , yes now I can see it was a good clue, I was looking at all kinds of ways to use ER!

  9. Hi everyone, took me most of the morning to do this, but much too nice a day to spend a long time on a crosssword so thank goodness I finished it before we went off caravan hunting again :) fav clue 22a

    1. Oh dear, and 22a is one of the clues I’m now stuck on. Good luck with the caravan hunting. :-)

  10. All done, in two parts either side of a jolly nice 1a in the sunshine by the river. It probably took me far too long, but I got there without asking for help – just!

    Thanks for puzzle and hints.

      1. The Thames, but only a mile or so upstream and it becomes the Isis. Went downstream today and very pleasant too.

          1. It does. Anyone remember the Morris Isis? A slightly bigger version of the Morris Oxford If I’m right. And that was a bigger version of the Morris Cowley, which is where the factory was built. The Oxford Welsh Male Voice Choir, which I accompany, has its roots in the Morris factory, as many Welsh men came to work there during the 30’s.

  11. Libellule, thank you!! Got 12a but had no idea why. SO obvious once you know! Good puzzle, enjoyable and thanks to setter and blogger

    1. 12a See Libellule’s reply to comment #8 above.
      7d Medicinal plant from stall he always picked (7)
      The plant is a word hidden in the clue.

  13. As you can see I started this very late, and have now done all but the SW quarter. Can anyone help with 22 and 24a or 16 and 18d? Many thanks, as I shall be in the South of France when Peter Biddlecombe’s solutions are printed.

    1. 22a – green is the answer in the sense of conservation rather than a shade of green. It is an anagram of E cornfields with a final Y

      24a you want a shade of red found by putting a word means against around a word meaning lips.

    2. 16d – the answer is a word hidden in the clue

      18d – you want a word meaning connecting with the bank, as a boat may do overnight IS an abbreviation for hard to give a word describing someone from a part of Africa.

      1. Thanks very much, Prolixic. I was looking at the wrong end of the stick altogether, and at 25d had put what we give the waiter. Now I can go to bed. :-)

Comments are closed.