DT 26345 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 26345

by Gazza  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26345

Hints and tips by Gazza

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

We have a pleasant puzzle today (presumably from Shamus) which is like Baby Bear’s bed (not too hard and not too soft). It’s also a pangram, i.e. it contains at least one instance of each letter of the alphabet (and BD tells me that the Quickie is also a pangram). Let us know what you thought of it in a comment.
The answers are concealed between the brackets under the clues to prevent your seeing them accidentally. Just highlight the space between the brackets if you want to reveal one.

Across Clues

1a  Sound evidence of an unwelcome admission? (7,5)
{BURGLAR ALARM} – cryptic definition of the sound that alerts you to a possible intruder, although, statistically, it’s much more likely to be due to faulty equipment or operator error.

9a  When speaking, regret wounding comment? Nonsense (7)
{RHUBARB} – an informal word meaning nonsense is made from a homophone (when speaking) of a verb meaning to regret followed by a wounding comment.

10a  Reported order given to expert in pipes to fall (7)
{PLUMMET} – we want a verb meaning to fall and it sounds like (reported) a peremptory order that you may give to your local pipe expert when you want a new washing machine or similar installed. You would normally add “in” to such an order.

11a  Information retained by friend, a taxi-driver (4)
{DATA} – hidden (retained) in the clue is some information.

12a  Weak fellow fronting bar (5)
{FRAIL} – the definition is weak. Start with an abbreviation for fellow and add a bar.

13a  Wife remains for lotion (4)
{WASH} – a liquid to be applied to the skin (lotion) is the abbreviation for wife followed by the remains of something burnt.

16a  Old city with mass in work showing disquiet (7)
{TURMOIL} – put the name of the old city where Abraham was possibly born and the abbreviation for mass (as used in Einstein’s famous equation) inside a synonym for work to make another word for disquiet.

17a  Outstanding vessel containing foremost of tough rowers — Redgrave, say? (7)
{ACTRESS} – we have here a definition by example – what is, or was, the profession of various female members of the Redgrave family, including Vanessa? Start with a synonym for outstanding and add the usual abbreviation for steamship (vessel), then insert the initial letters (foremost) of Tough Rowers. There’s a nice bit of misdirection, trying to make us think that Redgrave is Sir Steve, the Olympic oarsman.

18a  Naive woman that’s sincere getting home first (7)
{INGENUE} – the definition is naive woman. Take a synonym for sincere and move the two letters used in crosswordland to mean “at home” from near the end to the front (getting home first).

21a  Unusual actor I associated with a foreign country (7)
{CROATIA} – the name of a European country is an anagram (unusual) of ACTOR I  followed by (associated with) A.

23a  Cereal I overlooked in complicated arrangement (4)
{MAZE} – remove the I (overlooked) from a cereal crop to leave a complicated arrangement.

24a  Principal knight is harsh (5)
{STARK} – put a synonym for principal. i.e. the leading performer in an artistic performance, in front of one of the abbreviations for knight to make an adjective meaning harsh.

25a  Lacking energy, supply gibe (4)
{QUIP} – start with a verb meaning to supply or kit out and remove the initial E (lacking energy) to leave a gibe.

28a  Terrific man with term of endearment in US city (7)
{HELLUVA} – we want an informal adjective meaning terrific. Start with a male pronoun (man) and add an informal term of endearment which goes inside the abbreviation for a large Californian city. This is the last answer I got, because for a long time I thought that I was looking for the name of a US city. I might have got it quicker if I’d realised that it contained the one remaining letter required to make the puzzle a pangram.

29a  Pile in Northern city about to turn tawdry (7)
{CHEAPEN} – the definition is to turn tawdry. Put a synonym for pile inside N(orthern) and the postal area of the City of London which have to be reversed (about).

30a  Notice priest devised for one receiving callers (12)
{RECEPTIONIST} – an anagram (devised) of NOTICE PRIEST gets the first person you talk to when visiting or calling a company or organisation.

ARVE Error: need id and provider

Down Clues

1d  Storm in Belgium with freakish result (7)
{BLUSTER} – start with the International Vehicle Registration code for Belgium and add an anagram (freakish) of RESULT to make a synonym of storm.

2d  Bring up the latest position (4)
{REAR} – double definition.

3d  Generous artist inhibited by defamatory statement (7)
{LIBERAL} – put the usual abbreviation for an artist who is a member of the Royal Academy inside a defamatory statement to make a synonym of generous.

4d  Copy I place wrongly under back of printer (7)
{REPLICA} – an anagram (wrongly) of I PLACE goes after (under, in a down clue) the last letter (back) of printeR.

5d  50 on strike for rough fellow (4)
{LOUT} – put the Roman numeral for 50 in front of a common way of saying on strike.

6d  Strike attendant? That’s aggressive behaviour (7)
{RAMPAGE} – strike appears again with a totally different meaning. A verb meaning to strike or drive hard into precedes a young attendant.

7d  Emphatic order needed for renovating European landmark (3,2,8)
{ARC DE TRIOMPHE} – an anagram (renovating) of EMPHATIC ORDER produces this Paris landmark.

8d  In greatest danger like a loser at fencing? (2,3,5,3)
{AT THE SHARP END} – double definition, the second cryptic. A phrase meaning exposed to the greatest risk could also be where a losing fencer finds himself in relation to his opponent’s weapon.

14d  Piece of meat shared with others (5)
{JOINT} – double definition.

15d  Son raised money for item of furniture (5)
{STOOL} – start with an abbreviation for son and then reverse (raised) an informal word for money to make something to sit on.

19d  Look around European lakes for animal (7)
{GAZELLE} – the animal required is a slender antelope. Put a verb meaning to look intently around E(uropean) and the abbreviation for lake which needs to be repeated (because lakes is in the plural).

20d  Select edition of newspaper in front of court (7)
{EXTRACT} – a special, late edition of a newspaper containing breaking news goes in front of the abbreviation of court to make a verb meaning to select from a larger body of information.

21d  Scoundrel Bill with a love for liqueur (7)
{CURACAO} – we want a liqueur flavoured with the peel of bitter oranges. It’s a charade of a synonym for scoundrel, the abbreviation for an account (bill), A and O (which looks like zero, i.e. love in tennis scoring).

22d  Celebrate part of orchestra? (7)
{TRUMPET} – double definition, the first as a verb meaning to celebrate or proclaim loudly.

26d  Titled figure appointed to entertain king (4)
{DUKE} – this titled figure is a synonym for appointed or scheduled around (to entertain) one of the abbreviations for king.

27d  Mysterious creature still found on island (4)
{YETI} – a mysterious and abominable creature is a synonym for still in front of (on, in a down clue) the abbreviation for island.

The clues which I liked included 1a, 9a and 7d, but my favourite today is 17a. Let us know what you liked in a comment.

35 comments on “DT 26345”

  1. Fairly steady slog today with nothing contentious other than 28a which was a bit of a non clue I thought.
    Otherwise quite enjoyable.
    Thanks to Shamus and Gazza

  2. Slightly harder than yesterday (going by my solving time) but not difficult. Seemed to be a lot of those ‘take one letter and then add an anagram, homophone, another word’ clues. I was surprised to find 28a in Chambers. Agree with you about 17a as favourite. Thanks Gazza and setter.

    Toughie today is a joy and a pleasure, even though it took less time than this to solve.

  3. 21d was my favourite in this fine puzzle. 14d and 24a had me going for a bit for no good reason – me being dim is all!
    Thanks to our setter and gazza.

  4. Didn’t realise it was a pangram. As you say it would have helped as I had sire for 26d and stared at 28a for a good five minutes as a result.
    Enjoyed it nevertheless

    2. Hi Ozonedog

      28A and 26D were the only two I failed on – I solved all the others without reference to a dictionary or the web.

      I got the answers to those two clues from Chris G on the Crossword Solver Forum as the suspense was getting to me and I couldn’t wait!

      I enjoyed this puzzle though. Most enjoyable fare from Shamus. I also enjoy his FT puzzles (as Sleuth).

      Thanks to Gazza for the review and Shamus for the puzzle. Great work from both of you which is much appreciated.

    3. It’s welcome back Ozonedog.

      Each time you change name and/or email address your comment will require moderation.

      BTW I’m sure it wasn’t deliberate, but the use of capitals on the Internet is regarded as the equivalent of shouting, so I’ve converted your comment to lowercase.

          1. Thank you – being dim again! Is the use of capitals to emphasize one word acceptable? Am suddenly very aware that it’s something I do quite often.

  7. I enjoyed this and agree with Gazza that it’s just like Baby Bear’s bed! I eventually got 26d but wasn’t very sure about it. I think we’ve had 9a quite recently. I liked 1, 10 and 28a and 7, 8 and 21d. One day I will learn/remember to look for a pangram. Thank you Shamus and Gazza.

      1. Many thanks gazza – I’ve been reading and learning for about a month now and really find it informative and useful.

        1. Yes – it’s really brilliant, isn’t it? So lovely to get an explanation for answers that obviously have to be what they are, but why is sometimes difficult to work out. Oh dear – not such good grammar!

  9. Very enjoyable – I spotted the pangram quite early, but then ‘dropped the ball’ with 28a as my last in not realizing the Q had to be one of those last two letters.
    Agree with Sue – the ‘Toughie’ is very entertaining today. Extremely approachable for all on here and very stylishly clued.
    Who is the setter?

  10. Haven’t commented for ages but still follow blog daily.
    Today’s was very straightforward and I liked 28ac but on the whole there seemed a lot of letter fiddling going on!
    Could someone enlighten me at what point (other having found atoz) one can realise that it is a pangram?
    Why is the DIY COW link blocked on my computer as an attack site?

    1. chris,
      It’s something to be aware of once you’ve found a couple of J, Q or Z.
      On the COW site it depends on your browser settings. On Firefox (which I use) I’ve got “block reported attack sites” unchecked (in Tools/Security) and it’s been like this for months with no problems, but it’s up to you whether you want to do this.

      1. Thanks for reply, Gazza
        I have never had any other site come up as “attack” and so was concerned that it might be a genuine warning.
        Sorry should have thanked you for review…..entertaining in its own rite write right!

  11. Found this hard-going and eventually turned to the blog with 5 unfilled. Some of the constructs in the mid-week puzzles are usually too complex for me, but It’s not that long ago that I would have only done about 6 answers in total! Still have problems sometimes in identifying the full definition, eg 29a, didn’t realise the def contained ‘turn’.

    Thanks to setter and Gazza for explaining several, 17a being but one of them.

  13. Made a meal of this today because I did not sit down and complete it in one sitting. I made half a dozen visits at different times and therefore did not get the flow. Did not particularly like the grid layout either, it is like a series of small puzzles only linked by one answer.
    Enjoyed 28a and 21d.
    Thanks to the setter and Gazza as always for the entertaining review.

  15. This was a somewhat disappointing crossword for me today – I solved it OK – but I think Shamus has done better in previous puzzles.

    Nevertheless, I liked 17a (nothing to do with the rowing maestro), 18a, 28a, 8d & 21d.

    For 18a il faut penser en français encore une fois n’est-ce pas? but I expect it is in Chambers.

    28a was a bit of a laugh – when I was young – I am in my upper 80s now – this kind of clue was not allowed – too colloquial. Plus ça change….

  17. Struggled a bit with this one, mainly due to a long and tiring drive returning from hols in Devon. Brain fatigue, well, that’s my excuse. However, success crowned my efforts.
    Curious picture for 22d. Quite a rare animal, the bass version.

  18. Late I know, but I did enjoy yesterdays cryptic today, so thanks Shamus for a lovely crossword and thanks Gazza for the review.

  19. Asked my tyro pals what was peculiar about this xword and they got it-a pangram.I thought EC meant Exeter City but now i know better but please explain it in detail,Gazza or Big D.

    1. The City of London (the financial district) is in the part of London for which the postal area is EC (i.e. all the postcodes there start with EC). EC stands for the East Central part of London.

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