DT 26367 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 26367 (Hints)

by Big Dave  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26367 (Hints)

Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club

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I’ll be in the Kemble Brewery Inn, 27 Fairview St, Cheltenham, GL52 2JF from about 4.00pm today – come along and meet other solvers as well as some setters.

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.

A full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 14th October.

Across

1a    Fascinating crimes solved going round Middle East (8)
A word meaning fascinating is an anagram (solved) of CRIMES around Middle East

10a    Glittering particle stopped short of box (4)
Drop the last letter (stopped short) from a glittering particle from, perhaps, a fire to get a verb meaning to box or fight

17a    Not one Greek department making room (5)
Drop the final A (one) from a department of eastern Greece to get a room in the roof of a house

21a    Look-alike being overdrawn, I intervened (8)
A word meaning any creature with our appearance or characteristics is constructed from a being followe by the abbreviation for overdrawn around (intervened) I

28a    Does one see what one’s eating with these? (3,5)
A cryptic definition of a pair of canines used for eating

Down

2d    Uncovering of ancient city during display (8)
An uncovering or revelation is derived by putting Crosswordland’s favourite old city (2) inside a verb meaning to show or exhibit

7d    Lady conceals nothing for loafer, maybe (4)
Put the female pronoun around O (nothing) to get an item of clothing of which a loafer is an example

8d    Sham about Troy being in the money (8)
A sham is derived by putting a word meaning about and T(roy) inside some money

25d    That’s your lot (4)
A cryptic definition of one’s lot or destiny

The Saturday Crossword Club will open at 10.00 am (after Sounds of the Sixties on BBC Radio 2). Membership is free and open to all. Feel free to leave comments or ask questions before that time.

Please don’t put whole or partial answers or alternative clues in your comment, else they may be censored!

92 comments on “DT 26367 (Hints)”

  1. My you are up early, or to bed late! Usually I’ve finished the xword before the blogs up, then when I check on return from work 50 comments have already gone up. So good to be first in today. Enjoyable, honest puzzle, not too easy but no real obstacles. I enjoyed 12d, and 18a is a new word, but one which I am surprised I have not previously encountered! The weather forecast in Bahrain has been “hot and humid” for the previous 96 days, so I’m confidently planning another morning by the pool, catching the India v Aussie Test and the a Saturday Roast – pork with the trimmings today.

  3. Thought i would tackle it before going to a family 50th wedding anniversary party and managed to get it done over my poached eggs. After recent Saturday improvement this one reverted back to the usual standard. 1* for me. BAH!

  4. Fairly mundane puzzle, I suppose with the start of Autumn we are likely to see a shower of old chestnuts dropping.
    1a was my favourite and then I think the Setter gave up and reverted to type with the ‘Crossword Compilers Compendium of Clues’ an Alliterator’s dream.
    Think I’ll go for a long bike ride.
    Have one for me Dave, thanks for the tips

  5. I was up late after a few beers, some grub and then a few glasses of wine. In my incapacitated state I still managed to race through this in pretty short order, finding it much easier than the last few Saturday puzzles. The usual mix of clues from Cephas and no real complaints.
    Thanks to Cephas and to BD – Hope you have good luck and a good time in Cheltenham respectively!

  6. Must have been easier than usual because I’ve done it already! Don’t know how long it would have taken me to see 21a without Big Dave’s pointer though …

  7. Morning all, I liked this crossword, not because I’ve finished it, there were quite a few tough moments, fav clues 4d, 24d, 28a, 21a got thrown a bit on this one, thinking of iou instead!, the sun is trying to decide whether it is going to give in to the clouds or not at the moment, good luck all CCers, and all taking part this weekend in Cheltenham, thanks for hints Dave, must admit to needing one or two today :)

    1. The sun has not appeared as yet here Mary – hope it will as it will be nice to walk in the sunshine – going to venture further today and see how I make out.

  9. After thinking that the Saturday’s puzzles were becoming more difficult, this one reverted to type and, in a way, was disappointing. Nubian used the word ‘mundane’ and I agree but I am definitely not going for a bike ride…

  10. Hi, can anyone give some help on 24d – it’s the last one we haven’t got. Have an idea that we can relate to ‘suspect’ but not to ‘shoot’…

        1. Do a websearch for the Chaldeans. that will tell you where they lived and you will realise why the crossword setters love it so much as its a very handy two letter name to insert into others as in 2d.

  11. Excellent, really enjoyed this one, much more the Saturday standard. I always though 18a was a colour similar to beige.
    26a reminds me, golf today – oh goody!

    1. I always assume the drinking connection comes from the word also being the name of a type of shark. I suppose you could turn beige-like ***** if you had too much drink and met the shark!!

    2. I think for the beige Barrie it has to be spelt differently, enjoy the golf, what do you play off, and don’t say ‘a tee’ ! :)

      1. 22 but my main handicap is the idiot holding the club!
        My dictionary defines the word as “To drink hard or frequently; to drink strong or spiritous liquors to excess.”

        1. Barrie – isn’t that always the biggest handicap any golfer has. Think about the Ryder Cup and how some “fluffed” their shots when they should be beyond it.

          1. True but with that audience I think anyone could be forgiven a fluffed shot! Golf is a game played in the mind but my fav quote re golf is: Golf is a game in which a ball – one and a half inches in diameter – is placed on a ball – 8,000 miles in diameter. The object being to hit the small ball but not the larger.

            3. Old Chestnut – but my main problem when playing golf is that I always stand too close to the ball – especially after I have hit it!

  12. Quickest time of the week for me but I enjoyed the whole experience, smiled quite a bit and unlike others have no complaints at all with this nice Saturday-level crossword. Thanks Cephas, good luck for tomorrow . Thanks BD for the hints – enjoy Cheltenham.

    1. Crypticsue – I agree with you – it was a nice puzzle – my hold ups were the four letter words (as always) and 24d was the last one to go in – and afterwards thought – why did that not come easily. Good time for me as well

      Thanks for the hints BD – enjoy Cheltenham (and would love a report!!). Good luck tomorrow for all participants – Cephas included.

  13. Just a bit too easy – solved quite a few while queueing to pay for the paper in the newsagents!

  14. I was very puzzled by several clues, thinking, no it can’t be that easy, there must be another answer I can’t see. Took ages to work out letter 4 in 15a came from … :oops:

    Thanks to Cephas and BD.

      1. Steph,
        15a is a bird – a small finch to be more accurate.you need to put IS around another word for the sort of stuff you are covered with (your hide).

        1. thank you got it – can you help me on 18a Im presuming it starts with T another word for leading-maybe

          1. Steph,
            You normally see this in crossword land with an R on the end – i.e. a person who drinks alcoholic beverages. You are correct it starts with the letter you refer to, its a synonym for the best (leading) followed by the abbreviation for energy.

  15. This is a record for me so it is definitely on the easy side or maybe it was the new energy pills I took this morning. Weather in Barcelona grey and muggy with rain forecast for the long weekend we are about to enjoy. Ah well, it’ll give me plenty of time to tackle tomorrow’s crossword. Enjoy the golf Barrie and the pub BD. Thanks for the hints and thanks to Cephas for the puzzle.

        1. 8d is a word for money (there are 100 of them to a pound) around an abbreviation for “with reference to” (about) and the abbreviation for Troy (weight).

  17. Whizzed through this &, though everyone seems to be saying it was too easy and mundane, I enjoyed it. Obviously still settled in CC!! Don’t really understand 22d and didn’t like 18a, liked 1a, 28a and 24d. Thanks Cephas and BD. Still waiting for the promised sun here.

  18. Not a articularly good onne today, But im stuck on 15 / 18 across and 8 down, i already know i’ll be kicking myself,pretty please help,before i go completely bonkers !

    1. 15a Bird is found in hide (6)
      The bird comes from putting IS inside a hide

      18a Leading energy drink (4)
      A word meaning leading followed by E(nergy) gives a verb meaning to drink

    2. Hi Nutty

      15a follow the instructions i.e. put is inanother word for hide, as in animal hide, to give you a bird
      18a If you are leading you are at the ***, follow this with abbreviation of energy, i.e. first letter, which gives you an unusual word for to drink, not a drink
      8 Inside a 5 letter word for money put the standard abbreviation for about and the first initial of Troy to give you a word for sham

      Hope that helps

          1. We tend to be so casual about abbreviations – around 5,000 are allowed – that sometimes people think that they can just take the first letter off any word.

      2. I do tend to be a bit lazy when including them in hints – it’s a bit tedious writing “the recognised abbreviation of” every time.

    3. Sorry Nutty, need help too with these, though I’m pleased I quickly managed to find half of the clues with no help! Hope someone takes us out of our misery! Off picking “cèpes” anyway! It’s hot and sunny here and there are a lot of mushroom now….

      1. Lucky you! I can only get them in the market. Do let me know if I can help take you out of your misery with the clues.
        :-)

        1. Well…. no real cèpe in view today, just a few edible replacements , I’m afraid and a bag of chestnuts!
          Still I’m a hopeless case as I don’t know much about birds and, try as I may, still haven’t found 15a! Never mind.This other one left is 9a…. if you can help! ;-)

          1. Yes, well, it was rather an obscure bird in my opinion. If you take ‘hide’ to be the source of leather and put ‘is’ in the middle you’ll get it.

  19. Cheers Dave just 8 d to, BTW I do like your site,all the banter and chat, also knowing that I’m not the only one stuck sometimes brilliant ! Thanks again ! Saved my sanity .

    2. You are a long way from being the only one stuck nutty, as you will find out if you visit the blog regularly :)

  20. Some slipped in very easilly today. NW corner last to go in despite having 1a. 11a almost two easy and other ones which fell into place were 3d, 12d and 23a. 27a was fine but I had three attempts at getting the last three letters in the right order! Once I cracked that 17d and 25d were easy. Never keen on the 4 letter words. 26a hardly cryptic. Pleasant enough anyway. Thanks.

    1. Had you put an E on the end of Berne, I would hazard a guess at Switzerland??!! Presumably you have tried too many beers to type straight :D

    2. I think you’ve managed to find the only beer in the world that I didn’t drink last night! Or so it felt this morning… I hope you had my share and enjoyed it as much as I would!

      1. Reckon I did Mr Tub!
        We still have a carry out of 2pints Sussex Best, 2pints Star of Eastbourne and a pint of yummy Salem Porter!

  22. Despite the above comments I enjoyed todays offering. 24D the last to go in, just did not get it at all!
    No particular favourites.
    Thanks to setter and Big Dave. Weather here is lousy again so the pub/brewery is probably the best choice.

  23. Enjoyed todays puzzle, I see many have complained but I like to see the old chestnuts occassionally ie. ancient city or 26a now and again, it makes me feel party to an exclusive club where only a select few know the password. By the way did anyone else think the particle referred to in 10a was a chemical symbol or can it not be described as such?

    1. Welcome to the blog Sobes

      As the missing letter is K, I can’t see how a chemical symbol helps.

      I’m off to Cheltenham now – see you all tomorrow morning.

      2. Sorry this was written by a tired and senile idiot but I thought of glittering which was spark and dropping the particle which was a k (chemical symbol for potassium). I acknowledge its just the haphazard way I occassionally get there in the end.

  24. Very happy with the crossword today – some took a little while to get, and a few more took some time to understand but have got there now. Particularly liked 23 and 28a and 12d. Didn’t need the hints today but thank you anyway.

  25. I did this this morning at the hairdressers and was very happy with it. Several easy-to-find phrases and anagrams, just my cup of tea (see above). First in was 11a, which is happening all around me at the moment and last to go was 21a which took a lot of perseveration.
    Now I just wish everyone a Bon Dimanche :-)

  26. 8d was the last to go in and 12d was a clear favourite. I did it in a single sitting which is not bad at all for me.

  27. I know it might be an old one but here goes
    “I went to the doctors because i was was becoming addicted to crosswords, he said try not to worry or get too down

  28. Enjoyable start to the day. Not to tricky this week I thought and perfectly pleasant.

    Many thanks to Cephas and best of luck with the competition. Hope that you all have clear heads tomorrow after the visit to the curry house :)

    1. They might have clear heads, but after all that curry, nobody else in the room will :)
      Good luck to all in the competition!

  29. I really enjoyed this one even though some have referred to it as mundane. Also, I only needed one hint – which for me, is quite good.

  30. Enjoyed this one today did it whilst waiting for the fish to cook for tea, last in 19d
    Thanks to BD and Cephas and hope you enjoy today, weather in Dover has been misty and overcast all day so much for the Indian summer we were promised for this weekend. :D

  31. It’s “X Factor” time, so I left for the kitchen to tackle the “X Word”. Enjoyable, first in was 1a which made 3d jump straight out. After that no real problems, although like others here I had to look up 18a.
    Where was the sun we were all promised today??? Orpington was as dreary as ever.

  32. I enjoyed this week’s puzzle. Glad to see I wasn’t the only one who didn’t “get” 24d for some time. Made me smile once I did. :-)

  33. Much more straightforward than recent weeks. For once I solved with only one look at the hints. Favourite clue 11a.

    Off for a week in the Lake District tomorrow so will have to try to solve this week without access to the blog.

  36. This week I used my train trip to Walsall to set about this puzzle and completed it during half time at the football. There were several enjoyable clues, 1a,11a,3d and even 25d took my fancy. I needed 17d before the options with 27a were reduced. Overall I thought this was a good crossword for travelling without a dictionary.

  37. Put your stamp money (first class) in a piggy bank instead of sending your solution to the DT, and you will be able to buy a pen in no time at all.

  38. Cheltenham isexcellent again; wife and I saw Melvyn Bragg Friday, hope to see Fergal Keane/Charles Fitzroy Tuesday and Diarmaid Macculloch Wednesday.

  39. Unutterably tired last night but still managed all but three clues so it must have been not too difficult. Finished it quite quickly this morning.
    Favourite clue was 21a. I did feel it was a bit routine, but nevertheless enjoyable.

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