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DT 26372

by Gazza  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26372

Hints and tips by Gazza

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

I thought that this was a really entertaining Giovanni puzzle with a number of excellent clues, although, as is usual with Giovanni, there are also quite a few easy ones to get you started. Unusually there appear to be no religious references at all. Your views, in a comment, are most welcome.
To see an answer highlight the space between the brackets under the relevant clue.


Across Clues

1a  Despot in a terrible land the other side of the world (9)
{ANTIPODES} – an anagram (terrible) of DESPOT IN A leads to a term that we use in the UK for countries which are on the opposite side of the planet to us.

6a  Some mess often swirling around in ditch (5)
{FOSSE} – hidden (some) and reversed (swirling around) in the clue is an archaeological word for a ditch.

9a  Information from computer that could be dear (4-3)
{READ-OUT} – the definition is information from computer and this is a reverse anagram. If you take the answer as consisting of anagram fodder followed by anagram indicator, then when you resolve that anagram you end up with “dear”.

10a  Hunted animal trapped by senior person with a lot of experience (3,6)
{OLD STAGER} – we want a person with a lot of experience. Put an animal that was hunted with hounds in this country until fairly recently inside (trapped by) a comparative meaning senior or more advanced in years.

11a  Hoodlum not having name for being a joker (7)
{GAGSTER} – start with a member of a group of criminals (hoodlum) and remove the N (not having name) to leave an informal word for a stand-up comedian.

12a  Get rid of old boy having had tea maybe around six (7)
{OBVIATE} – a verb meaning to get rid of is made by bringing together the abbreviation for old boy and partook of food (had tea maybe) and putting the Roman numeral for six between them.

13a  Pal sentenced due to skip part of sentence (9,6)
{DEPENDENT CLAUSE} – this is a grammatical term for a subsidiary or subordinate part of a sentence. It’s an anagram (to skip) of PAL SENTENCED DUE.

18a  Wants little lad to hug father (7)
{DESIRES} – an abbreviated boy’s name goes round (to hug) a father, specially that of a horse, to make wants.

20a  Map held by boy shows northern region (7)
{LAPLAND} – this region of northern Europe is a synonym for map inside (held by) another word for boy.

22a  Repair’s apt to be tricky without one? (5,4)
{SPARE PART} – a very clever all-in-one clue (i.e. the definition is the whole of the clue and the wordplay uses every word of the clue). It’s an anagram (to be tricky) of REPA(i)R’S APT without the I (one).

23a  Leads with tails down presumably (5,2)
{HEADS UP} – this is a cryptic definition of leads or warnings (often of imminent danger) which will be familiar if you watch American cop shows. Although the clue has leads (in the plural) the same term is used for a single lead or warning. Both Chambers and the ODE give it as hyphenated. [Thanks to Ian for a much better, and simpler, explanation] This is a phrasal verb meaning leads an organisation, and it’s also how a tossed coin may land.

24a  Sparkle noticed around hospital (5)
{SHEEN} – to get this sparkle or lustre put a synonym for noticed around the abbreviation for hospital.

25a  Herb no good for dog and its owner! (9)
{CORIANDER} – string together the favourite breed of dog in the royal household, AND plus the initials of the dog’s royal owner. Now delete the G (no good) to leave a herb of the parsley family. Brilliant!

Down Clues

1d  Like marriage fixed by parents? There’s a right row with daughter! (8)
{ARRANGED} – a charade of A, R(ight), a synonym for row and D(aughter).

2d  The difference noticed when we aren’t selling enough (5,3)
{TRADE GAP} – cryptic definition of the difference in value between what we, as a country, buy and sell abroad.

3d  Academic getting with it makes financial gain (6)
{PROFIT} – the academic is the sort that occupies a chair. Add IT for a financial gain.

4d  It gets one routed a different way (6)
{DETOUR} – a semi-all-in-one requiring an anagram (a different way) of ROUTED.

5d  Distributes the last bits, coming in to us randomly (5,3)
{SENDS OUT} – put the last bits (of material, possibly) inside (coming in) an anagram (randomly) of TO US.

6d  Female on estate, one opposing almost all celebration (8)
{FESTIVAL} – this celebration is a charade of F(emale), the abbreviation of estate, I (one), the letter used for opposing in a sporting encounter and nearly AL(L).

7d  Blemish in botanical part (6)
{STIGMA} – double definition, the second being the part of a pistil that receives the pollen during pollination.

8d  English conclusion to luncheon? Possibly apple dish (6)
{ENTRÉE} – this dish is a charade of E(nglish), the last letter (conclusion) of luncheoN and what apple is an example (possibly) of.

14d  One invader or another seen around the Hastings region (8)
{NORSEMAN} – this Scandinavian invader subjected England to numerous raids over a period of three centuries, finally being defeated at Stamford Bridge in 1066, the same year that another invader was more successful. Put the second invader around the geographical part of the country where Hastings is to be found.

15d  City of London still blissful (8)
{ECSTATIC} – string together the postal district of the City of London and an adjective meaning still or motionless.

16d  Woman thought to be like Queen Victoria when grouchy (8)
{UNAMUSED} – a charade (very appropriate) of a woman’s forename and a verb meaning thought deeply gives a description of a grouchy Queen Victoria (the archetypal grumpy old woman), who failed to see the funny side of things.

17d  Part of book to go totally over to the internet? (8)
{ENDPAPER} – double definition, the second (3,5) what technology was supposed to do some time ago but has largely failed to deliver.

18d  Flying saucer copper observed in East Anglian town (6)
{DISCUS} – the sort of flying saucer that you might see at an athletics event is formed by putting the chemical symbol for copper inside the name of a town of less than 7,000 people which would scarcely have been heard of outside Norfolk had it not been for crosswords.

19d  Son to break down, being thin (6)
{SPARSE} – put together S(on) and a verb to break down in a syntactical way.

20d  Foam runs under machine (6)
{LATHER} – put R (runs, in cricket) after (under, in a down clue) a machine for shaping wood or metal.

21d  Fish I managed to get into kitchen vessel when chopped (6)
{PIRANA} – this is not the usual way of spelling this predatory fish. Put I and a synonym for managed inside a kitchen vessel that has had its final N chopped off.

The clues which I enjoyed today included 9a, 10a, 22a, 14d and 18d, but by far and away my favourite is 25a. Let us know what you think in a comment!

51 comments on “DT 26372”

  1. I would agree with your choice of favourite, 25a, by a long way; brilliant! I also liked 18d too.
    Many thanks to Giovanni for a most enjoyable puzzle, and to gazza for the notes.

  2. Rats, got 19d wrong and that’s why 18a made no sense! Apart from that, I got the rest and even understood some of them.

    Lots of fun, too many to pick on one, thanks for puzzle and review.

        1. even so you have to understand the clue before you can look for the answer, so you are 3/4 way to getting into the JOCC :)

  3. Morning Gazza, a really ‘fun’ one from Giovanni today, it just goes to show, that they can be enjoyable even when hard, lots of lovely clues, favs,25a, 16d,17d, 7d, 10a,9a and even more….. I found the puzzle went in in distinct corners, 1st top left, 2nd top right, 3rd bottom right and last bottom left, I had never heard of the town used in 18d, or parse in 19d! Thanks to the two Gs :)

        1. Piranha – without the “h” = pirana – but Chambers has an alternative spelling with a ~ (tilde) over the “n”.

            1. And does a pirana care how its name is spelt? And would I argue with one if it did? And which dictionary does the majority of South American freshwater fish use? Agree this was thoroughly enjoyable and 25 is undoubtedly one of the best ever clues – if the ‘herb’ definition was missing it would have been even better – having solved it from the down contributions it took a few minutes to see why!!

  4. A lovely Friday puzzle. Lots to make me smile. Agree with all your favourites and think that 25a might be a good tender for my clue of the week. Thanks Giovanni and Gazza.

    The Toughie is not as tough as a usual Friday toughie, has a great linked theme and is worth a try by all, even if you don’t finish it. Gnomethang and I aren’t sure on some of the wordplay and there is one word you have to look up to make sure the anagram result really exists – give it a go, go on you know you want to!

    1. Hi Sue, I did as you instructed and enjoyed it 14d was really difficult, it took ages to convince myself that Ihad 1a correct and then it all slotted in I liked the theme,thanks to Firefly

    2. Thanks for the tip crypticsue, I don’t usually bother with Friday Toughies but this time I did, and I finished it! First time for me!
      I even knew the substance in the obscure anagram – Pommette says I probably need some myself!

  5. 25a a runaway winner in my book as well. Lovely puzzle to end the DT working week.
    Thanks to gazza and Giovanni.

  6. Agree with Cryptic Sue here, both this puzzle and the Toughie were a joy to complete today with lots of fine clues and amusing answers. Thanks to Gazza aand Giovanni

  7. Really enjoyed this one especially as Friday’s cryptic generally takes me a lot longer to finish! Favourite clue is definitely 25a with 22a second favourite. 13a brought back memories of sitting in school English lessons analysing the structure of a sentence, bet it’s not done nowadays in school!

  8. Good morning to all – thought this was difficult but a lovely puzzle to do. Failed to get 6a until I read the hint, and failed to get 8d even having read the hint – had to look in the curly brackets for that one. I made things hard for myself by getting the last bit of 2d wrong, thereby making 11 and 13a a touch on the tricky side but having sorted that out all was OK. Almost too many wonderful clues to mention individual ones but, if I had to, probably 9, 22 and 25a – especially 25a. Thanks to Giovanni and Gazza – I often wonder what I used to do before I discovered this blog and the hints!!

  9. Diito the comments above. Excellent crossword puzzle to end the week with 25a being top of the pops for me too. Many thanks to Giovanni and to BD for the review.

  10. What a pleasure it is to have an enjoyable Friday puzzle – loved it – thanks Giovanni and thanks Gazza for the review.

    Agree with the clue of the day – and agree with Sue for the week – 25a was lovely.

    Agree with Mary – had never heard of the East Anglian town so it didn’t make sense until I read the review. Didn’t really like 11a but enjoyed 12a as well.

  11. Really excellent puzzle this morning!

    Agree with Gazza about the brilliance of 25a (and 22a not far behind).

    Struggled with 14d as I always thought that Hastings was a lot further west.

    One thing that I noticed was that Giovanni was very generous with the checking letters – made it far easier than the usual Friday struggle.

    Grazie, Giovanni and thanks, Gazza!

  12. I actually visited Diss to find out what makes it tick. Nothing, in all honesty. No arguments with 25a – though I initially missed the ER connection, thinking instead it was ‘er, but couldn’t see how the “h” had been dropped. Very clever. Thanks to the G team, and to everyone else who has made this, I think, an above average week both in the difficulty and enjoyment dimensions.

  13. 25a favourite, 13a worked out the anagram but had to look it up to see if actually meant anything. The toughie is driving me mad, 2 to go in one a 4 letter and one a 5 letter. I am going to kick myself when I see the answers as must be blindingly obvious but I just cant see.

    2. for 10a the histrionic is referring to musical threatre – remove a period of time, for a measure associated with scotch for example.

    3. 10a histrionic here refers to overacting in a musical ‘drama’. When you get that word, take out the three letter word meaning a period of time and you are left with a pub measuring device.

  15. Libellule & Sue thank you, wouldn’t have got 10a, but now I see the word play, at least I dont feel so 11a now

  17. Really enjoyed this. Fave clues 25a and 14d. Gazza, just wondering if your hint for 23a is a little complicated. You can head up a company, so lead it. At the same time if you toss a coin and its heads up, tails will be down. No need to bring in the hyphenated explanation.

    1. Thanks, Ian. That’s a much simpler explanation and obviously correct – I’ll amend the write-up.

  19. After the Monday disappointment we have enjoyed four excellent puzzles and I have even managed two Toughies this week. Almost a shame the week is over. Still the weather might improve for the weekend.(I don’t think so!)
    Thanks to setter and as always Gazza for the hints. I think the people who do the hints and tips are terrific and all done in such a short time.

  20. Great puzzle except for 8d. I don’t think it works because you need to remove the accent to make sense of the second part of the word. It’s been a good week for the cryptics hasn’t it? Lots of really enjoyable clues. Many thanks G & G

    1. Patsyann,
      Accents are generally omitted from answers. How often do you see nee (born) with no accent?

  21. Silly really but for 6d, I took F followed by est and ‘ival’ as ‘one opposing almost all,’ as rival without the ‘r’ , could this way also be correct Gazza?

    1. Well, it’s a clever thought, Mary, but “almost all” usually means that the last letter of a word is dropped, not the first.

      1. Oh, I always was a bit mixed up :), never mind, do you know I don’t think I’d have got the answer the other way!

  22. Got on with solving this one in very quick time – in fact I thought it might not have been set by the maestro but when I did 25a I knew it was!!
    Good work Giovanni!

    I conccur with Gazza that 25a was magnificent.

  23. Tough one today, what I got I enjoyed, there just wasn’t very much of it!! One quibble surely apple pie is a dessert not a main course?

    1. Barrie,
      The definition of 8d is “dish”. The apple provides the last 4 letters, i.e. TREE. “Possibly apple” indicates that apple is an example, i.e. just one type of tree. So it’s E(nglish) + (luncheo)N + TREE.

      1. Bloody hell and we are meant to be able to see that! As the great Anthony A Hancock would have said, STONE ME! :-)

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