DT 26447 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 26447

by Big Dave  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26447

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

Another typical Telegraph puzzle from Jay, our Wednesday wizard.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.

Across

1a    Powder extracted from potent alcohol (4)
{TALC} – this powder is extracted from the last two words of the clue

3a    Strike by kids is a load of nonsense (10)
{CODSWALLOP} – a word meaning to strike is preceded by one meaning kids or hoaxes to get a load of nonsense

8a    What made woman refrain from harming kid? (5,3)
{SPARE RIB} – another example of lift and separate – lift out the definition which is “what made woman”, as outlined in Genesis 2:21–22, and you get left with the wordplay which is a charade of “refrain from harming” and to kid or tease

9a    Puzzle for disheartened daredevil in fairground attraction (6)
{RIDDLE} – this puzzle is created by putting DL (disheartened DaredeviL) inside a fairground attraction

10a    Student, in a period of prosperity, is flowering (6)
{ABLOOM} – put L (student) inside A and a period of prosperity to get a word meaning flowering

11a    Became conscious, having a pad wrapped around broken knee (8)
{AWAKENED} – a word meaning became conscious, first thing in the morning perhaps, is constructed by putting A and then a pad of loose material used for packing wrapped around an anagram (broken) of KNEE

13a    Came up with expert in breakers’ yard at last (8)
{SURFACED} – to get a verb meaning came up put an expert between some breakers, as in waves rushing up a sloping beach, and D (yarD at last)

14a    Bishop in court hearing of clan (6)
{TRIBAL} – put a B(ishop) inside a court hearing to get a word meaning of a clan

16a    Expenditure on bill for buttonhole (6)
{ACCOST} – put a synonym for expenditure after the usual abbreviation for a bill to get a word meaning to buttonhole or waylay

19a    Shell group function (8)
{BODYWORK} – the shell, of a car say, is a charade of a group of people and to function or operate

21a    Of time lords in Parliament? (8)
{TEMPORAL} – an adjective meaning of time is also used for the lay peers in Parliament

22a    Mostly stumble through unimportant details (6)
{TRIVIA} – most of a word meaning to stumble is followed by the Latin for through to get these unimportant details

23a    This oddly includes a success for an island (6)
{TAHITI} – start with the odd letters of ThIs and then insert A and a success to get a Pacific island

24a    Flower child’s second in yacht to be replaced (8)
{HYACINTH} – this flower comes from the second letter of cHild followed by an anagram (to be replaced) of IN YACHT

25a    Community’s agreement to pay (10)
{SETTLEMENT} – a straightforward double definition – a community or colony and an agreement to pay

26a    First-class touring car outside, but walk (4)
{GAIT} – the usual two-letter abbreviation for first-class has a Gran Turismo (touring car) outside to give a way of walking

Down

1d    The main asset a man shifts (6,3)
{TASMAN SEA} – the stretch of water between Australia and New Zealand is an anagram (shifts) of ASSET A MAN

2d    How to track down a supplier of fossil fuels? (6,9)
{CARBON FOOTPRINT} – a cryptic definition of the measurement of the emissions from fossil fuels

3d    Material found in Paleozoic era microfilmed (7)
{CERAMIC} – this material made from clay hardened by heat is hidden (found) inside the clue

4d    Expert returning poor cards dealt (3,4)
{DAB HAND} – an expert is built from a word meaning poor reversed (returning) and the set of cards dealt to a player

5d    Justify conflict over rail (7)
{WARRANT} – a word meaning to justify or authorize is a charade of a major conflict and to rail or rave

6d    Boy, that’s wrong — expecting positions in court (6-2-7)
{LADIES-IN-WAITING} – a charade of a boy, that is, a wrong or misdeed and expecting or lingering gives these positions in court attending royals

7d    Beg for quiet and go ahead (5)
{PLEAD} – a word meaning to beg s a charade of P (piano / quiet} and a word meaning to go ahead or in front

12d    Period piece finally put before artist (3)
{ERA} – this period is derived by putting E (piecE finally) before an artist

15d    Quickly seen to be partial to a spirit? (4,1,4)
{LIKE A SHOT} – a phrase meaning quickly is a charade of to be partial to, A and a measure of alcoholic spirit

17d    Reminder for people in line for audience (3)
{CUE} – this reminder sounds like (for audience) people in line for audience

18d    Social worker’s contractual condition endlessly cited (7)
{TERMITE} – this social insect comes from a contractual condition and ITE (endlessly cITEd)

19d    Radical throw-back, one in female surroundings (7)
{BOLSHIE} – to get a word meaning radical or holding left-wing views start with a throw reversed (back) and follow it with I (one) inside a female pronoun

20d    Devalue stretch of land supporting lower socio-economic groups (7)
{DETRACT} – a word meaning to devalue is created by putting a stretch of land under (supporting in a down clue) D and E (lower socio-economic groups)

21d    Carries babies, full of energy (5)
{TOTES} – a word meaning carries is derived by putting babies around (full of) E(nergy)

I do wish the Telegraph would dump grids like this one!

47 comments on “DT 26447”

  2. I enjoyed this one more than yesterday, and the same goes for the Toughie too.
    Thanks as always to Jay, and to BD for the notes.

  3. Finished this early today , I found about 3/4 of it straightforward but struggle with the bottom L/H corner a bit and a couple on the bottom R/H corner however after some perservation and ‘bookwork’ etc managed to finish it and clean the house before 12 o’clock!! Have sister-in-law arriving from France for few days, so my puzzling days will be disrupted again!! ALthough the answer to 3a was obvious I couldn’t figure out the first part and have never heard that before, a lot of the clues I got answers for but had to work back to try to understand, 26a for example, I have never heard of this car! fav clue today 24a, good luck everyone, a bit tough for CC today in parts IMHO :)

  5. BD, what do you mean by “grids like this one”? What’s wrong with it?

    Nice one today! Last to fall were 8a with a superb and very misleading surface reading and 19d with the “radical throwback” bit very plausible and tightly bound. In the end it became clear that “radical” must be the def and from there on it was plain sailing.

    “To cod” for “to kid” was new to this continental foreigner and I wasn’t able to find it in any online dic.

    Starting on the Toughie soon.

    Thanks to Jay & BD!

    1. I think it might be something to do with ‘double unches’ Nestor but I’ll leave BD to explain that to you, something to do with lots of double black squares! unch stands for unchecked I think

  7. Nice one today! Plenty to think about. Needed confirmation on 19a, didn’t understand the “shell” reference until I read the blog, otherwise O.K. I liked 8a, and 19d Thank you Jay and B.D.

  8. Agree with the **/*** rating.

    I always do the Quickie first so attempting today’s Cryptic was a bit like Déjà vu – Cryptic 14a and 13a compared with Quickie 4d and 21d!

    PS. Can anyone explain today’s Quickie pun?

    1. My best effort so far with the pun is ticked-off-ees as in people who have been ticked off. I am sure it is something much better than that!

            1. I tried the same technique – but failed. Had to stop when the neighbours started to complain!

        3. Aaaaagh! Been going crackers trying to work this out. A bit tenuous but has been nagging at me for a good hour or so. Thanks

  11. A very pleasant crossword today. 2d took me longer than any other – the penny dropped once I had all the other checking letters. Thanks to Jay and BD for the review

  12. I found this pretty straightforward and pleasant. Finished the top half quite quickly but then got bogged down and needed help with a few towards the bottom. Was briefly hampered by putting ‘blooms’ at 10a. Thanks to Jay and BD. My favourites were 8a and 2d.
    :-)

  14. Top half raced through but slower in bottom of grid. A really solid puzzle with no grumbles. 21a was new to me in connection with Lords. Thanks again for puzzle and help.

  15. I enjoyed that one – trook a bit longer on the bottom half but got there in the end. I particularly liked 3a and 6d.

    Thanks to Jay and to BD

  16. Very enjoyable puzzle today – does anyone else think that the Wednesday puzzle varies in difficulty more than any other day, or is it me?!
    I didn’t know the second definition of 21a. Spent ages trying to make 24a a river as ‘flower’ so often is in crossword land. For some reason I had a bit of trouble with the two very long clues – 2 and 6d – just couldn’t see them.
    Absolute favourite clue today was 3a – it reminds me so much of my Dad – whenever one of us was talking a load of old rot he would either say 3a or ‘poppycock’ which was an answer in a crossword not so long ago, I think.
    :smile:

  18. Thanks Jay, def one for the CC today. Very enjoyable. Best clue for me def 3a. Esp liked todays as there were no bizarre obscure words!! :-)

  19. Not much to say about this one – just the usual excellent Wednesady fare from Jay. Well up to standard!
    Thanks Jay and thanks BD.

  20. Finished to-day without help – whooppee! But had to resort to Big D for some explanations – i.e. 23a, got it but couldn’t see why. Thanks Big D, now it’s perfectly obvious!

  21. I’m getting a little better I think. Managed all but four today. (19a, 21a, 18d, 19d). Mad with myself for failing on 18 & 19d. But forgive myself for the others. Thanks for the review Dave.

  22. Well I quite liked this even though I only did half on t’train

    I enjoyed 21a 24a and 2d

    13a I do not understand AT ALL

    22a 18d and 19d I would never have worked out

    I am on iPhone and cannot see answers so 25a and 21d are still mysteries as even the hints don’t do it for me

    1. Hi Peter
      13a – I can’t really improve on BD’s hint,apart from to give you the answer.The breakers on the beach are the SURF, the expert is ACE and yarD (at last). Put them together to get the answer, ‘Came up’ as in a submarine for example.
      25a – SETTLEMENT, as BD said, a double definition. Simples! It’s one of those you either see easily or you don’t.
      21d – put E (energy) in a word for very young children (TOTS) and you get TOTES = carries

      Hope this helped.

  23. Loved this puzzle, probably because I did it without any help.
    I got 23a wrong first time, though my answer fits the clue – TAWINI is a pacific island and fits just as well as the ‘right’ answer. I guess BD’s double unches are to blame for this

  24. Evening folks. Internet trouble finally solved! An enjoyable puzzle today last in being 21a. 2.5* for me.

  27. Afraid I don’t get the puzzle until 8 days after original publication as it is published in the Weekly Telegraph which we expats eagerly await. I always start the puzzle on retiring to bed after the usual Friday evening jollities. Best solving time 20 minutes. Found this one a poor effort from Jay as a fair number of clues were so obvious. Liked 15d & 19d but the rest were fairly mundane. Sorry for late post but as said above don’t get chance at the same time as the rest of you. Still with temperatures in the 30’sC at the bottom of Africa there are compensations! Happy 2011 to all posters

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