Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2571 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
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Across
1a Inner cities had become disorderly, getting cut off (14)
An anagram (become disorderly) of INNER CITIES HAD gives a word meaning getting cut off from a will
11a Yahoo available on line (4)
Yahoo is an old name for a rude, noisy, or violent person – put available, as in published, after L(ine)
14a Two rings attached to European bird (6)
Start with a ring like one used for a game, add a circular letter of the alphabet and finish with E(uropean) to get a salmon-pink Eurasian bird
26a Silly Harry reckoned without parking in West End location (4,4,6)
An anagram (silly) of HARRY RECKONED is placed around P(arking) to get a location in the West End of London
Down
1d Femme fatale lied disgracefully and upset prince (7)
This biblical femme fatale is an anagram (disgracefully) of LIED followed by Shakespeare’s name for Henry V before he became king reversed (upset)
I still remember the first few lines of Prince Henry’s speech in Act 1 Scene 2 of Henry IV Part 1, in which he is telling the audience that he will rise above his dalliances with Falstaff and friends when he becomes king:
I know you all, and will awhile uphold
The unyoked humour of your idleness:
Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,
Being wanted, he may be more wonder’d at,
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;
But when they seldom come, they wish’d for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
So, when this loose behavior I throw off
And pay the debt I never promised,
By how much better than my word I am,
By so much shall I falsify men’s hopes;
And like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o’er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil to set it off.
I’ll so offend, to make offence a skill;
Redeeming time when men think least I will.
3d A swan, deprived of space, sits on this river (4)
Remove the space between A and SWAN to get a city on this river, famous for the nearby dam
7d Take irrevocable step in crucial problem, dividing religious objects (5,3,7)
This phrase, based on an irrevocable step taken by Julius Caesar in 49 BC, is constructed by putting a crucial problem (3,3) between (dividing) two religious objects
17d Don’t audibly greet crewman like this on plane! (6)
If you greet a sailor (crewman) like this (2,4) on a plane you will create panic!
23d Vivacious spirit queen’s shown in life (4)
A vivacious spirit is created by putting R (Regina / Queen) inside a shortened form of a story of someone’s life
If you need further help then please ask and I will see what I can do.
As this is a Prize crossword, please don’t put whole or partial answers or alternative clues in your comment, else they may be censored!
Best clues for me : 11a, 14a, 15a, 1d, 4d & 8d.
17d was a good laugh and 23 d a contracted contraction for Q!
Thanks for the tips BD however I’d already solved those clues & now I’m well & truly stuck in the NE corner. It looks like rain here in Middle England so a perfect excuse to persevere, especially as Mrs Spindrift is on duty at the hospital this afternoon
Not sure which you are stuck on, but in 10a the sting is as in the Paul Newman / Robert Redford film,
In 6d the definition is charge – to get there put US inside a two-letter abbreviation for about (not re this time) and then put it all inside a term for a battle.
Thanks BD – with the entry of 6a the rest was solved. It’s Sunday lunch so it must be time to open a bottle of Hobgoblin. Cheers!
Exactly where I got stuck! Finally made it
Still blue and sunny here in Canterbury which is SO good!
Not wishing to upset Spindrift but I feel I must share the fact that here in East Kent the sky is blue and the sun is shining – well I think that’s what it is, it’s been a while since we saw any!
An excellent PP today from Virgilius. He always manages to make you have to work the grey cells a little harder to get the required solution. Too many good clues to pick a favouite. Thanks to V and BD.
Thanks crypticsue I’m sat typing this with the lights on & it’s only 2.00pm
Very enjoyable crossword from Virgilius. Favourite clue was 17d. Many thanks to the setter and to BD for the hints.
Very entertaining puzzle today! Favourites: 3d & 17d.
Still struggling to understand 18a – presumably the “games” referred to are like chess, monopoly etc?
Also, still struggling to find the collective noun for the birds at 14a.
Sounds like you have the wrong answer here :(. You need a word describing where games like tennis or squash are played that also means tries – as in woos.
Prolixic, Thanks! I found it difficult to convince myself that “boards” was correct – now I know why.
You don’t need a collective noun for birds14a, a four letter wprd for ring, plus a single letter for ring followed by the usual letter for European
http://bigdave44.com/the-mine/animals/
Good afternoon all, Got the ‘grey matter’ working early today (as sun was shining earlier) and managed to complete without to much trouble. What a cracking anagram 1a was, along with 2d,7d and 26a gave a really good base to start with. Didn’t need the hints but do enjoy reading them to confirm my thinking.
Plan was to do crossword early and then get out and about and enjoy the sunshine, BAH ! now raining.
Thanks to compiler and BD as usual.
Great CW ,but just stuck for 3 letters for 8d..brain cells frozen.
plenty of rain here in Northumberland in last 36hrs & our river is flooding some fields around the village.
great just stopped & little sunshine
[Deleted – this was what I describe as an alternative clue. Solving it doesn’t help understand the real clue. BD]
Where students sometimes live…
This is the definition – basic accommodation. The wordplay is the abbreviated form of a shire county followed by a two letter word meaning “just what’s needed” defined in Chambers as “the ne plus ultra, that which answers exactly to what one is looking for”
Sorry BD, I know you are trying to be helpful without disclosing the answer but this hint means less to me than the crossword clue!
Look at Spindrift’s interpretation of the definition.
Managed to finish what, apart from the NE corner, was a very enjoyable puzzle. Still don’t really understand most of that corner even though I have the answers! Can see the T in 5d as in Tory leader and got the answer as another word for inexperienced but what has it to do with shut up?
Really really didn’t like 10a, the sting should have been con rather than another word to thieve.
HOWEVER, that apart I loved 17a and 17d made me laugh out loud, excellent! The other 3 corners contained some wonderful clues.
Take AT (A Tory leader) away from your answer and look up what remains!
Thx BD, never heard of that word before so I’ve learned something today
Sunday puzzles are really hard going for me and this was no exception. Needed lots of help, but finally got there with a good deal of satisfaction. The 6-letter word in 5d is new to me. 17d and 21a were last in and 17d has to be fav clue today. Need the review to understand some of he constructs.
Thanks for a good puzzle and for the hints and helps.
Enjoyed this very much – getting the 4 long clues early certainly helped. Thanks to all involved. Did you play Prince Hal in Henry IV Dave?
I’m afraid not – I had to learn the speech as part of preparation for O-level Eng Lit
8d Got it …Thanks for hints BD &Spindrift so obvious when you see it !
Thanks to Virgilius for a fun puzzle, and to BD for the notes. Favourite clue 17d.
Lovely puzzle – favourite was the bird at 14a – often seen on Portuguese golf courses.
Thanks to Virgilius and BD
Very late today , unexpected visitors, been doing this in spare moments but still have two left 6d still can’t see and 12a! Off to bed in a few mins so if anyone is still there help! or they will bug me all night, found the puzzle quite difficult especially top right corner!
ok got 6d – that kind of charge!!
If its any consolation to those who struggled with the NE corner today, that corner of my paper has Tippex on it!!
oh good Sue, it has taken me ages and looking at it now, I really don’t know why!! Night Sue
ok think I’ve got 12a, except I’ve lost a ‘t’ somewhere! no its ok just found it, night all
12a Abbreviation for female followed by an anagram of assistant to find a word for people who make things up
Thanks Prolixic, that corner has taken me much longer than it should have, anyway all finished, see you all tomorrow