DT 26469 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 26469

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26469

Hints and tips by Libellule

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

A very enjoyable crossword today, I romped happily through most of it and then died a horrible death in the NE corner. For some reason the answers to 9a and 8d eluded me for ages. So they get my vote for the two best clues.

If you are struggling with the hint, just highlight the space between the curly brackets to reveal the answer.

Across

1. Be clearly out when turning ball goes to fielder (5,5)
{BREAK COVER} – Very much a cricketing clue this one – a ball that spins (for example to off, or leg) is followed by a fielding position between point and mid-off, when put together you get a phrase that describes emerging from a protected location or hiding place.

9. Be mother for the French (4)
{POUR} – The French word for “for”, is also what you might do if you were serving cups of tea.

10. Jovial acknowledgement of a bad standard (5,5)
{JOLLY ROGER} – A word meaning having good humour and high spirits is then followed by a word used in signalling to indicate that a message has been received and understood, gives us a pirates flag.

11. Spent two notes at the charity ‘do’ (6)
{EFFETE} – Put EF (two notes) in front of an outdoor entertainment usually associated with the church for a word that means exhausted.

12. Unusually big task carried out by servicemen (7)
{KITBAGS} – An anagram (unusually) of BIG TASK are the type of containers that are used to carry a soldiers clothes and small pieces of equipment.

15. She is used to having high scores (7)
{SOPRANO} – The highest female voice.

16. Sees a new way, relaxes (5)
{EASES} – An anagram (new way) of SEES A.

17. Prepare to shoot a bird (4)
{COCK} – Double definition, setting the hammer in a position ready for firing a gun or an adult male bird

18. Prison for a highflier? (4)
{BIRD} – A slang word for prison or a term in prison is also a “feathered friend”.

19. Gathers in spare parts (5)
{REAPS} – An anagram (parts) of SPARE for the sort of gathering that is done to crops.

21. Chaps caught in foul deed are corrected (7)
{EMENDED} – Put MEN (chaps) inside (caught in) an anagram (foul) of DEED for a word that means edited.

22. Not a galley, but may be found in one (7)
{STEAMER} – A type of ship that might be found in the kitchen.

24. Non-bowler put into bowl (6)
{BATTER} – A person who is facing a bowler is also a mixture of flour, milk or water and eggs.

27. Aligns East with East correctly (10)
{ORIENTATES} – A word for the countries of Asia is then followed by an anagram (correctly) of EAST for a word that means finding your position in relation to something else.

28. Not the original journalist’s work (4)
{COPY} – Another double definition, a reproduction or something to be produced in print.

29. Part of centre-page spread (10)
{PERCENTAGE} – An anagram (spread) of CENTRE PAGE is a proportion in relation to a whole (of which the amount is one hundred).

Down

2. Space to tie a ship up (4)
{ROOM} – Reverse (up) a word that means to secure a ship with cables or ropes and you get a word for that means space or extent.

3. A quiet look by doctor showing confidence (6)
{APLOMB} – A, then the abbreviation for quiet (piano), LO (look) and finally Medicinae Baccalaureus (Bachelor of Medicine) is also a word that means having self-confidence, or self-possession.

4. Show concern about horse slaughter (7)
{CARNAGE} – The definition is slaughter, to get the answer you need to put a four letter word meaning to show concern about a three letter word for an old or worn-out horse.

5. Big star gave trouble (4)
{VEGA} – An anagram (trouble) of GAVE is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra.

6. Red rose embroidered for church screen (7)
{REREDOS} – An anagram (embroidered) of RED ROSE, hands up if you haven’t seen this before.

7. A way to regulate the economy from Roman times (10)
{MONETARISM} – Another anagram (from), this time of ROMAN TIMES is an economic theory propounded by Milton Friedman.

8. House calls may double a salesman’s objective (5,5)
{ORDER ORDER} – The sort of calls for quiet that the Speaker in the House of Commons might make.

12. Fouled player retaliated (6,4)
{KICKED BACK} – A phrase that can mean a sharp, violent reaction could also be what happens to a defender in a game of football.

13. Watch recording of US welcome for celebrity (6-4)
{TICKER-TAPE} – A slang term for a watch and another word for making a recording is also a type of American parade.

14. Stuffed with chopped dates (5)
{SATED} – An anagram (chopped) of DATES.

15. Strains to understand footnote (5)
{SEEPS} – A word that means passing slowly through small openings is constructed by adding PS (postscript – footnote) to a three letter word that means to comprehend.

19. Give a party a new constitution, perhaps (7)
{REGROUP} – A cryptic definition that describes coming back together or reorganising.

20. Odd way to go from place to place (7)
{STRANGE} – ST (street – way) and a word that means to wander freely or roam produces a word that means unusual or unfamiliar.

23. In the end mountain range finishes where Tunisia starts (2,4)
{AT LAST} – Take a mountain range that stretches through Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, then take the first letter of Tunisia (starts) to get a phrase that means finally.

25. On which landlubbers constitutionally walk the plank (4)
{PIER} – A word that describes a deck that is built out over water.

26. Plead a case for right Austrian composer (4)
{BERG} – Put R (right) inside a word that describes asking someone for something formally and you get surprise, surprise an Austrian composer.

The Quick crossword pun – {trance} + {later} = {translator)

58 comments on “DT 26469

  1. The western half was a breeze but the right hand side was a lot tougher. I, too, needed to look hard at 8d and 9a and they easily are for me the top clues today, especially 9a for extreme cleverness.
    Other eye-catching clues: 24a but what a shame that it would not be fair play to split the “into” into “in to” ;-)
    and 27a as a smoothie.

    A little quibble: I think the plural in the clue of 8d should have been singular.

    All in all a very enjoyable Monday morning diversion.

    Thanks to Libellule for the review and the setter (who is he/she?) for the enjoyment provided.

  2. The usual high-quality Monday puzzle. Not too difficult, but fun as always. It was nice to see the setter’s brief TV appearance last week.

    In 26D the answer was quite obvious, although an indication that one element of the soultion was inside another would have been nice.

  3. I’m afraid I am going to have to disagree once more with the rating. For me this was the most difficult Monday puzzle for a very long time. What with ecumenical terms for screens, a composer I have never heard of and a new meaning for a word (I thought 11a meant effeminate) this one really gave me problems. For at least a 3star for difficulty. Having said that I absolutely loved 1a and 10a, for me excellent clues. Ah well done now but I did need the help of this excellent blog, thanks Libellule.

    1. Barrie, that church screen is worth remembering – it turns up quite frequently in both cryptic and concise crosswords; probably because of its slightly unusual ending which may help to fill a sticky grid for a setter.

  4. I had the opposite problem to Libellule – I spotted the excellent 9a quite quickly but struggled down the bottom, particularly slapping my forehead at 24a. Lovely stuff as usual from Rufus – thanks to him and to Libellule.

  5. Good morning Libelulle, don’t know why but I found this tough to get into today but once I got going it was fine, fav clues by far 8d and 9a, for 8d I kept on thinking of Bingo!! brilliant clues, last in for me were 2d & 1a, once 2d (so obvious really) was in 1a followed quite quickly but I needed your explaination, for me a Rufus crossword is like coming home after a hard day and throwing on your old comfy clothes and slippers, brilliant, IMHO the best setter by far, than you Rufus and Libelulle, off to read hints now :) I think personally a 3* for me today

    1. Thanks for the link Pommers, I really enjoyed that, dare I say it, I thought it a little easier than The Telegraph one, but some really brilliant clues in there, excellent, I will certainly be looking out for those on Mondays :) yes indeed

      1. As I have mentioned before Roger Squires sets the Monday prize crossword in the FT on roughly a fortnightly basis as Dante.

        Today’s can be found here http://www.ft.com/arts/crossword

        If I have time this evening I shall be taking a look as I admire the simplicity of his clues. Much more enjoyable than most of the other setters.

  6. How Rufus manages to turn out such brilliant clues, having already compiled over 2 million of them, is mind-boggling! 9a, 8d, 24 a and 27a were my favourites today. BZ, Rufus and Libellule.

  7. Good morning all from a horribly windy Oxford!
    Not too many problems today apart from 9a and 8d. Could see that ‘order’ had to come into it somewhere but was stupid enough to make 12a ‘cage’ to begin with which rather messed up the second word of 8d. Oh dear!!
    Although I realised that 1a was a ‘cricket one’ managed to get it from the rest of the clue without understanding the cricket stuff.
    Took me a while to understand why 26d was what it was.
    Got a bit stuck on the obvious anagram at 7d – don’t know why.
    Might, for me anyway, have been between 2 and 3* for difficulty.
    Favourites – 9, 27 and 29a and 8 and 13d.
    Thanks to Rufus and Libellule.

  8. Favourite clues 8d, 24a and 9a, but there were many! Utterly enjoyable – thanks Rufus! (And Libellule, of course, although didn’t need help today, just good to read your interpretation)

    1. Yes, I always read the review for the entertaiment even if I don’t need the hints. Sometimes I find that there’s a clue I thought I had understood but reading the review I find I’ve missed some subtlety in the wordplay which makes the clue even better than I had thought. Good for improving the skills so thanks to all the bloggers!.

  9. A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle today, starting off with a cricket term at 1a. I winced a little when I saw the 8 4-letter words, but they slotted in quite nicely. I particularly liked 9a. Thanks to setter and Libellule for the review

  10. Rufus on steroids today! Excellent crossword and tricker, I think, than Libellule’s ** rating. Some stunning clues today top of which, for me, was 9a.

    Many thanks to Rufus and to Libellule for the review.

    1. Prolixic,
      I wondered whether to give it three stars – but decided on two. Realistically I think its somewhere between the two.

      1. Most of the clues were perhaps at 2* difficulty, but from the comments above it appears that most bloggers individually struggled with at least 1 or 2. Which would just about nudge it into 3* territory?

      2. I would increase both your ratings for difficulty and enjoyment by one star. Probably a little bit harder than the customary DT Monday Rufus, and more akin to a Guardian Monday Rufus – which I’m just about to have a look at now…..

  11. I think Rufus is definitely getting trickier – the second Monday running I have taken longer to finish than I used to. My favourite clue is 9a which I got fairly early on and still makes me smile. Thanks to Rufus and Libellule.

  12. same trouble as libellue and others, breezed through and hit a brick wall on 8d and 9a before audible groans were heard in the milky household. I’d say great minds think alike, but i suspect i might be insulting libellue. Thanks to setter and reviewer.

  13. Good stuff, but tricky and slow to get into. Finally managed 23 without the hints. Didn’t stand a chance with 1a, 10a probably today’s favourite and I got the composer from just the ‘g’ before I understood the clue – nice to have a degree that’s not totally useless!

    Thanks to Rufus and Libellule, from windy but sunshiny Oxford.

    1. Geoff if you feel like doing another today, see Pommers link above, it is well worth looking at and well within your range :)

  14. I agree with Geoff – not a chance for 1a and only guessed from the cross letters – not au fait with lots of cricket terms. New word for me was 21a. Got 8d quite early on but didn’t get 9a for ages and finally decided that those two were my favourites.

    Thanks to Rufus for the puzzle and to Libellule for the review.

  15. Thanks to Rufus and to Libellule, enjoyable crossword and not too taxing, I loved 1a, 9a and 8d.

  16. Excellent puzzle today – I love anagrams – many thanks Rufus, and to Libellule for the tips on the few I couldn’t immediately solve. Of course, I should have got the orient and east synonyms for 27a – I was trying to work an anagram of aligns and east!! But I had already done the Herculis GK, the Quick and the codewords, so perhaps I’d past my peak by then!!

    1. Agree Jerseyman. This Blog is the real McCoy as a Translator of clues; it really is a good Mentor and definitely 27a the mind.

  17. Most enjoyable. Like most, I too got stuck top right. But one I solved 8d then the last one in was 11a, which I’d not heard of. A rare treat for me to have time to do Mondays … but a short training day meant quiet time at home !

  18. A few unfamiliar words made this a bit tricky for me. I put readopt instead of regroup at first for 19d (thinking of ‘a do’ for ‘a party’ and it took me a while to catch on to my mistake but overall I enjoyed it. Thanks Rufus and Libellule.

  19. Have to agree with Barrie – have never thought of 11a as having the “tired” definition, so needed the hints for that one. 1a was a no-go for me – any cricket clues always are as, as far as I’m concerned, it’s second only to watching paint dry – I can hear the howls of protest alread!! Started over lunch and did bottom half fairly quickly – then had to go out and needed hints to finish now I’m home again. Many thanks to Libellule for that. Thought it a tad more difficult than most Mondays.

  20. Re 9a Collywobbles – it was clever! I was desperately trying to put “Ma” with “le” or “la” and the answer didn’t make any sense!!! Needed the hints for that one too.

  21. Out all day so only started after supper and fairly raced through todays offering. I wondered if it might have a 1* rating but never expected 3*.
    8D the last one in and I wondered about the answer for awhile before deciding that “order order” was correct.
    Thanks to setter and Libellule for the hints.

  22. Evening all. About 1/2 hour in and it was going so well with South West corner done but now have dried up and awaiting inspiration – I’ll call in later

    1. Good luck Ainsley – I, along with lots of others, thought that a couple of clues in NE corner were the trickiest.

  23. Power cut here for the past 3 hours! I found this a fairly straightforward challenge although I did fail to get 9a – DOH! I do love a cup of tea as well. Power now on.

  24. I’ve been so busy recently and am just catching up on backlog of DT xwords. Compared to last Friday this was a stroll!

  25. Excellent challenge but surprised not much praise for 23d which had appealing geographical correctness.

    If you post this late are you automatically in the 8 o’clock club, or are there other entry requirements?

    Thanks to Libellule and hats (bowlers?) off to Rufus.

  26. Enjoyable start to the week from Jolly Roger!!!
    Got the DT very late yesterday as we were all confined to our apartments while new anti-slip floors were set down in the galleries of the complex- had to wait for the stuff to harden!
    So began at about 11PM and finished it early this morning.
    Thought it was a shade harder than the usual Monday fare. Rather old-fashioned streak I thought!

    Clues I liked : 1a, 9a, 10a, 22a, 27a, 2d, 8d, 12d & 15d. Some good anagrams also.

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