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DT 26485

by Gazza  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26485

Hints and tips by Gazza

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

Today’s Giovanni is not the most difficult that we’ve had, and there are a few old chestnuts (but there are always new solvers coming along so they won’t be old chestnuts for everybody). Let us know what you thought of it in a comment.
If you want to see an answer drag your cursor through the space between the brackets under the clue.

Across Clues

1a/5a  Restrict zanies somehow, as member of the public using legal restraint (8,6)
{CITIZEN’S ARREST} – we start with an anagram (somehow) of RESTRICT ZANIES to make the legal detention of a wrongdoer by a member of the public.

5a  See 1a

9a  Dry zone, mostly boring, around street somewhere in London (4,4)
{DUST BOWL} – this is an area where drought and soil erosion have made it impossible to grow crops. Put a synonym for boring without its final L (mostly) around the abbreviation for street and an area of London, in Tower Hamlets, where true Cockneys are said to come from. Do you find “somewhere in London” a bit vague?

10a  Entrance — to go in it’s your turn (6)
{GYRATE} – a verb meaning to turn is an entrance with an abbreviation of your inside it.

12a  Computer programs offering start of romance with fantastic ‘soul mate’ coming round! (9)
{EMULATORS} – these are programs (sometimes called middleware) which allow software designed to operate in one computer environment to run unchanged in a totally different one (for example allowing Apple Mac programs to run on a Windows system or vice versa). Put an anagram (fantastic) of SOUL MATE round the initial letter (start) of R(omance).

13a  Success one discovered when going round a republic (5)
{HAITI} – string together a success (in show business, for example) and I (one) and insert (going round) A to make a Caribbean republic which was devastated by an earthquake last year.

14a  Bird to go round being heard (4)
{TERN} – this seabird sounds like (being heard) to go round.

16a  People like you wanting new money rather than old, we gather! (7)
{REAPERS} – start with people like you (i.e. purchasers of the Telegraph or perusers of the blog) and change the letter used for pre-decimal pence to that which is used for pence currently. You should now have workers who gather the harvest.

19a  Italian city’s less healthy looking medic (7)
{PALERMO} – the capital city of Sicily is a charade of a comparative meaning less healthy looking (possibly more anaemic) and one of the abbreviations for a doctor.

21a  Person with little yen to be in organisation (4)
{BODY} – an informal term for a person has Y(en) added to make an organisation.

24a  Agricultural concern managed by honoured companion (5)
{RANCH} – this is an extensive farm, especially in North America or Australia. A synonym for managed is followed the abbreviation for an honoured companion.

25a  Final words to say briefly about beast (2,2,5)
{ET TU BRUTE} – the reported final words of Julius Caesar are a verb to say, truncated (briefly) and reversed (about) followed by a synonym for beast.

27a  Motivation of a boy pursuing school subject (6)
{REASON} – put A and another word for boy after the abbreviation for religious education (school subject).

28a  Came round again about nasty dog, looking embarrassed (8)
{RECURRED} – the definition is came round again. String together a prefix meaning again, a nasty dog and the colour associated with looking embarrassed.

29a/30a  Wrecks a weapon before duel maybe and fails to fulfil promise (6,4,4)
{BREAKS ONE’S WORD} – this is a phrase meaning fails to fulfil a promise. Splitting it differently as (6,3,5) could mean wrecks a single weapon (possibly half of the pair required for a duel).

30a  See 29a

Down Clues

1d  Units having worries around eastern edge of battlefield (6)
{CADRES} – these units are small groups of people, often trained nuclei around which larger organisations can be built. Put a verb meaning worries around the rightmost letter (eastern edge) of battlefielD.

2d  Drunkard turning up to drink makes for uncertain situation (4-2)
{TOSS-UP} – an uncertain situation where there’s only a fifty percent chance of success is a drunkard reversed (turning up, in a down clue) followed by a verb meaning to drink.

3d  Zoo’s prime exhibit — bear possibly or another animal? (5)
{ZEBRA} – the prime letter of zoo is the letter Z. Follow this by showing (exhibit) an anagram (possibly) of BEAR to get another animal.

4d  Scientist has week probing modern community (3,4)
{NEW TOWN} – possibly the greatest English scientist has W(eek) inserted (probing) to make a modern community.

6d/26d  What music would upset Luther? Bad hymns? (6,3,5)
{RHYTHM AND BLUES} – this phrase was coined in the 1940s as a catchall term referring to any music that was made by and/or for black Americans. It’s an anagram (upset) of LUTHER BAD HYMNS.

7d  One’s tested Devon river that has organic chemical in it (8)
{EXAMINEE} – this person undergoes a formal test. Put a Devon river around an organic compound derived from ammonia.

8d  Smallest item from golf bag I found in home (8)
{TEENIEST} – the definition is smallest. Start with an item of golf equipment and follow this with I inside a synonym for home.

11d  Drastic uprising sees this ruler taken (4)
{TSAR} – extracted (taken) from the clue is the reversal (uprising) of a ruler.

15d  Rake — worth getting taken out for a mound of soil (9)
{EARTHWORK} – an anagram (getting taken out) of RAKE WORTH.

17d  Bit of food Adam provided for Eve (5,3)
{SPARE RIB} – this bit of pork is also, supposedly, the bit of Adam that Eve was made from.

18d  Eagle on top of tree bursting to stretch out (8)
{ELONGATE} – a verb meaning to stretch out is an anagram (bursting) of EAGLE ON and the first letter (top) of T(ree).

20d  Warning: ‘ladies’ may exclude wife! (4)
{OMEN} – exclude the W(ife) from a word for ladies to leave a warning.

21d  Bird gets very cold heading north (7)
{BITTERN} – this is a bird of the heron family. An adjective meaning very cold has the first letter (heading) of N(orth) appended.

22d  Question with pictures maybe at front of old book (6)
{QUARTO} – this is a book or pamphlet where each sheet of paper has been printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves (that is, eight book pages), so that each printed page is now one-fourth of the size of the original sheet. String together an abbreviation for question, what pictures are examples (maybe) of and the first letter (front) of O(ld).

23d  After a short time stopped being looked after (6)
{TENDED} – a verb meaning looked after is a short T(ime) followed by a synonym for stopped.

26d  See 6d

The clues which I liked best today were 16a, 25a and 2d. Let us know what you liked in a comment!

The Quickie pun is {INCOME} + {MOWED} = {INCOMMODE}

82 comments on “DT 26485”

  1. An enjoyable end to a remarkably easy week.
    I could fill in the western half without much difficulty and only had to look a bit closer at the NE corner. Last in were 21a (pesky FLC), 10a and 16a.

    6,26d was a beautiful use of fodder.

    Thanks to the Don and Gazza!

  2. I would agree with you on 9a gazza. I have also sen the ONE SWORD before a couple of times (I think in EAT ONES WORDS). All told a very straightforward Friday puzzle but a fair and enjoyable one.
    Thanks to gazza and to Giovanni.

  4. Thank you for an interesting crossword. Had to resort to the Hints to understand 16a, very clever.
    Had to look up the word for the pun in the Quickie.
    Thanx to Compiler and Gazza.

  5. Hi Gazza, not sure if its still morning or just afternoon :) enjoyed this one today although I only had one fav clue and that was 17d, as for 29 & 30 a, although it was fairly easy to solve I don’t quite see what the duel has to do with it even after reading your hint, the clue was workable without it and indeed I ignored that bit! ?? the only thing it could possibly do as far as I can see is to throw solvers off the right track :)

    2. Hi Mary, I thought that about 29/30a as well – I can’t see what the duel adds to the clue. I was hoping for some enlightenment from the hints…

      I also thought it would be a pangram, but, no, three letters missing, as you say. That held me up slightly at the end as I was trying to get the missing letters into the remaining answers!

      2. I agree that “before duel maybe” isn’t strictly necessary, but I think it adds a touch of “I’m sorry I can’t fight you today because I’ve broken my sword”.

  6. Re: Rhythm and Blues

    I could be wrong, but my understanding was that combined charts were produced for Rhythm music and Blues music and the term stuck – in the same way Country music was combined with Western music and a new genre was created.

    1. Dave, I’m sure you know more about it than I do. I took the derivation from Wikipedia (dangerous I know) which has:

      Jerry Wexler of Billboard magazine coined the term “rhythm and blues” in 1948 as a musical marketing term in the United States. It replaced the term “race music”, which originally came from within the black community, but was deemed offensive in the postwar world. Writer/producer Robert Palmer defined rhythm & blues as “a catchall term referring to any music that was made by and for black Americans”.

      2. Gazza, that tallies closely with the main entry in Grove Music Online, so this Wiki entry appears reliable. The term was replaced by ‘Soul Music’, again by Billboard, in 1969.

  7. NW and SE corners solved first, NE corner had me foxed, tried to get amino rather than correct answer. Enjoyable tho, favourites 6d 16a and 29a.

  8. Defeated by the 14a bird, until I saw the pic and realised I had put a ‘t’ at the end of 4d … these ‘senior moments’ are getting scary! Otherwise, fairly straightfoward with a little bit of head scratching. 16a was the last to go in. Fav today has to be 6d, highly entertaining!

    Thoroughly enjoyable, many thanks to Giovanni and to Gazza for the usual crystal-clear blogging.

      1. If he comes to our welsh choir, St David’s Day concert tomorrow, I might met him then, The concert is in his church.

  9. A nice easy Giovanni today which surprised me a bit as his puzzles usually take me that little bit longer, relatively speaking. Very enjoyable – my favourite clues being 25a because its a good one and 19a because I am going there in May.

    It could be that its not easier but that my cryptic cells are in very good working order because I didn’t have any trouble with the Elgar toughie either which has never happened before :)

  10. Enjoyed the crossword today. Not as hard as yesterdays but then, not as easy as last weeks. Not particularly hard, bud required a plod through. No particular favourite clues today, all enjoyable – liked the country he managed to get in, about time someone managed it. 3* rating I would say

  11. Enjoyable end to the week although it took a little longer than usual for the penny to drop in some areas. No particular area last to complete. Explanation for 9A was helpful, even having put “dust bowl” could not see why from the clue.
    Thanks to setter and Gazza for the hints.

  12. Very easy crossword from Giovanni today but fairly enjoyable. Thanks to both Giovanni and to Gazza.

  14. My favourite was 6d because of the surface reading – brilliant. Also liked 1a 1d 2 9 16 19 25 and 29. Nice easy ride after yesterday!

  15. Enjoyable puzzle, although it took me slightly longer than it should have done due to ‘having a moment’ when writing in 17d – I put ‘Adam’s ***’ and it was ages before I noticed!!

    Liked 4d and 20d, while 10a definitely took the most thought. Thanks to G & G.

  17. Nice job today, just as well, Mrs Nubs and I are off to the Canaries for a week so will have to depend on the paper every day. 22 degrees, luvly jubbly
    Thanks to Giovanni and to Gazza.

  18. A most agreeble crossword – not the most tricky but enjoyable and very fairly clued. Many thanks to Giovanni for the crossword and Gazza for the review.

  19. Glad you thought it was easy, I found it very tricky but good fun. APART from 10a, how can it possibly mean entrance, surely it means to turn or spin or is there some other abstruse meaning known only to crosswordland?
    Thanks to the Maestro for an enjoyable puzzle (unlike yesterdays horror!!).

    2. Hi Barrie it does mean turn, that is the definition not entrance, it is gate, which is the entrance, with yr, apparently an abbreviation for your, inside :)

  20. Thanks all. Just a few places left now on my crossword course if Mr D would like to put it up one last time!

    2. Thank you Don for an enjoyable work out. Just returned from a few crossword-less days in Greece, and it was nice to slide back into gear via one of your creations. Perhaps a visit to The Oracle in Delphi helped too. And thanks to Gazza for the confimatory hints.

    4. I’ll be there, I’m really looking forward to it! Tickets arrived last week. Lovely opportunity to spend the weekend in Oxford!

  21. Annoyingly.. I fuffed around with 1 down for a good while – totally forgot the word. Until I landed 9 across. Which was my favorite clue in todays puzzle :)

  22. Yes, a nice Giovanni today, which was maybe a little too straightforward. That said, I did learn something in 12a as a computer program, and even if 29a has appeared before, it is a very nice clue. Thanks for the review from the mists of Snowdonia!

  23. Gazza, in 11d is RAST extracted from DRASTIC. If so I don’t think that it’s a very good clue

  25. A straightforward puzzle from The Don this Friday but enjoyable.
    Clues I liked : 1 & 5a, 16a, 25a, 6 & 26d, 8d, 17d & 20d.

  27. Re 9A: Gazza, I wonder whether Giovanni might perhaps have been a little stung by some criticism of his London geography (in relation to the same borough) in DT26443

    Perhaps he was trying to avoid causing such ructions this time around…

  28. Thanks to Giovanni and Gazza. I enjoyed 16a and had a “doh!” moment when I got 10a. I didn’t need any help from my wife today!

  29. Don Giovanni was very lenient today!

    For those who start at 1a (rather than in the SE corner), 1a&5a seemed far too easy and obvious – and also gave us a head start for the first 7 down clues!

    Wish that Elgar had given us an equally gentle opening in the Toughie!!

      1. Hi Pommers, I solved about 8 clues honestly, then attempted the rest dishonestly – but to no avail!! :cry:

        1. Admit there was some dishonesty in my attempt as well! Elgar seems to me to be from a different planet!

  30. Great stuff from the Don! Agree not quite as hard as some of his but very satisfying.
    Favourite 25a – not too hard to solve from a couple of checkers but the wordplay had me for a minute or so.
    Muchas gracias a todos desde Espana!

  31. This was a lovely bit if fun over lunch, which puts me rather late in the queue again. I must thank Gazza for the hint on 16a. I keep forgetting abbreviations for coin of the realm, and need various tools for rivers and areas of London. The discussion is fun as usual.

  32. Hi all v late today. Back home at last and about halfway through but to be honest now struggling – putting it down to tiredness!

  33. Hi Ainsley
    Think I’m the only one around tonight and I’m only looking every now and then.
    How you doing? Thought you were having a week off for half term?
    Good puzzle today, even if knackered it should be OK. I like 25a – think Shakespeare!

  35. Just popping in to congratulate Gazza on winning COW this week, its been waiting to happen for a while now, well done Gazza :-D

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