DT 26606 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 26606 (Hints)

by Big Dave  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26606 (Hints)

Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club

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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.

Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.

Could new readers please read the Welcome post before asking questions about the site.

Most of the terms used in these hints are explained in the Glossary and examples are available by clicking on the entry under “See also”.

A full review of this puzzle will be published after the closing date for submissions.

Across

1a           Rubbish bin initially dumped in vehicle shelter (7)
To get a synonym for rubbish put the first letter (initially) of Bin inside a shelter in which a vehicle is kept

10a         Understand how door is locked (5,2)
A phrasal verb meaning to understand or grasp is also how a door is locked – this clue appears to have two correct answers;  the one beginning with L is not accepted by the Telegraph Puzzles site – I wonder if either answer will be accepted for the prize!

13a         Alternating current (5,5)
A cryptic definition of a waterway that ebbs and flows

25a         Settler Mark is taking time (8)
This settler is a charade of a punctuation mark, IS from the clue and T(ime)

29a         Try half of that with egg on (7)
A verb (or noun) meaning to try or endeavour is created from the second half of (TH)AT followed by a word meaning to egg on or entice

Down

2d           Plant in a container like this (8)
This herbaceous plant with bold flower spikes and spiny decorative leaves is a charade of A (from the clue), a container and a word meaning like this or in this way

8d           Greenery (7)
This greenery is created by putting an anagram (changing) of EVER around five hundred in Roman numerals (many) and Crosswordland’s favourite old city

18d         Plant hat on head first (8)
This plant of the mint family is derived by putting a hat after the bony case that encloses the brain

26d         Shortly ducks are seen in opposite directions (4)
A word meaning shortly or in a little while is created by putting two scores of zero in cricket between opposite directions of the compass

The Crossword Club opens at 10.00am.  Feel free to leave comments.

Please don’t put whole or partial answers or alternative clues in your comment, else they may be censored!

The Quick crossword pun: {don} + {old} + {duct} = {Donald Duck}

75 comments on “DT 26606 (Hints)”

  1. Morning all! At first glance I thought we had a challenge on our hands but 3 clues in & I was away like a rat up a drainpipe. Favourite clue has got to be 7d. Thanks to setter & to BD as usual.

  2. I thought we’d have a fairly early posting today. Quite enjoyable though. Liked 9a, 2d, and 4d. Wasn’t overly convinced by the three letter ‘old city’ abbreviation in 8d. 18d was new to me. Thanks to BD and the setter.

          1. It’s almost impossible to give a clue, so i’ll break my own golden rule! Ur is defined by the ODE as:

            An ancient Sumerian city formerly on the Euphrates, in southern Iraq. It was one of the oldest cities of Mesopotamia, dating from the 4th millennium BC, and reached its zenith in the late 3rd millennium BC

              1. No problem!

                It’s in my soon-to-be-published “Big Dave’s 100 top tips”. The problem is that there are only 21 so far!

                  1. Oi! I thought I’d cornered the lemon drizzle cake market! I remember my times on the naughty step well. Twice now, I’m getting a complex.

            3. Aww thank you so much – never heard of it, can someone recommend a crossword book to help solve puzzles? I often read people are using them – whats recommended (other than Chambers Dictionary of course)

              2. If you have a look at the top of the blog, there are a number of different tabs to click on – the one called ‘Crosswords’ has a list of useful books to help get to grips with the mysteries of cryptic crossword solving.

              3. Bradford’s Crossword Solvers Dictionary. Thousands of really useful lists and sort of thesaurus. Available in WH Smith (I’m not on commission, honest).

              4. As well as the above, I would add:

                How to Crack the Cryptic Crossword by Val Gilbert (former Telegraph Crossword Editor and one of my neighbours)

                and my own personal favourite:

                How to do The Times Crossword by the Sunday setter, Brian Greer

          2. It’s a bit difficult to give a clue for the old city without giving it away but for the answer to 8d the definition is “greenery” – it’s an anagram of of “ever” (changing being the anagram indicator) round the Roman numeral for 500 with a silly little two letter word for an ancient city. Hope that helps – good luck!!

      2. In case anyone is wondering, I originally thought we were looking for a (3 letter) short form of a city in the north east. I now see it was the two letter old favourite, which I do recall from previous puzzles. Apologies for talking nonsense.

  3. One of the quickest Cephas crosswords I have solved but with some nice touches on the way!

    I found his Quick Crossword harder today but it does have a very good theme running through it that will be familiar to regulars on these pages.

    Many thanks to Cephas for the crossword and to BD for the notes.

    1. Funny I found it the opposite! Quick one done in minutes and only half way through prize one. Just cant get 16ac !!!

      1. The answer is a simple form of melody used by monks in worship. It is a word sum of a synonym for clear and a word to describe the sound of a bird.

  4. I shot up a drainpipe too – one of those days when everything just seems to fall into place – and think that, despite his labours of the last week, Gnomey won’t be long after me. Mary, are you pleased with our [Liverpool] latest purchase? A good player to fire in crosses for Suarez and Carroll and British too…

    2. Wait till 1 October Caravaggio. You won’t be able to cross for a toffee! Only one true team!

      Finished crossword now. Enjoyed both

        1. Yes you detected the signs from across Stanley Park! One more 4-4 draw and KD will be off and back on the golf club.

  5. I didn’t shoot up the drainpipe – there’s too much rain coming down it! A very quick solve, thank you Cephas, and I did like the Quick tribute too. Thanks to BD for the hints and pics.

    Sadly, the horrible weather sent to East Kent especially to upset those golfers means that I now have no excuse but to get on with domesticity. :(

    1. We’ve got so much rain that I’ve opted to come into work & catch up on some boring admin jobs – that’s how bad it is. What time’s the NTSPP due? Anybody know?

    2. Just thought you might like to know I am now a member of the seniors club. I can now ask for consessions for the two of us, Mrs Nubian wouldn’t allow it until we both came of age. Women eh ?

    3. Took the grand daughter to her riding lesson, sat in the car during the lesson to avoid the rain and finished in half an hour. Thanet needs the rain!

      1. Agreed but not quite as much as its getting at the moment – I have washing that needs to dry.

  6. Very wet in the NE this morning so nothing to do but the crosswords. Liked the quickie today and the cryptic is very entertaining. i got held up by having gravy ….. for 4D :( Thanks setter and of course BD.

  7. Nice puzzle and nice to be back after all the BT shenanigans over changing from normal to Infinity, went from 10 megs to 37, scorching !
    Thanks to Cephas and to B D

  8. Have been absent all week so this is the first one I’ve done – quickly solved but enjoyable.

    Weather in West London is appalling and it’s affecting the reception of the golf – I agree with CS – only things to do are domestic chores!!!!

    Thanks to Cephas and to BD

  9. Relatively straightforward solve today with no need for the many attempted workings-out which normally occupy the free spaces in the adverts! Plant answers usually make me move on immediately to the next clue but even managed to get these from the word play. Thanks to Cephas and BD – now let’s see if Rory can catch up in the wind and rain.

  10. Did well first thing,but the right bottom corner I’m totally stuck on,hints fit 14 down,24,27 and 29 would be most gratefully received!!! Taking the dog for a walk in the rain,she loves it for some fact reason! Never mind nearly lunch time!!

      1. Re 14d the first six letters are an anagram (disposed) of Dolly’s. Once you’ve got that you need a synonym for lean. Re 27a describe someone who is engaged (with a ring on the finger) and find somewhere to put the 1st of November (N). Re 29a the answer is try – start with half of “that” and add a verb meaning to egg on. Hope this helps and BD doesn’t censor it!

  11. One day I’m going to learn the periodic table and then I’ll get 6d before trying to cram in anything for 13a which means I can’t get 8d. Grr. Apart from that I had a fine old time today! Particularly fond of 26d.

    1. Don’t bother learningf the period table. Just remember AU,OR, AG, PB…you won’t need many more than those

        1. There are many possibilities. Arsenic is As, “gas” could be H, He, N, O, Ne, Ar, Xe, etc. “Metal” could be Fe, Pt, Cr, and so on, and so on.

      3. The Periodic Table – developed from:

        1) Dobereiner’s Law of Triads
        2)Newland’s Law of Octaves following Cannizzaro’s work
        3)Mendeleeff’s classification

        to

        4)Nils Bohr’s Periodic Table based on atomic numbers

  12. Nothing tricky today. Re 10a, I wondered about the first letter, but in the end decided on the right one (as far as the online site is concerned!)
    Thanks to Cephas, and to BD.

    1. Ah, never thought about the other letter for start of 10a, yes I suppose it could be either :-)

      1. I left the first square of 10a blank until the end, and then had my choice of letter confirmed online. Out of the 2 possibilities, I think I prefer the one that was accepted as being correct. :)

  13. To begin with I thought that this was going to be really difficult but got going quite quickly and changed my mind. Lots of words/phrases that are new to me but possible to work out from the clues – 16a, 8d (only ever heard of a very similar word but ending in “ant”) 14d (am assuming my answer is right but can’t find it anywhere) 18d (never heard of this as a plant). I made life tricky by being unable to read my own writing and thought that 14d began with a “G” – very silly!! The “other” version of 10a didn’t even occur to me so not a problem. I’m not sure that a “hoe” is the same as the answer I have for 21a. I liked 9, 22, and 28a and 2, 3, 7, and 20d. With thanks to Cephas and Big Dave. Absolutely chucking it down in Oxford too – am trying not to complain as the garden needs it so badly.

  14. I can’t believe what a time I’ve had today, first of all my mouse refused to work, so off I trundle and come back with a new ‘nano’ mouse, at last I thought now I can print my crossword, eventually after completing the crossword and going into the comment box only to find my keyboard wasn’t working either!!! Have eventually sorted all out and it is only 2pm, I think I deserve to sit in the sun with a cool drink! In between all this I enjoyed the crossword with lots of favourite clues, too many to mention, although I found the R/H side more difficult than the left, sit outside or watch the golf, decisions, decisions :-) Thanks for blog Dave

      1. I know, sorry Kath, I can see what the weather is like at the golf open, but apart from a shower this morning it has been sunny ever since :-)

  15. A good puzzle today with some lovely surface readings. This was pretty easy as is usual for a Saturday to boost the postbag. Still, a nice solve in the sun with too many good clues to pick one out.

  17. I found this entertaining but very simple. On a weekday back page this would be lucky to get a 1* for difficulty. 8d held me up momentarily but was so obvious it had to be correct and Chambers confirmed. Thanks BD and the setter.

  18. Thanks to Cephas & Big Dave, an enjoyable straighforward puzzle, favourite was 7d.Glad I wasn’t at the Golf today, but yesterday was brilliant.

  19. El Saladar Village Fiesta this weekend, which is a lot of fun. Only problem is that it involves a very loud disco in the village square, last night and tonight. Start time is midnight and it goes on until 0400! The problem is that the square is only about 50 metres from my bedroom window so not much sleep – we don’t even have double glazing! Oh well – if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!
    Managed to do the xword this morning before going back to bed for a catch-up kip.
    Thanks to Cephas for an enjoyable, if bleary eyed, morning.

  20. Didn’t find it as easy as some of the above, but did complete it – without hints! – and thoroughly enjoyed it, which is more than I can say for most of the foregoing this week, so thanks to Cephas for renewing my faith in crossword compilers. Good day to watch the Open, though I felt very sorry for the players – come on Darren, keep it going tomorrow!!

  21. Thank you again for all the helpful comments. As a beginner – thrilled to get most of the answers – except am still struggling with 27a! 2nd letter * – 4th * -6th * – STILL hasn’t clicked!!- sorry- can anyone help?

    Have just downloaded 075 by Boaz – will give it a go later – hoping to play golf first. I LOVE being retired!

    1. Cruisenuts96,
      Please don’t put parts of the answer in your comments.
      27a Provide money for one having engagement about November 1st (7)
      The definition is provide money. For “one having engagement” think of someone who is engaged.

  22. Didn’t find time to pick up the Saturday crossword till this morning. Started at 10 with a coffee and the Archers and have completed it in record time (with usual help from hints). 16A was difficult until l realised my 3D was not right.

    Feeling quite pleased with myself as l did not struggle as much as l usually do.

    carrie

  23. From time to time, Dave and I contribute to another site and I’ve been excluded from that site for some weeks now not because I’d transgressed in any way but because I was using Internet Explorer as a browser. It was suggested to me that I used Google Chrome and it was as though a magic wand had been waved so, as a consequence, I’m obliged to re-establish my identity here.

  24. Fairly new to this site and to the DT crossword as a regular daily activity – but I’m improving! Managed this one in reasonable time. However, am I the only one to make 2 errors on 4d before hitting the correct one – the first was GRAVY ………. (gravy could be a jolly good stock!) – the second was GHOST……… (one could stretch G for suitable and HOST for stock).

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