DT 26625 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 26625

by Libellule  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26625

Hints and tips by Libellule

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

Apologies for the somewhat late arrival of the blog. As you are probably aware there are problems with the Telegraph Puzzles site. However crypticsue came to the rescue after a visit to the newsagents and the use of a scanner. The crossword on the other hand is exactly what we expect from Rufus on a Monday.

To reveal the answer just highlight the space in the curly brackets.

Across

1. A fault not long showing up (11)
{SHORTCOMING} – A deficiency or flaw, is a word for having little length followed by another word for arriving or approaching.

9. Awfully repulsive – crush (9)
{PULVERISE} – An anagram (awfully) of REPULSIVE.

10. Restrictions for members in clubs (5)
{IRONS} – These sort of restrictions are shackles, and they are also used by members of Golf Clubs.

11. How’s that for charm? (6)
{APPEAL} – Double definition, a request to the umpire in a game of cricket, and the power to attract.

12. Take out file and look for one with non-hereditary entitlement (4,4)
{LIFE PEER} – An anagram (take out) of FILE is followed by a word that means to look intently produces a nobleman whose title lapses when he or she dies.

13. Road-works in order (6)
{ORDAIN} – An anagram (works) of ROAD followed by IN is to enact or issue a decree.

15. Expedition to the French metropolis goes round river (8)
{ALACRITY} – A LA (to the in French) followed by a word for a centre of population, which is then placed around an R (river).

18. I can’t change, I’ve become idle (8)
{INACTIVE} – An anagram of (change) I CANT followed by IVE.

19. Be inclined to shelter in the garden perhaps (4-2)
{LEAN-TO} – A shed that has a roof with a single slope.

21. Erudite professors or their proteges perhaps (8)
{SCHOLARS} – Another word for learned people, they could be specialists or just normal students.

23. Morning spent being entertained (6)
{AMUSED} – AM (morning) and something that is not new.

26. State aid distributed by Home Office (5)
{IDAHO} – An anagram (distributed) of AID followed by HO (Home Office) is a U.S. State.

27. Bad temper resulting from sick jokes (3-6)
{ILL-HUMOUR} – A word for not healthy, and a word that describes the quality of being funny is also an angry mood.

28. The Greeks probably regarded it as a capital investment (5,2,4)
{SIEGE OF TROY} – The capital in this instance is an ancient city in north west Asia Minor excavated by Heinrich Schliemann in 1871.

Down

1. After work rushed in so as to see the entertainer (7)
{SOPRANO} – OP (opus – work) followed by the past tense of a word that means to move swiftly placed within SO is a singer with a high voice.

2. Plant seen in neat border (5)
{OXLIP} – I hope you all remember that neat is an archaic word for a bovine animal! Now add the sort of border you find around your mouth to get a type of primula.

3. He heals, adjusting his patter accordingly (9)
{THERAPIST} – An anagram (adjusting) of HIS PATTER.

4. Forget to order vermouth (4)
{OMIT} – Order of Merit and then the crossword land word for vermouth, as in Gin and ?

5. Lie in bed suffering, not fit enough to eat (8)
{INEDIBLE} – An anagram (suffering) of LIE IN BED.

6. We’d be lost without him! (5)
{GUIDE} – A person who shows the way by leading and advising.

7. Make converse? (7)
{DESTROY} – The opposite of create.

8. Cause of cracks that may bring the house down (8)
{COMEDIAN} – The sort of person who tells jokes.

14. A double first (4,4)
{DEAD HEAT} – A race where the contestants tie for first place.

16. Best advertisement for a pastry? (5,4)
{CREAM PUFF} – The milk that rises to the top, is then followed by a word that means exaggerated praise, produces a shell of light pastry that is filled with something whipped.

17. Remove it, as ordered, for extra pay (8)
{OVERTIME} – An anagram (as ordered) of REMOVE IT.

18. Fire confined to part of church (7)
{INSPIRE} – A word that means to stimulate or motivate could if split (2,5) describe being within a steeple.

20. Regular soldier? (7)
{ORDERLY} – a word that describes being neat and tidy is also a soldier assigned to look after a superior officer.

22. Rings to see what the film’s about in write-up (5)
{LOOPS} – Reverse a word for a reel of tape to get round or oval shapes.

24. Point to inferior scent (5)
{SPOOR} – S (South – point) and then a word for inadequate in quality is also the track or trail of an animal.

25. A shade depressed (4)
{BLUE} – A colour that is often used to describe being unhappy.

Today’s Quickie Pun: {TELL} + {LEE} + {GRAF} = {TELEGRAPH}

48 comments on “DT 26625”

  1. The usual Rufus mixture, but none the poorer for that. Monday just wouldn’t be the same without him. TVM to the Admiral & Libellule.

  2. A very nice typical Rufus start to Monday – I was held up by the d’oh inducing 13a, which in turn held up 14d, but I was in good company with my problem with the former, wasn’t I Prolixic?! :)

    Hope it wasn’t my deciding that, as I have a week off, I wouldn’t drive up to the newsagents, but would download the puzzles, that caused the thunderstorm. I also have people coming to camp in the garden from Wednesday too. Sorry all. Better luck tomorrow.

    1. Ditto – nice Rufus, popped it all in quickly with the exception of 13a and – consequently – 14d. So maybe I should have those two as the favourites?

      Thanks to Rufus, Libellule, Crypticsue and anyone else who contributed… :o)

      Nick

  3. Good morning Libelulle, thank goodness for Sue, she did the same for me :-D , Lovely typical crossword from Rufus today, having said that I got a total mental block for 6d & 7d! so simple really (with your help) , no I didn’t remember neat was an archaic word for a bovine animal! but did solve the clue, fav clue today 18a and thanks once again Sue :-)

        1. Mary – hope you are soon well and back to normal. Hope the good days start numbering higher than the bad ones.

    2. Hello Mary. I’m just back from the south of France and sorry to hear you’ve been ill. So I send you all good wishes and hope you get better soon.
      :-)

  4. What a nice gentle start to the week- enjoyable, in a straightforward way.
    Surface reading of 28a delivered a nice clue I thought.

    And now to the Toughie……………. Zut Alors! Pas de Toughie!

    Time to start a real campaign to move Herculis somewhere else in the week, when the back page puzzle is harder (Thursday probably.)

    “ATOM” (A Toughie On Monday) .
    You know it makes sense.

  5. Not a difficult crossword but I STILL managed to make a complete ***** up of the bottom left corner by putting 22d the wrong way up – oh dear! :oops: Once I realised what I’d done all was fine. I liked 15, 21 and 27a and 2 (yes, I remembered the “neat” bit) 3, 5 and 8d. With thanks to Rufus and Libellule.
    VERY autumnal here this morning – cool, bright and quite breezy.

  6. Ipad version of paper has no crosswords so i had to get to newsagent as well. Good steady one today although i never remember the “neat” bovine clue.

  7. Fairly gentle start to the week but I thought some of the clues a bit clunky I.e. What has 15a to do with an expedition? Wasn’t too keen on 1d, thought singer would have been a better clue than entertainer, most of these are not very entertaining! Loved 23a and 11a (nice cricketing clue here). Thx to the setter and also to Libellule for the excellent explanations

    1. Brian
      Re. 15a, one of the meanings of expedition is “promptness in acting; dispatch”

  8. By the way Troy was first discovered by Charles McLaren in 1822, Schliemann did the first excavations and managed to destroy much of the site!

  9. Thanks to Rufus for the excellent and gentle start to the week, totally agree with Digby, Monday would not be the same without Rufus. Thanks also to Libellule about whom the same remarks apply.

  10. Thanks to CS and BD I was able to do the puzzle without going out again to get a paper. I didn’t like 28a – probably because I needed help on it. Had the checking letters but not able to get the answer. Other than that enjoyed it. I liked 15a and 10a.

    Thanks to Rufus and to libellule.

  11. I always get the paper anyway, so had to complete the thing without any recourse to hints…I didn’t know of the neat = bovine thing, so I’m very glad you explained ….. I had tried looking up ox to see if that was any help to me, but there was no mention of them being particularly tidy creatures.

    I was thinking of joining the “ADAM” movement….but Monday’s is the day I’m supposed to get some cleaning and gardening done……which is precisely why I’m sat here messing about on blogs hoping it will rain in the next 5 mins

    1. Oh yes it’s pouring down .. sorry I meant “ATOM” with reference to Lostboy above but I was distracted by a large black cloud on the horizon.

  13. I had actually to go out and buy a paper today, by which time I’d already done Rufus’s puzzle in the Grauniad, so my brain had given out by the time I got to the SW corner. That’s my excuse, anyway! Thanks to him for two good challenges and to Libellule for his explanations.
    :-)

    1. I too bought a paper today! Perhaps Rufus should be on a bonus for selling Telegraphs on a Monday? Great back page crossy today, thoroughly enjoyed it! Still can’t see where the second half of 16d comes from – exaggerated praise still doesn’t come to mind readily!

      1. WRT the second half of 16d, neither could I but, my Bradford’s crossword dictionary does give the word under the entry for ‘advertisement’. That doesn’t mean I’m any the wiser though! Does anyone have an explanation?

        2. From Chambers, one definition of the second word, as a noun, is Praise intended as, or serving as, advertisement.

  14. 28 of the 30 clues done in slightly longer than average. Utterly stuck on 2d and 11a. Now, as a cricket nut, you’d think I’d get 11a instantly, but I didn’t. I went away to make tonight’s dinner and was half way through chopping an onion when it came to me. I called myself a very rude name. Then of course 2d popped into my head too. On the whole a tad heavy on the anagrams for me but very nice all the same. 2.5 on the Richter scale for me (only because of my own stupidity). My thanks to Rufus and Libellule.

    With regard to all this talk of lightning strikes and outages, I think I’ll just stick to having the paper delivered. My paperboy is a hero, 5mins either side of 0700 every day regardless of the weather.

  15. I’ve been able to get onto the site now, but can’t submit the puzzle. Dreaded “error 0” again.

  16. Tried putting my twopenneth in this morning via the iPad (missus hogging the laptop) but it seems not to have worked, grrrr. Usual good start to the week, not to taxing, but very enjoyable, really enjoyed 9A, 12A, 28A and my favourite today was 27A.

    1. When I say up and running, that is a bit of an exaggeration. It is displaying yesterdays crosswords!

      1. The home page is still stuck – select “Latest Puzzles” from the second menu row. Reply posted by BD in response to apost by Mary on “Outage” threads…..

  18. Gardening all day in between the thunder storms so arrived here late. As usual I was not disappointed by the puzzle or the hints.
    Thanks to Rufus and Libellule.

  19. All done save 11a and 7d. The DT paper edition also printed the results for last Saturday’s prize crossword instead of the previous week’s.

  20. My DT arrives every day at about 6.30 am – I read it over breakfast – well, I look at the headlines and think “I don’t really want to read that”, so go into ostrich mode and turn to the back page for my daily brain work-out! Then it goes in the recycling bin. (not my brain – the paper! Or perhaps not??? Maybe that’s where I’ve been leaving it lately?). Simple!! Who needs all this hassle with technology? Litle Dave – 11a is a cricket term (I hate cricket, but I do know that one “OwZat??) so it’s an …… to the Umpire and the same word can also mean “charm” – someone has a certain “……” But I’m sure if you look in the Hints it will be better explained. 7d – I had to resort to the Hints!

  21. Thanks to Rufus and Libellule.I struggled a bit and had to use 4 hints.favourite was 15 across. Late posting due to playing golf and Squash Committee meeting.

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