DT 26690 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 26690 (Hints)

by tilsit  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26690 (Hints)

The Saturday Crossword Club

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Greetings from Calderdale’s finest NHS holiday camp. I have just escaped the Matron for half an hour to return the favour that Big Dave did for me yesterday

It’s Saturday and here’s today’s Prize Puzzle, As usual, no answers and a few hints. A pleasant enough solver from our Mystery Setter (don’t think it’s Cephas) and I don’t think too many will be taxed by it. Have a great weekend and if you do finish this, have a look at the NTSPP puzzle going up in a wee while.

Many thanks to Phil McNeill for providing today’s puzzle, which can be downloaded from the previous post.

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 Mark isn’t included (10)
A hidden answer. Hidden in the second word is a punctuation mark. Which one?

6a Nick Nolte’s first to get in drink (4)
A word meaning a nick or a cut is found by taking N (Nolte’s first) and inserting it inside a word meaning to take a short drink of something

10a Books are full of these judgments (9)
A cryptic definition. A word for judge’s pronouncements is the same as something found in every book and every one of these postings.

27a Where farmer can keep things from wife — right inside bar (5,4)
A building found on a farm is made up of what a cockney would call his wife and a word that means forbid with R (for right) inside.

30a In a vulnerable manner, ill sheep slaughtered without one knowing (10)
An anagram of LL SHEEP ( “Ill sheep” without I) is added to a word that means knowing or knowing in a cunning way.

Down

1d Losing head, is angry for a long time (4)
Take a word that means ‘gets angry’ and remove the first letter to reveal something that means ‘periods of time’.

2d Living things in grass? Mom almost in a frenzy (9)
I did wonder whether we had a new American setter today! Don’t think I have seen Mom in an English crossword before. An anagram of IN GRASS and MO (Mom almost) will reveal a biological word for Living Things.

8d Step outside steamship with awfully green travellers (10)
A word means travellers is revealed by taking a word meaning a step in ballet, and inserting the abbreviation for a steamship and an anagram of green.

14d Where you might see flowers swing to and fro close to Epping Forest (4,6)
Good grief! A clue where flower means thngs that grow rather than rivers! The name for somewhere you may find alpine plants is revealed by taking a word that means to swing back and forth (like a cradle) and adding to it G (the close, ie last letter of EPPING) and the name of a famous forest in Warwickshire used in Shakespeare’s As You Like It.

23d Scoundrel beheaded animal (5)
The name for the creature featured in the film Ring of Bright Water is found by removing the first letter of an old word for a cad or scoundrel.

25d Race goes almost round Britain (5)
Take a word that means ‘goes’ or ‘attempts’ and place it around B (for Britain) and you have the name for a group of people.

Enjoy your weekend and I’ll see you soon!

The Crossword Club is now open.  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: {suite} + {meets}  = {sweetmeats}

78 comments on “DT 26690 (Hints)”

  1. I really enjoyed this one today and didn’t seem to need so much ‘help’ as usual :-) fav clues 24a and 23d but I liked lots of them

      1. You need a three letter word for drink as in ‘to drink’ withe the ‘N’ from Nolte’s to get a word for ‘nick’

        2. I know its Tuesday but Im slow thisweek, Ive got what I think is the answer to Bachelor going after love – wait and see (answer being wait and see) but I cant for the life of me see where Bachelor going after love – comdes into it? HELP

          1. 4d Bachelor going after love? Wait and see (7)

            The definition is not “wait and see” but “see” – to wait on is the last five letters of the answer!

          2. Bachelor going after love – O (love – think tennis scoreboard) followed by B (bachelor) then a 5 letter word meaning to wait or more precisely,as BD says above, to wait on.

      2. The definition is the first word of the clue. Then follow the instructions in the rest of the clue to get that definition!

      3. Enjoyed = was able to do today’s puzzle. Sorry Mary but this might be a 2* job. Can’t help with 6a Collywobbles without getting into trouble myself.

        1. Hi Scrabo, ‘enjoyed’ doesn’t always = ‘was able to do’ , sometime I can do them but not enjoy them at all, today I enjoyed it because the clues are mostly of a type I like, and yes of course you do enjoy it ‘more’ if you can do it :-) I agree with a 2* today, at least for myself

  2. For once I seemed to be in tune with the setter and got through this relatively quickly and without too many problems which has made me very happy on a dry and decidedly cool day in Barcelona. Managed to print from the DT for the first time of asking too so a great start to the weekend. I think my favourite clue was 1a – it took me a while till the penny dropped.

      1. Agreed – I must admit I needed the checking letters before I got it. Sorry about the result yesterday Mary. My other half is French so you can imagine the excitement in our household.

          1. I’m not sure Mary. Considering what they did to Wales and England, I think they deserve a good thrashing. Particularly as they lost two of their group matches. It doesn’t seem fair does it?

              1. Who is the referee tomorrow? (Or is it already “today” in NZ?) Is he someone who speaks both fluent English and French?

                A major flaw of RU is that the referee’s interpretation of the rules seems to be paramount! How one man can see what’s going on in rucks and mauls is beyond me! Allez Les Bleus!

                Had to cheat on my last one in today – 1a – thank you my electronic friend!

                1. The referee is the South African Craig Joubert, who was in charge of the New Zealand v Australia semi-final and I thought that he handled it well.

    2. Annoyed with myself re 1a – have seen it (or similar) a few times now but it still caught me out for an unreasonably long time.

      1. I’ve been caught out by this before, but as they say, you learn by your mistakes. Given that the misuse of this wonderful ‘mark’ is one of my pet hates, I’m determined not to let it catch me again!

        1. You should see some of the “stuff” around here – for example “Children and Ladie’s Clothing” – makes me want to go and hit them – I suppose the kinder/better option would be to go and suggest how they could improve their advertising!! Maybe not ….

  3. Like Mary, I too enjoyed this puzzle and, after a slow start, I soon picked up speed and had little difficulty in completing it. In view of the problems which the majority of you are experiencing with the Telegraph site, I am glad that I’m still taking the newspaper.

      1. You’ll perhaps recall my saying that I’ve been sending in the Telegraph cryptic crossword for some 25 years and never won it but I’m not going to throw in the towel yet, Dave. However, I would be interested to know whether an entry for the prize competition would be accepted if I downloaded it from here, printed it off and sent in that version. Perhaps Phil would be kind enough to offer some guidance.

          1. Thank you for that, Tilsit. I’ve been watching your progress in ‘Only Connect’ with interest, although I keep getting distracted by Ms C…

    2. The site is recuperating now. I’ve been using it without problems for about a week now, though they are still working on it. I hope the people doing the work are being paid a rate for the job and not by the day, otherwise it will be costing a fortune and our subs might go up!

  4. Thanks to Tilsitt for hints, in 30a I seem to have an ‘L’ I can’t account for in the answer?

  5. Thought it was a really easy one today. Went through in almost one sweep. Not usual for me. Loved 22a.

  6. Brain ache this morning, so this was a gentle enough, painless challenge. Thanks for the notes, Tilsit. I think your explanation of 25d needs to include the “almost” part.

  7. Just finished – agree with your comment re 2d – have never seen it spelled that way here but it is definitely that way in Canada (and US).

    Tilsit – I enjoyed Monday night’s competition – keep doing well – am cheering for you and your team. Haven’t been on the site since last weekend so haven’t had a chance to comment about it.

      1. Thanks Mary – doing very well. So well in fact that I have been ferrying a friend around who has sciatic nerve problem and another elderly friend who had a fall and need TLC. Hopefully next week I have a bit of time to myself so can get back in to the routine.

        Sorry about Wales – was at a dinner on Monday night for the Montgomeryshire Society and it was the main topic of conversation after the weekend.

        Keep well – how are things with you?

          1. Sorry to hear that things aren’t hundred percent but I suppose as we get older everything starts wearing out – you are right – best is to keep smiling

    2. Tilsit, did you enjoy last Monday’s “Only Connect”?. I thought it was fiendish! Even from the comfort of my living room! Surely, it cannot get any more difficult! Good Luck for the next round!

  9. I thought that this was quite an easy one for a Saturday – they do seem to be, to me anyway, either very easy or very difficult. Didn’t need any hints today. 1a took me a long time – stupid as I’ve seen that kind of clue lots of times – they ALWAYS catch me out! Also took a while to find the right numbers of the right letters to sort out 30a even though I had the answer quite quickly. For some reason the last one for me was 15a. Really liked 10, 19 and 27a and 4, 7, 8, 14 and 20d. With thanks to the setter and Tilsit.

  11. I jumped in feet first and put “back ******” in for 14d. Then I could only think austere for 15a (last to go) until the penny dropped after looking at the review. Thanks for putting me right. Apart from that not too difficult.

  13. Pretty straightforward but it felt a bit strange to me for some reason I can’t put my finger on. Could it possibly be the ‘Sword Lady’ having a go at the back page?
    Anyway quite enjoyed it and thanks to setter and Tilsit.

  15. A painless morning … before SWMBO dragged me off shopping :(. 1a did catch me in a blank moment.

    Being Norman by ancestry I should be supporting France tomorrow, but Kiwis eat les grenuilles so my vote is with the All Blacks to demonstrate France’s luck in getting to the final.

  16. Please someone put me out of my misery and give me a hint for 13a, the only left that’s driving me nuts!

            1. Out of interest, is the inability to edit or delete one’s own posts a wordpress thing or a choice you have made? The various other forums I post on do give this option so you can censor yourself if you’ve made a flying rooster (4,2).

              1. Love the expression “flying rooster” (4,2) – will now be looking for the next opportunity to use it!! :grin:

    2. The wordplay is easy – you want A and a part of a golf course, then drop the N(ame) from the end. The difficulty is with “own” being the definition and I can find no provenance for this. Just for once we will probably concur that this is a poor clue in a lacklustre puzzle.

      2. Chambers defines own in many ways and I took the soltuion to refer to the ‘acknowledge’ or ‘recognise’ definitions.

      3. Concise OED ThesaurusI own that he is right

        “Admit, allow, concede,grant, acknowledge,recognize and also 13a .

      4. Oh good – this was the only one that I had trouble explaining. Looked in Chambers and there was nothing that was completely right but didn’t think it was worth arguing about in the comments. Everything else made sense so I decided to let sleeping dogs lie .. Think that I’m about to go and be a “sleeping dog” ie going to bed now. Sleep well all. ZZZZZZZzzzz

  17. Solved this sitting in the sun waiting for the steam train at Exeter.1a required the most thinking, and like BigD I didn’t think much of 13a. and thanks to Tilsit for explaining 14d.

  19. Thanks to the Mysteron and Tilsit for the hints, which for once I didn’t need. I enjoyed this puzzle, it seemed “happy” somehow. I found it quite straightforward, favourites were 14&both 21’s.

  20. Enjoyed this and found it surprising easy not withstanding using todays hints and tips.

    Thanks to setter and BD

  21. Thx for the hints. Top left corner proved a problem – esp 1a – could kick myself now!! 15a had me struggling too. Otherwise am enjoying trying to improve. Thx again.

  22. Started a day late – now finished with more difficulty than others seen to have faced. I don’t understand the answer to 13a, can anyone explain why the answer is what it is please?

  23. Only started on it today and just needed an explanation for 14d, though several I had the answer and then had to work out why it was right! My favourite was 1a, and I thought there were a few too many missing letter/nearly anagrams this time.

  24. A round of mixed fortunes for me. Some v good clues and some less so. Golf not my subject but got with help of wikepedia on golfing terms. Only one word fits 15a I think but apart from it being “offensive” I don’t know why,

    1. 15a is a reversal of a two letter common expression used when someone doesn’t smell very nice, followed by a word meaning an unseemly display of emotion.

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