DT 26691 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 26691

by Libellule  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26691

Hints and tips by Libellule

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

After doing yesterday’s excellent crossword late in the afternoon sat outside in the sunshine with a glass of wine, I got to do this equally excellent crossword from Rufus this morning in the dark and cold with a cup of tea. I thought this was a bit harder and more trickier than we usually get on a Monday morning but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment. Last corner to fall was the NE with 1a and 2d holding me up for a little while.

If the hint doesn’t help you can highlight the space between the curly brackets to reveal the answer.

Across

1. Demonstrates hostility to private accommodation (8)
{BARRACKS} – The sort of accommodation where soldiers might be housed.

6. God willing, it’s all right to admit artist and composer (6)
{DVORAK} – DV (Deo volente – God willing) with RA (artist) inserted inside OK (all right) is a Czech composer who wrote the New World Symphony.

9. It may be recommended as a sun resort (6)
{NASSAU} – An anagram of AS A SUN is also the capital of the Bahamas.

10. Witnesses appear to give it (8)
{EVIDENCE} – An outward sign is also a matter produced before a court of law in an attempt to prove or disprove a point.

11. Restoration of features in theatre (8)
{FACELIFT} – Plastic surgery that supposedly improves your countenance.

12. Go flat out to arrange a tenancy and rent (3,3)
{LET RIP} – To rent or lease followed by a tear is also a phrase that means to act or speak without restraint.

13. Uneasy entering dark preparatory school (12)
{KINDERGARTEN} – An anagram (uneasy) of ENTERING DARK is a small school for young children.

16. Rows among Quakers end in cordiality (12)
{FRIENDLINESS} – Put LINES (rows) inside what the Quakers are (Religious Society of …….) for a word that describes amicability.

19. Investigate in depth (6)
{FATHOMS} – A word that can mean to penetrating to the nature of something is also a maritime unit of length equal to 6 feet.

21. Had spread rumour about attachment (8)
{ADHESION} – An anagram (spread) of HAD then a synonym for rumour or talk reversed (about) produces a word that can be defined as the quality or condition of sticking together.

23. Symbol of Christ in unusual guise and form (5,3)
{AGNUS DEI} – An anagram (unusual) of GUISE AND is the figure of a lamb that is emblematic of Christ

24. Outstanding, but lost (6)
{UNDONE} – Double definition, unfinished or destroyed. (John Donne, Ann Donne, ……)

25. Fast movers before morning that may be found at sea (6)
{JETSAM} – Another word for fast planes (I remember this phrase from reading about the Vietnam war) then add AM (morning) for cargo equipment or waste that is thrown overboard from a vessel at sea.

26. Compromise and put a stop to bad temper (8)
{ENDANGER} – The definition is compromise or to expose to harm, take a three letter word for finish or cease, and then add a five letter word for a strong feeling of displeasure or hostility.

Down

2. Company that was floated to avoid liquidation ended up here (6)
{ARARAT} – The mountain where Noah’s Ark washed up.

3. Stood up, embraced one girl (5)
{ROSIE} – A girls name is the past tense of “to assume a standing position” around I (one)

4. Given a warning about education (9)
{CAUTIONED} – An anagram (about) of EDUCATION.

5. The woman with two articles to stow away safely (7)
{SHEATHE} – A word that can describe the putting away of a sword or knife is a three letter word used to refer to a woman or girl followed by two grammatical articles.

6. Boring aspect of army life (5)
{DRILL} – Double definition, an instrument used for making holes or training soldiers how to march.

7. Upsets open containers (9)
{OVERTURNS} – Another word for capsize is a word that means not concealed followed by another word that describes large vases.

8. Four in new search for data (8)
{ARCHIVES} – IV (Roman numeral for four) is placed within an anagram (new) of SEARCH.

13. Carpets university residences, say? (9)
{KEELHAULS} – Carpets in this sense refers to being rebuked harshly. (in nautical terms it also refers to disciplining someone by dragging them under a ship). The same word could sound like (say) the places for students to stay at a campus university near Newcastle-under-Lyme.

14. Deny rough treatment of lap-dog? (9)
{GREYHOUND} – An anagram (treatment) of DENY ROUGH is a racing dog.

15. Relating complicated involvement of two men and a woman (8)
{TRIANGLE} – Another anagram (complicated) this time of RELATING.

17. Fancy a title for a Lennon song (7)
{IMAGINE} – A word that means to picture mentally is also the opening track and title song on a John Lennon album released in 1971.

18. Penny puts on weight in spring (6)
{POUNCE} – P (penny) and a unit of weight equal to one sixteenth of a pound. (Wot no cat?)

20. Woman crazy over a Frenchman (5)
{MADAM} – The definition is woman. A word for insane is followed by A and then M (Monsieur).

22. Litter of battle (5)
{SEDAN} – A type of portable chair is also a town in North East France that was the site of a decisive battle (September 2, 1870) in the Franco-Prussian War that resulted in the defeat and surrender of Napoleon III.

The Quick crossword pun: {elder} + {buries} = {elderberries}

108 comments on “DT 26691”

  1. A little stunner from Rufus today. My cryptic cells seemed to have gone on vacation so this took me a while longer than ususal. Lots of ahh moments when the pennies finally dropped with some nice misdirection in the clues. Favourite clues were 1a, 13a, 23a, 13d, 14d and and, at the top, 15d.

    Many thanks to Rufus for the crossword and to Libellule for the review.

  2. I’m having great trouble getting onto the Telegraph Website today for the first time in about 10 days. I am being asked to sign in for the first time ever. Is anybody else experiencing this problem and is, whoever was responsible for the web site debacle, exacting revenge for our criticism

    1. There has been trouble for months now collywobs that’s why most of us are downloading from this site

      1. But Mary, I have been accessing the web site for 10/14 days without any difficulty at all. However, today, I didn’t get the automatic sign in, I had to sign in all over again and, if you remember, to begin with they gave us an unintelligble password, which, of course, I havn’t kept

        1. It’s all part of the same problem collywobs, I would think, don’t even try to figure it out, just get it from Dave for now, the crossword itself is enough of a problem today :-)

    2. No trouble here for a while getting into the site. Occasionally a delay but then soon in. :) Hope this remains the status quo. Enjoyed this morning’s puzzle very much and , as you Libellule, the NE corner was the last in. Weather grotty here but must venture out.Thanks setter and Libellule.

      1. NE corner is the only bit I’ve managed, so I’m taking a break to let the brain cells settle. It’s hard! Whatever happened to easing gently into the week?

        1. keep perservating Nora, it is a tough one today from Rufus and I had to have help and several explainations off Libelulle :-)

          1. I saw some comments on here which helped me with 1a and 2d – I don’t think I’d have thought of soldiers and Noah’s Ark respectively, so that really got me under way, and I managed to finish with a little help from the Thesaurus, and a couple of rests and restarts, and of course a good amount of perservation!

              1. It always helps Nora along with the perservating, if it wasn’t for the encouragement I recieved on this site I would still be in the ‘clueless club’! Most days I still am :-)

  3. Good morning Libelulle, I have by no means finshed this yet, finding it much harder than a normal Monday and although I have the answer to 1a, as accommodation for a private (soldier) for example I can’t work out the wordplay of the rest of the clue?

          1. Mary,
            Ah yes 2d – apologies – The answer is allegedly the mountain where Noah’s Ark ended up. Click on the link. Company is Noah and his animals, liquidiation is the flood.

            1. Thanks Libelulle, must admit would never have got that without checking letters! Not one of my favourite clues!

  4. Perfect start to the week; I agree Libellule the NE corner held me up for a bit. Such a good review – thanks.

  5. I’ve had no difficulty downloading from the DT site for about a week. Much changed from prior to then, when I couldn’t get on at all.
    I thought 2*’s was a little optimistic for difficulty – I would never have finished without a prompter to 2d! Putting REMINDER for 4d also held me up for ages. Thanks to Libellule for prompts and Rufus for an excellent, if sometimes fiendish, puzzle.

    1. But I didn’t think it warranted three stars either – so probably somewhere in between for me. I think the same re. the enjoyment.
      **/*** difficulty ***/**** enjoyment.

      1. I agree Libellule 2/3* but it was enjoyable. Many thanks for the hints and the crossword download

    2. Maybe they are just screwin g up people who complained about them making them enter passwords which are long forgotten

  6. Thanks for the hints today Libelulle muchas I like Rufus puzzles, I didn’t like this one or find it easy a 3* at least for me, a few I couldn’t ‘see’ even with your hints! I found the NE corner fine, with the NW corner holding some problems last corner in for me was the SW, good luck everyone, from a very wet and very windy West Wales :-)
    fav clue 26a

      1. missed the anagram indicator in 15d although I got the answer, duh…….., re 24a, I cannot find ‘undone’ as a synonym for ‘oustanding’ ?

  7. Morning all. Very religiously themed crossword today I thought, not my particular field of expertise, but having had religion forced down my throat for 7 years at school, not overly taxing thankfully. A bit trickier than the normal Monday fare, but just as enjoyable with some wonderful clues. I particularly enjoyed 1A, 25A and 13D.

    Hoping the rain will leave Bristol alone for a few hours as I’ve got my laundry on the line and will not be home until 3:00 at the earliest.

  8. I thought that this was closer to 3* for difficulty – well it was for me anyway. Made life unnecessarily tricky in top left corner by putting “arose” for 3d – then got 1a and realised what I’d done – how silly! :oops: I didn’t know the meaning of “DV” in 6a and neither did I understand why 24a was what it had to be – still not sure that I understand that one. Also didn’t understand why 21a was what it was – missed the reversal bit of the last five letters. I’ve never heard of 13d but guessed and looked it up. I enjoyed this one but maybe it’s going to be one of my less than good crossword weeks – I mean me not the crosswords! Lots of good clues – 11 and 19a and 2, 15 and 20d. With thanks to Rufus and Libellule.

  9. I messed up by putting warrrants for 1A – war for hostilities and rents for private accommodation. Warrrants for demonstrates was a bit tenuous but It made sense to me!

    1. Not quite as bad as my first shot at 5d which I thought was HEATHER A + THE “two articles stowed away safely” in the woman (HER) giving an &lit.

      2. I was sure you would get 5d having had the word recently in one of your NTSPPs. :) It was an “Ah and think of Prolixic moment” for me!

  10. I don’t care what any dictionary says but the answer to 18d is in a different league (did you see what I did there?) to ‘carpets’! I also thought that equating ‘preparatory school’ to the answer was a bit unfair. Finally, I think 14d would have been a much better clue without ‘Deny rough treatment of’.
    As ever, thanks to setter and reviewer.

      1. I am aware of that, I just feel that as ‘preparatory school’ is an entity in its own right the clue was unfair as a kindergarten is not a preparatory school. If there had been a ‘perhaps’ or a question mark at the end of the clue, it would have been fine. I know I must sound really pedantic, but I really do feel it was a tad (and only a tad!) unfair.

      1. Yes, but if you take away ‘deny rough treatment’ you get rid of a blindingly obvious anagram and are left with a vaguely witty clue – the anagram takes the wit from the clue. Well it does to me, anyway.

    3. freda, “….the answer to 18d is in a different league (did you see what I did there?)….”

      Sorry, but I think my answer is – No

        1. 18d is in a “different league” in that (as Libellule has pointed out) there is no reference to our favourite cat. What’s happened to the snow leopard – has it become an endangered species?

  11. After working my way down the acrosses and hardly writing anything in, I did have to check that it was Monday and so a Rufus-day. Luckily the downs came to my rescue, although the whole thing did take me twice as long as usual for a Rufus. Thanks to him for the excellent fun – my favourite of several has to be 14d. Thanks to Libellule too.

    Lovely and sunny here in East Kent, so if I was at home I would definitely have put some washing out :)

  12. More difficult than most Monday puzzles, but good I thought. 14d very clever. Didn’t know ‘DV’, but managed to work it out. In 9a didn’t know ‘recommended’ as an anagram indicator, and needed the blog for the answer to 22d. Thanks to all involved today.

      1. Of course! Thanks to you both – I suppose I was looking for the significance of ‘recommended’, and there isn’t any in particular.

  13. Can never get the spelling of 13a right, always mess up the ‘D’ with the ‘T’, but have never seen Libellules’ spelling before :-). Agree with many of the previous comments in that I found it harder than the usual Monday offering, but no less enjoyable. Thanx to Compiler and to Libellule for his excellent review.

        1. Corrected. Not surprised at the typo, I have been doing the blog over the last few weeks with a damaged left hand.

          1. My comment just proves that I always read the reviews whether I need the hints or not, always nice to see how the ‘Reviewer’.reads the clue and comes to an answer, good learning tool for me. Hope your hand improves soon (hope it’s not your drinking hand tho’ most people have an extraordinary knack of becoming ambidextrous in those situations).

            1. Wayne,
              Thanks for the comment, the hand is improving, my wife (who is a doctor) reckoned on four to six weeks and I think she is spot on. In terms of being ambidextrous – not really, its my left hand and I am normally right handed. However I did break my right hand when I was younger so I can use both reasonably well.

  14. Excellent today. 13d & 22d (needed the clue) were new bits of info for me. Always learning. 14 & 15d were my favourites; such well designed anagram clues. Thanks.

    1. Still seven gaps for me when I had to quit. Some groans on reading the hints, but I was miles off getting 2d and 23a.

      If someone could explain what is the word “form” doing in 23a and how litter gets me to 22a I’d be most grateful!

      1. litter as in ‘chair’ I think it’s just a double definition, form in 23a I’m not sure about, unless unusual applies as anagram of guide and form as an anagram of and, although ‘unusual guide and’ would do, it may be done this way to make it read

      2. Rupe,
        23a Probably padding – you wouldn’t want to end the sentence with just “and” would you?
        22a One defintion for the word litter – An enclosed or curtained couch mounted on shafts and used to carry a single passenger.

        1. 23a – Is it possible to have 2 anagram indicators – “unusual” and “form” as in “organize or set something up”?

        1. Andy

          If you put two or more links in a comment it automatically goes into moderation. If you could see some of the nearly 20,000 spam comments that have been aimed at the blog you would understand why.

      4. Rupe – Form indicates a form that Jesus Christ is often depicted in (a lamb). A Sedan was a device for carrying people (an enclosed chair with poles at either end to lift), another device for lifting and carrying people is a Litter (often used as a stretcher for the injured with only one end being carried). I’m sure that if you Goggle these words (or check in Wikipedia), you’ll see the similarity between the two methods of transport.

      5. Good stuff, thanks Mary and Libellule.

        Sure enough Chambers has litter as the first definition of the answer and palanquin as the second – so that’s two ways to describe one I’ve never heard of!

        Form as a second anagram indicator makes sense and had me thoroughly misdirected, I was looked for an anagram for guise with a synomyn for form (like set as school only the letters wouldn’t fit!) in the middle.

  15. Good puzzle this morning – I found it more enjoyable, and a fair bit more difficult, than most Mondays. SE corner held out the longest. Many thanks to Rufus and Libellule.

    1. I thought I was alone in finding the SE corner more difficult as everyone else said it was the NE corner. I don’t like the across clues 21,24,26 at all. I thought the clues could have been better.

        1. The silver refers to my grey hairs and the oak (which is a hardwood) to the fact that, despite the grey hairs, I am still going strong:) The whole to the name of a genus of oak trees. Can you tell I like to do cryptic crossword puzzles?

  16. I always find Rufus a lot more difficult than many others on this blog – today’s was even more of a struggle than usual! Still, very enjoyable! Thanks to Rufus & Libellule! Kicked myself when I finally understood the meaning of “theatre” in 11a! (Was this one intended for the Grauniad and vice versa?)

    1. Even when I got the answer to 11a it took me quite a while to work out where the “theatre” bit fitted in – complete blind spot.

      1. 11a – I kicked myself very hard because this use of “theatre” must be one of the most common misdirections in CrosswordLand! However, what an excellent clue!

  18. Given the number of religious references & my distinct lack of knowledge in the subject (unlike Skempie, our RE classes were anything but) I know I’m going to struggle so may just stick with the Quyptic today

    1. These weren’t classes – chapel every morning (except Sat and Sun – Sat was school assembly and Sun was a full blown service)

  19. Some interesting information from the DT when I told them I was still having trouble accessing their web site. Especially about when they have the PDF puzzles up by.

    There are a number of automated processes that are putting a significant load on the website, resulting in intermittent service problems. Our Technical team are doing everything they can to restore the service as soon as possible.

    A number of processes need to be re-engineered in order to bring the service back to its original, stable, state. The first set of improvements were released on Thursday 13th October. Then a subsequent, more substantial set of changes was made on Monday 17th October. The Technical team believe that these changes will greatly improve the performance of the site in the short term. However further incremental improvements will be released every Monday for the following month to prevent the service being unavailable in the future.

    Please note that there may be a reduction in service between midnight and 1am GMT as this is when the majority of the maintenance work is taking place.

    In the event of service disruption, please note that you can now download a selection of the day’s puzzles as printable PDF documents via the Telegraph Puzzles homepage, or using the following links:

    Crossword 1 (Hold Ctrl key + click to follow link)
    Cryptic & Quick (Mon-Sat)
    Cryptic & General (Sun)
    Crossword 2 (Hold Ctrl key + click to follow link)
    Toughie (Tue-Fri)
    General Knowledge (Sat & Mon)
    Quick (Sun only)
    Sudoku & Codewords (Hold Ctrl key + click to follow link)

    The above, plus a selection of other puzzles (eg. Kakuro, Mind Gym)

    These documents will be updated daily by 10am and will continue to be available each day until the website performance issues have been resolved.

  20. Enjoyable start to the week from Rufus.
    Faves : 1a, 6a, 11a, 25a, 2d, 5d, 13d & 20d.
    Haven’t time to read the comments as family are coming for dinner so I must move fast!!!

  21. I think I must be the only one who actually buys the paper. I thought I would comment today as i found this to be a really entertaining puzzle. Two clues stood out for me, 2d and14d, which I thought were brilliant. Come on folks, buy the paper, its only a quid!

    1. Visit my newsagent 6’30am every morning to buy the paper, not only for the Xwords but the DT is also an excellent read, £1 well spent.

    3. Newspaper buyer here as well, some days the Matt cartoons are worth the pound by themselves! And paper gets recycled in the dog kennels.

  22. Struggled all day with this one, found it very tricky and failed to complete it. So def not my favourite Monday puzzle.

  23. I’m with Brian, not the usual pleasant Monday material, didn’t finish, didn’t enjoy. 13d was especially horrible – we were supposed to get ‘keel’ in the answer from ‘university’ in the clue. Hope the usual Monday setter is back next week.

    1. Are you doubting that “Keel” is a university? I think that this was the usual Monday setter, but perhaps flexing his muscles a bit more than is usual!! :smile:

  24. I couldn’t get anywhere near to finishing this one. I’ve got so many unsolved clues I haven’t looked at the hints. It made me wonder if this was really Monday!

  25. There’s a few of us do this cryptic every weekday evening in my local pub. This was by far the most difficult Monday crossword to all of us – took an hour and a half longer than usual!

  26. Thanks to Rufus & Libellule. A good puzzle, some very nice clues. I was defeated by 2 down, I”m hopeless on the Bible. Favourites were 13d & 1a, last in.Bit late blogging, a day behind, off to football now, so I’ll be further behind tomorrow :-)

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