Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2628 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the more difficult 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.
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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 submission
Across
1a Saw dog being restrained by lead (7)
A saw or adage is created by putting a name given to many dogs inside the chemical symbol for lead
10a Continent rejecting a loan, initially, for European state (7)
Start with an island country and continent of the southern hemisphere and drop the A from the clue and the initial letter of Loan and a short word meaning for to get a European country I always thought that the continent has an additional AS in the middle, but the ODE gives that as a region, not a continent, including New Zealand, New Guinea, and the neighbouring islands of the Pacific as well
11a Present with potential to get work, for what it’s worth (4,5)
This voucher that is often given as a present enables the recipient to purchase works of fiction and non-fiction
22a Composer extremely attached to his country (5)
This composer is a charade of a two-letter word meaning extremely and the abbreviation of his country
28a Form of energy involving carbon, as a rule (7)
Put an anagram (form) of ENERGY around (involving) the chemical symbol for Carbon to get rule by a person invested with interim authority on behalf of another
Down
1d Job secure? Sack given peripatetic worker (7)
A charade of a job and a verb meaning to secure or obtain gives this sack used by a peripatetic worker to deliver the mail
6d It has pieces of information year after year, very little (4-5)
Start with the abbreviated form of “it has” and some pieces of information and add Y(ear) to each part to get an adjective meaning very little – like a teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini!
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ARVE Error: need id and provider |
7d Artist put in much energy creating hotchpotch (7)
Put the usual artist between words meaning much and energy to get this hotchpotch
24d Major political movement including second member for a lark? (5)
This major shift in political opinion is a charade of S(econd) and member for a lark, or any other bird
If you need further help then please ask and I will see what I can do.
As this is a Prize crossword, please don’t put whole or partial answers or alternative clues in your comment, else they may be censored!
Today it’s Happy Birthday to Tom Courtenay (75)
I enjoy the Sunday challenge more each week. This was as enjoyable and thought-provoking as we come to expect. Are you going to illustrate 6D?
Thanks for the 6D clip, but not quite what I had in mind !
Indeed. A blonde mullet with a moustache is hardly what one had in mind!
I thought Virgilius was in a gentler mood for a fine sunny Sunday today. All the fun and elegance but not as tricky as some of this recent crosswords. Thanks to the setter and to BD for the hints.
I thought this was fairly gentle today. I filled the grid in quickly, and then came back to 11a; the answer went in without me fully understanding the wordplay at the time, although it was obvious later.
Thanks to Virgilius as always, and to BD, as always.
Thanks for hints, more by luck than good judgement did almost all of it without them.
Still stuck on bottom left corner, have a feeling I’ve got at least one seriously wrong,
Lots of fun though. 14d sent me down a few blind alleys.
I would give this 2* difficulty but for the age it took me to work out why 24d is what it is. That ‘including’ was very misleading, well I thought so anyway. Usual 4* fun, thank you Virgilius. Thanks to BD too.
Still staring at 18d and 22a and not quite sure on the parsing of 11a. I’ll get there – I think at I Am just In thick Sunday mode!
Thanks to Virgilius and to BD.
For 18d try the (r)iver and another word for excursion to give you something you plot to get from a to b
Thank you Spike of Mike!
I got there (have heard off the composer but I find them easy to forget!)
The way I understood 11a was that with the answer to the clue, you could potentailly get (a) ‘work’, up to it’s value (for what it’s worth).
With the value of those I was given as a child, I would not get much these days!
According to Alicante Airport weather centre it’s now got up to 23C and not a cloud in the sky! I’ll have to get my shorts out if it carries on like this (which it won’t!).
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/hdfForecast?query=alicante+spain&MR=1
Just off to the local to give this one a go over a pre-prandial (and pre-football) glass of vino collapso
Thanks Pommers! I’ve just put the thermostat up for the central heating and I’m sat in a T-shirt, rugby shirt & fleece. The temperature is a balmy 11°C outside but because of the wind it feels a few degrees colder.
You do acclimatise though! You may think 23C is hot and 6 years ago I would have been wearing flip-flops, shorts and a T-shirt but today it’s shoes, socks, jeans, polo shirt and a sweatshirt. My Spanish mate was dressed similar but with a lightweight body warmer as well!
Really really liked this today – thought provoking and fun – especially liked 14d. First one inwas 26a, last one in was 22a. Thanks to Big Dave for H&Ts.
I finished this enjoyable crossword from Virgilius about two hours ago and have since had strange computer problems – it seemed to be completely blocked – but at last it is OK again. ODTAA!
Faves : 1a, 13a, 17a, 22a, 4d, 7d, 14d & 20d.
Coleridge has been popular this week!!
For some reason this didn’t feel like the usual Virgilius fare. I can’t put my finger on why but it just seemed a bit pedestrian compared to the usual Sunday puzzles.
And like I could do better – I don’t think so!
I’ve been slow on this one but have finished it now without needing hints – but only just!! Of all the setters I think that Virgilius hides his anagrams most efficiently – it’s always a Sunday crossword when I don’t see them for ages – 28a today. I spent a long time trying to make the 22a composer begin with “Ad” because of the “extremely (A)ttache(D)” bit of the clue – wrong!! Didn’t think I was ever going to get 24d. I’m not quite sure why 3d is American. I liked 12, 13, 15 (probably wouldn’t have got that one if we hadn’t had it earlier in the week) 19 and 26a and 4, 5, 6 … why don’t I just write them all down?!!! With thanks to Virgilius and BD.
I KNOW I’ve said it numerous times before but until I found this great blog I couldn’t even begin the Sunday crosswords, so thanks, again, to all the bloggers!
Kath
You have a good point about 3d. According to Wikipedia he was born an American and moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 (at age 25) and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927.
Re 3D: He was American, he of “burnt-out ends of smoky days” (thanks, O-Level English!)
Spring must be sprung. We’ve got an official drought and I’ve just heard the first lawn mowers of the season!
Excellent puzzle but a bit ‘Virgilius lite’ I thought! Note to self – take harder crosswords to the bar otherwise you won’t get the second glass of vino
Thanks Virgilius and also BD.
Take Myops next time and you can drink the bar dry
But by the time I’m on the third or fourth I won’t be able to think straight! There again, that might be an advantage with a Myops
In view of the London derby result I won’t mention the football but Liverpool are about to kick off so see y’all later.
Gooooners have got some o’s back today
Not half!
Phew, well I got there in the end.
To echo Kaths remarks in just over a week, reading this blog has dramatically improved my skill levels and enjoyment, thanks to BD and all the other contributors.
Give it another year or so and I could become competent.
Managed without hints but lots of electronic help – brain a bit foggy following lunch with large glass of wine! Enjoyed this one but could someone explain 21d please? Pretty sure I have it right but don’t quite “see” it. 15a was first in due to same answer earlier in the week! (And being a golfer but never having achieved one of these) 24d last in after eventually deciding it was about all it could be, if you see what I mean? And 6d took forever until penny dropped. Thanks to setter for Sunday fun.
Hi Addicted
21d is a word meaning too much with T(ime) inserted (put in) giving you a word meaning done out in the open – trying to stay out of the naughty corner today but hope that helps a bit
Thanks Pommers – I was definitely being a bit thick there – looked at just the first 4 letters as being “too much” – silly me!
Just finished this, got stuck on SE corner mainly due to me putting Yodel in 19a which threw everything else out and then had a doh moment. :rol:
opps should finished.
Think you mean oops ie
AND 
Where is everyone today – terribly quiet for a Sunday – bloody Rugby/football I expect ….. !!
Sunday – rugby – football, not surprised it’s quiet!
Might go back to the pub to watch Athletico M v Barca, KO in 20 mins (just to complete a ‘lazy Sunday’
As a Spanish friend once said – in Spain we have 3 levels of football. La Liga then Barcelona/Real Madrid and then Xavi/Messi/Iniesta
Always worth watching!
Don’t understand – do wish BD would invent a “face” for
!!
Don’t think it’s BD who invents the faces but there probaly is a yawn available from somewhere! I’ll try this
The supported emoticons are in the FAQ.
And there’s more about them here.
Well. that didn’t work
But Barca won 2-1.
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:(:|:
Don’t think there is a yawn emoticon. The closest is probably
‘:eek:’
There is a yawning emoticon here
Only problem is that this is the HTML code for it ! a href=”http://www.sherv.net/yawning-emoticon-438.html”>
It needs a < at the beginning to make it work 
Actually it seems you only need this bit of the code :
img alt=”Smiley face yawning” width=18 height=18 src=”http://www.sherv.net/cm/emo/funny/1/smiley-face-yawning.gif”>
I like this one.:& Sick:
or this.:mrgreen:
Very enjoyable and clever Sunday fare.
Thanks Virgilius and BD.
Lingered, perhaps, too long over the reason for 26D until the penny dropped.
Thanks to the setter & Big Dave for the hints. Found this a real struggle, got there in the end with a couple of hints and a couple from the blog. Sorry BD, but a great result for Arsenal today
I find Sundays different and difficult. For me this one was more difficult than last week. I liked 5 17 26a and 2 16 18 21d. But can someone explain 19a to me without giving it away. I have the word for celebratory call in. I can also think of two words – one shorter one longer – for lout but I cannot get the connection.
Hi WW
I’ll end up in the naughty corner here so hope you read this before it’s deleted!
It’s a slang word for a lout which is also a shout of delight (and it’s also an internet search engine) – OK, is there any cake left?
Thanks. I got end result but I was thinking of another word for lout. Three letters or five letters with the same two at the end as the answer. I did not know that the answer was also a word for a lout. Sorry that’s cryptic or double Dutch! Thanks again!
It was the name of a race of people in Gulliver’s Travels, whose behaviour was crude and loutish – does that help?
try again. :&sick