DT 27082 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 27082

by scchua  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27082

Hints and tips by scchua

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

Quite straightforward, but enjoyable, today. Thanks to setter. A 2.5*/3* for difficulty/enjoyment. There seems to be a glitch with 2down, which I’m trying to resolve. Please bear with me.  P.S.  It’s a technical glitch with the software, not with the blogger!  Resolved now after much trial and error – every time I typed “recent******” with a bracket in front, it would download images from the media library!  Got to ask BD why, or if any of you could advise.  Thanks.  [It seems that “recent” preceded by a square bracket is a NextGEN gallery shortcode to show recent gallery pictures.  Now fixed.  BD]

P.S. If you still find the mechanics of the hints a mystery, you should read the following, which should help in understanding.

Definitions are underlined in the clues (in blue).

Words in blue are lifted from the clues.

Italicised words are instructions for constructing the answer. Parentheses following these enclose the indicators from the clues. Eg. Reversal of(up, in a down clue).

[xxx;yyy] denotes that a synonym for xxx or yyy is required.

{ } are used to give the order of construction. Eg. Reversal of(up, in a down clue) AB + C is different from Reversal of(up, in a down clue) {AB + C}.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.

Across
1    Flier of little importance gets auxiliary burner (5,5)

{PILOT LIGHT} : [flier, of a plane] + [of little importance;of little weight].

6    Short with no end of water? Nonsense! (4)

{GUFF} : [short in manner or speech;surly] minus(with no) last letter of(end of) “water”.

Answer: Nonsensical talk.

9    Something cook may throw at people to put out (6,4)

{POTATO PEEL} : Anagram of(put out) AT PEOPLE TO.

Answer: Thrown into the bin, not at people. Nice surface – was thinking of meddlers in the kitchen and pots and pans and rolling pins and maybe knives being flung about.

10    Almost consider being slim! (4)

{THIN} : [to consider;to contemplate] minus its last letter(almost).

12    Lesson starting late means test! (4)

{ORAL} : [a lesson to be learnt from a fable/story/parable, etc.] minus its initial letter(starting late).

Answer: A type of test in school, say.

13    Say something simple in bar that’s illegal (9)

{SPEAKEASY} : [to say something;to use speech] + [simple;a 1* BD rating for difficulty].

Answer: An American bar during the Prohibition era.

15    Person who might pick tight corset the Parisian wears (8)

{SELECTOR} : Anagram of(tight, or drunk) CORSET containing(… wears, or puts around) a French/Parisian word for “the”.  Amusing surface.

 

16    Flier needing good cover with soldiers returning (6)

{GLIDER} : Abbrev. for “good” + [a cover, say, for a pot or container] plus(with) reversal of(returning) [the engineer-soldiers of the British Army].

Answer: Not the person this time but the contraption.

18    Devil’s music causing damage (6)

{IMPAIR} : [a devil;a mischievious person, usually a child] + [a piece of music;a tune, sometimes played on a G-string].

20    Objections from experts covering trial (8)

{PROTESTS} : [short for experts;far from amateurs;also before the euphemistic sex workers] containing(covering) [a trial;a taste of the real thing].

23    One property accepting National Trust is not willing (9)


{INTESTATE} : Roman numeral for “one” + [a property; a largepiece of land and building on it, say] containing(accepting) abbrev. for the National Trust.

Answer: Not leaving a last will and testament. Nice surface of impoverished owners of stately homes unwillingly, but necessarily, accepting a National Trust takeover.

24    Scruff‘s parrot attached to pole (4)

{NAPE} : [to parrot;to copy meaninglessly] placed after(attached to, in an across clue) abbrev. for one of the geographical poles.

Answer: Part of the neck.

26    A ruler, not good but of a similar nature (4)

{AKIN} : A + [a ruler;a male monarch] minus(not) abbrev. for “good”.

27    Destroy her last ten hives! (6,4)

{NETTLE RASH} : Anagram of(destroy) HER LAST TEN.

Answer: A skin condition from stinging plants.

28    Sources of energy drink get youth nervous (4)

{EDGY} : Initial letters of the respective words of(sources of) “energy drink get youth “.

29    Got up after reporting to Roger (10)

{UNDERSTOOD} : [got up from a sitting position] placed after(after) [adjective for reporting to someone higher up in the organization].

Answer: As used in radio communications in the old days. Got held up a bit as the answer also means “got”.

Down
1    Just beats  seeds (4)

{PIPS} : Double defn: 1st: Wins by a narrow margin; and 2nd: Small seeds in some fruits.

 

2    Side‘s recent rule regularly ignored outside area (7)

{LATERAL}  :  [in the near past;recent] + “rule”  minus its 2nd and 4th letters(regularly ignored) containing(outside) abbrev. for “area”.

Answer: A side part of something, as opposed to the central.

3    One of the effects of sunblock (5,7)

{TOTAL ECLIPSE} : Cryptic defn: The effect of our star being blocked by the moon, as seen from our planet.

4    Holy man in claim of poverty is a fraud (8)

{IMPOSTOR} : [abbrev. for a holy man;one who’s been canonized] contained in(in) what a person might claim;say, if he/she is truly or pretending to be in poverty.

5    Swivelled round, missing wife, and followed like a good dog (6)

{HEELED} : [swivelled round;turned on an axis, eg. one’s heel] minus(missing) abbrev. for “wife”.

Answer: Followed;trailed like a good;well-trained dog, on command.

7    A French boss covering the centre of Paris is not listened to (7)

{UNHEARD} : A French word for “a” + [the boss;the person at the top] containing(covering) the middle letter of(the centre of) “Paris”.

8    Imagine pressure with no universal costume (5,5)

{FANCY DRESS} : [to imagine;to suppose] + [pressure;that under which you’re forced to do something] minus(with no) abbrev. for “universal” as in the British movie rating system.

 

11    Bare minimum of crucial seconds needed for openers? (8,4)

{SKELETON KEYS} : [bare minimum;skin and bones] + [crucial;adjective for something on which other things depend] + abbrev. for “seconds” when denoting time.

14    Take in meal as it is prepared (10)

{ASSIMILATED} : Anagram of(prepared) MEAL AS IT IS.

17    Bizarre steelworker holds prisoner in the USA (8)

{ARRESTEE} : Hidden in(holds) “Bizarre steelworker“.

Answer: An Americanism for a prisoner, or at least a first step towards being one. Applying the same process, in Britain, it would be a “collaree”.

19    Placing  action on the green (7)

{PUTTING} : Double defn: 1st: Placing something on; and 2nd: What takes place on one of the greens on the golf course.

21    Managed, after concession on orchestra’s lead singer (7)

{SOPRANO} : [managed;controlled] placed after(after) [a concession;a bribe;a consolation to someone to appease him/her when the latter’s demands are not fully met] placed above(on, in a down clue) the first letter(…’s lead) of “orchestra”.

 

22    Material may have bearing on a juvenile (6)

{SATEEN} : [abbrev. for one of the four main compass points;bearing] placed above(on, in a down clue) A + [short for a juvenile between 13 and 19 years old].

Answer: Can be confused with satin, which is made of fabric such as silk or rayon.

25    Slough is building for storage (4)

{SHED} : Double defn: 1st: As in “to slough off dead skin”.

The Quick crossword pun: {hearty} + {fish] + {early} = {artificially}

80 comments on “DT 27082”

  1. All solved in 1* time, apart from 22d, which I stared at blankly for quite a while. Many thanks to Jay, and to scchua.
    2.5*/3* for me.

  2. Had the luxury of looking at this first thing. Thought I was sailing through & then got completely bogged down in NW corner! But enjoyed it very much. 2/4 for me. Many thanks to setter & Scchua. Hope those in our colder climes are keeping warm and well…. :-)

  4. Thrown off track for a little while by initially putting solar eclipse in for 3D and gander for 16A, but finished in the end without needing hints, though I did need your explanation for 22D, Scchua, so many thanks to you and to the compiler for an enjoyable start to the day.

    I’ve been following the UK weather via the Telegraph. Stay safe and warm, all! It’s beginning to get very cold here in Southern Maryland, but luckily no snow yet this winter.

  5. Nice puzzle, no problems. Favourite 24A , liked quite a lot now I come to assess it, too many to list. Thanks to setter and Scchua.

  6. Lovely puzzle. 2*/4* from me.
    I interpreted 2d as ‘late’ (recent) with ‘R’ and ‘L’ from ‘rule’ without the second and last letters (regularly ignored) outside ‘a’ for area.
    I loved 6a – one of my Dad’s expressions, along with poppycock, balderdash and twaddle!
    I got a bit held up by 13 and 29a and 11 and 17d.
    Far too many good clues to pick out any in particular.
    With thanks to Jay and scchua.

      1. 2d hint has been amended .re 6a I don ‘t think many compilers es Roger’s Profanisaurus and yes it is still published .
        Cheers.

  7. 2*/3* for me. Agree with Kath’s explanation for 2d. Thanks to Jay and scchua.

    The Shamus toughie won’t take you long especially as he isn’t so verbose today so you don’t need a lie down after reading each clue.

    Once you have done that, have a go at Paul in the Guardian and you wil see what BD was on about in the intro to his Toughie blog yesterday. Not Paul’s toughest either but some great clues.

    Very cold here today – apparently the Midlands are likely to go down to -16 tomorrow night. Hope that doesn’t apply to East Kent too.

    2. Glad to hear that you’re still improving. What about Number two son – hope he is too.
      Very cold in Oxford too – and been snowing all morning.
      In view of the weather I might have a go at the toughie a bit later ie after second arctic dog walk. :sad:

      1. No 2 son doing OK too thank you. Stitches out on Tuesday. Still working on chocolate being the cure! My friend offered me the opportunity to join her on an arctic dog walk but I declined!

  8. Quite straightforward !! Straightforward, he says ? After a good run, I ground to a miserable halt today with 14 done and nary a clue as to the rest. Just not on the same wavelength as this setter.

    1. But I bet if you put it down for an hour, do something else, and return, you will find that you may be able to solve quite a few more. It is very strange but there is part of your brain that carries on working out cryptic clues even while the rest of it is concentrating on something else. It is what I call ‘cogitation’.

      2. I’ve found that as well, CS, & have wondered how that happens! Hope you’re continuing well – it must be very frustrating having such an active brain, but limited in sight. Best wishes for a speedy return to firing on all cylinders. I always enjoy your input, thanks.

        1. Thank you Poppy. My right eye is working exceedingly well fortunately so I am able to solve puzzles and read books etc. Apparently in a couple of weeks the air bubble should be go down enough for me to be able to see well enough to both drive :) and return to work :( .

  9. Struggled with this – completed with the exception of NW corner and to complicate matters had “solar eclipse” at 3d. so needed your hints to decode – many thanks Scchua and thanks to Jay for the protracted “fun” !

  10. Took me a bit longer than usual, but that may be because I was distracted by Mr Root tonking the Indians around the park.

    Only two really caused me any problem, 2D (figured out the answer but couldn’t really see how I could justify it) and 17D (just couldn’t see it for ages, then figured that it related to the person doing the arresting rather than the one arrested D’Oh).
    I was a bit concerned about 6A, when I was at school, this was a slang word for something that comes out the other end to where one would expect nonsense to come out. I think Viz use it in that respect too (is Viz still published?)

    1. 17d was my last one it, I didn’t see the hidden word. But surely it means the arrested one, or it would be arrester? The ‘holds’ refers to the hidden word, doesn’t it?

      PS I was also distracted by the cricket (on TMS), but when I find that is grinding my crossie answers to a halt I go outside for a ciggie with no distractions, no pen, and it’s amazing how many I get like that. Obviously it helps if you smoke, not that I’m encouraging such a vile and unhealthy habit…

      1. Re:17D It certainly would be arrester – as I said I was somewhat distracted and it was a definite D’Oh moment.

    2. 17d was a toughie, not a word I’ve heard and I’ve lived here for 35 years. I dare say it’s used somewhere as it appears to be a word.

  11. Like Skempie, solved it while watching the cricket, at least we managed a passable score,Mr Root continues to impress.Agree with a**/***, and found it most enjoyable,thanks Scchua for the entertaining pics,opera will never be the same again! Liked the deception in 9a,wanted to put ‘pies’ in for the second word

  12. Nice 2* puzzle today, took a while to get into to it but cane together nicely.
    Thx to the setter and for once I didn’t need to grapple with Sccha cryptic clues

  13. Long stint in the dentist chair again for me did not help today. NW corner took ages because for some reason I had put Solar for the first part of 3 d. At least I’m getting some feeling back in my mouth..

  14. scchua, I must comment on some of your hints…

    5D Take a word meaning “Swivelled round” and then remove the leading W (missing wife) to get a word meaning “followed like a good dog”.

    24A It’s part of the neck, not head.

    2D It is the second and fourth letters which are removed from “rule”.

    Sorry to be picky, and I must say that the piccies are improving :-)

    Thanks to scchua and Jay :-)

    1. Thanks Steve_the_beard, and apologies to all. Again failed on my proofreading!
      I was thinking of “off with his head!” to be cut off at the neck, but no matter. Now corrected.

  15. Re 21D – who is the “sexy soprano on sofa”?

    I tried a Google search using that phrase and what I found wasn’t quite what I was looking for…

    1. That was my little joke. She’s not a soprano, she’s a Soprano, and neither is the man a male soprano.

  16. Nicely straightforward, enjoted this.

    Apart from 12a and 6a, which are two examples of my least favourite type of clue.
    I actually wrote “SNOW” in for 6a, which slowed me down a bit. (“S” for Short “no” for, er, no, and “W” for (front) end of water, meaning nonsense in a “snow job” way. Sort of.)

    Ah well, at least there’s a Toughie today.

  17. Thanks to Jay & scchua. Found this very difficult and was taken beaten by 6a, Favourites were & 9a 17d. Was 3*/3* for me

  18. At least 3 * for me for difficulty. and a 3 questionmark puzzle. Finished apart from 17d
    12a Failed to see Moral and was looking for the meaning of ORA folowed by “L”ate.
    29a OK “Got” is understood, “Roger” is understood, “Got up” is stood, I’m afraid the “Under” did not compute with me.
    17D I looked for a word in the first two words at first. Having not spotted one my concentration lapsed. In the end I didnt get the clue. Perhaps I was put off by the “prisoner in the USA”. I find the word “arrestee” acceptable if not a bit clumsy. I would have thought that the setter would have used a proper Americanism like “Trunk, Sidewalk, or Hood etc” for “in the USA” pointer but thats just me.
    Perhaps the one star solvers should do another crossword and leave this one alone as its obviously too easy for them.
    Thanks to all

    1. Wouldn’t it be boring if we were all the same :-)

      I think you’ll find that most folks here vary quite a bit, sometimes finding a crossword much easier than everyone else, and sometimes quite the opposite.

      Don’t be put off by people grading it much easier than you, it’ll be your turn soon.

    2. We’re all different and how easy, or otherwise, we find a particular puzzle depends on lots of things, not just the puzzle – I think general mood and whether or not we’re on the right wave length makes more difference than anything else – well, it does for me anyway.

  19. Another fun puzzle, lots of variety and clever wordplay, completed all bar 17d which completely foxed me, put it down for half an hour and on revisit it just leapt out at me.
    See CS’s remarks on the cogitator.

    Thanks to Scchua for review.

    Thanks to Jay for the puzzle.

  20. I’ll have a go at this one later on over a pre-prandial. Been at the hospital this morning and sort of got a clean bill of health!!

    I can go ahead and lead a “normal” life (which will be a big change for me!) but I have to take it easy for another week or so before I can get my bike out and get some exercise! However, there is considerable lung damage which may or may not repair itself over time. Pretty drastic way of giving up the weed IMHO :grin:

    Thanks again for all your concern over the last couple of weeks, it certainly helped at times.

    Glad to hear CS seems to be well on the mend as well :smile:

    1. Far be it from me to advocate moderation… but do take it nice and easy at first, eh?

    2. Hi pommers, I’ve not done this yet, been at my cardio rehab again today, it’s really snowing again and sticking too! Glad you got the ‘sort of’ all clear, thank goodness for that :-) right off to start the crossword now

      1. Hello Mary – do hope your journeys to the rehab classes are not too fraught. And hopefully a solution is on its way re your dishwasher. Between your eight & my four paws there’s plenty of help offering! :-D

    3. That’s good news – especially that you have to give up the weed! Always surprises me how many crosswordy people smoke – one of the S&B meets, I actually thought of going outside to join them as it was lonely inside on my own.

      Hope your recovery continues as well as mine seems to be doing. Suexx

      1. I think it has a lot to do with whether or not you’re the kind of person who gets addicted to things easily. Unfortunately I’m one who does. :sad:

        1. My Dad used to say “Giving up smoking is easy – I’ve done it hundreds of times”!
          Seriously – well done! I’m REALLY impressed. :smile:

          1. Getting there, and it isn’t easy at all , though the saved money placed in a jar each day does kind of help with the process!!

            1. Dad was implying that he did it numerous times and went back to it, so hadn’t really given up at all!

    4. Glad to hear all that. My grandmother would have said “Don’t try to run before you can walk” – just another way of putting what I’ve been saying to you for a while! :smile:

    5. Pommers -So glad to read you’re on the mend, & hopefully with prescribed rest and permitted fun, your lungs will repair well! Very best ongoing wishes to you & Pommette :-)

    6. Glad to hear that you are on the road to recovery. I used to smoke, but never missed it when I gave up. Think of it as a positive change, I’m sure your food and drink will have more flavour :-)

  21. Nice crossword today. I found it a bit of a challenge put persevered. looking forward to tomorrows offering.

  22. I had a hard time getting into this puzzle, until I got to the bottom and managed a few words, then that got me going. Had to get the hint to understand 12a. Thanks to all for enjoyable start to the day.

  23. I must not be myself today. I struggled with the puzzle and not having visited this site for a while I struggled with the new layout for the explanations. It was akin to reading a technical manual and I suppose that technical manuals are not my mood today. Thanks as alway for the assistance. I’m off to lie down in a darkened room.

    1. The different layout for the hints is only on Wednesdays. The other days in the week it’s the same as it always was. I think lots of people found it a bit of a surprise to begin with. If you read scchua’s explanation right at the top he explains how to use his hints.

  24. A proper crossword in my opinion. Straightforward
    answers from clever clues and no ‘general knowledge’ required.

  25. Definitely not on the setters wavelength today. Far too many doh! moments.I thought it much harder than yesterday. Favourites were 1d,11d,18a. Funny how 25d cropped up twice in a row.

    1. Thanks to sschua and Jay. On page 5 of the DT I found an explanation why I always find Jay so difficult ! Women are at their lowest ebb on Wednesday afternoon, appearantly.

  26. Found the puzzle to be quite hard today but got there in the end. Never even saw the anagram for 9a. Got the answer and figured it was some inscrutable British expression! Haha.
    Thanks to Jay and scchua for the explanations.
    Minus 35 here today with the wind chill. I will not be walking anywhere!
    Glad to hear that all our co-solvers seem to be on the mend.

    1. I had similar problems with 9a, and I still don’t really accept that cooks throw potato peels, at least no more any other vegetable, but I expect that chambers will insist that potato peels are well known missiles from cooks.

      1. If you read the rest of the things that scchua suggests in his hint for 9a you would be getting closer to what our kitchen is like when my husband cooks!! Anyway, the definition is something that cooks throw (out). It’s an anagram of ‘at people to’ and the anagram indicator comes right at the end of the clue ‘put out’.
        Only joking about husband (ish) – he’s a really good cook.

      2. 9a was my pencil moment as opposed to ink, Una, and I too still dont understand it, i get the anagram but nothing else, oh well,

  27. This puzzle took us a bit longer than usual for some reason. Almost ran into 4* time. Time well spent though as a clever, enjoyable puzzle.
    Weather here still warm and sunny with temps sitting in the top half of the 20s.
    Thanks Jay and Scchua.

    1. From Chambers:

      Under
      adjective
      * Lower
      * Subordinate
      * Falling short

      Favourite usage:

      The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man – The Rolling Stones

  29. I’m with Roger – not my scene at all. Recently several setters’ minds have been difficult to fathom. Perhaps they will grow on me – hope so!

  30. Had to wait while PC accepted updates before doing comment!

    Faves : 13a, 27a, 29a (Happy days in Signals during WW2), 3d, 11d & 22d.

    1. Where WW2? honestly Derek you should write a book or have diaries published, fascinating, and i mean that. Restaurant Chique sounded very good choice by the youngsters, six courses indeed!

    2. Andy is right, you really should write about your experiences. We recently bought a collection (5 or 6 large boxes) of war time memoirs and histories, and I am ploughing my way through them. The personal accounts are the most interesting.

  31. Just realised that it should be, with a bit of luck and if I haven’t gone wrong, a Ray T tomorrow! If it is it will make my day! :grin:

  32. I’ve been following the UK weather saga from the warmth of central and SW Florida. Fortunately, it looks as though I’ll arrive home as the temperatures rise to half what they’ve been here (better than a third or less!).

    As to the crossword, enjoyable; albeit, I had to complete it in two halves, separated by SWMBO wanting to visit a mall to buy kitchenware!!!

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