DT 27247 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 27247 (Hints)

by Big Dave  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27247 (Hints)

Big Dave’s Crossword Club

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There’s a new Monthly Prize Puzzle available today – why not have a go?

As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, an assortment of clues, including some of the more difficult ones, have been selected and hints provided 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.

Could new readers please read the Welcome post and the FAQ 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           Pop out with Hogarth print (10)
An anagram (out) of POP with HOGARTH

9a           Line’s fake, showing lack of talent (10)
L(ine) followed by a fake

12a         Like peanuts? Full, having consumed pounds (6)
An adjective meaning full around the single-letter abbreviation for pounds (sterling)

18a         Betting about marines willing to be hawkish (12)
An eight-letter verb meaning betting around the abbreviation for the Royal Marines and a two-letter word meaning willing to participate in an activity, such as a bet

21a         Chewing grass is unusual in insect (8)
A three-letter word meaning unusual followed by IN and an insect

22a         Set of false teeth round a mouth’s top (6)
A set of false teeth round the A from the clue

25a         Anthology: I flog about 100 in a lot (10)
I and SELL around the Roman numeral for 100 all inside a lot

27a         I see my Reds playing here (10)
An anagram (playing) of I SEE MY REDS

Down

1d           European   could be French (6)
Two definitions – the second one being a product of which French is one example

2d           Alloy containing gold spy finally replaced by uranium (6)
The heraldic term for gold followed by an undercover spy with his final letter replaced by U(ranium)

4d           Appreciate value of   carpet (4)
Two definitions – the second one being a verb meaning to carpet or scold

5d           Short video covering new Conservative bill (10)
A short video followed by N(ew) and a Conservative gives a bill like Portland Bill

11d         Dish in kitchen where pins are scattered (7,5)
Split as (4,2,6), this could be a type of dish used for food followed by IN and a ship’s kitchen

16d         Draw obtuse angle, rather small (8)
An anagram (obtuse) of DRAW followed by a verb meaning to angle

20d         Produce new script about model (6)
A two-letter word meaning about followed by a model  or example

23d         Exploits when holding court (4)
A two-letter word meaning when around the abbreviation of C(our)T

The Crossword Club is now open.  Feel free to leave comments.

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!

The Quick crossword pun: (meatier} + {right} = {meteorite}

86 comments on “DT 27247 (Hints)”

  1. Really amusing puzzle – thank you setter, great fun. Fell off my perch laughing at 11d when the penny dropped. Thanks BD for your hints. Day about to be spoilt with the start of the new football season. Better watch England struggling at Old Trafford than our team, who are on the telly !

    1. That was my last one in, had a wrong letter and it took ages, but it had to be the best of an excellent bunch

  3. I knew this was going to be a difficult one when I went through the first pass and didn’t get any. 25a is a terrific word in itself ( must try and slip it into casual conversation next week!) and the clue was sublime.

    Sadly, copious use of aids was (were?) required for this one, which meant it was at the lower end of the satisfaction spectrum. Very enjoyable and clever one today, I thought.

    Completion using the brain only with no aids, with an understanding of every clue is something I have yet to achieve after decades of doing the DTC. I got near it once when I did all of this, but I’d used an anagram solver early in the puzzle, which didn’t give me an answer (which was not an anagram). I got it later on , but deep down I knew this was a tarnished ultimate DTC victory……I live in hope

  4. Found this one a bit tough, with a couple of words new to me. Had to use all the tools at my disposal. Thanks for the tips, but you did’t include the clues I had remaining:)

    4. Horrid… And on top of it made too many mistakes so it took me ages to finish. Thanks I needed eventual help from BD for 20d and then could get my last clue 25a.

    5. Got answers for everything, but not sure why some of them are right, if they are, so pretty difficult I think.

    6. Stinker. I got two on the first pass. Then a couple more and then had to resort to the BRB which frankly I hate doing especially if there are 90% of the clues undone. So I stopped. -10 for enjoyment.

    8. Difficult to start but once they started to fall into place, I thought it a super puzzle

  6. Morning Dave, I found this tough going too, also using my books and electronic friends, liked 15a, 1d and favourite 27a :-D , come on The Reds, never heard of 2d, perservation really needed today!
    Thanks for hints Dave though I didn’t use them, cloudy, sunny, here

    1. I thought that you’d like 27a, Mary! I switched to BT Broadband last November and I could watch Stevie G’s testimonial live if I wanted to but the cricket has the greater pull at the moment. I haven’t struggled with this puzzle but I was grateful to you for one of the hints, Dave, so many thanks.

        1. I couldn’t resist the temptation to have a look at the football while I was online and Liverpool have just gone 1-0 up through Joe Allen.

  7. I agree…it’s really tough today! Completely stuck in SW corner if anyone can help.

  8. Phew! Much more of a challenge than most Saturdays, I think. I had to put it aside and go back to it. I did finish without hints but the setter made me work hard for it. In the end, there were more than half a dozen ticks against those that made me smile, so high on my personal enjoyment scale. Many thanks to the setter, whoever he or she may be, and to Big Dave for the review.

    Off to try my hand at the NTSPP…

  9. I know that it’s a prize puzzle and so should be difficult but I don’t often have as much trouble as I’ve had today on Saturdays.
    I thought it was very good but a ‘stinker’ from the difficulty angle.
    I got the first three across answers quickly and thought it was going to be a doddle – changed my mind really quickly!
    I spent too long trying to fit the two letter abbreviation for the wrong kind of pounds into 12a. Spent the same amount of time trying to fit an ‘M’ into 22a. I thought 27a was a ‘footbally’ clue so pretty much gave up even though I could see it was an anagram – eventually got it – maybe it is ‘footbally’! Started off with the wrong answer for 24a which left me with the last letter unaccounted for – stupid!
    I liked 21a and 3, 11 and 14d – and lots of others too.
    With thanks to Mr Ron and BD.

  10. Very enjoyable. Took a decent amount of time to finish with some good penny drop moments – 11d being a good example. Thanks to the setter and BD for the hints.

    1. 14d A type of ship is an anagram (wave) of GIANT inside another word for sea water.

    2. Hi ntt 17d you are looking for the name of a flower a three letter word for border inside a five letter word for plain writing gives you the name of a spring flower

      1. 24a you looking for a word for someone who is admired or worshipped, a three letter word for fool (as in to fool) follows the I from the clue

        1. 26a, you are looking for a word for ‘notice’ put the two letter abbreviation for todays ‘quality’ of picture TV around the abbreviation for East and Europe

          1. 21a you need a word for’ chewing grass’ a three letter word for unusual, is followed by the next two letters in the clue followed by an insect (three letters)

  12. Managed through the hint for 1a getting me started to do all except the NE corner for which there are no hints at all! Is this deliberate? :-)
    Any help with 6a would be appreciated.

    2. 6a is a word that has double meaning both as an alternative to bar and an alternative to fight

    3. Thx chaps, never heard of the meaning for this word to be a bar but Chambers gives it so it must be right. All done now and hated almost every clue!

  13. Please can anyone point me in the right direction for 7d? Yesterday’s was so hard for me I resorted to looking at the answers and filling in the grid! But today it’s going well except for NE corner. I won’t give this any stars as I find all the crosswords a challenge and I usually like to do them over many sittings starting it at breakfast and finishing it by dinnertime.

    1. Not a word I knew Caroline, you are looking for a word for a column, take the first letter of Ionian ( top of) and put it inside a word for to cover the surface of as in rendering a wall maybe, (round top of Ionian)

    2. cover as in type of basic decorating with first letter of Ionian inserted to give a column

    3. Thanks both! Got it now. I knew the word but struggle to work out which part of the clue is the answer! Thought perhaps I was looking for a cover!

  14. I enjoyed this puzzle. I needed the dictionary for 2d and 20d took a long time to click.

  15. Thanks to the setter and to Big Dave for the hints. A very nice puzzle, was quite tricky, started with 1a, finished with 26a. Was held up by 16d for ages, then the penny dropped. Favourites were 27a and 2&11d. Was 3*/4* for me. England fighting back at Old Trafford.

  16. Finished. What a stinker. However, I do like a struggle. That’s where the enjoyment comes from for me provided there is help on hand if one is absolutely stuck. Many thanks to BD and Mr. Ron.

  17. A couple of old chestnuts, and a couple to think about, but managed to scrape through in just under my 3* time.
    Thanks to setter and to BD too.

  18. Well I’m glad it wasn’t just me struggling with this! But I did enjoy the tussle, and 11d made me laugh. 27a brought back happy memories of Mr P’s very first gift to me forty years ago of a coloured photo of the captain at the time – to my utter bewilderment as I knew nothing about this area of life at all. But he made it all up to me six months later by giving me an Irish Wolfhound as his wedding present, which was much more up my line… :-) Many thanks to setter, as well as to BD for some needed hints. Like Kath I’d tried hard to fit an M into 22a which got me nowhere fast.

      1. Thanks Mary – much appreciated! Am trying hard to love my physio who keeps muttering “no pain, no gain” working on me!! Poppy has decided not to let me out of her sight at present and her ‘cunning plan’ is apparently to hedge me in with every toy in the neighbourhood… Laughter is definitely good medicine x

  19. Thanks Mary, sorry for the late reply but I’ve been making curry. Apparently, eating hot food in hot weather is cooling, however, what they don’t tell you is making it, makes you hot! Still got one or two to do but sometimes a ‘re-visit’ makes it all the clearer, so I won’t ask for anymore help…just yet!

  20. Very enjoyable – some very good clues and a fair number of anagrams – good fun!

  21. Thanks as always to BD for the hints, most helpful today. Got some of this really quickly and as usual, have revisited a couple of times through the afternoon to complete some more.

    Final one to go is 15a and with all the checking letters I am no wiser and feeling close to a glass of red to give me an excuse not to complete :-)

    If you wish to take pity and out me out of my misery, must be me as no one else has mentioned it. Or even put me out of my misery!

    1. BD has some rules about what one is allowed to say in these comments, and I don’t know if this hint is allowed or not, but it is an anagram of two words in the clue,

      1. Thanks Outnumbered

        I’d got as far as thinking it was an anagram from the third word but had not deduced which to… a real d’oh moment me thinks :oops:

  22. I was on ***** time in the end, and felt this was easily a medium Toughie level of difficulty, in that I found I really needed the checking letters to make progress, and even then it was slow going.

    I really dislike the ‘s in 9a, surely that can only be read as “line is”, where the “is” is superfluous and thus misleading.

    1. Hi Outnumbered I always used to think the ‘s meant ‘is’ , but it also apparently means ‘has’ so it reads line has fake etc. etc.

  23. Chewed away at this on and off all day as I am just learning how to tackle cryptic crosswords. 1d made me groan out loud.

    Phil

    1. Welcome, Phil!

      I am one long-term cruciverbalist who copied your response to 1D :-)

  24. Agree with most comments today … a lot harder than usual for a Saturday. But shouldn’t Prize Puzzles always be more difficult?

    1. Yes – but this one nearly finished me off for ever – I found it really difficult. I think that most of us have come to expect a fairly straightforward crossword on Saturdays – don’t know why – perhaps so that lots of people send in their completed puzzles – who knows? I certainly don’t!
      Just really glad that the consensus seems to be that this was a tricky one – before I looked at the hints and the comments I was beginning to worry about the marble count, particularly as I found yesterday’s difficult too!

  25. First one in was 2d – don’t ask me why but I have a damned good memory even at my ripe time of nearly 90 years.

    After that, I just solved the damned puzzle!

    Best wishes to all of you sloggers!.

    Derek.

  26. Bit late in the day I know, but just can’t get 6A 10A 13A and 7D 8D i.e. NE corner – someone please put me out of my misery!

    1. 6a is a double definition – one a noun and the other a verb meaning to fight
      10a definition is trick – a verb meaning towork at steadily around the abbreviation for old
      13a defintion is enormous – put a wastage inside a type of fuel
      7d has been explained further up the blog
      8d the definition is supporting Queen – Mr Orbison followed by a term used to describe top celebrities.

  27. Cannot decide if this was tricky or clumsy. Some challenging clues and easily one of the toughest Saturday puzzles in a while.

  28. Got them now but don’t understand second and fourth letters of 10A; and 6A I don’t understand the BAR bit

  29. Thank you Crypticsue – found that corner a bit hard so thanks – esp for the 10A abbrev. – not come across that before!

  31. I expect everybody has gone to bed now, but if anyone is still up , I am mystified by 3d, my last one.Help much appreciated.

  32. 9a and 2d stumped me for the longest time. Then I remembered that a spy was *****. Then 9a was obvious and wondered why I got hung up!

    1. 16d, the definition is rather small.26a, think of modern tv sets and the letter hints.10a, a four letter word for trick.Hope I haven’t overstepped the bounds.

    2. 4d, if you have the checking letters there are only a few words that could mean apppreciate.

  34. Thanks Una, I’d got an answer for 4d which fits the ‘appreciate’ part of the clue but don’t understand how it also means carpet.26a I had a different palindrome but now see the correct answer! I have the checking letters for 10a and 16d, but still the penny hasn’t dropped.

    1. If you don’t understand the second definition in 4 down, it is a good idea to look it up in a dictionary like Chambers as there is nothing more that we can add here. If you don’t have a copy of Chambers, then you will continually struggle with Telegraph crosswords – take my word for it!

    3. 16d, note “draw” and “angling” are words in the clue leading to “rather small”.
      The Chambers Crossword dictionary is invaluable.I bought it after a personalized ad on this blog.

      1. Thanks Big Dave and Una for your comments. I have Chambers Dictionary and Thesaurus on my computer, are they different from a hard copy? they certainly don’t seem to list the second definition for 4d. Thanks for the ‘reply’ tip.

        1. What do you mean by “on my computer”? If you mean you are using an online website then you won’t be surprised that Chambers don’t give their entire dictionary away for free.

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