Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27282
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
This is an enjoyable, if not very arduous, puzzle from Giovanni. It’s worth noting how smooth the surface readings are and the imagination used in the containment indicators (dumped outside, stabled by, etc.). Do leave a comment telling us how you got on.
Should you be tearing your hair out at not being able to get an answer you can put an end to your dilemma by highlighting what’s inside the curly brackets under the clue. If you’re using a mobile device there is some assistance on how to do this in the FAQ.
Across Clues
7a Relation dumped outside home? That’s ominous (8)
{SINISTER} – a close relative containing an adverb meaning ‘at home’.
9a Separate church finally accepted in diocese (6)
{SECEDE} – the abbreviation for the established church in England and the final letter of (accepte)D go inside another word for diocese.
10a Donkey stabled by son and daughter is cured (6)
{SMOKED} – a slang term for a donkey is housed inside abbreviations for son and daughter.
11a Bit of a heart-throb exciting to ladies (8)
{DIASTOLE} – an anagram (exciting) of TO LADIES. The other bit of the heart-throb is called the systole.
12a Writer, if amiss, could get eternal censure (8,6)
{LAURENCE STERNE} – an anagram (if amiss could get) of ETERNAL CENSURE gives us the Irish novelist best known for The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy.
15a Fish dish not very good — dodgy business (4)
{SCAM} – drop a short word meaning very good or very holy from a fish dish.
17a Sweet lord often on the box (5)
{SUGAR} – double definition.
19a The Cockney man spotted in the auditorium, a hairy fellow (4)
{ESAU} – ‘in the auditorium’ is signalling a homophone and this Biblical character sounds like saw (spotted) after a male pronoun with its H dropped in the Cockney manner.
20a Students sauntered around having swallowed a drug naughtily (14)
{UNDERGRADUATES} – an anagram (around) of SAUNTERED contains (having swallowed) a second anagram (naughtily) of A DRUG.
23a Drew attention to sweet courses being passed around (8)
{STRESSED} – a reversal (being passed around) of sweet courses.
25a Sensual festive occasion with four passing out (6)
{CARNAL} – remove the Roman numeral for four from a festive occasion.
27a Trendy chum who may be locked up? (6)
{INMATE} – a charade of an adjective meaning trendy and another word for chum.
28a Weep when Stan’s partner gets stuck in pit (8)
{COLLIERY} – a verb to weep with Stan’s comedy partner stuck inside it.
Down Clues
1d Old country beginning to stir very early in the morning (4)
{SIAM} – the beginning of S(tir) followed by what looks like a time not long after midnight.
2d Mess about as one coming before tailor (6)
{TINKER} – double definition, the second what precedes tailor in a children’s fortune telling game or a John Le Carré novel.
3d Brought up in sombre district (4)
{BRED} – hidden in the clue.
4d Like worker crossing lake at an angle (6)
{ASLANT} – put a preposition meaning like or similar to and a working insect around (crossing) L(ake).
5d Secret of criminal being exempt from punishment? (4-4)
{SCOT-FREE} – an anagram (criminal) of SECRET OF.
6d Foul grown-up and her mate, no hard male (10)
{ADULTERATE} – in the surface foul is an adjective but as the definition it’s a verb. Start with another word for grown-up and add ‘her mate’ having first taken out the H (hard, pencil classification) and M(ale).
8d News — it comes up accompanied by sounds (7)
{TIDINGS} – reverse (comes up, in a down clue) IT and follow this with a verb meaning makes a ringing sound.
13d Giving a reason for financial processing (10)
{ACCOUNTING} – double definition, the second being the activity of someone occasionally referred to as a bean counter.
14d Anxious listener starts to get emotional inside (5)
{EAGER} – a listening organ with the starting letters of G(et) and E(motional) inside.
16d Frightfully vile dame of a bygone era (8)
{MEDIEVAL} – an anagram (frightfully) of VILE DAME.
18d Revolutionary sort of tyre that’s about to be introduced (7)
{RADICAL} – a sort of tyre with a single-letter abbreviation meaning about or approximately inside. For the purposes of the wordplay “that’s” has to be expanded to “that has” rather than “that is”.
21d What some eat for breakfast, being more reckless? (6)
{RASHER} – double definition. A teacher explaining the difference between being involved and being committed: In a traditional English breakfast the hen is involved but the pig is committed.
22d A doc with collection of old books, one held to be skilful (6)
{ADROIT} – string together A (from the clue), an abbreviation for doctor and the older part of the Bible. Finally insert I (one held).
24d Avoid failure on the cricket field (4)
{DUCK} – double definition, the second the score of a batsman who has failed to make a contribution.
26d Affected manners of couples not keeping quiet (4)
{AIRS} – another word for couples, but dropping the musical abbreviation for quiet.
I liked 1d and 5d but by far my favourite clue today was 11a. Let us know what appealed to you.
If you normally give a wide berth to Friday Toughies because you find them impenetrable I do urge you to have a go at today’s – it’s not that difficult and it’s loads of fun.
Today’s Quickie Pun: {FARTHER} + {THYME} = {FATHER TIME}
All present and correct – a very enjoyable crossword.
I had to look up 19a and found out that ???? also meant ‘hairy’ – I’m a little dubious about the cryptic element of this clue.
Biblical quote: “..my brother Esau is an hairy man, and I am a smooth man”.
It was the ‘in the auditorium’ signalling a homophone bit that was new to me – I see it now but I didn’t cotton on immediately. Everyday I learn something new – thanks!
I’ve added the hilarious Alan Bennett sermon sketch from Beyond the Fringe to the blog.
Another beautifully smooth Friday puzzle. 2d probably gave us the biggest chuckle. The person in 20a was not familiar to us but Google found him quickly enough. A real pleasure to sit down and solve puzzles of this standard.
Thanks Giovanni and Gazza.
I don’t think you mean 20a – either 17a ( probably) or 19a?
You’re right of course. 17a is the one we meant.
You’re not missing much!
In the mid 70’s I acquired an Amstrad amp from a friend – it inevitably went wrong and I had to take it back to the ‘factory’ in Dalston, East London – just by Ridley Road Market. The ‘factory’ turned out to be in a tenement style building – I climbed up several flights of stone stairs and was met by a door marked Amstrad – I rang the bell and a window opened in the door for me to pass the amp through – what a place – Lord S has come a long way from there!
I found this a straightforward but very enjoyable puzzle today, which was */*** for me.
The whole thing was beautifully and amusingly clued with lots of excellent surface readings. 28a was my last one in for two reasons: I toyed with draw and drop for 24d before realising the right four letter word; and I couldn’t decide how to spell the abbreviation of Stan’s partner’s name!
11a was my favourite of several standout clues. Thank goodness Mrs RD watches Casualty otherwise I would never have heard of this word!
Many thanks to Giovanni and to Gazza.
Nice offering although I had never heard of the author in 12 A.Had to smile at 17A and loved gazzas picture in 25A.Many thanks for the review not needed today.Just started raining again in Southampton, wishing all a great weekend.
Bit of a struggle for me today in the NE corner so a ***/***. Spelt the first name of the author in 12a with a W as in ‘of Arabia’ so the anagram source eluded me, and the reason why the fellow in 19a across was hairy was an unknown-initially thought of yeti ! Thanks to Rabbit Dave for the bible reading and Gazza for the picks, nice to see one of Sir Alec.
A splendid end to the week, enjoyed a lie in just to finish it then off shopping in the Yateley rain! (which will hopefully move away from Soton before Mondays Cricket. Perhaps I’ll have to take Mondays offering with me if we get rained off, or should that be ‘rained on’? Thanks to both for a splendid offering, hints not needed today which is encouraging!
A very enjoyable puzzle that didn’t cause too many problems for me – 2* for difficulty and 3*+ for enjoyment.
The 12a author took a while but, having finally got him, he wasn’t completely unfamiliar so must have heard of him somewhere in the dim and distant past – probably in a crossword.
I completely missed the anagram indicator in 5d so didn’t dare put in what was obviously the answer – that held me up with 9a.
24d and 28a were my last two – like Rabbit Dave I thought of draw and drop, and also dive none of which were particularly helpful and anyway dive only seems to be naughty in football and boxing – I know – I looked it up! Got there eventually and then managed 28a – the abbreviation of Stan’s partner hadn’t occurred to me.
I liked 10a (wasn’t there a car called a mini-moke?) and 25a and 16d. My favourite was 11a.
With thanks to Giovanni and gazza.
It’s raining – might summon all my courage and peep at the Toughie – the trouble is that what gazza thinks is not very difficult and what I think is not very difficult are very different.
Micawber toughies should be always solved by everyone as they are usually superb. This one is no exception.
OK CS and BigBoab – here I go then – think I’ll pretend that it’s not a Toughie!
I agree with Sue and Gazza, the toughie is really enjoyable and not overly difficult, have a go Kath.
Thanks to Giovanni for a lovely crossword and to Gazza for a smashing review.
Really enjoyed this one. Learnt new word too in 10a for a donkey!
Fabulous crossword today and no unheard of words (the BRB helped explain 10a).2d was the last one in, which I liked when I got it.I can’t say it is my favourite , they were all good. Thanks to Giovanni and Gazza.
Once again, a slow start before lights out last, but finished fairly quickly this morning without assistance except for the BRB including for 12a. I concur with the **/*** and I will look forward to watching the Alan Bennett sketch at my lunchtime. Favourites would be 11a and 20a – two good anagrams.
Enjoyable, not that difficult,or maybe I was on song this am. Last one in was 2d and I had a good giggle when I realised the answer.
I thought this pretty hard. First read through gave me just three answers, but I did manage to get most in the end. Knew that 5d had to be correct but I, too, missed the anagram. I had to look at the answers for 10a as had no idea of that name for a donkey, missed 2d completely, unforgivable, and flubbed 25a. Never knew the gent in 17a but what else could it be? Thanks to setter and hinter.
Thanks to the two G’s. A most enjoyable puzzle, but one that I found the top half particularly difficult. Had drop for 24d, once corrected, got 28a. Had never heard of 9a, or the donkey in 10a, remember the minimoke though
Also had never heard of 12a. Favourites were 28a and 21d. Was 3*/4* for me. Just had a mole removed from my back, so no sport for me for a fortnight, better have a look at the Toughie. The last Micawber I tried was brilliant.
Another wonderful Friday puzzle. As Gazza said the surface readings are impeccable! Thanks to Gazza and Giovanni.
What a delightful puzzle with a balanced mix of difficult clues and easier ones (for me anyway). Many thanks to the Don.
Thank you so much, Gazza, for reminding me of the Esau sketch which, with the Parrot Sketch, I think are the two funniest to come out of that period. How can I transfer it to Word or Excel?
I don’t remember this one but absolutely loved the Parrot – “It’s an ex-parrot!”
The unknown word for me this week was the donkey synonym in 10a.
I didn’t get 25a, parsed the clue OK but couldn’t’t think of the occasion to take four out of, and doubt I’d have equated sensual with the answer either.
What a smashing puzzle . Just the job whilst waiting for dinner in our stopover hotel on our way to Scotland which means I miss Coventry’s first home rugby match of the season against Cinderford’s charcoal burners.
11a gets my COD for the silky smooth surface reading. Thanks to Gazza and Giovanni.
Out all day hence late getting down to this terrific puzzle – so thanks to Giovanni and also to Gazza for being there in case of need – perfect accompaniment to a night-cap instead of breakfast coffee! **/****
D.T. 27,283
Re 3d. O.K. for Cecil, but not the Missus, surely?
Believe it or not, this is the second time the Telegraph have made the same mistake.
As it’s a prize puzzle, best not to discuss it in too much detail. I’m preparing the hints at the moment.
What a beautiful Friday puzzle! **** for enjoyment, and I managed to complete it without recourse to Gazza’s entertaining hints. I have lots of fave clues — too many to list — my super-faves being 11a, 12a, and 2d. Large thanks to Giovanni and Gazza.
Seeing all the rhapsodic comments here, I am about to attempt Micawber, albeit with much trepidation and not much expectation of being able to complete it. We are so fortunate to have this wonderful blog. I have learned, and am continuing to learn, a huge amount. And what pleasure it is, too! Thank you so much, Big Dave and all those who go to making this blog what it is.