DT 27349 (Hints)

106 comments on “DT 27349 (Hints)”

1. Link now updated.

2. I don’t understand why the Telegraph people cannot estimate how long it will take to fix. We won’t hold them to it but we would like to know. Also we should get a rebate on our subscription like we did when they messed it up last time

   1. Why don’t they say what has happened and why it is taking so long.
      Is it some big secret, or are they just not interested in their subscribers?

      1. Right, the time has come for the Telegraph to sack it’s incompetent IT staff and recruit some more professional ones – as any normal business would do.
         BD’s blog is our only mouthpiece since we can’t contact them direct. I hope that, at least one of them, does the Telegraph crossword and reads BD’s blog

         1. The people at telegraphenquiries@telegraph.co.uk do respond. They don’t however take any notice of questions regarding whether we will get a refund!

            1. Thanks CS. I’ll give it a go. I don’t want the money, just to get the online crossword back

               1. I concur with all those who feel very let down , annoyed and frustrated by this ridiculous delay in restoring normal service.

                  1. It’s not just the messing around to get the crossword and resizing and extra ink, I can’t go back to retrieve an old crossword should I finish the current one.
                     it’s good to be able to share amongst other complainants.

                     1. I still have copies of all the puzzles since the demise of the online site.

                        1. Thanks BD. I meant like going back 8 years to retrieve one I’d forgotten the answers.

                           1. I phoned the Daily Telegraph again (2 Dec) today Freephone 0800 316 69 77 to find out why crossword still failed. I was told it was a technical reason and they did not know when it would be back up.
                              There is a lack of information, but maybe somebody key is off sick?
                              I really enjoyed doing it so look forward to normal service.

                           2. Welcome to the blog Lyndsay.

   2. The response to numerous complaints about the app and subscription is that the DT cannot arrange subscription refunds.

      1. They did last time – I got one!

         1. And so did I. I’m going to cancel this time and ask for a refund of the money outstanding.

      2. I got two refunds last time. It’s beyond belief that the site is down again. You’d think they’d have sorted things out once and for all after the previous fiasco.

3. Happily I didn’t need any hints today for this enjoyable Saturday puzzle. My rating is 2*/3*.

   There were lots of excellent and amusing clues with 14a my favourite. The NW corner took me as long as the rest put together and 3d was my last one in.

   Two clues which were easily solvable contained new words for me – the answer to 9a and the old town in 22d,.

   Thanks to Mr Ron and in advance to BD.

   1. There is no 14a. Did you mean 14d?

      1. I did indeed

4. Greetings from the Norfolk coast. The Android app is now working so I was able to complete this very enjoyable puzzle (2*/3*) an hour before the paper arrived. I didn’t need any hints for once but always enjoy the comments on the blog.

   6d is new to me although I did recognise some of his works as listed on Wikipedia.

5. The first time I have managed to complete the crossword without needing the hints and clues !!!! A fitting tribute to my dear departed father who did the telegraph crossword everyday with out exception and who taught me everything I know. The vicar even mentioned the telegraph crossword at his funeral yesterday and so my success this morning is all the more poignant.

   1. My condolences on your loss, Jephtha. Perhaps your father is watching over you.

   2. Congratulations Jephtha! I’m sure your father would be very proud.

   3. I’m sorry for your loss, Jephtha, and I’ve no doubt that your father was looking down on you as you completed this puzzle.

   4. Sorry for your loss. The undertaker in the passenger seat of the hearse taking my mum to the crem post church service was doing the DT crossword – I told him to watch out as she might appear and tell him where he was going wrong!

   5. My condolences, too. I am sure your father is congratulating you

   6. Sorry for your loss. I’m sure your father was looking down and helping you.

   7. Sorry for your loss, it’s nice to think that you will always have this connection to him.

   8. So sorry to hear of your loss, Jephtha. Like Jezza says, I am sure your father would be very proud of you. Whenever you do a crossword, you will feel very close to him.

   9. Condolences Jephtha. All best wishes from all of us at The Telegraph (I’m the social media editor)

      1. Welcome to the blog Kate

6. No problems today until we got to 18 down. Any hints please? Loved 16 across, very tasty.

   1. The definition is wild. Put the abbreviation for name inside the name of a flower synonymous with its colour.

   2. The definition is ‘wild’ insert the abbreviation for name into a wild flower.

7. Most enjoyable but over far too quickly as the actress said to the bishop.

   1. I worked as a student in a restaurent along side a chef who qualified every remark anybody made , such as “no sauce please” by “as the actress said to the bishop”.

8. Do shout if you need any more hints. I have just bashed these out quickly but have just realised I left the shopping out while I came up to see if I needed to scan the paper. Wonder if the cat’s eaten the things I just bought for Saturday lunch.

   1. Oh, dear, I hope not!

9. Some time ago, I paid for online Telegraph crosswords, but the service was so poor that I got my money back. I now get a free paper from Waitrose every time I spend £5 on groceries.

   1. And at our Waitrose you can get a free coffee and sit down in peace with your DT. I still pay for the online for the days when I can’t loaf at Waitrose but am hoping for a rebate :).

10. If you are at a loose end, I can recommend Gazza’s NTSPP. Follow the link on the right of this page under “Recent Posts” to NTSPP – 199.

    1. I’ll second that recommendation

       1. Today’s NTSPP by gazza – nothing seems to happen when I click on the grid!

          Crossword Gremlins everywhere! It seems to be catching!

          1. It worked when I tried it a moment ago. The direct link to the crossword is Crossword

             1. Mea culpa – I set it up but forgot to schedule it for publication. Should be there now.

                Bloggers with a sign-on to the site have special privileges!

                1. Thanks it now works! If only the DT could resolve their problems so speedily! And we don’t have to pay for the NTSPP!

                   

11. Hey BD did you mean to put ‘xxxxxxx’ in your explanation of 1d – I think maybe not!

    1. Not Big Dave (he wouldn’t have been so naughty – it was me – I am off to the corner now

       1. it put me right off I was trying to find another word for ?????? which meant ?????? which when you added an ‘a’ meant knife!

12. An enjoyable puzzle, thank you setter. Some clever deception, all good fun ! Thanks BD for your hard work as usual.

13. Good fun, and over too quickly. Many thanks to the setter and CS/BD (Not sure if the hints were shared today).

    Can’t access the NTSPP. The link’s not working. Off to try again.

14. Can anyone explain the answer for 7D am I right its an anagram of rich now?

    1. Yes. It is an anagram. See is being used in its ecclesiastical sense.

    2. Yes, you are right about the anagram (re-sort) … the definition is “See”.

    3. Many thanks guys.

    4. Help please, thought I’d got this – checking letters and the anagram indicate it could only be one thing, isn’t it a place many people might go to “resort” in *******? (hope that’s not too specific)

       1. See is another word for a diocese. Resort is the anagram indicator.

15. Really enjoyable but quite tricky in places – well, I thought so anyway – probably 3* difficulty and 4* for enjoyment.
    I was very slow to get started and very slow at the end when I had about six left to do.
    I don’t think I’ve met 9a before or if I have I’ve forgotten it. 4 and 10a held me up and 3d was my last one – not a difficult clue but I wasn’t sure what I was looking for and I’ve never heard the word.
    Some really good clues – 11, 24 and 26a and 4 (I associate it with Ireland too) 6 and 14d. My favourite was 2d.
    With thanks to Mr Ron and CS – do hope that the cat hasn’t scoffed all the shopping and that you escape from the naughty corner without too much trouble!
    Cold but sunny and dry in Oxford – off to rake up MORE leaves then will have a go at gazza’s NTSPP.

    1. When you’ve finished raking your leaves, if you would you like to do some more there are plenty here.

    2. Beautiful day here Kath, plenty of leaves too!

    3. RD and Mary – you must both be having a laugh!
       Good luck with the flute tooting tonight, Mary.

       1. Sigh. When you didn’t turn up I had do it myself

          The trouble is that another load still on our trees look ready to drop…

16. Most enjoyable puzzle today & didn’t need much help. I don’t always understand the words in the clues which point you in the right directions e.g. pointers towards anagrams etc. which seem to me to be quite random, so I quite often get the right answer, but don’t know why I’ve got, it but I think we’re getting a little bit better. Anyway many thanks for the hints & thanks to the setter too.

17. loved this one. not sure why but 17d really made me laugh. thanks to all for an enjoyable morning.

18. Just a quick call today no stand out favourites although I did enjoy it… I am flute tooting tonight in my first ever concert…what am I doing… have only been with the band 4 weeks!!! I am totally lost and out of my depth, oh dear, the stress and at my age too!!!!!!!

    1. Hi Mary
       I think it’s fantastic that you have started playing in a band, even “at your age” There’s nothing more satisfying than making music with other people!

       1. Thanks Catherine

19. whizzed through this morning but stuck on 3 down any hints most welcome

    1. The definition is the ‘stationary part’ which is apparently to do with electrical engineering. It is quite a simple reversal (mount) of the second word in the clue without the E (showing no energy).

       You might want to change the name you use to make comments otherwise you may end up with lots of email spam

       1. Oh dear, CS

          I may have to go to the Pedants’ Corner, but I am not sure where to send you…

          Stationery????

          1. I’ve edited it out now. really annoying as it is one of the things I am really pedantic about myself.

             I’ll take myself off to a corner with some of my newly baked seedy bread.

             1. Ooh, that’s made my mouth water. Can I join you please?

                1. Does Somerset soft goat’s cheese and asparagus soup to go with it appeal? Because that’s what we’re having..

                   1. Yes it does! I am a food enthusiast with very eclectic tastes. Mrs RD says it makes me nice to cook for, and you can’t beat good home cooking.

       2. I have edited the e-mail address from the name.

20. Great puzzle! At first I thought I was in trouble as had few answers on first read through of the across clues, then the downs started to fall in and I was away and had no further problems. Favourite? I think it has to be 4d.

    Thanks to everyone who was involved, setter and bloggers.

    1. P.S. We haven’t heard from Poppy for some time, has anyone heard from her? Not ebbing nosy, just hope she’s all right.

       1. Yes – I was thinking that a couple of days ago. I have her email address so might just send her a quick “Are you OK” one.
          I agree – I don’t want to be nosy either but last time when she’d been missing for ages I did eventually email her and she was really pleased – think I will but need to finish fighting it out with gazza’s NTSPP first – at the moment I’m not looking like the winner!

21. Enjoyable but not very challenging. Loved 26! I’m going to try the Toughie, that should deflate I’m no time!

    1. There is a Toughie today but it’s masquerading under a different name and it’s in a different place!

       1. I cannot get the DT to open yesterday’s link, so no Toughie for me, unless somebody has a PDF to send me.

          1. I meant that you should have a go at the NTSPP in the absence of a Toughie in the paper – it’s pretty tricky but really good fun and it doesn’t matter if the DT site is still playing silly ******* as you can get it from here.

             1. Ok, got it, thanks for sticking with me through my mental fog!

22. got it , but thanks for your help and advice.

23. Well the IPad app seems to be behaving itself for once, unfortunenately can’t easily help those without paper as I could only send the puzzle as two screen shots…to get all the clues in… Which would be a nightmare to print and knit.

    No particular problems today once I’d sorted out a misspelt anagram, enjoyable puzzle.

    Thanks to CS for hints and to setter.

24. Hi All! Happy to say I finished today’s puzzle without the use of the hints, but I do need some help in understanding the wordplay in a few of the clues. For example, the answer to 10a was fairly obvious once one had all of the checking letters, but could someone explain it to me. Are the last five letters of the answer, split 3-2, the “argument”? And are the first three letters a river in Cornwall? (Living in South Africa, I am not really very “up” on the rivers of Cornwall!)

    Also, 20d’s logic has me beat. I get the first three letters which explain the “Jack” bit and I think I get the single letter abbreviation for a Fellow, and I understand the answer as a word meaning a “price list” (which I have filled in), but can someone explain the wordplay to me, please?

    For those rugby fans out there, are any of you going to watch the Barbarians vs Fiji match this evening? It’s at 9.30 pm (our time) this evening, (7.30 pm, I think, your time), and there are 6 or 7 Springboks in the Barbarians team – (my 70-something year old wife has a crush on the South African flyhalf, Pat Lambie)

    1. You are correct in your interpretation of 10a. 20d requires the three letter word for a sailor followed by a two letter word meaning “provided” and then the abbreviation for fellow.

       1. Thank you, got it! I was not thinking of “provided” in that sense.

25. A good puzzle. My last in was 12A but I didn’t get it until I corrected 3D. 9A was a mystery!

    1. Lovely puzzle, I whizzed through it (I whizz quite slowly).Well, I would have completed it in the time that that old Telegraph site, the one we used to use, long ago, allowed. 4d is associated with Ireland by everybody except the Irish.I liked all the clues, with the exception of 3d which is new to me.Thanks to the setter (an old hand at setting, I suspect).And thanks to CS.

26. Please may I have a hint for 12a – even the first glass of wine hasn’t helped!

    1. You’ve changed your alias so your comment required moderation. Both aliases should now work.

       12a Circuit avoided by motorcade upset politician (8)

       Remove one letter that resembles a circuit from motorcade and make an anagram (upset) of what you have left.

27. Thanks to the setter and to Big Dave for the hints. All this week I seem to race through the puzzles, then hit a brick wall. Today was no exception, needed the hints for 1&18d, but still needed electronic help to get the latter, as I just couldn’t think of the flower. A most enjoyable puzzle, was 2*/3* for me. Favourite was 4a.

28. This was a crossword of two halves for me. I started very well on the first pass, and then got bogged down. Fortunately I have Big Dave who helped me get things sorted. Except…. I can see no reason why the shy relative is who I think she is in 14d. Can anyone explain? Thank you.

    1. The answer is a fairground game which involves “shying” or throwing sticks or balls to try and smash a pipe in the mouth of a wooden figure

       1. Thank you, I should have read beyond the first few sentences in the wikipedia entry.

       2. Thank you for the explanation. Wikipedia tells me all about this game – previously unknown to me! Womderful!

29. Late request, busy day yesterday. Can someone help with the shy relative in 14D please, I guess she’s female and names come to mind, but can’t see the reason for any being shy? Thanks

    1. See my reply to Michael.

30. can anyone help with the only one I can’t get – 18 D ? Thanks

    1. 18d Wild flower’s name included.(7)

       A flower includes N(ame)

31. molto ta, Big Dave – pride definitely cometh before a fall ! – I zipped through this one at one sitting, then failed at the last hurdle, with a very, very, simple clue – thanks

32. I finished this without hints, and thought there were some very entertaining clues. Particular likes were 9a, 10a, 19a, 21a, 16a, and 2d. I hope I’ve parsed everything correctly, and look forward to the full review. In the meanwhile, very many thanks to Crypticsue and Big Dave. And, of course, many thanks to our Saturday setter for an enjoyable puzzle.

33. Very enjoyable.

34. Hi To all, anyone rescue me with 18d this week Wild flower’s name included. It has me beaten?

    1. If you read through the comments, it is mentioned twice at least (see 5 above).

Comments are closed.