Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27427
Hints and tips by Miffypops
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment **
Rufus has his benign hat on today. He took us to watch the world’s most boring sport but kindly allowed us to bring along a great novel and some fine poetry. He did let himself down by not providing any food but redeemed himself by bringing beer. I have a pig.
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
1a Angry about sails getting wet (8)
{IRRIGATE} A five letter word meaning angry wrapped around a three letter sailing term for the sails and mast of a boat will provide a word meaning to artificially apply water to land or soil to assist in the growing of agricultural crops. Possibly the longest hint I have ever written.
6a Means of raising a pound for a villainous fellow (6)
{JACKAL} A hoist maybe used to lift a car followed by a from the clue and the abbreviation for the monetary unit of England
9a Indication of terror — a hoot! (6)
{SCREAM} Doubly defined and very nicely done.
10a Eat green fresh produce (8)
{GENERATE} Today’s first anagram (fresh) of EAT GREEN
11a Negotiator‘s award displayed by leader of team (8)
{DIPLOMAT} A certificate awarded by an educational foundation followed by the first letter (leader) of team
12a Original spares may be few and far between (6)
{SPARSE} Anagram number two (original) of SPARES
13a As it’s repaired, works OK (12)
{SATISFACTORY} Anagram two and a half (repaired) of AS IT’S followed by a word for a building where goods may be made or assembled
16a Clip-joints? (7,5)
{BARBERS’ SHOPS} Hairdressing salons for men “Anything for the weekend sir”
19a Warning from worker about fight (6)
{BEWARE} One of the two usual suspects for a worker placed around a word meaning fight but on a much bigger scale
21a First phase of Stone Age building (5,3)
{STAGE ONE} Another anagram which is good for getting checking letters to help with the solve. Building is the anagram indicator and the words STONE AGE provide the anagram fodder
23a Confirm tea laid out after five (8)
{VALIDATE} And again. Anagram (out) of TEA LAID placed after the Roman numeral for five
24a Introduce gradually in new list (6)
{INSTIL} In from the clue followed by an anagram (new) of LIST
25a Maintain there’s some body in the beer (6)
{ALLEGE} A body part inside a word for beer. Cheers Rufus, bottoms up.
26a Poet’s rewritten sonnet about New York (8)
{TENNYSON} By the shore of Gitche Gumee, By the shining Big-Sea-Water. He wrote that and mighty fine it is too.
Down
2d Flinch from a backlash (6)
{RECOIL} Another decent double definition. To spring backwards maybe in fear horror or disgust
3d Thought first of ladies supreme (5)
{IDEAL} A thought or notion followed by the first letter of L(adies)
4d Two scholars put into reform school (4,5)
{ALMA MATER} The School College or University one attended. Place the letters a graduate may have after his name twice within a five letter word meaning to reform
5d Work out highest fractions (7)
{EIGHTHS} A superb anagram (work out) of HIGHEST. A b****r to spell though. To the musically minded. Quavers.
6d They may be high — that’s unlucky, we hear (5)
{JINKS} The high in the first part of this clue refers to boisterous fun. The second part is a homophone of a person or thing that brings bad luck.
7d Quixotic writer never acts in play (9)
{CERVANTES} An anagram (in play) of NEVER ACTS will provide the author of a book whose main character tilted at windmills.
8d Flair shown as skill is added to effort (8)
{ARTISTRY} A charade. Skill (3), IS from the clue and an effort or an attempt (3)
13d Craft likely to go under (9)
{SUBMARINE} A submersible boat.
14d A girl getting into giddy hero-worship? (9)
(ADORATION} A from the clue. A four letter girls name and an anagram (giddy) of INTO
15d It’s played for the HQ dance (8)
{BASEBALL A four letter term for headquarters and the usual suspect for a dance combine to reveal a pastime popular in America. A complete waste of time and energy. In England we call it rounders and let the girls play it and that is about where it belongs IMHO.
17d American small change being found in school is dodgy (7)
{SUSPECT} The two letter abbreviation for The United States together with the initial letter of our smallest value coin placed inside a four letter word for a group of people whose views may differ from the norm will give a word meaning dishonest or unreliable
18d One doing exercises gaining colour (6)
{INDIGO} the usual crosswordland letter indicated by the word “one” followed by an anagram (exercises) of DOING will give a colour used to dye jeans
20d Girl’s round about the advertisement, miss (5)
{EVADE} The world’s oldest girls name placed around the shortened term for advertisement
22d Test paper (5)
{ESSAY} A double definition.
Whilst enjoyable this all fell into place too easily for me. I know others will struggle. Vive la différence!
The Quick crossword pun: (baron} + {waist} = {barren waste}
pommette and the other Rufus fans will be pleased today – he’s in the Graun and the FT as well as here
2*/4*. DT puzzles on Sundays and Mondays never disappoint! Another brilliant back pager from Rufus, which remarkably was actually on the back page today.
The NW corner held me up slightly, with 11a my last one in. Lovely clues throughout with splendid surface readings. Very difficult to choose a favourite today but 4d gets my vote with 16a a close second.
Many thanks to Rufus and to Miffypops.
P.S. I am flabbergasted. Although they turned a strong position into a cliff-hanger, England’s male cricketers contrived to emulate our excellent ladies’ team and actually won a one day international yesterday. Wonders will never cease.
The usual pleasant start to the week from Rufus. Not very taxing!
Faves ; 6a, 16a, 6d &18d.
Dull and damp in NL today.
A nice little canter for a Monday Morning. Sets the mood for the rest of the day.. Thanks to Rufus for an enjoyable puzzle and to MP although I did not need hints today
Miffypops – is the pig for turning into all sorts of porcine delicacies or do you want to breed from her/him? Either way I can see tears before bedtime especially if you convert the unfinished[?] kitchen into a sty. Roll on Sunday – it should be a belter!
Hi there Spinnie old boy. I am not sure what to do with the pig. It would surely be illegal for me to breed with it so I will not try. There are 15 of them in all. We will fatten them up for six months and send them to the abattior. I don’t eat much meat at all, I only joined the pig club to because Saint Sharon said I could not have a pig. I may roast it whole and sell it on. The kitchen remained untouched last week. Things may move on Thursday. Watch this space. I turned down a ticket for Sunday as the Welsh have a habit of peeing on my chips and I did not want to be there if they did. I am looking forward to the game though.
Here’s a suggestion. Instead of having the traditional celebration for the christening (assuming that is going to happen) of your grandson how about a hog roast in the pub garden?
Speaking of Sunday I know how you feel. 25+ years ago I went to the old stadium in Wales to see England get well & truly battered. That was not a place for an Englishman to be, especially in the pubs later on in the evening. Also, I was with my sales director who hailed from the valleys – talk about smug!
Surely, after six months you’ll be on first-name terms with the pigs and sending them to the abattoir will be heart wrenching. How are you going to manage that? I agree with spindrift and I can see tears in your future.
Some friends of ours who have chickens say that you can’t eat something that you’ve fed.
They lie!
15 pigs isn’t a pig, it’s a flock
Hi, Miffypops. When I was a girl post-WWII, my father kept pigs on his allotment and fattened them up for slaughter, just as you are doing. Preparing the food (it’s not called swill for nothing) was interesting, to say the least!
Usual Monday fare from Rufus today – quite good fun but not very taxing (I do wish the Government would take a few lessons from him), almost a write in for me with one or two held back just to check. Can’t say I liked 12A very much, in fact I only wrote the answer in very faintly as I couldn’t believe that it could be right. Still, I thought 4D was an absolute corker and 16A wasn’t far off.
Keeps threatening to rain here today and we have been warned it may get a bit noisy too with a touch of lightning – I just hope it doesn’t wait until I pop off to the shops to get my eggs, milk, flour and lemons for tomorrow.
A nice, reasonably gentle start to the week. I came to grief with the “quickie” – how was I to know that “waist” was another word for “amidships”? We live and learn!
Please be careful with giving answers to the Quick crossword on here – some people do that puzzle later. I have set the answer so that it can be viewed in the usual way by selecting the space between the quote marks.
Had to complete this in stages, and, like Rabbit Dave, the NW corner was my last part in. And thanks to Miffypops for explaining why my answer for 17d was correct. Hints much appreciated. Greetings to pig, as well as thanks to setter also.
Logged on in Melbourne, Australia (start of six weeks holiday) and found two cryptic crosswords – am I the only one?
I have adifferent puzzle on line too!
I have two Cryptics and two Quickies on the iPad today for the first time.
Gentle start to the week from Rufus. I liked 18d for surface image and 16a for its simplicity!
Sunny and mild in Perthshire today (so far), so the garden beckons.
Today is not turning out too bad. I still have a smile on my face from yesterday’s Leicester Tiger’s victory, Mrs W said she does not need to go shopping and I have completed today’s offering with no trouble and no hints. I particularly smiled at 13A I would rate this as 1.5/4 Thanks for the review Miffypops, as always as entertaining as the puzzle itself.
Thank you Rufus, a really good puzzle today – particularly liked 4d and 5d well disguised – very clever I thought. I must admit that I didn’t find it as easy as everyone else – but nothing strange in that ! Thanks Miffypops for your review, hints and photos.
I found quite a lot of it easy but took three times as long as I normally take to sort out a Rufus trying to get my last few solutions.
His Graun puzzle today didn’t take me long at all.
I seem to have a different puzzle to the rest of the world???
Welcome to the blog french times
Reasonably straightforward but slightly pedestrian Rufus offering today. Missed anagram indicator in 21a so needed hint – thanks Miffypops. For me no really outstanding clue(s). **/**.
Two cryptics on the. iPad today. If one is meant for tomorrow I will really impress my husband by finishing it in seconds!
First ever completion sans hints (I’m quite new to this) so very pleased. Vindicates a 1* rating
Congratualtions
… oh look, a Freudian anagram… or maybe my typing’s a bit ropy…
Nearly always enjoy Monday’s crossword. Favourite was 7 down even though I rarely notice an anagram indicator (I rely on husband for those) It hardly seems worth while welcoming Miffypops pigs, if they’re off to the abattoir in 6 months time. Saint Sharon won’t have had time to get to know all their names. Thank you to the Monday setter & to Miffypops too.
Hi there. Apologies for sounding a bit confused in my first blog offering but wasn’t it Longfellow who wrote about Hiawatha and the shining Big Sea Water? All the best and keep up the good work.
Welcome to the blog Minnehaha
Yes it was – I was just about to write a comment saying that.
A steady and fun work through with the last corner for me being SW. I am going for 1.5*/3* today. Might have a go at the other Cryptic that has appeared on the iPad today for the first time. Well, it’s just lying there.
Why are we saddled with 15 X 15 grids? How about 9 x 9 … They would not take as long and would be less intimidating for newbies. Er… Will I end up in the Tower for that remark?
Thanks Rufus and Miffypops.
??? I thought you said yesterday that you were going to wean yourself off this addictive blog. I’m not surprised because giving up any addiction is always going to be tough but your resolve didn’t last long did it?
Welcome back – it seems like you never went away
Except when I have dead time… Like today in Texas where it’s f-freezing.
You know you cannot trust an addict though.
Host pops up again today!
We’ll have to do the second crossword on the ipad without help though, unless it’s tomorrow’s…
We’ll have to help each other out here. I have not looked at it yet.
Done it!
He he, Toni. We wrote those posts at the precise same time. Same time to complete it! I am not convinced on 26d tho’
Isn’t it ‘member’ as in part of the body plus the last letter of kindly. I think it’s an accepted word for host.
Hmmm.. I have the same as you but it sounds a bit barmy to me.
I guess host can mean a lot of people or angels or daffodils…
Now finished the second iPad Cryptic. Pretty good, different ‘feel’.
I’d go with **/***. The number of the puzzle is 280 – where’d that come from??
It looks like it’s this week’s website-only prize puzzle.
Pleasant start to the week, and thanks to Rufus. Although the hints weren’t needed my last in was 11a which I couldn’t see for ages.
All much enhanced by the MIffypops baseball comment and the pig and kitchen saga!
Late here again – too much to do.
No problems today, for once – I do hope that this is an omen telling me that this crossword week will go better than last week did.
I was a bit slow with several in the top left corner.
I’m ashamed to admit that I couldn’t remember who wrote “Don Quixote” and had to look him up but I dorecognise a bit from the “Song of Hiawatha” and I know that it wasn’t Tennyson who wrote it.
I liked 9 and 13a and 5 and 13d. My favourite was 6d.
With thanks to Rufus and Miffypops.
Thanks to Rufus and to Miffypops for the review and hints. A very enjoyable puzzle to start the week. I was beaten by 1a and 6d. Couldn’t think of anything for 1a, and could only think of Jonas for 6d, doh! Favourite was 21a. Got soaked cycling this morning, looks like more showers to come. Was 2*/3* for me. Cooking a chicken curry now.
Agree that Hiawatha was written by Longfellow, not the poet in the anagram. Other hints most useful, thanks.
Welcome to the blog Lixie.
Hello Lixie. Apologies to all for the mistake. I just did not want to write Anagram (rewritten) of SONNET around (about) the initial letters of New York. We have nine anagrams or part anagrams today so I tried something a little different Yes I boobed with the poet but it was all done in good faith. Note to oneself “Must try harder”
A. Tennyson wrote the first line of all of Longfellows poems. B Tennyson and Longfellow are the same person, that is why their names are perfect anagrams of one another. C. Tennyson wrote “The Song Of Hiawatha” for Longfellow who fell asleep through boredom watching a baseball game. We’ll done to all who spotted this weeks not so deliberate mistake.
I’m always (perhaps next week I’ll eat my words) on Rufus’s wavelength. I think my favourite is 7d but may change my mind as there were many good ones. Honourable mention to 16a, 4d and 18d. Some were so easy I doubted I had the correct answer. Last one in 11a. Thank you Rufus, and, of course, many thanks to Miffypops for your entertaining review.
Another gentle start to the week. Full of the usual humour and misdirection that we probably take too much for granted from Rufus. */**** for me.
Finished the puzzle earlier without hints (no honestly) but then became hopelessly stuck on the Quickie pun’s second word and spent as long not getting it as I did doing the cryptic. Driving me mad and couldn’t wait till tomorrow so had to come here for a sneaky cheat… Oh dear!
Thanks to Rufus and to Miffypops for a thoroughly entertaining review
If you are at a loose end, I can recommend the Guardian Quiptic – a puzzle designed for people new to the world of cryptic crosswords. Today’s is equally entertaining for ‘old hands’ too. http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/quiptic/746
If you get stuck, you might recognise the name of the person who blogged it for 15 Squared http://www.fifteensquared.net/2014/03/03/guardian-quiptic-746-orlando/
I’m so confused by finding 4 crosswords on the iPad that I can’t concentrate on cooking the dinner!
Your comment needed moderation because you’ve expanded your usual alias. Both variants should work from now on.
Told you I was confused!
Hmm, finished it without hints eventually, but after expecting a gentle Monday stroll it turned out to be a much longer walk than I expected. 3*/2* for me.
Thanks setter, even though you were clearly on a new digital channel and I was stuck on the old medium wave!
And thanks to MP for the entertaining review, although I can’t agree with you about baseball. It’s one of those games where the more I learn about it the more I appreciate the skills of the top players and the nuances of each pitcher/batter matchup. I only wish I had time to watch a bit more of it but since Channel 5 stopped broadcasting it, it’s not so readily available on tv in the uk.
Thank God
(As in Thank God its not on TV any more)
It was live, usually midnight to about 4am GMT twice a week so hardly displaced anything important. Even non baseball fans must surely concede that was preferable to fill the wee small hours of the schedule than the overnight “live casino roulette” gambling nonsense that Channel 5 shows now.
We did this one with a friend who is totally new to cryptic crosswords. It was a great puzzle to show the many devious ways that cryptics work and so we really appreciated and enjoyed it.
Thanks Rufus and Miffypops.
Lovely puzzle, thanks Rufus and Miffypops for the update on the aga saga/pigsty.
I really enjoyed this and after a slowish start the mental gears started to turn and last in was 6d which was a doh moment. Thanks to The Setter and for the review.
Thank you Rufus for an entertaining doddle. 13a my favourite, l think, but it was nice to see a couple of nautical clues – we are after all a seafaring race. Thanks too to Miffypops for the review and hints. Oh, and l quite agree about the game at 15d.
Rufus yet again fulfils his remit ,to entertain without too much pain and as Pommers has said he also does the same duty today elsewhere .Unbelievably consistent use of the language and always worth more than 2 for entertainment .
Thanks MP for the review (and getting the poets picture correct) and thanks to R ufus for being Rufus .
It really is tiresome to return to an almost-completed puzzle on my iPad having answered an email, only to find a blank grid. Complaining only evokes a standard, anodyne rely. Clearly, though, the DT are not getting enough pressure to fix the myriad problems with their app. Other developers issue updates at a far faster rate, either fixing bugs or enhancing the user’s experience. Come on guys, get with the programme [pun intended].
I enjoyed this Rufus puzzle. I don’t find Rufus all that easy, but managed to complete without hints. I was a bit slow with the eastern half. 11a was my last in!
I missed the double definition in 2d.
Otherwise I had no problems. Fave clue was 6d, closely followed by 9a and 5d.
Many thanks to Rufus for an enjoyable puzzle. Many thanks to Miffypops for an entertaining review with excellent explanations.
‘By the shores’ etc is from Hiawatha, written by Longfellow not Tennyson!
Welcome to the blog jane.
And welcome from me too. At least I got the picture right (See comments 23 and 24)
Been so busy that I only got round to this today. Gentle, teasing and ultimately fulfilling. Thanks you Rufus. Still got a stack more to do and I haven’t even looked at the Toughies. Where do you all find the time? Thanks to MP for the entertaining blog (you are absolutely right about baseball – it makes cricket seem like Formula One).