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DT 27471

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27471

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

For me this was one of Jay’s easier puzzles. Feel free to disagree.

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    Engages the man, surrounded by chaos (6)
{MESHES} – the male pronoun inside (surrounded by) chaos

5a    Earliest couple of subeditors quietly sat and thought (8)
{SUPPOSED} – the first two letters (couple) of SUbeditors followed by the musical notation for quietly and a verb meaning sat for a portrait

9a    Old boy’s back, covered in Spanish wine and curry (8)
{VINDALOO} – O(ld) and a different three-letter word for boy reversed (back) inside (covered in) the Spanish word for wine

10a    Arrangements for groups to incorporate raise (3-3)
{SET-UPS} – some groups around a two-letter word meaning raise

11a    Dance parade follows low point (8)
{MOONWALK} – to get the dance popularised by Michael Jackson start with a verb meaning to parade and precede it with a verb meaning to low, of cattle, and a compass point

12a    Scam discovered before vessel’s collapse (4,2)
{CAVE IN} – sCAm without its outer letters (dis-covered) followed by a blood vessel

13a    Do nothing for nation protecting a good name (8)
{STAGNATE} – a nation around (protecting) the A from the clue, G(ood) and N(ame)

15a    In case of management, the Spanish soften (4)
{MELT} – the outer letters (case) of ManagemenT around the Spanish definite article

17a    Begrudge English city snatching victory (4)
{ENVY} – E(nglish) and the abbreviation for a US city around (snatching) V(ictory)

19a    Live rifles reassembled in rooms at the top (8)
{BELFRIES} – a two-letter verb meaning to live followed by an anagram (reassembled) of RIFLES

20a    Carnivores good in rows? (6)
{TIGERS} – G(ood) inside some rows

21a    Check out family surrounded by proceeds of robbery, love (4,4)
{LOOK INTO} – family inside the proceeds of a robbery and O (love)

22a    Crew member‘s new idea on endless row (6)
{ROADIE} – a member of the crew of a touring band is derived from an anagram (new) of IDEA after ROw without its final letter (endless)

23a    States finally increase motorway charges (8)
{EMIRATES} – the final letter of increasE followed by a major arterial road and some charges

24a    Doctor with advantages, employing right cleaners of beds (8)
{DREDGERS} – D(octo)R and some advantages around (employing) R(ight) gives these vessels used to clean river beds

25a    A quarter got the broadcast (6)
{GHETTO} – an anagram (broadcast) of GOT THE – for once broadcast is not indicating a homophone!

Down

2d    Closing words of timeless poet drafted with guile (8)
{EPILOGUES} – an anagram (drafted) of POE(t) without the T(ime) (time-less) with GUILE

3d    Pleasure-seeker and academic held hostage in robbery (8)
{HEDONIST} – an academic inside (held hostage) a robbery – the latter being easy to get if you did the Quick crossword first!

4d    Eccentric late aunt’s land (9)
{SULTANATE} – an anagram (eccentric) of LATE AUNT’S

5d    Terrible for gifts (8,7)
{STOCKING FILLERS} – an anagram (terrible) of STICKLERS IN GOLF

6d    Churchman‘s first in poll recount (7)
{PRELATE} – the initial letter (first) of Poll followed by a verb meaning to recount

7d    Pot made of brass on slate (8)
{SAUCEPAN} – some brass or cheek followed by a verb meaning to slate or criticise

8d    One’s own work must cover tabloid on Italian conflict (8)
{DISUNITY} – home handiwork around (must cover) a tabloid newspaper and IT(alian)

14d    Fitting rear end to Mondeo, make a call (9)
{TAILORING} – the rear followed by the final letter (end) of MondeO and a verb meaning to make a call

15d    Temperature in red meat possibly was important (8)
{MATTERED} – T(emperature) inside an anagram (possibly) of RED MEAT

16d    Extended farewell from band on the radio (4,4)
{LONG WAVE} – an adjective meaning extended followed by a farewell gesture gives the band on the radio where Test Match Special can be found

17d    Judge grounds holding one million (8)
{ESTIMATE} – the grounds of a large house around (holding) I (one) and M(illion)

18d    Clerical outfit‘s share capital, for example, lacking home (8)
{VESTMENT} – share capital, for example, without (lacking) the IN (home)

19d    Blocking call after pub (7)
{BARRING} – a verb meaning to call on the telephone after a pub

Best wishes to Seng Chuan Chua (Scchua) and his wife Christine who are today celebrating their wedding anniversary.


The Quick crossword pun: (heist} + {aches} = {high stakes}


33 comments on “DT 27471

  1. A good puzzle today. 7d took a long time for the penny to drop but the checking letters confirmed it. Thanks to Jay and to Big Dave for the review.

  2. 5d stumped mefor a long while since it is so unseasonal.8d took ages to unrevel,as did several others.Favourite ? hard to choose just one , perhaps 16d or 25a.Thanks Jay and BD.

  3. 1*/3*. I found myself on the setter’s wavelength straight away today and it was “read and write” for me except for 12a, which took a bit of thought and was my last one in.

    Even though this wasn’t a particularly challenging puzzle (and it seemed a bit strange to have the same partial wordplay in 14d & 19d), I did find it enjoyable.

    Many thanks to Jay and to BD.

    P.S. Happy Anniversary to Mr & Mrs Scchua!

  4. Firstly I would like to add my congratulations to the scchuas on their anniversary. On the whole I quite enjoyed this offering & thought 5D was a nice anagram shame it’s not seasonal.22A was nice and 11 A made me smile. Many thanks to jay & BD for the review. I am now off to buy some plastering materials luckily I have a friend who can do the work, I tried it once & it just fell off the board on to the floor, engineering & electrics are so much easier.http://bigdave44.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_yahoo.gif

    1. I wouldn’t even contemplate any of those.

      But as my OH is down to one hand due to a stroke, I am now wielding power tools like drills, screwdrivers and, since yesterday, a jigsaw. That’s enough excitement for me……….http://bigdave44.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_smile.gif

  5. Another brilliant crossword – thanks to Jay and to BD for the review. Struggled to complete the NE corner – particularly 12A – which I would rate as one of the best clues. I wanted to put ‘take in’ but couldn’t justify it.

  6. Thank you Jay, enjoyable and I was beginning to think that I was doing pretty well until I got stuck in the NE corner. Time has overtaken me – family coming for lunch ( real reason to drop off dog ! ) and I took a couple of hints to get to the end – 7d was one of them. So many thanks BD for your help. Happy Anniversary to Mr and Mrs Scchua – have a lovely day.

  7. V. enjoyable. The only difficulty I had was with 7d. Is a saucepan really a pot?

    1. Where I come from in Scotland pots and pans are interchangeable but when we talk about “washing the pots” we mean washing the cooking utensils rather than the crockery. Hope you’re making a good recovery Neveracrossword.

  8. I started off thinking this was one of Jay’s more straightforward crosswords until the last few – a bit more than 2* difficulty and 3* for enjoyment.
    I completely 12a’d with 12a – just couldn’t do it.
    8 and 14d also took quite a while.
    I spent too long trying to put the O(ld) B(oy) into the curry which just wouldn’t work but sorted that one out in the end.
    I liked 11 and 19a and 3d. My favourite was 7d, even though it was one of the ones that I had a bit of problem with.
    With thanks to Jay and BD and all good wishes to scchua and his wife for a happy anniversary.

  9. No wonder 8D took me so long to figure out! I spent ages tring to fashion diary (own work) and sun into a logical answer. I got the right solution in the end by making dy an abbreviation for diary along with I for one and IT and the tabloid. What can I say? DIY isn’t something I do very often…except for in crosswords, perhaps!

    Apart from that, I enjoyed this and thought 11A was a great clue. Thanks to Jay and to BD for the review and 8D enlightment.

    1. I did the same with 8d – I got the tabloid but was so fixed on the diary that I even got as far as looking up “disunary” it doesn’t exist – trust me!http://bigdave44.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/icon_rolleyes.gif

  10. Very enjoyable. Rushed through and then got stuck on a couple with 8D giving the most bother. (‘What’s a dity?’ I stupidly asked myself.)

    11A my favourite today.

  11. Managed most of the puzzle without help, but then had to succumb to finish the NE corner. Never mind, we still enjoyed it. I think pots are made of pottery and pans are made of metal, but then I don’t come from Yorkshire despite having lived here for many years. Congratulations to Mr. And Mrs. Scchua. Thank you to the setter and to BD.

    1. I agree.
      Linseed oil is made from Linseed.
      Sunflower Oil is made from Sunflowers
      Vegetable Oil is made from Vegetables
      and Baby Oil is made from …………………………..???

  12. Firstly happy St George’s Day ( from a Welshman !)

    Agree with majority not too bad today but 12 a fooled me too .

  13. I found today a bit easier although would not have got there so soon (or perhaps at all) without some hints). Was completely off with 6d the recount was stuck in my head as something to do with maths.

    Happy St George’s Day (from a Scots woman)

    Thank you Jay and BD

  14. All very nice until the top right corner which left me completely baffled even with the hints. Shame as I enjoyed the rest but the top right makes it a four star for difficulty for me.
    Thx to BD for the hints even if they didn’t help me.

  15. This took me forever to get started, but once in, it seemed to flow much better. I put “take in” (scam) for 12a for no good reason except it fit and I had no idea of the correct answer. Fave was 11a, it also seems to be the most popular. Best wishes to the Chuas. Thanks to Jay and to BD for review and putting me right on 11a.

  16. Thanks to Jay and to Big Dave for the review and hints. I enjoyed this, but found it very difficult, needed 6 hints to finish. Favourite was 9a. Was 3*/3* for me.

  17. I too caved in at 12ac and although I had the answer to 8d I could not pronounce it in my head without the U as in sun. In the olden days I would have written it out accrossways and seen my error. Many thanks to Jay and BD. Best wishes to our lovely Singaporeans.

  18. 2*/3* for me today. Filled in most of it over lunch then completed the NE corner back at my desk by “multi-tasking” during a conference call!
    Thanks Jay and BD

  19. **/*** for me today. Put “Have-On” for 12ac thinking “Scam” and luckily this yielded all 3 correct checking letters for the down clues, so was able to complete the rest of it and only noticed the error whilst reading the blog….. Thanks to Jay and BD for putting me right.

  20. Like many others today I thought I was on Jay’s wavelength until I came unstuck in the top right hand corner and needed the hint for 12a. I didn’t manage to comment yesterday but since I am the one who’s always sounding off about homophones ,I have to say that lair & layer sound the same to me.http://bigdave44.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_yes.gif

  21. We also found that it was the NE corner where the trickiest clues where lurking, with 7d being the very last to yield. Hard to see why now. Good fun.
    Thanks Jay and BD.

  22. I’m with Annidrum and the 2Kiwis – the NE corner stayed blank for quite a while after the rest of the grid was complete. Then l worked out 8d, which gave me a toehold. 3*/3* for me, and 3d was my favourite (mainly because it was the name of a boat l sailed about 10 years back). Thanks to Jay for reminding me of her, and to BD for review and hints.

  23. Tricky, but not terminally so. Not quite enough smiles, but I loved 16d. Thanks to Jay and BD, as ever. 3*/3* for me

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