Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27475
Hints and tips by Miffypops
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Thankfully today, pussycat Rufus turned up and gave a breeze of a puzzle. 22d is a corker of a clue. What do you think?
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 Obtaining expert remedy before people’s treatment’s beginning (11)
{PROCUREMENT} Oh what a nice charade split 3,4,3,1 we have an expert or professional, a verb meaning to relieve of the symptoms of a disease or condition, a popular crosswordland term for people and the first letter (beginning) of Treatment.
9a A new local’s arranged to get grant (9)
{ALLOWANCE} Anagram (new) of A NEW LOCAL
10a Return first-rate piece of bone (5)
{TIBIA} The usual suspect meaning first rate or in very good health and a three letter noun meaning a small piece all reversed (return) to find a bone. When my father was too tired to play with me he used to tell me he had a bone in his leg, maybe two and I used to feel so sorry for him.
11a Turnovers in coats (6)
{LAPELS} Nice one Rufus. The turned over edges on a gentleman’s jacket or blazer
12a Stop one on a horse (8)
{STALLION} To come to a sudden halt followed by the letter I (one) and the ON from the clue will give you a male horse
13a Military show that leaves a permanent impression on one (6)
{TATTOO} A double definition the second being a permanent indelible design formed by inserting coloured pigments into punctures in the skin
15a Linesman who is ready to help a player (8)
{PROMPTER} A person in the theatre who assists cast members who have forgotten their lines
18a Accused in crash involving learner driver in blind alley (3-2-3)
{CUL-DE-SAC} Anagram (in crash) of ACCUSED with an L for learner should lead you up this blind alley. “I just realised that I have never seen a dead boy or a female nipple. This is what comes of living in a 3,2,3” Adrian Mole aged Thirteen and three quarters.
19a No way to finish port (6)
{OSTEND} A Belgian port. The round letter for No or nought. An abbreviation for a way. A verb meaning to finish.
21a Fashionable writer to give autograph (8)
{INSCRIBE} Our usual suspect for fashionable with a noun meaning a writer will give a verb meaning to write.
23a Beer UN brewed for old leader of Israel (6)
{REUBEN} Anagram (brewed) of BEER UN (mmm Beer) will give Leah’s son from The Holy Bible
26a Maybe ski? OK — here’s where to get tickets (5)
{KIOSK} Anagram (maybe) of SKI OK)
27a Measuring device for cats and dogs (4,5)
{RAIN GAUGE} This is what we use to measure a certain type of weather.
28a His merchandise won’t be free (5-6)
{SLAVE-TRADER} A dealer in human misery
Down
1d Little work — fun allowed (7)
{PLAYLET} A short dramatic piece – some fun followed by a word meaning allowed or permitted
2d Neat border plant (5)
{OXLIP} Our regular old archaic two letter term for cattle (neat) followed by a three letter term meaning a border will give you a pretty woodland plant
3d Clue women possibly will find displeasing! (9)
{UNWELCOME} And another anagram (possibly) of CLUE WOMAN
4d Bird from Northern England (4)
{ERNE} This bird is hiding away in the clue right in front of you as indicated by the word from. Can you see it?
5d They give a seat to one standing (8)
{ELECTORS} The one standing here is standing for office. “They” are the ones who might vote for him in a ballot
6d Not qualified to give the final figure (5)
{TOTAL} I throw this one out to you all. The final figure or sum I understand. Not qualified has me beaten.
7d The team won’t be prepared to play without him (7)
{TRAINER} Another word for the coach of a sports team.
8d Sailors in the drink (8)
{ABSINTHE} The abbreviation for a sailor followed by the S from ‘S, IN and THE from the clue will lead us to this drink also called Wormwood. This drink has put more men on the moon than NASA
14d Gossips going to dance discuss business (4,4)
{TALK SHOP} split 5,3 we have a verb meaning gossips followed by a short word for a dance
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ARVE Error: need id and provider |
16d He takes note of bungling Green broadcast (9)
{MESSENGER} I am not happy with the first part (bungling) of the wordplay here but the second part is an anagram (broadcast) of GREEN Don’t shoot him. He is only the ********
17d Australian capital ship (8)
{CANBERRA} The ship my brother served on shares its name with the capital city of Australia
18d Yellow bird (7)
{CHICKEN} A double definition the second being a domestic fowl
20d Nursed a disabled male ballet performer (7)
{DANSEUR} Anagram (disabled) of NURSED A
22d Has an inclination for men who are dissipated (5)
{RAKES} A double definition here. The first meaning the angle at which a thing slopes the second being those who over indulge in sensual pleasure. The wording of the clue indicates the plural of these definitions
24d Tied in the long jump (5)
{BOUND} A double definition. The first being tied as with rope
25d Correct pronunciation for ceremony (4)
{RITE} and possibly another doubler or maybe not. Certainly a homophone. The five letter word for correct sounds the same as a four letter word meaning ceremony
Music From The Big Pink aided and abetted the review today. Now I am off to my first ever ash scattering and a nice meal with nice relatives at Barnacles Restaurant just outside Hinkley. Seafood here I come yum yum.
The Quick crossword pun: (book} + {caressed} = {Bucharest}
Sorry for the delay – this post was scheduled for 11:00 am but, perhaps due to performance problems on the site, it was not published.
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The site may look a bit different as I will need to disable some features in order to identify the source of the performance problem.
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That’s a relief – thought it was a problem with my computer. You certainly go to huge trouble to ensure you continue to give us all so much pleasure – many, many thanks.
Hear hear – couldn’t have put it better myself. I was going to do another little flower, and a smile for you BD but, for the moment anyway, I can’t as they’ve all disappeared.
Totally agree with the */*** – completed easily before lights out last night. Favourite is 1a – I agree with MP on the charade split. I also agree on not getting the ‘not qualified” part of 6d. Thanks to Rufus for the very gentle start to the week, and to MP or the usual tasteful and reasonable in quantity illustrations.
I really liked this one and didn’t have any of my usual Monday problems. I’d say 1* difficulty and 4* for enjoyment.
I was slow to get 15a, the first word of 28a and 7d and started off with ‘meter’ as the second word of 27a – not helpful in the bottom right corner.
I thought there were some brilliant clues.
I liked 11 and 26a and 20d. My favourite was 3d.
With thanks to Rufus and Miffypops.
I think the unqualified bit of 6d doesn’t mean amateur or unable to do something. It’s more like complete as in being in total agreement. I could probably have put that better if I’d tried a bit harder!
Kath – you are just about there on ‘total’ – an on-line definition gives ‘complete in extent or degree; absolute; unqualified; utter” with the example of ‘total failure.’ So, the first part of the clue is total as an adjective, and the second part is as a noun.
This particular clue wasn’t that tricky – an unqualified success.
But I would say **\** based on other clues which either weren’t that cryptic (7d, 17d) or slightly obscure (2d, 4d) and both 15a (I had promoter for no good reason) and 28a (I had share) outwitted me.
Liked 3d.
Mr 2d and Mrs 4d both turn up pretty frequently so they are worth remembering.
This wasn’t hard but it was a joy from start to finish. Rufus’ consistency is amazing. He has such a light style which entertains and amuses without fail. My rating is 1.5*/4*.
28a was my last one in as I had a fixation from the checking letters that the first word must be share but I didn’t write it in because the wordplay for that answer didn’t seem to work – for the simple reason that it was wrong! When the “d’oh” moment arrived this got the vote as my favourite today just edging out 22d.
Many thanks to Rufus and to Miffypops.
I was so fixated on share, even though it didn’t make sense, that it took me a long time to get to the right answer.
Re 28a me too for some considerable time. In fact several hours later on a train doing the guarniad for some reason the penny clicked, much fumbling through bags to find the DT to correct my error
A lovely and gentle start of the week with a puzzle which was a joy to solve. 1.5*/5* for me. Difficult to find a favourite – 11a and 28d (which was my last one in) and 22d. Thanks to Rufus and to Miffypops.
It’s quiet here today – is it because this was an absolute breeze (imho)?
Thanks to Rufus (who I’ve yet to tackle over at the grauniad) & to Miffypops as per.
As usual, pure joy from Rufus. Fave I think is 2d, but so many delightful ones. Thank you Rufus and to M’pops for the review. Hope piglets are growing well, just don’t let us know when they are going to market.
Agree with 1 & 3 stars some familiar clues
13ac. 18 ac 4 d 5d & the old favourite 8d. ,still enjoyable though
I found this a somewhat prosaic doddle to start the week. All over too soon but thanks anyway Rufus and also Miffypops for your hints which were not in fact needed today. */**.
Late myself today, thanks to Dave for continually working on this site for us and to MP for the blog, I think I get brain fog or something after 3pm!!! Needed help with a couple today, it’s been a lovely sunny day here, have booked a fortnights hol in Gran Canaria on the 10th May…putting the paperwork in now Kath
Blimey – you’re certainly doing the paperwork well in advance. Would give you a smile but they’ve gone AWOL for the moment.
Surely they have computors in Gran Canaria !
Agree with the majority enjoyable yet not too much of a problem .
6d only makes sense if a small child is being classified as a learner .
Hope site access issues can be sorted without hassle .
I am delighted that today’s post has now appeared. I like to read the comments of others, even if I don’t always contribute myself.
Do keep contributing, we like to know how you are getting on, I’m sure I’m speaking for everybody.
Yes, please keep giving updates and let us know how you get on.
Another witty puzzle from Rufus. Thanks BD for keeping the show on the road.And thanks, Miffypops, for the blog.
What a relief when I switched on my I-pad just now to discover that this site had re-appeared. Thank you Mr.BD for your hard work. We do the crossword in the Telegraph paper every day, but use this site all the time for assistance and the comments. Today, being a Monday, we finished the puzzle without needing the hints, but thank you to the setter and to Miffypops.
Thanks to Rufus and to Miffypops for the review and hints. I enjoyed this one a lot, loads of smiles along the way. No problems at all, until the last, over which I duly fell
I had share trader. Favourite was 8d, was 1*/4* for me. Off to the Goonerium later.
I found 90% ish of this fairly straightforward but struggled with 28ac and put in wrong answers for 5d and 15a (Election & Commuter respectively, (but hey, they both worked at the time…)). However, I always enjoy Monday’s Rufus and based on that **/**** Thanks to Rufus and Miffypops for the amusing review.
Sorry to disagree but I found this one distinctly tricky. 22d was a poor clue I thought and 6d is just awful! Although I finished this by 10.10 this morning, I found it all a bit tedious I’m afraid. Did like 28a though.
Sorry!
Thx to all.
Certainly not one star for me either
Enjoyed this one, been having trouble on Mondays recently, but this one fell into place quite nicely.
Thanks to Rufus for the entertainment.
Thanks to Miffypops for the review.
You,r right Miffypops 8 down has sent more people into space than Newcastle Brown Ale
I’ve only just noticed that MP has a new “picture” – it looks suspiciously like a kitten to me – a new addition to the ever increasing family?
I do hope that your day has gone as OK as possible, Miffypops.
I, too, noticed the kitten and was curious. I hope we get some clarification soon!
It is Charlie our Norweigian Forest Cat. (google it) He is the best cat we have ever been owned by. The most loving cat and the most intelligent. He is about 13 or 14 years old now. We have had him for nearly eight years of constant joy.
I thought I was being extremely clever with 6d.
The first three letters mean a sum, then followed immediately by the indefinite article, then followed by the one letter which denotes a trainee driver.
Then altogether the word means a figure or an amount.
How’s that?
Thanks Rufus for the enjoyment, and thanks Miffypops for the review.
Well done, Hrothgar.I got the answer but had no idea why.
As I’m still a beginner with cryptic crosswords, I’m amazed that 6d caused trouble – it was the first one in for me! Is it just too simple?
Much more trouble with 18 down – I just could not see the cowardly meaning of “Chicken”!
Thank you for this wonderful website, which keeps me on the case when I would otherwise have given up!
Pleasant start to the crossword week with this relatively untaxing wee puzzle, thanks to Rufus and to Miffypops and of course to BD who seems to put in some awfully big shifts for our benefit.
Thank you Rufus, good fun and managed to finish before went out for the day – so can’t have been too hard. Thanks Miffypops for your review and hints. Frustrating driving round Suffolk lanes trying to get a WiFi signal !
6d Unqualified support = total ? My first comment .
Welcome to the blog Peter.
Another good explanation.
Thanks to all for the comments. I had to rush the review this morning as we had an early start. No time to parse 6d and I completely missed writing a hint for 1d as I did with Ephemera last week. Thanks to Big Dave for editing and finding the cartoon for 15ac after I completely ran out of time. I have a week off next week as it is The Long Itchington Beer Festival. One Village Six Pubs. Four days.
If I survive it I will be back reviewing on Monday May 12th.
We stuck to our guns on 28a and refused to write in ‘share’ until we had parsed it properly. This turned out to be a good strategy as it saved us being wrong. Enjoyable puzzle as ever.
Thanks Rufus and Miffypops.
A pleasant little puzzle, but rather too easy for the pleasure to last for long. I agree with Miffypops’ 1*/3* rating. I enjoyed 15a, which reminded me of a succession of charming young ladies in the wings during my amateur dramatics phase! Thank you Rufus, and of course MP for the review.
Yes, a gentle start to the week. Thanks to Rufus and reviewer.
28a – “Share Trader” is an equally valid answer, given that their rack(s) offs are far from free. Just couldn’t fit “Banker’s Bonus” into the grid.
Am I stupid or are all of you! How do you get ‘BOUND’ in 24d when the third letter of ‘GAUGE’ in 27a is an ‘A’??
The 3rd letter of GAUGE is a U. I hesitate to even think of giving an answer to your initial question.
Your reticence is admirable.
OOPS, just realised I cant spell! Age!!
Ref 6d Now I have had some time with it. 6d. All in one clue. To give the final figure one would need to TOT or add up ALL the figures available. Not Qualified means we should lose an L(earner)
leaving us with TOT AL. Simple really
I think that’s too obscure for a Rufus puzzle. To me it’s just a double definition, with not qualified meaning with no provisos attached or unconditional (as in “The Olympics were an unqualified success”).
Miffypops, I was amused to read that my father wasn’t the only one who frequently had a bone in his leg!
8d my favourite clue because in, and the, are used well in the clue to hide the fact they are in the answer. Your reference to the letter S in 8d is irrelevant because it simply is ABS as in able bodied seamen for sailors plural. Total is just a double meaning, not qualified meaning unmitigated. Oxlip too obscure for me though. I also don’t like the use of disabled for an anagram associated with nursed in 20d slightly distasteful. Jonathan
Too busy, too tired, too old, too fat to do this before tonight, but when I got round to it, I enjoyed it muchly. Thanks to Rufus for the smiles (1a was the best), MP for the review and BD for being there. 1.5*/4*