Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27528 (Hints)
Big Dave’s Crossword Club
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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, an assortment of clues, including some of the more difficult ones, have been selected and hints provided for them.
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
Most of the terms used in these hints are explained in the Glossary and examples are available by clicking on the entry under “See also”. Where the hint describes a construct a “usual” this means that more help can be found in The Usual Suspects, which gives a number of the elements commonly used in the wordplay. Another useful page is Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, which features words with meanings that are not always immediately obvious.
A full review of this puzzle will be published after the closing date for submissions.
Some hints follow:
Across
1a Reject moderate volume (4,4)
Two definitions – the second being to lower the volume of, say, a radio
5a Easy listening with Neddy Marsh (6)
The three-letter abbreviation for a genre of easy-listening music followed by the type of animal that is also called a neddy
12a National drink (7)
This national from a European country is also the name for a type of vermouth from the same country
13a What bridge-player needs to conjure a win? (3,2,6)
A cryptic definition of what a bridge player needs in order to win, or a conjurer to entertain
16a Reaching a required standard is the responsibility of that lot going by boat (2,2,3,4)
A phrase meaning the responsibility of that lot followed by Noah’s boat
21a Bird with green vegetable, reportedly unpleasant (7)
This bird, usually referred to by the names for the male or female of the species, is a charade of a three-letter green vegetable and a word that sounds like (reportedly) an adjective meaning unpleasant
23a Entertain man shortly with drink (6)
A shortened version of a man’s name followed by an alcoholic drink
26a Repairman takes chance — I’m off (8)
An anagram (off) of CHANCE I’M
Down
1d Most of the reed used by nest-builder (6)
Most of TH[e] followed by a reed
3d Agitate birds circling round second person over the Channel (7)
An anagram (circling) of BIRDS around the French second person singular pronoun
4d Where hopeful investors sink their funds? (7,4)
… by throwing coins into this!
7d A valve to move slowly if absolutely necessary (2,1,5)
The A from the clue followed by a 3-letter valve used to control the flow of water and a verb meaning to move slowly
14d Old pickpocket to make reduced funds (8)
This old name for a pickpocket is a charade of a verb meaning reduced and the funds given to the winner of a challenge like a boxing match
17d Bus that’s parked outside supermarket? (7)
This old-fashioned type of bus is also the name for the wheeled basket used by supermarket shoppers
19d Pope coming from England or one from Scotland, perhaps, under a GP? (6)
The name adopted by the only English pope is derived from a Scottish name preceded by the A from the clue and the two-letter abbreviation for the qualification needed to practise as a GP
20d Sad soldier in farm vehicle turned up (6)
An American soldier inside the reversal (turned up) of a farm vehicle
The Crossword Club is now open. Feel free to leave comments. I’ll be back after this month’s Village Café and Market.
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The Quick crossword pun: {dough} + {cede} + {owe} = {dosi-do}
I asked my wife who Neddy Marsh is, to no avail. Google was pretty useless as well.
He was an Australian composer from the 1930’s – but when discovered that he had dodgy tendencies, he was removed from the history books.
Hello Dave and everyone, just a quick Hi to say I am still around and put in for another few weeks extended leave from Kath, with intermittent appearances! The weather has been so nice the van has been put to good use, being in Hereford and Broadway over the last couple of weeks, I found this one quite easy for a Saturday considering I am not getting to do my crosswords everyday, a two star for difficulty for me today but no real favourites, I too was wondering who Neddy Marsh was!!! Having put the wrong ending in for 21a held me up for a while!! With a bit of luck I may be in a bit more often next week, hope you are all behaving in my absence and Kath is keeping you in line!!! Mary x
How lovely to hear from you Mary – glad you’re having such a good time, so I can’t imagine you having any difficulty getting more leave of absence from Kath! And I, too, got a bit stuck with Neddy Marsh, so happy not to have been the only one. Thanks BD for hints. Thanks setter for the fun – 3d made me smile. Off to a jazz concert, as Mr P is up north poet-ing. Greetings to all.
Thanks Mary
It’s nice to hear from you, Mary, and, like you, I didn’t have any favourites either; in fact, I was disappointed that there weren’t any “Eureka!” moments. Showing my age, I immediately thought ‘Seagoon’ when I saw ‘Neddy’ so I was sidetracked for a few minutes…
Hi Cara you too … I won’t mention our team’s arguably ‘best’ player!!!!
I agree with you, Mary. In years to come, football supporters will remember this tournament in Brasil for that incident and not because it was a high-scoring and hugely-enjoyable World Cup.
Hi Mary – glad that all is well with you and nice to have you back even if briefly. MORE extended leave granted, grudgingly!
All this lot are behaving quite well, most of the time anyway.
Have fun and “see” you soon.
Welcome back, albeit fleetingly. Nice of you to pop in now and then so we can keep tabs on you!
Hello Mary,
Nice to hear from you. Not sure why you want leave from Kath as she is very interesting and entertaining (except when she’s weeping buckets at any mention of Inspector M***e) clue = …- – -…
Sounds like an enjoyable tour – the Cotswolds are lovely
Mary means that I keep track of all requests for leave from the blog otherwise we worry when a real regular goes AWOL – at least I hope<b/. that's what she means rather than your interpretation!
Damn – put a . rather than a > which means that the whole of the rest of my comment is in bold !
Shame, my poor attempt at humour missed the mark
I’ll try harder next time
Sorry!
No worries
Almost a read and write today, only hold-up was originally the wrong ending for 21a, all soon became clear. No real favourites, overall a bit dull. Thanks to setter and to Big Dave for the review.
This was by no means a write-in for me unlike some Saturdays. As others above, I also opted for male of the species in 21a which snookered me with 4d for a while. 5a was last in as I too wondered who Neddy Marsh was but in any case had not heard of that easy-listening. Stupidly I failed to parse 11a although I had correct solution. Thanks setter and BD. In W.Sussex we are in midst of thundery downpours just as day at Wimbledon is due to start – presume it’s similar there – at least Centre Court has a roof so at least there will be some live TV coverage.
sunshine here in West Wales at moment Angel but some ominous looking clouds about!!!
It was far from being a write-in for me too.
but the garden does.
Our weather is the same as yours – I don’t like it much and neither does collie
Hi Angel!
Google “”*** – easy-listening music”” and among others there is a blog by Pat Jacobs on easy-listening music which is rather detailed on the subject.
That’s part of the answer to a prize crossword, so has been redacted.
Thanks BD – I am becoming very forgertful!
My son and I are down in the Var.
Thanks for the lead Derek. I have now Googled a bit and have learnt what kind of easy-listening this is – not entirely my scene which may account for my ignorance!
1.5*/2.5* for me today. My only issues were that 14d was a new word for me which I had to check in the BRB and I needed Google to find the meaning for the acronym of the first three letters of 5a to understand how they related to easy listening – d’oh!
Many thanks to Mr. Ron and to BD.
P.S. Welcome back, Mary!
Welcome back Mary. I hope that you are here to stay for a while.
I finished this puzzle by 10.30 our time so I beat my target of finishing by the time that it is published. I must be improving and would give it 2*. I did struggle on 5a but got it in the end and I felt that 12a was a bit abstruse because gin and **** refers to ******* but it is really Vermouth as Dave points out above. Other than that, quite enjoyable and I did chuckle at 13a. Many thanks to BD for the hints and to Mystereon for another good one
I agree with the phrase Read and Write although 11a did hold me up due to its clever distraction. This was my favourite along with 7d. I did it while waiting for a haircut – now off to watch my wife’s choir and a quiet night in with perhaps some football viewing. Thanks to BD, the Setter and for the review. Raining here.
I have not been doing a lots of crosswords this week so was looking forward to today’s offering. I thought it a bit bland and would rate as 1/2.5 I did take a liking to 16A. My thanks to Big Dave for his review.
I had to write in the answers three times as every time I left it, it became blank. It’s since the last telegraph update.
They never think or care what happens to the crossword or sudoku. I’m thinking of cancelling my subscription
Maybe consider getting a DT puzzles only subscription (which is about 50% cheaper than the DT newspaper app ). You can then use an independent app on your tablet to import the crossword (I use Stand alone inc which in my opinion is a better platform than the DT one). This also allows access to the toughie which wasn’t included on the main DT app when I originally subscribed (about 3 months ago). You can, of course, use a PC and get the full range of DT puzzles with a puzzles only subscription.
You may already know all the above but I thought it may be of interest if you didn’t. You may also not even subscribe to the DT and I may’ve interpreted your post above completely incorrectly – it’s getting late and Guinness is good.
Thank you Jon, I’ll definitely look at this as I only have the app for the crossword and as you say I don’t get the Toughie. Having said that I’m not sure my crossword solving skills are up to a Toughie but I can aspire.
Thanks.
Good plan.
Which stand alone do you use, the free one or the 6.99 one?
I’m having trouble getting the Telegraph App to load on my Ipad – anyone else experiencing problems?
I had to resort to reloading the App from Newstand and it allowed me to put in my entry.
Sorry I put my reply in the wrong place. See above
Well I’m glad that most of the rest of you seemed to find this one so straightforward – due to one stupid mistake and a few other bits of “dimness” I didn’t.
For quite a long time I had completely the wrong answer for 13a – that scuppered quite a few of the down answers until I realised what I’d done.
I missed the anagram indicators in 11a (and was put off by thinking of football) and 3d which also slowed things up.
My last answer was 12a – spent ages trying to justify a different national, one from the Middle East – how stupid can I get – no need for answers!
Generally oh dear, I think.
I liked 11 and 25a and 14 and 18d. My favourite was 5a.
With thanks to Mr Ron and BD.
Bright sun alternating with torrential downpours – no gardening today so off to try gazza’s NTSPP – I always enjoy his crosswords.
I, too, had the wrong answer for 13a, which held me up for a long time as I was so sure it was correct. I thought it was a pretty good answer!
Found today’s effort very reasonable except for 5 across, I don’t think I would ever have got it without the hint. Nice to hear from Mary again. I get quite concerned when there’s no comment from a regular for a while. It’s nice to have a little insight into other peoples lives on a site like this, without invading anyone’s privacy. Thank you to the setter and to BD.
Enjoyed this puzzle over a coffee in the town square. Went to the market for the first time in a few weeks but it was a bit too hot for much mooching about so coffee (and a beer) it was. Hottest day of the year today, 34C and rising!
Anyway, I digress . . . As for the puzzle I think 4d may be favourite and I reckon **/**** from us. Thanks to the setter and BD.
Now to tackle Gazza’s puzzle while watching Rafa.
Please can anyone help with 1 d and 11 a… the hints didn’t help me.
Thanks , Snarky
Welcome to the blog Snark.
11a Spurs and United kept within playing limits (7)
Insert the abbreviation for United in an anagram of limits.
1d Can’t add much to BD’s hint. What sort of thing builds a nest?
Spurs being a plural noun… not a verb.
How grateful am I to Gazza and Tantalus for this extra hint?
Thanks to Mr Ron and BD… fun morning but absent from Mrs T (she being stateside and me being in Pangbourne).
Morning Darling!
Mr T
The old army adage ‘train hard fight easy’ came to mind doing this. After yesterday’s Toughie mauling this seemed ever so gentle in comparison. A welcome confidence booster.
I’m with Kath today – found it somewhat slow-going, with three remaining (5, 11 and 12a’s parsing) before coming here for hints. So I thought I’d add my voice to give some comfort to others out there who didn’t find it a write-in! Thanks all :).
Yes… I found this a slow starter but eventually got going and while I wouldn’t say I raced through it, I did eventually complete it without major problems… except for 11a. No worries, I thought, BD is bound to have provided us with a helpful hint, but no! I was just about to delve into Colonel H. W. Hill’s 1953 Crossword Dictionary (I know I’m in trouble if I go there) but then spotted Gazza and Tantalus’ “extra” hint. A bit of a duh moment followed.
Someone’s probably already mentioned that Chamber’s have just updated their iTunes App for the 13th Edition. You only have to buy the App once and all the updates are free. It’ll never fully replace the hard copy but it’s very good for a quick look-up. The thesaurus isn’t bad either and cross-references with the dictionary.
Off to Great Malvern for our 35th wedding anniversary tomorrow where we had our honeymoon, not too far from BD. Apparently 35th is Jade or Coral, so she’s in for a take-way from the Chinese or a couple of quid each-way at the bookies
Many thanks to Mr Ron and to BD.
Pleasant but pretty straightforward. As another contributor has observed – what a change from yesterday’s Toughie! This one is about 2*/3*, and my favourite was 7d. Thanks to Mr Ron, and to Big Dave for the hints.
I didn’t find this a write-in, nor did I find it dull. Having the wrong answer in 13a and being convinced it was correct, I was hung up for a long time. When I got 4d, I saw the error of my ways and everything slotted in nicely after that. My last one in was 11a and I had to cheat with the gizmo. Like most, I got held up by 5a, the Australian composer (per tantalus), but when I did tumble, I pegged it to be my favourite. Thanks to setter and to BD for review.
Nice Saturday puzzle.
Faves : 12a, 13a, 21a, 4d, 7d & 19d.
Nice Saturday puzzle no help needed *|*** enjoyable none the less , now to more important things FOOTBALL. Thanks to setter & as always B D.
Very slow start for me on a cooler Friday evening warmed up with large Bacardi and coke. Had to start again this morning but made good progress once some of the pennies dropped. To those who thought this was easy I take my hat off to you. A 3*\2.5* for me.
Hi from sunny Northumbria! No great problems with today’s puzzle but enjoyable for all that. Wasn’t too sure about the valve in 7d, is the second word a type of valve? And can see the part anagram in 8d but can’t quite see where the other 3 letters come from although the answer is obvious. Learnt two alternate words for repairman today for future reference.
Took a while to get the first part of 5a, clever! Best clue for me was 16a, made me smile.
Thx to all.
I can’t help much with 7d because I don’t really see what you mean about the second word.
8d – the first three letters are another way of saying settled followed by (with) an anagram (confusingly) of SAINT.
Sorry Kath, I meant the 3rd word. Still very puzzled by this clue.
I hate hinting as I’m sure I’ll commit some sort of sin. But the valve in 7d is the first word with its article. Have I transgressed?
Pardon? What article?
If you have the right solution for 7d, trying splitting it 1, 3, 4. The first bit is what Merusa calls the ‘article’ the second bit is the valve and the third bit is the move slowly.
A = the indefinite article
THE = the definite article
I got stuck on a few today but I’ve no idea what the answer to 5a means even after putting the two three-lettered words together.
The answer to 5a means an area of soft boggy ground (or the last word of the clue).
Nice to hear from you Mary. I was very slow to get going on this but got there except for 5a (again who is Neddy Marsh? d’oh) and 11a and only got it from gazza’s answer to Snark. Welcome to the club Snark.
Really need a hand with 25a?
‘Providing cover’ is usually a clue that you are looking for a hidden word. There is another girl’s name hidden at the beginning of the clue.
Thank you…. I just couldn’t see it for looking!
Just for once I found this one but they are usually the kind of clues that I miss.
Hello all! Strangely for a beginner, 11a was one of my first ones in. Still stuck on 10a, 12a and 21a, which particularly defies answering due to 4d!!
Dave has already provided hints for some of your missing clues, including illustrations!
Resorted to the paper today as the iPad losing my answers is driving me dottier than I normally am.
Not too taxing! Being good and sticking to the one favourite I’ll plump for 11a I had the answer, why it fitted the clue eluded me for a while, then I got the “Ah Bisto” moment
Thanks to everyone who identifies the setter, I am not so accomplished
Thank you Mr Ron for the enjoyment and to BD for H&T
We can’t identify the setter that’s why he’s called that – he’s a mystery – someone else will fill you in on the details as I always get it wrong but it was the 2Kiwis who coined the “Mr Ron” bit.
for just the one favourite.
Oh, and a big
Oh my goodness I just got the Mr. Ron bit
as in Captain Scarlett
I just thought Mr. Ron was a bit prolific
I feel so foolish
Oh no – I’m so sorry – I didn’t mean to make you feel foolish! No-one here ever goes out of their way to make anyone else feel silly – that’s one of the wonderful things about it.
to make you feel better.
Mr Ron is quite prolific – he turns up quite often on Tuesdays, alternate Thursdays (i.e. when it isn’t Ray T) and Saturdays.
Apologies again and a little
Since my last blog Have been in Crete and got the Overseas DT in reduced font. Sent it in by photographing it to e mail on I pad…
I had trouble with the “easy listening” – thanks for the hint…
Last one was Spurs – not the Soccer team of course…
Still waiting for he notebook and pen- anyone else had a touch ?
Hello and thank you Crypticsue, but I am too dim or thinking too complicated to find the answers! Being a beginner has some benefits ie 11a today, but also find I tend to over complicate on others … With you all helping and BDs clues I will get there … I am determined
Just keep going – all will become clearer. When/if you reply to a comment, in this case the one from crypticsue, it helps to keep everything all together if you click on “reply” rather than just writing another comment. I’m really not being bossy here!
Thank you kath! I didn’t see the wood for the trees,in that I didn’t notice the ‘reply’ link on posts … Doh! Many thanks
Like others , it looked simple but it isn’t really.Anyway, I finished , with some hints.Thanks all.
11a. A word meaning spurs from an anagram of limits and the usual abbreviation for United
Welcome to the blog Peter.
When you’re responding to an existing comment it’s best to click the ‘reply’ button so that your response is kept together with the original comment.
Fairly straightforward for me except for 11a and I needed the comments above to get it as I was thinking that the final word was the clue.
I got 5a but it took me a minute or two to figure out which kind of neddy it was from the two possibilities.
I’m just stuck on two of the clues from the quick cw
Thanks to the setter and to Big Dave for the hints. A very nice puzzle, but tricky in places, last in was 14d, had not heard of this one. Favourite was 5a. Was 3*/3* for me.
Finished at last and have an answer for 10a but not sure how it fits in with the clue.
Can anyone please explain before i go mad.
Watching Dolly at Glastonbury on TV.
Thanks in anticipation.
10a Meal with father, splitting leftovers (6)
An affectionate word for father goes inside (splitting) a word meaning what’s left over.
See it now.
I had ****** but could not see how it fitted with clue.
All now explained.
Thanks.