Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27887 (Hints)
Big Dave’s Saturday 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
7a Change name in secret (7)
N(ame) inside an adjective meaning secret or hidden
9a Circular meadow left mowed (7)
This circular or flyer comes from a meadow followed by an anagram (mowed) of LEFT
10a Stop men finding female sorcerer’s home (5)
A verb meaning to stop followed by some men or regular soldiers gives the home of a biblical sorcerer
13a One villain after power in a boat (7)
I (one) and a villain are preceded by P(ower) to get a South American dugout canoe
16a Circle with sawn-off firearm? (7)
To get this verb meaning to circle or turn drop (sawn-off) the final letter from a type of firearm
23a A piece of cake children eat gluttonously (4,5)
Some children followed by a verb meaning to eat gluttonously
25a Open, following on (7)
An adverb meaning following or from that time followed by a preposition meaning on or concerning
26a Small crown made of gold, one shown in court (7)
The heraldic term for gold and ONE inside C(our)T
Down
1d Team on board increase knots (6,2)
A team, possibly one on a ship, inside (on board) said ship and followed by a two-letter verb meaning to increase
4d Flag of British queen and king (6)
B(ritish) followed by a Stuart queen and the Latin abbreviation for king
5d Tired out? Completely, everything considered (3,2,3)
A phrase meaning tired out followed by an adverb meaning completely or entirely
9d Cryptic clue fair? Without a match! (7)
An anagram (cryptic) of CLUE F[A]IR without the A
14d Tenant and I study in peace (8)
The I from the clue and a study inside peace or relaxation
17d French satirist showing anger after dance (8)
A three-letter word meaning anger preceded by an old dance
19d Enjoys duck in this manner (4,2)
A five-letter verb meaning enjoys followed by a duck or score of zero in cricket
22d A profit once more (5)
The A from the clue followed by a profit
The Crossword Club is now open.
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The Quick Crossword pun: pries+wring=prize ring
Straightforward enough today – learned a new dance!
1.5*/4* for me.
Thanks to the setter and BD as usual.
Thanks for the hints BD. as usual finding it difficult – I’m still a novice I think! Any chance of a small hint for 12a? I can’t parse what the clue is let alone the answer!
Hi BD – not needed now! Finally managed to get it when I got the answer to 3d! Feel quite proud I’ve finished haha!
Welcome to the blog, Will. Well done.
Well done, keep popping back it is always interesting to see how the blog develops and welcome from me.
Easier than last week thank goodness!!
I agree with George above with his rating. Nothing too troubling, and, as usual, any unknowns could be parsed by virtue of the honest clueing. Thanks to all – hoping to continue painting the outside of the house if the rain holds off.
Reasonably straightforward once I got started – I enjoyed it.
I had to ask Mr Google about the sorcerer’s home and I don’t think I’ve met the 17d dance.
I liked 23a and 3 and 18d. My favourite was 19d.
With thanks to Mr Ron and to BD.
Lotsa fun again this Saturday. South was 23a but North slightly less 12a. Renaissance dance new to me too. Several smile-raisers including 23a, 19d and 13a. TVM Mysteron and BD. **/***.
Nice straightforward solve – thanks to BD and setter */****
2*/3*. I needed BD’s hint to confirm my answer for 10a. 13a is a new word for me. Many thanks to the setter and to BD.
Having pencilled in the answer for 1d, I had to stop and work out why and I’m pleased to see that Dave has come up with the same reasoning. Like three of the other contributors, the dance in 17d was new to me too.
Plain sailing, but not quite a piece of cake. Thx to BD and setter.
No great problems but still cannot make the answer to 1d mean knots. It must be right as it has the team who run the ship inside the usual two letter term for a ship followed by increase but can’t find the answer is the BRB that mean knots. To make a mess of perhaps but knots?
Apart from that very enjoyable even if I did have to Google 13a, probably been in the crossword before but slipped my memory.
Thx to all.
PS Mrs B says thank you to the setter for increasing her vocabulary as 11a was a new word to her.
I can sympathise with Mrs B as I thought I had invented a word when I first wrote it in PS I am also Mrs B.
Thanks to the setter and to Big Dave for the hints. Quite a tricky one, needed the hints for 1&19d and 25a. Had never heard of 10a, but got it from the wordplay. Favourite was 13a. Was 3*/2* for me. A real scorcher in Central London.
Re 10a King Saul/Macbeth “bubble bubble toil and trouble”!?
Agree with Dave and Caravaggio about the derivation for 1d but still not entirely happy. Surely, no need to make it so tenuous? First time (that I can remember) that I’ve not been able to reconcile a word or phrase with the BRB. That aside this, was a gentle and entertaining puzzle. Two new words for me as well! Many thanks to BD and the setter.
In the BRB, under the answer:
To twist or distort
In Chambers Thesaurus, likewise:
wrinkle, distort, tighten, knot, crumple, contract, pucker, contort
I’ve added a picture to illustrate my interpretation.
Thanks Dave – I can live with that. Perhaps I was a bit unfair. Cheers
I thought it had to also do with the way nautical types measure speed and the words also have a connection to how ships move forward.
Yes, I liked today’s offering too. I completed it without too much trouble but only knew 9 a was right because I’ve sung ” pack up your troubles” otherwise I wouldn’t have understood it at all! Like just about everyone else the dance was new to me as was the answer for11a. Thanks to the setter and BD for an enjoyable romp!
Yes nice and easy and i loved 1d as the KNOTs are NOT NAUTical.
Very enjoyable mostly gentle puzzle. Got stuck on 1d but got the right answer even if the meaning is a bit tenuous. Other interesting clues were 10a and 17d, learnt from these two.
3*\4* for me.
Thanks BD and setter.
30 degrees here in E Anglia !
25a is apposite considering what’s gone on at the oval. English batsmen playing something that looks a little like cricket but clearly isn’t.
Thank you to setter and BD for a delightful way to spend Saturday afternoon, very hot in our bit of East Anglia but as we are near the coast there is a breeze to help. Thought I was going to be in trouble but gradually working up from 22d and finding both of the long answers fairly early on helped. Too many goodies to risk picking favourite but 23a in there with a chance.
Not as easy for me as it appears to have been for most people on her. (Nothing new there then).
Didn’t like 1d.
13a was a new word for me, but I did know the dance…..too much reading historical novels and watching costume dramas. For crosswords I’d be better off watching cricket as there seem to be endless references to it, most of which are mystifying to me.
Thanks to the setter and to Big Dave .
How on earth do the people who insert the advertisements know that I am a bit on the cuddly side, today’s offering is for Plus Size garments?
They have webcams in your computer.
Oh no I’ll never turn it on again. It’s bad enough having a tissue-eating poltergeist in the cupboard under the stairs.
That’s uncanny.
Ours eats loo rolls in the cupboard outside the bathroom…..
Nice straightforward puzzle today, and I too learnt a new dance name and had not heard of the answer to 10a before. Good to learn new things in old age!! Thanks BD.
Welcome Gaskyns
I, too, didn’t know the dance or the boat but they were both easily solved with fair clueing.
I enjoyed this, particularly 9d and 19d, and 23a is also a bit of a laugh.
Thanks to setter and to BD for the review.
It’s too hot to think. Thanks to Dave I’ve managed to answer more, but am still stuck on 10a……. Sorcerers home….
You previously commented as KathH. To avoid confusion with our blogger Kath, you might like to revert to that name or else think of an entirely new one.
Also if you click reply (even on your own comment) it keeps the thread together.
Just Googled as mentioned earlier ???
A standard challenge for a Saturday with nothing too awkward I thought. No real favourites, maybe 13a, the boat one. 2/3* overall.
Thanks to Mr Ron and BD for his hints.
Finished bar two never look at hints so that’s it
Maybe the hints would help you to finish more regularly in the future???
Break the habit of a lifetime and have a quick peep.
1.5*/3*, but no real stand-out clue for me. Thanks to Mr Ron, and BD for the hints.
Bit of a doddle but good fun nonetheless. Tks to setter & BD
Started from the bottom and worked up to top left -last one was 1d. New words -yes 10a with 11a and 13a !
A little research here and there but all in all (!) pleasurable.
Thanks to BD and setter as always.
Enjoyable but over too soon.
Liked 25a. Short and sweet like this crossword.
Thanks to the setter and to BD for the hints.
*/***
appreciated the pictures in hints for 1D and 9D-wonder where you found these ?
Finding appropriate pictures to illustrate clues is an art form!
ah!
Easy peasy with no stand-out clues for me. Done at The Oval in lots of heat! Thanks BD et al.
As with some of the others, I learnt a new word with 11a – rather like it and intend to use it! Whether anyone will understand me is another matter.
Welcome to the blog Rosemary
The big question is will anyone understand it?
As an ex English teacher must admit that although I had heard of the answer to 11a, I didn’t really know what it meant. Agree with many other contributors that it’s stretching it a bit to say that 1d means “knots”.
Another new word for me was the boat at 13a.
Would Team in ship not have been a fairer clue for 1d. I was completely thrown and consequently could not get 7 and 10a. Apart from that I enjoyed it and the obscure or unusual words could be ascertained from the clue. Thanks all.