DT 28062 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 28062

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28062

Hints and tips by Gazza

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

One of our regular Tuesday setters has a North American proclivity and this puzzle seems to be one of his or hers. We also have here a few idiomatic phrases which may make it a bit tricky for non-UK solvers. Do let us know how you got on and how well you liked it.

If you click on any of the areas showing ‘Click here!’ you’ll see the actual answer so only do that as a last resort.

Across Clues

1a Earthenware pot bishop brought into model prison? (4-3)
TOBY-JUG – insert the chess abbreviation for bishop into an adjective meaning model or miniature then add an informal word for prison.

5a Policeman in charge on board tender (7)
OFFICER – put the abbreviation for ‘in charge’ inside (on board) a tender or bid.

9a Red-haired man, fine American attached to game (5)
RUFUS – the abbreviation for fine (as a category of lead pencils) and a two-letter abbreviation for American follow the abbreviation for the fifteen-a-side game (a game that I’ve no desire to discuss further after last weekend).

10a A speech about daughter’s deep love (9)
ADORATION – A (from the clue) and a formal speech contain D(aughter).

11a Perfectly at home always? Surely not! (4,1,5)
WELL I NEVER – string together three adverbs – the first meaning perfectly or thoroughly, the second meaning at home and the last meaning always.

12a Tooth extractor? Surgeon, at heart (4)
FANG – an extractor or ventilator is followed by the letter at the heart of surgeon.

14a Greatly superior ways associated with a school principal (7,5)
STREETS AHEAD – ways or routes precede A (from the clue) and a school principal.

18a Entered Miami, excitedly, before noon (4,8)
ANTE MERIDIEM – an anagram (excitedly) of ENTERED MIAMI gives us the Latin phrase which we normally use in its abbreviated form.

21a Character‘s parking technique (4)
PART – the abbreviation for parking followed by a technique or skill.

22a Discuss flop, and don’t mince words! (4,6)
TALK TURKEY – charade of a verb to discuss and a slang term for a total flop (especially a play or film).

25a Wrong choice before important game (3,6)
ICE HOCKEY – an anagram (wrong) of CHOICE followed by an adjective meaning important.

26a Girl employed by Carolina Diamonds (5)
NADIA – a bit of Googling reveals that Carolina Diamonds was the name of a (now folded) women’s softball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. A girl is hiding (employed by) in the name.

27a Pot volunteers drank, strangely (7)
TANKARD – the old abbreviation for our part-time soldiers is followed by an anagram (strangely) of DRANK.

28a Form of entertainment, Korean primarily, a Korean almost ruined (7)
KARAOKE – start with the first letter of Korean and add an anagram (ruined) of A KOREA[n].

Down Clues

1d Perplexed  cast (6)
THROWN – double definition, the first meaning perplexed or discombobulated.

2d Confound the Spanish female with extremely good climbing (6)
BAFFLE – string together a Spanish definite article, the abbreviation for female and a slang word meaning extremely good. Finally reverse the lot (climbing, in a down clue).

3d Boy appearing on stage at the last moment (4,2,4)
JUST IN TIME – a boy’s name precedes a stage or period. I really dislike ‘boy’, ‘girl’, ‘man’ or ‘woman’ as part of the wordplay with no further indication as to what the name is.

4d Grand party, of importance (5)
GRAVE – the abbreviation for grand ($1,000) followed by a noisy party with music.

5d So, no end to working alone (2,4,3)
ON ONE’S TOD – an anagram (working) of SO NO END TO. *** Sloan was an American jockey who rode many winners in England, leading to his name being adopted as Cockney rhyming slang for ‘own’.

6d Crescent, perhaps in decline (4)
FLAG – double definition, the first being the Turkish emblem which features a crescent.

7d Mate, ahead of meal, makes a drink (5,3)
CHINA TEA – Rhyming slang for a mate followed by an afternoon meal.

8d Traitor may cause awful danger, round East End initially (8)
RENEGADE – an anagram (awful) of DANGER contains [separately the initial letters of the words East and End] the abbreviation for East and we finish with the initial letter of End. Thanks to Jean-Luc for the correction.

13d Compelling work, original in Prado, by mature English painter (4-6)
PAGE-TURNER – the first (original) letter of Prado is followed by a verb to mature and (possibly) the most famous English painter.

15d Organ, stained, put aside (9)
EARMARKED – charade of a bodily organ and an adjective meaning stained or blotched.

16d Trouble concealing blemish? The opposite with cosmetics (3,5)
WAR PAINT – ‘the opposite’ tells us that instead of the wordplay being ‘trouble concealing blemish’ we have to put a skin blemish around (concealing) a verb to trouble or hurt.

17d Political leader, one conducting operation involving centre of parties (8)
STURGEON – now that Vince Cable has lost his seat setters have adopted this lady as their stock politician. Put someone who operates in a theatre around (concealing) the central letter of parties.

19d Child put in very old snowmobile (6)
SKIDOO – this is a (mainly North American) motorised sledge. It was originally a trade name (3-3) but has become adopted as a generic term. It’s not a word I knew but the wordplay is clear. Insert an informal name for a child into an adverb meaning very. Finally add O(ld).

20d Wicket accepting your spin (6)
GYRATE – fear not, this is nothing to do with cricket. Wicket is a small opening which contains (accepting) the abbreviation for your.

23d Canoe up and down (5)
KAYAK – I’m sure that water sports enthusiasts will complain that the answer is not the same as a canoe but for crossword purposes it’s near enough. This one is a palindrome, i.e. it reads the same up and down, in a down clue.

24d Rubbish a work schedule (4)
ROTA – a word for rubbish or nonsense is followed by A (from the clue).

My gold medal today is awarded to 13d. Which one(s) were in contention for you?

Today’s Quickie Pun: SON + DACE + COOL = SUNDAY SCHOOL


93 comments on “DT 28062

  1. Good stuff.
    Lots of nice clues, 17d was my favourite, nice and topical as she is in the news at the moment.
    I have never seen 18a spelt like that, good job I checked the letters from the anagram.
    A few ‘ cockeneyism’ (5d and 7d) fine for me, hopefully OK for non-Londoners.
    Last in was 6d, was unsure about that one. Is a crescent a ‘****’, I thought it was ‘wane’ to start with!!!
    Many thanks for the hints, Gazza. Also the setter…

    1. Glad it wasn’t just me, Hoofit. I think the wisest people always check the anagram letters. I am not one of them.

          1. And more company from here! One of those ‘things’ that you are simply never called upon to spell and rarely see written out. That’s my excuse anyway…….

            1. I hate to be smug – but I spelt it korrectly. Where’s the emote – thingies?

              1. I keep reactivating and then deactivating them each time the performance get bad. Currently they are near the top of my list of suspected problem plugins.

                1. Hi BD – I could (almost) live without the ‘thingies’ if I could just get back to accessing the site without having to go through a proxy server. It’s not just me – honestly!

                    1. Because it’s the only way that I can currently access the blog! Been the same ever since BD changed the server – and I’m not the only one! Trouble is, we seem to be overloading the proxy now……

                    2. It seems to be a problem with the DNS cache. Flushing it doesn’t seem to work (BD explains this better). There are ways to solve it. I’m posting via a proxy too. Thought I’d sorted it this morning with the name server. Will try again tomorrow.

  2. Nice offering today, best clues were 14A & 13D. Many thanks to the setter & Gazza for his review. Off out now to clear out the camper van, getiting ready for the replacement motor home, roll on summer :yahoo:

  3. I do enjoy the puzzles from this setter – same person as last Tuesday, Gazza?
    Not difficult, very satisfying answers and a barrel of laughs along the way.
    Long list of favourites so – OK Kath – I won’t go there. Gazza’s top pick was definitely one of them.

    Many thanks to Mr. Ron (time to reveal yourself now?) and also to the knight in shining armour, particularly for explaining the origin of 5d. Thought you missed a good pic opportunity at 21a!

    1. Perhaps illustrating 21a was a case of being spoilt for choice.

      The other day I had multiple favourites and didn’t receive any ticking off from Kath. I am taking that as tacit approval, and so will now continue to have as many as I feel like. Oh yes.

      I second the request for Mr Ron to reveal himself.

    2. I did look for the classic public information film featuring Reginald Molehusband but, alas, it’s been lost. The audio track is still available if you check Youtube.

      1. My goodness – I remember that one. ‘Until the day Reginald Molehusband finally did it right’. I’m still working on it………

  4. The horses were not disturbed today and I’m happy to let them sleep.

    I initially misspelled 18a, and it took a while to get 6d, the last one in. Surprised myself by knowing 19d. It’s nice to get an easy ride sometimes. My favourites are 11 and 12a.

    Thanks to the setter and to Gazza for blogging. A great blog as usual, but the quality is so consistent it goes without saying. Which of course means it should be said. :good:

  5. Hurrah…I don’t need to go through the proxy anymore having changed my name server..Thanks BD!

    Lots of fun and nothing overly scary. Gosh I’m tempted to have lots of favourites. But I won’t.

    I made a bit of a mess of 18a by not spelling it correctly which caused problems with 13d. Soon sorted and as it turns out 13d is also my favourite. Well one of them.

    I’ve never know but why is the first part of 7d a mate? I’ve heard it plenty of times before but never known why.

    Many thanks to the setter and to Gazza for a great blog. Jane might have been hoping for an inexplicable pic for 21a, I was hoping for a 17d pic. It would have made SL’s week.

    Freezing on the moors today with lots of fog. I turned into a little ice cube whilst riding this morning.

      1. Doh! I knew it must be rhyming slang but couldn’t come up with anything. Thank you. How obvious was that?

  6. Pleasant exercise and together with the Quickie (liked the pun) was accomplished over breakfast. Now that’s enough lounging indoors – the glorious sunshine and the garden beckon. Thanks Mr. Ron and Gazza. **/***. :yes:

  7. 6d made no sense whatsoever. How on earth can “Turkish emblem which features a crescent” = FLAG?? That’s the equivalent of saying the Griffin emblem on a Vauxhall = CAR!

    1. Welcome to the blog, Chris..
      One of the definitions of crescent in Chambers is: ‘the Turkish (orinally Byzantine) standard or emblem’.

    2. Agree with you Chris,not withstanding chambers ! but these clues occasionally happen , it won’t be the last time you disagree with the clue/answer .Keep going. This was last one in.

  8. I’m a wreck – I’ve done something awful to my ribs by stupidly falling over. Painkillers are helping. Can’t cough or laugh (yet)

    Lots of K’s in SE today. And I also misspelled 18a – I put an N at the end. I liked the tooth extractor (12a) and the wrong choice before important game (25a). Also liked the very old snowmobile.

    Manny thanks setter and Gazza

    1. Horrible pain broken ribs. You absolutely have my sympathy. Hope you feel better soon Dutch,

  9. Very enjoyable solve.
    Learned a couple of new expressions in 5d and 22a but easily parsed (or is passed).
    Talking of which in 8d I had anagram of danger around E(ast) and then first letter of End.
    9a was also new to me and agree with Gazza about not mentioning that game for the rest of the season.
    Thanks to the setter and to Gazza.

      1. Isn’t it fabulous.
        The hives where somewhere in the heart of Hyères (Iero in Provencal) and when the lime flower trees (tilleul) were in full bloom. Only made in small quantities. Very exclusive. Hope he will repeat the experience this spring.

        1. It’s so different from any I have had before…it’s simply stunning. Only a small amount left in one jar. The other is now being kept for the occasional treat. Oh gosh at least I have a translation for Iero now. I understood the rest of the label OK..’recolte avec amour’ is just lovely. Thank you again. I feel very privileged. Child type thing has devoured all of her treats ages ago.

        1. Simples, SL. You just had to be unavoidably prevented from getting to the birthday party and then cry about having missed out on JL’s boxes of treats. Frenchmen hate for English roses to cry………

          1. And I thought J-L & I were friends. :(

            I didn’t even get near his macaroons – Ooer missus

            1. It’s alright, SL, I’m your friend :).
              I don’t have any macaroons to give away though.

  10. They closed the course 7 holes into my round today due to fog, so we got to today’s puzzle early. And what a treat it turned out to be. Nothing outrageously difficult but many nice clues and good variation.

    Agree fully with Gazza’s ratings and thanks to him for the blog. Our favourite clue was 17d. Being English, we’re more than happy to discuss the weekend game or, indeed, the entire six nations this year….

  11. Good stuff. Nice blend of styles of clue and some lovely surfaces, like 13d. */*** for me last night. Thanks to Mr Ron and to Gazza for the review.

    Re 11a. I did wonder last night whether “perfectly” and “at home”, separately, were the first two words of the answer although also pondered whether taken together they could be a sporting term, perhaps in baseball, as in “so and so was well in”?!

  12. A pleasant solve leaving the horses undisturbed, even though I stupidly put OWN instead of Mr Sloan….
    19a was a ‘hadtobe’ and the standout clues for me were 13 and 20d, with 14a being my favourite. 2/3* overall.
    Thanks to the setter, and to Gazza for his usual immaculate review.

  13. Wow – I loved this – best crossword for ages, in my terribly humble opinion anyway – 2* difficulty but lots more for enjoyment from me – at least 4*.
    I’m feeling smug and self-righteous – if I didn’t always write out the letters in an obvious anagram I would have spelt 18a the wrong way – sorry MP.
    I’d never heard of the expression at 22a or the snowmobile – on second thoughts I think I have met 19d before but had forgotten it.
    Far too many good clues to write them all down so just a few are 11a and 1, 3 and 16d. I’m not even going to try to pick one, Kitty, favourite!
    I also quite liked 12a but am no keener on discussing anything to do with teeth, let alone extractors, than gazza and J-L are on discussing a particular game.
    With thanks to Mr (or Miss or Mrs or even Ms) Ron and to gazza.

  14. I shot through this in double quick time, but a couple of clues, 6 and 13 down, held me up and I don’t know why. They pushed me to 2* territory for difficulty, but I agree with Kath it was nearer a 4* for enjoyment. That said, I didn’t have any stand out favourites. They were mostly all pretty good.

    Thanks to the setter, whoever you are, and to Gazza.

  15. No problems for this over-the-ponder, except for 6D and I agree with previous comments that crescent in and of itself does not equate to flag. Pleasant puzzle, though. 1D was my favorite simply because I have a small collection of them, inherited from my mother-in-law. Thanks to the setter and to Gazza for the review.

  16. A really enjoyable puzzle. Hopefully this setter will become a regular on Tuesdays.

    18a – I made 2 spelling mistakes – I wrote out all the letters in the fodder but then forgot to cross them off when filling the little white boxes.

    Thanks to Gazza for the review – especially for the information about Mr Sloan

  17. A fairly straightforward and pleasurable solve, despite the boxes in the newspaper for 27a and 28a being half their normal size!

    As well as the popular 13d, I also ticked 5d and 16d, and found lots to enjoy.

    Many thanks to our Tuesday setter and to Gazza.

    1. Hi Silvanus – meant to comment on the half-boxes at the bottom of the grid. I reckon some page setter will have had his wrists slapped for that one!

    2. Yes – I also meant to comment on the not enough space to write at the bottom of the crossword in the paper – funny how it really threw me – what creatures of habit we are.

  18. I agree this was an enjoyable puzzle. 17d was my favourite. Skidoo is a fantastic tune by the pianist Bill Evans.

  19. What great entertainment! Hope we get this setter again, or perhaps we’ve had him/her before.
    Missed 13d first word because of spelling 18a incorrectly, unforgivable, surely it should have been so obvious.
    I’m choosing 9a as my fave, mainly because of an absolutely wonderful chocolate labrador of the same name! And, of course, one of my fave setters.
    Thanks to setter and to Gazza for his review.

  20. Fairly straightforward with nothing to send Cheltenham’s current four legged residents running for the hills. I did think that 6d took a bit of a liberty with the word play but hey ho. The rest were nicely clued, but can we please stop thinking up different ways to clue that woman in 17d. I will opt for the popular 13d as my one and only favourite.

    Thanks to our Tuesday Mr Ron for the puzzle and to Gazza for his review.

  21. Enjoyed this one. I was misdirected at first by inserting moon for 6d, but that error soon became apparent. I didn’t know what the Turks call their flag, but since I’d be happy equating “St. George’s Cross, perhaps” or “Stars and Stripes, perhaps” with “flag”, the answer seemed fine to me.

    Favourite was 12a. Thanks to the setter and to Gazza.

  22. A nice crossword rather spoilt by some poor clues. 3D is very weak, time=stage??
    6d is also unsatisfactory. Far too N American for my liking.
    Thx to all

  23. Good afternoon everybody.

    An unexpected joint solve today with me kicking off for a change. All pretty straightforward and soon finished.

    **/na

    Went on to solve the puzle in another place and almost finished the Toughie too but were foiled by the first across clue and the Halabja clue.

  24. As horses go Altoir, Douvan, Annie Power and My Tent Or Yours have all lined my pocket today at The Cheltenham Festival. As for the puzzle I got here with three unsolved and once again coffee was shunned and the Champagne sent for at breakfast. Oh dear

    1. As a Cheltonian by birth, and having suffered through the hometown chaos of too many race weeks in my time, I am very glad to be here and not there. Glad you are making a profit though.

  25. We find it hard to believe that we have reached our age without either of us being able to spell 18a correctly. The only reassuring fact is that we are not alone. Which leads nicely on to 5d. Although we are familiar with the expression, had no idea of its origin until we looked in BRB and now get further detail from Gazza. 17d not as easy for us as for most of you but very obvious cluing meant she was not a problem. Good fun.
    Thanks Mr Ron and Gazza.

  26. Since we’re on about 18a I just thought I’d ask why the alternative spelling (i.e. the wrong one in this case because of the fact that it’s an anagram) is one word whereas our answer today is two – not trying to be difficult at all . . .

    1. Perhaps because “ante meridiem” is a Latin phrase ( “a.m” ) and “antemeridian” is an English adjective which is based on that Latin phrase.

      1. Exactly what it says in the BRB. You’ll also notice that ‘ante meridiem’ is split (4,8) and the definition is ‘before noon’

      2. Thanks for that, NaxWord, it’s a relief to know that my spelling isn’t quite that bad!

    2. Personally, I’d blame the Romans …. as some commenters might say “Why are there Latin phrases in the Daily Telegraph Cryptic Crossword”

      What have the Romans ever done for us?

      1. I’ve got Life Of Brian going around my head now.

        Edit…as I posted that I see that SL is way ahead of me!!

      2. According to a good friend of mine and also very senior in years. He reckoned that when he was a lad you would never complete the DT crossword unless you had a sound knowledge of Latin

  27. Thanks to Mr Ron and to Gazza for the review and hints. A nice puzzle, all quite straightforward except that I’d put in ante meridian for 18a,put the e in when I solved 13d, but had no idea it ended in m. I should have paid more attention to the anagram fodder. Needed the hints for 16d, always forget that name for make up. Favourite was 5d. Was 2*/3* for me. Not much space in the paper for the bottom row, the advert overlapped.

  28. All good, apart from 6d, which I needed hints to get. ‘Crescent’ surely can’t be a definition for flag? It features on one, but that’s hardly the same thing.

  29. Most enjoyable puzzle. Like Jean-Luc learnt a couple of expressions with 5d and 22a. 2*/4*. 19d was also new to me but no problem to parse it. I had to check the spelling of 28a. 16d was my last one in. An excellent start of my day so many thanks to Mysteron and to Gazza for the review. Favourite was 12 a for the concision of the clue.

  30. Thoroughly enjoyable. Particular favourite was 25a . For some reason I took an age over 6d despite having two of the letters. Like some others I wouldnt class the Crescent as a flag . I had to take a second look at the anagram for 18a as I also put in the wrong spelling.

  31. Very enjoyable ***/*** as most people had difficulty with 6d and the spelling of 18a 🙄
    Liked 1d & 22a 😍 Thanks to Gazza and to the setter ☺️

  32. Initially I thought I’d be on for a PB regarding solving time, but the last few took a bit longer to yield for that to happen.

    Thanks to Gazza and setter */***

    Back to John Fowles’ Daniel Martin for me (BRB needed)

  33. 2*/3* is about right. I liked 14a but was not convinced by 6d. Ta to the setter and Gazza.

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