Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28107
Hints and tips by Deep Threat
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from South Staffs on a bright, sunny day.
In the end, today’s Giovanni yielded in fairly comfortable time, but at one stage I had the whole of the right-hand side filled in with nothing on the left.
In the hints below, the definitions are underlined. The answers are hidden under the ‘Click here!’ buttons, so don’t click if you don’t want to see them.
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 Joke about superior one, member of religious order (6)
JESUIT – A joke or gag wrapped around the letter indicating superior or upper-class and the Roman numeral for one, giving us a member of the religious order founded by Ignatius Loyola.
5a Rotter longing to be helping on golf course (8)
CADDYING – Split (3,4) we could have a rotter or bounder and a strong desire or yearning.
9a Such may offer various bread bits left to be eaten (4,6)
BIRD TABLES – An all-in-one clue. Anagram (various) of BREAD BITS with Left inserted (to be eaten).
10a Continue running after the others have stopped? (4)
LAST – Double definition, the first being ‘continue’ in the sense of ‘endure’.
11a More troublesome row interrupted by warning instrument (8)
THORNIER – A row (perhaps of seats in a stadium) wrapped around the warning device fitted to every car.
12a Bible given to a sailor brings divine manifestation (6)
AVATAR – The letters indicating the King James version of the Bible followed by A (from the clue) and one of the usual words for a sailor.
13a ‘Go away!’ Oxford said? (4)
SHOO – An expression meaning ‘Go away!’ which sounds like (said) something of which an Oxford is a type.
15a Bad girls and lovable ones (8)
DARLINGS – Anagram (bad) of GIRLS AND.
18a Relations creating troubles — there’s little right in such (8)
BROTHERS – Insert Right into a verb for ‘troubles’ or ‘annoys’.
19a Small mammal not initially seen? Exactly! (2,1,1)
TO A T – Remove the first letter of Seen from a small carnivorous mammal, then split the result (2,1,1).
21a A daughter taking a long time to offer wise sayings (6)
ADAGES – Put together A (from the clue), Daughter, and ‘a long time’.
23a Famous Frenchman rues a sou going astray (8)
ROUSSEAU – Anagram (going astray) of RUES A SOU, giving us either an 18th century philosopher or a 20th century Post-Impressionist painter.
25a See 2 Down
26a Additional words about bad angel becoming chief troublemaker (10)
RINGLEADER – Some additional words in a legal document wrapped around an anagram (bad) of ANGEL.
27a The fellow travels on horseback around British islands (8)
HEBRIDES – ‘The fellow’ and ‘travels on horseback’, placed either side of British.
28a Rather attractive (6)
PRETTY – Double definition.
Down
2d and 25 Across: Change payment arrangement if engaging a songstress (5,4)
EDITH PIAF – Put together ‘change’ (a document), a variety of credit agreement, and IF (from the clue) wrapped around A (from the clue).
3d Labour shadow cabinet was once so downtrodden (9)
UNDERFOOT – Split (5,4) this could be a phrase describing the shadow cabinet who served in the early 1980s.
4d Terrible con endlessly pinching silver (6)
TRAGIC – Remove the last letter (endlessly) from a con or cheat, and wrap the result around the chemical symbol for silver.
5d Naughty corporal’s doings in US city (8,7)
COLORADO SPRINGS – anagram (naughty) of CORPORAL’S DOINGS.
6d Some French couple coming to Paris finally loses hope (8)
DESPAIRS – Put together the French partitive article which translates as ‘some’, a couple, and the final letter of PariS.
7d Fifty trapped in a river rising somewhere in the Crimea (5)
YALTA – A (from the clue) and a Scottish river wrapped around the Roman numeral for fifty, the whole lot then reversed (rising, in a Down clue).
8d A slogan — it could conjure up a feeling for days gone by (9)
NOSTALGIA – Anagram (could conjure up) of A SLOGAN IT.
14d Computer component that gives motorist a difficult experience? (4,5)
HARD DRIVE – A piece of computer hardware which could also describe a challenging car journey.
16d International property without a particular sort of legal document (9)
INTESTATE – An abbreviation for ‘international’ followed by some property. The document in question is a will.
17d Reprimanded Conservative made safe (8)
CENSURED – A single-letter abbreviation for Conservative followed by ‘made safe’.
20d Roadside cafe maybe found heading north or south (4-2)
PULL-UP – A palindrome (found heading north and south) which describes a place where transport drivers may stop for refreshment.
22d Servant tiring of errands to some extent? (5)
GOFER – Hidden (to some extent) in the clue.
24d Warning providing by dealer trading (5)
ALERT – Hidden (providing by) in the clue. I suspect that ‘providing’ in the clue should be ‘provided’.
The Quick Crossword pun PURRS + HOOTS =PURSUITS
A quite easy puzzle today for me. Finished in 1* time and 3* for enjoyment. I have never heard a 20d called that though.
20d a pull up for Carmen.
Sorry, Heno – that did not help much. Who is Carmen in this case? May be I am just dense today!
https://www.british-genealogy.com/threads/28851-What-is-was-The-Good-Pull-Up-for-Carmen
Nothing to do with opera.
Car-men = chaps who drive (originally) carts, or lorries. At one time roadside cafes would adverise themselves as ‘a good pull-up for carmen’. I hoped to find a picture to illustrate this, but my search of Google Images didn’t produce anything useful.
Well, you can learn something new every day.
2*/2*. Just when I hoped that we might have a bit less Lego after yesterday’s overdose, we are served up with another pile of bricks. The surfaces of 13a & 24d seem very strange, or am I missing something? On the positive side there were no obscurities today.
Thanks to the setter and to DT.
I’m with George, I’ve never heard of a 20d either, otherwise straightforward. ::Edit:: The BRB says it is just a suitable stopping place, not necessarily with a food outlet.
Good fun today. Not too difficult but a few clever clues, particularly 2d and 25a. Had no idea until the rest of the letters went in. Also spent a while wondering what a toad could have to do with 19a! Very enjoyable, thanks to all.
I found this neither too straightforward nor too fiendish. I thought on a couple of occasions I might have to use some internetty help (I was convinced, for example, that 2d/25a would turn out to be someone I’d never heard of), but that was not the case. I enjoyed it as much as the todayness of today would allow.
The typo in 24d completely passed me by. The in-brain autocorrect kicked in.
I liked 9a. 18a is appropriate for me. 6d could be my pick today, but it took the quickie pun to raise a smile so that is my favourite.
Many thanks to Giovanni and to DT. You do know your grammar. I could not tell you what a “partitive article” is. Back to school for me.
You might have to go back in time rather than back to school. I don’t think they teach formal grammar as part of foreign language studies these days.
I don’t want to go back in time either! I could teach myself formal grammar, but there are other things I need to learn about which are much more pressing. Grammar-wise, I can usually wing it by having an instinctive feel for language. (Having said that, what are the chances I’ll have made some grammatical slip-up in this comment?) It’s great to be able to pick up new knowledge on this site too, so thank you.
Although apparently the teaching of English grammar to English 11 year olds is now causing some parents distress (yesterday’s DT). The ones who think school should be fun, that is.
As far as I could make out, this is now sabotaging those of us who were actually taught grammar by changing the terms. No more definite or indefinite articles – they’re now called something else entirely. I can’t remember what……..
The one grammar failing I notice is the summary murder of the adverb. I grind my teeth every time I hear an adjective used in its place. Win big, indeed – big what? But then I suppose you cannot say win biggly.
I shall do so henceforth. As for the puzzle, it hardly required the furrowing of the SD brow, but was pleasantly diverting. 0.5*/3 seems about right. Although I was tempted by the bad girls at 15a (the story of my life) I think 19a is both simple and charming, so that gets my vote for top clue.
Thanks to the Don and DT. Now – am I feeling brave enough to tackle the Elk? To succeed in that would be to win biggly indeed!
It is certainly worth a look and not the most tricky of his puzzles. Plenty of smiles too.
George, your timely observation has just, unfortunately, been proved wrong: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2016/may/04/donald-trump-we-are-going-to-win-bigly-believe-me-video
Ah that is so fun – gnash, gnash. The Donald done me in.
Not that it’s relevant George but the ‘verbing’ of certain words vexes me somewhat. Medal, podium and party leap to mind.
Adverbs are replaced by bases. People do things “on a daily basis” rather than just “daily”. Drives me mad. The worst is “an ongoing basis”, which makes me want to go out and set fire to a well-known public building.
I suppose this could go on for a while, but another common trend is quantisation – the course I just completed brought me to a whole new level in my work. Maybe that is true of physicists but anyone else?
Possibly Giovanni intended this for the ‘Junior Telegraph’
But there was a mix-up with the envelopes.
Thanks, though, and to DT
2* difficulty and 3* enjoyment from me today.
I only had a handful of answers having read through all the across clues but was a bit more successful with the downs – 5d helped.
Got in a pickle with 19a – thought the small mammal was a rat which was silly.
Spent too long thinking that the 26a additional words were PS which was also silly.
My last answers were 1 and 9a and 2d/25a – was beginning to think that I’d got something wrong.
I liked 9 and 10a and 14d, especially after our journey yesterday. My favourite was 3d.
With thanks to Giovanni and to Deep Threat.
Off to the garden . . .
I also wanted a P.S. in 26a, Kath.
P.S. I wonder why 13a made me think of muntjac …
We’re a muntjac-free zone, at the moment anyway. Sometimes see them in the fields gazing in longingly at my lupins so I just say 13a to them.
Somehow, I think 13a might not be all you say to them.
Quite right too – it’s a good thing no-one can hear me!
Phew – a Giovanni with no obscurities. Well – apart from 20d, which I hadn’t come across before.
Ticks for 9,13&19a. Favourite was 3d.
Thanks to DG and also to DT – like Kitty, my brain must have auto-corrected 24d!
Have to agree 2* for difficulty and 3* for enjoyment. Only slight problem I had was understanding the cryptic for 12a. 3d and 19a were my favourites. Many thanks to Giovanni and to DT for the hints.
By far my fastest time for a Friday puzzle in yonks, so definitely * for difficulty, though definitely **** for entertainment value. Getting 5d quickly meant that the whole of the RHS was pretty straightforward, though the other half took a bit longer. Came a little unstuck on 2/25 and 26, but both resolved themselves with a few checking letters.
Great, didn’t need to look anything up this Friday. I like the semi all-in-one at 9a, and I like bad girls (15a). First one in was the long 5d, last one in was the songstress (2d/25a), I was looking for a bird.
Many thanks Deep Threat and Giovanni
IMHO Giovanni let us off lightly today except for my part in the NW where I struggled a bit. Thought 9a rather woolly. Fav probably 3d remembering those grim days. Have sort of heard of 20d but probably followed by “for trucks” or whatever. Thanks Giovanni and DT. ***/***.
The last pull up I saw was on my young son; apart from that clue the rest were straightforward and the whole thing was pleasantly entertaining .I finished it too quickly and occupied the rest of the morning putting horse manure and compost into a new flower bed , during which time I had to pull up numerous weeds which were growing underfoot( My favorite ) Enough said ! Thanks to the setter and Deep Threat .*/***
All done, I didn’t know 20d, so put ‘pull in’ first. I could not get 17d, or 18a for some obscure reason. Too nice sitting in the garden.
I really enjoyed it, fav = 1a.
Many thanks to DT for the hints and Don Giovanni for the excellent puzzle.
BTW 5a is split (3,5)
In my opinion today,s and Thursday’s were much more enjoyable than Wednesday’s.
liked 15A amongst others
1.5/4.5
sorry-it was Thursday’s that I was not very keen on-Wednesday’s was fine-especially the jumbo pilots in 18D
I too did the weird thing with the total completion of the right side first. I began to get nervous about the left, but no problems, so thanks to G. (and to DT for explaining about 12a).
I don’t really know about avatars – it was a new term to me until that terrible movie with the blue people, during which I fell asleep on a transatlantic flight. I tried watching it a couple of years later – it was still b****y boring.
Somewhat unusually for a Friday, completed very enjoyably and comfortably last night between grand-daughter’s swimming lesson and meeting son at the airport – so 1.5*/4*.
Absolute stand-out favourite 2d/25a (Kath can’t complain about me choosing more than one favourite).
Thought I might have to rely on DT to completely understand some of the parsing, but a with a re-read everything dropped into place.
Thanks to the Don for a great end to the work week (which I suspect means that Saturday’s prize puzzle will be a real stinker) and to DT.
Thanks to Giovanni and to Deep Threat for the review and hints. Very enjoyable puzzle, but quite straightforward. Not many obscurities, quite a few smiles. Favourite was 2d&25a, sorry Kath it’s only one
Last in was 12a. Was 2*/4* for me. Just attending the Bexley beer festival.
Very enjoyable, no obscurities and as always, fair.
Liked 9a and 3d and can’t decided between 15 and 19a as favourite.
Many thanks to the Don and to DT for a great blog as always.
Enjoyable and well-balanced effort from the Don and finished within the time available. So thanks to him and DT, especially for sorting out the bible issue. 3d made me smile and was awarded the rosette. **/**** for me then.
A Friday crossword made much more enjoyable by the absence of any ecclesiastical obscurities! The right hand side yielded much more easily than the left.
Indeed, there were actually more French references today (the 2& 25 combo, 23a, 6d) than there were ecclesiastical ones (1a, 12a). I hope Jean-Luc approves!
1.5*/3* for this Giovanni offering. Nothing too difficult or obscure, fair clueing and enjoyable. I would go along with the 2d/25a combo as my favourite.
Many thanks to DT for an excellent review and to the Don for the puzzle.
I really enjoyed this, and for once thought RD was being rather unfair with his criticism. I didn’t feel that this puzzle had more “Lego-type” clues than average, certainly not as many as yesterday, and overall it was a pleasant solve, not too testing, but far from a read and write.
I picked out three clues for Silvanus ticks of excellence, namely 19a, 3d and 14d.
Many thanks to Giovanni and Deep Threat and a pleasant weekend to all.
Perhaps I was a bit unfair. I really didn’t like yesterday’s offering at all, and today, when eight of the first ten clues I solved were charades and the next two had bizarre surfaces, I just got the hump! I do like charades as long as there are not too many of them and particularly provided they have smooth surfaces.
I’m also suffering a bit today as I kept wicket for the first time this season and I am feeling a bit stiff. Actually that’s an understatement – I feel rather how I imagine it would feel to have survived ten rounds with Mike Tyson.
Poor you, did you take any catches or make any stumpings though? That always helps to ease the pain!
Not even that consolation. I completed a simple run out thanks to a lovely throw in to me but I missed an easy stumping and a very hard catch standing up. Still we won and the beer after the game tasted good.
Strangely unsatisfying, perhaps because there were too many terribly obvious clues , such as 23a, and a good few old chestnuts, such as 18a, 19a,and 28a.
I will undoubtedly regret saying that when next week comes with a plethora of utterly obscure words .
I liked 11a , 3d 4d among others.
Thanks to Giovanni and Deep Threat.
Nice pretty straight forward solve **/*** 😊 After missing out on Victor Meldrew yesterday was quite pleased to get the ” Little Sparrow” today 😉 Thanks to DT for the blog and the clip & to Giovanni for the puzzle 👍 Liked 11a, 18a & 14d, did not like 12a 😕 Sorry
I haven’t been getting on with recent Friday offerings so today made for a nice change. After scanning the clues I felt sure I was going to be Googling for an obscure female singer, a Crimean backwater, and a musical instrument that I’d never heard of. But either I know more than I thought I did, or this was at the easier end of the Giovanni spectrum. I suspect the latter. Highlights for me were 5a, 11a, 13a, 15a, 3d and 20d. Many thanks to the Don and to DT.
Nice to see you popping in, Mr. K. Any chance of you ‘popping in’ to the UK again in the near future? Sorry, I suspect that someone else on the blog might keep asking you the same question!
Maybe the French references have something to do with it but I think this is one of the best Giovanni puzzle I have solved in a while.
Yes Silvanus, I totally approve, although the religious clues don’t bother me either.
Quite a few laughs along the way specially in 5a (rotter longing), 15a (bad girls) and 5d ( naughty corporal) .
3d also deserves a mention.
Favourite will have to be “La Mome” in 2d/25a.
Thanks to the Don and to DT for the review.
This was a R&W for me, unusually for a Donnish Friday. Much to like, no gripes and 2/25 providing a wide grin once I’d parsed it. Ta to DT and the mellow Don. 1*/4*
Definitely a gentle end of the week challenge from the Don.. 5d immediately opened up the right hand side and the left hand side duely followed. 3D was favourite and I also liked 10a which was my last one in. 2/3* overall.
Thanks to the Don and to DT for the review.
Did this one last night (Fri) – pretty gentle but still enjoyable 2*/2.5*