Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28134
Hints and tips by ShropshireLad
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment **
Good morning everyone from a bright, sunny and hot Shropshire. I don’t think today’s puzzle will test the majority of you. It’s quite workmanlike with not a lot of sparkle – still, it’s way better than anything I could produce.
The definitions are underlined to help you on your way – hopefully the hints will also help if required. If all else fails, you can always reveal the hidden answer by clicking on the ‘Click here!‘ button.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.
Across
5a Patrons born with money (7)
BACKERS: Take the abbreviation for ‘born’ and add a colloquial term for ‘money’.
7a Kid may be very loud after tea (5)
CHAFF: A 3 letter word for ‘tea’ followed by (after) the standard musical term for ‘loud’ – twice (very loud).
9a Man, English, joining European native tribe (6)
PAWNEE: The man you want to use here is found on a chessboard, followed by the single letter abbreviation for ‘English’ and (joining) the abbreviation for ‘European’.
10a Young new mum, irate (8)
IMMATURE: An anagram (new) of MUM IRATE.
11a Writer from walled city to north (10)
CHESTERTON: The ‘walled city’ is in Northwest England then you need to add ‘to’ from the clue and the abbreviation for ‘North’.
13a Nonsense written about one hilarious person (4)
RIOT: Take a 3 letter word for ‘nonsense’ and insert (about) the Roman numeral for ‘one’. Don’t know if I’m missing something here as I can’t get the significance of ‘written’.
14a After this one on tonight, produced very little (4,2,7)
NEXT TO NOTHING: Take a term to mean ‘after this one’ follow by an anagram (produced) of ON TONIGHT.
16a From Connecticut, a heavenly US state (4)
UTAH: Our one and only ‘lurker’ of the day.
17a We date, as in getting spliced? Watch out for developments (4,3,3)
WAIT AND SEE: An anagram (getting spliced) of WE DATE AS IN.
19a Central American country holding alternative view (8)
PANORAMA: The 2 letter word for ‘alternative’ is contained in (holding) by an Central American country which has a famous canal.
20a Philosopher in wrongful arrest (6)
SARTRE: An anagram (wrongful) of ARREST.
22a Fast walkers rounding lake? (5)
FLEET: The walkers you need here are at the end of your legs and they contain (surrounding) the standard abbreviation for ‘lake’
23a Stretch of river in Devon full of vessels (7)
EXPANSE: A 3 letter Devon river on which a cathedral city takes its name from surrounds (full of) kitchen utensils (vessels).
Down
1d Examine top of soup tin (4)
SCAN: Take the first letter of ‘soup’ (top of soup) and add a synonym of ‘tin’.
2d Small mountain, most dangerous (8)
SEVEREST: Take the abbreviation of ‘small’ and add a famous mountain scaled by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
3d Insight of a copper going ahead of male workers (6)
ACUMEN: Take the ‘a’ from the clue, add the abbreviation of ‘copper’ (element) and finish with a term used for ‘male workers’.
4d Lord to object to plan (10)
MASTERMIND: Take a 6 letter word that is usually used in the phrase ‘My Lord and ??????’ and a term used if you ‘object to’ something.
5d Book reckless forward (5)
BRASH: The abbreviation for ‘book’ is followed by a synonym for ‘reckless’.
6d Twin, perhaps feeling furious over concept (8,5)
SPITTING IMAGE: A term used to describe ‘feeling furious’ is followed by synonym for ‘concept’.
8d Roll up, going, at first, round about part of a mile (7)
FURLONG: Take a verb for ‘to roll up’ and the first letter of ‘going’ (going at first) and put all that ’round’ a 2 letter synonym for ‘about’.
12d Revolver shown in photograph held by Cub pack leader (3-7)
SIX-SHOOTER: Take a 5 letter verb for to ‘photograph’ and surround it (held by) a name for a ‘cub leader’. Or Brownies for that matter.
14d In the minority? Very much so! (3,4)
NOT HALF: I’ll stick my neck out on this and go for a double definition. The former being, in the minority = less than 50%.
15d Patterns formed in wing of church (8)
TRANSEPT: An anagram (formed) of PATTERNS.
17d Affluence for wife replacing husband in welfare (6)
WEALTH: Start with a synonym of ‘welfare’ and replace the leading letter with the abbreviation for ‘wife’ (wife replacing husband).
18d Strangely frightening — topless noble, that is (5)
EERIE: Take a ‘noble’ found in the House of Lords and remove the first letter (topless) and follow it with the abbreviation for ‘that is’.
21d Standing is very unpleasant (4)
RANK: Double definition, the latter being a description of something ‘very unpleasant’.
I hope that my hints (if needed) helped you complete todays puzzle. I don’t have any particular favourites – did you?
I have to go and do the housework, garden, driveway etc as Mrs SL and I are having a guest this week who is bringing her white gloves with her to check on the house cleanliness.
The Quick Crossword pun: haar+vista=harvester
I don’t mind Lego in moderation but, of the 26 clues in today’s puzzle, 19 were all or partly Lego – also involving 14 single letter indicators.
Sorry Mr. Ron, not my cup of tea, but I do hope the Lego lovers enjoyed it. Many thanks to SL for the review.
Agree. Incredibly clunky
Not much to write home about today. South went in first with North not far behind. Only glitch was 9a where Google helped me out. Thanks Mysteron and SL. **/***.
Very doable and enjoyable along the way. The quickie has a word with a double letter A that isn’t Aardvark. One lives and learns. Thanks to The Mysteron for the puzzle and thanks to the young lad from Shropshire (Scotland) for the review.
Haar haar MP!
I agree with the rating – but what does ‘ Lego’ signify? Enlightenment appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Magmull, a “Lego” clue is another name for a charade where the answer is built up by adding bits of wordplay together.
Now I understand – many thanks,
Not too much to say really, quite straight forward. 9a proving the only stumbling block. 2.5*/2.5* Many thanks to Mr Ron and to Shropshirelad for the hints.
We like Legoland so thoroughly enjoyed what was quite a simple puzzle – we don’t mind a nice easy puzzle every now and then! We liked 2d. Many thanks to Mr Ron and to SL for the hints. 1/3.5
I hope you deconstruct the clues at bedtime and put all the bits in a box under the bed
A pleasant solve of a difficulty which suits me well on a Tuesday. I did have to resort to electronic help to get 9a. I can’t recall meeting the tribe before, and I completely forgot about that kind of man even though I certainly shouldn’t have.
Thanks to today’s setter and to ShropshireLad for the well-written review.
P.S. SL, your guest has promised to report back to me … you have been warned!
Nothing particularly outstanding in this one although, as SL commented, far better than anything I could produce!
Thought there was a golden opportunity missed for a great surface read in 6d – any suggestions?
Had to consult Mr. G over 9a. Hadn’t realised just how many ‘official’ native tribes there are listed.
Thanks to Mr. Ron and also to SL – gosh, you have some picky houseguests. Hope it’s worth all the effort!
Dead-ringer?
I know that I shouldn’t post this comment here … but for all of you who are a bit perplexed by 19d in today’s Toughie … it has now been corrected. A trivial matter! Who cares?
That’s the second time in a couple of weeks that I struggled get ‘mastermind’ 😳.
Perhaps I need to watch more episodes of the Avengers……..
(I mean the 60s telly ones, not the Marvel ones).
Now that the problems with the online version of the “Toughie” have been resolved, it shouldn’t cause you many problems either.
Very straightforward, and not surprisingly I had no trouble getting the name of the native tribe though I did try to make the man into a 3-letter word (over here) for Dad so didn’t parse it properly. Pleasant solve completed early on what promises to be a gorgeous day. Thanks to the setter and SL.
I also had to check the tribe. Tried to find a nina given the grid, but could only see ROAM and MOOT – which would seem insignificant (trivial, even).
Forgot to ask – have you received your crossword dictionary?
yes thanks, only to realise it was the dictionary of abbreviations I was after (duh). I already had a recent copy of the chambers crossword dictionary, but it doesn’t have a list of abbreviations that people seem to keep referring to. I shall have another look.
ok i think I’ve ordered the right one now from the AbeBooks web site you gave me.
“chambers dictionary of crossword abbreviations”
Pleasant enough solve. Nothing overly taxing. Had to trawl the memory bank for 9a but that’s about it. Liked 14a/d.
Many thanks to the setter and SL for blogging.
It is sunny again. Nobody is sure what to do.
Thanks to Mr Ron and to Shropshire Lad for the review and hints. Quite enjoyable, but got stuck in the SW corner. Needed the hints for the first word of 14a.I thought produced was doing double duty, as the anagram indicator and part of the definition. So could only think of came to nothing. Wouldn’t have thought of next in a million years, doh! After that they all fell into place. Was 3 */3* for me. Favourite was 4d.
Straightforward, not at all testing and comfortable to solve. I echo RD’s thoughts at comment one about the surfeit of Lego, but I wouldn’t say I didn’t enjoy it. I will however mark of it down as a result. No outstanding favourite although I enjoyed 11 across.
2*2* from me with thanks to Mr Ron and my fellow Salopian.
Forgot to say, SL – isn’t ‘written’ in 13a just there to help the surface read? So we need a word for nonsense ‘written about’ (written around) the Roman numeral for one.
yes, that is what I thought too
It sounds as if I enjoyed this one more than the rest of you so far. 2* difficulty and 3* and a bit for enjoyment.
My two main problems today were all my own fault – can’t read my own writing so I thought the first letter of 13a was P and the first letter of 22a was an E. Oh dear.
I’ve never met the 9a native – that was my last answer – whenever I see Man in a clue my first thought is always an island.
I liked 11 and 22a and 14d. I know that 21d was one of the easier clues but it was my favourite – maybe I’m in the market for straightforward clues today.
With thanks to Mr Ron and to SL – I think you’d better get on with all the other stuff you need to do now.
PS – SL, please could you make sure that your guest leaves her white gloves at your house when she leaves?
Hi Kath,
Now that you’ve popped in – please would you accept my pink slip coming in for the remainder of this week.
I may or may not have stories for the blog when I return – rather depends on the bribes offered!
Pink slip has been received and filed in the appropriate place.
Very gentle, but not unamusing: 0.5*/3*. My favourite clue was 12d, even though I am sure that I am not the only one to have tried to shoe-horn “Akela” into the answer. That said, having had my first experience of the heady delights of command as a Sixer, I accept that that too was a leadership role. Thanks to Mr Ron and SL.
Thanks SL for the usual, entertaining blog…Top man
Just needed a hint for 19a, totally misunderstood the wordplay. The ‘man’ in 9a eluded me for ages, felt a bit stupid when the penny dropped. I did know the native tribe though.
15d appeared again…
Never heard of the ‘money’ in 5a, though was easy to guess.
Thanks to the setter, we have had a mother of a storm in South London, still chucking it down….
Easy-ish but enjoyable – the only one I didn’t like was 2d just because I don’t see that it really has the same meaning….also, I remember that the leader of the cubs was Arkela (sp?) but not sure about what is the answer…at best obscure!
I enjoyed this, I don’t mind the Lego bits occasionally.
Only holdup was 5a, never heard of that slang for money – I’ll try and file it somewhere in my addled brain.
My fave was 11a, but 14a was close on its heels.
Thanks to setter and to ShropshireLad for the review.
P.S. I always hope that my guests do a spot of cleaning and tidying up for me!
Back home. Very high tides that are causing problems in Australia have struck here too, but there are fewer buildings by the sea, so not much damage except to day beds. I managed to finish today’s puzzle without coming here, but like lots of others, had to use Google for the native tribe. The terms for money and cub leader were new to me to. I rather liked 6d,while 22a was a D’oh! Thanks to SL
I thought this was pretty easy today which made a very nice change, I have been struggling a few times recently! I didn’t particularly like 13a but liked 14a. */*** today, thanks to setter and SL.
*/**. This was pretty much R&W apart from 12d where I needed checkers to get akela out of my head. Thanks to the setter and SL for the review. Another scorching day in prospect.
Finished but I wouldn’t say it was particularly easy. I enjoyed it. Thanks to the setter and SL.
Good afternoon everybody.
A gentle start to the pencil era without the need to hone my sharpening technique. At one stage I briefly thought one star time may be achievable but hold ups on 16d and last in 9a which I’ll nominate as favourite put paid to that idea.
**/***
Very much a R&W effort today that we we give 1*/2* to. Some clues were very enjoyable..We would have given a higher rating for enjoyment, but it was over so quickly it’s departure merely left us hungry for more (hmm, was that a Freudian partial quote from Monty Python’s Oscar Wilde sketch, I wonder?)
Played a round at our local golf course this morning. The rough is shooting up now and it’s a tough test. Weather is roasting here in sunny Sheffield.
Thanks to SL and Mr Ron.
Fairly gentle stuff, although I agree with others that it lacked a little sparkle.
Favourite was 22a,with my LOI 9a.
Many thanks to today’s setter and to SL.
I thought it was a lovely puzzle.I liked 21a .
9a was my last in , and I thought 11a a bit vague as surely there are many walled cities.
Thanks to all concerned.
I think when you have the end wordplay of ‘to n(orth) and you know that you’re after a writer (well known) the clue kind of answers itself. At least that’s how I saw it
Really grateful to all input from B D. Of late though I notice that the click here button is absent – thus revealing the answers. Is there a hitch?
Did you land on this page from Google? If so, try changing https:// to http://
Gentle and enjoyable is how we would sum up this one. The money in 5a is not something we have encountered in this part of the world so it was interesting to read about it and where it came from.
Thanks Mr Ron and SL.
Just finished dinner and did the crossword with the kids.
I mean No 1 only daughter and her boyfriend Alex.
They really enjoyed the explanations I was giving them on how to solve these kinds of crossword.
My daughter got the philosopher in 20a when I gave her the letters and Alex got 19a.
Not sure they will ever try a whole one on their own but the experience was very promising.
Always a pleasure when the clues are short and concise.
Thanks to the setter and to SL for the review.
Kudos Jean-Luc.
I really appreciated this crossword after a busy day – still able to get my crossword fix without too much pain.
Welcome
I know just what you mean – there are some days when you really need a friendly crossword.
A nice walk in the park for me. No hold ups and yes, over a bit too soon. The walled city was my favourite and overall 2/3*.
Thanks to the setter and to SL for his review.
A little difficulty with 9 and 19ac, but the rest went in quickly enough…
I guess I need to go in the dunces corner today. Struggled to get going, but thanks to Shropshirelad’s hints, was able to easily finish. No idea why I was making such heavy weather of a puzzle everyone else seems to have found so easy. Think my brain is preoccupied with what to pack for upcoming trip across the pond. Always find it difficult to decide what to bring as we have experienced wild temperature swings, from highs in the low 6sCto high 30sC on previous trips home. We were driving back to Heathrow last year when it was almost 38C…
Thanks to SL whose hints I needed for the last few and to the setter.
Am perplexed however…could someone explain the Kid=7a solution please?
I actually worked out that answer but couldn’t see the connection. Help!
Hi Annthehart – caught me just before bedtime
‘Kid’ is defined in the BRB (Chambers) as: To hoax, to pretend – therefore, if you’ve ever watched a military film involving aircraft, submarines etc – when they are trying to elude an attack by a missile or torpedo they fire off ‘chaff’ to convince the explosive devices to attack that.
The word play is explained in the hint.
Hope that helps
SL. 7a: Not sure that the “chaff” here relates specifically to the strips of foil released to confuse radar signals (though that is known as chaff). Chaff is just another word for light-hearted teasing, joking, banter or kidding.
Got it! Having consulted Chambers on line, I have learned a new word today. Had never heard of chaff = kid as in joke. Live and learn.
We obviously crossed posts – G’night
Thanks Shropshirelad, appreciate your reply!
Did this one yesterday afternoon. A little easier than Monday’s, but fairly enjoyable. 1.5*/2.5*
SL. Nothing to do with crosswords, but I’ve noticed that quite a few bloggers on here apparently (according to epithets) reside in Shropshire and I was wondering if you could answer a query I have. A few years ago I took my ageing mother out for a day tip in the car – she wanted to visit Ironbridge, Much Wenlock and that general area. On the way down, possibly on the A41 or A518, I noticed at the side of the road an ancient tree-stump with thousands of old, rusty horseshoes stacked around it, forming a small tower. Do you know where it is or anything about it?
Hi José – First of all, apologies as my computer has decided that you must be foreign and given you an acute.
Anyway – the horseshoe tree was located at Peplow outside an old blacksmith’s yard. I say ‘was’ as it unfortunately been removed. I have attached this link for you:
http://www.hodnet.org.uk/main/?page_id=10512
I don’t know if it was re-sited elsewhere although I do hope so as I think it would have been a shame for something like that to have disappeared forever.
Regarding chaff – I was trying to explain a different meaning to AnntheArt, as my original hint didn’t appear to help her. You are quite right in the other meanings and I’m sure the setter meant it to be taken as ‘kid’. However, you will have noticed that Ann got the clue after all and our comments crossed.
SL. Thanks for the info and photo re: the horseshoe tree. I only glimpsed it out of the corner of my eye for a couple of seconds and always meant to go back and have a proper look – too late now, I guess! Re: chaff, I was just being pedantic (reckon I’ve caught it off RD :-)) – I suspect the vast majority of folk only know the word from its military application (like me till I researched it properly).