DT 28147 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 28147

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28147

Hints and tips by 2Kiwis

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

Kia ora once again from the other end of the planet. Our seasons are still behaving in a bizarre fashion. The shortest day of the year for us yet still warm enough to be out on the golf course in shirt-sleeves yesterday although the rain that has come in this morning will probably cool things a little.
Our Kotuku seem to have moved on to another location but the Royal Spoonbills are still in residence.
Jay has given us another top class puzzle today.

Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.

Across

1a     Alliance runs into trouble with gangster (11)
BROTHERHOOD : A word meaning trouble or a nuisance contains the abbreviation for cricket runs and then a four letter word for a gangster.

9a     Quickly finished thing needing adjustment (9)
OVERNIGHT : Quickly as you like your courier deliveries to be.  A word meaning finished or ended and then an anagram (needing adjustment) of THING.

10a     First appearance cut short — good. Remove errors from programme (5)
DEBUG : Remove the last letter from a first appearance, perhaps on stage, and add the abbreviation for good.

11a     Pass, as error by East (6)
ELAPSE : The abbreviation for East precedes a word for error or oversight.

12a     Monitor avoiding extremes (8)
MODERATE : A double definition. The first is a verb, the second an adjective.

13a     Soup tureen with a covering of glaze (6)
POTAGE : A synonym for a tureen and then A from the clue and the first and last letters of glaze. 
imgres

15a     Air traffic controller‘s delight with son getting credit (8)
JOYSTICK : Not a person but a device on the flight deck. A word meaning delight, then the abbreviation for son and an informal word for credit or deferred payment.
images

18a     Subtleties of French resort with connections (8)
NICETIES : The name of a Mediterranean resort and a word meaning connections.

19a     Welcomes political activists having time for North (6)
GREETS : Substitute the abbreviation for time for the abbreviation for North in a party of ‘save the planet’ activists.

21a     Engineer on metric telephone system (8)
INTERCOM : An anagram (engineer) of ON METRIC.

23a     Spinner‘s pride broken after first of sixes (6)
SPIDER : Don’t worry. It’s not cricket this time. The first letter of sixes and an anagram (broken) of PRIDE. 
images

26a     Register as retired single, keeping married at heart (5)
ENROL : A word meaning single or by oneself is reversed and includes the central letter (heart) of ‘married’.

27a     Sit in a loo, uneasily, in solitude (9)
ISOLATION : An anagram (uneasily) of SIT IN A LOO.

28a     Appeared to accept a troubled raider’s friendship (11)
CAMARADERIE : A four letter word meaning appeared surrounds A from the clue and an anagram (troubled) of RAIDER.

Down

1d     Finished term at university with no money to go on (5,2)
BROKE UP : A two letter word meaning ‘at university’ follows the condition of having no money.

2d     Homer’s last letter — so ultimately fantastic (5)
OMEGA : The last letter of ‘so’ and a street slang word for fantastic.
images

3d     The opportunity to understand sense supporting deer (9)
HINDSIGHT : One of the five senses follows a female deer.

4d     Capital equipment on the west of America (4)
RIGA : A synonym for equipment and then the first letter (west) of America.
imgres

5d     Conventional old hot rod smashed times (8)
ORTHODOX : The abbreviation for old, then an anagram (smashed) of HOT ROD and the Maths symbol telling you to multiply.

6d     Avoid sharp practice (5)
DODGE : Double definition.

7d     Fund-raiser making tabloid sound feeble (3,4)
RAG WEEK : An informal word for a tabloid newspaper and a homophone of a synonym for feeble. We knew this as a time for having fun and needed BRB to confirm that in UK universities it is also a charity fund-raising time.

8d     Very taken by new air base — that’s irritating (8)
ABRASIVE : An anagram (new) of AIR BASE includes the abbreviation for very.

14d     Go after poor act I, saying little (8)
TACITURN : A word for a go or opportunity follows an anagram (poor) of ACT I.

16d     Fight on beer wagon up where they recycle (9)
SCRAPYARD : A fight or altercation and then the reversal of the type of horse-drawn wagon that was used to carry barrels of beer.
images

17d     Pleasure-seeking housewife disheartened — academic is married! (8)
HEDONISM : The first and last letters of housewife, then an informal title for an academic, ‘is’ from the clue, and the abbreviation for married.

18d     Innocently and strangely alive in the Big Apple (7)
NAIVELY : The city known as the Big Apple surrounds an anagram (strangely) of ALIVE.

20d     Yes — worried about call for needle! (7)
SYRINGE : Call on the telephone is inside an anagram (worried) of YES.
imgres

22d     They’re licensed to store a bit of the past (5)
RELIC : Today’s lurker is hiding in the first two words of the clue.

24d     Desiccant that is right — under the doctor! (5)
DRIER : One of the abbreviations for a doctor, then the abbreviation for a Latin phrase meaning ‘that is’ and the abbreviation for ‘right’.

25d     Source of iron in the majority of cereal fibre (4)
COIR : A cereal that could possibly be the popping kind loses its last letter and includes the first letter of iron.

Once again 1a is our favourite this week. Jay makes a habit of starting us with a good clue.

Quickie pun   nigh   +   trojan   =    nitrogen

83 comments on “DT 28147

  1. I really enjoyed this one, & 1A also gets my vote for favourite clue.Thanks to the setter & the 2Ks for the review.

  2. A crossword of two halves for me as unusually I solved all the bottom half before a single clue in the top,
    Anyway, a little stiffer than Mondays and Tuesdays and agree with the 2K’s **/***, thought the cluing was inventive throughout and enjoyable for me ,thanks to setter and the 2K’s for the blog pics- 20d pic was a bit too much – straight from Florence Nightingale !

  3. I’ll go along with the 2Ks’ rating of 2*/3* for another great offering from our Wednesday wizard. I seemed to be quite slow in getting started and then it all fell smoothly into place.

    I wasn’t too sure about “quickly” as the definition for 9a, but the 2Ks have confirmed what I was thinking. 21a was my last one in, and 1a was my favourite although the slightly risqué surface of 17d ran it close.

    Many thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

  4. I went round this one anti-clockwise.

    For me, it was the quickest and easiest of the week, but I still enjoyed it because I want to go out and do more allotment duties: open day coming up – ideas for scarecrow anyone? – I thought about Mr D Trump, but who could tell?

    Thanks to the kiwis and setter.

    Do they even have 7d s any more?

          1. 😄😄
            I’ve realised I haven’t got anything to approximate that thatch – but I have got a black wig and a ukulele ( well a few) so I could do a Tiny Tim……… I have no tulips though.

    1. I’ve always wanted to make a scarecrow – partly because it might scare off the pigeons and magpies but mainly because I could raid husbands wardrobe and get rid of stuff that he should no longer be wearing!
      Good luck with the open day – I’m full of admiration for anyone who has the kind of garden or allotment fit to be shown to the public.

      1. Kath that is a brilliant idea on every level. Build one. In fact I am going to suggest that idea to some friends who I think are in similar situations!

        Bluebird I hope it goes well. Do the Donald Trump one.

  5. Would have been easy enough had I not started out by being convinced that 1d was ‘spent up’. That made an absolute mess of the whole of the NW corner for quite a considerable time!
    Other than that, my only hesitation was with the wordplay for 2d – I always want to put two ‘Gs’ into that word for fantastic.

    Happy to go along with 1a&17d as the top two.

    Thanks to Jay and to our New Zealand bird recorders – always nice to get your reports.

  6. NW corner was the problem for me….10a (for nno good reason) and 2d particularly! But good and enjoyable puzzle, **/*** for difficulty…thnaks for the hints!

  7. 9a surely quickly is subjective? hardly quickly if you are downloading an app.
    16d – why beer? not that I mind! dictionaries say “heavy load”

    I liked 18a (big apple)

    Many thanks 2Kiwis and thank you Jay

    1. A dray is a wagon traditionally pulled by heavy horses used for the delivery of barrels of ale.

    2. The beer wagon is a Dray. Dray horses used to pull them Dray up is yard.
      I’m surprised at you Dutch

      1. He’s right about the BRB definition – it doesn’t mention beer. Perhaps he hasn’t spent as much time running or working in pubs as thee and me – Monday is always Shepherd Neame dray day in our village.

    3. The drays used to deliver the Young’s beer round South London, it was a wonderful sight.

      1. At the theatre we used to get deliveries from Charles Wells draymen.
        We used to call them so even if they delivered all kinds of stuff.

    4. thanks all – what a dray for a dray dream – what a dray for a dray dreaming boy

    5. Adnam’s brewery delivered beer round Southwold until 2006, it was a magic sight. They were stabled in Mill Lane and grazed down on the marshes.

  8. Gentle and pleasurable. South whizzed in but then, like Jane and Omar, had hold-up in NW in my case due to plumping for ‘wound up’ for 1d. Guessed 21a having overlooked anagram indicator. Thanks Jay and the 2Ks. **/***.

  9. The crosswords this week so far have been a real pleasure and easier than a lot of weeks, however was stumped on 25d today and needed the blog explanation off the 2Ks … thank you

  10. 2*/3* from me too. Always a pleasure solving a Jay puzzle and this was no exception. 15 across my favourite of many terrific clues. 9 across was a bit of a mystery with “quickly” as the indicator. I’m not sure it works but someone will put me straight.

    Many thanks to Jay for yet another great Wednesday workout, and to the 2Ks.

    1. I agree but I suppose in some instances 9a could mean “quickly” (via Amazon for instance).

      1. It took my mate twenty years of toil and effort to become an overnight success

  11. Birdy Wednesday once again delights. My only trouble was taking a really long time over 25d, which I had to get from wordplay only and then look up. (As so often happens, having done so, I’m convinced I did know it.) There is always one!

    I like the answer to 15a – such a fun word. Today’s favourite is 17d.

    Many thanks to our feathered friends, setter and reviewers.

  12. I agree with the 2xKs **/*** 😊 So far I am the only person to be fooled by 12a where I had coverage for no good reason 😏 Moderate to monitor ? Liked 1a & 15a thanks to Jay & 2x Ks

  13. For some reason I managed to type the letter D at the end of 10ac which led to me bunging in RED FLAG for 7d making 12 and 15 across impossible. This reminds me of the old pen and paper days when misreading my own handwriting made things rather awkward . Otherwise quite jolly and jolly easy to work out. Thanks to the 2Cs and thanks to the setter.

  14. Agree with the ratings and pretty much everything that has already been said.

    Really liked 1a, 18a and 17d.

    Many thanks to Jay and to the 2Kiwis for a great blog.

  15. A real joy to solve this crossword on the terrace of one of my favourite restaurant.
    Summer is definitely here and on time.
    25d is the one that held me up in an otherwise pretty straightforward and pleasant offering from Jay.
    RIP to our dear Benoite Groult. She used to come to the Jardin so often.
    She shall be missed
    Thanks to Jay and to 2kiwis.

  16. That was fun! Tho I had to consult the hints to discover the covering in 13a meant first and last, that the political activists were greens and that mega is apparently fantastic (that one somewhat passed me by). Wasn’t too sure about a Brotherhood being an alliance (not in the BRB). The two best for me were 23a and 15a, due to the hugely funny after dinner speech of ex air traffic David Gunson, ‘what goes up must come down’. To quote ‘What you do with your joystick, is entirely up to you’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KbUNzi58wM&sns=em
    For me **/****.
    Thx to all

    1. Brian, for ‘brotherhood’ my BRB says ‘…an association of men for any purpose.’. That sounds like an alliance to me.

      1. Brotherhood of Man comprised two men and two women :scratch:

        … but the less said about them the better.

          1. Said no one.

            Shall I Amazon you their greatest hits? It would look good next to all your Dylan, Waits and Van CD’s. ..you could play it in your new car?

            1. There is not room. The Dylan Waits Van Neil Leonard and Ronnie Cds number in the high thousands. The lesser works take up a fair bit of room too, Farank Zappa, Beatles, Stones, Brotherhod Of Man. Let alone the Shostakovich and such stuff. Many thanks Ma and Pa you done the poorly schooled orphan boy some good.

  17. Another gentle offering, and this one from Jay! A pleasure to do, but over too quickly once again. And before anybody suggests the Toughie I will say that I dare not allow that amount of time on two crossword per day! One has to suffice. It’s Ray T tomorrow isn’t it? Maybe I will get my comeuppance then….
    1.5/2.5 overall, and just to be different, 28a was my favourite.
    Thanks to Jay, and to the 2Kays for their review.

  18. 1*/3* for my money. I had 17d as my favourite, in memory of a yacht I used to sail, until I read the clue properly and changed the final letter from a “t” to an “m”, so I’ll plump for 1a instead. Thanks to Jay, and to the 2 Kiwis.

  19. **/***. The bottom half was a breeze. The top half took three times as long. Good clueing though and very fair apart from programme = program. Where I live I always bristle when it’s the reverse.

  20. 2* difficulty and 4* for enjoyment from me today.
    I spent a while trying to fit an M into 26a and trying to start 2d with an R (Homer’s last letter) – oh dear! Dim!
    The only other bit of dimness was, as usual, not seeing the lurker in 22d.
    I didn’t spot the fact that 21a was an anagram for far too long.
    At the risk of being a nit-picker a 20d isn’t a needle – setter’s licence, I suppose.
    I liked 15 and 27a and 1d. My favourite was 17d – made me laugh.
    With thanks to Jay and to the 2K’s.
    Wet and muggy in Oxford but it’s finally stopped raining so I’m going to splosh my way up the garden and say hello to everything.

    1. May I respectfully respond? 20d: The needle here is the ubiquitous shortened version of “hypodermic needle” and synonyms for needle given in the BRB and other sources include syringe and hypodermic needle. So the setter isn’t really using much “licence”.

  21. … Where’s my manners – thanks to the setter and the 2Ks for the review.

  22. I thought that this was a very enjoyable puzzle but definitely at the easier end of Jay’s difficulty scale. Quite a few went in on the first read through – so that gave me lots of checkers to play with. I think my only complaint would be that it was over all too quickly. 27a has produced an image that I can’t get rid off, so thanks for that Jay. Too many good clues to put a single one on the podium – so I will restrain myself and not invoke the ‘Wrath of Kath’.

    Thanks to Jay for the fun puzzle and to the 2K’s for their usual excellent review.

  23. Once it dawned that 1d wasn’t ‘spent up’, (which I thought not too bad an answer), the NW corner, fairly sparse until then, fell into shape.

  24. I echo the comments so far, super puzzle with lots of smiles.
    I would have said *** for difficulty, not a write in by any means.
    Like ShropshireLad above, I’m not going to choose a fave, though 1a and 17d were tempting, as were 15a and 28a – you see what I mean, too many of them.
    Thanks to Jay and the 2Kiwis, am off to google Royal Spoonbills.

    1. I imagine with all that tea drinking in Windsor and Buckingham Palace, royal spoon bills are fairly exorbitant!

  25. For a minute or so I thought this was going to be tricky as we got about halfway through the arosses with only one answer in place. But then we got seven in the bottom half and every one of the downs so the rest became obvious. Never heard of the fibre in 25d but fortunately pommette knew it. */**** from us.

    Fav was 15a for it’s rather off-the-wall definition but there’s the usual raft of good stuff from the Wednesday Wizard.

    Thanks to Jay and the 2K’s

    P.S. The nights are drawing in :sad:

  26. Good afternoon everybody.

    Mostly straight ahead today but foxed by 11a and 2d, Favourites were 5d and 12a.

    In other news the last clue in today’s puzzle in another place ‘Holding vote in no-win situation stood up to leave’ made me chortle.

    ***/***

  27. After yesterday’s disaster, this was completed with no hints, just the need to parse a couple of answers.
    I assume this is Jay as somehow I just seem to tune into his mind.
    Some great clues, favourite has to be 15a, held me up for a while. Thanks to the 2xK’s for the hints and to Jay.

  28. Something of a curate’s egg for me, excellent clues such as 15a and 5d (my favourite), but unconvincing surfaces like 24d and 14d, which, even if it was meant to be a Yodaesque clue, would read much better if if “act I” was Act 1 IMHO. Others have already picked up on the programme/program point..

    The deer part of 3d took longer than it should to become evident, which caused 1a to be unusually my LOI.

    Many thanks to Jay and to the 2Ks.

  29. Very enjoyable and doable. Great stuff. Lots of excellent clues – 5d, 17d, 13a but my vote for favourite goes to 1a. One French word for 28a – I like it when there is one in the grid, so there. Agree with the 2Kws 2*/3*. Many thanks to Jay for a splendid start of my day and to the 2 KWs for their hints – As usual I needed their review to parse some of my answers.

  30. Thanks to Jay and to the 2 Kiwis for the review and hints. A very enjoyable puzzle from Jay as usual. 3d was a real penny drop moment. 25d was a new word for me, but easily gettable from the wordplay. 27a made me laugh. Favourite was 13a. Just wondered why 1d was phrased as it was. It could have been “Finished with no money at university”. Perhaps Jay’s version makes it more difficult? Was 2*/4* for me. Cut the privet today 3&half hours. Phew!

  31. I put ‘oversight’ into 9a and had to go back and change it. 25d was a bung in, and then I had to check it. My favourite was 5d. I think it’s the first time I have used ‘X’ to mean ‘times’ , so something new for me. Thank you Jay and the two Ks. Off to choir for a final rehearsal before a show on Sunday.

  32. Evening all….I agree with Jaylegs (1.44pm)..re 12a….moderate/monitor was my issue too….apart from that many thanx to the three birds for setting and explaining….

    1. I think that if you take ‘moderate’ as a verb – ‘to regulate’ – it works OK.

  33. Good morning everyone. Looks like a wet wintry day for us here with the rain radar website indicating that it is going to stay that way for most of the day. A good day for crosswords. Again it seems that Jay gets a big tick from most of the commenters for this puzzle. Enjoy what is left of your Wednesday while we get on with our Thursday. :bye:

  34. Thanks to 2Kiwis and Jay for yet another super Wednesday treat. Got 1a so avoided spent up although it was my initial thought, had to check spelling of 28a but anagrams dropped nicely into place helping me complete. Off to read book I found on Kindle which I bought ages ago but never read.

  35. Another fairly straightforward one, except for 25d that took a fifth of my time alone. Gah. 28ac is a tricky one to spell, isn’t it? Too many vowels. A few odd double unches in the corners that, thankfully, didn’t cause any issues.

  36. **/*** for me today, 13a held me up for a while as I got completely the wrong answer but got sorted when I clicked with 3d. These things are always so obvious with hindsight, no pun intended! Thanks to Jay and 2Ks.

  37. Calling in very late as usual to say thank you to the 2kiwis for the hints some of which I did need today. Bit trickier for me than yesterday, but enjoyable. The learning curve is demonstrating to me that I’m getting the hang of the verbal tricks but being let down by a distinct difficulty with synonyms. They just don’t spring to mind. Guess that comes with experience. Thanks to the setter, good challenge again.

    1. Well, I say this often but the deaf ears do not listen. A daily dose of The Quickie will sharpen your skills at The cCyptic. Please cringe whenever an anagram rears its ugly head in The Quickie. They do not belong there.

      1. Thanks Miffypops…I am not deaf to your advice and will print off the quickie as well from now on. Agree about quickie anagrams…no sense in that at all!

      2. That’s great advice MP, as ever.
        I spend to much time thumbing the BRB for synonyms, find the answer, then think “how on earth did I not think of that!!”.
        I will start doing the quickies….

        1. Well, I am so good at synonyms that I attempted today’s quickie and got stuck after getting 5 answers!!

  38. Just popping in to say a belated hello. Did this last morning. Loved it. Thanks Jay, and the Ks. 2*/4*

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