DT 28182 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 28182

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28182

Hints and tips by ShropshireLad

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty */**Enjoyment */**

Welcome from a quite muggy Shropshire. I hate to say it, but I didn’t really enjoy todays puzzle from our Tuesday Mr Ron – some of it just didn’t ‘feel’ right. Anyway, I’m sure that some of you will agree or not. Having said all that, it’s a worthwhile exercise in cryptic solving. The rating for enjoyment is one and a half.

The definitions are underlined to give you a start (if required) and if all else fails, you can reveal the answer.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

1a    Diagram, old, found in Cadiz in tatters (6)
ZODIAC: Take the abbreviation for ‘old’ and insert it into (found in) an anagram (in tatters) of CADIZ.

5a    Recommend short video as training (6)
ADVISE: An anagram (training) of VIDEO and AS from the clue. You must remove the last letter of ‘video’ as directed in the clue (video short) for the anagram to work.

10a    Flower festival failing to open (5)
ASTER: A religious festival with the first letter removed (failing to open).

11a    To bring in social worker is significant (9)
IMPORTANT: A synonym for ‘to bring in’ a material or service followed by one of Crosswordland’s favourite workers.

12a    Makeshift bar opening (7)
STOPGAP: A charade of 2 synonyms of ‘bar’ and ‘opening’.

13a    German male teacher sent back rice dish (7)
RISOTTO: Take a usual German male name and add a term used by schoolchildren when speaking to a teacher, then reverse it all (sent back).

14a    Abbott and Costello, perhaps — each initially wearing old jacket (6,3)
DOUBLE ACT: You will require the name of an ‘old jacket’ and insert the initial letters (each initially) of the comedy (sic) duo. When I completed the puzzle and came to write the hints for this – I had it in my head that the abbreviation for ‘each’ would appear in the clue. Fortunately my mentor was at hand (again) so thank you Gazza – that’s another pint.

17a    Express views in shop, in error (5)
OPINE: A ‘lurker’.

18a    Attacker overlooking a cyclist (5)
RIDER: Take a synonym for an ‘attacker’ and remove (overlooking) the ‘A’ from the clue.

19a    Courier in canteen plastered green (9)
MESSENGER: The canteen required here is most likely to be found in a military establishment and then add an anagram (plastered) of GREEN.

21a    In a long time, searches (7)
FORAGES: A charade of 2 synonyms of ‘in’ (as in ‘pro’) and ‘a long time’.

23a    Monk, say, needs paints I ordered (7)
PIANIST: An anagram (ordered) of PAINTS I. Never heard of this chap.

I have!  BD

  ARVE Error: need id and provider

25a    Miser in family in small Welsh town (9)
SKINFLINT: A 3 letter term for ‘family’ placed into (in) S(mall) and a Welsh town that lies on the estuary of the River Dee.

26a    Unsuitable at home, exotic pet (5)
INEPT: The usual term for ‘at home’ followed by an anagram (exotic) of PET.

27a    At any point within banks of salmon river (6)
SEVERN: A term for ‘at any point’ inserted into (within) the first and last letters of ‘salmon’ (banks).

28a    Name of husband meeting with the Parisian (6)
HANDLE: The abbreviation of ‘husband’ followed by (meeting) a synonym for ‘with’ the masculine derivative for ‘the’ in French (Parisian).

Down

2d    Beat unconscious in the same way (5)
OUTDO: A synonym for ‘unconscious’ followed by a 2 letter abbreviation for ‘the same way’.

3d    Rough Irish customer who’s a frequent visitor (9)
IRREGULAR: An abbreviation of ‘Irish’ and a term for a frequent visitor to the same bar or shop.

4d    Ape Greek character, Member of Parliament (5)
CHIMP: A 3 letter ‘Greek character’ from the alphabet is followed by an abbreviation of an elected politician who sits in the ‘Commons’.

5d    Soldier brought in suitable American equipment (9)
APPARATUS: The soldier here is the same one from last week who, for whatever reason, jumps out of a perfectly serviceable aircraft and is inserted into (brought in) a synonym for ‘suitable’. All followed by the abbreviation for ‘American’.

6d    Corrupting influence in Rugby Union, in Six Nations, ultimately (5)
VIRUS: The abbreviation for ‘Rugby Union’ is inserted into (in) the Roman numerals for ‘Six’ and the last letter (ultimately) of ‘Nations’. Nice surface.

7d    Extraordinary bird circling top of tree (9)
STARTLING: A bird with a black, brown-spotted, iridescent plumage (all unashamedly cribbed from the BRB) around (circling) the first letter of ‘tree’ (top of tree).

8d    Collected and given a lift (6)
RAISED: Double definition, the former relating to money collected for charity perhaps.

9d    Member of crew in river passing through English city (6)
STROKE: The English city is famous for its china production and has the abbreviation for ‘river’ inserted into it (passing through).

15d    Stress column must support two foreign articles (9)
UNDERLINE: The ‘two foreign articles’ are French and German followed by (support in a down clue) of a synonym for a ‘column’. If I’d written the clue it would have looked like this Stress.

16d    Prosecutor up calling for confession (9)
ADMISSION: The ‘Prosecutor’ here is American and is reversed (up) and is followed by a synonym for a ‘calling’ perhaps in a religious context.

17d    Undertaking surgery (9)
OPERATION: Double definition.

18d    Say no to mostly red safety device (6)
REFUSE: Take the ‘red’ from the clue and remove the last letter (mostly). Now follow that with a safety device that can be found in an electrical plug.

20d    Nonsense at end of conference is spin (6)
ROTATE: A synonym of ‘nonsense’ followed by ‘at’ from the clue and finished off with the last letter (end) of ‘conference’.

22d    Boss has no right to make blunder (5)
GAFFE: An archaic term for a ‘boss’ without its last letter (has no ‘right’).

23d    Throw it in front of parish church (5)
PITCH: Take the ‘It’ from the clue and place it in the first letter of parish (front of) and the abbreviation for ‘church’.

24d    Model and I do business (5)
IDEAL: Take the ‘I’ from the clue and add a term for ‘do business’.

Unfortunately I have no time for any picture clues this week as I’m quite busy. Hopefully normality will return next week. I think I will opt for 14a as my favourite of the day. What clue(s) made you smile today?

Happy solving.


The Quick Crossword pun: awe+tow+queue=autocue


68 comments on “DT 28182

  1. R&W/2.5*. The only thing that slowed me down today was when I needed to put down my pen in order to pick up my coffee cup. Nevertheless I thought the cluing was generally good and I found the puzzle reasonably enjoyable with 14a my favourite.

    Many thanks to Mr Ron and to SL.

    P.S. There are no italics in the paper today to indicate a three word pun in the quickie – or is that convention not followed when all three words are on the first line?

    1. The italics are there when the pun goes over two lines (and sometimes, although very rarely, more than two lines) – Any solutions in the top row of the grid form the pun.

      1. Thanks for that – we live and learn. I’d always thought that if the pun was made up from more than the first two clues then they were in italics.

  2. Plain-sailing today but a bit prosaic. Nothing to really pick as a Fav. Thanks Mysteron and SL. **/**.

  3. Thanks for the hints – not needed for this fairly straightforward offering. I have to say I prefer your version of the clue for 15d.
    For 21a I split the answer 3,4 so as to get “for ages” as in “I haven’t seen you in a long time”. Thanks to the setter for a pleasant diversion.

  4. Been a bit busy lately but still found time to solve and finish all the weekend crosswords except Radler which is missing a few answers.
    No time to post silly comments I’m afraid.
    In today’s crossword, I couldn’t find the crew member of 9d in the BRB although the parsing led me to the right answer.
    Ticked 14a too. Good clue.
    Thanks to the setter and to SL for the review.

    1. When the boat has more than one rower, the rower closest to the stern of the boat is referred to as “Stroke”. This is the most important position in the boat, because the stroke rower sets the stroke rate and rhythm for the rest of the crew to follow. Stroke seat has to be a very calm and yet very competitive individual. A good stroke will lead a team by bringing the best out of every rower in the boat. The rower at the opposite end of the boat is referred to as bow. (wikipedia)

      1. Thanks for the explanations.
        I only saw a reference to a stroke oar.
        This makes more sense.

  5. Very straightforward and a little lacking in lustre but still moderately enjoyable. I agree with RD above about 14 across.

    1*/2.5* from me with thanks to the Tuesday Mysteron and my fellow Salopian.

  6. The brilliance of 14ac is more than offset by the likes of 10ac, 13ac, 17ac, 4d, 7d,17d, 22d and 24d which we have all see so many times before. Those of us with good memories will read and write such clues. At 26ac does inept really mean unsuitable? I remember a rugby match years ago where the referee visited our changing room before the game to inform us that although he was the most inept referee on the circuit he would do his best to be equally inept to both sides. Thanks to The Lad From Salop and thanks to the setter. It is puzzles like this that make me consider having a bash at setting.

    1. I was also doubtful about “inept”, but the BRB gives “unsuitable” as one of its definitions!

    2. Oh yes do have a go at setting! It is a quite different, a bit like looking the wrong way through a telescope. I compose six cryptic crosswords a year for two parish magazines, and it is a taxing task indeed. Starting with a good grid and working backwards to the clues is a challenge. The quickest I can manage is spread over a couple of days, but I much prefer to do a first run-through and then come back a day or so later and refine the clues. Great fun.

  7. Fairly gentle even for relative “amateur” agree with ratings.
    Your musical hint made 23a my pick. Thelonius Monk – an all-time great.
    Thanks to setter & Mr S.

  8. Read through quite a few clues before I made a start but not too many problems from there on in.
    1a was the last to fall despite the obvious requirement to include the ‘z’ and the answer to 26a would be far from my first choice of definition for ‘unsuitable’.
    Didn’t know the 23a musician – fortunate that the answer had to be what it was!
    Top spots go to 11&14a.

    Thanks to Mr. Ron and to SL for bringing us the blog despite the pressures of the ‘real’ world.

      1. There certainly is, MP. Probably just as well we don’t all have the same taste or there would be far less of it.

      2. MP, one of your favourite types of “music” (i.e. the kind that has a silent C) gets a couple of mentions in today’s Toughie!

  9. Haven’t had much time recently to look at the cryptic, so this was a nice one to get me back into the rhythm, speaking of which, 23A was my favorite clue. Somewhere in my brother-in-law’s house we still have some wonderful old vinyl stashed. I also liked 3D and 14A. Thanks to SL and the setter.

  10. Well I quite enjoyed this one and think that it shows a crossword doesn’t have to be difficult to be enjoyable.
    I agree that it was fairly straightforward but there were some good surface readings – 11 and 25a and 2, 7 and 9d.
    I’d never thought of 1a as a diagram but of course it is – just me being dim.
    I hadn’t heard of the 23a ‘Monk’ so that threw me for far too long before I began to smell the proverbial rat.
    I think that my favourite was probably 14a but I also liked the clues I mentioned earlier.
    With thanks to Mr Tuesday Ron and to Shropshirelad.

  11. I agree that it wasn’t very enjoyable with not quite right definitions but I disagree with the difficulty which I found distinctly tricky, for time probably ***.
    Neither Zodiac or Virus seemed quite right to me.
    Thx for the explanations.

    1. I’d be interested to see what you think of today’s puzzle in the middle of the paper!

      1. Sorry missed this as we are away on holiday. Don’t have access to the paper only an iPad and the Toughie is not featured. They puts lots of other rubbish in but for some reason the DT doesn’t like the Toughie.

  12. Probably the easiest for quite a while, didnt present any problems at all. Cant say I enjoyed it very much because it was so straight forward. 1.5*/1.5* Many thanks to Mr Ron and SL

  13. Like Alec@3, I interpreted 21a as a double definition rather than a charade (in a long time = for ages)

    Like JL I was surprised to see stroke as the answer for 9d and thank you Miffypops for the excellent enlightenment

    My favourites were the brilliant 14a and 6d (and I hadn’t heard of the pianist)

    Many thanks SL for a great review and thank you setter.

    The toughie took even less time than this, though both puzzles are enjoyable

    1. Sorry, not a double definition, what am I saying? (21a). It would only be a true double definition if ‘in a long time’ = ‘forages’ rather than ‘for ages’.

  14. I knew I am different!
    I found this crossword difficult and well up into 3* territory. It took me a long time to finish and got stuck on the NE corner. Electronic aid to the rescue, fortunately.
    As ever thanks to all

  15. Like Kath, I rather enjoyed this one too, even if it didn’t offer too much resistance. No stand-out clues, the standard was very even.

    Many thanks to today’s setter and to SL. Another excellent cartoon from Matt in the paper today. I still fail to understand why Larry the Cat was overlooked in Cameron’s resignation honours!

    1. An honour for Larry the Cat would have made more sense than some of the others.

  16. I enjoyed this one also. Nothing particularly special about it but it was very ‘doable’ as some say. 23a was a lovely clue…. I am surprised that Thelonius is not better known!
    2/3* overall.
    Thanks to the setter and to Shropshire for the review.

  17. 1.5/2. Favourites were 21&23a – long time since I listened to Thelonious – not everyone’s cup of tea I expect. Thanks to the setter and SL for the review.

  18. Having patted myself on the back for completing this puzzle without external assistance I logged onto the blog to see how others had done and now I’m deflated! On reflection it wasn’t the most difficult puzzle but completing any cryptic crossword except, perhaps, Saturday’s is a cause for celebration.

  19. Another gentle offering, they do say ” Make hay while the sun shines” there would not have been much hay making here in the east today, very wet 😰 */** Liked 14a & 21a 😊 Thanks to SL & to the setter. Before we can say “jack knife” Thursday will be upon us! 😩

  20. Lovely , short and sweet and no less enjoyable for that.
    23 was nicely misleading, I only hit on the answer when I realised trappist couldn’t be it.I believe he is quoted as saying “I would’ve taken better care of myself if I had known I would live this long.” Here is a sample if you care to listen :

    Thanks to this gently expert setter and SL.

  21. This probably took longer than the Toughie in real terms, though it’s hard to tell as I was jotting notes while doing that one. I was also a lot more jaded by the time I got to this. Unlike SL, I found it very pleasant indeed.

    I thought hadn’t heard of any pianists called Monk, but I did know of that one.

    I only just remembered (from a previous crossword) that do = ditto, so am grateful for that reminder.

    I’ll chose 24d as favourite for its smoothness, and for model not being pose or sit.

    Thanks to the setter and to SL for the fine set of hints; also to MP for the explanation of the definition of 9d.

    As last week, I have to recommend the Toughie. We’re having a festival!

  22. The easiest crossword for ages (or in a long time) for me. I enjoyed 23a. Thank you setter and SL

  23. **/*** for me today. Although I got them, I needed explanations for several and I still don’t get the ‘at any point’ in 27a. Favourite was 14a; had a laugh when I realised where the ‘ac’ came from.
    Thanks all.

  24. A strangely enjoyable R&W, even if much of it was a bit like recalling punchlines to old jokes. */***

    Thanks to all as ever

  25. Rare for me to complete without hints, but there were no major problems.
    I’m sure for more experienced setters it was a breeze, but for me it gives me a bit of a confidence boost after a poor day yesterday.
    Pride comes before a fall, so I shall have a look at the Toughie, I probably wont be able to do it, but at least I can enjoy Kitty’s blog.
    Favourite was the Abbott and Costello clue. Someone once tried to persuade me that they were in Stan and Ollie’s class; not a hope, more Canon and Ball.
    Many thanks SL for the hints, and to Mr/Mrs Ron for the puzzle.

  26. 3 more new indicators of anagrams for me to add to a seemingly growing list viz exotic, training & plastered

  27. I really enjoyed this. Any puzzle with Theolonius in it must be good! My memory although not quite Dory like enables me to enjoy clues more than once. Guess I’m just a simple guy, and easy to please.

  28. A few beauty spots can’t disguise an unseemly puzzle. I admire 11a, 14a, 21a, 6d, 8d and my favourite 7d. But 23d doesn’t work, and 26a is wrong! Inept does not mean unsuitable; rather, inapt does. It is the clue that is inept. Difficulty *** Enjoyment *

      1. Whenever I see the dreaded phrase ” BRB has — etc ” you know the cluing is contentious !! , although in this case perhaps not so much. Grrrrr

  29. I managed to put ‘autopsies’ into 17d, but unscrambled it once I’d recognized both the anagram and the person of 23a. Please don’t tell me off !!! I thought it was a good answer. Except it’s plural not singular. I am still learning. Everything else went in fairly quickly. Thank you Shropshirelad and setter.

    1. The only times anyone gets told off here are if they stray into ‘naughty territory’ with any of the prize puzzles.
      I don’t think we have any surgeons who comment here or, if we do, they keep jolly quiet about it – I’m not sure they’d take an operation being called an autopsy as anything other than a bit premature!

      1. I removed my own appendix in order to relieve the boredom in a traffic jam on the M5 Kath. Does that make me a surgeon.

  30. Thanks to Mr Ron and to Shropshire Lad for the review and hints. I thought that it lacked a bit of sparkle. Favourite was 11a. Was 1*/2* for me.

  31. Like most others I found this very straightforward although I did find some of the cluing slightly obscure – from what others have said it’s all approved by the BRB, which I don’t actually have. And I tend to assume if it’s in the crossword, then it is certainly backed up by the BRB. I agree with SL though, some things just didn’t feel quite right, */**.
    I did remember Thelonius Monk. A college friend – many, many years ago! – was a fan but I seem to remember he belonged to the Eric Morecambe school of piano playing, all the notes but not necessarily in the right order!
    Thanks to setter and SL.

  32. Fairly straightforward today, though I didn’t know 9d as a crew member which gave me a little pause for thought at the end.

  33. We found it hard today but got most of the clues eventually, Thank you.

  34. Not too demanding, but it is only Tuesday – 1/2* difficulty and 3* enjoyment. I liked 21a. Thanks to Mr Ron and ShropshireLad.

  35. Thanks to Mr Ron and SL for an enjoyable puzzle – any day I can finish with minimal hint is a *** enjoyment level for me, sorry if it was too easy for some of you. For some reason 2d held me up until I read SL’s hint. Plus hubby solved 14a for me, which nevertheless was my favorite clue. I thought an old jacket was an anorak. He also knew who Monk was, retentive fellow that he is.

    Huge thanks to BD for creating this blog which has improved my solving, and thus enjoyment, rate very much.

  36. Finished with only a couple of hints today. Had never heard of 9d. Loved 14a same as many others plus also the piano playing genius. Thanks to all for contributions.

  37. Got stuck on 26a and 24d, so thanks to ShropshireLad for the hints there.

    Thanks too to the setter for what I found to be an enjoyable crossword.

  38. Late on parade having won the quiz with a hiking pole.

    Agree this was straightforward although 9d caused a few question marks! Thought 21a was very clever.

    Many thanks to the setter and to SL for a top blog!

  39. Time on my hands this morning, so I did this from yesterday. On the first pass I managed only a couple, but then I tuned into the stter’s mindset and finished in almost record time. Good fun, I thought, with 14a head and shoulders above the crowd. Ta to our Salopian friend and the setter. 1*/3*

  40. Well, I enjoyed it – then, I am a bit of a novice !
    Favourite clue was 24D, amongst others
    1*/4*

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