DT 28231 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 28231

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28231

Hints and tips by 2Kiwis

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

 

Kia ora from down-under. We are an hour later getting to grips with this puzzle. We put our clocks forward one hour last weekend. This means that it appears at noon for us now for a few weeks until UK clocks revert to GMT. Coinciding with the clock change was our first sighting of this years crop of ducklings. We spotted two new families and there will be plenty more to come.
Another enjoyable offering from Jay, toward the gentle end of his spectrum for us

Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.

Across

1a     Unexpected second rebellion involving leader of rebels (10)
SURPRISING : The abbreviation for a second, and then a word for a rebellion or revolt includes the first letter of rebels.

6a     Supply cash for daughter chasing entertainment (4)
FUND : A word for entertainment or enjoyment and the abbreviation for daughter.

10a     What an accountant may do with baby out of bed? (3,2)
TOT UP : An informal word for a young child and a two letter word for out of bed.

11a     Inscription for burial? (9)
ENGRAVING : A double definition. The second is putting in a hole in the ground.

12a     Update end of chapter, altering free and quiet (7)
REFRESH : The last letter of chapter, then an anagram (altering) of FREE and the two letter instruction to be quiet.

13a     Weed‘s value mainly seen by tabloid (7)
RAGWORT : A slang word for a tabloid newspaper and then a word for value loses its last letter.
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14a     Spies area in underground lavatory (6,6)
SECRET AGENTS : A word for underground or covert and a men’s lavatory are separated by the abbreviation for area.
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18a     These parrots must suffer, reaching such height (12)
STRATOSPHERE : An anagram (must suffer) of THESE PARROTS.
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21a     Left around 100 emotional (7)
EXCITED : A word for left or departed includes the Roman numeral one hundred.

23a     Carpet louse gone! (4,3)
TICK OFF : Carpet here is a verb. A bloodsucking parasite and a word meaning gone.

24a     Lover‘s air to a man intoxicated? (9)
INAMORATA : An anagram (intoxicated) of AIR TO A MAN.
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25a     Conscious of fighting in Accident and Emergency (5)
AWARE : The two letters that are used for Accident and Emergency Department surround a military conflict.

26a     Thread from which one weaves a tale (4)
YARN : Double definition.

27a     Nuisances surrounding one young lady repelled those expecting the worst (10)
PESSIMISTS : The Roman numeral one and a young lady are reversed and found inside a word for nusiances.

Down

1d     Modelled vessel for orbiter (6)
SATURN : Modelled or posed and a vessel or vase.
imgres

2d     Confirm suitable returns in fish (6)
RATIFY : A three letter word for suitable is reversed inside a type of flat fish.

3d     Complaint, seeing quota including European here (14)
REPRESENTATION : The abbreviation for European and a word meaning at this place are inside a quota or allowance.

4d     Men often associated with crooks? (9)
SHEPHERDS : These crooks are not gangsters but livestock handling implements.
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5d     Republic subsumed by Pakistani gerontocracy (5)
NIGER : A lurker hiding in the last two words of the clue.

7d     Savage incursions — wingless creatures of legend (8)
UNICORNS : An anagram (savage) of ( i)NCURSION(s) once the first and last letters, ie the wings, have been removed.
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8d     Understand Italian is easy at first to convert into binary form (8)
DIGITISE : A ‘hip’ word for understand, then the abbreviation for Italian, ‘is’ from the clue and the first letter of ‘easy’.

9d     Terminal cases must be taken here (7,7)
BAGGAGE RECLAIM : The place in an airport where belongings are collected.
imgres

15d     Bronzes found around Haiti worried islanders (9)
TAHITIANS : An anagram (worried) of HAITI is inside a word for becomes coloured by the sun.

16d     When the Queen, in sorrow, shows such a harsh quality (8)
ASPERITY : A two letter synonym for ‘when’ and then a word for sorrow contains the Queen’s regnal cypher.

17d     In which one settles a marine professor’s position (8)
ARMCHAIR : ‘A’ from the clue, then the two letter designation for a sea-going soldier and the post held by a professor.

19d     Dangerous situation of men in service (6)
MORASS : Ordinary soldiers are inside a church service.

20d     Gaffe the press regularly may find sweet (6)
AFTERS : Start with the second letter of the clue and continue with alternate letters.

22d     Primate supporting doctor’s hanging (5)
DRAPE : The animal (not episcopalian) primate is beneath one of the abbreviations for a doctor.

Our favourite today is 7d.

Quickie pun   pack    +    aged    +    eel    =   package deal

80 comments on “DT 28231

      1. MP’s in Pembrokeshire so it’s more Felinfoel than Brains possibly. He seems to have lots of local knowledge wherever he is though.

          1. Solved (still wearing shorts) in the sunshine coast of Essex.

            No beer …. just a few bottles of wine.

            HMRC has just given me some of my money back!

            :yahoo:

    1. Solved in South Florida, where humidity and temperatures are finally getting lower as we head towards our glorious winter months, although should not speak too soon as October is often wettest month of all.

  1. A nice start to the day again. Quite gentle puzzle that filled in all too quickly.

    Thanks to 2k and Jay.

  2. Paused to wonder briefly at the definition of 3d, else very quick. 9d is my favourite.

    Many thanks Jay and thank you 2Kiwis – chuckled at Smart & 99.

    1. Do you remember how hilarious it was to imagine a working telephone that could be small enough to be fitted inside a shoe!

  3. 2*/4*. The usual highly enjoyable puzzle on a Wednesday. Three quarters went in very quickly but the SW corner proved to be more of a challenge taking my overall time up to 2*.

    4d made me smile and was my favourite.

    Many thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

  4. Solved comfortably before lights out last night but I needed electronic help to unscramble the 24a anagram which was a new word for me. 16d was also new for me but having all the checkers in place was a big help, but I did google it to make sure of the definition.

    Three contenders for favourite – 15d, 16d, and 17d – and the winner is 16d.

    **/*** – Thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

    1. 24a turns up a lot in cryptics but I always have to look carefully at the anagram letters as I always want to put an O at the end

  5. I found this a reasonable challenge without any real problems, couple of new words learnt 24A & 16D. Thanks to the setter & the 2 K’s.

  6. We certainly seem to be getting an easier ride of it so far this week, today’s offering being no exception. Good fun from Jay with my top two being 1d for the image it conjured up and 9d for the wry humour. We’ve doubtless all seen several ‘terminal cases’ in said location!

    Thanks to Jay and to our 2Ks – pleased to hear that the ducklings have finally started to make an appearance.

    By the way – the Toughie is fairly benign again today and has a mention of a few names you will recognise!

    1. The best (worst?) terminal case I have seen (Los Angeles I think) was a suitcase handle with airline bag tag and no sign at all of ‘parent’ suitcase.

      1. The best (worst) that I’ve ever heard about was many years ago when a friend of mine had been travelling around Eastern Europe (he was Polish) for a few weeks one summer. On his return with a rather battered ruck sack he went to 9d and stood there patiently (actually, knowing him probably not very patiently) waiting. Everyone else on the flight had disappeared with their luggage and there was no sign of the ruck sack. After quite a bit longer it still hadn’t appeared but then he began to recognise various things – the odd sock, a flip flap, a few pages of a book, a T-shirt, an orange . . . .

  7. Enjoyable and good to have marginally more of a challenge than the previous two days. ***/***. SW corner hung fire prior to bunging in 16d due to it being a new one on me. 14d ties with 9d for Fav position. They are probably old chestnuts but I’m not aware of having come across anagram indicators used in 18a and 7d. TVM Jay and 2Ks – always good to have your timely posts even if sometimes only for parsing so roll on our hour change.

  8. 16d last in, like Angel new to me too.
    Fairly straightforward otherwise with nice mixture of clues. 9d was COTD for me but 1a close second.
    Thanks to setter & 2Ks for hints. Pleased the ducklings have made an appearance.

    1. Terry,
      A few weeks ago daughter was in Orienteering event in Estonia & found herself in a bog not marked as dangerous but chest deep & sinking. Ultimately rescued by fellow competitors lying across the bog. She would definitely concur with the description!!

  9. 4 down also my favourite clue of many good ones. This was the usual high-quality offering from Jay with a good mixture of clue types. Nothing obscure, just fair wordplay.

    2*/4* overall, with thanks to the aforementioned and the 2Ks.

  10. Steady solve for me today and agree with the 2K’S **/***, last in 19d, glad I had the checking letters, dangerous is too vague and does not adequately fit the answer in my opinion- I have just noticed Jane’s comment above so all’s well in setters heaven!
    Apart from this no complaints,

  11. Again a gentle inquisition but unlike yesterday’s this one did have the sparkle necessary to make it fun to solve. I’m picking 20d as favourite in spite of my loathing of the word! 2/3* overall.
    Thanks to Jay, and the 2K’s for their review.

  12. Agree **/***. 16d and 24a new words to forget immediately! 21a last in. Fairly steady solve. Thanks all.

  13. Solved in Dublin, warmish and pleasant, the air is always fresh and no beer now or later.
    I liked 9d and 14a in particular.
    Thanks to the two Kiwis, who always give us a nice update on the progress of the seasons. Thanks also to Jay.

  14. Very nice crossword that I found fun EXCEPT for 3D which I found misleading. I can’t find complaint for representation or vice versa in either the BRB or The Chambers thesaurus. A real shame as the rest was excellent I thought. I especially liked 7d.
    Thx to all

    1. Brian – I wondered about the connection between the two words until I found that Chambers Crossword Dictionary has representation in the entry for complaint.

    2. my thoughts too (see comment 3) – I can get as close as thinking a representation can be a petition or remonstrance (brb def 8) which would amount to a protest kind of complaint.

  15. Solved in the south of France in glorious sunshine. No problems either.
    Hesitated with 3d also but the parsing led me to the answer. Must be some legal term I wasn’t aware of.
    Greetings to our 15d friends. Quite a strong contingent in the 54th RA. You can spot them a mile off as they wear shorts and flip flops all year round.
    8d favourite.
    Thanks to Jay and to 2kiwis for the review.

  16. Solved back in London without any problems. **/***
    Thanks to Jay & our friends whose bathwater goes round the wrong way!

  17. Fairly enjoyable and not too difficult, managed to solve the puzzle without help. I have to agree with Brian on 3d, not sure at all about that one. Never heard of morass for a dangerous situation, but it is in the dictionary. 2*/3* Many thanks to Jay and to 2Kiwis

  18. Only slightly held up by 19d & 24a but the wordplay is good enough to verify my guesses.
    3d is definition #9 in Collins, and concurs with Dutch; ‘…statement or allegation, esp. one set forth by way of remonstrance or expostulation’.
    Another straightforward but enjoyable puzzle for me.
    Thanks to all as ever.

  19. Excellent puzzle from Jay as usual. Finished quickly but no less enjoyable for that. Too many great clues to whittle down for a favourite. Been a benign week thus far, probably not going to last, so like the good weather I’m enjoying it while it lasts. Thanks to Jay and 2ks for the blog.

  20. Putting Funeral Parlour for 9d made a right old mess of the puzzle.

    Almost as much a mess as those masquerading as footballers at Cardiff last night😕

    1. Even if your 9d is wrong, made a mess of the crossword and is rather macabre it made me laugh – thank you. :good:

  21. Nice puzzle solved after a round of golf in the Devon sunshine. Leicester City now top of their group in the Champions League. All is well with the world ( apart from the odd bit of 16d from Brian, but that is par for the course.)
    Thank you 2Ks and setter.

  22. Good afternoon everybody.

    Mostly straightforward here though much umming and aahing about the proper spellings of 15d and 24a. Favourite was 17d. Didn’t really know the meaning of the word at 16d bit it fitted the clue well enough.

    **/***

  23. A nice Wednesday crossword, as usual – I agree that it’s at the straightforward end of the spectrum for Jay so 2* difficulty and 4* for enjoyment.
    Not many anagrams – four, I think.
    I wanted to put a U in 16d – think I was mixing it up with ‘austerity’ – and put an O at the end of 24a which made me check the spelling of 15d. Dim.
    I liked 23 and 25a and 9d. My favourite was 4d.
    With thanks to Jay and to the Kiwis.
    Fed-up with ironing – going to have a go at the Toughie.

  24. Solved quite quickly (couple of minutes over * time) this morning in what was sunny Surrey. As with others 24a and 16d new words – two more than were in the Toughie today which I found on the easier side. Thanks to Jay and 2Ks for the review.

  25. I don’t think this was that easy but certainly enjoyable.
    Bunging in 24a without checking the letters messed up 15d, but I was so sure of 15d I checked the spelling again. I’ll never learn will I?
    I wasn’t fooled by 9d, but I loved Bluebirds answer!
    Fave was 4d, loved it.
    Thanks to Jay, and to the 2Kiwis, keep up the snapshots of NZ, I look forward to them.

    1. I was fooled by 9d at first and mentally searched for all things medical and then as the checkers went in the first word became obvious and it was eureka. Favorites was 4d also and 26a, just for their cleverness.

  26. I thought the RHS was marginally easier than the left, but neither side caused any real furrowing of the brows. A very pleasant work-out overall.

    Two clues stood out for me, 11a and 4d.

    Many thanks to Jay and to Colin and Carol.

  27. Solved in North East Scotland where the weather is now definitely autumnal…..time for soups and stews instead of salads, I fear.

    Enjoyed this puzzle very much.

    Thanks to the setter and to the 2Kiwis for the parsings.

  28. Solved in Surrey, sunny at the time but now getting dark – and smoky too. (The moment autumn falls all of the neighbours (it seems) light their wood burners or have bonfires.)

    I’m glad this wasn’t too taxing because I had an early start this morning and only just managed to find time to get everything in before leaving. My experiences were similar to those of the majority of solvers. The SW was last to yield.

    Thanks to Jay and the 2Kiwis. I always smile to see the fluffy bite-sized ducks. :)

    1. The ‘bite-sized’ comment is quite accurate unfortunately. The same ponds where the ducks nest are also the home for a healthy population of eels. It is a good thing that mother ducks are not very good at counting.

    2. The mother ducks always look distinctly unimpressed when I tell them their babies look good enough to eat. They’re safe around me though – I look but don’t touch.

  29. Good morning all. We are a bit like the solvers who have checked in from NI and Wales as we have rain falling at the moment. However the forecast is for clearing, so outdoor activities are still on the programme for today. Nice to read all these positive comments about Jay’s puzzle once again.
    Cheers.

  30. Lovely puzzle from Jay and great hints from the 2 KiWis. Solving was easier today, probably because I am now off the muscle relaxants for a wretched stiff neck. Not that Mr BL would ever accuse me of being a pain in the neck…

  31. I can’t spell 24ac, no matter how many times I see it, which pushed a * solve into a **. Much needed distraction from weather that seems determined to demonstrate that autumn has finally arrived.

  32. 24a Flanders and Swan – Mud, mud glorious mud. something about his 24a adjusted her garter that is all I can remember. After last two days brought to a grinding halt, my poor old brain gave up and supertoy came to my rescue. Thanks to all concerned. :phew:

  33. I did three quarters of this in double-quick time, but struggled in the SW corner, principally because I could not get 3d, needed the hint and did not know 14a.
    Disappointing, and a shame after a good run.
    Thanks to Jay and 2xKs

  34. Late on parade again. This was a nice crossie and I thought it was all going to be over before the morning coffee went cold (Eastern half) then I traversed across and the wheels fell off. Had to leave it until a very enjoyable and quite expensive trip with Management to RHS at Wisley. Returned to it just before bed to grind out the answers and thought to myself two things: 1. What a pleasant crossword and 2: I wonder if setters sometimes deliberately lull one into a false sense of security with one half decidedly easier than the other, just for fun. I think so.
    Thanks Mr Jay and everyone else. G’Nite!

  35. My friend Gazza has suggested that I post this comment on the ‘back pager’ review. So I apologise to the 2Ks for hijacking their review. Please forgive me but I have a few words to say and I hope you won’t mind. First of all, I want to thank everyone for their kind words on BD’s review of yesterdays back pager – wishing me well. That really, really is very much appreciated and I can’t thank you enough.

    I just want to say that the last few months have been very emotional and upsetting for me in so many ways – I wouldn’t know where to start. I’ve had bereavements to deal with and all that that entails, along with all sorts things that have ‘jump started’ my depression from a severe road traffic accident that nearly killed me in 2002. Suffice to say, I’m not in a ‘good place’.

    I am getting the help I need – so please do not worry.

    I just wanted you all to know that ‘mental illness’ is exactly what it says on the tin. Look at your friends and family members and ask the question – ‘Are they really OK?’

    1. There is no universal panacea and nothing I – or any of us – can say will make it go away. However, the support of a community is a valuable crutch to lean on and you can rest assured that the BD community is on your side. It’s good that you’re getting help; the first step to the solution is recognising and admitting that a problem exists. You are both very brave and very wise to make a public acknowledgement. It’s a good sign – the journey to any sort of recovery begins with the first step. Let us hope your journey is but a short one. You will always be welcome here.

      1. Thank you Tom – I was so struck by your comment yesterday I just wanted to explain myself to you and everyone else what it means to be in such a ‘frame of mind’. I look forward to the next time we meet.

    2. Thank you for your honesty and bravery, Shropshire lad. We are thinking of you as you go through this. As Tstrummer says, we and the whole Big Dave community are behind you and will support you as much as we can.

    3. Hi SL, I hope all turns out ok for you. I’m sure that you have done the right thing and just hope that you start to feel better soon. There is a lot of love and support from this small community and I am sure that other facets of your life are the same. Draw on it when you need it. All the best.

    4. SL,
      I read the above with great feeling for you. I haven’t had the pleasure of your physical company but have come to respect and admire you through the blog..
      I too have been down that dark path more than once unfortunately, originally triggered by a breavement, and echo all that has been said above.
      TS is so sage in what he says: by being as open as you have been is such a powerfully positive sign.
      My thoughts are with you, today’s 8d in the Toughie is a tribute to your contribution to our lives. Would we could return the kindness in a tangible way.

    5. SL. So sorry to hear of your plight – you’ve done the right thing by sharing it. Hope you get well soon and are back on here before long with your interesting and much-appreciated contributions. Best wishes and good luck in the meantime.

    6. You have shown great courage and strength of character with your post, SL. I have been there and only wish I could sit and talk to you.
      Although we don’t know one-another, you have made me feel like a friend, for which I thank you immensely.
      My thoughts are with you. We are all with you.
      With much respect, Roy.

    7. So relieved to hear from you, and wish you God speed on the road to recovery. As others have said, so glad you are getting help to get you out of this dark place. Even though you have not met most of us, know that we are thinking of you and are in your corner. Have always enjoyed your comments and hope to see them again when you are feeling better.

    8. Heartfelt good wishes from me too. Although thankful not to have suffered, I had first-hand experience through my mother and daughter. My heart aches, SL, as you find yourself in this place. Just know there is much love out there all being sent your way.

  36. Jay at his most gentle, but great fun nonetheless. Managed all but three clues on the (on time!) train home. 14a topped the bill for me, with 7d and 9d on the undercard. Ta to the Ks and, of course, to my favourite setter. 1*/3*

  37. For me, this one was little better than the previous two – a tad more challenging and better cluing. 2*/3*.

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