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DT 28233

by Deep Threat  

 

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28233

Hints and tips by Deep Threat

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

Good morning from South Staffs on a bright September morning.

There are plenty of anagrams and part-anagrams to get you going in today’s Giovanni, but I can see that some of the less common words and bits of General Knowledge involved may cause difficulty for some.

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           No Christmas sadly for Cromwell’s lot? Certainly not! (11)
MONARCHISTS – Anagram (sadly) of NO CHRISTMAS.

7a           Beloved Grace coming to the rescue (7)
DARLING – Double definition, the second being the surname of Grace, the lighthouse keeper’s daughter who rowed out with her father to rescue survivors from the Forfarshire, wrecked on the Farne Islands.

Image result for Grace Darling

8a           Someone working for money after end of school or a student? (7)
LEARNER – The last letter of schooL followed by someone in paid employment.

10a         Noble has lots of pounds stashed away (5)
MANLY – Another word for ‘lots of’ wrapped around the abbreviation for pounds sterling.

11a         Dim sermon about one form of theology (9)
MODERNISM – Anagram (about) of DIM SERMON, giving us a theological movement from the late 19th and early 20th centuries which has been described as ‘the critique of our supernatural knowledge according to the false postulates of contemporary philosophy’.

12a         Type of transport wanted by negotiators in the capital (7)
CARACAS – A form of motor vehicle, followed by the acronym for the government-funded body which acts as an arbitration and conciliation service in industrial disputes, leading us to the capital of Venezuela.

14a         Be taken in by lustre in drinking parlour (7)
SHEBEEN – The shine or lustre of a polished surface wrapped around BE from the clue.

15a         A peculiar sect, one cold and austere (7)
ASCETIC – Put together A (from the clue), an anagram (peculiar) of SECT, the Roman numeral for one, and Cold.

18a         Someone using bad language in class we are rebuking (7)
SWEARER – Hidden in the clue.

20a         Entrant is put to work without delay (9)
INSTANTER – Anagram (put to work) of ENTRANT IS.

21a         Advance and squat by river (5)
POSIT – The Italian river beloved of crossword setters followed by another word for ‘squat’.

22a         Asked for old lover and behaved insincerely (7)
EXACTED – The usual old lover followed by a verb describing someone who was playing a part rather than being himself.

23a         What may provide a prod in, nastily (7)
PONIARD – An all-in-one clue, where an anagram (nastily) of A PROD IN gives you a sort of dagger which may indeed give you a nasty prod.

Image result for poniard

24a         Dress of Parisian place of learning — thank you for wearing it (11)
DECOLLETAGE – The French word for ‘of’ followed by a place of learning wrapped around a short way of saying ‘thank you’.

Image result for decolletage

Down

1d           Start of roughness in sea — hesitation for me? (7)
MARINER – Put the first letter of Roughness inside a word for the sea (as in the Spanish —-) than add a word of hesitation, and you get someone who may well hesitate if the sea is rough.

2d           Like some sound rising that is to be restricted (5)
NOISY – Reverse (rising, in a Down clue) a dialect word for ‘that’ and wrap the result around IS (from the clue).

3d           Administrations processing emigres (7)
REGIMES – Anagram (processing) of EMIGRES.

4d           Chemicals with aluminium in concealed places (7)
HALIDES – The chemical symbol for aluminium inside the sort of concealed places used for filming wildlife.

5d           See zebra running with energy — it comes over land from the water (3,6)
SEA BREEZE – Anagram (running) of SEE ZEBRA, followed by Energy.

6d           Muslim and nun unexpectedly in significant location (7)
SUNNITE – Anagram (unexpectedly) of NUN inside a particular location where, for example, building work may be taking place, giving us an adherent of one of the main branches of Islam.

7d           Comrade and I set out to bring reform politically (11)
DEMOCRATISE – Anagram (out) of COMRADE and I SET.

9d           Men rue being abused — trade badly paid (11)
REMUNERATED – Anagram (being abused) of MEN RUE followed by an anagram (badly) of TRADE.

13d         Purgative has member of medieval sect twitching (9)
CATHARTIC – A member of a heretical sect which flourished is southern France in the 13th century, followed by a nervous twitching.

16d         Foreign duke upset when celebrity’s introduced something saucy (7)
CUSTARD – Reverse the French word for duke and wrap it around a stage or screen celebrity, and you get the gloopy yellow sauce which many of you thought was in last week’s Giovanni.

ARVE Error: need id and provider

17d         Engineers abandoning a derelict broken-down castle? (7)
CITADEL – Anagram (broken down) of A DE(re)LICT, with the initials of a regiment of engineers removed.

18d         Bad temper the fellow’s revealed in Greek song (7)
STROPHE – An informal word for a fit of bad temper followed by the pronoun for ‘the fellow’, giving us one of the parts of the song sung by the chorus in a Greek drama.

19d         After break had meal and set out again (7)
RESTATE – Another word for a break, followed by ‘had a meal’.

21d         Animal on view in shop and admired (5)
PANDA – Hidden in the clue.

Image result for panda

The Quick Crossword pun CREWE + SHELLEY = CRUCIALLY

42 comments on “DT 28233”

  1. Goodness gracious, 11 whole or partial anagrams and two hidden words, accounting for almost 50% of the grid. The beloved Grace was referenced in an edition of Coast on TV fairly recently, so that knowledge came in handy for 7a. Otherwise fairly straightforward and almost un-Giovanni like. Thanks to all concerned.

  2. Yes, a lot of anagrams and a few new words that I had to check. But not a too difficult puzzle and very enjoyable.

    2*/3* for me today.

  3. Found this great fun but distinctly tricky in parts mainly because Giovanni has recovered his weird words dictionary as shown by 20a and 18d. Mind you mis-spelling 23a didn’t help, I always thought it was poinard. Bestforme was 24a mainly because I was dying to see how the hinter would illustrate it! Very tastefully done.
    Needed the hints to fully parse my answers to 1d and 2d neither of which I thought were good clues, not like Giovanni to use ‘leap of faith’ which I particularly dislike.
    Thx to all.

  4. 3*/1.5*. What a complete contrast to last Friday! Apart from one excellent clue, I found this rather formulaic and uninspiring with lots of obscurities.

    For the third day running three quarters went in quite quickly but the NW corner delayed me considerably. I couldn’t see a definition for 1d, and despite DT’s obviously correct explanation I don’t find it very satisfying.
    I put “money” as the wrong answer for 10a even though I couldn’t see the relevance of “stashed away”. :oops:

    The shining light which made it all worthwhile? 24a, a perfect invitation to the reviewer for a picture!

    Thanks to Giovanni and to DT.

  5. Definitely more up my street than yesterday even if somewhat overladen with anagrams but no doubt that will please several bloggers. Always good to increase my vocabulary with new words viz. 15a, 20a, 23a and 18d. No particular Fav but just all round good fun. South fell into place well before the North. Many thanks Giovanni and DT. ***/***.

  6. Far too many anagrams for my liking, a lot of obscure meanings and a couple of unsatisfactory clues in 1d and 10a. 3*/1.5* Many thanks to DT for his much needed help.

  7. Anagrams aplenty and the usual sprinkling of obscurities. Several of those I could just about drag up from the memory bank but I had to look up the 23a dagger, the 13d sect and the Greek song.
    Like RD, I tried to justify ‘money’ for quite a while in 10a and I also struggled initially to parse 24a, having become fixated on using the French word for a school.
    My ‘Grace’ was a character from Peter Pan (hangs head in shame)!

    Rather liked the way the negotiators were fitted into 12a and my top spot goes to 24a.
    Thanks to DG and also to DT – ages since I’ve seen Rhubarb and Custard!

  8. Bunged in 7a as there was no way I could have gotten the second meaning.
    1d threw me too. “him” would have been better than “me” as I thought there was a connection with the setter.
    Tried to put “Ecole” in 24a for the Parisian place of learning until I parsed it right.
    Was surprised that the BRB doesn’t have a separate entry for “instant” in 20a. Found it under “instance”.
    Having finished both DT crosswords in good time, decided to have a go at out friend Virgilius (aka Brendan) in the Guardian. Found it relatively enjoyable.
    Thanks to the Don and to DT for the review.

  9. I found Elkamere’s toughie today much easier than this, so I would encourage people to have a go at that.

    The NW was the last to yield, with 10a my last one in after trying to get MONEY to work. I didn’t know Grace, so many thanks DT for the enlightenment.

    The usual new words and another broad scientific definition, but as always fairly clued.

    Many thanks Giovanni and DT

  10. Totally agree with RD’s first comment – rather dull and unrewarding so I will move swiftly on to Elkamere.

    Thanks to DT et al as ever.

  12. Curate’s egg some good clues but too many anagrams & esoteric words to really be satisfying.
    Still sun shining for a change so on to other things.
    Thanks to setter & DT for hints. 28a knew the answer but had to use the spell checker: as like Jane I intially tried using Parisian place of learning as “ecole”. Now see how I should have parsed it.

  13. Giovanni may introduce some obscure words , but his cluing is pin sharp enough to enable construction of the definition-followed by a reference book check ! One of my favourite Manchester restaurants is Don Giovanni’s- near Bridgewater Hall.
    Liked 24a and being a chemist helped with 4d, also the surface of 2d- nice and bright and a **/*** for me .Thanks to DT for the pics.

    1. Me too with Don Giovanni’s – one of the places I miss, along with the visits to the Bridgewater Hall.

  14. I’m afraid this was not my cup of tea at all.

    Too many obscure words for me.

    Thanks to Deep Threat without whom I could never have completed this .

  15. Well, what an anagramfest that was. I count it as 8 straight anagrams, 2 partial anagrams and one clue where the answer is made up of 2 separate anagrams – far too much for me. With all that coupled with the usual pointless Don obscurities it gets a **/** from me.

    Thanks anyway to the Don and DT but I can recommend the Toughie as a much more pleasant excursion into crosswordland.

  16. A bit of a mixed bag as others have commented. The obscurities were fairly clued so very doable, and the plethora of anagrams meant that half the grid was completed in no time. 24 across my favourite, and overall this was a 2*/3* from me.

    Thanks to the Don and DT.

  18. Disappointing to see Mr. Manley reverting to type with this one.

    Far too many obscurities for my taste, whether fairly clued or not they contributed to a mostly unenjoyable slog. I’m pleased that Brian found it “great fun” though.

    Much as like anagrams, when more than 35% of a puzzle consists of them, then that really is over-egging the pudding.

    The one clue I ticked was 21a.

    Thanks to Giovanni and to DT, and a good weekend to all.

  19. Ice pack from yesterday melted in time for new one today. Several new words which will not be remembered for next time, did remember Grace from childhood stories of heroines. 1d wobbly cluie, lost interest with three to go so thanks to DT for sorting me out and Giovvanni for confusing me in the first place. :phew:

  20. I enjoyed this puzzle but a lot of electronic help needed to confirm my thinking for the more obscure words. Perhaps too many anagrams for some but they help get the puzzle opened up. Thanks to all and have a good weekend.

  21. A few obscurities indeed! However, we did quite enjoy this one but found found it a lot harder than Deep Threat. A 2.5/3 from us. Thanks to The Don and DT.

  22. I don’t object overmuch to obscure words, or to anagrams. All is fair in crossword-setting, after all, and we must strive to maintain the mental flexibility to deal with all styles. I found the NW corner tougher than the rest (2d and 10a). I got 1d quite quickly, assuming I was supposed to know of this setter’s nautical bent, but now I see that the clue suggests the opposite. I think 2*/4* is about right. My favourite clues are 24a and 14d – both of which appealed to different aspects of my baser nature. VMTs to the Don, and to DT for the review.

  23. there were so many anagrams, I kept telling myself it just can’t be another anagram, so causing me to complicate the clue, even so, it all went pretty easily.
    I needed Google for the chemical, and I thought 20a an odd word.
    Enjoyed 7a, lovely story, and 14a, remembering The Irish RM, rollicking good yarn that.
    Thanks to Giovanni and to Deep Threat.

  24. Better than yesterday but still uninspiring. Anagrammed out and obscurised. Not a load of laughs, but at least I had fun with the first three days of this week.

  25. I didn’t feel that today’s offering from the Don was quite up to his usual standard. Too many anagrams for me, not that I have anything against them. They just get boring after a while! I quite liked the ‘gloopy’ clue, 16d and overall 2/3*.
    Thanks to Virgilius, and to DT for the review.

  27. Argh! I thanked the wrong setter! I do apologize Giovanni… I do, I do.
    I gotta cold, that’s my excuse…..

  28. The negotiators in 12a needed a BRB check (not surprisingly) and a couple of other obscurities 20a and 23a caused a little delay. One of us had heard of the Grace in 7a though so no problems there. We enjoyed the solve.
    Thanks Giovanni and DT.

  29. A super crossword, as usual, and, for me, a couple of new words. I thought that 2d was a bit dodgy and 23a a bit impossible. However, many thanks to Giovanni for and enjoyable puzzle and to DT for the valuable hints

  30. A made heavy weather of this. Perhaps it was a little difficult, perhaps I’ve just had enough this week. :-)

  31. That was a strange one, full of anagrams and obscure words.
    Hard to pick a favourite as it was a bit of a slog. Not the best.
    Thanks to DT and Giovanni.

  32. We thought this worth 2*/2*. The surfeit of anagrams meant it was easy to open up and therefore we progressed quickly while, at the same time, too many of one clue type detracted from the enjoyment. 24a probably favourite, mainly because I like the idea of thanking a lady for wearing something revealing. However, if you look at Google’s images for the word, there’s a deeply disturbing picture of Angela Merkel with a low neckline. Urgh.

    We did this in the morning then I had to make a quick visit to my sister in Wales and just got back. Im surprised to see that Dutch has the Toughie easier than this, so that can be a pre-bedtime treat. But first, some serious Ryder Cup watching….

    Thanks to DT And Giovanni.

  33. Had to rush off before breakfast today to fulfill grandparent duties, so did not get to this until mid afternoon. Sadly later hour did not help brain function, too many words I had never come across (5). Think my English teachers would have got out the red pen if I ever used 20a. Thanks to Deep Threat for the hints and Giovanni for the education.

  34. This was very good from G – quite challenging and good fun. 18d was a new word for me, but easily parsed from the clue and I wrote it in with confidence before checking in the BRB. 2,5*/3.5*

  35. I also studied at the école in 24a, but am happy with the peer group in whose company I find myself. I raised an eyebrow at 20a, and 23a was new, as was (I think) the 13d sect. I didn’t parse 2d solo (that being yon) and also needed DT to identify Grace of 7a.

    My favourite is 18a for it describes me yesterday, grumpy with a headache. I cheered myself up by buying a train ticket to an exclusive and exotic destination later in the month.

    Thanks to Giovanni and DT.

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