DT 28580 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
View closed comments 

DT 28580

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28580

Hints and tips by pommers

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

Morning all and welcome to what is definitely not a RayThursday.  I have no idea who the setter might be but it’s certainly not RayT and it won’t be Shamus as he’s in the Toughie slot today.  The anagram lovers among you will be well pleased as I count eight of the clues being all or partial anagrams.

I was thinking it was going to be a one star puzzle when I got 10 of the acrosses and 14 of the downs on first run through but the remaining 6 clues put up a bit of resistance so two star it was for me.  I’ll be interested to hear how you all got on with it.

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           Spray a rose growing wild over back of wall (7)
AEROSOL:  An anagram (growing wild) of A ROSE followed by O(ver) and an L (back of walL).  I’m not a great fan of anagram clues but I like the surface of this one.

9a           Screenplay shows bouquet last character’s dropped by a Spanish river (8)
SCENARIO:  Another word for bouquet or smell without its last letter (last character’s dropped) followed by the A from the clue and lastly the Spanish word for river.

10a         One longing apparently to take in first sign of Himalayan wild cat (7)
PANTHER:  This wild cat is a black leopard.  You’ll need a six letter word describing someone who either has a great desire for something or is seriously out of breath and insert an H (take in first sign of Himalayan).  Not easy to do a hint without giving the game away.

11a         Eastern European journalist of impeccable appearance (8)
POLISHED:  A word describing someone from a eastern European country followed by the usual journalist.  This eastern European country and its people are a godsend to crossword setters!

12a         Worries shown by son giving affectionate gesture (6)
CARESS:  Some worries followed by an S(on).

13a         Note trail winding around river with a rushing stream? (10)
TORRENTIAL:  An anagram (winding) of NOTE TRAIL around R(iver).  This word is more commonly applied to rain rather than a stream but it can apply to either.

15a         Toy with cricket side, leading to duck (4)
LEGO:  One of the sides of a cricket pitch followed by O (duck in cricket).

16a         Bird fluttering in part, game that’s tailless (9)
PTARMIGAN:  An anagram (fluttering) of IN PART and GAM(e) ( that’s tailless) gives a bird of the grouse family.

21a         Roundish figure not viable, regularly discounted (4)
OVAL:  Remove alternate letters (regularly discounted) from NOT VIABLE and you’ll be left with the answer.

22a         Youth in black, Essen’s outsiders, rejected food in European city (10)
GOTHENBURG:  A youth who wears black clothes, has dyed black hair and black make-up followed by EN (EsseN’s outsiders) and finally a slang term for food reversed (rejected) will give you the English name for a city in SW Sweden.

24a         Bring out priest before start of church appeal (6)
ELICIT:  The usual biblical priest followed by C (start of Church) and finally a euphemism for sex appeal.

25a         Rice, perhaps, strictly cooked with time once taken for one (8)
LYRICIST:  This Rice is called Tim and he’s a famous example of one of these.  It’s an anagram (cooked) of STRICTLY but one of the T’s is removed and replaced by an I (time once taken for one).  The necessary  capitalisation of Rice is well disguised by having it as the first word of the clue.  This one of his . . .

27a         Swore by shed adjoining rear of garden (5,2)
LEANT ON:  Start with crosswordland’s favourite shed, one built on to the side of the house, followed by N (end of gardeN) and split (5,2).

28a         Article about posh parliamentarian — losers may get it (8)
THUMPING:  For once the article isn’t the, an or a but literally an article or object. Put it around U (posh) and the usual two letter parliamentarian.

29a         A rest organised around two lakes is excellent (7)
STELLAR:  An anagram (organised) or A REST placed around LL (two Lakes).

 Down

2d           English chap with date arranged came out (8)
EMANATED:  A charade of E(nglish), a chap and lastly an anagram (arranged) of DATE.

3d           Like a day-tripper with a bus pass, perhaps unawares (2,3,3)
ON THE HOP:  A cryptic definition of how you might be caught unawares.

4d           Batches of deliveries by coach producing labour excessively (10)
OVERSTRAIN:  Some batches of cricket deliveries followed by a word for to coach or school.

5d           Repetition, one that precedes foxtrot? (4)
ECHO:  The letter that precedes foxtrot in the phonetic alphabet.

6d           Restaurant help served up in hostelry (6)
INDIAN: A type of restaurant or cuisine a word for help  reversed (served up in a down clue) and inserted into (in) a hostelry or pub.

7d           Old-fashioned bridge based on excellent carbon (7)
ARCHAIC:  A feature of a bridge like the one in the picture for the next clue is followed by the usual two letters for excellent and finally the chemical symbol for carbon.

8d           Try replacement for lad on Italian vessel (7)
GONDOLA:  Start with a word for a try or attempt and follow with an anagram (replacement for) LAD ON.

11d         Supreme soldier on horse (9)
PARAMOUNT:  A soldier who drops from the sky followed by a horse or steed.

14d         Declaration anticipating union battle (10)
ENGAGEMENT:  Double definition.  A declaration of intent to marry is also a military action.

17d         Fanciful Latin soon translated with no end of prowess (8)
NOTIONAL:  An anagram (translated) of LATIN SOON but without the S (no end of prowesS).

18d         Insanity, being about to book in Canadian province (8)
MANITOBA:  A type of insanity or at least an obsessional enthusiasm is placed around (being about) the TO from the clue and B(ook) to give you the Canadian province where our Sunday hinty person lives.

19d         Acrobat shows this delicacy without leading duo (7)
AGILITY:  Delicacy isn’t something nice to eat but being easy to break.  Remove the first two letters (without leading duo) and you’re left with a skill shown by acrobats or dogs at Crufts.

20d         Fledgling company  to rise suddenly (5-2)
START UP:  A double definition.

23d         Save piece of text right for deletion (6)
EXCEPT:  Save as in “all save this one”.  It’s a short piece of text which has been taken from a larger piece and the R has been removed (R(ight) for deletion).

26d         Feature of kitchen in decline (4)
SINK:  Something found in the kitchen is also a word meaning to decline or go down.  I love the rather inappropriate name on this boat . . .

No real stand-out favourite for me today but I did rather like 25a and 11d and the picture for 26d.


Quick crossword pun:      SICK     +     LEMON     =     CYCLAMEN


 

68 comments on “DT 28580

  1. 0.5* / 2.5*. This proved to be a brief but pleasant diversion. 25a was my favourite due to its nicely disguised definition.

    Many thanks to Mr Ron and to pommers.

  2. Pommers has summed up my experience exactly, even to the point that the pic for 26d is favourite today.
    Many thanks to setter and to pommers for the blog.

    1. Congratulations and Sincere Best Wishes for your Gold Wedding Anniversary. If we survive until the end of June next year we will be joining you in the GW club.

  3. Gentle but very enjoyable last night, despite a few old chestnuts and maybe a couple of anagrams too many, but they all help. 3d, 8d and 25a worthy of a mention but favourite is 22a, especially when I stopped trying to start it with a B whilst thinking of a city with a name like a multi coloured cake.

    Thanks to Mr Ron and Pommers.

    1. The multicoloured cake held me up for a long time too! I didn’t know about the youths, shall have to file that away.
      Hope your little island is recovering well.

      1. Libby and i get married next year, so l will have to wait until i’m 108!!
        Many congrats Mr. And Mrs. BD

  4. Straightforward, fun and diverting enough for a Thursday morning. 25a my favourite from 5d and overall this was 1.5* /3* for me.

    Thanks to Mr Ron and pommers.

  5. Not much to add to the above. In the absence of anything to beat it, 10a naturally has to be my favourite.

    Thanks to the setter and to pommers. No Worries indeed! There is a boat near us called “Flattery” and I always wonder where that’ll get you.

  6. This took me a bit longer than others today but I’m having a very odd day stuck at home while Mr CS finishes changing a wheel bearing on my car. I’ve done all the crosswords in the wrong order for a start. Thanks to Mr Ron and Pommers too

    Were it any other member of the blog celebrating today, I’m sure BD would have added the correct banner at the top of the page, so I’d like to take this opportunity of wishing him and Mrs BD a very happy Golden Wedding Anniversary. :yahoo: :rose: :rose:

  7. Reasonably straightforward, very enjoyable, and completed at a gallop – **/***.

    Favourite – 18d!

    Thanks to the setter and pommers, especially for the illustration and mention in the hint for 18d.

    And, congratulations to Mrs BD and BD.

  8. I’ve just done the Shamus Toughie, which I can recommend by the way, and one of the answers is the same word as one in this puzzle. I wonder how often that’s happened before.

    Also Happy Anniversary to Mr & Mrs BD from pommette and I. :rose:

    1. The same word turning up in both puzzles seems to be happening more and more. Pure serendipity I would imagine, but it gives us something to mention!

    2. The ‘same word’ coincidence happens fairly regularly – yesterday, for example, with ‘cafeteria’ in both puzzles.

      1. Never seen that before. I don’t visit the site every day and that must be one I missed. Interesting stuff though and an interesting discussion on the merits of statistics in the blog.

        1. I should have the answer to your question of how often this has happened before computed in time for Tuesday.

          Haven’t had time to do the puzzle, but I enjoyed reading the hints and looking at the pictures, so thanks for those.

  9. Gentle puzzle – over a bit too quickly, and maybe a few too many anagrams. */***. 25a is my favourite today. Now I will go and struggle with the Toughie – wish me luck!

  10. A few hold ups today so a **/*** for me, overall a solid enough puzzle which I enjoyed with no stand out clues-liked 22a.
    Thanks Pommers for the boat pic in 26d, elicited a smile. Reminded me of an aggressive looking twin engine speedboat I once saw at Abersoch named Armargeddon two !

  11. A few ‘iffy’ surface reads but an enjoyable enough puzzle.
    My favourite was the Quickie pun – I shall never look at that poor plant in quite the same way again!

    Thanks to Mr Ron and to Pommers for the blog, the clip of that memorable little Crufts competitor and the pic of the untroubled boat!

    1. I didn’t see your post to me yesterday until this morning, Jane.
      My gravatar is a pic of a plaque my Mum won. She was a keen motorcyclist and rode for Cotton bikes. The plaque says:

      G.M.C & L.C.C.
      Tin Can Trial
      16-8-25
      1st
      Miss M. Andrews

      I don’t know what the letters mean, maybe someone knows.

      1. Don’t know if it’s relevant but there is an organisation known as J.M.C & L.C.C. which stands for Jersey MotorCycle and Light Car Club so maybe your mum’s is a similar thing but from a place beginning with G.

      2. Was it in London? If so, possibly LCC is London County Council, the predecessor of the GLC and GMC could be the Greater Metropolitan Council.

      3. Hi Merusa, given that Cotton was based in Gloucester I would hazard a guess at Gloucester Motor Cycle and Light Car Club. Motor trials were hugely popular between the wars and continue to this day for vintage car and motorcycle enthusiasts.

        Edit: pommers beat me to it!

          1. Thanks everyone for their input. It’s so nice to be able to round things off and know what they mean.
            Mum would have been 112 years old this year! She used to wear men’s clothes, tie, jacket, etc., while doing these bikey things as she felt the men didn’t like competing against her. I don’t think she fooled anyone, she was not at all mannish. In any case, I don’t think it would have been the “done thing” to do scrambles in a frock!

            1. We both loved your tales about your Mum, never having known anyone else with a Cotton motorbike, never mind a celebrity like your a Mum!

      4. Gloucester is right on both counts. The Club and Cotton Motorcycles. Your mother’s sucesswould have been quite an achievement its time and I expect there are some motorcycle buffs/historians who can tell you more about it. There are articles in Classic Motor Cycle (Bob Currie 1986) concerning the club and Cottons.

  12. Having read through all the across clues and done one, I tried the the downs and fared little better. Finished eventually after something of a struggle (and had a conviction that everyone here would find it fairly easy – correct!).
    I loved the picture for 26d, thanks Pommers, and thanks to the setter. Wavelength is a funny thing but uniformity would be very dull.
    And many congratulations to the Golden Mr and Mrs BD.

  13. Firstly many congratulations to Mr and Mrs B D. I find this blog a delight and today was most grateful for hints for the bottom left hand corner.

  14. This was average in degree of difficulty and enjoyment in my opinion. As an ex player /cricket fan I should not have been misled in the first instance by 15a as I was. I liked the horse riding soldier and the songwriter the most. Congratulations Mr& Mrs BD on your golden married innings.

  15. This could well have been a 2** for me, but for a big hold-up in the SW corner (finally ‘broken’ by solving 25a – which I had of course encountered previously and actually manged to decode quite rapidly). Difficult to choose a favourite – but I’ll go for 19d. All in all, a good crossword.

  16. Good afternoon everybody.

    Mostly very straightforward but I stupidly failed to see 27a.

    Gah!

    ****/**

  17. One of those highly irritating crosswords that you are determined to complete even though you realy don’t like it. It was far easier on the whole to solve a clue without understanding it, too many leaps of faith for my taste.
    Not difficult but annoying.
    For me 2/2 (for some reason my iPad wants to insert an html command instead of an asterisk!)
    Thx for the excellent hints

  18. I found this one something of a slow burner, I didn’t expect at the beginning that it would be quite as enjoyable a solve as it eventually became. Like others, I’ve ticked 25a, but I also warmed to 10a and 2d for their surfaces. I loved (and fell victim to) the misdirection in 22a, thinking that “b” for black had to be in the solution, until the penny dropped.

    Many thanks to both setter and Pommers, and warmest congratulations to BD and Mrs BD on their anniversary.

  19. I didn’t find this too, too difficult until the SW corner, and did I ever sweat bullets over that. I felt so smug when I bunged in some answers that fit and found they were correct.
    Liked 16a, they are such lovely birds, they look so plump and comfortable.
    My fave is 19d ‘cos I loved, loved pommers’s clip, I laughed so hard!
    Thanks to setter and to pommers for explaining some answers, particularly 22a.

    1. Left you a message yesterday, Merusa – not sure whether you picked it up. I was wondering about the story behind your latest avatar.

  20. I found this harder than most, though once I found the setters wavelength, it fell into place. The city was a problem, once I had managed to get that cake out of my head as I thought it started GOTT.
    Thanks all

  21. Thanks to the setter and Pommers for the review and hints. I found this very straightforward. Had some nice clues, l liked 22a, but my favourite was 27a. Last in was 19d, which took me a while. Was 1/3 for me.

  22. Congratulations to the two BDs. We feel very privileged that we share with them both 1944 and 1967 as significant years.

    It all went together smoothly for us with just a few hesitations in the SW. We’re not game to make any guesses on who the setter might be.
    Thanks Mr Ron and pommers.

  23. A few too many anagrams for me but a fairly straight forward solve all the same.
    22a was my favourite and 2/3* overall.
    Thanks to the setter, and to Pommers for his excellent review.
    Many congratulations to the BDs on their 50th. Whew!

  24. Agree – a bit anagram-heavy for my tastes, but **/*** seems about right. No particular favourite clue, though (OK, maybe 25a). Thanks to the setter, and Pommers, and l’d like to add my congratulations to those already placed on record for Mr and Mrs BD.

  25. Pretty quick to start with, but I got quite bogged down in the SW corner, finishing in close to *** time. Knowing too many ageing Goths perhaps accounts for my inability to spot 22ac quickly.

  26. This kept me out of mischief for a while. Thanks for the hints Pommers. COTD for me was 5d for opits cryptic simplicity. Had the wrong city for 22a for a long time which didn’t help.

  27. Finished well before lights-out last night without problems – very straightforward and enjoyable!

  28. As in the toughie, this was full of great penny drop moments.
    From the Youth in black to the Italian vessel, every clue had to be teased out.
    Didn’t find it easy by any means.
    Thanks to the setter and to pommers for the review.

  29. Night all. Off to bed now as I have a ceiling plasterer arriving at 0830 tomorrow – don’t ask, it’s a long story all to do with roofs that leak but only when it rains which isn’t very often around here :unsure:

    Been an interesting afternoon sorting out what Merusa’s mum got up to in her youth. As a self-confessed petrolhead I’m impressed :good:

  30. This was no walk in the park but I did enjoy spending an inordinate amount of time sorting it all out. 27a was Fav once I realised how to use ‘lean to’. Thank you Mysteron and pommers.

  31. Many thanks for your kind words congratulating Mrs BD and I on our anniversary. We are being taken out tonight for a dinner with several family members.

Comments are closed.