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DT 28590

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28590

Hints and tips by Mr K

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BD Rating  –  Difficulty ** –  Enjoyment ***

 

Hello, everyone.  I’m feeling somewhat rusty because in the last couple of weeks I’ve had almost no time for crosswords.  I was therefore relieved to find today’s puzzle less taxing than some recent Tuesday offerings.

In the hints below underlining identifies precise definitions and cryptic definitions, and most indicators are italicized.  The answers will be revealed by clicking on the Here’s an alternative pic for 11a: buttons.  Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.

 

Across

3a    Disorganised brawl — nobody’s to be charged (4-3-3)
FREE-FOR-ALL:  Without its hyphens, the answer could mean available to everyone at no cost

8a    Nothing about English verse where 23 Down is (6)
NEVADA:  A 4-letter nothing containing (about) abbreviations for English and for verse

9a    The criminal underworld in Georgia, country without leadership (8)
GANGLAND:  Join together the abbreviation for the US State of Georgia and all but the first letter (without leadership) of the country where a good proportion of you reside

10a   Certainly love loud passage (2,6)
OF COURSE:  The usual abbreviations for love and for loud, followed by a synonym of passage

11a   Response from a king receiving bad news (6)
ANSWER:  A from the clue and an abbreviation for king are sandwiching (receiving) an anagram (bad) of NEWS

12a   Shows wide pitches (10)
BROADCASTS:  Stick together wide or extensive and pitches or tosses

14a   Pitiful male going to pieces swamping craft (13)
HEARTBREAKING:  A male pronoun and literally “going to pieces” surrounding (swamping) craft or skill

20a   Scruffy kid, kid with a cake (10)
RAGAMUFFIN:  Join kid or tease, A from the clue, and a cup-shaped cake

22a   Significance of women’s rowing crew (6)
WEIGHT:  The clothing abbreviation for women’s and a number that can mean a rowing crew

23a   Rescue from turbulent River Tees, when docked (8)
RETRIEVE:  An anagram (turbulent) of RIVER TEES minus its last letter (when docked)

24a   Try fish an American way (8)
TURNPIKE:  Assemble a try in a game and a voracious fish to get the American name for a toll motorway

25a   Key member, close (6)
LEGEND:  A member one stands on, followed by close or conclude.  A key like the one accompanying this pie chart

26a   Real money splashed about acquiring foremost of buildings in London area (10)
MARYLEBONE:  An anagram (splashed about) of REAL MONEY containing (acquiring) the first letter (foremost) of Buildings.  This affluent part of London is home to both Madame Tussaud’s Waxwork Museum and the Sherlock Holmes Museum 

 

Down

1d    Leave, determined to go on Scottish river (3,5)
SET FORTH:  Determined or resolute, followed by (to go on) a river in central Scotland

2d    Country holding alternative view (8)
PANORAMA:  A Central American country containing (holding) a conjunction that links alternatives

3d    Material‘s marvellous, very amusing mostly (6)
FABRIC:  Link together a rather dated adjective meaning marvellous and all but the last letter (mostly) of an adjective that can mean very amusing or ridiculous

4d    Row of bushes, height not shown, forming border (4)
EDGE:  Take a row of bushes forming a barrier and delete the abbreviation for height (height not shown)

5d    Ardent admirer attends, on the way up, a Disney film (8)
FANTASIA:  Concatenate an ardent admirer, the reversal (on the way up, in a down clue) of a (2,2) phrase meaning attends, and A from the clue

6d    Look forward to  a sauce, perhaps (6)
RELISH:  A double definition.  Sauce perhaps as in the picture

7d    Tail of gull caught, apparently — or another bird (6)
LINNET:  Gluing together the last letter of (tail of) gulL and a (2,3) phrase that could mean caught gives a type of finch

13d   Small stem bearing flowers? Any number out of season (5)
SPRIG:  Take the season that follows winter and delete (…out of) the letter that in mathematics can represent any number

15d   Wrong French river for this reptile (8)
TORTOISE:  A legal term for a wrongful act, and a French river that starts in Belgium

16d   Encroach on one northern border (8)
INFRINGE:  A charade of the Roman for one, the abbreviation for northern, and a border of loose threads

17d   French wine consumed by Norwegian composer in mourning (8)
GRIEVING:  The French word for wine is inserted into (consumed by) the Norwegian composer of the music to Peer Gynt 

18d   Good aquanaut’s beginning to follow injured blue whale (6)
BELUGA:  The abbreviation for good and the first letter (…‘s beginning) of Aquanaut follow an anagram (injured) of BLUE

19d   Get on with head of corporation in New York office (6)
AGENCY:  “get on” or mature, followed by the first letter of (head of) Corporation inserted in the abbreviation for New York

21d   Copper, say, reportedly showing courage (6)
METTLE:  The type of material of which copper is an example (say) sounds like (reportedly) a noun meaning courage or resilience.  The illustration shows a supposed test of 21d

23d   Northern half of famous gambling centre (4)
RENO:  The first (northern, in a down clue) half of an adjective meaning famous

 

Thanks to today’s setter.  My favourite was 19d.  What was yours?

 


The Quick Crossword pun:  CREW+SYBIL=CRUCIBLE


35 comments on “DT 28590

  1. Quite a gentle workout, for a Tuesday. I got through this in **/*** time, until I had just 24a left. I saw all the elements of it, and even with four checkers in, I was banging my head against the wall.

    Left it alone, did the quickie, came back to it and in went the answer. Weird how that happens.

    I would have liked to see the word “dear” in the clue for 10a.

    Many thanks to the setter and Mr. K.

  2. Agree with Mr Kay and his **/***, I did think the surfaces generally were very good eg 11a,20a,18d.
    New word for me I think for synonym of nothing in 8a- how has that escaped me ? , the solution to 8a could only be one word and I confirmed the four letter word in a reference book.
    The quickie pun had me snookered for a while.
    Thanks all.

  3. Quite enjoyable, completed at a gallop – **/***.

    Not too convinced by the 23d/8a combination.

    Favourite – my last one in – 25a.

    Thanks to the setter and Mr K.

    P.S. The Toughie required a bit more head scratching than some recent Tuesday editions.

  4. 1.5* / 3*. A pleasantly enjoyable romp with no particular favourite.

    Many thanks to Messrs R & K.

  5. Pleasant offering, but not too challenging. Needed my smattering of Spanish for 8a. Clever that the Spanish indicator was the (maybe) dominant language of 23d. 24a my favourite today. */***.

  6. Didn’t find any sparkle in this last night and it didn’t look any better this morning. Maybe too many clues with a similar structure? But thanks to Mr Ron anyway. * / **

  7. Today’s entertainment was painless and did not last long. Dare I say that it neither stretched the grey cells nor quickened the pulse. I am off to get my customary comeuppance from the Toughie setter- hubris never goes unpunished.

  8. Another from the pen of our Tuesday setter with a penchant for things American, I feel.
    A reasonably quick solve for me with nothing to cause adverse comment but no stand-out favourite.

    Thanks to Mr Ron and to Mr K – loved the pic for 15d and the survey conducted by Mary and Mark!

  9. Nice and straightforward */*** some very nice clues 😃 agree with the Beaver the 4 letter word in 8 across was new to me, I think 🤔 Really liked 14 & 24 across and 7 down. Thanks to Mr K for the blog and to the setter

  10. For some reason I was not on Mr Ron’s wavelength this morning, so ended up nudging into 3* /3* territory. Looking back I cannot see why I stumbled, as there was nothing off piste. I did like the smooth surface of 26a.

    Thanks to both Misters involved today.

  11. Not too taxing. I’ve never been to 23D/8A but I’ve travelled the 24A picture more times than I care to mention so I probably should have figured out the answer long before I actually did. Thanks to Mr. K and today’s setter. Cryptic and Toughie all done and dusted. Now on to the Quickie.

  12. Nice puzzle for a Tuesday, 20a gets my vote today.
    Many thanks to setter and to Mr K for the review.

  13. Thanks to the setter and Mr Kitty for the review and hints. I enjoyed this one very much. I found this much trickier than most Tuesday puzzles. I took ages to get the second word of 1d, and thought that 14a was an anagram, until the penny eventually dropped. I liked 9a(originality), but my favourite was 7d(very clever, and also the name of my second car) a Ford Escort special edition. Last in was 10a.Was 3 ✳ / 3 ✳ for me.

  14. Tuesday puzzles recently seem to be slow burners, i.e. from inauspicious starts they tend to get better as one advances through the grid, and this one was no exception.

    My ticked clues were 20a, 26a (which London Underground insists on pronouncing Marley-bun although I have always called it Marry-le-bun) and, like our blogger, 19d.

    Many thanks to today’s setter and to Mr K.

  15. My last one in today was 24a but it should have been the first … How many times have I watched The Sopranos? How many times have I listened to “America” by Simon and Garfunkel?




  16. A pleasant walk in the park today but somewhat devoid of cerebral exercise. Made life difficult for myself by bunging in terrapin for 15d. SW corner last to yield. Like MalcolmR the proverbial secret to a happy marriage came to my mind in 10a! Thank you Mysteron and Mr. K.

  17. This was a very friendly offering today.
    I rather liked 1d, but fave was 20a.
    Thanks to the Tuesday setter and to Mr. Kitty for his hints and pics.

  18. Steady solve found a couple of tricky clues that caused an hold up, 23d being the main culprit. Kept trying to get Vegas in to the answer until the penny dropped.

    Clue of the day 2d.

    ** / ***

    Thanks to Mr K and the setter.

  19. This was a bit trickier than usual for me, perhaps owing to lack of ‘easy starters’. Once a start had actually been made, the rest fell into place without too much difficulty. Bit of a hold-up with 14a, although straight forward enough ‘in retrospect’. Favourite: 20a (which must surely be a chestnut??). Didn’t use the hints, but enjoyed reading them just the same (especially the pic accompanying 8a, which sort of reminded me of a ‘no guns’ sign on a music shop window in N. Carolina!).

  20. */***. I don’t often go for an anagram as favourite, but l liked 26a. Thanks to the setter, and Mr K.

  21. Enjoyed this and it was a steady solve but nothing to email home about. Liked the smooth skins of 11a & 19d. 9a was a nice little political dig, it seemed to me. Last man standing was 2d. Thanks Mr Mr.

  22. Thanks to Mr Ron and Mr K for a very enjoyable puzzle. The whole right half went in quite smoothly, but the left too me much longer and a bit of head scratching. Once I thought of the Scottish river it all fell into place, and 1d was my COTD. 24a held me up for a while, for which I have no excuse as I live over here and use said road quite frequently.

  23. Just 24a caused much head scratching.
    Crosswords much harder at the moment as I have gone back to work and brain is pretty much spent by the time I get home.
    Enjoyable work out, thanks all.

  24. More like a */** here for difficulty, and thoroughly enjoyable. I didn’t know how to spell 26ac, and was stymied by a hasty GENEVA for 8ac (why, I hear you cry… I don’t know now). I suspect therefore that if I hadn’t been rushing, I probably would have finished a little more quickly, paradoxically.

    1. Does this work for the spelling of Marylebone?….I saw a thin French poodle at the station today and it was called…..wait for it…wait for it….Mary “Le Bone”. Give it to me, Jonny S, give it to me…gimme, gimme, gimme….

        1. Good man. It could conjure up other images but it’s a family website so let’s leave it there.

  25. I found today’s crossword to be quite good. Took me a while to really get going and thereafter a steady solve ensued. 20a tickled my fancy and overall 2/3*.
    Thanks to Mr Ron and to Mr K for the review.

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