DT 28742 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 28742

by Mr K  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28742

Hints and tips by Mr K

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BD Rating  -  Difficulty *** -  Enjoyment ***

 

Hello, everyone.  It's my turn to stand in for Deep Threat.  In the hints below most indicators are italicized, and definitions are underlined.  Clicking on the ANSWER buttons will reveal the answers.  Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.

 

Across

1a    British farming establishment -- just one bit of the business? (6)
BRANCH:  Put together an abbreviation for British and a type of farm

4a    Burns and marks on outside of church (8)
SCORCHES:  Marks or notches wrapped around (on outside of) the map abbreviation for church

9a    Article by fraud, someone claiming contact with spirits (6)
SHAMAN:  Place a grammatical article after a fraud or a fake

10a   Operation that's largely up in the air (8)
AVIATION:  A word describing the business, technology, etc. of mechanical flight

11a   Farmer who must take stock now and again? (9)
CATTLEMAN:  The answer is a farmer who will from time to time round up or transport livestock

13a   What church choir may sing, gathered to convey holy writ? (5)
MOTET:  A short synonym of gathered containing (to convey) the abbreviation for a usual collection of holy books

14a   Ego-trip in bank sadly creates a critical situation (8,5)
BREAKING POINT:  An anagram (sadly) of EGO TRIP IN BANK

17a   Somehow she's liberated, back in business again? (2-11)
RE-ESTABLISHED:  An anagram (somehow) of SHE'S LIBERATED

21a   Such language when dog bites maiden! (5)
TAMIL:  Dog or follow contains (bites) the cricket abbreviation for maiden

23a   Green lady, terribly romantic (9)
LEGENDARY:  An anagram (terribly) of GREEN LADY

24a   One hires eccentric females who can do great things (8)
HEROINES:  An anagram (eccentric) of ONE HIRES

25a   Maureen outside home after party may be a 'faller-over' (6)
DOMINO:  Wrap a short form of Maureen around the usual word for home, and then place that lot after the usual party

26a   Planned performance including group of stars (8)
DESIGNED:  An action or performance containing (including) a group of stars in the Zodiac

27a   Some bookmakers take dubious bet (6)
STAKED:  The answer is hidden in part of (some …) the rest of the clue

 

Down

1d    Big but not good religious school cut in two (6)
BISECT:  BIG minus the abbreviation for good (… but not good), followed by a religious school of opinion

2d    Woman beginning to polish item of furniture that can fit in anywhere? (9)
ADAPTABLE:  Put together a female name, the first letter of (beginning to) POLISH, and an item of furniture

3d    Fellow taking rest after tea (7)
CHARLIE:  Find a male name by putting a word meaning rest horizontally after an informal word for tea

5d    Women's group with social worker swigged gin, forging agreement (11)
COVENANTING:  Assemble a group of witches, a worker insect that's social, and an anagram (swigged) of GIN

6d    One may have ways set down in print (4,3)
ROAD MAP:  The answer shows ways and roads, and it could be printed

7d    I may be carried by entertainer offering lift (5)
HOIST:  I from the clue contained in (may be carried by) someone entertaining guests

8d    Leaders in Church Times entrenched in good sense and holiness (8)
SANCTITY:  The initial letters of (leaders in) CHURCH TIMES inserted in (entrenched in) good sense or rationality

12d   Imaginary brainwash (4-7)
MAKE-BELIEVE:  Without the hyphen the answer could mean brainwash

15d   Dreadful inn, a kind in which one gets undrinkable black fluid! (6,3)
INDIAN INK:  An anagram (dreadful) of INN A KIND containing the Roman numeral for one (… in which one)

16d   Unhappy wife reacted after bad meal? (8)
WRETCHED:  The abbreviation for wife, followed by how a diner might have reacted to a bad meal

18d   Meaningful  narration (7)
TELLING:  A double definition.  Meaningful or significant, and narration or recounting

19d   Worker, dismissed, gets charitable gift (7)
HANDOUT:  Cement together a worker on a ship or in a factory and a synonym of dismissed

20d   This person's solemn promise brings an exclamation of surprise (2,4)
MY WORD:  This mild exclamation of surprise could also be "this person's solemn promise" from the setter’s perspective

22d   Society weighed down by additional customs (5)
MORES:  An abbreviation for society preceded by (weighed down by, in a down clue) additional or extra

 

Thanks to today’s setter.

 

The Quick Crossword pun:  BANNED+HANNAH= BANDANA

33 comments on “DT 28742”

  1. I liked this one a lot. About average for a G (I assume it’s him?), so a little above average for the back-page norm, a reasonable challenge, fine clues and very enjoyable. Favourite of a good bunch: 16d. 3* / 4*

  2. Would have been another hurrah for me today if I hadn’t, for reasons that are not clear to me now, been sure that 18d was ‘talking’…..doh!

    Very enjoyable puzzle .

    Thanks to the setter and to Mr K.

    1. Welcome to the blog – we already have a commenter called Vanessa, although she uses a capital V, so you might wish to change your ‘alias’ to avoid any future confusion

  4. Have to say that I didn’t find this one particularly sparkling and thought there were a few rather weak clues such as 10&11a plus 3d.
    Can’t please all of the people all of the time and I’m pleased to see that others enjoyed it.

    Thanks to DG and to Mr K for undertaking extra duties – much appreciated.

    1. 2* / 2*. Late on parade today as I’ve been at The Oval watching Surrey get absolutely hammered.

      Not for the first time, and probably not for the last time, I completely agree with you, Jane, although I would add 25a & 2d to your list too.

      I didn’t know you could spell the colloquialism for tea with an “r” until I checked my BRB.

      Thanks to G and Mr K.

  5. First comment went AWOL so here’s another. This was chalk and cheese as compared with yesterday. Only slight hold-up was in SW. Fav 6d. Had reservations re thinking on a few viz 21a, 23a, 26a, 3d and 15d. 9a and 22d added to my vocabulary although both were simple to fathom. Thank you Giovanni (was this really you?) and MrK.

  6. Unusually for me on a Friday, somewhat of a struggle which took away from the enjoyment a little for completion at a canter – ****/**.

    A furrowed brow at the 4 letter synonym for tea in 3d but it’s in the BRB as a ‘Cockney spelling’ of the more familiar 3 letter version.

    Joint favourites – 25a and 6d.

    Thanks to Giovanni and Mr K.

  7. All went swimmingly until 26a which resisted me for a lot longer than it should. Enjoyable even if my favourite 5d might cause upset in some quarters. Thanks to all involved.

  9. My equine friends remained in a state of great calm during the solving of this Giovanni offering. 12d was my COTD, and overall this fun puzzle was 2* /3* for me.

    Thanks to The Don and Mr K.

  10. For some strange reason this one went together very smoothly, with the exception of 13a which is a new word to me. **/***
    Thanks to setter and Mr K

  11. I fairly zipped through this one today. 12D was my favorite also. Thanks to Giovanni and Mr. K.

  12. Good crossword but found 16d a poor clue. Reaching after a bad meal is a bit extreme!

      1. Ramadan has just started. There’s going to be a lot of that after the nightfall meals followed by the usual Al Hamdulillah.

  13. Pretty straightforward. Found 5d rather insulting!. !a stumped me for a while.

  14. I found this to be quite entertaining. Like others, I fleetingly questioned authorship, but the several church references changed my mind, this had to be Giovanni.
    Fave was 6d with 12d following closely.
    Thanks to Giovanni and to Mr. K for stepping in.

  15. Bit of a curate’s egg for me. 13a, 22d and 5d (never heard it as a verb)were all new to me. Balanced against that were some very likeable clues, 3d, 20d and 25a foremost amongst them.
    Thanks to setter and of course the reviewer for enlightening me where required.

  16. Also found this one very straightforward. Favourite clue would be Ada and her table.
    Have a good weekend all.

  17. No real problems with today’s puzzle other than 24a where for a while I was using the wrong words for the anagram. 16a was my favourite.
    Thanks to Giovanni, and to Mr K for depping.

  18. We did wonder whether there was some subtle wordplay in 11a that we had missed, but apparently not. It all went together smoothly for us leaving plenty of time for the toughie where it was certainly needed.
    Thanks Giovanni and Mr K

  19. Completed in fits and starts throughout the day.NW corner last to fall but looking after the event I can’t see why.
    Lots of Women today from Little Mo, some unhappy wife and a green lady as well as a group of witches and a liberated woman too. I will agree with Hatties Grandma (2 more women for you) and put Ada and her table top of my list 24a’s Heroines all of them.

    Is it Mothers day or something ;)

  20. Thanks to Giovanni and to Mr Kitty for the review and hints. I enjoyed this one, had a real struggle with the SW corner, but got there in the end. Last in was 10a preceded by 5d, both took ages. Favourite was 21a. Was 2*/3* for me. Had a great walk from Coniston today.

  22. Not my cup of tea today, agreeing with some weak clues as mentioned in a few comments above. Plus, despite Mr BL being a choirboy we neither of us had heard of 16a. But then we had never heard of 3d in today’s Quick either. So perhaps our education was just woefully inadequate. Thanks to Mr K for the hints. Will try to do better tomorrow.

  23. Enjoyable, but I needed help with 13 across, which I’ve never come across and also put By Jove in for 20 down :( which created some problems!

  24. The NE took a while longer than the rest.
    Not surprising as there were two cryptic defs in that corner.
    Still shivering.
    Thanks to the Don and to MrK.

  25. After just (semi)completing Radler’s MPP, this went fairly speedily! [**’/***]
    Good fun, favourite being 12d.
    Thanks to Giovanni and Mr K.

Comments are closed.