DT 29009 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 29009

by 2Kiwis  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29009

Hints and tips by 2Kiwis

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

Kia ora from Aotearoa.

While we are having mainly fine weather at home, Westland and Fiordland where we were travelling recently, are having torrential rain. They are areas which have a reputation for high rainfall but this present event is exceptional. A bridge washed away, slips and landslides plus surface flooding over a wide area. It’s a huge disruption to all the locals and the hordes of tourists who visit the area. The long bridge that spanned the Waiho river, and was yesterday washed away, is a crucial link in the only road that passes down the coast.

Great puzzle again from Jay.

Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.

Across

1a     Charles and his mother must get drink after drink (6)
CHASER : A shortened form of the name Charles and then the Queen’s regnal cypher.

5a     The majority accepting bad liar is a principled person (8)
MORALIST : An anagram (bad) of LIAR is inside a word for the majority.

9a     Breakfast consisting of meaningless talk from Brussels? (7,6)
BELGIAN WAFFLE : An all-in-one description of a tasty breakfast dish.

10a     Sweet remark about broken ties (8)
NOISETTE : Remark or observe goes around an anagram (broken) of TIES.

11a     A little taken by case of hilarious customs (6)
HABITS : ‘A’ from the clue and little or small portion are inside the first and last letters (case) of hilarious.

12a     Shylock, say, is one who seizes power, but not quietly (6)
USURER : Remove the musical letter for quietly from a person who illicitly seizes power.

14a     Imagines attitudes after drink (8)
SUPPOSES : Drink here is a verb and precedes attitudes or stances.

16a     Uniformed groups of newly-weds touring Georgia (8)
BRIGADES : The abbreviation for the US state of Georgia is enclosed by female newly-weds.

19a     Study on section of turf that’s heavy with moisture (6)
SODDEN : Two three letter words. The first is a section of turf and the second is a study or reading room.

21a     Refuge may be simple choice with no leaders (6)
ASYLUM : Find four letter synonyms for both ‘simple’ and ‘choice’ and remove the first letter from each of them.

23a     Overrun, being sadly untrained, lacking resources initially (8)
INUNDATE : An anagram (sadly) of UNTrAINED lacking the first letter of resources.

25a     24 put off people crossing motorway (13)
DETERMINATION : A word meaning to put off, then the letter and number for the UK’s principal motorway and a people or country.

26a     Remains American after Motor City loses source of oil (8)
DETRITUS : Remove the O (first letter of oil) from the place often called Motor City, then the two letters signifying America.

27a     Part of Oxford to do better than grasping Cambridge, ultimately (6)
TOECAP : The word ‘to’ from the clue and one word meaning ‘do better than’ surround the last letter of Cambridge.

Down

2d     Associates of hard old boy suppressing toffs (7)
HOBNOBS : The abbreviations for hard and old boy are followed by toffs or aristos.

3d     School tests must cover line for sailors (5)
SALTS : Scholastic aptitude tests include the abbreviation for line.

4d     Tories battered communist and celebrated (9)
ROISTERED : An anagram (battered) of TORIES and then the colour denoting communist.

5d     Pitmen across Germany to become bodyguards (7)
MINDERS : The IVR code for Germany is included in underground workers.

6d     Admire a challenger showing scope (5)
REACH : A lurker, hiding in the clue.

7d     Relations supporting sentence is an essential factor (9)
LIFEBLOOD : Relations, or those with consanguinity, follow a very long prison sentence.

8d     Power possessed by mysterious secret ceremonial staff (7)
SCEPTRE : The abbreviation for power is inside an anagram (mysterious) of SECRET.

13d     Ofsted perhaps is normal, welcoming Tax Officer (9)
REGULATOR : Normal or standard contains the abbreviation for Tax Officer.

15d     Send poor aunt to accommodate Liberal candidate (9)
POSTULANT : Send by mail and then an anagram (poor) of AUNT includes the abbreviation for Liberal.

17d    Remains on team hosting United (7)
RESIDUE : The two letters denoting on or concerning and a synonym for team contains the abbreviation for united.

18d    Tears up with Italian son’s shorts (7)
SPIRITS : Reverse a word meaning tears up or pulls apart then the two letter abbreviation for Italian and S(on).

20d     Country‘s notes about island area (7)
ESTONIA : An anagram (about) of NOTES plus the abbreviations for island and area.

22d     Value rejected in retirement? (5)
MERIT : A reversed lurker, hiding in the clue.

24d     Doctor — I have motivation (5)
DRIVE : The title for a doctor and then a short way of writing I have.

We liked the cleverness of the same definition in both 26a and 17d.

Quickie pun    gnome    +    mist    +    airy    =    no mystery

 

38 comments on “DT 29009”

  1. A puzzle from Jay that is both great and particularly solver-friendly

    Thanks to all the Wednesday birds

  2. This puzzle, like yesterday’s, took me longer than usual. I’m not sure why, looking back ,after I have finished it. 9a held me up for along time, probably because I’m not keen on the delicacy in question. I liked 25a, 27a, 15d and 7d. Many thanks to Jay and the Kiwis

  3. I found this very similar to yesterday’s – a good, solid puzzle with excellent, medium-difficulty clues, giving a very pleasing solve. 9a: I don’t know why, but I kept assuming I’d got 6d wrong and that the second word should be COFFEE. There were lots of nice clues and I’ve ticked 10a, 16a, 27a, 13d and 15d. 2.5* / 3.5*

  4. Another Wednesday, another excellent puzzle from Jay. The topical 9a was my favourite, with 27a my final entry as I went through every possible part of the necessary footwear before arriving at the answer. Great stuff.

    Thanks to Jay for a terrific and enjoyable challenge and to the 2Ks.

    1. YS. Talking about shoe parts, I was helping with a crossword the other day whilst visiting my mother and there was a four-letter word which, from the clue, had to be a shoe part. I couldn’t get it so I handed it to my 90-year old mum and straight away she said “VAMP”. That’s the front, upper part. The stuff you learn whilst solving crosswords…

      1. ………….and I have just added another shoe part to my memory bank. Thanks Jose.

  5. A **/**** for me today ,last in was 9a and a bit of a guess,most apposite at the moment !
    Very enjoyable solve , a well clued puzzle all round.
    Liked the surface of 27a and 21a was different.
    Thanks to the 2k’s for the pics-cheers to minder.

  6. That was a nice stroll in the park on another warm and sunny day. Needed help with 15d but then liked its parsing as was the case with 21a. Two joint Favs were 1a and 9a. Thank you to all the birds. The flooding in Westland and Fjordland sounds dire – do hope weather conditions improve soon.

  7. This one really appealed to my sense of humour – started smiling at 1a and by the time I’d suppressed the toffs and dealt with the meaningless talk from Brussels I was laughing out loud. An extra * for enjoyment for me.

    So many clues worthy of podium places – I’ll share out the gold between 1&9a.

    Many thanks to Jay for the fun and to our 2Ks for the blog. Whilst you will obviously be feeling for your southern compatriots, you must be very glad that you took your holiday when you did!

  8. A very gentle mid-week challenge which was very enjoyable and completed at a fast gallop – **/****.

    Favourite – a toss-up between 1a and 9a.

    Thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

  10. Without wanting to sound like a stuck record, another excellent offering from Jay.
    Completed in reasonable time with with virtually no electronic help suggests it was at the slightly milder end of Jay’s spectrum but no complaints about that here.
    I did need help parsing a couple and bunged in 22d without realising it was a lurker so thanks to the 2Ks for that and the review.
    I liked the link between 24d and 25a and the very topical 9a but my favourite was 19a for its clever surface. 2.5*/4*
    Many thanks to the aforementioned 2Ks and to Jay.

  11. Very enjoyable puzzle today. 21a – so clever – got it but didn’t know why, so thanks to 2K for explanation. Other hold-up was 27a – still shaking my head realising it’s a shoe and not a college.
    Like many others, I appreciated 9a, but I’ve had quite enough of it now, and I suspect I’m not alone!

  12. Excellent puzzle with a real ‘smiler’ in 9a, brilliant!
    Last in was 12a which needed the2kiwis to fully parse. Could see the answer easily enough(when I spelt it correctly) but the reset was a mystery so thanks for that.
    For me **/****
    Thx to all

  13. Good puzzle form Jay – definitely at his easier end. 1* / 3* for us as it was all over too quickly.
    What happened with the “It’s a Jay so start with the downs”.
    Solved every clue almost in order – as we sidetracked to 24d to be able to solve 25a.
    Top of my list was 9a – very apposite, with 21a a very close second.
    pommers votes for 12a – he reckons it was a bit sneaky!
    Thank you Jay for another good puzzle and the the 2Kiwis for the hints and tips

  14. Nice and reasonably straightforward apart from the plum easy one! Which needed help from the Kiwis thanks for that. Thanks to Jay too.
    Just had to buy a new pair of steel 27a boots as the danger of dropping 200grams of contact lenses on my foot is too much for the elf and safety wallahs!

  15. Very enjoyable indeed. Too many good clues to select anyone that stood out, but 9a made me laugh so perhaps that is my COTD.

    LOI was 27a, started off on the wrong foot (!) completely and needed the hint from 2Ks to realise the error of my ways so thanks for this and to Jay.

  16. This one for me is firmly in the stinker pile.
    Finally completed a few minutes ago, put it down, picked it up.
    Thanks to Jay and 2Ks

  17. Greeting from Madeira where the current temperature this afternoon is on a par with the UK . Due to very very early scheduled flight this morning I set a personal record by finishing the crossword by 0700 and it helped to pass the 90 minutes delay due to high winds at Madeira airport .

    I normally enjoy Jay a lot but today’s , in my opinion , was quite meek and mild with no outstanding clue although 9A raised a smile . Perhaps , the early start affected my judgement .

    Thanks to everyone especially the 2Ks and Jay

      1. Thanks for pointing that out although Edinburgh is a fine place . Funnily, the first logo I saw on landing was BA and I did wonder .

  18. An excellent puzzle at the easier end of the spectrum. Lots to like including 1a, 21a, 2d and 4d with top spot going to 9a for being so apt.

  20. This crossword didn’t quite sparkle as much as normal for me. It was still good and 9a was excellent but… I don’t know, maybe it’s me.
    Thanks regardless to Jay, and to the 2K’s for their revue.

  21. ***/****. Very enjoyable puzzle with some neat clues. Liked 9a (can’t understand why it’s so difficult to leave Europe – I did 🙂) and 21a stood out as an elegant clue. Thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

  22. Hugely enjoyable, as usual from Jay.
    I only had to look up “ofsted” and the “sweet” meaning of 10a, I was only familiar with the meat reference, e.g., 10a of veal.
    Everything was perfectly straightforward, loved it all, maybe 9a for the laugh, and I think 21a deserves mention for cleverness.
    Thanks to Jay for the fun and 2Kiwis for the hint and pics. My thoughts are always with the wildlife in these disasters.

    1. The wildlife should all be fine. Westland and Fiordland are high rainfall areas so they are used to it. Human activities are the ones that get disrupted.

  23. Thank you Jay for another great puzzle, and to 2Kiwis for hints, particularly for 10a, which I didn’t recognize, even with the picture. Everything fell into place, and very enjoyable.

  24. Morning all.
    Perhaps the fact that we had not previously encountered the breakfast delicacy in 9a (although we of course knew the food without the regional attribution) added a little to our difficulty rating on this one. They do look rather scrumptious. We were also more familiar with the meat form of 10a than the sweets. They look scrumptious too.
    Cheers.

  25. Thanks to Jay and to the Two Kiwis for the review and hints. What a super puzzle, I loved it from start to finish, really put a smile on my face. It’s funny how the same answers crop up from time to time, I think the answers to 14a & 22d were in yesterday’s Toughie. needed the hints to parse 21a. The candidate in 15d was new to me, but very gettable from the wordplay. 1a made me laugh, 26a was very good, but my favourite was 9a. Very topical. Was 2*/5* for me. Great stuff from Jay as usual.

  26. After a 1000+ mile week on the road, now settled into our holiday flat, sorry condo, in N Phoenix.
    Gentle but high standard Jay offering for me. 9a my COTD.
    Thanks to J & 2Ks for review. Now to catch up on last week’s offerings.

  27. 2.5*/4* today, another superb well assembled puzzle with good surfaces on the clues, Jay at his best for me!
    Always prefer a 2d to a windy 9ac,,, all good no overall favourites.
    Thanks to Jay for usual Wednesday magic & to the 2KiWis for assistance when required.

  28. A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle that I found to be on the easy side. With lots to appreciate, 9ac stood out for me.

  29. After a couple of crossword free days in Poland, I arrived home very tired late this evening and decided not to bother with this but get back into the routine again tomorrow.

    Then the thought of a Jay puzzle persuaded me to change my mind and I’m delighted I did as it was as superb as ever. In one respect it was atypical as it was the easiest of his offerings by some margin that I have ever tackled. It just goes to show that being easy doesn’t mean it’s no fun – far from it in this case with 1a only trumped by 9a in the battle for favourite.

    My rating is 0.5*/4.5*. Many thanks to the three birds.

  30. Clever and entertaining, as usual on a Wednesday. 9a is definitely COTD for me but one of many good clues.

    Many thanks to Jay and the Kiwis.

  31. Brilliant. No help needed but thanks to 2Ks for the fun of reading after the event and for spotting the lurker!. I have circled 9 21 and 15 but could have chosen a dozen more. Definitely easy but no less enjoyable for that eg 1a. I have been on the go since last Friday (my excuse) but I have still to finish Monday and Tuesday’s.

  32. 3*/4*…
    liked 9A (breakfast consisting of meaningless talk from Brussels?) and 8D (power possessed by mysterious secret ceremonial staff).

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