DT 29025 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 29025

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29025

Hints and tips by Indiana Jones

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

I thoroughly enjoyed this challenge. What a difference a week makes.

These hints and tips have been created lovingly to help those of you who may need help to solve a couple of clues or to understand why an answer is what it is. Usually a clue consists of two parts. 1. A definition, which is usually at the beginning or end of a clue. 2. Wordplay which tells to what to do to solve the clue. The hints and tips help with the wordplay of the clues. Definitions are underlined. Some hints are illustrated. These illustrations may or may not have a bearing on understanding the clue.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

1a    Get rid of fine example that’s a banger (11)
FIRECRACKER: Dontcha just love it when one across falls in immediately. Not so here where it was joined by one down as the last pair to be solved. A verb meaning to get rid of by termination of employment is followed by an adjective meaning (in my online dictionary) a fine example of. It’s what I thought when I first saw Saint Sharon

9a    Pantomime character cross about old boy in hospital (5,4)
ROBIN HOOD: Not my first thought as a pantomime character but here we go. Place a cross or crucifix around the abbreviation for old boy, the word in from the clue and the abbreviation for hospital.

10a    Swell coming from vessel circling lake (5)
BLOAT: Place a vessel that floats on water around the abbreviation for lake

11a    Stupid lapse at work in A&E (7)
ASININE: Begin with a lapse of morals or a transgression together with a two-lettered word meaning at one’s work then place these within the letters A and E.

12a    Free, generally (2,5)
AT LARGE: A double definition

13a    Work required on old jacket? Thrower may need it for the game (6,3)
DOUBLE TOP: Our regular two-letter word for work sits after a man’s short close-fitting padded jacket, commonly worn from the 14th to the 17th century. The thrower here is a dart player who needs to score forty to win. This is what he will be aiming for

16a    Ready for publication? Some expedition wanted (4)
EDIT: The answer is hidden within the words of the clue indicated by the word some. The word ready in the clue is a verb

18a    Done in since halving physical training? (4)
PAST: A two-lettered word meaning since sits nicely between the abbreviations for Physical Training

19a    Knight quits Mastermind, unexpectedly, halfway through (9)
MIDSTREAM: Anagram (unexpectedly) of MASTERMInD. The letter N (knight in chess notation) is not included as indicated by the words Knight quits

22a    Passage in broadcast Mike overlooked (7)
TRANSIT: A word meaning to broadcast has the letter M removed (overlooked) Mike stands for the letter M in the phonetic alphabet

23a    Spectacularly good performance in tie involving student, I hesitate to say (7)
BLINDER: The letter L (student or learner) sits inside a word meaning to tie tightly with ropes or cord. This is followed by the sound we make when hesitating to speak

 

25a    Minister to deal (5)
SERVE: A double definition the second being to deal out food perhaps

26a    Spouse quite possibly in prison (9)
BRIDEWELL: The female spouse is followed by a word meaning very likely or in all probability together they form the name of an old prison

27a    Here members salute (7,4)
PRESENT ARMS: A word meaning here or in this place is followed by some members. These members are limbs

Down

1d    Attacker moving ahead (7)
FORWARD: This attacker will have a ball at his feet and a goalpost in front of him.

 

2d    Religious person, bishop, in island pub, upset (5)
RABBI: Begin with the abbreviations Bishop. Put it between the abbreviation for Island and a word meaning a pub and reverse what you have.

3d    Chant from choir, originally in Latin, modified in church (8)
CANTICLE: Place the initial letter of the word choir inside an anagram (modified) of LATIN. Now place what you have inside the abbreviation for the Church of England

4d    Make amends an hour after midnight? (5)
ATONE: Split 2,3 when is the hour after midnight?

5d    Dropped off cases and returned book (9)
KIDNAPPED: This book by Robert Louis Stevenson can be found by reversing the word AND from the clue and placing it inside an informal way of saying one had dropped off or slept

6d    Bawdy drunken laird holding back, at first (6)
RIBALD: An anagram (drunken) of LAIRD contains the initial letter of back

7d    Breakfast dish in Périgord, unusually (8)
PORRIDGE: Anagram (unusually) of PERIGORD

8d    Watching international show? (6)
ATTEST: A two letter word meaning attending (watching) is followed by a word used to describe a sporting competition between two countries

14d    Rap suits comic mentally (8)
UPSTAIRS: A delightful anagram and definition The fodder is RAP SUITS. The indicator is comic

15d    Programme I came across in list (9)
TIMETABLE: Place the I from the clue and a word meaning to have come across somebody inside a list of numbers.

17d    Vociferous, head of sub-committee over ballistic missile (8)
STRIDENT: Place the name of Britain’s nuclear missile system after the initial (head of) letter of the word sub

18d    Fertiliser in jardinière perhaps has worked (6)
POTASH: A three-lettered common word for a jardinière is followed by an anagram (worked) of HAS

20d    You’ll be mad if you lose them in a game (7)
MARBLES: The game is played with glass alleys. People losing their minds are said to have lost these

21d    Out when shelter promised initially (6)
ASLEEP: A two- lettered word meaning when is followed by a three-letter word meaning shelter. This is then followed by the initial letter of the word promised

23d    Yellowish-brown insect biting one on end of leg (5)
BEIGE: A honey producing insect has the letter that looks like the number one inserted together with the last letter of the word leg. I before E except after C. Not in this case

24d    Gloomy doctor on organ (5)
DREAR: An abbreviation for one’s doctor is followed by the organ of hearing

Quickie Pun: Blew+Genes=Blue Jeans. I rarely wear anything else


 

43 comments on “DT 29025

  1. An excellent Monday puzzle with some nice ‘chuckle moments’. Contenders for my favourites are 13 across,26 across, 27 across and 15 down. Thanks to today’s setter – can’t make my mind up as to who you might be, but I loved it.

  2. 1A got me off with a bang and I rocketed off to a sparkling finish !

    Loved the race though with plenty of amusement along the way .

    Unfair to single out a favourite as so many gooduns .

    Thanks to everyone .

  3. For me too this was a lot of fun. I even managed to parse all my solutions. NW was the final corner to fall except for 8d which was the very last to go in and that then became my Fav. Look forward hopefully to more similar amusement this week. Thank you Mysteron and MP.

  4. 2*/2.5*. A pleasant start to the week. It took me a while to parse 5d after twigging the answer as I couldn’t immediately think beyond “dropped off” cluing anything but the last six letters. 9a has got to be one of the strangest definitions I’ve seen.

    27a was my favourite.

    Thanks to the setter and to MP.

  5. This was not too bad for difficulty(**) but some of the clues were a trifle vague. I got so bogged down in the napped of 5d, I didn’t notice the kipped the setter was aiming at, though the answer was clear to me. Thanks to the setter and thanks for the hints. Favourite clues 22a and 18d

  6. A very enjoyable and moderately straightforward puzzle to kick off the week. I particularly liked 13a from.a worthy selection of finely crafted clues. Great stuff.

    Many thanks to our Monday setter and to MP.

  7. 14d and 20d had just the right level of inoffensive humour – or is there someone out there that insists we should never joke about our intellect or lack of it? I hope not. Not on this site!

  8. Praise be – MP finally enjoyed a Monday puzzle!
    A few dodgy surface reads along the way but I thought 27a succeeded on all counts.

    Thanks to our setter and to MP for the blog. The earworm from the 9a clip will be with me all day.

  9. Somewhat more of a challenge and more enjoyable than recent Mondays completed at a gallop (just) – 2.5*/3.5*.

    Favourite has to be 27a.

    Thanks to the setter and GMoLI.

  10. This was certainly no “Monday gimme” and it took a fair bit of head scratching to sort out.
    I didn’t particularly like 5d, as it could have been any of thousands but got it eventually with the benefit of checkers. Is 9a really a pantomime character? Otherwise a first class puzzle, imaginatively clued and smile inducing.
    22 and 27a along with 14 and 21d stood out for me. 3*/3*
    Many thanks to the setter and to MP for his excellent review (nice personal touch to SS in your 1a comment by the way)

  11. I actually found this a bit of a doddle but was finally really stuck on 14d so thanks for the hint. I agree that 9a is more folk hero than pantomime but who is to quibble when the sun is shining here in Cambridge at last.

  12. Good one today. Didn’t need the hints but thanks for doing them and thanks to the setter.
    Please can anybody recommend an electronic gizmo to help with crosswords. My old franklin Bradford one seems to have very small writing all of a sudden! They don’t make them any more. I’d like one that does anagrams, definitions and helps when you have missing letters if possible.
    Oh and BIG WRITING !
    Thanks in advance **/***

    1. A one Tony to Toni, from my experience a Seiko – Model ER6700 does pretty much all you want. You can get one online if you don’t fancy trailing round the shops. :-)

      1. I’m in Australia at the moment but I just looked on Amazon UK and this looks exactly what I want. I’ll order it to arrive when I get home. Thanks so much

    2. Toni, for several years I have had both a Franklin Model TPQ-108 and a Seiko ER3700. The Seiko is definitely superior and indeed its letters are larger than those on the Franklin.

      1. Thanks. A lot for your recommendation. I’ll look at the reviews for both recommendations.

  13. Not difficult but a bit clumsy i thought. Had no idea what a jardiniere was but the answer was obvious. Thanks for hints to fully parse 26a, the second part puzzled me a little.
    **/**

  14. Like Chriscross above also thought the dropped off was napped to start with. Enjoyed this puzzle a lot. Many favourites so thanks to all.

  15. Oh how I enjoyed this after my recent struggles! Lots of smiles, but I’m sitting looking at my darts-player husband who’s having forty winks after lunch, so 13a and 5d and 21d win for sheer irony! Many thanks to setter, and to Indiana for the hints.

  16. I thought this was difficult – really good but jolly tricky.
    Needless to say I was sunk by 13a and 1d – might have been OK had I recognised that they were ‘sporty thingies’.
    5d took an age to sort out ‘why’ – my ‘dropped off’ was ‘napped’ for far too long.
    Looking at all this again I really can’t see why I found it so difficult but I just did – there are only two setters who usually give me so much trouble – oh, three if I count Fridays.
    Good clues including 11a and 5 and 15d. My favourite was 26a.
    With thanks to the setter and to MP.
    Off up the garden to count the 20d’s.

    1. Exactly my experience with today’s offering Kath. Except with 1d & 13a (although I was fixated with cup for the 2nd word). Not being familiar with prisons had to look up 26a. Interesting to know what 2Ks thought of that one. COTD for me was 27a,
      Thanks to setter & IJ.

      1. I knew the prison as it featured in a book I read once, can’t remember the name of it, could it have been Dickens?

      2. We did know of the prison so it was not a problem for us.
        The clue that we objected to last week was an anagram leading to an obscure Scottish town of about 10,000 inhabitants that had no particular claim to fame that we could find. As there was no way of working it out from wordplay it meant guessing at letter order and searching Google for possibilities. Not our favourite way to solve.

        1. I got that obscure Scottish town by putting the letters into an online anagram solver. Though I had heard of it, it’s not a word that springs to mind!

        2. Stranraer has been in the BB (Boring Brexit) news quite a bit as it is the main port for the Belfast ferry. I guess there are not many words that end in -raer so not easy to get.
          I am surprised the prison was as well known overseas as it appears to be perhaps it has cropped up before

  17. Nice puzzle for Monday. I had to think about it a bit more than usual, but everything came together quite smoothly in the end. 20d amused.
    Thanks to the setter, and to himself for the review.

  18. Late starting again today, added to that, it took forever to get on wavelength. I have no idea why, it went very smoothly when I sussed out what the setter meant.
    Like Indiana, 1a and 1d were the last in, in fact, the NW was the last in.
    Hard to choose a fave, so many good ‘uns, maybe 27a, also liked 26a, and 20d was giggle worthy.
    Thanks to our setter and to Indiana for his hints and tips.

  19. Yes I agree with MP **/*** an nice solveable puzzle 😃 What was Saturday’s all about 😳 Favourites 1a and 17d 🤗 Thanks to Indigo Jones and to the Setter 😜

      1. Best not to look forward to Inigo Jones on that day. It will be Inigo Jollifant. Inigo Jones will Be here on 20th April 2020

  20. Started late and was getting frustrated at quite a few gaps, great help as usual from our resident fictional archeologist. Is Jaylegs referring to the architect? I too have an earworm as I am riding through the glen.

  21. P.S. I’m appalled as I watch TV and see Our Lady of Notre Dame burn to the ground. It’s one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen. I’m so glad I was able to see it.

    1. I will never forget seeing the stained glass windows as a thirteen year old. They are irreplaceable. It is so sad to see.

      1. I just hope it was an accident and not arson. It was such an exquisite church, I remember being totally awed by it. They’ll never be able to replace it.

    2. Yes – awful. We didn’t know anything about it until my brother-in-law who lives in Paris and was there sent us a photo of it.

      1. Dreadful thing to happen, some things are just irreplaceable.
        Was there last year.

  22. 1a went straight in, but being contrary as usual, that usually means I am going to have to work harder than usual. And that was today. Again got several answers from the checkers rather than the clues. Thanks to setter and Miffypops aka Indiana Jones… Back in the late 80s our office had background music, playing the theme tune from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, over and over. But I do enjoy his movies nevertheless.

  23. A slow start accelerating to a blistering finish in this very entertaining Monday puzzle,,, good start to the week!
    2.5*/4*
    1ac favourite as it sums the crossword up.
    Thanks to setter & Indi for review.

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