DT 29027 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 29027

by 2Kiwis  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29027

Hints and tips by 2Kiwis

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

Kia ora from Aotearoa.

During the last week we have lit our fire three times in the evening. This morning the river in front of our home was covered in a thick mist that rapidly burnt off with the rising sun to give us a glorious fine autumn day as we write this.

Jay has given us lots of scrumptious anagrams today for those who appreciate these, the Quickie pun is really groan-worthy for the connoisseurs of those, and there is a lurker that took us quite some time to spot.

Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.

Across

1a     Budget day with men at work rattled (10)
DOWNMARKET : The abbreviation for day plus an anagram (rattled) of MEN AT WORK.

6a     Scent of women at the back (4)
WAFT : The abbreviation for women and a usually nautical word for ‘at the back’.

10a     Picture defeat by France (5)
FLICK : The IVR code for France and a colloquial word for thoroughly defeat.

11a     Girl after remodelling rough figure such as this (9)
HOURGLASS : An anagram (after remodelling) of ROUGH and a synonym for girl.

12a     Complaint from men at work in continent (7)
AMNESIA : One of the continents contains an anagram (at work) of MEN.

13a     Quietly feel bitter about award (7)
PRESENT : The musical instruction for quietly and then feel bitter about or bear a grudge.

14a     Small bags hard man produced for robbery (5-3-4)
SMASH-AND-GRAB : The abbreviation for small and an anagram (produced) of BAGS HARD MAN.

18a     One 22 in country establishment (12)
INSTALLATION : The Roman numeral one, and then the answer to 22d is inside a country or sovereign state.

21a     Origin of unhappiness in a mostly depressed romantic (7)
AMOROUS : ‘A’ from the clue and then the first letter of unhappiness goes inside a synonym for depressed without its last letter.

23a     Rest of rules broken covering exit, oddly (7)
LEISURE : The first and third letters of exit are inside an anagram (broken) of RULES.

24a     Pig-headed old boys can eat out (9)
OBSTINATE : The abbreviation for old boys, then a can or metal container and an anagram (out) of EAT.

25a     Retiring manner adopted by French mendicant (5)
FRIAR : The reversal of a manner or style is inside the abbreviation for French language.

26a     Does away with objectives (4)
ENDS : A double definition.

27a     Dramatist‘s gamble with privilege (10)
PLAYWRIGHT : Gamble or bet, then the abbreviation for with and privilege or entitlement.

Down

1d     Meet the costs of brawl after damage externally (6)
DEFRAY : The first and last letters of damage and then a brawl or ruckus.

2d     How come surrounding pub produces animal noise? (6)
WHINNY : A word that asks the question ‘How come?’ surrounds a pub or tavern.

3d     Exaggerates mistake of a male in trouble (5,1,4,2,2)
MAKES A MEAL OF IT : An anagram (in trouble) of MISTAKE OF A MALE.

4d     Tries again with a large drill (9)
REHEARSAL : Tries again in a court of law, plus ‘A’ from the clue and L(arge).

5d     Supply base with crack (5)
EQUIP : A mathematical symbol for a base in logarithms, and then a crack made by a comedian.

7d     A final check on contents of purse for such sporting types (8)
AMATEURS : ‘A’ from the clue, then a final check in a chess game and the central three letters (contents) of purse.

8d     International set’s experimental gear? (4,4)
TEST TUBE : A sporting event classed as an International and a colloquial word for a TV set.

9d     Accepted a degree of rift developed about daughter (6,2,6)
AGREED TO DIFFER : An anagram (developed) of A DEGREE OF RIFT contains the abbreviation for daughter.

15d     Big guns suffering boarding vessel (9)
ARTILLERY : Suffering or poorly is inside a vessel carrying blood from the heart.

16d     Garment rejected by father of a nipper? (8)
PINAFORE : A reversed lurker hiding in the clue.

17d     Adopted new pose on American edition (8)
ESPOUSED : An anagram (new) of POSE, the two letters signifying American and the abbreviation for edition.

19d     Smoking and swearing, having dismissed son (6)
CURING : Remove the abbreviation for son from the middle of a word for swearing or blaspheming.

20d     Worry about Her Majesty’s search (6)
FERRET : The regnal cypher is inside worry or be agitated.

22d    Play for time — everybody’s under way (5)
STALL : A way or road and then a word for everybody.

25a is our favourite today. We had ‘mendicant’ from Jay recently and enjoyed meeting it again with a slightly different meaning.

Quickie pun    jury    +    allies    =    Do you realise?

33 comments on “DT 29027”

  1. Scrumptious friendly and fun – both the crossword and the blog so thank you to all three birds

  2. Really enjoyable puzzle today. Got 16d but had no idea why, failed to spot the lurker – kept looking for a little nipper! Too many good clues to pick just one. Thanks to all.

  3. Excellent crossword – just the right level of challenge with some clever clues. Loved the reverse lurker.

    Many thanks to Jay and the 2Kiwis.

  4. 2*/4*. Lovely jubbly. What a lot of fun.

    My only slight hold-up was with 8d. I must have led a sheltered life as I have never heard of a television set referred to as the second word, and I needed to check it in my BRB.

    No particular favourite – it was all good from start to finish.

    Many thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

  5. As usual, Jay’s offering was full of really good clues so thank you to him.it wS definitely a ** for difficulty and a **** for enjoyment. Amongst so many it is hard to pick a favourite. I liked 11a, 18a, 16d, 17d and 20d. Thanks to the two Kiwis. It was really foggy, in rural Oxfordshire early this morning, too.
    ,

  6. Another wonderful Wednesday offering of fun, humour and delightful clues. I will pick the rekrul at 16d as my COTD although they were all terrific.

    Thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

  7. Another fine crossword off the Jay production line .
    I am not a fan of anagrams but they do help greatly .The reverse lurker was my last one in so will pick as my COTD just ahead of 7D .
    Thanks to the Ks .

  8. An enjoyable challenge from Jay which I found more difficult than my fellow commenters but none the less enjoyable. I like 3d,14a multi word type clues as I seem to be able to see them instantly. At the other end of the scale are 25a types (reversal, retiring etc) which still take a while to work out. As others have said lots of good clues to admire (though 8d is a bit iffy), my favourite amongst them being 11a, if only for the image it conjures up 😉
    3*/3
    Many thanks to Jay and to the 2Ks for their crystal clear review.

  9. Just what I needed at the end of a 14 hour day supported by a well earned wee dram – **/****.

    My only hiccup was with 2d because I had misspelled 12a!

    Favourite 24a.

    Thanks to Jay and Carol and Colin.

  10. Enjoyment 3* & in my view just the right difficulty fo a backpager. Spot on all round.
    Took ages to see the rekrul 16d, my COTD.
    Thanks to Jay & the 2Ks.

  11. Blooming lovely. I really enjoyed this. It took some time to work out why 16d was what it was. What a clever clue. Thanks to the 2Ks. We have put our fire to bed until the autumn. Thanks to Jay yet again. The sun is out here in Downtown LI. Playtime

  12. Great fun! Thank you, Jay.

    Unfortunately, in my haste, I begged to differ and was fuming. Still, I got there in the end!

  13. Yes indeed that was a lot of fun but I did need a bit of a leg up in the SW. Can’t believe I missed the lurker to support my bung-in for 16d. Like Shabbo I was fuming for 19d but then again smoking is not the only way of preserving. Lots of goodies but I particularly liked 4d. Thank you Jay and the 2Kiwis.

  14. What a delight! So many wonderful clues. Absolute favourite was 15d – so clever. Many thanks all round.

  15. Typical Jay puzzle, easier to complete than understand.
    I needed the splendid hints to parse 4d, 7d, 18d and 27a.
    No lurker indicator in 16d made it tricky and 5d left me at sea as i had no idea about log indicators.
    All finished but very little fun.
    Thx for the hints.
    **/**

  16. Most enjoyable puzzle for ages. Loved the reverse lurker, which took me ages to understand even after filling in the correct answer. Thanks to Jay and 2ks.

  17. Another lovely puzzle although I didn’t quite equate 1a with Budget – a bit tenuous? Completely stuck on 6a for some reason so thank you Kiwis for the hint. I loved 16d and the quickie made me chuckle.

    1. Budget airline. Ryanair. Downmarket? Oh yes indeed. Never flown with them. Never will

  18. All good fun although I was a little surprised to see two lots of men at work so close together.
    3d made me smile so gets my vote today along with the excruciating Quickie pun.

    Thanks to Jay and to our 2Ks for the blog. Beautiful day here, such a change after the recent arctic winds.

  19. I’m so cross with myself, a perfect Jay puzzle that I solved with no help until I got to 19d, my last one in. I was so hung up on the dismissed “son” being at the start, what happened to lateral thinking? In any case, I used electronic help for that and have now fully chastised myself.
    I loved it all and find it impossible to choose a fave; put a gun to my head, I’d probably choose 3d.
    It took a long time to see the rekrul at 16d, how smooth was that?
    Thanks Jay, you’re a star, and thanks too to the 2Kiwis for the fun review.

  20. Another quality puzzle from Jay. The anagrams got me off to a flying start and took me a while to spot the reverse lurker in 16d. Thanks to all.

  21. Definitely tricky in parts. Needed some help with19d. as was thinking the answer was fuming. Thanks to all involved.

  22. Yes a nice straightforward solve **/**** 😃 Favourites 11a & 19d 😜 Thanks to Jay and to the 2x Ks

  23. Wednesday wonder from Jay, 4.5* for fun & 3* difficulty as I stalled in the upper half, bottom half flew in.
    Fantastic series of clues, cannot find a favourite as they were all so titled.
    Many thanks to Jay & 2 KW.

  24. Morning all.
    Jay seems to have pleased the majority of commenters once again.
    We also started off looking at FUMING for 19d but had a rethink when we could not make any wordplay work.
    Cheers.

  26. 16d was last in. Like some others, I missed the ‘rejected’ indicator for a reverse lurker. I liked several of the clues tonight. Thanks to Jay and the 2Ks

  27. 16d last in here too, having picked off outliers elsewhere at 6ac and 10ac. Most enjoyable.

  28. It took me two attempts to complete this puzzle. For some reason I just ground to a halt with about three quarters complete. When I returned it was completed in minutes. Strange how the way the brain works.
    20d floated my boat.
    Thanks to Jay for yet another terrific crossword, and thanks to the Kiwis for their review.

  29. Late on duty tonight, so I’ve just popped in to say thank you to Jay. A very enjoyable solve earlier this morning. A super puzzle.

  30. After struggling with the last three crosswords, I was delighted to race through this one. That is until I decided that 19d & 20d were fuming and regret but couldn’t fit them to the clues. Thanks for putting me right 🙂

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