DT 29051 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 29051

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29051

Hints and tips by 2Kiwis

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

Kia ora from Aotearoa.

Blustery changeable weather lately. Fine at the moment but quite a strong wind and sneaky showers that seem to creep up when we least expect them. Typical autumn weather.

Today’s setter had us working quite hard once again, but, as ever, we thoroughly enjoyed the process. Unusually for a Wednesday, the Quick Crossword is a pangram.

Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.

Across

1a     Rough sleeper should keep one for file (7)
DOSSIER : The Roman numeral one is inside a word for a rough sleeper.

5a     Inscription found by bed in messy heap? (7)
EPITAPH : An anagram (messy) of HEAP surrounds an informal word for a bed.

9a     Game changed after love letter from abroad (5)
OMEGA : The tennis score love plus an anagram (changed) of GAME.

10a     Commercial activity as result of complaining bitterly about feet regularly (9)
RETAILING : The second and fourth letters of ‘feet’ (regularly) are inside another word for complaining bitterly.

11a     Seasonal dispenser of wit at table? (10)
SALTCELLAR : An all-in-one cryptic definition. Seasonal does not refer to a time of the year, and wit is used in a metaphorical sense.

12a     Boast from most of the monarchy (4)
CROW : The headgear used as a symbol of the monarchy loses its last letter.

14a     Iron ship keeping right area for journalists (5,7)
PRESS GALLERY : Iron is a verb for a domestic chore, and then an ancient ship propelled by oars contains R(ight).

18a     Try being fashionable and moving (5-7)
HEART-RENDING : A four letter word meaning try in a court, plus being fashionable or going with the ‘in’ crowd.

21a     Utter stink in class (4)
RANK : A triple definition.

22a     A doctor interrupts drunk holding line, confused (10)
BAMBOOZLED : Start with an informal word for drunk. Inside the early part of this insert ‘A’ and a doctor’s qualification, then further on in the word insert L(ine).

25a     Head of state thus veering off (9)
SOVEREIGN : A two letter synonym for ‘thus’ and then an anagram (off) of VEERING.

26a     Hotels keeping ducks — a great deal of fuss (3-2)
HOO-HA : Two copies of the letter represented phonetically by hotel surround two cricket score ducks, and finally ‘A’ from the clue.

27a     Joins up broken lines thus vacantly (7)
ENLISTS : An anagram (broken) of LINES and then the first and last letters of ‘thus’.

28a     Lewd display on outside broadcast (7)
OBSCENE : The two letters indicating an outside broadcast and then a display or depiction.

Down

1d     Tired of arguments during each end of day (6)
DROWSY : Arguments or tiffs are bracketed by the first and last letters of day.

2d     Signals and turns (6)
SPELLS : Signals or indicates, and turns or periods of time.

3d     Being at home with a m-man of the church is not right (10)
INACCURATE : The two letter word for being at home, then ‘A’ from the clue and a somewhat junior man of the cloth has his first letter duplicated.

4d     Country game broadly using regulars (5)
RURAL : New Zealand’s national game (in two letters) and then the second, fourth and sixth letters of ‘broadly’.

5d     Disaffected editor drinking rum (9)
ESTRANGED : The abbreviation for editor surrounds rum or bizarre.

6d     Flower that’s 80% Gaelic (4)
IRIS : Remove the final letter (20% of a five letter word) from Gaelic or coming from Eire.

7d     A sign put under six cages (8)
AVIARIES : Start with ‘A’ from the clue, then the Roman numeral six and a sign of the zodiac.

8d     Roads needing bad manners? (8)
HIGHWAYS : Bad or rotting and then manners or means.

13d     Scottish town and other changes in valleys (10)
GLENROTHES : A Scottish word for valleys contains an anagram (changes) of OTHER. (We didn’t know this town).

15d     Outlines of drama in as score developed (9)
SCENARIO : An anagram (developed) of IN AS SCORE.

16d     Hypocrite needing hotel in the capital of France before middle of week (8)
PHARISEE : The capital city of France contains H(otel) and then the central two letters of week.

17d     Celebration of the flesh embracing naked diva (8)
CARNIVAL : An adjective meaning of the flesh encloses the middle letters of ‘diva’.

19d     A sweetheart full of cold getting recess (6)
ALCOVE : The abbreviation for cold is inside ‘A’ from the clue and a darling.

20d     Germany involved in conscious web advertising programs (6)
ADWARE : The IVR code for Germany is inside conscious or cognisant.

23d     Writer’s up on travel game (5)
BINGO : This writer is the working part of a pen before ballpoint was invented. Reverse it and then travel or depart.

24d     Supplies weapons to charity, reportedly (4)
ARMS : A homophone of an old word for charitable gifts.

Once again lots to choose from. 11a is our favourite this week.

Quickie pun    beast     +    wrong    =    be strong

48 comments on “DT 29051

  1. Another corker from Jay today, well up to his usual high standard. Every clue a winner in my opinion so thank you Jay. Due to what I have learnt from this site I no longer have the all day struggle that used to be a typical Wednesday. No less fun for that though. Thanks for the blog to our friends from New Zealand who are enjoying/suffering typical English summer weather.
    I am off to mow a field and three lawns. Happy days

  2. I’m definitely of the view that Jay has turned up the difficulty recently with no reduction in the enjoyment that he always provides. Thanks to him and the 2Kiwis.
    Did anyone else initially have ‘steers’ for 2d? I still think it’s a better answer than the correct one.

      1. Welcome to the blog caju

        It’s how you know your original answer was not the one intended by the setter. Recognising such “mistakes” is a key part of the solving process.

  3. Really enjoyed today’s stroll through cruciverbal-land with just a brief hold-up in the NW. Have suffered from the product of 20d but did not know the word for it nor indeed the abbreviation used in 28a. Fav 11a. Gorgeous sunshine in West Sussex today – let’s hope Summer is icumen in. Thank you Jay and the 2Kiwis.

  4. 2*/4.5*. Another absolute gem from our Wednesday Wizard which I found at the easier end of his difficulty spectrum.

    I’ve always enumerated 11a as (6,4) which is what both Oxford and Cambridge on-line show but interestingly my BRB gives (10), and Collins on-line offers both options.

    On my podium today are 11a, 21a & 26a.

    Many thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

  5. Took me a while to get the right ‘drunk’ to fit into 22a and I dithered over 2&13d but all else was plain sailing in this excellent puzzle from our reliable Wednesday setter.

    Podium places went to 11a and to 23d which made me smile.

    Thanks to Jay and to our 2Ks for the blog. Very warm here today but I’m not complaining – think it’s due to go downhill again towards the weekend.

  6. A consummate offering from Jay, it would be difficult to overpraise this. A couple of new words, 16 and 23d but they were (almost too) fairly clued. I had 11a in mind from the first read through but like RD assumed it was two words
    Look no further than 1a and 1d for podium places along with the very clever 18a.
    3*/4.5*

    Many thanks to Jay and the 2Ks for their excellent works.

  7. Some very tricky clues here and it took me into ***time to complete it. I spent ages thinking about 2d and considered whether the checkers were wrong and I too thought of steers. Thank you Kiwis for confirming that I had the right idea all along but didn’t think it sounded right! There were too many great clues to pick a favourite so thank you Jay for another enjoyable puzzle(****).

  8. More tricky than usual for a Wednesday puzzle bit this did not detract from the enjoyment level – 2.5*/4*.

    Favourite – a toss-up between 11a and 14a – and the winner is 14a.

    Thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

  9. I had this puzzle down as a **/**** on completion, another excellent solve, not quite as difficult as yesterdays which I thought was a ***/****.
    20d was last in and completely new for me, it came down to a logical choice of either adware or adwake for me and I guessed correctly!
    Have to go for 11a as my favourite today.
    Thanks to 2 Ks for the pics and Jay for the pleasure.

  10. Has the usual DT editor gone on holiday and left the crossword selection to someone with a devious sense of humour? Another tricky little and oft hard to understand puzzle. Could someone please explain the wit in 11a please. It’s beyond me.
    For me ****/*
    Thx for the hints/

    1. One of the definitions of salt in the office Collins Dictionary is dry or laconic wit so a salt seller would be a dispense of wit and a salt cellar dispenses seasoning!

      1. Thanks. I did look it up but missed number 5 list in the long list of definitions.

    2. Brian, I can confirm that the usual editor is most definitely not on holiday!

    1. I think both of those are OK, Bernie.

      – 2d, the answer is synonymous with “signals” as in “that spells disaster”.
      – 22a, to booze means to drink, so using the past tense of both “boozed” = “drunk”.

  11. An enjoyable Jay puzzle thank you but because I also assumed 2d was steers it all went wrong for me in the NW corner!

  12. As I’m incapable of doing arithmetic and not about to learn anytime soon, I had “Erse” in 6d, flower Mersey with 20% missing. All right, no snarking, I know I’m thick, but it really held me up for ages.
    Very, very tricky but fun, nevertheless. There was a lot to like it’s hard to choose a fave, maybe 1a? 14a? I dunno, toss a coin.
    Thanks to Jay for the fun and the 2Kiwis for the hints and tips.

  13. ***/****. What an excellent puzzle! My first read through yielded nothing but I gradually got a toehold and adjusted my wavelength. Of many good clues 11a was my favourite. Thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

      1. Now, as a dedicated whisky drinker, how had I not heard of that? It looks delicious.

  14. Great fun as usual from Jay and the normal high standard. A little more difficult than is often the case, but as enjoyable as ever. 11a my favourite.

    Thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

  15. Smashing puzzle from Jay today! Lots to like and many to smile about. Favourite clues were 5 and 22a. And yes, I had heard of 13d…
    Thanks to Jay, and to the Kiwis for their review.

  16. Glenrothes was originally a new town in Fife for Rothes Colliery. The colliery proved to be unworkable because of a geological fault. Clearly there had not been properly conducted geological surveys.

  17. Enjoyable stuff, on the easy side I thought. The Scottish town was unknown but gettable given the letters given and a little common sense.

  18. Morning all.
    We also wondered about 2d and refrained from writing in an answer until all the checking letters were in place. When we had finished the solve we double checked by revealing letters just to be sure.
    13d was our least favourite clue. A case of work out what you can from the wordplay and then go to Google.
    Cheers.

  19. Thanks to Jay and to the 2 Kiwis for the review and hints. A super offering from Jay as usual. I really enjoyed it, but found it quite tricky. I had “Pengo” for 23d, which I thought was wrong, no reversal. Once corrected, I was able to get 22a and complete the puzzle. Favourite was 26a. Was 3*/4* for me.

  20. Another intriguing & enjoyable offering from Jay, which I found harder than the last few weeks.
    Hence 3*/4*.
    Many thanks to Jay for another stunner & to the 2KW for the review.

  21. Probably last again, but at least I’m doing it on the same day! Didn’t start until late and on the wrong wavelength for most of it, but hey ho I got there. Favourite 14a just because I stupidly couldn’t see the second word for ages. Thanks to Jay and 2K’s.

    1. Sorry TG – just beat ya to last – unless of course you care add any further comment. :-)

  22. The little gem from Jay was a walk in the park as compared with today’s Toughie. I needed a bit of a read through first in order to get on to Jay’s wavelength, but once a few answers became apparent or obvious the remainder, with the help of some decent checking letters soon fell into place. A super puzzle to begin my day, but now feeling completely drained and depressed after struggling, well attempting to struggle through Messinae’s mind bending offering. Thanks to Jay and 2 Ks.

  23. Very late today for various reasons which I won’t bore you all with – OK – rubbish grammar but never mind.
    I got completely stuck with 2d and 11a – one of those situations where I know that if I could get one then the other would be OK but that took a while.
    I do enjoy Jay’s crosswords but I think he’s a bit trickier than he used to be.
    I think my favourite was 26a but lots of other good clues too.
    Thanks to Jay and to the 2 K’s.

  24. Please could you explain why the words “not secure” appear in the heading each time I log in.

    1. It’s probably because the site uses the unencrypted HTTP protocol (versus encrypted HTTPS) to communicate with your web browser. But since you’re not transmitting any sensitive information when you read or comment on the site, there’s no security risk.

  25. 3*/3*……
    liked 22A (a doctor interrupts drunk holding line, confused) and 17D (celebration of the flesh embracing naked diva).

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