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DT 29065

by Deep Threat  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29065

Hints and tips by Deep Threat

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

Bonjour from Chateau de l’Epervière at Gigny-sur-Saône, on the last Friday of our stay.

I didn’t find today’s Giovanni as difficult as last week, though I did have a bit of a hold-up in the NW corner.

In the hints below, the definitions are underlined. The answers are hidden under the ANSWER buttons, so don’t click if you don’t want to see them.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

5a           Spoke angrily, being broke? (7)
SNAPPED – Double definition: made a short angry remark; or broke in two.

7a           Declares a piece of poetry ‘inadequate’ (5)
AVERS – A (from the clue) followed by a piece of poetry with its last letter removed (inadequate).

9a           Man who may be a lumberjack? (6)
FELLER – This is an informal spelling of an informal word for a man, and could also describe the job of a lumberjack.

10a         One day, having got tiddly, refused to budge (3,5)
SAT TIGHT – The short form of one of the days of the week, followed by ‘tiddly’.

11a         One to grumble about order more clearly expressed? (10)
COMPLAINER – Put together the Latin abbreviation for ‘about’ or ‘approximately’, the letters denoting the holder of an order of honour, and ‘more clearly expressed’.

13a         Ailments needing tablets, relieving the head (4)
ILLS – Remove the first letter (relieving the head) from another word for tablets.

14a         One creating trouble is meek if charm is found out (8-5)
MISCHIEF-MAKER – Anagram (found out) of MEEK IF CHARM IS.

16a         What’s only partially found, ocean wreck (4)
UNDO – Hidden (only partially) in the clue.

17a         What’s ‘common’ with beastly connotation? (5,5)
HORSE SENSE – Cryptic definition of an alternative expression for something which may begin ‘common’.

19a         Oppose criminal boldness (8)
CONFRONT – One of the usual criminals followed by another word for boldness, or the appearance of boldness.

20a         Shelter any number repeatedly in part of boat (6)
KENNEL – This is a shelter for a canine companion. Two examples of the algebraic expression for ‘any number’ are placed inside an essential part of a boat.

22a         What a surprise, baddy has gone round country house! (5)
DACHA – Put together an exclamation which may stand  for ‘what a surprise!’ and a disreputable person, then reverse the result to get a Russian country house.

23a         Detective briefly restricts terrible riot in US city (7)
DETROIT – An abbreviation for ‘detective’ wrapped around an anagram (terrible) of RIOT.

Down

1d           Cry, given report of Trump’s barrier? (4)
WAUL – A homophone (given report) of the barrier that Mr Trump wanrs to put along the Mexican border is an old word for ‘cry’, now mainly found in compound with a reference to cats

2d           Go towards a silvery fish, keeping very quiet (8)
APPROACH – A (from the clue) and a common freshwater fish, wrapped around the musical symbol for ‘very quiet’.

3d           Minister is tense, having got nothing right (6)
PASTOR – A grammatical tense followed by the letter which looks like zero or nothing, and Right.

4d           This plant may be poisonous — peril I knew about (10)
PERIWINKLE – Anagram (about) of PERIL I KNEW.

5d           Old-fashioned secretary taking various notes (5)
STENO – Anagram (various) of NOTES. I would have thought this was more commonly an American usage.

6d           Tidiest garden reconfigured and broken into smaller units (13)
DISINTEGRATED – Anagram (reconfigured) of TIDIEST GARDEN.

8d           Choral music’s central character, eccentric university type? (7)
SCHOLAR – Anagram (eccentric) of CHORAL and the middle letter of muSic.

12d         Job of female leading one church organisation to facilitate communication (4,6)
POST OFFICE – Put together a job, OF (from the clue), Female, the Roman numeral for one, and the abbreviation for the Church of England.

14d         Piece on US gangster’s virility (7)
MANHOOD – A piece on the chessboard followed by an American term for a gangster.

15d         Wild mammals? Just pussies, as you might say (8)
MEERKATS – Homophones (as you might say) of a word for ‘just’ or ‘only’, and some animals also called pussies.

17d         Cheer from unruly yahoo outside front of restaurant (6)
HOORAY – Anagram (unruly) of YAHOO wrapped around the first letter of Restaurant.

18d         Pleasing little stone shelters (5)
SWEET – An abbreviation for STone wrapped around aother word for ‘little’.

21d         Limited number operating for a time (4)
NOON – A short form of ‘number’ followed by ‘operating’ or ‘working’.

The Quick Crossword pun TREE + MENDERS = TREMENDOUS

42 comments on “DT 29065”

  1. Friendly Friday – I liked 9a and I did note the unindicated Americanism that is the solution to 5d

    Thanks to Giovanni and DT

      1. It is a word that has always annoyed this old-fashioned, still-shorthand-using on a daily basis, British secretary!

        1. Even though I knew the Americanism, I do agree that secretary is the preferred word.

    2. Is 22a an unindicated Russianism? (It would be nice if there was a ‘Tongue In Cheek’ emoticon.)

  2. Overall a very enjoyable puzzle from the Friday maestro. Being faced with the Giovanni odd word at the very start was a bit of a struggle and I thought 18d was not up to his usual high standard although it is probably just my usual annoyance with setters who use initials without any indication one should do so.
    Thx to all
    **/****

    1. B, 18d. What initials? ST is an official/listed abbreviation for “stone” and, as far as I’m aware, official abbreviations don’t require specific/ancillary indicators.

  3. I found this rather easy given the usual Friday standard, with a steady solve throughout. My one failing was 1d.

    I am sure that the Toughie will be impenetrable to make up for it!

    Many thanks to The Don and DT

  4. 2.5*/1*. I didn’t find this much fun at all. I hope others will have enjoyed it.

    Thanks to setter and reviewer.

  6. Flowed along OK once in the groove – apart from 1d that I have never come across before and needed digital help with.

    Pleasant enough for a Friday so thanks to all.

  7. A very comfortable solve this morning with no hold ups. Not as sparkling as last Friday but fun while it lasted. No particular favourite.

    Thanks to The Don and DT.

  8. On the whole, a pretty straightforward puzzle, 2* for difficulty and 3* for enjoyment. Thank you t Deep Threat for the hints and thanks to Giovanni. 9 and 10 across were my favourite clues. Like Cryptic Sue and Rabbit Dave I was not keen on the Americanism in 5d and it is not ine widely used outside the USA as far as I know.

  9. I enjoyed this as it was set at my level,low. No offence meant to the setter. 1d entered incorrectly as wail, now I know better. No particular favourite, but lots of good clues.
    Thanks to Giovanni And DT, keep up the good work👍

  10. As DT says, not as difficult as last Friday but I found this a little more challenging than yesterday’s proXimal. However, still completed at a gallop – 2.5*/3*.

    Favourite – a toss-up between 7a and 15d – and the winner is 15d.

    Thanks to DG and to DT.

  11. Getting the long 6d and 14a quite easily gave a lot of checkers which made this puzzle reasonably accessible to this relative novice.
    I’d not heard of 17a, I guessed at 5d, and I did need explanations for 18d and 22a.
    Thanks to setter and DT.

  12. Apart from a couple of (for me) obscurities, 5d and 17a, I thought this was a good puzzle, much better than last week’s. I had “wail” for 1d on the basis that an American may pronounce wall that way…I didn’t think about it too much! LOI was 22a where I was temporarily confused by the initials for country house appearing in the solution. I liked 7 and 13a plus 15d in particular. 2.5/3*
    Many thanks to Giovanni and DT for their parts in the entertainment .

  13. Always find Friday very hard.
    This one was a tad less than hard for me, say 2.9
    Many thanks Giovanni and DT for the review.

  14. No ones saying much about today’s puzzle which says everything-just a straight -forward Friday crossword which I enjoyed and a **/***.
    My favourite was 17a, last in was 8d which took too long to finally parse, have to admit that like Stephen I fell at the wall.
    Just checked the cricket score- the W I should not be underrated.
    Thanks to DT and setter.

  15. More Giovanni entertainment which offered his usual gentle challenge. Like DT et al I too was held up a bit in the NW where I came near to bunging in wail and stupidly needed help with 5a. Choose 15d as Fav and wonder if this would have been within the bounds of a MrK illustration! Many thanks Giovanni and DT.

  16. Straightforward except for 5d which spelling I didn’t know. 22a is in pretty common usage so no problems there.

  17. The wall did for me too, though I thought Mr.Trump’s plan was to build a fence. Wall or fence, I suppose it makes no difference as either scheme is as mad as the other.
    Good fun though.
    Thanks all.

    1. I have deleted several replies to this comment that express political views – please remember that this is a crossword blog.

  18. The wall was a new one for me but the answer was obvious. Otherwise this was a straightforward challenge with no real laugh out loud moments, which is a bit unusual for a Friday. 1d simply because I haven’t come across the word for ages was my favourite.
    Thanks to Giovanni, and to DT for the review.

  19. Thanks to Giovanni and to Deep Threat for the review and hints. An enjoyable puzzle, which I seemed to finish quicker than usual. I had “wail” for 1d, thought the homophone didn’t work! Managed the rest ok, just needed the hints to parse 22a. My favourite was 18d. Great misdirection. Was 2*/3* for me.

    1. I also had wail as I have never heard of waul. Completely stumped by 20a as I had misspelt (or misspelled?) 15d and had a c where the k should be! Thanks to all.

  20. 2.5/4. Enjoyable puzzle with some slightly stretched clues (5d). Favourites were 17a and 15d. Thanks to the Don and DT.

  21. Found this the easiest of the week😃**/*** I had never come across 1d before 😬 but it is there in my old OED! Favourite 9a and silver to either 17a or 15d 🤔 Thanks to DT for the blog and to Giovanni 🤗

  22. Is 16a correct? Does it not mean that the answer is an anagram (wreck) of part of the word “found”? Otherwise the answer is not partly found, it is all there as a lurker. A coincidence?

    1. Hello Tumbert – If it were a subtractive anagram, the letter to be omitted would need to be specified. Partly ‘found ocean’ – straightforward lurker, otherwise what is ‘ocean’ doing?

  23. 9&10a made me smile and I hadn’t previously encountered 1d without its ‘cats’.
    Not much else to add really, just another Friday back-pager.

    Thanks to DG and to DT for the blog.

  24. I looked at this before going out today and thought it was going to be a stinker, but looked again on my return and found it surprisingly friendly.
    I, too, had wail, but should have guessed it from caterwaul. Like Jane, I hadn’t heard it used without the cats.
    I misspelt 15d, so had 17a as h-r-r, held me up for a bit but looked it up and got it sorted.
    Thanks to Giovanni and to Deep Threat for his hints and pics.

  25. I knew the word caterwaul but I never heard it broken down as waul. I wonder what cater means, other than to provide dinner which I am about to do. I thought it was a funny one today.

    1. I suspect it’s something cats do, like the screeching noise they occasionally make when ‘courting’.

  26. A pleasant puzzle from Giovanni today, thank you. Did need Deep Threat’s hints to finish. The wall got me of course. Favourite clue was 9a.

  27. All straightforward and thoroughly enjoyable, which is lucky because at this end of the week I’m up to little else. :-)

  28. A Gentle Giovanni for a Friday, completed whilst waiting for the wily browns to come on. Nothing too difficult….2*/2.5*
    Thanks to Giovanni & DT for the review.

  29. Another excellent offering from G, which I found a bit tricky in places. Good clues and very enjoyable. No particular favourite from a generally fine bunch. 3* / 4*

  30. 2*/3*…..
    joint CODs;
    12D (job of female leading one church organisation to facilitate communication)
    and
    15D (wild mammals? Just pussies, as you might say)

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