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DT 29069

by 2Kiwis  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29069

Hints and tips by 2Kiwis

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

Kia ora from Aotearoa.

On the first of the month winter arrived with a vengeance. We have had windy, cold, changeable weather ever since with snow down to low levels on the ranges. Our little wood-burner has been having to work overtime.

Jay has given us another enjoyable puzzle with some rather good complicated anagrams included in the mix.

Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.

Across

1a     Wordsmiths rephrase logic mistakenly incorporating unknown (14)
LEXICOGRAPHERS : An anagram (mistakenly) of REPHRASE LOGIC contains one of the mathematical unknowns.

9a     Clear sort of call from family touring port (7)
CLARION : A family which might be a large Scottish one contains a South American port.

10a     Short story about the girl’s millions is hot air (7)
THERMAL : Another word for a story loses its last letter and surrounds a female possessive pronoun and the abbreviation for millions.

11a     Mostly reluctant crowd … (3)
LOT : Remove the last letter (an ‘h’) from a word meaning reluctant.

12a     … packed with runners in high spirits (4,2,5)
FULL OF BEANS : These runners might be found in a vegetable garden.

14a     Angry protest and row coming after universal voting system (6)
UPROAR : String together U(niversal), proportional representation voting system, and ‘row’ to propel a boat.

15a     Theatrical skill needing repeated energy and banter? (8)
REPARTEE : A type of theatrical company, then skill or ability and the abbreviation for energy twice.

17a     Try protecting distressed aged bowler, perhaps (8)
HEADGEAR : Try in a court of law contains an anagram (distressed) of AGED.

19a     Popular detective needing match for dye (6)
INDIGO : The two letter word for popular, then a detective inspector and match or correspond.

22a     Right — always represent value and ring (11)
REVERBERATE : R(ight), then a synonym for always, a two letter word for represent and value or judge.

23a     Music from ‘American Dad’! (3)
POP : A US familiar word for dad.

24a     Experiences no end of alarm in upsetting smart set (7)
TASTERS : Remove the last letter of alarm from an anagram (upsetting) of SmART SET. ‘Experiences’ here is a noun for exploratory occasions.

26a     Thief may be good person protected by sovereign (7)
RUSTLER : One who reigns surrounds a beatified person.

27a     Run campaigns including study for penalising people (7,7)
TRAFFIC WARDENS : Run or trade in, then military campaigns include a study room.

Down

1d     Administration putting writer in place (5,9)
LOCAL AUTHORITY : A place or neighbourhood contains a person who writes.

2d     Special quality of vote for accepting parliamentary bill (1-6)
X-FACTOR : The mark used to signify your choice on a voting paper and a parliamentary bill when passed is inside FOR from the clue.

3d     Thrilling end to episode with French flag flying across Italy (11)
CLIFFHANGER : The IVR code for Italy is inside an anagram (flying) of FRENCH FLAG.

4d     High-ranking people should change sides in a mild way (6)
GENTLY : Find another word for high-ranking people and within that change R(ight) to L(eft).

5d     Noticed changes after answer is put into effect (8)
ACTIONED : The one letter abbreviation for answer and an anagram (changes) of NOTICED.

6d     House intermittently providing shade (3)
HUE : The first, third and fifth letters of house.

7d     Wild sheep sound out of breath (7)
RAMPANT : A male sheep and then the noise made by someone out of breath.

8d     Material for cast seeing opera stars flip out (7,2,5)
PLASTER OF PARIS : An anagram (out) of OPERA STARS FLIP.

13d     Brewing artisan beer is a difficult exercise (11)
BRAINTEASER : An anagram (brewing) of ARTISAN BEER.

16d     Skater must fail in the Caribbean islands, and try another sport (5-3)
WATER-SKI : The two letter abbreviation for the region that includes many Caribbean islands surrounds an anagram (must fail) of SKATER.

18d     Notice caller dismissing Italian consultant (7)
ADVISOR : A commercial notice and a caller or guest minus the abbreviation for Italian.

20d     Using time on the inside, beat urge (7)
IMPULSE : The central two letters of time and a beat as a heart has.

21d     Heart monitor’s first indicator (6)
MARROW : The first letter of monitor and then an indicator that Cupid might use.

25d     Feel foolish boxing leprechaun? (3)
ELF : We finish with today’s lurker, hiding in the clue.

Our favourite this week is 1d.  In retrospect it took us longer than it should have.

Quickie pun    leave    +    hair    +    pull    =    Liverpool

 

33 comments on “DT 29069”

  1. Several of the long clues, whether anagrams or different constructions, were right up there amongst Jay’s very best. Of them all, I liked 1a the most. Overall this was yet another in an increasingly long line of excellent and hugely enjoyable Wednesday puzzles.

    Thanks to all three birds involved in today’s production.

  2. I found this quite straightforward, although for some reason I needed the hints to parse my answer to 3d. Grid was complete in * time.

    Having disentangled 1a, it has to be my COTD.

    My thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

  3. An undemanding but joyful solve today. 1a went in immediately then the East fell followed a bit more slowly by the West. Numerous goodies including 12a, 14a and 8d. 11a reluctant spelling fooled me. Not sure about 27a. Many thanks Jay and the 2Kiwis, particularly for parsing 1d for me – how dim!

  4. Lovely Wednesday inside back pager with no need to ‘start with the Downs’. I particularly liked my first one in – 1a

    Thanks to our three avian friends

  5. As always, a very enjoyable puzzle (****) from Jay, which was about ** for difficulty. There were so many good clues, its difficult to pick favourites but I liked 1a, 12a, 1d and 8d. Thank you to Jay and the two Ks. I hope the two Kiwis have plenty of firewood!

  6. As always with a Jay puzzle I can usually get the answers but can never fully parse many of his clues (1d, 3d, 20d, 9a & 22a). The trick is to find the real clue and ignore the rest whilst waiting for the excellent hints for an explanation.
    I really like 8d which made me smile.
    Thx to all
    ***/***

  7. Unusually for Wednesday I started at a cracking pace but slowed considerably with about a quarter of the puzzle to go. Finally getting 1d was the key to unlocking most of the remaining clues so was about 3*/3* for me.
    I particularly 9, 12 and 14a plus 7d but could have mentioned several others.
    Many thanks to Jay and to the 2Ks for the top notch explanations.

  8. Another very entertaining Wednesday puzzle completed at a gallop – **/****.

    Candidates for favourite – 22a, 27a, and 1d – and the winner is 27a (which has an air of familiarity).

    Thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

  9. Thought 21d a bit of a stretch, my last one in and had to confirm with the hints. Very enjoyable with great anagrams.

  10. A bit of fun today light hearted and enjoyable -12a describes it very well.
    Going for a **/****, liked 1d for its surface , and clever cluing.
    27a my favourite.
    Thanks setter and 2K’s for the pics-liked the water skier!

  11. 1A & 1D went in straight away and everything else fell into place at a fast pace. Light but enjoyable. */***

  12. Yet another off the Jay production line full of ingenuity and amusement .

    Must pick 1D as my favourite as , although working in or alongside LAs for some 47 years , would never of thought of that parsing of the clue .

    Thanks again to the 2Ks , sorry about the weather , but it is your turn .

  13. As per pretty well everyone else – a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle **/****.

    I agree with Beaver – 12a summed it up nicely (and was my favourite clue).

    Needed some checking with the parsing, so thanks to the 2Kiwis – as well as to Jay for the puzzle.

  14. **/****. Another great Wednesday puzzle with some very well constructed clues. 1d got my podium place by a nose. Thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

  15. Another enjoyable Wednesday puzzle in which it took me a fair time to realise that 3d was an anagram, despite having put in the obvious answer – a dim moment, as Kath would say!

    No particular favourite although 27a raised a rueful smile.

    Thanks to Jay and to our 2Ks. Hope your session of ‘girl sitting’ went off smoothly!

    1. Yes, I was determined to try to get ‘tricolor’ In somewhere.
      Or is it tricoleur? I’m creating a new language from French and Italian clearly. Exceptionally dim.

    2. Re failing to spot the anagram 3d Jane, you’re probably not the only one, just the only one to admit it! 😉

  16. Weirdly, yesterday’s 4* and today’s 2* difficulty ratings were both 3* for me.

    Most of today’s answers went in after a while, but I needed checkers. This was a puzzle with lots and lots of ‘nested’ synonyms and not the most usual ones either. Even the mathematical ‘unknown’ was the less usual one, which held me up for a bit.

    Not on Jay’s wavelength today, but well done to him, our NZ friends and to the rest of you.

  17. I echo everything Bluebird says, including the attempt to include tricolor. I was clearly not on Jay’s wavelength today made hard work of this. But loved 12a and 8d. Still not sure how 21d = heart. Thanks to Jay and 2Kiwis.

  18. Oh – this is a day when I’m going to disagree with most of you and say that I found it quite difficult – not helped by being very slow to get 1a and 1d.
    Just as enjoyable as Wednesdays always are – but tricky.
    I was also stupidly slow to get the second word of 27a – goodness knows how as my sister had an ‘encounter’ with one while staying with us at the weekend – she wasn’t pleased to put it mildly.
    In fact looking at this again now it would probably be easier to say which clues didn’t cause a spot of bother.
    For a few nasty moments I thought that 17a was heading in a ‘crickety’ direction.
    I particularly liked the 111/12a combination and 7d.
    With thanks to Jay and to the Kiwis.

  19. Not the only one, Kath. I managed to mangle my fave setter’s puzzle today. To be fair, I think my brain is having an off day, it happens.
    Some, like 1a and 1d went in easily and were top likes, but others took forever and I could not unravel them, e.g., 14a and 27a. I failed, and still do, to know why “go” in 19a … “match”? Really?
    Thanks to Jay and to the 2Kiwis. I promise to dust off the brain next Wednesday.

  20. Normally with the Wednesday crossword I get into the swing of things and it is reasonably quickly solved. Today was not like that. It was a solve of several fits and starts and took quite a while. It was great fun as always but I had to work for it. 13d floated my boat for some reason!
    Thanks to Jay, and them down under for the review.

  21. Another Jay cracker of a crossword, with what I thought were some really good clues, especially the long ones, with 1ac being my favourite.
    2*/4.5*
    Many thanks to Jay & the 2KWs for the review.

  22. Morning all.
    Still well short of sunrise here. The cricket match against Bangladash is on TV playing in the background. Looks like we could be in for a nail-biter finish. Hope all the cricket followers among you are rooting for our team.
    Pleased to see that other people appreciated the anagrams in today’s Jay, we thought they were a feature.
    Cheers.

  23. I also had to work harder than normal at this one today, but thoroughly enjoyed it anyway and got there in the end.

    Many thanks to Jay and the two Ks

  24. Today has been a difficult day personally, and my attempts to relax by doing the crossword have been none too successful. I finished it with help from 2K’s – thank you. I loved 1a, liked 12a, not so keen on 21d.
    Thank you Jay.

  25. It took me a while to get started, but I blame the (very) cold weather! Favourites were 1 and 12 across, and 8 down made me chuckle! Thanks to all, particularly 2Kiwis for 3D – got the correct answer, but I didn’t know why! I have a great need to be in North Yorkshire NOW!

  26. I enjoyed this and got way further than typical on my own — the shape of the grid with the long answers round the edge certainly helped. Thanks Jay, and 2Kiwis for helping with the ones I couldn’t see.

    12a was my favourite. I also really liked the anagram in 13d.

    Like BusyLizzie above, I still don’t understand 21d’s “heart”. And like Merusa above, I still don’t understand 19a’s “match”.

    1. Hi Smylers.
      To show how we understood the words you question. HEART, MARROW or CORE are all words to describe something at the centre so works as a definition for us.
      MATCH and GO could be interchangeable in a sentence such as, “Does my tie match/go with my jacket?”

      Hope that helps.

  27. I really admired the anagrams in this. I get cross with people who despise this clever wordplay. I was once lucky enough to meet Martin Bell, whose father Adrian was a very early crossword setter, and was delighted to find he shared my enthusiasm.
    Spent a lot of yesterday afternoon looking for the Dakotas enroute to France. My patience was rewarded but I wish they had been a little closer.

  28. 4*/2*….
    liked 12A (packed with runners in high spirits), also the picture to the hint to 3D.

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