DT 29114 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 29114 (Hints)

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29114 (Hints)
The Saturday Crossword Club
Hosted by Tilsit

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Herzliche Grüße aus der charmanten Stadt Jena in Ostdeutschland!

Related image

I’m here for my annual visit to the University’s excellent language course and also my annual disaster travelling to and from the city.  I thought nothing could top last year’s journey from home but I was wrong.  The chaos at St Pancras meant that I had to completely reroute my journey through Paris.  I had a first-class Interrail pass which meant I could have travelled on most trains, but because I couldn’t have a reservation on a specific train that would have allowed me to arrive at midnight rather than the original 9 pm, I had to ensure a journey that got me to Jena at 10 am with six changes.   Good old Eurostar will be getting a bit of a stern letter about their part in this chaos.

Anyway, to matters in hand.  I am suitably refreshed and ready to deal with today’s task which I think is set by the Original Mysteron.  A pleasant solve.

Most of the terms used in these hints are explained in the Glossary and examples are available by clicking on the entry under “See also”. Where the hint describes a construct as “usual” this means that more help can be found in The Usual Suspects, which gives a number of the elements commonly used in the wordplay. Another useful page is Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, which features words with meanings that are not always immediately obvious.

A full review of this puzzle will be published after the closing date for submissions.

Some hints follow.

There are one or two unusual words in the grid.  Perhaps there may be a visual hint to help.

Let’s see how we get on…..

ACROSS  

7          Rebuke salesperson given fish (8)
An alternative (abbreviated) word for a salesperson, usually one who travels, goes before the name of a fish to give a word meaning to rebuke.

11        Ignore stumbling medical officer giving war cry (8)
The name of a word used in a war cry can be found by making an anagram (stumbling) of IGNORE and adding the abbreviation for a Medical Officer afterwards.

Image result for geronimo

15        Scrum, perhaps, that happens down the line? (5-2, 6)
As I am not a huge fan of rugby, I guess this refers to something in the game, I know it from Rugby League certainly, that causes a scrum.  I shall leave the reviewer to say whether this makes the clue unfair (Gee, thanks – Reviewer).  
The clue is a little complex and is a cryptic definition of what can happen prior to the awarding of a scrum and its impact, although there could be two definitions that overlap.  Interested to hear your thoughts.

Image result for knock-on in rugby

18        Thoughtful mood of one looking in the mirror? (10)
A word meaning having a pensive moment could also be described cryptically as how you did the looking.

21        Country with a President in the 1990s (6)
The name of a famous President from Europe who was often in the news in the 1990’s, is found by taking the name of a country and adding A to it.

Image result for welsh flag

24        Gareth reported to be with junior body of troops (8)
A homophone of a shortened form of Gareth has a young offspring to give the word for a group of soldiers,

DOWN

1           Eccentric having party under waterfall (6)
An unkind way of describing an eccentric person is found by taking a type of waterfall with a short word for a party.

3          Approximate sphere of activity (4,4)
Two definitions, one cryptic, that refer to something being approximate and where you could play with spheres.

6          Monkey or burrowing animal going round Kent area (8)
You are looking for a name of a member of the Monkey family that is found by taking a different animal, one which burrows, and inserting an abbreviation of the region where you’ll find Kent.

Image result for marmotImage result for marmoset

8          Tossing the caber, steps on the floor? (8,5)
A type of dance, cryptically described, and a cryptic way of how you might toss the caber in its native land.

Image result for highland fling dance

15        Join auk flying to secure peek at last tree-dweller (8)
An anagram of JOIN AUK, plus the final letter of PEEK inserted gives you an arboreal animal.

Image result for kinkajou

18        Work out why (6)
Two definitions leading to the same word.    

22        Landowner stopped short in den (4)
The name for a Scottish landowner loses its last letter to give a word meaning den.

All in all, a reasonable solve, very enjoyable, but a bit heavy on the double definition clues for my liking.

The Crossword Club is now open.


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The Quick Crossword pun: beau+diddle+lea=Bo Diddley


43 comments on “DT 29114 (Hints)

  1. The 2 longest clues were my favourites in today’s delightful offering . The tree dweller needed verification .

    Thanks to Mr T and congratulations to the Setter .

  2. This puzzle had some clues with interesting and subtle misdirection and some good anagrams. However, putting in three clues referring to exotic animals is a bit excessive. I also found the expression in the answer to 3d irritating as it is not an English term and was not signposted as such. Finally, the ‘s’ at the end of 19a is superfluous IMHO. Thanks to the setter and to Tilsit for the hints. My rating is 2/3* for difficulty and 2* for enjoyment. I do not have a favourite clue.

  3. My 15 across has words as 5 – 2 6, not 8 6, so it is a lot easier for me. Nice puzzle and a good start to a damp morning.

    1. Amended the indications. I copied the clue from the print version from the DT site. Didn’t check the numbers.

  4. I thought this was a cracking puzzle for a damp Saturday morning, with plenty of head-scratching moments to keep it interesting. 15a certainly worked for me and was my favourite with 23a bizarrely my final entry. Great stuff.

    Thanks Mysteron and Tilsit.

  5. I absolutely sailed through this until I got to the 15 down and across combination. I wince when a clue has a sporting theme and my brain just wants to shut down in protest. With the checkers in place I wanted to put a completely different animal in 15d but I knew it didn’t fit with the clue so persevered.

    In the end I resorted to electronic help which then made 15a obvious.

    Apart from that little hiccup, thoroughly enjoyable. Many thanks to setter and Tilsit.

  6. Thoroughly enjoyed this. Completed quickly although needed electronic help with 15d. I liked all the clues and hard to pick a favourite although if I thought about it longer it would be one of 3d, 8d, 9a or 15a.

    Thanks to Mysteron and Tilsit – hope the rest of your trip goes better!

  7. Romped through the West then met with a bit more resistance in the East making for an enjoyable challenge overall. Had to seek help for 15d (lovely word) in spite of having first letter from my Fav 15a. Thank you Mysteron and Tilsit (my thought of Jena is for the famous Carl Zeiss).

  8. What would have been a very enjoyable puzzle was totally spoiled by, when it first appeared on-line at midnight UK time (corrected about two hours later), incorrect enumeration for 15a (8,6) and 13d (6,5) – the hyphens must have been counted as characters!
    Having said that, I did find a favourite in 8d.
    To respond to Tilsit – 15a might be a little unfair because it is oval ball based, but, with the correct enumeration, I thought it was a very good clue.
    Thanks to the setter and Tilsit.

  9. I’d say the definition is the latter part of 15a and a few clues (eg 18a, 18d etc) were rather transparent

    Enjoyable enough all the same, thanks setter and Tilsit

  10. I was very pleasantly surprised, when I went online at 12.30am UK time to finish off Friday’s puzzle, that Saturday’s was already there. So I made a good start, and finished off this morning without help (with the exception of my trusty anagram solver). Just for once I must have been on the right wavelength. I hadn’t realised that the early edition’s enumeration was wrong, I had just thought that I couldn’t solve those clues.
    I am perplexed as to why the answer to 21a is pronounced as if it contained a N. Perhaps someone can enlighten me without sending themselves to the sin bin.
    Many thanks to the setter for a most enjoyable puzzle, and for the hints which, unusually, I read after completing the puzzle.
    Apropos nothing at all, it’s raining steadily in Suffolk and the temperature has dropped to something quite manageable – thank heavens for that.

    1. At the risk of being naughty , I suggest you will need to study UK’s second most spoken language pronunciation.

    2. 21a – because in the particular president’s native language the ‘E’ is modified with an ogonek, and there I will stop and leave it to Google (or similar).

      1. Very interesting, thanks Senf. I wonder whether the word ogonek has appeared as an answer to a crossword clue?

  11. I was a little slow with 9a – had the wrong type of ‘mount’ in mind – and also with 4d which I tackled somewhat a**e about face!.
    I would agree with Chriscross that the ‘s’ on the last word in the clue for 19d seems superfluous.

    Don’t think you needed any knowledge of the oval ball game to get 15a and that went on my podium along with the 8d caber toss.

    Thanks to our setter and to Tilsit for the Saturday club.

  12. Glad to see I wasn’t the only who struggled with 15d. In my case, not helped by having overthought 23a – albeit my initial answer, imho, was funnier than the real one (see what you could get if the second letter wasn’t o). Hey-ho, one of these days I’l crack every last clue without electronic help. 🤷🏻‍♂️
    Btw, I expect you lot up north are still getting the rain but if it’s any consolation, I’ll be having to do quite a lot of watering in my Dorsetshire garden later…

  13. A wonderful puzzle today although I, like others, found 15d a challenge. In fact I had never heard of such a thing! I also struggled with 20a for a while but thought the clue brilliant once I twigged.

    Thanks you to all concerned.

  14. Afternoon all from the fairly hot Mar Menor.
    Having got the ending of 18a wrong we totally ground to a halt on 19d. Smartass pommers had actually heard of 15d. He reckons it must have been due to watching Zoo Time with Desmond Morris!
    Thanks to Tilsit and setter for an otherwise enjoyable puzzle.

  15. Solved after returning from a beach trip (very windy and occasional rain, but the nieces and nephew have made a pilgrimage each year for more than 25 years and this year the weekend weather let us down, but the beach activities went ahead)

    Fairly typical Saturday crossword – I too originally had the wrong ending in 18a but soon realised my mistake when 19d wouldn’t work

    Thanks to the intrepid traveller and the Saturday Mysteron

  16. Completed early (for me)-hoping that 9a is the right kind of mount…I agree that the
    Exotic animals were a bit ott but enjoyed it just before our family visitors arrived. Loved the exotic meat one! Thanks to mr Ron & Tilsit for his efforts especially being in Jena. (Big battle there in 1813.?)

  17. I wasn’t on full wavelength here but did manage to finish with electronic help. Never heard of 18a so had to do a word search. I had a friend who had a 15d, so that went in early.
    Fave was 8d with 23a coming in a close second.
    Thanks to our Saturday setter and to Tilsit for his hints and tips.

  18. Saturday is continuing its record of producing good crosswords. This was a fine example with some very good clues of which for me, the pole chucking one was top of the heap.
    Thanks to the setter, and to the much travelled one for the hints.

  19. I too had a wrong end to 18a and therefore an impossible 19d but after a bit of jiggery pokery I managed to fill my grid with what I hope is correct. 23a was initially a food impossible to make or eat hot but sense prevailed when the hint was perused for 15d. I don’t remember zoo time but I think I may have encountered 15d when Johnny Morris imitated one on Animal Magic.
    Thanks to Tilsit and setter.
    Back to watching the rather compelling cycling where there is also a connection to 21a pic. Oh he has managed to secure 2nd!

  20. Completed early this morning but I’ve been out all day ever since.

    This was a pleasant diversion with 15a & 8d vying for top spot.

    Many thanks to Mr Ron and Tilsit.

  21. Still none the wiser as to which of the many types of mount 9a could be. I will have to wait until next week to be enlightened.

    Enjoyed the rest of the crossword with 11a my top clue.

    ***/****

  22. I found this quite tough but I persevered and got there unaided by either hints or electronic aids…..so it must have been fair, despite the animals and sporting references.

    Thanks to the setter and to Tilsit.

  23. Nice crossword today. I went through at a good rate, grinding to a halt at 15d. I worked out a possibility, but, admittedly I needed the hint to tell me I’d gone the right way, then Mr. Google to confirm the word.

    Thanks to all, **/***.

  24. Enjoyable puzzle with nice misdirection in a few of the clues. Thanks to our setter for another good Saturday workout and Tilsit for the hints.

  25. That was a pleasant crossword .
    I’m caught between 8d and 15a as to my favourite .
    Vielen Danke , Tilsit und der hund .

  26. Small point of order to the compiler…..The country in 21a isn’t a country; it’s a constituent country, as is England, Scotland and Northern Island.

    The UK is the country.

  27. The expression in 3d meaning ‘approximate’ has been common parlance in the UK for decades.

    It is a non-English term, no more.

  28. Aaargh. 4 days later I finally realised that there is a 3rd possible answer for 18a, which means I’ve finally managed to get 19d.

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