DT 29129 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 29129

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29129

Hints and tips by 2Kiwis

BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ****

Kia ora from Aotearoa.

Our winter weather has continued for most of the week but as we write this we are bathed in bright warm sunshine. So, fingers crossed, we can look forward to an imminent improvement. Walking along the beach is much more fun if we don’t have to be dressed up like Michelin men and pushing into a strong headwind.

Jay has given us another top quality Wednesday puzzle.

Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.

Across

1a     Aggressive delivery man outside door … (7)
BOUNCER : A double definition. The first is a cricketing term.

5a     … delivering starters of black or white fish (7)
BOWLING : The first letters of three words in the clue and then a fish of the cod family.

9a     Unattainable ambition of armed criminal (5)
DREAM : An anagram (criminal) of ARMED.

10a     Learns one’s insurance must be held in case of disasters (9)
DISCOVERS : ‘One’s’ written as the Roman numeral one with ‘S and the protection given by an insurance policy are surrounded by the first and last letters of disasters.

11a     Science attached to golf and food appreciation (10)
GASTRONOMY : The letter expressed by golf in the Nato phonetic alphabet and the science involving the study of heavenly bodies.

12a     Island origin of Cambridge university graduate (4)
CUBA : The first letters of Cambridge and university with a Bachelor of Arts graduate.

14a     Met the pariah upset in the Coliseum, for example (12)
AMPHITHEATRE : An anagram (upset) of MET THE PARIAH.

18a     Part of road that’s difficult to bear? (4,8)
HARD SHOULDER : A synonym for difficult and then to bear or carry beside one’s head.

21a     Sizeable order (4)
TIDY : A double definition. Sizeable here often used in the context of a sum of money.

22a     People looking on as Prescott dances (10)
SPECTATORS : An anagram (dances) of AS PRESCOTT.

25a     Mostly difficult slang name reported for instrument (9)
HARMONICA : Remove the last letter from a word meaning difficult and follow this with a homophone of a slang name or handle.

26a     Animal — one very quiet in house (5)
HIPPO : The two letter abbreviation for house surrounds the Roman numeral one and the musical notation for very quiet.

27a     Top room for one troll with no bread (7)
SINGLET : What you would ask for if you were booking a room for one in a hotel, and then remove a small loaf of bread from the word troll.

28a     Runs into bar for a bit of work (7)
EXCERPT : Bar or leave out contains the cricket abbreviation for runs.

Down

1d     Rotten type given breakfast for soldiers? (3,3)
BAD EGG : An all-in-one clue. The soldiers here are thin pieces of toast.  (We  are not quite sure how the wordplay works here. Any better suggestions?)

2d     Apprehension caused by universal joints, we hear (6)
UNEASE : The abbreviation for universal and a homophone of central leg joints.

3d     Company millions guarantee settlement (10)
COMPROMISE : Abbreviations for company and millions precede a guarantee or pledge.

4d     Element of difficulty in the Navy (5)
RADON : The two letters for the Royal Navy surround difficulty or fuss.

5d     Sailor turned up with new Maltese 19, for example (4,5)
BASE METAL : The reversal of the abbreviation for an able-bodied seaman plus an anagram (new) of Maltese.

6d     Stop doctor and answer (4)
WHOA : The television doctor who travels by Tardis and then A(nswer).

7d     Popular actors must see injustice (8)
INEQUITY : The two letter popular and then the actors’ trade union.

8d     Develops land within the boundaries of Gleneagles (8)
GESTATES : The first and last letters of Gleneagles surround land or property.

13d     Psychic working at Delphi etc. with no daughter (10)
TELEPATHIC : An anagram (working) of AT (D)ELPHI ETC without the abbreviation for daughter.

15d     Impression created by bay? (9)
HOOFPRINT : A cryptic definition. The bay here is an equine quadruped.

16d     Provides cover for house, coming in fourth at Chester (8)
THATCHES : A nicely hidden lurker hiding in the clue.

17d     Good free press network (8)
GRIDIRON : G(ood) and then free or eradicate and press or make smooth.

19d     Bobby and Penny? (6)
COPPER : A double definition. Bobby is a policeman and Penny is a coin.

20d     English type needing to accept Conservative lead (6)
ESCORT : Start with the abbreviation for English, then the single letter abbreviation for conservative is inside a type or kind.

23d     Track bag found outside hotel (5)
CHASE : Bag or portmanteau contains H(otel).

24d     Wrap hamper (4)
FOIL : A double definition. Hamper here is a verb.

The answers in the SW gave us the most fun with 27a as our favourite.

Quickie pun     cars     +    chore   +    vote    =    cast your vote

88 comments on “DT 29129

  1. I took a bit longer than usual with this excellent Jay crossword – quite a lot of which had to do with, despite having all the letters available in the anagram, I got in a muddle trying to spell 14a.

    Thanks to Jay and the 2Ks

    PS; The DT obviously didn’t like the way we were all really happy with the back page crossword actually appearing on the back page so they put an advert for Facebook on the back page just to make us grumpy :(

    1. Yes, sadly I suppose it couldn’t last. I make myself marginally less grumpy by training myself never to even glance at the back-page advert. It must cost a fortune to place a full page advert and I struggle to believe it actually influences anybody to buy anything.

        1. Completely agree with RD above. Absolutely refuse to look at the ad on the back page. DT take note, it makes us all very cross indeed.

          1. I don’t usually look but I thought I’d do so today just to check which company was having the audacity to upset the crossword solvers of this world

            1. Aah! Thanks for answering one of my perpetual wonders – exactly what do they put on the back page if it isn’t the crossword? Now I know!

  2. Fantastic , funny and full of great clues , too many to single one out .

    Congratulations, yet again Jay , and well done to the Ks .

  3. Crikey, this took some teasing out today and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I had to resort to going through the alphabet and the Thesaurus for the last couple.

    Couldn’t for the life of me see what the word ‘room’ was doing in 27a so thanks to the 2Ks for that – obvious once you point it out.

    My favourite was the difficult to bear road.

    Many thanks to all

  4. 3*/4.5*. Unusually for me I checked the review first before posting as I was unsure of the parsing for 1d. Unfortunately it looks as if I am in excellent company with our illustrious reviewers who appear to be in the same boat.
    Apart from that, this was another wonderful example of our Wednesday wizard’s craft. I found the SW corner much harder than the rest which took me up to my 3* time.
    With lots of goodies in contention, the neatly linked 1a & 5a, and the two short and sweet DDs (21a & 24d) were just edged out for selection as my favourite by 27a.
    Many thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

  5. Thanks Jay and 2Ks

    Great stroll round the grid.

    1a my favourite and last in. Looked for everything, including delivery men 🙄, except the bleeding obvious…hey ho

    1. Also, absolutely love the DT Setters’ use of colloquialisms, slang, clin d’oeil and downright misdirection.

  6. I thoroughly enjoyed this, and found it mainly straightforward. Like others couldn’t quite work out the wordplay for 1d but it had to be. I loved the double delivery 1 and 5a and the excellent 16d, which provided a welcome return to one of my favourite clue types. My only problem was self created, having initially put chart in for 23d but once sorted it revealed the clever 28a, which along with 27a and the lurker make up my podium. LOI 15d where I needed all the checkers.
    2.5/ 4*
    Many thanks to the Jay and The 2Ks for their excellent works.

  7. I felt this was more *** than **. Very enjoyable. Held up for ages with 16d then remembered someone saying ‘if stuck look for a lurker’. Bang on. Thanks to all.

  8. Always good to have 2Kiwis timely hints. East was more friendly than the West. Failed to parse 1a sporting delivery. 27a rang true with my experience of paying extra for hotel room for one and then being allocated a top/attic room or similar 😡. Not keen on abbreviations as per 26a. 15d needed a prompt but then joined smooth-surfaced 4d as Favs. Thank you Jay and 2Kiwis.

    1. I think that the abbreviation at 26a squeaks under as acceptable now, not many people use the full word except Flanders and Swann.

  9. It seems I am in good company, struggling with 8d and 27a. Otherwise a fine offering, completed in *** time.

    Many thanks to Jay and the 2 Ks.

  10. Slightly tricky for a Jay and starting with the Downs in either direction did not help but I still managed to finish at a gallop – **/****.
    Candidates for favourite – 11a, 18a, and 19d – and the winner is 18a.
    Thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

  11. I had ‘tall’ for 21 across straight in as it seemed perfect, so I got a bit delayed….

  12. Apart from 1d, which I found rather baffling, this was a very enjoyable puzzle with many smiles had along the way.

    2*/4*. Many thanks to Jay and to the 2Kiwis.

        1. I agree that the clue makes no sense with the soldiers as fingers of toast. I wondered whether these soldiers were actually ants
          – see here.

          1. I suppose it’s possible but I find it hard to believe that Jay would expect us to know such details about parasitic ants.

            1. I agree, but I can’t see how it works with the toast meaning. It’s very odd because Jay’s clues are usually a model of clarity. I suppose a word such as ‘inedible’ might have accidentally got dropped from the clue.

              1. I agree with you that an editing error is a likely explanation for the issue with 1d. Perhaps it started out as something like “Rotten type given breakfast not fit for soldiers (3,3)”

                1. I even looked into BADE (given, instructed) + GG (two soldiers General, GI Joe) but nope, that doesn’t make much sense either. Most unusual from Jay, probably a tongue-in-cheek clue
                  I vaguely remember ‘Bagged salad fiend (3,3)’ from somewhere

                  1. I’ve checked my database. The BADE deconstruction has been used as “Rotter ordered a horse”, “Scoundrel ordered two grand”, “Scoundrel ordered to get good repeatedly”, and “Rogue commanded galleons originally”. Among the previous clues using today’s approach, my favourite is Rufus’ “Scoundrel best avoided by soldiers”.

                    The Guardian has allowed it, but I wonder if “salad” would fly as an anagram indicator in the Telegraph?

    1. 1d was a bung-in for me as neither the dunking soldiers nor the army of ants occurred to me.

  13. Thanks to Jay and to the 2 Kiwis for the review and hints. A super puzzle as usual from Jay. Great fun, nice mix of clues. I like the science based 4, 5&19d clues. Last in was 12a. Favourite was 1&5a. Very apt, shame the cricket is rained off at the moment. Was 2*/4* for me.

  14. tricky one for me, filled the SE corner quite handily but struggled with NW. Did anyone else audibly groan at the homophone for 25a? Needed a lot of help so thanks to the hintmeisters.

  15. Lovely crossword with so many clever and amusing clues 😃 ***/**** I found the SW corner the trickiest 😳 with 24d my last in! Favourites 11a, 25a & 15d

  16. Another great Jay crossword all fairly straightforward except for NE corner, but persistence prevailed. Thanks to 2Ks and Jay.

  17. Another slice of excellence from our Wednesday man, although I did get slightly worried when it started off with two cricket clues!
    Made life difficult for myself in the SW by confidently putting in ‘tall’ for 21a which made 17d impossible until the proverbial penny dropped. I also dithered over the justification for 1d but it seems that I’m not alone in that.

    Very slow to twig 15d so that deserves a podium place and joins 1a & 2d in my final line up.

    Many thanks to Jay and to our 2Ks for the review. Pleased to hear that your weather has settled down, I wouldn’t fancy walking on one of our Anglesey beaches today – grey skies and persistent rain.

      1. Can’t even see across to Llandudno today – thought perhaps the rise in sea levels had already engulfed you!

  18. Finished while still at work so it must have been a bit easier than it seemed. I had shingles on my roof and a neat order for a while which slowed down the SW. 11a 15d top of a big podium for me.
    Thanks to Jay and 2K’s.

  19. We agree with the Kiwis ratings of **/**** with the two linked cricket clues as favourite.

    22a raised a smile at the mental image of 2Jags dancing.

    Many thanks to Jay and the 2Kiwis.

    1. Has to be said – he gave it a reasonable go on Strictly Comes Dancing. Got through to week 10 and how many of us could manage that!

        1. Yes indeed. Don’t think Prezza Doble entered Strictly except possibly a Christmas show after which TwoJags became TwoSteps Prescott!

        2. Oops! Proves that I don’t watch the show – just see the odd newspaper report and obviously don’t assimilate the info very well!

  20. I’m finding that I really look forward to Wednesdays these days! Yet another top notch puzzle to contend with. Other than the uncertainty with 1d, eminently solvable with 15d being my favourite clue.
    Thanks to Jay, and to the 2k’s for the review.

  21. Really enjoyed todays offering. Excellent clues very well worked. My absolute favourite was 25a. Well done to Jay for a super puzzle.
    Thx to all
    **/*****

  22. Late on parade today but we’ll worth the wait. Another cracker from Jay with 27a marginally beating the 1a/5a combo for for top billing. A fine, steady solve much enjoyed.

    Thanks birds.

  23. A very enjoyable puzzle from Jay. Bunged in 1d because we couldn’t understand the reference to soldiers – but now we do – a good clue. Then got held up for a while in the SE corner. Favourites: linked cricket clues 1a & 5a (which looks as though that’s the limit of cricket for the day!), 18a, 1d, 2d. Many thanks to Jay and the 2 Kiwis.

  24. Found this to be on the trickier end of Jay puzzles, but got there with the help from 2Kiwis. Not a fan of 3 cricket related clues, little knowledge of that sport, so I was up the creek without a willow…

  25. Excellent puzzle with lots of clever clues that were most satisfying. Loved 1d, which was clever.

    Thank you to all concerned.

    PS I agree with all the comment regarding the back page advert!

  26. Found this considerably less difficult than yesterday’s and definitely more enjoyable.
    Needed a tiny bit of electronic help.
    Bunged in 1d but still cannot see the wordplay.

    Thanks to the setter and to the 2 Kiwis.

  27. Lovely crossword from Jay, as usual. I, too, struggled to understand. I quite like Gazza’s idea that the word inedible or similar was missed out by mistake. Perhaps the setter or the editor will enlighten us. I would have finished this in 1.5* time had I not carelessly put in Thatcher for 16d, took me a while to spot my mistake. I liked 8d but I’ll go for 1a as my favourite.

  28. Difficulty-wise, I’m with those who found this more straightforward than yesterday. Unusually for me I filled most of the grid on the first pass, which is a testament to Jay’s precise clueing. Favourite clue probably 26a. Thanks to Jay for a most entertaining puzzle and to the 2Ks for the great blog. Is your beach Himatangi?

    1. Himatangi is the next settlement up the coast from us. We are at Foxton Beach, right on the estuary of the Manawatu river.

      1. I have just had a wander round Foxton Beach on google earth. It looks like a lovely place. What are those Christmas tree like trees? they look just like the fir tree we have up at christmas and they never do well after a fortnight indoors but yours look huge,

        1. We assume that you are not referring to the huge plantations of Pinus radiata which are ubiquitous around here but the two very tall elegant trees that are right on the edge of the estuary. They are Norfolk Island Pines. They are not NZ natives but are relatively common around our coasts as they were planted as navigation markers in the early colonial days. At that time our river was navigable by smallish coastal vessels and Foxton was a thriving port.

  29. Here we are spoilt again by another Jay stunner!
    I did not find this as easy as our reviewers, but nonetheless very enjoyable. Particularly I find it hard to single out any favourites, feeling most of them worthy of that title.
    3*/4.5*
    Grateful thanks to Jay & the 2KWs for review

  30. Another Jay gem, a bit trickier than usual.
    I never did get 27a, I suppose I should have bunged it in but couldn’t see it, unusual for Jay where you know when you solve whether it’s right.
    I solved 1d right away, never doubted the soldiers for a minute.
    No fave today, such a choice, I even loved the 1a/5a combo, maybe 18a? Seems unfair to single one out.
    Thanks to Jay and the 2Kiwis for the fun.

  31. I got 21a from the checkers but it took ages to realise that ‘order’ was not a command – doh!
    I agree with the comments re 1d, I think there must have been some kind of typo.
    A lovely crossword with some straightforward and some which made me ponder.
    Thanks to Jay and 2Ks.

  32. I normally struggle a bit with Jay puzzles and as a consequence, don’t enjoy them that much but today was different. I found it fairly straightforward and very enjoyable, so thanks Jay. Lots of good clues that raised a smile including 6 down, which is unusual (for me) for a four letter word.

    And thanks to the 2 Kiwis too.

  33. **/****. Enjoyable puzzle but held up in the SW corner mainly because I didn’t spot the lurker. D’oh. Once that penny dropped it was a romp home. Thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

  34. Morning all.
    We woke up this morning feeling confident that clever people would have sorted out the mystery of 1d while we were fast asleep. Looks like that is not the case. Maybe there is still time for Jay to come to the rescue.
    It is still not daylight here yet, but it looks like fine weather is in store for us.
    Cheers.

  35. Hooray, much happier today, managing most of the puzzle on my own, with just a bit of a nudge with the last few.
    Favourite clues 25a and 2d
    Thanks to all

  36. I started this puzzle when most of you were turning up at work in the UK. Now you’re probably solving over a well earned pint, wine or G & T if you started late. I got about half done before I turned in but I’m up with the sun this morning, had a fresh look and everything fell into place. My last to go in we’re 6a, perhaps an exclamation mark might have helped indicate an order to put us on the right track. It took a while to twig that the Doctor was the time lord. 27d was last to go in. Having ‘bind’ for 24d didn’t help until the penny dropped. With the Ashes going on, my favourites were 1 and 5a. Thanks to J for an enjoyable puzzle and Kiwis x 2 who will be up soon too🌞

  37. My first post disappeared into the ether so here I go again…I started last night in my time zone and got half done before turning in. I’ve just had a fresh look as I’m up with the sparrows. Everything fell into place. Last to go in were 6 and 27a. It took a while to twig the Doctor was the time lord. Perhaps Jay could have added an exclamation mark to indicate an order rather a verb or noun. Having ‘bind’ for 24d didn’t help with 27a till the penny dropped. With the Ashes going on my favourites were 1 and 5a. Thanks to J and Kiwis x 2.
    PS, the red card rule needs be addressing in both rugby codes but I’ll take any win over the ABs. On to Eden Park…

  38. My first (and second) attempt at a comment disappeared into the ether😥. I’ll be quick this time…very enjoyable solve, just finished as I’m up with the sparrows in my time zone but I started last night. With the Ashes going on 1 and 5a were my favorites. Thanks J and Kiwis x 2🦇

  39. Well I’ve just completed it with much help from the 2 🥝 s
    I don’t think I’m on Jay’s wavelength

    Still it’s good to know my limitations

    Thanks as ever to the 2 🥝 s and Jay (and BD for the platform)

  40. Brilliant I thought. 1 d was obvious as a rotten type. Egg is breakfast and needs soldiers if boiled but that would not be bad. I could not read all the comments on my IPad so someone even Jay may have come along with the answer. favourites 25 and 27a and 8 15 and 19d. Verdict **/*****

  41. I really enjoyed this Jay crossword and only needed a teeny bit of help from the two kiwis. Thanks to you both. It was interesting to read that flying fox found it easier to complete the crossword after a nights sleep, as that is what happens to me too, which is why I’m always late on parade! Hopefully after the summer holiday granny duties I might be able to start solving very early on the day of the crossword!

  42. Whoever Jay is I’d like to shake his hand. What a great puzzle this is. I’m probably biased because my own puzzles are filled with this sort of fun clues, but to not have to plough through a Telegraph crossword littered with “initially”, “at first” and the like, and iffy definitions, was a real treat.

    Among my favourites are 9A, 21A, 22A, 1D and 16D

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