DT 29147 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 29147

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29147

Hints and tips by 2Kiwis

BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ****

Kia ora from Aotearoa.

Last week we spoke about dead things we had found on our regular walking circuit so thought that it would be good to redress the balance with today’s preamble. Right on schedule for the start of our spring, the first family of cute little ducklings appeared on 1st September. The next clutches were only a day or two behind them. A much more spirit-lifting sight.

Enjoy this Jay puzzle….. We did.

Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.

Across

1a     Southern elite? That’s a laugh (6)
SCREAM : The abbreviation for Southern and then elite or finest quality.

5a     Lots in America complain when drinking raki, oddly (3,5)
CAR PARKS : A synonym for complain or bicker and then another word for ‘when’ surrounds the first and third letters of raki.

9a     Sign on telephone lines – ‘This moves volumes’ (6,7)
MOBILE LIBRARY : Start with the telephone you carry in your pocket, and then a zodiac sign is followed by the abbreviation for railway (lines).

10a     Sack women on non-professional new seat (3,5)
LAY WASTE : The abbreviation for women and an anagram (new) of SEAT follow non-professional or amateur.

11a     Somebody intimidating academic must adopt kid (6)
DRAGON : A university academic encloses kid or tease.

12a     Almost unable to shift firm plaster (6)
STUCCO : Remove the last letter from a word meaning unable to shift, plus the abbreviation for company (firm).

14a     Details of one European bitten by strange insect (8)
NICETIES : An anagram (strange) of INSECT contains both the Roman numeral one and E(uropean).

16a     Climbers may be fawning types around Her Majesty (8)
CREEPERS : Her Majesty’s regnal cypher is included in fawning types or sycophants.

19a     Rumour of spirit being rejected twice (6)
MURMUR : The spirit made from sugar cane is reversed and repeated.

21a     Restaurant brother needs to cover first (6)
BISTRO : ‘First’ expressed as the Roman numeral plus two letters is inside a three letter abbreviation for brother.

23a     Rubbish cold drink some sent back (8)
CLAPTRAP : C(old), then drink in the manner of a cat and the reversal of a word meaning some or a portion.

25a     Plant producing a Bolivian glue (13)
BOUGAINVILLEA : An anagram (producing) of A BOLIVIAN GLUE. (We had a magnificent example of this plant beside our house when we lived in Nelson years ago. We also spent time living on the Pacific island named for the same explorer. A poignantly nostalgic clue for us.)

26a     Writes off about street con artists (8)
TWISTERS : The abbreviation for street is inside an anagram (off) of WRITES.

27a     Consumer welcoming small festival (6)
EASTER : A consumer of food contains S(mall).

Down

2d     Agreement in case (7)
COMPACT : A double definition. The case might be a small one containing face powder.

3d     Rock up half-heartedly for a joint (5)
ELBOW : Find a synonym for rock or totter. Reverse it and remove one of its duplicated central letters.

4d     Important event and men lose it, getting drunk (9)
MILESTONE : An anagram (getting drunk) of MEN LOSE IT.

5d     Girl from school losing good name (7)
COLLEEN : Remove the abbreviation for good from what is usually a secondary school, and finally N(ame).

6d     Wild attack capturing the north of Bosnia (5)
RABID : The first letter of Bosnia is inside an attack or incursion.

7d     Stone from blast area all over the place (9)
ALABASTER : An anagram (all over the place) of BLAST AREA.

8d     Eager to finish early, accepting Blair perhaps brought up the central theme (7)
KEYNOTE : The first name of ex-PM Blair is reversed inside a synonym for eager without its last letter.

13d     Boxes must contain fruit for horses (9)
CHESTNUTS : Boxes or large trunks contain hard fruit.

15d     Party on a river tower (9)
CAMPANILE : A party or specific interest group, then ‘A’ from the clue and an African river.

17d     Display of colours by gunners in front (7)
RAINBOW : The Royal Artillery, ‘IN’ from the clue and then the front of a boat.

18d     Ring assistants for more food (7)
SECONDS : A double definition. The ring assistants have pugilistic associations.

20d     Not knowing of a conflict within a Parisienne (7)
UNAWARE : The French feminine indefinite article contains ‘A’ from the clue and a major conflict.

22d     Speak in terror at educational (5)
ORATE : Today’s only lurker, hiding in the clue.

24d     Works land, even sending son south (5)
TILLS : Find a word meaning even or placid and relocate the abbreviation for son to the end of the word.

25a is our favourite today.

Quickie pun    pause     +     whole    =     poor soul

40 comments on “DT 29147

  1. Finished in a steady **/*** time, this one flowed really nicely. I couldn’t quite get my head around 9a, so thanks to the 2Ks for the explanation and there is no way I would have spelled 25a like that! I needed all the checkers to work out where the ‘e’ went.

    COTD has to be 3d for its audacity.

    Many thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

    1. I found the spelling odd too. Normally, when plants are named after a person, you add “ia” after the name, e.g., Rev. Buddle has the buddleia named after him, so Bougainville had the bougainvilleia named after him – or so I thought! I guess I’m wrong.

      1. Usually the name of the person who ‘collected’ the plant from it’s native habitat. I mentioned the Reverend Buddle to my daughter Joni on Tuesday morning after we took Harrison to school.

  2. 1.5*/4*. This provided the usual excellent dose of Wednesday enjoyment at the easier end of Jay’s spectrum.

    9a & 25a were my joint favourites.

    Many thanks to Jay the 2Ks.

  3. It was a gentle but refreshing breeze today. Fav was 18d however I also enjoyed working out 9a. 3d was bung-in – d’oh! Thank you Jay and the 2Kiwis.

  4. RD has more or less said what I was going to so I’ll just say thank you to Jay and the 2Ks and return to making peach chutney and peach pies to go in the freezer

  5. Quite an enjoyable Jay puzzle (****) completed in ** time. Thank you to the Kiwis for helping me to parse 9a, which is now my favourite clue. The first part of 15d gave me pause for thought as it is not a synonym, which I would have thought of. Thanks to Jay.

  6. Thought this was going to be trickier than it turned out to be. The only one that really held me up was 9a for which I needed the excellent hints to parse the first part fo the clue. Very enjoyable with some clever clues in 9a (eventually!) and 10a.
    Thx to all
    **/***

  7. Could have made life far easier had I not assumed that I knew how to spell 25a! I also had a blind spot when it came to the first word of 10a. Not content with those, I managed to get myself into a muddle with both 15d and the rubbish cold drink.
    A ‘dim’ day, as Kath would say.
    All sorted eventually and I gave the top spots to 12a & 18d.

    Thanks to Jay for the Wednesday fun and to our 2Ks for the review. So pleased to hear that your recent morning walks have brought pleasure rather than sadness.

  8. The usual high level of Wednesday enjoyment from Jay completed at a gallop – **/****.
    For the first time ever, or perhaps not for a very long time, on a Wednesday I had to refer to the BRB for the spelling of an answer – 25a!
    Candidates for favourite – 5a, 19a, 5d, and 8d (plus a few more) – and the winner is 5d.
    Thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

  9. Plants are not my forte, so I decided not to waste time with anagram permutations at 25a and left that one alone.
    The rest was pleasant and straightforward.

    Thanks to Jay, and to the 2Kiwis.

  10. A very enjoyable exercise and thank you to the 2Kiwis for clarifying a couple of answers for me. With a great sense of deja vue from this time last week can I ask all you experts out there why in 6d the clue does not say “….the east of Bosnia”.
    I’m confused – it happens easily nowadays 😂

      1. Thank you. I’d rather assumed that this was the convention but it’s one where I struggle to see the logic of it. I think to someone new to cryptic crosswords, which I’m not, it rather adds to the confusion rather than helps. Perhaps it’s just me 😂

  11. Well up to the standard we have now become accustomed to on a Wednesday! No real hold ups encountered; 10a was my last entry as the first word would not reveal itself for a time. 5a was my favourite.
    Thanks to Jay, and to the 2K’s for their review.

  12. 9a was my favourite in this excellent and very enjoyable challenge from Jay. As ever on a Wednesday, the clues were concise and entertaining, and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing.

    Thanks to all three birds. We have packers in today and tomorrow ahead of our long-awaited move back into Shropshire on Friday. Organised chaos reigns.

    1. Good luck with the move, YS, it’s a huge undertaking. Hope that your move back to Shropshire proves to be all that you wish for – sadly it won’t see you out of the current political turmoil!

      1. I’m enjoying the ripping apart Kath. Looking forward to the rebuild. Not looking to move in for some time yet.

  13. I found this tougher than most other commenters, but I enjoyed it just as much. I picked out 5a from a lot of
    excellent clues.
    Many thanks to Jay and the 2K’s

  14. Very much enjoyed this one from Jay today. Here in South Florida 25a is very common, and you can spend your life cutting it back. Nevertheless, it is a lovely plant. But I still chuckle recalling reading in a book (fiction) where the author waxed lyrically about the couple “lying down on a bed of said plant”… anyone familiar with it knows it is very thorny and definitely hostile. Thanks to 2Kiwis, who always make NZ sound idyllic.

    1. Are you still awaiting a potential visit from Dorian? I haven’t seen any update on the news today.

      1. No, Dorian is off up to Georgia and thence to the Carolinas. We have brilliant sunshine, what a difference a day makes, and I’m off to the pool. I expect his next stop is across the pond – sorry!

    2. Yes, 25a is definitely a ‘look but don’t touch’ plant. Those spines can be really vicious if you’re not expecting them.

  15. Very nice solvable and clever puzzle 😃 **/*** Favourites 9a and 23a 🤗 Thanks to the 2 x Ks and to Jay 👍

  16. Very enjoyable puzzle – needed 2Ks’ help to parse 3d, for which (and for rest of hints) thank you. And thanks too to Jay for entertainment over tea and cake.
    I have such admiration for those writing such clever anagram clues as 25a – however do such things come into one’s head?

  17. Perfect Jay yet again! I needed the hints to unravel 9a, most unusual for Jay. I also needed to look up Blair’s first name, how soon we forget, but I think that must surely be a bit of senility.
    I rather liked 11a, but really hard to pick a fave in a Jay offering.
    Thank you Jay for the fun and the 2Kiwis for the review, and the enjoyable weekly updates.

  18. Spelling trouble today. I knew I couldn’t spell the flower so left it for checkers to do the work then I had a tower of three rivers (cam po nile) and my rubbish was un solvable. Thanks to the 2K’s for the hints that helped me sort out my errors.
    3d 25a my faves by a nose from lots of others.
    The ducklings here are now pretty much fully grown and able to hold their own with the other birds for the duck food we distribute regularly. Thanks to Jay for the puzzle.

    1. John Bee, without coming up with your 3 rivers to justify15d I too came close to misspelling the solution but your original thinking is clever anyway.

      1. Original maybe but wrong I tried to justify three rivers as a party (two’s company three’s a crowd/party) but I needed the hint to see the camp as the party. Still enjoyed the tussle though.

  19. The usual enjoyable and brilliant Wednesday crossword.
    Like some others I can’t spell 25a and I was extremely dim about the first word of 10a.
    I can’t even provide an excuse but I got into a pickle with 15d – saw the first three letters and that was the ‘river’.
    I spent far too long trying to think of a specific ‘climber’ with 16a.
    I’m never quite sure if 13d is fair when defined as a horse – the same when it’s ‘bay’ – a horse is a noun and, being colours of horses, both 13d and ‘bay’ have to be adjectives but I’m not going to argue with Jay – well, not much anyway!
    Mini rant over.
    Loads of good clues including 9, 10, 12 and 23a and 3d which I think has to be my favourite because it made me laugh.
    With thanks to Jay and the K’s.

  20. I think comments from fellow BD bloggers have said it all…. I agree!
    2*/4*
    Fav 9ac 23ac 15d,,,, had to look up the spelling of 25ac as I know it varies.
    Grateful thanks to Jay & the 2KWS for review.

  21. Morning all.
    Have just heard our weather forecast which said “periods of rain as a cold front moves up the country from the SW”. Suppose we should expect spring to be changeable.
    We know that in the past we have had trouble spelling 25a so took great care to check each letter as we wrote it in this time.
    Cheers.

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