DT 29168 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 29168 (Hints)

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29168 (Hints)

The Saturday Crossword Club

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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, an assortment of clues, including some of the more difficult ones, have been selected and hints provided for them.

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.

Across

1a    Get back in touch with antique car that’s broken down (10)
An anagram (broken down) of ANTIQUE CAR

6a    Nadir perhaps — making regular appearances in Mansfield (4)
The first name of this Turkish Cypriot businessman, who was chief executive of Polly Peck, comes from the even letters of (regular appearances in) the last word in the clue

11a    Because of attraction to opposite sex, Edward VIII perhaps abdicating (9)
A three-letter word meaning because of is followed by a two-letter abbreviation for attraction to opposite sex and the rank held by Edward VIII until he abdicated

13a    It’s wicked consuming last of plonk, as much as one can drink (7)
An adjective meaning wicked, in the true sense of the word, around (consuming) the final letter (last) of [plon]K

21a    Stop old comedian being upright (7)
A three-letter word meaning stop followed by the surname of one half of this country’s most successful double act

23a    Get excited about space — so English (7)
The smaller of two printers’ spaces is followed by a word meaning so and E(nglish)

25a    Be despondent, backing second coming in — here? (5)
Put the reversal (backing) of a verb meaning to be despondent around (coming in) S(econd) to get the birthplace of, among others, my mother – for a while she worked for a bookmaker near its world-famous racecourse

27a    Trader cheers in the Pequod perhaps (10)
For those who don’t know, the Pequod was Captain Ahab’s ship in Moby Dick – put a ship of this type around some Spanish cheers

Down

1d    Rogue artist reaching Southern California (6)
Our usual artist is followed by S(outhern) and CAL(ifornia)

3d    Provide billet for crew in 1945? (7,2,5)
This could mean to provide billet for a crew of oarsman, but it’s actually how Sergeant Wilson would translate 1945 for Captain Mainwaring!

7d    Smell almost not as much — effect of runny nose? (8)
A verb meaning to smell is followed by most of a word meaning not as much

9d    Characters shifted landlords from Paris? (7,7)
You get these characters when you press the shift key – they could be landlords from Paris (or Rome or London)

16d    Meet with fool going to national stadium endlessly (8)
A fool is followed by the England’s national stadium without its first and last letters (endlessly)

19d    Item of seafood picked up with not so much hesitation (6)
The reversal (picked up) of a word meaning not so much and a word of hesitation

20d    Brazilian footballer seen in Hackney Marshes (6)
His name is hidden (seen in) inside the clue

22d    Manage to upset husband for a very long time (5)
A four-letter verb meaning to manage is reversed (upset) and followed by H(usband)

The Crossword Club is now open.


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As this is a Prize crossword, please don’t put any ANSWERS, whether WHOLE, PARTIAL or INCORRECT, or any ALTERNATIVE CLUES in your comment. If in doubt, leave it out!

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The Quick Crossword pun: goal+de luxe=Goldilocks (and 16 Acrosses)


93 comments on “DT 29168 (Hints)

  1. CS, are you there, I need some help please. There used to be a clickable option at the top of the page that took you directly to the list containing Usual Suspects, Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, etc. I’ve looked everywhere but can’t find it. How do I get there now? Thank you.

    1. I’ve got a blue line with an upwards arrow followed by home about comment etc ending in a downward arrow. This remains in view when you scroll up and down to look at comments on the blog. I’m not sure why you can’t see it.

      1. Thank you. Yes, I have that banner you describe but none of those options lead you to list I’m searching for, like it did before. It’s not now in Miscellaneous. I can’t locate it anywhere.

        1. If you look at BD’s introductory paragraph, there are hyperlinks to the pages in question so just click on them

          1. Thank you very much for that and I now see the links are indeed in BD’s intro above. I did however ask the question here, where I knew it would be answered, but I was actually searching on the DT 29167 page where I can find no obvious indication of how to get to those features.

    2. All of those pages have been on http://crypticcrosswords.net/ since 2014 There is a link to that sister site as a sub-menu item under “HOME”.

      Sorry I’m a bit late, but today was our day for our annual flu jabs. When I booked them I didn’t realise that the Malvern Autumn Show was on the same weekend so all the local roads were overloaded with traffic.

  2. Don’t get the 2 letter word for opposite sex in 11a? Apart from that everything made sense in a nice puzzle.
    I did like 3d and 14a especially.
    Thx to all
    ***/***

    1. Read Big Dave’s hint for this clue – I’m not saying any more than that because I haven’t yet made a cake for the Naughty Corner. We have had these two letters before many times

      1. Being relatively new to this…so ‘??’ = ‘attraction to the opposite sex”??? Really?? What’s it short for?

        1. You should be able to work out which letters in the answer are not covered by the rest of the wordplay (one of them is checked by a crossing answer) – then all you need to do is look it up in th BRB. Alternatively, wait until Friday!

          1. Yes, I know the letters, trouble is the BRB is all packed away due to recent move, have to wait until Friday, thanks!!

    2. Once again you have failed to read both the clue and the hint properly. It’s not a word for the opposite sex but an abbreviation for attraction to the opposite sex.

  3. A really enjoyable and thoughtful Saturday morning puzzle. I have 3d as my pick of several good clues and overall this was a pleasantly challenging exercise.

    Thanks to our setter and BD.

  4. This was very challenging and not particularly enjoyable (****/*). The clues were often so obscure as to be difficult to get by electronic help (e.g.6a). Thank you BD for the hints for two if the ones I couldn’t parse. 27a was ok but there were few sparkling clues. Thanks to the setter.

    1. I agree. This is a Brit newspaper with mainly Brit readership, and what maybe obscure to us may be common knowledge to the Brits, thus they are perfectly entitled to use some obscurities like that. However, 6a is esoteric in the extreme, glad to know you thought so too, and as such I thought it was unfair. I wonder how many of the commentariat came up with this gent’s name?

      1. I actually did, not because I am knowledgeable and knew of this chap, but was led there by the “regular appearances” in the clue. It had to be that.

      2. I know what you mean. I remembered the chap in question because he was the topic of conversation at the time when I was still a student. I found it hard to believe that it could be a clue for this cryptic crossword.

    2. I really enjoyed this one. 3d my favourite. Bunged in 6a with help from the cryptic part, wasn’t sure it was even a word although it seemed a bit familiar, googled it, found (a few hits down) that it was an alternative spelling of something else that might mean the language that “nadir” might be considered a loan word from which almost would have worked as a clue if you imagined quotes around “nadir” and if it had been the right language. At this point I gave in and came here. It’s a long time since that guy’s been in the news!

  5. 2*/3*. It was a shame that 7d & 19d used almost identical devices but, other than that, this made a light but very pleasant return to crosswordland after two glorious weeks in Rhodes. Thankfully we were not flying with Thomas Cook.
    3d was my favourite. It reminded me of an excellent joke which I can’t reproduce here without being sent to the Naughty Corner, especially as it seems there is no cake there today.
    Many thanks to the setter and to BD.

    1. There may be cake later… I’m just trying to find the best recipe for cake using up a mountain of pears.

      1. I feel your pain, crypticsue. Apples here rather than pears. Have stored them, frozen them, desiccated them and made them into jelly with various herbs and we still have heaps of the blighters!

  6. This took a while, a **** while. My man had to fetch another kettleful of water to get the bathwater back up to spec.

    I thought 6a was a bit naughty, some bent Turkish Cypriot businessman from 30 years ago? Come on.

    Talking about naughty, did anyone else think [xxx redacted as definitely a naughty comment for a Saturday]

    Good fun, though, thanks to the setter and BD.

        1. I don’t know if you’re joking or not, but when I was a kid I used to have a bath in a smallish galvanised tin bath in front of a roaring coal fire in the living-room. This was filled with hot water boiled up in a kettle and pans on the gas stove in the kitchen. And on top of that, because I was the youngest and only one kid at a time could fit in, I had to get into my brother’s second-hand bathwater! Good old days, they were…

          1. I remember that! Tin bath before a coal fire with clean pyjamas hanging on the fireguard? Luxury!

            1. I remember the tin bath too, especially when I broke my toe and had to hang it over the rim of the bath, wrapped in plastic. The water sloshed everywhere!

          2. I was the youngest of three boys and my father was first in – dirty tepid water, half a bottle of Dettol added and Vosene shampoo. I used to detest Sunday nights
            It’s not much better these days at Lady LbR’s – I come out of the shower smelling like a dessert at a Thai restaurant. Whatever happened to good old soap…

            1. LOLOLOL you can never, ever meet my husband, he thinks he is the only one who complains about that kind of thing.

  7. Since coming across this website about a year ago, I enjoy reading it having done the back pager after tea. Often need some of the hints, but even if not it, is a joy to read other people’s comments.

    This is a lovely friendly website – a mutually caring community where courtesy is the order of the day. What a pleasant change. Long may it continue. Keep up the good work!

  8. I quite enjoyed this one today. 6a brought back some memories… I was working for accountancy firm Stoy Hayward at that time, the auditors of Polly Peck (although I had no involvement with that particular audit).

    Thanks to setter, and to BD.

  9. A bit of a head scratcher especially on 6a. I made the appropriate letter selection but it took quite a while and some electronic help to make the link to Nadir for someone I had never heard of or, if I had, that piece of information was dumped from the memory a long time ago to make way for more useful information.
    Elsewhere, I referred to ‘specialised general knowledge’ – is that an oxymoron?
    Candidates for favourite – 13a, 3d, and 9d – and the winner is 3d.
    Thanks to the setter and BD.

  10. I’m not au fait with Brazilian footballers and had forgotten both the Pequod and Nadir, although I’m sure the latter has popped up in a crossword before today. Worked them out but had to ask Mr G for confirmation.
    3d gets my gold star with 25a awarded a well-deserved silver.

    Thanks to our setter and to BD for the club.

  11. Enjoyable but challenging. Luckily hints given were ones I couldn’t solve. 3d was a brilliant clue and 27a a brilliant hint. Thanks to setter and Big Dave. I didn’t know Agas were such tyrants!

  12. Took longer than usual to get a foothold but once I did the pace quickly picked up. Even 6A and 20D, both new to me, were easy to work out and then check. Favorites are 27A, 3D and 8D. Thanks, BD and today’s setter.

  13. My COTD 3D just ahead of 13A & 19D . Last in 6A , answer appeared obvious but reason beyond me until reading the hint .

    Just seen , here in sunny Majorca , the news of Japan beating Ireland . Good news for Scotland and makes that group very interesting .

    Greeting and thanks to everyone

  14. 6a – I was looking for a synonym of ‘Nadir’ or some sort of link to this word not a name of some fraudster from donkeys years ago, am I right to feel a bit disgruntled about this one! 🤨

  15. I thought this was really difficult – jolly good fun but definitely tricky.
    Lots of assistance from Mr Google needed – 6a, 27a and something else but can’t remember which.
    I admit to needing the hint for 20d – the combination of football and the the type of clue that’s my bete noire – oh dear! Not a hope.
    Just for once I won’t go on at length – off to Elder Lamb, her partner and two year old Georgie.
    Lots of good clues – 11, 3d (think I know the joke that RD is talking about) and 9d. My favourite was probably 19d – made me laugh.
    Thanks to todays setter and to BD.

  16. Just enough head scratchers to make this a satisfying Saturday puzzle over lunch in windy Cambridge. Got completely sidetracked on 15d putting in a SA area with a double ‘a’ (I am scared of the naughty step especially with no cake). However, cross checkers put me straight – thanks to all.

  17. A delightful offering for a Saturday “inside the” back page prize puzzle. For me, the SE corner held out longest but it behaved once I got 19d – a lovely clue. Not being a football fan 20d stumped me but entered the answer the clue told me to enter. The same principal applied to 6a. Pity there was no video to accompany 24a but then it is the prize puzzle, I suppose.

    (Please redact that last sentence if it gives too much away).

    Loved 3d!

    Grateful thanks to all concerned.

  18. Thanks to the setter and to Big Dave for the hints. A very enjoyable, but tricky puzzle. I managed some of it, but needed help to parse 6a&19d. Also needed the hints for 11a, 14a (just couldn’t solve the anagram), 27a never heard of the boat, 8d. I liked 3d, very original. My favourite was 20d, like StanXYZ, I also played on Hackney Marshes. Was 4*/3* for me.

  19. Oh dear what a struggle but determination and lots of help from the hints. My knowledge of footballers and Piquod meant a lot of
    Searching, even struggled with one of the anagrams for a while. Success at last so I can now get on with the housework. Many thanks to Big Dave and the setter.

  20. Just popping in to say how much I am really enjoying today’s puzzle. I am going to try not to cheat and look at the hints for a while yet. I have been trying not to use any ‘aids’ like anagram solvers etc. for the past couple of weeks, and it shows in the pile of unfinished crosswords I have beside my chair here.

    I just wanted to say that I absolutely love 3 down today. Had my husband tied up in knots as I watched him trying to get it while I chuckled away and then filled it in. Alan ‘What? How on earth………. Oh!’ (groan!). Heh heh.

    I am pushing myself to think harder because I am noticeably fuzzy even for me. I have to have blood tests done every two week and see an eye specialist on Monday to determine whether the sepsis damage is permanent – at a place called Hotel Dieu – I know I know what the French means but it always makes me giggle. As for the fuzzy thinking my GP says it is called Post Sepsis Syndrome.. When did everything become a syndrome?

    P.S. Normal Carolyn has been resume in general though. Alan’s boss is a hunter. I knew he had got some kind of tag or thing to allow him to hunt something but I forgot what. Alan said *** got his cow today. Me: A cow? That’s an achievement. Even I could hit a cow. Just stand by the barn door at dusk. Alan: A moose Carolyn, a moose.
    Doh!

    1. You don’t need to avoid the help you can give yourself. I had this conversation with a friend the other day.
      What will you learn from a pile of empty grids?
      What more will you learn if you fill them in? 😎
      I too liked 3D
      **/****
      Thanks to setter and BD

  21. Just not my cup of tea – too many clues with which I quibble and others which IMHO are too clever by half. For once was relieved to come to the end of solution. Suppose many bloggers are familiar with 20d who is unknown to me – thanks Google for help there as with several others. He/she doesn’t ring any bells – wonder if the setter is well-known to us? Thank you whoever you are and also BD for hints.

  22. Ooooh that was hard! But loved 3d. Had to seek help for a lot of this. Agree with davidbev’s comment. Even the rants are civilised!

    1. Providing, of course, you have the correct solution to 5d, try splitting it 3,2 and then reading the clue again

        1. Thanks for asking that, GMY1965 and for the answer crypticsue.
          I could not parse that one either.

  23. Despite my post above, there was a lot to like here. All went smoothly until the NE corner, I needed BD’s hint to get 6a but lost interest after that. I had no idea about the Brazilian footballer but bunged something in.
    A puzzle of two halves, LHS raced in, SE struggled in, then I got stuck.
    I liked lots, 3d was definite fave, clever that, I knew the Pequod but had trouble finding the cheers, dim, and I liked 19d, giggle worthy.
    Thanks to our Saturday setter, don’t do a 6a again, and to BD for his hints and tips.

  24. Got through this one but needed help to parse 5d (see above) and had to check with Google for 6a and 20d which I think were unfair . (Not well enough known.)

    Loved 3d.

    Thanks to the setter and to Big Dave.

    1. The 6a thing. I was in the UK then but don’t remember the events but I just used the clue ‘regular appearances’ and got it that way. Certainly what I came up with fits with the down clues.
      I really don’t think it unfair, often there are clues that use phrases and word usage that are current and I am anything but, or cricket terms and even after all these years I still don’t understand cricket terms, just the basic premise of the game and the sheer pleasure of watching nice (usually young but I don’t care either way) men wearing bright white trousers run back and forth in front of me.

  25. This was a challenge today, but an enjoyable challenge. And even a couple where I could not have come up with a name (6a and 20d), I luckily did see that the answers were within the two clues. Annoyed with myself that I took so long to unravel the anagram at 14a, thinking of the wrong sort of problems. On the whole, a good day IMHO. Thanks to setter and Big Dave.

  26. Thoroughly enjoyed the crossword today – after my moaning last night (I was having a Victor Meldrew moment…), I’m glad that I can be positive today!

    **/**** for me today with 9d as my favourite.

    Embarrassed to admit I needed the hint for 21a.

  27. A very difficult but enjoyable puzzle. Only just completed it with 14a being the last clue solved- can’t believe how long it took to unravel that anagram. Very reassuring to find BD’s hints to confirm my solutions.
    Also wholeheartedly endorse and echo davidbev’s comments about this blog.

  28. My brain was working today, for once. Last answers to insert were in the NE Corner. 6a I held back until the answers to the relevant down clues confirmed my thoughts. As usual I have enjoyed all comments above. The last one in was 5d after much head scratching. Thanks to you all and to BD as well as to the setter. Hopefully tomorrow I shall go fishing if the weather is reasonable and give my neurones a rest.

  29. Wow, this took me an age to unravel! I finally completed with mixed feelings. Some of it was very good but a few clues were unnecessarily obscure… well, namely 6a and 20d. Only simple if you knew them.
    3d was good but for me 8d was the top clue.
    Thanks to the setter, and to BD for the hints.

  30. Tricky, failed on 5d which I thought was a poor clue.
    I though 20d was very poor. Easy for me as I am a football fan, for a non-fan, no chance.
    All in all, not my favourite, but a good work out.
    Thanks Mr.Ron and BD for the hints.

  31. I enjoyed this puzzle a lot – with help, managed to complete it which is rare for me.
    My son condescendingly said ‘Bless her’ when I asked for his expertise regarding 20d which I mispronounced
    I got the answer to 3d very quickly but it took an embarrassingly long time to work out the ‘why’. Duh.
    Lots of enjoyable clues. I especially enjoyed 24a and 19d.

  32. 25a was my last in, even though both my parents are buried there! I knew the footballer, had heard of 6a but had to google Pequod. Overall a fun but slightly frustrating crossword in that I got most of it but had to resort to a bit of electronic help to finish it off.

  33. As usual a lot late, as yesterday was with our MP in town most of the morning helping to explain the Brexit business AArghhh!! and today visiting friends for lunch (all afternoon)
    Had the need for a lot of NE help-thanks BD! Last in was 11a. I realise I should have used my head a bit more, but it was a comfort to finish. A lot of friendly comments above and if you have never heard of Nadir or not knowledgeable about footballers from Brazil you’ve had it!!
    Love to all!

  34. Good lord! Polly Peck! Now, what were they into? Bird Food?
    Just remembered him from the hint. Forgotten but never Forgiven I’d say.
    Thanks to the setter and to BD for the hints and club.

    1. I too have the faintest memories of this. Just asked Alan and he remembered it too. But we were young and in no way able to invest in anything other than each other. I do recognise his face though. Sounds like a dress shop like Top Shop but I am assuming not.

      1. Didn’t think much of 21a, 25a, 23d and as for 27a my lack of general knowledge stumped me.
        I got 3d but the singular is IMO unusual.
        Rest relatively straight forward.
        A decent Saturday offering.

  35. 3*/3*….
    liked “it’s wicked consuming last of plonk, as much as one can drink (7)”

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