DT 29185 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 29185

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29185

Hints and tips by Deep Threat

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment ***

Good morning from South Staffs on a fine autumn day.

I filled in the grid in today’s Giovanni quite quickly, but took rather longer to understand the parsing, hence the third star for difficulty. I’m still not sure I’ve understood everything.

In the hints below, the definitions are underlined. The answers are hidden under the ANSWER buttons, so don’t click if you don’t want to see them.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

6a           Group of soldiers that may protect judge in fiery situation? (5,2,6)
GUARD OF HONOUR – The first word is something placed in front of a fire to keep people away from it. The third word is part of the form of address for a judge. Put together these could be read as a way of keeping a judge out of the fire.

Image result for guard of honour soldier

8a           British character of old sent to India or another country (6)
BRUNEI – Put together British, a Norse system of writing, and the letter represented by India in the NATO alphabet, to get a small Far Eastern country.

9a           Means of communicating protracted greeting (4,4)
LONG WAVE – A type of radio broadcasting system – think Test Match special and the shipping forecast – which could also be an extended gesture of greeting or farewell.

10a         Slide or jump, but not quietly (3)
SKI – Remove the musical symbol for ‘quietly’ from another word for ‘jump’ to get this form of sliding on snow.

11a         Someone full of energy needs to eat a bit reportedly (6)
DYNAMO – A homophone of the answer (4,1,2) could be another word for ‘eat’ followed by ‘a bit (of time)’.

12a         Objection to solution to clue? Please say nothing! (3,1,4)
NOT A WORD – This instruction to remain silent could also be a reason why the answer to 16a isn’t ‘threles’.

14a         Report of joints at back of pub creating rows (7)
BARNEYS – Another word for a pub followed by a homophone (report of) of one of the joints in the legs.

16a         There’s rumbling — fifty will go inside refuge (7)
SHELTER – Anagram (rumbling) of THERE’S wrapped round the Roman numeral for fifty.

20a         Wandering round abroad, the Parisian is charming (8)
ADORABLE – Anagram (wandering round) of ABROAD followed by a French definite article.

23a         Approaching sign within hospital? (6)
TOWARD – Split this (2,4) and you could have the words on a direction sign in a hospital directing you to a particular set of beds.

24a         Idiot in religious service losing head (3)
ASS – Remove the initial letter (losing head) from a Roman Catholic Eucharist service.

25a         Endless lament by newspaper employee, one wanting money (8)
CREDITOR – Remove the final letter (endless) from ‘lament’ or ‘weep’, then add a senior newspaper person.

26a         Returning in flashy car, I propose unauthorised activity (6)
PIRACY – Hidden in reverse (returning in) in the clue.

27a         They may help folk get things off their chest (13)
DECONGESTANTS – Cryptic definition of some medicaments used to clear the airways.

Down

1d           Keep mum at home? Isn’t to be kept in (8)
MAINTAIN – Another word for ‘mum’ and ‘at home’, placed either side of a familiar way of saying ‘isn’t’.

2d           Lady needing end of wall hidden has installed screen, as recommended (8)
ADVISORY – (L)ADY (from the clue) with the final letter of walL removed. Wrapped round the sort of screen found on the front of a helmet.

3d           Not connected, like the one that got away? (3-4)
OFF-LINE – Not connected to the internet, or perhaps a fisherman’s statement that a fish has escaped.

4d           Instrument in my bag (6)
CORNET – An exclamation like ‘My!’ followed by ‘to bag’.

Image result for cornet

5d           Pet that may be on lead in front — gosh! (6)
BOWWOW – The front of a ship followed by an exclamation like ‘Gosh!’.

6d           Merry and deranged drunk gets manipulated politically (13)
GERRYMANDERED -Anagram (drunk) of MERRY and DERANGED.

7d           Rows after areas have dried up due to climate change? (5-8)
RIVER TERRACES – A straightforward, barely cryptic, definition of ‘a fragment of a former valley floor that now stands well above the level of the present flood-plain and is usually covered by fluvial deposits. It is caused by stream incision, which may be caused by uplift of the land, a fall in sea level, or a change in climate’. (Thanks to Google and Encyclopedia.com)

13d         Drink Aileen’s regularly taken (3)
ALE – Alternate letters of AiLeEn.

15d         Greek character in separatist organisation (3)
ETA – This Greek letter also forms the three-letter acronym of the Basque separatist movement.

17d         Popular nightclubs, potentially dangerous places (3,5)
HOT SPOTS – I suppose this is a double definition, a metaphor which can be applied both to places of entertainment where the ‘in’ crowd may be found, and to places where there is a risk of being caught up in fighting.

18d         ‘Look!’, you and I call, sinking (8)
LOWERING – Put together ‘look!’ or ‘behold!’, the pronoun for ‘you and I’, and ‘call on the telephone’.

19d         Pounds obtained for working found out (7)
LEARNED – The Latin abbreviation for pounds sterling, followed ‘obtained for working’.

21d         The German turned up to take part and prepare for presentation (6)
REDACT – Reverse (turned up) a German definite article, then add ‘take part in a play’, to get the term mainly used today for the publication of an official report with the embarrassing bits cut out.

22d         Like something pungent? Crooner captures it (6)
BITING – The first name of the archetypal crooner, wrapped around IT (from the clue).


The Quick Crossword pun BEAUX + TALKS = BOTOX (?)

64 comments on “DT 29185

  1. Am in 100% agreement with DT. Struggled to completely parse 6 across. 7 down was a bung in as I hadn’t come across the term before. Otherwise pretty plain sailing. Favourite clues were 8 across, 9 across and 14 across. All good fun . . . . Ta to both Mr M and DT.

  2. Struggled also parsing 6a as well as 11a and 4d. Loved 12a and 14a, real smilers :-)
    Fairly gently for a Giovanni I thought with only one weird phrase in 7d or at least weird to me.
    A real relief to return to sanity after yesterdays weirdo.
    Many thanks to the Friday Maestro and to Deep Threat (I always want to write Throat!) for the explanations.
    **/****

  3. I’ve not solved a back pager on line before – it was raining far too hard to go out for a paper and the printer is a bit low on ink – I found this one very friendly for a Giovanni, my only real hold up being checking on 7d.

    My favourite clue has to be 12a for a number of (fairly obvious to regular readers of Friday comments) reasons

    Thanks to Giovanni and DT

  4. Thanks DT for explaining 4D and , yes , a few others needing retrospective parsing .

    Clever and enjoyable sums it up for me with 6A my favourite just ahead of a few others .

    Looking forward to a rugby weekend .

    Thanks to big G and everyone .

  5. Enjoyed the puzzle, below where it shows statistics I noticed it says ‘best time 1 minute 53secs’. Does that mean someone actually solved it in that time? I have never submitted my puzzles but am generally chuffed with being around the xxx minute mark.

    1. Hi Albery, Welcome to the blog. I don’t subscribe to the Telegraph puzzles site so I don’t the see solving times that people claim. We are all different and will take different times to solve puzzles. All that matters is the enjoyment level gained from a successful solve. We don’t allow solving times to be published on this site although solved over two cups of coffee will do nicely. So enjoy your solves and ignore those times.

    2. Welcome to the blog Albery. For the reasons Smylers has drawn your attention to I have edited your post to remove the solving time.

      There is always a very fast time posted as soon as the day’s puzzle goes live on the site. I think it is something to do with the production process rather than any super-solver doing it that fast.

      1. I understand that someone with the answers in front of them types them in and submits just to make sure everything works. All I can say is that they must be an extremely fast typist and their version of the Telegraph Puzzles site doesn’t have the problem many of us experience where letters ‘stick’ and you have to click on the next square to continue to complete the inputting. I consider myself a very fast typist and even I can’t fill the grid in that sort of time – when blogging I solve on paper and then put the solutions into the online version just to make sure it agrees with me

        1. I also get fed up with these unrealistically fast times making the leaderboards totally unrepresentative. I also find the Telegraph Puzzle site frustrating when you are half way through a word and then it suddenly enters your letters at right angles into another clue!

          Enjoyed this puzzle, and got all the long clues straight away apart from 7d which doesn’t seem like a cryptic clue at all to me!

          Thanks to Giovanni and DT

    3. There you go Albery. Question asked at 11.22 and three replies within eleven minutes. This blog is a very helpful place.

  6. I agree with the general tone of comments thus far. This certainly needed a bit of sorting out to confirm the answers but it was very solvable with a bit of thought. Good fun as always from Giovanni, with several fine clues of which my personal favourite was 9a.

    Thanks to The Don for the challenge and to DT.

  7. Agreed. Not a difficult solve but a couple of awkward parsings. We should be able to see through these with all the practise (practice)? we have had. I agree with your answer to The Quickie Pun Peter but did wonder about it myself. I will be in Rugby heaven tomorrow with two televised matches from The Word Cup in the morning and Coventry v Bedford live at BPA in the afternoon. Bring it on. Play nicely over the weekend children and I will see you all on Monday.

    1. practise (practice)?

      If I’m in the same quandary, I have to think what I’d use for the word “advice”.

      Being pronounced differently, “advise/advice” makes it clear which would be the correct one to use for “practice/practise”.

    2. Sorry MP but I won’t be at BPA tomorrow. Suffering with a lurgy. Even missed our win at Leeds last week! I’ll be glued to the telly then Twitter for updates. COYB!!🏉🏉👍

    3. Think in the UK it’s practise for the verb and practice for the noun whereas in the USA it’s practise for both.

      1. Having had it drummed into me at school that one’s a noun and the other a verb, when I arrived here I couldn’t remember which one to use, in fact I still don’t. I need a mnemonic.

        1. I’m not interested in times just solving and understanding the clues. I didn’t like 7 d today as I’d never heard the term and as far as I can see nothing cryptic. I always do the online version and have no trouble with sticking letters. It might be my lack of prowess with technology but I’ve found from time to time the way the puzzle fills changes. At the moment when filling in say an across clue which doesn’t agree with a down clue it overwrites. At other times it skips over letters already entered. I’m unsure if this is an iPad setting or a Telegraph setting but it can frustrate

    4. There is a noun (ice) in the noun practICE and there is a verb (is) in the verb practISe.

  8. Another quality crossword, the standard seems to keep on rising, it is nice to have a mixture of clues. I quite like 6d and 23a. This was completed at a leisurely pace, which is I think raving through to complete at a “record” pace. Completion times are not important,sometimes I will take all day and sometimes it gives up after a couple of hours. If I may one of the pleasures is good coffee a pipe stting in the conservatory listening to wind and rain, plus of course the dogs.
    Thanks to Deep Threat and to Giovanni.

  9. I also agree with the general tone of comments; I always love a Giovanni puzzle.

    Needed DT’s help parsing 11a and 4d. I didn’t fill in 5d at first because I couldn’t quite believe that would be the answer – wasn’t very keen!

    Solved 7d solely from the checkers and then looked it up. Every day is a school day!

    Many thanks to DT and G

  10. Very enjoyable **/*** nothing to frighten the horses 😬 but I agree some of the parsing was tricky 🤔 Favourites 9 & 14a Thanks to DT and to Giovanni, off now to make the most of the sunny period here in the East 😎

  11. I completed three quarters of this without help and without spending hours. Stumped by 8a and 11a. Thanks for the tips. I’m gradually finder them easier.

  12. Lots to like today. Spent ages trying to fit isn’t into 1d before the doh! moment. I thought 4d was a double definition. 5d favourite. Ta to all.

  13. Like many others, I found this took longer than usual (***) due to difficulties with parsing. Some of the clues were awkwardly worded, unusually for Giovanni . Moderately enjoyable (***) and favourite clue 7d. Thanks to Deep Threat and Giovanni.

  14. IMHO this wasn’t as user friendly as most Giovanni offerings and amongst other problems it left me unparsed with several e.g. 11a a bit = a mo. 4d is clever but joint Favs were 12a, 27a and 3d. Thank you DG and DT.

  15. County Court and Crown Court judges are addressed as “Your Honour”. Such a judge would be described as “His Honour Judge ………” (Eg, His Honour Judge Jones”). As an erstwhile advocate, I was unable to parse 6a.

  16. 2*/2*. Accurate cluing as usual on a Friday but lacking in zip from my point of view. 7d was new term for me and 12a was my favourite.

    Thanks to Giovanni and to DT.

  17. Finished but quite a slog. Although I put the right answer for 8a still don’t understand it. 22a and 14a my favourites. Yippee got a date for my new hip!

  18. I couldn’t fully parse 6a – why fiery? I thought it might be referring to the fact that high court judges (i.e. those called ‘your honour’) wear red but that seems rather weak.
    I tried hard to find something cryptic in 7d.
    My favourite clue was 12a.
    Thanks to Giovanni and DT.

      1. Yes, that’s what DT implies in the blog, but I can’t see what a fireguard has got to do with the answer. A fireguard doesn’t protect a fire, it protects people or things from the fire.

        1. High Court judges, who wear red, are addressed in curt as “My Lord”. Such a judge is referred to as, eg, “Mr Justice Jones” – or sometimes “Sir Fred Jones”.

  19. Thoroughly enjoyed this challenge and completed it with only two peeks at the hints. Caused myself great difficulty bunging in
    Gyrate for 9 a.!. thank you Giovanni and D T.

  20. This week set a record for me. Monday to Friday puzzles completed for me in ** or *** time. In fact this is the first Monday to Friday completion. Only one day needing hints so am very pleased with myself. Now come the weekend horrors where weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth has been the usual response.

  21. Thanks DT, I needed your hints to explain some of the parsing.
    This must have been easier for a Friday as I finished, which is rare.
    I didn’t understand what 7d was doing in a cryptic crossword, either that or I have missed the point completely.
    My thanks to Giovanni, many more smiles this week.

    1. RE 7d, I agree that it was barely cryptic, but the first word could be read as “arguments”.

  22. My last in was 7d,impossible without the checking letters. I note that DT says that it was barely cryptic, not even that for me !.
    A strange puzzle throughout-6a did not really work either
    Liked 5d which eluded me for a while- until I remembered the song.
    Going for a ***/**

  23. A fairly benign puzzle from Mr Manley with the exception of 6a and 7d. On 6a I initially thought of the rack of lamb dish being involved somewhere, but couldn’t make any sense of that idea. I’m sure if Mr M drops in he will put us straight on that matter. Never heard of 7d so had to investigoogle the correct answer. No particular stand out favourites today.

    Thanks to DG for the puzzle and DT for his review. Have a good weekend all.

  24. I only had a problem parsing 14a, being not so bright I bunged in the answer. The “back of pub” gave me the B, couldn’t make a joint out of “arneys” but the answer was “rows”, good enough for me.
    My last in was 7d, I unashamedly used an electronic word search for that.
    I liked quite a lot, I’m choosing 5d for fave for the clip. My Dad grew up in the Edwardian era and knew so many music-hall songs, which he would sing to us on long journeys.
    Thanks to Giovanni for the fun and Deep Threat for his review.

      1. Jane asked that yesterday! No, I have no children, only cats and dogs. That’s my Godson and his wife, they live in Jamaica so are handy to keep an eye on an ageing aunt.

  25. I thought this was a benign challenge for a Friday! I was only held up by 7d briefly but that was the exception. No real favourites, although I did quite like 27a; probably because I’m indeed suffering at the moment from the dreadful man-flu.
    Thanks to Giovanni, ad to DT for the review.

  26. We did wonder whether we had missed some extra subtlety in 6a and 7d but it seems not .
    Everything slotted together smoothly for us with the biggest chuckle coming from 14a.
    Thanks Giovanni and DT.

  27. Enjoyable romp, with some nice smooth clues. I agree with everybody who said that 7d didn’t seem to be at all cryptic. Favourite was definitely 14a – loved the thought of “bar knees”, although not sure what Miffypops would make of them in his bar. Thanks to setter and Deep Threat.

  28. It’s all a wavelength thing, as I am certainly not the smartest solver, yet 6a went straight in for me. Like several others, I had never heard the 7d term, and agree with Deep Threat that it is barely cryptic. For quite a few moments, I was picturing someone waving for ages in 9a until the radio connection popped in my head, duh. And 14a was a regular part of the vernacular in my childhood. Thanks to Giovanni and Deep Threat for amusing me as usual over my Friday lunch.

  29. At first attempt I thought this was a toughie in the wrong place.

    Having revisited the crossword, I found it was a slog, but managed to finish. Needed the explanations to see why 4d and 7d were correct though – 7d was a new term for me.

    ****/**** for me today.

    Most satisfaction was gained from solving 6d.

  30. Seeing comments on timing reminds me of the 60’s at CUPress. 5 of us struggled with the puzzle and never finished it. One of the classical readers just sat at lunchtime with the Times, Telegraph and Guardian and proceeded to do each in turn, starting with one across to xx across, then one down to the end. Process never changed. We thought he was having us on, but one day he left his papers and we checked. Basically he was held up by speed of writing, it was continuous and probably took him 7 or 8 minutes to do all three. Doubt he could wire a plug though.

    1. One year, training from Camarthen to London, I bought three newspapers to pass the time doing the crossword. I had forgotten to bring a pen and borrowed one from my seat mate, he said I had to return it at Newport as he was getting off there. I completed the puzzles in record time, just wavelength I guess, but he was very impressed (so was I), and we started chatting. It seemed he had a cousin who taught at a girls’ school in Jamaica, and it was mine – she had taught me. You read about these coincidences.

  31. Just written comment and it’s disappeared – it hasn’t done that for a long time – must be me!
    It’s too late now to go on at length just for a change.
    I screwed up the top right corner by having ‘hand’ for the second word of 9a – seemed OK to me so I didn’t really question it – should have done when 5 and 7d became impossible. Was I really the only one?
    I struggled with 21a – were we talking medication, psychological stuff, or physio . . . got there in the end when nothing else fitted.
    My favourite by a very long way was 12a – is Giovanni trying to tell us all something?
    With thanks to Giovanni and to DT.

    1. No Kath you weren’t the only one, I too went for hand for 9a but had to think again to accommodate 5d and 7d.

  32. Getting very fed up that, after 5 days, I still can’t complete the grid online on my iPad using the Telegraph Edition app.
    Any news on when it’s likely to be fixed?

  33. Had to give up on this yesterday and reattack this morning after rugby and chutney making. Finally got it done apart from my incorrect bung in in 7d bedrocks fitting more or less with the clue and the checking letters. So I’m just taking that on the chin. Otherwise testing enough for me. Thanks to DG.

  34. 3*/3*…..
    liked 26A “returning in flashy car, I propose unauthorised activity (6)”

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