DT 29189 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 29189

by 2Kiwis  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29189

Hints and tips by 2Kiwis

BD Rating – Difficulty ***– Enjoyment ****

Kia ora from Aotearoa.

This coming weekend we have Labour Day, what many of you would call a ‘Bank Holiday’. We are having an invasion of all the close family who are in NZ at present so we can celebrate our daughter’s birthday. Cake making and other preparations are underway.

We did think of mentioning the rugby game that also happens this Saturday, but as either we will be pleased or most of our readers will be pleased, it is better that we don’t.

In the meantime, another good fun Jay puzzle to deal with.

Please leave a comment telling us how you got on.

Across

1a    Poor cadet welcoming unlimited offer is not genuine (8)
AFFECTED : An anagram (poor) of CADET surrounds the three central letters of offer.

5a     Humiliated by answer when caught in bed (6)
ABASED : A(nswer) and then BED from the clue surrounds a synonym for when.

9a     Vulgar predilections absorbing the French (9)
TASTELESS : The plural French definite article is inside predilections or preferences.

11a     Call to mind almost always covering fine (5)
EVOKE : Remove the final letter from a word meaning always and inside this put the two letters signifying fine or hunky-dory.

12a     Liberal American needing alias for capital (6)
LUSAKA : L(iberal), then the two letters for American and the three letters denoting ‘also known as’.

13a     A scented flower forest, one in Georgia (8)
GARDENIA : The forest found in ‘As You Like It’ (that also almost sounds like our Prime Minister’s name), plus the Roman numeral one are both enclosed by the abbreviation for Georgia.

15a     Earth should be scattered by shelter in white shiny material (6,7)
PATENT LEATHER : Start with a shelter used when camping. Around this place a word for white or a light colour, and follow this with an anagram (should be scattered) of EARTH.

18a     Fixed a paper handrail with no end of aid and equipment (13)
PARAPHERNALIA : An anagram (fixed) of A PAPER HAN(d)RAIL once the last letter of aid has been removed.

22a     Honour given to copper twice right for being as cool as this (8)
CUCUMBER : The chemical symbol for copper is repeated and followed by Member of (the order of) the British Empire and R(ight).

23a     Write quickly seeing son move like a baby (6)
SCRAWL : The abbreviation for son and then the way a baby moves before he/she can walk.

26a     Exhausted, ringing endlessly (3,2)
ALL IN : Start with a word for ringing or ‘contacting by telephone’. Remove the first and last letters and then split what is left 3,2.

27a     Mounted soldiers covering old actor’s way in (5,4)
STAGE DOOR : Mounted or arranged a performance, then O(ld) and the lowest ranking soldiers.

28a     Designated fashion centre of Windsor (6)
STYLED : A fashion or mode and then the central letter of Windsor.

29a     Operator will guzzle starter of these fish (8)
STURGEON : An operator found in a hospital theatre includes the first letter of ‘these’.

Down

1d     Animal worker before eastern European uprising (8)
ANTELOPE : A worker insect and the reversal of E(astern) and a citizen of a European country, capital Warsaw.

2d     Tight son refuses to eat (5)
FASTS : Tight or secure and then the abbreviation for son.

3d     Stopping shortly to register (5,2)
CHECK IN : Remove the last letter from a synonym for stopping or delaying.

4d     Flush from corporate venture (4)
EVEN : A lurker, hiding in the clue.

6d     Extent of suspicion about Democrat (7)
BREADTH : A suspicion, hint or wisp contains (D(emocrat).

7d     Rogue doctor accepted by newly-trained counsel (9)
SCOUNDREL : An anagram (newly trained) of COUNSEL contains the title used to address a doctor.

8d     Spinner sees heroic exploit cut short in front of bird (6)
DEEJAY : Remove the last letter from an heroic exploit and then a bird, closely associated with this puzzle.

10d     Brine causing wet areas to be redeveloped (8)
SEAWATER : An anagram (to be redeveloped) of WET AREAS.

14d     Dancing shoes for people who trip? (8)
SLIPPERS : The people who trip might have encountered a banana skin.

16d     Best friend will eat one cold, in current fashion (9)
TOPICALLY : String together best or supreme, then the Roman numeral one; C(old), and friend or associate.

17d     Caught Weasley maybe, pinching old Scottish pot (8)
CAULDRON : The Scottish variant spelling of old is enclosed by the cricket abbreviation for caught and the first name of Harry Potter’s best friend.

19d     Tale of chivalry in court (7)
ROMANCE : A double definition.

20d     Switch leaders of ill-defined industry such as this (7)
NUCLEAR : Start with a word meaning ill-defined and invert the first two letters to find the industry where Homer Simpson works.

21d     Refuse fights (6)
SCRAPS : A double definition.

24d     Area with intimate dwelling (5)
ABODE : A(rea) plus intimate as a verb meaning announce or foretell.

25d     Transport military arm, thinking originally (4)
RAFT : The airborne branch of the military and then the first letter of thinking.

It was nice seeing the setter’s signature in 8d.

Quickie pun    quay    +    pack    +    ounce    =    keep accounts

42 comments on “DT 29189”

  1. Jay in friendly mode this morning although no less entertaining. A wealth of hugely enjoyable clues to choose from, but 9a stood out for me for its elegant structure.

    Many thanks to all three birds involved.

    1. An enjoyable puzzle, and nice to see Jay make an appearance as the 2Ks have already said. I couldn’t bring myself to write in 5a before reading the blog, as I thought the clue for ‘bed’ can’t be ‘bed’?
      I also needed the hint to fully justify 27a as I couldn’t get ‘aged’ out of my mind. One of those days! Thankss to all.

    2. Faultless as usual.
      Everything superbly clued, just enough difficulty.
      Sitting in a car park outside Sidcup hospital as Mrs.Hoofit has a scan today, fingers crossed.
      Thanks all.

          2. Sending good thoughts and wishes, the waiting bit is the worst I think.

  2. Sailed through this pleasant and user-friendly puzzle. No Comments or Favs. Fingers crossed for a defeat of the All Blacks (sorry 2Kiwis!). Thank you Jay and the 2Kiwis.

  3. This was a bit tricky and *** for both difficulty and enjoyment there were lots of great clues(12a, 15a, 22a, 16d and 17d) but a few that were difficult to parse. Thanks to the Kiwis for help with the latter and may the best team win! Thanks to Jay.

  5. 2*/4.5*. The usual Jay brilliance. How on earth does he manage it week after week after week?

    I always struggle with the spelling of 18a and today was no exception, and, like Toadson, I couldn’t parse 27a due to my fixation that “old” = “aged”.

    As ever on a Wednesday, picking a favourite is the hardest part and today’s result is a tie between 9a & 17d.

    Many thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

  6. Went down the same route as Toadson when it came to ‘old’ in 27a which created problems with the parsing and (with apologies to our setter) I really don’t like the made-up word at 8d.
    No problems elsewhere and I rather liked 17d and the ‘alias’ in 12a.

    Thanks to Jay and to our very diplomatic 2Ks! Enjoy the birthday party at the weekend.

  7. a satisfying puzzle my only hold up was 18a as i had to wait for all the checkers to spell the answer. last one in was 8d as i dont think i’ve ever seen it written down in full before.

  8. I was delighted when I opened the blog to see it was a 3 * for difficulty and I had finished it and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.
    Thank you so much Jay and the two kiwis. Will think of you on Saturday as my husband roars encouragement to the other side. Should be a great match.

  9. A very pleasant Wednesday puzzle completed at a fast gallop – **/****.
    Favourite – a toss-up between 22a and 17d – and the winner is 17d.
    Thanks to Jay and the 2Ks.

  10. Made me think which was good. Struggled with 9a and 8d. Bunged in 15a but couldn’t see why. COTD 17d – very clever. Thanks to Jay and Kiwis.

  11. I was also in the old=aged camp at 27a, which had me scratching my head for a while…

    Many thanks to Jay, and to the 2Ks.

  12. Needed some electronic help to finish this one (for 7d for goodness sake!) ….but not a lot, so a fair day for me.

    Thanks to Jay and the 2 Kiwis.

  13. Another one who’s too old to parse 27a correctly! This despite having mounted many productions – admittedly 50 odd years ago!
    Many thanks to Jay and the 2 Kiwis.

  14. Friendly and enjoyable. Nothing to frighten the horses. My favs today were 20d and 25d both cleverly clued i thought.
    I rather liked 27a.
    Thx to all esp the DT crossword editor for giving us a break from the fiendish puzzles of late.
    */***

  15. I needed help to fully parse a couple in the SE but apart from that I completed in about average time for Jay and wouldn’t disagree with the rating of the wise Antipodean birds.
    In a strong field my podium consists of 18a (what a great word) 22a and 1d.
    Thanks to the aforementioned for your excellent works.

  16. I came to a halt in this, and had to take a break, so it probably rates ***/**** for me, but got there in the end with just some electronic help for the anagram at 18a.

    I just couldn’t parse 27a, not helped by my BRB which tells me that STOOR can mean fighting, so thanks to the 2 Ks for clarification.

    8d was my last in, a word I still don’t think is real. Just like EMCEE.

    Thanks to all.

  18. A good puzzle. Unfortunately I had several gloomy minutes of mild shame when I stared at a 13 letter answer of which I had 7 alternate letters completed, with only 6 white spaces (15A) and still couldn’t get it. As a ‘paper and ink’ solver (can’t get used to doing these on a device) I had this as a 5,8 solution rather than 6,7. A thick black line thus was drawn after the 5th space. Human error or human aging, I suspect the latter.
    Thanks to the 2 eN-Zedders (as my grandfather would fondly call our Kiwis) for a clear set of hints. At least we know that whoever wins Saturday’s game will surely win the final :-)

  19. A good puzzle. Unfortunately I had several gloomy minutes of mild shame when I stared at a 13 letter answer of which I had 7 alternate letters completed, with only 6 white spaces (15A) and still couldn’t get it. As a ‘paper and ink’ solver (can’t get used to doing these on a device) I had this as a 5,8 solution rather than 6,7. A thick black line thus was drawn after the 5th space. Human error or human aging, I suspect the latter.

    Thanks to the two Kiwis for a good set of hints – at least we know that whoever wins the battle on Saturday will surely win that beautiful Webb Ellis cup.

  20. Late on parade today, I found this puzzle difficult to start and instead of a orderly clockwise circuit ,I had a scatter gun approach to get some checking letters in !
    Everything eventually fell into place as I tuned in.
    Agree with 2K’s ***/****, top draw cluing throughout with some clever misdirection thrown in.
    Liked the surface of 22a and 13a.

  21. Agree with 3* – everything went in, but the parsing took a bit longer, especially 27a. There were lots of options, including a potential actor’s name and ‘mounting’ meaning reversed…..

    Who couldn’t like 18a? I’m sure the answer has appeared many times, but many fun options for clues.

    15a brings back a few memories of the 50s (Mary Jane shoes), 60s (red mini raincoats – PVC) and even the 80s (red and black stilettos). I don’t come from Essex, so never had white ones…….. actually, that’s not true – I’ve realised I had some peep toe ones with triangular heels for my wedding…..they weren’t cheap, especially as I only wore them once.

  22. This was fun, started yesterday evening, again at 2.00 a.m. and then finished up this morning but needed help for 8d. I had forgotten that spelling. Love Bluebird’s memories of clothes and I too am not from Essex but yes in 1975 I also had some shoes like that at my wedding. I did live in Essex though so that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. Actually they looked quite pretty.

    Beautiful autumn day here today. Raining leaves of course, it’s that time of year, and squirrels harvesting pine cones and throwing them down from the trees. Have prepared slow cooked dinner in a tagine, which my husband insists on calling a tangerine because he knows it drives me up the wall. That is his hobby, trying to see how far up the wall I will climb. He is very good at it.

  23. Another enjoyable puzzle from Jay, thanks to him and to 2Kiwis for the helpful hints. Discovered that I have been misspelling 18a all my life, having always pronounced it without the second R. Was certain of the answer but as I started to pen it I realized I had one missing letter. So something learned today. Also wanted to put abashed into 5a, one letter too many. Oh well, got there in the end.

  24. Nice straightforward puzzle 😃 **/*** Favourites 1 & 8d Thanks to the 2 x Ks and to Jay 🤗 Just returned from a Memorial Service to someone who died last month at the age of 104 who, until the last few months, completed the DT back pager every day 😳

  25. Thanks Jay and Kiwis I thought this was a clever puzzle especially 8d but always struggle with potter clues like 17d … easy if you have read all that stuff but if not it’s a mystery

  26. Thanks to Jay and the two Kiwis for a very enjoyable day’s puzzling. We won’t mention the match under any circumstances except if we win.

  27. Had to take Sadie to the vet, so a bit late. I found this on the tricky side and had to visit the hints to get going again with about a quarter to go, most in the NE corner. I saw the pic at 13a and I was off again.
    I loved it all, how to choose a fave? I liked 17d and 18a is such a lovely word, they deserve honourable mention.
    Thanks to Jay, and to the 2Kiwis for hints and pics.

  28. Thanks to Jay and to the 2 Kiwis for the review and hints. A very nice puzzle, not too tricky, but I did need the hints for 15&27a and 19d, I did guess the latter was a double definition, but wasn’t too sure. Thanks to the 2 Kiwis for the explanations. Favourite was 20d, which was also last in. Was 2*/3* for me.

  29. Morning all.
    We also had to check the spelling of 18a as both of us had put in our answers and then found we were a letter short and had an R left over. Maybe we will remember next time it crops up, but somehow doubt that we will.
    Cold blustery conditions here but the forecast tells us that a high pressure system on the way will bring us better weather for the long weekend. Hope they’re right.
    Cheers.

  30. Very entertaining puzzle from Jay that I nearly completed without the hints. I thought some of the clues were constructed superbly & parsed with just the right amount of effort.
    Too many good clues to mention!
    3*/4.5* .
    Thanks to Jay for a true cracker & the 2KWs for review

  32. A bit late here today – no excuses – just been doing other ‘stuff’, as you do!
    I whizzed thought most of this and then, as usual on Wednesdays, ground to a total halt.
    I confess to having a wrong answer – doesn’t happen very often – usually I can do them or I can’t but I had 25d wrong (stupid) but, luckily, it didn’t affect anything else.
    As always on Wednesdays there were lots of good clues – 9 and 13a (amazing smell) and lots of others too.
    Thanks to Jay and to the 2K’s – I hope you all had a lovely birthday celebration with your daughter and the rest of the family.

  33. Thanks, Jay, that was fun, and I managed about ¾ of it myself. And thanks to 2Kiwis for shepherding me through the remaining ¼.

    I’m also a member of the ‘aged’ club for 27a.

    My favourites were the cool 22a, the Weasley 17d, and the ill-defined 20d.

  34. My miraculous run appears to be over, but thanks to the 2Kiwis I was able to get my last two “blanks” without having to look at the answers. Thanks to 2Kiwis, an the setter, for a very enjoyable puzzle.
    My favourite: 18a – a lovely word!

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