DT 29606 (2021-02-17) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 29606 (2021-02-17)

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29606

Hints and tips by crypticsue

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment ***

This is a quick blog for the puzzle which appeared in today’s (Wednesday 17th) newspaper, apparently because of a technical error.There won’t be any pictures but there may be undeliberate errors!! Thank you to Chris Lancaster for providing me with the puzzle so I could bash out this blog.   Once again, I’ve had a good excuse to put off the housework!  

There’ll be a completely ‘new’ DT 29606 next Tuesday, so this review will have to be renumbered in some way to make it different from the next one, but that’s a problem for next week.   

1     Inferior boats ruined at sea (11)
SUBORDINATE An anagram (at sea) of BOATS RUINED

7     Happy place soothed (7)
PLEASED The abbreviation for place and a synonym for soothed

8     Writes down numbers going round gallery (7)
NOTATES The abbreviation for numbers ‘going round’ the name of an art gallery

10     Unhappy about German city’s university (8)
SORBONNE An adjective meaning unhappy ‘goes round’ a German city

11     In favour of not moving quickly (6)
PRONTO A word meaning in favour of and an anagram (moving) of NOT

13     Plays penned by Tolstoy secretly (4)
TOYS Hidden in (penned by) TolsTOY Secretly

14     Available female seen in bars with group playing (2,3,5)
UP FOR GRABS An anagram (playing) of BARS with GROUP into which is inserted (see in) the abbreviation for Female

16     Chuck against more mature tree (10)
ELDERBERRY The surname of a famous singer called Chuck goes after (against) an adjective meaning more mature

18     Doing badly, pout (2,2)
UP TO An anagram (badly) of POUT

21     Outstanding voluntary (6)
UNPAID Double definition

22     Left with beer on the counter: disaster! (8)
LANDSLIP The abbreviation for Left, a word meaning with) and a reversal (on the counter) of a type of beer

24     Citadel‘s king beheaded troublemaker (7)
KREMLIN The abbreviation for King in chess notation and a troublemaker without its first letter (beheaded)

25     One choosing… one choosing to start late (7)
ELECTOR Someone who chooses without its first letter (to start late)

26     Disposed of pies club set out (11)
SUSCEPTIBLE An anagram (out) of PIES CLUB SET

Down

1     Have faith in supporter in trees, climbing (5,2)
SWEAR BY Insert the usual ‘supporter worn by a female’ into some trees and then reverse (climbing)

2     See controller? (6)
BISHOP A cryptic definition of someone who controls a diocese (see)

3     Swimmer visibly embarrassed paparazzo (3,7)
RED SNAPPER The colour you are when you are embarrassed and an informal term for a taker of photographs (paparazzo)

4     Bruce perhaps fine to leave Scottish island (4)
IONA Probably only one for UK solvers – remove the F (fine to leave) from the Christian name of a popular BBC newsreader

5     What shrink might do for friend? (5,3)
ALTER EGO A psychiatrist (shrink) might well try to do this

6     Toes in a terrible state (7)
ESTONIA An anagram (terrible) of TOES IN A

7     What Biden might do to pay: blame somebody else! (4,3,4)
PASS THE BUCK What the current POTUS might do to pay for something

9     Who’s ruined goalie’s excellent performance? (4-7)
SHOW-STOPPER An anagram (ruined) of WHOS followed by a word that might be used to describe a goalkeeper when he prevents a goal being scored

12     Contest our chap mounted in temporary accommodation (10)
TOURNAMENT OUR (from the clue) and a reversal (mounted) of a chap inserted into some temporary accommodation

15     Items in lorry the French start to sell (8)
ARTICLES A type of lorry, the French definite article and the ‘start’ to Sell

17     Make blue papers after journalist turned up (7)
DEPRESS A reversal (turned up) of an abbreviated top journalist and how one might refer to newspapers in general

19     Colours used on board? (7)
PALETTE A cryptic definition of a range of colours an artist might put on a board

20     Short of time, plug book quickly, perhaps (6)
ADVERB Remove (short of) the abbreviation for time for an abbreviated ‘plug’ and add the abbreviation for Book

23     Some guarantee payment in advance (4)
ANTE Hidden in guarantee

Quick pun: BERTH + DAZE + HOOT = BIRTHDAY SUIT


For those who, like me, only use the online site here is what had been intended as next Tuesday’s puzzle!  BD

Click here


 

41 comments on “DT 29606 (2021-02-17)

  1. I’m afraid I have to admit defeat today, with just a single answer left. It was quite a gentle solve for the most part, and I was heading for a ** time, but then the SW held me up.

    15d was my nemesis, and despite thinking of the right lorry, for some reason the rest didn’t follow. I’d kick myself, but I’d probably do more damage when I fell over.

    22a took me ages to parse, but I did get there in the end. It is therefore my COTD.

    Many thanks to the setter and CS.

  2. An enjoyable straight forward puzzle ,clearly clued with no obscurities and a **/*** for me.
    Have to admit that I failed to parse Chuck in 16a, thanks CS, I assumed that it was a term for an edible one!
    Liked the surfaces of 9d and 24a.
    Chuckled at the Quickie Pun.

  3. It’s an interesting point of debate, isn’t it?

    Which is the ‘wrong’ crossword?

    As far as I am concerned, the Telegraph Crossword is the crossword printed in today’s Daily Telegraph, not some ephemeral substitute that exists only in the ether.

    It might have been printed in error, but it is still today’s crossword.

  4. I’ll just copy, paste and edit what I wrote in the DT29601 blog this morning.

    2*/4*. I enjoyed this a lot with nice brief cluing and smooth surfaces.

    It took a while for the penny to drop with 2d, which was my last one in. My podium comprises 14a, 16a (nicely disguised Chuck), 5d & 7d.

    Many thanks to the mystery setter (how about Navy as a guess?), and also to CS for galloping to the rescue with an unscheduled review.

  5. The 29606 took me longer than usual due to being very late into the solve to figure out the anagrams for 1a and 26a. I particularly enjoyed 6d and 7d. Thanks crypticsue for parsing my last one in 20d as had the answer but not the full reason.

  6. Overall a very enjoyable puzzle though I wasn’t too keen on either 16a or 4d. I did like several others though including 11&24a plus 1,7 and the excellent 9d.
    2.5/4*
    A special thanks to CS and thanks to whoever set this, shame it won’t get the attention it deserves

  7. Jumping in before I have finished the puzzle to say how brilliant I thought 2d was! The joy when the penny dropped!

  8. I found this very difficult and a top end ***/* with a long time spent recovering from an incorrect 2d and in solving my final two being 20d and 22a. Couldn’t get on the right wavelength so sadly didn’t really enjoy it which is unusual for me. Sorry setter and thanks crypticsue for producing the hints to enable a full understanding.

  9. 3 to 1 that next Monday’s crossword will be resolved in double quick time. Being a bear of litle brain it took a while to cotton on that the answers given weren’t for yesterday’s crossword either

  10. I cannot believe that at gone 2 o’clock there are so few comments! I can only surmise that the glitch is in the non-paper versions. Anyway I thoroughly enjoyed it and thanks to Sue for stepping into the breach. 10 was my last one in because of course I was not thinking French! It has been raining all the morning but the sun is out now so I shall fit in a quick walk. Many thanks to the mystery setter also.

    1. The glitch is definitely in the newspaper version where we have next Tuesday’s puzzle printed today

      We had light rain for our walk but we still enjoyed being out – as we said, we’ve walked in much worse weather than this

  11. What a mess, finished 29606, good crossword. They even have the answers for 29605, cryptic and quicky. Where is 29601.

  12. Well, what a bonus, two puzzles in one day, both of which I eventually finished but both had their own struggles. Thanks to both the setters and the two hinters. Now for a Zoom WI wine tasting this evening – we have each got 3 of the smallest bottles I have ever seen. As I am kindly sharing mine with Mr M, we will get a thimble full each but, hey, its going to be fun, all these old bags looking at each other!

  13. Many thanks to CS for bringing us a quick-fire review of the puzzle that appeared in today’s dead tree version of the DT. Such a shame for the setter who won’t now get the audience he deserved.
    Somewhat unusually for me, I gave the top slot to the 1a anagram with the available female at 14a slipping into second place.

    Thanks to our setter and to CS. I would guess that our Puzzles Editor is a less than happy bunny at the moment!

  14. Some great short clues in the newspaper version – 18a and 21a for example. Thank you setter and of course Cryptic Sue for the excellent emergency support!

  15. I came unstuck with 2d & 15d 😟 so ****/*** Favourites 21a, 4 & 5d Thanks to Sue for help with the aforementioned and to the fiendish Setter 😬

  16. A very enjoyable puzzle with some great clues.
    As a paper DT solver no issues here.
    2.5*/4*
    Favs 16ac ,2d &12d.
    Thank you to setter & many thanks to CS for stepping in so quickly to post this review.

  17. Didnt get the glitch unless it was the 29606 number. By returning to the puzzle after periods of inactivity it worked out well in ** time. Enjoyed it because it was within my reach. Challenging but achievable. Thanks.

  18. This was firmly in my stinker pile, I just could not get a stsrt. So I am ashamed to say that I gave in, it being late in the day.
    I read through the hints so thanks Sue, lets hope for better tomorrow.

  19. I’m totally up the spout – hope I’m commenting on the right puzzle in the right place but who knows?!! I don’t!
    All I can say is what a ***** up!
    It’s difficult enough at the moment to know what day of the week it is – this has just totally scuppered any chances I might have had of knowing what day it is for the foreseeable!
    Never mind – an extra crossword can’t be bad.
    I found this difficult but did eventually finish it.
    Memo to myself – carry on with writing out the letters of an anagram – it’s all to easy to see something instantly which is wrong – 1a being a good example. :roll: and that didn’t do much to help with some of down clues.
    Just looking at it all again now I did enjoy this one particularly 14 and 24a and 3 and 5d. My favourite was 18a because it made me laugh (when I eventually got it).
    Thanks to the setter, who I gather is Chris Lancaster, and thanks and well done to CS for stepping in at what must have been short notice.

  20. Where are all the comments today? Missing LBROK, Terence, Brian etc, etc. Many thanks to Cryptic Sue and I feel sorry for whoever has dropped a clanger!

    I enjoyed today’s puzzle but failed to get 2d and 10a. I was so sure I had to have sad and u in the answer. Do you think someone will be burning the midnight oil in the editing department?!

    1. They commented on the 2Ks blog of today’s other cryptic

      See also Chris Lancaster’s comment @35 on that post

  21. Always good to get an extra crossword and this one was very enjoyable.
    Got the right Bruce and the right Chuck without any problems.
    Favourite 14a.
    Thanks to Campbell and to CS for reviewing in extremis.

  22. I’m embarrassed to admit 15d defeated me despite having an artic lorry licence…

    21a was another that I could not get despite not being difficult.

    I had the answer for 22a but needed the hint to see why. I don’t recall counter being used for reversal before.

    Enjoyed the crossword despite the struggle.

    ****/***

  23. That’s the last time ever that I solve a puzzle on paper with a pen. Great puzzle though so thanks to Chris Lancaster and to CrypticSue for the hurried blog

  24. I’m sorry, but I don’t like clues like 14ac today. Sexist and unnecessary.
    I do both toughies and back pagers every day and mainly they are brilliant. But they get spoiled by clues like this

        1. I can see where you’re coming from but don’t feel too bad, some people are offended by full stops!

  25. I was beginning to think I’d stepped into a parallel universe as when I glanced at yesterday’s solutions I didn’t recognise them at all. I’m always even later on a Wednesday due to a 6 o’clock lockdown zoom meeting, and when pointing out the crossword anomaly and something else I’d lost I said “and I can’t find my pencil, I had it 5 minutes ago”. “What’s the behind your ear?” came the reply. Oh dear! There’s no hope for me really. Having said that I didn’t struggle with this too much despite having several small (ish) libations beforehand. Enough waffling, favourite was 16a. Thanks to the setter and CS.

  26. I’m a bit miffed to have missed the Jay crossword as I usually enjoy his. I found this one quite tricky and could only finish with the hints. I’ve never heard of the lorry (sounds like a crosswordy word) and I wouldn’t really associate the Kremlin as being a citadel but then I’ve not been to Moscow. ****/**

        1. I assumed that was only something lorry drivers would know but turns out my husband (not a lorry driver) knew it!

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