DT 30041 (Full Review) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 30041 (Full Review)

by crypticsue  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30041

A full review by crypticsue

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This puzzle was published on 16th July 2022

BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***

I don’t think anyone was surprised to find that they were solving another Cephas pangram. This one had several things people may not have heard of, but the whole didn’t take long to solve at all

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

1a    Gloomy articles about first person in Nancy’s clothing (4,5)
BLUE JEANS – BLUE (gloomy) ANS (indefinite articles) around JE, the French (as used in Nancy) first person pronoun

9a    Flighty creature trapped in Luke’s trellis (7)
KESTREL – Hidden (trapped) in luKES TRELlis

10a    Laid blame on defendant (7)
ACCUSED – A double definition clue, the first a verb, the second a noun

11a    Striking beast? (7)
WILDCAT – This beast gives its name to an unauthorized strike

12a    Races around after failure, causing alert (4,5)
BOMB SCARE – An anagram (around) of RACES goes after BOMB (a North American slang word for a failure)

14a    Objects involved in hard sell? (8)
IRONWARE – A cryptic definition of some ‘hard’ objects

15a    Holiday depression (6)
RECESS – A North American holiday period or a depression

17a    New denture given permanent position (7)
TENURED – An anagram (new) of DENTURE

20a    The Parisian going to Missouri and New York could be fruity! (6)
LEMONY – LE (French, as used in Paris) word for the, MO (the abbreviation for the State of Missouri) and NY (New York)

23a    Pass along the way (8)
OVERTAKE – A cryptic definition

25a    Wandering in I natter, wandering (9)
ITINERANT – The main problem with this one was which ‘wandering’ to underline as the definition, the other one being the indicator telling you to rearrange IN I NATTER

26a    What carer must do to make youngster take a seat (4-3)
BABY-SIT – This made me smile as you can just imagine a carer telling a BABY to SIT

27a    Jeer Tom perhaps prior to visit (7)
CATCALL – CAT (Tom perhaps) goes before (prior to) CALL (visit)

28a    Possibly a curse having a pause in verse (7)
CAESURA – An anagram (possibly) of A CURSE

29a    Lodge with crowd approaching hotel with banker (9)
GATEHOUSE – GATE (total crowd at a match) H (hotel) OUSE (Yorkshire river)

Down

2d    Sugar shortage members reported (7)
LACTOSE – Homophones (reported) of LACK (shortage) TOES (members)

3d    Even question adult entering rising river (7)
EQUABLE – QU (question) and A (adult) ‘entering’ a reversal (rising in a Down solution) of the River ELBE

4d    Carry out most of device for training muscles (8)
EXERCISE – Most of an EXERCISEr (device for training muscles)

5d    Pin that’s more crooked? (6)
SKEWER – A type of pin that sounds like it is more oblique (crooked)

6d    Pal needs a modified front (9)
ESPLANADE – An anagram (modified) of PAL NEEDS A

7d    One from southern Europe racing round with hidden energy (7)
GRECIAN – An anagram (round) of RACING with E (energy) hidden inside

8d    Completely using different lethal method (3,3,3)
ALL THE WA – An anagram (different) of LETHAL followed by WAY (method)

13d    Rugby quartet included allowed stream (7)
RIVULET – RU (Rugby Union) into which is inserted (included) IV (Roman numeral for four), the result followed by LET (allowed)

15d    Shaver returned large sea creature! (9)
RAZORBACK – RAZER (shaver) BACK (returned)

16d    Band playing toast us covering Queen (6,3)
STATUS QUO – An anagram (playing) of TOAST US ‘covering’ QU (Queen)

18d    Stretch inside the long atelier (8)
ELONGATE – Found inside thE LONG ATElier

19d    Weaker beer elf brewed (7)
FEEBLER – An anagram (brewed) of BEER ELF

21d    Hide around Marrakesh? (7)
MOROCCO – A type of leather (hide) named after the country ‘around’ Marrakesh

22d    Minus? Completely baffle (7)
NONPLUS – A minus could be described as a NON PLUS

24d    Bait transported in kilogram container (6)
KITBAG – An anagram (transported) of BAIT inserted in KG (Kilogram)

 

10 comments on “DT 30041 (Full Review)”

  1. Thanks, CrypticSue. For 4d I originally thought of ‘exercise bike without the bike’, which is still “most” of it. Either way, it feels a bit klunky to turn “training” into a noun only then to remove whatever you’ve added to get back to the synonym for ‘training’ as the answer.

    I first encountered 15d as a child in the rules for Pass the Pigs (5 points, or 20 if both are doing it). Lexico confirmed it’s a pig — and doesn’t mention its swimming ability — so I presumed I was wrong (I usually am!) and avoided writing it in until much later. Maybe I finally need to invest in a BRB?

    1. The name also applies to a type of whale which would definitely be a large marine creature!

      1. Yeah, Rabbit Dave alluded to that on Saturday, and mentioned its being in the BRB. Hence why I should perhaps get one.

        1. Definitely. I’d also add Chambers Crossword Dictionary to your Christmas list

  2. Razorback (15d) is usually a mountain gorilla, making the sea creature a bit misleading, and the river (3d) is the ELBE not Elba.

    1. The BRB will have to update its definitions as it only shows the pig and the rorqual (whale). I’ve amended the river

  4. Prize-winners of crossword 30,041
    Three first-prize winners:
    George Bowyer, Southampton, Hampshire;
    Graham Currell, Gorsley, Herefordshire;
    Mr D. Stuart, Salisbury, Wiltshire.

    Five runners-up:
    Sue Eggar, Blandford Forum, Dorset;
    Robert Birchall, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex;
    Alice Liddle, Norwich, Norfolk;
    Mr H. Morgan, Wolverhampton, West Midlands;
    Mr Raymond C. Morris, Woodside Park, London.

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