Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2565 (Hints)
Hints and tips from Big Dave
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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
A full review of this puzzle will be published on Friday, 10th December.
Across
1a Supporters having no right to become such addicts (6)
Take a word meaning supporters or allies, drop the R(having no right) to get these addicts or fanatics
17a One depends on current supply as source of rock (8,6)
This instrument depends on a supply of current to play rock music
26a Character fault one’s shown in mile race (8)
A character fault is constructed buy putting I (one) between M(ile) and a race
27a Queen accepting European vote as constructive addition (6)
Put an eighteenth-century queen around (accepting) E(uropean) and a mark made to register a vote to get a constructive addition to a building
Down
1d Informative response not going beyond characters in first eleven (8)
An informative response is made up of letters in the range A-K – is there more to this? I looked at not giving the ball to a forward, but can’t quite fit it in
5d What can be included repeatedly at OU? (5,9)
An all-in-one clue where an anagram (what can be) of INCLUDED AT AT (repeatedly at) OU is described by the whole clue
20d It can be got from tree, primarily medicinal (6)
This healing ointment is a charade of a tree that produces very light wood and M (primarily Medicinal) and is described by the whole clue
22d Missing British spy chief at Pentagon, say (5)
A word meaning missing or taken away, when split (1,2,2), could be James Bond’s boss visiting the Pentagon
If you need further help then please ask and I will see what I can do.
As this is a Prize crossword, please don’t put whole or partial answers or alternative clues in your comment, else they may be censored!
Judging by emails from my fellow Advanced CC members and the odd comment about today’s puzzle on yesterday’s page, I might be in the minority today as apart from one and a half clues, I didn’t struggle with this lovely Sunday puzzle. Like BD I was slightly confused by 1d and had a problem with 4a as I was trying to fit two ‘diamonds’ in the answer.
Thank you Virgilius for the lovely crossword which (sorry people) I completed in the usual quick time for a Sunday puzzle. Thanks to BD for the hints too.
You must be a genius Sue
I found it really hard today
I can’t get past your explanation for 1d, BD – perhaps not the greatest of clues. Otherwise. Very enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks to BD and Virgilius.
with you Gnomey, never heard that for a fanatic or addict!
That’s 1a Mary, not 1d!
For 1a – look at the second crossword blog in the sidebar widget – it’s that kind of addict.
oops! ok thanks for all your help :0
I see it
A real 4* ‘toughie* for me today, had loads of help, electronic, books, brother, BD, once it was finished it left me wondering why it had taken so long! Tough but clever IMHO not an easy one for CC today!
Fav clue 7d, completely missed the anagram indicator in 5d!
I think 1d is just as you say Dave, not going beyond the ketter K!
In 1d the second word alone is the answer, so why would we need the first word, if you get my meaning?
What’s the problem? There are only 39,916,800 combinations of A-K.
Now how did you work that one out??
Factorial 11
A LOT more than 11 factorial. What about repeated letters? (as in the actual answer)
Welcome to the blog Peter
118 = 214,358,881
If they were different letters it would be 11!/(11-8)! = 6,652,800
A most enjoyable puzzle today. Fav by far was 4 as it took me ages before i f- sorry worked it out. Loved 14 and 17 and most of the others as well. Come on Mary – what about SSP – it happened in Buxton!
SSP Buxton, what am I missing here?
Snow stopped play. Put it in your cricketing terms. It may come up one day.
Stored for future use!
I seemed to make heavy weather of this. It took a long time to get going but once I had a reasonable number of crossing letters it all fell into place.
Guessed 1d and didn’t even pick up on the first eleven characters bit and it took me longer to understand 4a than it did to finish the crossword. A definite A-ha moment.
Overall really enjoyable, though I would say harder than usual.
Must be having an off day because I found this quite a bit trickier than recent Sundays! Now the answers are in I wonder what was tricky about it – too much wine yesterday?!
Still, got there in the end so thanks for a good puzzle Virgilius.
I,too, cannot see anything else for 1d.
In 1d, informative could be the definition, response could be the first half of the answer, not going beyond could be the second part, i.e. behind/**** , characters in first eleven means not beyond K ……….. maybe?
I know, sometimes I am just plain stupid
any football on the telly, think I’ll go and see, ‘laters’
!
I always find Sunday crosswords harder than the other days, except perhaps Fridays, but for the third time in a row I have at least finished it so am quite pleased. Didn’t understand 1d and to begin with had the wrong four letters at the beginning which made 10a tricky but sorted that out. Also missed the anagram indicator at 5d. Not quite sure that I understand 12a – I think that what I’ve got has to be right but can’t make sense of the first four letters – does it really mean “profit”? Am probably being a bit dim, again! Liked 4, 13,14, and 17a and 3, 8, 9, 15, 18 and 19d – I’m running on again! Actually really enjoyed the whole crossword. Thanks to Virgilius and Big Dave.
1st 4 letters 12a Kath is a sunonym for profit, personally I would have put an s in it!!
even a synonym!
Not another football question!
How did football get in here?
Well that was a Sunday special, I almost lost the will to live. Had to go into the big city with Mrs N for lunch,Caeser salad with anchovies,I hate anchovies! its like eating lumps of salt. Anyway 12a was in a toughie last week I think, and the rest seemed to fight all the way to the finishing line.
The Toon got beat 3-1, dinner was not enjoyable and I’m under stoppage of Brandy. I’m sure there is a bottle of blue sapphire kicking about somewhere. I wish the snow would go away as times are now becoming desperate. I am turning into a Royal Naval Officer, is there any Angostura darling ?
Thanks to Virgilius and Big Dave
12a was in yesterday’s prize puzzle!
same answer, different clue
Finally got round to this after a delighful weekend in Kent. I assume that I have plumbed the depths and worked out 4a correctly, but I can’t for the life of me see why. Anyway, thanks for the hints, banter and to our Sunday Setter.
Split the answer as a charade = 1,2,4,1
Sorry BD – you beat me to it! And while I’m still in front of the computer I STILL don’t get 12a even after Mary’s help. I know that we had this one yesterday but I can’t understand the first four letters being synonymous with ‘profit’.
If you plumb the depths of Chambers you will find:
boot2
transitive verb
To give profit or advantage to
noun (obsolete)
Advantage
Profit
Any reparation or compensation paid (OE law)
Booty (Shakespeare)
Thank you
Digby – re 4a – yes, you have plumbed the depths! First letter is the usual one letter abbreviation for ‘feminine’, the next six letters mean ‘in’ ie not out – easier to split it into 2 and 4 – and the last letter is the usual abbreviation for ‘diamonds’.
Aha!!! Thanks BD & Kath. I can now turn to the BBQ with an uncluttered mind!
BBQ – in this weather? You must be having a laugh!
Cricket again!
Not at all Kath. The BBQ operates year round here – we never use the oven for cooking meat. Even the Christmas turkey is roasted thereon! Tonight it a speciality I came across in Canada – a chicken with a beer can full of wine & herbs where you would normally put the stuffing. Try it – well worth the effort!!
Found this really tricky today – can anyone help me with 15d (which I think I have but don’t know why) and 25a which I made up but don’t think is a word!) Thanks
15d Support, putting in time for Conservative followers (9)
Start with a verb meaning to support and put in T(ime) in place of C(onservative) to end up with a word meaning followers.
25a Final stage appearance as Shakespearean villian grabbing maiden (5)
Start with the villian of Shakespeare’s Othello and insert (grabbing) M(aiden) to get the final stage of an insect’s development.
Thanks Gazza – both right but totally bemused as to why! – now I can rest in peace
I enjoyed this puzzle. Can’t think of any other explanation for 1D than that suggested above, and it seems like a fairly weak clue. Didn’t detract too much from the overall experience though. Some nice clues today.
Tackled this today after a very enjoyable Sinter Klaas weekend with my daughter and family with two visits to Amsterdam.
A lot of good clues : I liked 12a, 14a, 17a, 27a, 1d, 8d, 9d, 15d, 18d & 20d.
A slight thaw here in NL – but not 100% yet.