Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2480 – Hints
Selected hints by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
For me,this was the most enjoyable Sunday puzzle in a long time. It was also proof that a puzzle doesn’t have to be fiendishly difficult to give satisfaction. Yes, it has one place name, but that place is both very well-known and uniquely defined by the wordplay.
For the weekend prize crosswords I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them. A full analysis of this puzzle will be available at 12.00 next Thursday, 23rd April.
Some hints to get you started:
Across
1a Describing how France is divided, become absent-minded? (14)
This very clever clue describes how France is divided into districts by using a charade of “become absent” and “minded”
11a Try in big rugby match (4)
Or could be a cricket match!
12a Classic location for people taking lessons (10)
Like 1 across, this location for Classic events is a charade of “people” and “lessons”
22a Comfortable in someone’s arms? Just the opposite (4)
I liked this one because of its misdirection – clues that include phrases like “just the opposite” usually instruct you to reverse the wordplay, but here you are instructed to reverse a word meaning (fire)arms
26a CD, say, with person providing backing who notes what’s good and bad? (9,5)
Here the charade comes first – “CD, say” and “person providing backing” (for a production at the theatre) combine to give a divine attendant supposed to keep a book in which every misdeed is recorded against the doer
Down
1d Section of newspaper best for this kind of publishing (7)
We start where we left off in the across clues with a clever charade – the “section of newspaper” where people work would usually be preceded by news or sports; combine this with a synonym for best to get the kind of publishing that you can do on your own PC
2d One way to get pear juice for media event (5,10)
A really nice cryptic definition of how you need to squeeze a particular type of pear!
5d Wealthy person with old lover, not a common type (8)
This game of charades continues with an informal word for a wealthy person and a very old word for a lover – you might be better off finding the person of high social rank and working backwards, as that’s what I did!
7d It could be central to having creative ideas, however (7,8)
You need this skill to solve cryptic clues!
13d Where many wheels spin at end of rally (5,5)
This double cryptic definition concerns casinos and car races
17d Old, old boy turning up in wine-shop (6)
… in Spain
The Sunday puzzle has regularly attracted less attention than the daily puzzles, but perhaps you should start taking an interest in them. If you don’t already buy the Sunday paper, then try the CluedUp website – the annual subscription costs less than a year’s worth of Sunday papers.
Far far too easy. No challenge. Read the clues, wrote in the answers
Ivor B, this site is to help cryptic crossword solvers with their enjoyment of solving them, whether novice or pro, you are obviously the latter, what I want to know is apart from self gratification what have you contributed with your response. Why not start your own site against BD and see how many people log on!
I tried this puzzle after hearing whispers about a change of style in the ST puzzle. Yes, it’s easy, but every clue works properly and the grid is fair. I enjoyed it much more than a significantly harder ST one I tried a few weeks ago.
I really enjoyed it. Never done a ST crossword before. when I submitted to Clued Up tho it said one on my answers was wrong.
I’m sure it wasn’t – hey ho !!