DT 26104 – Hints – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 26104 – Hints

by Big Dave  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26104 – Hints

Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club

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

All being well I hope to be meeting up with other cruciverbalists in the White Horse on Parson’s Green, London this afternoon – feel free to drop in if you live nearby. I’m sure my fellow bloggers will look after you in my absence.

One of the better Saturday Prize puzzles today – I’ll gloss over the girl’s name at 1 down!

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.

As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them. A full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 12th November. 10th December.


Across

1a Patient chap, not a bear, one at the Stock Exchange (6)
The Biblical chap who is renowned for his patience is followed by bear without the a to get a person who buys and sells at the Stock Exchange

10a A handful backing me with song that’s an angelic salutation (3,5)
An unusual charade has A, the Roman numeral for the number in a handful, ME reversed (backing) and an operatic song to get an angelic salutation

15a Easily angered but without delay made resilient (5-8)
A word meaning easily angered is comprised of a word meaning without delay and one meaning steel that is made resilient

Down

1d Jack with a delightful lady (6)
A charade of J(ack), A and a word meaning delightful gives a lady’s name

6d Jim reportedly takes small piece of paper from tunic (3,4)
A homophone of Jim followed by a small piece of paper gives a tunic worn by schoolgirls

8d Car port! (8)
The left of a car – but only where you drive on the left!

25d Molten matter from the continental state (4)
This molten matter is constructed from the French definite article and the US state of Virginia

The Saturday Crossword Club will open at 10.00 am (after Sounds of the Sixties on BBC Radio 2). Membership is free and open to all. Feel free to leave comments or ask questions before that time.

Please don’t put whole or partial answers in your comment, else they may be censored!

52 comments on “DT 26104 – Hints”

  1. Very enjoyable- felt 11d could have had a more imaginative clue! Out for the rest of the day. Good luck fellow cc members.

  2. I think that Cepahs has upped the ante in terms of difficulty today as I found this harder than recent weeks’ puzzles. Favourite clues were 7d and 8d. Thanks to Cephas for the puzzle. Enjoy the White Horse. What is the collective noun for a gathering of cruciverbalists?

      1. A Thesaurus

        Seriously, if you are in the Parson’s Green area, do try and pop in and say hello, you’ll be made more than welcome and it’s your chance to hurl abuse and punch, er…sorry, meet one or two of your favourite setters.

        I am sure Big Dave is suitably armed with his camera, and I wish him and everyone else a grand day. I have been to many of these meets and they are terrific fun.

        1. I would love to come and meet you all in Parson’s Green, but unfortunately I live rather a long way away. Maybe some other time — meanwhile, Santé! :-)

      1. Franny
        You don’t – but once you see one or two of J, K, Q or Z, you begin to suspect it and look out for the others.

  4. Today’s was an improvement on the past couple of weeks and contained some nice amusing definitions.

    For those who want something to keep them amused, try today’s Financial Times Prize Crossword, which is by another fine setter.

    http://tinyurl.com/FT13252

    If you want a stiffer challenge, today’s Guardian puzzle by the venerable Araucaria will provide that. Here it is:-

    http://tinyurl.com/Guardian24875

    You can enter both crosswords for the prizes using the pdfs.

    I notice the Grauniad’s notorious misprinter has struck in the title of the puzzle!

  5. I had fun with this, and managed to finish it with the minimum of help from outside sources — though I still don’t understand 7d. 14d made me smile nostalgically, and my favourite was 19d.

    Have a good weekend, everyone :-)

    1. 7d. Trespass into army land (5)
      Put a synonym for to make a mistake (trespass) inside the usual abbreviation for the Territorial Army to get a word, from Latin, meaning land.

  6. I enjoyed this. Found most quite easy and enjoyed 8d and 18a.
    Off out in the garden to enjoy the weather and avoid Xmas shopping! Think I missed out on the ‘shopping gene’ !

  7. If you want a clue to make you smile, try this from today’s Independent Crossword by the amazing Bannsider

    Noddy and co travelled with Santa, maybe picked up by Big Ears? (5)

  8. My apologies for my absence last Saturday; I didn’t start on the crossword until Sunday – the rugby took precedence – and felt that it was a little late to make any comment. I enjoyed today’s puzzle but I now have no excuse for not starting to wrap Christmas presents [ready for posting next week] unless, of course, I get drawn toward the Telegraph General Knowledge crossword…

  9. The answers came in bursts. I thought the answer to 2d stood out too much. But lots to like, especially for me what the procrastinator says.

  10. hello Anne loves reading your comments but cannot get to london.why not ameet in bournemouth for allus oldies !

  11. Thought 8d was great and learned a new word in 27ac.
    Thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. Great start to the weekend.

        1. I wondered about that but I thought it was the name of the adult fly rather than the larva. Thanks anyway, only another 10 answers to go!!

  12. I’m struggling with the bottom left hand corner – 22a, 23d, 28a. I think if I could solve 22a it would hep with the other two. Any hints?

    1. Hi wordsearch – welcome to the blog – sorry for the long delay in getting your comment approved.

    2. 22a. Girl found a ship in position (6)
      The definition is a girl and it’s a term used for a girl mainly in Scotland. Put A and the usual abbreviation for Steamship inside a word for position which is often used to describe how a golf ball is positioned in the rough.

    3. 23d. Second argument is formal (5)
      An abbreviation for Second is followed by an informal word for a minor argument to form a word meaning formal or inflexible.

    4. 28a. Plunder fellow soldier (8)
      A verb meaning to plunder or sack is followed by a synonym for fellow to form a soldier who carries a gun.

    1. The “assistants of course” are those who assit on a golf course to carry the clubs, etc. Remove a drug (single letter (vowel)) to give a kind of larva

  14. A game of two halves to quote the great John Motson. Finished the right hand side (loved 14d) but totally stuck on the left apart from 1a (thanks for the hint!).!
    On the whole, a bit of a tricky one today.

      1. Barrie

        All of the sides were easy for me, so it was difficult to decide which ones to pick! I always do the first across and down clues, sometimes the final ones, unless they were as easy as 29a today, then try to pick three or four of what I anticipate to be the harder clues – particularly where proper nouns are involved. You are always free to ask for additional help.

  15. A good Saturday puzzzle and for me more taxing than the usual prize examples. It actually took me a while to get into this but once I did I managed to polish it off without too much angst. 27a is a new word for me. Thoroughly enjoyable and it beats Christmas shopping by a mile. Also a chance to get the outside lights up and running.

  16. Much better than last weeks.
    I had to think a bit to finish.
    Have fun on the meet.
    I could have done with one of them drug fuelled 27a on my abysmal round today!

  18. Took a while but finally managed almost all without resorting to extra clues. I think my favourites were 10a, 14d and 17d. Still don’t really get 27a despite clue above – plural of ***** would not be as spelled – maybe I have messed up somehow? How are you doing Mary?

    1. Claire
      You need to remove the single letter standing for Ecstasy (removed drug) from the bag-carriers (assistants of course) to get the larva.

  21. Anne

    4a. The answer is a word for just (which is also the hand most people write with) placed insde a three letter word for a marshy area.

    9a. The answer is an anagram (rent) of “asunder” having removed the “a” (not one) first. The result is a word meaning to have looked after.

    12a. The clue is a cryptic definition of someone who is owed money. Once paid (having received their due), they are no longer this.

  23. Easy puzzlle this time – I never send them in for several reasons.
    I thought that the clues for 5d and 10a were a bit far-fetched in part.
    My favourite was 27a.

  24. Another tried to see what this puzzle is like these days – mostly easy but good – only 19D was a clue I’d seriously object too, and there were just three minor quibbles elsewhere. 17D is rather an old one but 8D seemed fresh despite being neatly concise.

  25. Help I’m sinking on 26a I worry I got 17d wrong Help me crossword genii your my only hope…………..

    1. 26a Test out cake in court of justice (8)
      This is an example of one of my least favourite constructs where the clue says A (test out) B (cake) in C (court of justice) but the wordplay is B in A = C. The “cake” could come from Chelsea!

      17d Devoted admirer says he is a procrastinator (8)
      If you split the answer into (1,2,5) then he says he is a procrastinator – hope that helps.

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