Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26272
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty **– Enjoyment ***
First of all I would like to thank Dr. BlueDragon for his appreciation of the blog on DNUK. Now having done that, we can turn our thoughts to Monday’s crossword by Rufus. Although I did enjoy this, there are some fun cryptic defintions, I did at times feel as if I was dipping into a box of old chestnuts.
If you are still struggling with the answer after reading the hint, just highlight the space between the curly brackets.
Across
1. He’s after a feline clutching a strip of leather — disaster! (11)
{CATASTROPHE} – A sudden disaster or misfortune is built up using a three letter word for a feline, followed by A, and then a strip of leather used for sharpening razors for example, and finally HE.
9. Change the course of a revolution (4)
{TURN} – A double definition, another word for change (transform) and a rotation.
10. Wolves, say, or beasts of burden (4,7)
{PACK ANIMALS} – Animals used to carry goods on their backs, could also be a group of animals that hunt together.
11. Ring starts twitching of the ear (4)
{OTIC} – An adjective meaning relating to the ear is simply O (ring) followed by a sudden muscle spasm.
14. He was bound to begin, but not finish, his performance (7)
{HOUDINI} – Is a famous escapologist.
16. His Christmas present was one of three (7)
{SCROOGE} – A Charles Dickens character, who was visited by three Ghosts of Christmas, the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.
17. Jumbo jet propeller? (5)
{TRUNK} – A cryptic definition, this elephant appendage is often used to suck up water for drinking or for spraying.
18. They may be found in a creel, squirming (4)
{EELS} – A hidden word found between creel and squirming, is something you might find in a creel.
19. A reversible action (4)
{DEED} – A word meaning exploit or an act, is also a palindrome.
20. One involved in unusual cost was philosophical (5)
{STOIC} – Put I (one) into an anagram (unusual) of COST for a follower of a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium.
22. Camera for young girl who promises to do her best (7)
{BROWNIE} – Double definition, an old box like camera is also a young girl Guide.
23. Wild blow leads to dispute with non-intellectual (7)
{LOWBROW} – An anagram (wild) of BLOW is then placed in front of another word for a dispute. Result – a person who has uncultivated tastes.
24. Famous actor making a comeback? Nonsense! (4)
{RATS} – The definition for this clue is nonsense, just reverse (comeback) a common word used to describe a famous actor or actress.
28. Challenge the basis of capitalism (11)
{COMPETITION} – A word used to describe a contest, the football World Cup for example is also a key feature of how business is expected to operate.
29. His victims lose heart (4)
{EROS} – He is the Greek god of love.
30. Lineages got from him? Yes (11)
{GENEALOGIST} – An anagram of LINEAGES GOT when unravelled will give you the answer.
Down
2. A mother for the first orphan? (4)
{ADAM} – A followed by a word for mother gives us (possibly) the first orphan, in this case it is meant to be the first man, according to the Book of Genesis.
3. Birds seen when another ascends (4)
{AUKS} – if you reverse a word that describes several large predatory gull-like birds you end up with even more seabirds.
4. An outside line to ring (7)
{TANGENT} – Exactly – a line that touches a curve.
5. Resistance units initially on the monarch’s behalf (4)
{OHMS} – On Her Majesty’s Service.
6. Getting a small rise, I’ll get in some wine (7)
{HILLOCK} – Put ILL into a word for white Rhine wines and you get a small mound.
7. They have lots to offer (11)
{AUCTIONEERS} – People who preside at public sales at which goods are sold to the highest bidder.
8. Struck by the way a sale may be concluded (7,4)
{KNOCKED DOWN} – A reference to 7a? Sold to the highest bidder with the tap of a hammer.
12. Top dog of the Variety Club? (5,6)
{CHIEF BARKER} – The title of the president of the Variety Club of Great Britain, could also be a top dog or vice-versa.
13. Call round to set up joint management (4,7)
{DUAL CONTROL} – An anagram (to set up) of CALL ROUND TO is a noun used to describe joint control or jurisdiction.
15. Captain Kidd, perhaps, lost his head in a rage (5)
{IRATE} – If you remove the first letter (lost his head) from what Captain Kidd was alleged to be, you are left with another word for angry.
16. Householder in no hurry to move (5)
{SNAIL} – This householder is a shelled gastropod.
20. Possibly ignores an Italian man’s entitlement (7)
{SIGNORE} – An anagram (possibly) of IGNORES is the Italian title or form of address equivalent to Sir.
21. La Costa resort by the sea (7)
{COASTAL} – Another anagram (resort) this time of LA COSTA describes the land found by the seashore.
25. Keys admit private secretary to part of church (4)
{APSE} – A church recess is formed from two musical keys, A and E, into which an abbreviation for private secretary is placed.
26. Guns are raised in this game (4)
{STAG} – Another reversal. An American slang word for guns is reversed (raised) to leave you with a large male deer.
27. An outstanding leader of men (4)
{BOSS} – Double definition, if you haven’t seen this before, I will be surprised. A term used to describe a raised area e.g. in the centre of a shield, is also someone who is in charge of others.
quite fun but I needed a lot of help from Libellule
16d made smile
16a had me thinking of magi!
A nice start to the week, despite foolishly reading 10a as 7,4 and spent 10 minutes trying to fit mule into the answer!
Thanks to Rufus, and thanks to Libellule for the review.
Libellule, I think two more letters are needed in the anagram of 13d.
Jezza,
Doh! – Fixed. Thanks.
A few chestnutty clues but nothing do detract from the fun. 29 & 30a were favourites.
Thanks Libellule and thanks to Rufus.
Nice start to the week crossword wise although the promised warming up hasn’t started yet, still wearing my pullover !
Fav clue was 16d
I enjoyed this, particulaly for some of the playfully misleading clues like 4d and 16a. Many thanks to Rufus and to Libellule for the hints.
Hooray, hooray, no Clueless Club today! I did this in one shot, within the time, and with only one hint from Clued Up. A dip into old chestnuts is very good for the morale of us duffers. Now I’m waiting for everyone to say this one was too easy for a DT puzzle.
However, I did enjoy it very much, especially 1a, 14a and 17a. I spent some time thinking of the Magi at 16a, but got it all worked out in the end. Thanks so much Rufus and merci Libellule. :-)
Well done Franny and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise :)
Yes, well now I’m struggling with Sunday’s offering — and heavens it’s cold here. Oh to be in sunny Wales!
Nearly! – never heard of 11 across before – ironic, really..
Very nice puzzle today – don’t know about old chestnuts but it did remind me of DT Cryptics of many years ago. Solved in very very quick time apart from a little tussle with the anagram in 13d. Lots of good clues although I did like 22a as I was one of those …. who had such a camera. Delighted to report that wind has died down a lot and the sun is out. We are promised scorchio for Thurs/Fri but I will wait and see.
Yes, a nice, fun and unchallending start to the week, with lots of lovely surface reading.
I,too, was one who had such a camera 22a, and I was in the Fairy Six. We had to dance around the toadstool singing the Six Rhyme, which was ‘We are the Fairies, bright and gay. Helping others every day’!!!!! The Fairy Six was abolished in 1968.
And, yes, I did have the very same Box Camera!
I too was a fairy, late 1950s. Those were the days!
Good afternoon Libelulle from a very hot and sunny West Wales, have completed this in fits and starts today without blog help, but with books etc. never heard of 3d,( though saying that maybe we did have it not so long ago, the other way round? )or 11a otherwise my fav clue was 16a, I also had a brownie camera which was stolen along with several other things from my mini car back in the 70s!! Hope the sun shines for crypticsue this week, we have had non stop sunshine all weekend :)
Thanks Mary. The sun is out here at last, the wind has almost dropped and I am about to finish work and go off for a walk in the sun with my friend and her dog.
Had a couple that I would not have got without the hints – thank you. They were 29a and 13d – don’t know why I couldn’t do 29a and with 13d I stupidly decided that the first word was “pull”, therefore it couldn’t be an anagram – got tied up with trying to find another way of saying “pull together”! Oh dear – maybe I’m going to have another bad crossword week! I had never heard of 12d, couldn’t find it in a dictionary anywhere and then decided that that was what it had to be and googled it. Had also never heard of the 5 letter word meaning leather strap in the middle of 1a but it was fairly obviously the answer. Hope to do better with the crossword tomorrow – maybe the sun has got to my brain!
Finished at second visit but didn’t think it was that easy. 12d and 6d were both tricky (never heard of the first!). Really not sure about 24a – Rats meaning nonsense? Probably an obscure definition in OED. Enjoyed 1a and 30a.
Eezy peezy lemon squeezy – never thought I’d get to say that. I did it during the changes of end in the Federer match. I was looking forward to a big upset, but as usual he came through in the end.
I had exactly the same problem as Peter on 16a, and I refused to believe I had the correct answer for 24a all afternoon. 14a and 17 were my favourites. When I head I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue on the radio this evening I thought those two clues probably both had a home in that show somewhere. I hope it’s toughened me up enough for Tricky Tuesday!
So near and yet so far! Never heard the expression at 12d nor the slang term at 26d. But good, enjoyable puzzle and thanks for review, which I needed for a few, including 11a, today’s new word.
25C in sunny Oxford today and a boring afternoon in a very warm and dull exam!
Did mean to say, thought 3d very good indeed and spent ages trying to fit ‘gold’ into 16a …
Missed 12d and 13d. 30a my favourite.
Hello all, we have been dipping in and out of the site on a regular basis. Great to see how it has grown. Loved 14a, 23a and 29a. We are still improving with your help. Keep up the good work!
Hi Joanne and Marian – welcome to the blog.