DT 26327 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 26327

by Gazza  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26327

Hints and tips by Gazza

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

I’m confused (nothing new there you’re probably thinking!) – Since we had a Ray T puzzle last week it should be a Shamus puzzle today if the usual pattern is being maintained. However, some of the clues have a Ray T feel, and even though not all the answers are single words the Quick Crossword definitely looks as if it’s a Ray T production. Whoever the setter is, he (or she) has given us an entertaining puzzle today with a good mixture of clues, including a few easy ones to get you started. Let us know what you think of it in a comment.
If you want to see an answer, highlight the space between the brackets on the line under the relevant clue.

Across Clues

1a  Here, let’s try a new treatment? (6,6)
{HARLEY STREET} – we start with an all-in-one. An anagram (new treatment) of HERE LET’S TRY A produces the London location where many eminent doctors have their consulting rooms.

8a  Left University clear and bright (5)
{LURID} – an adjective meaning unpleasantly bright is a charade of L(eft), U(niversity) and a verb meaning to clear.

9a  Old Spice Girl with three hits, say (9)
{GERIATRIC} – it’s laugh out loud time. The definition is old and it’s formed from the forename of one of the Spice Girls and a sound-alike (say, especially for a Cockney) of the term used in cricket when a bowler takes wickets with three successive balls (and, by derivation, three successes in other fields).

11a  One academic holding droppings identifies dinosaur (9)
{IGUANODON} – a large dinosaur comes from I (one) and a university lecturer (academic) with bird droppings inside (holding).

12a  Temper, losing head regularly (5)
{OFTEN} – if you’re like me then your initial thought with this clue was that it’s one of those pick-every-other-letter types that Crypticsue calls pesky. In fact it’s a nice bit of misdirection, because regularly is, in fact, the definition. Drop the initial letter (losing head) from a verb meaning to temper or tone down.

13a  Drink something explosive outside empty pub (9)
{GRENADINE} – remove the middle letter (empty) from a synonym for pub and outside that put a small hand-launched bomb (something explosive) to make a sweet cordial made from pomegranate juice (drink).

16a  Broadcast for children (5)
{ISSUE} – double definition.

18a  Cat’s after eating mouse’s interior (5)
{OUNCE} – we have another visit from our regular visitor the snow leopard (cat) but the clue is more original than the usual “knock off the initial letter” variety. We want a conjunction that means as soon as or after and inside that (eating) goes the central letter (interior) of moUse.

19a  Catapult giving son slight wound (9)
{SLINGSHOT} – an anagram (wound) of SON SLIGHT.

20a  Top to, initially, bottom (5)
{TRUMP} – a verb meaning to top or surpass is made from the first letter (initially) of T(o) followed by a synonym for bottom.

22a  I train as a doctor in hospitals (9)
{SANITARIA} – an anagram (doctor) of I TRAIN AS A gives the North American spelling of hospitals for convalescents or the chronically ill.

25a  Deception Right backed by man rising again (9)
{RESURGENT} – we want an adjective meaning rising again. Put together a trick or deception and R(ight) and reverse it (backed), then add a synonym for man.

26a  Hot in French resort for recess (5)
{NICHE} – put H(ot) inside the name of a French Mediterranean resort.

27a  Fashion tip? (8,4)
{STILETTO HEEL} – a nice cryptic definition of the tapering support for fashionable (but not necessarily comfortable) ladies’ footwear.

Down Clues

1d  Powerful explosive with nuclear bomb (9)
{HERCULEAN} – put the abbreviation for high explosive in front of an anagram (bomb) of NUCLEAR to make an adjective meaning powerful, in the manner of a mythical classical hero.

2d  Sculptor making right old racket (5)
{RODIN} – the surname of a famous French sculptor is a charade of R(ight), O(ld) and a word meaning racket or noise.

3d  Hit with side of bat given boundaries (5)
{EDGED} – double definition – what a batsman who just got a touch on the ball (but didn’t middle it) did is also a past participle meaning provided with a border (given boundaries).

4d  African site, green here and there (9)
{SERENGETI} – an anagram (here and there) of SITE GREEN is the name of a large national park in Tanzania.

5d  Each young man in group working out (9)
{REASONING} – the definition is working out and it’s made by putting the abbreviation for each and a young man (as his parents may refer to him) inside a group of people engaged in a shared enterprise.

6d  Feel sorry for topless bird (5)
{EGRET} – remove the first letter (topless, in a down clue) from a verb meaning to feel sorry to leave a type of heron.

7d  Quack heard in the air? (6,6)
{FLYING DOCTOR} – a cryptic definition of a medical man who communicates with his far-flung patients by radio (so he’s heard over the airways) and makes visits by air as well.

10d  Deep thought (12)
{CONCENTRATED} – double definition – an adjective meaning deep or intense is also a verb meaning thought.

14d  A secretary, vocal, unaffected by time (9)
{ATEMPORAL} – the definition is unaffected by time. Put together A, a secretary who is not a long-term employee and an adjective meaning vocal or spoken.

15d  Abstains, is tentatively holding fast (9)
{INSISTENT} – hidden in the clue is an adjective meaning maintaining firmly (holding fast). Holding appears to be doing double duty as part of the definition and as the hidden indicator.

17d  Start to hold calipers turned round and round? (9)
{SPHERICAL} – the definition is round and it’s an anagram (turned round) of the first letter (start) of H(old) and CALIPERS.

21d  Out of bed, outfit’s put out (5)
{UPSET} – a charade of out of bed and a collection of clothes worn together (outfit) produces an adjective meaning put out or unhappy.

23d  In terrain I trod, uncovering explosive (5)
{NITRO} – an abbreviation for a yellow liquid which is explosive is hidden (uncovering) in the clue.

24d  Can, for example, turn up hint (5)
{TINGE} – a hint or trace is made from another word for a can and the abbreviation used to mean “for example”, which is reversed (turn up, in a down clue).

The clues I liked included 1a, 13a, 27a, 1d and 7d but my favourite clue (and, I expect, everybody else’s as well) is 9a. Let us know in a comment what you thought of it.

50 comments on “DT 26327”

  1. Hi Gazza, I may be cut off mid stream here as our electricity is supposed to be off for a few hours today, however, I found this as you say, some quite easy and amusing and others really hard work, last to go in was 1a, which just could not see til I had a prompt from Dave, was looking for some kind of treatment, thinking the anagram indicator was just ‘new’, never heard of 11a had to google that one, fav clue 9a, wonder if anyone else was tempted to put resurrect for 25a?? at first, just going to read blog now, in the hope they have decided not to cut us off!

        1. Mary,
          Its ONCE (after) around (eating) U (the middle letter of moUse – mouse’s interior)

        2. It’s ONCE (after, as in “once I’d dressed I had my breakfast”) with the central letter of mouse inside.

        3. thanks both, I could see that the U went inside once but wasn’t sure where the once came form?

    2. I entered “RESURRECT” in 25a & spent the next ½hr trying to work out the “man” element. Doh!

  2. Thoroughly enjoyable! I also thought I was solving a RayT puzzle, until I saw 7d. Learnt a new word for bird droppings!
    Agree with the choice of favourite.

  3. Whoever was responsible, I didn’t find it that difficult (only took a couple more minutes than yesterday) but I enjoyed it greatly. Nice mix of clues. Agree that 9a is clue of the day. Thanks to Gazza and the mysterious setter.

  4. 9a for me too – I had the same thoughts Re: Ray and checked for two word answers. In any case a fun outing and a none too tricky solve.
    Thanks gazza and our setter.

  5. We seem to be having a run of non contentious puzzles at the moment. There is nothing I can moan about in today also.All the clues were fair with good surface reading and not a hint of foreign words or phrases. The DT must be mellowing.
    Fav was 19a as it also told a story.
    Thanks to Gazza and the Mysteron oo er

  6. Setter here…

    Yes, it’s one of mine. From now on you’ll find some multi-word answers in the Cryptics, which may please some solvers!

    Ray T

    3. Hello Ray T
      Thanks for today’s, I enjoyed it. Nice mix of clues and not too taxing. Good thing as it’s 37C here today. I don’t need taxing!
      Agree with others about 9a but also quite liked 15d which hasn’t had a mention.
      Thanks for the blog Gazza – entertaining as usual.

  7. I decided to make this a little more difficult for myself by typing the answer to 22a into 19a on CluedUp. That tactic worked well, as it took me about 10 mins discover whilst my laptop also kept freezing to a standstill.
    NIce crossword, though………

  8. First time ever I’ve finished a Tuesday puzzle – thanks for that Ray T. 1a last for me too. It seems some of the bloggers here use certain tools to help. Your perogative, of course, but I like to get as far as I can and then come on here and see why I’m so thick…especially with Shamus, I find his reasoning tough.

  9. Excellent puzzle. I would add 1a to the list of good clues for its surface reading, and agree with 12a and 9a. Can anyone explain the link between first 3 clues in the Quickie? I’m sure I have each correct, but can’t make them sound like a well known phrase or saying.

  10. Did I misunderstand the clue but shouldn’t 3d be EDGES if the clue is boundaries? Edged and edges would both fit with the cricketing bit.

    2. Hi Barrie, a few two word answers do make it a bit easier don’t they, I think given boundaries applies to something that has an edge or trim put round it and it is therefore ‘edged’

    3. Barrie – Agree. I had EDGES in initially, which made 11a very tricky! I think Gazza’a explanation just about works, but the clue is misleading, IMHO.

      1. For the answer to be “edges” the first part of the clue would have to be “hitS with side of bat”.

  11. Enjoyable without being overtaxing. Favourite 9a and also managed to put resurrect into 27a on first run through.
    1a went in first and not with a certain tool, it just hit me when I wrote the anagram letters into lines of three letters.
    Unlike others I do not recognise the different setters. Thanks to Gazza for the hints.

  13. Did better than my usual effort with a Ray T (which is normally zero!). But still very tricky in parts with some really convoluted clues. Gradually getting there but is damned hard work and not really my cup of tea. Sorry!

  14. Many thanks to Ray T for sneaking in on his Tuesday off to give us a fine crossword. Agree about 9a as the top clue.

    I hope that this change in the order does not mean that we are losing batting duo of Ray T / Shamus.

  15. Once again, I found this Ray T puzzle straightforward, we must have similar wavelengths. I thought 1a was quite cleverly constructed, with a pointer to the answer to be found in one of the anagram words.As with Pete, it was the first to go in. Having suspected an anagram, it jumped out.
    Nice puzzle.

  16. 9a was also my favourite clue of the day. 18 a was the most difficult I thought probably because of the use of the apostrophe and extraneous “s” .

  17. With the new books and some electronic help, I got about half way before needing the blog to finish it. Jolly good puzzle, very enjoyable, especially 9a. Didn’t spot the anagrind in 19a or the hidden indicator in 15d.

    Thanks to Ray T and Gazza.

  18. Finished without help two days in a row. Another record. Slightly harder than yesterday. Some superb clues, all mentioned above, made for a very pleasant afternoon’s workout.

  21. Finished. Liked it. Thanks for the explanation of “once”. 25 last to go having dismissed resurrect first.

  22. Finished off in bed this morning. Have issues with 1a-got the answer almost immediately but surely Harley Street is a place of treatment not a treatment itself. Like many others 18a had me puzzled , only got the answer due to the completed letters, thanks for the explanation. Also 14d- no mention of atemporal in my edition of Chambers but the wordplay gave the only possible answer. Reasonably entertaining.

    1. Phil

      1a is an example of an all-in-one or &Lit clue, which is one where the wordplay takes up all of the clue and then you read the whole clue again to get the definition.

  23. Very late input from me – Tuesday’s DT was lost for a while.
    A very enjoyable puzzle.
    Best clue for me was 11a.

  24. Best attempt yet at Tuesday puzzle for me. Correct, Dave – I laughed out loud at 9a while on the Tube.

    Tutted when I got 1a – purely from anagram and completed letters – for being too obtuse (‘a new treatment’) but later the ‘here’ part clicked and again had to chuckle.

    11a another goodie. 18a was too much (got the ‘eaten’ part but synonym and cat escaped me), the ‘each’ abb. in 5d was new to me but not making excuses..

    Very enjoyable.

  25. Clues like 1a can be tricky to non Brits but got it from experience. As for SERENGETI, part of it is in our own nation Kenya. Pity Tanzania wants to build a tarmac across it, this will spoil animals migratory routes.

    Gazza, are there any Americans who solve UK -style cryptics?

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