DT 26906 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 26906 (Hints)

by Big Dave  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26906 (Hints)

Big Dave’s Crossword Club

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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, an assortment of clues, including some of the more difficult ones, have been selected and hints provided 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.

Could new readers please read the Welcome post before asking questions about the site.

Most of the terms used in these hints are explained in the Glossary and examples are available by clicking on the entry under “See also”.

A full review of this puzzle will be published after the closing date for submissions.

Across

1a           Disaster for a Los Angeles maiden in New York perhaps (8)
To get this disaster put the A from the clue, the abbreviation for Los Angeles and M(aiden) inside the type of conurbation of which New York is an example (perhaps)

10a         Springlike! (6)
… shaped like a spring

12a         Island get-together (7)
A double definition – a volcanically active island in the Indian Ocean which is an administrative region of France and a get-together for old friends

21a         Misery for man getting duck in both innings (7)
This misery is derived by combining a man’s name and the cricketing term for a duck in both innings

22a         King advanced to face revolutionary Korea wannabes on show (7)
K(ing) and A(dvanced) are followed by (to face) an anagram (revolutionary) of KOREA to get a show for wannabes

26a         Surprisingly sweatier in a way (2,2,4)
An anagram (surprisingly) of SWEATIER gives a phrase meaning in a way

Down

1d           Hollow word of warning reaches the fleet (6)
This hollow comes from a Latin word of warning, beloved of schoolboys in classic books, and the abbreviation for our fleet

3d           French sea-girl? (7)
Combine the French for sea and a girl to get a sea-girl, but not a French one, as she’s known as a sirène!

4d           Half-cut turning in a jam (5,6)
A charade of an adjective meaning half-cut or drunk and a turning in a road gives a jam or difficult situation

8d           Heather, after a disturbing second half of summer, gets to swing the lead (8)
Put another name for heather after the A from the clue then put the lot inside (disturbing) the second half of sumMER to get a verb meaning to swing the lead

12d         Main speed (4,2,5)
… how speed is measured at sea

15d         No one goes straight along this street (8)
… because the houses in it form an arc

20d         Judicial decision from French Indian (6)
This judicial decision comes from a charade of the French for “from” and a native American Indian

The Crossword Club opens at 10:00am.  Feel free to leave comments.

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

The Quick crossword pun: {super} + {fish} + {Hal}= {superficial}

63 comments on “DT 26906 (Hints)”

  1. Nice start to the weekend, an interesting mixture of straightforward and a little devious clues. Fav for me was 1d and 14d. Thx to the setter and to BD for the hints which I didn’t need for once. Off now to rebuild a fallen garden wall, hope the rain keeps off.

  2. Quite agree with Brian. At first I thought I couldn’t do any of the clues and then it slowly fell into place. Favourite clue, 13 across, because of the double use of the word grip. But I still don’t understand 16 across.
    Thanks to the setter

    1. 16a – two single-letter abbreviations to start with, then a border or edge and then on from the clue and a word meaning ‘debts’, the whole meaning to get bitter.

  3. Perhaps completed a little too quickly.
    Perhaps *
    Thought convention was a man’s name was a name in full and a boy’s name was it abbreviated eg ***.or Dave even.
    Perhaps I’m wrong.
    Thanks setter and BD for the review.

      1. Thanks but please indulge me further – where in the Rules?
        Page No. and Line No. will do. :)

        1. The line just above the Quickie pun – in red so that no-one misses it!

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

        2. Hee Hee Hee
          Totally misread your response, crypticsue.
          I thought you meant the crossword guidelines eg what is an anagram, sort of thing.
          Realize now what I’d done.
          Apologies BD,
          Thanks, crypticsue for your interest and admonishment :)

  4. A fine example of the ‘it doesn’t have to be tough to be entertaining’ school of cryptic crosswords, not least because of Cephas’s great anagram indicators ‘vandalised’ being a fine example. Many thanks to him, I shall enjoy it all over again later when I do the review. Thanks to BD for the hints too.

    I highly recommend today’s NTSPP – slightly tough in places but do have a go if you aren’t spending all afternoon selling draw tickets at the church fete like me.

  5. Interesting one. For 1A I’d thought of ‘Jane’ as in ……….. Jane! Well, it fitted ;-)

    Think the definition of 18D is a tad obscure

      1. Hello BD. As a newcomer to the site I’m not entirely sure that somebody may have alerted you to this possible problem of blog ethics before now, so forgive me if you’ve already addressed it. On my browser, allowing the cursor to linger on the picture clues in your hints often displays the answer/spoiler within the picture caption pop-up (yes I am a sneaky cheat, but I hope with this post I’m making up for it!).
        The ethics problem is that you may be guilty of multiple naughty corner infractions and may have to punish yourself accordingly! On the other hand, it takes a little while for the pop-ups to appear so that the pictures may be a legitimate hint. I may attract a lot of opprobrium from others for this but I thought I might as well point it out if it hasn’t been already.
        By the way, this is one of my favourite sites, please keep it up.

        1. I have been adding a few gimmes for some time, in order to help get the puzzle under way. When it was suggested that I should stop doing it there were howls of protest, so I didn’t stop!

          1. Fair play. Why not save the pics as anonymous bitmaps (*.bmp) then cut and paste as a post? Yes, I am a spoilsport.

            1. Bitmaps are so large that they cause download problems.

              I’m happy with things the way they are and have no intention of changing.

  7. Really enjoyed this puzzle.
    Completed after a slow start.

    Thanks for hints, not needed this time.
    Thanks to setter for an interesting mix of clues.

    NTSPP will have to wait till tomorrow as I can’t download to I thingy.

    On a pleasant but windy day in Dover will be devoting the rest of the day to lounging in cockpit drinking beer.

  8. Enjoyable today, brain nicely taxed by some clues giving a few “doh” moments. In 25a, I wasn’t too keen on the use of “dope” – it’s stretching its meaning a bit thin.

  9. That was fun! And now for a General Knowledge question (because I don’t know the answer…);

    Is 12A the most Easterly part of the Eurozone? If not, what is???

  11. I enjoyed this. I started very slowly – seem to have said that almost every day this week – must be me – then got going. I was slow to get 1d and had a complete mental block about the last word of 13a until I read Peter’s comment about the double use of the word “grip” – thank you very much – very useful!! Needless to say I didn’t know the cricketing term in 21a. Had to check spelling of 22a – it’s one of those that I KNOW I can’t spell.
    My favourites include 12 and 13a and 3, 12 and 17d.
    With thanks to Cephas and BD.
    Going to print out NTSPP and will have a go later – off up the garden now (just for a change!!)

  12. I thought that this was a most enjoyable puzzle, with a number of cleverly-worded clues, and I’m pleased to say that, as I didn’t rush it [see the previous comments], everything fell neatly into place. Like Colmce, it’s very windy here too but, for the time being, the sun’s shining…

  14. I got a good start last night, but still have 3 downs and 1 across to solve, and I am going to rate this as **/*** Nice and gentle for a Saturday puzzle, and very welcome after the last couple of days. Favourite so far 8d, good to see the four letter word for heather ‘popping’ up again. Solved 17d, but don’t really understand why – any suggestions? Oh wait, just got it!

  15. Enjoyed the cryptic today and completed without too much difficulty. I tried to print the Giant GK crossword but only get about 2/3 of the grid on the page. Does anyone else have this problem or know how to fix it?

  16. Finished this after going adrift on 5a which held me up on 6 and 8d :oops:

    Thanks as always to Big Dave and setter, also to Cryptic Sue for her illumination on 16a, I worked backwards on that one!

    Never come across the word for 25a but found it in BRB.

    As usual some of it fell into place quickly and the rest gradually lodged in my consciousness.

    My answer for 19d is correct but not completely sure why

  17. HELP please! No matter how long I have stared at them, I can’t get 5a or 6d. Am sure I will kick myself when someone helps the pennies to drop!
    Otherwise done and enjoyed.

    1. 5a – an anagram of “Promote” without one of the o’s – definition “for the time being” – a Latin abbreviation, thereof.

        1. Too scared by the very thought! I don’t think that I could ever meet the 11:00 am deadline.

          You, gazza and team have set the bar very high!

          However, I do think that I could improve upon the illustrations that gazza provides! :wink:

          Back to Le Tour de France – best sports event of the year!!

      2. Thanks Franco – did you hear the penny drop? It was quite noisy!! And that enabled me to solve 6d too.
        And thanks BD for some of the other hints.

    2. 6d – can be broken down into 1,3,3 – a single letter, a 3 letter synonym for appropriate, and a river in North Yorkshire. Altogether, a somewhat esoteric (I think) word for transport.

  18. A pleasant, non-taxing puzzle this Saturday – last day of June!

    Faves : 10a, 16a, 21a, 24a, 4d, 14d, 17d & 19d.

    Back to SW19 on the box!

    1. oh dear, soon be Christmas. Greetings from Llanberis, The dogs arrived safely and am travelling with a mate so did not have a repeat of last weeks issues with over zealous ticket inspectors or guards. Made a mess of the North west corner as initially got 9a wrong. thanks to all involved

  19. Usual good stuff for a Saturday. Thanks to Cephas & to Bd for the hints especially 8d.

  20. Busy morning so tackled this off and on. I liked 14d the best. 23a also rather nice. Thanks for the review. Have a nice weekend one and all.

  21. A late start on this one, and it took me a little longer than normal – perhaps due to the half a dozen Pimms at my son’s school summer fair ( I now know why Pimms is referred to as a stealth drink!).

    Thanks to setter, and to BD.

  22. No problems today 12a last in should have got it sooner because it appeared in DT 26493. Some good clues though, esp.6d 16a and 14d.

  23. 21a, hint = ‘the cricketing term for a duck in both innings’ … I’m struggling to fit “* **** ** **********” into seven letters ;-)

    1. Your comment had to be approved – I think because you used to be Attila the Hun if my memory serves me correctly, not as it appears above.

      Both innings refers to the fact that you could be out for a duck twice. so have two of these scores. You need the noun for two things equal or suited to one another, which should be placed after an abbreviated man’s name.

  24. Didn’t take that long to complete today, but nothing realy caught my imagination today. I associate 19d with ventilation rather than light, but I guess the dictionary will educate me when I look it up. Just read comments above…straight forwards now! Thankd Big D.

  25. This is my last entry and I still haven,t got the double grip thing.i,ve got the. First two words so it,s just the last I need. Am wondering whether i.m wrong on 7d. As it seems such an obvious solution , making me v sceptical. Any. Hints v welcome. Sorry. Bout typing . Phone typing v slow and v erratic!

    1. A grip can also be a container with a handle on it……that you might put clothes in (a suit even!) when going on holiday for instance. 7d is a very elegant anagram.

    2. Hi Marge, the ‘double grip thing’ is grip as in grasp and also grip as in a bag used by sportsmen and for weekends away. I hope that helps:)

      1. Jason,
        Your comment needed moderation because you’ve changed your alias from Treemonkey. Both should work from now on.

  26. Hi all, well I finished this one (without hints for once) but I got into a mess with 2d and 11a for a while, by entering a French-sounding noun for 2d rather than the actual word. Cue several hours of frustration over 11a before the penny dropped …. Despite that, a very enjoyable puzzle – thanks to the setter.

  27. Thx again for all the hints – stuck on 24a/19d/20d Got them now. Hoping for a game of golf today – between showers no doubt.

  28. Thanks to the setter & to Big Dave for the hints. Managed to complete this one without the hints, quite enjoyable. Favourite was 19d. Late blogging due to a trip to a chilly and windy Poole Harbour.

  29. Finished with the help of Thesaurus etc and a ‘beware of the dog’ sign from Pompeii

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